Parapara Peak

Within 24 hours of arriving in Takaka for our Christmas holiday with Tom's family, I ask my brother-in-law Joe, if there are any trig beacons nearby.  He's a DOC ranger and well qualified to send me the way of a nice trig I could pick up on a short run.  He looks out the lounge window at this mountain range providing a towering vista, and says "There's Parapara."

And, instead of explaining that I was thinking more of a 5-10km trail run, I'm immediately captivated and nothing but the best (highest/hardest) will do.  I think I possibly need counselling for this obsessive trait.

Anyway, the grandparents offer to look after the kids, and we leave early morning nearly a week later.  I don't want to leave the kids for too long on our family holiday, so we figure by leaving before they wake up, we gain a bit of time.

We carefully rock hop the first creek, having planned to keep our feet dry and in good condition for a full days walk ahead.  Within five minutes of that, my socks are drenched from the long grass we're walking through.

The track to Parapara peak is not really advertised, DOC do some maintenance but not a lot, it's generally a walk for locals and the experienced.

We walk up this creek bed which has huge slips and blockages from recent storms.  At one stage we have to balance across a tree trunk resting.

 The first HOURS are up.  Straight up.  Sometimes we're pushing with our hands on our knees, at other times we're pulling ourselves on tree branches.  I'm sick of going up, but I'm also realising that this is SO steep, it's going to be just as hard to come down. 

My lunch box.  The boys carried all the water and proper food.  I was trying to slow them down with heavy packs, but had to make sure I could survive in the wilderness if we got separated.  

Eventually we make it to the top for our hard earned lunch.

But the trig station is all the way over............. there - leading to another walk!

A chance to air my soggy feet at the top, hoping the clouds will clear.  Got some snatches of a brilliant view, will have to return for the full 360.

The walk back down was a killer.  I was pushing the pace a little, anxious to get back to the kids.  You know that incessant pounding of your quads, where each step you are dropping, gravity assisted, but then your muscles have to contract to stop you??  Repeat a million times.  On some of the gentler slopes I was jogging, which may seem mad, but actually stretching out my muscles felt blissful.  I got to the stage where my legs were visibly shaking when we stopped for a rest.  Oh the pain.  It was nearly as bad as it got two days later when my legs were still screaming at me!  :)









1300m gain.  AND loss.  :) 

Birthday Bliss

My birthday present this year was a complete surprise!  Masterminded by my husband, with childcare duties by Mum, we headed to Rotorua on Monday afternoon.  We had a lovely swim in Blue Lake before checking into our hotel.  Or it would have been lovely, if Tom the gimpy swimmer, hadn't completely kicked my ass and dropped me.  I do realise, this was a social swim, not a race, but it was still a marked difference from a year ago when I laughed when he hopped in the pool. 

He's spent the last four months, up at 5am twice a week, in an ex-olympian's swim squad.  He's swum through the embarrassment, the pain, the breathlessness, and this week, he swam right past me.  I'm incredibly proud of him............  but it was the ONLY thing I can do better than him and now I'M the gimpy swimmer.  :/

Anyway, Tuesday morning we head off to the Redwoods together.  Together.  For parents of two small children, we manage to squeeze an awful lot of training and fun in, both with the kids and each on our own.  But, together??  Is very rare. 

Today I start my 12 month goal, of riding all the (non expert) trails in the Redwoods.  I can tick off:

A-Trail
Be Rude Not 2
Dragon Tail
Bunny Jugs
Bunny Jugs 2
Lion Trail
Tokorangi
Exit Trail


Not a bad bag for the first session out. 

Moment of the day:  Following Tom through a little technical bit of the A-Trail that's got some unfortunate ruts lately, and he calls back "Woah, get off for that bit".  Having ridden it within the last couple of weeks, I back myself and head through quite happily.  He stops and looks at me and says "You're quite a good rider you know."  I'll hold that little bit close for a while.  :)

Merry Christmas everyone! 

Things I've Learned at Summer Series MTB Racing

1. Teenage boys and young men cycle faster than the speed of light.
2.  Tweenage boys sprint beautifully for the first km of a race.
3.  Above tweenage boys are not able to manipulate a gear change under pressure, and generally hit the first hill, get chain suck, fall off, and hold everyone behind them up.
4.  It is good strategy to hit the first single track ahead of cyclists #3.
5.  Cyclists #3 tend to be faster downhill riders than old ladies by myself and will generally catch you on these sections and sit right on your rear wheel with their derailleurs clanging Jingle Bells.
6.  DO NOT BE TEMPTED to show courtesy and make space for them to pass, as within one kilometre, one will fall off and one will slip his chain.  See #3 above.
7.  This must not be confused with cyclists #1 above who will generally LAP old ladies in short lap races.
8.  Being lapped by #1 is no great embarrassment.  Get lapped twice and I reckon you have to cycle home rather than take the walk of shame through the car park.
9.  In this completely un-marshalled, and un-marked race, it is important to know that CONES ARE OUT.  A cone on a trail means "don't go this way", rather than "follow me" as it does in every other competitive sporting event internationally.
10.  Do not presume that seeing as you'll be near the back of the pack, you'll just be able to follow other cyclists around the unmarked and unmarshalled course.  You may be SO FAR behind the next cyclist, you can't see where they go.  

The ride.... and the plan for 2014

Try as I might, I couldn't find a friend to come riding in the Redwoods with me this week.  Actually, now I read that first sentence - is it that no one wants to ride with ME?  Surely not, it was the Redwoods on offer, that would far outweigh any negatives that being in my company might bring.

So, I was Nigel No Mates, heading to Green Lake on my own.  Green Lake, because I wanted to try out the Xterra MTB course, and that's where I thought it starts.  But it turns out, it starts at Blue Lake, and I couldn't even get to Green Lake on the closed logging road, so I drove all the way back to Blue Lake, which I'd passed nearly half an hour ago.  Let's not dwell on this either.

We are so fortunate to have so many Redwoods trails which are nearly better with a little rain.  I didn't see another rider all day, probably a combination of the rain, the outback trails which I stuck to, and the fact I did a lot of hill climbing.  But even the climbs were peaceful today, in that lovely, newly cleansed forest way.  A small wallaby was about the only other mammal I came across.

I rode all of Billy T, an intermediate/advanced track, without putting my feet down.  The last time I rode it, (some months ago) was two days after I badly broke my finger and had done some home doctoring, taping it to an ice block stick.  As a result, I could hold the handlebar, or I could apply the brakes, but I couldn't do both at once with that hand.  Billy T has some rooty sections, and I learned just how much you need both hands to be properly balanced.  What resulted was some very awkward sections with one foot out of my clips, and Clare growling me for this horrendous technique which I despise in others.  When MTBing, I firmly believe that you either commit, or get off.  Turns out I'm not much good at practising what I preach.  I canned off, which I also don't believe in doing, and am only just getting my confidence back now.

Anyway, this week, Billy T, in the rain, on my own, with no feet down, rode it all the way.  It wasn't always pretty, and my Garmin shows I actually had a higher speed on the way up Frontal Lobotomy, but it's still a big psychological hurdle for me.  Bonus.

After another decent hill climb, I'm heading down Split Enz.  This trail is gold.  Sweeping berms, great speed, natural lines.  One of those trails that a rider of any ability feels like they're flying on.  I realise that my cheeks are actually hurting, a result of the beaming grin I didn't even realise I had.

I love Mountain biking.  It's my favourite thing at the moment.  So, my big bucket list for next year.... the big reveal.......

To ride all the (non-expert) trails in the Redwoods.


That's going to be so much fun. 

Summer Series

I'm riding the Summer Series.  Monday night MTB racing at Summerhill, throughout the summer.  I'm not too sure how this happened?  I thought it would be a good idea to push myself seeing as I'm naturally lazy and don't like to feel tired.  I thought it might make me ride a couple of those tricky corners that my lack of confidence lately has seen me doing the Nana walk on.  I thought I'd just turn up, see what they were doing, and maybe ride on a different trail instead.  Nek Minnit, I've paid my $5, got a race number and I'm sitting on the imaginary start line.  Me, three other women, a teenage girl, and fifty-something testosterone filled MTBers of varying ability, all gunning for the first single track.  Holy Shit. 

Four minutes later, I realise that I actually have jelly legs, from pure adrenaline, or possibly the shock of the mass start.  I've already ridden over a stile I normally dismount for, having to time perfectly my pedal or get it stuck in the slatted wood.  I've ridden that first horrendous corner, which is bricked (I guess for traction as it's so steep and about 150 degrees, but it just seems like a brain killer to me).  Normally I'm scared just walking that.  I'm near the back of the pack, but have managed to stick amongst the other women, and have not suffered the embarrassment of being outsprinted by a ten year old. 

I missed the first two races, but have been first woman in races 3-5.  Please remember I mentioned there were only three women the first week, and that was actually the best female turn out I've seen.  And now I am the official 'series leader'.  This is quite momentous, and I must pop over to the website for a screen shot to record this moment forever.  Here it is:




I AM working harder than I do in solo training, and I AM riding bits I don't really want to.  But I'm still not really sure I like it....