Before you get all flustered and think I'm revealing more than a respectable blogger should, I'm just saying that I experienced one of those rare and fortuitous run of circumstances that ended up with a ride on two consecutive days, therefore I was able to hit both the dirt and the tar in one single sun-drenched still Spring Wellington weekend...
No cameras on the Saturday, but Alex, Matt and I had, by what my terms anyway, a totally Epic mtb ride. We drove up to Makara Peak at about 3pm and set off and rode Koru, Sally Alley, Missing Link, Aratihi to the Summit.
If I make it sound easy, it wasn't.
But then to compound things Chief Instigator Al decided that we were to attempt for the very first time T3 - a diabolically tricky but enormous fun track that led us over, around and, in my case particularly, into some extraordinary obstacles such as the Gravity Cavity, the Bar Bender, the Skink and the Swingbridge. Al definitely owned T3 by cleaning virtually everything, although Matt and I had our glory moments too...
After much hilarity spiced liberally with moments of sheer terror, we semi-successfully emerged from T3 onto the aptly named Vertigo. The initial few drops and ruts weren't my scene at all, but the slippy-slidy roots and rocks through tight trees were awesome fun. Again, Al dominated us, even riding under the Corkscrew, where the track literally goes under itself down a steep rock face pointing you at the head-cracking height bridge you just navigated, or alternatively at a cliff full of pointy rocks!
After recovering from a serious coronary at the bottom of this fiendish trail I was told we were riding the bottom section of Rimu, which we duly did, then scuttled back down this smooth and flowy trail again to ride up St Albans (where my legs truly died after having been on artificial respiration since Aratihi) to SWIGG and onto Starfish down to the carpark. It was incredible to see the work a recent work party had done on SWIGG/Starfish, as it's never flowed so well in all the years I've been riding it. Great job just in time for the Makara Peak Supporters 10th Birthday Party...
We loaded our bikes back onto the cars (I will ride to the park one day, I swear!) in a state of elation. We'd all been able to (sort of) ride three new tracks and definitely smoke an old one reborn. It was a ride with a bit of everything that Extreme XC, as my friend Jono would call it, can throw at you. I'd certainly not be able to say I rode everything, but I can certainly say I rode more than I would have initially thought I might, so I was all grins, and judging by the equally big grins on the faces of Matt and Al we'd all got a lot out of the ride.
On Sunday, I was hoping to watch Wellington's mountainbike fraternity race the PNP Series round on Mt Victoria.
Roadworks star John Randal racing Mt Vic today
I had forgotten though that I had a family gathering to go to, so I decided I'd ride to the lunch to get some recovery miles in. Another glorious morning had me dressed in just shorts and short-sleeves and leaping aboard my Hillbrick for it's first ride with my new Chorus pedals and FSA compact bars, and - lest we forget - it's first ride as an under 20lb weight-weenie machine.
I rode from B-Pore over Constable St and around the Bays, sauntered around the summery Oriental Bay Parade, then up Glenmore St, past Revolution Bicycles in Northland up to Albemarle, then down onto Wilton Road, Crofton Downs, then Simla Crescent.
As I dived into the dip before Burma Road climbs up I was having rosy recollections of my daily school commute 30 years earlier, where I used to big ring my faithful Raleigh Arena all the way across and onto the plateau, but the second there was a degree of upwards inclination my legs died deader than a thing that's dead. I dropped into the 34, then whacked it up the cassette into the 26 and reeled the rest of the way along to my old school, Onslow College, and onto my in-laws place in J'ville for a lovely lunch and beer.
I have to say that I really enjoyed the new set up of my handlebars. The ability to have kept the same drop to my brake levers, yet not have to strain to reach my drops, combined with the stiffness of the 31.8mm 'bars, meant that even when my legs were imploding into spasming tubes of uselessness I was able to retain a modicum of comfort and control...Respect to the Compact Revolution!
With the sublime weather and the ideal balance of family time and great riding, this made for a truly perfect weekend...
Anyway, the rest of the school holidays weren't all movies, bowling, bike rides and birthdays (Harry turned 13 on Thursday!), at some point I might have even pulled down a couple of long days in the shop.
I finally had most of the parts to Kriston's singlespeed project, and thanks to him for coming up with some that I wasn't able to source.
Ready to begin!
Whack it up in the stand
Install cog and guesstimate spacing for correct chainline
Install headset and forks
Fit stem and awesome old Scott Brahma Bars
Levers, grips, front wheel and front Avid BB5 brake
Bottom bracket, cranks and to be replaced middle ring - check chainline with steel straight-edge. Perfect!
Rear v-brake and cable
Front cable
Beautiful filet brazing on this classic steel frame. The Rocky Mountain Altitude T/O was made until 1996 out of lightweight Tange Prestige steel...
Fit a chain and a Surly Singleator. We may not end up with this gear range, so the Singleator may not be needed in the final iteration...
And done, apart from the obvious lack of tyres and the final gear sorting. It looks like it will be a wonderful way for Kriston to induct himself into the singlespeed scene.
Next up was this Haro BMX that my upstairs neighbour had resprayed - it used to be pink, but apparently pink is out. Again.
I'd stripped it down for her to paint, expecting a poorly done spray-bomb job to come back, but Renee had done a very tidy job.
\I gave it a thick coat of wax, as spraypaint isn't the most durable finish, and re-assembled it so.
Next up was the new demo bike for Dave Johnson of
Bike Fixation - this sexy Litespeed Siena was having a Campagnolo Record groupset fitted, along with some unusual and light Feather Brakes that Dave had picked up at Interbike last week. As a bit of an old Campag diehard, I've never been a huge fan of aftermarket brakes (or derailleurs or cranks blah, blah, blah...), but I have to say that these felt great when set up, and pulled me up as well as any brake on the market on my brief road test. And only 204 grams the pair?! Beautiful artisanship as well...
Rear triangle
Frame
Built
I mentioned my man John Randal earlier; I'm fitting a set of the new Avid Elixir hydraulic brakes onto his Specialized Epic over this week. I haven't installed any of these yet, but it's a cool new product that has been well praised in it's early days so I'm keen to suss them out under a guy who'll push them hard.
After posting my last lot of autographs I was deluged (not really) with requests for more of my collection, so here more are.
The King of Cycling, Mr Eddy Merckx. Special thanks go to Fraser Wright for getting me the One Most Prized, the one that I've wanted since I first learned of The Cannibal when I was 14 years old.
XC/DH/roadie genius John Tomac
Double Olympic Gold XC medalist Paola Pezzo (and coach/husband Paolo Rosola, ex Giro stage winner for Bianchi - "No-one know who I am! I will sign for you on her arse!")
Cadel Evans signed this map of the course just after he won his first MTB World Cup round in 1997 here in Wellington. Note also Dominique Arnould, Peter van den Abeele, Rishi Grewal and local legend Craig Lawn
My old boss Henry did the 1995 Colonial Classic as a mechanic and got me the signatures of Marcel Wust and Jean-Paul van Poppel
I really enjoyed meeting Phil Anderson when he was here earlier this year. Great guy and a true legend.
As I as a bit of a hoarder, people often kindly bring me little gifts from trips abroad. Fellow Belgian beer enthusiast Paul met twice World Champion and three-time Tour winner Greg LeMond and was kind enough to think of me...I love Greg's message to me so much I can even forgive the misspelling of my name! :D
In the mid-90s it was mandatory for Henry and I to pile into Grant B's Sube once a year for a drive up to the Wanganui International Night of The Stars, where we got to meet all sorts of luminaries of international track cycling of the day. Along with seeing the earlier days of riders like Brendan Cameron, Julian Dean, Lee Vertongen and Sarah Ulmer, we got to see guys like Gary Neiwand, Gary Anderson, Jens Fiedler, Curt Harnett and the great Graeme Obree ride. Huge fun and a great autograph opportunity...
For the moment I'll finish off with one I'm very, very proud of. I bang on about it a lot, but working for Susy Pryde and Chris Drake has been one of the great highlights of my career. Susy gave me this special jersey after we worked together at the 2006 Rotorua Worlds, we she was the BikeNZ Endurance Coach. This jersey was the one she wore as New Zealand's first double summer Olympian, as she represented New Zealand in both the road and mountainbike disciplines at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Love the dirt, love the tar baby. Cheers, Oli
