Redwood Revolution

Round Lake Dunstan 96km Fun Ride 9th January 2012

2012-01-15T00:58:00.000-08:00

3 training rides had precluded:
15km around Wanaka 2nd December 2011
50km from Lake Hawea to Makarora 17th December 2011
70km from Wanaka to Roaring Meg Power Station 27th December 2011
25km on the tandem Wanaka to Lugatte and return 1st January 2011

Unsurprisingly, a different bike was rolling for this year’s ride.
The Wilier with Ultegra/Dura ace has a new home, so with a new to me 10 speed Dura ace groupset on hand I quickly loaded it onto the nearest available frame: a 1985 Panasonic Raleigh built from Reynolds 531C steel tubing.

Luckily my prior to event day rides had settled everything down and resulted in a few subtle changes:
A shorter stem
Different wheels with Alex A23 rims riding on 28mm Conti tires
Compact cranks but with a 36 on the inside, not a 34
A quick tune up from Sheldon Sharman who no doubt shook his head over a few small insignificant details that I typically would have overlooked.

I watched the weather like a hawk for a few days before hand....wondering if booties would be needed ?
Event day dawned bright and sunny.
Transport with Leigh (new owner of the Wilier) and Mr Ed (former owner of Radio Wanaka) was filled with speculation of a rolling quartet in tight formation and various other tales of conquest.

The reailty was of course very different as Marc Sheldon Sharman and I ducked off for a coffee up the road and arrived back with two minutes to start.

Marc tried to quietly sneak down the side of the 200 hundred strong bunch and bury himself in the middle, I called him back and said we could jump right in the front when the whistle blew, which is just how it played out.....
So, big ringing it up the road and main bridge over Lake Dunstan, I was bouncing off the cat’s eyes withTom Skully just in front of me.
I pondered how I could gracefully slide backwards through the bunch when the hammer goes down in a hundred metres....

Lucky for me a small gap appeared as we turned and slide over to the inside we go and backwards in one quick manouvre.
I figured a nice bunch would arrive sooner or later that would match my pace.
The tailwind to Tarras passed without event, the cross/tail wind to Lugatte did as well.
The two hills on this leg were ok for me this year – I even grabbed the pre arranged bottle from Keighley on the last uphill....
Leigh & Ed stopped by the Lugatte pub, but got the bottles and their mojo all mixed up requiring a quick swap around with the assistance of the Radio Wanaka car.
I started to hit the wall with about 30km to go, but another hot squishy yoghurt coated muesli bar soon had me back in the drops and ready to fire for the minor placings sprint.
Just so we’re clear here – I ended up 114th out of 215 starters, so it’s hardly podium stuff.....
However it may well have been Boonen, the Schlecks and Vinakorov the way the bunch was behaving....
Or misbehaving.
Chicks were throwing in flyers, I got pushed into the pot holes and gravel to which I sat up and told the bunch they were about of get done over by a chick and they were a bunch of muppets.
Resuming the closing stages I found a small gap, slid through and fed it the jandel, unfortunately not leaving enough room to pass the lady in white shorts on a Bianchi with a squeaking dry chain.
However, a new course record for me of 2hrs 44.01 can stand for another year, while Marc, Ed and Leigh can only wish they’d sat on my wheel from the start.

Oh, I forgot: Joe Cooper smoked everyone with his hairy legs: 2hrs 14 mins

2011-08-10T03:08:00.000-07:00

With Spring not that far away and for myself, another year older and certainly wiser, I thought a recap of my own “World Cup of Cycling” was in order.

With some of those highly paid sports stars only showing their faces in a few events this year, I feel somewhat smug in the fact I turn up to work reasonably regularly, support a family, find time to shave once a week and spin the wheels:

Here we go, mostly in the right order.
Summer 2011:
Round Lake Dunstan fun road ride; 92 KM, January
The Wilier performed flawlessly, if only I could say the same for myself.
My brother borrowed my Serotta with 8 speed Dura Ace, his baggy shorts were certainly sneared at as he hung with the front bunch comfortably….
Scotty Rainsford smeared himself all over the road on the uphill after the red bridge, apparently the road could not contain his awesome power and something had to give.
The family came out to Lugatte to watch us sail past.
Neither of us got any spot prizes.
Can’t find the results, but it was a great day out – last year I did 3.01 – I would think I did about the same this year, and I think Trevor was about 15 mins quicker than me.

Over summer a couple of new bike were greeted in the stable.

I got an Intense Spider 29er (mtb for you heathens) which is way cool.

I trialled a Commencal Super 4 ( marathon XC bike) which wasn’t bad, but really only 4 inches of travel on 26” wheels. Come on. Gave it back.

Keighley got a round town ladies bike in the old but fashionably new frocks on bikes style. Ok it’s an old dunger in great condition that’s been pimped out:
Ultegra rear derailleur, Mary bars, my old cyclocross wheels and tires, XT thumbie shifter, full mudguards.

A new to me Panasonic Raleigh road frame to add to the collection; one day it might have full Dura Ace all over it.

And lastly for riding to work, a Schwinn touring bike that got stripped down and now sports Honjo hammered fenders, moustache bars, 700C wheels etc.

Going backwards a little to the end of 2010, there was the Otago/Southland singlespeed champs in Naseby.
Lets say it was bang on target for a typically debauched one gear race.
Stinking hot, start with a beer, a beer each lap, cooked legs, under geared on the flats, over geared on the hills, it was brilliant.
I’m not going to mention the fancy dress.

The Naseby 12 hour teams race has already had an honorable mention, but does get another event in May.

More on that later, because the next event was a 4hr solo effort in Hamner Springs.
Pre entered, along Peter Page from Doctor bike I was ready for anything.
Except the cats and dogs that fell from the sky.
Pete thought he might do two laps because the weather was so shite.
All I had to organize was food for the race.
No time to nip into town, so off to the food caravan waving a $50 note which the dutch proprietor swiftly grabbed and handed me back lolly cake, a coffee, apple strudel and something else I can’t remember and a bit of change.
“Never show a Dutchman all your money’ he said. How true.
After the first lap to sort of learn the way around it was just a mud bath.
My tire choice of Maxxis Ardents was ideal as it was the only pair I had and owned, so perfect really.
Actually they were great.
My family arrived – Keighley was sure I’d be all dog and having a less than fun time.
Ah ha ! Just the opposite I was having a ball.
I think my lap times were about 40-45 mins and I can’t find the results for that one either.
Lets say the winner on the days was the bikeshops that fixed up everyone’s rooted bikes thereafter.
I replaced all the bearings and the brakes pads. Most folks would have been up for a whole drive train as well.
The race organizer decided to shorten the 8 hr race to about 5.5 hrs – that’s how wet it was.
Pete hung in there for the 4 hrs, but his single pivot was no match for the VPP of the Intense.

For additional entertainment over the weekend, there was another earthquake in Christchurch leaving us without power for a few hours back at Pete’s place.
No damage, just frazzled nerves again.
The highlight for the kids was seeing The Wiggles live in concert – holy hell, a bike race and the Wiggles in one weekend. Something for everyone.

Next up in May was the Naseby six hour which was a fund raiser for the Christchurch earthquake.
Something that was unusual in the fact that I had the kids with me, instead of leaving them at home or off loading them to Keighley while I rode around like a hamster in a wheel.
Keighley was doing her first rogaine race with team Milf, so I had the kids and a willing team mate (Marc again) to look after them on alternate laps.
A completely different course to the 12 hour and what a ripper it was.
Marc’s bit of fluff; Hannah did the 6 hrs solo and made it with 10 seconds to spare
We on the other hand, toughed things out all day both on course and entertaining and keeping the wheels on the fun bus for the kids.
Oh, we had 10 minutes up our sleeve upon completion of the 6 hour mark.
Home and hosed you could say.
A clean sweep by Team Redwood Racing.
Then it was off to Dunedin after a gourmet dinner of roadside fish and chips in Ranfurly.
The kids did an awesome job – it was a HUGE day for them as we left Wanaka at about 6.30 am and arrived in Dunners about 9pm
The next day we did the museum and the swimming pools before driving home.
Phew.

Invercargill 4/8 Hr Mid June
Ha.
No kids this time. Flying solo for the weekend
Without sounding like a teenager, I hooked up the meanest digs for the weekend; above Cycle Surgery.
I even slept in Tom Skullys bed.
With only a few beers under my belt, I felt my form was God Like and I would conquer the 35 minute, pretty much flat course with ease.

Alas, my team mate; Marc (RR Dunners) was circulating two minutes a lap faster, so eating into my valuable recovery time and I fell apart at the 4 hour mark.
I suggested we call it a day as I made it with 10 seconds to spare, Marc replied that he would do a lap and we would discuss things thereafter.
He returned and I was in the same place in the tent as when he left, looking highly unmotivated to carry on riding.
So he did another lap.
Hannah had cleaned up the 4 hr girls solo class, so with that done and dusted, she was free to look after her man.
Or in her case, bugger off and get a free massage courtesy of the local Polytech students.
I was under the mild misapprehension that she might wish to contribute to our winning ways.
Seems I was wrong.
No matter.
After food – did I mention I put away two large pizzas over the course of the day ?
I went for a night lap, as did Marc and then the race finished and as usual, Hannah got a prize (admittedly she did win her grade) and also as usual we did not.
Then they drove home again making that about an 18 hour day, whereas I went back to the shop and drank myself into oblivion at the after ride party.
About 1am I wobbled upstairs and into the shower as I was in my riding gear…nice.
Next day was very slow and I’m pleased to note that I made it back onto solid food by mid afternoon.
After much reflection and discussion of this event, I can only assume that my absolute lack of training was potentially my undoing and that a 2 man team in an 8 hour event is a big ask especially with me and my two pizzas contributing ½ the fire power for the day.

National Cyclocross Champs Queenstown – two weeks after Invercargill.
My recovery phase was just about complete, so this was shaping up to be a good one.
Unfortunately the other 30 riders in front of me had more ambitious plans.
On a more positive note the 20 odd riders behind me need to lift their game.
My first official CX race – how exciting.
Queenstown MTB club put on a cracker of an event:
The course was excellent and up to UCI standards (I downloaded the rule book)
The BBQ was awesome.
Great tunes
Tony Moore on the mike
Once again I did not receive a prize.
Most everyone crashed on the super slippery muddy downhill near the finish – bragging here….I didn’t wish to muddy my very pro looking riding gear ..so kept it upright.
60 mins + a lap = very hard work.

The pictures did not upload to this blog, so I'll do some kind of online Flickr thing or whatnot.

Naseby 12 hr Teams Race 2011

2011-04-10T03:23:00.000-07:00

Plans were hatched months ago to be there for the 3rd year in a row.

A 29er team was planned…
Tony broke his ankle; he was out.
Mrs Oliver ended up in hospital therefore Phil was doubtful.
So we ended up with 4 x 29ers and a 26er in our 4 person team.
I know – we may have flouted the “rules” but we weren’t here to race as you will soon see…so it really didn’t matter.

So. We’d entered, we had a team, we had a ring-in from Taupo (Matt as in door) – what could go wrong ?

I bailed from work on Friday at 3pm to drop the tent off at the campsite and have some time to kick back at our Palatial Digs in Ranfurly Holiday Park – Motel unit this time, as nobody had booked any accom up till 5 days beforehand….whoops.

I was abducted by locals in Becks who had run out of gas then wouldn’t let me leave until I’d been fed and watered well beyond what someone wearing a uniform would think of as reasonable.
Let's just say I rolled into the Motel unit quite late and then Matt and myself giggled in our bunks trying not to wake up Pixie who was doing 12 hrs solo the next day…..she had earplugs. Wise move.

Saturday: weather: chilly start but fine.
Camp site; same as usual but not so much sun as the damn trees keep on growing and blocking out the sun…A fellow competitor who didn’t get his 29er ready in time had to move to the South side of pit lane but laughed at us in the shade all day.
We may join him next year.

Matt did not put his hand up for the first lap run around the campground, but got the task anyways as Phil and I have both done previously. This would have been the year to take the challenge as it was only a short run, but he had more running in store – stay tuned.

Phil did one lap then went to pick up his wife, then Craig took over but had to pull double duty for his sons team as one of their grommets couldn’t make it or more than likely was in the Alexandra Police cells….

Pixie hammered out the solo laps with Erin Green hot on her tail.
Marc gave me instructions for the handover: bottle, food, change bikes and don’t touch the Garmin – only Pixie can touch it !
Roger that, off he went for his lap.
Pixie came and went, single handedly I did what I was told and pushed her off up the hill with my left hand never to be washed again after been on her butt.

If only the next changeover went as well….

Marc and I were both down the back of the pits area getting things ready when unbeknownst to us Pixie came in, saw no one, grabbed a bottle off Erin’s mum -next door and carried on…
I went out on my next lap which I only think is fair to mention involved the first of a few shoddy changeovers….
Matt made his eyes bleed and pulled a 31 minute lap. He arrived, I was still dressed for snow conditions sitting in the shade drinking ½ a can of Monster Energy…crap. Off I went and man did I pay for it.
Somehow got my riding top off while riding and donned the Rambo sleeveless look and busted out my fastest time all day…33 minutes something I believe.

Pixie evidently came in and shared a few choice words with her crew chief/mechanic/life partner Marc.

Is it too early to mention my observation of possibly the same ladies cleavage as last year ?
A low slung tee shirt, two globes with their own independent orbits and a tattoo as well….
” Great cleavage” I muttered in a low tone – the surrounding tents uttered a collective gasp to which the girl raised her hand in a thank you salute and carried on her way.

I’m not 100 % sure of the next sequence of events but it went something like Marc was up for a lap, but not ready so was fussing around getting sorted when Craig appeared out of nowhere and got the wristband instead so took off….

Marc may have also shared a few choice words and did most definitely drop his bike and left the area and “go to Hell” or thereabouts.

Meanwhile I’m sure the other teams where dining out on our lack of commitment and disorganization, but hey, we had Monster Energy, a crack team or a team on crack (whichever) and 3 x 29ers & a Matt.

A quick check showed us in 13th place in the open mens category. Later on we were 17th. On completion 15th. I’d like to say true grit and determination got us there, but it was really Craig and Matt with their fast lap times.

Hey, lets have a little round up on the technology side of things.

Last year I couldn’t believe how many single speeds there were – this year it’s bloody 29ers.
I can say that as I own 2 of them.
Nice Segue to my own bike of choice: the Intense Spider 29er (dualie) which was awesome.
The only thing I changed for Naseby was my pedals, new seat and a new brand of chain oil. Which for me is an all time record when you consider what I normally get up to.

-Hottest guy would have been the guy wearing fuller upper body armour and a full face.
-Coolest guy would have been Tom from The Surgery Dunedin sporting just a pair hot pants.
-Nicest girl: (well my wife obviously, but in lieu of her not been present) I say the blondie dressed as Mini Mouse – a very good rider; I had to go up 2 gears to hang behind her on the hills…

I’m sure that if someone wanted to make a reality TV show we could have starred in it, but as with most weekends away; you had to be there.
The laughs and laps just kept on coming, so did Pixie and the bloody bike changes.

You could have heard a pin drop as she saw the lights mounted on the Superlight meaning Pixie would have maybe another 4 hrs stuck on the one bike, the one bike she isn’t completely Zen with, then she forgot to swap the GPS over and bumped her lights off the bars while sliding GPS into the bracket, my consoling words were met with anything but thanks. Then to make it worse Matt was trying to ace my turn at giving Pixie’s butt the much needed starting push ! I think not young man, step aside – I am a trained professional and you a mere helicopter pilot. Once again the other teams nearby hid behind their baked potatoes and cuppa soups.

Dusk settles upon us, the laps kept coming thick and fast; the A team of myself and Matt kept the wheels on the solo bus – it was probably Marc in reality but we enjoyed ourselves anyways – Matt sprinted around the campground with another bike and food on a couple of occasions – if it was me I would have disqualified myself for a bike change outside my own pits.

Ce la Vie.

I was offered beer but said I had to do a night lap first, so with that out the way and a calculation of time versus riders I had a beer and a shower and endured the unfruitful prizegiving.
Just so we're clear this picture is not the prize giving but a wee snack that Jeff: our camp commander whipped up...

Matt got the last spot prize; a case of Monster and a 6 pack of Speights (Good on ya mate) for making the journey from Taupo.
Pixie licked all the other girls in the solo class.
Anja Mcdonald smashed all the boys in the solo singlespeed class and won it overall.

Corbett; (Matt to his mum) did not disintegrate on his first foray into the potentially dark world of 12 hrs solo as predicted.
And it transpires that a major motivation for Pixie going at it all day like a 70 old with 7 Viagras onboard was that the boys had a bet on that Corbett could knock out more laps than her…..who would have even thought it ?

We have a whole year to convince Pixie that she should be our support crew and we do it solo next year, but so far this idea has not been met warmly.
Maybe publishing the photos of both me and Matt spooning her as she lay in a
lactic-acid-induced-semi-conscious-state later that night may do the trick ? Who really knows.

PS the longer course this year added 2 minutes to Ryan Cull’s once again fastest lap of the day.

Come in Christchurch; The Redwoods are here

2010-11-04T01:25:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is little Chuckies last day of radiation therapy, so Emily and I left Wanaka and flew to Christchurch to be with the rest of our nearest and dearest.

Leaving them to "re-connect" I took off to run some errands.

Beckenham Cycles where I got to sit in the back of Matt's new van - formerly owned by Cam Cole.

There was an ice cream stain on the back seat, but I hear he's dairy free ?

Anyways, then it was onto Around Again Cycles where I had a shock to deliver.

If you have ever had the opportunity to visit Adventure Cycles in Auckland (aka the gimp pit) then this place is next level.

Words cannot do it justice.

If you wanted to rebuild your Morrison Monark with every period correct piece of componentry etc.

then this is the place.

Kids trike -yep no problem; which year sir?

Raleigh Sports with cool curvy top top and 24" wheels - brand new frame on the wall.

Speaking of 24" wheels if you need a new front wheel for that death sled time trial rig from the Olympics in LA circa 1984 - they have them on the hook too.

If ever there is a shortage of Arabesque - these guys have it covered.

I could have bought DB 3-4 frames in his size that he would have been fizzing over...

GB stems - sure thing.

It really was like I'd put Frodo's ring on my finger and knew I shouldn't have.

I think I was lucky to get out of there with only a pair of 32 hole FIR tubular rims that I probably didn't need.

Resuming normal transmission now I headed to Harringtons Brewery which is similar in the fact that they have, I'd say maybe, 20 beers on tap to fill your own....

"Just a 2 litre of your darkest thanks love"

Only the 3rd time I'd been in there and she remembered Charlie from an earlier visit and was so pleased that it was all working out well thus far.

No surprises I go back there or buy in bottles from our local capitalist supermarket.

Across the road to Cycleways to introduce myself as we've often spoken on the phone - now I can put a face to that Australian voice down the phone....

Phil - their mechanic was regailling us of the time he was in Gordy Macauly's bunch and they were smashing it in a local club race....I thought quite highly of him at that point until he said it was 2 years ago.

I should have said I was riding with John Tomac just last year in Roto Vegas but the moment had passed.

Back home in rush hour traffic which was heavy compared to Wanaka but light for a big little city.

After tea we took the kids for a run around the park opposite the hospital so they're nice and tuckered out for a good nights kip.

Nice one Christchurch - for a strange twist of fate in us being here, you have looked after us well.

Oh this mornings coffee in CHCH was appauling, so we'll be looking for major redemption on that one tomorrow..but their clever marketing was my undoing - a medium was coffee was in fact conjoured by the devil himself and upon delivery was in fact a large cup, with a single shot and cooked milk.

Pah ! i say.

Just wait till tomorrow.

Another Round Lake Dunstan "Fun" Ride

2010-10-10T00:04:00.000-07:00

If you have been a follower of my sporadic blogging; last January I rode around Lake Dunstan - which is north from Cromwell and a circuit is 92km.

Today I repeated this journey as part of a fund raiser the local Rotary club (not barp barp barp) put on for three reasons:

- The date is 10/10/10

- It's World Mental Health Awareness day and today you'd be well included for riding in that weather

- They donate some funds to the local yoof to make them better individuals and less likely to smash car windows and the like.

Not surprisingly I did ride another bike from last time - welcome the Wilier Cento to the stable.

I finished putting it together at about 8.30 last night.

It's a bitsa of Trade Me purchases and was in better shape than I was after riding 30kms in a tail wind, 20km in a cross wind and 42km into a head wind.

The only major flaw in my last minute approach was the new 10 speed cassette - um I only did the lock ring up finger tight and as it wasn't on my to do list; well it didn't get done.

So it rattled the whole way around.

I did however finish off the brake cables Friday night, wrapped the bar tape yesterday, installed a new old Ultegra rear derailleur ($26) fitted cleats to my new old Sidi shoes that arrived Thursday ($90) realigned the rear brake caliper which sits on the piss in the frame cause Francesco had Chianti for lunch before he installed the brake bridge - but a tapered washer fixed that problem; then after much deliberation (Oli please stop reading you're about to have a cow)

I swapped out the 39/53 chainrings on the Ultegra cranks ($125) for an old Suntour Superbe Pro 42 and a Shimano 52 of unknown prodigy because I figured if I was in the little ring I could just roll a 42 along and spin a 52 in the tailwind...

And it worked sweet - the teeth measure the same width from 7 speed to 10 speed - go figure.

Or my chain will shatter into sideplate oblivion next ride.

Oh, swapped out the stem yesterday too.

Oh and a few weeks back I figured out that I could run Enduro MTB bearing in the external BB cups instead of faffing around with the plastic top hats and they spin pretty good for a modern set up.

Enduro Bearings take no responsibilty for that set up BTW.

Did I mention it was cold ? I even added a long sleeve merino layer under my short sleeve merino layer, then a vest with fluffy collar, a Buff and a riding jersey.

3/4 knicks and I would have murdered a pair off booties today, strange to think they are voted item I'm most likely to purchase next.

+ winter gloves...and a cotton cap of course.

Me and 2 or 3 girls and another guy rolled around the lake in 3.5 hrs and then got hailed on when putting the bike away.

We were all on a first name basis before too long.

Folks a little slower got a southerly and hail out on the course.

2 bottles of water, 2 bananas, 2 muesli bars.

I finally got a spot prize -a little spongy massage ball, not exactly entry fee back, but nice all the same.

Thawing out was in the local swimming pool spa - add one frozen bike rider and gently simmer until the feeling has returned to extremities.

Pictures of today are here

I might stop looking for more fun rides until the weather hits the late 30's which should be xmas.

Naseby 12 Hour Mountain Bike Race April 16th 2010

2010-04-24T03:01:00.000-07:00

This year’s event was showing a lot of promise – we entered on time and had a reasonable show of talent and scuffers alike – just like last year; but with different people.

Myself, Phil from Henderson Cycles in Alex, a friend of his; Craig Wight (pronounced White) and the love of my life – Keighley.

Recent events transpired to send it all pear shaped - read previous blog entry if you need updating.

I informed Phil that he might need another couple of riders just in case....he found a couple of local ladies thru the bike shop.

Then I re-invited myself back into the team as Keighley and Chuck were under control in Christchurch Hospital and no longer requiring my 24/7 bedside attention.

A small glitch the day before when my boss promised his pop up tent to two teams, but that was resolved thanks to Phil who had a spare one...

Jeff was there again, but with a far more palatial camp set up this time. He’d sent a text at 1.02 PM advising he was set up and good to go....you weren’t allowed onsite until 1pm and Jeff was first in the gate at 12.40....Legendary.

There was Cam riding solo again and another 3 teams sharing our digs, but plenty of room for all and sundry - even these guys:

I arrived much later and we quickly added the pop up to the mix thus completing the set up phase.

Next was the roll call phase – The girls were coming up on Saturday Phil said.

I asked where was Craig – our anchor man, the guy we’re hoping to string together endless sub 30 min laps while we drank beer and heckled the solo riders...

He’s in Taupo was the reply.

12 hours to go and he’s driving a truck down from Auckland that broke down, so had to go back to Hamilton to get a waterpump, back to Taupo fit the water pump and then keep going....

But at 10pm that night just as we’d found Phil’s bottle of Old Masters Port; Craig was on the Ferry across Cook Strait – a mere days drive away. Sweet as.

Aaron from RR Sport Dunners had ponied up with amazing accommodation via a family connection so we headed off there and giggled away like a couple of schoolgirls till the wee small hours until we faded away in a boozy haze......awakening in the same boozy haze wishing we didn’t have to go racing.

That’s right; he had his race face on and was out to prove the naysayers very, very wrong – McGrother can smash it all day in the dog people – look out.

I sent Phil out for the first lap as my knee was bung and I did the first lap last year anyways.

Once again the weather was great – warmer this year though and the course was mint.

I learnt the last bit of downhill single track to the finish was called “The cat puncher” for some strange reason that only Aaron knows...even though some guy broke his collarbone and thereafter the race radio referred to it as ....wait for it....collarbone alley.

How they came up with that one I’ll never know. I like Cat Puncher.

I know you’re wondering how I rode a year on from last year – I’d moved my cleats to a much more powerful shoe/pedal position and could really deal it out know. My cranks and bottom bracket probably need replacing I dare say.

New tyres were on the 29er complementing the wash and wax it had lovingly received prior.

And new FOX (there’s the plug) forks now with 15mm axle. Oh yeah baby.

I sucked as usual with times around 31.5 mins or slower which makes me think maybe I exaggerated my lap times from last year. Certainly there was no chance of knocking Ryan Cull from CSI (best prize for a wanky acronym) off his 24.09 min perch.

The day unfolded like a cheap Bali knock off watch – slick handovers or arriving to find no one on our team in the tent – real hit and miss stuff. Classic.

Craig arrived about 2pm and promptly knocked out our fastest lap on a bike I wouldn’t have ridden if was paid to; no suspension, vee brakes, 26 inch wheels, hardtail.

There that should get some discussion going at least....

From our excellent pit set up we watched a lot of Solo riders go past – many on singlespeeds and most with a wretched look on their faces as they ground uphill into the campground.

I may have quietly and politely said “bugger that” because it didn’t look like as much fun as we were having in the cheap seats handing out informal prizes for “most outstanding nipples” and “best cleavage”. I wouldn’t call myself sexist – more of an observational roll is how I’d describe it.

At one stage we were in tenth place in the mixed vets grade – then with the blink of an eye 6^th place, just like that. Must have been that 6 seconds I pulled back one time....

Hannah has taken on the moniker of skate/sifty chick while recovering from a busted ankle so I didn’t have to arrange any impromptu catering this year. Marc may have busted a night lap in a fairly smart time, but that hasn’t been confirmed by the commissaries panel as yet.

My night lap was marred by lack of familiarity with the night time riding environment even though I had a new light set up which bang for your buck (again, there’s the plug) is awesome.

Or was it the total lack of training or recent blip in the game plan ?

All three I’d say – I was done.

Fortunately Craig wasn’t and he bought us home inside the time limit to chalk another lap up for team www.redwoodrevolution.blogspot.com

While we all dipped out at a very well represented prize giving (riders and goodies) Craig did get an honourable mention for most determined effort to get there and some booze to boot. Nice.

Marc was in charge of post event fluid repatriation and thanks to Emmerson’s Brewery, dehydration wasn’t a factor.

Sunday dawned with the frost from Hell – wait that doesn’t make sense, because Hell didn’t actually freeze over, it was just very cold.

The Cafe was shut on (potentially) the most lucrative day of the year, but the girls had the coffee cart cranking again which was a smart move on their behalf.

We were packed up and ready to roll surprisingly early for us – well me anyway.

No trip away would be complete without a few distractions – the private museum in Naseby was a tremendous tribute to the past and his neighbour gets a special mention for his enthusiasm to motorsport; he was racing motorbikes at Porirua when I was in a pram !

Hayes Engineering in Oterehua was impressive for another dose of yesteryear.

And the chow and cuppa at the Cafe in Omakau was very pleasant.

Different to last year, but just as enjoyable for a bunch of different reasons.

Cheers Naseby.

6th of March was supposed to go like this..

2010-04-13T03:12:00.000-07:00

A lot happened that day.....

I'd entered the Alpine Classic - here was the words from the Otago Daily times newspaper 2 days later:

On a warm and sunny Saturday morning, about 100 cyclists took off on the tough 135km bike ride, from Queenstown to Wanaka over the Crown Range and back again, in the Outside Sports Alpine Classic Cycle Race 2010.
The field of 67 individual starters and 16 teams took off from Guilty Bar in central Queenstown, and were back in Queenstown in record times, with no accidents along the way.
Organiser Bill Godsall said the race had been attended by cyclists from all over the South Island, and he was very happy with this year's large and strong field.

A friend; Carl Boomsma did the first leg and I rode back to Queenstown - my wife & kids were going to be at the top of the Crown Range to cheer me on - I'd missed the bunch at the changeover so sent them a message I was on my way - Keighley replied that Charlie really wasn't well and they wouldn't make it.
I rode most of the 66km by myself and to make it brief; I suffered like a dog up the climb, descended like a grandma, but only got caught by one person and that was about 6 kms from the finish - he was 4th in the teams, we were 5th. Overall we got 29th from the 67 starters.
I was stoked to do so well.

I'd got a text when descending off the hill and checked my phone - two messages; one from Jess saying that when I got the message from Keighley that I wasn't to panic and it was all under control - the other message said that Charlie my 2 year old son, Keighley and Jess were driving to Dunedin Hospital (3.5hrs away) to get Charlie checked out as he had been wobbly on his feet and not the best for a few weeks....

Next day he had an MRI scan which showed a golfball size "mass" inside his head which was applying pressure to his brain causing him to be unwell.
Later that day he was on the air ambulance to Starship (kids) Hospital in Auckland, 5 days later he endured the longest surgery in the world (well it was 8am-7.30pm before we got him back) and then another 5 days later he was up and about again.

Go figure.
Talk about an emotional roller coaster ride. Phew - words can't do it justice.

Luckily everyone rallied and was super supportive to help us all through it.
Charlie is now based in Christchurch for at least the next 4 months while he starts his year long course of chemo therapy to hopefully show any left over cancerous cells that he's the boss and they just aren't welcome !

There have been numerous articles in the local papers about a fundraiser the neighbours have put on to help raise money; so I can look after Emily in Wanaka (i.e less time for work), also so we can fly Emily up to see Mum and Charlie (her flights are not paid for) and lastly - Keighley had to pull out of her studies to become an Early Childhood Teacher and only got 1/2 her fees back - hopefully she can resume next year.
You can read about us here, here and here.

One of our friends in England suggested putting a Paypal logo up on this blog which works for our Internationals who have flown the coup -
thanks Amy - I'd never have thought of that myself.

Everyone's support and generosity is overwhelming, but will really help us get through this time in our lives in much better shape -

A huge thank you to you all.

Holidays, Rails & New Trails

2010-02-10T00:45:00.000-08:00

This post is bought to you by myself dating Mid February 2010 back to our family vacation in December 2009.

The Upper Clutha Tracks Trust have been putting time, money and resources into some great new trails alongside Lake Wanaka, Hawea River and the Clutha River.

I'm sure there is a lot more they contribute to but today we're talking about the new trail from Albert Town (where we live - 5 kms from Lake Wanaka) to Luggate (another 12kms by car) that follows the Clutha River.

It's so cool I've done it twice in 4 days..

Did I mention the Luggate Hotel has 8 beers on tap and a glass jug sets you back about 10 bucks?

There, just did.

Saturday was with Callum on the yellow terror rigid single speed and this avo with Paul Smith (formerly of Essence Bicycle) on his Singular single speed 29er.

Other recent bike rides feature my dad on my Karate Monkey and my son Charlie riding on the back of Gary Fisher with me in the pilot seat.

Last year UCTT finished another trail alongside the Hawea River right up to Lake Hawea (about 10km from home, one way)

We did 1/2 of it on Sunday stopping for peanut butter sandwiches...

Other rides of note was from my brothers place in Petone up Wainuiomata Hill - yep, you did read corectly I did indeed ride up it this time - no shuttling and then South along the ridgeline and down into Wainuiomata.

This is one of Caleb's best ever tracks and his video does more justice than me telling you all about it.

Karangahake Gorge near Waihi on the Corromandel was another great day out with Tom & Owen.

Mmmmmmmmm can you say Native trail goodness ?

On holiday in Nelson over Xmas I was crook as dog who just got kicked in the guts, so it was pretty low key taking the kids on the back to the shop sort of stuff........

And there was a brewery round the corner from the motorcamp we stayed at in Mapua.

Riding it was none the less.

Oh me and Flossy got to bomb down the South side of Takaka Hill on borrowed bikes which was pretty cool, but also shows how inefficient baggy shorts and a casual button front shirt are for sneaking through the wind at warp factor 40km/h.

Only good for about 38 and who wants to get in a tuck wearing flip flops ?

Another perspective on the weekend's ride

2010-01-11T11:03:00.001-08:00

This just in from our newest contributor - yeah, the guy about to whack it into the hammer....

"Attached a photo from the weekend if you need a contribution to the wettest story of the year - this what the front looked like 15 seconds before it went single file gutter."

Thanks Scotty.

92km of yeah well, you know.....well "fun"

2010-01-09T23:30:00.000-08:00

I think it only fair to say for starters I'm not really one for setting long term goals and whatnot - imagine the disappointment if you got run over tomorrow and you hadn't ticked them all off.

But I did say late last year that I'd (like) to do the "fun ride" round Lake Dunstan and then I promptly ended up on death's door before Christmas with a head cold/sinus thing that would have laid up even swine flu itself.....

So I kind of said yeah nah.

Right up till yesterday infact - even after I'd installed the new (wider) handlebars (check it out man, I'm riding a 31.8mm stem now.....), changed the seat, cleaned the bike, fiddled with the seat height a few times, took it for a test ride in the new kit and still, I was to coin a DB phrase - ambivalent about forking out $35 + 10 bucks late fee to ride round a lake that is only 30 minutes away and I could ride round it anytime I like!

So, fast forward to this morning: woke to rain - oh goody I can sleep in.....

Still looking for inspiration.........................................................

Found this on the interweb last night and after that I thought :

"If Andrew Meo can still lay the smack down at 47, I can bluff my way through a 92km fun rideat 40"

Rain stopped: bugger might have to go and do it - plenty of time to make it - yeah lets go.

Coffee x 2- check.

Bin full of stuff - check

Bike - check

Shoes - had to stop 10 km down the road: to....... - check.

Forked over the money, much relieved that they did this:

-instead of pin holes thru the new jersey.

Got changed, went for a roll to suss out the finish - like I'd be featuring, but at least I'd know when to slow down...and then the wind changed to a Southerly and it rained.

Crap.

Money down, must ride now.

It's been a while since I've turned up at a "fun ride" seems that the guy who invented carbon must be laughing all the way to his big fat bank.

Even in the deep south, the fashion setters make an appearance:

Then we lined up, started rolling and it rained.

Riding, riding - it rained heavier.

Riding riding then it really rained a lot and we weren't even out the neutral zone.

I knew we were out the neutral zone because Scotty from Outside Sports got things going in the tailwind at 60km.....

My grupetto was a little more sedate, but the big ring it was in and before I knew what was happening I was bridging a gap and moving through the field and feeling ok - well I wasn't puking at least.

Thanks tail wind - you rock.

And no one was in toeclips !

A couple of old steeel frames, but I was on my new to me but 5 year old carbon Trek, so no time to mix and mingle discusing friction shifters buddy - I've moved to nine, yes nine of the finest on the bars !

Cross wind section from Taras to Maori Point Road; I was the man and pulled the bunch on through - I thought I was just riding on the front, but some guy said "nice work there" and he looked like he'd conservatively done about a million km's in his day - same Sidi shoes as me too.

I commented of course that I thought I had the oldest shoes, but no, we had matching it seems.

"Got them in '94" he said.

I replied that mine had been riding with Johan Museew when Smile Upton owned them.

Anyways, Luggate came and went 50 km's from the start in 1hr 20 mins...........pretty good.

Then it was head wind to home (42km) and rain and a bunch that couldn't really organise a piss up in a brewery.

So I sat in, had lunch and then it rained - a lot.

Like if you were driving in your car, you would have slowed down to 60km/h and put your lights on too.

It was the most wet I'd ever been riding my bike.

Then we had thunder and lightening as well. Wicked.

At least I didn't have a mortgage payment of carbon wheels out there in the deluge.

I was pretty glad I had my knee and arm warmers on...and my vest on under my jersey, and a merino 1st layer - ah, I can hear Andrew Meo's words now "always wear a woolly layer even in summer - can't go wrong"

This was true as it was indeed summer and fortunately the sheep have become softer and market themselves better these days.

Andrew was also reknowned for issuing red cards for infringements over incorrect sock length, missing a turn on the front, letting a gap open up.........once when the boys were racing in the Top of the South Tour, we spent a whole afternoon driving around Blenheim looking for a good coffee.

We'd do a drive by then send in a scout on recon, filter machines earning a "no way in hell" and a dirty machine a similar response.

But I digress - do check out Slims blog tho, he had quite the day today.

Somehow I ended up last wheel in a beautiful echelon of five riders spread across the road past the Cherry farms - it was a thing of greatness as everyone else was strung off my wheel unable to organise another line.

Ah, it was the sort of thing even the Ariostia team time trial would have been proud of.

Shame my sodden gloves and hands couldn't feel the bars or that my ankles were part of my body at this point....

We even collected up another small bunch - life was good.

The finish line was looming after a left hander in the industrial area, 4 guys jumped, I didn't.

Well until two bloody school girls who had wheel sucked their way around the whole way tried to roll me on the line - I don't think so.

"Stop riding like a pussy" was all I could hear from Slim at that point, so I fed it to them and finished 4th in our bunch of maybe 30 riders.

Stats:

Race distance 92km,

My time 3hr 1 minute.

Winning time 2hr 20 minutes by the young junior who won 3 golds at the Track Worlds in Russia last year.

I finished 29th overall in the 35-44 year old age group and 79th overall out of 243 riders, so just squeaked into the top 3rd off the field.

I ate 2 bananas, 1 muesli bar and drank 1.5 bottles of water from my bottles and must have swallowed another 16 gallons of wheel spray.

1 cup (more or less) of dirty water emptied out of the frame when I got home.

90 psi in the Conti 700 x 28 tires made the big chip that much more comfortable - poo poo the nay sayers.

At prize givinh I picked up a flyer for another race in 2 months time from Queenstown to Wanaka and return over the Crown Range and thought yeah that wouldn't be so bad....

Which is good as I've finished other "fun" rides previously and wanted to sell the bike.

Didn't get a spot prize, but never mind that's racing.

A ride with John in mind

2009-10-14T02:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-21T23:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-16T02:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-28T01:16:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-06-02T01:34:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-29T04:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-07T23:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-02-28T00:51:00.000-08:00

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 ?

2009-02-12T01:08:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-07T13:46:00.000-08:00

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.

This post actually belongs before the one below it....

2008-12-22T22:22:00.000-08:00

Leighton and Pauline came over from Bannockburn to visit for the weekend.
We used to go riding with them and others most weekends in Auckland.
They up'dsticks and left Auckland about 4 years ago and now reside wherever the roads take them.
Yes, they are transients and between careers. If you call owning a 33 foot caravan homeless then so be it.
Can you help with a food parcel for X-mas, I'm sure it would be appreciated.
I believe the last gainful employment was house painting in Invercargill over winter.
Now that is dedication; getting blasted with a Southerly straight off the South Pole. Sod that.

Anyways, we had a great weekend and rented them our front lawn until x-mas when they headed north to catch up with family.
Leighton got lumbered with all the "fun" jobs I've been putting off for, well ages really.
Let's say his talents as a joiner/cabinet maker weren't really stretched, but he did ok.

They must have stayed about 3 weeks and it was really nice having an extra pair of hands around the place to help out when needed or entertain the kids before dinner, bust out a game of Scrabble (Leighton is very good you know - he lost to Keighley quite badly both times) and go mountain biking with.
Photos from Dirt Park 25kms from here are here

Adventure Mountain Biking Central Styles

2008-12-14T00:10:00.000-08:00

Went for a wee mtb ride yesterday.
Alright it's not that simple.
Keighley was going out but that got scuttled as the girls posse couldn't get it going to suit their (menstrual) cycles and/or baby sitters.
So Leighton and I said lets go and knock of the Touheys Gully loop from the top of the Crown Range - altitude about 1000 metres (remember this fact.)
Then Barney from Queenstown rings and says "what are you doing?" I tell him to meet us at the top of the Crown Range. Yep no worries except Fenella (his girl) was riding to Wanaka on the road and would need Keighley to grab a change of clothes for her arrival - Keighley was running us up to the top while Leighton's truck was at the end of the trail.
Barney then invited Christina Sargent as well....
So we got started about 11.45 instead of 10am....

And holy crap it was steep.
I'll be the first to say I need to gear the 29er down a fraction - seems I was riding the equivalent of a 28 when you really would have appreciated a 34 on the back...
Barney who is not human rode all but the super steep bits in his middle chainring (freak)
Leighton rode it all, but he's between careers at the moment so does more than his fair share of riding and Christina put a in a solid effort on her new dualie - I did see her hop back on for the photos though...
So yeah, basically I walked a lot, my lungs are still full of little green men and my legs turned into planks of wood.
I pulled the pin after about an hour and 500 metres of altitude gain.

Not sure when I've bailed out on a (mid) ride before so it was a whole new experience.
Did I feel less of a person ?
Would this mean the end of my cycling career?

Nah.

It's ok.
I just rode back retracing my steps, had lunch overlooking the Gibbston Valley and pottered back down the Cardrona Valley to meet the others.
Only had to wait 12 minutes for them.

The girls had whipped up a great spread when we got home followed by a picnic dinner at Dublin Bay.
Then some fairly amazing beers with Leighton (Black Sheep Ale, Youngs Double Chocolate followed by a Chimay) and that was it.

Leighton was up all night throwing up - might be dehydration/sunstroke or the flu.
But man was he crook today.

Keighley got out for her ride, a visit to the Farmers Market and generally left the kids to me.
Emily helped me clean the 29er and then we all went to the nieghbours for Deans's birthday bbq.

Phew.

Our recent holidays

2008-11-26T01:22:00.000-08:00

Can be viewed here at Emily's blog (that we write for her, cause she's only little)

1st Adventure ride with Hugh & Rick

2008-10-19T00:56:00.000-07:00

Another weekend neglecting my pushbikes - well I did get the fixie out and ride to the mail box.

With the arrival of new Yamaha, Sunday afternoon was a quick jaunt from Hawea Flat up the Eastern side of Lake Hawea to the Dingle Station -well as far as the locked gate would let us.

Photos here

Hugh couldn't wait to find a track that was off the main gravel road...in the trees, blasting through a Ford at warp factor ten and filling his boots with water....
- and then he sees a guy in moto gear walking towards him who has run out of gas -"hop on mate, we'll sort you out"
Hugh's tail was thumping so hard at the prospect of helping someone there was a dust cloud.
Got him sorted and we're on our way again.
Had a play at Timaru Creek - crossing a few braids and not dropping it luckily. Hugh might need a snorkel to curb his enthusiasm.

Then home for a bbq with the neighbours, welcome summer, welcome.

Oh, My God..

2008-10-10T01:41:00.000-07:00

I had a cup of instant coffee.

Yeah I know.

What was I thinking?

It's possible I wasn't.

In my defence I was wrestling between luke and darth.

This was the temptation:

Since then I have given up on my boyhood dreams of becoming a Fireman, Space astronaut, Policeman, etc.

My favourites file is full of search phrases such as:

Australian Rally Safari

Dakar Rally

KTM 640 ralle bike rebuild

Oh, dear. I may need a lot of post it notes left around the house with cute messages like "I fed the kids- see at 6pm tonight" and "Wow, you're the best Keighley see you Sunday avo"

**************************************************************************************

update: 11/10/2008

Um, I got my own instead of dribbling over

pictures on the www.... ......................................................exhibit A:

Had a spin on Saturday morning, rode it home from Alexandra that afternoon.

Left at about 4.45, got home about 8pm.

It's only 100km by road....

My post it notes seemed to have worked pretty well.

Lucky for me I didn't need to ring home as the cell b8atry was flat, the snow was deep and it was getting low on available light. Oh and gas level was unknown......

Lucky I was on an adventure bike :-)

Pictures to follow.

A nice drive in the country

2008-08-20T02:04:00.000-07:00

Under the pretence of staff training, Alastair (my boss) and I spent last Saturday here
Basically we got to drive 3 wicked - well ok, two wicked and one chicks car in the snow and ice all day under the supervision of this guy: Hunter Edwards; apparentley he doesn't google (WTF?)

Check this link for Hunter's gallery
We were the group dated 16/08/2008 and yes, that is me behind the wheel of the Golf in pictures 3-15.
Yes, the car did nearly a full 360 spin and yes, Alastair did grab the hand brake moments prior!
And that's me again reversing out of the snow bank in the same car a bit later on as well.

Here's some data gathered from the GPS gizmo in the BMW from the morning session:
STUDENT - rick - alastair
LAP 1 - 70.5 - 72.3
LAP 2 - 72.4 - 72.4
LAP 3 - 74.5 - 72.7
AVG.SPEED - 30.4 - 29.4
MAXSPEED - 45.7 - 44.1
STDEV - 2.00 - 0.21

And because the boss has only heard of a blog, but never read one I'm fairly safe to mention that I did post a faster lap than him and did I also mention he hopped out of the Beemer leaving it in drive ? Lucky the Golf was parked in front to halt it's travels...... :-)

Whilst freaking expensive, it was a great time and a good one to tick off the list.

Oh & here's a link to Shaun Summerfield doing the very thing but at the tax payers expense.
(It takes an age to load, but it is the best way to show what happended)

Momma & Poppa Redwood go ridin'

2008-08-13T02:10:00.000-07:00

After much confusion on Saturday morning Hugh turned up with a very pregnant Jess (due that day), who looked after the nippers while we went out riding.

This was a big thing for myself and Keighley as the littlies pretty much put the kybosh on going "hey, let's just go out for a bike ride" In fact it's the first time since we moved here a year ago that we've been out into the Sticky Forest together.

Hugh wasn't even like a third wheel ! More like a studly version of myself - he was wearing my vest which I purchased from Big Bear Bikes - wait for it - in Big Bear Lake, California...............they even have Tinker Juarez's Etto Helmet in the window.

This is officially the middle of winter - the rest of the country is getting slammed with less than ideal bike riding weather.

We however had dust coming off our tires.

Not that I'm bragging.

The Boys in Blue

2008-08-07T16:23:00.000-07:00

Nah, not the cops - a couple of bikes I own.

One is broke.

& the other one is it for off road at the mo - what's that you say?

No Foes ? Yep it's sold, 1st time in 8 years without a Foes

I've even been de-Kleined !

Indeed the '98 Attitude comp has gone too.

Clark Kent: used to belong to Stephen Swart when he was racing for the Coors Light team in the USA, prior to the team switching to Serottas the next year.

It has unceremoniously been sitting in a bike box for the last 12 months waiting and waiting and waiting......finally after a wiff of cafeine inspiration from http://rewiretrorides.blogspot.com/ I'm into it.

The paint is stuffed and there is a hairline crack in the gusset under the down tube.

So it's off to http://www.kiwibikes.co.nz/ for some love with the welding torch and then down to Wellington to get some new paint and decals from Ross Bee.

The 8 speed down tube shifter Dura Ace groupset complete with "Coors Light" marker pen on the rims will be re-instated.

It's definitely winter in Wanaka

2008-07-06T02:03:00.000-07:00

9am, Saturday - soon to be father; Callum rings and says we're going for a spin in the snow.

This entails a 4 minute spin down to Trish & Callums for a warm up coffee then a further kilometre to the dirt.

We've put together a small loop that doesn't even get us into the forest, which is only 20 mins by bike.......oh I miss the driving. (Tui ad)

We spent our time on a bunch of tracks that drop from the sidle track down to the Clutha River and some thoughtful individuals have built a new (easier) track to take you back up to the top to pick another way down.....

Potential for getting it wrong rises considerably with speed, or supposed familiarity of the trail...so far nothing but a few scuffed rear derailleurs due to errant tree roots.

The snow didn't stay for long - the sun came out later on.

Callum showing his usual style for the camera:

Quality time in the Garage......

2008-06-02T00:50:00.000-07:00

The family is up north, so I've had a great couple of days in the garage here in Wanaka.

Drawing inspiration from Ebay where I found a great Raleigh Panasonic sloping TT bike, I spent the afternoon re-creating my own.
**Footnote** This frame used to belong to Mark Rendell who rode it in the team time trial in the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Australia. NZ came home with a bronze medal for the 100km event in a shade under 2 hours.
Sounds like a world of hurt for two hours.........
The 28 spoke wheels were my time trial specials from when I was 15:
Sansin sealed bearing hubs
Suntour new winner freewheel 13-19 straight
Bladed spokes
Mavic GP 4 rims
Currently wearing Wolber Strada 80 tires that dad bought home from the UK in the late 80's
All the Campag was on hand and looking for an excuse to get out off the shelf.
I think the frame might have originally sported a 26 inch front wheel, but it came with these forks, so that'll do for now.

2008 Single Speed MTB Nationals

2008-05-02T02:39:00.000-07:00

The Single Speed Nationals 2008 saw me heading off to Rotovegas for Anzac weekend with the new and improved Surly Karate Monkey in tow.
After much dithering over how to get the bike there I dismantled it and took it with me on the plane in the trusty (and now used by me three times) bike bag.
Jimmy collected me from the airport in the 306 station wagon and we just threw that Surly bike across the back seat.
I called shotgun and got the front – which was leather and comfortable compared to Air NZ which was not comfortable - BTW - a pissy little bag of banana chips as the inflight meal doesn’t cut it for me these days.
B95FM on the dial was a welcome blast from the past; Wanaka is crippled by two dreadful radio stations – do you think I care the local Harcourts office is MREINZ ??? I think not.
Anyway we got snarled trying to get on the motorway by Gillies Ave, so hit Broadway instead. And stopped.
Eventually we crawled across a bridge that I had forgotten the name of (Grafton) and made it to Che` Kimmy and Jimmy in Freemans Bay.

The couch was good to me although the night was full of strange forgotten noises…….streetlights, sirens, people etc……. haven’t missed them at all.

Drove down with many other affluent people in tin tops to Vegas, hit Burger Fuel for lunch and then the trails for a quick spin after collecting Jim the Pom, Ricky the …well I’m not sure what he is and Bob the Sideshow.
Kept things low key and bid Bob and Frank the German farewell early on, to continue our slow journey, while they went up to the highest hill in the forest and took in the splendor of Billy T and Split Enz.
As Ricky, Jim and Jimmy were racing the next day we just took it easy otherwise Kim and I would have ripped their legs off.

Weillans Noodle House was great for dinner – cheap and plentiful, then off to the Pig & Whistle to see “Pure Sweet Hell” which was probably most folks first time they’d seen a cyclocross movie.

Breakfast for us was at Missy’s (formerly Sheryl’s) which while basic has make your own toast while they kill an animal then serve it up on plate. Delicious. If we'd gone to Zippy's we'd still be waiting.

Bought some stickers and books for the kids then off to Zippys for a coffee and catch up wirh Helen & Steve; who both got bowled on their road bikes by a boat trailer a while back, so it's good to see them really.

Had a quick look at the sign on/screwtineering - it's a single speed race not an election.

Myself, Mase and CTB had a couple of beers while Dean the organiser didn't tell us where the course went.
Not gloating here, but people - come on; beer is your friend.

The race- people looked keen, then broken, then relieved it was all over.

My optimistic call not to ride was spot on - I would have had no smiles at all.

I was also way over geared on the 29er - next time in Vegas it'll be 32 x 20 - not a 34 on the front.

Prizegiving was good, we bailed about 10pm - that's a late night for me these days.

Sunday was back to the Pig for a great breakfast, and a survey of the weather which was crap.
So it was off to Nick and Amandas for coffee instead.

An uneventful trip home was followed by Pizza Hut for dinner which these days is a novelty.

Monday I scooted thru town feeling like quite the suburban type down to http://www.bikecentral.co.nz/ for coffee and a muffin and to talk bike stuff with the boys.
Seems Auckland is caught up in "fixed gear fever."
Can I coin that phrase ?

Solved the problems of the world with the taxi driver on the way to the airport and then met the family who had been in Dunners for the weekend.
Great to be away, but great to be home with the family too.

My pics here - excuse crap quality
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/RedwoodRevolution/2008SingleSpeedNationals

And a nice video here: (not mine, just pointing you in the right direction)
http://www.vorb.org.nz/video-view-93175.html

And the ozzies did a great job with the camera:
http://singlespeed.smugmug.com/gallery/4788699_wfbPk#287205758_6KHRN

A lighter wallet = a heavier bike ! WTF ?

2008-04-15T01:50:00.000-07:00

:Lets start with the problem.

I normally ride a SRAM 11-32, but felt the fast end of the cogs never really got used - and the 2, 3 and 4 tooth jumps weren't geling with me: 11-12-14-16-18-21-24-28-32

So I found a 13-34 cassette that goes:

13-15-17-19-21-24-27-30-34.

Unfortunately I've emptied my wallet and doubled the weight of the cassette in the process, but after a couple of rides I'm sure I will have convinced myself that it's a good thing.

In the garage I still have my original custom 7 speed cluster from the early 90's on my Klein Rascal : 13-15-17-19-21-23-26...........Got it brand new in the build kit and had it in bits on the workbench before the day was out.....who needed a 28 in 1992 anyway ?

Monkey gets one gear

2008-04-07T01:51:00.000-07:00

With the up and coming single speed nationals happening in a few weeks in Rotovegas, the Karate Monkey has dropped a few things:

-28 gears - now running 34 x 20

-1.5 pounds - now weighs in at 24 pounds

It's first ride, sans gears was a disaster - the wheel pulled over about a zillion times. Luckily I was onto my way to work, so it was a worthy excuse to be late.

Thanks to the guys at Surly I am now the proud owner of:http://www.surlybikes.com/parts/tuggnut_pop.html -these are the business and after the installation and second ride there is no more burning rubber on the chainstay.

Just sweet riding.

I dropped the truck off at the mechanics after work and rode home via the Sticky Forest and Outlet (river) trail to home.

I still walked a hill early on - I never said I turned into a smacked up TDF rider just thru having 1 gear.....but riding up Ho Down, which for me on the dualie is a granny/middle chainring affair was just a breeze.

Going down Venus was bumpy in places for sure, but with nothing to do but pedal, carve the corners and occasionally brake it was a blast.

Dublin Back was a smoking descent as was the Sidle track where some kind fellow has trimmed back a few bushes and trees.

All in all, this bike is very cool, a lot of fun and a worthy addition to the stable.

And if some one ponies up with some cash, they can have Keighleys little Klein and then we'll have two Karate Monkeys in the garage.

There is now a monkey in the house

2008-03-16T01:41:00.000-07:00

A Surly Karate Monkey in fact.

Had it 3 weeks, but just got it rolling in a satisfactory state this weekend.

Saturday was the proper shakedown - from home to the Sticky Forest and up and down many times, then home again. The absence of front suspension is definitely offset by the 25.5 pound weight, which is surprising - I thought it'd be closer to 30.

Today I towed Emily into town in the trailer to get some groceries - proving that it is indeed a bike of many guises.

Yes, early days in the relationship I know, but so far I'm enjoying have sex with my new bride.

**Footnote** After a quick browse of http://g-tedproductions.blogspot.com/ I realise this is a fairly shallow post.

So, here's the specs;

medium monkey frame, with rigid fork.

Hadley 32 hole hubs (freaking expensive, but V good.

Black spoke, cut by DB the spoke master

Salsa Degado race rims (25mm wide)

Black rubber inner tubes.

Kenda Kharma 29 x 2.2 tires (pretty narrow 2.2 if you ask me)

Cheap shitty 25.4 85mm long stem

Salsa Moto Ace 11 degree flat bars (very cool would get them again)

Ritchey Logic headset - seen better days

Cheap lock on grips - scratched the bars first time I took them off - bah !

Shimano 3 x 9 Deore/ Deore XT shifters (dual release - very nice, but confuses my thumb/index finger)

Avid Juicey 4 brakes - that is 3 levers and 5 calipers....no psringf in the front pads so they rattle.

Hope 6 inch rotors

Suntour XC Pro front derailleur with butchered Shimano plastic spacer to make it fit.

Clapped out Shimano 73 mm square taper bottom bracket
Shimano XTR old school 175mm cranks with 24/34/42 chainrings
Little SPD Shimano pedals
SRAM chain !
SRAM cluster 11-32 !
Shimano XTR shadow rear derailleur - medium cage
Easton seatpost (formerrly Clint Jacksons)
Seat - yes, narrow, slim and not overly comfortable and probably expensive.
Hand made Bike plate - actually a seat plate, made from a pilfered real estate sign.

Probably some other stuff, but you've fallen asleep by now.

First thoughts on the 29er phenomenom

2007-10-28T01:16:00.000-07:00

Borrowed one of these off our South Island rep for a week:

So here's my take on it so far. Saturday morning towed Emily in the trailer around the lakefront - very capable in that line of work.

I had already geared it down to a 33 x 20 (John rides a 16), a shorter stem (inverted), narrower clapped out old ti rail saddle and wrapped the WTB grips in road handlebar tape for more comfort as well.

Saturday avo I took it out solo and as soon as I was offroad the chain fell off and continued to do around a very much shortened circuit. Yes, you can tension the chain if it becomes loose, no I did not have an 8mm spanner to assist. :-(

At home after much fettling in the garage and neglection of child minding duties.......I'd changed the rear sprocket about three times all to no avail. put a 1/8 track chain on but it rubbed the bash guard, changed the front chain ring - no good, so in the end put an old circa 1985 21 toother on the back, tensioned it up and went riding with the local mtb club on their first club day of the season.

The bike behaved and I even figured out the cheap front chainring was slightly oval, so took the chain off, rotated the cranks 180, remounted the chain and it all worked in a most harmonious fashion. The high spot in the chainring took up the slack in the chain at just the right time. Sweet.

My aversion to riding off road with rigid forks hasn't left me unable to lift a coffee cup, beer or cup of tea so far. Might be some truth to the 29er forum nerds who say you don't need suspension forks......

1st time Heli Biking

2007-10-23T02:02:00.000-07:00

It all came together today. A couple of clients ponied up for the helicopter, Al is the guide and I was there on staff training

>>>>>>>>>Here's how we start off>>>>>>>>

Then a five minute buzz up the ridge with the bikes hanging underneath by a rope. First time in a chopper for me, not unlike sailing really - you have no control and no idea how it's all going. No stress, just plonked the bikes down in the snow, drop the rope, park the chopper and hop out, gather up the rope and that's it for the pilot: off to the next job. Sweet.

We headed off down the fenceline and promptly deposited the yanks over the bars - oops you boys have the brakes round the other way huh ? Lets just change that ! No worries mate. It was kinda steep though, so fair enough.

In no time at all we're down in the tussock - kind off windy still (turns out in Dannevirke trucks were getting blown over today) and following Al. down some imaginery track to some faraway gate. I have no idea where all the time went, but the trip took us about 3 hours loading the chopper to loading the ute....not all downhill, but maybe 95%

Oh did I mention how fresh my legs were at the top of the hill ?

I'm talking fresh.

Here's a pic of your erstwhile blogger enjoying the staff training:

Spring Riding in Wanaka

2007-10-21T01:34:00.000-07:00

An early afternoon ride today with the usual suspects:Trish & Callum, Jess & Hugh and Steve from Wastebusters as well.
I was nearly running late for the 12.30 lift off so decided against grabbing the first (and some would say most sensible) bike inside the garage - our demo Commencal Meta 666 dual suspension..........Single Speed - nah..........// Cannondale cyclocross bike ? Now you're talking.
And it was great. Sketchy in places for sure but put the challenge back in riding.....
Into the Hikawai Reserve and along to the Sticky Forest. Up and down and all around for an hour or so and then back home for chow.
Nice to do the same trails, but on a completely inappropriate bike they seem brand new.

1991 Merlin upgrades

2007-08-12T03:31:00.000-07:00

Unsure if I've previously blathered on about the Merlin, here's a brief history. Geoff Knotman bought it brand new on the early '90s. It was by far the sexiest bike ever. He upgraded the Deore XT to 8 speed XTR when that first came out. It sat in his garage and was sold to Fred
Christensen 2 years back to finance Jeff's move to a Surly 1x1 singlespeed purchased from Jonty Ritchie. (Notice all the old has-beens popping up?) I got talking to Fred at the Oceania mtb champs....and the deal was done. It duly turned up and has been constantly fettled ever since. I can't disclose how much I paid for it - the Reserve Bank doesn't want me to be the cause of another OCR increase....Te Papa are pleased it is in safe hands of course.
It started off like this :

Then this: mmmm suspension.....Thanks Tom.

Try buying a one inch threaded suspension fork to fit a Chris King headset.........

And after moving to Wanaka and breaking a spoke on Keighleys Ringle wheels and riding Hugh's Orange with disc brakes, well that was that - the Merlin had already re-embraced the XTR drivetrain, - she was getting disc brakes.

And that was when the fun started. Welding disc tabs on? I don't think so Tim.

Going back to rigid forks with disc tabs ? Forget it.

I found a vee brake to disc convertor, swapped my forks legs with Keighley (don't tell) borrowed Callums wide open brakes and promptly replaced the calipers with Formula B4 's that I had liberated from the wheelie bin at Worralls one day ! Currently using the wheels off the Foes as they were close at hand and Al. has lent me some 6 inch rotors.

After all the faffing around I'm not surprised to announce that they stop worse than a badly tuned pair of old worn out cantilever brakes. I will try some new brake pads but am not holding my breath.

Plenty of time to get things sorted before the last N-duro race in October though.

Oh, did I mention it is now also sporting a titanium stem? Woof woof.

A typical Sunday in Wanaka

2007-07-22T02:51:00.000-07:00

Got up late - well if you got a nipper - 9 is late.

Keighley is entering the culinary phase of her pregnancy - so pancakes, bacon, pears and maple syrup for breakie.

Then up to http://www.thelookout.co.nz/ to swap out their coffee machine. This is a great place for a group get together. We have the Blueshark dealers conference there to showcase all the new and exciting mtb bling every November.

Emily was tuckered out, so we took her for a drive - well she slept and we drove down to the Mt Burke station on the Northern edge of Lake Wanaka.

Mum thought she was so clever when we got home - as if Emily would just go back to sleep after waking up in the driveway.......

I got 1.5 hours break to go riding. So, a quick double espresso and a Mark Inglis energy bar and I was off. Like a robbers dog.

Down the street (2 mins) alongside the Clutha River to the Outlet campground and along "Western Heights" to the main meeting place on the western side of the Sticky Forest - "The Hub"

The forest is basically a bunch of up and down trails leading up to "Easy Street" running along the top which joins the east and west sides together and lets you catch your breath if you've just come up or take a deep one if you're heading down!

So up "Tunnel of Love", down "Koozer" which has ten double jumps in a row which get a little bigger towards the bottom. Thanks to Callum I can now ace the last the lot. Well except the monster in the middle.

Then back up to the top and down "Sick Boy" which has lots of blind uphill turns in the middle of some sweet swooping downhill.

Up "Scooby" to the top, down "Venus" which is a great downhill flowing track with berms to hold you up in the corners. Back up to the top via "Cranking Fine" takes about 7 minutes and has as many uphill switchbacks to keep you honest.

A quick check on the time saw me with about 50 mins left on the meter - so off to my new favourite downhill track - "Ballantis" the Foes just loves it down here. It's the business.

Back to the camp ground, along the sidle track and back along the river to home.

All that and only 3 km on the road.

I was on time ! I know, I surprised even myself.

Keighley had made pita breads from scratch for tea - our own little kebab house.

Yum.

This does not mean there will be a third child.

May the great food long continue. :-)

Disc brakes on a 1990 mtb?

2007-07-12T02:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Haircut at the local Shimano importer here in NZ, I am now the proud owner of a vee brake to disc adaptor arm thingy.

Funnily enough it won't be straight forward.

1) The threaded hole in the frame drop out is 4mm diameter.

2) The threaded hole in the arm is 5mm diameter.

3) The hole in the Vee brake stub is smaller than the corresponding bolt provided with the arm.

4) I'd misplaced my box of discarded Formula disc brakes-finally found it in the last box I looked in......

On the positive side, the rear wheel fits in the frame with clearance.......

So at least something is going right.

That leads me to the forks; as if no disc tabs would be a problem at this stage.....

Just swap the forks out I hear you say - 1 inch steerer tube hombray. No joy.

I think I'll have a look at Keighleys Klein Attitude with Rock Shox from the same era and maybe reallocate her lower legs. Sssssh, it's a secret.

Stay tuned for more stupidity from the garage in the near future.

No more riding in Auckland for a while

2007-07-07T02:15:00.000-07:00

This report coming to you from our new home in Wanaka.

Been here a month: in the first week I went night riding with some locals, then out with the family on Saturday morning, back out with Al. & Multi (my boss and his neighbour) in the Avo and then played mtb tour guide on Sunday; to our new friends Bernard and Fenella who moved to Queenstown the same time as we moved to Wanaka.

So as much riding in four days as I would normally do in a month in Auckland.

The following weekend I unpacked the Merlin (now with XTR 8 speed retro groupo) and rode along the Outlet track and carried on round the lake into Wanaka town. Very nice in the afternoon sun. Oh, a lot of the track was still covered in snow - kind of like riding in sand but with less control. Broke a spoke in the back wheel, so didn't venture into the forest. Haven't fixed it yet, so had to grab another bike:

Not my usual choice, but I can hardly tell the bikeshops how good they are without riding one can I?

Well I'm impressed. Handles great, pedals surprisingly well, looks cool - I call it Dukes of Hazzard orange. And it comes with built in confidence on strange trails too. Callum could only watch me go down "Ballantis" today in the sticky forest - normally I see him at the start and then the finish of a trail.

Rides are generally timed around the warmest part of the day-after lunch but before 3 when it starts to cool off even more.

I think it got up to 3 degrees today!

Cannondale XS 800 good to go

2007-04-23T16:32:00.000-07:00

Got a race, oops I mean event this weekend - http://www.lacticturkey.co.nz/HunuaClassic.htm

Time to break out another bike I haven't used in a while. For those interested in such trivia this bike used to belong to Clint Jackson-the X (note the X!) world singlespeed mtb champion 2003.

The left hand STI shifter wasn't working properly, so

I pulled it off, degreased it, prayed to the Shimano gods and somehow it now works. Sweet.

Took it for a spin down the Onehunga walkway on Saturday, then got down to some serious transplation on Sunday morning.

Took off the 105 Octalink cranks with the 24/39/48 chainrings. Tried to put on a set of LX mtb cranks, but the bottom bracket axle was too long.

Plan C ended up putting my 98 XT cranks (22/32/42) mated to a Dura Ace 103mm bottom bracket. works sweet.

New to the bike but old 8 speed cluster 12-28 teeth.

Mavis Cosmic Elite wheels - bugger all spokes but should be ok......famous last words.

New Thomson seatpost and Kevlar topped saddle replaced the plumbers pipe and Turbomatic 2 that was on there....much better.

New, well old second hand chain (couldn't find the one I took off) and a new to me set of SPD pedals which I swapped as part payment for a coffee machine...

There could well be a picture and report after the race....

*****Here is the update: I didn't do the race. I had to trim/hack/cut down the massive hedge running an easy 14 metres down the side of our section. After hanging on the end of a 3 metre extension petrol powered vibrating sword of death I was too shagged to get on my bike......making it down the three steps to the bathroom was bad enough.....................

And it rained too. Not that I'm made out of suger or anything, but it's normally bathed in sunshine. So no thanks.

Oh in more breaking news the family is moving to Wanaka.********************************

Any advertising must be good they say

2007-04-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

So with that in mind, I present the latest and greatest:

Bike of the week: Klein Rascal circa 1992

2007-03-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

The history of this bike goes way back.
When we would go away in the bikeshop van to races there would be at least 8 Kleins piled in. They were the thing to have.
I've owned it from new, the two previous frames developing a fault and consequently
replaced by the importer.
So a new frame every year for three years
-pretty happy about that.
Suntour XC Pro groupset (pre microdrive). When you unwrap this
groupo it includes the seatpost, pedals, headset and even the handlebar grips!
One piece aluminium bar and stem combo.
Customised 7 speed (all steel) cluster on the back 13-26 teeth.
Rear entry dropouts - I know not why. Tricky to get the wheel in and out I tell you.
This was my trials, cross country, downhill, uphill and dual slalom bike all in one. I might have slipped the seat down an inch if it was a big down hill, but that entailed carrying two 10mm spanners for the seatbolt. Best we just leave it up then.
23 pounds as you see it.
As much as I don't want to say it: I feel compelled to mention this bike (as shown) won the 1992 national dual slalom championship at Spa Park in Taupo. Oh, it would have had Ritchey megabite tires on it.

New to me, but older road bike added to the stable today

2007-03-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

An old mtb mate rang last weekend and asked if I wanted to give his old road bike a new home.

It used to be owned by Simon someone or other who was a bit of a gun in his day I'm told.

This Biddle frame is the second one I've seen in NZ - Wayne Morgan from Wellington used to have one (when I was a nipper just getting into road racing) I think he took his to Europe when he went over with Nathan Dalberg.

It used to have Dura ace down tube shifters and brake levers as well, but the bike shop "lost" them when they changed to the STI set up shown. Shame on you bike shop.

The frame at least will no doubt find it's way to DB's place - if it was 57cm square that would be a different story......

Cheers to Graham and Helen for not throwing it out in the trash !

Old and new toys

2007-03-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

Just quickly-the yellow one coming in at 25 pounds and 1998 vintage....

The Blue one, a svelt 30 pounds and 2006 vinatge.

Yellow was my choice for the 40km Colville Connection a couple of weekends back...15th out of 300 odd riders. Nice

Wellington mtb Riding March 2007

2007-03-14T01:16:00.000-07:00

Tom & I left Auckland on Thursday avo 1st of March in the big blue fun bus, kindly provided by WH Worrall & co. Our calling to Wellington ws to provide technical support at the Karapoti Classic mtb race held in the Akatarawa Ranges north of the central city.
We stayed at Tom's folks in Taupo and then bailed out in the morning after Tom had presented his mum with a new bike for her birthday. What a nice son he is.
I had the 1st stint behind the wheel through the Desert Road, Tom the next to Bulls where we had to pull over after been stuck behind a bevy of Army Unimogs and no chance of passing due to the ever present road works. Amazing how a patch of recently laid road needs pulling up again.....
Coffee and Tom's mum's sammies in the sunshine were fantastic. Cheers Laura.
After I don't know how many hours of careful driving, we turned off to ascend the Paekakariki Hill. This used to be an awesomely hard ride on a road bike, but sensational on a motorbike in my yoof. The van was hardly a race car, but we smiled all the same.
Staying at my brothers converted warehouse in Petone was the business. Open the roller door and drive in.
Saturday - up early and I mean early, set up in the car park by 7. Bugger all to do really. A few mechanical bits and pieces before the 10am start-then some serious sifting before the guns turned up a mere 2 and a quarter hours later ! Holy hell they are fast.
Big brother did the business in the over 40 blokes and young Samara Shepard cleaned up the under 19 girls as well.
A couple of old sifters from "back in my day" dealt out a few handfuls of whoop ass as well. Jonty Ritchie came 8th overall (2.31.58)and Geoff Knotman knocked out a 3.06 on his Surly singlespeed coming home 145th overall. Hmmm that's a worry.
I own Geoff's old Merlin bike, but that's a whole 'nother story.
Oh, BTW Giant James punted the farm gate (Santa Cruz VP3 @ 36 pounds) round in 3.12. Legend. I personally think he was the winner of the unofficial Clydesdale class. he must weigh 100kg in his riding gear. Phew.
I could bore you to tears with the tales of our riding round the great tracks of Wellington.
Right, lets then.
Saturday avo James dropped us off up the top of Belmont. Tom and I took in the bridle path to Danzigs track (lots of switchbacks) and then over to the Korokoro Stream track. This is loaded with pea gravel and long steps at the top and then follows an old water pipeline out to the road. Narrow and tight; very exciting at speed. As a bonus I managed to clear the steps onto the wooden bridge at the end-only other person I've seen do this is Al Heine from Blueshark on his Foes Weasel. Hey I was on my Foes FXR-must be something in that.
It's bedtime - tune in for more later on.

Bike of the Week: Benotto Modolo 3000

2007-03-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is hanging on our kitchen wall.
I got this online from a young kid in Hamilton about 4-5 years ago I guess. It had a real mish-mash of componentry on it-Campag, Suntour and Shimano. An old cycling buddy from Wellington used to have a mint Champagne coloured one with Campag Super Record on it. My god was that thing sexy. It's still around too.
Anyways when I saw this one, I knew it was worthy of restoring. One of my first forays into Trade Me saw the purchase of this Campag Nuovo Record groupset From Keith Mcleod in Christchurch. DB supplied the Italian (both in colour and brand) Benotto handlebar tape.
It's pretty cool, it's my size and it's Italian.
I have nothing but admiration for those cycling legends that used to punt these things along in the day. It's certainly not a get on and just turn the pedals kind of a bike.
How about those friction downtube shifters huh?

Road bikes get some sunshine

2007-02-12T12:41:00.000-08:00

The fleet escaped the confines of the garage this morning and lined themselves up just nice.

Let the picture say all that has to be said

2007-02-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

Just a couple of minutes on the upgraded polisher produced this gem - well most of it, thought I'd leave one end unfinished to remind myself what it did look like...........

The Scott Endorphion rides again

2007-01-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

This picture was the last time it was going as a singlespeed, but I've been pondering it's potential as a suitable steed for the 44km course at the Coville Connection. With over 1000 metres of elevation to climb, the dual suspension just seems like 5-6 pounds too much bike to cart up the hills.

The latest incarnation shows it sporting 3 x 9 gearing borrowed from Keighley's Klein. My XTR wheelset, new cluster and chain-mismatched of course. Sram/Shimano. Titanium stem, Z2 bombers that are way past their best and the usual assortment of goodies that have appeared on other bikes over the years. Coming in at 26 pounds, which is only 1 pound heavier than the Merlin singlespeed-I'm happy. I may not be so complimentary after riding it this afternoon....

**Post ride update**

My god. it worked great. A little cable stretch to take up, but that was it. Surprisingly it jumps really well-nothing huge but I did get two metres of distance off what I call the launch ramp on Spaghetti stage 2.

Steve and Giant James were on their singles today-Woodhill really turned it on with a sweet ride due to the previous 3-4 days of rain. Man was it hot and humid.

The girls all went out in the morning and we did a baby swap at lunch time. Unfortunately for James he didn't bring the still warm scones out for Kimberly, who had been looking forward to them for oh, not long - around the length of the ride....Bugger.

Riverhead Strikes Back

2007-01-07T11:54:00.000-08:00

Whilst the evil empire of Star Wars was getting a re-run on TV in the last few weeks, so to have our merry band of bikers been out fighting the evil gorse in the sometimes dry neighbourhood of Riverhead forest,West Auckland.
Twice now a small group has doubled in size quite by chance- I'm guessing no amount of organising could willingly bring 12-14 riders together for a 3-4 hour spin around the hills.
"10am at the picnic ground carpark" seems to work pretty well though.
Tom tried valiantly to assume the roll of group leader, but Skoda and his group of Mavericks sure do know how to loop some trails together.
I on the other hand bow to everyone's superior knowledge and it has been years ('98) since I put a few miles under the tires here.
New recruits Helen & Steve were still talking to us back at the carpark and we even got an invite round to their place for dinner afterwards. Can't have been all bad.
I will nominate myself for (so far) best after ride meal-steak that had been bbq'd the night before, marinated in olive oil, soy sauce and garlic. Then turned into sammies with mustard, mayo and garden fresh lettuce. Coffee was also layed on via a thermos, plunger and freshly ground coffee.
The challenge has been presented.................
Hopefully DB will front up with some pictures to enhance this blog experience for you all.

December Retro Ride Report

2006-12-18T22:57:00.000-08:00

A smallish group gathered at DB's this month for the grande finale 2006. The usual circuit down past Manukau, out through Alfriston, Twilight Road featuring the King of the Mountain and then down to Clevedon Italian Country Market. We waited in the queue while the country ladies purchased their aubergenes and goats feta cheeses. All we wanted was a damn coffee and quick !

The weather was pleasently warm, the pace was hot thanks to Pete A. laying it down in the big ring, but the author had the red spotty jersey at the top of Twilight Road. Gaz nearly had to change his shorts when he remembered his brakes were probably 30 years old on the descent....

DB was dangerously strong on his Team McCall (rumour has it that it could easily be renamed the Benson special considering the amount of pampering it gets).

Olivia and Vaughn provided good conversation and lingered near the back of the groupetto just hoping the big dogs would give them a turn at the front to wag their tails - next year younglings.

Lunch was put on by the lovely Donna (spokeperson to the stars) for our weary riders upon (pronounced u-pon) their return. Once again a glass of beer or wine was offered - move over donuts.

See you all for the next installment in 2007 when I'm confident there will be a Japanese themed day and a grovel up Ardmore Quarry Road.......not easy in a 42 x 21 !!!

1st base

2006-12-11T19:43:00.000-08:00

Well, exciting stuff today. The Redwoods now have a company specialising in the sourcing and distribution of two closely aligned modern day consumer goods.
1) Coffee-freshly roasted it must be, Master Yoda.
2) Bicycles, bicycle parts, clothing new and old. Pretty much anything goes: road, mountain you name it. Except maybe recumbants - I struggle with those.

Todays message was bought to you by Rick & Keighley -your hosts, with the most.