Lopes Link and other Ibis goodies in stock NOW!

Lopes Link

Just in time for that last minute Xmas gift for the Mojo owning loved one.

Now carve corners like Lopes does with your new Lopes Link. Limited quantities of all colours in stock.

See your dealer or send me an email.

NZ RRP $135.00

Ibis Riding Jersey (short sleeve, avocado only)

OK, I've got some of these in stock too.

Small, Med & Large sizes, only in avocado colour

NZ RRP $139.99

Also in limited stock are

T-Shirts (RRP $59.99)

Hoodies (RRP $109.99)

Sock (RRP $39.99)

Team Santa Cruz NZ welcome Raewyn Morrison

A BIG welcome to Raewyn Morrison to the XC side of the Santa Cruz NZ Team

We here at Hyperformance Hardware are happy to have Raewyn as part of the team. It's always great to have talented young riders on board and pushing themselves in competition.
(oh yeah, check out here bling anodised gold Juliana)
Raewyn Morrison
Age: 19
Race experience: New to the scene, having had only one season of competitive racing. First mountain bike purchased in 2006, the next two years saw her constantly pushing herself and making huge improvements to technical skills and jumping.
In 2007 Raewyn entered a few local races of the PNP series (Wellington), competition was a little thin, which she came away with some good results.
Raewyn was picked up by Burkes Cycles and her current coach Gene McNaught, this gave her the support and the opportunity to compete nationally.
The North Island Cup and Nationals were a big success, racing in the U23 category Raewyn finished with some great results.

Recent results/ podium finishes
2008:
1st in the U23 Women at the round 2 XC North Island cup, Rotorua (6th Woman overall)
1st in the U23 Women at the round 3 XC North Island Cup, Palmerston North
2nd U23 XC North Island Cup overall.
2nd Woman at Round 3 N-Duro 25km. (10th overall placing)
3rd in the U23 Women at the 2008 XC National Championships, Mt Vic

2007:
1st open women's team at Wild Wellington 12hr race
1st College Girl overall for PNP Series, Wellington
1st College Girl, Round 1 Makara Peak, PNP Series
1st College Girl, Round 2 Wainuiomata, PNP Series
1st College Girl, Round 4 Belmont, PNP Series
1st College Girl, Round 5 Makara Peak, PNP Series

Racing goals:
For the season coming up, I will be competing in the cross-country North Island Cup and National Championships. I will also do some local races for preparation and experience. I plan to race open women for the extra competition and challenge, but then will race U23's for the Nationals to get a national ranking. I hope to be racing for New Zealand and eventually racing pro in the USA or Europe. With my good technical ability, I have been advised to use this strength and incorporate downhill racing into the season, to see how I go. This will include racing at the North Island Cup events.

Aari Barrett Gets International Team Contract

A BIG congrat's to Aari for getting signed up to a big international team. We here at Hyperformance Hardware wish him the best for the future, he is an amazing rider.

Check out the TV3 interview here too.....who's that guy with the VP-Free they are talking to?
http://www.3news.co.nz/Video/Hawkes-Bay-teen-signs-on-for-international-downhill-bike-team/tabid/317/articleID/84788/cat/70/Default.aspx#video

T-Rex goes Tri-Geek

Tim Wilding gives us an update on the Pearl Izumi Taupo Half Ironman

"On Saturday i completed the Pearl Izumi Taupo Half Ironman in a time of 4.32 to take 8th overall. It was a pretty cool day with only a few tough moments and heres how it went down:

I'm starting to get into early starts, i think in part because i now swim, ride or run prior to starting work at 7.30 each morning. Lining up for the 6.30 race start felt like nothing but an extension of my working week, although on Saturday i could count on seeing a little more than my computer screen. I haven't been doing a great deal of swimming so was half expecting to be out of the water after up to 40minutes. Reality was much kinder though; i had a really comfortable and enjoyable swim zig zagging up and down the course (i wasn't swimming in a straight line very well) and after an extraordinarily long transition, exited out onto the bike at 31min.

Two days before by Ibis had gone from zero to aero when i was offered tri bars, a disc and spinergy. Stutz had me with the disc - the bike course could have been all up hill and i probably would have strongly considered it just for the sound - and the Spinergy was the icing on the cake. Who doesn't love these blast from the past sausage slicers? He warned me that they were a bit vague on corners and i'd have to concur with him on that. But they made the Ibis look pretty trick and short of cranking out some fluoro yellow speedos i probably couldn't have got more tri-geek.

The new set up meant that i couldn't wait to get out onto the road, wind the wheels up, and see what damage i could do. I very quickly rode myself up into the top 10 but from there the gains were incremental. At the half way turn around i got a sense of how far ahead Kieren Doe was. He would finish with a ride split 10min quicker than mine; rather sobering. My spirits were lifted with sight of fellow local and Pearl Izumi athlete Duncan Milne chasing him hard though. Dunc looked to be flying so i was pretty gutted to see him 20km later on the side of the road with a broken bike.

In the end i had a solid, but unspectacular ride, exiting transition onto the run with a 2.25 split and an extremely tight stomach. I experience it too often in triathlons and it's near debilitating. I can't breathe, can't straighten, definitely can't run fast. But as serious as the effects are, the cause is perhaps the most basic; i'm dehydrated and need water. It's something i need to resolve because until i do i'll continue to experience those tough moments like on Saturday as i just about crawled to the first drinks station.

3 glasses of water onboard and 500m down the road to process it saw me feeling much better and not feeling so phased by the run. My pace picked up and i went from wondering whether i could actually finish to targeting a sub 4.30 finish time. Over the course of the run i drunk 16 cups of water and my hamstrings became progressively more wooden. I was still moving ok when i reached the end but missed my 4.30 target by a couple of minutes.

All up it was a pretty positive day. I really enjoyed the race and the atmosphere. I loved the sausage and beer at the finish thanks to the cool kids at Pearl Izumi. I'll definitely be back next year and plan to be faster still.

Christmas for me will hopefully consist of not much work and plenty of food, training, and fine weather. My next race will be as part of a team in the Wild Moa on the 10th January. I don't plan to do a lot of racing through January as i'd prefer to keep building my base. But from February onwards i'll definitely be targeting a few more races chosen to advance me in preparation for Xterra in April. I can't wait.

Thanks as always to my sponsors:
- Pearl Izumi (especially this time around)
- Ibis Cycles
- Roadworks Wellington
- Maxxis Tires

And to my coach, Bryan Hall."

Be Like Lopes

The Lopes Links has landed, so you better go and see you friendly Ibis dealer and tell him to secure you one. I only got a handfull of them and one of the red ones is for me, so you better be quick.

Thinking that's not 'nuff Lopes stuff for you, well maybe you need a little more retail thearpy.

Bell make a Lopes signiture helmet, yes I want one of these too.

Troy Lee make some of these funky knee and shin guards.With all this stuff, you might be able to do this......or you might not. Can't hurt though?

You gotta see this

OK this has been floating around cyber space for a while, actually the first time I saw was on Scot Nicol's (not a )blog.

Not really sure what's going on, but.......it's good.

Ibis Mojo, Bike of the Year for the Second Time!

Brian Lopes

For the second year in a row, MTBR.com gave the Ibis Mojo the best all mountain bike.

You got to be happy with that.

Hans, Scot, Brian and Tom

Syndicate thanks Nathan Rennie for five great years

December 11, 2008 Santa Cruz, California

The Santa Cruz Syndicate would like to announce the departure of Nathan Rennie from the squad as he looks to competing in 2009 with a new team (to be announced soon), and express our gratitude for the five years he raced for us from 2004 through 2008. His three year contract with Santa Cruz was up and he has explored other options moving forward in his career and has chosen to race for another team. His big presence and sense of humor will be sorely missed as well as his powerhouse performances on the racetrack. We wish him well on his new team and will continue to be proud of him and his efforts.

Through the five years on the Syndicate Rennie has been the foundation of the squad. He brought so much laughter and story telling to the group along with many crazy beard configurations and horrifying haircuts for our entertainment. I don’t know how Josh Bryceland will be able to fill in, he barely has a whisker! Seriously though, Rennie climbed the podium 40 times in the five years for us, was twice Australian National Champion and earned a bronze medal at the 2006 World Championships and helped the Syndicate earn the #1 UCI Downhill Team Championship in 2008 while wearing the Syndicate colors.

Rob Roskopp remarks about Rennie, “An incredible rider, comedian, good friend and all around great man.... Rennie will be greatly missed. We wish him all the best moving forward"

Steve Peat says, “I would like to thank Nathan for all the fun times we have had together over the last three years I’ve been on the Syndicate. He was the King Pin when I joined the Syndicate and I learned lots from him. He always has the best stories and is always good fun to hang out with. I can’t wait until “Renoir’s Memoir’s” hits the newsstands. He is an asset to any bike company and a great friend to me. All the best with your new ride, mate!”

“I have known Nathan two years now but only properly since I have been on the Syndicate with him. He is a great teammate on and off the track and he had me in stitches all year long. I know Nathan will fit right on to any team with his personality and I wish him all the best in the future. It was a pleasure doing business with ya Renoir!” says Josh Bryceland.

Greg Minnaar congratulates Nathan on his new ride and says, “I have always looked up to Nathan as one of the best downhillers in the world, so to finally be able to see the "Beast" manhandle that V10 in person definitely amped me up every time we rode. Good luck bud, I hope this new change brings a fresh spark to your racing.”

In conclusion Nathan has this to say, ”I just want to thank everyone involved with the Santa Cruz Syndicate including everyone back in Santa Cruz. All I can say is that I’m a little lost for words. For some time now I have needed some change in my life, on and off the bike. I feel a change for me is for the best in all aspects. I am looking forward to getting back to my best and having the right outlook to better myself, and the new people around me.

I have so many people to thank so of course, in true Rennie fashion I would like to thank the gift that we can all agree on which is the creation of the "wheel". Myself and the wheel have a love hate relationship, but it always seems to keep turning. I’m going to keep this short and sweet because it’s not like I’m losing any friends with my choice to change, it’s only giving myself a chance to shine like the kind of red Ozzy kid I am. I look forward to seeing you all at the races same as any year. Keep it real, from your mate Nathan. Lots a love.”

I’ll have to cut the apron strings and let my boy move on, but Nathan will always be a family member to all of us on the Syndicate and at Santa Cruz Bicycles. Thanks for the memories Nathan!!

Tim Wilding and Annika Smail win Huka XL Challange

The inaugural Huka XL Challenge was run in the weekend, a 70km mtb race run at the same time at the Round Taupo road race.

Tim and Annika took the win's, so a great day in the office for these Santa Cruz riders. A great way to start the season too.

Here is Tim' report.

"Good news - I won the Contact Huka XL on Saturday!

I felt relatively good all day, although I was never alone; Stu Houltham, Mike Northcott and myself were unable to shake each other until the last km. We shelled the rest of the field almost immediately and proceeded to spend the first half of the race probing each other for weakness. Mikey and Stu had the edge on me climbing so i had to scramble a bit to hang on every time we went up. Aside from that we were pretty even and as the race wore on the dynamic changed subtly as we realised it was likely that the race would come down to a sprint. The last 90 minutes took us out of Craters and to Aratiatia, before heading back upstream to the finish in Taupo. The relatively flat and non-technical character of the trails through this section meant that it was unlikely that any of us would be able to break away from the others. Instead we maintained a strong tempo, taking turns to lap out until we arrived back in Taupo.

I was expecting that we would remain together until the finishing straight, when the hostilities would start. It didn't happen this way though; with around 800m remaining Stu dropped off the back just enough for Mikey and I to gas it and make him chase to get on. We set a pretty strong pace but Stu wasn't giving up and was just hanging off the back. Rounding the corner onto the finishing straight it was still anybodies race. I rolled around Mikey to take a turn, got an unexpected gap, and decided to go then. Mike has a pretty fearsome sprint so going long was the right approach for me. The gap grew as i tt'd down the course and i knew i had the win with 50m remaining.

Every win is good, but this one is especially significant for me. In the past year I've been adapting to competing while pursuing my working career. It hasn't been always been easy and for a while i began to question whether i could remain competitive at elite level. I treated this race as a test, knowing that with the money and prestige on offer it would draw a strong field, but trained at a level that was in balance with everything else in my life. The result would determine whether i had the ability to continue, or whether i had to reassess my expectations. With that in mind, Saturday's result is encouraging. It's a reminder that the hard work does pay off, and that i have the time to do enough hard work to stay at the top level.

My next race will probably be the Pearl Izumi Taupo Half-Ironman on 13th December. I'm very much treating it as a good training day and am looking forward to seeing how the body handles it. If you're up keep an eye out for me - I'll be the one tapping out the bike without aero bars!

Thanks again for all your support."