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| Photo by Mike Moloney More at Google Photos |
Placing Number Name Laps Overall Placing
1 Alex Revell 13 1
2 Tim Wilding 13 2
3 Ken Feist 12 4
4 Martin van Barneveld 12 5
5 Gary Moller 12 6
Third overall was Kim Hamer-Hurst who is going like a rocket, finishing 2 laps ahead of the next woman - wow! While I had her in my sights for half the race, she steadily pulled away towards the end. She rides a CX bike so well. She is the NZ champion in the making I reckon. She will hard to beat.
I am over the moon with how I am riding with my 59th birthday just a few months away. There is still more gas in the tank. I have never stopped exercising since age 14 and peaked, as all good athletes do, in my late 20's. From 30 it was a steady decline in performance with each birthday. By 50 years, I had as good as given most competitive sport away because I was slow and it hurt. For the last 5 years, however, this process of decline has been reversed and I have knocked at least 20 minutes off what used to take 2 hours on a bike. How have I done this? Its all laid out in black and white here: http://blog.garymoller.com/2011/07/more-about-reversing-cardiovascular.html
In last weekend's race I am pretty sure I was the first mountain bike across the line this time and might have lapped the next 40 year old - not sure about that. While some may argue that a mountain bike has some advantages, such as improved traction on the mud, much of this is negated by the extra weight of the bike and general extra drag of the tyres. I noticed that I really lose out badly when it comes to acceleration out of corners, hill climbing, straight line speed, running over the jumps and carrying the bike up slopes.
Cyclo cross has to be the safest form of bike racing yet. If you want to test your fitness and skills out in a safe environment, give it a go. Start with the easier 30 minute race. They even have races for the kids!
More information here: http://wgtncx.org/
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