Table of contents for No.72 in Spoke

I love how this image lets you absorb the beauty of the lake and mountains not once, but twice. It takes me back to that still, brisk, early autumnal morning, when the change of seasons was starting to poke its head out with the first dusting of snow on the hills. It also reminds me of just how satisfying a bunny hop can be—when the timing all comes together, and you tuck your back wheel up as high as possible for a split second, before touching down both wheels at the same time. A sweet satisfaction! Rider: Tim Pierce Location: Wanaka, NZ…

Who runs the world? According to the excellent 1993 film So I Married an Axe Murderer, it’s the Pentavirate: “The Queen, the Vatican, the Gettys, the Rothschilds and Colonel Sanders, before he went tits up.” The internet, on the other hand, thinks it’s the Illuminati. But my money’s on Mark Zuckerberg, with Bono perched on his shoulder like a noisy leather-clad gargoyle, simultaneously trying to end world hunger while tucking his back-catalogue royalties into Lithuanian tax shelters. I used to worry about it, and get angry about the 1%, and how U2 went downhill after The Unforgettable Fire, but now I’ve come to the conclusion that we’re all neo-feudalist debt slaves and probably will be forever, so we might as well go riding and forget about the bills for a…

First, we must define “hike-a-bike”: To be too tight to fork out cash for a helicopter ride to the top of a mountain, so deciding instead to clamber up by foot and by hand, alternating between bike under the arm and then on the back, and varying degrees in-between, whilst whingeing loudly, or suffering in silence and pretending to enjoy it. The first rule of the hike-a-bike is don’t do it, especially if you are 51 years old, with a spine like a wet noodle. Hire yourself a seat in a helicopter; don’t worry about the cost, you could have a heart attack and die at the top or get run over by a bus the next day, and that measly $1500 per hour won’t seem like much at all.…

The taxonomy of mountain biking may seem increasingly complex—DH, DJ, enduro, fat, freeride, singlespeed, XC. But in reality, there are just two sorts of mountain bikers: those who dig and those who don’t. If you fall into the latter category, I’m sure you have an excuse. Sorry, I mean really good reason. Maybe you believe in trail fairies. Maybe you’re really, really busy with work, family, meeting someone at the pub, kids’ sports, going away or mowing the lawn on the day of your nearby working bee. Maybe you don’t know how to dig, or perhaps no one has introduced you to your local trail crew. That’s cool, but I’d love to change it. Because trails don’t just happen. Nor does the passage of thousands of wheels leave them unscarred.…

Shania Rawson is living proof of the phrase “it’s in the blood”. Her parents had her on a bicycle as soon as she was able to walk—she got her first at two years of age—and she literally grew up on a bike. Shania began racing competitively before the rest of us had started school. Following in the footsteps of her older brother, Olympic BMX racer Kurt Pickard, she spent a decade racing the little bikes. From the ages of four through to fourteen, Shania claimed six National Championships, and during that whole ten-year period only one race slipped by where she didn’t finish in the top three. A racer of this calibre is an exciting prospect in any discipline. With both her mum and dad racing downhill, and her brother…

Joseph Nation is one of those quiet types. You know the one; typical New Zealander, doesn’t blow his own trumpet, just likes to go about his business quietly, the best way he knows how. His business, if you don’t already know, is enduro—Enduro World Series to be specific. Joe is arguably the best EWS racer currently representing New Zealand, but you’d be forgiven for not knowing too much about him, as he stays pretty low key most of the time. Instead of striving for Insta-fame or video parts, Joe chases results. For Joe, results are everything. He isn’t aiming for mediocrity; he wants to be at the top. In this day and age, it’s surprising, almost refreshing, to come across someone with such drive in their chosen field, without being…

Let’s face it, those of us who lean towards sports like mountain biking as our preferred mode of exercise don’t tend to run in the same circles, so to speak, as the meaty bros who spend their days at the gym. For one thing, when you’re out on your bike all by yourself there is a distinct lack of mirrors and/or other people staring back at you judgementally when you don’t go as hard as you should. And gyms are so… inside. Yet, as we all know, no one gets to the top these days without a gym programme. Apparently DH/BMX top gun Caroline Buchanan can squat 135 kilograms. That puts her well into the “elite” level of the official Female Strength Standards for weightlifting. I know, right? It’s a…

Naseby is a small place. Tiny, even. Its permanent population is 120 (an increase of six since 2006, according to the 2013 census), it has 66 permanently occupied dwellings, and the dairy is so small it only takes up half a shop. Yet I’ve rarely been somewhere where there’s so much to do. There are two solid pubs, an excellent café, a curling facility (more on that later), a skating rink and luge track, a wealth of Victorian architecture with lots of attendant information plaques, and 50 kilometres’ worth of history-laden and yelp-inducing singletrack carved through a working forest, which, due to periodic logging, is constantly being rebuilt and reshaped. More on that later too. It’s one of the first places in New Zealand I rode a mountain bike (we…

Scott positions the new Genius as the ultimate quiver killer. A big call perhaps, but it does present the rider with a multitude of potential options. If you’re struggling to determine which variant of the trail bike genre is for you, this is well worth a look. The Genius has featured adjustable travel since its introduction and the platform has seen several innovative, if perhaps idiosyncratic, suspension and shock designs. The 2018 version also features adjustable travel, albeit in a package that is conservative yet progressive. Scott’s latest design looks just like a ‘normal’ trail bike. There are no strange pull shocks and the rear end features a comfortingly familiar four-bar layout. But the conservative appearance belies a progressive, modern approach to geometry: The head angle is slacker at 65.6°;…

Platform racks have been taking the bike world by storm over the last couple of years, and we decided it was time we found out what all the fuss was about. We reached out to Kiwi company EziGrip to see if they had something for us to try, and it was as though they’d read our minds. Turns out since EziGrip changed ownership in 2015, they’d been working hard on a range of platform-style racks, which they see as the “way of the future”. Their new Enduro 2 towball-mounted rack turned up a few days later and we entered the world of platform racks. My old classic spike-style rack was removed from the towball and replaced with the slimline platform of the Enduro 2 (“2” meaning two bikes). Fitting was…

New Zealand has, in a fairly short time, established itself as the perfect “off season” base for international pros. With its flipped seasons and great variety of trails for all types of riding in a relatively small country, it’s the ideal place for training, racing and good old-fashioned fun. With so many riders spending so much time here testing, video shoots, product launches and team camps kept popping up. Here, Brendan Fairclough and new teammate Andrew Neethling explore one Marlborough’s finest trails, the Wakamarina, for their Chasing Trail video. Riders: Brendan Fairclough & Andrew Neethling Location: Wakamarina, Marlborough…

One of Nelson’s gnarliest downhills has a new, mellower neighbour. Te Ara Koa (Trail to Happiness), Nelson Mountain Bike Club’s newest track from the top of Fringed Hill, opened to the public in October after a big winter of volunteer building, and is another example of the club’s work to keep growing the already-incredible trail network in the region. NMTBC committee member Dan Raggett, who organised the volunteers, says the hand-built trail is more on the natural side, with plenty of roots and rocks, but “flows real well so you can get off the brakes”. The idea was to build a track an intermediate rider could tackle, something historically lacking in the steep hills around Nelson. “You’re going to be able to build up skills to go and do more…

It’s 4:58pm on a Tuesday. Approaching the lower carpark, I see the two vehicles parked up, ready: doors wide, trailers hitched, bungees pulled back. The sun is out, the temperature up, and the trails are about as dry as they get. It’s a relaxed start to what is sure to be a hectic evening of riding. The first riders gather, donning gear and slowly switching from office to trail mode; no doubt, for many, this process will take at least half a run. The Dunedin MTB shuttle service on Signal Hill has seen incredible growth of late. Pioneered by Greg Leov and Bike Otago back when 26” was the only wheel size and Signal was adorned with no more than a handful of lines, the service struggled to gain momentum…

Have you ever just sat and stared at a body of water for hours, mesmerised by its different forms, movements and colours? Have you ever been completely submerged in the water and felt totally at peace? Have you ever stopped for just one second and asked yourself why being near the water makes us feel this way? I believe we have these feelings because our bodies are largely made of water (up to 60% for the average adult), and we rely on it to be alive. Whenever we see water, it evokes deep human instincts of survival, security, peace, and tranquillity; in art and literature, it serves as a symbol of purity, and of life; as a species, we have built the majority of our civilisations as close to water…

Ever wonder how a trail, sitting at 1000 feet of elevation along sketchy ridge-lines and featuring huge jumps, gets built by hand in the Utah desert heat in less than eight days? For me, it started when Conor Macfarlane asked if I wanted be part of his dig crew at Red Bull Rampage. It went something like this: “Would you be keen to pay for a flight to the USA and volunteer to dig in the desert for eight days, from 8am to 8pm, breathe in copious amounts of dust, surrounded by rattlesnakes and spiders, carry up to 65 kilograms of water up a steep mountain, fill sandbags as if your life depended on it (his did), and move tonnes of dirt per day in the scorching sun?” Hell yeah!…

Mad. Genius. Mad genius. At various times, and depending on who you talk to, Richard Goldsbury fits any and all of these labels. The brief for this stroll down the cobwebbed corridors of amnesia that I call a memory was to convey a concise chronological history of Richie and his various home-built bikes. But to understand the bikes, you need insight into the maker. His larger than life personality and unstoppable drive is today as it was in the early years of mountain biking, when he would ride his Sovereign Mt Aspiring from Devonport out to Riverhead Forest in the morning, dig and ride trails all day, then ride with whoever showed up for an after-work skid. Or, if no one turned up, just ride home again, fuelled by whatever…

Alaska. It evokes thoughts of wilderness, wild animals, adventure, and—with under a million inhabitants in an area several times the size of New Zealand—great expanses of uninhabited land. The state spends half the year frozen, and in winter, travel becomes “easier”. With extreme sub-zero conditions, the bogs, lakes and wetlands freeze, and snow begins to fall. Sled dogs and snow machines open up the backcountry for travel, pulling huge loads through hundreds of miles of wintry arctic terrain. But is it a great place for mountain bike adventures? Absolutely, though relative to the size of this state, you’re never really doing more than just scratching around the edges of a huge landscape, one where day-to-day travel usually happens by bush plane or along the great river networks that remain the…

The publicity campaign around the Jeffsy was designed to build intrigue and hype, and keep us all on the edge of our seats, when all we really wanted to know was: Who the hell is Jeffsy? Initially, it turned out Jeffsy was a 29er. But just as we were digesting that there was yet another great 29er out there, YT caught us all with a sucker punch and launched the Jeffsy 27; suddenly, they really did have everyone’s attention. The German direct-to-market brand has been producing some of the most talked about bikes in the industry for a few years, so I was excited at the chance to throw my leg over one to see if they really lived up to all the slick marketing. The AL One is YT’s…

The Butcher has been in Specialized’s rubber range for a long time now, and it has evolved with the ebbs and flows of the industry trends. Its latest incarnation is one that addresses the latest polarising issue: tyre width. A focus of discussion and debate on trails, forums and watering holes around the globe, tyre width is a hot, and divisive, topic. However, with the Butcher now available in the new size of 2.6”, it’s helping bridge the gap between the warring factions in the width dispute. As someone who has been sitting on the wider side of the fence, I jumped at the chance to try the new “middle ground” 2.6s (that and the fact that I’d seen Jared Graves was running a set in the latest round of…

For me, this image sums up how gnarly Red Bull Rampage is. Beyond seeing dig crews hanging off sheer cliffs harnessed in, it’s sometimes hard to gauge how big the features are. This rock drop is known as the Green Goblin, for obvious reasons—any slight mistake could cost you dearly. A fall on either side would be career-ending. The reason for such a pulled-back image is to give the viewer a sense of scale, and of how exposed that ridge really is. Rider: Conor Macfarlane Location: Utah, USA…

Jules Walker thought she was trying out a new kind of racing. What she found was a new kind of dating. It’s Saturday morning. The sun is peeking through the gap in the curtains, a warm glow I can see through my eyelids. I snuggle into crumpled sheets to allow myself two more minutes of calm before Badger, my 40-kilogram labradoodle, jumps on the bed and attempts to kiss my face with his sloppy tongue. Two more minutes before I face the reality that I entered an enduro race in a fit of confidence experienced while skiing (my stronger sport) on a powder day. Micayla Gatto also has a lot to answer for—I had “Ferda Girls” on repeat on Spotify. Kristen and Brooke from Girls on Dirt were launching an…

James Lewis (Jimmy) earnt the dollars he needed to buy his first mountain bike, a Trek, at $2 an hour scrubbing old ovens and fridges until he had no fingerprints. After that, building trails at Woodhill seemed easy, plus it was a good move; it was where he met Mark Harrowfield (Harry), one of the park’s owners. From early on, Jimmy and Harry wanted to work together, with ideas on how discussed over many a post-ride beer in Auckland, Rotorua, Queenstown and Whistler over the years. They concluded if they wanted bikes beyond the supermarket experience of “models off the shop floor”, so would others. The idea was Lewis & Co could put together the best bikes created to fit the riders—rather than making the riders fit the bikes—plus provide…

I’ve been building and maintaining the trail network at Auckland’s Woodhill MTB Park for more than 12 years, so this hidden gem was kind of a reward for me. Let’s go back to 2014. The park was ravaged by those pesky machines cutting the trees down, and due to the sand base, once areas were harvested it would be at least 10 years before we could rebuild anything sustainable or enjoyable. In order to salvage the business and secure a future for Auckland’s mountain bike scene (we had 2500+ per week through our gates at the time), we needed to work fast. Luckily, Mark, the bike park’s director, and I were given the chance to choose a new area within the forest to move operations to. We chose the current…

In April, athletes from 70 Commonwealth nations will descend on Australia’s Gold Coast and duke it out to earn a place in history. The Gold Coast is best-known for the annual World Surf League stop at Snapper Rocks, but nestled just inland of the waves and white sands lies Nerang State Forest, venue for the 2018 Commonwealth Games cross country event. Australia last hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006, when the festivities came to Melbourne’s Lysterfield Park; England’s Liam Killeen and Canadian Marie-Hélène Prémont rode to gold medals. Just 12 kilometres from glitz of Surfers Paradise, Nerang State Forest covers 1700 hectares, and the trail network is vast, with about 60 kilometres of singletrack (though some isn’t legal just yet—the local trail care network is hard at work to get…

Topping out at 1860 metres above sea level, Cardrona Bike Park serves up the highest lift-accessed mountain biking in New Zealand. It’s a statistic that isn’t entirely surprising—the park is, after all, built on a ski hill. The current incarnation has been spinning its lifts during the summer months for two-wheeled connoisseurs since 2014, but the lift system at Cardrona was actually one of the first in New Zealand to offer chairlift access to bikes, way back in 2000. Things were a bit different in those days. You had to carry your bike on your lap while riding a rickety and slow quad or double chair—it took 20 minutes to get to the top. The death grip you needed for the trip up was almost as bad as the one…

It’s three in the morning and it’s taken Max twenty minutes to wake me. We’re going to make our first attempt of three to ride the trails around Île de la Réunion’s active volcano, Piton de la Fournaise. The reason I’m so reluctant to get up is mainly down to enduro superstar Rémy Absalon, who, after winning the Megavalanche the previous day, spent a lot of the evening plying me with a mixture of French wine and Réunionaise rum. Île de la Réunion is most famous for the Southern Hemisphere edition of the Megavalanche, and we’re on the volcanic island to explore what riding is on offer away from the mass-start enduro slogathon. The reason for the early start and the three attempts is the geography of this stunning place.…

“Let’s fly over Baboons Pass, and we’ll let you see the peril that awaits”, our pilot, Justin Honaker, says. The word ‘peril’ is usually avoided during inflight announcements, but he’s just being brutally honest. He’s ridden the boulder-strewn Baboons Pass descent and admits that he’s in no hurry to go back. I peer from the window of our little Cessna plane at a tumble of rocky outcrops and cascading waterfalls slipping by two hundred metres below us. Winding between them is a tiny ribbon of singletrack: the trail we’ll be riding for the next six days, and I have to be honest, it does look perilous. In the plane with me are my two fellow adventurers, Scott pro riders Kevin Landry and Claudio Caluori. Behind them, Justin has removed two…

While Trek have been producing great bikes ever since they brought out their Full Floater suspension design mated to a tricked-out Fox shock with brain-numbing technology (including an extra chamber that mimicked the feel of a coil shock), they haven’t been a big player in the New Zealand trail bike scene for long. But thanks to a new Trek NZ distribution network employing mountain bike legends like Lester Perry, who in turn hooked up the unassuming and very fast Byron Scott from Fourforty Mountain Bike Park, not to mention a few Kiwi DH stars flying the Trek flag abroad over the years, all of a sudden we’re seeing well-priced Trek trail bikes on every trail in every bike park in the land. When Byron Scott chose the Fuel EX as…

Light, flow, time, contours. Thirty seconds exposure, thirty seconds of riding. Three minutes exposure, three minutes of riding. We had been riding together for a while when Matt had the idea of putting lights on our helmets, for light painting. The project was born from a need to keep riding through winter—you have keep it up or your bike loses touch and it’s all downhill—but also from a curiosity and desire to document and map space, and to explore how we engage with the bush at the edges of our cities in a modern time dominated by technology. To start, we talked logistics. Which trails would work best? How long did each ride need to be? What types of shots would give us what we wanted? We tested a series…