Table of contents for No. 86 in Spoke

Rider Hunter Paull Location: Rai Valley, Marlborough. Shutter speed: 1/4000 Aperture: f3.2 ISO: 1000 Photographer Sven Martin We were digging a line in the Rai Valley on Kurt Lancaster's property as part of a film project with David McMillan which Hunter was the filmer for. I was set up to shoot when I heard a bike coming. I fired off a few shots and it turned out to be Hunter poaching a run. Pretty cool when the cameraman has style and can hit the jumps that the athletes they shoot do.…

Events Those who've been privy to the glory of Wellington's ever-expanding trail network will likely be familiar with our very own Wolverine doppelganger: William “Big Willy” Johnston. Most recently, Willy has been the poster-boy of his own genius here in the capital, as the rightful ambassador of Wellington Enduro Series Underground QR Tracer Racing. The two-week races are the hottest thing in town, and you ought to learn what you're missing out on here in the blustering capital. Young Willy founded WES Underground in an informal fashion four years ago, but it hasn't always been a blazing success. And it's had its fair share of iterations over the years. Since its infancy, though, it has remained true to the simple goal of giving the people what they deserve–a kick-ass enduro…

Rad Rides There are iconic bikes. There are rare bikes. And then there are bikes that define an entire Zeitgeist. The Brooklyn Machine Works Racelink appeared during a truly mad phase for mountain bikes. It was an era of big everything: big bikes, big hucks, and even bigger crashes. An era when the bikes where simply set up to protect their fragile, meaty, “no regerts'’ cargo from the rapidly approaching ground. The Racelink stood out because it was Brooklyn Machine Works' tilt at a machine built for speed. It was a race bike, and ahead of its time in more ways than one. My earliest memories of Brooklyn Machine Works are hazy magazine-recollections of riders sending features in New York's Central Park. That 341ha slice of paradise in urban Manhattan…

Places to Ride Wharfdale Track This all started when one of my mates introduced me to Komoot, a route planning software that lets you create rides on almost every walking or biking track in New Zealand. Soon my “Planned Rides” folder started to fill with day missions and overnighters that became increasingly long, hard, and more stupid. You see, the one problem with apps like this is their ability to take steep hills, unrideable walking tracks and extremely long, straight gravel roads and turn them onto a two-dimensional map making it all look simple and rideable. One ride in particular was a basic overnighter from the View Hill Carpark, through the Wharfdale Track, before turning off and pushing up to the Black Hill Hut to stay the night, then out…

Review I'm a latecomer to long-sleeve tees. I'm one of those people who'll happily wear an old cotton band t-shirt until it falls to pieces. Cotton is a horrible material for riding, though: it doesn't breathe, it's cold and heavy when wet, and it takes ages to dry. Most of mine now have holes from crashing. Indoor-outdoor flow, Johnny Waghorn calls it. Also, being a chap in his middle years, the sweat patches are anything but flattering, kind of like a Rorschach test where all the ink blots look like dad bods. Don't get me started on the chafed nipples… This is bad, but I didn't realise how awful cotton t-shirts were until I wore a garment that was actually made for riding. ilabb says its Lomond tee is constructed…

Review Fuel EXe The lightweight e-mountain bike genre has been gaining traction rapidly in the past six months. It's a category that Specialized pioneered back in 2020 with the Levo SL and their SL1.1 motor. However, while the SL whet the appetite of many and teased at the possibility of a sub 19kg motorised bike that could do it all, the category never really took off. That was until this year, when firstly Fazua launched their Ride 60 platform (60nm motor and 430wh battery) which was quickly adopted by Pivot and Transition, and then Trek launched their new Fuel EXe with a brand-new motor and battery system from TQ. Electric test bikes have been notoriously hard to get hold of the past couple of years, so we were absolutely fizzing…

Rider Charlie Murray Location: Victoria Park, Christchurch. Shutter speed: 1/640 Aperture: f3.5 ISO: 1600 Photographer Jay French This shoot with Charlie came up a week after I had Covid. It was my first experience with “Covid Brain”. On the first try, after we got everything ready, I realised that I had forgotten both the main and the backup memory cards for my camera. We went back for a second try, got set up, and discovered that my flash had discharged its battery in the bag, so we did something else. We came back the next day and finally managed to make it happen.…

Speaker Being a first-time parent is equal parts awesome and terrifying. If you've lived the “bike life” for much of your existence, the change that hits when your first child enters the world can take some adjustment. It's safe to say the combination of a child, partner and full-time job doesn't leave a lot of opportunity for a time-consuming, (at times all-consuming) sport like mountain biking, especially if you don't have easy access to decent trails. Babies grow quickly and their needs broaden from just being fed whenever needed: Lego needs building, stories need reading, nappies changing, the lawn still needs mowing, and the fence stands unfixed, still. “Cherish the early days,” they say. “You only get them once. Time goes so fast.” All of a sudden you wake up—if…

Opinion “Don't buy this jacket,” Patagonia austerely argued in its famous 2011 New York Times Black Friday advertisement. Five years later, I bought one anyway. The jacket Patagonia told me not to buy has been on every big adventure since, from tramping to special places like Maungahuka Hut in the Tararuas, to bikepacking from Wellington to Wānaka, along with three annual Richmond Roulettes and endless backcountry riding missions throughout New Zealand. I'm not quite at objectophilia, but the memories attached to this jacket have helped nurture a platonic love. Like all relationships, trust is the glue that helps form a bond. Patagonia and its fundamental principle of accepting responsibility for everything it produces from birth to rebirth gave me the confidence to open up and bring this jacket into my…

Places to Ride Formed by a succession of eruptions, Te Pirongia-o-Te Aroaro-o-Kahu Mt Pirongia (the scented pathway of Kahu) burst into existence about 2.5 million years ago. Pirongia village, which sits at the foot of the mountain, came about 158 years ago in much less dramatic fashion, and with less of an olfactory announcement. Beginning life as a garrison village during the Waikato wars, Pirongia is now a sleepy spot with a bustling bakery, a couple of cafes that may or may not be open, and a pub that's only open two or three nights each week—if you're lucky. It's fair to say the village isn't a hive of activity, but if you strike it right, you'll find a queue at the local Four Square, which is the only place…

People Caroline Buchanan Life is articulated by a series of inflection points: moments where you choose a new path or moments when change is forced upon you. For Caroline Buchanan, the past five years have been filled with twists and turns. She's railed each of them, thanks to her focus and determination. Caroline is no stranger to success. She has won numerous Australian and World titles, is a five-time UCI World Champion in Four-Cross, and a two-time Olympian. She's fiercely competitive and stood on the top step of almost everything she's put her mind to. Everything except Olympic gold. Olympic glory has always just eluded her: in 2008, despite being one of the top BMX riders in Australia, she was just too young to compete; in 2012, Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, a…

Review It'd been years since I'd ridden a coilsprung fork. The last one was a Marzocchi 66 RC3 EVO Ti; a behemoth that smoothed out even the roughest of trails, its sensitivity was unmatched. It was a fork that I've never forgotten; the buttery feeling it delivered has been seared into my brain. Since then, huge leaps have been made in spring technology. The marketing will have you believe they're now close to coil-like performance, but are they really? After years of riding air-sprung forks, I thought it was about time I went back to coil to see if my Marzocchi memories were just rose-tinted reminisces. It seemed fitting that my first ride back on a coil-sprung fork was on a DVO, given the bloke behind the Italian bump-eater's glory…

Rider Georgie Petrie Location: Lyttleton, Christchurch. Shutter speed: 1/1600 Aperture: f2.5 ISO: 500 Photographer Cameron Mackenzie Keeping things local has been the aim of the game during this long, grey Christchurch winter. By in large, many of the local zones have been shot to death, and with slow trail development, finding new angles is a relentless quest. Breaks in the blanket cloud offer small pockets of crisp winter light and respite, you've just got to be in the right zones when it pops. With the trail network forever growing in the Urumau Reserve, and it being just over the hill, it's proved to be our favourite little photo spot while it's been snow season.…

MICROSHIFT ADVENT-X GROUPSET Less is more with Advent-X groupset. With 10 wellspaced gears from 11-48 teeth, it has all the range you need without the extra weight. The derailleur keeps your chain in check with a ratcheting clutch that disengages with the flip of a switch. Advent-X groupset is light, durable, and won't cost the earth, microshift.com BIRZMAN PACKMAN HANDLEBAR PACK When adventure calls, say “G'Day maaate” with the Birzman Packman Handlebar Pack. Designed as a harness and drybag combo, the Packman sports tough 420D/600D fabric and waterproof 250D Tarpaulin and totes up to eight litres, birzman.com PEATY'S BICYCLE BRUSH SET Rumoured to have been made from the whiskers of Peaty's own moustache, these brushes promise to leave no crevice of your bike un-scrubbed. The four-brush set has waxed beech-wood…

Supply Deep in the backstreets of East Auckland's Howick, a small industrial unit sits in a modest building on a road that's easily lost in the sprawling streets. Blink and you'll drive past it, but keep hunting and you'll find a hidden gem, a bicycle nirvana. I don't know if it's a strategic decision to have almost no signage, but maybe that's what adds to the joy of discovering such a goldmine. Bruno and the crew at Cycle Express must be doing something right to survive in the harsh climate of independent bicycle dealers. They must be doing something exceptional to be the only bike shop in New Zealand that also produces components found on the bikes of top pros and hometown bros. CXP Racing is owned by Bruno Pfister,…

Opinion Someone once said, “To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism—to steal from many is research”. I'm not going to credit whoever said it first, because I'd likely need to use their wording which was probably in archaic English and a lot less concise. That's the value of an idea being reiterated to the point of refinement. Mountain biking is a collection of ideas taken from other places, it's a mongrel sport. Just like a mongrel, it's smart, versatile and adaptable, and it's an amalgam of lots of influences with a character all its own – mountain biking will steal your socks and slippers to build a bed in its kennel. As a pup, it was bikes built out of bits of BMX, road bikes and motorcycles. The outfits…

People Joe Nation The Enduro World Series, recognised as the peak of enduro racing and one of the hardest titles to win in mountain biking, recently added in a new e-bike category. A battery-powered version of the EWS sounds like an easier option, right? Kiwi rider Joe Nation tells us otherwise. A veteran of the EWS circuit with six seasons under his belt, Joe made the switch to EWS-E this year. We caught up with him while he was in Finale Ligure, Italy, for the final of the five-race season to give us an insight into this new discipline and where he thinks it's heading. First up: How have you enjoyed the changeover to racing e-bikes this season? I've been loving it. There's plenty to learn. It's been a bit…

Review I love riding pants. I'll wear them into early summer until sweaty legs become unbearable. It's not just about DH cosplay, dirt-free pegs, or the false sense of security that bigboy pants give you (everyone knows pants are faster, right?)—it's all these things, all at once, at the same time. There's a Goldilocks zone in terms of fit and fabric for riding pants: very slim-fit pants made of heavy fabrics can be difficult to move in, while pants with a more relaxed fit and lighter fabric tend to flap about too much. There's nothing like a grunty pair of pants on a gnarly day, but you want a light pair for a big pedal. When the balance is right, when you find the Perfect Pant…chef's kiss. For me, the…

Review I've always struggled to ride in goggles. They look rad (#dhcosplay), but I find the lack of peripheral vision disconcerting: apparently my eyes swivel around in my skull like a couple of boiled eggs in a pudding bowl when I ride. I don't know why I've never tried riding in clear-lensed glasses. I think it has something to do with years of wearing vision-correcting lenses. I hated the feeling of glasses slipping and jiggling about when riding and always found the depth perception change between glasses and contact lenses offputting. So much so that a few years ago I had vision correcting laser surgery (which is, without a doubt, the best riding upgrade money can buy and still cheaper than a new, high-end bike). I've stubbornly stuck to naked…