Colorado Freeride Festival

Not really sure what to say apart from I had a blast.  Course was awesome (unsure about sand landings on a slope course though) weather played ball in the end and I walked away uninjured.

I had some major troubles with blowing up tubes, about 7 over the week, which was rather annoying to say the least.  I managed to get a reasonably solid first run in but with more left in the tank for the second run.  I started my second run like my first run with a 360 on the start drop only to blow out my tire again!

Photo:  Phil Mclean

Photo:  Phil Mclean

A big thank you to ILT for helping me get over here, I couldn't have done it without them!  I should thank Phil for lending me his tire, which I managed to bust just like my previous one, and also the dude at the Shimano truck for the tubes and lending me his tire for my final runs.  I ended up getting 12th which I'm kind of happy with but its annoying knowing that you can do better, next year ae.  The other Kiwis did well as well, Kelly got 18th and Tani landed his first ever fronty and learnt what it takes to compete at an international level.


CFF Shimano Slopestyle Qualifications and Highlights on Pinkbike

Sitting in Denver airport waiting for my flight, cant wait to get home now!  Next stop is the surgeons table to get my shoulder fixed!

Claymore challenge 2012

So... I got to my hotel at midday on Tuesday, quickly build up my bike, and got picked up by Josh from masterlink rides to go to the mountain and met up with the other kiwi boys Phil and Tani.  Tani, only being 17, had issues being allowed to ride as he needed a caregiver to sign the waver for him and by the time it was sorted out it was to late unfortunately.  

The first day of practice I was knackered after being on the road for a day and a half but managed to get most of what I wanted to do sorted then time for a proper sleep!!  Didn't turn out to be the best sleep I've ever had, turns out that my shoulder didn't like the way I was sleeping and decided to pop out, not ideal with qualifying taking place in under 12 hours! Thankfully Phil and Tani were there and managed to get it in, was stoked to get it in myself without needing to go to hospital but wasn't an ideal time for it to come out!  In the morning I decided I'd try ride on it (I usually wait 1-3 weeks these days) and didn't feel amazing but good enough to ride on but no crashing!  I ditched flips due to any over-rotation and my shoulder could come out and went with easier tricks, my run was a solid run but nothing special but I didn't crash and my shoulder stayed in so I'm happy with that!  

Phil didn't have much luck, crashing out in both his runs which ended up in a broken wrist.  Seeing as I didn't qualify I had a few days to lax out and take it easy, I rode the dirt jumps and did some laps of the bike park which was awesome fun.  Huge shout-out to the Highland crew they always put on a sweet event.

R-dog, 3 unturndown.  Photo: Phill

Off to Colorado now and by the sounds of it the course could be quite big so hopefully the rumors are true!

American assault 2012

So I'm sitting here in LAX getting very restless with another 2.5 hours until my flight.  After my flight I only have a bus ride from Boston to Tilton then a 15min ride or a shuttle (depending if I get there in time) to Highland MTB park, cant wait, that place is amazing!

Not long before I left I put the first permanent build I've had on my killswitch (I had been using parts off my hardtail previously) which is pretty sweet, cant wait to properly test it out at Highland and Colorado!

Southland Times

A month or so ago the ITL (Invercargill Licensing trust) gave me a grant to help me get over to the states and compete.  Without them I defiantly wouldn't have been able to go over this year (for those of you who don't know being a student isn't very well paying) so a huge shout-out to them and also the Southland MTB club for doing all the paper work for me, cheers guys!

Hit up The Southland Times for the small write-up.