At last race day arrived yesterday. Scroll down if you just want to see the photos/ results! Sorry about my longwinded report:
The Karapoti Classic is probably the NZ’s most epic and gruelling mountainbike race. It is made up of 48km of River Crossings, unicycle eating bogs, sharp gnarly rocks, and soul destroying climbs (about 1000-1500m in total). This is it’s 18th year and for the first time there was a group of unicyclists mad enough to do it.
Well, at least there were three of us mad enough to do it. Tony (let’s rock and roll) Melton, Ken (eat my unicycle dirt- you biker! ) Looi, and Peter (Hub/Crank/Ankle crusher) Bier. Unfortunately Peter did just that and sprained his ankle before the race and had to watch from the sideline as Tony and Ken set off to wreck their bodies for several hours.
Also joining us for the shorter 20km Karapoti Challenge were ‘Speedy’ Steve Pavarno, Steve ‘Superman’ Taylor, and Jez (the pom with a carbon fibre unicycle) Weston.
The race for the 48k classic started with the usual “run across the raging river (twice) just for the hell of it because it happens to be there” sort of traditional race start. We started alongside the tandem riders. Luckily the river this year was at relatively low levels (up to our knees so I didn’t fall in). Unfortunately my camelbak exploded at the start line and water started dripping down my back.
Then it was straight out of the river and onto the road for 2km. After that we hit the Karapoti Gorge which consisted of gentle single/doubletrack climb with a spattering of rocks and a couple of stream crossings thrown in. At that point, we were passed by the expert class riders and I felt the urge to chase them down. I was on my 29’er with 150mm cranks which was a perfect ratio for racing up the gorge. Tony was slogging it up the Gorge on his 24x3 with 170mm cranks. I left Tony behind 
as I wanted to beat as many bikers as possible. I was able to keep up and even pass a few mountainbikers up the gorge but they would get away on me on the downhill sections.
Haha… then my chance came when we hit the first big hill going up to Deadwood (that’s what your legs feel like at the top). Normally I would ride up there on my bike and pick up a few places over the people pushing. This year however, I was able to run up as fast as the people who were able to ride up, and much faster than the people walking their bikes up 
People were asking if I would like to swap my 5kg unicycle for their bikes-no thanks! The climb lasted about half and hour and by the time I got to the top I had passed about 1-200 riders. By this time my entire camelback had emptied itself down my shorts so I was as parched as a snail in the Sahara. I begged for some water at the first-aid station at the top and the medic there was nice enough to give me most of his own water.
Refreshed, I raced along the gently rolling top of Deadwood before the descent into the Rock Garden. When I got to the rock garden I had another five cups of carboshotz (yuck) at the drink station. The first part of the rock garden was pretty sketchy on my 29er but I rode as much as I could. The middle section was fairly dry this year but I ran it because I didn’t want to rim pinch (2-3 foot drops onto sharp rocks), or fly out in a helicopter. The last section was really fun and quite rideable. Tony Melton rode down most of the Rock Garden on his 24’. Mountainbikers were crashing all around us 
After that I gulped down as much as I could from the stream at the bottom before heading into the Devils Staircase. Imagine a slippery 20-40% climb, up what looks like an earthquake faultline with a light at the end of the tunnel. Again I passed a lot of mountainbikers (everyone was carrying). This was the fastest I have ever done the Devils Staircase in 15-20 min. Usually I do it in about 30-40min on a bike. I got caught in a bog half way up (you can’t tell how deep they are until your unicycle suddenly disappears). I think Tony faceplanted into one of them 
.
Then onto Big Ring Boulevard. No big ring this time but I still went fast enough to wipe myself out in style when my shorts caught on the end of my YUni fork 
At the bottom I guzzled another litre or so from the stream (now in anticipation of explosive diarrhoea/giardia). The next climb up Dopers was the worst. My legs began cramping at that point. There were some very demoralising false tops (you think you reached the top until you turn the corner).
Finally it was a steep downhill to the Karapoti Gorge, during which I bonked despite having eaten three powerbars and a slime gel. It was my arms turn to cramp from pulling back on the saddle. Phew, luckily it was all downhill along the Karapoti Gorge before grovelling to the finish. Another two river crossings and into the finish line in 4hrs 28min.
Tony rolled in at 5hrs 49min. Not bad considering this was his first Karapoti and he was riding a 24’ MUni. We beat a large number of mountainbikers- not sure how many yet until the results are finalised- maybe 1-200?)
In the 20k race Steve Pavarno blitzed the course in 2hrs 28min, followed by Steve Taylor and Jez Weston. Steves reaction to having just done the Karapoti Challenge: ‘What? Was that all?’ Seeya next year in the 48k Classic Steve!
Karapoti Photos by the Kennett Bros
We’ll definitely be back next year!
Ken
