Invercargill Mid Winter Enduro (8hr)

With winter in Christchurch really hitting quite hard training has gone out the window, I have been getting out for some fun rides on the MTB where I can and a few fun road rides with a group of elite guys that have included some gravel bashing on the road bikes! Insane fun.

A good friend reps for PRV and got asked if he could put a team together for the Invercargill Mid Winter Enduro (8hr) for an Invercargill shop Gladstone Cycles. After clearing it with sponsor John Bull Cycles I was set for a fun bash!

Jeremy, Jason, Nick and I were set to have a wee bit of fun at the sandy point track and make a weekend of it. At dinner over a few beers it was decided that I would start which included a 200m run to the bikes, Jerry would set out second followed by Nick, then the big guy (Jason) would finish before repeating.

After a hazey night, I found myself on the startline feeling rather shit, but managed to fake it and reach the bike in forth spot. I dug deep and got into the single track in second behind one of Ryan Culls team mates. I sat in and followed for a while to see if I could pick up any lines, but then decided to attack... I got away and was out in front for maybe 5 or so mins before the lack of "trainning" hit, I kept pushing hard on the rooty technical track (kind of a Rotorua Base) but two guys slipped past. I finished my lap third out of the forest and about 30secs down... looking like a ghost I went behind the tent and brought up breakfast!

Jerry was on fire and pulled us back to second place and Nick made some ground up also, Jason managed to hold his own for someone who hasn't done much on a MTB before. I was sent out for my second lap in forth or fifth spot.  We all pushed hard but the lack of MTB riding and training could only see us pull second place behind Ryan Culls team (he got his payback for Naseby).

It was a pretty fun weekend, with heaps of laughs and good times, the result was just a bonus as we had all just wanted to have fun. This is a well organised event, and the track is really amazing and fun! I will be going back for some more mid winter fun next year for sure.

A huge thanks has to go out to Doug from Gladstone Cycles for the entry and keeping the bikes lubed and the riders feed, we all had such a blast!

Time to start thinking about getting some more regular riding in around a very busy workload and before I feel the crack of the whip from the coach again!

Keep warm

Naseby 12 Hour (With team Christchurch World Racing)

I have heard many stories surrounding the Naseby 12hr, it has been on my "to do list" almost since I start riding a little over 4 years ago, I got asked if I would like to fill a team spot and had no hesitation with saying yes!

Phil Patterson (team captain) has a bit of history at this event competing against Ryan Cull and the Invercargill team CSI (Cycle Surgery Invercargill), losing to them last year by around 9mins he was keen to dominate this year and knock the CSI team off the number 1 spot for the last 3 years.

What could have been perceived as a "Cycleways team", the team Christchurch World Racing emerged... this included  Phil Patterson, Nick Clack, Brad Hudson (All Cycleways Riders), Jeremy Inglis (Scotty Browns) and myself (John Bull Cycles).

Phil had it all sussed and the order was set.. Brad, Me, Nick, Jerry, Phil...

It was an awesome day weather wise... Brad lined up for the le mans start and we fast learnt that he runs like a girl! Never the less we all had confidence in his ability on the bike and he did us all proud coming in 2nd place right on Ryans wheel... I got the arm band and set off, following Ryan through the pits until he pealed off to his site to send the next team member out... I went out of the pits about 10 seconds in front of them, and about 15 seconds in front of the Canterbury Juniors Team consisting of Craig and Ben Oliver, Mitch Cambell, David Coventry and Cam Fitzgerald.

With a clear track in front of me I wanted to stamp some authority on the race and make our intentions known.... coming into the pits to tag Nick in I had put around 1:20 into the chasing teams.

Nick, Jerry and Phil kept the pressure on and we nudged ahead by a good margin. Traffic was pretty good (Everyone would have had the same hold ups), but overall everyone was considerate and with warning and some following through the tighter stuff until it was safe to pass it flowed pretty well.

About halfway through the day we thought we had a chance to really rub salt into the wound and lap the CSI team, we all set about knocking out some fast laps and on lap 16, Brad rode the wheels off his bike to record the fastest lap of the day (25:06mins).  The Canterbury Juniors Team stand out rider from our point of view was David Coventry... This young lad from Timaru (Rides for The Cyclery) was setting some blistering times! He will definitely be one to watch for in the future of NZ mountain biking.

Jeremy was leaving at 6pm to make it to the coast for the 2nd Benchmark Series Road Race, so we sent him out for a double lap to give us some time to recover before dropping to a 4 man team. As it was, statistic man Phil decided that we will all do doubles to finish as it was getting dark and cold. It made sense, get warm on the bike, get your night riding dialed, knock out 2 laps then rug up for the night, Job done....

Phil went out next and managed to stack it on his final lap (making it crash on the 1st and the last for him), Brad was next and set some good times for his night laps and had the joy of applying some pressure to the CSI rider before it got a little too hot for him and he missed a corner and hit a tree allowing Brad to slip by and take the lapping honors, Nick wasn't going to get out for any laps if I knocked out a double as planned, so his light went on my bars (also mine on my helmet) this was an awesome combo and I could see everything! I knocked out the 1st lap and went out for the glory lap to bring it home... My bike seemed to be  making funny noises and I even stopped to check to see if the tyres were flat. It's funny how the mind plays tricks on you when your leading and don't want to blow it... I eased up to make sure I didn't do anything stupid and brought it home for the lads.

A lap and 5mins up on the CSI team and around 15mins up on the 2nd overall team the Canterbury Juniors.
Taking the overall was a sweet feeling...

It was such a great day, with short sharp laps to punish yourself, great team atmosphere with some even better banter between some great mates.

I would like to thank Phil for the call up into the team and organizing the weekend, Brad, Nick, Jerry and Phil for the solid effort they put in. Destroying the competition aside, it was the best weekend of riding my bike with friends I have had in a long time and hope the Christchurch World Racing Team will reunite to stamp our authority on Naseby again next year.....

Le Race

After the NZ MTB series and Oceanias I had some time off the bike. Le Race was coming up and with Kristie working at the finish in Akaroa for Coffee Culture, I thought why not ride over!

I entered to race the 100km in the MTB catergory for some fun! My goal was to see how close I could get to my road bike time of 2hours 54mins (crap weather)...

After picking up the race pack Friday the fun began! The number went on the handlebars like a true XC racer, an 11-27 cassette went on and the knobblys went to 40psi.... Turning up on the start line got some funny looks and some good response, it also got the attention of some uptight roadies who thought when I rolled up into the sub 3hr start grid I was taking the piss....(for the record, I never saw them or there 15k+ bikes until the end)

I started next to Justin Sims (also riding in the MTB catergory) and I just followed him up the first climb, across the top we had a good little bunch of maybe 10 riders, I attacked to get to the decent down the bastard first, but got my hill wrong! I ended up being 4th into the descent. Passing the two roadies, it was Justin and me setting the pace...... he started to freewheel away from me. This is when I knew I was going to suffer, his 35c slicks at 90psi rolled a lot better than my 2.25 knobblys at 40....

We regrouped and set about knocking out the flat section of the race to Little River.... although my biggest gear was only a 38/11, I was comfortable with the 42-50kmph we where doing legspeed wise, but the big tires did their damage, I red lined with an average HR 10 beats higher than my threshold to Little River...

The bunch rolled away from me including Justin and 1st place... I recovered up the Hill Top climb and set a sustainable pace across the tops to the finish. The day was awesome weather wise, and the views were stunning. I fininished 8mins back from Justin with a time of 3hours 8mins.

Super happy with that time! It was a long, long ride after the short sharp XC rounds I had been doing, and the hills were a lot longer, so with no real long rides under my belt, I did what I set out to do... skids, wheelies and finished with a massive grin!

Time to get out and enjoy the riding with ligths and bitterly cold nights!

Oceanias (Rotorua)

After the final cup round in Napier, the last event on the calender was the biggest on my list... the 2012 Oceanias being held in Rotorua.  We roll up to the carpark where the start is and get ready to check out the track and the much talked about rock garden. All week I had been telling myself and others, I will just roll around the track until I get to the garden and just hit (I had seen enough photos and videos to know my line).

As we cruise up the road I was shocked to see the rock garden on my right! (It was the end of the loop but you had to go past it before looping back to it). David, Cam and Simon from Timaru where standing checking it out, apparently they had been there for 15mins. I checked it out for a mear 15 secs told them to move and hit it! I shat myself but made it... and got faster down it.

Checking out the rest of the course, I was pretty happy with it, fast and punchy.

Race day came round and our start time was shifted back an hour to 3pm. After what seemed like a long wait until the start, it was all go!  I had a good start and made the singletrack in around 7th spot. I pushed hard but the legs didn't responed as well as I wanted them too. By lap 3 I knew it was game over, the legs and mind just didnt want to race. As I look back and reflect I feel I was over the season. It had been a rough one, with no consistancey, a bike that wasn't mine, not meeting some of my goals and a cold coming on. I wasn't ever going to have a good race, I should have just enjoyed my time riding in Rotorua with friends. I managed to gain 11th spot, but got lapped out. The Aussies were fast, and claimed the top 4 spots with Carl Jones taking 5th.

The experience was good, and once again I learnt a lot. Time to chill out and have some downtime.... Something I never had last year......

See you on the trails with some Fat Tires on!

NZ Cup Round, 4th and Final (Napier)

After a bad round in Wellington I was heading into the 4th and final round of the NZ MTB Cup looking for strong ride to finish the series....

After driving up on Friday and arriving in Havelock North late, we woke on Saturday after a sleep in and headed to the course. It was a pretty low key course, with one major climb, a false flat that sucked the power from your legs across the top, then a fun descent.... After a couple of laps I was feeling good and thought a top ten wasn't out of the question.

The start was flat followed by a light climb, some single track then the major climb... the field didn't really split until the major climb. I made some good ground and dropped into the single track feeling good.

Breads of Europe kit from F2P distributored by Blox

I kept pushing the the outside chain ring up the major climb and moving up a couple of placings through laps two and three getting as high as 10th spot, everyone would have been descending around the same time so it was the climbs and the flatter rooty sections that you needed to be smooth and fast. Lap four the legs started feeling the strain of pushing the outside chain ring losing two spots up the climb. After grabbing my last bottle to get me home the last 2 laps felt okay, staying in the big gears I managed to gain another spot on the last lap.


Although it wasn't a top ten like I was searching for I was pretty happy with how the legs felt, the mind was weaker than the legs, something I need to work on.

The 11th spot was enough to push me into 9th spot for the series in my 1st year in the Elite field. Pretty stoked with that after what I would class as a pretty mixed year with bikes, hay fever, learning and work/travel commitments.

Looking forward to more learning with the Oceania's before winding down and doing some local events with the lads...

Can't wait to get the wheels on the dirt in Rotorua... a place I have never ridden!

A huge thanks to John Bull Cycles, Breads of Europe, BLOX Apparel and everyone who has helped and supported me for the series... Your support has been awesome and very much appreciated!

NZ CUP round 3 (Wellington)

After arriving in Wellington and building the bike up I headed to see what Mt Vic had in store for me... first impression was 'this will be a tough track to race'....

Race day rolled around and from the get go the legs didn't want to play, after a slow start and a dropped chain I headed out on lap 2 to start making up some time. The first climb was a good grind and I managed to reel in a couple of riders even though the legs felt heavy. Into the single track where I was feeling really confident descending, I thought I would take some risks as I wouldn't be able to do much on the climbs to make up some time. I went into a section way to hot and ended up launching out of a "bowl" and landing in some tree roots... I was sent flying over the bars in a pretty spectacular crash. Dusting myself off and getting back on the bike to find a burped front tyre. I managed to ride a third of the lap to the tech zone at the top where I chucked some more air in and continued on.

After loosing my nerve and not having a good day I knew I was going to get lapped out. Lap 3 saw me walking the final decent as the front tire was on the rim again (not sure if I put enough air in or it wasn't on the rim after the crash). I chucked some more air in at the bottom tech zone and went out for some skids and to have some fun before Dirk came passed to lap me out. So I still recorded a result and not a DNF.

Time to get the body healed and move onto the 4th and final round in Napier this weekend where I hope to find my form again and finish on a high ready for Oceania's.

NZ MTB NATIONALS (Nelson)

With the NZ Nationals being a one off event to get a national placing, this saw a strong elite field take to the start-line.

Nerves were high, but after a good warm up on the bike instead of the wind trainer, they settled a little for the start. Starting on the 3rd or 4th row again, I knew I had to make the 1st lap count....

The gun went and Carl went BLOX! Cleared the field for the 1st half of the climb before Mike jumping into the single track 1st.  Out of the 28 starters I had a good start and at the top of the climb was about mid pack. Down the single track which was a skittery, rocky/rooty pedaly decent, then hard right onto another gravel road climb, straight out of the saddle and dug deep to claim my spot in front of another 5 or 6 riders. The track climbed through the forest with some really steep pinches on the exits of corners which were taxing on the legs, with a very soft/dusty pinch that required a lot of energy and weight placement to clear. The descent is awesome, fast and supper dusty with some sharp rocks that had the potential to rip sidewalls open.

We drop down to pass the Feed Zone for the 1st time where I chucked a bottle before heading up for another switchback climb with some roots and a few more pinches to make the legs burn, turn at the top and start another super dusty descent before a quick squirt on a gravel road and into a fast piece of non techy single track to pass the Feed Zone for the 2nd time before crossing the line to complete a lap.

I managed to work myself into 12th place for a couple of laps before the legs started to slowly lose some horse power, I slipped back to 15th spot for laps 4 and 5. Coming through the Feed Zone to get my last bottle to get me over the line, I started the climb up the gravel road in 15th for the last time and although I was still in the outside chain-ring, I was at the top of the cassette, the legs feeling like arse 2 riders got onto my wheel and attacked into the single track at the top, I went with them but went in behind them. The next climb they rode away from me, I tried to go but I had nothing left, frustrated I found a rythem to get me though this dark place I was in as another rider slips by.

I knew this was going to be a tough day in the office and it absolutely was! Losing 3 spots on the last lap was the hardest pill to swallow, I beat myself up pretty bad when I was warming down.

18th out of 28 and didn't get lapped out for the NZ Nationals. Its on paper and I had fun...

Thanks to the Team at John Bull Cycles for there support and getting the Scott dialed in, it didn't miss a beat,
Breads Of Europe for supporting me and Blox Apparel for all your Apparel needs.

A few weekends off now before heading to Wellington for round 3 of the National series. Some solid training will need to be done to find some form I know I have.

Keep safe, see you on the trails!

NZ CUP round 2 (Christchurch)

After recording a DNF in round 1 a week earlier, I was keen to put a result down on paper and finish.

After a good week of training, race day rolled around... Turning up to support and help partner Kristie and good mates Emma and Craig in the age group races in the morning I didn't envy them, cold winds, rain falling, and a slippery track. They all did well while I huddled under the ezi up trying to keep warm.

The rain eased then stopped in time for the afternoon race. After a shocking start and leaving the start loop in all but last spot (20th) I set to work right away. It bottle necked at a double creek crossing and i was off and running gaining a few spots... I settled in for the first lap, found a rythmn and kept standing on the pedals, crossing the line in 16th after the first lap... I pushed hard and made ground on laps two and three but got stuck on the climb and the decent following wheels where i should have got a little more mongrel and muscled my way past. I ended up having a good battle with a couple of local boys, with Logan doing a pretty funny dance on the side of the track due to cramp!  Eventually I crossed the line in ninth to finish about 12mins down on winner Carl, but I finished and didn't get lapped out, so I'm pretty happy.

It's clear I still have a lot to learn about racing at elite level, it's a huge step up from age group racing. The intensity and speed is truly eye opening, while I''m gasping for air, others find another gear... This was only my second race of the year, so as the season continues and I get more racing into the legs I should see some good improvements.

Really happy with a top 10 result and even picked up 2 UCI points HAHA

Looking forward to heading up to Nelson for the Nationals.... a race I know will hurt.

NZ CUP round 1 (Dunedin)

Heading down to Dunedin Friday with the windscreen wipers going marked a sign of what was to come. We rolled down the hill into Dunedin around lunchtime and headed straight for the bike shop to get some mud tyres... maxxis beavers seemed to be the best we could get hold off so these got blown on.

After catching up with a mate for lunch it was up to the new venue Signal Hill to catch up with some guys and see what they had to say about the track. The climb was steep, wet, slippery and hard to clear.... the descent, well just hang on for the ride.... after 30mins I had heard enough and jumped in the car with out riding (rest day) and up to the Aunt's to unload the car and settle in for the night with the sound of rain on the roof.

Saturday we woke with the sun shining! After sifting around in the morning I headed to the track mid afternoon to knock out a couple of laps.... the climb was dry as it was in the open and had the sun beating down on it all day, but it was steep and relentless.... pinched hard at the bottom, eased a little then pinched then eased then pinched, there was no recovery to be had on the climb!

Starting the descent I didn't know what to expect, I cruised down the first rocky section, over some little kickers then onto a fast open section....hard left into the trees and HELLO MUD!  I slipped down to the first obstacle a wee drop that was roll-able but I thought it would be faster to hit dialed... so I walked back up and went for it.... Landed on a root, burped the front tyre and got up close and personal with a tree! No scratches on me or the bike!  I walked the remainder of the descent and checked out all the lines. Chucked a tube in the wheel and went for the next lap, this was a lot better. Cleared the descent and was happy. Off home to polish the bike and get some food and listen to the rain on the roof.

Sunday morning passed and soon I was on the windtrainer warming up in the sun!.... The start was a short 30m sprint to a 180degree corner, another 30m to a 90degree corner then up the climb.

Nerves were high being my first elite race and I wasn't aggressive off the start losing a few places, hit the climb (which was dry) and fell into a rhythm to sustain for the climb. Hit the descent (wet and wild) and a couple of riders went down in front of me. I managed to get around them and nail a gnarly shoot down some roots, before more congestion on a tight corner... eventually popped out the bottom in 11th (from15 elite riders).

Up the climb and the legs felt heavy, chased hard to catch the wheel in front but couldn't close the gap, Slipped and slid the descent with some really comical moments and some big cheers from the crowds from riding some techy mud drops and some from complete out of control passenger riding novice stuff... still managed to hold my spot.

The third lap the legs went well up the climb but the descent wasn't so good. After clearing the shoot I hit the next corner hard and had a lot of weight on the front to make it stick.... it didn't stick. Nothing big but time lost. Mud was all over the bike from the previous laps and it proved too much... On the forth lap at the start of the climb the legs felt their best but the mud caked derailleur caught a spoke and ended up in the rear wheel... end of race for me.

Disappointed that my first outing ending in a DNF. This was a brutal course on the bikes and team at John Bulls will find this out when the strip the Scott back to service it.

Time to take the valuable lesson learned and move on to round 2 at Living Springs on the 22nd and make it count!

Thanks for the support so far.....