On Saturday I headed over to Taupo for a brand new event- the Crank Taupo. I figured it was one I could not miss as it was a prime opportunity to ride some new trails. The local guys with JK in charge had been building some awesome trails around Mt Tauhara in Taupo.

The XC started at 10am with a random honk on a car horn that cut a conversation short between myself and Cabin. 5 min up the road and we hit some good singletrack, cow poops and lots of fun. There was some knarly, punchy tracks in the forest, so good to have something tight and challenging for a change. The rest of the race was a mixture of handmade tracks with a moto feel and a few short gravel sections thrown in, finishing with farm-style tracks. Very fun and much more interesting than the typical well-groomed North Is NZ tracks.

Anyway it was a race and it was hard, chasing a young fella around the whole time. I finished 1st women by a wee while and 15th overall in the XC.

I had a quick feed then jumped in the next shuttle for a few practice DH runs. I creeped down checking out all the lines (although I took a different one almost every run). It was a great DH, depending on how much

travel you had under your butt determined how fast you could push it. But it was all very ridable on my hardtail, and the top more technical bit was actually quite tight so it cut down the speed.

Over the afternoon I got progressively faster and my legs cramped more. I also got to race in the final where the start guy tried to commission a painting off me 10sec before my run. By that time the legs were feeling quite hammered and I managed to take another different line which was not the best idea. But I hung in there, kept my tyres on the ground (mostly) and got 3rd in the DH. That was a ok enough spot to grab the all mountain title. Yus! I like. Thanks everyone for organizing it, I will be back next year, and thanks to Cody for lending me her protective gear.

Then I went riding in Rotorua the next day and it rained soooo much and I got covered in mud and now I have to clean my bike!!! But it was fun.