Canadian research - the racing

Well it has been a while in the making, but here is my "race report" from my Canadian trip

So while sifting in Canada, I thought I'd do a bit of racing. I heard that at the time some thing called Crankworx was on, so I tagged along to see what all the fuss was about...

Waiting for the lift for another rampage run...

Looking down the dual slalom course

Brendan Fairclough's bike collection...

Gee Atherton takes the slalom win

You will be surprised to know there is a XC event at Crankworx in Whistler. I lined up for a laugh at the back of the grid, forgot that I was back on my XC bike after a week of riding DH bikes and got up to second!

Rocky XC Rampage!

 Just to increase the lulz, I decided it would be a good idea to ride "Comfortably Numb", "River runs through it" and "Kill me thrill me" a day out from the race. For those who have been to Whistler you will realise that as far as rides go that is stupidly hard! Probably explains why I destroyed an upsized-super-large-you-fat-bastard combo at Maccas and before you can say "BMI RAMPAGE!" Yeah, I was rather hungry after that ride!

Yes that is my medal and some guy called Nico Vouilloz signed my cap

The hat is the photo was done for me by this guy:
http://www.myspace.com/1976ItsJustArt
If you are ever in Seattle, make sure you visit him in the Pike Place Market - highly recommend! Even Nico Vouilloz thought that cap was cool, and if Nico says it's cool - it's cool!

Right, that's enough of that race carry on!

One final Canadian post, the stories post... it has rednecks with guns, hungry bears, crappy coffee - something for the whole family!

Don't touch that dial!

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Wainui...Layback time

Sooo layed back I was nearly horizontal...

After a wet and windy Makara Peak race I was looking forward to some faaaast skids on the trails of the WTP of glory. Having been about a year since riding on these trails I was looking forward to a few surprises and I was not to be disappointed.

I started the day off by picking up a mate of mine Simon who was not only game enough to brave my bad driving style, but was silly enough to trust me in suggesting he raced the gentile rolling hills of Wainuiomata. Some people never learn, Sorry Si :D
Race start was here and I had my tractor tyres on ready for the "Storm the size of Australia..." where was it I ask you? maybe the Ozzies had turned tail after the Tri-Nations Cup walloping we game them. Either way I was stuck with the tractor tread on a day that could only be best described as picture perfect.

Elite pain fest called my name once again and regrettably I inched my way to the start, thinking it can't be as hard as I think... WRONG! we took off up the Crazyman climb and I thought I would try and hang with the cool kids Gav & Mono. At the top of the Crazyman climb my lungs were feeling the burn but I knew if I made it to Labyrinth before them I would have a smokin down hill, Mono entered before me and Gav just behind. we stayed like this until the "fantastic short cut" which Gav and I took and popped out just ahead of Mono. Woop!!! go the shortcut. Opened up the taps of gnar on my tractors and pulled at bit of time out of Gav and Mono only to have them tear me a new one on Jungle Scout climb, this went tit for tat as I romped over them down Beeline only to have them gingerly (similar to Slackie's goatie) cruise past me again on Jungle Scout, this time chatting about what moisturizer they both use and how it makes their skin glow (They were so relaxed when they past me I was surprised they were not comparing softness of skin). Lucky for me Spoon Hill & 419 were in my favour as I returned to my glory down hills chase, picking them both up gain. Not to bore you all the rest is easy... Crazyman Climb and they dropped me like Davo's backside after super special at Tulsi Indian Curry House. Did a bit of suffering by myself watching the odd Elite rider smoke me on the up hills Thomas Linup and a brief encounter from Lynsky who threatened to pass me going up the last pasts of the Crazyman climb, thanks for the pep talk sheep shaggger.

The rest of my ride was much the same riding by myself with brief visits from the likes of T-Rex who went the wrong way and then once back on track smoked me, Ed (Fastest Man) who thought it be funny to pass me like I was an old man with arthritis and a Zimmer frame.

Trucked on home loving the down hills and finished with a MASSIF smile from ear to ear. Wainui has once again stolen my heart and not my wallet with some of the best trails in Wellies.

Till Mt Vic when I look forward to another smashing but happy to just be out riding.

Tigs

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Wainui..payback time.

After riding extra sections at Makara and coming 2nd, which is actually usual for me, Wainui was about getting back on track.
The predictions by the bearded ones of a Weather Bomb never eventuated and we woke up to a bright and sunny day, so loaded up the kids and headed over to Wainui for round 2 of the PNP mountain bike series.
Course was going to involve quite a bit of climbing and some reasonably techy descents, starting out with a climb to the water tower along the recently renamed from the crazyman climb to Konini. My usual adversaries Jonny Bushlove and Rob Kilvington would be hot on my tail so a fast start was required.
1 fast start later I hit the top of the climb with about a 50m lead, so headed along the various pinches and 4wd track and into Labryinth when I promptly got a bit excited and stuck a wheel over the side DAMM.. I got back on and did exactly the same thing again, its a funny thing race pressure turns an easy track into a hard track, so yelled out to myself to calm down (literally) and continued to the bottom via Snail Trail.



(photo kindly stolen from Hickie. thanks!..)

Back up Jungles I kept on checking back and Jonny and Rob where wearing their cloaks of invisibility so I thought I was in the clear, (Ed steamed passed at about here!) back up the 4wd track I picked up Liam from M1 and passed him before hitting spoonhill which like everyone else said was great fun, slipppy muddy with lots of places to axe yourself, I wasn't carrying a huge amount of speed down spoonhill and Liam just smoked past me and by the time we hit the bottom pulled out about a 200m gap!, not bad considering it wasn't even over a huge distance. (note to self to be more brave)

The new link track was interesting in its slimyness not well suited to my crossmark tyres but I survived that and hit the road to put my "good roadie" skills to the test, I wound up the big ring and hit 50kph and re-passed Liam again just before the school. Then up Konini to do it all over again , at the top by the water tower I again checked back and Jonny and Robs cloaks where still fully functioning which lulled me into a false sense of security and foolishly I didn't feel I pushed as hard on the 2nd lap, into Labryinth and Snails I caught up with Wifey who was riding with Alex in the Bushlove under 8 classification, Alex was nowhere to be seen and was way ahead and Trudi was playing catchup down snails, (that's my boy :-) ) , I caught Alex at the bottom of snails and he looked happy as larry.

On and up Jungles again when mid way up Alex Revell caught me from Pro Elite I let him pass and then the batteries in Jonnys cloak went flat and he suddenly appeared about 20m behind me!.. Damm that wasn't in the plan, so hit the gas pedal and caught up with Alex Revell just before the exit and gassed it up the 4wd climb to put in a better gap between myself and Waggers. I had a little more urgency down Spoonhill this time as I know Waggers eats this stuff for breakfast, I knew if I could hold him off here there was no way he would catch me on the road.
Down link track I calculated Jonnys trajectory, speed and gnar using this formula.



And used this formular and my rear wheel to place a rock on the side of the track as a backup plan, I exitted at Waiu street and headed for the finish in 1st place so very happy, Jonny (un)fortunately found my strategically placed rock which sent his rear der through the back wheel for an expensive running finish to his race for 2nd.

Next is Mt Vic in 3 weeks time..Charge your invisibility cloak batteries Waggers..

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Back to my roots

Sunday saw the second round of the popular PNP MTB series, with another awesome turn out of riders. If you’re wondering where my spiel from round 1 is, well to cut a long story short, don’t turn up to a race with well worn drive-train (or you’ll get chain suck all day long).

After the so called ‘largest storm on Earth’ skipped the Mountain Bikers in Wellington and rather dumped itself on the Trackies in Invercargill, we were treated to a stellar day in the capital; nothing but the best for MTB’s of course! With the awesome crew from the WTP (Wainui Trail Project) grooming the tracks for some serious traffic, all was set for another fun day of skids (only on the firebreaks of course WTP ;-)).



After a quick spin down the road, dodging a randomly parked local’s car as you do, it was straight up the 4wd past the water tower; nothing like starting a race with 15mins of climbing. Right from the start I knew I had good legs so felt intent on testing them and the other guys; not long in I pulled a small gap but could still feel them breathing down my neck. Down Labyrinth then Snails, it looked liked I had pulled a decent gap, so I settled into a nicer rhythm that I could sustain for the whole 2hrs. Near the top of Jungles on the way back up I could see Alex Revell chasing hard, obviously Alex was going to be a challenge to dislodge as always. Into Beeline for a quick descent, pulling a few risks was in order to open a gap on Alex, so down I slide (on my wheels of course). On the way up to Spoonhill I managed to find a nice rhythm helping me to pull out a decent gap, but I still had the infamous descent of Spoonhill to go. In its usual sloppy style, Spoon was slippery, entertaining (still no crashes, wow) and bumpy, but that’s half the fun of riding in Wainui. Through Spoon Link, Wetlands, then onto the road, lap 1 was done and dusted.

Even with daylight behind me I didn’t let up one bit, always another carrot to chase after; the next time up the 4wd I could see Hiskey off in the distance, a perfect target. It did take me all the way to the top of Labyrinth to catch him, but the thrill of descending behind him is always worth it. Apart from the near head on with a rider lost on Snail’s, everything went smoothly. Other highlights from the final lap is passing Tiger on Jungles letting him know he still has 2 more climbs to go, and getting stuck in traffic down Spoon which by now was truly thrashed! Back on the road, into the college grounds and across the line for my first win of the series.



Another well run and enjoyable PNP race, all in my hometown Wainui (that’s right, I grew up in Wainui, but escaped before I become a prisoner ;-)). Huge cheers as always for the race organizers (Marco, Ash and big bro Al), the WTP for providing some amazing tracks (Spoon is my favorite in Wgtn) and, Mariska for dragging me out and dealing with my general shenanigans! Look forward to seeing everyone at Mt Vic in three weeks.

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A brief commuter's trail tale

I am house sitting in Seatoun and have the pleasure of taking in some trails on the way to the office. I headed up to the Miramar prison to take a run down the excellent Jail Brake. I had to stop to put my ear phones in at the prison. It must have been morning shower time and the sounds coming from the ablutions block sounded like an Il Treno Dolore house party.

Jail Brake was running really well. It was hard to get the right speed and flow through all the bermed corners on the rigid, but I did get both wheels off the ground a few times, some even on purpose. My Camelbak schlong was dangling too deeply though and on one jump into a lh corner, I somehow ripped the nozzle off so got my leg drenched.

Sifted along to Mt Vic, regretting not having a buff for my ears, as I am trying to get over a cold. Had a look at the extension to the Hataitai Zig Zag which Simon Kennett et al are putting together. Good trail. I went over the bars on it, as I usually do on any family friendly, gradual uphill climb. It did give me a chance to take in the view though. I see they have work parties on it for an hour on Tuesday lunchtimes. As tradition demands I will publicly state how I will join said work party, and then live through my shame as I fail to show up.

I continued along to the Rihanna and Eminem song that embarrassingly I quite like, before dipping into the singletrack and dropping into one of my favourite descents. NO, NO, NO!!! That frustrating Polly lady on ZM’s morning show started doing one of those tragic self-voiced adverts for the Village Goldsmith! This immediately harshed my mellow, and I was lucky to pilot the bike successfully round the early tight left hander. In the car ZM is immediately switched off whenever they mark their card by wittering on about Optizorb painkillers or the Village Goldsmith. But with both mitts gripping the reins I had no choice but to endure.

The XC Campers and DH God had good weekends. They will be along shortly with their tales. Don’t touch that dial…. unless self-voiced adverts come on.

D-Banger : The All Mountain Athlete.

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For DayDreamers .... "bank"

So it appears as if I was teasing Bushlove's biggest fan by NOT posting any pics of myself in the Broken Axe post.
Thanks to Damon (Mundi) Mead, who's birthday was just the other day, who took some top pics of me at the Broken Axe race, we can replenish some visual aids for DD's .... "bank"

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Broken Axe Downhill

So most people view Bushlove as an XC, seat up, lycra wearing jeiboi club. Whilst this is true, some of us are super hardcore, Gnarcore even.

Thats not me, tho I am an old skool DH'er from way back. And seeing as I'm currently residing in Nelson for some time, I broke out the Sunday for some fun and hit up one of the Nelson club DH races.

A day of runs for $30 odd bucks and 2 timed runs at the end of it.........bargain. The track was rocky and with a few roots to slip you up when you least expect it. The speed was quite high as well, and something that took me quite some time to get used to, in fact I never really got full handle on it. But I'm still fresh back onto the DH bike, so I'm willing to be slower than I should be for the moment.

In the end I got 3rd in the semi old bastards category, half a second off second, but 11 seconds back on super local Derek Winwood.

I managed to get a helmet cam run of my 2nd race run. Apologies for the slowness and shit riding.

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