Singlespeed Worlds day 6 - Shuttles

After the excitement of raceday we decided to take advantage of the shuttles that were available to explore some more of the higher-up trails. Shuttles use the same idea as a ski-lift - you get a lift up the mountain so you can enjoy coming down it. The only difference is that instead of a ski-lift or gondola you use a tightly packed minibus with a trailer

After 20 minutes or so of climbing the shuttle pulls into a clearing
There is an explosion of cyclists grabbing bikes, looking at maps, planning their next moves and nipping into the bushes before they start
and then they all disperse down the named, marked & graded trails leaving the clearing as peaceful as before Well, until the next one arrives

On our first run I found out that I was as unfit for riding down hills as I was for riding up them. It didn't take long before my calves were burning as I stood on the pedals and my forearms were pumping as I death-gripped the bars and attempted to manouvre myself around every obstacle on the trail. That's not how it works - like all sports you need to relax & stay loose, focus further ahead, let the bike do the work and look to where you want to go not where you're trying to avoid. I'm still not very good at this but found myself chanting almost a mantra to myself to relax and enjoy it.

This worked well until our third run. I think I might have been getting tired & careless, or maybe I was just having too much flow. I bounced smooth-ishly down a rutted descent and totally failed to make the corner below, my mantra disturbed by an internal cry of 'tree!'. The bars hit the tree and over I went, sprawled out on the trail still clipped in and sliding. It was then that I realised another great point about riding in Rotorua - the pine needles form a soft springy rock-free surface that doesn't hurt too much when you land on it. I've had much smaller crashes in Queenland that have lead to stones being tweezered out of my elbows by casualty staff.

We carried on riding and found a fine trail called 'Split Enz'. This is a fine flowing trail that is reputedly swept by the original trailmaker every day. It runs along the top of a ridge with some beautiful vistas over the forests

Unfortunately forest plantations mean forestation, and when the trees are harvested it doesn't look so pretty
Looking at that it makes you wonder about the thought processes behind the anti-mountain bike brigade that declare that a single mountain bike trail can ruin a forest.
The sad news is that some of the classic trails that we rode earlier in the week are due for the same treatment. But I guess that's part of the deal, and better this than the Australian model of logging thousand year old native forest for paper pulp.
By the time we got back to the motel we were all pretty exhausted so we quickly headed out to one of Rotoruas best cafes, the Fat Dog
The only problem was that the burgers weren't big enoughso that night we had to have a barbecue - for protein-rich recovery purposes only of course...

Thank you to everyone who went to Rotorua with me - it was an awesome holiday.

Singlespeed Worlds Day 5 - The Race

Race day dawned and it was apparent that some amongst us had peaked too early The apartment was also starting to showsigns of distressThose of us that were racing got our stuff together and prepared to head off. As you might have guessed by now, the SS worlds are not like your average bike race. For a start there's a fancy dress component. Cam put together a great ensemble

That turned heads on the way to the start
I dislike fancy dress like I dislike kareoke so hadn't worried about getting a costume together - if anyone asked I was planning to say I was dressed as a fat unfit bloke in a bike race. But I hadn't realised just how many of the 1000+ people in the race felt differently


The race was started witha yachting theme - we rode around in a tight circle for around 5 minutes until a buzzer blew and the start gate was opened. So those nearest the gate got a good start, those at the end had more work to do. This was a fun idea in theory, but in reality it meant that the fast & slow racers were bunched together getting in each others way. I'm not interested in a podium in a race like this, but get very self conscious when there are people who are stuck behind me. Not that it mattered, because we hit the first hill and everyone jumped off and walked

On the other side of this climb was a steep-ish rutted descent which turned into carnage. Less experienced riders would be riding down the racing line at a safe-ish pace whilst those in search of podiums hurtled past on the outside bouncing off passers-by and undergrowth. I saw a few nasty over-the-bars when things went wrong.
But soon we were spread out and in the singletrack. And then we'd bunch together again. It was a frustrating 15 minutes or so as there was no chance to get any flow in the your riding - you were constantly stopping & walking the bike both up and down. Some would say that's just a by-product of trying to fit 1000 people into one piece of singletrack but I think it was because we were riding with a bunch of muppets
Soon we hit the first beer-shortcut - the idea is that you can take a shorter section of track if you scull a beer on the way
I think these guys had the option of the beer shortcut by default, but seemed happy for a cold one on the way past

After this there was some serious riding to do, so I put the camera away and after another tiring hour or so I made my over the finish line on my first lap just a few minutes after the leaders. Ok, the leaders had finished their second lap at that point but that's just semantics.
We got to watch some of the other riders come in including Heather Logie, the winner of the womens race

and the disco-guy, who was riding with speakers on his forks blaring out disco. That's a real disco ball on his helmet
I'd had enough after one lap, so pulled the plug and just kicked back enjoying the atmosphere

We got back to the motel and the owner (also a mountain biker) had got into the spirit of thingsIt was one of the oddest races I've ever been in. Lots of fun and although the sheer wackiness felt over-the-top at first, after a while it started to somehow make sense. And the weather was cracking - so good that I'm still being scolded about my sun-burn one week later.....

Singlespeed Worlds Day 4

After a bit of a break I was feeling better on day 4 so headed back out on the bike with the guys. We decided we'd have a more leisurely day, enjoying the trails and taking a few pictures whilst we were out.

Dave told us we were soft & rode some dropsI feathered my brakes on the Tickler (dad-joke copyright N Drummond)
and groundskeeper Nidley finally showed us his treehugging side
It's hard not to have fun when you're out riding bikes with your mates somewhere like this
It was Flys birthday so after lunch we went out to the Luge, a series of concrete tracks set high above Lake Rotorua that you get to by gondola

The tracks wind down the hill like ski slopes, and even on the simplest track you can pick up a fair bit of speed and have some close races. I'd love to see the casualty statistics for this place.
It was at this point we found out that one of our number had a bit of a fear of heights & wasn't that happy about the chairlift. So naturally when the lift stopped one time we had to bounce the cable. Fortunately it was taken in good grace.
He was very obviously in his 'happy place' on the gondola on the way down too...
Tomorrow was race day so we had to attend 'race briefing' that night. This was a very serious matter

Race briefing was pretty simple - have fun, be nice, ride bikes & drink beer but remember - don't drink beer and ride bikes.

After that there was a competition to see which nation would hold the next Worlds. Naturally this involved hats & clothes pegs

But the action off-stage was just as good - well, it was for Fly anyway. He seemed to be enjoying his birthday...

Singlespeed worlds Day 3

Day three in New Zealand was a bit flat for me - I'd managed to tweak my back during the previous days exertions so I took myself off riding duty and decided to take it easy. I had a lazy morning, stretched a lot and had an easy ride and a mooch around Rotorua. Checked out a few bike shops, had a few coffees, stocked up on anti-inflamatories & painkillers - the usual sort of thing you do on your day off.

I decided the hot tub at the back of the apartment looked like a good idea so I ran myself a nice deep steaming-hot bath but as I settled into it the blue skys suddenly clouded up and rain came out of nowhere. I tried wearing sunglasses & submerging everything but my eyes & nose, but it wasn't quite the relaxing soak I was hoping for.

I wasn't alone in having some time off the bike - some of the guys went sledging, a form of white-water rafting where you use a body-board type float with handles to try & prevent yourself being beaten against rocks until you drown. Personally I think it's the invention of some drunken kiwis one night in a pub - 'how can we get the tourists to pay us to make them REALLY uncomfortable' - but the guys seemed to enjoy it. And the gods obviously agreed, because by the time they returned the skies were clear and they made good use of 'my' hot tub

Singlespeed Worlds Day 2

Wednesday dawned cold and damp. It was a shock to the system for the Queenslanders to feel the nip in the air, and that combined with the late night and the timezone differences (3 hrs) lead to a slow start.

We managed to make it out to the trails in the late morning - it was beautiful out there. The forests are farmed redwood trees which drop pine needles onto the ground which form a lovely tacky slightly springy surface. Perfect for sculpted bumps & berm-laden trails that undulate along the hillsides on trails verged with silver ferns between stately towering trees . It's a surface that makes you want to ride faster, to corner more, to keep going.

Unfortunately our confused bodies thought otherwise and hunger pangs drove us back to the motel for traditional NZ 'Fush & Chups'.

After lunch we headed into Rotorua for a 'Tiki Tour'. This was a freebie laid on by the organisers to show us the sights (and smells) of the town. For those that don't know, Rotorua sits above a highly active geothermal area which pushes hot water out into lakes, streams and craters all over the town

Along with the steam comes the smell of sulphar that hangs over the entire town - apparently you get used to it. Although it takes your breath away at first All this water is at 60 - 70 degrees - hot to the touch, and also used extensively in the town for the many spas, swimming pools, hot tubs, saunas, steam ovens, etc etc etc. It also leads to some barren semi-volcanic areas with bubbling pools of near boiling water spitting scalding mud separated from the recommended path by a sturdy line of rocks
Rotorua also has a proud Mauri history - this is a traditional meeting hall by the lake covered in amazing carvings

After the Tiki ride we had a quick shower and then headed back into town to register for the race, grab something to eat and check our our race (or party animal) swagAfter this the night carried on in a fine style. We ended up in a club with an incredibly exotic pile of bikes in the back room As you can tell from the lack of gears, the club was mainly full of americans with novelty facial hair. It was a fun night, best summed up by the pictures of a tree I felt inspired to take at (checks timeon photo) around 1am