25th Feburary 2017, Ray Skinners, The Forgotten Farm, 222A Peach Hill Rd, Ramarama
I stayed with Paul’s parents on Friday night. Mum and dad, on their way to the Whangamata Enduro, dropped me off at the Richardsons new house. On Saturday morning Brett kindly dropped me off at Ray Skinners. It was the same venue as last years Auckland round. I was excited because it was my first time time riding Intermediate A. Yellow is a significant step up from Green. Daniel Herbert and Jason Day have also moved up to Yellow this year.
The sections weren’t particularly daunting but there were just too many obstacles strung together. Any one obstacle was doable but I just couldn’t transition from one part of the section to the other as easily as I needed to. It quickly became a struggle and my lack of fitness started to tell. By the last section of the day I was so tired that I couldn’t even hold on to the bike going up a hill and I fell off when I should have had an easy three.
I did have one moment of glory when I cleaned section two on the first round. It was my only clean over the weekend.
My favourite section was six even though I never completed it. It was easily the hardest section for me. The first part went over some rocks and up a couple of banks. It was tricky but I always managed to get through this with a few dabs. The last hard part of the section was a treacherously greasy bank, only a couple of meters high, that I should have been able to easily get up with a bit of a run-up. Unfortunately, between me and that steep and slippery bank, there was a bike length or more of small boulders. I just couldn’t do it. By the time I got to the base of the bank I was at a standstill. The last time I rode it (lap 3) I gave it a really good go with lots of throttle and a bit of clutch and almost made it to the top. I had my front wheel over but just didn’t get my feet down quickly enough to enable me to push the rest of the way. This is exactly the type of section that I’d like to practice on. I would like to think that, given another go, I might have made it.
I came last. But at least I finished. One more five and I would not have scored any points in the VCS classes (Womens, and Junior). Gabrielle and I both received time penalties and I was pretty happy to finish just 12 points behind her. Without time penalties it would have only been an eight point deficit.
It was a hard day but I enjoyed it.