This is the third year the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge has offered a parallel mountainbike event. I did the first one in 2008. As I spent more time on the 74km course of the Huka MTB Challenge than some 90 per cent of the competitors, I feel I am an expert.
I wasn't so much racing but taking painstaking note of the course for future reference. So I could draw you a map of the biggest hazards on the race but let's not ruin the many surprises this race offers.
The biggest of these on that first event was that the course the organisers had billed as 74km was actually 80km. I detected this some 6km away from the Taupo township finish line. Strong language may have been involved when my speedo rolled past 74km. But as 90 per cent of the other competitors were a long way out of earshot, this remains unconfirmed. The organisers now say the race is 80km.
Eighty kms on a mountainbike spent on winding Waikato riverside trails and the mixed terrain of Wairakei Mountain Bike Park (aka The Craters of the Moon) is a very long way.
Especially if, like me, you are able to stretch your race from the chilly early morning start to afternoon summer heat - and be finishing back in Taupo about the time as the under-5 tricycle division of the round-the-lake road ride was crossing the line.
So my first piece of advice if you are thinking of entering is ... don't do it. Because this is a fantastic area for mountainbiking and you may well end up hating it forever.
Okay, some more helpful advice ... don't do it unless you've done a ride or a race in that distance range before.
This isn't a shingle road blast like most all-abilities MTB endurathons. When, having started at Taupo, you eventually get to that bike park you will spend an hour or three navigating every trail in the network. That includes many tight crawling climbs and hairy grade four downhills - my bike actually beat me to the bottom of the biggest drop. Strong language was definitely involved at that point.
You come out of the park to the race's only water point, near the landmark Hub Cafe. Then there's another 30km of shingle and river trails to go.
This year, though, there is a two-person relay option with a 40km-40km split. The interchange is on one of those grade 4 tracks (if your bike arrives before you do, that's cheating). If you are a second-leg 40km rider, don't annoy the 80km racers with cheery demeanour and unscathed limbs. But the relay is definitely a way to go for a first-race outing.
Okay, some proper advice: Make sure your bike is in good mechanical shape as this race will rattle it. Know how to change a tyre, fix a broken chain and take the tools you need. Watch out for walking tourists where the race nears the Huka Falls. Say hearty thankyous to the marshals, especially the ones who have sat in the middle of nowhere all day waiting for you to show up. Work out how much water - and food - you'll need, taking into account the 50km oasis. If a fine day, be prepared to bake a little on the leg back to town.
And on the final straight back in Taupo, try and look real tough as you pedal your muddy, bloody self to the finishing line. Even if on the last 200m you are tempted to form a peloton with those trikes.
Russell Baillie