It may be summer break time in the USA, but New Zealand’s Paul Whibley is still racing, and still winning too.

With another weekend away from the Grand National Cross Country Championships (GNCC), the man from Pahiatua was keen to ride anyway, to keep up his fitness and sharpness on the bike as he contemplates a tough final run to the finish of the GNCC series next month.

“I competed in a CRA 4 hour race at the LL Raceway in Pennsylvania.  Most riders raced as part of a team but I saw the event as a chance to get in an extra hour training on the bike so I rode it iron man.

“I got a good start and led the way around the first lap.  Overnight rain had watered what would have been a dusty course to perfection although it was a little slick in some spots.  It was also pretty hot.  Temperatures in the 90s (35 degrees Celsius) with high humidity.

“The air seemed thick in the trees like it was something you could grasp.  Lucky my Smith goggles have got plenty of anti fog coating and worked great in the tough conditions.

After a lap (my wife) Katherine gave me a pit board saying a lap time was 13 minutes.

“I was in for a long day and a lot of laps.  Katherine kept the motivation coming with times and distances to people to lap in front, giving me something to chase and focus on.

“At the first fuel stop Katherine handed me the IMS dump can and the tank was replenished.  The short lap made it seem like I had been out there for hours, on the flip side I knew the track inside out.

“Another hour and a half up and in for some more gas.  I had a good lead so there wasn’t too much of a rush so I grabbed a bite of a sandwich and made some fine tuning adjustments on my Ohlins shock to better cope with the demands of the track.

“I took the win after four hours racing. I almost got dizzy after going around so many times but it was a good day’s training.”

Photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com