To experience sublime natural beauty is to confront the total inadequacy of language to describe what you see. Words cannot convey the scale of a view that is so stunning it is felt. In such moments natural beauty becomes a kind of devastation – it is pure encounter, too compressed in time and space to […]
Getting Volcanic at the Craters Classic
Taupo is located on the verge of the gorgeous 80km Lake Taupo. While serene and beautiful, it hides a secret: the lake is actually the caldera of a supermassive volcano. Sitting astride the Taupo volcanic zone, the area is a volcanic hot-spot. The Craters Classic is a race adjacent the Carters of the Moon – […]
Digging Holes at the Ashburton 6 Hour
Philosophical Introduction There’s been a salient and sombre overtone in a few articles on this site and others recently about the death of mountain bike racing. Falling numbers, lower participation, and the diminution of the excitement and the vibe. In the midst of these tails, I’ve noticed a bit of an aberration in the strength […]
Mixing it Up at the Port Hills Classic
The Port Hills Classic was scheduled for March 2017 as a 30th anniversary of mountain bike racing on Christchurch’s Port Hills. Then, in February, this happened: Rescheduled to April, the event went charging ahead at the trails of Halswell Quarry. While the original Port Hills Classics had, in various forms, consisted of riding various forms […]
Extra 200 Places for the Craters Classic
There’s no better way to finish a MTB race than soaking in a thermal hot tub. Well, possibly soaking in a thermal hot-tub with a rather nice frothy amber-coloured beverage in hand. And that’s part of the appeal of the Craters Classic. The Craters Classic – scheduled for 11th June 2017 – has just opened another […]
Sometimes, it’s all about the Scenery: the Contact Lake Hawea Epic
On moving to NZ, one of the first races I looked at was the Contact Energy Lake Hawea Epic. Promising a lap of a moraine lake in a glacial tarn, stunning alpine South Island scenery, multiple river crossings and access to normally inaccessible trails, it proved a tempting proposition. In its tenth year, the race […]
Two Wheel Drifting at 4 and 8 Hours of Hanmer Springs
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the best possible post-ride activity is soaking in a thermal spring. Well, actually, that’s a highly contested and controversial statement, and dependent on the weather. But if there is any cold or wet present, then the thermal spring comes into its own. This has perhaps been crucial to […]
Alternative Facts at the Willo Enduro
Related Event: James Williamson Enduro Challenge
One of the most important breakthroughs in knowledge in the past few years has been the ascension of the alternative fact. The alternative fact basically means something that you deem to be true because a) it’s more convenient to your preconceived opinion than the actual truth or b) because you couldn’t actually be bothered to […]