Cedgic Gracia - Punta Ala

Cedric Gracia Through my eyes #1 - Punta Ala from Lucas Stanus on Vimeo.

Twofa Tuesday

Righto, been a bit quiet on the blog front....

So here's a couple of videos to keep you busy for now.



Neil Donoghue - Bronson Play from Laurence Crossman-Emms on Vimeo.

The New Santa Cruz Bronson

SANTA CRUZ BRONSON from santa cruz bikes on Vimeo.

Ibis Ripley - Bike Mag Exclusive

Mildy Goes Short

Make Mine a Short

There’s a constant barrage of amazing bike goodies touted everywhere these days to drool over. But often it’s the simple things that can make a big difference to how your bike rides. 

New frame, latest and greatest shock, new componentry and endless carbon goodies? Not really in my budget world! Sometimes a new tyre with sharp tread is like Christmas around here.

So, whats with all this short stem business? Downhill riders have known all about the benefits of running a short stem for years, with that short front end set-up an essential part of making a modern downhill bike work. 

With so much body position emphasis on front loading and pressure control with aggressive, modern geometry, a short stem on a big travel bike is taken for granted. But what about your trail bike? If you are of the female persuasion, a short stem has always been highly recommended anyway to cover the generally different torso shape the fairer sex has from us guys. And for us blokes – I’d say get with it. 

If you’re running a long stem and are looking for a way to make the front end of your bike incredibly positive and responsive, this could be the cheapest component switch you may make which could have the biggest benefit to your riding experience. 

A 50mm stem holding a good set of bars really puts you right into the sweet spot on the front end – and it doesn't really impact on climbing ability with only a slight adjustment needed in cockpit comfort. That shiny red one in the picture is a goodie too, a lovely piece of Straitline machine work. 

Give a short a try, you won’t regret it!

Who is Chris Mildon?  Other than all round great guy, great rider and has been involved in the mountain bike scence for longer than most of us can remember, he also an instructor for the Mountainbike Skills Clinic in Nelson.  

http://www.mtbskillsclinics.co.nz/instructors.php?id=14

Which one is Better?

Who cares.


White Ranch With Matt & Steve from Kevin Shiramizu on Vimeo.

Nice

Freedom of choice, you could choose your spot prize of the above frame.

I would think by now that you've heard that the Dodzy memorial enduro was the place to be.....and you're probably still kicking yourself that you didn't make it.  If you've been living on another planet for the last few days, you can catch up via Spoke Magazine.

Anyway, it was a great day in the office......some amazing trails, an amazing race and some great results.

Also, we gave away a Butcher, as a spot prize and Owen Hughes was the lucky winner.  Owen was so pleased about it.....he sent this email........it is the little things sometimes.

Hey,

Just wanted to say how happy I am to have won that Butcher frame at the Dodzy memorial enduro over the weekend.

It came at just the right time, as my old trail bike has seen better days. I've flicked my old bike off complete to help cover me for my final month of study and Ill put the Butcher together for a graduation reward. It will be 1 by 10 with some revelations and solid built kit (hope, mavic, XT etc).

It will suit my riding pretty well; when I'm not riding my 29er, getting buried by Thomas (Lindup), I'm riding fairly steep technical trails (which Welly has plenty of). I'm from Nelson and my folks live there, so I ride a bit in your neck of the woods. It's pretty much perfect.

Thanks again mate, gonna ride the snot out of it once I'm done with the books in a few weeks.

Cheers,

Owen

Santa Cruz Blur TR aluminium - Rat Attack

RAT ATTACK! Introducing the New Santa Cruz Blur TR from santa cruz bikes on Vimeo.

Joe Graney shows us the insides of the new V10 Carbon

Joe On the New V10 from Token Creative on Vimeo.

URGE 3PEAKS ENDURO

Tristan on his big yellow wagon wheels

Kashi, Mountain biking Otago and the scores of volunteers who put on the Urge 3Peaks Enduro last Saturday ought to be congratulated. Everyone who was there is still fizzing, and no one can wait till next year. Kashi's been to a few races himself, so although he may be a first-time event organiser, he knows well enough what's key to a great race. And it showed. Well organised, well marked, well timed, sweet trails and good times. Even Dunedin's notorious weather stayed at bay. Signal, believe it or not, was even dusty.

The enduro format worked brilliantly - Riders toured Dunedin's three prominent hills, cruising up with their mates (or getting an uplift with Magnum if you opted for the DH only version) and then killing each of the downhills. Each downhill section was timed top to bottom and then you would have a relaxed liason stage to get to the top of the next descent. You had a maximum time of 6.5hrs  hours for the complete course, which was generous, but really meant that you didn't need to sweat too much in between stages.

With 92 entrants this year, and (so I hear) a cap of 150, you'll need to get your entries in early for next year's event. 

Yeah, I'm so proud of this photo. It was still WAY faster than crashing.

The Girl's podium, Rosara, myself and Mel Blomfield

A wave of riders pedal up to the start of stage 1

 Mt Cargil was in perfect condition

 Overall winner Tom Lamb destroying Signal

PHF - Merry Xmas from AMG

2013 Santa Cruz V10c

The All New Santa Cruz V10c for 2013 from santa cruz bikes on Vimeo.

Twofa Tuesday - Enduro Racers

Supermountain 2012 champion Manuel Ducci and mik-rec San Remo, Liguria . . . www.facebook.com/MikRec


In the clouds - Manuel Ducci and Mik-Rec on Pinkbike Bryan Regnier rééducation
Bryan Regnier rééducation from rom bianco on Vimeo.

Spring Clean - 2012

Jamie Nicoll - Another day in the office of an Enduro Racer

Well it's that time of the year again, we've had a month of daylight savings and we're all working on our summer ride schedules......you know, races, trips away, must do rides etc.  Ahhh, summer, you gotta love it.

Ethan Glover - Winning the QTown 6 hour Super (Photo Spoke Magazine)

It's also a good time for me to go go through all my emails, hard-drive, social media thingies, etc and hunt out all the photos I've been meaning to use somewhere......but never quite got around to it.....so I might as welll just sort of randomly post them on my blog.......seems like a good idea.  I also get to play with some photo filtering software...which I've been meaning to do for a while now.

Damian Stones - doing what he does so well

Andy Reid - Coppermine

Trish Wrigley - Getting air in Wanaka (another day in the office for Trish)

Harriet and Damian, photo opportunities (pretty sure that's Grant Sterling in the back ground) 

Anja - Comfortably Numb - Whistler

Nick Lambert - Colorado (photo thanks to Nick Lambert of zeroseven.co.nz)

Boyd - Hucking in Pemberton....YOLO!

Nelson Enduro Race

Anne-Caro Ibis photo shoot (Ibis have signed her up for another two year, nice).

Danimal Trail, Whistler - I just love the trail marking

Thomas railing, photo thanks to Cycl1n

Leighton, too much of a good thing (borrowed from facebook)

Not forgetting the post ride hydration.

So what are you waiting for.......stop reading this blog and go ride your bike.

Milk & Honey

Maybe it takes something a little bit different to get people excited about a race these days. Whatever it is, last Sunday's Milk & Honey race pulled quite a field. Around about 90 people, in fact. It's a novel format - a road race featuring a proper hill climb backed up by a mountain bike race with a proper downhill.  

So,  the road race bit was as expected - One large bunch heading for the bottom of the hill. From my position in the pack, nothing too much happened. A few breaks were thwarted and from where I was sitting it looked like mini-pinner (and eventual winner) Henry Jaine did the lion's share.

A few oddballs worth mentioning are Chris Burr who finished well up the field on his "Touring Bike ". Bob, who dialed the whole Takaka climb on a fixie and then nailed the Rameka on her singlespeed Tranny. And Jaimie Nichol, who not only finished 5th overall, but did so by riding his Santa Cruz Nomad for the ENTIRE race. He probably also slips into the record books by becoming the only person in history to use a seat dropper for aerodynamic advantage in a road race.

Tristan was bridesmaid again, coming in 4 minutes behind Henry (2.53.35) while Ed Kearly took third. Andy Reid took 4th, towing Jaimie in to the finish. 

The girls was a tight fought race finishing 10th (myself, 3.13.10), 11th (Meg Bichard 3.13.59) and 12th (Tiffany Farnsworthth (3.14.49) in the overall individual race.

Photos courtesy of Milk & Honey facebook page