Now the hard work starts

Gidday everyone

Back from a very demanding but rewarding 10 days attending New Zealand MTB and Track Nationals. Not sure why Bike NZ would schedule them back to back. Could have been worse, some of the riders were doing DH in Nelson on the Sunday, driving 13hrs to race the Pursuits on Monday in Invercargill. Flying down Sunday night was a mission and I wasn't racing till Wednesday night!

It was my first MTB Nationals and it was a real eye opener. I walked the course with Justin Leov earning some very sore quads (took 5 days for delayed outset muscular soreness to go), some more scars on my legs and smashing whatever connective tissue was left holding my knees together to little pieces. But I gained a greater appreciation of the sport.

Things worked out pretty well for Justin as he took the Pro/Elite Downhill title. Sam Blenkinsop was right behind in the Silver medal position. Amy Laird took Silver in the Womens event. Sam and Amy both earned National Titles in the Dual Slalom event.

Track Nationals was more about development with both Brooke Williams and Simon Acker lining up for their first NZ Track Champs. Simon will have taken away an appreciation of what needs to be done while Brooke unfortunately left with some deep bruising after a rider went down in front of her in the Points Race. But she bravely fronted up later in the week for the Scratch Race.

With my own riding slipping down the priority list behind coaching, commissairing, selecting and study I duly got a spanking in all my events. I know I have the power and the mad skills to be competitive just need to find some good fitness. Hopefully now I can road race on the weekends I can put things together.

We had some very good coaching sessions at the track nationals including some very good tips on nutrition and warming up. We also heard from the High Performance selectors about what their role is. Very handy for me as Junior teams for events are being decided now. I will be assisting Ken Bewley with the NZ U19 squad at a week long training camp in Rotorua.

Hamish