The Resurrection 2: Brian gets wood (rims)

Combining his fine skills in the art of woodworking and an interest in all things wheeled, my old man is about to undertake another rescue mission on a lucky bike, this time a BSA track bike from back when Jesus rode the Ghent 6 day.
These are gonna look sweet when they're done I reckon. Wooden rims circa 1896. Check for termites before riding on these babies. Might need to glue on some new tubulars too...

No bike required

Nothing like a road trip to blow out the cobwebs of life in the bus lane. Usually my road trips involve bikes, mates and Rotorua. This trip was different in the fact that no bikes or (male) mates were present, and Rotorua was still a few hours away. Destination: Napier, home of some cool trails also, but there'd be no singletrack for me this time, just a car, beer, motel and the Art Deco delights of the town. It was also a rare opportunity to take some photos of things that didn't have wheels.















Got lube? The museum at Norsewood was both a little bit lame and really cool.





Always something there to remind me...

Hell

looks like this.

A pretty damn good Friday

Sun, surf and snow. Signs of an impending winter on the Kaikouras. You might need to click on the pic to see what I mean...
I like riding with Bella because she uses the 'bushman's hankie' even more than me.

R.I.P. K-Dog

Sad news via text from the K-Man today. His right-hand-dog Kade passed away last night. More of a small horse than a big German Shepherd, he was a gentle giant who's bark was way worse than his bite. He'll be causing some havoc in Doggie Heaven when he starts doing this....

Seeya Kade. Good boy.

El Ganso flies the coup

All good things come to an end. Nothing lasts forever. Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget. Then there's The Goose. It's hard to forget him when hours after he's gone, when I can finally rest my head without having to block my ears against the gutteral noise emanating from deep within his oesophagus, I discover the tracksuit I'd spent ten days prohibiting from public viewing stashed under my pillow. Have you heard the screaming in horror movies when some poor young girl finds her boyfriends' severed head stashed in the refrigerator? Yeah, that's the one. I'm gonna have to burn that duvet too. Talk about soft (Steve, not the duvet). The temperature drops below 20c and the wool cap comes out, cups of tea are numerous and that tracksuit.... oh that tracksuit.
With Ganso's bike packed away and ready to be overhauled once back in Aus, he got to ride the shop test Stumpy at Makara for his final spin on Kiwi soil. We met up with Ratas and took on a few different trails to our initial ride on the Peak, namely Leaping Lizard and Nikau, with the easiest trail in the park to finish up. Nobody could crash on Lazy Fern... could they?
Of course 'they' could. Not just any crash. Not a little low-speed slip in a corner. No, a helmet-cracking, ankle-twisting head slam that only someone known as 'The Goose' could achieve.
Ratas was leaving the next day too, off on his next rope-course building mission. And then there were none. It was a great couple of weeks hanging out with El G, we saw a lot of cool shit, rode some great trails and drank some great beer (and coffee). But there's so much more to see in this awesome little country, and I hope to show him the rest some time soon. But for now, it's adios amigo, see you in Aus later in the year.

EGE4: Out and back

At last, it was time for some real riding. Two days in Vegas, the first with a little bit of a slick coating on the trails, the second perfect, tacky ribbons of singletrack with an extra topping of flow.
Our digs for the first two nights was bike-friendly, cheap, and right across the road from the bottlo. Perfect.

Wow, Steve looks like he's going really fast. He wasn't.

If only there was a shock pump and spoke key. The tool rack at the top of Billy T is a cool feature, and map boards are all over the forest now.

Steve managed to find the only stick on Split Enz, the smoothest, most stick-free trail in the Southern Hemisphere. Really.

Day two we decided to go to the top of the park and check out Tuhoto Ariki, a technical trail known to be a bit boggy after rain. It was a bit, but it's still my favourite trail in the forest.

Roots, rocks, logs and twisty turns dominate. It keeps you on your toes, and when followed up with Split Enz, well it's the icing on the cake.

If you eat these mushys, the roots become snakes and the trees talk to you.

The trusty Laser hotfooted us away from Vegas, with a detour up Mt. Ruapehu on the way.

Lunch on the back of the Laser was popular with the locals.

Steve managed to find the only loose rock on the mountain known as the most stable of rock in the Southern Hemisphere, ending up on his arse but breaking his fall with my camera.

And then.... we were back in Welly. How could we tell?

EGE 3: Tourists

When in Rotorua, do as the tourists do... Breathe in some toxic gases...
Take an iconic sheep/landscape photo...
Walk on water...
Blend in with the locals...

Let off some steam...

Then go ride.

Get outa town: The EGE pt2

Napier or Taupo? Taupo or Napier? The half-price shopper docket won out and Taupo it was. It's a shit town that one. Shoulda gone to Napier. Oh well, at least the forecast was good. But guess what, the weather turned out to be shithouse.
But we wanted to ride, and a new trail called W2K was on the agenda. After passing the turnoff and subsequently cursing the Kennett's book, we finally found the start of the trail and trundled off into the rain.
It made a nice change from Craters Of The Moon, which while the name fascinated Steve, the prospect of riding the trails themselves bored me. W2K was pretty standard fare, a twisty, smooth 14km out-and-back singletrack meandering along and above the lake, which would have looked pretty spectacular had we been able to see it.
We turned around at the halfway point, before the reputed 6km downhill, which we figured would be a 6km uphill on the way back. The rain wasn't easing up and a beer in the spa seemed a better option.
I presented a demonstration of the fine Kiwi tradition of bike-wrangling a sheep, which I assured Steve was compulsory at the conclusion of any ride undertaken in the rain beside a lake. I don't think it washed....
At least Steve did though, and the warm lake water and misty backdrop made for a cool bike-wash station. Can sheep shit kill fish?
There was only one thing to do... follow our noses.

The El Ganso Experience Pt. 1: Welly

Did you hear the one about the goose who couldn't fly? Well, he can. El Ganso aka The Steamer aka, um, Steve, is in NZ to share an enlightening and spiritual experience with his dearest friend, mentor and confidant. But that guy has apparently moved to Tanzania, so Steve settled for hanging out with me for a couple of weeks. Of course the first thing to do when arriving in a new country is to go to the pub. Then attempt to ride bicycles the next day. Repeat. So we've done the icons, Makara on Saturday and The Bays on Sunday, a most glorious day in the capital for a road ride. And a beer. Or two. Repeat.