Tigs smashes this guy...
Yeah, Get some...
As most of you in the bike industry would have heard, Karapoti was cancelled due to extreme weather conditions. Gutting as it may have been for all of us that have been training hard for the past week for this event, take a minute to stop and think about how hard the decision to cancel it may have been. Knowing that there were 1000 compeditors out there amping to get on the start line. I have been in events in the past that have been cancelled due to extreme or dangrous circumstances and have been appauled at how they were dealt with post cancellation. The thing that seperates this event from the rest for me was the professional way it was dealt with, and the extent the organisers went/are going to to rectify this for us punters.
As you can see below are some examples of why it was cancelled and for good reason. Imagine what would have happened to Anton Cooper crossing the river this year???
Thanks to Craig Madsen for the Pic of Anton
The river levels:
Below is an email sent out from the Karapoti organsers, outlining why they made this decision and what they are going to do about compensation for it. I think you will agree they have gone out of their way to keep people happy.
“Well, what can we say except "Gutted!"
In 27 years Karapoti has never even looked likely to be cancelled. To give you an idea of the conditions out there; in last year's rain the river level readings we watch was 9 cumecs. At 10am on Saturday it was 71cumecs! The cancellation wasn't taken lightly. We've had a couple of complaints that we didn't give enough notice, but this was because we didn't want to pull the pin until we were 100% confident it was the right thing to do. Karapoti is a lot more sheltered that many of the regions affected by the storms, so the issue was river levels and the cold. Our search and rescue crews typically give aid to around 80 riders in a normal year, but in those conditions it would have been 200+ people, and with the added risks of hypothermia and no helicopter rescue being available. In the end we had to be guided by them because they are the experts. Incidently, on Sunday we know of a couple of people who went to ride the course but turned back after getting too wet and cold very early.
So, firstly to the obvious question that a few people have already been asking... We're sorry, but the refund policy is clear when you enter. Entry fees are non-refundable after Feb1. In the case of cancellation this is because despite the event not going ahead we still have to pay for it.
Secondly, to the 132 emails we've received from people showing sympathy and support, thanks so much. It means alot to us, because we know how disappointing it is for you. The nicest email was actually from a couple in Invercargill, who couldn't even go home on Sunday. We've been a tad blown away by the support and have answered every email, so thanks.
Thirdly, as we speak we are looking at organising a Karapoti make-up event. But there are alot of things to work through (concessions, volunteers, search & rescue crews etc) before we can announce anything. But it will be a free event & you'll be the first to hear when or if we get something sorted.
In the meantime, we've teamed up with the Colville Connection to offer all 2012 Karapoti riders the chance to enter the Colville Connection Mountain Bike events at half price.
2012 KARAPOTI / COLVILLE CONNECTION OFFER - Half Price Entries for 2012 Colville Connection Mountain Bike Events, this Saturday 10th March.
ENTER ONLINE AT http://www.colvilleconnection.
Looks like the Mountain Bike season is not over yet, MEAN!
Cheers
Tigs
Cheers to everyone for your support and advise. Biggest thanks go out the my wonderful family who have been mega supportive, love you guys.
Tigs
Sneaky dinosaur eats my chippies and nearly devours me.
My first event in Aussie was the Karingal 4hr Enduro. I entered the SS class and hoped to not embarrass myself too much and had a goal of riding consistently and finishing. Lofty goals for my extra light riding regimen.
There were quite a lot of people. About 140 entrants, a mixture of teams and solos. I did a pre-ride of the 7km course which was a bit tiring. It was good dry singletrack with no real climbs. Just regular pinches and short efforts. Nothing where you had to settle in. I thought I would go fairly quick at the start and see how I got on.
I took off quick and joined in with the shaved racerboys, sitting in about 12th overall. I was swinging along pretty well and was leading the SS class by a few minutes after 3 laps. One of the pinch climbs was steep and out in the open. It was baking me every time. I kept chanting "I am a solar panel, I am a solar panel" in an effort to convert the heat to energy. Didn't work.
I wiped out in a fast rocky corner on lap four and rolled into the scrub where in my mind, 1000 snakes and spiders were looking for a meal. I cut the sidewall of my tire on a rock in the process. So I sat at the side of the track with sweat dripping off my ears, nose, elbows, knees etc fixing a puncture and trying to patch the cut with tree bark and gum leaves, so the inner tube wouldn't poke out and flat again. I got going after a few long minutes and three nasty bites from inch long red ants (more near death per the title) I called them the c-word very loudly. It still hurt a lap later. At least it wasn't a crocodile.
Entirely predictable breakdown of my organic tire reinforcement. Fortunately the cut never let the tube through anyway.
I joked that 84 was my lucky number at rego. The lady asked if it was because it was my birth year. I love her.
I got going again and went quickly through a lot of riders who had passed me. I eased up a little to deal with the heat. Then I flatted again. Bad luck for sure. Two flats are quite rare. I've not flatted twice in a row for years. I was out. No more tubes. Very hot hike back in from the back of the course. Bugger.
Still a good outing and an opportunity to meet new people and ride some good trails. Next year if I get the chance, I will do a bit of training for it and try and smash the whole 4hrs and win my class. The course suited me. It was a shame to have the problems.
I hung out with the team from Fortheriders, which is a very good shop here who are involved in all the races. Their mechanic, Shaun, is also the Yeti World team mechanic and as his team mate, he had Jared Graves, former UCI 4X World Champ. It was interesting talking to him. He was superfast XC too. Those guys are not just good at jumps. Apparently 4X is not a UCI event now, so he is focusing on DH.
Not sure when I will next be racing. I am quite keen to try a bit of surfing. When in Rome...
Looking forward to getting a trail ride in at Daisy Hill tomorrow. To get it done before our trip to the Gold Coast I have to head out at 4am. I'll be first into the trails and will clear the cobwebs for the rest of the day's riders. I look forward to hastily scraping them off my face and trying not to imagine what is attached. No doubt more near death blogging to follow.
Cheers
Dave
Heres the blow by blow from Pro Elite Round 5 of the most excellent PNP Race series in Wellington,
Hardout race start up from Mud Cycles in Karori, was myself (after putting in my usual stupid smash it till you blow race start) followed by Sharrit, Tiger and Fitzwell into Landsdowne, Sharrit and Tiger passed me and I entered into Salvation followed by Fitzwell.
Picture stolen without permission from Dave Grahame
Around rollercoaster some close racing with Sharrit and Tiger out front followed by myself Fitzwell and McCarthy making a show.
Up the big road climbs to top of Tip Track was Tiger, Sharrit then about 100m back myself followed by Fitzwell and McCarthy, Fitzwell put in a big move and screamed past me with an actual scream.
Tiger took the lead from Sharrit till the gate barrier down to red rocks where Sharrit flatted, McCarthy passed me just before the gate and beat me into the new singletrack to redrocks, however I took advantage of local knowledge and line choice and past McCarthy pulling out about a decent gap as there are a couple of tricky sections through there requiring careful pre gear selection to avoid walking, namely the bridge.
From Red Rocks and around the coast I could see Fitzwell who had caught Tiger about 50m ahead of me, Tiger also politely flatted, I threw him my pump and carried on in 2nd place after Fitzwell.
Onto Tip Track , Fitzwell had about 50m lead, still at that sort of distance where you think you can pull someone in, but alas, Fitzwell is a Tip Track specialist and quickly started climbing away from me, hitting Tip Track at race pace was tough and I struggled a bit and McCarthy caught me about midway.
Picture stolen without permission from Shane Wetzel
Into Barking emu I was running 3rd with new comer to the pointy end Murphy hot on my tail, Barking emu was running sweet as a nut, but excessive speed caused me to overcook a corner and I took a dive over the edge, luckily a not soo soft gorse bush broke my fall.
Into CarParts I was nervously looking back knowing I was being hunted down, my riding went haywire and I messed up a few times resulting with some off the bike moments, then some cramping, at the end of Carparts and onto RollerCoaster Murphy was about 20m behind me.
Time to pull out the big guns so I took a swig of my Raro and Cement Dust drink and gassed up the steep pinches around the coaster, ignoring the twinges of further oncoming cramp, as I wanted (needed) to hit Deliverance with a decent lead as im about as gracefull down there as a blind man in a wheelchair would be.
Into Deliverence I had a good lead over Murphy and had the best run down there I have ever had, it was slippy but the Niner asserts confidence, falsely or not I didnt care, but zero crashes and I was happy.
Onto the road I kept a nervous eye behind and could see Murphy and apparently Kennedy who materialised from nowhere leading Murphy up the road in good roadie style.
However being a tarmac specialist with a good lead I was home and hosed for 3rd place Pro Elite Men.
I look forward to boring my grandchildren in years too come of this day, (actual events may change,be enhanced or entirely left out).
Massive thanks too Niner bikes for making one of the sweetest race machines I have ever ridden!, and Burkes Cycles for their support and many last minute repairs/maintenance to my bikes.
Also special mention to Tristan from Wheelworks, for squeezing in a last minute spoke repair despite his huge workload.
Its been a great race series, PNP have put a huge amount of effort in this year and its much appreciated.
Greetings from Brisbane me ole Kiwi cobbers!
Just got broadband finally so i wanted to get on and say hi. Everything going great here in ever-sunny Brisbane. A balmy 29deg today as I sit here supping my iced coffee. We are living about 6km out of the city in Coorparoo. Nice place. Ella is at school down the road and loving it. I am a stay at home Dad until we get a place for little George at kindy. Probably back at work in January.
We've done heaps and have seen a lot of cool places like Movieworld, Seaworld and are heading to Wet & Wild this weekend. We have VIP tickets and can go whenever we like. It was easy to get them - I told them I rolled with Bushlove, and they handed them over gratis. There is also an amazing park called South Bank which is a real jewel in the crown for families. We've made several new friends including the awesome families of mates of mine from when I was living in the states. Funny how things work out, but two of the legends I lived and traveled with both now live in Brisbane!
I have done a few rides including some great outings with new mate, Andy Macfarlane, who is also ex-Wellington and a good friend of The Editor's. He also helped train epic scooter rider, Angry Bennett, to get his first sub 3. The trails here are different to Wellington's. They lack hills, so any downhill is fairly short lived, and there is no 'bush', mostly dry scrub and gum trees. But that not to say there is no good riding at all. The singletracks I have ridden at the Gap and Daisy Hill have all been great and have been well maintained by the local 'trail care' groups. I wish there was a lot more altitude, rock, roots and wetness. But on the upside the weather is almost always outstanding, so you never get rides called off, and you never bring a spare layer (or ten).
We also hit the trails early. Not Wellington early. But Queensland early. Standard sift is a trailhead meet at 5.30am. and if I am riding out its a 4am get up. By evening I am falling asleep same time as the kids! Thing about early starts is if you are first down the trail you might be clearing cobwebs. I thrash about a lot imagining some harbinger of death is crawling down my collar whenever I hit a web, but the more common nasty is the golden orb, which although not poisonous, is still an evil chunky s.o.b and Andrew assures me I don't want to be chasing one around my jersey
What about that Six Pack ride eh?! It was an awesome outing to cap a fantastic five years of trail riding in Wellington. It was so good to see so many great people enjoying each others company, the amazing trails and a few beers. I wish we had done it more often. I hope to hear about it happening again over the summer! Sharing lulz and trail time with my buddies was certainly one of the highlights of my time in Wellington. I hope I am lucky enough to build up such a great group of friends here.
Shame about the audio track. Shambolic quick Picasa job.
I have just checked the BLR Farcebook for the first time in a couple of months and found that the lovely Rachel and Liam Drew have had their baby boy Sherlock. I was not expecting that news till December. I guess that like his father, he was a bit premature. Congratulations Rachel and Liam!!
I have my first race against the Aussies on Sunday. A popular 4 hour Enduro in which i am entering the SS class. I wonder how it will go? I think the course is not hilly and mostly has climbs we'd just think of as pinches, so I might be ok on the usual prep of no riding and too much chocolate and beer. Certainly the local trail hounds I have been riding with from the excellent shop , For The Riders, are very good and made me feel old. Fingers crossed I won't bring too much embarrassment upon the pink and black. I will report back next week. But I am sure that my race report will be beaten to publication by all the other race reports from the events I know the team have been attending!
Time to go and start marinading my kangaroo steaks for dinner. No shit. I really am. Yum.
Cheers
Dave
Quick News bulletin.......
Bushloves XC Vet Whippets get outclimbed by Karl "Weasel" Patterson. Then as an Ex Pro-elite dh'er should he rides away from them on the descents. Shame on the "elite" xc whippets of Bushlove lore, for they have been diminished by a fast talking hyperactive ex downhiller, shame!!!!!
Seriously though. Bushlove have been together now for ~3 yrs and are more like a family than an over rated bunch of lazy bikers. When ever anyone of us is in need of some pick me up or good old banter, the team is there for them. I mean just the other day I mentioned to my fellow BL'ers that I had this annoying Copacabana song in my head, when suddenly out of the kindness of their hearts, Waggers and Belinda made new lyrics to this song to ensure it was PERMANENTLY etched into my brain... and am sure this will most likely pop back into my head at the most inopportune moment (about half way through Taupo Huka Challenge or even worse... date night) Thanks guys... &*!!!#%&*@*^#%
So it Was PNP Mountain Bike race #2:
Mt Vic has to be one of my favorite race locations for many a reason. But most of all the fact that it is such a good spectators course. Every time I rode through the velodrome I would hear the roar of friends or even better Lil T (Daughter Tyler), Big L (Son Logan) and my Lovely Wife cheering me on "Go Daddy Go, Go Daddy Go" Sometimes up to 10 people chanting this out... Huh!!! am sure last time I checked I had only fathered 2 children...
In typical Veledrome style and missing the usual Slacky, someone had to race off the front only to be rolled on the first up hill. This time it was Angry Hundy Bennett off like a rotten egg. As the race went on the course got slipperier and slipperiririer. Giving me more and more excuses for a lay down in the bushes. 5 in total I counted, that's more lays than a George Michael pajama party.
Thanks to Trent Bellingham for the pic:
I won't go into full detail, but the essence of the Masters category went something like this. Tiger to the top of the hill, Angry close behind, Palmy Burglar (Weasel - Karl Paterson) chasing hard but in podium still. Tiger down the hill, Weasel close on his heels, Angry stopping to pick daisies. Tiger to the top again, Angry finished picking daisies and steamed up behind with Weasel watching from a distance . Lap after lap this went on till the finishing order was sorted. Tiger, Angry and then Weasel.
Was great to see out of towners coming down from the likes of Palmy for a bit of mud slinging and to keep us locals on our toes.
Big thanks to all the organisers and marshals for getting out on this wet glorious day to make this event happen, special thanks to Marco for bringing along his hose. Never have there been so many men and the odd women flailing the God Fathers Hose around.
Thanks to Trent Bellingham for the pic:
To top my weekend off, Ozzy had bean beaten in the Rugby the day before and I was nicely wine'd up and tiddly sitting in front of France Vs Canada Rugby.
Till the next race :)
Tigs
Thanks Nigel Sanders
Thanks Andy Woodwark
Rather than the traditional Makara Peak location, the first round of the 2011 PNP R&R Sport Spring Series was held as the fabulous Wainuiomata trails last Sunday.
It was a good sized field and a great day. The trails were running superbly. The new Towhai Traverse was an excellent addition, requiring some good flow (Floe?) to navigate at speed. 491 and Beeline were also running really well, and everyone was raving afterwards about the fun they had. Apart from the large contingent of Snr Men who didn’t read the directions or signs and missed a loop and DNF’d. Lulz.
Thanks Nigel Sanders
Bushlove had a stormer day. Summary of results for us as follows:
Elite – Ed ‘Fastest Man’ Crossling. Turned up to sift. But won. First Elite win in baggy shorts to our knowledge.
Snr Women – Wonderwoman Burgess in 2nd
Snr Men – Win by Whacko Jacko. SS Style
M1 Women – Belinda “Lustinator” De Mayo – 3rd
M1 – Win from Tiger in a sprint. Davo 3rd, SS Style.
M2 – Totally unexpected domination from the gun by The Hundernator, Angry Clive. Wonny.J in 5th
Some commentary from the BLR contingent. They each had 20 word. Where not supplied they may or may not be fake:
Tiger Keith:
Karl tried to burgle a burglar. Kept me honest for the last lap. The roadie in me won sprint finish.
Thanks Andy Woodwark
[Ed - Outside his 20 word limit, but will include anyway] Full credit to wives, children and butlers for their support.
Crossling Jnr:
After month eating crap in UK, worked it all off with good hit out on some sweet single track.
Clive ‘Always has a hundy’ Bennett:
Usual smash from start race plan. Will unlock fork for downhills next time. An unexpected win for me.
Thanks Andy Woodwark
Wonny Jaghorn:
Good work team. I was off my game today. I'll be back.
Ashley:
My humps, my humps, my humps, my humps, my lovely lady lumps, check em out.
Thanks Nigel Sanders
Belinda:
I could have won, but I dropped back to help pace Wonny up the Rollercoaster climb. He’s so slack.
Thanks Andy Woodwark
Davo:
Got beaten up climb by M3s! Dealt to them in the trees. Same time as Clive!
Thanks Andy Woodwark
Whacko Jacko Master of the Stacko:
I took the lead using a Whacko Stacko and surfed Spoonhill on my low friction head. I shave my palms.
File shot from Bareback.com
Thanks to the PNP MTB Crew and the WTP trail builders for their dedication and attention to detail. What a magnificent venue. See you at Mt Vic.
Thanks Trent Bellingham
Attention Nutsacks
Six great Wellington Peaks, Six lagers in your pack. Lots of lulz.
Sifty, social mtb ride on Sunday 4th September.
Meeting at the Evan's Bay Wind Needle at 10am.
Miramar for Mt Crawford, pump track lulz and a lager.
Mt Vic for steep roots, city views, and a lager.
Mt Albert for views across the Straight, maybe 4X lulz and a lager.
Hawkins Hill for no lulz as it involves riding the Tip Track or maybe up Long Gully... and a lager.
Wrights Hill for a WW2 bunker lager to lube us up for Deliverance.
Makara Peak for the quintessential Wellington peak experience, and a lager.
Regular trail builders in attendance will have their beers covered by Bushlove. Email me with your preferred lager brand (which comes in cans) and it will be at the Wind Needle for you ;o)
Open to everyone. Moar the merrier. If you only feel up to certain peaks or even just one, bring the appropriate number of lagers and stay in touch on the mobile to arrange collection on route.
If drinking lager and mtbing doesn't fit your profile you can always bring alternative beverages or low alcohol lager and just do the number of press ups at the summits pre-determined by the real men in attendance.
Will consider a back up date of following weekend should weather be ridiculous.
I wonder who we'll see?
Maybe Moses?
Random chubby guy off sitcoms? 
Elite Tony?
Harry Potter?
Thanks
Dave
PS - This is likely to be one of the last rides both me and Big Al Crossling get to do before we move overseas (me Brisbane, Al Vancouver) and it would be great to see some friendly faces and have a good day on the trails.
PPS - Will place this on Vorb and BLR Farcebook also as I don't have everyone's email address.
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