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Mauri ora,
I knew when commencing the Pioneer- a 7 stage MTB race with 15,500m of elevation that we would not by shy of peaks,
The question was which of these would be THE Peak of the Week?
On stage 6 the saying, ‘the greater the challenge, the greater the reward’ held true,
As I lifted my low slung head to spot Little (not really!) Criffel- I mustered up a loud ”it’s you!”.
The climb up to Mt Criffel was stunning to say the least,
But after about 2hrs of climbing, my legs had had enough of this beast!
The pedals were turning very slowly, my legs felt like lead,
‘Where the hell is the finish?’ Was on repeat in my head.
And then came this glorious moment when out to my right,
My tired eyes were greeted with an empowering sight.
A trig, a sign, an elevation mark- something to tell us, yes we really had climbed quite high!
And if we were at a summit, the end must be nigh!
Well the first part was true- we had ridden up a mountain, yet there was still quite some kms to go,
Just how many I am quite glad in this moment of glory I didn’t know.
The backdrop was mountains; mountains, mountains galore
And in this moment, my legs didn’t hurt anymore.
My grimace gave way to a smile,
My grunts were drowned out by whoops of delight,
Twas a mountain that was hurting me but now more mountains gave me more fight.
My whoops of course were echoed, and thus held double the delight,
Because I had my incredible teammate Nina there with me, to share this beautiful sight.
I love mountains, even the ones that hurt.
Til next week,
Reta
