Scuffers, Burners & good folk, it's not just about the shorts. NZO Active.

It’s funny how things work out sometimes, but then again it was probably meant to be…

On my very first visit to New Zealand in 2006 for the DH World Champs in Rotorua, I bought a bike T-shirt from a very “home grown” type vendor/stall. This doesn’t happen often, as I’ve never been a real fan of most of the bike apparel out there. This was different, the designs were clever, it was fresh and fun and funnily enough, I still own this T-shirt.

Fast forward a few years on and we find ourselves living in New Zealand (a dream come true) and on a road trip to the North Island to the bike mecca of Rotorua. Ever since I had bought one of Nzo’s T-shirts back in 2006, this company has intrigued me and I wanted to learn more about the people behind this brand. To me, it’s about the people, their products, how they run their business and what they give back to the community. When you’re new to a country, you feel this immense sense of pride and this loyalty to promote it and everything that it has to offer and I was on a mission to live & breathe everything kiwi, but I digress… Once in Rotorua, I stopped off at the bike shop to buy my first pair of Nzo shorts. It was love at first fit and I’ve never looked back since. I wanted to represent this kiwi company and have them along for all my adventures, journeys and races. A quick call to introduce myself & say hello to Gary Sullivan or Gaz as he is so well known and Glen, and they insisted I head over to Mount Ngongotaha for a cup of tea and a tour of their home workshop where they have been selling their shorts straight to the customers from their barn. Perfect.

I’m not too sure how many of you in the bike industry knows this, but in my previous life, I submerged myself in the fashion industry. I studied in Los Angeles, sewed, screen printed, bought, merchandised, designed, the whole lot, so clothing is in my blood and a passion of mine that has been put aside for many years to make room for bikes. To be able to visit a company like Nzo, who runs everything from their house, was a dream come true & something that I aspire to one day. After meeting the dynamic duo of Gary & Glen, I was even more excited about these shorts and everything else. They were the coolest couple, making the coolest shorts and they just got on board as one of my new sponsors.

Heading into the 2014 season, the Scuffers were my shorts of choice, combined with one of their many funky T-shirts and raglans, Gary also printed up some custom Kowai designs (along with other sponsors logos) for me onto merino raglans, so I had sweet “race” kits too. With this combo, I suffered through all the Enduro World Series races, survived the grueling Andes Pacifico race in Chile, the Trans Provence multiday stage race, loads of filming & photo trips, product and bike launches, clinics, adventures, missions, wet as a dog conditions, slipping, sliding, snow, crashing & burning and of course lazy days just lounging. I was covered, literally, for anything.

It was a no brainer that I wasn’t going to let go of these guys (or my shorts) with the formation of the Juliana SRAM pro team going into the 2015 season. I was pretty adamant that my kiwi Scuffers, my new kiwi identity was coming along for the ride, and of course my team mates; Sarah Leishman, Kelli Emmet & Juliana brand manager Katie Zaffke was just as excited to get a pair fitted to their derrieres to find out what my raving has been all about.

I don’t think there are too many companies, never mind “smaller” companies out there that will do what these guys have done for our team. The timing was impeccable, as they were just getting ready to launch their new ultra lightweight Burner trail shorts and Gary & Glen offered to match our shorts with our three different colored race jerseys. We now had red, purple and green to choose from, to match our jerseys. We could pick whatever color we were in the mood to wear on that given day and we could all rock a different color on different days to mix it all up and keep our new women’s team looking fresh and funky out on the tracks. Something different & unique to what everyone else is doing & wearing.

Besides their amazing shorts, they write up a fabulous blog, support endless events, are heavily involved in the biking community, participate in races, festivals and all the fun stuff that goes along with bikes. Every few months they release a funny new T-shirt that pops up on their site and they have also collaborated with the good people over at Ride Central in Rotorua for those of you who are more visually inclined. It is one freaking cool bikers destination store.

I don’t plan to change my shorts anytime soon, they’re stuck with me for many more adventures & races to come, and they’re made so darn well, that they will last for many more years to come. Trust me ladies, these shorts are keepers!

I’m getting ready to put my Scuffers to their biggest test yet, spending the Month of March 2016 in these shorts, pedaling 3000km from the tiptop of NZ to the very bottom along with the main man Gaz himself in the Tour Aotearoa.

Cheers to Nzo Active, Gaz & Glen for all your support.

www.nzoactive.co.nz

Italian tornado's, cappuccino's & siesta days - welcome to Italy & the final EWS round.

Back to back EWS races have always been taxing, as you wrap up racing late Sunday afternoon, there is no time to just kick back, it’s usually a mad scramble to clean up and pack up – especially after the Spanish round; I had more mud & grit in my kit than you’ll find in an Egyptian backpackers. Double laundry sessions is what I busied myself with post race to get ready for a 10-hour drive to get to the final round of the series in Finale Ligure, Italy. The final race of the season! Whooohoooo!

This was the third time that we’ve wrapped up our season in Finale, but this year was to be a bit different. The weather gods had other plans for this usually calm little seaside village. Of course upon arrival on Tuesday, the sun was out, it was warm, it was what we had come to expect from this laid-back beach town, which usually gives us our last little taste of “summer”. The forecast for the week had loads of weather warnings, including rain, thunder, high winds, flashfloods and even a tornado warning! It was hard to believe as we sat lazing in the sun sipping cappuccino after cappuccino. With an event of this scale, the organizers need to make decisions ahead of time, to ensure safety, so at registration we were informed that our two-day practice was now going to be one day due to this front that was approaching us. This meant one hell of a big day on the bike to get through all of the six racetracks, with not much time to do any repeats.

We were all in the same boat (literally) with no stage riding on Friday, so it was straight into the race weekend and I felt pretty poorly prepared for some reason. I felt like I was just going through the motions, checking off the stages one by one, and wanting to get through the weekend. It was a combination of just being knackered from the previous weekend where we had a hell of a week – 8 hours of liaison & race time over the weekend and my race fire was flailing. Sadly, stage 1, my favorite stage ended up being cancelled due to possible flashfloods in the canyon & we were going to start the day with probably the most physical, pedaly, uphill stage that I’ve ever raced in any enduro race. Not ideal, but it ended up being my best stage after all. I had a very steady, average day on the bike, never really finding my flow, motivation, power or my speed, but it seemed like I wasn’t the only one. The general feeling amongst riders was very, what is the word, blah. I think we were all tired and ready for a break. In the end Finale got away quite lucky, with this tornado just barely affecting us, but lashing out on nearby Monaco and surrounding Cote d’Azur towns leaving a trail of devastation and a death toll of 17 people. A bike race becomes pretty insignificant after such sad news.

I always look for the positive in most situations, but I feel that the trails chosen for this round was not a great representation of what Finale has to offer and what it has become so famous for. The stoke level just wasn’t there and I wasn't alone in this feeling. I hope that for next year we can return to some of the classic Finale trails and that a little bit more effort can go into doing some trail maintenance before the race with a little less busy road riding during the liaisons. Sunday we pedaled for almost fifty kilometers, climbing almost 1500m, which I'm ok with and ready for but it would be nice to be rewarded with a bit more timed DH racing compared to the amount of in-stage pedaling we had on just two stages.  Other than that, Finale is just a magical place and the perfect host town to give everyone a great send off. I’ve stocked up on my gluten for the next 6 months and eaten my body weight in Gelato’s. I love Italy; it’s food, people, culture and passion and always look forward to getting back here for some sunshine and a re-charge between races.

Of course I would have loved to crack the top 10 again this season, but nonetheless, I’m very happy to have kept my 12th place overall amongst a boatload full of very fast, very talented ladies. The future of women’s enduro racing looks bright, and that makes me a very happy girl.

“This season we had eight rounds in eight countries, two continents, three islands in two hemisphere’s – the World Enduro Series really does take us around the world, which is why I keep finding myself in the start gate each year. We’ve raced on roots, mud, dust, loam, wood, snow, ice and in rivers, so it was very fitting to end on the beach in Finale, to wash it all away in the Med while eating gelato’s. Phew, I’m exhausted!”

Thank you to everyone (you all know who you are), for all your support this summer and for all the laughs, suffering, sweating, scary, fun, sad, tired, exciting and wonderful moments & memories. You guys are the reason that I keep racing & coming back for more year after year. It was a great first year of being part of the Juliana SRAM Pro team, and I’m looking forward to many more adventures with Sarah, Kelli & the rest of the crazy crew that lives this crazy, but amazing life.

Time to pack up everything here in France and make my way back home to New Zealand for a very jam-packed, exciting, adventure filled "off-season" on my bike.

Ciao bella,

Anka x

Moorish Mania, Tapas & Flash Floods in Ainsa, Spain for round #7 EWS.

The words “Zona Zero” have been on my mind all summer. It was to be the 7th stop of our Enduro World Series tour and most definitely the one that I was most looking forward to. Don’t ask me why, but I have always had a very specific picture of old world Spain in my head, visions of what the towns looked like, the people, the mountains, the trails and the vegetation, so I was beyond excited to see if it was going to be what I had imagined over all these months. I’ve never spent much time in Spain and I’ve never come across that Spain that I’ve always dreamed about. Chris Ball is a good friend of mine, and whenever he returns from a “race recce” trip to scout out locations for the next best EWS location, you can sense how good it will be from his excitement level. After his first trip over to Ainsa, he was so excited about this destination, that I knew it was going to be a very special round. It was like this little secret spot that not too many people have had the privileged of visiting or riding just yet. As the event neared I came across a small handful of people that have been lucky enough to go and ride in the Zona and when I mentioned the area, their faces would light up and you couldn’t get them to stop raving about everything.

After arriving last Sunday evening after quite the adventure of our own - yep, our trusty, rusty old van finally decided to die it’s final death on the way to Spain, but don’t worry, it ended up being the most perfect scenario for a breakdown episode, with some luck a replacement rental van was sorted and we were back on the road with only a mere 8 hour delay. She served us well, but it was her time to let her go. All the van dramas were soon forgotten as we pulled up into this 11th century walled castle city of Ainsa. which is situated in the Sobrarbe region in the Central Pyrenees. It was like going back in time, absolutely fantastic. The plaza square was buzzing with excitement, the people were lounging about outside enjoying drinks and tapas in the balmy climate, I immediately knew, that this was the Spain that I’ve been waiting to experience for so long. It was going to be a good week.

We had a big week ahead of us, with three days of practice and then two days of racing, we had to make sure to save a bit of energy for the race weekend, but man, was that hard to do. How can you come all this way, to such a fantastic area with so many trails and not explore more than just the race tracks.  With this in mind we met up with Doug and the guys from Basque MTB who specialize in guided mountain bike tours in the Pyrenees and surrounding area, and were lucky enough to join him and his group on a proper backcountry adventure ride on Monday. It was huge & it was probably some of the best tracks that I’ve ever ridden. Yep, it was that good! Multiple 1000meter plus shuttle drops. Probably not the best rest before a big race week but hey!

After that big day out exploring, I knew the racetracks were going to be next level, and they were. Dry, dusty, rocky and just fun. There wasn’t anything scary about them, they weren’t overly steep and riding them was super fun, but racing them, man, they were plenty physical and quite pedaly, but still fantastic.

It was a combination of the place, the effort of such a small community, the scenery, the history and the excitement of this event being in their little corner of the world, which made this race so special to me. I have never experienced such effort go into one bike race. Where in the world would you have a 1km long sausage being grilled hanging from a crane? Or free beer or red wine for the entire week for everyone, or a giant, I mean giant sized Paella pan to feed everyone after the race.

We had a prologue race through the old cobbled street of Ainsa on Friday night and all the marshals were dressed up in Medieval attire – which I thought was fantastic and opted to get in the spirit join them for a bit of fun. It was great to see quite a few of the other athlete’s also embrace the spirit of this town and join me in getting dressed up. It’s bike racing after all, and we’re here to have fun. That evening set the tone for me of what and how I wanted to approach my race weekend. The times didn’t factor into the race either.

Saturday was a big day out on the bike, with four race stages and some pretty big liaisons. It was a warm one but we still got caught in a massive thunderstorm before the last run of the day, it felt like we were just out on a big ride, more like a Trans Provence day than the usual frenzied, crazy paced EWS races. The trails and liaisons were fantastic. Stage three, Sarrastafio, was covered in fossil rocks from a gazillion million years ago when the whole valley was under the sea. When or where have you ever started a race on a bed of fossils? The spectators and fans were pretty surreal, they knew pretty much everyone by name, they shouted and cheered and took photos with us and they were everywhere! Some liaisons took 2 or more hours to get to, but they were there, lined from the top of the tracks to the bottom and in-between. When we pedaled on the road, they were there hooting from their cars, waving banners out the windows, shouting words of encouragement and high five-ing us as we climbed. I get goose bumps just thinking about the amazing support we had from all these super enthusiastic people.

Sunday was another big day, with some very physical stages. I loved the fact that it was dry and rocky for once, loving my new Roubion and feeling quite bad for her as I smashed through the rocks all week, but that’s what she’s made for right? The stages all had so much history tied to it. Stage six was called Cottado de los Muertos, this trail was built because the little village below was so small that it didn’t have room for a cemetery, so the people had to walk up this trail with the coffins to the higher, bigger village where there was a cemetery. Needless to say, the corners and gradient of the trail, was pretty amazing.

We were all expecting thunderstorms on Sunday afternoon, and after a few delays, we knew we were not going to get away from this one. As I set off for my final stage, the most physical one, the heavens opened up and it was pouring. I kept racing my heart out, pedaling as hard as I could, railing the corners and loving every minute of it, only to be waved down by marshals to stop (I ignored the first one, and yes, maybe the second one too, as I was in the zone and racing), when I finally stopped, I realized that the stage was cancelled because of flash floods in the canyon below that had already washed away the timing table, the photographers and most of the spectators. WOW. We were on this knife-edge ridge and there was just water gushing down everywhere. A human chain of about 8 men were formed down this pretty steep slippery clay chute and our bikes would get passed down and then we had to sit down and slide from one arm to the next to get down safely. This was a first for me, and a pretty memorable occurrence. One I won’t forget anytime soon and one that made this event standout even more. With the stage cancelled we made our way back to the magical castle of Ainsa, soaked to the bone, muddy as hell and smiles as wide as the length of the Pyrenees themselves. I loved every minute of this weekend and had an absolute blast on my bike.

This is what it’s all about, this is why I race and this is why it is so important to keep visiting new venues, to explore new countries and cultures. A week ago all I had were visions of what this place may be like, but now, 7 days later, I’ve fallen in love with a country, a region, it’s proud and humble people, it’s culture and it’s spectacular scenery and trails. I’m going back next year to ride my bike and explore more of this wonderful place. This is why I am so grateful for racing mountain bikes.

Gracias x.

Whistler EWS #6 Roots, rocks & slippery moss.

The EWS tracks were riddled with roots, hundreds and thousands of them, surrounded by the most amazing, loamy, hero dirt one can imagine, whilst winding it’s way through some spectacular forests. Old man’s beard blowing in the breeze, with very thoughtful hand carved wooden signs naming the trails and low clouds that move slowly caressing the mountain tops and hillsides surrounding this spectacular valley we‘ve all grown to love so much. Oh, Whistler you are so gorgeous and so scary at the same time.

After the very demanding “Crankzilla” round we endured last year, of course we were all pretty scared coming into this round, wondering whether or not it would be a repeat of last years suffering or if the organizers would be kind to us… Turns out, they do have a gentler side and they wanted everyone to have a fun weekend of riding and racing. It was quite a relief to see all the lift access that we were allowed to use to access the trails, with very minimal climbing and very relaxed liaison times. Everyone seemed a bit relieved, but that didn’t mean that race day was going to be an easy day. Easy days don’t really exist in Whistler. Even though we didn’t have to climb much, it still took most of us the entire day to fit one run in on most of the stages. They were all amazing, they offered everything, they were super technical, steep, rooty, rocky, pedally, physical, long and demanding – a pretty perfect combination for an enduro race track and everyone seemed to love them. Again, none of them were easy, but practice day was a big, rad day out on the bikes soaking up the sunshine and the big blue skies.

Gary Perkin photo.

We were all pretty relieved about this round, and then the rain came. It rained all day and all night and those relieved feelings turned into anxious worries & nightmares about how we were going to get down those root riddled tracks come race morning. All the practice went out the window, along with my confidence. Race day turned into a day of somehow getting down the tracks and surviving them. It wasn’t pretty, but of course we all did it. You just switch into this mode and get on with the task at hand. I felt stiff and scared and not too confident in these conditions, but we slowly checked the stages off, one at a time and every run improved slightly. By the time we got to stage three, I felt like I knew how to ride my bike again, stage four was actually fun for me and stage five was just a blast through the bike park and by the time we rode this stage, everything was bone dry & trustworthy again. Of course. Bloody Murphy!

Gary Perkin photo.

I felt so ready and confident on all the race tracks during practice, but waiting my turn come race morning, I definitely felt a tad bit timid after the rain and I knew that I was in for quite a challenging day. Maybe it was a combination of the changed, wet conditions that we couldn’t practice on, but also maybe a bit of what happened at the last round in Colorado. Either way, I just wanted to get through this round safe & sound. These races are never easy, even when the stats look a bit easier, some other unforeseen element will jump in there to make it hard for us in some other way. It ended up being such an enjoyable day out. The girls all had such a laugh and such a great time cheering each other on, listening to all the war stories, the mishaps and the funny maneuvers that were pulled off to get down these slippery tracks. Falling off bridges, losing gloves mid race run, stuck upside down clipped in, it goes on and on, and those are the things that I remember, that makes these hard days enjoyable, and what makes me chuckle for weeks down the line. There were so many Juliana riders out racing at this round and every single one of them represented so well, racing and riding their hearts out. Kelli ended up in 12th place, myself in 16th and Sarah in 17th spot. It was great to have the whole team back together and out there representing again. Huge thanks to Allan, Mary & Tom for getting our bikes dialed and our bellies full all week.

Gary Perkin photo.

The organizers were spot on with the ratio, the trail combo’s, the lift access and the liaison times. We had amazing feed stations with the most delicious mouth watering watermelon and a great atmosphere for everyone to enjoy. Cheers to everyone who worked so hard to avoid turning this round into “Crankzilla” two, you guys killed it!

Loving this chill day today, catching up with life and looking forward to a week filled with yoga, adventure rides, some laps in the park, women’s clinics and chilling at the lake of course.

Peace out,

Anka

x

Crested Butte, Colorado Round #5 Wildflowers, never ending single track & sadness.

I’m sitting on the plane, heading to Vancouver for the next round of the EWS stop in Whistler, and I’m a bit stumped as to what to write about from this last round. There are no words fitting enough to express my sadness after the tragic death of a fellow rider. Will was a really good rider, he knew the track, he was going fast, and he was racing. He was doing exactly what we all do pretty much every weekend, what we all do for our day jobs. We all know that mountain biking has it’s risks; injuries and broken bones are part of the job description, but somehow we always seem to put that word – death - out of our minds, we know the possibilities are there every time we synch down those number plates onto our handlebars, or scribble down our emergency contact details, but we keep those thoughts tucked far away to focus on the task ahead.

Amongst all this sadness and shock, emerges a great sense of pride, to belong to and be a part of such a wonderful community. We’re a small traveling family who loves riding and racing our bikes in really beautiful places. We look out for each other, we encourage each other, we laugh and cry together, we celebrate the highs and the low’s and this weekend was a great reminder of how lucky I, we are to be a part of this wonderful community. When something like this happens, it hits home hard. It puts everything into perspective, it throws the results and the points right out the window, and nothing else matters other than riding bikes and sharing moments with loved one’s. It is a reminder for us to slow down, appreciate the views, stop to smell the wildflowers, take a picture, savor the moment – I know we don’t always have time to do this during the races, but make time before, after and during if you can. Life is too short not to. Be nice to people, smile, be passionate, look at the stars, laugh, skinny dip, share, make love & appreciate everything, because life works in a funny old way and we never know when our turn will come around, but lucky for us, we’re living a life that we love, we’re following our dreams and we get to share this with our mates. How freaking cool is that.

Crested Butte is a special place; I will remember it for it’s never-ending, fast & flowy singletrack trails, the stunning Aspen groves, and the wildflowers that were just mind blowing. The place has character, it has soul, amazing pizza, tamales & so many cute cottages, o, and it had no air, but that’s a whole other topic that I struggled with last week. The tracks were beautiful, they were physically hard to race, but that just makes us stronger right? I don’t think this round will end up counting towards the overall series, and it doesn’t really matter. Who cares. What matters is that we got to travel to a really amazing place to ride our bikes and to experience another culture. I’m happy that we’re just moving straight into the next round, as what happened this weekend hasn’t really had time to sink in or has it? Will this affect me more than I think it will? I don’t know, we’re all so good at compartmentalizing things instead of dealing with them. The tears that keep streaming down my cheeks when I think about Will, may be an indicator that it has had a huge effect on me.

Right now, I just want to get back on my bike, go for a pedal and feel the wind in my face to clear my head.

Rest in peace Will. May you find that never-ending singletrack trail out there and rip it up.

Anka

x

Baguette's, fromage & semi blind racing at round 4 of the EWS in beautiful Samoens, France.

After a fairly big gap in-between the races, it was time to head to the Alps to race round four of the Enduro World Series. The gap was big enough to feel nervous and anxious all over again, almost as if it was the start of the season again. It’s been a busy few weeks since the last round in Scotland. I raced a 2-day blind race in the Jura region, the taxing 6 day Trans Provence race, and then headed over to Les Deux Alpes to help SRAM with their Lyrik product launch. Good times, but busy times for sure.

The one thing that I was super excited about was that this round didn’t take up your entire week prior with practice. I love this format of showing up on Friday, getting registered, and going straight into racing. The way it works there was that you’d do a run down the racetrack, and then head straight back up to race it and this is how you keep moving along through the weekend. I feel this is most true to the discipline, it is more like “blind” racing, you don’t really have time to sit and watch Go Pro footage in-between runs and you just have a more concise weekend of racing, making it possible for more people who have normal jobs to attend and participate.

On Friday we were able to walk one of the tracks, as there would be no practice on it, so we pretty much had one blind stage we raced, which was exciting. You have to hold back just a little bit and it mixes it up. With the format changing slightly at every venue it keeps everyone on his or her toes. I like that things and formats keep changing – it keeps things interesting especially these days where a lot of racers tend to go to the race venues a few weeks or days prior or even months ahead to see if they can get a few sneaky runs in on any of the potential tracks.

It hadn’t rained for the last 6 weeks due to a crazy heat wave that has hit France this summer, so we’ve been riding in the hottest, dustiest, driest conditions that I’ve ever experienced in France before. Even the lush evergreen hills of the Alps were a bit brown and dry. Of course as Murphy would have it, the heavens opened up right as the women went up for their first race run of the day. This after we’ve just finished our one practice run, which we did in these incredibly dry and dusty conditions and then only to be met by heavy thunderstorms and rain as soon as we set foot out of the gondola for race run. Absolutely drenched by the time we got to the start gate, there was an hour delay and we had to make the best of trying to stay warm hovering over the little generator that was running for the timing – getting high on the fumes in the process (not ideal just before a race)!

Four seasons in one day for sure. So as you can imagine, that practice run was an absolute waste of time, and the race run was a slippery, muddy, wet & rooty, rocky mess of an affair. Of course none of the lines could be hit nor any of the steep uphill’s could be ridden due to these slippery conditions. There was so much clumsiness going on, trying to run uphill, slipping backwards, fogged up goggles, gasping of air, missing the pedals trying to get back on the bike, hooking my shorts, the list of fumbles & stumbles goes on and on, resulting in frustration, which turned to lots of giggles when I just started riding the trail and stopped trying to race. Everyone had a struggle and turns out I didn’t do too badly after all.

Of course after that race run, it cleared up, the sun came back out, copious amounts of sun block had to be reapplied and it was back to heat wave temperatures with the odd rocks and roots still slimy in-between the dusty sections in the forest. All the stages were amazing, I loved them all, they were natural and raw, fun & flowy, but also just the right amount of steep & technical. The village of Samoens was the perfect typical little French village to host the venue and to give everyone a sampling of what France has to offer in terms of mountain biking. I will most definitely head back there for a riding holiday.

All in all, we had a magic weekend with the Santa Cruz boys and with Allan & Marshy helping us out (even though Marshy broke his collarbone the day before the race), with keeping our steed’s race ready & clean and most importantly keeping us fed and hydrated. Cheers guys!

Kelli & I had our best EWS race weekend so far this season, with Kelli finishing in 10th spot and myself in 12th. YAH! I was really pleased as I managed to also get two 10th places on Sunday, so now I have that new fire to keep trying to crack the top 10 again this season – or at least have fun trying to get there J

Thanks again to everyone for their support at these crazy races & to Fred and all the organizers for another top weekend. Bravo!

Go Team Juliana SRAM!

I’ve just had an amazing few days of exploring some mind-blowing trails in some really big, really remote, spectacular mountains here in France with a great crew. I’m knackered now, heading home tomorrow to see my family for the next three days, do loads of laundry, not ride my bike and pack up for the next month in North America & Canada. Burrito’s here I come!

Peace out,

Anka

My Trans Provence journey 2015.

It’s been a few days since the finish of the Trans Provence, and I’m still trying to process and remember everything that happened over the past 6 days of the mega adventure called the Trans Provence. Crossing too many big mountains to keep count of, clocking in and out to race 24 stages filled with crazy, techy, rocky, switchbacks & moving mountain trails with far too many stories – good and bad, resulting in my adventure of last week rolling into one big blur of amazing memories that has left a perma- grin on my face since we finished up in Menton on Friday. Bear with me as I try to explain bits and pieces of this journey to you.

I don’t think one can really grasp what this adventure rally is really all about until you can experience it. It is so much more than a race; it is an adventure (yes, very overused word – we need to come up with a new one), but it is a journey on your bike with many personal battles fought along the way. Everyone embarks on this journey for his or her own personal reasons and that is what gets you through the week. The focus is not solely on results, there is so much more to this. It’s a very personal challenge. I love this week, as you get to ride and get to know people from all walks of life. Usually at a race, you just mingle and ride with racers, but at the TP, you share the week with “real” people. People who have other lives, crazy cool jobs, mothers, fathers, posties, rocket scientists, doctors, rally car engineers, and such, the list goes on and on and that is what I love. You actually get to know people a bit better and learn about their reasons for embarking on their week- long journey. It’s a week filled with ups and down’s, with amazing stages and mess up’s, crashes and clean runs, flat tires and major mechanicals, high’s and lows, tired legs & sore bums, consoling and cheering, encouragement and anger – so many emotions at the end of each day, so many stories told over dinner and way too many high five’s to keep track of.

We rode for 6 days starting in Embrun and finished on the beach, or in the Med in Menton, France. We covered almost 300 km’s, raced 24 stages, climbed 8946m & descended 17407m. We hiked, carried and crossed sketchy traverses and spent about 30hours in the saddle. This year was a bit different to the years past, as it was very early on in the season, and I felt that this one was the toughest one yet, due to the heat this time of the year and also just not being as strong and fit from riding and racing all summer just yet. Different, but I think I preferred it. It gave us more light for those long days in the saddle, we didn’t have to wake up in the dark, our laundry had some time to dry at the end of the day, there was no heavy dew, which meant dry tents, it made the mountain staff’s jobs a bit easier and we could access so many new trails and routes that would usually not be ride able in September and we didn’t have one rainy day. Lucky us. Another major bonus was riding through all the spring flowers – at least for those of us who didn’t suffer from crazy allergies. The only negative things were the flies. They were relentless and annoying and no matter how hard you tried to ignore them, they were constantly trying to fly up your nose, into your ears and just being pesky flies.

The racing went really well, as this is just the kind of riding, racing format and weird, awkward, dry, rocky, sketchy kind of trails that I just love to ride. My Roubion held up like a champ and was the perfect bike for a weeklong journey like the Trans Provence. Another negative about racing the TP this time of the year: my poor bike already feels roosted and it still has a whole season ahead of it J You can’t go into a race like this one knowing or saying to yourself that you’re going to win, it’s just impossible, as there are so many things that can happen, way too many variables, way too many crazy, blind tracks, so you really just have to take each stage by stage and each day by day and see what happens. It’s probably the type of race format that levels out the playing field the most, as anything can happen. When Tracy Moseley shows up to a race, you pretty much know that you’re not going to win unless she has a serious mechanical or crash – and no one wants that to happen, so to me, it’s usually just a great opportunity to ride and learn as much as I can from my good old friend. We had a wicked week riding with all the ladies (and guys) and Canadian downhiller Claire Buchar killed it on her first adventure race – we even tied on two stages?! How crazy is that?  In the end it was Tracy who took the win, myself in second place and Claire in third. I have to mention though, that I did manage to get one stage win last week – I beat Tracy by 1 second and she had a clean run – so that makes me a very happy girl and something I’ll remember for a while. There were more new trails this year than ever before, and the funny thing is that I always did better on the new one’s and got beaten on the one’s I’ve raced on before? Besides my second place overall finish in the Women’s, I also finished 23rd in the overall, which I’m pretty stoked about. Like I said before, this one was definitely the hardest one I’ve done and every single person who made this journey should give yourself a pat on the back – bloody well done! To Tracy & Nico – you guys are legends.

Some memorable (good & bad) highlights of the week:

·      Stunning new trails & mountains we passed & crossed over.

·      Spotting the media crew in many strange places along the trails & their never ending cheering.

·      Wild flowers, butterflies & lavender.

·      The liaison across the national park where we had to walk our bikes on day three.

·      Drinking cokes (something I never do, but craved all day long).

·      Seeing Sven jump out at one stage with a tire dangling across his chest and a point and shoot in the other hand.

·      Seeing Jamie Nicoll with no tire at the one stage finish.

·      The scary scree traverse on Day 1.

·      Taking a stage win.

·      Eating crisps for breakfast, lunch and dinner (and anywhere in-between).

·      Seeing Ty Hathaway on the side of the track covered in tire sealant.

·      Toilet talk.

·      Not being able to experience this with my adventure buddy, Sven.

·      Having a bad helmet hair competition at the end of the day with the girls.

·      Losing all your inhibitions.

·      Elbow twat gap – a lot of it.

·      Scott Chapin down in the ditch on the very last stage of the week.

·      Sending Rachel Walker off in an ambulance.

·      Making new friends.

·      Seeing the familiar faces of good friends at the end of stages – cheers TP mountain staff; Seb, Smail, Julia, Norm & Rich.

·      The cool dog with the crazy teeth, which crossed up and over a whole mountain range with us on Day 5 from Valdeblore to Lantosque.

·      Seeing the sea for the first time.

·      Jumping in the Med.

·      Frozen Yogurt.

·      Matti prancing around in his very small, very euro bikini bottoms at the beach for a very long time.

·      Watching the footage and videos after every day – goose bumps and teary eyed - how lucky are we to do what we do and for having bikes to show us the world. Cheers to all the media guys working so freaking hard!

·      Not seeing Chris Smith’s smiling face at the start and end of every day & sharing the day’s happenings over a glass of red with him – you were missed.

How many times can one undertake this adventure? This was my fifth time and it will never get old. Will I be back for more next year, I don’t know, how long can you keep doing these things for? As of right now, I cannot wait for the next one, but who knows what life will throw at you. Thank you Ash, Melissa and everyone involved with the Trans Provence for creating this adventure journey for us. This is why I love riding my bike and this is what it’s all about. You guys rock! Cheers for the bangers Sven Martin :)

Time to get back on the bike now after a few days of R&R on the Mediterranean eating way too many gelatos and drinking way too much wine, but hey, you have to embrace life, live it to it’s fullest and be grateful for everything and everyone. Usually the end of this race means that it’s time for us to head back home to New Zealand, but not this year, I’ve still got 3 months of racing and traveling waiting for me, so best I get out there and get pedaling.

Peace out,

Anka x

A brief history of my trusty Trans Provence adventure steeds.

Usually I only start thinking about the Trans Provence event towards the end of the season, but this year it is much, much earlier, as in just over 10 days away, so it will be a bit of a new experience for everyone in terms of what the places, terrain and villages look like at this time of the year, the climate and how the legs will feel this early on in the season. Either way, this is the highlight of my season every year and I'm well excited. I thought I'd do a little TP preview or tribute to all the bikes I've used during this favorite adventure of mine. This year will be my 5th Trans Provence...

2011 - Santa Cruz Blur TRc - ended up in 2nd place behind Tracy Moseley. 

2012 - Green Santa Cruz Carbon Nomad - another 2nd place, this time to Anne Caroline Chausson. 

2013 - Prototype "roarange" Bruliana - the first Juliana Bronson, before the launch of the Roubion - This bike helped me get my first TP win. I love my bike.

2014 - Evergreen Juliana "Roubion" - named after the village of one of my favorite days of the TP & because I won the race the previous year - pretty special stuff to me. Ended up in 2nd place behind Ines Thoma this year.

2015 - I'll be back on my trusty evergreen Juliana Roubion. Looking forward to share this journey with good pal Tracy Moseley & the Dark Cloud Crew again this year :)

It all kicks off on the 20th - 26th of June, so have a wee look at their website and follow our journey through the spectacular mountains in the South of France.

Peace out,

Anka

www.trans-provence.com

Bonny Scotland.

I knew we couldn't get lucky two weekends in a row with the weather over in the UK. Ireland was fantastic and the Irish reckon that that was their summer. Scotland was not looking so fantastic, with lots of rain, cold temperatures, heavy winds and even snow in the forecast, I was pulling out all my warm and wet weather riding gear. It was going to be a tough week and weekend. Even with all this bad weather talk, I was super excited to be back in Peebles and actually be able to race and ride this time around. I tore all the ligaments in my right ankle one day before getting to Peebles last year, so I couldn't ride the trails in this beautiful valley. So that was exciting for me.

I have to say having back to back weekends of EWS races are hard. I was still super tired from a big week over in Ireland, then straight into a full travel day, one recovery day to get everything ready again and then right back into practice for Scotland. The long practice days are killer too and by the time the race days roll around, your feeling pretty beat up. We had a blast on the first day of practice, exploring new tracks, riding them once, trying to remember any vital sections and obstacles and then you move on. It was cold and wet and after stage 1 & 2 we opted to stop for a proper warm pub lunch before moving on to the next two stages in the pouring rain. Good times. I love the practice days so much more than the race days!

That evening I headed over to the annual kids skills evening. It was freezing cold outside and the last thing I felt like doing was get back into my wet riding shoes and kit and head out into the cold, to get my bike all muddy again, but it was such a blast. The kids over in the Peebles valley are just amazing and so incredibly skilled. I loved every minute of it. Most definitely a highlight for me and I ended up leaving there having learnt a thing or two myself.

The second day of practice was even colder and wetter - we even got slate and hail to help us through the day, but again riding with your mates in miserable weather somehow makes it all better. Most of the riders opted for a rest day on Friday, and I was really looking forward to a day off the bike eating scones, clotted cream and jam and drinking flat whites with pretty much half the women's field. Perfect race prep right?

Saturday. Race day. O crap. My legs were dead. I had nothing. There was no fire. Shit. By stage 3 I felt better and that was my favorite stage of the day, but all in all it was a pretty average day of bike riding for me. I loved the longer liaison times, it was so lovely, it was social, it was perfect. Results for that day, not so perfect, but there's not much you can do if your body just won't respond. Sunday was much better. I felt stronger, I rode better - loved stage 5 which was most peoples worst nightmare. I loved it and did pretty well on it. The day was cut short by two stages due to terrible weather and crazy winds - a welcoming thought, but also a bummer, as I was hoping to use those two stages to make up some time and positions. The last stage was super long and very pedaly. I was a rad track, if they toolk out all the crazy uphill fire roads. O well. Still a super rad day and ended up in 15th again. I was happy to make up a few spots due to the crazy, muddy, un-rideable stage 5 which I loved :) All in all, obviously I would have liked to do better. I made silly mistakes, I felt tired and I didn't feel focused, but I loved the tracks, I loved Peebles and I did well on the two hardest, techiest stages, so that makes me happy. 

I spent a few days in Peebles after the race, explored the valley, rode some more beautiful heather clad trails, got rained on some more, ate lovely food, wandered around the history steeped Edinburg and marshaled at the local kids race. What a trip. What a place.

Thank you to Allan and Tom for keeping my steed happy and rolling despite all the mud and pressure washing, and to Chris & Kate for putting us up in their lovely home and as usual thank you Sven Martin for all the bangers ;)

Next stop, France, back to mum's house to get ready for the upcoming Trans Provence adventure.

peace out x

My search for Lucky charms & Leprechauns in Eire.

It was my first visit to Ireland, and boy, what a lovely place it was. The people were just so lovely, proud and passionate about their country and what it had to offer. The scenery was spectacular and the green was just so intense, so green, it almost looked like someone pushed the saturation button to the max, it was that green. It still felt like it was in the beginning stages of spring, with new leaves decorating all the trees and bluebells lining all the single-track trails. The air was still pretty fresh and chilly, but we were lucky enough to have perfect sunny weather for the entire week of practice and for race day – a pretty rare occurrence in Ireland from what the locals say.

One of the reasons I keep racing, are the amazing friends and all the new countries and cultures we get to explore through our bicycles. Here Sven, Duncan & Hannah are checking out the beautiful Mt Usher gardens.

Feels like back in New Zealand with all the ferns.

We had quite a big break between the first round of the EWS in Rotorua, New Zealand and this past weekend in Ireland, so it was almost like starting from scratch again in terms of getting back into the whole race mode and getting back up to speed. It was good to get it all going again and to get the European season started. We got to Ireland a few days before practice so we could at least sample a few of the local must-do things kindly recommended by Biking Ireland (the amazing organizers), before being engulfed by the race schedule. Our first stop was the Avoca café for some amazing homemade food and cake for desert of course, and then a leisurely, very informative stroll around Mount Usher Gardens, trying to identify all the tree’s (and work off some of the creamy cake). I couldn’t believe how many tree’s there were that we get in New Zealand & from China of all places!?  Something else I really enjoy doing is trying out a yoga class at every race venue, it’s not always available in most of the small mountain towns, but we found one and had a lovely morning of yoga at Ananta Yoga in Wicklow before practice started.

Bliss to find a proper, beautiful yoga studio while on the road. It doesn't happen often when we travel from small mountain town to the next. A very welcome session with Hannah & Kelli indeed.

The morning of the first day of practice is always an exciting day, I always feel like a kid in a candy store at the prospect of riding all the new trails in a beautiful new place. We had a big day out, riding stages 1 -4 twice each, which ended up being a massive day and in hindsight, probably a bit too much, so the next day I only did one run on stages 5 – 7 to save a bit in the tank for race day. We got really lucky with another sunny day for race day, thank goodness, as it would have been pretty miserable doing all that climbing in the rain. Even though the trails were fairly easy and not that hard compared to the usual EWS tracks, and it was a deceivingly smaller hill than the usual big alpine mountaintops, it still ended up being a massive day out in the saddle, with loads of climbing, loads of pedaling in most of the stages and I even got sun burnt in Ireland! Who would have thought?

Lush, green & sunshine in Ireland.

The best spectators I've ever had the pleasure of racing in from of - THANK YOU IRELAND!!!!

Looks more like Australia than Ireland in this one woods section.

I was really happy with how my race went, despite a small mechanical, a few small mistakes on most of the stages (pretty impossible to have 7 clean race runs), and pretty weary legs towards the end of the day, it was an amazing day out and managed a 15th spot. The crowds were insane; they were so amazing, so encouraging and super supportive. I’ve never seen so many families and kids out on a racetrack ever before. I’ve never seen so many women pushing prams (strollers), up and down fire roads before either and we had a gazillion kids racing us up the fire road climbs. We could hear them hooting and hollering from the top of every start gate, making us feel excited and anxious all at once. It was truly a magic representation of the Irish spirit and their passion for the sport of cycling. The cherry on top of course was local favorite Greg Callaghan taking the win and legend Tracy Moseley taking the top step for the ladies.

Isabeau and myself getting on with it during the long, rather fast paced fire road liaison stages. Smiles all around.

A huge shout out to the Irish organizers, the Enduro World Series crew, and everyone that helped me throughout the week. My Juliana Roubion rode like a dream thanks to Tom Duncan and my belly was kept happy thanks to Allan from Santa Cruz Bicycles. St Patrick’s Day is definitely going to have much more meaning to me from now on J

Next stop, the ferry from Belfast to Peebles, Scotland for round 3 of the EWS.

Slainte mhaith!

(good health)

And in case anyone was wondering what the hell a leprechaun really was, see below:

leprechaun

1. A mischievous little man, often clad in green, who moves your remotes and steals your underwear in the dark of night. 

The calm before the ews storm.

Rotorua (/ˌroʊtəˈruːə/, from Māori: Te Rotorua-nui-a-Kahumatamomoe.

Roto means lake and rua two – Rotorua thus meaning Second Lake. It was the second biggest lake that Maori chief Ihenga discovered. Also referred to as the heart of the North Island. It is known for its geothermal activity, with bubbling geysers, thermal springs and hot mud pools spread throughout the town earning its nickname of Sulfur City. These hydrogen sulphide emissions are what give Rotorua that permanent “rotten egg” smell. Charming right? Well, you do get used to it. Rotorua is also referred to as Rotovegas. Besides all the bubbling & boiling under the earth, Rotorua is a mountain biker’s Mecca. Mention the Whakarewarewa forest to anyone who rides bikes and it will bring a massive smile to their faces and a sparkle to their eyes.

We are all fortunate enough to explore this forest and all it’s magical trails this week, as it’s the first stop on the EWS calendar for this year. Pretty exciting that it’s all happening in New Zealand – not quite in my backyard, or island for that matter, but it’s still amazing not to have to leave New Zealand and travel to the other side of the world for a bike race. It’s also pretty amazing to share this beautiful part of the world with our friends from all over the world. With over 100km of singletrack, criss crossing through the dense panga clad jungle, there is plenty of riding and exploring to be had, more than we can cover in a short few days of riding anyways. It’s pretty hard to have an easy day out here; you just want to keep going and the flow of the trails just leave you yearning for more. Just another shuttle run, or two or three is what usually happens. It’s hard to rein it in and start resting up for the first big race of the season when it’s just so darn fun out there in the forest.

And resting up is what we’re going to have to do to make it through race day. It’s looking like one monster of a day, with 7 stages and an estimated 7 hours out on the bike from start to finish. The weather is also not looking too stable, as Fall is in the air, rain is in the forecast and the trails are covered in roots, which means that our work will be cut out for us come race day. What will be will be. Not much you can do when it comes to Mother Nature and what she has to offer. I’m looking forward to a few days of the bike, catching up with my team mates Kelli & Sarah, soaking it up in the hot springs and of course a visit to see the new born Kiwi bird babies. Rotorua also has a huge variety of fabulous restaurants and coffee shops to choose from, speaking of, time to head to town for a flat white and maybe a little spin in the forest…resting schmesting – life’s far too short to be serious!

Best of luck to everyone this week!

eNZed enduro

Last weekend was the inaugural 3- day NZ Enduro adventure. I wouldn’t call this a race, because it really wasn’t your typical race, it was a proper backcountry adventure, with crazy, technical terrain and tracks to navigate, blind for most people and we got dropped off on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere with a helicopter, and we just happened to get timed. Only in New Zealand hey!

As you can imagine, last weekend was a pretty special one for me, as it played off in our backyard, and it gave our international friends a really good taste of what this region had to offer in terms of spectacular scenery and natural, technical, native forests. These tracks are what we fell in love with and really what sparked our drive to move out to the Nelson/Marlborough region. I was afraid that having a “race” on these tracks would take the magic out of these beautiful trails, but it was definitely a great way to show all the people that we race and travel with throughout the season what we had to offer & why we loved living here so much. They all seemed to be over the moon and fell in love with everything about it. It was really amazing to share this with so many of the top racers in the world.

We started off racing Whites Bay in Rarangi on Friday, then on to the Nydia Track in the Pelorus Sounds on Saturday and finished off on the Wakamarina track on Sunday. Of course we lucked out with the weather, as riding these trails in the wet would be absolutely treacherous and good weather meant that the heli could fly and shuttle us, which was such a unique experience for all the visitors and a first time for most people and also the first for an event to do.

It was a long, hard & really taxing (mentally & physically) weekend of riding and racing, but a great way to kick off the season. I definitely felt very race rusty and made tons of silly mistakes – I even got lost on a trail that I’ve ridden loads (it just shows you that having a home advantage doesn’t always help). To me, it was more about catching up with everyone after the off-season, enjoying the sunshine and riding beautiful trails. That’s what racing is all about to me after all.

Cheers to everyone that made the effort to come out to the other side of the world to ride our trails.

Haere Ra!

Summertime in Aotearoa - the land of the long white cloud.

My goodness, how the time has flown. We got back home from Europe in mid October, which is still Springtime in New Zealand. Splashes of snow still lingering on the tops of the mountains and still quite chilly in the mornings & evenings. Not quite swimming weather just yet. It takes a little while longer to heat up and stabilize on this little island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Summer only really kicks in properly around December, when the Pohutukawa flowers start blooming as well as all the other beautiful blossoms. There is this summer buzz in the air and whiffs of bbq’s surround you wherever you go. The high-pitched screeching of the Cycadas will drive you insane, but it is such a typical summer sound, and our natural temperature gauge.

Anyhow, being home again after 5 months on the road is bliss. I get to recharge, rest up and savor all the little things that you miss so much when you’re not at your own house. Plodding around in the garden, planning the next project for the house, catching up with the neighbors and friends we haven’t seen in months. Drinking flat whites and eating all my favorite yummy veggie food is such a highlight after months of baguettes and cheese and when a margarita pizza is your only veggie option. I get to wear all my clothes and shoes I don’t get to travel with, so everything seems new again. One of my highlights is getting to ride all my favorite local tracks again and seeing & hearing the Tui & Fantail birds flitting around your head in the forests. The musty smell of the Beech forest & the lush rainforest is such a comforting, welcome sight. Ahhhh, it has been a great few months back at home, but there wasn’t much time spent sitting back with my feet up drinking G&T’s.

Cable Bay, my backyard, home, bliss.

We’ve had a whirlwind of an off-season. It started off with me not touching my bike for about a month – I think that’s the longest break off the bike I’ve ever had, but I just had no desire to ride my bike. The 2014 race season was probably the hardest, most intense and full on race season I’ve ever had. I was physically knackered and mentally pretty drained, so the time off the bike was just what I needed. I was tramping (hiking) and loving my yoga and also embracing just not having to do anything that elevated my heart rate if I didn’t feel like it. Of course after a month, I was getting anxious to get back on the bike again, to start exploring, riding and getting into the swing of summer. I had no plan, no structure, no training schedule; I just went riding my bike.

October & November were filled with errands & catching up with everything that gets left behind. It entailed loads of weeding, planting, lawn mowing & house cleaning. It wasn’t all dull though, Sven & I (and a builder), built a massive deck onto our house, something we’ve been wanting to do for a while now, so that was a great project to plan and build that. Sven also had surgery to fix up an old injury, so it was the perfect project for him to keep busy, instructing us on what to do and how to do it. 

post surgery, still high.

December = summer in New Zealand. Flowers, blue skies, birds, road trips, beaches, 4X4, camping, swimming, and boats – you name it, the whole lot. It’s always a crazy month with Christmas and all that going on. We ended up heading over to Santa Cruz, CA for a quick week trip, to collect photo & video assets for the new Juliana Team, and of course to attend the Santa Cruz Christmas Party. That was an amazing week of riding hero dirt with likeminded people, and that really fired me up to get back on the bike properly and renewed my excitement for riding again. I was looking forward to get back home and back out on my local trails. We ended 2014 with something completely new, but very exciting, a proper backcountry 4x4 adventure to the middle of nowhere with a bunch of friends. New experiences, new places & new challenges, was the perfect way to end a pretty epic year and of course set the bar for what was to come in 2015.

4 x 4 mission to Kahurangi Lighthouse on the west coast.

January marked the start of an actual training program for me. I’ve never tried this before and thought I’d give it a go. It was also the beginning of a never-ending flow of friends and visitors. We love this, as it forces you to get out and show people around, to do all the touristy things and of course ride all the various trails. Sven thought he’d be back on the bike by now, but alas, due to complications, the poor guy is still not back on the bike four months later, so I’ve been solo tour guide for the past few months now. Our first lot of visitors to arrive, was Jerome Clementz & Pauline Dieffenthaler for the month of January. We squeezed in as much as we could. We rode and rode, and rode some more. I felt like I was on boot camp some days – yearning for a day lazing on the beach. We did a road trip down to Queenstown, rode all the classic Craigieburn tracks, all the classics in our area, local trails, faraway trails, tattoos in Christchurch, camping in Kaikoura, swimming, training, sleeping and repeating. It was amazing. I was knackered!

February started off with a scouting trip to the West Coast, followed by the Dodzy Memorial race (my first race since Finale in October – can you say RUSTY), straight into the Santa Cruz bike launch we did on The Old Ghost Road on the West Coast, with 10 journalists and 30 new bikes – quite the logistical nightmare, but all worked out perfectly. It was an epic trip to say the least, with loads of new friendships formed. The month continued with Josh Kissner, SCB product manager and friend, staying on for another week after the Santa Cruz bike launch and our dear friends John Parkin & Hannah Barnes were also in town escaping the brutal Scottish winter. Our summer adventures continued with these guys, riding, camping, overnighting in yurts, swimming and some more road tripping. As John, Hannah & Josh left, Tracy Moseley & James Richards got to Nelson, so off we went to show them all our favorite local trails and sample all the yummy restaurants. I’ve had a few women’s clinics in-between and Sven had to have another surgery to try and fix something – which doesn’t seem to have worked, so I haven’t had my usual adventure, riding buddy all summer, which makes me really sad. O, yes and I’ve been busy with that training thing I’ve been fitting in-between all the road trips, bike launches, visitors and of course ice cream stops!

carefree days exploring the wild West Coast.

And here we are in March – holy crap, it’s go time! March really marks the beginning of the season, as it’s all starting up a bit earlier this year, I tend to start feeling a bit panicky. Panicky, because that means it’s almost time for us to start thinking about leaving again, and panicky, because I’m scared that I’m not quite ready to race just yet, and it’s just generally an anxious time of the year for me. Like it’s all coming to an end and I’m trying to make the most of our time at home, but I’m running out of time. Savoring all the little things, not wanting it to end.

We’ve got the NZ Enduro happening in our backyard starting on the 13th of March. This event is going to be such a crazy weekend. It’s being held on some of our all time favorite trails, proper backcountry, and technical tracks. I love riding these trails, but I’m not too sure how I feel about racing on these tracks, as they’re all pretty special, sort of sacred to me and now they’re being opened up to the world. The forests are magical and mystical and I don’t want the racing element to ruin that experience you get when you ride there. It’s my special place. I guess I’ll find out soon. The other thing is that because it’s so close to the first EWS race, we’ve got pretty much all the top EWS racers in the world attending this little weekend race in the whopwhops (middle of nowhere) of Nelson in our backyard. The likes of Tracy Moseley, Jerome Clementz, Anne Caroline Chausson, Anneke Beerten, Nicholas Vouillos…the A-list goes on and on, so really, the first round of the EWS is in our backyard, not in Rotorua! After that weekend of course, everyone will make their way up to the North Island, to the bubbling, sulfur smelling, fern clad, rain forests & Redwoods of Rotorua for the much anticipated round one of the EWS series.

There we go, my summer in a nutshell. It’s been real, it’s been busy, and it’s been amazing. I still don’t have a tan (due to constant knee pads), I don’t feel rested, I’m sad to start thinking about leaving & the leaves have started to change color. Fall is in the air, and as the seasons change, and the leaves turn, we too start preparing for our migration North. I have to admit though, I do get excited about heading to Europe, as I do love the old villages, the history, the cheap food & wine and just having a change and experiencing a multitude of cultures excites me. Maybe it’s not so bad living two lives. I get to experience the best of both worlds. Bring on the never-ending summer!

peace out, Anka xx

As normal as it's gonna get. Round #6 Whistler B.C.

This year I headed straight up to BC after the EWS in Colorado finished up. It is the longest period of time that I've ever spent over in Whistler. It was great. It was long enough to settle into a daily routine, a little glimpse into a normal life, a reminder of my life back in NZ and a reminder of how much I look forward to getting back home in a few weeks.

Hannah Barnes & I rented a little condo, out of the village, in close proximity to the grocery store, yoga studio, lost lake, the green mustache and of course Mt Currie coffee shop. Bliss. We cooked in for most meals and all dinners, bought a 1 month yoga pass and abused it - definitely got our money's worth there, going every single day and dragging our fellow mtb temporary residents along with us. We drank white wine while watching chic flicks, went on a paddle board date night with Seb Kemp, Tara & their dog (without knowing), Sunday market, xc rides, early morning, mid day, apres ride and evening swims in the lake. We spent copious amounts of money at the green moustache - Buddah bowls & $8 smoothies was just a daily occurrence. You become numb to the prices after a while and just give in to spending heaps. Of course we had shopping days too and yes, of course - the reason we were here in the first place was round #6 of the EWS tour. We had an enduro race to race. I knew it would be a big one, but just how big was still a distant memory, and for now we were just savoring our new normal routine life - something you don't quite come across living out of a bag on the road.

I was super excited about all the new tracks, all the hard work that went into creating these new, secret tracks and reviving old, tired tracks. Practice was super fun. We just went for a pedal and rode new tracks. They were hard, technical, challenging, scary, but fun and definitely a good challenge. To access most of them, we had quite a pedal, and finding that balance between riding them enough to race and riding too much to be knackered come race day is always hard to find. I opted to ride all the stages once, except for the last one as that was easy to access by chair lift. Due to their very technical nature, I would have liked to ride them more, as they were more like dh tracks where you really had to have all your lines dialed or else. In the end, I didn't, and just got on with it.

I don't feel like harping on things in the past, so I won't say much, but I will say that I wish we had more time and that the day wasn't so rushed. There has been a lot of complaining, and I feel that if we just had some more time, all of those complaints could have been avoided. We're all up for big days out, not opposed to pedaling or riding technical tracks. It was just a combination of short liaison times, in really high temperatures that didn't really offer anyone to recover and compose themselves for more than 10min before dropping into a pretty full on stage. Maybe 2 days would have been better? Or one less stage, to avoid that rushed, stressed out feeling for the entire day? Running stage 4 earlier in the day before we were all toast? Who knows, but I do know that I loved the stages during practice and didn't mind the climbs, but when I had to do all of the above under such a rushed environment, in that heat, it didn't really make for a very enjoyable day.

Anyhow, I still had a blast - its Whistler how can you not? I went back after the race and rode those tracks, they were amazing - amazingly scary! They challenged me, I conquered some obstacles, felt like I progressed my riding, discovered new trails. I may not have got the result I was hoping for, but I made all my liaison stages (with not much time to spare), I rode some scary shit, nailed some lines, completely messed up most of them, fumbled, stumbled, bonded, cried, laughed and survived a pretty tough day on the bike. Hats off to all the girls that raced this one & survived. My poor bike feels completely clapped out after 3 weeks of Whistler schralping, but nothing a little TLC can't fix.

And that was all just in the 2 weeks leading up to Crankworx…the actual festival week is a complete mind f@$k consisting of people, places, schedules, parties, badges, buttons, lanyards, passes, stamps, booze etc.

just some of my highlights:

• Going on a scavenger hunt in Lost Lake with Seb Kemp & the kids that he coaches - remarkable future generation - it restored my faith in the next generation. (and being taught how to ride a teeter totter by a 7 year old).

• Stand Up Paddle boarding & watching Seb get ejected off his board by his dog. (Not sure i'm keen to make SUP a hobby of mine).

• SRAM Women's riding clinics that Rebecca Rusch organizes every year & coaching with so many other inspirational women.

• yoga (some great, some not so great - "say hello to your cells" WTF?).

• Filming for Juliana Bicycles with Seb, Dan & Andy from the Union Production Co.

• Sven's new Bike Magazine cover

• Gary Perkin Photo shoots with fellow Juliana teamies Katrina Strand & Kathy Pruitt (& the Santa Cruz boys).

• Seeing the SRAM videos for the first time on the big screen that we filmed months ago in NZ with my buddy Sarah Leishman, Ross Measures & the MindSpark Cinema Production company. SO Sick.

• Fishing with Joe Parkin in the gondola.

http://www.bikemag.com/videos/video-fishing-joe-crankworx-ep-2-featuring-sven-anka-martin/#.U_Q48ZJwRTI.email

• IKAM magazine.

• Mama & baby bear encounter with Gabby Molloy. HA ha ha!

• The SRAM pop up shop was mind blowing - INSANE! LOVE #theguidetogettinglost

• Pemberton Tacos! SUSHI.

• Meeting new peeps & catching up with old one's - making current plans & planning for future adventures.

It was time to leave today. My bank account is probably in over draft, I'm too scared to check. I'm yearning for the old world and a slower pace of life. I'm looking forward to cheaper food, small espresso's, red wine & quiet time. Time to reflect on the crazy season that its turned out to be and to digest it all, process everything and then decide what I'd like to do with it. I feel the need to press my reset button, to slow down and get ready for the absolute highlight of my year and season - the Trans Provence.

Thank you & cheers to every single person that made the North American leg so much fun - you all know who you are. Till we meet again in a few weeks for pizza, gelato & more wine of course ;)

Peace out,
Anka

ColoRADo EWS # 5 - 39'00 N 105'30 W

We used to live in the US for 12 years, until 2011, when we decided to pack up everything and move to the other side of the world, or hemisphere to New Zealand, so whenever we do return to the US these days (which doesn't happen very often), it is truly a treat to catch up with all our old friends and race team mates from back in the day when we used to race all the NORBA races across the country. Somehow, we're all still racing bikes of some sort and still involved in the bike industry. It is such a small industry compared to others, but it is filled with so many genuinely good people, and we'll forever have this connection, these bike memories and this like minded passion that keeps taking us into the mountains and connecting us in far away places, and that is what racing is all about to me. Results from Colorado - does it really matter? I didn't win or top 5, or even top 10, but I rode my best, better than last year, got my jump back on, pushed my riding abilities and loved it, saw some old friends, met their children & made some new friends.

There were a lot of negative things going on at this event, but I'm too sick of bike politics to go into it, so instead of harping on bullshit, have a wee look at some of the bangers that Sven captured over the weekend. :)

I've been up in Whistler for a week now, waiting for the next round of the EWS to kick off over here. It's been wonderful to have some downtime. I've gone stand up paddle boarding at date night with Hannah Barnes, Seb & family, riding around Lost lake with Seb & his kids, meeting up with friends over chai tea latte's, more chic flicks & wine with Hannah, watching some amazing music under the moon, exploring some new trails, swimming in the lake, soaking up the hot summer sun and the highlight has been my month yoga pass that I bought. I've yet to skip one day of practice, I'm in heaven, this is exactly what I needed this time of the season to prevent bike burnout, especially in this crazy world called Whistler. Our 4 day practice starts tomorrow, look forward to a whole lot of riding coming up.

Peace out,

Anka

doyouevenrideinsnowbro? EWS round #4 La Thuile, Italy

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152541518117445&set=vb.47659052444&type=3&video_source=pages_video_set[/embed]

PS: cheers to Sven Martin for all the stunning shots & thanks to all the other hard working media dudes out there during the races - they are working and riding twice as hard as us lot and not getting any sleep while delivering the goods!

peace out,

Anka x

Back on the bike: 20000m down, painkillers galore, epic scenery, semi functional ankle = one happy girl.

EWS round 3 Valloire, France.

It was time to head into the Northern Alps for round 3 of the Enduro World Series in Valloire, France. A town nestled at the base of the Galibier Pass in the Savoie region. A destination steeped in “Enduro” history, but a new destination for us, which is always exciting. Surrounded by big mountains wherever you turned was stunning, but I also felt a bit anxious, as this was my first weekend back on the dirt and racing since I messed up my ankle 5 weeks ago. By the looks of it, this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.

It turned out to be one brutal weekend of racing. It was amazing to be back on the dirt though. The format of the French enduro races are awesome. You show up on Friday, get registered and then go straight into racing on Saturday. First run down the mountain is a practice run, then you head straight back up and race it. Move on to the next track, practice run, then race run. Usually I love this format, but it took me a while to warm up and feel comfortable on my bike again, so there was really no time to get back into it before racing. Because I missed the Scotland round, I had a pretty crappy seeding number, which meant loads of traffic during my race runs, but what made it even tougher was the fact that they decided to run the women in the reverse order for this round – slowest girls first, which caused big headaches for everyone (The fast girls, the mid pack and the slower girls were all equally affected). Everyone was trying to get by everyone, which ended up being pretty chaotic. I had 7 girls that I had to pass and pull over for on every run, so Saturday was a bit of a write off for me and I just saw it as a day of getting back into it. Feeling very race rusty, hesitant and then all the traffic from both ends was so frustrating, but hey, that’s racing and you just have to get on with it. The upside of it all: there were 45 women racing! How amazing is that?

We had another big day ahead of us on Sunday, and after realizing that running the women’s order they way they did on Saturday didn’t work, they let the fastest girls go first and that was brilliant. The tracks were amazing on Sunday, more technical, steep and flowy and I loved them. I felt so much better on my bike, hardly had any traffic and I felt like I was finishing in the mix with the girls that I usually race with. It felt great. I wish that we had another day of racing, as I was just getting back into it again.

Absolutely knackered from racing 20000 + meters of brutal downhills (and of course some punchy uphills) thrown in there over the two days. My arms were done and my ankle had had enough. All in all a great weekend of riding, racing, suffering and catching up with everyone again. Cheers to the crew for putting on another amazing round of bike racing & fun times.

Time to go for a swim in the med and some much needed time back on the bike - but first some rest for this old, weary body of mine. Huge congrats to everyone that managed to survive the weekend and to all the Kiwi girls killing it out there!

Also, cheers to Sven for all the rad shots!

Peace out,

Anka

ROUBION BIKE LAUNCH: 44°05′37″N 7°03′04″E

I’ve been to a few press camps and bike/product launches over the last few years, and they’re all usually pretty amazing. You get to go to some exotic (for the most part) bike destination, get put up in a nice (usually) hotel, get fed local food and the beer & wine usually flows freely – and don’t forget the cool bike swag (we’re all still the same kids at heart asking for stickers but only in grown up bodies). The one constant has been the fact that I’d usually be the only woman attending these launches – for the most part. So, yes, they are great, but it’s also not that easy to always be the odd one out. This was just how it was, a very male dominant industry and if you wanted to be a part of it that was or is the norm.

It was time for my yearly nomadic stint to Europe for racing, riding, adventuring & promoting Juliana Bicycles and my first stop on this 6 month stint away from home was the beloved village of Roubion. A tiny French 12^th-century village perched atop rocky outcrops, tucked away deep in the heart of the Alpes –Maritimes in Southeastern France. This area has a very special place in my heart. It is the main character of so many great memories shared with so many great friends and of course mind-blowing mountain bike tracks that just keep going from one mountain top to the next, meandering through old villages. These trails feel like home away from home.

So let me give you some background details as to the reason I was heading back there this time around. I fell in love with this area during the first Trans Provence race that I did back in 2011, and have raced it every year since then. I loved it so much that I also started guiding a few of the Trans Provence trips when it didn’t conflict with any other races or events and every time I return to this area, I just fall back in love with it, so it was a no brainer for me to head to these mountains to test my very first Juliana Bicycle when the Juliana Bicycles brand was launched at the beginning of 2013. I was given a Santa Cruz Bronson (or as I called it my small Johnson, or Bruliana) painted up as a Juliana to race, ride, adventure and put the feelers out there throughout the 2013 season and I chose my first guided trip of the season to put this bike to the test. After a week of schralping up and over the French mountains, I was convinced that this bike was the shizzle. It was amazing. It climbed with ease, descended like a mini downhill bike, handled well, just an all round perfect trail bike and I have never felt so good on a bike, ever and I knew that this bike had to be included in the line-up for other women to ride. Later that year I managed to take the Trans Provence win on this bike – one of the highlights in my cycling career, as that race to me is what mountain biking is all about. It’s long, hard, raw, blind; technical and you have to navigate your way down the mountain to try not to get too lost. It’s a proper adventure.

Fast-forward a year and a bit and I was heading back to my beloved village of Roubion, but this time for the launch of the actual Roubion bike that was now included in the Juliana Bicycles line-up. YES! The name Roubion, named after one of my favourite days during the stage race. Pretty exciting stuff if you ask me. I was heading out to the backcountry of France to shred some of my favourite trails on a bike launch with 10 other likeminded women. A first ever in such a male dominated bike industry, and I was feeling very excited and extremely proud.

We all met up in St Martin de Vesubie, where we got to know each other, catch up with old friends and share our common passion of riding bikes and exploring new destinations and trails. We had such a great gathering of women from the bike industry, all of us having worked hard to find our place in this industry and sticking to it. We had Nicole Formosa from Bike Magazine, Aoife Glass from Total Women’s Cycling, Janet Coulson from MBR, Faye Sanders from Bike Radar & Red Bull Bike, Berne Broudy, Sofie Schneider from Velo Tout Terrain, Carla Caballero, Mary Moncorge from Pinkbike and then Kathy Pruitt (Juliana’s demo bike queen), to help get all the women set up on their bikes properly, Katie Zaffke – the Juliana brand manager, Julia Hobson our guide and fellow Juliana ambassador, myself, Ash Smith – the main man behind Trans Provence and Sven Martin & Gary Perkin behind the lens capturing all the shenanigans. Our plan was to ride parts of the Trans Provence race starting where we would usually start day 3 of the race, and make our way to Roubion, and then ride in and around that area, finishing off at the bike park that they opened up just for us (cheers Ash!). It was lovely to get a little tour of the village, to learn about some of the history and to be welcomed by the Mayor, who was pretty stoked to see that some bike company in the US named their bike after their little village. We rode and rode some more, challenged ourselves, taught, helped, guided, informed, laughed, charaded (not an actual word, I know), crashed (that would be me) and ate and drank our way throughout the 3 day camp. Of course it wouldn’t be a proper Trans Provence experience without some torrential downpours, some hail and a landslide blocking off the pass. Building bonds, forming new friendships, riding bikes, sharing experiences and clogging our arteries with copious amounts of cheese. This is what biking is all about.

Everyone was super excited about this launch, as this was a first for all of us and a great indication of the commitment and direction of companies and where they were heading. They have invested and committed to a woman’s line of bikes and they were doing it properly. They were helping us to create our own separate identity and supporting us. It’s been a long time coming, but man, to see it actually come to life is a good sign of great things to come. Women have been waiting for this for a very long time indeed.

The Roubion will officially be released on June 1 – so stay tuned for more details about the bike and how and what it will be specced with and when you can expect them to start shipping to your house. Ladies, I suggest you sell that current bike of yours and make room for this beauty in your bedroom. She’s a keeper for sure.

Thank you to everyone who made this happen and for those helping to promote, grow and support the women out there who ride, live & breathe bikes. Time to heal up for a few weeks for me know, so I can get back out there on my bike.

Check out some other written pieces about the Roubion launch with lots more to come:

http://www.bikemag.com/gear/preview-santa-cruzs-juliana-brand-launches-6-inch-womens-bike/

http://www.bikemag.com/interviews/profile-anka-martin/

 Peace out,

Anka

EWS round #1 Nevados de Chillan, Chile: Ja, ja, ja, ja, ja! Vamos, vamos, vamos!!!!!

O Chile, how you have crept deep into my heart as quite the special place. From never setting foot on South American soil, to going over to Chile twice in the past 2 months has been quite the new love affair for me. Of course the first time around, everything is always a bit strange, or different and it takes you a while to find your feet in any new country, but then the second time around, those things you thought were a bit strange end up being the things you love about a new country. The first thing that struck me about Chile in February when we went out there for the Andes Pacifica race was the hospitality of the people and their pride of their country. This time around, this notion was again confirmed by spending some more time with this passionate nation, ready to approach, embrace and engage at any time, place or moment. They are truly a warm nation and that is what made this first round of the Enduro World Series in Nevados de Chillan so very special.

The fact that the tracks were absolutely amazing, the dirt – hero like no other, the scenery, simply spectacular and father Fall didn’t hold back in providing some extra spectacular changing fall colours to keep the photographers very happy indeed. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect; crisp, chilly mornings and evenings, which made for brilliant blue-sky days and the perfect temperature for riding bikes. Quite a difference from 6 weeks ago when we were suffering in the Andes mountains with not a tree in sight and temperatures souring well up into the 40 degree Celsius mark for the Andes Pacifico.

We had two days of practice, or riding, where we could practice the first three stages of day 1 and then the next three stages of day two the following day. They were full, long days of riding and it was brilliant. These two days gave us time to catch up with friends we haven’t seen since last season, to check out everyone’s new shiny bikes and bright coloured kits, to ride together, to scope out lines together and to revel in the spectacular scenery whilst hike a biking together. Yes, it was the first round of the EWS, but the two practice days felt like we were all just in one pretty cool place riding pretty amazing new tracks together. After these two days, you could feel all the hiking in your legs and your body felt like it’s been doing something; it was now time to race and repeat the past two days, just in a more serious matter I suppose, and without stopping to high five with your mates every few minutes.

You could definitely sense a bit of nervousness at the start of the first stage; this was it, the season opener and this was when your silly brain would take over with thoughts such as; did I train enough or in my case, did I ride enough? Maybe I should have done some intervals and skipped the berry ice cream and beer after every ride this summer; they look skinny, they must be super fit…blah, blah, blah, the brain wanting to pull you out of your confidence zone and into your doubting zone. Fuck it, not much you can do about anything now, just go and ride your bike, have fun with it and see what happens hey. My goal for this first round was to not crash & get over excited like I did in the opener last year in Punta Ala, just ease into it, steady as, get rid of the nerves and finish the weekend with a top 10. That would be ideal and I managed to do just that.

Day 1:

Stage 1 -  Candonga: Super downhilly stage with super loose corners, shoots, berms and high-speed sections.

Stage 2 - G Del Diablo: This one had about an hour hike a bike to get to the start with a beautiful old Refugio and Alpine Beech forests with the most magical colours. It was a long and very physical stage with all the techie stuff near the bottom, long flat, sandy pedal sections and blown out loamy turns - it was a toughie.

Stage 3 - Dakar: Back up to the top of the mountain for this one; another old school downhill type track that was pretty straight down the mountain, soft, ruts, moto style until you entered the woods where it turned into the bike park with a few jumps and super fast berms to the finish line. So sick!

Day 2:

Stage 4 - Valle Hermosa: This day started off with a nice little steep hike a bike to the top of the start. It was another spectacular morning checking out the fumaroles – the steam coming out of the mountain with views to die for. It was tough to remember this stage, but it was very flowy, fast and flat towards the bottom, so much fun to start the day on.

Stage 5 - Olimpico: This one was my most dreaded one, as it was the most physical one, but also the one with the trickiest, tech sections and I never seemed to find much flow on it. Not much you can do about that, so I squished some gel into my body, ate a banana and went for it. It didn’t seem that long during the race, but there were way more flat pedal sections than I remembered and the flow; I couldn’t find much flow, but ended up being better than I thought it would be.

Stage 6 - Candado XL: I was so excited about this stage starting right at the top of the mountain in the snow with views of majestic mountains and snow covered volcanoes. So stunning. This was going to be a long one; 15 minutes or so starting off in really rough, barren, rocky, moon like terrain and ending up in the most magical, dark, loamy hero dirt of a forest with never-ending berms and steep shoots, it was so much fun! By the time I got the steepest part near the end, I was hanging and two finger braking just to make it down there and not blow it at the end.

The crowds were spectacular throughout the weekend, screaming and cheering and calling out your name as you went by. This was the general theme all weekend and it felt great. There were families and kids and competitors – amateurs and professionals, and everyone had a good vibe going. Maybe it was because it was Easter weekend, but whatever it was, it was awesome. The pit area was set up on this lush lawn area with the mountains surrounding us and no one wanted to go home. After practice people were just lounging about, enjoying the day and listening to some seriously good DJ mixes.

I was super happy ending up with an 8^th place overall for the weekend. Better than the 18^th I ended up with last year, so that’s a good start. I loved racing on my pretty new teal Juliana Roubion; she did steal a few hearts out there that’s for sure, as the ladies (and some guys) are super excited to get their hands on one of these bad boys soon.

Well done to all the pinners out there this weekend and to everyone that made the effort to go to the little ski town of Nevados de Chillan for a bike race. A big cheers to the Montenbaik crew and to everyone who made this event possible. Matias, Eduardo, Chris, Enrico, Nacho and too many others to mention.

Of course it’s all over before you know it, with a mad rush to get everything clean and packed up again and to get back to Santiago for whatever is next. We had a mad rush to get Sven to his flight the next morning with a 4am departure and a 6 hour drive, as he headed to Cairns for the next round of the World Cup and I couldn’t get on a flight for 2 days, so I had a little city layover in Santiago, exploring the city and doing some fun non bike related things, which of course included some eating (ceviche) and shopping of course.

Time for me to head home now for three weeks or so and to get everything ready for our next journey: our 5 month stint to Europe. Time to savor, appreciate & soak up everything that I so love about New Zealand and it’s beautiful forests, trails and people. The colours, the smells, the sea & the food…I already miss it, but there are more adventures waiting abroad and it’s time to go soon.

10 days of Palta’s, ceviche, fruit cups, friendly people, heat, more fruit cups & the Andes Pacifico enduro stage race.

It’s pretty early on in the season for a big race, but this was one event that I wasn’t going to miss. I’ve never been to South America and I love being involved with new events, so off to Chile it was. Upon arrival it was anything but chilly, it was bloody hot. Heat like what we’re used to in South Africa, and I knew right then, that this stage race was not going to be a breeze. The heat is what was going to make this event a tough one, and the “anti-grip” dirt that everyone has been going on about.

Santiago was big, 6million people big, surrounded by massive Andes mountain peaks all around. It was dry, barren, polluted & dusty almost like Las Vegas, a city that just popped up in the middle of nowhere, but it was alive, colourful & bustling. It reminded me a lot of South Africa, the constant contrast between wealth & poverty. The shanties you drive past in your fancy car, the electric fences and gates in the neighborhoods. The maids. Only difference were the dogs, strays were everywhere, but they were all so friendly and non aggressive, unlike most South African dogs. Anyhow, those were my first impressions driving into Santiago. The greatest thing to me, were the friendly, warm people. Everyone, wherever you went were such amazing people. My lack of Spanish left me frustrated at times, wanting to communicate and chat, but our charade games would make do most of the time. We were welcomed into strangers homes like we were family, and that was to be the precedent of the entire trip. That and fruit cups. Delicious fruit cups.

The race was amazing. It was incredibly tough. We started high up in La Parva and finished up on the beach in Maitencillo. The 38 – 40degree Celsius heat turned it up a notch and the hike a bikes in the midday heat, made for some very long days out in the desert. The race stages were hard, technical, steep and strange. Strange in a good way, just weird to ride. Dirt like most of us have never experienced. You’d pick your line, go for your line and not even ever get anywhere near your line. This was to be the battle of the week, trying to pick and stay on line or on track. As soon as we’d feel a little more confident, we’d move to a new area with slightly different, anti-grip dirt and the learning curve would start from scratch. It was fun to try and figure this out, but also frustrating at times when the track looked straight forward, and usually you’d be able to let it go, but you just couldn’t out here. Not to mention the size of the cacti & its thorns that loomed around every corner. Besides the giant sized cacti, the rest of the vegetation scattered along the tracks were also thorny and they didn’t move. Our hands and forearms were cut up & battered to smithereens, and our legs looked like we fought with some samurai masters. This is what I love about these sorts of adventures. Everything was new, everything was exciting, and everything was scary. This is what riding bikes is all about to me. The adventure of all of this, thrown into a race with all the variables and the unknown factors is what excites me and why I love to do these sorts of events. It is a race, yes, but it is an adventure. It is an adventure with a group of awesome likeminded people and you have to embrace anything and everything that gets thrown at you.

It was like a reunion of sorts with all our friends meeting up from all over the world for another suffer fest. The dark cloud crew’s early reunion with loads of other familiar faces from previous adventures. Sven had a really bad first day, riddled with mechanicals, flats and of course crashes, that made him decide to focus on photographing the rest of the race. Everyone struggled with the stages, they were hard. Everyone crashed, got lost, got stuck and such, but everyone finished off the long days with a big smile and a sparkle in the eye. The food & the Chilean red wine helped ease the aches & pains after each long day, with loads of speculation of what the following day was going to be like. During the day, when you’re struggling, you keep thinking of the end of the race, but when it comes around, there is that sad, flat feeling of the adventure being over. The Dark Cloud crew had their fare share of mishaps – as usual, but nothing too serious. We all made it. We survived the crazy Chilean backcountry and crazy tracks. I ended up taking the win, with Pauline Dieffenthaler in second and Julia Hobson (fellow Juliana ambassador) in third place. In the men’s, Jerome Clementz took the win, with local Chilean Nico Prudencio in second and Francois Bailly-Maitre in third. Chris Ball also killed it as usual and Will beat me this time around. Damnit!

No rest for the weary as we managed to do some laundry and head South for about 5 hours to the mountains of Chillan to check out the area where the first round of the EWS will take place in a few weeks from now. Feeling pretty tired and beat up, all I wanted to do was sleep on the beach and eat more avocado everything, but it was time to do some more riding and exploring. I was loving this area. It was green and lush with beech forests – it felt like home! I loved seeing the smaller villages and towns and the quaint houses and gardens, this was the Chile that I had pictured in my head. We rode & explored for two days, did bits and pieces of one track; hike a biked to some steaming hot fumaroles to catch the most stellar sunset and to cook an egg. It smelt like Rotorua. It was breathtakingly beautiful. I wanted to keep going further south, to see more lush forests and lakes, but this will have to do for now as our time has run out.

We bee lined it back to Santiago, got home around 3am, woke up at 7am to wash & pack our bikes and to get to the Aquitaine Winery by 10am for a wine tasting tour with Eduardo at his family vineyard. This was a first for me, drinking wine at 10am, blending my toothpaste with tannins. Bloody hell, was it tasty. I could get used to drinking these delicious wines on the terrace at 10am. It was time to head home, back to NZ.

It was a whirlwind trip, with a wonderful race, in a magical country. It has been a little teaser of a big country that I cannot wait to return to and explore properly. Thank you Chile & its amazing people & scenery for a wonderful adventure. Thank you also to Mountain Works & Santa Cruz Bicycles Chile for all your help & late nights helping me with my bike, and to all the organizers for putting on such an amazing event. Eduardo, Nacho & Matias, Maria Eugenia & her family, Montenbaik, Sarita & all the chicas who ran everything. Cheers to all the drivers and everyone involved, it was magical and unforgettable & I’ll be back!

Next up: Trail riding trip with the SRAM family in Craigieburn forest & Nelson.

Peace out x