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Uni holidays for me at the moment, stoked!  On Saturday I met up with the local crew of Adam, Pete, Ricky, Sam and Tibby and we had a jump in my back yard before meeting up with Brett Frew who had come in from the farm for the day.  We had a bit of a street ride then went out to a secret jump (well not as secret as it used to be before someone we thought we could trust told everyone) and had a bit of a session.  Towards the end of the session everyone went nuts, Pete started landing his 3s and Ricky decided it was time to step up and try some flips.  After one 'scary to watch' attempt he managed to get it round only to 50/50 the landing which ended up being the story of the day for him.  This got Adam and Brett pumped to join in as well.  Brett landed afew flips without to much trouble after a crash or two and Adam landed his first clean flip!  Saturday ended well with a bit of a barby at Petes (cheers greg for the feed) with a bit of a discussion of what we would do on Sunday.

We decided if the weather was good we would go out to the Frew Farm and have a dig/ride.  We woke up to rain which was a disappointment so decided we'd go to some old quarry's which were in the direction of the farm incase we got the text.

We got to the quarry and decided we'd build a small hip, after 10 min work we had fashioned a hip out of the dirt/pebbles and as soon as we started riding the rain stopped, perfect.  I decided to take my Killswitch out for the day as would suit the dj's at the frews well and was perfect for the kind of riding the quarry's gave us.

Pete took first hit

Toboggan

1 hand thing

I decided I'd have a go at 450ing the killswitch, 2nd go nailed it.

 I had never 360d my killswitch off a drop before and saw a place a hipped drop could easily be made. 5min on the spade and had a drop i could 270.  Turns out its hard to underspin a drop, spun about 360 both times I tried but rode away clean 2nd go so just need to find a drop that I dont have to underspin.

We moved on to the second quarry, there were plenty of wallrides on offer, some huge ones that would require a tow-in...one day maby.

Adam, tyre grab in his quater

I was stoked on how well the killswitch rode in the quater once i got used to it

Stall/fuf

We didnt end up going to the farm because spent so much time in the quarries but all in all was a sweet w.e back home.  Cheers to all the guys and Tibby for being a photog for the day.

It was quite muddy

New Bike

Well not all new but pretty much everything is new except for my blk mrkt frame.  I have been in need of new parts for ages now.  The parts I had on it before were about 2 years old so I was due for some new kit.

I'm now running

• Marzocchi DJ1s 100mm
• Atomlab Pimplite wheelset with tioga tyres
• Gravity bar and stem with FSA Nasty Boy Cranks
• Pivotal Pimplite seat
• Atomlab polytec pedals

For those of you that don't know I'm a Gravity/ Wideopen rider on Wide Opens development team along with Jay Barrett.  Cant wait for summer!

Jambo (James Allen) was in Dunners for the w.e so met up and shot a few photos.   It was my last ride on my old wheelset and I'm stoked as to be rolling on atomlab pimplite wheels now and got my new gravity bars as well.

On another note I just got an email from Pieter and Toby about filming for their up coming movie called "Where we ride" so keep an eye out for that at the end of summer and also for web edits produced by them which should be dropping any day soon...including one of me so as soon as that's out I'll see if i can figure out how to get it to show up here.

Chur

Hey guys,

I don't really know how to start this so I thought I'd start out with a small intro about myself and some photos but first up for those who dont know me my name is Conor Macfarlane and i live in Otatara (my way of not saying Invercargill) and Dunners for uni.

I started out playing around on my bike in the back yard (which mum and dad were very good about and let me make whatever I wanted) trying to jump.  My neighbour then convinced me to do a XC race and i did quite well so i stuck at it, so yes I wore lycra once upon a time but I am proud to say I never shaved my legs!  I competed to a high level but then gave up as the training was taking up to much time which meant there was not enough time to jump and DH.

Gorge rd before the upgrade.  Credit: James Allen

Possibly the worst trick ever

Oceania MTB champs - Thredbo Aus (4th)

Got to love having jumps in your back yard, no matter how small they might be.

2-up, Adrian and I in my back yard

Over the past summer I progressed more than I could have dreamed of.  I progressed for a number of reasons, first is that I had the opportunities to go to lots of good riding spots, second is realising that to do well you have to go big (thanks Mcgazza) which payed off throughout the season and lastly just going to comps for the first time and pushing myself as far as I could.  Anyways here's a photo overload.  Thanks to all the photogs especially Greig

Enjoy

Wynyard jam

360 drop, Farm Jam.

Hindon DH race, mass starts are the best! I snagged 1st place.

Kaitangata DH race.  Credit: Adam

Backyard.  Credit: Ruari Macfarlane

Farm jam

corking it

Farm jam practice

Lax ride after farm jam

1 foot xup flip, Wynyard jam

Farm jam. 1st place!  stoked