Grom Lines & Stump Pulling - Wainui Trail dig

Like everyone else who mountain bikes in the Wellington region, we benefit massively from the obscene amount of work that trail builders do at places like Makara Peak, Wainui, Belmont, Mt Vic and now Mirimar.



Despite spending plenty of time riding the trails, most of us (Slacky being the exception) either have never, or rarely turned a hand to help at the digs. We thought we'd start remedying the situation and so the available among us, joined the Wainui pixies last weekend, to hinder their efforts constructing the new Snail Trail. This will be about 1km long and goes from Labyrinth down to the bottom of the hill. It is looking like it will be a really good trail. The gang has made some great progress.

We (Ash, Tiger, Clive, Mono, Slackshanks and me) rocked up to the summit carpark for an 8.30 ride before we started digging. Mono and I rode there from our homes. He looked distinctly better that I did for his efforts.

We rode Labyrinth and headed down 491. Ash and I meandered around at the back chatting. I wasn't able to ride with the boys at sifty pace. I hadn't been since I pretty much got to the hill at the end of my road. 491 was pretty slippy. Ash only tri-podded a couple of times though and we didn't fall off. At the end the boys were down in the clearing and shouted up that they had all ridden the long clay shute. Bit keen of them I thought. While Ash headed down the regular route I manned up for the descent. I handed in my man card about 1/3rd of the way down when I lost the front end and found a tree. I abandoned the bike and the tree broke off in my manly grip and I used it for balance tight-rope walker style as I slid the rest of the way down. Turns out none of the boys rode the shute. They will pay.

Slackshanks showed us the new family loop which is under contsctruction. It was great. It has a very well done board walk section. We headed to the roller coaster and Tigs flatted his tubeless. Then Rammer came around the corner out running so after a jawbone with him and the Bushlove mechs fixing the tire, we headed back down the road as we were running short of time. We climbed out on Jungle Jim. Some boggy bits from the waste ground led to traction fails. I smashed my knee into my stem as the back wheel let go and that stuffed me for the rest of the day, and the next day, and the next.

Mono's wife Keryn met us at the top and we all moseyed down the trail and met the dig.

We found Geoff who was fixing up an area where the existing rock wall was a big fail. Tiger and I joined Geoff (aka Thorg) to assist and the other Bushlove groms (not counting guru Slacky) helped further down where Jim, Shane, Hickie, Jules and another nice chap were working. Rammer had beaten us to it and was down there too.

The experienced guys who have done plenty of this trail building, were really switched on and definitely knew their stuff. Tiger and I learned lots from Geoff in the time we were helping him out and ended up with a quite reasonable looking stretch of trail, supported by a fine rock wall constructed of vast slabs of stone carried in confidently by our manly selves. It was much like the scene from 300 where the Spartan warriors construct a huge wall from rock and the bodies of Persians. But with less Persians and a little less baby oil.



We broke for some food and a bit of banter which predictably broke down to toilet humour. After which Boner-T and I joined Geoff, Angry and Ash to redo a bank and move some soil up the hill to level the trail we'd worked on earlier. It was mostly council style labour, with one working whilst the others leant on their tools. We had some thrills and spills getting the barrow of soil up the slippery pinches. Ash was punching above her weight and thought to give it a try. While I waited to take a pic on the second rise, she never cleared the first and slipped, tipping the borrow out down the bank. You just can't get the staff nowadays.

Geoff got us linking arms and stamping along the filled in trail. This is apparently called a "Grom Line", especially when we do it. It does a fine job of consolidating the soil and Geoff said we were the best Grom Line he'd ever seen. He was obviously lying through his teeth, but a nice thing to say nonetheless.

That pretty much wrapped up our efforts for the day. So we headed back out, leaving the experienced trail builders with our "Bushlove Two Week Trail Quality Guarantee" and probably a lot of rework.

We learned a lot from the guys out there. They must have put a lot of days into those mint trails. The mind boggles. We resolved to do more digs for sure. The efforts these keen trail pixies put in really does shower shame upon us and the rest of you who never lend a hand. If you can't make a dig, consider attending a race like the PNP rounds which donate a portion of the entry fees to the local trail building effort, or make a donation. Apparently if you attend three digs at Wainui you get a special T-shirt! I'm going to try and get one.

Thanks very much to the aforementioned dudes for educating us on Sunday. I'm sure we hindered your splendid efforts, rather than adding much value, but we had a great time. Was a good learning experience and we felt good having banked some trail karma.

Keep an eye on Vorb for dig day info or check the Wainui and Makara sites.

Cheers
Dave

Here are some pics ftw:

Sharpie took a leading roll in checking the disturbed soil for worms and keeping his tool clean.











Ash practices her poses for a very different 'bush' love photoshoot she had later that afternoon.




Slackmeister's stump pulling prowess knew no bounds. Must be all the practice at home. Mono continues checking for worms in the background.





A look down the business end of the Snail Trail. Rammer poses while Jim sets a good example to us all.



Bushlove Grom Line





Ash going for gold with the barrow.



Fail





Fail imminent - But see the barrow is full ftw.



Fail.

Re-fuelling

My workrate vastly improved once Geoff corrected my tool handling

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2009 Crazyman condensed Bushlove highlights

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Hugh Jass wins for Bushlove

Hugh Jass put in a nice wee cameo on Sunday at the first N-Duro race in Rotorua on behalf of the Bushlove Racing Team. I received an audio tape in the mail today from Hugh, the transcript follows;

"Well, I pretty much just rode faster than everyone else on the day. I realise racing a "short course" option isn't in the Bushlove spirit, but I was too scared of the pros riding the 40K I thought I'd sneak into the 20K for the burglarising. Course was wet, fairly slick, and heaps of fun. No real climbs to speak of, so it was just a matter of pedalling heaps and pedalling hard. I got caught by the leading 40K rider near the end, but kept him behind me until the finish. He's off to the worlds in a couple of months, and I'm not. Fair enough. I hope my efforts are rewarded by a permanent spot on the Bushlove Racing Team, but I fear the roster is already too strong for a short course burglar to join the ranks. I live in hope."

Hugh Jass smoked the 20km course in a time of 58:44 in wet conditions. On further probing he revealed his "Gluteus maximus is more maximus". He's the Bushlove Stig.

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Steel Is Real - Davo's New Singlespeeder

Wasup Dawgs.

I've recently built up a new singlespeed. I did most of my racing in the last year on my second singlespeed, a '99 S-Works with a Rennen tensioner. I 'enjoyed' it so much that I wanted a proper dedicated singlespeed with none of these un-singlespeed fail things, like tensioners and gear cable stops.

I wanted a steel frame as I wanted something very durable and also inexpensive. I saw some brands with mint frames like Independent Fabrication, Desalvo and Vanilla among others. Then I saw the prices and immediately shit the bed.

Back to the drawing board - I decided to keep my eyes peeled for something to convert. I preferred a 90's Kona Explosif, but ended up with a good deal on a 1997 Kona Kilauea. I had ridden one a bit back 'in the day' and always loved it. it was snappy and fast, reasonably light; all the things I wanted. The shock geometry didn't matter as was going to be running a rigid fork on it.

I thought about what I wanted and talked it through with Jeff at Kiwibikes in Rotovegas, who in addtion to making very tasty NZ custom frames, does repairs and mods. He was great to deal with. Very approachable and forthcoming with ideas and variations to what i had thought up. Initially I wanted horizontal dropouts with slotted disc mounts. I liked the idea. It seemed very light and I had read a lot of webchat about creaking Eccentric Bottom Brackets, which was the other option I fancied.

Jeff pointed out that to remove the rear wheel with my initial idea, I would have to release a bolt on the disc mount. And of course tensioning the chain would take a few extra seconds. This didn't sit well as I like to race my bike and I didn't fancy doing a Kennedy Special and taking 20mins to get a tube in, so I went with the EBB after Jeff extolled it's virtues to me.

Jeff did the following: Removed canti mounts; fitted disc mounts to frame and fork; hose guides fitted; all gear cable stops removed; EBB shell fitted.



Jeff's turn around was good and I had the frame arrive pretty quickly. The work looked mint. Jeff had said he had spent a good amount of time on the bike and I certainly appreciated the excellent value he had given me. The welds were all really smooth and everything was done just as I asked. Then 'shock horror' - I realised it still had a rear mech hanger on! The ultimate SS bike fail. I quickly realised I had not actually asked Jeff to remove it and of course he had gone to the letter of my requests. Ooops. I set about removing it myself with my modest Bunnings tool kit. I really enjoyed doing it and did a mint job even if I do say so myself. It felt good to have had some input to the frame too.
















I got it powder coated. The cost was reasonable and the two coat subtle sparkle was exactly what I wanted. Was called 'Orange Silver 2K'. But is very similar to 'Candy Copper'.



My main maing, Bushlover Dave Sharpshanks at Penny Farthing Cycles fitted the headset and the bottom bracket, which has not creaked since. This is probably down to Sharpie's liberal application of decent grease around the EBB insert and the cunning bolts Jeff supplied which had the ends ground to a point. They really locate in the aluminium insert and make movement or rotation of the insert in the shell, pretty impossible.



Sharpie also helped me out with some good advice on parts and things which was really helpful. What a super trooper.

An evening of fettling in the garage with a few lagers brought the beast to a rideable condition and i stood admiring it, shining and oozing potential, while I finished my beer and got my shoes on. I was really holding my breath as I motored it up the hill from my house, waiting for the creaks and popping noises. Nothing. No matter how much good news I gave the pedals. It was as quiet as a mouse. I loved it straight away.

The only thing I've done to it, apart from a few tire changes, is to reduce the length of the front end. It had a 110mm stem and it felt too stretched climbing and i wasn't able to pop the front end up as easily as I'd like. I switched to a 100mm Thomson and acquired mighty Whacko's FSA carbon bar which was always far too good for him. The extra bend in the bar gave me another 10mm and the position was dialled in.



It's done a good few decent rides now. A few long ones over 4hrs and a few short hammers. I can definitely say it is more comfortable to ride than my S-Works. Must be the 'real feel of steel' vs the stiffer aluminium. It rides perfectly. It always feels in balance and snaps round tight switchbacks heading up or down the trail. It climbs fantastically, although this characteristic is currently limited by my out of shape shanks. This bike descends really well. Especially considering the rigid front. Worth noting here that Steve Peat in the mid 90's started his downhill career winning the British NPS on a rigid steel Kona with 1.5 tires. The same bike he would win the Sport class of the XC the following day. I was there. He floated that bike down the trail. I can't, not to save my life. I am more like a medicine ball falling down the stairs.

It has plenty of little things I love about it. I had the disc hose for the back placed in a 10 o'clock spot along the top tube so it didn't get in the way when I shoulder the bike in my usual way. I had a custom crud-catcher mount put on so I don't suffer the indignity of little straps or clips. The slopping top tube also means that when the bar swings around, the brake levers do not foul the top tube. This also helps with my madcore bar-spins over huge huck cliffs ftw.



The fork is great. I've ridden and raced so many times on this same triple butted project two fork, which being a Kona classic, compliments the frame very well. I had Jeff add a hose guide and even fill the redundant mounting hole in the crown, so it looks swish. I have a shock with a whole 70mm of travel on my gearie, but prefer the direct and talkative quality of the rigid. It reminds me of my early years biking and importantly it doesn't cost very much. I don't lose too much time to some of my cobbers on the descents anyway. I could go on about my descent time on Ridgeline to the carpark in the Makara Peak Grand Loop Challenge on a rigid with v-brakes, but I won't.

I'm looking forward to the good ole' PNP XC series starting in August. I did ok last year on the SS with a shock and it might be a bit more difficult on some courses without a shock, but I'm looking forward to revving my new SS around all the best local tracks and trying to give the other M1's a bit of bother.

Vaguely pointless I know, but here are the specs of the bike and a couple of notes.

Frame: 19" Kona Kilauea. Full Reynolds 631. 'Chop-job' and mods by Jeff at Kiwibikes.
Fork: Triple butted P2. Modifications by Jeff.
Headset: Race Face Deus XC
Stem: Thomson X2 100mm
Bar: FSA K-Force Carbon. Pointlessly pricey. Mugged Whacko for it.
Grips: DaBomb Holy Shit. Brought for the 'Holy Shit' written on the collars.
Brakes: 2008 XT
Post: Thomson
Saddle: Selle Italia lightweight.
Cranks/BB: Truvativ Stylo.
Chain: Sram PC48
Cogs: Surly 34:18.
Wheels: Mavic 618 on Hugi/DT Swiss 240s. Freehub has been mint for SS. Hope skewers.
Tires: Depends. Right now Nobby Nic 2.25 Evo with tubes at 30psi each end.

Thanks again for the help and service I got from Jeff at Kiwibikes and Sharpie at PFC

And for the complete win - It has custom Bushlove Racing decals from Custom Cut Graphics.

Hope this was a faintly interesting read. I'll see you on the trails or the race track. I'll be the guy either walking or shaking the numbness out of my hands.

Happy trails!

Davo

Appendix: My other Singlespeeds.

S-Works with shocks for racing in 08.



S-Works rigid with V's for the Makara Grand Loop Challenge and other hooning.



First SS. Marin Indian Fire Trail convert with Magic Gear.

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Hawkins Hill Fridge

BLRT was hoping for a strong result in the 2009 Hawkins Hill Climb, with Tiger, Angry, Nick and Mono all planning on showing up.

However race day dawned and was cold but sunny, Mono called in sick and Nick just slept in, that being his devotion to the team cause.
NB: In this particular article when referring to "Nick just slept in" we actually mean "there was a special on net p0rn that Nick could not pry himself away from"


The Hawkins hill climb is a challenge between the 3 codes Running, Road and Mountain Biking with the Runners and MTB'ers going up the tip track and the Roadies taking the MUCH harder option of Happy Valley road, Todman street and past the wind turbine.
NB: When referring to all "MUCH Harder" comments our resident roadie (Angry) actually means the pressure in his tyres rather than how hard he had to work during the race.

NB: I give you example #1 of Nick’s new subscription to net p0rn.

After registration and much banter about Marcos (God Father's) running gear we headed off to the start at Owhiro Bay, at that exact same time a freezing cold southerly front with rain and hail moved in and sat on us, I waited on the start line and was colder than Nick K’s crotch in a bikini contest after the polar dip. Yelled at Davo to start the bloody race, who was standing there wrapped up in 3 t-shirts, wool jumper, down jacket and his wife’s pink lacy teddy… he didn't appear in any hurry.

The race started and it was a smash from the get go, I was quickly up to 40kph heading up Happy Valley road, checked back and Ben McHale was right on my rear wheel, but I kept the pace on till the lights at the top. Then smashed it to the top of Todman street, couldn’t believe it when I checked down and at the top of Todman I was still in big chain ring. Ben at the stage had long since dropped off the back, so was going to be a slog up the rest to the summit. In the pinch from Ashton Fichton to the turbine couldn’t get any power to the road as I kept wheel spinning which was nasty but I still felt strong at the turbine. Waved out to fellow Bushlover Kah who came up to support, then past my BLB1 and the Kidlets who came to watch and then up the last climb to finish. I was 1st in 27min 25seconds which was 2Mins 20secs off my PB.

I arrived at the summit 30 seconds before Tiger roared across the line to take out the run win. Hung around at the top for a few minutes but was freezing cold, so headed back down for prize giving.

The Runner's version ;)
Staring with the cold bitter Wellington southerly in the face on the start line wearing my flappy race shorts, tight singlet, nipples erect, rain pelting my firm pectorals with a look of blue steel on my face... hang on, wrong man that was Marco (PNP Godfather). I was huddled under a neighbouring garage lean-to waiting for the rain to ease with the rest of the runners.

Had planned to just sit in the top half of the field for the kilometer of road till we got to the tip track and see how I felt. BANG!!! Off we went with a tail wind all the way up Happy Valley rd whisking us along at a nice pace. I found myself near the front with just Melissa Moon and an unknown runner that looked as if he should be a Spartan Trail Runner. Feeling pretty comfortable tucked in behind Melissa with none of the drafting benefits of a tall person J. Half way up Happy Valley rd I noticed the Spartan Trail Runner extend his lead on us, so decided to bridge the gap. This took me to the bottom of The Tip Track where I thought I could just sit here in second and draft this Spartan God, but was about to be proven wrong... just after we start up the hill he seemed to fade to a pace I was a little too comfortable with. Passing him I made a quick gap of around 45sec and sat there for the remainder of the race. Using typical mental racing tactics of chasing the next Runner or Rider in this case ahead. About half way up TT I started catching Mountain Bikers and surprisingly Marco who left minutes ahead of us all. Nearing the top I saw a fellow Mountain Biker Ed Crossling and thought this was my chance to make him hurt a bit :D (Friendly competition... Working extra hard to reel him in I caught him about 200m from the top, only to have the bastard cruise past me on the down hill road 100m from the finish yelling "Where's ya wheels now!!!!" Ah the Crossling brothers, ya gotta love am (Thanks Ed).

A quick sprint to the finish earned me a win in the Runners category but a big fat LOOSER in the overall Mountain Bike, Roadie, Runner stakes. Taken out by Stu Holtham (Well know National Title MTB holder) with the Roadies coming second in the race ‘For of the codes’ by Angry Clive Bushlove Bennett (More well known for his finishing as Bridesmaid in every race. Which if you consider the actual overall race results Road Vs MTB Vs Runner he achieved yet again).

All in all a great fun race.
A big thanks to R&R Sport & Makara Peak Supports Club who have once again been great in backing another fun, local event. These events would not be possible without sponsors like this.

Random pic of some HOT Bushlove GOD.

Awesome to see the BUSHLOVE in the paper the next morning.

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Reach For The Sky.... controller

Post by Davo, not Tiger :D

In April the Bushlove Team contested the Duathlon team event at the Kathmandu Crazyman. Tony 'Tiger' Keith and ring-in runner, hardman Dan Clendon, chalked up a fine victory and set a new duathlon record in the process.

Sky TV are showing footage of the Crazyman this week and apart from seeing the race, we have it on good authority that the word BUSHLOVE is mentioned at least once and a full frontal of the mighty Tiger is there for the whole of New Zealand to swoon over. Sit down when watching, ladies. We don't want any fainting injuries.

Crazyman TV Coverage
June 4 - 9:30pm - SKY1
June 5 - 6:30pm - SKY2
June 6 - 11:00am - SKY1
June 7 - 6:30am - SKY2

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Rain, Hail & SNOW!!

Nick K & Angry braving the Wellington Winter, yes that is snow in the background (Photo by Tiger)

Whacko "The Hardest BL Member" has left the country but despite his absence we toughed it out in the Wellington Southerly and snow today. Just a little post so you know the Bushlove Team can brave this winter cold.


Nick K, Angry & Tiger's ride:
Ride started with a heavy hail storm as we rode along the road from Karori Park to Makara carpark with fingers freezing and ice cream head aches. Headed up Lazyfern then onto Sally Alley. Took Snake Charmer to the summit stopping half way up for some pics in the snow. From the summit headed down Zacs/Varleys and into Wahine. From there did a quick lap of Wrights Hill up Salvation and down Scouts Hall. What a blast!!! Southerly blast that is. All up an hour and a half for us. Not that long but great lulz in the rain.

All tracks were in good condition thanks to some fantastic track building from the Makara Peak Supporters Club and other dedicated track lovers.


Mono's Ride:
Along the tarmac to Karori tunnel then up to the dirt. Got the hail/rain at the bottom of the rollercoaster. As I popped over the seal to head up Carparts it was snowing proper! I hadn’t ridden in snow before, so quite a novelty. Up, then along Carparts extension. Still snowing... At this point I decided I liked the snow more than I liked the hail and rain. Carried on up Hawkins Hill, with the snow getting heavier and thicker. I actually started smiling as I was climbing! HAhaha! Down to Red Rocks (Jeez the wagon wheels make short work of the rutted/rough sections) then along the beach back to Owhiro Bay. Got some nasty hail just as I got to the old quarry – that awesome sideways hail that stings like a mofo. Around the road, marvelling at the cook strait swell smashing into the sea wall, before hitting the tip track. What better way to keep warm?! I actually took it easy for a change (As easy as you can with my granny gear anyway) but still smashed the big ring for the last 600m or so. Fun times. Back down towards the fenceline, and up to Wrights hill. Steamed down Deliverance making use of the 15mm axle a couple of times with some slightly dodgy line choices....


Back past the Makara carpark to Czech out who was around and wash my bike, before heading home for a cuppa and a shower. Just over 2 hours all up, and definitely some of the coldest conditions I’ve ridden in. Loving my new thermal bib tights, and also the new waterproof shell I got. Stopped the hypothermia for sure.

oO------------Oo

Next up on the list for the BLRT is the Hawkins Hill Climb in a weeks time, where you should see a good contingent of Bushlove covering all aspects of this pretegious race. Some details below about the race.

http://www.vorb.org.nz/sport-hawkins-hill-climb-new-date-7th-june-t92661.html

Angry = Road Race
Mono = Mountain Bike (Gear'd)
Tiger = Running (Hold the laughter)
Davo = Chief Mashall


See you all there, should be loads Lulz.

BLRT

Bushlove Hard Bastards

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Davo's 20years Of MTB (Warning - Inlcudes bad haircuts)

I realised to my surprise and delight the other day that this year marks 20 years of me mountainbiking.

It led me to reminisce and gaze skyward with an ever-growing smile as the memories of adventures, friends, races and my bikes came flooding back. So I thought I'd write a short blog about it.

My first bike was a Specialized Hardrock Comp with Suntour running gear. Little did I know that one day I would own the bike of my dreams - The out of reach S-Works! I would never have imagined that if i ever owned such a bike, that my mates would heckle me for having the worst bike in the pack.

It was 1988. I was the youngest of the dudes in my neighbourhood who had mtbs. The other boys were all 1-3 years older than me so I had to keep up. We used to go out on long epics around the South downs in Sussex. We went out for hours but rarely covered huge kms. We used to stop for ages in old quarries and steep forests to test ourselves riding the steep chutes and slopes, and try and do jumps. We were obviously being watched by today's event organisers as our rides were undoubtedly the forerunners of the Red Bull Rampage.

These were the days before Shimano had invented the SPD pedal and Rock Shox RS1's were still in R&D, but close to making it into the MTB mags. We used to get hideously lost and without fail my mate Rich (Stallion) would have to call home from a phone box to get his folks to do his paper round! We'd be crossing farmland, throwing our bikes across drainage streams and taking ambitious running jumps to follow them - hoping we'd find a track or somewhere we knew. There were no mtb parks like we are spoiled with today. So you had to link bits of singletrack together with hauls across farms and country roads, to get a good ride in.



All these capers got us pretty fit and handy on the bikes, so when we saw a local XC race advertised we were keen to give it a crack. And I was onto my third bike, the first Orange Aluminium-O, resplendent in full Deore DX and not long after, was rocking one of mtbing's best inventions - SPD pedals!







I so wish I still had that rad Overend-esque Specialized Jersey.

I won my first race in the Junior class. It was almost flat and consisted of hammering around a field, then doing a spaghetti of wooded singletrack, then repeat about 6 times. I belted round and beat most of the grown-ups in the process. I thought I could get right into this.


I loved it and went on to do a lot of races over the next few years including some rounds of the Southern and National Series', cyclocross races and allsorts. My mates and I all got fairly handy and were riding for shops and clubs and getting flashier bikes. It was a great time and on good weekends we were blessed with wins.

Here Carpethead and Stallion threaten me with the beats after snatching a win from them...


I started racing the 'Sport' class (19+) when I was nearly 18 as I was not getting a competitive enough ride at local races against the other Juniors. My Orange had snapped due to my outrageous hucks and I managed to scrape the pingers together for a nice ride.


I was now riding a budget-blowing Dave Yates custom with all the trimmings including early prototype U.S.E stuff, XTR and even an XTR seatpost that I really wish I still had. It had rigids on of course. Shocks at this stage were still mostly for "gaylords". I ran awesome Diacompe 986 cantilever brakes with the XTR Servowave levers. This combo meant the blocks could be run further from the rims which was great for clearance on the typical muddy 'parcours'. The frame started off in boring black and white but subsequently got resprayed in the team colours of M&J Cycles who I started riding for.


I managed to win a couple of series'. My favourite was the 'Gorrick Winter Series'. It was always muddy and frickin' cold. I moved up to 'Expert' class eventually and never got any wins, but got top 3 a couple of times. The extra laps led me to get a shock and become an official gaylord, although everyone was doing it so I didn't feel too bad. I had an AMP Research fork. A truly shit fork, but with good hype behind it. I blew out the damper every outing and had a steady stream of replacement parts being delivered under warranty. I eventually got a Marz' XC500 at the same time Rune Hoydahl was giving everyone the good news in the Grundig World Cup on the same fork. I looked like the bollocks on my super factory custom bike. It even had my name on the top tube. What an arrogant wanker I must have been.


I was finding it harder to get any better against some strong fellas and I'd also started to have enough of it. I never 'knew what I wanted to be when I grew up' but had always wanted to travel. I took a job as a mountainbike guide in the U.S, down in North Carolina, guiding teenagers and some adult groups around the Blue Ridge Mountains. The fancy mtb got sold for a song, the day before I flew out and the meagre pingers helped buy a crap car, of which I burned the engine out driving up to high trail heads for climbing trips. Shame.

I did the guiding for 3 seasons, 3 years in a row and did hardly any races in the that time. There were even times when I didn't own a bike. I was rockclimbing a lot more and long road trips featuring hiking and climbing were the norm. The riding in the Blue Ridge was the best I have ever done, and was all on a stock Giant Sedona rigid with STX. Its not the bike that makes great riding. The rides we did were amazing and would regularly have a dozen epic river crossings, huge waterfalls and large Black Rat snakes to toy with and encourage people to bunny hop. The climbs were long and the downhills lasted ages. Was the time of my life on the bike. Can't find my pics. If I do I will pop a couple on here.

I moved to NZ for a while to work and travel and met my now wife, Amie, in Tauranga. I got a cheap bike and got back into the riding. I even did a couple of races including something in Rotorua. But I was still mainly rockclimbing.

Amie and I moved back to the UK and I used my cheap old Marin Indian Fire Trail to great effect, scouring the local trails around Bristol and the new MTB parks in Wales, which had sprung up whilst I was abroad. The riding was mint and it was great to get out with my mates who I started riding with many years earlier. Their bikes were flasher. Mine had gone downhill as I was a lowly student, having decided at age 24 that what I wanted to be when I grew up, was an accountant. Ooops.

I did a bunch of the huge MTB 100km Enduros in the Welsh mountains. These events were mint. The best i did was a 17th from a field of over 1000. These were big events and they made me want to get back into racing. Amie and I did some great bike tours in Europe in this time too. We'd love to do it again one day. It is amazing moving around new countries with all your gear, not relying on anyone and doing whatever you want.

Before we had Ella, I realised that I needed to 'stock up' on toys as once she was born we'd be in the poor house and saving for a home. I got an S-Works hardtail frame off Ebay and built it up.

Amazing bike. I've run it geared, SS and its even won some races. It is still my geared bike and I can't imagine selling it. I'd always lusted after one since I had my hands on my first ever bike catalogue when I brought my Hardrock all those years before.

I moved back to NZ with Amie and our daughter, Ella, who we had in the UK. I immediately started enjoying the riding around Wellington's trails and got into a couple of PNP races, then some more races, met some really good cobbers, and the Bushlove Racing Team started. And there we go.



See y'all on those awesome trails!

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Shanksy can talk a good race.......

......but much like in the sack, he failed to deliver once more.

This has no real bearing on my own race, or report other than to simply rub it in.

Well what can be said. Bushlove defo looked the hottest at the moonride, but fell a fraction short of our own mighty and lofty expectations. With Kabush staying home, as his wife was planning to wax shapes into his hairy back, the Bushlove team was down 1 rider from the get go. We knew we had slow boy, sorry Token, but we'd figure we'd just have to carry him. Dr Nick can always be relyed upon to go ok, but he's forgotten how to use gears again, so on the flat moonride course....could, but can't go faster. So it was really going to fall to the mighty Tiger and Calves of Impending Doom to bring it off with our sheer pace and prettiness.

This failed

Upon arriving in the sulfuric P-infested town of Roto-vegas, my nostrils started to dribble. And then dribble faster. I had outright forgotten (as per normal) that I get a bit of hayfever when in vegas, but never fear for anti-histemines are here (after a trip to the pharmacy). Although I seemed to be going thru tissue's at a prodigous rate. Come the morning after ......pretty much no sleep at all it was time to dress in the lcyra, and new bushove lycra at that. After much self love, the team headed off, and set up camp. The plan was this, The most experienced would head of first, ok, that's me by about a decade. Ho, and I'm fast too. Sweet, sorted, tIger would be my tag partner and Dr Nick and Token would follow on from their spooning the night before. Maing, we so have this shit.

And come the start we did......well untill 5 meteres before the turn at the end of the first straight where I had been smashing it out in front. Then it all turned bad. My fufu valve went less than a minute in. Hoards screamed past me. Then clive did, ok I can handle that, then chickenman did, ooooooooh that hurt. and then even slower people did. My lungs hurt lots, my throat even more, someone had stolen the calves of Impending Doom and replaced them with fibreglass copies. Into the track and it improved, slightly........for a second.Felt like I was going backwards, and it only got worse. So after hte slowest first lap I've ever ever ever done, I handed straight off to Tiger. And sat down and hung my head in shame/complete exhaustion.
Ok so it appeared that it was a bit of hayfever, combined with the flu. Win!!!

Hopingthat I would get better when it warmed up some I didn't take the next lap and sat out. But when it became apparent that Angry was ahead of us....something had to be done. Tiger did 2 quickies, 1 more than he usaully does at home, and I stepped back into the ring. Luckily the big wheeler rolls mint on grass, so a nice sedatish run into the lap was on the cards.

This lasted to the first corner and the throttle opened up a tad. Was feeling ok, the nose sucked, it felt like I was swallowing razor blades, but the legs were feeling good, caught and passed Thomas the Tank Engine who was cramping. Sweet for clive, suck for Thomas. Kept the hammer on. Came thru on a good apce for the first lap, and kept going, I was in a zone. CArved my way thru the paddocks, with many cheers for Bushlove, till the jamis tents, when jeers about being behind Clive came thru. Cheers Shane. Caught clive, about halfway thru the lap, can't remember much other than pain in my throat, hardly being able to breathe, and the knowledge that I needed to put a gap into clive. I did. Handed over to ...token??, and pretty much collasped. Things were going better now, but I still felt like shit.

Did another double banger, but felt so bad afterwards, I crept into the back of the van for a sleep. I was wiped. Team Angel Michele came and covered me in a sleeping bag from our other Team Angel, Ash (of Bushlove fame and glory) *but lets not also forget Team Angel Dangerous Dan who was there pretty much as Eye Candy for Dr Nick and Token*
Luckily Michele had taken some body guarding courses and kept token from waking me up. Bad Token, Bad!!!!

After waking up just before dark I cooked me some cranksy's which warmed the cockles, and my stomach. and headed out for another Double banger. Yet again throwing down some good times despite that fact that I was scrapping the bottom of the barrel energy wise. And I must say, with our Monkey-lectric lights, looking far far cooler than everyone else, cept maybe that one dude with led's ALLLLLL over his bike.

I think somewhere in there Shanksy had gotten over his doom and gloom and actually went out on a few laps for us. But after a 2.5 hour, I can't be bothered DNF, he ended up fail for the weekend, even with the late effort.

Everyone pulled some good laps at the end, Tiger with a legend double banger leaving me with the honours of the last lap. Knowing how much time was left I was shocked at how early and how fast in the last lap I was passing some people. There was a lot of people that wouldnt of finished their laps for sure. But Jebus sure does love a trier.

So in the end not too bad, seeing as we had 2 people that can't use gears, a swine flu victim and a god. to pull us thru. Coach Lisa is obviously driving our Tones hard.
thanks to the Dark Lord, Bushlove, Burkes (for the love bus), Team Angels Michele, Ash and Dan, our hot hotpool bushlove fans (I'd go for paternity tests, there were several bushlovers in the pool at the same time), the NON jeerers from the Jamis tents, and all the awesome people that were happy to move outa the way during the race.

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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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The Only Bushlover racing, Craaaazy-man!!

After a motivating text from Davo first thing in the morning I was ready to go. “In hard buddy, I’ll be thinking of you”. Gold! love predictive texting or is that what Davo really meant, hmmm confused and scared at the same time.

Being the only Bushlover racing in the weekend I felt a little pressure to uphold our name, coupled with the fact that The Crazyman is a race that means a little more to me than just another day at the office. It was the first mountain bike race I had ever raced so has a special place in my short mountain bike career.

The day turned out to be better than I could have imagined. The week leading up to the race the weather was crap, arse, rain, wind and bloody cold. But the 2nd of May turned out a fantastic one, no rain, little wind, lets race!!!

Dan Clendon ( my team runner) took off on the run surrounded by a sea of skinny legs and shorts so marginal they could only be described as togs, togs, togs, undies! The God Father (Marco Renalli) went one step further wearing shorts from the 60’s showing waaaaay to much leg, but I fear this was his ploy to scare any runner into submission.

The next time I saw Dan he was about 50min into the run out in front and looking strong. So it was into the car and over to the transition in Wainui for me, for bit of a warm up and to slap on the lycra. Dan came in with a good 5mins lead over the field. Off I went caning the first hill to the water tower and on to the top of the ridge, I felt great, the bike was great. It was time to settle in and give this one shit. Out in front by myself it ended up being a solo race, but that did not stop me from spending the whole time talking to myself just waiting for Gav McCarthy (Gavatron) to pop around the corner and steam me down like a council worker eating a pie.

I made it to the river bank and still no Gav in site, so I locked out both the front and rear shocks on the Merida and tucked into my roadie stance. Wahoo I was flying, all the way along the gravel road to the finish line. First rider to cross the line and first Duathlon Team. We were stoked!

The Merida 5000 full carbon dream worked a treat, you can find a nice review about this bike in the latest New Zealand Mountain Biker magazine and believe you me the write up is no lie, quick, stiff and is all win! Looks hot too ;)















The course itself was in great condition, dry, fast and well cleared. With an interesting 2-3mtr drop in the middle that riders had to get off and clamber down with bike in hand... or so I thought!!! at the finish line I heard someone mention that after I went through the marshal at this station was lowering peoples bikes down with a rope... bugger missed out on that one.

Some highlights for me were being able to hold Gavatron to a 5min defecit, when I was expecting him to tear me another… well lets just say where my bike seat sits and Dan and I setting a new Crazyman Team Duathlon course record. But the one that put the biggest smile on my face was definitely when on the way up to receive our win placing the commentator mentioned how well this “Bushlove Team” are doing and have been seen winning lots of events lately including the Grand Traverse a few weeks before! BLR FTW.

Big ups to all competitors who turned out on the day, its a great race. Smiles all around including the biggest smile of all from Michelle Cole who finally won a spot prize, only to find out it was a Merida hydration back pack with green flames on it. Rock on, wish I had one.

Lataz Blog Dudes & Dudettes

Tiger

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Blood, Sweat and Lack of Gears. SS Nats

Being a bit lazy (and my computer crashing losing my prev post) I'll keep it short and sweet.

The race started with a run of a few hundred metres and the pandemonium of shifted bikes. Luckily Mrs K had located my bike so I got out on to the course in the top 5. The race started with a few km’s of gravel road to spread the field out. With this not being my strong point I lost a few places including one to fireroad specialist Mono on his big wheels. Some great singletrack followed getting me in the mood for what would be a great race. Coming down old chevy I came across Mono looking a little worse for wear. It turns out he had an epic spill due the highly technical nature of the trail and subluxed his shoulder. Knowing how much I charge he turned down my expert medical advice so I continued on with my race. Full respect to the big man for showed his hardness and pushing on to a bloody good result. 

Despite the drizzle it was surprising hot so looked forward to the first beer stop. Last year had made the mistake of not taking all the shortcuts, a move I wouldn’t repeat this year. The first can of summit went down well and I even got most of it in my mouth. Heading out onto the second lap I let Cabin pass although unfortunately saw him again a few hundred meters up the road with a snapped chain effectively ending his race.  I then fell into a bit of a funk on my second lap after not being able keep up with the big guns. Towards the end of this lap I got caught by Vaughn Phillipson which turned into a good thing as we had a great back and forth race till the finish when I managed to get the better of him by a few seconds. As always the titus rode like a dream and a had a bloody good time.

So I ended up in 6^th place which I was pretty stoked with. Was a big improvement on my 15^th last year and only 1.21 down on defending champ and ss legend Garth Weinberg. The class of the field really stepped it up this year with number of top xc jeybois, triathletes and filthy roadies entered. While its great seeing ss being taken a bit more seriously the unnecessary appeals and controversy weren’t especially for a race which is all about the lol’s.

A big thanks to the organizers for putting on a cracking race. They picked a great course that although no where as challenging as last year (so probably not suiting experienced single speeders as much) was one I think everyone could enjoy. Lots of competitors got into the spirit of the event with costumes and it looks like everyone had a great time. I will defiantly be back next year.

 

 

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