ATHLETE Nadia Coombe enjoyed a “Screaming O” last week despite falling off her bike three times.
The race, in Wainuiomata is one of many that keep the mountain biker fit and bruised. Just the way she likes it.
The triathlete, second dan black belt in karate, and avid mountain biker frequently forgets where the bruises came from because almost all the sports she is into are high impact. And this is part of the appeal of entering the three race Revolve Women’s Mountain Bike Series beginning this week.
“I started mountain biking 10 years ago,” says Coombe. “A friend took me off road to Belmont Regional Park on a borrowed bike and I absolutely loved it.”
The Northland resident rode for fun for four years, then switched to karate and triathlon.
“But I missed the adrenaline rush [of mountain biking]. You don’t notice it is such hard work when you are having so much fun.”
Like karate and triathlon, mountain biking requires mental discipline and is hard on the body. Core strength is necessary, especially when riding up steep hills, and Pilates is a good way to improve core strength, says Coombe, who took it up six months ago.
In December, Coombe was ecstatic to finish a half Iron Man (2km swim, 90km bike ride and 21km run) in Taupo in December, and simultaneously got back into mountain biking.
Her choice of sport reveals her “masochistic tendencies” which she likes to vent with women rather than men.
“The Revolve Women’s Mountain Bike Series is a nice introduction to the sport without the machismo. Mountain biking is a physical sport and guys are generally stronger and faster which can put women off.”
This week Coombe will compete in the first of three races in the first ever Women’s MTB Series in Wellington. There’s a fun recreational category with easy to intermediate trails – “enough to keep you on your toes, but not pee your pants”. The race takes between 40 and 60 minutes to complete and is called Girls Just Want to Have Fun.
The other race option is the Queen of the Mountain, for the harder ladies out there, with mostly intermediate trails and “a few scary bits thrown in for good measure”, and lasts 75 to 90 minutes.
Guess which race Coombe will do.
Revolve Women’s Mountain Bike Series, Mount Victoria, April 10; Makara Mountain Bike Park, April 25; Wainuiomata, May 16. Register at On Yer Bike, 181 Vivian Street, revolvetraining.co.nz.