Find stunning, find character, find welcome. What the Pioneer promised and what the Pioneer delivered. It has taken me a while to get to this write up on The Pioneer because to be honest it took a while to remember and realise what exactly we had just accomplished!! 7 days of racing, 569km, 15,273m of climbing.. looking at those numbers week after week (15,000m of climbing!!!) I felt pretty anxious about 1. Could my body handle this? Not only riding that distance but racing it?! And 2. Would this ruin me for the rest of the season? Both of these thoughts playing on my mind were only going to become clear if I did it. So we did it! New World Saint Martins were our sponsors and Mark Williams and I were team New World. I found a lot of comfort in Willys experience and that fact he is such a good guy, to be honest I was a little worried he was going to see the rage from me if/when I couldn’t keep up, surprisingly he only saw it once and I managed to use it pretty blimmin well!
I won’t go through each stage but I will outline the plan for the week – to stick together, to support each other when one of us was flat and have a great time doing so. 1st mixed team on every stage and therefore overall and a 6th, a couple of 5th’s and a 4th saw us finish in 5th overall. Mission complete!
Some stats came out from an Australian mountain biking magazine I think it was, that Willy and I were the only team to stick within 2 seconds of one another over the entire week. Another story I heard of came from one of the teams who we were often racing closely with – Glen and Shane. Shane came up to Glen and asked what his favourite colour was.. Glen was thinking “seriously Shane? Why are you asking me that were racing?” He replied well Kate and Willy are chatting, just thought it would be nice if we did the same. Ha ha! (some of the specific details might be slightly different to this but this is how I recall Glen telling me) I don’t remember having a lot of chat with Willy during the race, PLENTY of banter before and after but I am glad we came across that we were having a fun time. Willy has received the nickname “Dad” which has stuck quite nicely. Can’t thank him enough for the epic week.
Photo: Duncan Philpott
Another aspect that needs to be pointed out is the organisation of the event. The Lagardere team did an amazing job. The event villages, 400 tents went up and down each day, the food, the courses, the bubbly, friendly stuff, the amazing volunteers, the awards ceremony; I honestly don’t think I can fault the organisation, commitment and friendly crew that made this event happen and for its first year running it seemed to be a huge success. It definitely holds all the right ingredients to make it be rated up there with the best stage races in the world and think next year it will attract many more international riders.
The goods that got me through. You need gear you can trust and nutrition you know that works for you.
The Giant Anthem Advanced
Pure Sports Nutrition, Rebel Food Nutri Bombs and Camelbak insulated drink bottles
Squirt chain lube and Barrier Balm, Pure Sports Nutrition, Rebel Food Nutri Bombs, Camelbak and GU Energy Nutrition.
So what’s next.. The Pioneer is over and its back to the reality of work, training and house chores! I have just finished a two week recovery block and had my first proper training session today. It was quite tough! The effects of the 7 days have definitely caught up with me but it has been a truly epic base training block with speed left to work on. 
The Motatapu is coming up on the 5th March which I am going to do my best to break my own record, hopefully the conditions give me every opportunity to do so this year! I really enjoy this race, it is where it all started for me and I love going back and seeing everybody getting involved and I really admire people who are out there doing it.
In March we have the National Champs and Oceania Champs in Cardrona and Queenstown respectively which I will be racing but with it being Olympic year I have to ensure the focus is on the international season. The first World Cup is in Cairns, so not far to travel for us kiwis which is great! We are home for a month after that then heading off for the European block toward the end of May. It is around this time I will know the outcome of the Olympic Games situation. All I can do until then is continue to train hard, do my best to remain healthy and race the best I can on the day!
Thank you for the continued support. I love thinking about the backing I have and it continues to motivate me.
The Pioneer 2016 – Finished!
For more info on The Pioneer visit www.thepioneer.co.nz
