Harriet Harper - NZ's Next Top Cover Star

Harper cover model for NZMTBer

Harriet get's a double billing in the local mags for June 2011.  Fair enough too, she is 3 times National DH Champ....and pretty handy at the old Super D racing, XC racing and probably pretty much anything else she decides to enter.

First up, Harriet is easy to spot on the cover of the latest issue of NZMTBer magazine.
To spot Harriet in NZ Triathlon & Mulitsport, you have to flick through to page 84, past all the pages of people wearing non-flattering lycra.....not that there is anything wrong with that sort of thing.
The article is written by Sheryl MacLeod, who may know a thing about DH racing too.

Harper again, flick through to page 84 of NZ Triathlon & Multisport .

Getting Shirty

Santa Cruz will be releasing a new riding T-Shirt which will look a lot like the  above picture.
As you can see they are green or grey.
 
They will be available in M, L & XL sizing and I hope to have the first lot here in September....as the weather starts getting warmer.

Hope to have a RRP of $70.00-ish.....which is same as as 2 1/2 weeks of buying your regular mocha-latte.

If you want one, ring your local dealer now or flick me an email and we'll stick you on the list and come September you'll be looking fine.

Super D Action - RIP RNR Trail (Board members on Bikes)

Super D racing is still gaining popularity and with the chance to ride Nelson's popular RNR Rush Trail, not to mention, getting a timed run against your mates before it gets felled, meant a large field with lots of competition.

Personally, I think I am getting the hang of this Super D racing, but it's obvious that I need to work on my race face.

Chris Burr, race face on and fastest Board Member

All photos thanks to Shuttersport.co.nz

A MASSIVE congrat's to Chris Burr (piloting his Butcher) for not only winning the over competitive 30-39 class AND getting the 3rd fastest time of the day.....but by beating all the board meeting members.  We're looking forward to the next board meeting.

Kurt Lancaster on his Nickel is still proving to be the man to beat in world of (NZ) Super D racing.  He just manage to pip Kieran Bennett by 1.1 seconds to take the win.
So the Nelson mtb club need to run another Super D race for the final show down between Lancaster and Bennett.

It's all about the race face.

Harriet Harper (LT carbon) has now made it a two for two wins, in the Nelson Super D series (if it is a series).  Even with a off the bike crash, Harriet posted an enviable time (I for one, was envying her time).

Boyd G snuck into third place in the over competitive 30-39 class.  Boyd borrowed my Mojo HD  for the race, while we set up his new bike.  Special mention to a Ricky P (on his Nickel), who was only 1.5 seconds behind Chris Burr to take 2nd place. (Ricky P is also an occasional board meeting member)

Brenda 'Bob' Clapp (2011 national single speed champ), seemed to have quickly got the hang Super D racing and bringing in her LT carbon to 3rd place, with well known DHer Liv Johnston (and occasional board meeting member) taking 2nd place.

Ian Goldschmidt (One of the Coppermine organizers), also turned up for this great little race.......but was  having some compatibility issues with his Nomad and traction on the wet slippery bridge.

Unknown Nomad Carbon  rider, looking relaxed, after overtaking another rider.....possibly too relaxed

Race organiser, Chris Mildon on his Butcher, set a scorching time for the 40+ class.  The closest time was by a Mike Stylianou (never heard of him either), who was 30 seconds back, talking about conspiracy theories......but was happy with 2nd place.

A good day in the office.

Petrol Head Friday - Just Because

So you've got an old BMW E30, then you manage to squeeze a Skyline GT-R RB26 motor into it, so then you can do awesome burn outs......but wait, there is something still missing.....yeah, get you mate with a BMX to jump the car while it's doing a burn out......it's the simple things in life.



If you need to know how to squeeze an RB26 into E30, there is a very long thread here. Worth a look too, a lot of work went into it.

This was originally posted on jalopnik.com

Spoke Magazine talk Ibis Mojo SL - In Issue 41

Need another reason to rush out and get Issue 41 of Spoke Magazine?  That way you don't have to squint and try to read the blurry small text.

Mike Hunn loves his Mojo SL so much, he needed to write (home?) about it.......the thing is that the guys at Ibis are telling me that the new SL-R (be in NZ late July....all going to plan, medium and large frames first, in black or white) is a whole lot better.  Crazy!

DirtTV's first look at the Blur TRc

More Mountain Biking Videos

A little bit more info on DirtTV's website;

Triride.com Santa Cruz Factory Tour

Santa Cruz Factory from Tri-Ridedotcom on Vimeo.

Petrol Head Friday - Music

OK, since I'm off to the Big Smoke to see Gary Numan.....PHF will consist of some songs that always make me think about cars or driving or both or what ever.
Ok some of the song may not mention cars in them.....but you know what I'm on about.

No little red corvette by Prince you say.......can't embed the video and that was an obvious one.
Enjoy.......(come on, there must be one song you like?)

We'll kick it off with Gary, since this song has been sampled at least 9 times.

Petrol Head Friday - on Thursday, Steve Peat Drifting a AMG Merc

I just found this small EVO review for the C63 AMG.....I think I like this car.

Spoke Issue 41 - You should probably rush out and buy a copy.

No that's not me on the cover riding my Mojo HD....I would never ride a bike with  white forks.

There are always plenty of reasons to get a copy of Spoke, the usual contributors, lovely photos etc. (my favorite part is still the Uncle Dug and Aunty Flow section, so educational.

This issue has another great Tim Wilding article, some geeza raving about Peaking Ridge (again, with that  guy, he just won't shut up about it), Anka Martin raves about NZ (some nice photo's of Starveall) and Mike Hunn does a nice write up about the Mojo SL.

There's some other stuff in their too....anyway, probably raining where you are, reading about riding is almost as good as the real thing.

T-Rex hit's the West Coast

T-Rex and his Tallboy in the West Coast (dry as!)

T-Rex and Tamsin hit the West Coast over Easter (yeah, that was some time ago now, better late than never).

Any who, you can read about Tim and Tamsin's adventure on Tim's blog here.  

Petrol Head Friday - Barney Oldfield (Friday 13th Special)

Who do you think you are, Barney Oldfield?

Every petrol head needs to know about Barney Oldfield, firstly he was a bicycle racer back 1894 and raced for the Stearns Bicycle Factory.  Cycling was how Oldfield got to meet Henry Ford (yes the car guy).

Even though Oldfield had never driven a car before, Ford asked him and cycling buddy Tom Cooper if they wanted to test some cars for him.

Oldfield later purchased the famous No. 999 race car off Ford, where he won the first race he entered (supposedly learnt how to drive the morning before the race).  He might of also been the first drifter, because he raced the car by sliding it through the corners, instead of braking and slowing down.

The Ford 999 race car

Anyway, Oldfield was the first person to hit 60mp/h, the first person to run the Indianapolis to run a 100mp/h lap and broke numerous other records.  By the time he retired he had held every dirt track record upto 50 miles.

The Jinx Derby
In 1934 Chrysler ran a race at the Worlds Trade Fair on Friday July 13th called the Jinx Day Auto Darby.
It was a race of antique cars.
The race consisted of 13 cars doing 13 laps of the Chrysler track.  The race was officially sanctioned by the American Automobile Association (sanction no. 13).  If you wanted to protest the results of the race, it would cost $13 and all 13 drivers would have to sign and the 13 mechanics.
There were 18 officials at the race.....not 13.

Now supposedly Oldfield won the race, in car number 13 around the 13,000 foot course averaging 13 mp/h in a car with 12hp.  The trophy for winning the race had a black cat on it.

Super D Action

Photo thanks to Helen Brumby's facebook page.

Super D style races seem to be the rage this season and what's not to like?  Thrashing around some nice single track in a race that is shorter than an XC race, but usually a little longer and less hucky than a DH race.

Here's a small collection of pictures I've manage to track down.  First up Dirk Peter's winning the Rotorua Triple Crown on his Santa Cruz Nickel, which seems to be a good bike for these sort of race....just ask Kurt Lancaster.

Photo thanks to Helen Brumby's facebook page

Tristan (with Anja) took out the mixed team class....nice bike Tristan, where did you get that from?.

Now if you were like me and regret missing the Outside Sports Super-D, here are a few pictures taken by Bernard Robinson, so you can pretend you were there......well at least my bike made it to the race.

Not only did Barny manage to finish 6th in the solo category, he also took some great action pictures of himself and others.

Hannah Thorn took out the womens solo cat, nice work Hannah

There's a good report on the Queenstown Super-D by Seb Kemp (who is better at this writing thing than me) and also a picture of the elusive Kurt Lancaster (on his Nickel), who is so fast, there are very few pictures of him.  Click here to read.

Petrol Head Friday - You Need to own an Alfa Romeo II

By now, you should have figured out that I'm a bit of an Alfa Romeo fan and I would say that most petrol heads are. Even other car companies love Alfa Romeo's, it's no secret that VW have been trying to buy the Alfa Romeo brand, but Fiat won't sell.

The people at Zagato have been Alfa Romeo fans since about 1929 and have been trying to making them better ever since.

Zagato's latest creation jumps in the deep end of the Fiat/Chrysler merger, the new TZ3 Stradale is a re-bodied Dodge Viper ACR, which is quite apt, since Alfa Romeo is very likely to be sold in the US of A soon.

Oh, I did find one person that thinks like Alfa Romeo's, he's the currently jobless Stig (Ben Collins), he stated that the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizion was one of the worst cars he have ever driven.
Personally, I can think of quite a few worse cars.....and just look at it, what's there not to like?

OK, back to thinking about bikes.

Five go mad on the Heaphy

Not being omni-present meant that I could not be at the Nelson Super-D and the first official ride the Heaphy on 1st May.

Simon, Nick, Ian, Chris & current ss national champ Bob.....you don't have to wear a Coppermine Top to ride in this bunch, but it helps.

May the 1^st was the official day many mountain bikers had been waiting for, for over a decade – the Heaphy was now legal to ride.  And being law-abiding cyclists, we had waited patiently.  We are shuttle haters, but this is a ride that we would make exceptions for, with 82km one way on the trail with 340km road return.  We wanted to travel light so to maximise comfort on the bike and ability to ride the downhill enthusiastically.  With a few phone calls, Ian had organised and paid a Takaka local to drive our vehicle to the Karamea road end with our overnight supplies (money well spent).

Our group consisted of washed up XC/multisport racers and pure trail riders, with 80% on the perfect trail riding bikes – Santa Cruz's.  Our 5^th rider on a non Santa Cruz bike was only allowed on the ride as long as didn’t cry with constant insults (well done Nick).

The drive to the start of the track was montage with ACDC Thunderstruck and the banter of how there would be so many bikers out and the long queues for the bridges, herds of cyclists roaming the hills and not to be rude... but a trail littered with V-brake riding numpties.

We also expected a groomed walking trail, we were pleasantly surprised with nice consistently graded uphills and a variety fast and technical downhill’s.

The sun was shining, the trail dry and DOC had even fitted out all the huts with bike stands....BYO Santa Cruz. The two DOC rangers that we meet were great fun and every other cyclist we talked to on the trail was amazed by the scenery and very conscious not to mess up MTB’s chances to becoming a permanent fixture on the trail.

 It was a weekends of good laughs, great ales and some really amazing trail. It’s a long ride, beautiful scenery and well worth the effort. But best enjoyed in the dry.

You also don't have to ride a Santa Cruz.....but they won't take a photo of it (note to Gaz, look only one black bike)

Bob's report on the 2011 NZ SS Champs

How to get a tattoo - 2011 New Zealand Single Speed National Champs

What planned to be a road trip and catch up with mates in Napier at the SS
Nationals ended up being a weekend of ‘Nigel no Mates’ in a white trash
caravan park. It was only 3 weeks out when I realised my Wellington friends
had bailed and was going to be on my own.   The fact that Stylie had
upgraded my Santa Cruz Chameleon to an Ibis Tranny the month before, swayed
my decision to continue up north on my own.  Apart from sleeping on a park
bench, the cheapest accommodation I could find was a dusty old caravan.
Also I had lost my mode of transport from Wellington, so I ended up flying
to Wellington, then bus and train to Masterton, where I was able to pick up
my old car off my parents.  It was good to be at the wheel of the SAAB
again, but I had forgotten how gutless it was.  Oh well, at least there was
no chance of a speeding ticket.

At last year’s Single Speed nationals, I won the best costume (as voted by
the guys in the beer tent at the shortcut). This year, while not wanting to
put too much pressure on myself, I was keen to take it up a level and go
for the SS Nationals title.  I had the bike dialled, the costume
sorted..... but untested.  Here’s a tip for young players: If you are
buying your costume from an adult novelty store make sure your costume can
breathe and spend that little bit extra on industrial dancing fishnets.

The start of the race was Karapoti styles minus the bike.  So a mad dash
through a river, and before we could be reunited with our bikes, we had to
find an Easter egg on the river bank, eat it and hand in the wrapper (like
kids in a treasure hunt).

The format was four laps of an outstanding course.  The first lap shortcut
was to eat a raw egg (well so we were told). For those who took it, a
pleasant surprise of a marshmallow chocolate egg was handed over. Also a
difference to previous year’s shortcuts, the next 3 laps had the option of
wine. Taking a beer or wine, I felt well trained.

I was ecstatic with my win.  While I had the shortcut training nailed, I
felt a little unprepared for the other 2hrs plus of the event.  Lucky for
me, I had the Ibis Tranny to pull me through with a comfortable win.
Unlike the men’s race, which was down to a sprint finish between Garth and
Mikey.  Mikey won by the narrowest margin.  When you cross the line first
in a Single speed race, the first thing they ask you is “do you want the
tattoo?” You can be as fast as you like but if you say no to the tattoo
then you can’t be crowned the champion and they ask the next finisher.
There was no question on whether or not I would get the tattoo, but more
where I would put it (placement depending on design).  Mikey and I were
whisked away from the race to go straight to the tattoo parlour.  A
preliminary design was shown to us, which we were able to fine tune with
the help of the tattoo artist.  The final design was awesome, so I was very
happy to place it on my arm.

Thanks to Hyperformance Hardware for their support! Also big ups to Stoke
Cycle Centre and Peak Fuel.  And of course the Hawkes Bay Mountain Bike
club for putting on a fantastic race and the only fine weather in the
country.