Rotorua. North Island trip. Ride two
It typical Craig and Paul fashion we got to our accommodation and had a quick feed and were off climbing up to the highest point in the park with 30 mins of our arrival! And boy oh boy it was sticky and humid out there! Unlike most climbs though- the reward was more than I [...]
Woodhill mountain biking. North Island trip. Ride one.
I’m currently in Auckland and staying with my good friend Craig- who I’ve had many an adventure with over the past few years. Last night we met up with some of his mates and went out for food- and rose early this morning for a spin at Woodhill bike park- about 45mins outside of Auckland.
With [...]
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 Christchurch!). [...]
DT Swiss 5.1 & converting to tubeless
It’s close to midnight and it has been one hell of a week. Not content with manic days at work and the Wife being away so I’m fending for myself …….i’ve just managed to at last convert the new set of DT Swiss wheel set to tubeless. It has only taken me several nights of [...]
Mcleans Island mountain biking
Spencer and I headed to Mcleans Island yesterday for a few laps and I decided to take the Marin Wolf as I’ve kind of moved away from the single speed over winter. Spencer has been out weekly on his new Kona Unit and I was looking forward to the challenge of keeping up with him! [...]
Winter ride in the Port Hills
Due to wintery weather, the Marin Wolf being at BikeHQ for a good service, repair (more of which I’ll talk about later) and of course my slackness, it has been at least a six weeks (yeah I know) since my real last MTB ride. I’ve been running, commuting and doing other sports- but it is [...]
Hanmer 12 hour by Blue Dog Events
Getting ready
Taking Friday off and packing for the weekends sillyness at the Hanmer 12hr race was a great idea and a relatively stress free experience in contrast to the Cyclic Saga only a few weeks prior. Infact by the time Craig got here for 7ish I was totally ready to rock and roll… and chomping [...]
One of those days….
Today Spencer and I planned to ride to Taylors mistake and meeting for 10ish off we climbed. I felt really good today even after tramping at Craigieburn yesterday, but Spence was not on form at all and was suffering on the climb. Once up the top we thought about heading to Vic Park instead and [...]
Taylors mistake solo
Autumn is here and Christchurch is looking gorgeous with falling leaves, cool breezes and sunny days of 19 to 22 degs. When the weather behaves there is nowhere better for getting out there and catching up on some UV before the winter sets in good and proper. This weekend I had a few plans on [...]
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 [...]
Gravity Dropper seatpost mini review
Behold….a $430 seat post!
It’s tricky to justify $400+ for a seat post isn’t it? and I’ve battled to get the cash together for this puppy for some time as well as the whole “need” and “want” but last week I finally picked up a Gravity Dropper post from BikeHQ for a steal at $430 (Retail [...]
Mountain biking at Scotts Saddle – Mount Hut
Getting Ready
Spencer has been wanting to cross this trail off his list for sometime now and with such great weather of late we decided to give it a go. Scotts Saddle is in fact classed as a walking track, but after some research we discovered that it is shared for both activities and a regular [...]
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 [...]
Showing some more visitors around the Port Hills
Some months ago a thread was started on MTBR by some folk wanting some info and photos on spots to ride some bikes while tripping around New Zealand. Summer and co. decided on Christchurch so we exchanged a few emails and penciled in some dates to ride Port Hills together when they visited.
Due to [...]
Meeting Martin
I got an email yesterday from a Martin who liked the blog (cheers!) :) He is a Christchurch mountain biker so of course I offered for him to join me and Spence for a spin tonight at Port Hills and he did :) We headed to Castle Rock and Greenwood and finished it off with [...]
Richard’s visit. Ride five. Port Hills to Taylors Mistake
While I headed out with Spencer yesterday, Richard took a well deserved break off the bike and did tourist stuff in and around Christchurch. Today he was all rested up and ready for more riding! Initial thoughts were for the Wharfedale Track, but it is a much better ride with a group so we decided [...]
New Years Eve Port Hills spin with Spencer
Spence text me this morning wondering if I fancied a run up Port Hills across Mount Vernon and then over to Vic Park via the Traverse…. and I was not sure after yesterdays epic… but I’ve not seen him for a while due to Christmas so I was in :D The Rapaki climb killed both [...]
Richard’s visit. Ride four. Craigieburn (Photo rich!)
After some last minute emailing/ phoning and car shuffling 4 of us took off for the Craigieburn Forest Park and in particular the Lyndon Saddle Loop. Soon after leaving the carpark we realised that we had taken the wrong track… but decided to keep going and find out where it took us… I mean…. what [...]
Richard’s visit. Ride two. Port Hills
Today was time to introduce Richard to Mr. Rapaki & Co. After a few hours in the city and a whirlwind tour of the local bike shops and a good chat with staff about how much food was eaten over the break and how perfect the weather has turned out…. off we went. Cycling from [...]
Richard’s visit. Ride one. Port Hills
We picked up Richard from the airport and within 10 minutes of getting back he was already out on the veranda with his fetching purple gloves and putting his Turner Sultan together. Now that’s dedication.
Even though Richard had been up since 5am I was itching to get out for a ride as I had not [...]
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 [...]
FSA bash guard
This weekend is wet and cold. Booo! So what a great opportunity it was to get down to Grind Bikes to pick a single speed tee (that I designed) and then onto Penny Cycles for a look at their bash guard range. Some serious coffee chatting and general mucking about later, I had one seriously [...]
Wharfedale track meets the Wolf
This weeks riding has been really sweet with a Port Hills ride with Spencer mid week and today we headed to the Wharfedale again. Spence invited two of his mates along which was great. I must admit though that I was a little nervous because as as much as I love the Wolf- I was [...]
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 and rims (strong and roll so [...]
