Wulong Mountain Quest – China

With barely a week to recover from the first round of the Anaconda series in Australia Elina and I were back on a plane, this time heading for the Wulong county in China for the Wulong Mountain Quest, a  4 person mixed teams race, set over 4 days of racing. The flights and lay over’s were tedious as usual but we managed to waste away our time in Hong Kong at a shop which sold massaging chairs, foot massages, head massages etc, a very relaxing way to spend 6 hours. If I could have got one of the chairs back on the plane I’d probably have done so!

The final part of our journey via bus proved to be just as hair raising as last year with the drivers seeming to take great joy in scaring the #$%@ out of all on board. We arrived in the town of Wulong late in the evening and were treated to an array of largely inedible looking local cuisine before the final 30km of uphill to the hotel. By the time we arrived the temperature was far from the tropical heat we had been expecting but at least this year we had western style toilets – it’s the small things that count!

The following day was spent catching up with Gordon and Aaron, our team mates for the race and also catching up with many of the other teams. The gear check and skills testing were completed without any hassles and with only the short prologue the next day there was very little to do but relax and recover from the travelling.

PROLOGUE

The first chance to see how all the teams are going was little more than a mad dash around central Wulong. The course included a run, then a bike section to the start of a rafting section, which brought us down the river to finish where we started in the town square. The one big difference with the race this year was that all the teams had to include at least one woman. We had a big opening ceremony before the start and then it was ready to go. The first run in a lot of ways is the hardest part of the whole race. 4km flat out and with several teams all jostling for the lead the pressure was right on heading onto the bike. On the bike we managed to get a small gap but there was still only seconds between the top few teams. Down to the river for the final raft we were surprised to find tiny paddles closely resembling a piece of 4x2. The river is fairly large and boily and teams were at the mercy of the currents as we all fought to make headway. Coming into the final beach we were a bit conservative in our line choice and lost a couple of positions to teams who’d taken the riskier option where missing the beach all together was a possibility. On the final scramble to the finish we couldn’t gain back the lost time and finished a somewhat disappointing 4th. There were plenty of positives though with only a handful of seconds covering the first teams we were still well in the hunt.

DAY 1

After the long drive down the hill we started in the centre of Wulong again and all set off on another fast and furious 4km running section to start. We stayed close to the front and headed into the team biathlon near the lead. The biathlon section is where you have two bikes between the 4 athletes and you have to get both bikes and all 4 athletes to the finish as fast possible. The only rules are you can’t tow a runner on the bike or carry an extra person on the bike so it is all down to strategy and how fast you can run and bike. By the end of the section we were in the lead, from Nike Beaver creek and then several other teams a short way back. Onto the bike we were settling in when we entered a tunnel and seconds later heard an almighty crash as Gordon hit the deck after riding into a huge pothole in the dark. Visions of our race being over immediately flashed through my head but fortunately Gordon is made  of stern stuff and he got going again quickly, all be it plus a few nasty looking scrapes. Nike Beaver Creek had caught up in our little delay and with them all being top US MTB riders they gradually pulled away up the first of the climbs. We chased as hard as possible and once we hit the flats we reeled them back in only for them to pull away again on the final 600 ascent. A 15 minute rest greeted us at the top and with the weather unseasonably cool this year it actually got a bit cold. Off on the running section we made our way down towards a canyon and then spent an hour racing through a beautiful gorge, wadding through the rivers and off small drops. We could see Nike Beaver Creek up ahead and by the end of the section Orion and Helly Hansen has closed in behind. Into the kayaks and we headed out through the final part of the canyon and onto a large reservoir for an anticipated 2 ½ hours of kayaking down towards the finish. We quickly passed Nike Beaver creek and set about maximising our advantage in the boats. By the finish of the section we had put over 7 minutes on the closest teams and as Gordon and Aaron headed up for a fly fox ride across the reservoir Elina and I paddled across and ran up to the start of the final section for the day, a 3km run through a huge cave. Once regrouped we set off through the stunning cave and 15 minutes later when we reappeared into the light we held an advantage of 7 ½ minutes over the closest team.

DAY 2

Starting in our kayaks we headed down river from Wulong on the fast moving flow and without too much drama we arrived at the finish of the section with a 3 minute lead. The remainder of the day was daunting to say the least and we headed off on the run at a good pace but mindful of what lay ahead. After about half an hour of climbing we reached the first water station and about the same time Helly Hansen caught up to us. We continued up the now extremely steep climb with Helly Hansen content to sit in behind. We had over 900m of vertical ascent to complete and nearing the top Helly shot by and although we tried to keep it close they gradually pulled away and by the end of the run had a lead of around a minute.  Onto the bikes and we would occasionally catch glimpses of the team ahead but we never saw any teams closing in from behind. It was a quick ride through to the next transition which was a 90 metre abseil followed but a 4km run back out to the transition where we started. When we reached the abseil the first two members from Helly had already reached the bottom incredibly and by the time we were all down our deficit had blown out to close to 7 minutes. Back on the bikes and we’d just get into a rhythm when we’d have to get off and run with the bikes through some small village trails. The final section took as down a super fast descent into one valley before a hard climb over to the next valley and another fast descent to the transition. We’d made up a small amount of time but knew the next section would be critical to the overall standings. The cave we’d done in the race last year and so knew that we had an hour or so of very slippery rocks, drops and swims. We kept a good pace through the cave with barely any holdups and so when we crossed the finish line it was a little demoralising to learn that we’d lost another 7 minutes in the caving section. Still one day to go and now instead of a 7 minute lead we had a 6 minute deficit.

DAY 3

Starting from the hotel it was nice not to have to drive down the hill today. We knew that to win today the formula was simple, beat Helly Hansen by 6 minutes and 35 seconds or more and the race was ours. The race was all trending downhill but still had a couple of good climbs where we could potentially make some time up. The race started with a 18 km run, broken up with a 200m swim across a reservoir after about 7kms. By the swim we had broken away from the main pack along with Helly and Nike Beaver Creek and we could sense that the tables had turned slightly from yesterday and today it was Helly Hansen struggling a bit with the pace. Our 3 teams traded the lead back and forward as each team missed a few turns in the marking changing the order and we turned and re found the trail. On to the bikes and all 3 teams left on the fast downhill together but as we hit the first uphill we pulled away from Helly and Beaver Creek slowly pulled away from us. We hammered as hard as we could and slowly caught back to Beaver Creek as the trail flattened out but they punctured just as we caught them and so we shot past into the lead. With about 5km to go we hit a monster downhill which was very rough and strewn with sharp rocks. We rode at a really good pace but aware of not doing any damage to the bikes or the tyres. Looking back we could see Helly Hansen making inroads into our lead but just as they caught us they also suffered a puncture. We hit transition and our 15 minute break just in time as Aaron also had received a puncture which had luckily sealed enough for him to limp into the transition without needing to change the tyre. As we set about fixing Aarons puncture we kept an eye on the time and it was a surprise when Beaver Creek rather than Helly who came in second. We finished bike repairs and refuelling just in time to head out and Helly limped in now 10 minutes down after they had apparently received a second puncture and destroyed a wheel rim in the process. Fortunately for them the bike mechanics had a new wheel for them and so it was still race on with us now holding a slender 3 minute lead. A short downhill lead to the main climb of the day, 500 metres vertical ascent but on a pretty easy grade of climbing so it suited our style of riding and we were pretty confident of putting more time on Helly during the climb. From the top we had a fast downhill all the way to the river now some 600 metres below us. We again exercised a little caution to preserve the bikes and it was a relief to hit the river without any issues. The final kayak for the race was 30 km down the river and with current pulling us along at over 20 kph it didn’t take long for the final transition to come into view. A quick run up on to the bridge where we had to abseil off the side before flying down a zip line into the river, a huge crowd pleaser as athletes slammed into the river at speed, often skipping several times across the surface before reaching the bank and the final scramble up to the finish line. The finish line celebrations we under wraps until we’d counted off the required time and when the clocked ticked past 7 minutes since we’d finished we knew we’d managed to pull off the victory against some the best teams in the world. For us it was the second victory in as many outings for this particular combination of athletes as it was the same 4 of us who won in Abu Dhabi last year. Many of the other teams had struggled with illness, fatigue and mechanicals but apart from Gordon’s bike crash we’d remained pretty good throughout. It was also a good return to form for Elina after months of sickness and a nice wedding present for Aaron who got married on the Saturday following the race. Helly Hansen raced superbly but their mechanicals on the final day when taking a few risks to stay in touch lost them valuable time. We ended up reversing the result from the second day almost exactly with a 14 minute gap, leaving us with 8 minutes overall. Without the mechanicals it would have been even closer. Beaver Creek came in 3rd with stomping bike sections and consistent racing with many of the more fancied teams further down the order.

For us the win was tempered by the realisation it could well be the final race as a team. With no financial sponsors to get the team to international races it has been a struggle to even get to the races let alone hold the team together as members are always being offered spots on other teams. We are still trying to find a sponsor to return to Abu Dhabi in December to defend the title we won last year but it is looking unlikely at this stage. A huge thanks to Jamis bikes who have been the team’s major supporter, and also all of our respective individual sponsors who support us in many of the other races and whose gear we still utilise in the team racing. For Elina and I Subway have provided us with great support in NZ, along with R&R Sport, Nike, High 5 nutrition, Osprey and our new car sponsor Kia – check out the blog on our website shortly for some pictures of our flash new ride. Wildside travel help with all our bookings and Tineli who are producing our custom cycling kit this year.

Also a massive thank you has to go Wei Jun and the organisers at the Wulong Mountain Quest as without their financial support to get us to the race we would never have had the chance to even compete.