Revolutionaries

Earlier in the month, Jamie rounded up his mates Max Schumann, Ines Thoma and Anja McDonald for a session on the Old Ghost Road. Stefanus Stahl from the German magazine Mtb News joined the fray and produced a sharp video of the trip with Jamie narrating. Great to get a feel for the OGR if you haven’t yet indulged, and excellent to reminisce if you have.

Sam's hectic summer of racing and adventure continues with a whirlwind trip to Welly for the Karapoti, Eminem and the Wainui Enduro. The following weekend found him storming the NZ Enduro around Marlborough. Then back to Rotorua to pick up a bronze in the National XCO Champs.

With the kiwi summer marching on at full volume and the event calendar half done ’n’ dusted we’ve complied a selection of hand-crafted photos from Jamie Nicoll’s Nomadic Weekend at the 440 Mtb Park and the Dodzy Memorial Enduro at Wairoa Gorge.

After completing the Tour Aotearoa, I then (bravely) informed work that I'd be leaving at the end of the month. I was “heading overseas" for another solo cycle tour, yet still hadn't figured out where. I had a few ideas, but committed to none. Then fate popped the Tour Divide race up on my browser. I dug deeper and tickets were soon booked to Canada. I planned riding 8 weeks south to Durango.

The Old Ghost Road and Heaphy Track are hot destinations for backcountry cyclists. Damian Stones and Eric Hall recently linked them together in a grand loop over 6 days.  Impressive snowfall on the OGR and Eric taking his first tilt at bikepacking added colour and challenge to the journey.

Ground Effect Revolutionary Ollie Whalley recently defended his title in the Milk and Honey winning the men's team category along with his 'Fast and Hairy' team mate Martin. Fellow Revolutionary, Anja McDonald and Ollie’s wife Heidi raced as the Spinnarets. They won the women's team category. Anja also smashed the enduro.

Sam Shaw has been off-shore and on-the-road-hunting down the Enduro World Series as a privateer. His regular despatches from the field are wrapped up with Round 7 in Spain and the final in Italy's Finale Ligure.

According to family folklore, my Great Grandfather was New Zealand’s honorary Swiss Consul between 1926 and 1933. Perhaps it is therefore genetics that keep drawing me back to the Confoederatio Helvetica, although it’s more probably that my wife and half of my daughter are Swiss and we have family to visit.

Jamie's latest Europe adventure comes with a his and hers perspective. The getting there is a little tough, but worth it on this romantic Swiss get-away to a rustic Swiss refuge hut in La Derbonne Valley of western Switzerland.

Tony Hutcheson and his venerable Olympus recently banked an indulgent four weeks of European singletrack. Mid trip, he and Malcolm Stoney hooked up with Jamie Nicoll and Max Schumann for a week of gnarl, gnocchi and grappa in Val Gardena.

Jamie Nicoll, along with good mates Ines Thoma and Max Schumann, upgraded their usual camping adventures to luxuriate in the decadence of St Moritz for a long weekend. Initially sceptical about such an indulgent adventure, Jamie was quickly swayed by Egyptian cotton sheets and the abundance of high-alpine technical and flow tracks. Plus the Swiss-punctual train uplifts. He'll be back.

Jamie Nicoll, along with fellow Santa Cruz adventurer Max Schumann and a tight group of like-minded masochists braved the Arctic night, -30 degree temperatures and feral reindeer to ride the length of Pallas Ylläs Park in Finland.