Table of contents for No. 80 in Spoke

I was only in Queenstown for the weekend. My son Elliot and I had jumped on a plane on Friday night and were crashing at Jake Hood’s Queenstown Hill pad. The three of us had been ticking boxes and hitting spots Elliot had only seen in video and photos. I’d been following the Elevate Trail Building Instagram feed and was super intrigued about their latest project, a blue jump trail up on Fernhill. The trail was close to completion but wasn’t finished, and was most definitely closed. A couple of phone calls, a few text messages, and a little miscommunication later, Elliot, Jake and visiting Canadian freerider Caleb Holonko were dropping in on a virgin work of art. This hit here is the first of fifty or so perfectly sculpted…

If you follow Eddie online, you wonder how he can be a successful elite athlete. It looks like he’s having far too much fun. Earlier this year after the Maribor DH World Cup I got to spend a week with him for some insight We had a little “training camp” in Sintra, just outside of Lisbon, Portugal, to get everyone back into little bike mode for the Madeira EWS. We had a house on the beach, drank Rosé wine every day by the bottle, rode every day, and surfed twice a day. On top of a load of pedalling and shuttling were a few big nights out to take in a Metallica concert and a Euro beach bush doof. I guess the point is Eddie is just flat out 100%…

They really wind me up: those riders who don’t acknowledge my friendly wave when we pass each other out on the forest roads around our local trail network. Am I not good enough for them to wave back to? It’s a non-issue in remote areas where there are far fewer people around. On some DOC tracks in my neck of the woods I might do a few days’ worth of riding before encountering anyone. In those situations, we go further than waving and actually stop to have a chat. The situation I’m talking about is on the more heavily trafficked trail networks. It annoys me so much that I’ve given it some thought, and realised that maybe they’re not intentionally being unfriendly. Perhaps they have their reasons for not returning…

Mountain biking is great, but how can we make it better? Ride a hardtail—and by this, I mean one of the aggressive, long, low, and slack variety. One that you can ride everything on. Why would I do such a crazy thing I hear you ask? Let’s start with the obvious. A hardtail frame doesn’t have any pivots so there are fewer nooks and crannies for crap to build up in. This means more time riding and less time cleaning and maintaining. Fancy getting stronger and faster? When riding a hardtail, your body has to absorb a lot more feedback from the trail without any rear end squish. It may take a couple of rides to adapt, but stay committed and you’ll soon find yourself ripping down your favourite trails…

The UCI recently proposed halving the permissible testosterone threshold for transgender women athletes from 10 nmol/L to 5. The news is another step in the governing body’s struggle to accommodate transgender athletes without discrimination, while ensuring fairness for all. As mountain bikers, we like to think we’re inclusive people, but I don’t adorn us with that label. I vividly recall a clan of groms straight up yelling “faggot” at me for wearing Lycra, like it was entirely deserved and unremarkable. The tired old gravity bully bro culture still abounds at trailheads nationwide. And I really have to rack my brain to recall the last time I encountered an openly gay male mountain biker. Similarly, whenever transgender coverage rolls out across the internet, it doesn’t take long for the vitriol to…

Exactly four years ago I was invited on an adventure to North East Tasmania to explore a new network of trails in development there, as part of an ambitious ploy to rejuvenate the region’s economy via mountain bike tourism. What I discovered then was a wild and stunningly beautiful part of Australia that exuded charm, character, and a culture the likes of which I’d not experienced anywhere else that side of the ditch. And carved amongst lush native forest, a fledging trail network with the potential to become something special. Yet strangely I haven’t been back across the Bass Strait since. Instead, I’ve watched from afar as Tasmania has exploded onto the global mountain bike scene, hosting two rounds of the Enduro World Series (winning the coveted trail of the…

We mountain bikers often get the rough end of the stick (sometimes rightfully so) for building trails the wrong way or in the wrong places, getting us offside with landowners or managers. It’s been no different in Christchurch, which has a multitude of illegal trails and trail networks, despite the large bike park and several popular legal riding areas which host regular dig days. Here’s a story of working collaboratively to create a piece of trail ‘by the book’. Lava Flow is an iconic Christchurch track. For those that don’t know it, the name paints a fair picture: it’s rocky, rough, and ruthless. The bottom once ran through a block of pine trees until a storm in the mid-2000s destroyed it. A line was cut by council rangers and Gravity…

After a life of travelling the globe, Justin Leov found a place to call home just down the road from where he grew up—on the farm where he first fell in love with racing. Taylor Pass Road runs down a valley cradling a mix of hilly farmland where cabbage trees dot the paddocks, pine forestry blocks, and neat lines of grapes supplying the nearby vineyards Marlborough is famous for. Tucked away down the valley, about a 15 minute drive south of Blenheim, is Jentree. It’s a steep 36 hectare block of land where a network of fresh trails is quietly growing. Arriving there, it feels like you’re much further from civilization than the short drive from town suggests. The property has a rich history as a Marlborough mountain biking destination.…

We’re all accustomed to the terms superyacht, supercar, superbike, and brands synonymous with them – Blohm & Voss, Lamborghini, and Ducati. Now we can add to that list, with the SuperE-bike, a category of high-end pedal assist mountain bikes that spare no expense in the pursuit of excellence. The Pivot Shuttle sits firmly in this in class. Chris Cocalis and his Arizona-based company have pushed the updated Shuttle into the SuperE category with a no-holds-barred attitude to performance and ride experience. They went after the holy grail of electric mountain bikes: a lightweight, powerful, mid-travel bike that rides like a regular trail bike. Their grail quest has seen them put everything at their disposal into the Shuttle, from the latest carbon fibre frame, to cutting edge standards, plus the highest…

After eleven years of riding ‘Nerang loam’ (read: loose, fist-sized rocks and coarse sand) in Australia, I thought I’d discovered the mountain biker’s promised land when I came home to New Zealand. Arid eucalyptus bush, king brown snakes, hairy spiders, and sunbaked rolling hills were replaced with dark ribbons of flowing singletrack across actual hills covered in pines, tussock or native bush. Tearing through a ropey spiderweb didn’t involve panicked wailing and the rapid discarding of helmets and clothes. Venturing off-track no longer meant certain death. A black trail here is a legitimate black, not just a slightly more technical blue. Yep, after returning home I promised myself I’d never take the riding here for granted. But following five years of riding Christchurch’s Port Hills two to three times a…

Jack and I were at the tail end of a week long trip around the South Island. Croaking on the phone in the passenger seat, Jack was doing the unthinkable, explaining to his boss a nasty illness he’d come down with, known formally as pulling a sickie. With an impromptu extra day added to our trip, we were amply rewarded with a multitude of ‘sick’ chute lines to play with. Rider: Chris Maunsell Location: Lake Grassmere, Marlborough Shutter speed: 1/2000 Aperture: f4.5 ISO: 100…

Stick a fork in 2019 because it’s done. In our last issue of the year, we celebrate two pillars of mountain biking that are calling it a day—at least for now. In Rotorua, beloved shuttle service Southstar Shuttles is wrapping up after more than a decade rattling up forestry roads in an old bus. Further afield, the legendary Trans Provence ran for the last time this year. Jeff Carter (coincidentally the man behind Southstar Shuttles) was there; he breaks down what it’s like at one of the most iconic races in mountain biking. There’s also plenty of fresh ventures in the mountain biking world. Bike Glendhu has just opened along the lake from Wanaka, offering tasty new trails and Instagram-worthy views without the queues of nearby Roys Peak. We’ve got…

Rotorua. Southstar Shuttles. Jeff Carter. Three icons of New Zealand’s mountain biking landscape. The shuttle uplift service in Rotorua that Jeff started from scratch has contributed significantly to the way mountain biking has developed in the area, and to the wider riding community visiting from throughout the country. ‘Has’ is the operative word in that sentence. After 13 years of constant reinvestment and growth, Southstar Shuttles is leaving the market, but not by choice. The forest landowners are iwi represented by Central North Island Iwi Holdings. They recently held a closed tender for the rights to run a shuttle service in Rotorua’s Whakarewarewa Forest, and this went to another business. Almost 20 years ago, Jeff’s first venture in the mountain biking industry was with his wife Sarah, managing a start-up…

Whatever bike you ride, be it a bargain found on Trade Me or a five-figure dream build, how well the suspension works is critical to its overall performance. That in mind, we sat down for a coffee with Paul Jones from Queenstown’s newest suspension specialists ProFlow to pick his brain on some of the key factors we can all think about as we prepare for a big summer of riding. What’s the most common mistake you see with suspension setups? We see a lot of different setups coming into the workshop. Some work, some don’t. It’s crazy how often a good base setup is overlooked and substituted with some outrageous external settings or expensive upgrades. I think my favourite has got to be the overuse of volume spacers, Yes, they…

While many of us dream of building our own bike, designed to exactly match our desires and finished to the standard of a top-end production frame, the sad truth is that most people lack the skills and equipment on hand to make it happen. Milton Bloomfield is not most people. Milton is the owner of Dynamic Composites, a small Christchurch-based engineering, design, and carbon manufacturing workshop specialising in jobs other outfits consider too tricky. The company started up in 1997. “If someone tells us it’s too hard, you can’t do that, that’s what gets me excited,” Milton says. He’s a passionate mountain biker, and having all that gear and knowledge on hand meant the temptation to build his own rig was irresistible. He’s come up with a gnar-crushing all-carbon freeride…

If you’ve ridden the Queen Charlotte Track before, you would have to agree that while it’s a “must do” of iconic New Zealand rides, there are times when slogging up yet another steep hill, legs protesting and lungs burning, you’ll find yourself wishing you’d chosen to shuttle Wairoa Gorge or take in a flat, wine-filled vineyard tour instead. Ever since Jeff Carter and I busted out this trail for the Bluebridge Bike Club in 2017 we’ve been discussing better ways to enjoy the stunning beaches and mountainous terrain that make this track a phenomenal adventure. We wanted to have the time and energy to explore the side paths and camp spots off the main trail that push the two to three day ride into the four to five day arena,…

Christchurch dirtjumper and trail builder extraordinaire Phil McLean hates winter. He loathes it so much he flies to Canada every year for six or seven months. Barring one year when he underwent knee reconstruction, he’s been chasing those long warm days for seven years. It’s not all about beers and bike park laps, though. Phil has played an instrumental role in building the last couple of Crankworx Red Bull Joyride courses, and carving trails into the cliffs at Red Bull Rampage. Now the 27-year-old is back in New Zealand, Spoke caught up with him to find out more about his experiences. Phil, you’ve made quite the habit of swapping New Zealand winters for Canadian summers. How do you do it? Yeah, I haven’t been home for a full winter in…

The harsh sound of a vibrating phone against hardwood jolts me awake, the sting of the quarter to five start very present as a feeling in my eyes. Less than five hours earlier we’d navigated our way to Holmaskjaer hut to be up at dawn. I sneak a cursory glance out of the window and see only stars: exactly what we’d come to see. Holmaskjaer hut sits in the middle of three giant glaciers that make up the Folgefonna glacier. Søndre (or southern) Folgefonna is the third largest glacier on mainland Norway and our plan was to set off back to sea level from the hut at dawn. What would follow would be a descent of 1600m vertical. High above the sea and huddling out of the wind, the icy…

Just ahead of us are what seem destined to become New Zealand’s most Instagrammed berms, cut and shaped lovingly into the slopes of this true foothill of the Southern Alps. Lake Wanaka stretches out before us and the peaks of Mount Aspiring National Park are just visible through the oncoming weather. We’re at the highest point of Bike Glendhu, a new park currently under construction a short distance from Wanaka, in the Southern Lakes. And if the 30 kilometres of fresh trail that the Bike Glendhu team have built are as good as what’s ahead, it looks like riders in the south can look forward to something special. It’s a project that’s been four years in the making, co-founder John Wilson tells us at the soon-to-be-completed off-grid base area. While…

I think I could travel the world and ride every bucket list trail, and this little valley connecting the West Coast to the Canterbury Plains would still take the cherry. The Craigieburn area has to be my favourite place to ride. Big call, I know, but the ancient beech forests combined with incredible trails and geography tick all the boxes for me. After fourteen days on the road this was one of our final destinations. We spent a crisp night camped above the timeless classic, Cheeseman DH, ready to get stuck into a Canterbury sunrise, and boy did it deliver! Rider: Micayla Gatto Location: Cragieburn, NZ Shutter speed: 1/1000 Aperture: f3.2 ISO: 2000…

I know what you’re thinking: you’re about to get some intel from an online guru on keeping a social media thread going and increasing your followers. Well, you’re half right. You’re getting guru’d by the Rodfather again, but this time in the bike shed. I’ve had 33 years of training from the third best mechanic in Paraparaumu—me! So, threads: those cute curly things on the end of your bolts that do cool things like hold your bars on the stem and keep your wheels from falling off. They’re meant to be lubed. Every single one of them. Why? If a thread isn’t lubed, it won’t glide properly and may bind, giving an incorrect torque reading. Then when it vibrates it can loosen, and you know what happens then, right? Also,…

Some go to Whistler in search of the perfect trails, the perfect whips, or the perfect bender. Many sit on the chairlifts the day after, wondering how local pub Garf’s did such a number on them, and how they’ll make it down A-Line today. Not for Taylor Grey. While I’m sure he got lost in the bender too, he sat on those mythical Garbanzo chairs and schemed up an idea. “I could 3D print a brake caliper. Hell, I could 3D print just about anything bike related.” The seed was sown for what is now Radic Brakes. To understand how Radic came to be, you first need to understand Taylor, and his business partner Jake Powell. They are engineers, and infant ones in the scheme of things, as recent mechanical…

One of my favourite anecdotes about Matt is from 2008, when he was dirtbagging around Europe. In those days, 4X was a big deal, contested by the who’s who of the sport due to the intense level of competition. I was at the World Champs in Val di Sole, Italy, watching Elite 4X training, standing on a berm with a bunch of fast Frenchmen around me, including Fabian Barel. The track had a straight with two lines: one with a massive double, the other with a slightly smaller (but still huge) triple. You know it’s a tough feature when there’s a cluster of the world’s best riders gathered before it, psyching up. There were plenty of ugly cases, with the watching Frenchies jeering and heckling everyone. Matt rolled in from…

Some forests need regular fires to regenerate. Some trees will not flower unless they have been burned; others need flames to open their cones or buds to release seeds. The pine plantations around Nelson are not those sorts of trees. So when a huge fire broke out in the Pigeon Valley on February 5, 2019, quickly growing to be the largest the country had seen since 1955, it was a disaster—and not just for the 3000 people evacuated from their homes, or the landowners who lost about 2400 hectares of plantation pine. The blaze also forced the cancellation of the Aorere Enduro (an Enduro World Series continental round and arguably Nelson Mountain Bike Club’s most high profile race yet) just one day before it was meant to start. But the…

The first ever UCI rainbow jerseys for pump track were handed out in October in Switzerland—a milestone for this new discipline testing skill, technique, speed, agility, and strength. Behind all the fanfare of the competition, there was another story playing out, one a lot closer to my heart; a fairytale of sorts that begins in a tiny village in Lesotho, Africa. My first introduction to the Kingdom country, otherwise known as Lesotho, was in 2018, when I went over to race and help with the first edition of the Kingdom Enduro. Lesotho is a small country, nestled between the Drakensberg and Maloti mountain ranges, landlocked within South Africa. It has the highest low point in the world (1500m above sea level) and boasts the highest pub in Africa at 2874m.…

The Trans-Provence is a mythical beast: an event formed in the mists of enduro history, before stage racing as we know it today was dreamt up. Even in 2019, there’s really no comparison. The TP concept was birthed in 2008 from the minds of Ash and Melissa Smith, a couple with English roots who transplanted into the European Alps where their wild ideas were free to bloom like an edelweiss. Their concept: take a hundred gullible mountain bikers, sprinkle in a healthy dose of professional level riders, and shepherd them on a six-day journey from Barcelonnette high in the Haute-Alpes of France, through the Maritime Alps, to Menton on the French coast. You read that right, six days! Twenty-four enduro stages, 20,000 metres of descending, 10,000 metres of climbing, with…

Not everyone wants to join a tribe, or to own five different versions of the same bike in 10mm travel increments. Maybe we don’t all want to ride the same bike as half the lift line. How do we as mountain bikers escape the monotony that has plagued our sport? A small uprising out of Cumberland, BC called Forbidden Bike Company thinks they have the answer. Let’s have a little bit of witchcraft instead. What kind of witchcraft exactly? High Pivot witchcraft. Forbidden Bike Company have entered the hotly contested aggressive 29er market with their flagship model the Druid. Targeting the ‘one bike to do it all’ crowd, the Druid is a 130mm travel, 66 degree head angle, corner-destroying monster. What jumps out at you when first looking at the…