A Wet and Muddy Karapoti

It was Karapoti time again and after a dry month in wellie and a hard and fast track. The Akatarawa Valley didn’t disappoint with heavy rain the two days before and on race day it was no longer hard and fast.  With one of the most demanding mountain bike courses I have ridden the rain was going to add that little something special.  The slip factor after cutting my teeth in these conditions as youngster I was looking forward to the wet one.  With most of the field complaining about the wet conditions I was just thinking ‘bring it on’ as this is a mountain bike race not a road race.  With most of the Avanti Plus team been new bees to Karapoti they were all excited to get out there after hearing all the legendry stories and tales that the Karapoti has dished out over the years. 

With Karapoti known for its traditional splash and bash through the river start, and then the blast up the gorge.  Strangely this year it was like a fun ride up the tarseal which was good for me until we hit the bottle neck of the gravel gorge that seamed to hit the switch.  Elbows were out and the pace was on.  I managed to hold the lead pack of 15 or so until I lost contact a km before the warm-up climb.  Finding my own tempo up the deadwood climb and along the ridge picking up riders along the way.  I found myself just inside the top 10 with my Spark 20 handling the rock garden decent so well I got a little excited and launching off one of the rock drops and punctured my rear tire.  With a super quick fix I managed to make up the four places I had lost by the bottom of the devil staircase and catching up to Kendle as we hit the first of the muddy bog holes. I was enjoying the wet and challenging conditions. 

 Riding steady I thought maybe a top 10 was still on the cards after surviving the last big climb up dopers. Passing Big Ben Murphy before the fast decent down to find my tire squirming around underneath me at the top of the gorge.  With not enough CO2 left to inflate the second flat it was time to put the running feet on.  With the hope of a top 10 gone I was watching the minutes tick buy and the riders go past.  Still hoping I could grab myself another sub 3 hour.  Thanks to Gavin’s quick fill I managed to get the tire half inflated enough to get me to the line under three hours.  Which made it 14 sub 3hrs in total .Karapoiti is one race that will draw you back whether you have had a good one or not.  Always striving to better the perverse years efforts and find an extra minute or so or even a few seconds. Whether your at the front of the field or the back of the field everyone is battling the clock