Nothing Wrong With Coming Last....Or Is There?

Even though we are technically still in winter, yesterday's weather was absolutely beautiful, you would be forgiven for thinking it's late spring.   Today was a different story, the low cloud and heavy rain was reminder that it is not spring yet.

I rocked up to the 5th round of the Bike Hutt's Cyclocross Race Series only to find a select few had turned up to race A grade.  As the track was so muddy, I chose not to pre ride the course to ensure my bike would work properly, at least for the first lap.  Mike (the organiser) has a habit throwing in a surprise or two on the start line and this week was no different.  As everyone was lining up guessing what the surprise would be, there was some talk about riding topless; Ken seemed keener on the idea than the rest of us. As we were ready to set off, the starter asked us to all turn around and told us we were going to ride the course in the opposite direction because "the course was getting cut up."  It made no difference to me; I took my position at the back of the bunch and stayed there.  I was duelling it out with Gary (on a 29er mtb with cyclocross tyres) until half a lap to go when my legs finally gave up.  I rolled across the finish line in dead last with a much better understanding of cyclocross racing.

It's nothing like road racing where you can hide in a bunch until the finish line or mountain biking where you can recover on the downhills. It's certainly nothing like triathlon where you save your legs on the bike for the run.  Looking at how the fast people race, I think it's closer to BMX racing on road bikes with mountain bike skills. 

WHAT A FANTASTIC SPORT.  I'll definitely be back next year!!!

Full results here

No video this week as the camera lens cover got a few drops of mud on it.

Thanks to Danielle for the great photos.

Race Three of The Bike Hutt Cyclocross Series

4 Weeks - 6 Races. Wellington's A Great Place To Train.

The winter season of racing has started and the weather has been fantastic.

First up was the Kapiti Cycling Club's Winter Series. 
A great series and I highly recommend it!

Saturday 30th June - 60km Road Race
Saturday 7th July - 60km Road Race
Saturday 14th July   - 60km Road Race   Sunday - Cyclocross Race
Saturday 21st July - 60km Road Race     Sunday - Cyclocross Race

Mel Hamer-Hurst has been taking some great photos of the cyclocross races here


  There is plently more racing coming up, check out some of the club's calendars.

Kapiti Cycling Club here

Bike Hutt's Cyclocross Series here

PNP Cycling Club here

PNP Mountain Bike Series here

Fun Run and Races here





Cyclocross Series, Race Two

This was a lot of fun, the pictures are of A Grade racers.

My Precious

It’s funny to think that this was one of the best downhill bikes in 1994/1995. How things have changed!?!

During my ‘off season’ I set myself a goal of restoring ‘My Precious.’

The hardest part was restoring the front forks (Rock Shox Judy DH) as the elastomers had disintegrated.  I got there in the end, thanks to someone selling a pair of Judy XC SLs that had springs in them which I was able to use.

Servicing the damping cartridge



Comparing elastomers to springs









New springs!

While this bike isn’t 100% accurate to when I raced it, it’s pretty close.  The tyres, Panaracer Smokes, were my favourite in the early 90s and I couldn’t resist putting them on.

Specifications:

Frame – Specialized FSR – First generation.

Forks – Rock Shox Downhill Judy with a whopping 3” of travel.

Forks - Rock Shox Mag 21s with 2 1/2" of travel.

Components – mix of Lx and Xt, 8 speed with a few anodised bolts.

Brakes – Magaura Race hydraulic brakes with break beefers to save the frame.  They still feel great.

Tyres – Panaracer Smokes.

Pedals –Shimano XT – First generation.

DCD – Dave’s Chain device was used to keep tension on the chain.

Chain – Sachs, great chains in the day.

Grips - ODI mushrooms.

Do you still have your downhill bike Mr Steve Owens?

Custom Cycling Apparel (clothing)

Late last year I decided I wanted to design my own cycling gear so I started shopping around.

I looked at what Ultimo, Tineli, Champion System and Amapop had to offer.  In the end I went with Amapop and was very impressed.

The whole process was very simple.

I came up with some ideas for my design (big thanks to Andy Brown for designing my kiwi) then emailed it to Toni.

Toni turned my ideas into a design and emailed them back to me.

I modified the mock design and emailed it back.

The whole design process was extremely easy!  The hardest part was deciding on which material to use, either:

Cooldry - a high quality material which is extremely light and has fantastic moisture wicking capabilities.

Coolfresh Extreme – also a quality material but slightly heavier / thicker.

Thermal material – This material is almost too good to wear on the road, let alone mountain biking.  It feels like silk, beautiful!

I went for one of each.

Once the design, materials and sizes were confirmed, I received my gear.

Toni aims to have the gear delivered within 2 - 3 weeks.

 If you think you’d like to have a go at designing your own personal cycling gear or get some designed for you, email Toni at cycletoni@live.com  or visit his website

Wellington Scottish Athletics Club 3 Peaks, Event 1

The Wellington Scottish Athletics Club holds a series of races where you are given a map and three hill tops to reach. Any route can be taken. For event 1, the hill tops were Johnstons, Chartwell and Tinakori.  Click here for the results and information on the next two races.