A ride with John in mind

You've read about it in a magazine - here's my take on going riding with this guy:

I'd like to keep this brief; but won't.
They say it's all in the details - and there's a bunch of important stuff here.

Grab a cuppa and settle in.
No names have been changed to protect anyone- they're all real people and more than likely some professional courtesy's and client confidentiality will be breached.
So; I'm at work talking to a guy on the phone about stuff and he says John Tomac was in his shop yesterday, cause his son is racing in the World Junior Motocross Champs the following weekend and he might get to go for a ride with him on the Monday.

Holy Crap I'm thinking - could I wrangle a quick trip to Taupo to go riding with John ?Too right I could.
But after careful consideration it was too rushed and damn expensive.

So I found a way cool picture of John on the drops from back in the day and emailed it up to my un-named contact and asked if the man could sign it for me instead.
By chance I was talking to the same guy the next week and asked him how the ride went with John.

"Didn't go - he's too busy with his son's MX racing, but he might be going riding on Monday with one of the MTB magazine editors"

Holy Crap I'm thinking - could I wrangle a quick trip to taupo to go riding with JOhn ?Too right I could.

How to stealthfully find out which magazine was riding with John?
Caleb didn't mention it the day before, so emailed Bruce - he said Carl might be onto it.

Carl asked how I knew about it and wasn't thrilled about a million gatecrashers at his party.
After some too-ing and fro-ing and my insistence that I wasn't going to let a ride with John slip through my fingers twice in two weeks, Carl offered me the last seat in the Falcon departing Wellington in two days....

This time, I just looked the other way when I booked my airfares online after asking the boss if I could bunk off for a couple of days - he said it was a must do and a good one to tick off the list.
Wifey said go for it (expletives removed)

I sorted a loan bike from Taupo and even better than that I could catch a lift to Queenstown airport with the Boss the next day.
Those of you who know my boss know he is reknowned for his timekeeping.

My flight was at 10.30, his appointment was at 10 - he arrived at 9.05 and it's an hours drive from here.

We got to the airport, (with a ticket along the way) by 9.50.The nice Copper was OK with posting the ticket as he could see we were in a hurry!

So, Wellington here we come.

Big Brother (mine, not the State) collected me and after forgoing the Friday drinks with Jonty and Oli we went for a great ride around, up, down and along the ridges of Wainuiomata.

My folks joined us for dinner and luckily we ran out of booze, so hit the hay before things got messy.

Just like to point out that it's my brother who has an affectionate relationship with the bottle - not mum and dad.

The early departure turned into a mid afternoon one, introductions were made and off we went; the four guys, with bikes, in a big car loaded fully to the roof and a ride with John in mind.

The towns passed us by, not much to report other than the weather was pretty average through the Desert Road and Taupo looked promising for dinner.
Carl said he couldn't wait till then and how about Turangi ?

"Anyone eaten in Turangi? I think there's the Fish Restaurant behind the gas station, but the service could be slow"

Josh said he'd had a good fish burger at the chippie - thinks it was called the Grand Central Fry....

"Sounds great, take us there Josh"

"It was 9 years ago - might not be there"

A collective "crap" was uttered.

So we turn in, take a right and well blow me down with a feather there it was. GCF.

$6 fish burgers; 4 pieces of fish in each, so freaking big you couldn't close the lid on the box if you tried.

The best fish burger I've ever had, possibly never to be surpassed.

Off to Taupo to collect the bike, then onto Vegas and the Thermal Motor camp and two of your finest little log cabins if you please.

Carl bunked with Josh, I bunked with Warwick who it turns out is a retro MTB grouch just like me.We carried on a like a couple of school girls (not like that Aaron) reminiscing about various races we'd done and the benefits and downfalls of bar ends, drop bars, Onza porcupines and Ringle bottle cages.

Finally we shut up about 1 in the morning and got some kip.

Sunday - hello Sunday, hello rain, but hello Zippys and the cooked breakfast and strong coffee.

It was the kind of day that if you were local you'd flag it and watch a re-run of Bathhurst when the Ford Sierras and Godzilla ruled the roost...we didn't have that luxery, so we saddled up, rugged up and hit the trails.

I could bore you with a blow by blow account of them all - but lets say A trail, Tickler, Direct, Frontal Labotomy - that's more climbing than I do in a month.

Josh's Pivot and Warwick's Spider weighed maybe 5-6 pounds (each) less than mine and let face it - I suck riding up hills.However, point the Foes FXR down Billy T and I was off like a robbers dog.

It was mighty slippery and adhesion was not a strong point of any of our tires, but who cared ?

Our brakes cared - they wanted to know why we let all the brake pads run down to the metal....oops;

and with Split Enz, Pondy and the Chinese Menu on our dance card, it was looking like a noisey trip home.

We hosed our bikes off, and retired to the showers, walking in fully clothed and rinsed all the filth off everything - shoes, helmets, gloves; the lot.

The Fat Dog called for dinner and we met the guys from Tomac bikes who had made the trip from Christchurch.

We were all pretty toasted so didn't drink ourselves into oblivion and besides; Carl would have had a confirmation email from John waiting back at the campground.
Good news awaited. we were on.

Monday: Zippys again, then Bike Culture for brake pads which we were all freaking out about - imagine us paying retail for new pads x 6 pair!Mike came to the party and hooked us up, then let us fit them as well. Cheers Mike

Hanging out at the carpark waiting for John to arrive was a jovial affair with much rehersing of our opening lines which mainly consisted of jibberish, followed by more stuttering.

Actually I kept it together and told John he was pretty lucky to be going for a ride with us as it's not something he would get to do every day.

Ben Townley tagged along too - I got to carry his I-phone as he didn't have a pocket (I think he really did, but I can understand his excitement about letting me carry it)
Business first, introductions, discussion of the game plan and off we go to the first of 3 photo spots.
Warwick lent John, his wait for it, Tomac signture Oakleys. He was like a schoolgirl.
John popped his carbon signature XC bike up on the back wheel and mono'd down the hill effortlessly - I was suitably impressed.

2nd photo spot and John and Ben are egging each other on to hit up a gap jump.....Ben is on an Epic, John has Sids on the front.

It wasn't a problem.

Everyone was impressed.
Even Josh the uber cool xc weenie had his tail wagging by now.

Everyone wanted to ride next to John by now - I got to see the back end of the group - all my mojo got chewed up the day before, but before we turned into Split Enz, Carl said I should slot in next to John and hang onto the master.We ambled along chatting about Bob Roll (go and Google him now if you need to) and John's previous career as a roadie in Europe....then it was a pleasure to watch him carve up the trail like he'd ridden it every other day.

After a little regroup I dropped my camera and that was that; my moment of riding next to John was done and dusted.I think it was probably just as well he didn't ride with us the day before as things might have been different - but really I think that's the camomille tea talking.

Back at the carpark John had time to change - yes he was wearing cowboy boots and then he was bombarded with us groupies asking for most everything to be signed.Helmets, t-shirts, jerseys, bikes, cards, you name it.Funnily enough he didn't ask for my signature.

Mike May joined us on the ride with this Yeti....very cool.

And noticed a crack just behind the chainstay - wouldn't that rip your knickers after figuring out how to make a titanium insert that splits so you can mount the belt drive.

Back to zippys for farewells and coffee then it hit the road jack.
GCF was calling and once again it didn't disappoint.

I drove all the way home which ws probably about 250 km's to many, but hey we got there without any tickets or eviction from the pilots seat.
All too soon Monday was there, but luckily big brother has a single group Faema and an excellent recipe for porridge.

Dad ran me into the airport, this time through the Mt Vic tunnel as opposed to round the Bays with the clock ticking....
Family collected me on time and I didn't leave my helmet and Ground Effect top on the plane this time - bonus.
Everyone was pleased to see me, I was pleased to see them, I'd been riding with John Tomac; life was good.
An here's an interesting fact - Cinelli custom made the drop bars John used to run as he wanted a really deep drop section.....

He was pretty impressed when I asked if they were custom.

Who's the man?

Actually I think it was Carl this weekend - just coming right after Glandular Fever, certainly not 100%, but he pulled it off and got it all jacked up.

Cheers Carl.

Cheers John.

Star on Saturday - Sucked on Sunday

Yes, hi folks.
Coming to you live from high in the hills of the 473 (that would be Dunedin)
Locals of the 443 would get that line...

Anyhow, we rolled into town with the banjo's blazing on Friday (being from the country and all) after a reasonable trip across from "Central" what with the scone grabbers in tow......
Chuck had face planted on the playground in Roxburgh, across the road from Jimmy's Pies - hey what's a bleeding chin between social workers these days ?

Keighley had a bunch of moms to talk to about reusable nappies, so the kids and I collected Marc; our host with the most and went to Mazagran Cafe which is indeed sensational and minimalist - 1 x counter, 1 x coffee roaster 3 tables inside and 3 outside and the coffee should be licensed to thrill - phew !
These cats sre so cool they don't take eftpos - cash mate, yep, folding.
So, to speed things along along, had Japanese for tea from The Jitsu - fantastic and Emersons dark beer - variety TBC (London Porter - mmm).

Saturday was a trip to the Farmers Market at the Railway Station - if you live here and don't go- well you're missing out.
Then around the shops and as a special treat in the avo, the merry trio of myself, Marc & Hannah rode up Nicol's Creek (40 mins approx) and then gently rolled back down at a sedate pace.
Actually I told a lie.
I would have been convicted for failing to stop, speeding, reckless use of a vehicle and plain stupidity.
I instantly gave it a 20/10 on the rideometer and a gold star + it is now my new best all time favourite track to ride.
Fresh Fish for tea from the aforementioned market - another fantastic meal.

Sunday, I had the crap beaten out of me by Hannah and Marc with a few laps up and around Signal Hill.
For those not knowing this riding gem, it is up and down and all around and brutal.
Lots of rock sections just waiting for you to ragdoll ............
So, to sum up -
Great food, the weather behaved this time and awesome riding - once again I ruled on Saturday and rolled on Sunday.
Which reminds me of another away weekend I had recently, but I cannot divulge the contents of that one just yet, for fear of all media whore privileges been revoked.......

New Tools Like

So, this geeza says he's got a few tools and would I be interested in taking them off his hands ?

Sight unseen like.

Sure mate, send them on down, I'll have a look.

So this arrived and I promptly lost it completely for the rest of the avo.

A lucky little piggy one could say.

New Stuff in the House

Well, the Garage......

1st up - Middleburn cranks 94 bcd/175mm for the 29er.

After reading an article in Dirt Rag (which I can't find online, but try this instead)I thought the 20/30/40 chainrings would bring the gearing back into the range I can pedal....

I put out an ABP to all the bike shops we deal with thru work and had the offer of these gems, if I had something cool to swap in a 170mm, which I did (Suntour XC Pro).

Blackspire came to the party with the chainrings - thanks for the hook up Aaron

Needed a wider bottom bracket - yes, square taper and looks promising so far.

Front Derailleur still needs some attention to drop it down and I may have to relent and make the Struthers family just a bit more financial.

Next is the new 15mm QR Hadley front hub to complement the 2010 FOX F29 forks.

Solving the issue of how to how to hold the wheel in the truing stand - thanks to a few knackered Specialized Brain reservoir internals we have a solution...

A new standard for headsets meant some oversized cups on loan from the Barnyard.

The loose caged balls were stuffed so a new set of Hope sealed races top and bottom means my rough as guts headset curse might have taken a turn...(no pun intended)

Oh, it's on a new Intense Tracer VP frame with a bunch of new components on the drivetrain and brakes.

For those trainspotters out there - the white polytetraflouroethylene white washer between grip and shifter is indeed a Fox Float shock glide ring.

The Fuji needed some loving too, but how hard is it to find a period correct piece of bling?

Thanks to a quick pop quiz with Oli and a moment of rummaging in the corner of his workshop we have the the clip on mudguard circa late 80's ...

After all this fettling I deserve a nice sunny day without inversion layer cloud cover and something warmer than 2-3 degrees.

This is the first winter I feel like it's so freaking cold that leaving the bike parked up for a while longer looks like an option.

Mini Randonneur ride - or ride to the pub

You know when you get out on your bike and then realise how farkin' cold it is ?

But you're too far from home to turn around and grab some more gear ?

Yeah, well that wasn't us today - with a predicted high of 2 degrees we already knew it was fingers burning and can't feel your toes stuff before we left my place at 10am sharp - well ok, we had a coffee first.

So call it 10.30.

Plan was to meander towards the Wanaka Airport via a couple of gravel roads, head down towards the Clutha River and make our way along a dual use trail to Luggate - Yes that Luggate.

The one famous for a meat processing plant owned by Sir Tim Wallis back in the day when catching Venison by helicopter was in it's infancy.

Oh, and a big red bridge and a really nice pub.

We chose the pub and beer and chips and some big rolled arm red leather couches in front of a roaring fire.

Fair to say we'll be returning.

One beer was a great start, so we had another - glass jug mate - beat that.

I know that's not a jug in the picture, just saying the beer was carried from the bar in a glass jug.

Anyway, before it turned into three and a lift home we wobbled up the hill and then a few more gravel roads to home.

Keighley had whipped up bacon, leek and potato soup with fresh bread for lunch which was, wait for it, fantastic.

So although we had a good time albeit a cold one, the kids had worn the Mrs a bit thin and consequently I was not flavour of the month upon my return.

Luckily we had hatched a plan whilst enjoying a beer, that one day soon, Leighton & Pauline will take the kids to an agreed location (pub I hear you say) in the truck and Keighley and I will have ridden the Tandem there.

Brilliant.........well until you fill the pilot up with beer it sounds ok :-)

Queens Birthday Ride 2009 (and more)

Saturday - deliver kids to neighbours.

Go riding with Marc (yes he is a C kind of a guy - not a K) and Hannah - no she isn't riding a 29er.

Collect Callum, Leighton and Pauline; who graciously tore herself away from work to join us.

Wanaka's Stickey/Plantatation forest is riding just mint after the trees got thinned out and tracks cleared.

I think this guy had a hand in it?

Thread the Needle track has been modified and is now my new best favourite track. Basically it climbs UP over the top and then back on itself with a few potential heart stopping moments depending on your level of warp drive.

Thanks to young man with blonde hair who's name I forget and assistance from Wanaka Cycling Club the return passage is now able to be traversed in a higher mode of stupidity.

This was our view - I grizzle constantly about getting it upgraded, but we make do.

**** Introducing something new here after reading PRO review in undisclosed mtb magazine:

Hits:

Go riding with the Mrs - doesn't happen very often - very cool.

I wasn't on a Satan's Cruiser

Mid winter weather was cold, but sunny

Didn't crash

All riding from the front door

Not waiting for a crowded shuttle bus

No mud to speak of.

Misses:

I wasn't on a Satan's Cruiser (I am drunk, it's OK)

Camera didn't take very good pictures, but that's ok because all you can see are Satan's Cruisers; 6 of them !

Ok, so that was about Saturday done, Sunday we did not ride our bikes; had visitors from out of town which meant more fantastic home baking and cooking c/- the lovely Mrs.

(I tell you single men out there, check the cooking skills of any prospective two year + potential LTRs)

Monday dawned cold, but clear.

Hugh texted saying he was bringing his singlespeed out, so I thought it would be charitable if I rode my cyclocross bike and informed Leighton as such...he has just bought this:

Reality check.

Hugh had geared his bike up from last ride - 32 x 14 for the day. Yes he blew.
Leighton caved in and rode the Nomad.

I had a ball on the Cannondale and will go out on a limb and say it was easily as much fun as the Karate Monkey and way more of a handful, which made it all the more enteraining.

Hits:

Leighton hit the ground ( I mean that nicely but it is a hit none the less)

Meatloaf for tea

Watching Hugh slowly disentegrate due to overgearing oversight

Misses:

Not riding a Santa Cruz 29er or cyclocross bike - if I did ride a Santa Cruz cyclocross bike I would have to abbreviate it to CX to be hip.

Oh, nearly forgot the (and more) part I pre-ambled....

My new favourite blog - some recent highlights here and here and here

Hugh called this morning and said we should take a spin alongside the Clutha River that has had about 36 hours of near constant rain....
I think it was just a great excuse to have a pre ride coffee and for Hugh to show of his newly "singled" Orange..

After some fettling in the garage - washers under the too wide chainring bolts & a longer adjustment screw to gie him an easier gear, we donned jackets and headed off.

Within about 400 metres of home the track was under water;

Then we found a little stream to cross - this is normally a damp patch of ground you can walk through in jandels and not get your toes wet.

Today was different however:

Just before Hugh took this pic I had a brief panic as the camera wasn't attached to the handlebars anymore ...."oh crap, it's in the river"

But luckily it had just fallen on the track...

After the submarine impersonation the batteries died, so that was it for pics.....

But we did carry on towards Wanaka township - no more underwater adventures with Captain Nimmo however.

I'd have to say my legs stung like all buggery in the shower....ah, yes brings back my yoof days of road racing when it was a winter season - what was with that ?

The Merlin has since had a soapy bath (as opposed to a river bath) and is drying out in the garage ready for the next installment of madness.

Which could be turning this pig into a singlespeed as well:

Naseby 12 hour Teams Race 2009

Returning from a four year hiatus, Team Redwood decided it was time to “have another go” and face the 12 hour teams race demons once again.

Now there’s four of us – Keighley, myself, Emily (3 years old) and Charlie (1 year old) and with Naseby forest just up the road we talked the Browns into joining us on their Satan’s Cruisers.
MarkyMarc from Dunners was also on the roster in between feeding his girly Hannah who was doing her 1st 12hours solo….

Charlie woke at 5am, so I made him watch 24-solo as a pick me up for the coming 48 hours…

Friday afternoon we departed Wanaka, set up camp with Henderson Cycles from Alexandra in the sponsors area and enjoyed the hospitality of Cameron’s dad – Jeff who bought his work trailer fully decked out with bbq, toaster, jug, booze, tunes, work bench, vice – everything basically – this man is organized.

Off to Ranfurly for tea and our luxurious cabin for the night – oops I mean Stalig 13.
Mate, it was sparse. 4m x 4m. double bed and a single bunk on top. A little fan heater. That was it. No wonder it was cheap.
Kids wouldn’t have a bar of the porter cot / single bunk. So it was 4 of us in the double bed and the little one said roll over, roll over and Mum said this sucks and Dad said this sucks and then morning arrived and the kids were ok and Mum and Dad were pretty bloody average really.
Hardly the sort of start that Craig Gordon would have had is it ???

So, off to race I mean event village – dropped everything off at tent, parked truck in a great spot just outside gate – can’t believe no-one else had grabbed that spot.

Our tent was brimming with talent and scuffers alike.
Coffee van right next door.
Commanding views of start finish straight.
Sorted, we are.

Race briefing I normally shun, but it was over the PA. so there you have it – I was there.
Le Mans start I do not do at all. So I walked. All around the whole camp ground/pit area.
Got my bike and went the wrong way, because there was no one else to follow.
Bugger. I overheard someone say “short lap for him” and knew something wasn’t right, so ducked under the tape and headed off in the right direction.
Lovely course; Naseby and I have not had a strong love affair in the past – felt like all the tracks were backwards.
Not on race day because the course flowed like an oil tanker spewing its' precious load all over a barren coast.
Passed about twenty punters, not because of my rippling muscled legs, but because they were punters and I am a seasoned veteran and was sure I could bluff a 12 hour in my sleep.
Pulled into our tent ready to hand over the mantle to my team mate; Leighton who was not ready. Not by a long shot. Not even. So the twenty people passed us back again. Not what Craig Gordon would have done. No no.

Anyways, we were under way and the laps dropped like flys. Pauline was out, then Keighley.

I changed my back tire with the help of Emily.

Then Mark who in a total bowt of over achieving enthusiasm declared he was doing two laps back to back. WTF I thought and said yeah sure what ever.
He gave me instructions on when Hannah would be in, what she would need and what to do in case of emergency – jelly snakes apparently. And then he was gone.
So I’m looking after the kids and Hannah. Great.

Hannah roars in – I ditch a kid and say what do you need – “water” – so I change bottles and push her off up the gentle hill and she says I want something savory next lap.
WTF ? Savory – what is savory ? Pizza ? Bacon and egg pie ? Sausage rolls ?? Savory I say !! Holy crap.
Think man, Mark gave you 400 instructions, somewhere in my brain was the trigger I was looking for and on the ground in a pile was 10 red R & R Sport bags and in there was something savory – I didn’t care whose bags I was rummaging in, the women said savory and that’s what she would have.
I found some cheese sticks and decided that was it.
Now how to hand them over ? Greasy little suckers they are and I wouldn’t fancy them jiggling around in my back pocket….over to coffee guy to procure an empty paper cup. Stuff it full of cheese sticks and instruct other team mates to stick in Hannah’s back pocket, right hand side, just like in 24-Solo – that’s how Chris Eatough does it.


And then took off for my next lap which was great as I now knew which direction the course went.
I rode around, passed some people, some people passed me.
The bike (Karate Monkey 29er) was going great guns. I sucked. Felt like my cranks were made of glass. I cursed Leighton for telling me how much better it would be if I slid my cleats back on my shoes, ‘cause that’s what Gaby and Dodzy do, so you can float through the rough.
I bet Craig Gordon doesn’t have his cleats in the wrong place, but I digress. I’d made the decision and that was that.
I could have ridden in jandels and not improved any.

Back to the pits – excellent changeover – Leighton was there and ready, except apparently there was a red snap wrist band that you had to wear and it was in the red bag and, and , and “just get out there mate, don’t worry about it – the timing is manual” So off he went. Phew.

Hannah thought the cheese sticks in the cup was really cool.
And Mark got slower on his 2nd lap, so that proved my theory, but he has since come up with a raft of excuses…..

The weather was warming up and looking promising. The kids weren’t blue any more and Charlie was in full swing bludging food off anyone he could.
Emily amused herself on the playground, reading stories and hanging out on the couches.

Camp radio was also not bad – 1st 12 hour I’ve been to that played Hunters & Collectors – bonus.
Normally it’s Murray FM and man does that guy have bad taste in music.

Whilst waiting for my next lap, I took in my surroundings – a man ran past with a bike over his shoulder sans wheels; rules say you must finish your lap with your bike. I guess he did.

An Asian man wearing pink bunny ears, tutu and masquerade mask roared up on his Salsa La Cruz cyclo cross bike (fully rigid and singlespeed), stuffed a can of creamed rice down his gob and took off again.
Apparently he is a PHD honors student, so you’d think he would know better, I’ve since discovered Mickey has quite a following and his reputation precedes him – Bushloveracing fears him so I’m reliably informed.

The NZ 24 hour solo champ; Tony Hogg was well on his way to completely smashing the field in the dog all day and in doing so, completing 24 x 10 km laps. Very slick. His wife was running the one man pit crew and had it completly dialled; radios with earpiece and microphone for them both meant there was no guess work or chance of missing out on that mochacino at 7.30 pm........
Fair to say there was no pizzas or beer mid race for that boy...

So the day unfolded in a similar fashion and I called it a day about 6pm. I’d just gone out with my lights fully charged just in case someone threw a switch and I was enveloped in darkness in the 30 minutes it took to do a lap.
I did try and turn the lights on for the last stretch of single-track, but a connector had been bumped off so that was that. Wing it.

Markymarc knocked out two more laps in the dark, Leighton, Pauline and Keighley all did 3 laps each and we all had tea, coffee and desert to finish of a lovely day.

So, just a great nights sleep with the kids in the bottom bunk again – Keighley called enough and got the top bunk and then it was morning again.

Peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast back at Naseby while packing up tents and chairs and then off home to unpack, put away, clean and have the neighbours over for a farewell dinner as they are moving round the corner.

Would we do it again ? Yep.
Have we been doing these events for something like 12 years ? Yep.
Was this the best one yet ? I think so -
Low key, great course, well organised, good tunes, lucky with the weather - last year it snowed and even with the nippers going ape all day we survived.

Pictures are here Results are here We are called Albert town Banjo racks, under mixed teams.

My next bike; 29 inches of Foes goodness

This prototype features Foes single pivot/swing link suspension design with the Curnutt damper, much like the 2:1 XCT-4 26″er. No word on travel, availability date, or prices. However; the frame is indeed headed for production, and will be offered in Foes signature red color with other colors available upon request.

I borrowed the fine words from Guitar Ted - thanks..........

Last Day(s) at Coronet Peak for 2009

So I got a leave pass.

Wicked.

Can you hear my tail thumping ? Yes I was excited.

Weather: overcast, intersprersed with cloud at the top of the chairlift.

Yes, a chairlift ride to the top of the hill.

I should mention a big UPS to Doug Hamilton for the one day pass that he gave me - cheers)

And I helped a guy called Grant who should not have been ridng down the DH track....he was walking a rock garden and fell over and is in hospital tonight with a broken leg. Bugger.

I was first on the scene, so went for help - fortunately only 4 corners from the top.

Then we helped him to the access road acting as crutches so he could give that bottle of antipain a good thrashing while been driven down the hill - Hope you're doing ok.

It was the usual who's who of local bike shop people later in the day......

Particular mention to Tony Moore who didn't need any encouragement to lead us off piste down some dodgy access road/ski run which was like ice and glue all the way to the bottom off the chair lift.

I called it a day after I think, 11 runs.

Best not to chance binning it on the last day of the season.....

Who writes this stuff ?

This one time on Trade Me, I found a very funny advertisement.

I wish I had the same level of commitment to my marketing program.

Check him out here

And this photo has nothing to do with that guy but I think it deserves a mention for nearly making it in to the latest edition of spoke to accompany an article I wrote about having too many bikes.

Who would have thought ?

My Waitangi Weekend

Friday I did stuff.

Which really means it passed in to oblivion and I can't think of any remarkable events that happened.



Saturday was this: www.brakeburner.co.nz



With a great synopsis here (thanks Tama)



We (Blueshark - my employer) helped sponsor the event for the 3rd year running and fielded an all male team in the mixed vets class as we had a pull out in the weeks leading up.

So Multi rode for Nancy and it seems the results probably didn't change anyways....15 laps would have put us second in the Vets males.

There may be some photos once I've collated them.