Cougar Chaser

Ok people, here it is! An xc mtb race to blow the cobwebs out, the weekend before the Whaka 100km in Rotorua. The distances are short but the tracks will test your fitness!

Dawn2Dusk

July 13th I raced as part of a 2 person team in the Dawn2dusk 11hr Gravity race, The race was based at the bottom of the "National DH" track in the redwood forest, Rotorua. The race was being used as a fund raiser for a couple guys heading to world champs in South Africa. 

 We caught the Shuttle bus to the top drop off point and had a bunch of tracks tracks that we had to complete through out the day before we could choose which ever runs we wanted to do, 3x National dh, 3x jumps track, 2x corners track, billy t- down to moonshine and then part of chinese menu, Hotxbuns onto bunny jugs. 

I ended up sleeping in a wee bit on the morning of the race, Jumping out of bed at 6am smashing some food and a coffee back (cant leave home without either!) I jumped in the ute and shot over to the race arriving as the first riders including Lester. The tracks were a bit damp/wet as we had a bit of rain in the days leading up  but the new GEAX GOMA tires I am running were amazing! totally predictable and never letting go. My first run was down "jumps" Im not sure why but jumps track is one of the tracks I havent really done much yet with national dh track being the other track (to be honest I I did my first run down national dh in about 6years just the weekend before the race) I found my way down with only one small mishap finding a large hole and almost going over the bars...

As the day went on we were picking off the runs leaving national dh to last, Both Lester and I only had out trail bikes (both on 650b wheels) unlike other teams that had both trail bikes and dh bikes to use throughout the day, both of us were finding our way down national dh but as it was the fastest way down we kept making our way down the dh track. At the end of the day we managed to pull off 2nd in the two man teams.    An awesome day and good luck to the guys off to world champs 

Below is my second run down Jumps track  

New rubber!

It looks like the team at GEAX have been busy doing what they do best! Yep they have come up with a new tire to take on every thing the new world of GRAVITY ENDURO racing will try throw at the riders. They have called it the GOMA and it is to be part of the 2014 line up. I have just been sent a pre-production set to try, the set I am trying are 27.5 (650b)x2.25 They will come in a range of wheel sizes and in two widths.

I fitted them to my bike tonight but didnt make it out for a ride, I will be putting them through their paces and will be sure to let you all know my thoughts on how they preform. Below is a link to inform you a bit more on these new tires 

 http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Geax-Goma-Enduro-Tire-Sea-Otter-2013.html

Over the weekend I also "blinged"out my bike a bit more, taking the dual chain rings off and fitting this new straight line chain guide a red chain ring and bash ring, Im now thinking its time to go racing!!! Maybe the dawn2dusk will be a go.....

"One of those days"

The final round of Sean Clarks dirt guide series was on the 15th June and it turns out it was just "One of those days". I had to work in the morning and things were going fine until we were almost finished,  as we turned the water back on we had a small leak that had to be fixed before we could leave... Once we had that sorted I was off out the gate with about 1hour before the start of my race. A 20min drive then go enter the race, get changed and down to the start line. As I rode down to drop my gas off in the pits I herd the gun go off for the first wave, I arrived on the start line and turned my bike off about 10seconds before the gun went for us. I had a good start and got into the track in the top third, I was holding my own until about half way around the loop. I went to change down at the bottom of one of the big climbs but as I tried to nothing happened, I ended up having to stop on the side of the track stuck in 4th gear and my gear shifter had "flogged out" stripped. After a few minutes of rocking the bike back and forwards I was able to get it into 2nd, this was enough to get going and up most of the climbs but as I was going along a road section I hooked up another gear into 3rd, this was ok until I caught up to some traffic in tight "single track"I was able to get past a bunch of them as we neared the end of the lap and I decided to pull into the pits and see if I could tighten the pinch bolt on the shifter, A couple guys gave me a hand to try fix the problem but still no luck so we swapped it with a spare one they had but it was for a different brand of bike and about 1km into the 15km lap the same thing happened again..... I limped my way around the lap and decided to call it a day and prevent any more damage to my bike. As I was making my way back to load my bike up I had a quick chat with Sean Clark and another guy, turns out the they had a bike in there trailer that had a shifter that fitted my bike! We swapped the shifter onto my bike and I was going again. I was no doubt last but I decided to get out there and have some fun and at least get some more time on the bike. I managed to get two more laps in and pass a few riders in the process.
Its pretty cool how people at these events are keen to help out from helping fill the petrol tank to offering to clean your goggles and even lending parts out to complete strangers! if any of these people read this then THANKS again.
Oh and to top it all off, as I loaded my bike up after the race I noticed I had a flat front tyre.....

  

Mt Vic Super-d, Wellington

rocking my ADIDAS goggles and
 new BELLWETHER clothing

I had been toying with the idea for a couple weeks and late last week I decided to head to Wellington to race in the third edition of the Mt Vic super-d. It is about a 5&1/2hr drive each way so I it the road around 8am on Saturday and had a few stops along the way to brake up the drive, I arrived about 230pm and headed straight to the track. Mt Vic is on the edge of the city CBD, over the years I have raced many cross country (xc) races here and had pretty good results along the way even claiming a couple National titles. The easiest way to describe Super-d is its a tamed down down hill track with a couple climbs along the way to test the legs, lungs and see whos got a bit of fitness! Over the years (1996-2013) we have used most of the hill to hold our xc races so I had raced on about 2/3 of the track we were using at some point, although I only had about 100mm of shock travel on the front and my seat was always up! now I have 150mm of travel front and rear and my seat can go up and down at the push of a button!!! The parts of the track I hadnt ridden had some cool sections including some "ski jump" step downs and some freshly cut off chamber tree roots, the track went from the top of the hill to the bottom with a good mix of every thing. I rode to the top on the road and did a look lap then repeated to climb the road and increase my pace a few more times on the Saturday as I knew some of the top locals had been riding the track most of the week. Race day, we could catch the shuttle up a get a few runs in during the morning and get all the lines dialed before seeding. I had a good clean seeding run and was a bit surprised to be the fastest in "MASTERS 1"in 5min30.0 and had the second fastest time out of every one 6sec back, I knew I had to keep it fairly clean and tidy while pushing hard during the race run as there were a few guys in "M1" that used to race pro elite down hill a few years ago and have a bit of fitness to get them up the climbs. We had no idea who had finished where until prize giving although second seed and the one I knew would be my biggest threat "THE WEAZEL" had counted when he crossed the line until I crossed the line and had 27sec so we knew it was close, so we hung out and talked smack about our runs while watching the other grades come down on there race runs. Prize giving revealed all and it turns out I had managed to take more time off my seeding run with a 5min25.8 but "THE WEAZEL" is a bit slow at counting, he finished 1.8sec ahead of me and taking the fastest time of the day in 5min24.0 I had the second fastest race run (with the fastest seeding guy going two sec slower in his race run) Turns out both the fastest race runs were from  M1 and neither of us are locals! so much for home town advantage.......

Thanks to SPOKE magazine for being up there taking photos all day

Dirt series round two

With the wether forecast being right, saying there was a wether bomb due to hit the night before. Its an under statement to say we had some rain leading up to round two of Sean Clarks dirt series race at "old tar hill" a few km south of Tokoroa. The track had been shortened 5km to a 15km loop before we started, we started in the rain and on the red clay around that area it was always going to be rather slippery and hard work to get up some of the climbs. With 103 starters the tracks were going to get ripped up rather quickly. I got an ok start again sitting mid field and slip sliding my way along the tracks holding it up rite, things were going ok until we hit the first big climb. As I started the climb I found a bunch of bikes stuck in the quickly forming ruts and had to wait my turn to have a go at getting up. I spotted a different line than the one everyone else were trying to take and as soon as the gap opened enough for me I had a crack at it making my way up and past a bunch of riders, by this time there were a few marshals including Sean Clark digging at the sides of the ruts so the bikes wouldnt get so stuck..... Once I was clear of that hold up I had clear track and I was making the most of it but it wasnt to last very long at all, I soon found another bottle neck of bikes. This time there were twice as many and the climb was twice as long!People were trying all sorts to make it up including going bush and making there own way up and working together to get each others bikes up the climb. Once I finally made it past that climb I once again found I had clear track for a bit, well thats until I came across a few more bikes stuck on a small but steep pinch, once the pinch was clear on one side I had a crack but the ruts were too deep and I also got stuck.

After a while of trying I ended up working with the guy next to me (who had been near the front until he got stuck at this point), this was the last big climb of the lap although with the conditions and soil type what would normally be simple, had big ruts to get stuck in or it was just slippery and you had to be on your game the whole time. Lap one took me 1hr 15min and after stopping for more fuel I headed out for another lap, the lap had now been shortened a lot more with the major climbs being cut out! This didnt mean it was going to be easy now, as I found out in the very first corner turning off the gravel road getting stuck in a rut so deep my back wheel was off in the air. It took two of us to lift my bike out of the rut before I could get going again, From here I only had a few more issues with getting stuck or cross rutted and ending up on the ground taking about 40min to do lap two (Im picking about 7km) I still had a few minutes left if I wanted to do another lap but decided to save the bike (and my bank account) for another day. I finished mid field with a lot of riders only completing one lap and some not even making that!    

I have spent about 6hours so far stripping and cleaning then putting my bike back together after the 2hr race but thats all part of the fun!!!  

 

Not just a mountain biker

As some people know I grew up riding motos from 4years old to about 11. Last winter I bought myself a KX125 to play around on and do a few trail rides for fun and do something a bit different while keeping my skills up. I decided a couple months ago that while there are not many Gravity Enduro races on at the mo, I would have a crack at some Moto events.  As I seem to do, I jumped in the deep end for my first event. I decided to do the first round (of three) of Sean Clark's Dirt Guide series, Sean lives in just down the road from me and is well known for his events being well run and rather tough!!!
The first round the tracks were a little slippery (after some rain over the days leading up) but still all ridable, these races are a two hour race with the flag dropping at the two hour mark so if you come through at 1hr59 you get to go out for another lap.....
I had only been on the moto a few times in the months leading up to the race and I was about to find out just how tough these events really are! As I signed in at rego they gave me a number to put on my bike, I looked at it and thought to myself "101 Ben Townley and on a Kawasaki!" (Ben was a couple years younger than me at school and he rode a Kawasaki, he also went on to be one of the best riders in the world!!!)

I had a good start sitting mid field and felt pretty good for the first couple laps (about 20km per lap) Lap three I started to feel tired and week in the upper body and started to have some stupid crashes which made things worse for my "weak upper body" having to pick the bike each time. I stopped in the pits to full up the petrol tank and have some PEAK FEUL ESPRESSO  gel and asked the guy giving me a hand how much time there was, he replied: we are ate 1hr50 so you will get the next lap in! I thought OH F#*K....... ok a bit more gel in and off I go. I had a whole bunch more "stupid weak" crashes that lap, getting stuck under the bike down a bank and ending up with some nice blisters and a good ol bone bruise on my knee finishing well down in the field but placings (good or bad) didnt bother me, I wasnt there to try and win I was out there to enjoy and challenge myself and see what this type of racing is all about and if I like it. In all the years I have raced in mountain biking I have finished some races totally blown and with no energy but I have never felt that trashed! I was so tired and sore I couldnt even push my bike around behind my trailer and load it by myself, Although looking back at it (in a sick and twisted way) I loved it and really enjoyed pushing myself like that I decided to do the rest of the series.