Buller National Round 2

22/1/12

Check out the TV coverage from Buller National Round here.

The Mt Buller trails always make for some tough riding! With blue skies and temperatures in the mid 20’s, at least the conditions for this year’s National round 2 were way more favorable than last.

Friday arvo the super D was contested. I was really very nervous lining up, after learning of some hospital visits during practice. The aim for me was to be super conservative and stay upright and save the legs as much as possible for the more important XC race the following morning. I’ll admit to a few near misses on the way down with some of the water-bars kicking me up just a little too much for comfort! I also landed a little awkward on one of the jumps and punctured on the rear but had enough air to see me through and surprisingly take the win by a mere 3 seconds. We managed a Torq 1-2 with my teammate Katherine O’shea in second.

The main event of the weekend was the XC on Saturday morning. The plan for me was to pace myself even more than usual, as the Buller course is a very physically demanding one. Added to this being at a little altitude can mean one can blow-up very quickly! So, the first half a lap was conservative, and then I had an opportunity to take the lead from Jenny Fay who suffered a bit of an “off” at the start of the descent. This allowed me to form a small gap on the rest of the field, which I was able to build on throughout the race. I was super happy to get the win at Buller as I never really feel great on that course. Young Bec Henderson rode an awesome race to finish in second in her first start in the elite category. Jenny Fay, who always climbs so well, recovered from her earlier fall to finish a strong third place.

The P2P race on the Sunday was bound to be a hard one after having ridden on the limit for over 1.5hrs the day before. I stocked up on torq product, not really knowing how long the race would last. The legs felt heavy when we took off and Katherine Oshea had a decent lead over the first couple of km. The legs then started to come good and I passed a few of the girls to catch up to Kat. I then took the lead going up Stonefly and pushed really hard up the climb to get a gap. I may have pushed just a little too much as I started to experience the dreaded feelings of hunger-flat. I actually felt a little lightheaded starting on the stonefly descent and wasn’t able to enjoy this awesome trail quite to its potential. After a bit of a crash on the way down, Bec Henderson and Kat Oshea were right on me again. I took on some much needed liquid and energy gels in the hope that things would improve and 5min later my energy levels sure enough started to lift again. I guess I was a little lucky with this race as both Bec and Ketherine experienced mechanicals in the last few km’s and I was able to push through to take the 3rd stage and wrap up the overall.