It's Business Time! Langkawi here I come!

Like my Kiwi comedic-musical mates say, it’s business time everybody!

Ok, so they’re not my mates and I’m talking a different type of business but the fact remains that I have one week until I fly out to Langkawi, Malaysia to race in the Langkawi International Mountainbike Challenge and I have to start getting my shit together!

This will be my inaugural overseas race and I reckon I’ve picked a corker! I, undoubtedly like many others, was initially attracted to this race because of the game-changing prize purse of US$130,000! However as the entry list grew with riders of door-blowing awesomeness I took relief in the knowledge that they still pay to 15th place.

Why this and not Tour de Timor? Well, had I been thriftier over the last few months I may have indulged in both but this 5-day stage race includes a real variety of disciplines from XCO to a 7hr Enduro and a couple of half-marathon point-to-points, hopefully with much of it on singletrack. This interested me more than what I’d heard about Timor. I’m hoping that if I’ve got a chance to have a crack at any point during this race it will be in the 7hr (competitors reading this, please disregard last sentence). The 7hr Enduro being of a time, distance and format I’m certainly familiar with, hopefully more so than most. Only time will tell how it all pans out, the level of competition is high and there are a lot of unknowns, it’s a recipe for an exciting few days.
I’m certainly not doing this alone. I have to be one of the most fortunate racers around to have both my Sister and Father coming as my support crew. Both have supported me in races before and this will be a true test for all of us. I’m just so grateful of their interest in what I do, confidence in me and willingness to help.

I’m taking my Rocky Mountain Vertex 70 RSL which has lately proven to be an extremely capable machine by putting up with 6hrs of the infamously rough and tough tracks of Upper Beaconsfield to get me to 2nd place in the last round of the Vic Enduro Series. I wouldn’t have this bike if it weren’t for a similar confidence and generosity of both Ross Wilkinson from iRide and Simon Ross from Rocky Mountain/Adventure brands.

There are 4 important factors in this race I can control, me, my support crew (x2) and my bike. These all make me happy. There will be innumerable factors in this race I have zero control over. These make me anxious, nervous but also excited and pumped!
I hope you’ll check back here occasionally before the 17th of October and regularly for daily race updates thereafter, I look forward to sharing this race with y’all!

Zigga

Race information and live results from the 17/10 HERE

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