Its the night before the Tok round (round 1) of the north island/national cup. We have a full house with Myself, Michelle, Darry, Locky, Dom and some guy by the name Stu Houltham. The track is looking awesome and so is the weather looks like a dusty one. Expert race at 1030 and Elite kick off at 2pm, I cant wait. I decided to change my tyres and run a the same as I run at the Huka xl, GEAX Barro Race. I did a lap this morning on the new tread to make sure they would be sweet and yep they are!!! just gotta remember to slow down enough on the rock shoot so I can turn onto the bridge haha. My new 40 tooth big chain ring means I can ride the whole track in it ("in the dog") but we will see how the legs like the "dog" on lap 6.

Over the long weekend Michelle and I finally got out on the Tok track and put a few laps in. probly a good thing as the race is on this weekend coming. with a bit of luck the weather will stay fine and the track will be dry hard and fast, If its wet then it will have some slippery spots and will make a couple bits rather challenging!!! Either way its going to be a good honest race.

Sundays race was round 2 of the summer N-duro series. Off the line my legs felt dead and flat, I pushed as hard as I could and Cabin, Carl Jones and I got a gap early into the race we then dropped Carl off near the top of the first big climb. Cabin got a small gap on me at the top of direct rd and opened it a little more up hill rd. As we neared the top of frontal labotomy Cabin had a problem with his bike and I was able to get back in front. We rode most of the way together swapping the lead and I also had to make a quick stop at one stage to check my bike for a sec. I caught back up pretty quickly as we hit traffic with the 25k riders. It wasnt until we only had about 1km to go before my legs felt like they were ready to race, I stayed in from down the last hill and as we hit the grass for the finish straight I kicked and opened the sprint up crossing the line about a bike length in front.

A good race, glad to get the win and now that nasty nasty training Ive been doing will start to pay off. Next race Tokoroa on Feb 7th, See ya all here!!!!!!!

I spent most of Saturday playing mechanic. First sorting a couple things on Michelles bike, then it was onto mine. new chain, rear derailer, bottem bracket new fsa cranks adjust the front derailer as the new cranks only have a 27-40 combo (the old ones were 29-44) and a good old check over the rest of the bike as well. I figured after doing all this I should go for a quick ride before racing it on Sunday. I went out a rode my first full lap of the race track we are using for the Tok round of the Nat series (yes it was the first full lap I have done of the track so stop worrying I havent done 100 laps and know it inside out)

Last weekend was round 1 of the N-Duro summer cup series. I had had a problem with my rear derailer so had to run a Sram one and shifter instead. Every thing was going to plan, I was feeling good, we had a train going on the gravel roads, I had been over the bars half way up a climb due to a branch bouncing up off Cabins back wheel. Other than making a small mistake and letting Dirk get a small gap I felt I had every thing under control and was starting to wind it up to bring Dirk back when, Yep you guessed it my history with Sram continued. The rear derailer some how turned inside out and twisted the chain in three spots, I spent a good 5 min getting things sorted so I could at least ride out (I really dont like walking!!). I decided to keep on riding as I had three gears I could use and I was still in 4th (with prize money paying down to 10th or 15th. I kept an even preasure on the chain and finished 5min down and still in 4th

After spending half the morning working on the bike and changing a few bits around, we went through to Vegas. After riding for a bit and a few pics had been taken, I was nearing the end of "Mad if you dont" when I pedaled over a tree root and my chain came off the big ring throwing me over the bars spraining my thumb and putting a lump just above my knee cap. Once riding again I decided to try the gear combo Ive been thinking of using in the Single Speed Worlds later in the year. Because "split endz" was closed we decided to ride "Tuhoto" backwards (makes for more of a challenge riding it that way).

Test riding the new national series track in Tokoroa. Virgin ride, just been finished. There are a few steep spots and boardwalks to keep life interesting, as well as a good wee climb. Should be a good race track.