The weather forecast made some mention of the rain clearing for the afternoon. So Tiger, Ed, Kah, Cam Wood and me went for a ride at Makara. We did a nice loop, but despite the lulz and exertions, got bloody cold waiting for Ed 'Speed Walker' Crossling to catch us up all the time. That boy needs to lose some pounds and lift his game.
Cam on Missing Link
My latest crud catcher is the Mark-1 Keri Juice BLR Team Issue Pro Special. Works a treat.
It rained from start to finish and the trails were somewhat damp. If there wasn't a river running down the trail, there was porridge all over it. By the time we got back to the car park, the idea of carrying on over Salvation, blah blah, Car Parts, blah Deliverence, blah, disappeared faster than our brake pads. So we went home.
Kah SPEEDS up Aratihi
I went back to Tigerbronnar Mansions and we knocked back some burgers, muffins, tea, lager and some hot steamy shower action. Tigs was good enough to stoke the fire while I was in the shower. Then after our shower, he got the fire going as well. What a trooper.
Nothing quite as cosy and cool as big rubber shoe covers on the mtb.
I even got to wear the incredibly camp 'guest slippers' that Nana Keith made. They look shit, but were very comfortable.
A load of us piled into the Monteith's brewery bar in Kandahlahlala in Wellington's suburbs, for a fine evening of quiz lulz and the odd lager, in support of Samara Shepherd's euro racing trip.
Samara had a fine turnout and has definitely raised enough funds to spend at least an hour drinking in Paris, or wherever she is heading for the big world cup and Swiss Cup events.
We thought it would be a fine opportunity to present the new BLR team threads to the world, as it was a 'team' event. Nothing looks cooler in pubs that lycra. Fortunately the clientele was used to such attire as the room was a veritable who's who of Wellington fat tire protagonists.
Clive Bennett (2 x NC + Top 27 Round Taupo) even autographed some of our huge amount of NZMTBR mags as spot prizes. They immedietly dropped in value by 95%.
The Crosslings won a t-shirt in an auction. It was an XL, but our beautiful Elite XC skinny runts found a way to fill it out.
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.
Cut to the chase, time to head back to Vegas. Last Sunday was the first round of the popular and very well organized N-Duro Winter series. After three months of just ‘sifting’ around the various tracks in Wellington it was time to hop back on the racing wheels and push myself. Last time I raced seriously in Rotovegas I had a ‘moment’ which gave me one of my nick-names, that being my front flip reverse 360 tail whip which ended in, um, an ambulance. The aptly named track No Brains which caught me out with my acrobatics was included in the race on Sunday, so a bit of a date with destiny (but hopefully not St Johns) faced me. To the race:
After pissing down for at least 12 hours before the race, the heavens decided to shut shop just in time for show time, but they still left their mark on the course. Was going to be a bit of a gamble running summer party tires, but it’s pretty hard to lose grip on the volcanic Rotorua surface. After a good start straight up the road for the first km a group of five hard outs pulled away, and stay liked that for a bit. When we reached the faster, bumpier 4wd track’s this was taken down to three of us.
After a bit more sifting I finally made the top of No Brains. Determined to finish the race in the car and not the ambulance I took it a bit gingerly, but still managing to shoulder charge a few trees in my usual fashion. After clearing that it was off to Split Endz/ Pondy which has been the victim of a bit of logging for past months.
Halfway on the hill to the top however I was thrown a sandbag and lost contact with the two speeders. Kept sifting to the top trying to keep them in sight, but chasing down the NZ Champ is never easy.
After sliding down Pondy DH because of the bog caused by the loggers it was into Pondy New and Rollercoaster, which were good fun apart from the heap of traffic. Much the same story in Old Chevy, riding by myself, trying to squeeze past the short course riders and keep my distance in front of forth.
However, out of Old Chevy I decided a detour to Harvey Norman would be smart and picked myself up a fridge! Don’t know what happened but one second I was flying then the next I could barely turn a pedal. After stopping for a minute I decided that the smaller fridge might be a bit more practical and rode off, thinking that forth placed local legend Weinberg, was going to catch me any second.
Finally made it to the top of Pig track, somehow still holding third, after which it was all downhill. Down Exit Trail (no crashes, another track I don’t have the best history with) and into the finish. It has been a few months since I made the finish line of a race but this one I was very happy to make after my fridge exercise with 5km to go.
So third back after a decent break from Pro Elite sifting made me pretty happy. Even after dropping 10mins to the leaders, I was pleased with my performance.
Once again in 3 weeks time I will be hitting up the Vegas tracks with a few other Bushies; looking forward to another hard race and hopefully some more thrills (but still, the no spills works for me).
Ever since I was a kid, one of my favourite parts of bike magazines were the articles about 'Pro Bikes'. I used to really love getting into the detail and seeing why these top guys used certain parts, and what wasn't standard, or even available in the shops. I remember the article about David Baker's Ti Raleigh, which with it's first gen' Hope Ti hub and ti skewers, not to mention an 'aheadset', was state of the art. I even googled for the article and happened upon this Youtube of the same bike!
This guy looks to be about half as cool as a teabag, but back in the day he was the business and got 3rd in a World Cup XC. He sounds like an idiot, but this is because he is from the North of England.
So here is the first (and possibly last) in the Bushlove "Amateur Bikes" series.
I have a new Ibis Mojo. Its the best thing I've ever ridden and pretty much does the riding for me. Its a full carbon frame (except for all the lead weights Slacky no doubt put in the tubes for me) with 5.5 inches of super plush travel in the back and up front with the Fox RLC fork. It's got a DW link which basically means it doesn't shag you around when you try to pedal it up a hill. One of the coolest things is the look of this fine horse. The swoopy frame shape and the bright orange colour makes for a real head turner.
It's my first foray into the new world of modern mountain bikes. All the man cards I have held close to my chest for so long, have been thrown on the pile, as I embrace the full suspension comforts and even contemplate a super-camp adjustable seatpost and tubeless tires. My baggy shorts now even outnumber my tight ones.
It's been an interesting couple of months learning to ride it. It's good pedaling through rough ground, especially when climbing as the back end gives awesome traction. Descending is sublime and many technical sections of trail are now quite easy, until they get, er.. hard. I've set it up with an 80mm Thomson stem and sweet Easton EA70 680mm Monkeybar, which stops the bike feeling too 'XC Racer' and gives great handling, especially round steep corners or over drop offs. I run the saddle at my regular XC height which as all those in the know, know is inseam in shoes x 0.883 (per the great, Deadly Ned Overend) - 10mm to give more maneuverability on steeper trails. I get a lot out of the bike when I drop the saddle for some downhills so might get something like a Gravity Dropper or Joplin in the future. Once I've done some testing to see if the dollars spent translate into enough time saved.
I almost always run Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.25 with tubes at 30psi. I reckon they are one of the best all round tires. I can race them wet or dry and they roll great. If I get a chance to do some racing this year (baby due in August ;o) I might get some super fast Racing Ralphs and run them tubeless when its not too wet.
Some of these airs are even bigger than Clive's. This is the same frame. I figure good enough for Lopes, more than good enough for me!
The other interesting thing I've tried is the 1x9 set up with the MRP 1x device. Working great so far. Coming off the singlespeed I still have plenty of climbing gears, and never came close to touching the bottom cogs doing a nice Makara ride yesterday Although I did do quite a few climbs in the 34t. But then I am feeble and lazy. I like riding steep techy uphills though and it might be too tough with this set-up. Time will tell. Although there is a 12-36t cassette I could get. And when Shimano brings out 10spd, it will have the range required to make this set-up more versatile. Nothing says 'probably wearing bib shorts underneath' like a World Cup XC gear set up.
I'm not hugely experienced in riding different fullys. The Mojo has won a few magazine test showdowns and the MTBR bike of the year a few times, so I thought it was a safe choice and I've been very impressed. I've done some fun amateur jumps and drops on it, and even gone fairly well in a couple of XC type races, which was reassuring. The customer service is also meant to be excellent, and I've had some great chats and support from Mike Stylie at Hyperformance Hardware, the NZ distributor.
Its an awesome machine. I read somewhere that the measure of a great bike is how much you look forward to riding it. Driving over to Makara yesterday I felt like I was 16 again, in my best undies, on the way to a new girlfriends house, knowing her parents were out.
It's easy to become distracted when trying to get photos done. Little mistakes like forgetting to do up one's helmet strap could ruin a shot. Shabbily fastened shoe velcro will not look good in a close up. Is that jersey zip undone too far?
But leading the pack in epic fails was when I put my wheel in, failed to do up the quick release and rode down the hill, steamed into the volcanic debris without the comforting presence of my front wheel and bit down on the fail sandwich.
At short notice Mr Al Crossling and I were recruited by photo ace, Craig Madsen, to join him on a speedy mission to the central plateau to capture some images for an upcoming edition of Camp Tank Monthly. Its a great niche-market magazine which aims to bring artistic imagery and poetic verse to the masses, about out of commission military tanks. We got some cracking images. You might even see one of me hollering the good news into Al's barrel, on the cover or centre spread of the next edition. In addition to the main tank-based focus of the trip, we enjoyed some great tiki-touring around the area and experienced the toe numbing -4deg morning and 5am start which accompanies such trips. There was a stunning clear blue sky and immaculate views across to Mt Taranaki from the Turoa ski field. We saw some cunning frost which formed under the top surface of gravel and lifted if up a couple of inches. It looked like stones perched on acres of icy feathers. Good company, entertaining banter, nice locations and some good beer made for a great little outing. Cheers Craig! Davo
The trails at Wainuiomata are awesome. They're built and maintained by the WTP. We don't get over there as often as we'd like, so a 6hr race was a great chance to get a good fix. The BLR Roster for the day:
Ashley - Racing as sassy roller derby girls with her girlfriends. Ed - In the DUETS team. A two man outfit with epic sifter, Stu Houltham. Slacky, Al, Davo and Sharpie - Solo The rainy weather had dealt a blow to the course and some sections were soft, gluggy and hard work. But as testament to the efforts of the trail builders, the established trails were bullet proof.
Davo's Tale
I'd done no training but was keen to see how well I could go in this. I figured if I did it, I could call it my entire winter's training.
Everyone set off really quick and I dropped back, riding a pace which I could do for 4 or so hours (figured I'd deal with the last bit when I got to it). Had some back and forth with riders including Mr Lindup, Mr Crossling and Mr Fiest. Eventually I managed to pull ahead a bit and kept my foot down. Mr Sharpe withdrew from the solo lead with mechanicals. I didn't know who was ahead of me so was pleasantly surprised to learn around 7 laps in, that I was leading! Then I started to panic about what my gap was to 2nd. Clive made the ethically robust decision to lie to me and say 15mins. Longer and I would have sat up, shorter and I might have paniced!
I lost vision in one eye for no apparent reason at around the 3-4hr mark. Switched contacts for glasses, but no better. Turns out there is a link between hard excersise and clouding vision. Wierd! I'm looking into it more. I initially thought it was my brain's way of trying to limit how much of Lynskey's NUDE lap I could witness. I had a couple of proper 'lie downs' on the trail, then my shanks imploded so my last laps were quite lame, although made brighter by Al and Ricky's company, just when I needed it! It was great to get a win. Thanks very much to Tryfan at Floe for my prize of a great event shirt.
My favourite bits on the course were the Snail Trail's awesome pump and flow, the zippy singletrack afterwards, and passing the many kind friends who were shouting for me. Thanks very much for your support! Oh, and I loved hooning down the steep drops on Beeline Ext. And loved the gross muddy sections as I knew how boxed my competitors drivetrains were getting! Poor buggers. Mr Lindup even broke his rear mech off, after saying on the startline that he was questioning his decision to run gears.
Al's Tale
Lining up for my first race since the nationals back in February, I was really looking looking for some proelite XC rampage. Off the line it was shaping up like it was going to be a solid race, but something was not quite right... so unfortunately I had to pull into the pits after one lap and figure out what was going so wrong. Now I had two choices, DNF because my 'race' was over, or just keep riding...
So I moved to Plan B which was to sift around with Ricky for a few laps. This was a lot of fun, especially trying to make it all the way down the Snail Trail descent without pedaling (which is harder than you think). Good times were had with Slacky till Ashley decided to drop us up a hill which required some kamikaze descending to make sure we passed her on the way back down! This finished Ricky off, so with just over two hours to go Ricky stopped for a slice of salami (or maybe the whole roll!) and a lie down. So onto Plan C, which was to find out just how hard I could push it now that I was feeling better. I was making more of an effort than I do at a singles night - and believe me I go 100% when there is the chance of a date! So after 3 more laps at Warp Speed, the time ran out. I was super happy with those 3 hot laps at the end, I was even getting air time on some of the jumps. Yes, Ricky is not the only strawberry blonde who can jump.
This was a truly awesome race and Shane Wetzel (and his team of volunteers) deserves a huge round of applause for his first foray into race organising. There are so many people getting involved in helping make this sport this much fun at the moment, this is a good time to be a mountain biker!
So a mint day. Everyone got a treat, when they caught or got overtaken by Ashley, MJ, Rachel and Natasha. Their outfits were awesome! Stu and Ed won the overall and Stu even blitzed a lap with just 21 mins to go, finishing with a few seconds in hand. Classy.
The Wainui 6hr was Dave 'Mono' Sharpe's last outing in the Bushlove jersey. Dave is pursuing some new projects. We'll miss him, and wish him the best of luck!
We were all pretty tired after another classic day in the saddle and are looking forward to 2011's edition! You can check out the album here. Clive took loads, you might well be in a couple!
Its the Wainui 6hr Wurldz race on Saturday. I decided to join epic sift-kings, Al Maulman, Sharpie and Slackshanks in doing it as a solo. Ashley is in there too in a hottie team which we will linger behind at any and every opportunity.
I'm going to run the SS rather than my new flashy Ibis Mojo trail bike. Its probably going to be pretty muddy in places, and I'm used to racing the SS, especially when it's wet. Besides, people always think you did really well when you race a rigid singlespeed, even when you suck badly.
I broke my Crudcatcher! I only like the original Crudcatchers, which I can't find in NZ. I remember when they first came out in the UK back in around 1993. Before that we used to fix ice cream tub lids to the downtubes. So I knocked up the old-school solution earlier on.
I had a big selection of ice cream tub lids.... I went for a Vanilla/Gone Fishing combo.
Looking forward to seeing all the keeners in the 'Nui on Saturday.
There is much debate on skidz in the world of mountain biking, with many people saying that are a lack of control by the rider.
However there is still a time and a place for doing a skid. Bushlove is here to educate you on when and where you should do some skidz...
Firstly, where should you do a skid? As you can see in this photo, Ricky (on the right) is explaining to this nice gentleman that this lovely bit of singletrack does not take kindly to skidz. So no skidz on singletrack!
However, take the example below. That is a beautiful lawn, but it is lacking that little something to give it a bit of style... well what could be better than a lovely skid right through the middle? Doing skidz on your neighbours lawn is where it's at!
Secondly, what do you need to do a skid?
Well obviously a bike is a necessity. But the kind of bike you use is very important... As demonstrated by this fashion biker, skidz on fixies heft mere fail
So we'll leave it Steve Peat to demonstrate how it's done He's on a mountain bike and his skid has evolved into a drift. Steve Peat shows us all how - again!
And finally, when? In front of a cafe full of roadies? Of course not, they don't appreciate bike handling skills (because they don't know what they are)
However... Nothing impresses the ladies like some mean skidz!
Well seeing as Davo failed The Crazyman WOF for 2010. I decided to take my old body into VTNZ to see if I could get a check over. Yip, as I thought, it failed on account of too much rust and crumbling pistons. Despite not obtaining a satisfactory WOF, I signed up to the Crazyman anyway, but brought race insurance with a ring-in runner – Stephen Day.
After a long night Sandbagging in Queenstown with MonoStrosity Civil Defence - Queenstown Emergency, I sifted back to Wellington just in time to take the start line. It seems that during the trip home Mono had a monostrosity and subsequently failed his Crazyman WOF due to a lack of riding. Leaving just me and Wonderwoman to up hold the good BLR name.
The "Southerlies, thunderstorms & hail" were due to hit Wellington about the time the mountain bike section of the race kicked off. All Crazyman entrants were watching nervously as it rolled in across Wellington and rampaged up the Western hills! Much to everyone’s delight the Southerly stayed West long enough for it not to hit the race.
9am and the hooter went (Mono and Davo were probably tucked up getting their hooters online), the Crazyman was underway. Leaving the runners to do the real work. Stephen was all arms and legs along the beach front, getting ready to settle into the hills. Loving the up hills, he appeared second out of the bush behind James Coughbrogh who holds the current course run record). Stephen was able to hold this position to the transition area where I took over for the MTB ride.
The course had changed from the previous year and included some of the ace Wainui singletrack. I decided it would be best to stallion off the front and concentrate on catching the 'Capital Sports Medicine Team', which I managed about midway through the climbs. Unfortunately Alex Revell had the same plans and caught me near the top, just before starting the undulating section midway through the race. As he passed me and I chased hard, Alex took what looked like a cunning alternate line to make extra ground on me... Mega fail on his part as he hit a steep hill pinch, allowing me to steal 50m on him to take the lead. Now the fun started - it was DH RAMPAGE time and as the BLR DH God (Slackbladder) had proven over the years, there aren’t many who can own a rampaging Bushie on an XC DH RAMPAGE mission. So I opened up the taps and stepped on the juice. Was able to take a good couple of minutes out of Alex which I would need later on the 12km gravel track to home. Head down with the Flux locked out, I steamed the river trail road with Alex chasing close. Every time I looked back expecting Alex to ride past no-handed, browsing my horoscope in the Hutt Times, I was pleased to see he had not made much ground on me. Big head throbbing and little head shrinking, I dug a little deeper to hold Alex to a 23sec gap for the Duathlon Team win. MINT! First rider home too. I was stoked with me and Stephen’s efforts for the day.
A wicked day out and another Team Duathlon course record for the second year in a row - Awesome.
Porirua Grand Traverse, Hawkins Hill Climb and My Return to My Running Career:
Check list: Tick - Skimpy Flappy Panel Shorts Tick - Old skool, retro running track suit Tick - Legs that look like they belong to a chick Tick - Free running shoes from where ever you can get them Tick - A plethora of national medals that you don't really deserve, as you only fluked them in the beginning - Priceless
As you can tell I looked more like I was ready for a retro class running race than a hardcore mountain adventure run/bike, but I guess I could look worse...
PGT = I had forgotten over the years just how hard it was to put one foot in front of the other at a pace faster than a walk. Paaaain!!!! was the order of the day for this race. I had a runner lined up but this had fallen through at the last minute. How hard can it be, I asked myself as I put my "Individual Duathlon" entry in. So off I went on the Mountain Bike section constantly reminding myself to "Reserve some energy for the run". As some of the usual suspects (Hiskey, T-Rex, etc) steamed past I had great problems letting them go "It's not a lunch time sift with Davo & Angry, let them go! I said"
I survived the ride and actually enjoyed parts of it, but now it was time for the run... Transition went well and it was off across the field to begin the arduous steps up to Colonial Knob. Before to long I found myself running around an industrial area... 5mins later I made my way back on course Orsome!!!
Once I had finally run "BACK!" to the start of the race and found the marker I missed I started on the steps, on and on and on and on they went, they were just relentless. As I popped out near the top of Colonial Knob it was at least a change to fire road, I felt relief... for a second! Now it was time for the thigh shattering down hills to smash my punny pins in just a little more. Along the coastline, across Titahi Bay Beach, Up to the radio towers, past the Golf Course, through the swamp land and finally the 3km straight stretch of boring road to home... I was spent! Run in! Beaten! but somehow I managed 2nd place What The &*@#$!!!
Hawkins Hill Climb = I'll keep this one brief. Speaking of briefs, Marco was sporting his usual pair of Flappy Panel running short from back in the 60's.
The race started as it did last year with a "Hare" off the front until we turned into the hill section where the "Pins Of Power" kicked in and I took over the lead. Running hard I had one goal in mind, to catch the God Father (Marco Renall) who had left 5mins before any of the runners. Before I had even broken into a sweat or passed the stockyards I caught Mailman puffing heaving like singles night at Mermaids. Giving him a slap on the ass we past each other a couple of times until it was back into the steep stuff where I was able to get the better of him. Onward to The God Father now, who deemed harder to catch than an STD in a nunnery. 500mtrs from the top I caught him, his Flappy Panel Shorts. This made for the perfect target as I ran past for a quick down trow (Apologies to any female runners blinded by the sight of his glowing white cheeks as he struggled to hike them back to ball choking levels).
Finished to be first runner home. A massif ups to Alex Revel who stormed home the Mountain Bike for a course record that will stand for what may seem like years to come.
My return to my running career= Once again a fluke and maybe short lived... (But great Cross Training fun)
Enough said, I'm a Mountain Biker now not a Runner. Tiger
Saturday was the Christchurch Singletrack Fiesta and as the name suggested it was to be a day of Mexician festivities. Being a family event, I kept it clean leaving my skinsuit at home and instead rocking the rainbow poncho. While it may look like a Technicolor dream coat it was actually gay pride Mexican style.
Rapido
The first race of the day was the Rapido xc race. Wanting to save myself for the ss race in the afternoon I thought I’d take it easy and just sift. I was riding the much neglected huckmobile (Litespeed obed) and even lined up near the rear of the field. My plan not surprising failed - as soon as the gun going off just sifting became “just sifting” bushlove style.
Getting stuck behind heaps of traffic ,the leaders rode off into the distance leaving me heaps of work to do. With some effort I caught up to Craig on Lap 2 and had a bit of a race with him for a few laps. I pulled away on the last climb to finish in 3rd overall and 1st in 19-29. While it was fun steaming the gnar on the huck bike it reaffirmed the inherent superiority of the wagon wheels.
Velocidad Solo
The big guns of Chch mtb made an appearance for the feature race of the day, the Velocidad solo.
After another zany start involving a run up a hill then some Mexican pot spinning, we were off for two hot laps of Living springs. From the start Dayle (on his pimping new Ti Singular) and I rode off with Oli closely chasing behind. Dayle led the way up what is one bloody hard ss climb and I did my best to hang on to him. We came in neck and neck with Oli 25 sec back. We were greeted with an appetising plate of cold beans decoratively placed on a bed of nachos which we were told to eat sans hands. We polished off all the beans (well almost) and while delicious I’d go for a beer any day.
After sticking to Dayle on the downhill he kicked it into a higher gear and rode away on the climb. I could blame the morning race but on the day Dayle was much stronger so it looked like he’d be a deserving winner. As we reached the crest of the climb I had settled in to cruise to 2nd place but someone had other ideas.
Apparently the Nachos weren’t just there for looks so Dayle and I were presented with the biggest, most hot sauce covered plate of nachos known to man as a penalty for being cheating bandito’s. With great difficulty and a few spews, I worked my through another plate of beans AND nachos while as every second passed Oli made his way towards us. With a cheeky grin he casually rode past and onto to the win.
Given the controversy, Oli and I battled it out mano el mano with a game of Stingray, Crocodile, Steve Irwin at prizegiving with fate prevailing on Oli’s side to take the title.
Prizegiving turned into an epic haul of pirate treasure, I scored $60 of bike vouchers (thanks Cycle Surgery), a bottle of wine and some coffee. Sarah scored some Barkers goodies for being the pie lady for the day.
Was an awesome day thanks to the good sorts at Singletrack club, their lovely helpers and some very generous sponsors.
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