Revolutionaries

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.

The Old Ghost Road has established itself as one of New Zealand's pre-eminent multi-day backcountry mountain bike adventures. 85km of benched singletrack, 4 purpose-built huts, ladles of history, buckets of volunteer sweat... and deep pockets with the likes of Lotto stumping up cold cash to fund the project. Ground Effect Revolutionary Jamie Nicoll was recently subpoenaed to film this TV clip promoting Lotto's support of the iconic track.

Sort of like 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', fortyish mountain bikers were drawn to Craigieburn over the Easter weekend. Jamie had organised excellent weather, communal dinner and beer on Saturday night - courtesy of Santa Cruz. Limitless singletrack and the promise of new best friends completed the package. It was a safe formula that delivered in excess. We were a diverse bunch with kids, dogs, pro and ex-pro shredders, regular dudes and dude-ettes, young and once-were-young riders.

The NZ Enduro bounced back from last year’s weather bomb to deliver a cracker weekend of fast and sunny singletrack around the Marlborough Sounds. Ground Effect Revolutionaries Anja McDonald and Sam Shaw scored podiums - Anja on the top step in the Amateur Women and Sam 2nd in the Pro Men behind the legendary Jerome Clementz. And Richard Goldsbury casually picked up 4th in the Masters Men.

The Dodzy Memorial Enduro is an annual pilgrimage for many of NZ's top gravity riders. The 2018 edition was preceded by 'ex-tropical cyclone' Fehi smashing the Nelson coast. Saturday's practise was warm and the tracks dry(ish). Overnight rain made race-day a slippery affair.