Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves - Revolve XC1

The wonderful Revolve girls, Marjolien and Ashley, held the first round of their three race series today at Makara Peak. It is the second year running for them, and once again heaps of keen Wellington women signed on to experience the fabulous singletracks of the Peak and ogle local 7ft studs, Ranger Steve and John Randal.

Amongst them were Bushlove babes, Belinda and Amie, being eagerly supported by their lucky Spartan men, Jonny and Dave, plus kids, Lucy, Sophie, Ella and George.

First race for Amie and nearly first race for Belinda. Both were very nervous but naturally feeling many times stronger than they had ever previously experienced, due to their natural choices of BLR Power Tunics.



Both Belinda and Amie had gamely entered the Queen of the Mountains class, which required them to do a full tour of the park, climbing Aratihi to the summit before dropping back in via North Face, JFK, Smokin, Swigg and Starfish; all some of the girl's favourite tracks.

The gun (Ashley's devastating Arizona yell) went and they were off, charging (momentarily) up Allington Road to the Rimu trail. After some woots, whistles and shouts of encouragement they disappeared up the road to battle the course while Dave, Waghorn and their offspring returned to the school for some epic basketball, scooter tailwhips and jandal sport.

See Waghorn attempt to get the ball from the hall light fitting with nothing but a regular 'off the shelf' jandal. He took it on his fourth attempt. Excellent work.

The girls returned looking every bit as dirty as Dave and Jonny like to imagine them to be. The tracks had clearly seen a bit of rain the week before. Everyone got into the traditional telling of tales about their race.

Belinda showed us how she rides the downhils:


Everyone had a great time and there were heaps of great spot prizes. The Revolve girls had an inspiring quote to read before the race started which was a really cool idea. Plenty of baking had been done. Most of which got massacred by Waghorn and Davo while the ladies were racing, and they were shooting jandals. They remit their apologies to anyone who failed to get a cookie. They were apparently delicious.

A fantastic effort from Amie, Belinda and all the women out there today. And as ever, a magificent morning's willy-free racing from Revolve.

Next races are 10 April in Wainui, and 1 May at Polhill in the city.

Czech it out: http://revolvetraining.co.nz/involve/womens-mtb-series-2011/


Leonidas of Sparta
Bushlove Press Sec.

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Super D - Best of Both Worlds

Some days you just can’t be bothered going for a ride! Crawling up a hill, sweat running into your eyes and a chain that keeps reminding you it needs some TLC. But on Sunday I still wanted to go for a ride, just without a hill in it. Answer = Makara Peak Super D.

The Super D format of racing is really gathering strength at the moment. It takes the best from DH and XC race formats, combining them in a format where lycra clad riders might have a chance of keeping up with the groms when the track points down. If us sifters in Bushlove can’t actually win a proper DH race (save for the almighty ‘DH God’ Ricky), I think a Super D win will be satisfying enough.

Rocking up at lunchtime after a lazy Sunday morning, it was nice to chat with my fellow XC racers who did the rally in the morning, especially when I haven’t even raised a sweat and they had been through 2hrs of pain riding UP and down tracks around the Peak. After signing on the dotted line and passing over my race fee/ donation to the good folks at Makara Peak Supports Club, it was off to the summit for the afternoons entertainment (damn it, no shuttle).
I must admit I pooh poohed the course a bit during the week, thinking it was too easy and not gravity orientated enough; how wrong I was, it turns out it was the most enjoyable 15mins on a bike!

For those who know the Makara tracks, here is brief rundown of the course:
Zac’s – NorthFace – JFK – Smokin – Ridgeline Ext – BigTomsWheelie – 4wd – Magic Carpet – SkillsArea – Koru – Livewires – FINISH
If there is one stand out feature of these fundraiser events that would have to be the support; from what I could tell there were 50 odd people keen on a smash down the Peak. The choice of course was the best as it brought out everyone, including recreational as well elite riders. After a bit of shooting the breeze at the summit, everyone took their place which included me reluctantly being chased by the dodgy Davo Aldred. After a quick warm up on Zac’s it was into the real part of the descent starting with NF.
Earlier in Jan I treated myself to a nice new SantaCruz Heckler from the good sorts at Bicycle and for the first time I was riding it as fast as I could down NF. After winding through the few preciously placed trees at the top, it was into the many corners that make NF so popular amongst all sorts of riders. The unusually good run of weather had made many of the corners drifty but this didn’t phase the bike sticking to every corner and reacting exactly as told. Much like the famous 80’s Mullet haircut I love to keep the front tires in business while the back end can get carried away with the party; this combo proved perfect in the many hairpins that NF has to offer, sliding the backend Steve Peat styles (I wish).

JFK is a new addition to the Peak, but already it had a nice flow to it, including a few nice big berms. The only problem I had was going around blind corners and continuing to turn long after the corner ran out; led to some close calls with the hillside! Across a 4wd and into Smokin (like NF this track popped up a year ago); similar to JFK, Smokin flows really well with a few trees to mix things up.
With Smokin dusted in about a minute, it was onto Ridgeline Extension with direction from Oli of Roadworks (who had to tell some juniors to move off the track while I zoomed through, cheers mate). More of the same along Ridgeline Ext and Big Toms Wheelie, this leading to a quick sprint along the 4wd and into Magic Carpet where I managed to catch my minute man.
Being on my Heckler with 6 inches of travel to play with, hitting one of the jumps into the skills area was a must; seeing as my skills when it comes to air time are rather lacking, the safer option of the medium drop kept me happy without breaking another bone. With a quick loop of the skills bowl it was onto Koru, which for the first time involved it being ridden in reverse. No I didn’t steam into any trees, but I was by all means making a meal of the easiest track on course, though it sounded like most did.
The last part of the course involved a sprint down Livewires. While a lot of the surrounding tracks have been groomed of late, Livewires still has a good rough element to it, with the odd jump and berm thrown in. With a smooth run and no lie down moments (unlike Davo I hear ;-)), I just cruised onwards to the finish.

Being the first to finish you can never be too sure how you’ll down; you set the time to beat. One thing really struck me about this race, that being just how much you can push yourself on a downhill; only a solid 5 minutes after finishing did I actually get my breath back. After about the first dozen riders crossing the line it was promising to hear I was leading and unlike an XC race which I actually know how I’ve done as I cross the line, I had to wait until the very last rider to see if I had done it. Thankfully about an hour after starting my run it was awesome to hear I won.

So Super D’s, what do I really think? Two things: HEAPS of fun and surely going to be the race of choice for most shortly.
Next on the radar (next weekend in fact) is the Mt Vic Super D on Sunday April 3rd. Like Makara, everyone can enter, even if you don’t have a downhill specific bike. Hop on over to Bicycle.co.nz now and sign up for what will be an awesome day of riding tracks Super D style.

See you all at Mt Vic.

(apoligies for lack of photography, better luck at Mt Vic)

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Karapoti, the swimming race

Well thought it about time I did Poti for fun... Fun you say... how can 50km of hill drills and Bone Jarring Rock Smashing be fun??? let me elaborate little. Karapoti has this infamous ora of being one of New Zealand's longest running and punishing races. You could say a must "Add To Cart". Well that is true in a sense, but stepping back to look at it, fun does not come to mind... 3 seemingly never ending climbs, 4WD track 80% of the way and river crossings to make sure your feet never actually dry out. But this year was to be different with what event organizer Michael Jacques described as "Certainly the worse conditions I have ever seen," WOOT! Recipe for fun = Take any preconception of times and throw that out the window, Any training you have done on the flat smooth stuff "Remove From Cart", pre-laps of previous Poti races (worthless). Now add Rivers running down the trails like the dribbling mess Slacky was at the PNP Champs, Bogs the size of Dave Aldred's Ego, Braaaap! Rock Garden to steam down all bundled together on one of the BEST Full Suspension XC bikes you have ever ridden the Turner Flux. What a Riot!!!!

Short break down of my race: Yawn!!!
The gun went and I managed to smoke the river crossing 3rd out, only to find later if I had Nana stepped it like some...;) I would have got my mug shot in the local rag.



Started off with some Roadie styling leading into the gorge when the fun began, uncontrollable puddle hopping and eye piercing mud flicks. As we started "Warmup Climb" I found myself in the happy position next to fellow Turner Lover John Randal (Sifter) as we climbed tit for tat, heckling one an others "One Yer Right" "Turner coming through". Top of the warm up climb and Angry Clive Bennett was back looking after his fellow zimmer frame riders (Such a gentleman).

By this point I was loving the technical climbs and just working on not dabbing down. The first downhill and I opened up the taps passing a few good roadies to enter the stream at the bottom (that was now more like a river). More climbing was to be had but I still had energy in the tank to enjoy these. ROCK GARDEN ROAAAAR!!!! On Ya Right, Excuse me, Coming through... I let the Turner churn up the Garden and sail down the water soaked rocks like a glider gently lifted by a warm up draft. Next was probably the most un-exciting section of the race the Devils Staircase. Hicking my not so scrawny runners legs up Devils deemed to be a soul destroying walk to the summit, where I was greeted by friendly smiles of the watering hole crew and camera men poised to take the most unflattering photo you will ever see.

Quickly realizing I was not able to clip my shoes back into my pedals I stopped to find one of my cleats had come loose. Stopping for what one of the passing by ridders described as a "Lay down" to tighten up my ever loosening cleats (Glove off, tool out (NOT that tool), tighten cleat, tool away, back on bike). Right, all clipped in and eating up the trail again at a comfortable pace. Only to find 300mtrs down the track I had left my bloody glove behind... Back tracked to happily find it waiting patiently for me and I was off again. Queue a "Good Roadie" Clive Bennett steaming past me as he loooooves the rollers.

Big Ring Boulevard was a hoot! surprisingly tacky with the rain pelting done. I now missed the glasses I decided not to take as the mud rapidly blurred my vision. Imagine flying down a slippery 4WD trail blinking ever half second to clear your eyes, enough to be able to half see the trail ahead... GREAT FUN! then occasionally having to solidly close one of those eyes in a pirate type squint... Not so cool..

Finally arrived at Dopers where I could see Angry Bennett mashing his pedals in a violent roadie attempt to clear the bottom technical/rocky section. Only to dab down long enough for me to catch him. Thankfully for me this was a blessing in disguise as I was getting a little chain noise, enough for Angry to generously throw me his chain oil. Lubed up I watched Angry disappear into the distance never to be seen again. I continued to churned out Dopers happily pulling in a rider or two.

The final decent down Pram track was a blast as this had some what dried out enough to clock a half decent 50ish km/h. Half way down the Gorge I came across Alex Bushlove Bennett, the Bushlove trooper smashing in the 20km loop. He had also taken a leaf out of my book to have a little lye down but did so using his face and knee... Ouch!!! after checking he was head strong and sprite high I left him with a fellow 20km father and his kid (Thanks to that Father and Son combo for getting Alex down the final parts of the gorge). It was off for the last river crossing and a pleasantly welcome sub 3 on a Karapoti course that was the wettest I had ever ridden.


Karapoti, Muddy Noooooo?!?!?!?!?!

Happy to cruise in home only 1 minute behind the Elite Threshold "ET"

Till next year Poti when I'll be back with climbing legs and a hunger for a dry fast track please.

Lataz
Tigs

P.S I also give you the benefits of using a crud catch on your bike V's not. In the photo above, guess who did NOT use a crud catcher???

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Wayne Hiscock & Naked Bike Chicks plus New Blogs!

To compensate for the lack of traffic-worthy content here at the Bushlove Racing Blog, we like to run a Blogroll of our favourite blogs down the right side. You are probably looking at it now. Its mostly locals from Wellington with a good handful of our favourites from friends around the country. It is full of gems and probably the only reason people come back to our ramblings, as they can see all these blogs in the one place.

We recently realised some blogs had slipped our radar and have added them in...


Wayne Hiscock >>> http://www.hiskeysblog.blogspot.com/

Great new blog from Hiskey. After years of top level racing the Hiskinator is still banging away, all be it often in the Mature Man class, and has got his own blog.

His Mum has written a nice synopsis about his biking in the right column and he has a growing stash of race reports. Wayne is one of the nicest guys you will ever meat and we think he is great despite him having handed us all our arses on a platter on the race track.

Emma Johnston >>> http://emmajohnstonxc.blogspot.com/

It seems like everyone knows Emma! Her blog is a great journal of her racing exploits and aspirations. Plenty of interesting well written tales.


Emma studies in Dunedin but spent the summer in Wellington working in the same office as Davo, who offered lots of important hi-tech training advice, like: "Just get a singlespeed", "Only ride offroad" and "Eat moar MacDonald's breakfasts".

Raewyn "Hucker' Morrison >>> http://raewynmorrison.blogspot.com/

Raewyn has a blog of good race reports from her adventures around the country, starting late last year. She is a bit of a rocket and can win XC races AND do this....


Here at Bushlove Mansions, we have a sneaking suspicion that she wears custom short shorts, as there is a lot prime real estate on display in addition to a sneaky little tatoo.


We know what our audience is like and you have probably been disappointed not to have come across the Naked Bike Chicks as promised. Well in the unlikely event that Emma and RaeRae were not enough, we bring you moar MTB Girls.

While googling for the MTB Chicks riding group I came across this little gem. MTB Girls. Was I the last to find this? I hope I am the first to bring it to your attention.

This is the PREMIUM site for late 80's/early 90's ladies dressed in bad team lycra with the zips undone, or just artistically painted.

And they are with bikes, so must be bonafide mountainbikers. Try not to dwell on the proliferation of street bikes suggesting they are models. They are all mtbers and you might well see them should you plot a route to intercept the MTB Chicks, or tag along at the back of a Revolve Ride.



Night follows day.

Sun follows rain.

And who follows naked chicks?

That's right:



John 'Sifter' Randal >>> http://sifter-writes-bikes.blogspot.com/

Great blog, great writing all he time. Awesome epic endurance adventures and moar.

Sifter is AWESOME! We particularly love it when he is sporting his beard. Check out this ANIMAL!!!



Regards

Leonidas Of Sparta.
BLR Press Sec & Body Painter.

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Thoughts on the Christchurch Tragedy

What a nightmare. The shocking events in Christchurch are at the forefront of our hearts and minds. It is the most difficult of times as our friends and fellow Kiwi's in Canterbury deal with the devastation and loss of life. I know those of us with kids have certainly been holding them tighter these last few days.

Our Bushlove email circle was quickly lit up with inquiries as to the safety of Nick & Sarah Kennedy, especially when early reports of the hospital being evac'd were coming out and we were unsure on the reasons (Nick is a doctor). We were very relieved to find they were ok.

I've been struggling with whether light hearted, joke packed blogging is really appropriate at the moment, considering the enormity of the Christchurch tragedy. But I think some more light hearted fare should make an appearance next week. I can't see any harm in a bit of mood lifting for those who choose to look for it.

Its a bit of tough saying that "life goes on". But it does, to varying extents. There is something reassuring about routine. Although it would have been difficult for the players it was still good to see the rugby continuing during the week. The MTB National Champs is in progress in Dunedin too, and I am sure many will have struggled to find motivation for their efforts. I am attending a wedding in Canterbury next weekend and will do my utmost to celebrate with gusto and reduce the length of the long shadow cast by the earthquake. Love and family should be celebrated with vigour.

All our thoughts, best wishes and condolences to all Cantabrians in this most difficult of times. Be good neighbours. Stay strong and hold each other close.

Kia Kaha.




Ps. Don't let the memory fade. Make sure you have a plan for your family and have supplies you might need. You never know what is round the corner. This govt site is good. Read it.

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News just in, someone in Bushlove can still get results

Seeing as the rest of Bushlove are a seemingly big bunch of non result getting nancy boys (cept for Ash, she's so hot she doesn't even need to race), I had to add to my race calender an XC race. Whilst In Nelson for a Dh race on Fringe Hill as part of the Rabobank Direct National series, I decided to do the Xc race.

"Wait whats this you say, a DH. But Ricky, we know you as Bushloves DH god, but we didn't realise that you've gone back to DH"

This is true, Indeed these days I am racing and mechanicing for the Monster Energy Dh Team. And pulling once more the only real results the bushlove gets, with a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and now 4th over the series to date (kinda hoping I don't keep the trend going, I don't want a 5th).

But I digress, back to the XC, Gauranteed a poduim with only 3 vet1's racing, I wasn't worried. I KNEW I was going to suffer. Doing NO Xc training or riding would mean a hard day at the office. Espeshly as Uncle Derek, Jeremy and Mildie meanly made us do 5 laps. The start was awesome and I started with a hiss, but no roar and settled in straight away. And by that I mean I let EVERYONE go ahead of me. Like most of the vet 2 field. Naturally I could of destroyed them with the calves of doom, but I was in a nice mood.........yeah, that was the reason. Into the first dh and Jared (in vet 1) stacked and let me past and I was off. The other chap (who's name I can't remember) past me on the next climb, and I whipped past on the last descent of the lap. I then held a lead on him which let him get to within 50 meteres or so on the climbs.then I'd stretch on the dh's. Mocked a sprint at the end for show in true bushlove fashion.

Then I spectated for the elite race, in the proper fashion, by screaming at as many of the riders as possible. It's really amazing watching a proper race on a multilap course. Where the intensity really shows who is the best rider. As opposed to single lap races where people tend to be closer together and there are no spectators cheering people on constantly. The best riders in multilap races really do stretch out. Dirk was on fire, as Was Uberfreak Anton who caught and passed the 2nd placed elite rider and put time into him. sure he did 1 lap less, but the way he was riding, another lap was well within him, amazing!!!

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This just in: All Blacks Respect the 2XNC

From Angry via Reuters:

Am at concert in martinbourgh
Conrad smith the all black is sitting in front of us with his girlfriend , I just caught him talking on the phone to richie mccaw telling him the the 2xNC was sitting behind him. True.

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Date Night at Aldred Manor & New Years Resolutions

So as another "Date Night" rolled around, Davo worked on his form with the help of his new Christmas Charm - the "Hump-Shoe-Pro". This present was given to him by his Grandmother with a promise he would finally get more shell action than Granddad Aldred ** on viagra watching Margaret Thatcher on Youporn.

.

After a week of "Hump-Shoe-Pro" the results were outstanding. He had progressed to the "Crock-Hump" and solo to boot.
.

New Years Resolutions:
For years I have been listening to people make New Years Resolutions, WHY?!?! I ask you. Do we really need an excuse to start a fresh or kick that fitness regime into gear??? So while on my holiday break I did a small study on some of my Bushlove counter parts and friends.

Davo:
Decided for the New Year he would get fit for the Elite grade of life.
The exercise regime started but I am not sure he will be able to maintain this, for obvious male genitalure reasons.


Angry:
Decided it was time to become a "REAL Boy" and attempt to grow some facial hair. What I find hard to work out is which is the real Muff Tickler under his lip???


Fastest Man:
Went all out to do something different and went and broke his hand just in time for the Nduro Series. I can't elaborate on how he actually did it but was something along the lines of "Rubbing One Out"...? what ever that means.


Al:
Has taken over from Angry with his outlook on riding. If you can't beat them then buy your fitness.

But I fear this is called cheating...?

Kah:
Has decided it is the year of the women, so is selling off his assets for a sex change. We all saw this one coming.
Pic too XXX rated for public viewing but I can say there was much bruising.

Ricky:
Well this one did not surprise me. Ricky's New Years Resolution was to become the oldest BLR Down Hill riding in the world to win the Grom Down Hill at the North Island Champs. Unfortunately he seems to be the only one actively achieving his goals thus far.


If he can stay upright long enough:


Nick K:
Will do his utmost to stay erect through times of hardship, but I do fear that wearing Lycra will hinder his efforts.


Guest Appearance Lynsky:
Will attempt a tan that compliments his Frizby throwing skills. Love those white stubbies.


The lesson here boys and girls. Never get Davo's opinion on dating unless you like humping shoes and when riding always stay erect.

L8rs

**No offense to any elderly people should be taken from this post, except Hundy Clive.

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Musings Of A Man Companion / Hawkes Bay for Angry's B'Day

Multiple National Champion and Birthday Boy takes Wild XC Huck

In only our second ever Guest post, here Tom Lynsky of the epically rambling "Musings Of A Gadabout" blog, waxes on the November trip to Hawkes Bay. Cheers Lyns!

The real Gangsta Nation

I don't remember exactly what I was doing when the call went out. Angry got on the electronic mailer and sent out the memo that he was planning an 'Upcoming Huge Weekend Away'. It had all the usual BLR suspects tagged in the addresses list and a few that were CC'd in – including I, the nominated 'BLR man companion' (whatever the hell that means). It alluded to Angry's Bday and a weekend that promised hours of zimmer-frame rampaging at Eskdale MTB Forest followed closely by a prune-juice chaser and bedtime by 6pm. Naturally I was hesitant.

Sportsman &

Gentleman's Man Companion

My exposure to the BLRT had been fleeting and always in the context of cycling, so this was unfamiliar territory for me. What were these creatures like outside of the whir of freehubs? Why was I being willed into travelling with them to Hawkes Bay? Was I being abducted for BLR 'probe steaming action'? I quickly formulated a plan to take my girlfriend along with me. Not because I thought she would want to come but because she's Serbian and therefore much tougher than me, which would come in handy if Tigs had a few too many and gave me a bit of the glad-eye. In the end, my fears were (largely) unfounded. Tigs did his best to get a leg over but in the end some gentle persuasion sent him toward Davo's open arms. I actually had a whale of a time. There were a few occasions of note.

Mariska in the stratosphere above Pukeora Forest

One night we were dining in a Malaysian restaurant and Davo talked me into having the 'Rad Nar' purely because it had an awesome name. It didn't have an awesome taste. We then noticed a gaggle of older women were louder than us so clearly must've been having a better time. Spurred on by Jonny sporting the 'wagger stagger' things quickly escalated until the sly old birds were positively all over Angry, much to the displeasure of his adoring wife. I also fondly remember the discovery that there were 'mooning virgins' among us. Fancy that, they'd never bared buttocks at a stranger! You might imagine what followed. And lastly, the 'Grab Me Crossling' team cup game. I'm sure this will be documented elsewhere so I'll just quickly set the record straight in pointing out that myself and Tigs won the teams event in a heroic display of lankiness and power. Davo 'Old Hat' Aldred's team was a distant 2nd place, despite what he has been telling everyone at the water cooler.

XC Radness

After all was said and done, it was a classic weekend away. Good times, good people, and more homosexual innuendo than you can shake an uncouth lesbian at. I was chuffed to be a part of it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nice one Lynners!

Leonidas - Press Sec & Media Liason to BLR

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A Typical Evening at Keith Mansions & Other Videos

Evening,

I noticed that only Davo and I, Leonidas Of Sparta (BLR Press Sec), have posted since November so it must be time for some different tales from the Hive. But until that happens:

The producers of Toy Story 3 have included a scene in the film based around a well known event in Keith Mansions where Jacinda lures Tony into a false sense of security by asking him to model for her. Tony jumps camply at the chance and then gets nailed for taking too many leave passes. Ken, sorry, Tony, then goes next door to get a manual off the Butler which contains instructions on how to perform DIY tasks on his own.



In other news, Dave went on a hardcore solo man mission on Sunday and rather than waste time training or riding up hills, he pushed his bike around Karori Woods and tried to ride some of the bits the young people ride, with mixed results.



And why not back up this post with the sensational Rapping Weatherman. Watch for this legend's amazing use of 'end parentheses' and also the props he offers to his co-host, Diane. Smooth.



Imagine for a minute if every morning you woke up, put the TV on and got a weather rap. Every day would be a lottery jackpot.

And here where he makes spectacular reference to his suit's colour. Immaculate.



He's at it again. Not only does he feed Erica more flattery and guarantee himself her office Christmas party attentions, but he manages to bring a whistle into the rap. Flawless.



The Rapping Weatherman: Men want to be him. Women want to be with him.

A lot like "Keg Of Love On Stilts" Oli Brooke-White, but with a mic rather than a Campag corkscrew.

The nice weather just keeps on coming here in WellySparta and we hope it is the same in your little neck of the woods. Plenty of epicness coming up too, including the second round of the N-Duro Summer Series in Vegas and the Wellington MTB Champs, which even has a Super-D component so the skilled can come out and school the bright pink accented XC campers.

Happy trails

Leonidas Of Sparta - The Rapping Ancient Greek Press Sec to BLR.

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Wainuiomata & Mount Lowry Rootfest

Great ride last weekend.

Al, Sam, Dave and Rob met up with Sepp and Aaron who had been ditched by their guide Mr Aero Lyall, as he had to stay home for reasons aptly explained by the presentation's uber-rad sound track.

They rode Beeline and the awesome traverse of Mt Lowry. We even did some radical high speed big air BMX racing...

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Sly Old DH Dawg

Stop the press - Newsflash

Photos have surface proving that our main man Ricky Pinecone has either

1. Won the Nationals downhill round in Tauranga
2. Stepped in to collect something for a friend.

There were mutterings on Failbook that Rickster had been hitting the big jumps too.

Nice one Ricky - Our DH God fo shizzle.

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Makara Rampage, Ice Cream Rampage & Child Juggling

Its not easy to get the whole whanau out biking. Despite best intentions I hardly ever manage it, and it has become double tricky now we have young George who just turned 5 months.


My smokescreen, Amie, is getting back out on the bike after a long spell out of the saddle and wanted to head up to Makara with her friend Kristen from Vancouver. I cunningly tied it in with some sifting with Al Crozzalozza whilst a girly morning tea took place and we swapped the kids over at 2pm on the dot.

It was an awesome sunny day in stark contrast to the rankness of the day before which had put the odd unseasonal puddle on the track and added a little no-traction-action to some of the chutes.


Al and I cruised via the standard fare of Koru, Sally Alley, Missing Link, Aratihi to the summit and then sauntered along Zaks Track and headed down Vertigo which was riding really well. Then we enjoyed a foray up Trickle Falls to the waterfall with the riderfall next to it.



I'd not ridden it before and always had a crisis of confidence on my own or found myself there with both an inappropriate machine and inadequately sized stones between my legs. It feels great dropping in with the waterfall next to you. Recommended. Fine when soaking wet too, which is handy, as to my knowledge it has never been dry.


After a poke around on Rimu, AMP Connecter, Magic Carpet and Live Wires, we arrived at the car park for the hand over of the juniors. Amie and Kristen headed off whilst Al headed up to ride Deliverance and I took the ankle-biters to Karori Park for a scooter/bike/ice cream fest. Kristen's man, Rob, carried his offspring in a back pack up Wahine and down some of 98DH.

Al returned in time for ice cream. The choices of ice cream were, in grandeur, related to the ferocity of one's challenges for the day. So whilst I feasted on a Gucci White Magnum at $3.30, Al had a Lemon & Lime Splice at $2.00. When Al deploys less Shank's Pony on Vertigo's drops he will be stepping up to the Cornetto.

In another huge win, our daughter, Ella who is 5yrs, learned to ride her bike by herself at the park. She has been ok without training wheels since October, but learning to get moving by herself was a HUGE event. She got right into it and earned herself a White Magnum at $3.30, like her old man.

Amie was less than impressed with the video of Trickle Falls and has assured me I won't be doing it again for some time. Then what do I find on the camera? A shot of her and Kristen rampaging the See-Saw Of Death! Pot, kettle, much?


Hope you are all having a good Christmas break.

Cheers
Davo

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Gone With The Wind - Turbulent Love

No, not the American classic in which a manipulative woman and a roguish man carry on a turbulent love affair in the American south during the Civil War, but rather my ride home yesterday.



As a remedy for too much work and not enough play, I left work a little early yesterday and rode home on my fine Ibis Tranny singlespeed, along Wellington’s Skyline. I knew this idea had little merit and was likely to be more character building and soul destroying than a quality outing. But to get from the city to Porirua on trails there are few options. So despite not being able to see the hills as they were shrouded in fast moving cloud, I headed up anyway.



I climbed up via the Karori Cemetery Track which despite the recent rain was in great condition and only forced me to dab on those two switchbacks, which would be tight for a terrier, let alone my beast. I could hear the gale roaring outside the safety blanket of trees and was not looking forward to emerging on the ridge. But I’ve never met a kilometer I didn’t like and didn’t plan on whinging about kms I’d chosen to do today.

Singlespeeding along the skyline is pretty hard for me, so in a gale force Northerly it was shithouse. I expected to do plenty of hiking and wasn’t disappointed. Visibility was between 20-40m in the cloud I was riding in, and riding in a cloud meant I was wet, but working too hard to put anything over my t-shirt. It occurred to me that the road might have been a better option. But I cast that weakness away and plugged on, getting on the pedals whenever I could.

I did a couple of singletrack switchbacks and found myself out of the wind for a moment so I sat down and ate some of the chocolate I procured from a supplier’s Christmas gift basket and called Mr Al Crossling for a quick gasbag. Turns out it wasn’t Al with bb problems that I had called to help with, but Tigs, but was good to share my epic with Al as he sat at his desk making love to excel spreadsheets, or whatever a statistician does. I told Al I could hear the wind roaring like thunder about 100m away where the wind and cloud must have been pouring through a col on the ridge, then let him go about his business.



I dropped out of the gorse shelter around the thin track I was on and immediately got body slammed into the ground. I’d not leant into the wind early enough and paid for it. I got up, got pushed over again, and as I got up the second time and was halfway through pointlessly exclaiming “Fuc…” when the wind confiscated my left contact lens. I dropped some C-bombs in short order. My prescription is -5.75.

The next sections involved a lot of hiking alongside the bike. Even that was hard to do and if I didn’t keep a hand on the back of the bike, the gale would lift it off the deck and blow it out like a flag, twisting up my brake lines. I braced myself against the wind and risked ‘life and limb’ to bring you this high quality footage:



I was eventually relieved to drop out of the cloud and the wind off Kau Kau and as I span into the far more moderate wind along Ohariu Valley the memory began fading. I wondered what the problem was and why had I made a fuss about the conditions on the top. So I thought I’d blog it for posterity.

This morning dawned fine. Sunny and no wind. But I had no energy to do any of the riding I forcefully claim I never do, so got the train and ate a massive Mcmuffin.

Happy windy trails.Dave

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Makara GLC - Rampage Time Trial

For the Spartans, the main event at the recent Makara Peak Festival was the ever epic Grand Loop Challenge. 30 warriors turned up to try their metal against the impressively loose, dusty and rocky trails to the summit and back down Ridgeline.

Commander Crossling Ran the show with jockstrap-like support from Rammer and Bushlove’s Amazonian Arizonian, Ashley.

This was the latest opportunity for sultry shysters, Davo and Wonny.J to knock heads. With Davo one up in there epic odyssey of rivalry, Jaghorn would be looking for a victory in this race within a race to preserve his debatable honour.

First man out was lean bean, Stu ‘Holeshot’ Houltham, followed at 20secs by Lanky Wildman, Tom ‘hot chicks on his Facebook’ Bradshaw, then Fastest Man, then Wonny Jaghorn, Davo and NCX2.
Fastest Man reeled in the human golf club, T-Rex, on the early climbing and continued his rampage to dish out some good news to Holeshot Houltham on Aratihi. Stu was later heard to be baffled as to where Ed found 40secs on him, and blamed his 20hrs of training that week. Here at Sparta Towers we call bullshit on this as nobody has ever trained for that long in one week and to our knowledge it is not humanly possible.

Ed takes the win with a new record time.

Meanwhile Davo, rocking his (Wildman’s old) Ibis Tranny singlespeed, was chasing Wonny hard to get on par before the descending. Luckily he caught Wonny and Tom at the same time on Koru and dispatched Wonny sharply lest any spectator see him exchanging pleasantries with a rival, especially one with pink heart shaped sunnies and zebra print lycra tights.

Wonny chased hard but was kept a couple of corners back on Aratihi by Aldred, who was motivated to stay clear of hard charging Clive NCX2 Bennett, who was coming strongly from behind. Eventually NCX2 collected both the retro rivals once he found his stride after bloodying himself going uphill in Sally Alley.



Dave led Jaggerhorn onto Ridgeline and they both stalled the singlespeeds in the gale force crosswinds on the rocky pinches and did some pathetic hiking, but picked up Clive on the main descent despite a delicate dismount from Davo. Aldred drew out a gap with some pinball dh styles to take 4th.

Ashley meanwhile was cutting out a fast lap to win the Goddess section. Unfortunately there were few ladies prepared to take on the loop and plans are afoot to remedy this low attendance with initiatives from Sparta Towers such as placing Horn Dogs like Kah Chan and Sam Rammer Dungey as strategic topless cheerleaders around the course.





Everyone wants MOAR Grand Loops and intensive planning is underway at BLR HQ to deliver them.

Excellent pics from Ridgeline by Damien Steele-Baker here

Moar pics of the fine day by Andy Kingpin here

Results on P3 of this thread

Happy trails.

Leonidas. BLR Press Sec & Fluffer

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