Sponsored Rider - Alexa Peters

Read the latest news and race results from Alexa below.

National Cross Country National Series ‘07, Wellington (Final), 25/02/07

The final race in the 2007 national series was held in Wellington on Mt Victoria and like Auckland I had never ridden in Wellington before. Jesse Lowe from Taupo and I were the only ones entered in the under 17 women’s grade so it was going to be a bit of a face off between us.

We were in luck again with the sunshine but temperatures were hot. The course was pretty hilly with numerous steep climbs and a few short rooty descents. A lap of the Mt Vic Velodrome at the start and end of laps added a bit of interest. It was good for sorting out the field but was a bit tight getting in and out the entrance gates. I definately enjoyed the second half of the course better, with all the major climbing being in the first half.

Being the final race in the series it was the last chance to get series points for national ranking. Jesse was too strong on the day and her result from this race put her into1st place overall in the series, however I wasn’t far behind on points and was reasonably satisfied with second overall in the national series.

I was pretty pleased with my successes during the national series, and my win at the national champs in Nelson and feel that I have improved my skills, techniques and fitness and learnt a lot on the way. In addition a big thank you to Bike Vegas for their awesome support this season.

Fingers crossed the family will be making the trip next year. For now though I’m looking forward to a couple of free weekends.

National Cross Country Series '07, Riverhead, Auckland, 18/02/07

Auckland is somewhere that I have never ridden before so it was good for a change of scenery and it definitely was different.

The track was in the Riverhead forest, which is also heavily used by motorbike trail riders causing massive ruts on the tracks. The course was reasonably flat with no major climbs or downhill’s, but was extremely dry and dusty with tree roots everywhere making it bumpy going on the hard tails.

We were lucky with the weather, if it had of been raining the roots would have been a real slippery handful, however racing in the middle of the day it got really hot

On practice day before the race I wasn’t to keen on the track, but come race day I had a good ride and really enjoyed it. The hometown advantage really showed for the local riders. An Auckland rider won our race and I came in second.
My overall ranking in the series is second and I am looking forward to the final race in Wellington.

National Cross Country Series '07, Rotorua, 11/02/07

I had been looking forward to a hometown race having not ridden in Rotorua for a while. An event with no rain would be good too after having had rain at all three other national series races down south.

The number of entries had gone up with a lot of new faces turning up to race from around the north island, however the under 17 womens starting line up still remained a small group.

I was pretty happy with the course and having been able to ride it several times before the race had its advantages. The track started with a tarseal road climb then into the single track with a short steep clay climb. The main downhill was quite technical with multiple lines through drop offs and steep runs, the track then had a challenging switchback climb that included lots of slippery roots before a series of climbs and descents to the end.

It was fast and with only two laps for my grade the racing was close and was over pretty quick, I came away with a second place. There was a good crowd of local spectators around the course and the cheering really gave you a lift to the end.

National Cross Country Champs ‘07, 28/1/07, Nelson

I had heard quite a bit about the track at Nelson, the downhill, tough, the uphill, tougher and found that yep, it was quite difficult but gave you a good feeling every time you completed a lap (after you’d recovered).

The weather on race day seemed to be trying to decide whether to rain on us or not. However, the course was dry and dusty so it would take a lot of rain to turn it to mud. The climb started on a rough 4WD track that seemed to take for ever grinding it out in granny ring .It carried onto a short rutty downhill that tested your concentration skills before emerging into a single track crisscrossing over a stream into a steep switch back uphill onto the gravel road climb which became steeper towards the end. Relief came in the form of a tricky technical downhill which required a lot of control as many riders soon found out.

The starting line up had not changed in my grade but there was quite an increase of riders racing in most categories. A loop around the starting field sorted us out before we got in to the single track. Again I had a really good race with no problems on the downhill and was able to take the win.

I was pretty pleased with my performance racing in the South Island and am looking forward to a home town race in Rotorua.

National Cross Country Series ’07 - Round 2, 21/1/07, Dunedin

I had been looking forward to Dunedin, having liked the course from last year and was hoping for better luck than at Coronet Peak.

It was raining again, but I decided I was going to enjoy the mud this time. We had walked the course the day before and sussed out where some people were having trouble in the slippery conditions. Again it was three of us girls lined up at the start in the under 17 women’s grade. But we started with the under 19 and 23 women so we had more ‘opposition’ to race against.

The course was a lot more technical than Coronet peak with the mud and rain creating more of a challenge. The first climb was on a private gravel farm road before dropping into a fast piece of single track downhill with loose gravel surface then into the next climb, you had to be on a good line because if you weren’t you were spinning in the mud and soon off your bike running, this climb took you to the top of the main downhill (the mud slide) where having one foot grounded and top tube sitting was not uncommon. The last climb was switchbacks up to another quick down hill into the loop around the event village to complete a lap.

I managed to stay on my bike for most of the race and didn’t have any mechanical problems after having my bike repaired from coronet peak. Some of my opposition were having trouble with chain suck and I came away with a win. We had only had to complete two laps but it gave me a bit of a taste for what was to come at Nelson.

National Cross Country Series ’07 - Round 1, 14/1/07, Coronet Peak, Queenstown

Waking up to rain on race day of the first round of the national series is a little disheartening. Not only that but seeing coronet peak hidden behind a thick cloud of mist and rain. The weather in Queenstown had been pretty good to us up until race day.

Coronet peak is pretty exposed when it comes to extreme weather, and seeing as last year it had snowed we had come prepared for anything. It was not too cold and the rain had eased up a bit, making the choice of what to wear difficult.

The under 17 women pre entry starting list was disappointing with three of us lining up at the start line. The junior expert grades lined up at the start line around midday. The course being ridden in the rain by earlier grades had become muddy and some parts on the down hill quite tricky. I had a reasonable start pacing myself on the starting climb for three laps of the around 5.5km course. However in the first lap the mud caused me to have bad chain suck and I was unable to complete the race. Many people had the same problem and were also forced to pull out.

The course was a huge improvement from last year with some sweet fast flowing single track down hill that made the tough climb worthwhile. The climb had a starting flat before switchbacks across a ski field, then into a dirt track with some steep rises that really got the heart going. Most of the climb did actually.

Al though I was pretty disappointed that I didn’t finish the race, I was pleased that I had been able to practice on the course a lot pre race in training for the next couple of races coming up.