November updates
Summer is here? Eeek. Mid November already and the days are hanging on until about 9pm ish. Summer seems to have officially arrived and as odd as it sounds my mind and body take a while to adjust to having all of this extra light and seemingly more warmth (13degs with sun is warm for [...]
Worsleys Track, Flying Nun & the Victoria Park wall ride – Christchurch
I’ve not ridden with Spencer since Easter so it was great to catchup with him today for some exploring and trail riding in the Port Hills. Meeting up at the bottom of Dyers pass we had coffee and then off to the grinding road climb to the start of the Worsleys Track. Oddly, after living [...]
Autumn at Bottlelake Forest
Tonight’s ride was a bummer for Craig who had some serious mechanicals, but a gem for me as I had my camera and was able to capture the magic of an Autumn dusk in the forest.
Cove Handjob and Its rebirth ;D
A funny thing happened today as I was stripping and cleaning the Cove Handjob ready for its imminent sale……I noticed a mark on the downtube that I remember “inflicting” on its maiden voyage down the Greenwood track….. and I started to think of all our adventures together. I’m not usually sentimental when it comes to [...]
Autumn. Lovely.
Well well well… summer has officially ended and this weekend has been time for log fires and some well earnt chill out. With the sun showing it’s face this afternoon and a quick call, Spence and I headed up for a blast in the hills. With layers, water proof and clear glasses it felt quite [...]
Ground Effect Cyclic Saga – “when I’m angry I can read maps”
Friday night Hectic would describe the events after arriving home from work on Friday as I found myself changing the Cove’s pedals from the “totally dead” Crank Brother Candys back to Shimano, swapping the rear wheel and seat, cassette and brake pads to sintered, and then giving the bike a much needed check over and [...]
Ground Effect Cyclic Saga 2009
Craig and I are in for 2 days of riding (with an over night camp) and getting very lost at the Ground Effect Cyclic Saga this weekend :) Neither of us can read a map to well so I can see much WTFage. I’m also building up the “Frankeinbike”- the Cove with PIKES and a [...]
This week…
Crikey! how fast did my 3 weeks holiday fly by!?! With family staying for 9 days and Richard for another 6 this end of year break was full of entertaining as well as some serious riding :) This week found me back at work with early starts, long busy days and energy on the incline [...]
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 [...]
My current rides
I’ve been meaning to photograph and share the specs of my rides for sometime now… so here they are. GT Peace SS Weight: light (ish) Plain butted steel frame and fork Current tyres- Maxxis Crossmarks Exceptions 2.1 (these have lasted me close to 2 yrs!!! WTF??) FSA Headset (no name I think) Bontrager AM hubs [...]
Return to the Wharfedale Track
Craig, Spencer and I headed off to ride the Wharfedale track yesterday and what an epic it turned out to be! We had originally planned to ride the track to the hut and then after lunch back again but our plans changed once we realised how many trees had fallen on the track. At every [...]
Port Hills into Taylors Mistake
Craig, Spencer and I headed up and over to Taylors again yesterday with a few cold ones in Sunmer. After being off the bike this week due to a head cold from the devil himself plus rain and temperatures similar to winter (with -2deg over most nights!) the sunshine and companionship was very welcomed. I [...]
Port Hills to Sumner
Today’s weather was sun and 23. Perfect. Meeting up with Craig and Tama we also had two other chaps join us too for a climb up Dyers Pass through to Godley head > Sumner > City. Funny thing is that 4 of the 5 were English! With lots of grueling technical ups and fast dry [...]
New Job and full suspension considerations
After what seems forever I’ve got the blog back to a ‘readable’ state and I must admit… I really like where it is heading. The latest WordPress release is also fantastic…. what an epic effort those guys make to the blogging community! Brill. Anyway, back to other bike related stuff :D I start a new [...]
The Flying Nun track – Port Hills
A group of us planned a trip out of the city/ hills today that never quite happened. So I decided to head off for a bit of a 4+ hour solo epic today to explore the new work at the Flying Nun track. With a strong head wind the climbs were absolute killers today and [...]
Port Hills to Taylors Mistake
Today was one of those days…. one that refreshed my memory to why we moved here last November. Blue skies- warm breezes and dry trails calling. Summer seems to be here :) With a shorter 70mm stem (vs the 90mm) and the Speicialized Eskar upfront with a new Larson TT on the back the Cove [...]
Sun. Dust. Sweat. Hills
What a fantastic sunny day! I headed up Rapaki for midday and then over Mt. Vernon- then once over the other side I re- traced my steps back over Mt. Vernon and then over Witch Hill. I’ve not ridden these tracks for at least 3 months and was pleasantly surprised that I rode 90% of [...]
Mountain biking in Port Hills snow!!
I set my alarm to ride with a few of the guys this morning to find once I awoke that they had changed their minds due to the weather. Oh well… I was like a excited little kid eating breakfast while staring out at the snow… yes snow! I’ve not seen snow like this for [...]
Port Hills + Sunshine = :)
Today’s weather was fantastic with blue skies and a temperature of 17degs. After putting the gears back onto the Cove and some Reba forks until the Revelations are returned off I went. It felt really odd wearing my riding shorts and summer top without any thermal leggings or wind blocker… it was great! Climbing Rapaki [...]
Spring is here?
Hey.. the sun is shining bright with blue sky today and spring is peeping its sleepy head above the clouds once more. Even the birds are singing loudly and lambs are frolicking. When one finds himself cleaning the drive train and bikes in anticipation of spring-time trails…. things are OK on the bike front :) [...]
Port Hills on my single speed!
First sunshine in what seems like weeks today! An offer to head out with mates had to be declined as they wanted to head out early…..it’s the weekend guys…. early is not good. So with the forecast predicting sun after midday that’s what I aimed for….. Before I could head out though I had to [...]
Cove Handjob as a single speed?
Rode Bottle Lake today in the mud and crap (as usual it seems) and noticed a peculiar thing….. I never changed gear :) It got me thinking….. what would it ride like as a long travel SS? Well I’ll find out on Tuesday night won’t I? :D I’m sure that once spring returns I’ll throw [...]
Cove Handjob XC review
After riding the Cove Handjob for about 3 months on various trails in mixed weather, I thought I’d share my thoughts and experiences so far. The first impression Fantastic welds are the first thing that jumped out at me when I un-wrapped this beauty. On closer inspection each one is nice and skinny and uniformed [...]
Each to their own….
I’ve traditionally ridden more solo than in a group…. I just love the peace and quiet, freedom to listen to my iPod and the ability to ride non-stop or the opposite- where you can stop and take photos or simply ride at a mellow pace. Since arriving in Christchurch though, it has become common place [...]
