It’s a famous phrase – “the winter of my discontent” – reiterated and echoed on an annual basis with surprise each time that the inevitable does return. Short daylight hours barely exceeding the time spent at work, cold driving rain, grey skies – it’s a time of year better suited to books and hot chocolate than to […]
Majestic Motatapu
There are some races in the world that become house-hold names by reputation – either for drawing amazing fields and deep racing, for promise of spectacular scenery through beautiful parts of the world, or for amazing adventure. TransAlp, BC Bike Race and the Cape Epic spring to mind. New Zealand’s equivalent is the Motatapu – […]
Muddy fun in the sun at the Mt Somers Classic
For all the slick and commercial events of the world, sometimes some of the best experiences are delivered by the small club-level races. The Mt Somers Classic is an excellent example – a fundraising race organised by the Mayfield Lions club that has run for 13 years and generated over $200,000 of reinvestment into the […]
Racing a Classic: the Coppermine
Before the days of Trailforks, finding an epic trail was all about distant magazine articles. One of the most lauded trails was the Dun Mountain loop, a short back-country loop based out of Nelson, New Zealand. Like many of New Zealand’s back country rides, it follows an historic route through the hills, tracing the old […]
A Bag for the Epics: Camelbak HAWG review
A little while ago, I saw a pretty inflammatory Camelbak advertisement: the last time you bought a hydration pack, they looked like this. Nothing could be truer for me. I had an ancient blue Camelbak Mule, complete with zips busted from chronic overloading, horrendous fading and sweat staining, and a certified biohazard status. But, for all […]
Backcountry Beauty: The St James Epic
The St James is a loose name for a backcountry area of New Zealand’s south island around the headwaters of the Waiau river, spanning from the alpine divide down towards the Hanmer Plain. In the 1990s, the New Zealand Government purchased the area from the landholders for a tidy sum of $40,000,000. Given that this […]
The Joy (and Stupidity) of Singlespeeding
A little while ago, I read an article on the internet that infuriated me greatly. Surprisingly, it wasn’t just pure clickbait fake news from the Murdoch press inciting against cyclists via facebook memes, but an article on Pinkbike: Riding Rigid is Ridiculous. Putting my keyboard warrior posturing aside, the Pinkbike article makes a very solid […]
Racing the Wilderness: The West Coast Wilderness Trail
A few years ago, New Zealand’s (then) Prime Minister John Key was faced with an interesting dilemma: how to promote cycle tourism in a country with roads that barely fit two vehicles, let alone cyclists. The solution was a novel one: Te Ara Ahi, the Great New Zealand Cycle Trail. A network of off-road pathways, […]
One of the Toughest, and one of the Best: The Whaka 100
It’s a typical Rotorua morning – there’s a cold drizzle and a slight wind, the forests are shrowded in deep mist, and the air is redolent of sulfurous fumes. On this particular morning, a couple of hundred riders are lined up at the Waipa mill in a colourful display that belies the monotonal grey skies. […]
Getting ready for one of the toughest: the Whaka 100
Rotorua has long been touted as one of the greatest mountain biking destinations, with the trails of the Redwoods – the hard work of the Rotorua Trails Trust – becoming almost mythical in their allure. While principally a destination for those who enjoy the Southstar shuttle service and reps of the great Corners or Little Red Riding Huck […]