15 December 2008
Well its been a pretty hectic week tripping around the county meeting some talented juniors, making an amazing high country mtb tour, then visiting friends and sponsors in Christchurch and Wellington!
The junior camp was for the top South Island riders and we had around 15 hot shots between 12-17 years old turn up for some fun in the Hanmer sun. This place is renowned for its flowing single tracks, so we all had a blast riding around the trails.. it was just a little hard to keep up as these juniors just attacked us oldies from the start!
I then joined Laurence, Guy (the Ground Effect crew) and Dave (legendary sadistic mtb adventurer) for some high country riding in the St James Station. Dave had planned us a suitably gnarly route... 2 days, around 160km through desolate high country, lots of rough walking tracks, and a fair amount of hike a bike peaks to ensure a fair mix of pleasure and pain. We slept in a DOC hut, so had to carry sleeping bags and food.. no wussy 4* hotels like on my previous euro trips!
The scenery was great as expected, but I was really amazed by how sick most of the walking tracks were! Most of it, right on the edge of unridable, were the most fun I've riding in ages. I was under pressure too, not wanting to accept that Dave, just shy of 50 and riding his quirky Salsa 29er, could out ride me. In the end though I had no chance, not on the downhills, nor on the climbs!
Laurence also got the better of me, but I can justify that because he was on a big bike (Santa Cruz Heckler). His fun was put to an abrupt stop though due to a naughty twig that somehow pushed his rear derailleur into his rear wheel. After a quick mod to single speed mode he made it through day 1, just to have his freewheel crap out due to the extra pressure. Finally faced with the only remaining option of riding the final day as a fixie, he settled for a 50km road ride home.
The second day involved a bit more pushing and Matagouri bashing, but the reward was an amazing single tack descent from Fowlers pass that just naturally flowed down the valley back to the main gravel road where the van was parked. We ended up with around 17hrs riding time through some true 100% pure NZ.
The junior camp was for the top South Island riders and we had around 15 hot shots between 12-17 years old turn up for some fun in the Hanmer sun. This place is renowned for its flowing single tracks, so we all had a blast riding around the trails.. it was just a little hard to keep up as these juniors just attacked us oldies from the start!
I then joined Laurence, Guy (the Ground Effect crew) and Dave (legendary sadistic mtb adventurer) for some high country riding in the St James Station. Dave had planned us a suitably gnarly route... 2 days, around 160km through desolate high country, lots of rough walking tracks, and a fair amount of hike a bike peaks to ensure a fair mix of pleasure and pain. We slept in a DOC hut, so had to carry sleeping bags and food.. no wussy 4* hotels like on my previous euro trips!
The scenery was great as expected, but I was really amazed by how sick most of the walking tracks were! Most of it, right on the edge of unridable, were the most fun I've riding in ages. I was under pressure too, not wanting to accept that Dave, just shy of 50 and riding his quirky Salsa 29er, could out ride me. In the end though I had no chance, not on the downhills, nor on the climbs!
Laurence also got the better of me, but I can justify that because he was on a big bike (Santa Cruz Heckler). His fun was put to an abrupt stop though due to a naughty twig that somehow pushed his rear derailleur into his rear wheel. After a quick mod to single speed mode he made it through day 1, just to have his freewheel crap out due to the extra pressure. Finally faced with the only remaining option of riding the final day as a fixie, he settled for a 50km road ride home.
The second day involved a bit more pushing and Matagouri bashing, but the reward was an amazing single tack descent from Fowlers pass that just naturally flowed down the valley back to the main gravel road where the van was parked. We ended up with around 17hrs riding time through some true 100% pure NZ.
