Bit’s and peices I learnt at the Rotorua EWS

Its hard: Going into the event I was under no illusion that I would be in for an easy day on the bike but the two days it took for my legs to recover gave me massive respect for the guys that are racing this series full time. The fact that we were racing in rain and mud definitely didn’t help but those 65km and 2000m of climbing in the dry would still have been a big day. 

@Kieran’s endro ready Santa cruz hightower

Four weeks preparation isn’t enough: After gaining an entry a month out from the race I went into full “panic training” mode and put down some solid KM’s on the bike in those four weeks, unfortunately due to the fires in Christchurch most of those KM’s were road riding where I’d have preferred to be on my Santa Cruz High Tower riding off road. Regardless of what bike I was training on those four weeks weren’t enough, there is a reason the top guys spend months preparing. Don’t get me wrong I wasn’t coming in over weight or out of shape but to be able to race for 40 plus minutes spread out over seven stages during the total 65km you need to be doing some serious riding and training.

It was fun: I was seeded just in front of Josh Bryceland so I got to spend the day out riding around with him which lead to a lot of seriously entertaining times on the bike. We also had Eddie Masters and Matt Walker close by and it seemed to just turn into a really fun ride around the Rotorua redwoods with an awesome group and then we would go race down a stage before catching up again to share our stories.

You need to be prepared: I could post a number of “preparation” quotes here and they would all be true, especially when you’re racing in the mud and rain like we were. I had to ditch my goggles after stage one because I had nothing to clean them with, this was a bad idea and lead to a lot of times with basically no vision as my eyes filled up with mud. I was lucky enough to have help from Santa Cruz team manager Allan Cooke in the tech area who filled me up with gel shots, hydration tablets and turkey sandwiches plus a whole lot of caffeine to keep me going, I had a few touch and go moments with cramp so I’m not too sure how I would of gone without that fuel! 

I’m hooked: Despite not riding to what I feel was my potential (way too many crashes) I had an awesome day and have been enjoying enduro racing more and more with ever event I race, hopefully we get another EWS in New Zealand in 2018!

Crankworx Rotorua

After some major battles with rain early in the week the Crankworx Rotorua team somehow pulled off another amazing event with some slick event rescheduling that actually made one of the most fun events even better. 

The Oceania whip off championship had to be moved to Friday night under lights and accidentally became an amazing way to have the event, the crowd was massive. The atmosphere was electric with 50+ riders constantly dropping in under lights trying to throw the biggest whip and claim the title. No one had hit the huge Mt. Whip jump built especially for the event prior to the night of the event and it was chaotic combination of nervousness and excitement before dropping in and hitting the jump for the first time.

I managed to make it through the first cut off and into the finals which I was stoked with and was having an absolute blast dropping in and hitting the jump for a couple of hours.

The Crankworx downhill track is one of the most fun around and every year when I get to ride it again I can’t help doing too many runs during practice because I’m having too much fun! This year with all the rain leading up to the event. The track became a whole new monster with some seriously technical and slippery sections thanks to the clay base and steep woods. As the weekend went on though the track got more manageable and I was still having a blast no matter what the conditions.

Race day got shuffled around due to the Slope Style being moved to Saturday afternoon so it was an early morning practice session before going straight into racing for the Elite field. Unfortunately, a heavy crash onto my left thigh in morning practice left me in a fair bit of pain with a strapped up leg and struggling to pedal. Adrenalin took over for the race and I managed to forget about my leg until I got stuck behind a slower rider causing me to crash and lose time trying to get him to move and make my way past. 30th place wasn’t terrible but far from what I was aiming for but considering the circumstances and a little bit of estimating I feel like I was on pace for another decent result.

All in all, it was another awesome Crankworx Rotorua event, I finished up the weekend still in one piece and I’m already getting excited for next year!

Keep up to date with what’s Kieran’s doing by following his Instagram @kieranbennett36

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Marie T

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