Moonride

Team Avanti Plus hit the moonride in Rotorua to take on the 12hr.  The biggest teams race in the country which always has the best atmosphere and toughest competition.  Rotorua is known for its hard and fast riding with plenty of rain the week before it was always going to be interesting.  We set up the tents on arrival and once they were all up it looked like a Avanti Plus ally way. 

With Sadie and Sasha joining some friends and forming a women’s team and the boys racing the open 12hr, while Josh took on the 24hr solo.  Once again I got the duty of starting the race with the blast on the asphalt then off onto the course.  Managing to get a good clean start at the head of the field it was plan to see it was going to be a mud fest.  As we hit the 24hr tent village with the grass no longer visible it looked like a mud slide. 

 It was a struggle to keep yourself upright and moving.  It was slip sliding and two wheel drifting which was a lot of fun but very scary when you have to dodge trees at speed while both wheels are sliding.  After completing my two start laps I handed over to Scott with us in 3^rd place.  The track continued to get cut up throughout the day.  It was a case of riding smooth to be fast which was made easy with my Kenda Kama tires. 

We continued to battle between 2^nd and 3^rd throughout the day and as night fell we moved into 2nd place, the chase for 1^st was on.    After finishing 2^nd in the Wellington 12hr to the same team leading we were desperate to make ground.  We were refueling on Peak Fuel, Chocolate Cake and Cookies. 

After deciding to hold back a little during the day and then giving it everything in the night laps  we hope we could make a come back.  With the muddy conditions it was a constant cleaning and lubing of our machines but with my Scott Spark not missing a beat we managed to all come away with no mechanicals even under the testing conditions. 

With the gap sitting at 12 minutes, we would a pull a minute here and there and then they would take the gap back.  With the course so muddy and slow it was becoming very hard to tap out fast laps.  We ended up taking 2^nd place and were very happy to be on the podium and the Girls winning there grade and solo man Josh amazingly gaining 2^nd after his nanny nap back a base camp.  Thanks to the team Jamie, Martyn, Scott,  Ian and our hot team managers/time keepers what a great race and amazing achievements by Avanti over all, we took over the podium in most categories.

A Wet and Muddy Karapoti

It was Karapoti time again and after a dry month in wellie and a hard and fast track. The Akatarawa Valley didn’t disappoint with heavy rain the two days before and on race day it was no longer hard and fast.  With one of the most demanding mountain bike courses I have ridden the rain was going to add that little something special.  The slip factor after cutting my teeth in these conditions as youngster I was looking forward to the wet one.  With most of the field complaining about the wet conditions I was just thinking ‘bring it on’ as this is a mountain bike race not a road race.  With most of the Avanti Plus team been new bees to Karapoti they were all excited to get out there after hearing all the legendry stories and tales that the Karapoti has dished out over the years. 

With Karapoti known for its traditional splash and bash through the river start, and then the blast up the gorge.  Strangely this year it was like a fun ride up the tarseal which was good for me until we hit the bottle neck of the gravel gorge that seamed to hit the switch.  Elbows were out and the pace was on.  I managed to hold the lead pack of 15 or so until I lost contact a km before the warm-up climb.  Finding my own tempo up the deadwood climb and along the ridge picking up riders along the way.  I found myself just inside the top 10 with my Spark 20 handling the rock garden decent so well I got a little excited and launching off one of the rock drops and punctured my rear tire.  With a super quick fix I managed to make up the four places I had lost by the bottom of the devil staircase and catching up to Kendle as we hit the first of the muddy bog holes. I was enjoying the wet and challenging conditions. 

 Riding steady I thought maybe a top 10 was still on the cards after surviving the last big climb up dopers. Passing Big Ben Murphy before the fast decent down to find my tire squirming around underneath me at the top of the gorge.  With not enough CO2 left to inflate the second flat it was time to put the running feet on.  With the hope of a top 10 gone I was watching the minutes tick buy and the riders go past.  Still hoping I could grab myself another sub 3 hour.  Thanks to Gavin’s quick fill I managed to get the tire half inflated enough to get me to the line under three hours.  Which made it 14 sub 3hrs in total .Karapoiti is one race that will draw you back whether you have had a good one or not.  Always striving to better the perverse years efforts and find an extra minute or so or even a few seconds. Whether your at the front of the field or the back of the field everyone is battling the clock

National Champs Dunedin

National championships Forrester park Dunedin.  Flying in on the plane from Welly it was plain to see that Dunedin had had plenty of moisture in the previous week as surface water was easily spotted.  I thought to myself this could be great, as Forrester park is known for its muddy surface when wet.  After arriving and talking to other riders the usual panic over what tires to run had started already.  With myself happy to run my Kenda small block 8’s which are designed for dry hard pack conditions.  But I have no problem running these in the mud.  After myself and team mate Josh had assembled our bikes we were off to the track to tap a few laps. The course was in its usual format, a real riders track. Having had several national rounds and championships held on this course before.   With a good mix of single track up and down, gravel climbs and open riding.  This course has a good flow to it.  After discovering that the best section of course was only for the elite riders and the age groups would miss out this year I was guttered.  This section due to the rain was a slippery winding single track up and a hang on tight muddy slalom down which was a hell of a lot of fun.  So we rode this section on our practice lap just for kicks. 

Race day dawns fine with a cool southern wind with no chance of over heating today.  With the age groupers set to start at 10am and the elites at 2pm.  With Martyn, Sadie and myself  racing in the morning and Josh Sasha and Karen racing in the afternoon.  I was having a good race although I missed the starting jump, and it took a lap for my legs to warm up, I enjoyed the slippery, sliding conditions. I was having a ball my Spark 20 wasn’t missing a beat.  Feeing better with every lap I managed to move up the field and finished in 2^nd  place a minute down on the Master 1 Winner. 

With team mate Sadie showing she still has it becoming National Master 1 Champion.  Martyn having a strong ride and gaining 4^th. 

After been retired from elite level racing for 5 odd years it was time to sit back and watch a highly competitive field from the feed zone where I would be feeding Peak Fuel to team mate Josh and mate Cabin. I was looking forward to a very tight race but unusual for a elite men’s race the field was blown apart from lap one due the intensity and pace of Carl Jones. He managed to establish a gap on lap one and hold on to become national Champion. While in the women’s elite race with one of the best fields in years team mate Karen had a blinder of a ride mixing it up with National Champion Rosara and eventually finishing a strong 2^nd.  And team mate Sasha also having a strong ride and finishing 7^th.  A fantastic weekend for Team Avanti Plus at National champs.

Wild Wellington 12hr Relay

Wild Wellington was going to be the first team race for our Avanti MTB team.  We were all amped and excited to get under way.  We had 5 of us myself, Josh. Martyn, Sasha, and our ring in Rock star Jamie J.  Wellington had been dry all week so the track was hard fast and dusty.  We arrived on site early Saturday morning to unload my van and set up.  We were all set up and ready to roll by 0830.  Wellington had put on a cracker day, warm fine and light winds.  After I had rolled round the track for a sighting lap in under 20minutes we decided we would start with three lap stints. 

I had drawn the short straw of starting the race along side our seven time national champ.  Stu Houltham who was on our rival mixed team.  The race start was below the velodrome with a fast uphill tar-seal section leading into the single track.  I managed to line up along side Stu on the front row and were joking around like usual awaiting for the gun. 

Stu started at his usual hard charging pace I was able to hold his wheel and follow him into the first single track.  Course was designed for all levels of riders so a lot of the steeper climbs had been taken out which meant for very fast riding but still a lot of fun.  Managing to keep Stu lead to a minute I handed over to Josh for his stint who was ampted up to be on the MTB bike again. 

With Sasha, Martyn and Jamie all doing fast stints we had formed a lead over the mixed field and had set our sites on trying to chase the leading open Men’s team.  The gapped sea soaring between 12 and 5 minutes for most of the day.  With Martyn unfortunately puncturing his 29er tire and having to ride back to the tent village on a flat.  Which caused a little bit of panic in our team as he wasn’t due in for another 20minutes, with most of us chilling out and refueling the body with Peak Fuel.  At the time I was sitting in the bean bag eating some cream rice and had to jump up and get on the pedals in a matter of seconds which got the adrenaline going and managed my fasted lap of the day. 

Martyn’s friends home baking had won us some free coffee’s and with all of us having turns on the Megaphone screaming at each other it was only the night laps to go.  We were starting to close in on the open men’s team.  We had sent Josh out on what we thought would be our last lap hoping that we had enough time to complete the lap we all lined the start finish area trying to spot our man in the on coming lights constantly coming towards us.  Watching the stop watch it was going to be super tight but we new Josh with give it everything.  The race announcer had got it wrong by two minutes and Josh arrives in completely spent just a minute shy of the cut off.  Which would of given us the overall win as well as our mixed division win. 

A lot of teams had wacky costumes and a fantastic atmosphere was in the tent village with  a great crowd at the back of the course.  Big thanks to Frazier from Avanti and Nathan from Avanti Plus Porirua for there help

The race that never was

Enduro Race 2 was upon us and we were going to have a full team present looking forward to catching up with everyone.  We all arrived on Saturday and meet up at the mill side of the forest for a team ride.  We had just received our new Scott helmets which are comfy as and looking forward to a blast on the tracks It had just started raining, but takes a lot of water to slicken the track so we so we tapped out some trails down through rock drop for an hour or so but we keen to save some energy for the race day. 

The team was all staying together in Rotoura and decided to cook a team pre race meal.  With the usual carbo loading pasta and team mate Martyn offering to make his “lovely white sauce”.  We opted for the shop brought variety and is now a bit of a in house team laugh.

The rain has continued to become more intense and could hear the spouting over flowing most of the night.  I enjoy racing in wet and muddy conditions and was looking forward to racing in these conditions.  We awoke to more heavy rain and a very flooded back lawn.  As people made there way to the kitchen for there usual pre race feast we had just got the news that the race had been cancelled.  But could this be true.  After nearly 20 years of mountain bike racing and having never had a race canceled due to weather even the infamous National champ’s race in long gully Wellington were the 17 ankle deep creek crossing over night turned into chest high raging streams.  But it was true they had cancelled a MTB race.  I was disappointed and thought it was still possible.  But Marcus the events race organizer definitely made the right call.   As the safety of all those riders were in his hands. 

So we packed up, hit Zippys café for coffee as you must do when you’re in Vegas and started the long wet drive back to Welly’s. Passing the race car park as we left Rotorua It looked more like a swimming pool than a car park with about 4 inches of water covering it.  The weekend was definitely not a wipe out with great company, food and laughs at the team accommodation it was a great team building exercise.

N-Duro Summer Series Race 1

N-Duro 1 its that time of year again.  Everyone full of Christmas goodness, and a good chance to burn some of it off.  A cool but clear day unfortunately today’s race clashed with a national round but hasn’t affected the field.  Still full of the big hitters Dirk, Cabin and Carlos. 

We have four of the Avanti Plus her today myself Jamie, Scott and Josh.  As usual the pace of the start is full on with Ken Feast taking a flyer on his cyclo-cross bike and I managed to slot in on the back of the first group with Scott and Josh.  Managing to hold the first bunch for the first 15minutes by then Dirk had disappeared off the front.  I was starting to feel the effects of the last week and a half of towing my son on the trailer bike while on holiday.  As it was a constant come on Dad lets go for a ride.  Legs were quite heavy but didn’t pay much notice as the tracks in Vegas are so wicked to ride.  You just want to keep on hammering. 

Having a few Arrows moved round wasn’t helping as groups of riders would disappear and then suddenly pop out again in front. as we found out later some locals thought they would have a bit of fun and move a few around.  Despite this everyone found there way back onto the trail.  By this stage we had all the big climbing behind us and it was time to cut loose down Billy T.  Later heading down corners and could feel the heat of a few riders just behind.  As it turned out one of those was my team mate Scott. 

The last 5km was a full on session after passing Cameron on one of the Gravel Link roads he was on my tail.  I was trying to stay off the brakes as much as possible with a few close calls.  Made it to the finish line, with less than a minute to Cameron and Scott who were chasing hard. 

Good Day for the team as Jamie, Josh, Scott and Myself all had good rides.  Managed to Score a 1^st in Master’s and Scott and Myself picking up some Fish n Chip money for finishing in the top 10 over all

The Mighty Huka

A weekend at the mighty Huka and a GO for Team Avanti Plus. It just happened to be the launch of the new Avanti Plus team at the Great lake cycle challenge. It all started late on Thursday night as we made our way up from Wellie to Taupo. It’s hard not to get wrapped up in the excitement of this event. As we came across super enduro riders heading towards taupo on there 1280km mission, we slowed the car down tooting the horn and hanging out the window yelling encouragement.  This meant we woke up my baby daughter not a good look at 12am, never mind she loves cycling. 

Friday is  pickup registration packs and meet up with long lost cycling friends and take in some of the action in town where the BMX free riders were doing there crazy ramp jump display.  Good to see a big crowd enjoying the skilful display.  Still think lots of them where there for the big crashes as there were a few.  Friday nights street race fill of action as always, dominated by pure black racing.  Then it was a meet and greet and team meeting at Team Avanti Plus HQ.  A great mix of ages in the team everyone sharing the same enthusiasm for riding and racing.  The team was buzzing looking forward to putting our new Avanti Vapors and Scott Spark 20's through there paces.  Friday evening is spent fitting our new Kenda Karma tires, the usual carbo loading ready for the 80km ahead of us.

An early morning is a must to consume more carbs and roll down to the start line ready to start at 7am.  With bottles and pockets full of Peak fuel we were just awaiting the gun.  With a very deep and quality field one of the best I can remember for years.  It was going to be tough day at the office for everyone.  The race starts, as we take off with the roadies on one side and us on the other, the race was on.  The pace was super hot right from the gun, the top contenders treating it like a short track race. I was just trying to hang on with no one wanting to be left behind into the single track. So it was wheel to wheel riding in a dust cloud as we hit the first section of single track.  The first two hours of ride time was pretty intense with a lot of short sharp climbs.

The pace was on a few groups had formed already with me sitting in group two.  Unfortunately passing Scott with a broken chain at this stage I got the first of two flat tires thanks to the black berry vine.  Loosing my riding group but still enjoying the endless sweet single tracks of craters.  My Scott Spark 20 was eating up the trail as it is a very easy bike to ride fast.  One single track just merges into the next and then the next as they say ‘time fly’s when you are having fun’.  Taupo put on a super hot and dusty day so I was glad I had plenty of Peak fuel on board.

I had just got my second flat and being passed by four or five rider before entering transition the 40km mark I was out of tubes and c02 .Thanks to Marco for lending me his, it was time to get my head down and try and move up the field. I took a new bottle from my partner/support crew thanks.

I was going to see what these old legs could do the next section of trail was very tight and slow but catching and passing Josh. Then riding back across to the Hub café, smokin down some fast and flowing goodness. The last 20km from the dam to the finish was good for me as I picked up a few riders and made up some lost ground passing a fading Tony as we hit the tar seal.  As we rode into the finish area with the huge crowds cheering the riders on it was hard to believe we had just covered 80km of primo trail.   Thanks to my Spark 20 it was only my legs that were smashed leaving my upper body and back feeling good.
. 
Riders then all hung in the park which is where we spent the rest of the day in the shade of the Avanti tent talking to riders and sharing race tails. 

Then it was the highlight of my day escorting one of the youngsters on the heart ride.  After getting the SOS call from Cabin for some extra riders to escort the young riders.  It was paired up with a 6year old from Tauranga who could barely pedal.  His Training wheels along at the start he was lacking  confidence big time with plenty of encourage this grew over the 3km from Rainbow point to the finish.  We had a few interesting moments along the way as he took an unplanned detour which was well saved and we got him back onto the trail.  Coming into the finish straight we had a race to the finish line crossing it with a fist pump in the air.  He was so proud of himself as he should have been it was inspiring to see the little kids on the heart ride getting so much out of the day, and for me been part of that was awesome. 

A great weekend was had.  Thanks to Team Avanti Plus, Scott bikes, Peak fuel and Kenda.