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.

Back In Action.

I am now back on my feet again after a couple of mixed up weeks. I was able to sort out a new Bike with the help of Rudy Hauser the Swiss Santacruz distributor. He has been awesome, with firstly getting a new frame and then helping to organise all the components to go with it, we have been able to get the bike built up pretty much the same as my last.

My first ride back on the Santacruz was so good, especially after a week or so on a borrowed hard tail, it was great to get back on the fully again. I had been keeping up the riding and running but decided to take advantage of the situation and have a couple of weeks of easier training to recover and get fresh for the last block of training in the run in to World Champs.

I had originally planned on travelling to the Czech Republic in August to race the 6th round of the World Cup series but have now changed my plans and will stay in Switzerland until the 17th when I will head to Italy for the final round of the World Cup series in Val di Sole. I have managed to suss out a couple of local races during the next few weeks that I will be able to use to keep my race legs going and hopefully get a bit of form before Italy.

I have a lot of people I would like to thank for getting behind me and helping me out over the last little while. Gaz Sullivan for his support and help with raising donations and everyone else who has contributed to the fund. The Rotorua MTB Club. Bike Culture. Stylie at Hyperformance hardwear for coordinating a new bike with Rudy over here in Switzerland. I have also had a lot of help from the Huguenin family in Neuchatel. Xavier for lending me a bike for a week. And now Jerome whose home I am currently staying at.

Coupe de France and Geneva Robbery

Last weekend I headed to France for a round of the Coupe de France race series. I arrived after a long train journey from Switzerland on Thursday and was able to get out on the track for a look around on the Friday before race day on Saturday. The venue was high at 1800m above sea level and this added an extra element to what was already a hard course. Also it was longer than what we have been racing recently and lap times were 19 to 20mins in duration. It was a great location, right up high in the Mountains and we were treated to beautiful weather each day although because of the altitude it was still a bit chilly at times. The track was a good test with a nice mix of climbing and descending and in practice I was riding well and feeling confident for the race.
Unfortunately I had a horror start. As the gun went and I put the power down to move off the line my chain came right off the big chain ring. Initially I thought I had broken it but thankfully it had just fallen off. By the time I got going again I was dead last and with 106 starters I had a fair bit of catching up to do.
I was able to make good progress back up through the field taking advantage of any chance to overtake. I may not have made many friends with some slightly dodgy passing manoeuvres but within two laps I was up into the top 30. I could monitor my position each lap with the aid of the timing board at the start finish line and although it got harder to gain places as I moved up inside the top 20 I could see that I was racing well. The last couple of laps were especially hard as the constant passing accelerations I had been making all race began to catch up with me. Still I picked off a few more riders and after a bit of a battle up the last single trail climb I finished up in 11th place. In the end it was actually a decent result but a bit frustrating as I knew I would have been capable of much better.

Anyway way on Sunday as I made my way back into Switzerland I got robbed as I was leaving Geneva train station and ended up with up with one of my bags getting stolen. I was a sitting duck really with all my gear, spare wheels and bike etc. And it happened so fast. One second I had it and the next it was gone leaving me in pretty bad situation as the bag contained my passport, wallet and phone.
After a visit to the police station to report the robbery I ended up at a local hostel. As I had no money I couldn’t get a bed but I was able to sit down in the foyer and spend the night there. I endured a pretty rough night trying to sleep on a wooden bench and awoke early only to find more bad news as during the night my bike had also been stolen as well. So now I was really stuffed. At least the New Zealand embassy is located in Geneva and I was there as soon as it opened that morning. Unfortunately they couldn’t really do much for me until we sorted out an emergency travel document which would take a couple of days. With no money I was looking at facing another night out on the street. Thankfully I still had my laptop and so had been able to let people know what had happened.
After spending the majority of the day sitting around in town I headed back to the hostel where I was able to access some free internet. Things started to pick up from there and I got some good news. Someone had found and handed in my bag to the police station and I was lucky in that it still contained my passport and drivers licence. Later on I also managed to meet up with Richard Anderson who had travelled back from France to help me out. Now that I had my passport back there wasnt really any point in hanging around and I was quite keen to get out of Geneva as soon as possible.

So things are not too bad for me now. We are staying with friends in Nuechatel and I have even been able to borrow a bike so I can keep riding until I sort my own one out which hopefully will not take too long.
I would like to thank everyone for the help and support I have received over the last few days. After this little set back I am very determined to get on with things and carry on with my races and hopefully achieve some good results at the upcomming World Cups and World Championships.