Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Epic Preparations

It's almost 10 months ago to the day that I got an email from Megan Dimozantos with the subject line "Cape Epic".

I'd only met Megan once before - she'd fronted up to the Tāwhio O Whanganui which I'd organised in February of last year.  I'd said gidday to her at the start, as the organiser of a low-key event is able to, and noted she had a lot of gear.  The same subject came up that evening at the Lodge in Raetihi, from where Megan had posted a bunch of stuff home.  I didn't see her the following night in Whangamomona - her day had blown out due to a slightly premature route through the work in progress that was the Kaiwhakauka Track, but I was relieved to learn she'd shown up after I'd headed to bed.  I don't recall seeing her in Patea, nor in Whanganui before we departed in opposite directions to our respective homes of Auckland and Wellington.

So, I wasn't sure what to make of her suggestion that we team up for the Absa Cape Epic in 2012.  Over the next week or so, I read up a bit about the race, and about Megan, and did a few back-of-the-envelope sums to see whether I could run to what Megan had described as "a bit of personal financial outlay".  Once I'd ascertained getting away from work in late March was not out of the question, the idea snowballed, and before I knew it, I was accepting Megan's offer.

The event looked totally appealing.  I'd never ridden, let alone raced, overseas, and the thought of doing so was thrilling.  The event was expensive, and not something I foresaw Simon wanting to do any time soon.  Also, it's over-subscribed, and Megan had a guaranteed entry, a carry-over from the balloted spot she'd got in 2011 but was unable to use.  It was good to know once excited about it, it wasn't going to be whisked away.  Finally, I think I saw it as an opportunity to prove to myself that I could ride a bike.  Sad, in hindsight, but a factor nonetheless.

Within a fortnight we were locked and loaded.

Sponsorship

The only thing immediately on the agenda was recruiting some sponsors.  Megan had a long history of 24-hour World Champs campaigns, and had an impressive list of personal sponsors, iincluding Adidas eyewear, Icebreaker, Ayup Lights.  She sent me a sponsorship proposal with her palmarès listed including a whole bunch of wins in stage races, 24 solos, and top 10 placings in a couple of 24-solo WCs.

I was intimidated by her success, and at first struggled to write anything about myself.  I had to though, and on reflection, realised I had a bunch of stuff I too could be proud of.

Racing Career Highlights: 1st Place Team 8 hour Akatarawa Attack, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011; 1st Place 12 hour Team Day Night Thriller 2008; 1st Place Tandem Karapoti Challenge 2008 (current record time); 1st Place Wellington Mountainbike Orienteering Series 2008, 2009; 2nd Place "Old Bugger" Single Speed Nationals 2011; 2nd Place 12 Hour Team Moonride 2007; 3rd Place Masters Men NZCT National Hill Climb Championships 2008; 4th Place Expert M30-39 Karapoti Classic 2011; Finisher 1100km Kiwi Brevet 2010 in a time of 4 days 12 hours.
Not bad for a weekend warrior.  I was more confidently proud of my other riding activities though, and was pleased they too would feature in our proposal. 

Other cool stuff: Father, Cyclist, Writer, Event Organiser, Volunteer (Chair of Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park Supporters, 2006-2010), Freelance publications in Spoke and Endurance magazine.
Megan asked me for a photo for the cover page, and I gave her one of my favourite race-shots ever.


I love it because the intensity surprises me.  That's not how I think of myself riding a bike.

Having filled in the form, I sat back and let Megan work her magic.  We got some good feedback on the proposal, but plenty of "nice one, but no thanks" responses. 

Atfer a few months, during which I was amazed by Megan's energy and persistence, we were thrilled to receive a concrete offer from Kashi Leuchs, New Zealand importer of Yeti bicycles.  We didn't hesitate to accept Kashi's support.  It was a relief on the one hand, spelling an end of an emotionally difficult search (for Megan more than me), but also marking the beginning of an exciting new relationship.

It didn't take long for my race-rig to arrive on the scene, though a supply snafu saw Megan's uber-rare XS frame not arrive until after Christmas.  That aside, Kashi made us feel very welcome, and we've already had some great experiences as Team Yeti with a win, with Alex Revell, at the Day Night Thiller a highlight for me. 


By the time we'd ridden at DNT, Megan's employer, Mitre 10 MEGA, had also come on board as a sponsor, and it was time to call the search for title sponsors done.  We'd be riding as Team Mitre 10 MEGA - Yeti NZ at the 2012 Cape Epic.

Less generous, but nonetheless fantastic hookups continued to come in though, and we were lucky to gain additional support from Camelbak, Cycletech (importers of Louis Garneau and Stans, among other fine products), and Christchurch company Blox agreed to give us a pretty sharp deal on jerseys. I also just recently got a sweet pair of Adidas specs from Megan's sponsor - in orange, to match our MEGA jerseys.

And, as always, I had Oli Brooke-White in my corner, and I was very proud of the way he offered his amazing service to Megan as well.  If I was a tattooing sort of guy, I'd have the Roadworks logos on my shoulders in a flash.  They're kind of there already.

Training

I love riding my bike, and though I'm learning not to rely on it, I'm a damn sight better when I'm riding hard regularly.  Being fit and strong on the bike is a critical part of managing my mental health, as well as the obvious physical well-being that comes part and parcel with it.

From the outset I decided to approach preparation for the Cape Epic as if I were riding with Simon - someone who I'd be unable to keep up with on his best days.  There'd be no "so long as I'm faster than Megan" cop out.  That's put a lot of pressure on her, I suspect, but it's made the preparation a lot more interesting for me.

Simon is more a mentor than a coach, but I'm sure if I was totally screwing things up putting together my own "training program" he'd sit me down coach-styles and set me straight.  Now that I think about it, he did sit me down, but it was to tell me I needed rest, not a bit more of this or a bit more of that.

The springboard for the year really came from spin classes through winter.  My friend Ash was leading the classes, and had suggested I go along. I hadn't anticipated enjoying it, and certainly hadn't anticipated the benefits to my riding.  But, while I have some disdain for those who choose to exercise inside, there were aspects that totally made sense to me.  It was sheltered from the elements, and while the ride home from the Newtown spin studio always occurred in the dark, it was often wet, and was even snowing for the duration of one class!  I was tapping into time I wouldn't otherwise be using.

For the first time, I was able to exercise to music, something I've avoided not for safety reasons, but for the longevity of my hearing.   That was cool.

The single most important aspect though, was being able to totally tap myself out.   I'd find myself pushing against massive resistance, until my muscles were so empty I'd almost fall off the bike.  Then I'd have a short breather, sometimes ignoring Ash's instruction, then do it again.  I had no fear of crashing, nor of getting stuck out in the countryside with no energy to get myself home.  I got stronger. 

I think I hit a peak in November, and almost had a perfect ride at Taupo.  Not quite though, but the training miles were in the bank.  Megan and I had ridden together at Le Petit Brevet a week earlier, and the void between our riding abilities had been apparent.  These two events had been something I'd targeted with long hard road rides. She'd been racing short XC races, and it showed.  It was a good kick in the arse for her, and a useful heads-up for me.

December and January were a mixed bag, and while I didn't feel like I got much "training" in, there was quality there, if not quantity.  The Waitangi21 Orienteering events were a good opportunity to do hard back-to-back rides, and the St James Epic a couple of weeks earlier was what I expect Africa to be like.  I hadn't fired there, but it was a useful experience nonetheless.

It's hard for me to know quite where I'm at currently - school holidays, a busy work-load at university, general stress, and pre-race nerves have all been far too prevalent for me to be firing on the bike - but I've got just under a month to build confidence in my skills, speed and endurance.  They're there, I'm sure, I'm just too busy to realise it.

Bike

I've owned my race bike for a while now, but I've only recently put any thought into how it's been specced, and what goals I have for it. 

Since the Karapoti Classic and Perverse Reverse double were announced, I'd committed to them as the last big hit-out before Cape Epic.  What a perfect opportunity to do two hard races in a row, and hopefully earn a bit of exposure for our Cape Epic sponsors by riding our race rigs in our team kit.

Being new to the whole sponsorship game, I've had my XTR equipped bike in cotton wool pretty much since I've had it.  I've never owned such bling before, and I didn't want to wear it out before the event.  Novice mistake, as T-Rex pointed out to me at the top of the Tip Track after a disastrous attempt at a fast time.

I'd done a reasonably quick time on my hard-tail a week earlier, but had been critical of how I'd ridden - I knew the fully would have been quicker.  Consequently, I'd set off from the bottom with high hopes.  After less than a minute into the climb, I knew something was wrong, and, totally blown to bits, I limped to the top.  The double crankset was to blame, 40-28 I thought, but 42-30 on closer inspection.  Great for South Africa perhaps, but no good for confidence inspiring Tip Tracks, which I'm used to spinning my way up, and certainly no good for the steeper Karapoti.

I headed up again, and with better pacing got close to the time I'd done on the hardtail.  22:57 followed by 24:17, then back down to 23:08.  Finding I could manage the gearing wasn't totally helpful, and made it harder to decide what to do.  In the end after a few weeks of indecision, I took the 3x10 plunge, and ordered a new crankset, chain and front derailleur.  Karapoti is a valid target after all, and as for Africa, Megan's running a triple up front, and given we've got to ride together at all times, it make sense for me to have the same gearing.

I should be rocking the new setup by week's end, with luck, and Oli's sublime skills. 

Logistics

Perhaps it's all sounded pretty straightforward.  Get an entry, find some sponsors, buy a swish bike.  Relatively speaking, that stuff all was straightforward.  The devil's in the detail though.

Here's a list of most of the things I've been dealing with in the last few weeks (many of them still unresolved):
  • race insurance - simple enough, but requiring a BikeNZ International License in advance of purchase.  Well done to BikeNZ though for providing the bundled travel + bike + health (including during the race) insurances. That's made life a lot easier.
  • transponder deposit
  • massage package.  Including a booking form, whereby we indicate preferences for which half-hour slot we want.  Sometime after we finish would be nice, but when exactly that will be is kind of unknown.  I can't even find the time the stages start, let alone begin to work out when we'll finish the hundred-odd kilometres to the finish
  • mechanic package.  Relatively expensive overnight service, but no doubt worth every cent if something goes wrong.  Simply fill in a form listing all the parts on the bike, and deposit some Rand in to a SA bank account.  Still on the list.
  • compulsory rider survey
  • rider indemnity form
  • rider health form.  Heart rate, weight and blood pressure must be signed off by my GP.  To do...
  • bus transfer from end of prologue to race village at start of stage 1 booked
  • bike transportation - to box or to bag, that was the question.  In the end, I went with a bag...
  • GST and inspection fee on bike bag
  • Racing Ralphs with Snakeskin sidewalls.  Not available in NZ, and currently somewhere in between the UK and Wellington. 
  • excess baggage charges.  I booked flights some months ago with Qantas, which seemed like a good use of some airpoints I had, and besides, the travel via Australia was 10-odd hours shorter than the competition flying though Asia or the Middle East.  I have a 23kg baggage allowance.  Not much change from a well-packed bike.  The pile of OSMs on my dining table look increasingly likely to stay there.  Solutions considered included freighting stuff to South Africa, at about $100 per 5kg, and some risk of them arriving late.  At-the-airport excess baggage looks to be the absolute worst option, and could be over $60/kg for the NZ-Sydney-Joburg legs alone.  Prepaid 10kg drops that somewhat, but at a few hundred per flight it was still looking like over a grand for the return trip.  In the end, joining the Qantas Club an upping the checked baggage allowance to 32kg seemed like the most economical solution.  I'll be sure to eat plenty of club sandwiches between flights.  I'm also going to re-order a spare tyre and Stan's fluid, and get them sent directly to South Africa.
  • race nutrition.  See above.  Something out of Chain Reaction's extensive selection yet to be confirmed, and the OSMs will live to fight another day.  Besides, the organisers say "each morning at breakfast you can make sandwiches to carry for the ride." I ain't stopping for no picnic, FFS...
  • jerseys.  Took so much more time to nail down than we ever expected.  But, we settled on a sweet design, and the dye's probably drying as I type.  I look forward to rocking a couple around Karapoti.  I'd like to think I was difficult about only one detail through this whole mission, and its those shoulder panels.  Thanks to Megan for realising it was important to me.  

  • ASR5C master rebuild kit. A great recommendation from Kashi, and all the specific and hard-to-get bits we might need in case of emergency. Hopefully it's not too heavy! Or necessary, for that matter, but better to be safe than sorry...
  • Race gear, including sun sleeves, butt butter, sun screen. Spare tubes, which I think we'll preload with jizz once we're over there.
  • Non-race gear.  The organisers provide a tent and mattresses.  We're on the rest.  All yet to be pulled together.  
  • print and laminate stage profiles, and get a bike computer onto my bike.  GPS units are a no go - much of the course is on private land, and people were uploading to the internet routes of essentially illegal rides.
  • blogging apparatus and camera. 

Thankfully, my passport's still got a year to run, and I don't need a visa for South Africa.  My brain's sore from thinking about all that stuff above though, and I'm not done with it yet.  I tell ya, it makes going on an unsupported event like the Kiwi Brevet seem like a walk in the park!  

  • vaccinations.  But wait, there's more.  Fuck.  Now added to the "to do" list.  
  • set recorder for Sons of Anarchy!

I shouldn't complain!  The adventure began months ago, and the climax is not far away now. In four weeks time, I'll be waking up for the first time in South Africa.  In five, I'll be riding Stage 3, and in six, I'll be meticulously cleaning my bike, and wondering whether or not to throw out the tyres lest MAF have conniptions about what I've been up to.

When I finally get a few more of the pieces in place, I expect the excitement will start to build in earnest.  At the moment though, I'm going through the process of stressing about everything.  It is a process that I understand, an essential one, and the outcome of it is preparedness.

I'm guessing the Karapoti blog will mark a turning point.  There shouldn't be too many things on the list once that's done.  At least, I hope not!

Monday, February 20, 2012

Going up downs: the Capital Hill Climb Series

Simon and I do a lot of riding together, sometimes involving long drives to get to and from the trail-head.  Consequently, we talk about a lot of shit.  One of the conversations that has come up more than once over the five and a half years we've been training buddies is the notion of a hill-climb series on some of Wellington's technical trail.

I think the topic first came up when we were in Makara Peak feeding some of Simon's possums.  He maintains a series of bait stations in Nikau Valley, and we'd ridden in together to fill them, in the reverse direction to usual.  While he was hauling a big sack of bait around, I was relatively unencumbered (though still heavier than him!), and when we hit the "helicopter drop" - which is what the old-timers know as the bottom of the descent into the valley - I thought I'd see how far up I could get.  I was surprised by how much I did successfully ride, though less surprised at one step which had me flipping off the back of the bike at all three attempts.  We wondered what other techy descents might make interesting climbs.

On the drive back from our Labour Weekend cycle tour last year, we mapped out a six race series.  We deliberated for well on a couple of hours between Hawke's Bay and home, finally agreeing on which tracks we would use, and in which order.  We didn't write them down though, and a couple of months later, we were back to reinventing the wheel.

As with all new ideas, there comes a point where you're teetering on the edge of a cliff, not knowing quite whether to step back to return another day, or plunge off, hoping the parachute will do its business.  This time around, my good buddy was there to give me a gentle nudge, irreversibly setting things in motion.

It came in the form of an email to Michael Jacques, owner of the Karapoti Classic, asking him whether he'd like to donate a few Karapoti entries for a four race hill-climb series taking in Te Ahumairangi, Wright's Hill, Makara Peak and Hawkins Hill.  Mike said he'd be more than happy to give us four entries, and promptly fired an announcement out in one of his pre-Karapoti emails.  No turning back now!

In fact, I'd seen the writing was on the wall, and already had an event application in with the Park Ranger team at Wellington City Council.  A few days after Michael's email I was somewhat relieved to receive an email from Ranger Steve letting me know we were good to go, and I quickly fired off a blurb to Marco for his PNP email list, and started a thread on vorb.  I also set up a Facebook event for the first race.  I wasn't sure how to do a series of events (or a single event over multiple days), so settled for a one-off, and invited all the Wellingtonians I noticed on a blast through my "Biking" list. 

Round 1

I was a bit nervous about round 1, since I don't know the tracks on Te Ahumairangi that well, and nor did I expect the field to.  Simon was happy to take charge though, and while I was holidaying in Auckland with Kaitlyn, he scoped out a route up the hill.

I had Kaitlyn with me on the Wednesday night of the race, as well as our cousins Holly and Theo.  While Simon had been marking the course with a series of flour arrows, a la the Hash-House Harriers, we four had been on chocolate fish duty at Moore-Wilsons.  

When we piled out of the car, there were already a few riders waiting, and as we waited for Simon to appear out of the trees, more arrived. 

The logistics of the event were pretty simple:  Simon and I synchronised our watches at the bottom, and he set off first up the hill to be the time-keeper at the top.  I allocated start times to the riders that showed up, at one minute intervals, and Simon recorded their finish time at the top.  We'd hook up afterwards, whereupon I'd head home with both time-sheets and calculate race times.  Simple!  What could possibly go wrong?!  About the only contingency we considered was Simon getting beaten to the top, and while he's a bit of hill-climbing demon, we built in a buffer of a few minutes to give him "time to gather his thoughts" at the top. 

While the riders queued up, I tried to describe the course as best I could.  Basically they'd be on double-track all the way up to the ridge, whereupon they'd turn south, finishing up at the radio aerial.  The basic directions and Simon's flour markings weren't quite enough, and unfortunately we had a couple of riders venture off course. 

While I started people off, the kids sat a hundred metres or so up the course, took a few blurry photos, and hopefully gave some encouragement to the riders!


Owen, on a totally inappropriate bike!  Respect!

We had 29 starters, and one of the very last to depart, Brendan Sharratt, smoked the course in under 12 minutes.  The chocolate fish supply would live to fight another week or two, and some had made donations in lieu of an entry fee. While this had been mentioned in dispatches, it certainly wasn't compulsory. 

With the kids to look after, I'd not ridden up to the top, so on the way home we dropped into Simon's to swap gear for his time-sheet.  I decided to draw one of the four entries at each round, and so once I'd processed the results, I used my favourite statistical software to draw one of the finish places out of its electronic hat.  It spat out 12, which corresponded to Gary's placing, and I was pleased to be able to email him with the process for cashing the entry in.

By night-fall, I'd posted the results and a short blurb, and set up a Facebook event for round 2.  It was nice to have ironed out what seemed to be a successful process at our first attempt. 

Round 2

The course for the second round had been incorrectly advertised as Salvation, but I had something a little more challenging in mind, namely the tight and steep Gold Mine, followed by the slightly mellower Scout Hall, with a flight of steps to finish up on the summit of Wright's Hill.

Simon and I met after work, and rode most of the course together, Simon making flour arrows with his funky bottle mounted-on-a-stick apparatus which still slotted nicely into his bottle cage.  By the time we got to the part of the course that most needed marking, it was raining quite steadily, and we struggled to get the flour in place.  We supplemented it with a few branches across wrong turns, and hoped that people that would be sufficiently familiar with these tracks to not stray.

Jo had offered to help out, and when I arrived at the Waiapu St entrance to Gold Mine, she was standing in the rain with a small number of riders.

She drove up to the bottom of Scout Hall, and Bron took a bit of gear to the top carpark in her car.  Simon and I had stashed the chocolate fish and some dry clothes for Simon at the summit before heading down, and so we were good to go.

Anticipating the weather, I'd packed an A3 plastic envelope so was able to write start times down without my pen and paper becoming saturated.  Not so for me though, and when the last of the other starters had got going, I was wet to the skin.  I checked my watch and wrote down a time for myself, before firing my notes into my bag.  I took off my rain gear, went for a quick slash, and got myself and my bike across the bridge down by the dam, and checked my watch.

I couldn't remember what time I'd written down.  Bugger!  I fished my notes out, checked my time and fired them into my bag.  Then, I checked my watch.  It said I had one second to start!

I ran the first few hundred metres, before jumping on board and getting underway.  It was an absolute mission to try to keep on top of my heart rate and breathing, forward momentum and traction, and all the while keeping my handlebars away from encroaching trees and the bike on the track.

Approaching a bridge, I recalled skidding my rear wheel on it months earlier and falling off the bridge on the down-side.  I dismounted, and then promptly skidded over as my hard plastic soles hit the slick surface.  Next time I go up there, I hope to have some netting and staples with me!

I passed a few riders on the way up but soon was at the top, feeling a little exhausted!  The weather had eased somewhat, but wasn't at all consistent with sifting.  With no views to admire, we quickly scattered to the winds.

I'd been the last of 16 hardy souls, seven of whom were backing up from Te Ahumairangi.  Jonty Ritchie was the quickest up with the only sub-16 minute climb, but Nick Kennedy wasn't far off the pace.  These two were pretty much even Stevens after two rounds, with Nick 5 seconds quicker in total!

Round 3

The Makara Peak round was by far the most challenging to put together, but even that wasn't too much of a mission.  I had a great response to a facebook request for marshalls, and so on race evening, I was pretty confident there would be no collisions with riders coming down what are usually one-way tracks.

Jono was stationed at the top of North Face, Russell at the top of JFK, Oli at the crossing into Smokin', Nessa at the intersection of Smokin' and Ridgeline Extension, Jo at the crossing into Big Tom's Wheelie, and Karen at the bottom of Lazy Fern holding people back off the bridge just before starts from the grassy knoll at the Karori end of the car-park.  I also put some tape across the short track into the top of SWIGG just adjacent to the Lazy Fern start.  Fingers crossed for no intruders!

The course basically ran backwards along that sequence, with Starfish offering up the only technical challenges.  I warned starters about the bridge up to the two pine stumps - I figured there was probably plenty of traction, but a fall off the downside of the bridge could've had ugly consequences.  I also suggested no-one try riding up the small step down (temporarily a step up) near the top of Starfish. 

This round had the biggest field, just, with 32 starters, and our only DNF (the two wayward souls on Te Ahumairangi aside).  I saw James making his way down on foot when I was a few minutes up Starfish - he didn't say what he'd busted, but obviously something!

The course was surprisingly rideable, and for the most part was quick.  Brendan was back, and smashed the course and the field, winning by over 90 seconds from Mr Consistency, Nick, picking up his third second place!  Brendan's time was 17:12, which, interestingly would have placed him just in the bottom half of the Makara Peak Super D a few days later.  They of course were going down hill, and used Zac's at the top (while Brendan shot up the 4WD track) and Magic Carpet and Livewires instead of SWIGG and Starfish.  Still though, a remarkable gravity-defying feat from Brendan. 

As with rounds 1 and 2, I was able to give away a Karapoti entry from Michael Jacques.  Mat Wright, owner of Floyd's Cafe in Island Bay (and a Yeti SB-66 which seems to go up hills pretty damn well for a six-inch fully), kindly donated a couple of vouchers, the first of which went to Brendan (and is still sitting on my desk - the jobs of an event organiser seem to never quite end)!
Cheers for the support Mat!  Photo: Oli Brooke-White
It was nice to finally get to the top, and enjoy hanging out in the sun for a bit while some of the marshalls followed me up at a more sedate pace.  I was super-impressed by the riders who were patiently waiting for the trails to re-open so they could resume their ride.  Hopefully the chocolate fish were a decent compensation! 

Round 4

While I'd encouraged all-comers for the previous rounds, I toned down the marketing a tad for the last round.  I predicted this one would be a real bastard - an ascent of the Red Rocks Track - the Tip Track's steeper cousin, climbing Hawkins Hill from the South Coast.  It would be nice to have a climb 5 minutes longer than Makara Peak to chuck in between these in future, because it was quite a step up (pun intended).

In contrast to the cloudy conditions Simon and I had faced leaving the chocolate fish at the top, the weather on the south coast was much nicer, and as a bunch formed at the road end, we chatted away catching up on happenings over the last week.

Shortly after six, a dozen or so headed off around the coast, meeting Dave Sharpe and a couple of others who'd ridden down Red Rocks to the start and wondered where the hell everyone was!

When we got to the bottom of the track, Simon got himself organised to start (which included re-synchronising our watches, something we seemed to need to do every single week).  He gave me a start time, but by the time this rolled around, he was still up above the stream, and so I got him going from there.  We all watched as he descended the few metres to the stream, blasted through it, and disappeared around the corner. 

Given the rest of us had a bit more time to get organised, I wondered out-loud if starting from the far side of the stream was a better idea, and got no dissent.  By the time everyone realised what was going on, we all had a bit of a chuckle, and Jonny got himself and his single-speed ready to rock on the far side of the stream.

By now, people were totally used to the system, and an orderly line formed.  A minute was plenty to get across to the far side, and the starts happened without fuss.  The first 15 seconds or so were a run, and would be followed by a grovel of 30 minutes or so.  No-one seemed super urgent off the start line, which was probably just as well!

Young Ben, who was one of only four who came to all four races (Callum, Nick and Simon being the others), had an absolute shocker with his start, but finally managed to find enough traction to get himself and his bike up the bank 10 metres into the race.  I felt like calling him back to have another start, but it seemed crazy to call him back from the top of the small cliff which he'd only just managed to ascend!

True to predictions, I at least suffered like a dog on this climb.  I wasn't riding particularly well, which didn't help, and I had a bunch of dabs which normally I'd hope to avoid.  As usual, I expended far too much energy on the bottom half to have any left for the steepest pitches near the top.  I laughed at myself for having the nerve to think that "Tactical Walks", a term I'd seen in Dave Sharpe's awesome Kiwi Brevet account, was appropriate in this context.  It wasn't, as I had no choice in the matter...

The top of the track was still clagged in, and once everyone had arrived, we made tracks pretty promptly.  The ride down Barking Emu was punctuated by a bit of quite heavy rain, and I was starting to lose enthusiasm by the end of it, so rolled home via the Sanctuary Fenceline and Salvation rather than continuing down through Carparts. 

17 hardy souls had ignored my warnings!  Dave Sharpe's time of 26:29 was almost two-and-a-half minutes clear of... you guessed it... Nick!  Simon was a minute back from Nick, and the only other rider to go under 30 minutes, though Jonny had gone very close. He might have been faster wearing a pair of running shoes - it was hard to imagine a singlespeed being ridden up much of that climb.

When I got home, I got the results and spot prize draws done, and then had a chance to reflect on what I thought had been a fun wee series.

* * * * *

The races had attracted 51 people, with 95 starts, so an average of just under two rounds each. Four keeners had done all four rounds, and another eight had ridden three out of four.

Remarkably, I'd insulated myself from disappointment at the numbers, and was always pleasantly surprised to find other smiling faces at the start line.  Perhaps with the exception of Makara Peak, it all would have been worthwhile even if it was just Simon and I.  But, I'm very glad it wasn't, and it was very rewarding to see people apparently enjoying themselves (despite some physical distress).

The process was fairly simple, with the largest hurdles actually being very minor.  The WCC permit application was very streamlined, and the Park Ranger was very willing to help make it as easy as possible.  Organising marshalls was a piece of cake, due partly to an extensive facebook network, but also a thriving volunteer culture in Wellington.

I think the novelty of the events was useful, and I think the low-key nature was a good rather than bad thing.

I found putting it together rewarding and fun, and was not traumatised by it in any way - something I can't say for every event I've organised.  It was good to learn that putting an event on doesn't need to be stressful or a burden!  Of course Simon's help was a huge part of this, but also the attitudes of the riders made it a pleasure to front up each week.  Expect to see a five or six round Capital Hill Climb Series go ahead in 2013!