3D Rotorua, Queens Birthday weekend 2013

Its hard to turn down a weekend away. This time was even more exciting as Rach was racing too. She was primed for what I had described to her as a really fun race that won't interrupt your weekend too much!

Rotorua has quite the reputation for mountain biking and we needed no further reasoning to head through the mountain bike section before the race. Good times....

Racing 3D is slightly different to your typical NZ Multisport race. Start time is at a leisurely 10:45am, support crew are optional and its only 3 hours long. Following our Wenzhou race in China I vowed to take a month of lighter duties with respect to training. This also meant that 3D would not be a race I'd focus on, but use it more for some good hard training.

As the day unfolded I was pleasantly surprised at how good I felt after much needed recovery. I wasn't up with the pace of Rich or Dougal but I felt strong and in control, rather than the fatigue that had crept in after China and Godzone. The main thing lacking was speed but with only 3 speed sessions in my build up it was no surprise.

Starting with a 9km paddle I opted to paddle a K1 and had a solid paddle. It was a competitive section of the race leaving me in 5th/6th exiting the water. Dougal and James Pretto (Aussie) were 30 secs in front with Rich a further minute in front of them. Getting onto the bike is always a challenge after a short hard slog in the boat. My legs felt cold and smashed but I soon found a rhythm climbing out of the Blue Lake and into the Whakarewarewa mountain bike park. Before long I was into a groove with no real plan other than to smash as hard as possible and see what happened. This strategy caught me back to James Pretto but left no gas in the tank to get past him so I sat on his wheel for the remaining 30minutes (apart from one small incident where I tried wearing my handlebars as underpants....not recommended!). Into TA I felt good and was soon into my stride but with 7 minutes to Dougal and Rich my race was now for 3rd. James had gapped me by 10 secs through transition and was running well maintaining the gap. It wasn't until later in the first lap that I caught and passed him.

 It all happened so easily that I may be guilty of complacency and gave him a 2nd chance without knowing it. My slight drop in pace had him chasing hard but fortunately he ran out of time. I crossed the line more than 10 minutes behind an elated Dougal but 30secs in front of James for third also keeping the Aussies off the podium....always a good thing (sorry aussies).

I had a great day and really enjoyed racing with a more relaxed view on the outcome. Despite an average of 6-7 hours training a week Rach had a fantastic race proving she can race single track and had a great time in the process.

Bring on 2014....