From the very talented and dreamy Mr Masispecial, no less...

angling for discounts oli???

Our relationship is above such plebian concerns. *haughty*

Mel wrote:

Wyatt wrote:the dismounts and mounts require some skill

That's a bit of an understatement. I went for a ride today and had to carry my bike over a couple of low barriers to get into the park. I've learnt:
a) my bike is quite heavy
b) I can't "shoulder" it 'cross style
c) it's harder than it looks on YouTube (I now see the mertis of running the front brake on the left)
d) I lack the confidence and coordination to run and jump over the barrier whilst carrrying my bike, so I may have to resort to walking.

Hopefully I can make it to the practice next weekend and pick up some hot tips (or copy someone else).

Hahaha yeah.

Shouldering I don't find too bad, almost feels quite natural. But getting back on is another story, you always seem to end up doing this awkward little shuffle, that looks kinda dorky. David Benson's demonstration in Spoke was great.

There seems to be two techniques to crossing obstacles with your bike: Shouldering for the longer run sections, or just carrying the bike out to the side for step over obstacles.

Sunday should be fun, hopefully the weather holds fire and we have some fine-ish weather. There's already plenty of mud!

It looks like it is going to be fine tomorrow... fingers crossed. We've had a little bit of drizzle this morning to keep the track dampened down - we don't want the mud to dry out and crack!

If the planets align themselves tomorrow (two kids + weather+ my health), I will be out there after 12pm, for about an hour. I'm the slow-poke on the Haro Mary SS that keeps tripping over her own feet when trying to jump the barriers.

Was down at the track this afternoon tidying things up for tomorrow, should be perfect conditions. The track is in great cyclocross shape (read: plenty of mud), the mud however is not too thick so doesn't bog you down. The track has been ridden on a fixie with tight track fork clearances and is do-able without packing up.

A quick run through proves the course to be pretty fast and fun. For those who have ridden the pukete track it will be quite a different course, using some lines we don't use for mountain biking.

Planning progress for the 30th is going well. Will make a final announcement in the next week as to final details of the event. I received three pairs of Maxxis Cyclocross tires for give aways the other day

After viewing Dented's picture of his sweet ride, I'm also looking at adding a prize for the contestant who completes the race on the craaa .... I mean .... uh ... No I do mean: crapest, bike. Most likely to be a prize in the form of some kind of liquid refreshments. So bring on the rusted up Morrison Monarchs! No offense intended to Morrison owners

Entry Forms for the race up here:
http://www.hamiltonmtb.org.nz/pagefiles/cyclocross.html

Yep, three people turned up.

Mel and I turned up but most of the course had been dismantled.
I did how ever have a go at the fences I would have looked a right knob.

Wyatt dont take your car in there, wait till summer or get a 4WD

Wyatt wrote: So bring on the rusted up Morrison Monarchs! No offense intended to Morrison owners

what about masport monarchs?

Datsane wrote: Mel and I turned up but most of the course had been dismantled.
I did how ever have a go at the fences I would have looked a right knob.

Wyatt dont take your car in there, wait till summer or get a 4WD

I think we both looked like right knobs! It's much harder than it looks!

I couldn't get away from the family until 2pm, so the course was pretty much packed up.

The inner track was in pretty good condition... thanks to the trail pixies. Apparently a work party had been through and done a tidy up recently. They have been working very hard - full credit.

But, the park is a quagmire... as Wyatt discovered in his car. Perfect for a CX race though.

rode the course at the weekend and have to say it's riding really well now, yes some of it owes more to a bog than a trail, but that's half the fun of cross.

for those of you worried about which bike to bring...i cleared it on this, although i don't recommend it.

Fixed even or a death wish not running brakes.
What ratio you running. More info can be posted in here

to be fair there's only 2 descents on the entire course where running fixed/unbraked got sketchy, the rest of it (through the quagmire is a slog) - probably kept me alive sinc e i hadn't ridden fixed before let alone off road

gearing was for the street 42/16 - just did it to try it out - bike is intended to be a street hack, but the 32c mimo's fitted, so i couldn't help myself. main issue was clearance at the fork...