NZ CUP#1 DUNEDIN

Although we race in Dunedin almost every year it was a new venue for us this time moving across town to Signal hill. The course was a tough one consisting of a brutal climb, steep and very long. Then a descent that was fairly technical but became muddy and slippery with the rain we had in the lead up.

I had a decent race riding to 2nd place. I didn’t have the speed on the climb to match it with Carl the winner but was able to finish best of the rest with a good margin. The big ascent of the hill each lap took its toll as the race went on and I would say I will be unlikely to find a harder climb in any XCO Olympic format races this year. The descent also had its challenges and I had a few wild moments sliding around in the mud. The bottom section in particular didn’t dry out as much as the rest of the track and forward progress was hard at times with the bike moving around all over the place. The other problem was the fresh layer of mud we picked up each lap adding kilos to the weight of our bikes and making the uphill even harder. The legs definitely felt it and I was quite glad to cross the line at the finish.

I have spent the last few days in Queenstown soaking up the sun and getting in some good riding preparing for the next round in Christchurch this Sunday. I have never raced there before so it will be good to have a hit out in some new territory.

Pig & Whistle Tour De Whaka.

This weekend just gone I competed in the new Tour de Whaka event in Rotorua. As a way of spicing up their Summer races N Duro events came up with a new race concept which replaced the traditional three round cup series. The Tour consisted of a Hill Climb, Super D and Time Trial with an hour long cross country stage to decide the final result. As part of the weekend, but not counting towards the final results a XC eliminator race was held down at the Government gardens in town. It was a small turn out but we still had some exciting racing in a pretty cool setting.

Day 1 of the tour was a three way race of truth against the cloak kicking off with the Hill Climb taking us to the top of the forest. It wasn’t really a pleasant experience but was a great way to separate everyone out and gave a good indication of what the final results were going to look like. As we started the 2nd stage it started drizzling but thankfully the rain never really got going and we enjoyed a relatively dry first day of racing. There were some interesting times set on the mostly downhill Super D and then again in the short Time Trail stage.

After Day 1, I was sitting in 2nd place not too far behind Carl the leader. But it was always going to be tough to take back any time on a fast mainly flat Cross Country course with little climbing to test the legs and perhaps gain back time. The weather wasn’t playing ball for the second day and after an extremely wet night the forest was soaked. The XC ended up being a bit of an anticlimax as I was unable to make up my deficit and so finished the tour in 2nd place. However it was a good weekend of racing and it will be good to see this race grow and develop as it has a lot of potential and I am pretty sure every that took part had a good time.


I have now begun the annual road trip round the country to take part in the National Series and National Champs. The first round is this weekend down in Dunedin and it's a new venue for us this year with the race moving across town to Signal hill. We are in store for a tough day with a long and steep climb that is harder than anything we have raced for a long time, before a good long descent back down to the bottom and the start finish area. The weather hasn’t been the best over the last few days so it is looking likely to be another wet one.

Race season just around the corner.

Hi everyone it has been a while since I last wrote. Time for an update.

I have been lucky enough to receive a new 2012 Santacruz Blur XC for the New Year. The frame has been redesigned and is a definite improvement from the previous model with beefier tubing resulting in a stronger and stiffer frame. Weight wise it is also a bit lighter and with the new features it is a lot more responsive and rides really nicely.The total bike build easily comes in under 10kg which is not bad for an XL frame.

I have begun working towards the New Zealand summer after enjoying a good offseason. Training started seriously again in mid October and so far it has been going well. I have competed in a few of my usual build up races including the Mid North Island series and the Rotorua to Ohope road race. Unfortunately one of our big early season races the Huka XL in Taupo had to be called off due to the weather. High winds were making things extremely dangerous in the forest with trees and branches coming down all over the place and the organisers made the right decision by calling the race off. It ended up being shortened with the results getting taken from where everyone was at the point that the race was stopped. As a result I ended up with second place which wasn’t too bad considering although it would obviously been nice to have completed the full course and had a true race.

This weekend I managed to pilot the new machine to its first win at the final round of the Mid North Island Champs here in Rotorua. It was a good race with plenty of riders travelling to have a crack at the new rock garden we have built for the Oceania Champs in March next year.

Over the next few weeks, training is going to be really important with time flying by and the National series kicking off down in Dunedin on January 15th. Before then I will probably take part in the new summer race here in Rotorua, the Pig & Whistle Tour de Whaka and do my best
to get out and make the most of the summer weather.

More Worlds Photos:

Photos Credits, Raewyn Knight.

World Champs, Champery Switzerland.

World Champs is the toughest race of the season, everyone comes in at the top of their game and the excitement and nerves are a level above what I normally experience at any other race. I arrived the weekend before, which gave plenty of time to ride the track. The first few days of practice weren’t the best and I seemed to spend more time rolling around on the ground than on the bike. I think I was feeling the pressure to ride fast and was pushing too hard and making mistakes which was easy to do on such a technical course. Thankfully after several days with multiple crashes I was able to rethink my approach and settle down and get some good smooth error free laps in.

Although the week shot by pretty fast race day was a tough one. We didn’t start till five in the afternoon and I endured a long day of sitting around watching the time tick slowly away. We got there eventually and it was a relief to finally get things underway. A big crowd turned out and it was great riding with such enthusiastic and vocal support particularly on the main climb and the ‘Hell zone’ climb and descent. I was strong for the majority of the race it was just the beginning that let me down. I seemed to be able to ride at only one speed from the start to the finish where as everyone else started fast and then either settled down and got into a good rhythm through to the finish or blew up and got slower with each lap. Unfortunately I got too far behind early on and was playing catch up the whole time. I did feel quite strong and enjoyed the race even though I wasn’t able to improve on my previous years result and finished in 36th position for the second year in a row.

It is now time for reflection with World Champs completed. My season is over and I am looking forward to getting back home to New Zealand and catching up with friends and family after three months away. This trip has been a very mixed bag. I have had a great time and have learnt a lot with some ups and downs and great character building moments along the way. I will be able to take a lot out of the experience with plenty of valuable material to apply to next year.

I would sincerely like to thank everyone who has supported and helped me out along the way. It’s now time for a break and a good long rest.

Val di Sole World Cup.

I managed to borrow a car to get to this one and so was able to avoid the trains which I am not quite so keen on after Geneva. The Fiat Punto had seen better days but it was so good to be able to use it. As I would be travelling with Anton it was looking like being a tight squeeze to fit all our gear but everything packed in nicely and we set off for a solid days drive to Italy. It was slow going with a lot of traffic and small roads and we noticed that the fuel gauge wasn’t super accurate. It tended to move around a bit and couldn’t make up its mind on how much was left in the tank. We had a fairly big climb of the Paso d Aprica coming up and with supposedly a quarter of a tank left we began heading upwards. Things went well to begin with, but with about 3kms remaining to the top we ran out of gas. Thankfully after standing around for a few minutes a couple of friendly locals stopped and we were able to explain the situation and they were kind enough to run Anton to the nearest petrol station to fill up a container to get us to the top. It was all part of the fun and we were soon back on the road for another couple of hours of tight and twisty mountain roads and congested towns making it to our accommodation in Dimaro just after 7:00pm.

I got in some good course reconnaissance over the next few days and enjoyed soaking up the excitement of a World Cup race again. The track was very similar to the previous year but it flowed a lot better with a new climb and descent mid way through the lap and a grass section removed to shorten it down. Not really all that technical it was however a very tough course with such a large amount of climbing and all very steep with not really any chance to recover and get your breath back.

It was super hot all week and I was very glad the U23 mens race was at 9:00am meaning we avoided the high 30 degree temperatures later in the day. It was a big field of 93 starters and we had a start loop plus 5 laps. The beginning of the race was chaotic as usual at a World Cup and I was unable to avoid the carnage ending up with pedal jammed in my front wheel. Getting going again I was keen to get on with it but was slowed every time the track narrowed and lost more places riding through way back in 69th after the first lap which was definitely not where I wanted to be. I went pretty well from there and coming into the final few laps was sitting around 40th. There were a lot of riders not too far in front and I made a big effort to gain some extra places getting up to maybe 34th with half a lap remaining. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to hold this and crumbled on the last steep climb falling back down to 39th. Not the result I was after but on a positive note finishing only 5min behind the winner is not a lot especially on such a brutal track.

Getting a good tough race in my legs has been very good especially with just two weeks remaining till the World Championships and although my result in Italy wasn’t spectacular it was a good to see that I am not too far off the pace. I am a big fan of the Champery course and am confident I have the ability to get up into more satisfactory position come World Champs time. I have another week here in Brot Plamboz and then on Saturday I head to Champery to meet up with the New Zealand team and get to know the track before race day on Friday the 2nd of September.

Good times.

Well here's a bit of an update to let everyone know whats been happening over the last little while. I have been living in the tiny farm village of Brot Plamboz. It is pretty much in the middle of nowhere and is a good place to be if you like the quiet life. Jerome rents the bottom storey of a farm house and it is great staying here as I have a training partner and good company.

The riding is not bad with lots of small country roads and several decent climbs. There is also some really nice single track up in the forest nearby that is perfect for technical training especially when it is damp. The rocks around here are super slippery and it can get pretty loose at times.


Some of the locals.

The Creux du Van a massive circular cliff not to far from here. The Valley up in the distance is where I am living at the moment.

Riding around the Creux du Van.

The 1000th Anniversary of Nuechatel coincided with the 1st of August which is the Swiss National Day. This called for a pretty big Celebration and a huge fireworks display.

Last week we went to Morgins a small ski town in the Portes du Soleil region and got in some awesome riding up in the mountains. It is a really nice area especially when the weather is as good as it was when we were there. Morgins is just over the hill from Champery where the World Champs are going to be held and we did quite a bit of riding over in that direction. It is easy to do some epic rides and we made the most of it putting in a couple of big days. Lots of climbing combined with to many trails coming back down to choose from made for some pretty good fun out on the bike and the views weren't to bad either.

One of the tracks up above Champery

A small lake near the top.

The view from up high looking back down to Val-d llliez.

On Friday we drove over the border to Chatel in France and went downhilling for the day. In summer the ski lifts stay open for bikes and you can travel pretty much anywhere you want catching a ride up the hill on the lift and then coming back down with the bike. I borrowed Jeromes DH bike so I could cut loose and have some real fun. From Chatel we went up and over the top to Morzine and then over to Les Gets and then came back, riding for almost the whole day and doing to many runs to count. You would think it would be easy with no climbing, cruising down the mountain all day. But it was harder than it seemed and I was buggered by the end, struggling to keep hold of the bars with aching arms and fingers.

Looking back down to Chatel and a couple of mega berms.

Trainings going well and next week I am off to Italy for the World Cup in Val di Sole. I can't wait it has been a while since my last big race and it will be nice to get back in action at a World Cup again.