2008 wrap up

Is it Christmas Eve already! 2008 has been a year full of many ups and downs which I’m sure that you can all relate too. But one thing has kept me rolling forward and that is my mountain biking. I’ve met some amazing friends, seen some beautiful places and ridden trails that have blown my mind. 2008 was the year that I forgot about lycra, weight weenie builds and pointless mtb events on fire roads to focus on sensible bikes and more riding and friendship. For the first time in my “cycling life” I feel like a “real mountain biker” where trails, friends and adventure are more important to me than anything else.

In 2008 I also discovered single speeding during the wettest and coldest winter of my life! Yes, I drank the Koolade and now singlespeed weekly… I love it. I love it so much that I’ve just entered the 2009 single speed champs in Rotorura! (to ride by the way.. not race!) If there is one thing that I would recommend to you… it is to try single speeding for 2009… go on make Chuck Norris proud ;)

This year has also been the year that after many… I actually got off my arse and sorted out my diet and nutrition. Since late September (3 months?) I’ve lost neary 4KG, gained a few more KG in muscle and am in the best shape, both mentally and physically that I’ve ever been. Has the change in diet made me a better rider? It would have to be a definite YES.

As for www.mountainbikingnewzealand.co.nz and 2008, it has been an interesting year. Traffic has increased to nearly 1000 visitors / month with 6000+ page views. A small group of regular commentators have also really helped to bring some more points of view and ideas to life. I’ve also (finally!!!) settled on a theme which I feel represents my ramblings and photographs best. It took a few themes, heaps of time and a bit of cash to get MTBNZ to where it is now… but I think that you will all agree, it has been worth it! Anyway, thank you for taking time to visit and contribute…..let’s hope 2009 brings more comments and traffic!

So what does the end of 2008 hold for me and cycling? Well, In just a few days Richard my mate from Melbourne will be here and our plan is to ride everyday for a week which will include Canterbury trails as well as a road trip somewhere for New Years! (sorry Amy!) We say somewhere because we have no idea yet…. but the word Queenstown has been mentioned, mumbled and whispered a few times ;) One highlight that I’m trying to organise is some kind of heli drop for both of us….. now how cool would that be? MoAr HeLi DroPz!…*ahem* :D

Meanwhile, I’ll leave you all with this thought and a video of some of the places that I’ve ridden and the fantastic people that I’ve met in 2008. Happy Christmas to you all.

“Life is like riding a bike. You have to keep going forward to stop falling over.”

Cheers and happy trails!

Paul ;)

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 24th, 2008 at 10:02 am and is filed under Ramblings and tagged with bottlelake, cove, craig, fixie, grind, gt, lake sumner, marin, night riding, nutrition, Photography, port hills, single speed, spencer, Video, wharfedale. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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matthew says:

December 24, 2008 at 10:33 am

most times when i go forward, i fall over.

good luck with the single speed champs, and dropping in from a egg beater. that is one way to finish off the year!

thanks for the inspiration throughout the year.

single speed hey? mtb single speed… i might just make that
the mission for 2009 – just don’t tell managment.

ride safe and merry happy ho ho. etc.

Paul says:

December 25, 2008 at 9:38 am

Hey mate :) Cheers for the kind words. I’ll be riding the champs mind you… not racing :) It will be a fantastic way to see Roto Vegas for the first time too and I’m sure that there will be enough going on to keep the Wife happy as well!

Thanks for the inspirations too. I’ve loved reading your blog in 2008 so keep it up!…and have a spectacular time out on the dirt this holiday.

All the best to you and the family.

Happy trails. Paul.

Jorge Luis Nogueira says:

December 26, 2008 at 6:05 am

Your site is very nice, i really liked, you love the mountain biking ,just like me. You write very well, indeed mountain biking has kept us rolling forward despite the many ups and downs of the trails of our life, the Photos are beautiful ,your country is wonderful, a paradise for mountain bikers (just like mine).

Happy new year for you, slowly i will read the articles on your site (i dont speak english fluently,) because the site is a inspiration for me. when you have some free time visit our blog, is written in portuguese but we have a lot of photos and so you can have and a idea of our rides, the electronic adress is : http://canelasdeaco.blogspot.com/

December 26, 2008 at 6:20 am

Hey Jorge :)

Thanks for taking time to say hello and your kind words. One of my best friends is originally from Portugal and I understand that is is a beautiful country with a lot of mountain biking.

The photographs on your website look fantastic! and you all look like you have alot of fun indeed! NZ is a paradise for mountain bikers and I’ve only been here 1 year so have only scratched the surface! I have soooo many more adventures ahead that it gives me goose bumps!

Happy holidays Jorge and all the best for 2009. Thank you again for your comments, I appreciate it and I hope to see you around here some more.

December 26, 2008 at 6:38 am

Helo Paul , im here again just to say that im from Brazil not Portugal, i live in a city caled Resende , Bye bye.

January 3, 2009 at 11:51 pm

The trails stories, are very cool, slowly i will read one by one , because i love mtb and reding these stories help me to improve my english. Bye bye. Please note, the website http://www.amigosdabikerj.com is the site of the bike club of my city (resende) click the link calle “fotos” (pictures) and you will have and idea of ours big rides (with a lot of bikers) on the trais of our region . Bye bye and Happy trails for you.

January 4, 2009 at 10:05 am

Hey Jorge! Those photos at http://www.amigosdabikerj.com look fantastic! I see you have some real epic rides on great trails there. Long rides with a lot of people are a lot of fun :)

Happy trails to you too :)

Yemoonyah says:

January 4, 2009 at 1:24 pm

Modularity looks good on your site! Makes me yearn the outdoors even more but at the moment I’m stuck in a cold winter in Berlin :-(

I found your url at GraphPaperPress and I’m contacting you to ask if you ever got shadowbox to work on the homepage. If you did…I’d love to know. Also, which related posts plugin are you using? I’m currently looking for one because mine doesn’t display on the homepage.

Thanks

Yemoonyah

Paul says:

January 4, 2009 at 1:26 pm

Yes it is a great theme! You are lucky too as this version actually works!!! and is cheaper than in 2008 too!!

The plugin that I’ve used is at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-23-related-posts-plugin/ and requires a little code to be added into the theme template files. I’ve just emailed you a PDF with some clearer instructions :)

As for the shadowbox plugin… I have no joy getting it to work on the front page either… and no one else has by the look of things :/ Sorry :)

All the best and thanks for your comments….

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