Pack Fodder

I am reminded almost daily of my racing short comings (I don't particularly enjoy competition, especially when I lose, which is all the time) by the illustrious achievements of the other Bushlovers. I couldn't even make it out do do some actual bush loving (see post below) as I was trapped indoors working.

However, that all changed when I was shamed into decided to participate the Kapiti Cycling Club's Winter Road Race series. Apparently they're all very friendly. I raced C Grade on Saturday after spending Friday night drinking beer carbo loading since 4pm. My last road race was a crit in K.L. about 10 years ago, where I was lapped out in the 1st crit and was thrown into the barriers in the 2nd crit. I guess this race wouldn't be much worse than that experience.

It was a 4 lap race, each lap about 10km long with undulating bits in the middle. Lap 1 and 2 were uneventful, as I just sat in the bunch twiddling my thumbs wondering what all the fuss of racing was about. As I got really bored I pulled up aside Simon Bickers - multisporter extraordinaire. We decided to go for a little jaunt up the front, and led a couple of attacks off the front. Now we're talking! I had visions of me taking out C in a stunning 2 lap attack, but as the 4th lap came I was once again safely tucked into the bunch.

Road racing being the exciting sport that it is that's where I finished. In the pack. Near the back as everyone went for the line and I coasted over in whatever place.

Maybe in 2 weeks at the next race I'll attack in the last lap instead. Or the first. Or not. But at least I'm earning my jersey.

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Grom Lines & Stump Pulling - Wainui Trail dig

Like everyone else who mountain bikes in the Wellington region, we benefit massively from the obscene amount of work that trail builders do at places like Makara Peak, Wainui, Belmont, Mt Vic and now Mirimar.



Despite spending plenty of time riding the trails, most of us (Slacky being the exception) either have never, or rarely turned a hand to help at the digs. We thought we'd start remedying the situation and so the available among us, joined the Wainui pixies last weekend, to hinder their efforts constructing the new Snail Trail. This will be about 1km long and goes from Labyrinth down to the bottom of the hill. It is looking like it will be a really good trail. The gang has made some great progress.

We (Ash, Tiger, Clive, Mono, Slackshanks and me) rocked up to the summit carpark for an 8.30 ride before we started digging. Mono and I rode there from our homes. He looked distinctly better that I did for his efforts.

We rode Labyrinth and headed down 491. Ash and I meandered around at the back chatting. I wasn't able to ride with the boys at sifty pace. I hadn't been since I pretty much got to the hill at the end of my road. 491 was pretty slippy. Ash only tri-podded a couple of times though and we didn't fall off. At the end the boys were down in the clearing and shouted up that they had all ridden the long clay shute. Bit keen of them I thought. While Ash headed down the regular route I manned up for the descent. I handed in my man card about 1/3rd of the way down when I lost the front end and found a tree. I abandoned the bike and the tree broke off in my manly grip and I used it for balance tight-rope walker style as I slid the rest of the way down. Turns out none of the boys rode the shute. They will pay.

Slackshanks showed us the new family loop which is under contsctruction. It was great. It has a very well done board walk section. We headed to the roller coaster and Tigs flatted his tubeless. Then Rammer came around the corner out running so after a jawbone with him and the Bushlove mechs fixing the tire, we headed back down the road as we were running short of time. We climbed out on Jungle Jim. Some boggy bits from the waste ground led to traction fails. I smashed my knee into my stem as the back wheel let go and that stuffed me for the rest of the day, and the next day, and the next.

Mono's wife Keryn met us at the top and we all moseyed down the trail and met the dig.

We found Geoff who was fixing up an area where the existing rock wall was a big fail. Tiger and I joined Geoff (aka Thorg) to assist and the other Bushlove groms (not counting guru Slacky) helped further down where Jim, Shane, Hickie, Jules and another nice chap were working. Rammer had beaten us to it and was down there too.

The experienced guys who have done plenty of this trail building, were really switched on and definitely knew their stuff. Tiger and I learned lots from Geoff in the time we were helping him out and ended up with a quite reasonable looking stretch of trail, supported by a fine rock wall constructed of vast slabs of stone carried in confidently by our manly selves. It was much like the scene from 300 where the Spartan warriors construct a huge wall from rock and the bodies of Persians. But with less Persians and a little less baby oil.



We broke for some food and a bit of banter which predictably broke down to toilet humour. After which Boner-T and I joined Geoff, Angry and Ash to redo a bank and move some soil up the hill to level the trail we'd worked on earlier. It was mostly council style labour, with one working whilst the others leant on their tools. We had some thrills and spills getting the barrow of soil up the slippery pinches. Ash was punching above her weight and thought to give it a try. While I waited to take a pic on the second rise, she never cleared the first and slipped, tipping the borrow out down the bank. You just can't get the staff nowadays.

Geoff got us linking arms and stamping along the filled in trail. This is apparently called a "Grom Line", especially when we do it. It does a fine job of consolidating the soil and Geoff said we were the best Grom Line he'd ever seen. He was obviously lying through his teeth, but a nice thing to say nonetheless.

That pretty much wrapped up our efforts for the day. So we headed back out, leaving the experienced trail builders with our "Bushlove Two Week Trail Quality Guarantee" and probably a lot of rework.

We learned a lot from the guys out there. They must have put a lot of days into those mint trails. The mind boggles. We resolved to do more digs for sure. The efforts these keen trail pixies put in really does shower shame upon us and the rest of you who never lend a hand. If you can't make a dig, consider attending a race like the PNP rounds which donate a portion of the entry fees to the local trail building effort, or make a donation. Apparently if you attend three digs at Wainui you get a special T-shirt! I'm going to try and get one.

Thanks very much to the aforementioned dudes for educating us on Sunday. I'm sure we hindered your splendid efforts, rather than adding much value, but we had a great time. Was a good learning experience and we felt good having banked some trail karma.

Keep an eye on Vorb for dig day info or check the Wainui and Makara sites.

Cheers
Dave

Here are some pics ftw:

Sharpie took a leading roll in checking the disturbed soil for worms and keeping his tool clean.











Ash practices her poses for a very different 'bush' love photoshoot she had later that afternoon.




Slackmeister's stump pulling prowess knew no bounds. Must be all the practice at home. Mono continues checking for worms in the background.





A look down the business end of the Snail Trail. Rammer poses while Jim sets a good example to us all.



Bushlove Grom Line





Ash going for gold with the barrow.



Fail





Fail imminent - But see the barrow is full ftw.



Fail.

Re-fuelling

My workrate vastly improved once Geoff corrected my tool handling

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2009 Crazyman condensed Bushlove highlights

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Hugh Jass wins for Bushlove

Hugh Jass put in a nice wee cameo on Sunday at the first N-Duro race in Rotorua on behalf of the Bushlove Racing Team. I received an audio tape in the mail today from Hugh, the transcript follows;

"Well, I pretty much just rode faster than everyone else on the day. I realise racing a "short course" option isn't in the Bushlove spirit, but I was too scared of the pros riding the 40K I thought I'd sneak into the 20K for the burglarising. Course was wet, fairly slick, and heaps of fun. No real climbs to speak of, so it was just a matter of pedalling heaps and pedalling hard. I got caught by the leading 40K rider near the end, but kept him behind me until the finish. He's off to the worlds in a couple of months, and I'm not. Fair enough. I hope my efforts are rewarded by a permanent spot on the Bushlove Racing Team, but I fear the roster is already too strong for a short course burglar to join the ranks. I live in hope."

Hugh Jass smoked the 20km course in a time of 58:44 in wet conditions. On further probing he revealed his "Gluteus maximus is more maximus". He's the Bushlove Stig.

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Steel Is Real - Davo's New Singlespeeder

Wasup Dawgs.

I've recently built up a new singlespeed. I did most of my racing in the last year on my second singlespeed, a '99 S-Works with a Rennen tensioner. I 'enjoyed' it so much that I wanted a proper dedicated singlespeed with none of these un-singlespeed fail things, like tensioners and gear cable stops.

I wanted a steel frame as I wanted something very durable and also inexpensive. I saw some brands with mint frames like Independent Fabrication, Desalvo and Vanilla among others. Then I saw the prices and immediately shit the bed.

Back to the drawing board - I decided to keep my eyes peeled for something to convert. I preferred a 90's Kona Explosif, but ended up with a good deal on a 1997 Kona Kilauea. I had ridden one a bit back 'in the day' and always loved it. it was snappy and fast, reasonably light; all the things I wanted. The shock geometry didn't matter as was going to be running a rigid fork on it.

I thought about what I wanted and talked it through with Jeff at Kiwibikes in Rotovegas, who in addtion to making very tasty NZ custom frames, does repairs and mods. He was great to deal with. Very approachable and forthcoming with ideas and variations to what i had thought up. Initially I wanted horizontal dropouts with slotted disc mounts. I liked the idea. It seemed very light and I had read a lot of webchat about creaking Eccentric Bottom Brackets, which was the other option I fancied.

Jeff pointed out that to remove the rear wheel with my initial idea, I would have to release a bolt on the disc mount. And of course tensioning the chain would take a few extra seconds. This didn't sit well as I like to race my bike and I didn't fancy doing a Kennedy Special and taking 20mins to get a tube in, so I went with the EBB after Jeff extolled it's virtues to me.

Jeff did the following: Removed canti mounts; fitted disc mounts to frame and fork; hose guides fitted; all gear cable stops removed; EBB shell fitted.



Jeff's turn around was good and I had the frame arrive pretty quickly. The work looked mint. Jeff had said he had spent a good amount of time on the bike and I certainly appreciated the excellent value he had given me. The welds were all really smooth and everything was done just as I asked. Then 'shock horror' - I realised it still had a rear mech hanger on! The ultimate SS bike fail. I quickly realised I had not actually asked Jeff to remove it and of course he had gone to the letter of my requests. Ooops. I set about removing it myself with my modest Bunnings tool kit. I really enjoyed doing it and did a mint job even if I do say so myself. It felt good to have had some input to the frame too.
















I got it powder coated. The cost was reasonable and the two coat subtle sparkle was exactly what I wanted. Was called 'Orange Silver 2K'. But is very similar to 'Candy Copper'.



My main maing, Bushlover Dave Sharpshanks at Penny Farthing Cycles fitted the headset and the bottom bracket, which has not creaked since. This is probably down to Sharpie's liberal application of decent grease around the EBB insert and the cunning bolts Jeff supplied which had the ends ground to a point. They really locate in the aluminium insert and make movement or rotation of the insert in the shell, pretty impossible.



Sharpie also helped me out with some good advice on parts and things which was really helpful. What a super trooper.

An evening of fettling in the garage with a few lagers brought the beast to a rideable condition and i stood admiring it, shining and oozing potential, while I finished my beer and got my shoes on. I was really holding my breath as I motored it up the hill from my house, waiting for the creaks and popping noises. Nothing. No matter how much good news I gave the pedals. It was as quiet as a mouse. I loved it straight away.

The only thing I've done to it, apart from a few tire changes, is to reduce the length of the front end. It had a 110mm stem and it felt too stretched climbing and i wasn't able to pop the front end up as easily as I'd like. I switched to a 100mm Thomson and acquired mighty Whacko's FSA carbon bar which was always far too good for him. The extra bend in the bar gave me another 10mm and the position was dialled in.



It's done a good few decent rides now. A few long ones over 4hrs and a few short hammers. I can definitely say it is more comfortable to ride than my S-Works. Must be the 'real feel of steel' vs the stiffer aluminium. It rides perfectly. It always feels in balance and snaps round tight switchbacks heading up or down the trail. It climbs fantastically, although this characteristic is currently limited by my out of shape shanks. This bike descends really well. Especially considering the rigid front. Worth noting here that Steve Peat in the mid 90's started his downhill career winning the British NPS on a rigid steel Kona with 1.5 tires. The same bike he would win the Sport class of the XC the following day. I was there. He floated that bike down the trail. I can't, not to save my life. I am more like a medicine ball falling down the stairs.

It has plenty of little things I love about it. I had the disc hose for the back placed in a 10 o'clock spot along the top tube so it didn't get in the way when I shoulder the bike in my usual way. I had a custom crud-catcher mount put on so I don't suffer the indignity of little straps or clips. The slopping top tube also means that when the bar swings around, the brake levers do not foul the top tube. This also helps with my madcore bar-spins over huge huck cliffs ftw.



The fork is great. I've ridden and raced so many times on this same triple butted project two fork, which being a Kona classic, compliments the frame very well. I had Jeff add a hose guide and even fill the redundant mounting hole in the crown, so it looks swish. I have a shock with a whole 70mm of travel on my gearie, but prefer the direct and talkative quality of the rigid. It reminds me of my early years biking and importantly it doesn't cost very much. I don't lose too much time to some of my cobbers on the descents anyway. I could go on about my descent time on Ridgeline to the carpark in the Makara Peak Grand Loop Challenge on a rigid with v-brakes, but I won't.

I'm looking forward to the good ole' PNP XC series starting in August. I did ok last year on the SS with a shock and it might be a bit more difficult on some courses without a shock, but I'm looking forward to revving my new SS around all the best local tracks and trying to give the other M1's a bit of bother.

Vaguely pointless I know, but here are the specs of the bike and a couple of notes.

Frame: 19" Kona Kilauea. Full Reynolds 631. 'Chop-job' and mods by Jeff at Kiwibikes.
Fork: Triple butted P2. Modifications by Jeff.
Headset: Race Face Deus XC
Stem: Thomson X2 100mm
Bar: FSA K-Force Carbon. Pointlessly pricey. Mugged Whacko for it.
Grips: DaBomb Holy Shit. Brought for the 'Holy Shit' written on the collars.
Brakes: 2008 XT
Post: Thomson
Saddle: Selle Italia lightweight.
Cranks/BB: Truvativ Stylo.
Chain: Sram PC48
Cogs: Surly 34:18.
Wheels: Mavic 618 on Hugi/DT Swiss 240s. Freehub has been mint for SS. Hope skewers.
Tires: Depends. Right now Nobby Nic 2.25 Evo with tubes at 30psi each end.

Thanks again for the help and service I got from Jeff at Kiwibikes and Sharpie at PFC

And for the complete win - It has custom Bushlove Racing decals from Custom Cut Graphics.

Hope this was a faintly interesting read. I'll see you on the trails or the race track. I'll be the guy either walking or shaking the numbness out of my hands.

Happy trails!

Davo

Appendix: My other Singlespeeds.

S-Works with shocks for racing in 08.



S-Works rigid with V's for the Makara Grand Loop Challenge and other hooning.



First SS. Marin Indian Fire Trail convert with Magic Gear.

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Hawkins Hill Fridge

BLRT was hoping for a strong result in the 2009 Hawkins Hill Climb, with Tiger, Angry, Nick and Mono all planning on showing up.

However race day dawned and was cold but sunny, Mono called in sick and Nick just slept in, that being his devotion to the team cause.
NB: In this particular article when referring to "Nick just slept in" we actually mean "there was a special on net p0rn that Nick could not pry himself away from"


The Hawkins hill climb is a challenge between the 3 codes Running, Road and Mountain Biking with the Runners and MTB'ers going up the tip track and the Roadies taking the MUCH harder option of Happy Valley road, Todman street and past the wind turbine.
NB: When referring to all "MUCH Harder" comments our resident roadie (Angry) actually means the pressure in his tyres rather than how hard he had to work during the race.

NB: I give you example #1 of Nick’s new subscription to net p0rn.

After registration and much banter about Marcos (God Father's) running gear we headed off to the start at Owhiro Bay, at that exact same time a freezing cold southerly front with rain and hail moved in and sat on us, I waited on the start line and was colder than Nick K’s crotch in a bikini contest after the polar dip. Yelled at Davo to start the bloody race, who was standing there wrapped up in 3 t-shirts, wool jumper, down jacket and his wife’s pink lacy teddy… he didn't appear in any hurry.

The race started and it was a smash from the get go, I was quickly up to 40kph heading up Happy Valley road, checked back and Ben McHale was right on my rear wheel, but I kept the pace on till the lights at the top. Then smashed it to the top of Todman street, couldn’t believe it when I checked down and at the top of Todman I was still in big chain ring. Ben at the stage had long since dropped off the back, so was going to be a slog up the rest to the summit. In the pinch from Ashton Fichton to the turbine couldn’t get any power to the road as I kept wheel spinning which was nasty but I still felt strong at the turbine. Waved out to fellow Bushlover Kah who came up to support, then past my BLB1 and the Kidlets who came to watch and then up the last climb to finish. I was 1st in 27min 25seconds which was 2Mins 20secs off my PB.

I arrived at the summit 30 seconds before Tiger roared across the line to take out the run win. Hung around at the top for a few minutes but was freezing cold, so headed back down for prize giving.

The Runner's version ;)
Staring with the cold bitter Wellington southerly in the face on the start line wearing my flappy race shorts, tight singlet, nipples erect, rain pelting my firm pectorals with a look of blue steel on my face... hang on, wrong man that was Marco (PNP Godfather). I was huddled under a neighbouring garage lean-to waiting for the rain to ease with the rest of the runners.

Had planned to just sit in the top half of the field for the kilometer of road till we got to the tip track and see how I felt. BANG!!! Off we went with a tail wind all the way up Happy Valley rd whisking us along at a nice pace. I found myself near the front with just Melissa Moon and an unknown runner that looked as if he should be a Spartan Trail Runner. Feeling pretty comfortable tucked in behind Melissa with none of the drafting benefits of a tall person J. Half way up Happy Valley rd I noticed the Spartan Trail Runner extend his lead on us, so decided to bridge the gap. This took me to the bottom of The Tip Track where I thought I could just sit here in second and draft this Spartan God, but was about to be proven wrong... just after we start up the hill he seemed to fade to a pace I was a little too comfortable with. Passing him I made a quick gap of around 45sec and sat there for the remainder of the race. Using typical mental racing tactics of chasing the next Runner or Rider in this case ahead. About half way up TT I started catching Mountain Bikers and surprisingly Marco who left minutes ahead of us all. Nearing the top I saw a fellow Mountain Biker Ed Crossling and thought this was my chance to make him hurt a bit :D (Friendly competition... Working extra hard to reel him in I caught him about 200m from the top, only to have the bastard cruise past me on the down hill road 100m from the finish yelling "Where's ya wheels now!!!!" Ah the Crossling brothers, ya gotta love am (Thanks Ed).

A quick sprint to the finish earned me a win in the Runners category but a big fat LOOSER in the overall Mountain Bike, Roadie, Runner stakes. Taken out by Stu Holtham (Well know National Title MTB holder) with the Roadies coming second in the race ‘For of the codes’ by Angry Clive Bushlove Bennett (More well known for his finishing as Bridesmaid in every race. Which if you consider the actual overall race results Road Vs MTB Vs Runner he achieved yet again).

All in all a great fun race.
A big thanks to R&R Sport & Makara Peak Supports Club who have once again been great in backing another fun, local event. These events would not be possible without sponsors like this.

Random pic of some HOT Bushlove GOD.

Awesome to see the BUSHLOVE in the paper the next morning.

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Reach For The Sky.... controller

Post by Davo, not Tiger :D

In April the Bushlove Team contested the Duathlon team event at the Kathmandu Crazyman. Tony 'Tiger' Keith and ring-in runner, hardman Dan Clendon, chalked up a fine victory and set a new duathlon record in the process.

Sky TV are showing footage of the Crazyman this week and apart from seeing the race, we have it on good authority that the word BUSHLOVE is mentioned at least once and a full frontal of the mighty Tiger is there for the whole of New Zealand to swoon over. Sit down when watching, ladies. We don't want any fainting injuries.

Crazyman TV Coverage
June 4 - 9:30pm - SKY1
June 5 - 6:30pm - SKY2
June 6 - 11:00am - SKY1
June 7 - 6:30am - SKY2

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