Glendhu Hundy Wundy 2024

 Pete & Toby created the Glendhu Hundy last year - following a simple format for 2024 - 101km at Bike Glendhu any way you like, in one day from 9-5pm.

This event had been on the back burner for months, with 5 days to go it looked like this:

Commitment 100%

Preparedness 45%

Optimism 88%

With those numbers it was only a case of making my usual gear list, finding 2 x extra batteries, race day food, managing sponsorship commitments and generally avoiding the fact that a 25 km ride once a week probably wasn't enough training.

Game plan was great- Alex said he rode every trail in the park last year, so I naturally assumed that was 100 km done. 

Not so ! only 81km...so I had to imagine another 20km on top of that.

Hmm.

Race day food - Alex was raving about Pure Race Fuel - I tried some Thursday and had a squiffy tummy all night, so of course I rolled the dice and drank 3 bottles of it on the day.......that did not bode well in the next 12 hours. Spray, wipe, repeat.

Arrived on time, faffed around then whoah ! 12 mins till kick off. Frantic me ! 

Race briefing was running late and we weren't about to be. So we gapped it ....

A 4km climb put us at Jacks (about a third of the way up the mtn) with backpacks full of food and a spare battery to swap out as necessary. 

I got my first serve of the day from Annabel when I started filling my bottles -

"We haven't got time for that, I carted 7 full bottles up the hill in my backpack! Let's go "

Managing the battery consumption was a precarious balancing act for me. All Annabel had to do was pedal her muscle bike !

Two summits gave us reasonable distance but on balance too much climbing. 

** Note OG Oakley Factory Pilots from 1987**

Throughout the day we hardly saw anyone which was surprising / not surprising and the few times we exchanged pleasantries we were behind by a few kms.  

After 4 hours or so we'd chipped out 50 km and I'm ready for lunch, but it wasn't a sit down all you can eat affair; more fill your bottles on the fly, stuff your pockets with gels and bars and get moving with half a ham and cheese sandwich in your hand. 

Annabel was like a Swiss clock on a Swiss train running on time.. So we promptly departed.......

My phone dies at this point, so worry that Strava wouldn't know about the ride starts to set in...

We kind of settled into a routine of a figure 8 with easy climbing, flat out descending, more climbing, descending and the long climb back to Jacks to do it all over again.

With my second battery just about done Annabel showed Alex, Toby & Henry she was a force to be reckoned on the downhills - leaving me in their dust.

Pete chipped out 75km and had to deal with a medical emergency in the other Island, so his day was done; but had just started.

This was a bit of a bummer, with little I could do with low power from the battery and me...but it was hardly a dark patch.

Rallying back at Jacks the lads stopped again and we smashed another downhill back to Base to collect my third battery.

We had 10 km to go but Joe, Carl & Dave were already done for the day. Solid effort lads.

Up the hill again to grab our backpacks followed by a quick decision on our last trail which was overturned not by me which meant we had to do more uphill lest we come up short. 

Then it was done !

102km in the bag and high fives all round. Not the fastest, not the slowest, friends at the start and the end, no crashes or mechanicals.

I call it a great success.

B Social hosted the very low key prizegiving while the smack talk flowed. Toby had spent $5 on prizes and we were stoked to take out the best team award and joy of joys - Dumb & Dumber on dvd for our efforts !

Most immediate thoughts are that this event was about as tough as the Whaka 100 which in my world is currently beyond me, but somehow I thought this would be a cake walk as at least I was on my ebike. 

Full credit to Annabel on many levels for spending all day riding with me - jeez we have only ridden together a couple of times previously. Plus she rode her Amish bike at talking pace uphill and unleashed warp-speed on the downs. And her snacks were 101% better than mine. Especially the fruit cake.

I'll be reflecting on this for a while and hopefully it continues to fuel the enthusiasm through the oncoming winter. 

Stats:

Food: muesli and coffee for breakfast. On the bike - 2 Gels, 1 Ems powerbar, 3 bottles of what I hoped would be the magic powder but turned out to be a shit show in the following 24 hours, 

2 bottles of water, 1 ham cheese and onion sammie. Recovery food: another HCO sammie, couple of bevvies, fried rice for din dins. more water, much more water...

Distance 102km, moving time 7.04, total time 7.5 hrs, elevation gained 2678 metres, average speed 14.5 km

Tekapo 10hr MTB race - Solo March 11, 2017

3,2,1 GO !

Off we went, I was towards the back - riding all day I figured there was no rush.

The gravel road then proceeded straight up the hill, I figured it would catch a few people out.

Shit ! Kid falling over in front of me, under my front wheel he goes.

Pulled hard on the brakes, avoiding his helmet with my chainrings.

You OK kid ? Yep.

Off I go again.

First lap it was drizzling, just like the last one.

Stopped after lap two and put on knee warmers.

Happier now.

A slightly shorter lap than last year;  they took out an extra pinch that was killer on the single speed...

At least I had gears this time.

So, a lap was taking me about 35 mins and I wasn't rushing things this early on.

"start slow, try to get slower"

After 3 hours and about 5 laps I was bored and hungry for some proper food.

After another lap or two I pulled into the pits and went in search of some chow, and a couple of coffees.

Kerri slipped past me at this point and put a lap into me.

This wouldn't be a good outcome if she beat me.

I'd never live it down.

A few more laps I caught her up and we rode together for pretty much the rest of the day.

She wanted to go faster, I said slow down or you'll fry yourself like an egg.

With the laps being only 6 km we were clocking them up quickly, but it felt like we were getting nowhere.

Oh, yeah. My food choice was appalling.

Gels, Perpetuem mixed weakly and Chomps.

There was pizza, but I've learnt not to go crazy on that stuff....

Starting at 9 meant a 7pm finish, which couldn't come soon enough.

I was done.

Kerri won the Ladies, so we hung around for prize giving.

She did 22 Laps.

Me 21.

Oh dear.

On the plus side, I can't believe how clean I was at the finish.

Am I enthused about doing it next year ?

Not at this stage. Needs longer laps.

Contact Epic 95km April 13 2016

Epic 2013 was just that.
Epic 2014 came to a crushing halt 12 hours before the start - thanks to the 48 hour flu
Epic 2015 I was a roving mechanic...jumped in the truck and drank beers with 20km to go...so only really did about 70km.

Epic 2016 - hello my old friend - and hello my new friend Kerri, who was having her first crack at it.
I was trying to be helpful with useful advice:

You might want a vest with pockets for easy access to your food
- Why would I ride in a vest ?

What cycle jersey are you racing in ?
- why would I wear one of those horrible things - they're like, not even merino

Are you riding in knee warmers ? I am - they're really good.
- I don't own any, I'll wear tights instead
That might be too much
- I'll wear shorts then
That might not be enough, you can easily take knee warmers off if need be.
She borrowed knee warmers and they were great. Phew.

Can you change a puncture ?

- Why don't we ride together

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mops took us to the start with John-Jo and Whitney in tow.
"Hey Whitney can you reach over the back and grab me a gel - I need to keep to my food plan"
- sorry Mops I get car sick said Whitney
Kerri reaches over - Mops is happy, outside it was still dark, inside the car it suddenly was too.

The 95km people had started and I was still getting dressed after a last minute trip to the loo.
Kerri is panicking - I am not.
We start passing riders before the first hill. They might have passed us back as I tuned Kerri's gears.
No matter, we roll along it's all good.
No rush, it's a big day.
Dougal and James ( 2nd & 1st podium) pass us before Boundary Hut - holy shit they are flying or we are not.
The turn approaches - some Muppet jumps the fence and cops a torrent of abuse. Wanker.

The river was wet, but at least it was a tail wind home this year..
Green bush hut pit stop sucked up too much time, but no matter, we were just cruising with no agenda in mind.
Or so I thought...
"Richard, do you think you could go faster on the downhills? I'm having to ride my brakes a lot"
- FFS I'm on a freaking hardtail and I just passed a guy in a dry river bed - I'm pretty much on the limit here (Kerri s on a 27.5 dualie)
So I gave her That look - yes that look and rode up the next hill and like that she was gone burger.
Nina McVicar was there instead, so we shared 24 solo stories then I dumped her on a techie uphill too.
My God, I was on fire.
Mental problem though - I said I'd ride with Kerri all day...but she was OTA.
I had half the tool kit and she had the other half.
Maybe I'd just ride till I exploded and wait for her at the Dingle scone stop.
Like heck - I was still in front of Nina, I wasn't stopping for nothing.
Descending around the Bluffs I did think that if I got a puncture I was royally screwed and if Kerri got a puncture - well much the same.
Nina passed me as I rode ( yes, I rode all of it ) up Timaru Creek...her 1x11 was like a f'd chainsaw.... my 3 x 10 was mint as bro.
I leapfrogged a few riders down towards Johns Creek then unleashed a big ol' can of Whupass.
Well until the headwind hit me like a ton of bricks.
No matter - not far now.
Crossed the line in just under 6 hours and sweated the remaining 40 odd minutes until Kerri rolled in puncture and mechanical free.
High fives all round - what a day.
A first for her and redemption for me.
Home for a shower, food, a wee kip and then back for prize giving....won nothing.
But I got my knee warmers back, don't you worry about that.

Naseby 12 hr mtb March 2016

Naseby last year was an unknown attempt at solo, riding one gear for 12 hours.

This year, I was all over it - handing out advice to first timers like jelly beans.

My nonchalant attitude wouldn't let me down on the day - I had a check list !

Accomodation - sorted.
Crappy nights sleep - check.

Helper on race day - sorted
Ok, I didn't have this as sorted as last year.

Bikes x 2 - sorted
I only rode one all day.

Game Plan - optimistic
Less organised than last year, but good at crisis management.

Sign on was the night before, so that was done.
Morning arrived not soon enough - I snore like a lumberjack and sharing a room basically means I don't sleep.
Oh well.

After racing the 24 hour Solo Worlds in Rotorua in Feb, I considered myself a bit of an expert so had two bikes this year. 
But one number plate. 
A bit of pissing around and misappropriation had me numbered up and ready to roll.

The first few laps were like having the flu standing in a puddle: congested and wet underfoot.

A recently logged section had queues of riders stacked up waiting.
They stressed out;  I waited my turn, cleaned the ups and downs and got on with my thing.

On the second lap I thought my shoes felt a bit roomy and realised I hadn't put in my orthotics. Pondering if I should carry on and what would be the long term implications of this I pulled in, undid the laces ( so hip right now, but jeez they ain't fast ) found my inner soles and rejoined the masses.

The laps passed me by, as did my realization of how good I had it last year with Trudy feeding myself and Matt Corbett...
This year I had a loose arrangement with Kristal ( looking after Gavin Mason's team) and Doug E Fresh ( looking after John Mezger ).
Unfortunately the food didn't really flow into my pockets in quite the right rhythm so a bit of extra time was spent fluffing around in the pits.
Otherwise everything was about the same as least year - lap times, weather, the course, the constant round and round, eat, drink, pee, repeat.
I couldn't be happier - stuck to the plan: start slow and aim to get slower, I walked the same hills again, a few yelled words of encouragement from old and new friends around the pits as you pass by.
Bike was running perfectly - much better than Rotorua where we shagged around changing my gear ratio and tires trying to tame those nasty tree roots. Naseby is a great course for a single speed if ever there was one.

Later in the day I waited for Kerri to roll past so we could ride together for a while - I'd talked her into going solo and felt somewhat responsible.
"How's your day going then ?"
She'd crashed into the water race, had a bit of faff time in the pits, but seemed to be enjoying herself. I think we did a couple of laps together then she crashed hard down the Cat Puncher which I didn't know about as I was in front and had my own schedule to keep.......

Around 6ish it was time for tea, lights and a change of clothes.
4 more laps should do the trick.

9.38pm rolls around as I cross the line; so that's me done for the day. 
14 Laps, 168km and third on the Vet Mens Single Speed podium.
Same as last year, but running one gear smaller. Go figure.
Pack everything up then back for another uncomfortable nights sleep.
Sunday I had the company of Kerri on the way home and that was the start of a whole new adventure..............


Oh, Cheers to Matt Corbett Photgraphy for the snaps.

Tekapo 10 Hour 31 Jan 2016

Last year, we raced this excellent course as a 4 person team.
And we came away with the win in the vets grade + 3rd overall.
I've never been so dusty.

This year, in preparation of bigger things; I solo'd it.

My good friend Peter Page also rode solo, but with gears, so that was the soft option.

Tekapo is about halfway between Christchurch and Wanaka, so an easy drive for both of us.

After an ok sleep in the local campground, we had a cruise down to the start for a 9am kick off.
Unlike John Mezger who woke up late in Wanaka and was turning an easy 3 hour drive into a frantic 2.5 hour pre race-race against the clock.

I had two bikes for the day - the Chinese Mystery hardtail with gears and Hard Eddie; set up all single speed.

4 laps on the geared bike to get things rolling was all good, then I thought it wise to swap to the single speed.

Well - what an eye opener that was.
The handlebars sucked - Salsa bend 2's....actually they're great probably for bike packing, but the stem was too long to race on.
After a couple more laps I decided the wheels needed a swap around so off came the gears, on went the single sprocket and back out I went some 30 mins later.
I know it was a slow pit stop as Peter passed me twice and commented accordingly.

He was lapping it up on his Pivot dualie 29er  running 27.5+ wheels. 
What an over achiever.
John Mezger was killing it on his Epic.

I swapped bikes for the later part of the day to bring it on home - it seems a 10 hour that started at 9 finishes at 7pm, not 5 pm ( thanks for sorting that out for me Pete ) so the last couple of hours was a bit of a struggle.

The results say I chopped 18 laps at an average of 32 mins and a total of 127 km.

With the racing done I headed back to the motorcamp for a shower.
I wasn't staying the night, so had to be a bit stealth....
Parked up next to a tent site, hit the showers to find I left my wallet in the car - required as showers were pay first.
Got dressed, head back to car.
Ok, now have wallet and ready to shower..........
No change in wallet.
Got dressed, drove down to office, get small change.
Park up, hit the showers, put money in meter and finally have shower.
Phew.
Thereafter I arrived in my driveway, not really recalling many details of the drive back.

An excellent weekend and a great chance to iron things out prior to the 24 solo worlds in Rotorua the following month.

Naseby 12 hour, April 2015

Matt Corbett is mostly responsible for the years installment of the Naseby 12 hour mtb race.

Whilst selling the solo idea to me, he said you do more laps than in a team, and at a slower pace.

So, I signed up.

Then Matt asked if I'd entered singlespeed ?
Not on your life I replied.
So I changed my grade to singlespeed after Matt again gave me his snake oil answer.

I'd recently smashed my previous time at Karapoti and the bike was still a mess, so I thought it quite smart to remove all the dirty parts and worry about them next summer.

Trying to find the magic gear and a chain tensioner that didn't slip was nigh on impossible, but I nailed it with a half link and a fat 1/8th pitch chain - and no tensioner.

I was in a post Club Road Champs slump after been dropped 5 km into the 100 km race so wasn't really enthused about road biking.

Mr Corbett was up in Wanaka a few times before the Naseby race; on wedding organisational duty so we did a few laps of Deans Bank and Luggate.

Easter Friday we knocked out 70 km in 4 hours on the singlespeeds which impressed the heck out of me - that's a long way with one gear in my world.

So, with a week to go - my riding was back online, the bike was sorted and of course I had a to do list as long as my arm.

There was just the small matter of what to eat for 12 hours and trying to stay away from the pub in the last 24 hours.

Sausage Rolls looked promising, but on advice from Gavin Mason they were dropped for pre cooked Cheerios.
And Pizza, bananas, gels, and the usual water and electrolytes in the bottles.

Managed to get to bed with only 3 beers or slow release carbohydrate drinks under my belt and dreamt of the unknown day ahead.

Race day weather was chilly in the morning, dry and not a snowflake to be seen.

My first lap was slow, I thought I was the only person around me with clip in pedals.

It was soul destroying compared to other years riding on the red line, served up with a side of vomit: in a team.

I can't remember if I stopped on the 2nd lap or not, but when I did call into the pits for food and drinks Trudy just piled the food into my back pockets, swapped empty bottles for full ones and I was off again.

I'd like to say I tore out of the campground and up the first hill like a bat out of hell, but I didn't.
I walked it.

And cruised around the water race like I was holding an ice cream.

The plan was going perfectly, in that I didn't have a plan, so it couldn't fail.

Early on 3rd lap it was action stations - slipping seatpost alert.
Like a knight in shining armour who should arrive ?
Marc Sharman, my usual partner in crime, who said he was really flying and couldn't stay and help.

So, that's how it was then.
I enter solo one time and that's it.
All those fun times in a team with Marc and like that, if was over.

I did my best to ignore Marc throughout the day when he tried to engage me in idle chat after that sideswipe.

A lightning pit stop, bottles, food and a seat post change over.
Boom, I walked out of the campground eating my peeled banana up the hill this time.
Things were looking up.

Righto
My food choice was good, the packaging not so good.
Everything was in one pocket.
Pizza, cheerios, peeled banana, jelly beans, muesli bar: all together.

Next lap, I'd inform the crew chief and we'd do better.

Although riding solo, I found a lot of other folks to talk to - who like me, weren't in a rush and were in for the long haul.

I'd been chatting with Cam Mchardy for a while, but didn't recognise him again after he stopped for a pee.
Great, three laps in and I'm losing it already.
Only 10.5 hours to go.


Lots of stuff was happening, but mainly plodding along trying not to break a sweat and remembering  to eat and drink everything each lap.

Next pit stop:  Trudy said Matt was dicing for 2nd or 3rd place !
Holy crap, it was on in the Corbett camp.
He had unleashed his can of whip ass early on against a young guy riding a rigid single speed with taped up wrists ;-like a boxer.

Myself, I had nothing like that to report, except smoking a few riders on the downhills while they then passed me back on the up hills.

Maths not being my strong point my 50 minute laps had my brain working overtime figuring out power output, lactate thresholds, rpm, tire wear, calorific intake, liquid exit strategy, and how many times I would make it around now I had completed 6 laps in 5 hours.

Normally 6 laps takes all day and a chunk of the night and here I was mid afternoon and I could have called it a day and still be further ahead.

The Wednesday Night crew from Dunners were in full flight and not far off cracking into the beers, they were taunting me.

I soldiered on with a quick stop to don vest, arm and knee warmers now the sun was getting low.

Round and round we go.

Having a Solo Rider yellow tag hanging under your seat tells other riders you are mental and have no friends, so they offer encouragement as they fly past.
"You suck loser "
"God you're slow "

Then they see you have only one gear.
You might as well be in a wheelchair and have a sign saying you have the plague.

Except Jess Simson who not only recognised me but said I was going great.

Anyways, around 530 I met Matt out on the course as I was walking up Ramp Road.
"How's it going ? "
- "First time I've walked this bloody hill all day - and you ? "
"Mate, I've been walking it all day! "
- "I'm pulling the pin after this lap, my knees are shot"
"Bugger, oh well maybe there was something in that woosie small gear I've run all day and all those hills I've walked up ? "

6pm
Matt Corbett pulls the pin, Rick Woodward has a full change of gear, lights on.
3 course dinner: soup, lasagne, stewed apple.
20 mins and we're off again.
Some would say that was slow, but I'd been slow all day - who cares !

Another 2 laps pas by, a 3 minute pit stop to change batteries and refuel.

I'd clocked up 12 laps !
And worse than that I was 3rd singlespeed overall.

Podium only goes to 3rd.

Mental arithmetic overload: 50 minute laps, 2 hours to go.
I could just stop now and suffer the humiliation from my peers for the next 12 months or plod along and prey for a mechanical.

Made it in with ample time to spare.

Suffice to say I felt pretty stoked standing on stage.

This one wasn't a medal for turning up, I'd actually done something quite well, for many hours.

Earned it you could say.

Man I was fucked the next day and the next and the next.

And then by Wednesday my heart rate was back to normal.

24 solo anyone ?

Mountainbiking finally resumes in 2014

Last April, I rode around Lake Hawea on my dualie 29er.
Then it had one more ride before Alex (our summer intern from FOX) went home in May.
Then it got stripped back to a skeleton and had the suspension bearings replaced.
9 months later I had finished and came upon the next hurdle of which bike to raid back for parts....
Carbon hardtail or Bike Packing bike ?
- Might still fit in one more camping adventure if the weather plays nicely.
- Carbon hardtail has an internal brake hose - be good to leave it in place.
Pondering that issue I then got a call from a friend who was stuck for time to have his shock serviced before taking off on the Godzone adventure race.
So I did the good thing and lent him my shock.
Which prompted Marty to clean his frame properly and found it had cracks.
Which cracked him.
Then his replacement frame arrived and it was too small, which cracked him further.
- I hope it works out for him.

Maybe my frame will be reunited with it's shock by end of the week and I can find another Juicy 3/5 rear brake ??

I'm planning on riding around Lake Hawea again, so best I get it rolling shortly.

www.rabbitridge.co.nz has been running a 5 race XC series this summer - so far I've number 2 & 4
The clusterfuck I mentioned in my previous post joined me for both.
A loose bottom bracket prior to the start had me using a cone spanner to tighten the end cap on the cranks.

The course was 4 laps, about 30 mins each.

When Jim Hawkridge says he might need another couple of gels on the start line you know it's going to be a toughie.
And it didn't disappoint - sweet place to race.

In between races I stripped down the bottom bracket but didn't test ride it.

Muppet.
So I had to use the cone spanner again, seating the seals properly this time.

Sign on guy: Steve, said put your number on the front of your riding top - I might have said I wasn't running a marathon and would put it on my handlebars: thanks.
Funny thing, got a flat tire on the start line and was then lent a bike.
Lost a few minutes swapping that pesky number over.
Ha ha.

A different course this time - fireroad climb, sweet single track with swoopy downhill berms for the first part.
Got passed by a girl on a 26"dualie on the uphills then realised I was kinda thirsty - my drink bottle back at the start on my bike.
Bugger, better peg it back a notch lest I expire.
A bottle of bright blue Powerade materialised track side.

I grabbed the front brake so hard I nearly flew over the bars !
Now back on track and sucking someone else's bottle of blue germs, but really did I care ?

Fiona was back in front and the course was getting shorter.
Smoked her by the bottom of the dual slalom and then past dayglo shoes guy in the last corner.
A hollow victory if ever there was one, but I now lead the points table for Vet Mens Long Course.
One race left and I could win a drink bottle or a tube.
Here's hoping.