Muddy Winter Lulz and Uber-Camp Slippers

We wish our Smokescreens were this dirty.

The weather forecast made some mention of the rain clearing for the afternoon. So Tiger, Ed, Kah, Cam Wood and me went for a ride at Makara. We did a nice loop, but despite the lulz and exertions, got bloody cold waiting for Ed 'Speed Walker' Crossling to catch us up all the time. That boy needs to lose some pounds and lift his game.


Cam on Missing Link


My latest crud catcher is the Mark-1 Keri Juice BLR Team Issue Pro Special. Works a treat.

It rained from start to finish and the trails were somewhat damp. If there wasn't a river running down the trail, there was porridge all over it. By the time we got back to the car park, the idea of carrying on over Salvation, blah blah, Car Parts, blah Deliverence, blah, disappeared faster than our brake pads. So we went home.


Kah SPEEDS up Aratihi

I went back to Tigerbronnar Mansions and we knocked back some burgers, muffins, tea, lager and some hot steamy shower action. Tigs was good enough to stoke the fire while I was in the shower. Then after our shower, he got the fire going as well. What a trooper.


Nothing quite as cosy and cool as big rubber shoe covers on the mtb.

I even got to wear the incredibly camp 'guest slippers' that Nana Keith made. They look shit, but were very comfortable.

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Samara's Quiz Night

A load of us piled into the Monteith's brewery bar in Kandahlahlala in Wellington's suburbs, for a fine evening of quiz lulz and the odd lager, in support of Samara Shepherd's euro racing trip.

Samara had a fine turnout and has definitely raised enough funds to spend at least an hour drinking in Paris, or wherever she is heading for the big world cup and Swiss Cup events.

We thought it would be a fine opportunity to present the new BLR team threads to the world, as it was a 'team' event. Nothing looks cooler in pubs that lycra. Fortunately the clientele was used to such attire as the room was a veritable who's who of Wellington fat tire protagonists.



Clive Bennett (2 x NC + Top 27 Round Taupo) even autographed some of our huge amount of NZMTBR mags as spot prizes. They immedietly dropped in value by 95%.

The Crosslings won a t-shirt in an auction. It was an XL, but our beautiful Elite XC skinny runts found a way to fill it out.

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MTB Oh!

What?

2010 WOA MTB Orienteering Series, event 1, Makara Peak

NZ MTBO Stuff : Results

WTF?

As a self-confessed weather geek I pride myself in the ability to look out a window and detect if the sun is shining. When applying the standard tests this morning the rain was so gnar that I couldn't even see the neighbours house, certainly not across the harbour as far as usual to Petone. I decided to commit and donned my spiffy new BLR top, bottom and gimp cap. As my first ever mtb orienteering event I struggled to take in the race briefing, study the map, and sand-bag at the same time. We had to ride a fixed-order course clipping compulsory controls*, but with options to ride extra distance to get other controls that gave time bonuses. The rain continued.

* A 'control' is orienteering geek-tech for a bright orange and white thing with a bus conductors clipper attached. Waterproof.

Through some perverse seeding involving Karapoti PBs and an impromptu and vicious sand-bag-off I was entered in the open category starting at 20 second gaps behind Fastest Man then the wily Simon K. Immediately behind me was Sifter, a season campaigner and experienced map-whore. The early start gave me less time to study the map so at kick off I only had the first 3 controls sorted and figured I'd make the rest up on the bike. The rain continued.

Like me, FM is also an orienteering novice and his plan was to ride really fast around the mandatory controls staying out there for the shortest possible time. I didn't see him at all during the race. After some fluffing around getting to the first control I was caught by Sifter. I clipped my ticket and put the hammer down easily dropping him - actually he went a different way on a much more clever route. At the second and third controls I bumped into Simon. Then we split as I made my oh-so-cunning next wrong decision. My mighty single speed powered through the rain and muck across Missing Link and down the very slippery and super fun Nikau Valley track. This was my only real deviation to get an extra time bonus of 20 minutes. That extra loop took me only 18 minutes so I was chuffed. The rain continued.

Back at the summit I had a bit of trouble finding control 4. It was cunningly placed "nearly" as marked on the map, this caught out a few punters (and Sifters). From here my cunning plan was to get home quickly and get out of the rain. So I blasted down from the summit to the top of Vertigo then back up Zacs collecting a simple 7 minute time bonus for a 20 second deviation. Back over the top and down to the eastern corner of the park to get the last two compulsory controls my rear brake pads had completely gone, no worries nearly home. The rain continued.

When I arrived at the finish I had ridden for about 1.5 hours and with time bonuses I had a 6 minute lead over the next person, FM. He had ridden right past the 7 minute bonus on Zacs... Only Simon was still out there so I got warm and dry and returned to see him arrive about half an hour after me but with a bunch more time bonuses. On count back he had pipped me by just 30 seconds. Crap. The rain continued.

A fun day out doing skids in the puddles. Driving home the rain stopped, grrr.

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Fastest Man's Vegas Podium Post!

My first post, finally, just taken me how long?!

Cut to the chase, time to head back to Vegas. Last Sunday was the first round of the popular and very well organized N-Duro Winter series. After three months of just ‘sifting’ around the various tracks in Wellington it was time to hop back on the racing wheels and push myself.

Last time I raced seriously in Rotovegas I had a ‘moment’ which gave me one of my nick-names, that being my front flip reverse 360 tail whip which ended in, um, an ambulance. The aptly named track No Brains which caught me out with my acrobatics was included in the race on Sunday, so a bit of a date with destiny (but hopefully not St Johns) faced me.
To the race:

After pissing down for at least 12 hours before the race, the heavens decided to shut shop just in time for show time, but they still left their mark on the course. Was going to be a bit of a gamble running summer party tires, but it’s pretty hard to lose grip on the volcanic Rotorua surface. After a good start straight up the road for the first km a group of five hard outs pulled away, and stay liked that for a bit. When we reached the faster, bumpier 4wd track’s this was taken down to three of us.

After a bit more sifting I finally made the top of No Brains. Determined to finish the race in the car and not the ambulance I took it a bit gingerly, but still managing to shoulder charge a few trees in my usual fashion. After clearing that it was off to Split Endz/ Pondy which has been the victim of a bit of logging for past months.

Halfway on the hill to the top however I was thrown a sandbag and lost contact with the two speeders. Kept sifting to the top trying to keep them in sight, but chasing down the NZ Champ is never easy.

After sliding down Pondy DH because of the bog caused by the loggers it was into Pondy New and Rollercoaster, which were good fun apart from the heap of traffic. Much the same story in Old Chevy, riding by myself, trying to squeeze past the short course riders and keep my distance in front of forth.

However, out of Old Chevy I decided a detour to Harvey Norman would be smart and picked myself up a fridge! Don’t know what happened but one second I was flying then the next I could barely turn a pedal. After stopping for a minute I decided that the smaller fridge might be a bit more practical and rode off, thinking that forth placed local legend Weinberg, was going to catch me any second.

Finally made it to the top of Pig track, somehow still holding third, after which it was all downhill. Down Exit Trail (no crashes, another track I don’t have the best history with) and into the finish. It has been a few months since I made the finish line of a race but this one I was very happy to make after my fridge exercise with 5km to go.

So third back after a decent break from Pro Elite sifting made me pretty happy. Even after dropping 10mins to the leaders, I was pleased with my performance.

Once again in 3 weeks time I will be hitting up the Vegas tracks with a few other Bushies; looking forward to another hard race and hopefully some more thrills (but still, the no spills works for me).

Cheers
Ed

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"Bikes of the Amateurs" - Dave's Ibis Mojo

Ever since I was a kid, one of my favourite parts of bike magazines were the articles about 'Pro Bikes'. I used to really love getting into the detail and seeing why these top guys used certain parts, and what wasn't standard, or even available in the shops. I remember the article about David Baker's Ti Raleigh, which with it's first gen' Hope Ti hub and ti skewers, not to mention an 'aheadset', was state of the art.
I even googled for the article and happened upon this Youtube of the same bike!



This guy looks to be about half as cool as a teabag, but back in the day he was the business and got 3rd in a World Cup XC. He sounds like an idiot, but this is because he is from the North of England.

So here is the first (and possibly last) in the Bushlove "Amateur Bikes" series.

I have a new Ibis Mojo. Its the best thing I've ever ridden and pretty much does the riding for me. Its a full carbon frame (except for all the lead weights Slacky no doubt put in the tubes for me) with 5.5 inches of super plush travel in the back and up front with the Fox RLC fork. It's got a DW link which basically means it doesn't shag you around when you try to pedal it up a hill. One of the coolest things is the look of this fine horse. The swoopy frame shape and the bright orange colour makes for a real head turner.



It's my first foray into the new world of modern mountain bikes. All the man cards I have held close to my chest for so long, have been thrown on the pile, as I embrace the full suspension comforts and even contemplate a super-camp adjustable seatpost and tubeless tires. My baggy shorts now even outnumber my tight ones.



It's been an interesting couple of months learning to ride it. It's good pedaling through rough ground, especially when climbing as the back end gives awesome traction. Descending is sublime and many technical sections of trail are now quite easy, until they get, er.. hard. I've set it up with an 80mm Thomson stem and sweet Easton EA70 680mm Monkeybar, which stops the bike feeling too 'XC Racer' and gives great handling, especially round steep corners or over drop offs. I run the saddle at my regular XC height which as all those in the know, know is inseam in shoes x 0.883 (per the great, Deadly Ned Overend) - 10mm to give more maneuverability on steeper trails. I get a lot out of the bike when I drop the saddle for some downhills so might get something like a Gravity Dropper or Joplin in the future. Once I've done some testing to see if the dollars spent translate into enough time saved.

I almost always run Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.25 with tubes at 30psi. I reckon they are one of the best all round tires. I can race them wet or dry and they roll great. If I get a chance to do some racing this year (baby due in August ;o) I might get some super fast Racing Ralphs and run them tubeless when its not too wet.


Some of these airs are even bigger than Clive's. This is the same frame. I figure good enough for Lopes, more than good enough for me!

The other interesting thing I've tried is the 1x9 set up with the MRP 1x device. Working great so far. Coming off the singlespeed I still have plenty of climbing gears, and never came close to touching the bottom cogs doing a nice Makara ride yesterday Although I did do quite a few climbs in the 34t. But then I am feeble and lazy. I like riding steep techy uphills though and it might be too tough with this set-up. Time will tell. Although there is a 12-36t cassette I could get. And when Shimano brings out 10spd, it will have the range required to make this set-up more versatile. Nothing says 'probably wearing bib shorts underneath' like a World Cup XC gear set up.


I'm not hugely experienced in riding different fullys. The Mojo has won a few magazine test showdowns and the MTBR bike of the year a few times, so I thought it was a safe choice and I've been very impressed. I've done some fun amateur jumps and drops on it, and even gone fairly well in a couple of XC type races, which was reassuring. The customer service is also meant to be excellent, and I've had some great chats and support from Mike Stylie at Hyperformance Hardware, the NZ distributor.

Its an awesome machine. I read somewhere that the measure of a great bike is how much you look forward to riding it. Driving over to Makara yesterday I felt like I was 16 again, in my best undies, on the way to a new girlfriends house, knowing her parents were out.

Cheers
Dave

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Public Safety Warning From Richard Head

It's easy to become distracted when trying to get photos done. Little mistakes like forgetting to do up one's helmet strap could ruin a shot. Shabbily fastened shoe velcro will not look good in a close up. Is that jersey zip undone too far?

But leading the pack in epic fails was when I put my wheel in, failed to do up the quick release and rode down the hill, steamed into the volcanic debris without the comforting presence of my front wheel and bit down on the fail sandwich.



Safety first kids.
Davo

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Camp Tank Monthly

At short notice Mr Al Crossling and I were recruited by photo ace, Craig Madsen, to join him on a speedy mission to the central plateau to capture some images for an upcoming edition of Camp Tank Monthly. Its a great niche-market magazine which aims to bring artistic imagery and poetic verse to the masses, about out of commission military tanks.

We got some cracking images. You might even see one of me hollering the good news into Al's barrel, on the cover or centre spread of the next edition.


In addition to the main tank-based focus of the trip, we enjoyed some great tiki-touring around the area and experienced the toe numbing -4deg morning and 5am start which accompanies such trips. There was a stunning clear blue sky and immaculate views across to Mt Taranaki from the Turoa ski field. We saw some cunning frost which formed under the top surface of gravel and lifted if up a couple of inches. It looked like stones perched on acres of icy feathers.
Good company, entertaining banter, nice locations and some good beer made for a great little outing. Cheers Craig!




Davo

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