knowing it did. Then the chips started falling. The Spanish rider leading the class went out with an electrical issue, and given he’ d had a few big crashes over the previous days, I can only assume those offs had finally caught up with his bike’ s reliability. Shortly after, the rider sitting in 4th, my target man, started having his own mechanical troubles, and by the midday service point I found myself sitting 3rd overall in the entire event, which is a strange thing to process with eighty-odd kilometres of hard enduro still ahead of you. That shift messed with my head almost immediately. Suddenly I wasn’ t riding to hold a position I’ d earned through four days of consistency, I was riding to protect a podium spot that had landed in my lap through some others misfortune and my consistency. I made a few mistakes in that stretch, small ones, the kind that come from thinking about the result instead of the section directly in front of you, but I managed to catch myself and pull it back together rather than let it spiral the way it had on Day 3. On the final section, from the GPS drop-off point through to the finish line, I put my head down, rode the way I’ d wanted to ride all week, and came out the fastest ADV Core rider on that 10 minutes stretch by thirty seconds, finishing the event strong and securing 3rd overall in ADV Core.
WHERE I’ M AT NOW Two weeks on, back home, I’ m still absolutely stoked with the result, even if my ankle is still buggered enough that I’ m off to see a specialist and get an MRI. Mentally though, what I feel most is relief, genuine relief, because going into this event I was genuinely worried I’ d let everyone down who’ d helped make it happen, that all their effort would end up feeling wasted on me if I didn’ t ride the way I dreamed I could. Coming home with a podium in ADV Core, right behind a twotime Dakar Rally winner, at my first attempt at Romaniacs, feels like the best possible way I
KIWI RIDER 33