Report by Mat Fletcher:

About 5 months ago I thought about going to NZ for another annual cycling trip. I have done so for the last 2 years since moving to WA, and it is a good time to fit in a race or two and catch up with family and friends. This year I wanted to do the Ruapehu Classic (“Roo-a-pay-who” in Australian). It is a 160Km circular race around Mt Ruapehu in the central north island with a lot of climbing in it. Ruapehu is the largest volcano in the Tongariro National park and rises to some 2,800 mtrs.

I managed to convince John Gilbertson to come with me and race the Ruapehu Classic as well as do a 13 stage tour from Wellington to Auckland starting next Sunday. The flight over was reasonably uneventful and hassle free. It is a direct flight on Air NZ from Perth to Auckland and they dont shaft you for taking your bike. We arrived in Auckland and had picked up our bikes and were outside by 6am Friday morning (1am WA time)!  We hired a large, cheap van for the purpose of being able to open the door and fire all our junk into it without any worry about how it was going to fit.  $50 a day auotmatic toyota van – what a weapon.

We drove from Auckland to Taupo (toe-paw), and then onto Ohakune (O-ha-coon-e) and booked into our motel at 1pm in the arvo. I had a sleep for a few hours as I was feeling a bit shattered. I got up about 4.30pm and prayed to the bike god that my bike would be in one piece. Both of our bikes were fine, so after ½ an hour of assembly and adjustment they were good to go. We had a bit of a spin after to roll the legs over in anticipation for a flogging tomorrow.

The weather on Saturday morning was fantastic. There was a bit of a morning chill because Ohakune is an alpine ski village but great all the same. The briefing was at 6.45am for a 7am start. The start style is a “grand fondo” start, where all of the competitors regardless of grade start at the same time. The pre-race brief was in a car park at the Ohakune club. We turned up at 6.50 and there were about 300 people ready to go. In a mass start you need to start at the front or you will get dropped with the crowd 5 minutes into it. My plan worked because we were last in, so first out. We were in a good position on the start line so pre-race mission achieved.

At 7am, the support car rolled out and the race was neutralised until we got out of town. The pace wound up to 40 – 45 kph. I was about 10 back.  Just far enough not to do any work but close enough to encourage the young fellas to keep rolling through and keeping the pace on.

The first attack came after 25km just before Waiouru. There was a climb of about 2km and the hammer went on big time. The group was broken apart and I was the last rider to hold on. I thought if it goes like that on the next climb up to the summit of the Desert Road, I will get killed off. We turned left at Waiouru and there were about 30 riders in the lead group. There was a flat section of 2 km, and then the 15km climb to the summit started. The grade was between 4 – 6 % and rises around 600 mtrs. The steepest section was at the start of the climb guess what? The kids smashed it. I hung on for ¾ of this step section and then cracked. I wasn’t alone. Some blew up in spectacular fashion, with one guy stopping to blow out some carrot. The lead pack was now down to about 15, and I was in with 4 other guys. I looked back as I was topping the final climb and a group of 25 was coming so I sat up a bit and climbed in with the bunch.

I figured that most of these guys must be reasonable so rather than being noble and killing myself on the front, I would ride tail-gunner at the rear. The ride along the desert road was great. Mt Ruapehu to the left and the Kaimanawa ranges to the right. The desert road is the highest point on State Highway one in the North Island and there is no trees, just some tussock grass.

We passed through the 3 sisters which are 3 really windy sections of road in close proximity. The last sister was in road work repair. I slowed up some as riding at 45km on lose gravel down hill is not my thing. Most people smashed it past me so I had a little bit to do on the next climb to catch up, but no problems at all.

We descended off the desert rd down toward Turangi. Before Turangi, we turned left at Rangipo and started the climb towards National park. This section of road is 50km long and climbs about 600 mtrs on average, with some down hill sections as well. Most of the road was 3 – 5%, with some sections at 6%. Nothing too steep, but certainly enough to hurt your legs.

A few of our group had a rush to the brain and attacked. We all let them have there 300 leash and left them out to fry. They ended up back in the bunch after 5 – 10 mins. It was a situation where as we were all in the same group because we were all the same to that point in the race. No one was just going to ride away so as gallant as it was, it was a waste of energy.

I moved from rear tail gunner to front gunner and I stayed either on the front, or second wheel back. I like it like this on these sections of road. Keep it hard enough so that no one either wants to attack or come over the top of you, but not so hard as to waste too much of your own energy. There was also a breeze from right to left, so even though I was one the front, I was sheltering from the rider beside me and obviously not going to given up my posse. 2 other guys and I worked this 50km section of road and then one of them made a comment that the group was getting smaller. We kept it sane and constant and by the time we reached National Park village our group of 25 riders was now about 12 riders. We could see the front end of the race in the distance on some of the straights but we couldn’t catch it. We picked up a few guys that got blown out of the front group and some couldn’t get on with us because they were smashed.

The final run from National Park back to Ohakune is mostly down hill except for the climb out of the Mangawhero viaduct. My legs were feeling a bit tired by now so I resumed tail gunner once again and the group was finally starting to roll through. I refused to have a turn because I reckon I had given enough. One guy had a problem with it and dropped back from the bunch with me on his wheel. 50 mtrs back from the bunch, he predictably sprinted back to the group. I stayed seated and followed him. He looked puffed and I asked him if that was all he had or what? A bit of a pathetic effort I thought.

We came into Ohakune and one of the guys tubular tires exploded. It sounded pretty cool. He managed to stay upright, but he was understandably pissed. I didn’t have a sprint at the line due to a mixture of jet lag, lack of sleep and not wanting to crash on the line for minor placings as the main objective was the tour next week.

I was pretty happy with the overall result, finishing 9th in my grade. There were actually 7 of us that finished with the ST of 4.37.00 in my bunch but the timing system gives results to the millisecond. The winning time was 4.30.24 because two cunning old fellas got away with the fast young fellas so that was the difference. The decisive move came on the second climb were I got dropped.

John finished a very credible 22nd at 4.49.09 having lost touch from my bunch on the way up to National Park. He injured his knee the week beforehand and it was touch and go if he could even ride or not. I suggested a straight week off the bike before hand and then turn up and handle it. He did and it was a great effort not having ridden for the week.

All in all, it is a fantastic event and one I think I will do again. Logistically it is no harder than racing in the Eastern States and probably no more expensive either. I prefer long, large circular races, or point to point races because you need to suck it in an deal with it, rather than tearing a heart string and pulling out.  There is no point stopping becuase you still need to get home!

I would like to encourage a group from SPR to come next year so I will gage a bit of interest later in the year. It is a ride literally for everyone, whether you race or sport ride.

Check it out at http://www.cycleclassic.com/

I will update our progress for our tour on Sunday (First stage climb over the Rimutaka Ranges from Upper Hutt to Masterton should see the end of my GC aspirations).

Cheers,  Mat