Santa Cruz Blur XC

Just a quick post to show off Santa Cruz/Roadworks rider Tim Wilding's new Santa Cruz Blur XC frameset. Tim is in sponsorship negotiations at this minute for parts suppliers, and I can't wait to see how they go so I can find out what I'm going to build it up with!

Tim is a fantastic athlete who is a nationally ranked XC racer and was a member of the NZ MTB Team at Worlds in 2006, where I was fortunate enough to work alongside him. Also he has won a tough road stage in the Tour of Tahiti and is the reigning XTerra Champion, so he comfortably straddles any discipline he cares to partake of - a rare thing indeed...

I have been proud to work alongside Tim since 2004 and my days in the ill-fated Rintoul Street shop. Tim immediately impressed both as a rider with a professional approach and as an all-round good dude, but also impressed the hell out of me with his work for the late-lamented Aunt Betty's MTB Team helping out on the Kid's Mountainbike Bike Jams. He wasn't yet 20 years old and he was already putting his energy into helping future generations of cyclists glean some valuable skills and enthusiasm; another rare thing!

Taupo-based Tim will be riding the National MTB Finals in Wellington on the 21st of February as part of his gearing up for defending his XTerra title in March, so I'm really looking forward to his company for a week or two. I am proud to be able to continue our association into the future, no matter which direction his prodigious talent takes him.

Thanks very much to Tim's coach Bryan Hall for dropping the frame off to me in a sly drug-deal style way in a McDonalds carpark, and thanks heaps to Santa Cruz/Ibis importer Mike Stylianou for hooking Tim up...

Cheers, Oli

Roadworks Race Scene

Hi folks, it was another huge week at the shop, but I'm more excited by some other stuff!

Firstly, I want to congratulate Team Roadworks rider John Randal who, along with NZ MTB legend Simon Kennett, successfully defended their title in the arduous 8 hour MTB orienteering event, the Akatarawa Attack. A huge effort from them both, but doubly impressive due to John only just being rehabilitated from a nasty knee injury. Great work, fellas! In 3rd place was another one of the Roadworks Originals, Mr Dave Hicks, riding with Paul Chaplow, so well done to them also. I also see in the results that the rest of both the 8 hour and 4 hour fields was littered with past and present Roadworks customers enjoying some of the hidden gems of the Akatarawa trails used in this great event...

Also this past weekend was the PNP Wellington Centre 2 Day Tour, which was again stacked with Roadworks riders, along with an attacking appearance from my fellow IBD, Jonty Ritchie of Revolution Bicycles. The big result this time was from young Andrew Crowley, who romped to the stage win and the final C grade GC up his home street Admirals Hill. Andrew's dad Kevin has been a friend and customer of mine for many, many years, and I'm sure will be super proud of this performance. This was in addition to two great stage wins for Mike Flyger in E Grade plus time in the leaders jersey, some superb riding by Pete Mora in D grade (robbed by a burglar, I tells ya!), some gritty riding and a mad fixie Time Trial by my man Paul Larkin in B grade, and a myriad of other Tales of the Peloton from the many riders who let me fettle their rigs. Thanks to all, but special thanks to my two Team Roadworks riders, Paul Larkin and Martin Lewington. It always makes me so proud to see my jersey being worn by such champions!

Paul Larkin battling Admirals Hill...



Martin Lewington crosses the tape



I was supposed to be there to cheer them on and to meet up with my Jazz Apples teammates but some vile lurg put the kibosh on that idea - still wicked that the JA made the trip down to race in this event. I'm sure a quiet recce of some of the roads the women will race on in the Tour of NZ will have been much appreciated!

Finally feeling a bit more human, this evening Bodhi and I visited the Hataitai Velodrome to watch some of the racing on Day 2 of the Wellington Centre Championships. It was a bit hard to follow the results with Bo dominating conversation with such important subjects as the Transformers weaponry and "what does the Tasmanian Devil eat?" but who cares when it's a balmy summer evening and the riding is so good to watch?



I mentioned Simon Kennett before. Simon, along with his twin brother Jonathan and older brother Paul, are the Founding Fathers of New Zealand mountainbiking; responsible for creating the Karapoti Classic, bringing the UCI MTB World Cup to Wellington in 1997, writing the definitive guide to NZ trails "Classic NZ Mountain Bike Rides", building and designing the Makara Peak Mountainbike Park, among too many other incredible ventures to mention. They also have competed in races across the globe, including representing NZ at World Championships...

I am proud and privileged to say that I have been asked by Simon to help him prepare his bike and wheels for his attempt on the extremely daunting and incredibly demanding Great Divide Race, which is a self-supported, solo competition following the 2,490-mile (3984km!) Great Divide Mountain Bike Route in the USA. Traversing Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, the route demands over 200,000 feet of climbing along it's length. Competitors carry all equipment necessary to negotiate the backcountry, restocking on food and other supplies from the small towns along the route.

Obviously, this will demand the maximum from Simon and his equipment, so I will do my maximum to ensure that his bike leaves New Zealand in the most optimum condition possible. Simon will be riding a carbon Giant XTC-O with Stan's NoTubes rims, among some other secret-squirrel equipment that I will show you once sponsorships are finalised. Part of the reason Simon is attempting this great feat is the challenge, but he'll also be raising money for Médecins Sans Frontières, which is a great cause.

As time goes by, Simon will have a live website with links to help us all help him, but in the meantime I'd like to thank him for the opportunity to be a part of such an inspiring adventure...



Lastly for this post, I may well have some more work for BikeNZ lined up after all. I have been asked if I will repeat the Geelong Tour and World Cup trip I did last year with the NZ Women's Team. It's not firmed up yet, but I have said I'm interested so we'll see what happens. The minute I know, you'll know.

As ever, thanks for reading. Cheers, Oli

Straight into it...

Woah! BIG start to the year for sure...The minute I started answering the phones and opened up the doors to Roadworks Service Course it was absolutely pumping. I am booked solid into next week, and already getting full for the week after!

Among the road bikes getting prepped for Wellington's 2 Day Tour and the MTBs getting ready for Karapoti, I have been fettling just as many bikes simply being ridden for fun in this beautiful summer Wellington is experiencing. I hope everyone is getting out for a blat at some point. I've been lucky enough to be able to get in the odd ride or two, including a wicked zero-wind, mucho-sun ride around the Bays last weekend with my good friend Paul on our fixies, followed by the mandatory Havana coffee at DeLuxe.



This is one fun project I have done already this year - a pair of Chris King hubs laced with DT Swiss Competition spokes and aluminium nipples to a pair of NoTubes ZTR355 rims for a sturdy set of trail wheels weighing a true 1590 grams for the pair! Very sweet wheels and I'm sure Rob will get many, many miles under him on them...



In some other news, as I alluded to in my most recent post, I found out this morning that I have been selected to be the Jazz Apples Team mechanic for the New Zealand Women's Tour this year. I was lucky enough to work with Jazz Apples Rider/Manager Susy Pryde and Director Chris Drake as XC mechanic at the 2006 Rotorua Mountainbike Worlds initially, which led to working together on the NZ Women's Road Team at the Geelong Tour and UCI World Cup round followed by the NZ Tour last year. This turned out to be Sarah Ulmer's last real competitive outing before her injury forced retirement and it was incredible to work with these guys (and all the rest of the women involved!), so I'm absolutely stoked to be working for Chris and Susy's own Team at this years Tour...

This means I will be away from the workshop between Friday the 22nd of February until Monday the 3rd of March. The Tour homepage is here, and will presumably be updated as the race approaches.

Lastly, I want to say a humungous HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to my youngest boy Bodhi who turned 5 on Monday, and his biggest bro Kester who turns 14 on Friday. These guys along with their brother Harry and my beautiful wife Jacq are what I'm all about...

Cheers for reading, Oli

Roadworks Version 08.1

Happy New Year! I hope everyone managed to enjoy the Holiday Season. I'm just struggling to come to terms with having to go back to work tomorrow, but looking forward to it just the same...

I have plenty of bookings already, but please don't be shy about contacting me for yours. I am back on deck as of Monday the 14th of January and will be cranking the repairs out as fast as possible - not too fast though!

It doesn't look at the moment as if I have any trips for BikeNZ happening in the near future, though it's likely I'll be working with my friends Susy Pryde and Chris Drake and the Jazz Apples Cycling Team on the '08 Wellington Women's Tour at the end of February. This will still give me HEAPS of time to sort everyone's bikes out for Ironman, Karapoti and all the myriad of other fantastic cycling events on around New Zealand over summer, so no panic at all...

On a sort of related note, I'm sorry that many of you will have experienced frustration getting through to me on the cell phone at one time or another. For those of you who don't know me so well I feel I need to explain that if I don't answer it's (nearly) always for a good reason; if it's during my operating hours I've probably got a brake bleeding kit in my hands or I'm building a wheel. If it's outside work hours I'm usually simply trying to escape my business for a while by spending time with my family or hopefully even riding my bike! If the phone thing is really driving you mad, just text me or drop me an email and I'll usually get back to you the same day...

The inconvenience to you all at times of the way I work is regrettable to me, but for a variety of reasons it's how I have to operate. I also know that my modus operandi won't appeal to everybody but, if I am lucky enough to work with you I wish to reiterate my ethos of doing the very best work I can do ALL the time.

I hope to have a great 2008 - I truly hope you do too!

May the wind always be on your back wheel, Oli

P.S. Great to see Julian Dean and Meshy Holt win hard fought and well deserved National Road Championships in the Hawkes Bay today. Julz will be displaying the Silver Fern in some of the biggest pro races in the world for his Slipstream team, while Meshy takes her great form into Ironman in March...