The first practice day came around ... and we had no leathers , gloves or bike . So on the way to Manfeild we had to take a Tiki Tour via New Plymouth to try on some Alpinestars leathers and gloves . Then we stopped off in Wanganui to pick up our race bike from Suzuki HQ . I was stoked when I saw my leathers and bike setup , I think it was the best in my class . After the first long car ride of the season with Vege we arrived in Feilding – it was the first of many life lesson ‘ classes ’ with Vege . We stayed at Robin and Denise Adlington ’ s ( we ’ d stay there twice during the series – really appreciated ). We were keen to give the bike a test run , so Vege had me doing figure eights in the driveway , which felt really awkward as this was my first ever ride on a road bike . After a couple of blasts up and down I was starting to get used to the completely different feeling of a road bike compared to a dirt bike .

The next day at the track it was hammering down and on the first lap my leg naturally kept coming out around the corners dirtstyle . On the next laps I had to really focus on keeping it in ! It was a really wet track for my first ride but the main goal was not to crash and get some seat time in . By the end of the session I was running around at the back of mid-pack , which was pretty good . The sessions carried on throughout the day and slowly the track started to dry , and by the last session the track was perfect . By the end I was battling for the lead . It ’ s fair to say I was feeling pretty good about the whole day . I found it pretty easy to get the hang of the road bike . All the dirt bike skills I learnt over the years came in handy . I was absolutely fizzing about the whole thing !

KIWI RIDER 31