B2NW & 42nd Traverse Bad Boyz weekend

Heads hung low, without our buddy ole pal Dave Aldred, we trudged on for a weekend of sad sorrow and boring times... BUT NOT FOR LONG...

Within hours of arriving in Ohakune the beers were cracked and banter had started. A likely few (Tigs, Angry, Fastest Man Ed Stealth Mode (Stephen Butterworth) & SS Ninja (Hayden Russell) had grant plans of riding the Bridge to Nowhere and 42nd Traverse in one weekend. These are two of the North Island most well know trails and mint ones at that. Day one was to be B2NW. We started off weighting bikes in and comparing XT-XTR stats. As per usual our resident light weigth Angry Bennett has been purchasing fitness at an XTRordinary rate, XTR & Carbon rate that is (The elistrious Air 9 Carbon in a stunning Tang Orange with XTR everything). Off to the Raetihi Camp ground to book our jetboat transfer back from the end of the trail. It seems that not only was Stealth Mode missing a few gears (All but one) but a few brains cells (Once again all but one) and opted for the "No boat, Sinlge Speed home after the B2NW track 144km later, what a fuckin legend)... brainless twit. (but we still think youré a bit of alright buddy ;)

Off we set for 40km of "sifting" to the begining of the trail, mainly gravel road. Pic of track stats below:

Ahead of us from here was an unknown killer hill and sweet single track. Ed going part way to insanity riding his Santa Cruz Nomad, a typically downhill bike, riding typically well up hill. Somehow within 10mins of climbing the hill I found myself sitting in the Nomad Armchair sruggling my lazy ass up the rest of the hill. I did find it pedalled surprisingly well, so decided not to give it back when it came to the first downhill :) 6 inches of travel front and rear I was loving it. Faster and faster Ed and I went down the hill until I cooked it a little too much coming out of the corner, where I played my best impersination of a chubby kid in a down hill rolly polly contest. Off into the bushes I careered. Unfortunately no injuries sorry guys :P Check out the video link below for the aftermath of the crash and days highlights.

B2NW is a must do trail, and to be honest it can be achieved by most levels of fitness, some just a little longer then others. But the vista is amazing and Jet Boat ride out is an adrenaline burst just waiting to happen.

As we arrived at the end of the B2NW, waved good bye to our Single Cell (Single brain cell) friend Stealth Mode and sped our way back to warm showers, hot wives and cool beers.

There were more toilets on this tail than Dave Aldred has had training sessions. but do you think Fastest Man could wait long enough to use one...

The only way to travel after 4hrs in the saddle

B2NW Video, Clicky Click



Day 2 dawned and we waved good bye to Angry and his lovely family. After 4 weeks on holiday they had to get home to feed the every sliming goldfish and unpack the Burkes love trailer.

42 Traverse:
We were down to 4 hard men Myself, Fastest Man, Stealth Mode & SS Ninja. SS Ninja had the most unlucky day of us all, firstly a Toi Toi whipped his handle bars from under him, sending him cartwheeling down the trail, secondly he got a flat and finally lost his camera on one of the many fast descents. Other than those unfortunate miss haps, we had a fantastic ride. Mean as fast downhills, open trails with a fantastic little pub at the end for cheap burgers and cool beer. Some of the bonuses of this trail is that it is not really technical and the start is 570 higher than the finish. That's right folks downhill, downhill, downhill.

Bit of a laugh between us lads as we arrived at the Owhango Hotel and asked for the menu we could not believe our eyes, $8 - $10 burgers and the lady behind the counter apologized for the high prices LMAO.

Chex out the 42nd Traverse stats: 42nd Traverse

So all in all it was a fun weekend with some mint as trails. Big thanks goes out to The Keith & Bennett wives who put up with our ladish behavior and did not complain for a moment. We all love you. Keith love to Keith's, Bennett love to Bennett's respectively... unless is Tuesday night "Keys in the bowl" rules apply.

Cheers,

Tigs, Angry, Fastest Man, Stealth Mode & SS Ninja