Also great news was that in third place was Josh Barley, also on a Santa Cruz Blur XC that I look after, albeit less formally than Tim's. I was also delighted to see that my good friend Nic Johnson won Senior women - both round and series - on her Giant XTC-0 that I helped fettle.
I'm really looking forward to the National Championships being held on Mt Victoria in two weeks time...Roadworks Represent!
And, just because I love to read the sound of my own voice, I thought I'd bore you all with my days ride today...
In a beer-fueled fit of insanity a couple of nights ago, I foolishly entered the New Zealand's 1st ever National Singlespeed Championships, being held in Rotorua on Anzac weekend, so I thought I'd better actually ride my s/s a couple of times before April...
It was a warm but sporadically drizzly day in Welli, and I rode from my workshop in Berhampore down into Island Bay via the trail around Wakefield Park, then up Melrose Road where I tried my hardest to catch a woman riding her MTB up the hill. I did catch up to her, but I immediately blew a foo-foo valve, so had to walk for a wee while. Back on the bike and up to Buckley Road. Down the track that my friends and I know as "Sifty", which I managed to clean for the first time - I usually ride it on my 5" travel GT I-Drive with disc brakes and always make an arse of a couple of tight hairpins and a little creek crossing, but two trackstand/hop maneuvers and a bit of body English got me safely through on my fully rigid s/s with v-brakes! Stoked!
Around the South Coast-Te Raikaihau Point-Kilbirnie-Oriental Bay for a curbside crawl, then rode, pushed and staggered up Carlton Gore to the top of Mt Vic, then a blast down the ridgeline trails to the ski-jump at Constable Street. I'd forgotten how much punishment your hands, wrists and arms take on a rigid bike, so I was relieved to get safely over some of the roots and hairier bits of the tracks - I even popped a few small jumps and got inadvertently sideways at one scary point!
Back around the South Coast and home up through Island Bay for a 2 hour ride of an odd mix of siftiness and suffering...
This is me at the end of the ride. Hopefully the man-boobs will be gone by the time Anzac weekend and the Nationals roll around!
