old meets new

They say "what goes around comes around" and that is exactly what has happened!. In 2000 I signed my first proper sponsorship deal to ride marzocchi shocks, now in 2011 I am testing a new set for the guys at YD-open. they are similar weight to the sids I have been riding and have that feeling you would expect from marzocchi. I had my first ride on them today and I have to say, they feel as smooth as my old set I have been using on my single speed only lighter, stiffer and with a lock out! I will be riding them for the rest NZ season so Im sure I will be putting more updates up about how they ride, but so far so good.

I have built the forks up on Michelles carbon JAMIS frame to race for the rest of the season, After todays ride Im sure it will turn heads and get a fair bit of attention!

Round 2 NZ national series, Napier

Yep another second this week. This week we raced in Napier, It was even hotter this week as was the field. With UCI points up for grabs I knew it was going to be a tough day out, During my warm up I was zipping along a bit of single track and as I came round a corner I hit another rider head on! Yep she was riding the track backwards!!! I wont name names though (Katie O'neil) as she felt so bad about what had happened and neither of us or our bikes were damaged in the impact. Off the line I decided to light it up to be first into the single track, this worked out and I was able to sit up a bit and control the race till the first climb. I held the lead up the climb and then slipped into second just before the first big decent, I made a few mistakes on the way down letting Dirk get a gap that he kept extending all day. My race started to suffer from that point as I started to get slower and feel like I was going to black out, I dropped back to 4th for a lap or so before starting to settle in and find my legs again. I passed Stu for third on the steep climb and made my way up to Carl as it flattened off across the top, We spent the rest of the lap swapping spots and trying to brake each other with my lift of pace (on the same place as I had caught him) proving to be the deciding move. From there on it was just keep it upright and make sure he wasnt coming back at me, So another 2nd I had to settle for. I now have enough UCI points to put me back inside the top 100 (I should be 96th when the points are credited), so not a bad way to start the year off.

This week I was wearing my flash new ADIDAS evil eye half frames during training and in the race, These are an awesome new glass and I have already had a lot of comments on them

Cycle Obsession national round

Merry Christmas.....Happy New Year.....Round 1 NZ National series, Yep thats how it is in NZ.

Had a good start, leading the race from the gun. Big crash half way through lap 3 (of 6) and destroyed my front brake! So three times down part of last years National down hill series track was kid of scary. With close to a two minute lead (so Im told) when I crashed and most of that lead going in the tec zone, I was caught with just over a lap to go. I still tried a couple times to get a gap but couldnt make enough time before the dh to the finish, I had to settle for second place.

The track was awesome and the weather was hot making for lots of dust and my tyre choice of GEAX AKA the perfect tyre for the day. Other than my brake lever the loverly JAMIS bike didnt miss a beat and the PEAK FEUL helped me fly up the hills!!