Mt Isobel Challenge

After months of inactivity I was in desperate need of a hit out before winter. With not much happening on the mountain bike front I had to widen the search to a bit of multisport. With my bike skills and a love of rainbow thermals it's a natural fit. After all Bushlovers are always keen to try new things although unlike Davo I decided to pick running over nipple clamps and lead acid batteries.

So Mt Isobel challenge it was. Put on by the good folks at Hanmer events it was sure to be good. It involved a short canter up Mt Isobel then a bike to try claw back the inevitable humiliation. The run was only 8.6km so how hard could it be? Looking at the topography bloody hard was the answer as it climbed to 1316m in under 6km. I hadn't touched my running shoes in a year and wasn't even sure they were worn in as I can count the times I've used them on one hand. The bike on the other hand looked a cakewalk with 24km of gravel road with lots of downhill but almost no climbing.

Being well and truly sick of the study I should be doing we busted up to Hanmer after work on Friday to make a weekend of it. Carbo loaded with a few curries then an early night. It can be a little nippy this time of year so I was glad the morning was pretty mild with no frost and not a sign of snow on the mountain. Dropping my bike up to the transition pre race it was pretty windy at Jacks pass but otherwise conditions were ideal.

Lining up on the start line I had no idea how fast to go. I had a few km of road to sort myself out then it was on to the climb proper. This is when the pain began...

At first the track was runnable but as it progressed (and I became more knackered) a quick walk was the best I could manage at times. Some bits were proper steep requiring a little climbing on all fours. Looking at my watch I'd been going 20min and I had never been in such pain. Maybe I'm doing it wrong but I've never been in such a state on a bike. Running is proper hard.

To counter the pain was some fabulous views over the Huranui. As I continued to climb the track changed from native bush to sub alpine tussock to barren scree.

After nearly an hour (or to be precise 56:18) the summit finally came. I was too tired to celebrate it in bushlove fashion. (and wasn't wearing incredibly gay shorts and an action man survival belt)

If I thought running up was hard running down proved to be even worse. Within 10m I'd turned my ankle and soon was suffering from some nasty stitch. In the space of 2km and a drop of nearly 500m I'd managed to fall a number of times and lose over 4 min on the leaders. Downhill runnings a skill I sorely lack.

I was well stoked to reach transition at all. In the time it takes most people to get ready in the morning I was off on my bike. I knew I would have to push hard to save some face so put it in the big ring and got to work. While 24km long the bike was all gravel road with almost no climbing so there was little chance to impress. In the end I reeled in 14 people and put in a semi respectable 5th place for the ride in 1:01:09

So 14th overall and 9th in open men in a time of 2:14:41. Would have been nice to have been able to trim a minute or so off to get up in 5th but my run and in particular the downhill was to big a deficit to recover from. It was really good to give something different a crack rather than the usual xc jeyboi action. While I don't think I'll trade the lycra for rainbow polypros anytime soon you might see me lining up for the occasional race. The St James Challange in particular looks good.

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The Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2011

Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2011

The auditors have been through and are happy to sign the accounts off containing the following result.

Income: Minta
Expenses: Meh
Profit for the year: Winning
Tax: Dodged
Net profit after Tax: Charlie Sheen.

The Team found a great income opportunity in FY11 with the leasing out of Slackmeister to the Monster energy DH Team. In exchange for a paltry $9,990 (excl GST) per event, Monster gets a racer who has extensive palmares including the Masters Games XC and DH titles and performs botty grinders upon request.

Monster also benefit from his exceptional wrenching skills at a gift of a rate of $4,990 (excl GST) per day. Their gain is Wellington’s loss as Slackshanks is the go-to guy for a lot of riders. But screw them, as the yield on our arrangements is gigantic as we only pay Slacky enough to keep him in Family Buckets of the Colonel’s finest and a small selection of the more risqué naturist website subscriptions he holds.

Slackattack did brilliantly in the FY11 racing season and is in line for a portion of the $49,990 (excl GST) performance bonus we wrote into his Monster contracts.
Granted it is a pretty shit and demeaning portion, at a venomously insulting $19.00 (excl GST), but it gets him another bucket and a couple of hours sniffing around the pension-drawing lasses on his favourite sites. But all revenues go into the Team’s bullion dealing account and everyone in the team benefits after Clive has drawn his 70% management fee and the other team members (excl those on Monster secondments) have deducted their various administrative fees to the tune of 29.98%.

Another valuable line of revenue has been in Kah’s product endorsements. We are reaping a splendid $8.75HKD for every frame sold in Australasia.



Via the BLR wholly owned subsidiary, “Nick_K Looks Like Harry Potter NZ Ltd”, a total of $35,350.00 (excl GST) was received from hapless wand-waving look-a-like appearances at children’s parties, themed civil unions and the Armageddon festival in Wellington. All feedback suggests the $353.50 per appearance is cheap considering the incredible likeness and the commitment with which Kennedy does his Quiddich routine and flirts provocatively with any Ron Weasley types attending the event. So a lift to $375 per gig doesn’t seem out of the question.


Harry caught napping whilst eating at a Mexican Potter themed civil union in Feb.
Although too late to include in the FY11 accounts, the Team will also realize considerable revenue from Tony’s appearances as Tony the Tiger at key events like Singlespeed races, team relays and bar mitzvahs.





Kellogg’s are coming to the party with a valuable 199GBP per appearance, which we are taking in multiple sets of $11.99NZD disc brake pads ex CRC so we duck GST on import. Kosher.



Extensive media whoring is adding to the bottom line. Ashley even got on the TV. Wonny Jaghorn and Hundy Bennett made appearances in global publications like the Wellingtonian and Hutt News and Davo found himself on the cover of NZMTBR, although this proved to be an expense due to the bottomless coffee tab provided to Mr Patton in exchange.



The blog is trying to capture as many cool kiwi rider blogs as we can find and this will prove to be a valuable income stream once we start invoicing their owners. We reckon a good completely fair scheme is to charge based on the number of posts they do and will therefore be indicative of their position in the blogroll, driving traffic. So Oli can expect to have his accounts hit hard. Hiskey’s invoice will probably just get lost in number rounding. If we are missing any cool blog, especially from Wellingtonians, please let us know on workbanterATbushloveracing.com.

Cheers
Leonidas - Press Sec.

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The Wainui 6hr Wurldz - Miss it at your peril! - 22nd May

It is just over two weeks till the Wainui 6hr Wurldz race in the minta Wainuiomata Trail Park.

Rise from the couch, cast down your boyish computer game handle thing, log out from the Farcebook, throw back a glass of skim milk, pull on your bonedome and roll out.

Feel the potential in your shanks. Effortlessly stomping the inclines. You are a Trail God! Carve those corners. Fly that drop. The world slows down as you manual long through the puddle.

Endo turn 180 and roll backwards into the garage. Toss helmet across garage. It does a Bond onto the hatstand. Yes, you have a hatstand.

Throw your glory splattered garments into the machine and surf to www.bicycle.co.nz and enter the Wainui 6hr Wurldz. Do it now. The entries close on Thursday 19 May and entries are limited. There are not many left. Last year it sold out. Do it.



Get a buddy and race the duo. Or entice more buddies and race a four buddy posse. Or come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough, and go solo. Eat some nails – go solo singlespeed.



The Wainui 6hr Wurldz has a great vibe and is not to be missed. It’s low cost ($25-35) with loads of spot prizes, including some from local legends Floe and Bicycle. You ride some of the region’s best trails with some great people. There is even a $100 cash prize for best costume. So don’t be shy. Sometimes less is more – last year Lynsky would have won it with his pasty birthday suit.

You might not be used to riding for so long, but fear not. The excellent trails built by the fantastic supporters of the Wainuiomata Trail Park (www.wtp.org.nz) , such as Snail Trail, with its swooping, pumpy, radness and Beeline, with its character building challenges (the significant of which have ‘chicken routes’) will keep you entertained. And a little extra motivation can always be found on course, regardless of your persuasion.





Now you have entered online, boil the jug for a coffee and knock out a few press-ups. Press-ups make all the difference. I can now do ten in a row (on my knees). The best training you can do with two weeks to go is Jedi mind training. Imagine how you are going to feel during the event, imagine the challenges and how you will deal with them. Lots of carefully planned physical training can come undone if the day throws a few challenges your way you were not prepared for. Do a Hendrix; chop the mountain down with the edge of your hand.



See you there Trail Gods!

The Sheriff Of Bushlove County

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Hogsback express

I've been keen to czech out the new Castlehill tracks for sometime but due to the evils of the FRACP have only just got round to it this weekend. For those not in the know the Hogsback track is a brilliant new project by the residents of the tiny town of Castlehill. Over the last year they've built around ten km of track linking the town to Dracophyllum flat then onto the classic Craigieburn loop. This gives the possibility of a 40-50km loop of prime Canterbury's subalpine riding.

Chch was grim and dreary but by the time I had got to the Craigburn valley (via an epic steak and cheese pie in Sheffield) it was a cracking day. Its one of my favourite bits of Canterbury with some great riding, epic vistas and 5 ski fields. If was planning on hanging around I'd love to build a place up there. Due to a lack of time and probably fitness I only had time to squeeze in the Hogback and Dracophyllum flat so will have to leave the full loop for another day. Was great to out on the bike before winter sets in proper.

I won't faff on anymore so here's some pics.

A huge thanks is owed to everyone who's been involved in the project. I think they're created an iconic bit of track which is a real sampler of the best riding Canterbury has to offer. It's got great views, tussock land, beech forest, a bit of climbing, some fun downhills all in a package easily assessable to anyone with a bike and a little fitness.

Link here: http://www.castlehill.net.nz/castlehill/mtb/hogsback_mtb.htm for more information and how to get involved.

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The Genderpretender & the Handjob

A while back I got my grubby hands on a beautiful Ibis Mojo. My Mojo really opened up my riding and allowed me to get into much more trouble than I had previously been able to on hardtails. Everything just got easy. I became both an Ibis and a carbon fan.

But I still love hardtails. Singlespeed ones especially. The lustiest I’d ever lusted after was Tim ‘Adonis’ Wildman’s Ibis Tranny which he’d won the SS Nats on. When he gave me the whisper that it was looking for a new owner, I sold everything that wasn’t nailed down at Aldred Mansions and grabbed it. After buying the Mojo it was tough to find things that were not nailed down which could be sold. The two highest value items in the house had heartbeats and I didn’t think I could get away with that, but I got there in the end.

The Tranny is Ibis’ hardtail/singlespeed/travel bike. I’ll probably never use the travel bike feature, which is where the back end comes off to enable fitting into a normal suitcase. But the singlespeed functionality I use pretty much all the time. There is a joint acting as a pivot below the seat collar on the seatstay. Then behind the bottom bracket there is a “Slot Machine” which is where the action happens. You loosen one bolt, gently push down on the bike, which extends the chainstays via the Slot Machine. Check chain tension. Tighten bolt. By far the easiest SS tensioning I’ve come across. Totally creak free too and no loosening.



The frame is awesome. Big fat carbon tubes and smooth lines, a lot like the Mojo. It has neat removable cable stops to clean it up when not running gears and the SS dropout (which I am yet to get) has a bottle opener, because we all know from the plethora of bottle openers on SS bikes, that all SS riders take glass beer bottles into the hills and crack them open on their bikes.

I built it up with a shortish stem for an ‘XC’ bike – a 70mm Thomson, and it keeps the steering nice and nippy and is great on the steep stuff. Its got a nice wide Sunline flat bar too. I think hardtails look more business-like with flat bars. Its got some Hope hubs with Flows. People scoffed at my heavy rims, but I wanted bomber strong and uber stiff wheels which could jump and get thrown about a bit. The Flows are not heavy anyway. They just look heavy next to very light Stans rims like Crests and wotnot. I am not even allowed on some of the lad's wheels as I weigh over 80kg. That is just wrong.

She/he has a straight 2:1 gear. Its is sometimes a little tall around Wellington, but making it easier would mean tossing in a man card and I don’t want to do that. So it’s a strong build, not a weight weenie build, although the light frame would certainly enable a low weight build if it was my thing.





I banged some gears on it the other day for the Porirua Grand Traverse and it was the fastest bike I’ve ever raced. Although the only other decent hardtail I’ve raced was a 1999 S-Works, so things have come quite a way! I looked forward to taking the gears off though to reveal its true beauty again. Although no sooner than I did so, Boner Toner whisked it off to Keith Manor, put stripes on it and raced it at the SS Nats in Napier. Tones got a fine 5th place which was fantastic.
Credit - BluedogSS Facebook. Thanks

She/he is a mint ride. Its hard to say if She/he is my favourite over the Mojo. It depends on the day. I love how stiff the Tranny is when giving it the beans. I stamp and she goes and goes.

Is owning two Ibis bikes enough? Haha, I lol at you – of course it is not enough. So what is it I want now? An HD? The new SL-R? Maybe a Hakkaluggi for the Crosstafarian's Wellington CX series?

No. I want Simon Kennett’s early 90’s Ibis steel tandem.

Simon and I ended up on the same initiative/workshop the other day around the relationship between buses and cyclists in Wellington. The wily, wiry fellow bought along an extremely rare Ibis tandem. I made my starting bid at an insulting $500, hoping maybe Simon didn’t actually know anything about bikes. But it turned out that Simon has some knowledge of these maters and he lolled at my offer. By the end of the session I had upped my offer to about $1,500 for this ancient iron horse, but he was still not budging.






If I come into any money I will be straight round to Kennett Mansions with my next offer. I need that bike and it needs a good restoration and Simon is too much of a hippy to do it. He would probably cover it with something sustainable like hemp paste and bits of vegetable.

Just look at the wonderful handjob. Snakes alive – it is too marvellous to even bear witness to without weeping.

After all this lyrical waxing you could be mistaken for thinking I was sponsored by Ibis or something. But alas no. Ibis (and Santa Cruz) bikes are bought into NZ by Mike at Hyperformance Hardware, and he mostly supports athletes rather than Whopper scoffing, chubby weekend warriors. Mike is an excellent ambassador for his brands and has been brilliant at dishing out all the right advice to me on many occasions. Thanks, Mike!

See you on the trails (every few weeks when I get a chance).

Cheers
Dave

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Where are the frickin' keys? : Porirua Grand Traverse 2011

The PGT mtb ride is an awesome, non-technical XC smash from Battle Hill, across Belmont into Porirua. Nowadays most courses have a good amount of technical riding and people pull away and drop back as their technical skills come into play - but the PGT is just a drag race where shanks of steel, massive hearts and lungs like bin bags rule over the ability to pop wheelies.

It clashed with the Super-D on Mount Vic this year which was a real shame. But Tiger, Dave and NCX2 decided to spare the downhillers the competition and race the duathlon. We bought in some excellent ring-ins with the goal of doing well in the Team Duo and the Mixed Team Duo.

We had:

The Elites [NCX2 and Stephen Day]
The Sifters [Tigs and Glen Hughes]
Fatman & Robin [Davo and Jo Doherty]

>> Banter and warm up for 8am start. Plenty of friendly faces.

>> Davo drops chain off line but gets back to the front asap and tells T-Rex to pull his head in and get in behind so Dave can cross stream in lead pulling epic bedroom face, to reinforce to his spectating wife that he is not as washed up as everyone says.


>> Timmo also pulls a face depicting his usual role in the bedroom.


>> Davo quickly gets overtaken by Tim, Clive, Tigs, Nick Waring, Marcel, Trevor, their neighbours, tennis partners, some old people and some cats.

>> Gaps appear and get stretched. Timmo, Clive and Nick control the front.

>> Super loose gravel logging road downhills threaten hardcore skin loss, but take no victims.

>> Dave catches Trevor, Trevor drops Dave.

>> Clive goes wrong way and maintains he now has to ride with 'slower riders' in order to stay on course. Still at front of race though.

>> Nick Waring drops T-Rex and takes the mtb win.

>> Tigs and Marcel, dsitracted by each other's impressive calves and gate jumping skillz, head the wrong way in Bothamly Park to spend 5 minutes alone together.

>> Trevor, closely followed by Dave, steal Tigs and Marcel's positions.

>> Transition - The runners take off across the park and up Colonial Knob.

>> The boys return to the car. One of the runners have the keys. But which one?

>> The boys sift to the Titahi Bay beach to bromance on the sand and cheer on the runners. Stephen comes through first, with Glen hot on his heels. Tigs runs along side "Have you got the car keys?.. Tell me where they are and you can have some water..."




>> Marcel and Tim come past. Clive and Dave cheer and nod respectfully. Tiger drools and jibbers on about what amazing specimens of manhood they both are.

Marcel


Tim


Tony Keith


>> Jo is not far behind and comes through fresh and pissed off for going the wrong way for a few minutes. She looks strong though. And little.


>> Glen pulls Stephen in and holds the lead to the finish. Bushlove Sifters win the duathlon for the seond time, narrowly missing out on their record time.

>> Stephen comes in second. Bushlove Elites are the first losers.

>> Jo holds off Penny from the wife swapping Drew/Stewart A-Team, to take the mixed duathlon win.

>> Good free BBQ and Jo and Davo get massages from Cindy from "Muscles Knead Therapy". Thanks Cindy! Tigs gets pummelled by the "Proactive Physio" dude.



Another awesome day out. We'll definitely be back. The drag race mtb and brutal run are fantastic fixtures on the local calendar. Now will any of us try a kayak to do the full thing next time?

The next outing like this is the Crazyman in May. Not sure about anyone else, But Davo and Jo are back in action with Liam 'Vin Diesel' Drew kayaking, as the fairy tale team, "Beauty & the Beasts".

Regards
Leonidas of Sparta
BLR Press Sec & Manscaper

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White Man Can't Jump

1 second! 1 small but critical second is all that stood between me and the win at the inaugural Mt Victoria Super D. Don’t get me wrong I’m happy with race, but if there is one famous phrase to explain where that second was on the race track: White man can’t jump!

After being drummed up for a few months, Sunday April 3rd rolled around (along with an extra hours sleep) and the first of hopefully many Mt Vic Super D’s was on. As I mentioned Super D takes the nice bits of XC, combines them with the fun of DH and throws up a short but sweet mostly downhill race. Mt Vic is traditionally the home of many XC races including nationals, so instead of burying myself for 2 hours in the Mt Vic pines, a quick 5 min sprint was a nicer way to zoom through the trees. If Makara had a great turnout for its Super D, Mt Vic’s would have to be outstanding for it’s first effort; somewhere around 150 riders!



Onto the race. To say I hadn’t practiced the course that much is an understatement; I had been hammering it all week. After throwing on a brand new Bicycle DH top (complete with Amanda Jenkins name on the back to confuse a few people), off I launched into the track knowing every stone, root and corner that was going to greet me over the next 5mins, but what didn’t help was my lack of affection for the time I would spend in the air on each jump; terrifying for an ex-roadie like me. Even so, they all had to be hit if I was keen on a shot at the win.

The first section was a nice fresh track built just in time for the race with oh yes, a nice decent jump in the middle of it. After scrubbing a bit of speed on the approach I cleaned it smoothly, released my death grip on the bars, rolled the next two bumps, then did what a XC gimp does best; turn my pedals hard! The next section is basically what we use often in XC races, just in the opposite direction. Apart from almost shoulder charging a tree, this went by all smoothly. Next up the Bomb drop which had been causing all sort of talk for the last week on Vorb.

Great pic by Jordan Moss, made my jump look madcore!

Unfortunately after some great track work on this section during the week by the Wellington MTB crew, the quicker line was to just ride around it to set up the next rooty section; if that hot line had been blocked off it would have made for a wilder ride. After a smooth run through the roots and ruts around the Bomb drop section, the middle section beckoned; this where I had to make my time up as it was a solid minute of pedalling much to the DH’ers dislike.

With my heart in my hand and fire spreading in the legs I just buried myself over the knoll, along with a motivational cheer from my friend Adrian who reminded me how much money I was racing for: $500! A quick descent back down the other side followed, including a testing roll-over into the football field and more cheers this time from fellow Bushlovers and the girlfriend. Even though I had only been racing for 3 mins I was absolutely smashed by this stage, but luckily it was completely downhill now.



I can remember many a crash on the water tower track, rain or shine. Not this time, just a clean run including the shortcut to bypass Ricky’s punter long line (he’ll do anything to make a track easier). Straight across the road that on a normal day would involve a bit of car dodging (thanks Marco and his crew for holding the traffic up) and yes, I have seen people play chicken on that corner. Through the rooty hill section and onto the jump that proves I suck at jumps.

Another top pic Jordan, too bad I'm not smooth like Hadley

Not that it was a big jump but rather the speed you could get into it was the scary thing. Hadley showed me how cool it could look whipping it in practice, but I took the XC line strolling around the side (at least I hit it on my race run). After breathing a sigh of relief and negotiating another set of roots it was onto the part where everyone wanted to look their best; past all the spectators down the chute off the road, heading down to the skills field (at full noise to look cool of course). Through the final 100 meters of trees, quick jump/dip into the very bottom field and across the line; 4mins and 26sec of Super D action!

Instead of finding out how I did the organisers were crafty and hid the results from everyone until prize giving. After a clean run down the hill I was hoping for a top 5, but when Marcus (N-Duro races, did the timing) dropped a hint that I did a good ride hopes raised that I did in fact get a top placing. 5 min’s later and I found out that my run was good enough for 2nd place, 8 tenths of a second too slow for the $500 prize! I’m not going to lie, I’m gutted I didn’t quite do it after coming so close, but to beat a rider like Kurt Lancaster down a hill involves a perfect run that also requires jumping better then a punter XC jey boy.

Will the Mt Vic Super D be on next year? I hope! Will I do more Super D races? Of course! Will I do DH races? Um, think I’ll give that a bit more time.
I really have to thank all the crew involved in the 2011 Mt Vic Super D, from what I saw it was a roaring success. The tracks were mint, the weather was spot on, the organisation was second to none and everyone that rode looked to be enjoying themselves.

Time to go buy a jumps video!
(Ricky, you still need to beat me in DH/Super D race)

Credit to the anonymous photographer, great pic's.

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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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