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Red Tape
What’s wrong with the world, if a couple of mates can’t organise a few people to get together for an epic ride?
Who would have thought that some gutter dweller would have forwarded our email that we had sent out to the Christchurch City and Greymouth District Councils. What would be the point of this? Maybe they could an event organiser that runs events for profit. In addition, they cannot understand non-profit words like “Fun, Camaraderie and Achievement”.
The money paid to participate in this ride is given straight back to the riders in goods. All of the jerseys feedbags that the riders receive are all designed to give a retro fell like the good old days. The whole point of the ride is to experience the same kind if emotion that Sir Edmund Hillary did when he “Knocked the Bugger Off”.
Now we are face with the prospect of having to comply with the same rules and regulations as profit driven event organisers.
The thing that really grabs me by the short and curlys is what is the difference between 30-40 people meeting at a predetermined time on a Sunday morning and riding from point A to point B and our event? Maybe its time that your Sunday bunch ride should submit a traffic plan and pay a STMS company unnecessary amounts of money to cone off the road just incase.
Or maybe it’s best to let common sense prevail.
The Motatapu, 13th March 2010
The Motatapu is one of New Zealand’s premier sporting events. Now in it’s 6th successful year the upcoming event on March 13th 2010 sees the addition of two NEW running events to the already popular Off-Road Marathon and 50km High Country Mountain Bike events.
The Icebreaker Off-Road Marathon & Summit 50km High Country Mountain Bike run through the iconic Motatapu, Soho and Glencoe stations starting near Lake Wanaka and finishing at historic Arrowtown. This is over a route that is only open to the public once a year. The MTB is always a sell out by November each year! We suggest you enter early.
NEW for 2010
The Motatapu Miner’s Trail 15km Off-Road Mountain Run.
Enjoy the event on half the training. This route is only open once a year. A spectacular loop from Arrowtown, ascending the historic Tobin’s Track up onto the Crown Terrace before entering the magnificent (and private) Glencoe Station. Incredible views!
The Motatapu R&R Sport Adventure Run (Teams of two).
This is not for the faint hearted! This route traverses 4 peaks, the highest 1275m, with a total ascent of 2790m. The route follows the DOC Motatapu Track, described in places as merely a “marked route”. It is exposed and physically challenging backcountry terrain, negotiating rough tussock-covered areas, long steep sidles and river crossings. This is a serious mountain run for serious athletes.
For entries and full details on all Motatapu events see www.motatapu.com
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The Run 79 Lake Tekapo Mountain Bike Pursuit 2009
After a nice casual drive with the family to Tekapo, we checked onto our accommodation, Peppers Bulewater Resort . This is a very nice place to stay and relax with the family.
From Peppers I walked over to the registration tent to sign in and pick up my loot bag. The friendly staff from MTB Pursuits made this process very easy and I was out of there within a few minutes after checking where I would find the massage tables after the event.
I went back to our apartment and got ready for a light ride to turn my legs over (they had not seen much action in Christchurch due to the weather). As I did not pay attention to the course route, I spent 1 hour riding around the lake edge. This may not have been the correct course but the views where spectacular to say the least. When I arrived back at Peppers, I met up with the Konica Minolta team. I promptly misled them around the lake until we made a call and got the correct directions.
In my defense, the team from MTB Pursuits where only just marking out the course when we found the right tracks that would take us up to the main road. So a quick ride up to the road and back just to get a feel to the effort required at the start.
After a good sleep, I woke to find that the mornings in Tekapo are bloody cold. This made the decision to wear the correct apparel for the event. Lucky for me Blox had just manufactured an awesome weather shell for team Konica Minolta. Charles kindly offered me one to wear. These jackets are the bomb, waterproof, wind proof and to top it off they are breathable. I was able to keep my clothing as light as possible.
My food selection was also important. When you are a big rig, you need a lot more fuel than the average whippet. I had 3 liters of power bar electrolytes fluid in my camel pack and 750ml (three cans) of Gofast in my drink bottle. This was also to be the event to try the new Gofast Gum along with the standard bananas, muesli bars and the Moro bar out of my loot bag.
I sat on my wind trainer for about 20 minutes before riding over to the briefing. As always with these winter events, you cool down listening to all the safety information. Nevertheless, I would rather get cold than get lost or something worse for not listening.
After the countdown off we went, thought the shute over the transponder mats and along a gravel road to the first climb. The whole idea of the climb was to sort the men from the boys. I was left in puberty, right between manhood and boyhood. All the same, not bad for a +100kg rider. I managed not to put myself onto too much oxygen debt and get with a good bunch on the sealed road.
It’s funny how when you read the course description and ask your friends about the event you do not remember the hills. But there are some nice rollers as you head away from Tekapo. As I watched the leaders pull away I could not understand way my bunch did not work together, coming from a road and track cycling background you know and understand the importance of lapping (taking your turn at the front) it out in a bunch.. This is one skill MTB riders could polish up on to help make things easier during a race.
After about 10km, we went onto shingle roads these were still fast and we kept a steady pace going. These roads turned into farm roads and this is where the white cold stuff was lying on the ground. I think we were heading in a north-west direction around the lake. The views in this part of the world are nothing short of amazing.
For me the views took away some of the pain as we climbed and descended on some very rough 4WD tracks toward the head of the lake and the much anticipated river crossings. First we had to ride over this flat but bumpy farmland. My weight took over at this part. I was not able to glide over the terrain and I started to slip off the back of my bunch.
Crossing the riverbed was a fun experience that left my arms crying for a rest. I manage to catch to the bunch I was with when crossing the first couple of rivers, but they would ride away over the rocks and stones of the riverbed.
Riding out of the riverbed, I was looking forward to a gentle down hill ride to the finish. Again, I did not pay attention to the map or terrain. I rode with a couple of other competitors into what I would call a block head wind. By this stage of the event, I was spent. I could not get comfortable on the handlebars my arms were in a lot of pain. We managed to work together for as long as possible, but different strengths would not allow us to work together for too long.
By this stage, I was into my second cube of Gofast gum. This stuff works, it’s full of energy and is very easy to chew. It gave me the energy to make it to the finish. Gofast gum will not and did not stop the cramp in my right hamstring that left me crippled for a period of time on the side of the road, but it helped me get to the finish. The last stage back to Tekapo must be one of the toughest 35km I have ever ridden. The block headwind did not stop at any stage, mixed this the climbs the finish line could not come quick enough
I manage to finish in a time of 4:07, which was about ½ longer than I would have liked, but with a lot more training, I aim to reduce this time next year.
To sum this event up I would rate it as a bloody good challenge for all to do. From elite riders to people just wanting to see a very beautiful part of New Zealand. Make sure that you have the correct clothing, equipment and food, remember to check out our new online shop at Blox for great products.
I know accommodation is at a premium for this event so get in early. I must make special mention of the friendly and most organised team at MTB Pursuits. This year was the 8th year that MTB Pursuits have held this event and you would be hard pressed to find a person with a bad word about them or the event.
So get on you bike, as you only have one year to get fit for this great event. And as the say at MTB Pursuits “two wheels one passion”
Actively yours
World Vision Cycling Team First Team Race
The newly created World Vision Cycling team had its inaugural race at the Tour de Lakes and finished with Arron placing 5th with Alex close behind in 6th and Hans (the domestic and work horse) placing 15th. The Tour had us race for 9-10 hours in some of the countries most beautiful scenery along with the weather that was glorious with seeing some rain on the last day.
The World Vision Cycling Team decked out in teamwear provided by BLOX Apparel.
We all trained for 6 months before the tour and this was in hind sight a sensible thing to do, the pace was very fast for the entire race with average speeds of over 40kph on some stages. it was a privilege to be able to race this race and with some great riders in the pack. Kelly Chapman of Warm up Team took the tour and at times the World Vision boys helped him in that campaign. Arron did his best to try and win a stage and came very close in two stages and was in the money on most other sprints. Alex was riding for the King of the Mountains and battled on the hills with Chris Lovell-Smith whom pipped him at the post up Moke Lake by half a wheel. Hans was the humble worker, pulling at the front, chasing and buying the espresso coffee’s.
The team is now planning the next event that will help us fulfill our mission of raising 40 child sponsorships in 40 weeks, please email us at here to enquire on how you “Could Make a World of Difference” and help a community improve their lives.
Blog post by Alex Mann of the World Vision Cycling Team
Rainbow Rage 2009
Around 3pm Friday, my partner, Rebecca (driver) and I started our journey to St Arnard.
Having never been there and arriving at 7ish in this isolated spot was fantastic! We found Kerr Bay campsite right next to Lake Rotoiti, and set up camp. Among the campers were loads of MTB’s and speed boats! After 2 helpings of spaghetti bolognaise that Beck cooked, and some star gazing at the seamlessly perfect sky, it was off to bed to keep warm and stop the sand flies sucking all the blood out of us!
The alarm went of at 6.30 and it was all go! Off to have a nice hot shower, a luxury when camping! Packing up the tent is always fun, we ended up just chucking it in the boot to worry about later.
A short 9km drive in the morning to get to the start where the 657 entrants were signing in and getting everything sorted. At the sign in tent I noticed half a dozen riders already on the start line. So it was straight back to the car to get kitted up in my “Blox” riding gear, pulling the Merida from the back seat of the Subaru, chucking the wheels on, and down to the start line to clam my position.
Looking around I noticed there were no toilets! So the good old wooden post was good enough for me to settle my nerves (with every other male). Not sure how the females coped.
On the start line there was a wee bit of banter about how hard the ride is and that we will be having a head wind. Trying not to worry about this, as I was a first timer to the rage, I waited eagerly for briefing to start. A huge emphasis on warm clothes was made.
Before I knew it, we were off doing our 15kmh behind the Ute jostling for positions, the Ute took off and so did all the competitors, the race was on! Remembering what Paul had said, I placed myself around 10th so I didn’t have to lead, but could still “go” if the front guys attacked. Rebecca watched the start and said a couple of riders were fixing flats before they even crossed the start line.
After the first 30km I found myself around 18th, good rhythm, and happy with how things were going. Up Island Saddle, which is about 3km long, and after riding 57km to get to the bottom, it hurts! But the down hill was great, all the hard work was meant to be done, fast undulation down hill to Hanmer, but that southerly had picked up, and being alone I had no choice but to dig deep and keep turning the legs for the next 40km!
As the temperature dropped, I though of how Rebecca drove down from St Arnard with a heater going, nice soft seat, and minimal effort, and here I was slogging my way up Jollies Pass, I must say its not that steep, but it killed me! The last 6k’s was the fastest down hill, which put a huge smile on my dial! The thought of no more corrugations of the shingle road was something to grin about too! A chicane at the bottom with everyone cheering me on as I crossed the line in a time of 4hours 42mins, good enough for 24th overall and 3rd in my 19-29 age group.
The weather got even worse, about 30mins after I got in it started to rain. Fellow Rainbow Rage competitors were coming in shivering, with a few being shuffled off to the ambulance being hypothermic.
All in all it was a great ride, being my own critic, there was lots I did wrong, but after less than a year of riding I can’t complain too much, and I had no mechanicals!
I’m looking forward to the Rainbow Rage 2010.
Mark Dunlop
Motatapu Icebreaker
After a good night’s sleep in Queenstown, my alarm went off at 6am. Time to get up eat a wholesome breakfast and organise my gear, before the drive over the crown range to Wanaka. A quick stop at the Wanaka Caltex for a few last minute supplies then off to Glendhu Bay Motor Camp to check in before the start at 11am.
The organizers of the Motatapu Icebreaker did a great job at making sure all competitors had the correct safety equipment and bikes were up the standard to complete the event.
As the starting shoots started to fill up, it was great to look around and see so many Blox customers. Wellmarqure Print, Pak’N’Save, Cycleways, Em’s Power Cookies, New World, Southland Tri Club, Share the Road, Wensley’s Cycles, Queenstown Collision Repairs and many more.
I chose to ride in the elite section, as I had a personal goal of riding the Motatapu Icebreaker in under 2.5 hours. At the race briefing, they told us to ride up to the flags, stop, and then there would be a gun start. Unfortunately, that did not happen. By the time I got to the flags that marked the start line, I could only see dust from the gun riders. Kashi Leuchs and Marcus Roy seemed to have something special in their legs as they disappeared into the distance. I focused on trying to get into a rhythm to reach my goal, making sure that I was aware of people around. Just incase Shanaia Twain invited me in for a coffee!
After the first 15km, I doubted all the advice from my now “former friends” on the profile of the Motatapu Icebreaker, told the course was mostly false flat, with two small climbs along the way (bullocks to that advice). The scenery in this race is nothing short of breathtaking. There were many short grunty climbs that made my 103kg work hard all the way to the finish. During the middle stage, there were nasty grass sections that felt as if I was riding with the breaks on (yes I did stop and check my back wheel). Why couldn’t the event organisers mow and roll this section?
As the course ambled along the Motatapu Valley, the ‘k’s counted down, and the water crossings started to increase. Then I reached the ‘much talked about’ decent down into Soho Creek. This was the best and worst part of the race. I was dropping like a stone (boulder) passing a few riders while trying to keep away from the last of the marathon entrants.
Powering through the river crossings brought along the worst part of the race. I somehow managed to snap my chain, and as I lifted my bike out of the water to access the damage, my chain fell into the river. I had a quick look with no luck. This meant that I had to run the last 2km with cold, wet, brick like feet. A person that weighs 103kg runs worse than they climb hills, but cheered on by the large crowd that lined the last 1km or so, I managed to plod my way to the finish.
As I crossed the line I received my reward, no not the South Canterbury Finance drink bottle, nor the free pair of Icebreaker socks it was the smile on the face of my son Max.
A big thank you to the main sponsors Icebreaker, Suzuki, R & R Sport, Yuca, South Canterbury Finance, Speight’s Summit and all the others for making the Motatapu Icebreaker such a great event for all to enjoy.
I would recommend this event for all riders, if and only if you put the training in as it is not for the average couch potato. Visit www.iconicadventures.co.nz/Motatapu to check out all the details.
Actively yours, Paul.
The Dream Team
Wednesday 16th July
Well, we’ve had a few days to settle in. Very nice accommodation, we are in apartments. Ours is a three bedroom, two bathroom one which is really cool. Washer/Drier/clothes line, just like being in a town house really. I guess that’s what they are as they are owned by people and when they’re not here the resort rents the apartments out on the person’s behalf. There is a little gym which is okay, there are a couple of things that Jayne and I can’t do in it so we may have to go to the main gym that’s about 45 minutes drive from here. If we do that once a week and use the gym here once a week I think that won’t be too bad.
We had an excellent flight to Perth. The take off s and landings in both countries weren’t the best, rather rough actually. They’d been having thunderstorms in Perth so the weather was a bit yuk when we arrived. The next morning I put the bikes together and we went for a ride. It was a nice day so that was good. The roads are very good over here, not rough at all. The motorists seem to be pretty good so far. The truckies are average. Most are okay but you get the odd one that doesn’t give you much room which is a bit scary for they are usually the road trains that seem to be a mile long that don’t want to give you the room. All others are good.
Haven’t seen any spiders or snakes yet – thank goodness – I think I’ll run a mile in record time if I see a huge spider, snakes don’t worry me too much. I’d rather a snake to a spider any day.
We went grocery shopping on Monday, wow, it was a goodie. Mind you we had to start from scratch really. Still need to go back and get things like glad wrap, ties, etc, things that you think of later.
Yesterday we found some ripper hills. I’d swear that one of them would have been a good 16 – 18% climb, man it was a goodie. We were going up it at 6kph and just hanging on. We didn’t have much choice but to go up it as we’d already gone down the hill. That’s okay; at least it wasn’t too long a hill. We were kinda not sure exactly where we were so just kept riding. Finally came out at one of the roundabouts that we’d already been through so that was a relief. It was very windy too which made descending not very pleasant. We were getting blown around the place. It started to rain when we were just about back at the unit, didn’t get too wet thank goodness.
Last night at about 10:45pm I heard a noise, I eventually worked out that it was rain (it woke me up so I was a bit disorientated) then there was a very loud crash/boom. Oh joy, it was thunder. I lay there for a bit waiting to hear more but it didn’t happen. I said to Jayne this morning about it and she said that it carried on throughout the night. I must have been sound asleep as I didn’t hear a thing after that first initial one. The rain has been on and off this morning, sometimes rather heavy. We are hoping that it will clear up as we have got time trial efforts to do today and I don’t want to get onto the wind trainer…….we shall see what happens. It’s suppose to clear up – fingers crossed. I must say, the weather forecasters seem to be pretty accurate with their predictions as yesterday they said by mid morning it would be raining and it was.
Saturday 19th July
Today dawned bright but cool. After the yesterday it was nice. As most of you probably know Perth had a storm yesterday. Where we are it didn’t really affect us much at all. We got a lot of rain (some pretty good downpours at times) and quite a bit of wind but not like what South Perth got. Last night was a slightly different story though, boy it cut up a bit rougher, thunder, hail/rain, heaps more wind. It was nice that we had the day off. We went into the Midlands Mall for a couple of hours which was cool. Talk about getting lost, man it’s a big mall. All of us went in and went our own ways. Jayne and I had to buy some slippers (it is winter after all although I must say it’s a lot warmer than home). We’ve plenty more weeks here to go back and shop…….
Our training has been going well, on Thursday we got 100km in before the rain came down, phew, it took awhile as I kept on going down roads that were dead ends, oh well, we did eventually get there and we did enjoy the ride. Today we did an 80km ride with a number of efforts in it. Found some more roads (only two dead ends this time), I’m starting to discover where the roads join up/go which is neat. We’ve found some good time trial roads – brilliant – looking forward to getting on the TT bike and having a decent blast.
This will get you all going…….yesterday morning I got up and of course as I do I don’t have my contacts in or glasses on so I’m basically half blind walking around the place. Went out into the kitchen to make a cuppa, walked into the dining area and spotted something the on floor, couldn’t quite see what it was – thought it was a bit of dirt……………..how wrong was I, it was a bloody spider!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not a monster by any means (probably the size of a 50c piece) but if it’s bigger than a speck it’s too big for me. I let out a squeal and got a dirty tea towel, chucked it over the spider and jumped on it!!!!!!! And not just once either, I made sure it wasn’t going to crawl out. Eventually my breathing went back to normal and I put my contacts in so I could see properly…….sorry to all those that love spiders. There were none today so that was good. I’m blowed if I know how they get in but they do…..
Each day we spend the afternoons/evenings in the café on the internet. It’s quite cool really. We’ve certainly got the time to fit everything into the day. I’ve been watching the Tour de France and really enjoying it. Sometimes if I’m awake at 4:30am I’ll get up and watch the hour of highlights/last hour of racing and then go back to bed for an hour or so. It’s great!
Well, not much more to write about today. Tomorrow we are going to go and find the cycle way that follows the Swan River. Apparently it’s a nice ride so let’s see if we can get there and back. Shouldn’t be a problem, I’ve just got to remember which bridge to get back onto to head home.
Upcoming Events
Just a reminder to those of you who are thinking about entering any of the multitude of events that are coming up over the next few months (such as Le Race, Around Brunner, Hanmer 12 Hour, Graperide), that now is the time to be organising your kit. Don’t leave it too late!!!
We require 4 weeks to manufacture once you have finalised and approved your design, so phone us today to get a quote!
Speights Coast to Coast 2008
Blox Apparel would like to congratulate the following competitors in the 2008 Speights Coast to Coast for looking stylish in Blox gear while crossing the finish line after an amazing effort.
Dick Brunton (DARE Canterbury)
3rd Place, Longest Day Individual Mens
Emily Miazga (Em’s Power Cookies)
1st Place, Longest Day Individual Womens
Dougal Allan (PhysioMed/R&R Sports)
1st Place, 2 Day Individual Mens
Ryan Kiesanowski and Jeff Pierce (DJ Hewitt)
1st Place, 2 Day Family Team
Olivia Spencer-Bower and Claire Van Polanen (Thule)
2nd Place, 2 Day Open Women’s Team
Anna MacGougan and Nicola Benzie (BikeShack)
4th Place, 2 Day Open Women’s Team
Coast-to-Coast Report 2008
Having arrived in Kumara Thursday night and got everything organised it was back to my friend and fellow coast to coast athlete Matty Graham’s house for a good night of sleeping. Luckily Matty lives minutes from Kumara and it seemed like only an hour had passed when my alarm went off at 4.45am! It was almost as hard to wake the support crew up as it was to stay calm before the start gun…
The first cycle…
The first ride was very non-eventful. I learned two things: coast to coast individual competitors do not necessarily have any experience riding in bunches, and certainly do not like doing any work at the front of these bunches.
The run…
Into the run and it was soon apparent who the main contenders would be in the two day. I tried to set a good pace but managed to take a couple of wrong lines which meant I was actually losing ground to the guys close behind me. So I decided to run with two guys rather than waste energy. We ran together until about an hour before goat pass where I left them in an attempt to build a lead. However I was soon being passed at tremendous speed by a young lad Rhys John who would finish 5 minutes ahead of me by the end of the first day. I made my way to Klondyke Corner in just over 3 hours 20 minutes and was happy to be sitting in 2nd place overnight.
Klondyke…
I was told by a few people that the race leader’s strongest leg was his run, so I thought maybe I had a chance of actually winning this race. I tried to keep my legs moving and went and stood in the cold river for a while as well as eating plenty of food. It was hot and sunny and my support crew were playing cricket but I couldn’t really have fun as I was only half way to Sumner and tomorrow was going to be tough.
The middle cycle…
I was in the second bunch to leave in the morning and decided just to go for it. I was first to run across Mt White bridge towards the crowds and awaiting support crews. It was such a great feeling having the whole crowd cheer as I ran down to enter my kayak.
The kayak…
The paddle started well and with very low river levels I was happy to survive the braided upper section and get to the gorge without any dramas. However, about an hour into the gorge I found myself heading straight for a rock with no ability to steer. I looked back to see I had bumped my rudder quite badly and it was sticking up out of the water. A short time later I found myself upside down after hitting the rock with such force that my seat was ripped from its glue. Two failed roll attempts later I was floating down stream with a paddle and a six metre boat in tow. After wrestling with my kayak to empty it out and straighten the fragile rudder I was off again zigzagging my way down stream. I was now having serious trouble steering and was losing time with my inability to steer straight. My rudder was bent again and though I hit another rock I managed to stay upright and get an official to straighten my rudder. How it had not yet snapped I do not know as it was now hanging on by less than an inch of fractured steel. I was thus very relieved to reach the end of the kayak just over four and a half hours after I entered it and I had only been passed by about five paddlers.
The last cycle…
I knew I had lost time but was unsure how much so the last ride had to be fast. I caught the leaders within the first 15km and soon after I was left with just two for company, an individual and a team rider. We averaged 40km/hr over the 70km into Sumner and the last task was to run through soft sand to the awaiting Speight’s and handshake from Mr Judkins.
The finish…
It was great to have finished but I had no idea what position I was now in. I soaked up the excitement of the finish line and grabbed some fish and chips with my support crew as we awaited the results. A few hours later they were posted and as I was talking to my mum on the phone I went over and checked how I did: “Wow, looks like I had a win mum”. I had only won by 3 minutes but I was absolutely stoked to have won my first attempt at the two day race. The scariest part of the entire weekend was the prize giving as I had to talk in front of the Christchurch Town Hall. I thanked my crew, sponsors, fellow competitors, and friend Matty for their contributions to my success and got off the stage as quickly as possible. Before I had even sat back down I was starting to think about 2009. The longest day? I guess I will have to give it some thought. It would be rude not to…
Dougal Allan
Winner, Individual 2 Day
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