12hr Wild Wellington Relay swap-meet!

I thought it was time I finished my 12 hour teams relay report.
As in last years event, testing new bikes was what it was all about for the Jville Crew.
The course was massively improved on last years so generally the vibe was heaps better. I started out on my trusty 93 Litespeed hardtail and straight away dropped my chain on the first climb. DOH!

I couldnt match the adrenaline charge pace of that first lap, but after another lap I jumped on Francis's new rig, a Commencal meta-666. This baby had 6 inches at both ends, and was like riding a comfy armchair, and in with the rear shock on "pro-pedal" mode, it was just "point and shoot". Bliss, and easily the most popular bike on loan!

Francis also had an extremely old Scott singlespeed sporting a 32-20 gear set. Apparently too low for this course. Being a singlespeed virgin I was none the wiser and had one of the most enjoyable laps of the race. If you a relative newcomer to the sport, you will not recognise the fork it was equiped with. The ubiquitous AMP fork!!! A whole 57 mms of travel, and half of that was probably pivot slop!! Actually it was surprisingly good.... and check this.... I did EXACTLY the same time as I did on the 28 pound fully.

One of the other guys had a pretty interesting rig which I grabbed next. It was a Jefson 29er. Chrome - moly frame, with Cyclo-cross wheels on it!! I felt like I was flying on this but in actual fact it was a good 20 seconds slower than the previous two bikes. I didnt really notice the larger wheels but did notice the smaller tread on a couple of occasions. So heres the finer detail of some of these laps:

Commencal 28 pound 6 inch fully: 18.48

Retro Scott 32-20 singlespeed with relic amp fork: 18.48
Jefson custom 29er with discs and cross wheels: 19.13
Litespeed Hardtail: 19.00
Commencal 28 pound 6 inch fully: 19.02
Litespeed Hardtail in the dark : 20.30

Does anyone recognise these characters? They were there... Geoff Knotman, these days riding a singlespeed, Jonty Ritchie, riding a Cross bike on the day, and Simon Kennet who with his brother Jonathon was on a tandem. I think these pix are from a North Island Cup round at Dry Creek (Belmont) in around 1992.

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Garry Humpherson smashes world record again.

Wellington cyclist Garry Humpherson has just won his 2nd 70+ world pursuit title and smashed the world record in the process by over 8 seconds.

Garry beat his own personal best of 2:40:892 in qualifying on wednesday morning with a time of 2:36:85 .

Later that evening he won the all kiwi final against ex-Olympian Warick Dalton by five seconds to win in a time of 2:42:983

It would have been a very emotional ride for Garry whose mother passed away a few days before he left to go to Aussie.

Last year Garry was unable to claim world-record holder status for his time, because he was unable to afford the drugs test. This year Garry has been helped out with financial assistance from the PNP Cycling Club and John Wilson from NZline who subsidised Garry's trip to Aussie and also set him up with a very flash new Alan track bike and skinsuit.

Another link to some of Garry's TT palmares.

A link to the TV3 article on Garry before he left to go to Australia.

Archival video links to Garry's race from the Masters World Champs track racing website.

Results from Masters World Champs track racing website.

World Masters track Champs
Sydney Bankstown Australia
Wednesday, 15 October 2008 7:30 PM
Mens 70+ 2000m Individual Pursuit Final

Place Rider Name  Speed Time

Gold & Silver Medals   
1 Garry HUMPHERSON NZL 44.20   2:42.893
2 Warwick DALTON NZL 43.04   2:47.284

Bronze Medal   
3 Denis ROBINSON AUS 41.97 2:51.542
4 Mark NICHOLLS  AUS 41.16 2:54.912


============================================
World Masters track Champs
Sydney Bankstown Australia
Wednesday, 15 October 2008 9:00 AM.
Mens 70+ 2000m Individual Pursuit Qualification

Rank Rider Name Affiliation Speed Time
1 Garry HUMPHERSON NZL     45.90 2:36.854
2 Warwick DALTON NZL       43.19 2:46.704
3 Denis ROBINSON AUS       42.35 2:50.005
4 Mark NICHOLLS  AUS       41.76 2:52.400

5 Gordon DUFF    NZL       41.06 2:55.355
6 Barry ROBERTS  AUS       40.06 2:59.751
7 Andre JOUBERT  RSA       39.15 3:03.922
8 Brian KENNEDY  AUS       37.17 3:13.725
9 Owen DUFFY     NZL       36.38 3:17.897
10 Peter HULL    AUS       34.68 3:27.594

Fastest 2 race for Gold, 3rd & 4th race for Bronze

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Paula Tesoriero takes home three medals

Its been a very successful campaign for Wellington Paralympian Vegan cyclist Paula Tesoriero at the recent Paralympics. Her plan to concentrate on her specialty event paid off with the gold in the 500 metres time trial, a new world record (43.3 secs) and she also come away with the bronze in the 3000 metres pursuit, and completely unexpectedly, the road time trial !

It wasnt all beer and skittles though as a crash on her gold medal warm down lap could have scuttled the rest of her campaign. Her helmet did its job and Paula lived to go on and get the two bronzes.

Paula's coach Simon Crumpton was trying to keep us in the loop with updates to his his blog, but struck problems when he tried to log on and found the interface all in chinese!
http://simonscrumpets.blogspot.com/

A few people have asked when Paula is returning to New Zealand after her triple medal success at the Paralympics. There is an open invitation to all family, friends, and colleagues to see her at the airport when she lands on Friday 19 September.

Paula lands in Auckland at 08:45 am (Flight NZ 38) and in Wellington at 11:30 am (Flight NZ421).

A final reminder - friends and fans can vote for Paula on the TVNZ site http://olympicoutlander.tvnz.co.nz/ You’ll go in for a chance to win an Mitsubishi Outlander, and the top scoring competitor gets one also.

Women's 500M Time Trial Finals (Lc3-4/Cp 3)

1 Paula Tesoriero (New Zealand) 0.43.3
2 Natalie Simanowski (Germany) 0.00.5
3 Jayme Paris (Australia) 0.01.2
4 Jane Armstrong (Australia) 0.02.1
5 Qi Tang (China) 0.02.6
6 Allison Jones (USA) 0.03.1
7 Susan Van Staden (South Africa) 0.03.8
8 Barbara Buchan (USA) 0.03.8
9 Raquel Acinas (Spain) 0.05.4
10 Zhifeng Niu (China) 0.05.7


300 metres pursuit

1 Barbara Buchan (United States of America) CP3 4.33.46 93.560 4.15.848
2 Natalie Simanowski (Germany) LC3 4.19.40 100.00 4.19.396
3 Paula Tesoriero (New Zealand) LC3 4.26.08 100.00 4.26.080
4 Jayme Paris (Australia) CP3 4.44.94 93.560 4.26.587


Road time trial

1 Barbara Buchan (United States Of America) CP3 42.29 94.919 44:45.2
2 Allison Jones (United States Of America) LC3 2.14 100 44:42.9
3 Paula Tesoriero (New Zealand) LC3 2.32 100 45:00.9
4 Natalie Simanowski (Germany) LC3 3.10 100 45:38.2
5 Qi Tang (People's Republic of China) LC3 4.55 100 47:23.6
6 Raquel Acinas (Spain) LC3 5.02 100 47:30.5
7 Zhifeng Niu (People's Republic of China) LC3 6.17 100 48:45.6
8 Jayme Paris (Australia) CP3 7.42 94.919 52:51.8
9 Susan Van Staden (South Africa) LC3 7.47 100 50:15.3
10 Jane Armstrong (Australia) LC3 7.59 100 50:27.7


http://www.stuff.co.nz/4685504a1823.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4688258a6033.html

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/sep08/paralympics08/?id=stages

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It's not all flat on the Gold Coast

There were some hills to be found if you ventured north and headed towards the Tamborine Mtns. I didnt see any other cyclists out there.

There are many brash generalizations I can make about riding on the Gold Coast.

1. I was the only person I saw on a bike with a fluro vest and/or a flashing light.
2. The roads in town are great with dedicated cycling lanes.
3. The roads out of town were rough as guts and I felt like I could get bounced off descending down the 12-15% hills.
4. The drivers in the country areas really gas it. Lots of them in those v8 utes. To my surprise there were hardly any SUVs over there, compared to NZ!
5. There is not half as much glass on the roads there as there is in NZ.
6. Roadkill was sparse. One snake and some furry brown unidentified critter. I think NZ must be the road-kill capital of the world.
7. The traffic lights are appalling. Seemed to be every 1km at their peak!

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Ritchey Breakaway

I am going to the gold coast of Australia in a few days. Can you blame me? Cripes. This must be the worst winter on record for rain. Shane Collett from Penny Farthing Cycles has lent me this machine. Its a Ritchey Breakaway and comes apart for stowing in a  bag waaay smaller than your usual bike box.

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Doping vet - All power to Garmin!

Wow. Look what happens when you get a life and stop hanging out on the forums. You miss all the news. Like Hilton McMurdo, the guy that smashed us at the 07 Masters World Track champs, getting busted for steroids. Good one Hilton. I kept wondering why I was getting referred hits from google on "Hilton McMurdo" and "positive drugs test". Obviously the info was leaked long before the announcement last week. I feel sorry for the people that travelled further than I did to compete against him. I guess that's good news for Marco Hellman (1st) , Kiwi Ray Dunstan (now 2nd) and Klaus from Denmark who goes up into 3rd. That was an epic pursuit between Ray and Klaus, but then there's another guy who never even made a ride-off because of Hilton. Sad isnt it that you feel you have to cheat, even as a vet. Link to the announcement.

The next thing I missed was the fact that Saris, the guys that make Power Tap are doing a version that is ANT + SPORT compatible with the Garmin GPS' models that read power. You'd have to be thinking along the lines of using a Garmin as it appears they are now compatible with the new Quarq, the Power Tap and the SRM. The Quarq started shipping last week, but I am guessing there will be a big waiting list, and their (Qranium) head unit is still in development.

I guess another thing I missed was that Garmin are now lead sponsors for Garmin/Chipotle. (That's pronounced chip-ote-lay, if you are a kiwi) what is supposedly the cleanest team in the peloton. There are some real nice-guys on this team. Julian Dean from NZ and the big Swede, Magnus Backstead, not to mention the seriously up and coming Tyler Phinney, teenage pursuit phenomenon from the US. The jury is still out on their uniforms tho.... maybe its true, cycling is the new golf, but does that mean we have to dress like them?

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NZ Cross champs - Great Divide - Memorial ride

Now here's something worth getting out of bed for!!
The NZ cyclo-cross champs. I just spied the link on VORB, Sept 7th. Not that I have a cross bike, but its always appealed to me for some reason. There are a few guys at work that keeping bringing up the idea (mostly americans), and I have also heard cheap talk about a Welly series, after the fun we had doing the short-course MTB series.

Check out Simon Kennetts blog for his progress in the 4000km Great Divide race. He had a bad belly for a while, but has recovered enough to keep moving forward. He has been riding with some crazy english single-speed chick!

The last two weeks have been pretty sad for if you were a cyclist in Wellington. Two riders were killed on the one day. One of them a high ranking police officer who had worked his entire life to bring down the road toll. And another a guy who was in the wrong place when someone opened a car door into him, forcing off and into the path of a 4WD.

A memorial ride was organised last week and between 300 and 400 riders rode from parliament buildings to the roundabout in Petone where Steve Fitzgerald was killed. A full police escort meant we were able to ride 3 abreast to keep the delays to the other traffic to a minimum. It was a great turnout for a sad occasion.







Cyclist killed outside Upper Hutt college
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4589468a11.html

Top cop dies in crash (+video)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4589991a6000.html

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Paula Tesoriero

Paula Tesoriero is a name you may not have heard of before and I have to say, I could write all I know about Paula on the back of a postage stamp with a carpenters pencil, but I do know this, shes a lawyer, a vegan and an incredibly focused and professional athlete.

Paula is currently training in the warmer climate of Western Australia for an optimal build-up for her track cycling events at the Paralympics in August 2008.

Paula had some great results at the World Champs last year with silver medals in both the 500m TT and the 3000m Individual Pursuit. She also set a world record in the 500 metres TT at the Oceanias in Sydney in Feb 08. She races in the LC3 category.

Her coach Simon Crumpton has started a blog here so we can hopefully keep up with whats happening in Beijing.

Anyone wanting to support Paula by purchasing a T-shirt should get in touch with her husband Chris on this email address (on the T-shirt graphic).

http://en.beijing2008.cn/
http://www.paralympics.org.nz/
http://www.paralympic.org/release/Main_Sections_Menu/

Paula on the TV 09/07/08

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Whats new?

Check out this exciting Paris Roubaix story from Clinton Avery. Clinton started life as a gear breaking MTBer, but his physical attributes scream "Classics rider". I met Clinton's mum at a coaching forum a while back. She wasnt happy that the roadie dogs had stolen her MTBing son away from her, but she must be very proud all the same. This is one hard core biking family. Video of the finish!

Once described as "Crazy Mountain biking hippies" the Kennett bros are always up for a new challenge. Someone planted a crazy idea in Simons brain called the Great Divide. A 4000km journey from Canada to Mexico. Simon has attacked this event with the kind of meticulous planning that surrounds all Kennett bro outings. Follow it on Simons blog here.

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Ayup lights (08 roadie kit)

Here are some first impressions on the new ayup LED lights I got over a month ago. I am ashamed to admit that I have done only one off-road ride with them. The rest of the time they have been gainfully used like this:

• Hanging out the washing late at night.
• Blasting the neighbours retinas while he smugly sits in his spa pool late at night while I am out hanging out the damn washing!
• Blasting the retinas out of anyone silly enough to stick their head over the divider in my office.
• Using them for illuminating the engine bay in our car while changing the oil.
• Feeding the chickens late at night
  
• Commuting the 2kms back and forward from my work to my house!

So far the tiny 6 hour battery still hasnt run out of its 1st charge.

I have shown my roadie 08 kit (which is effectively just half of the MTB 08 kit), to 3 different guys at work, and they have all been impressed enough to buy kits, one the 08 MTB, one the 08 Enduro, and another guy a headband with a single set for running.

I think its the overall package that sells them. Incredibly light, simple robust construction, with long burn times and cheap pricing. The lithium ion polymer batteries are cheaper than anything I have seen before. All the bits are purchasable separately, but its probably cheaper to get one of their kits that seem to have about 2 spare of everything.

What are they like in the real world? My kit is awesome on the road, and pretty damn good off road, but I think for total confidence a full two-light kit would be the way to go for serious off-roading. Thats 1 set on the helmet, and 1 set on the bars.

I did notice in my only forary in the dirt that the light was very flat with no shadows, I am not sure if this is an LED thing, or because they were mounted on the helmet. I'd like to see how it compares to my workmate's two-light kits or try off -roading with the lights on the bar, its a 10 second job to change from helmet to bar.
More details here: http://www.ayup.com.au

Thinking of building your own LED light set, you could do worse than this link:
http://www.instructables.com/group/danpowerled

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The Humpanator rules

Here is a photo of Wellington over 70 legend Garry Humpherson doing a very fast time at the Centre TT champs at Kahutara in the weekend.
He did a 61 minute 40km. Check out his aero position! (Photo credit to Ben Copsey)


This was him the week before with a 62 min 40km, check out the camel-bak. Attention to detail.

Some times from Garry's 40km TT palmares.
54     Garry Humpherson       1991     59-55
59     Garry Humpherson       1996     59-58
62     Garry Humpherson       1999     1-01-01
64     Garry Humpherson       2001     1-01-55          
65     Garry Humpherson       2002     59-06
66     Garry Humpherson       2003     1-00-14
67     Garry Humpherson       2004     1-02-18
68     Gary Humpherson        2005     1-02-22
70     Garry Humpherson       2007     1-04-48
71     Garry Humpherson       2008     1-02-24
71     Garry Humpherson       2008     1-01-09

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karapoti 08

Jordan had a blinder at the "Poti" in the weekend. On a Santa-Cruz borrowed from his buddy Alex he came away with a 5th place overall and smashed the under 19 record by around 8 minutes. 2.26 is a time anyone who has done Karapoti would love to have in their palmares. The conditions were some of the best, if not the best we have ever seen, with a real lack of rain this summer. 2nd and 3rd places went to local riders Wayne Hiscock and Jord's VIC team mate Gavin mcCarthy. Gav has been on a roll this year, and its good to have such a high local standard for the younger riders to aspire to.

Next up is the Oceania champs in Nelson on the 14th of March. The aussie riders traditionally school the kiwis, but this year's national series and supporting races seem to have been laid out better to me, so maybe the kiwis will be in better form than in previous years?

The course is rumoured to be largely non-technical with wide trails and short climbs. In short, a bit of a roadies course. Fingers crossed the kiwi contingent can score some points against their trans-tasman cuzzies.

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Oceania champ! (RETRO POST FROM THE ARCHIVES)

Jordan has had another epic race last weekend. In only his 2nd Oceania MTB champs he has come away with a win. Towards the end of the race I was on the phone to his dad. Jordan had a lap to go and was in 3rd place about 50 seconds down.
His dad said "Anything could happen Jeff".
I know this well. MTB racing is like that. Its not over til its over.

The aussie who was in the lead exploded big time and Jord hunted down the kiwi in front, Alex McGregor. Alex was having one of his best races of the year on the challenging course but wasnt able to summon up enough to keep Jord behind him. Once again, Jordan did the fastest last lap of a kiwi in any class. Okay, they only did 4 laps compared to the pro-elites 6, but I am guessing they are doing twice the training Jordan is.

Unfortunately that will be Jordans last "international" appearance as an under 19 rider. This year he will be 18, so next year he will be 19, and have to race under 23 at the MTB worlds. A very big step up. Check out Jordans story here, the full XC results here and some abbreviated results below.

It sounds like Jordan's Wellingtonian clubmate Samara Sheppard had a very similar race, with Samara catching one of her Aussie opponents on the last lap. See Samara's blog here.

U19 Men
1 Jordan Blake (New Zealand)             1.26.19
2 Alex Mcgregor (New Zealand)               0.22
3 George Bennett (New Zealand)              1.30 He's done alright eh? !
4 Dirk Peters (New Zealand)                 1.41
5 Peter Braunsteins (Australia)             3.27
6 Kieran Hambrook (New Zealand)             3.42
7 Ash Hough (New Zealand)                   4.20
8 Scott Green (New Zealand)                 4.49
9 Luke Fetch (Australia)                    5.41
10 Patrick Avery (New Zealand)              6.11 RIP
11 David Johnston (Australia)               6.13
12 Brendan Johnston (Australia)            11.47
13 Mike Nuy (New Zealand)                  11.57
14 James Peacock (Australia)               19.52

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Hobbits hit out at Wellington

The National MTB champs were held in Wellington last weekend and my young protoge Jordan Blake genltley cranked it up to come away with a 3 minute win over his competition.

Jords plan to hang back at the start was made easier by Ash Houghs decision to go for it. In the heat and with the short grunty climbs it wasnt a sustainable plan for Ash. Jord metered out the power and did his fastest lap on the last lap. It was also the fastests last lap of the day, although the Under 19 boys only had to do 4 laps, and not the 5 that the pro-elite did.

Its an exciting time for the young riders in the under 19 class. Depending on the terrain any one of them can win. The central north island boys smash it up on their smooth bmx styled courses while the Wellington and Nelson riders seem to have an upper hand when it gets hilly.

The Karapoti Classic is the race on many of their minds this weekend, but a few weeks after that is the Oceania Champs, an important race for any team selection.

A few years ago the Town-Belt at Mt Vic was the scene of a fair bit of filming for the Lord of the Rings, as you can see in this photo. Saturday was definitely a day for the Hill climbing Hobbits.

Check out some more bloggings from Oli about the Champs. http://www.oli.co.nz

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