Linger & Die

It's one week until I depart for my Trans Provence adventure. My training has been going ok with a pesky cold last week the only real setback. Even the winter has been pretty mild allowing plenty of actual bike riding. I wanted to get some practice riding new trails at pace and the Alexandra Linger & Die Enduro was perfectly placed for this. As far as I've been able to determine the terrain around Clyde and Alexandra is a reasonable simulation for some of TP with plenty of rocky narrow trails. However my average TP day will be twice the distance and three or four times the climbing and descending. Every day. For a week. Sweet!

The folks at Altitude Bikes put on an excellent and well-run event. There were four timed special stages with scenic transition stages in between. I was riding in my age grade but I knew it would be a good challenge against the other riders' local knowledge.

After a short but welcome shuttle up a steep gravel road we continued riding up to the start of special stage one (SS1) on Clyde Hill. The first half of the track (Cup Cake) was open and fast with sneaky double jumps and blind corners around large rocks before diving down the bottom half of the previous day's downhill race course. I caught five riders on this lower section which I think was a good thing as it was easy to overdo it on a few of the drops. I managed not to embarrass myself on the final jump at the finish line for a third place finish.

A longish transition along the mighty Clutha river was a nice change of pace and a chance to chinwag with some locals and Ally my riding partner for the day. This is one of the really fun aspects of enduro racing. You cruise the transitions and uphills, and race the predominantly downhill sections. Fun, like a weekend ride with friends really.

SS2 was the one track I did manage to pre-ride at dusk the previous night. This track was split by two distinctly different sections. The first half is high speed 4wd with lots of slick rock style slabs to rattle over, my Tallboy's big wheels rolled this stuff nicely. It then dived down a long off camber ridge which you could really scream down but if you got out of the six inch wide track into the sloping grass it was difficult to recover gracefully. I managed to hold enough grace to win this stage. Pre-riding really is an advantage.

Stage 3 was short with lots of pedalling. After rolling across the grassy tops we dived down more grass to the finish. The only real excitement here was a super high speed exit to a 90 degree turn 5 metres before the finish line which nearly everyone messed up. The penalty for messing up was about 5 metres of bog followed by a large pond. I didn't see anyone reach the pond but I sure felt like I was going to as I raced towards it with both wheels locked!

Looking down to the finish in Alexandra from the start of SS4.

A short transition led to the final timed stage which was my favourite of the day. After a short 4wd section we dived down the narrow rocky Single Malt track. This is a brilliant little descent though thyme covered hills, it smells sweet and it rides sweeter. I had a near miss on the steepest section as I was sure the track was flowing to the left but it very definitely went to the right! One of the challenges I will face in TP is riding and racing about 300kms of steep rocky single track with only course notes at the start of each day. This is one of the features of TP in that the course is a tightly held secret and we all get to ride "blind". No practising, in fact pre-riding or even walking more than a 100 metres will result in time penalties or even disqualification. After the adrenaline had subsided a little the track levelled out into a long winding stream valley down the aptly named Shit Track, stay on the trail and don't breath too deeply near the end! This is high speed fun with lots of in-and-out of the stream and up-and-down the stream banks. Momentum is your friend here and the big boulders have in-fill rocks that allow you to roll everything. Super fun. Halfway down the stream is a wire fence to climb over. I managed to get tangled but it probably only cost me 10 seconds. With my noob city-boy fence hopping skills I was happy to get second place on this final stage which gave me the overall win in my category, and 17th overall.

I really enjoyed the day and loved the opportunity to throw myself down some unknown trails. No injuries and first race outing on my recently upgraded Santa Cruz Tallboy LTc, a sweet ride. Thanks again to Altitude Bikes and the other sponsors that made the event possible, and to Santa Cruz NZ.

--Waggers

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Bushlove at the BP races

As soon as the weather starts getting warmer, the first tests to see who was hibernating over winter, and who has been following Rules #5 and #9 are starting to rolls in. Following the always fun Kapiti series is the upcoming Balfour Pennington series.

This long running Wellington road fixture is made even better this year as it is sponsored by the good sorts at Wheelworks (their euro-roadie-style already filtering down in the new posters). An even bigger bonus to race (and to marshall) is the end of series prize of a brand new set of the Flite 01 wheels.


Rumors have it that Tony "Sandbags McTiger" Keith will be shedding his moniker and racing with the big boys. Clive "Angry Faced but Cuddly" Bennett has been spotted practicing his grimace in reflective car windows while coasting to work. Sam "Sammy Rammer Sanchez" Dungey might make a guest appearance by riding in his stealth commuter gear - complete with rear mudguard.

With the dynamic BLR duo definitely ready to out-camp all the roadies out there, it will be a good show. What will you tell your grandkids when they ask you, "Where were you when Tony finally came out?".

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PNP Round 1 - Rider Reports

A feast of lulz and skidz

- Waggers' report

The first round of the PNP spring series came with the usual menu of unpredictable weather. The day prior a huge but brief serving of rain was just an entree to the main course of fat juicy rain drops, low cloud and plummeting temperatures drizzled with a thin gritty mud-vinaigrette. However, unusually for Wellington there was no side-serving of wind.

Al the up and coming Bushlove maitre-d' gave the race briefing explaining that all tracks were as per the menu with one exception, they were unable to get a fresh supply of T3 so it was unavailable. However there's always one Angry customer who doesn't listen and demands to speak to the chef afterwards...

The long road section to start spread the M2 field out. At about the top of Swigg we encountered the slower riders from the previous start and they were difficult to pass on the narrow tracks which was a little frustrating. I was about 7th place in our start group and the stretched out field continually bunched up behind the other class riders. Frustrations aside I was only feeling average and it wasn't until the first time up Aratihi that I started to fire. I dropped Rob and a senior men rider going down into Nikau. At about this point my rear brakes were gone which made me a little nervous for the remaining long decent of North Face, Smokin, and Swigg.

On the final 4wd section to the summit from Aratihi Rob jumped past me in the mist and disappeared. I didn't realize at the time but he had mistakenly charged for home via Ridgeline. With freezing cold hands and no rear brake I still managed to pass several riders on the final descent. Most pulled aside when I yelled (politely) that I couldn't stop but others were mysteriously already lying upside down beside the track, what's that all about?

On the final road to home that pesky senior men rider went by but he did apologise for leaving me behind on my single speed. The flat road is about the only place the SS has a real disadvantage vs a gear-befangled bike.

As I fumbled with numb hands to get my number off, er race numberplate off, I was surprised to see fellow Bushie Angry arrive after me. He had been busy stuffing his face with extra helpings of T3 and some Varley's so I got the win, lucky me!

A fun day - now that I'm warm, clean and dry - and with the

entertaining Al and Ash show on mic the prize giving was succinct and fun. Cheers guys, three stars.

ps: continuing the "do these pads make my brakes look fat" theme, here's one of my sad little numbers. I was well into the pistons this time :-(

Kah's participation report

What I did on Sunday could not be categorised as racing, so we'll use its proper name here. I got kicked out of the house as I ran around trying to decide if I wanted to head out and race participate in the rainy festivities. Rolled in to the school just in time to get my ass grabbed and sign up for the events.

Turns out Senior Men had a pretty poor showing compared to the M1/M2 guys. I blame everyone else for wussing into the Enduro Men category (Tryfan, I'm pointing at you!). I tried to save my legs early by not rushing into the road climb start- turned out to be a bad idea as I negotiated traffic from the start of Koru until Missing Link. No dramas until I caught a few other riders on Aratihi.

Rode like I've never seen a mountainbike before down to Nikau - I was hopeless in that mud. Blew up going up Zac's for the final climb before letting rip (I had no rear pads left, I had no choice) coming down the final descent.

Al helpfully pointed out that I made the podium if you're counting backwards. At least I made my target of finishing with no mechanicals excuses.

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MTB Oh!

What?

2010 WOA MTB Orienteering Series, event 1, Makara Peak

NZ MTBO Stuff : Results

WTF?

As a self-confessed weather geek I pride myself in the ability to look out a window and detect if the sun is shining. When applying the standard tests this morning the rain was so gnar that I couldn't even see the neighbours house, certainly not across the harbour as far as usual to Petone. I decided to commit and donned my spiffy new BLR top, bottom and gimp cap. As my first ever mtb orienteering event I struggled to take in the race briefing, study the map, and sand-bag at the same time. We had to ride a fixed-order course clipping compulsory controls*, but with options to ride extra distance to get other controls that gave time bonuses. The rain continued.

* A 'control' is orienteering geek-tech for a bright orange and white thing with a bus conductors clipper attached. Waterproof.

Through some perverse seeding involving Karapoti PBs and an impromptu and vicious sand-bag-off I was entered in the open category starting at 20 second gaps behind Fastest Man then the wily Simon K. Immediately behind me was Sifter, a season campaigner and experienced map-whore. The early start gave me less time to study the map so at kick off I only had the first 3 controls sorted and figured I'd make the rest up on the bike. The rain continued.

Like me, FM is also an orienteering novice and his plan was to ride really fast around the mandatory controls staying out there for the shortest possible time. I didn't see him at all during the race. After some fluffing around getting to the first control I was caught by Sifter. I clipped my ticket and put the hammer down easily dropping him - actually he went a different way on a much more clever route. At the second and third controls I bumped into Simon. Then we split as I made my oh-so-cunning next wrong decision. My mighty single speed powered through the rain and muck across Missing Link and down the very slippery and super fun Nikau Valley track. This was my only real deviation to get an extra time bonus of 20 minutes. That extra loop took me only 18 minutes so I was chuffed. The rain continued.

Back at the summit I had a bit of trouble finding control 4. It was cunningly placed "nearly" as marked on the map, this caught out a few punters (and Sifters). From here my cunning plan was to get home quickly and get out of the rain. So I blasted down from the summit to the top of Vertigo then back up Zacs collecting a simple 7 minute time bonus for a 20 second deviation. Back over the top and down to the eastern corner of the park to get the last two compulsory controls my rear brake pads had completely gone, no worries nearly home. The rain continued.

When I arrived at the finish I had ridden for about 1.5 hours and with time bonuses I had a 6 minute lead over the next person, FM. He had ridden right past the 7 minute bonus on Zacs... Only Simon was still out there so I got warm and dry and returned to see him arrive about half an hour after me but with a bunch more time bonuses. On count back he had pipped me by just 30 seconds. Crap. The rain continued.

A fun day out doing skids in the puddles. Driving home the rain stopped, grrr.

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Butchlove Racing Gung-Ho Cyclocross Madcore

Pic courtesy of Craig Madsen

Despite time consuming lobbying of the UCI, the Bushlove Racing Team was not granted a Pro Tour Licence for '09 and as such was unable to prove itself eligible for a place in this years edition of the Tour De France. In many circles this has been seen as a travesty, especially considering Nick's 2nd place in the Makara Grand Loop Evening Time Trial.

So as Saturday morning dawned we were not in Monaco sipping mint julips and preparing for the opening time trial. The lucky ones were readying for Wellington's inaugural Cyclocross race whilst the less fortunte were readying for a day of work or other less worthy endeavors.

Cyclocross has come to Wellington, thanks to the enthusiasm and efforts of Yankee Mike from the Bike Hutt. It has been a long time coming it would seem, as there was a surprising number of cross bike out there, which presumably had not been used in anger in the proper manner before this day.



Our Belgian wannabees were Wonderwoman, Angry, Hinge and Davo. All racing the longer 45min + 1 lap option. we were well supported by Mrs Angry, the Bennett cheering squad of Alana and Alex and of course the lovely Mrs Hinge; who, along with Wonderwoman, showered herself with glory by bringing the baked treats.



We rocked up and customarily signed on with the surname 'Bushlove'. Hinge's handwriting was in question as they mistook him for Nick 'Butchlove'. The organisers initially believed we were all family and with genuine interest asked where our name came from.

Many of the usual suspects were there and it was clear that it was going to be very competitive. The VIC Cycles reps - Big Gav and Jordan - looked hard to beat, and were. Feisty Feist looked pretty keen on his mint Yeti crosser and Alex Revel and Jonty from Revolution Cycles were another fast pair who you'd rather had prior commitments. Tom Bradshaw and Trevor Woodward were their too and their were more than a few fast looking chaps we didn't know.

There were plenty of tasty looking bikes on display. I thought Feisty's YETI was the best, but Mike's Coconino (SS) he lent to Nicko was also very mint. There were also a few nice Surlys and MASI's which looked very stylish. Most people were on mtbs though, but I reckon more crossers will be seen as the sport takes off.

The course was a good one. Seemed like sub 5min laps around a mostly soft grass circuit with 3 or 4 small slippy rises and 3 sections with barriers to leap. A couple of practice laps shagged us severely. It was going to be a strenuous outing.

Summaries of the race itself, straight from the horse's mouths:



Wonderwoman

I find it fitting that my post is last, when i in fact did finish last, but some may say i was first in style. So here we go....arriving at California Park (how fitting) at 9am I was greeted by Hinge, the lovely Mrs Hinge (Sarah) and their asthmatic dog. I was feeling great...hey it's the 4th of July. After a few God Bless Americas and the Pledge of Allegence I was ready to go. For the first time ever i actually started in the front row- this is by no mean because of my very patriotic outfit. The first lap saw me in a demoralizing last- the crowd was ever so supportive and moral was boosted very quickly. Luckliy there were barriers that i flew over them with grace and beauty. I was also supported by some young fans that shouted things like "He likes you!" Nothing like a 5 year old thinking your'e hot... he would fit in perfectly with Bushlove.



As the 22 minute mark rolled around, i realized that by signing up for the 30 minute course i was actually tricked into the 45 minute course. This is the time when the chaffing set in and the 'push' from Davo really felt good. Although Samara was dissapointed that she didn't recieve a 'push' from Davo. Nothing like a grown man biking past you saying "My lycra is getting too tight".

Alas i withstood tough conditions, lapped Marco (he might have been running with a broken seat...) with him yelling "Oh my gosh, i've been lapped by a girl", and found myself enjoying a fabulous morning with some great folks.

Thanks so much to the awesome Americans at Bike Hutt. What a great event....what's the next theme?? I've got a sweet Pocahantas outfit that is dying to be used.

Davo

I don't have a proper CX bike so popped an old rigid on the gearie for this one. I felt good enough and the pink decals really set the fork off. Tire choice was tricky. Ended up with Medusas.



I got holeshot and steamed into the first corner in the lead. I never thought it would last long, and Ken, Jordan, Gav and others, proved me right within less than a minute. I seemed to be riding OK and spent the first half or so in 4th behind Jordan, Gav and Alex. Very close behind was a strong trio of Tom, Trevor and a fast chap on a Niner, who I forgot to say hi to after. I held them off for a few laps, then we traded positions for a few. I was weaker on the 'fitness' bits, but was making very good ground on the hurdles.



Hinge was chasing them and me and eventually all four of them got the better of me. Nick timed his take to perfection on the slippy climb where he executed his trademark "I'm coming inside of you" call, as he nimbly cut my lunch on the climb's top corner.



I then faded a bit. I got the mojo back, but got confused on which lap was last and what a bell lap actually was. I eventually finished with a legendary Superman across the line. But after a bit of chat I decided to do an extra lap on my lonesome to make sure I had not cheated. turns out I was right to finish when I did - On the same lap as the leader.

I thought the highlight of the race was the short open course, which meant you could keep tabs on everyone and cheer and jeer your mates. Cross also lends itself really well to spectating. Thanks very much to everyone who gave me a yell, it was always appreciated! I also enjoyed lapping Ash in her hotpants and loved seeing the Godfather running his laps after breaking his ultralight seatpost - What a hardout!



I enjoyed a few beers and a bit of jawboning afterwards at the Bike Hutt. Nice shop with a good selection of bikes, stock and cheese. Thanks again to Mike, wife Alison and team of helpers for a great time and your hospitality at the shop. Nice one.

The real winner today was Cyclocross.

I say that of course because I didn't frickin' win.

Angry

Knowing there were to be obstacles during a race that required leaping, I knew this race would = FAIL for me as due to knee injuries I have to be careful about things like this as my patella (knee cap for the none hinged readers) has a habit of slipping down to the side of my leg. Also having to ride on my Anthem with Crossmarks would also be an epic fail, so was pleased when Mono offered to loan me his CX bike for the race.
We arrived at the race and did a couple of test laps, was going to be a hard course so lulzzed about before the start.



BANG the race starts and FAIL I couldn't get into my SPD's damm, so most of the pack got away from me, so hammered down and picked most of them up, and was just behind Nick and Davo, I passed Davo who appeared to be asleep and came around to the first hurdle, and lost about 50 metres in my lame ass attempt to jump over it.



That was pretty much my how the rest of my race went, sprint and overtake everyone, to fail at the obstacles and have them all pass me again. That was until the last lap where I finally figured it all out and tried something a wee bit different.......



I managed to catch up to Davo and whilst he wasnt looking I bunny hopped all of the obstacles, even managing a handgrab mid air, was truly awesome I'm surprised there where no photos of this. So having left Davo behind I passed a couple of other riders sight unseen and came upon Nick again at the triple hurdles, this time I powered the shanks and popped a huge wheelie right past him again while he wasn't looking, I then Danny Mackasil style hopped the bike over all the obstacles with a backflip over the 3rd one to rub it in and smashed it home for 3rd place!!!.. wow awesome result.. maybe my CX skillz aren't so bad after all, sadly for the hinged 4 eyed one, he needs some new glasses and a re-lube of the hinge if he expects to beat me next time at a CX event.



Hinge

Awesome to see Cross racing finally come to Wellington and turned out to be a great day for a race. I’d sold my Tricross a few weeks prior (I’d like to think me selling my cross bike and cross all of a sudden becoming cool aren’t linked) but Mike AKA Yankeehotelfoxtrot AKA Crosstafarian, was kind enough to lend me his beautiful Cococino custom ss cross bike. As he is a little taller than me, I switched the stem for a shorter one but otherwise the bike was spot on. While I doubted I’d be competitive, at least I’d look good.

A really good turnout made it to the start line with at least a dozen real cross bikes coming out of the woodwork along with some handy XC racers. Right from the gun I was in a world of hurt.



Even on flat, the gearing was challenging but at least I had my dismounts and run-ups pretty sorted. In particular the hairpin run-up was my main advantage and one of the few opportunities I had for passing. After an ok start over the next 5-6 laps I put in the hard yards to catch the bunch of Davo, Tom, Trevor and Bryce while Jordon, Big Gav and Alex rode away. I finally caught the bunch half way through the race taking Davo in classic Bushlove (Butchlove?) style. From there Davo faded while Tom, Bryce and I stayed pretty close. By the end I had tears welling up and had vomited up in my mouth a few times. With only a slight exaggeration I think I can say it was the hardest 45mins racing of my life. After an epic battle Tom got the better of me on the second to last lap so (I think) I came in 5^th place. More importantly though was first Bushlover across the line despite their fancy geared bicycles. Not only were they all beaten by a four eyes, but they all got lapped too. Shame.

Spectators had a great time too. If you’re too soft to race you should at least come along to heckle. Cheers Mrs Hinge and Popster for your support and muffins. Ash even had her own support crew of young Bushlove fans who loved her costume.

Belgian beer and baguettes back at Bike Hutt (which I recommend you all czech out) finished off a cracking day. There’s talk of it becoming a series so if you didn’t make it on Saturday make sure you make the next race. To steal a quote it’s 'pure sweet hell'.

==================================================================

And that was the Team's first cyclocross outing. First of many. Thanks to Tama, Oli and Colin for some of the pics from this set on Vorb.

Leonidas Of Sparta.

CX Team Manager and Head Soignuer (whatever that is).

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Dutch Rudders Keep Bushlove On Course At The Moonride

The Bushlove Team had spent several weeks looking forward to the Moonride trip. It would be the first bona fide Team event we had done and would no doubt be a fantastic road trip.

We had designs on the North Island MTB Club 12hr Champs but knew we would get strong competition from teams like Hamilbogun and Manawatu. We lost Sharpie at short notice as the Playboy and Star Trek channels were doing free viewing over the weekend, which left us with fine Bushies: Tiger, Sixpack Chan, Slackshanks and Dr Love to contend.

In the solo class we had endurance athlete supreme - Clive Bushlove, and endurance athlete epic fail - Me.

We all woke nice and early to get on the road and away from my place by 8am. Well, every one but Slacky got up nice and early. After a bit of repacking and appreciation of my new lawn, Slacky, Boner Toner, Angry and me got going in the mighty Burkes van (thanks for the vehicle Burkes. Awesome kit). Inbetween mouthfuls of McMuffins, we regaled each other with tails of daring and adventure and discussed the benefits of the Dutch Rudder system, tire choice and plotted to ensure Nick and Sixpack had to share a double bed.

We arrived in Vegas about 3pm and sorted registration before pitching the tent (Bushlovers always pitch a huge tent). We had driven through some pretty heavy rain and where expecting a repeat of last year’s mud bath Moonride, but the rain stopped on our arrival and gave it a break over night too, much to the relief of the 24hr riders who would be out there bedding the track in while we slept.

We had a cabin booked at the Rotovegas Thermal Holiday Park and it didn't quite have the bed allocation required. We had to cater for the modesty and honour of our good friend Michelle which meant that the best option would be for her to take the fold out and two boys take the last double. We bagged the bunks and laughed our way through a large spaghetti bolagnaise. Thanks Troods for the soup tip. A dollop of Tony's soured cream was unexpected but a lovely addition to the cuisine.

The Moonride was made a bit extra special for us as the fancy new Bushlove Racing team jerseys had arrived in the nick of time, thanks to splendid efforts from Robin at Tinelli. They cleared customs on the Wednesday avo and we got them couriered directly to the Park. Only Tiger and I knew about it and we surprised the chaps by casually wearing them to dinner. They turned out great. Our studdliness was tripled as we eased them on.

Nick and Kah arrived in Nick's new Subaru (complete with Bushlove.com stickers) in time to police up the left over spag bol and come to the hotties. We informed them of the sleeping arrangements and before reacting with the typical 'No way, you're joking right', Nick and Kah exchanged that bashful look that simply said "We've been waiting for this moment..."

The hotpools were amazing. Just the ticket. We lulzed it up for about two hours and churned though many other patrons. We were joined by a fine pair of young ladies, who after quietly chatting away and ignoring our rants, inquired "are you the Bushlove team?". Gold.

It seemed we had genuine followers of the blog. People who were not either us or blood relatives. We introduced ourselves and found that Lisa and her friend whose name we shamefully forgot, were racing in the Lunartics team the following day. We meant to inform these hot new Bushlove groupies that just being in a hot pool with the team is grounds for a pregnancy test, such is the strength of Bushlove's virility, otherwise they might end up having a short, ginger, Asian, four-eyed, balding baby in 6 months time (Bushlove babies gestate faster FTW).

We headed back to the cabin and headed to the bunks, except the Dr and Sixpack Chan, who retired to their private room to make the beast with two backs. Ash, Danny Boy and Michelle arrived a little later and after the hello's we nodded off to the rhythmic tapping of Nick and Kah's headboard.

A fine crisp, sunny day dawned and we were well up for it! Breaskfasted, Vaselined and freshly inflated, we headed to the race ground to set up the rest of the gear. It was a 10am kick off and began with a 2km road stretch. Hell on the SS. I could only cringe as from the gun I got swarmed by any weekender with a big ring. On the way back to the race HQ I was spinning madly and tucking into the slipstream of nicely rounded middle aged ladies who I am not used to sharing the first minutes of a race with normally. I managed to take a lot of people once the pace slowed though and got into the swing of things.

My new bike (see post coming soon) was awesome. It was carving through the forest and doing everything it was told beautifully. The course conditions were good. Damp, grippy and well compacted. Excellent riding.

And then it all fell to bits. Not the bike, but my motivation. After 6 laps I was bored to bits. I did a lap on Nicko's crosser which was good, to spark myself up, but to no avail. I ended up pulling the pin at lunchtime! Not my usual style. I think the problem was that I had not psyched myself up at all and was just entered 'on a whim'. You really need your head set for these things and I didn't. I felt guilty that I didn't feel upset or gutted. I felt fresh and was riding fine. Shanks were good. Just a head fail. Not happened before. Was about time maybe!



So that's my race done. I directed all my attention towards supporting the boys and my main maing Clive Bushlove (as written on his plate). Clive was doing great and I spent the rest of the day sorting his bottles, fuel, bike and splits. It would have been tricky for the boys to do this as well as racing and recovering so it worked out well. And best of all, made me look useful and not like a slacker, who should really hand back their new Bushlove shirt and cook the sausages, but not get to eat one.
The boys were all looking magnificent in their new kit. We were getting lots of shout outs from friends and maybe folk who had seen the blog (there must be some folk other than us making up the 4,000 plus hits a month). Thanks for your support y'all!

The boys were doing hard turns, mostly double laps, and were coming back in flattened by their efforts. They were riding strong and doing us proud. We were hovering around tenth team overall and third in the Open Men's category. These positions held into the evening and the chaps had to maintain their pace if they wanted to be up on the podium in 4hrs time.



Before evening Tiger headed out after stating his intention to nail a very fast couple of laps. He turned in an 18.50 which was outstanding and the fastest the team put out that day.

Darkness fell and we knuckled down to maintaining the placing. I turned in a couple of reasonable laps and had a great time pimping the new Monkey Electric wheel lights. They were throwing down some mean patterns with their super bright coloured LEDs. Tones and Slacky also had sets on the back wheels and we must have made quite a spectacle. Thanks to Mono I had a grunty light to use which was unsurprisingly superior to my Mentos chewing gum pot DIY effort. Cheers Mono!

10pm drew close and I went over to the finish to welcome Angry in. It was awesome seeing the fast teams still sending riders into the woods with 20mins to go! I saw Mr Singlespeed, Garth Weinberg absolutely fly by, obviously chosen as his team's anchor man. Good choice. Angry came across and looked like someone who was ecstatic to finish a race but who had also been shagged by a rhino. I got out a seat for him and was quickly alerted by a marshal that I was on the track. Doh.


Ricky steamed the last lap for the team and finished with less than 5mins to spare. Perfect. The boys were all true warriors and secured themselves the 3rd place in the Open Mens category, something that we didn't really think would happen, especially without strongman Mono in the fold. I think we got tenth overall from all teams which itself was great considering the excellent teams who competed. We did miss out on the North Island MTB Club 12hr Champs team trophy though. Pipped by 1.5laps by a strong team from Hamiltron. Those Hamilboguns sure rode well. Congratulations and respect, should you be reading.

Prizegivng was strangely almost on time and it was a treat to see angry and the team collecting their wares in the new Bushlove jerseys. A great end to a memorable day.


We returned to the cabin to find Michelle asleep on the couch, so made her wake up whilst we drank beers and talked boyishly and noisily about the day's shennagans. I could tell she was pleased. We jumped through the shower and into the bunks, whilst Kah and the Dr headed to their room for round two.

More hot-tubbing and lulz followed the next morning before we struck camp and headed for Welly. The drive was wet and long. We bantered about the weekend's efforts and learned mechanical tips from the wizard Slackspanner, pondered the merits of chain lubes and thought about the next team event we could do. No more soloing for me though. I think our next one will be the Wild Wellington. Nice and local.

Congrats to all our friends who did so well over the weekend. Charlotte Ireland took the women's solo 12hr, placing fifth overall! Lisa Morgan, coach to the stars, won the women's 6hr solo, with a cracking 6th overall. Pete Marshall (vert) suffered like a dog in the 24hr solo and put himself in hospital (probably just to score a bed bath) - Good job soldier. The Wellington boys in the Searletech team did v.well too, with 2nd Open class, 3rd Overall.

Well done if you are still awake.

Watch this space for upcoming posts including - My New Bike and Davo-The Early Years.


Now for Clive's tall tales......

The 12 hour starts with a 2km road to separate the men from the boys (and singlespeeders) , something Davo was not looking forward to and the BLRT team stuck up Ricky as their first rider as he is used to carnage, (usually of his own making). The race started off into a sprint I stuck behind Thomas as he was my target for the day having thrashed me last year , was in a good roadie tuck and was probably in the first 10 into the forest.

12 Hour Solos are very mentally tough races (hate to think about the 24), but I knew I had at least 7 hours of good race pace in me so settled into a rhythm of "on your rights" and chased Thomas down and promptly hooked my brake lever on a tree and stacked, nice one but no injuries so back on the bike but had lost the lead pack and Thomas.

Smashed out a few quickish laps being wary to not smash it too hard as the day was long. I was pleased to catch up to Thomas after about 2 hours, just spotting him ahead in the pits, I snuck past as he grabbed food from his support crew, then opened the taps to pull out about a 10 minute lead which I held for the next 4 hours, during most of that time I believed I was in first place as there were no other Solos ahead of me, but the boys had checked the results and I was in fact coming 2nd as there was another Solo racing without wearing the Solo hat which is legal, but a little sneaky as I didn’t even know where or who this person was. Davo found out and started giving out splits and I was holding him at about a 3 minute lead until early evening then Davo for some reason lost track of him for a few laps but when he did find him he had stuck on over 10 minutes which was quite a surprise given the stage in the race, so concentrated on trying to bring this lead down but it was just too much and I couldn’t really do much more with the lap traffic as a lot of riders had slowed up considerably, my legs felt great and I was still climbing the pinches in middle/big chain ring out of the saddle as the team was feeding me (sometimes forcibly) very well. Thomas at this stage had fallen back quite far and I lapped him again at his feed station getting food so it was going to be Hamish 1st, Angry just under 10 minutes behind in 2nd, Thomas 3rd.



Despite the result being the same as last year this year was a far better race for me, lap times where consistent, but I don’t think I will be back next year, i just forgot how mentally and physically tough it is.

Ups to Coach Joel for prepping me very well for the event and to Ash and Michelle for feeding the first stages and coming out to cheer on course later on. But for me Davo's efforts as support after taking over from Ash & Michelle was outstanding and was pre-empting what I needed very well! Couldn’t have done it without you Davo! (Aw you big flirt, it was a pleasure - Ed) I was awesome also to hear teh Tigs yelling Bushlove through the forest, woot buddy!.

So 237kms later its was a 1st Club Champs, 2nd Solo overall, with 3rd Open for BLRT team, awesome effort for BLRT.

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