Here's the latest in the life of this full time athlete... www.lisamorgan.blog.com

Racing starts when the plane takes off tomorrow night

Nice one Lisa - good luck for this weekend!!!!!!!!!!

(And good to hear Sa & Tempo are getting on ok )

Best of luck Lisa!!

Good morning Christchurch! A pity I couldn't be welcomed with better weather... after leaving the 30+ temperatures in the Hutt yesterday I was subjected to slightly cooler conditions in Wellington thanks to the blustery wind. By the time we landed on the mainland it was 15 degrees thanks to a southerly. It's still rather cool this morning and it's all wet!

No doubt the course could use the moisture so that's all good. It seems like every time I ride the Blur lately it gets filthy. Fortunately I've found an amazing product that gets ano-black looking like new again - Pedros bike lust. It smells really nice too

I'll be putting the bike together soon, having some lunch then heading out to the course for a few laps.

I'm staying with Michelle and Slim - the place is great (even though I still don't really know where I am) and the facilities in the garage are superb. I've been left with 2 maps and written directions for getting out of town so with any luck I won't get too lost

We organised the rain for today so the dust would be damped down for Sunday

Well it turned out the rain had barely hit out on the course. The dirt is bone dry and the only evidence of any wet stuff was droplets on the grass, which I kept thinking was from the overnight dew until I remembered it was 3 o'clock in the afternoon (it's all so different!).

The course is super demanding. I'm hoping that the grass sections will bed down somewhat today with people riding the course because they were nasty yesterday - like riding with the brakes on (brakes are bedded in and mint Scotty )

It's still an awesome course though. Having never ridden multiple laps at race pace I'm hoping not to get tripped up on a lot of the sections that could get nasty with fatigue setting in - and that's just on the climbs! Tight climbing switchbacks, steep pinches. I'm comfortable with the down hills and hoping to get a bit more flow on today. I really do notice the need to settle in, get my eye in and start to feel the flow over a couple of days on the dirt these days. But it's all changing around now anyway - most days on the dirt

I'm going to head out and ride a couple more laps later to get things really dialled in, then prep the bike (and me) and fill in time til the race!

Sounds like fun, have a great race Lisa.

wgtngrl wrote: I'm going to head out and ride a couple more laps later to get things really dialled in, then prep the bike (and me) and fill in time til the race!

You were looking awesome on the technical downhill sections. You'll be fine. The women's race is going to be super hot!

Go get em Lisa!

Full report (from my blog):

Sunday arrived - time to go and exorcise some demons!

I had a few objectives for this race. It was my first 2pm race, so I wanted to make sure I got my fuelling right. I had to eat just enough and at the right time. Too early and I'd feel hungry and underfuelled during the race, too late and, well, I'm sure you can imagine the worst case scenario. So I'm pleased to report it seems I got it just right. Second was hydration, particularly in the heat with some of the recent problems I've had. But again I seemed to have it just right (and big thanks to Karen for feeding me too). Another goal was to complete the race feeling like I'd given it everything, including no crashes and not getting lapped. Another goal accomplished. And finally, to achieve a mental state where I retained focus for the whole race - a slowly deflating rear tyre in the last lap and a half affected that slightly, but for the most part I achieved that too.

The start went well. I hadn't really known what to expect. In the past in small fields like that I've known I'd take the lead or close to it pretty quickly, but I'm up with the big girls now and every now and then I'd have a thought that I was going to be blown away and left looking like I'd dropped my chain while they all pedalled away in big chain ring half way down the block up a steep climb! But I managed to hold my own in the start, even getting ahead of Bob (the eventual winner) for about 40 seconds :o)

I'd already dropped to the back by the top of the start climb, but was right on the tail of the group as we hit the first pinch which saw 2 or 3 riders off. I managed to hold my balance and get in front of Fiona while she was getting back on, but she got past me again soon after. Up the next short grassy section I fell back again but made up some time on the first downhill and after the short climb to the next downhill was catching again, so of course used the technical sections to my advantage. By the bottom of slimline I was back on the tail but as it turned up a hairpin there were more offs and that forced me off too. I got back on and wasn't able to get back on the train. I didn't help my cause by messing up a gear change in to the steep climb, going in to big instead of little! I abruptly hauled to the right to ride along the hill and let off the tension so I could change down, recovered and kept pushing the pedals up the hill. Straight after that we were in to the final downhill (Boars Nest). It was just out of here I injured myself in 2006, but no issues this time. The final challenge of the lap was the 'carpety climb'. In 06 I never got up it, but with Tama, Heather and Chris all egging me on I had no trouble.

I wasn't too far off the pace and in laps 2, 3 and 4 made up a little bit of time. Around half way through the 4th lap I noticed something wasn't feeling right in my rear wheel and soon noticed I was losing pressure. Well, I thought, the terrain isn't too bad so I shouldn't pinch flat and lower pressure will be good on the climbs (let's not worry that I started with very low pressure because of the climbs anyway!). In the 4th lap it really wasn't a problem, and I had a really good lap. In lap 3 I'd really started to feel it in the legs with a bit of jelly-leg feel and some good pain, and in lap 4 the pain was intense - it spurred me on to push harder and keep that pain on because as we all know, pain is your friend!

Heading in to lap 5 it was obvious I really didn't have enough tyre pressure so I was careful to unweight the back of the bike when rolling over anything. I could feel the rim every now and then (and I'm running light weight tubes) and it was starting to roll out on me around corners and anything that hit the side wall. I was still riding well. I was knackered and felt like I'd blown my legs apart, but that's exactly what I wanted. There were 3 pinch climbs that I thought had the potential to take me out as fatigue set in, but I rode all 3 in all 5 laps. Unfortunately with the tyre so deflated I was off on a couple of other pinches in the final climb and I probably lost a total of about 2 minutes to that problem.

I cross the line in 2.17. Last place, but I was elated. I'd completed my first elite race! I could ride expert and be winning races, or I could really test and push myself up here in elite, and I have no regrets about my decision. It's not about winning or losing, it's about riding to the best of my ability. I've always wanted to be able to respect myself after crossing the line, and I definitely could with this race.

The best thing is, even though I felt like I gave it everything, I still feel like I've got so much more to give - and now I'm just amped as hell to get out there and give it in every race over the next few weeks!

Big Hugs and respect Lisa.

Good ride and race report, those pinch climbs hurt the legs real good

Your words rang true to me...Making the step-up to Elite is a BIG one. The first elite race is always the hardest. The more you hurt now the faster you go later...Keep up the great work

Great report Lisa. Thanks

JUANGEAR wrote: Your words rang true to me...Making the step-up to Elite is a BIG one. The first elite race is always the hardest. The more you hurt now the faster you go later...Keep up the great work

Thanks for that