Greetings from Sparta.

The Bushlove Racing Team does not falter in extreme heat. It merely drives them to consume more contours.




As you were.

LOL davo you roadiefagz.

I'm off to Vegas in the morning with Whacko for the second summer cup race. I've had a wee cold all week, and feel good today, so should be back on the bike for Sunday.

Have fun out there

You boys love the road trips! Go hard in Vegas.

The TT bars were still on from the Scorching Bay Duathlon the other weekend. I don't actually go for TTs on the way to work. I crawled to work today and even slower back. It might have been the slowest I have ever ridden anywhere. I must have looked awesome creeping along holding the tops, with aerobars and a backpack.

On topic - off to make mapboard now.

YAWN!

YAWN!!

5:42 Sifter, thats an ungodly time of the day to be getting up.

ryda wrote:

DaveAldred wrote:The TT bars were still on from the Scorching Bay Duathlon the other weekend. I don't actually go for TTs on the way to work. I crawled to work today and even slower back. It might have been the slowest I have ever ridden anywhere. I must have looked awesome creeping along holding the tops, with aerobars and a backpack.

bollocks! you were on them dirty multisporta bars when I saw ya

lol what a fag, I thought his denium lycra was gay but TT bars beats that.

so what happened out there?

Ian Paintin and Matt Farrar took the win in the 8 hour. Well done to them!

The margin was 16 points, 1700 to Simon and my 1684. Total points available was 2270. Doesn't get much closer than that for an 8 hour race!

I AM SO ROOTED! Can hardly walk, I feel like I'm going to puke, I have a headache, my ears keep popping, and my legs keep cramping. Was good to get out though

Full story to come.

Cheers to HVMBC for an incredible event. This was all done without sponsors. The organiser said to me "we are a bunch of volunteers doing what we love [trailbuilding and mapping] so that you guys can get out and do what you love [ride]" What an incredible sentiment, and it is hugely appreciated

Good stuff, Sifter and Simon! Sorry you didn't get the win but a hearty congrats to Ian and Matt for a sterling result.

Great adventure out in them brutal hills called the akas yesterday.

Alas my prediciton "of normal service will resume" didn't quite come to fruition but those top two teams were heads and shoulders above the others. I figure they put nearly an extra hour on the field over 8 ! Congrats. But they need to try a little harder so that Mr Meeres will have to eat his daks..I believe I am fully qualified to say this as I have collected all the controls on a Nz national champs rogaine course before.

Definitely an adventure, managed to

ragdoll down a bank 10 metres after hurridlying ejecting from my stead on the wrong side of the track.

do one of the worst hike-a-bike sections ever ( I was seriously spitting tacks) and I've done some seriously stupid routes in my rogaining career.

ride some some great downhills and singletrack (including the sketchy "Beastie", glad I wasn't going up , can't believe the old-timer mtn-runners used to keep a time-trial scoreboard up there, aka the tip track leaderboard)

Consume beer at the aftermatch with my teammate whom I had meet at 0730 that morning (with the pressure these things put you under it doesn't happen all the time, was a good day out Rob)

Drink dodgy water from Hydro stream cause it was just sooo hot out there . Hopefully good Kaweka training (although that will be an hour longer and the clay pans will be hotter...) Will see if the water repeats on me...could be watching the superbowl tomorrow:)

Run the flats with a bike for the last hour after Rob's fancy carbon fibre cranks stripped the thread on the crank bolt and gave up the ghost. My 'training' last Saturday certainly helped but I was lethargic most of the day due to three hard weekends in a row... Not a nice sight seeing the crank arm fall off as Rob was riding along but we dealt with it quickly and watching him ride that bike downhill in that state was magic - no suspension either as he had his weight right back . Reckon it cost us 200 points in the end as we just had to make a beeline for the finish - hate to be late !

So all in all a good day out , many thanks to the organisers for all the effort they put in - which I know is huge.

Although when I get round to doing this again I think I will plan a route that is nearly all rideable and forgot about the number of points I earn. There is too much hike-a-bike in this event, I know the old-timers love it but it doesn't really appeal any more. Both times I have done this I have spent more than 50% of the time pushing my bike - admittedly I'm not the most technically proficient rider but the 1st-time round teammate on the mangatuks course won't do this event again for that reason. He is usually up for any kind of adventure.

I guess the other option is to buy a carbon bike !

sifter wrote:Ian Paintin and Matt Farrar took the win in the 8 hour. Well done to them!

The margin was 16 points, 1700 to Simon and my 1684. Total points available was 2270. Doesn't get much closer than that for an 8 hour race!

I AM SO ROOTED! Can hardly walk, I feel like I'm going to puke, I have a headache, my ears keep popping, and my legs keep cramping. Was good to get out though

Full story to come.

Cheers to HVMBC for an incredible event. This was all done without sponsors. The organiser said to me "we are a bunch of volunteers doing what we love [trailbuilding and mapping] so that you guys can get out and do what you love [ride]" What an incredible sentiment, and it is hugely appreciated

Yes, two different routes and to have the points so close; nothing in it. We were aiming for participation, not podium, and with the dry conditions saw every "obstacles, difficult to ride" track marking as a chance to explore. Matt hardly whimpered when I was in maximal HR climb mode and I had all orifices firmly clenched shut following him in the descents so the partnership worked well.

It was an inspired decision by Matt to not go out east but rather go down from the north into the creek bed for over a km of river riding. We nailed two big pointers in short order. We encountered some brilliant overgrown single track and some bogs which I wrongly thought were dry enough to hit at warp speed. The climb out of the creek to the water station taxed us. Thankfully we bonked at different points around 5-6 hours into the event so there was one functioning rider at all times.

The Epic and the Anthem behaved well and apart from a couple of burps of Matt's front tire on some heavy descents it was a trouble-free ride. Hydration was an area I really struggled with getting cramps around the 6-7 hour mark from getting on and off the bike. Some free flowing descents back to the farm park gave me a new leash on life so we smoked the last hour.

What an impressive effort that Steve Meeres and Michael Wood and his team put into this event. The maps were so accurate that you could really put your trust in them. The after match feed was far ahead of anything else from similar events.

Nick_K wrote:YAWN!!

5:42 Sifter, thats an ungodly time of the day to be getting up.

The above post has clearly been made by somebody that has no children.