Riding the Rim…

We are now in Christchurch, our final point of call on our NZ trip. Today Robyn decided to be super Mum and manage the kids while I went exploring another renowned MTB destination here in the Sth Island. Port Hills rests on the rim of an enticing and very large extinct volcano and is home to some great riding. The trails are by far the most technical trails I have ridden since being in NZ. As you could imagine, it is very rocky and steep. The trails flow well, although most are short and you need to link them together to get a decent ride in. It was heaps of fun bashing through the countless amount of rock gardens.

City one side, bay the other. Plenty to look at whilst riding.

Beautifully made trails.

Air time...

Randall and Rhino posted thier oics over the finishing stand at the Day Night Triller, so I thought I would also.

Queen Charlotte Track

What a day. Today Robyn gave me a leave pass to go riding. Not just any old ride either. It started by catching a boat to Ship Cove, the beginning of Queen Charlotte Track at the top of the South Island in NZ. The boat trip took about an hour and left me all alone with 71km of walking/single track ahead of me, plus another 25km on the road back to Picton (our camp for the night). This track usually takes walkers four days and it is recommended to ride it in two days. I tackled it with an extra 25km on the end for good measure. What was I thinking. The terrain was extremely hilly and rugged and was quite muddy in sections. In summer you are not allowed to ride the entire track due to the amount of walkers taking on the challenge, so my timing was great. I will let the photos do the talking.

This is the boat that took me out to the start. It is the official mail boat, dropping off mail to the residents living way out here. There is no road access at all, boat only.

A very unstable suspension bridge.
One of the many places to stay the night .. and an honesty shop. I looked but no Coke.
Drift wood...come bike work stand...come kitchen bench for campers.
Not a bad view hey...
There was so much to see on this track. Time flew by. This is one I will remember for a long time to come.

Bloody blogger

Sorry for the delay in getting these posts up. Blogger had issues, and they sat in cyberspace for a week.

NZ encore...

I need to do a big thank you to Andrew Patten from Ay Up. He is a very supportive sponsor, is very passionate about mountain biking and a great guy to boot. We had a great time with him and the other Ay Up guys in New Zealand. Below are a few pics from the week spent with them, Randall and Rhino.

Ay Up supplied all of us with special edition green and gold lights. I gave them straight to Jackson for the final test before racing with them.

The Team. Rhino and Randall racing pairs. Myself and two of my best pit crew. These two handed me bottles on the fly whilst Robyn was tied up with Jackson.

I don’t have many racing shots yet, but I will get hold of some shortly. Andrew P. took this one.

On Monday after the race all the Ay Up riders went for a ride from Rotorua – through some of the best trails in the world. We were guided by Dave from Bike Vegas, a top bloke too.
The boys having a ball in the bush.

Randall styling it up off a 12 foot gap.

Today I was up for an encore race. I have been on antibiotics all week after suffering with the worst saddle sore ever. It was a XC style club event (something I haven’t done for about 5 years). It was great. Plenty of climbing, great single track- technical, rooty and a tad muddy in spots. I think I finished 5th in Elite, but most importantly, I had fun. (Sorry no pics, Robyn took the kids shopping whilst I was riding).

NZ Trip

It’s time to recover and start our NZ holiday. The race (Day Night Thriller) in Taupo, NZ went as planned. I had been sick all week leading up to the event which kept me off the bike until Friday. And then it was time to simply make sure the Four Supreme travelled ok not much else. With almost 3000 competitors it was a manic race start. I lined myself up with Randall (Yeti Aust/ AyUp) and thankfully we had to circumnavigate the entire camp group before we hit the trails because we were not in the best position to hit the front off the gun.

I will fill in the gaps during the week, but to cut to the chase I won solo by a good margin and Randall and Rhino also won the 2/3 man teams with the other two teams on the dais having three riders.

Ready...set....go. Well almost...

It has been a hectic few days. I managed to squeeze a smallish ride in on Saturday and a family picnic in on Fathers Day and then, SMASH, just like a Mack Truck over a cane toad on a warm summers night, it hit me, sore throat, body aches and blocked sinuses. The rest of the family have been fighting colds and flu's for a few weeks but I managed to hold it off until the week I fly to NZ for a race. Yeh me.

Anyway, I have almost got all the packing done. I am not too sure how I will fit it all in the car to get to the air post. I will post a pic of the packed car tomorrow if I have time. In slightly more exciting news, I have been given a prototype front derailleur from Shimano Japan (I normally get Shimano stuff from Shimano Aust.) to test and give feed back. I think I will race with it in NZ, on first test it seems to work great.

I will try and keep you posted on our movements in NZ. It should be fun

AyUp Shop...

Ayup are just about to open a retail shop in Brisbane. This really goes to show these lighting systems are designed for the mass market. They have so many uses. For more check out their website here.

 

 

 

Warming up....

With the weather warming up and the choice (am getting in the NZ groove) time to ride is in the middle of the day. However yesterday was an all day affair for me. By the time I made it to the Fatties ride I was getting a bit over it. I ended up slowing the bunch down and opted for the lift home over flogging a dead horse on the bike track to the outer eastern suburbs.

Today it was time to put the feet up and begin the taper for next weekend. With such great sunshine outside I couldn't resist dusting off the old trike and taking Jackson for a spin.

Is 5 months too young to be chewing the stem? Poor little guy, a few hour after this pic was taken he was at the doctors getting his second course of antibiotics for a chest and ear infection. He should be back in fine shape just in time to board the plane.