Ride 2013

Its November which means that if you have the Ride 2012 calendar I'll be your poster boy for the month...

And if you are in need of a calendar for 2013 then the Ride 2013 calendar is online now for sale.  Hit up http://www.ridemedia.co.nz/product/2/ and get one!  I got December which I'm pretty stoked on as its my birthday month.

MTB UK

Another shot from the shoot up Coronet with Camilla.  MTB UK did a feature on riding around Central Otago and I managed to score the 2 page opening spread.   I'm not a huge fan of how I look, its a weird looking corked flip, but I'm not complaining and its another awesome photo by Camilla!

Go check it out, it's in their summer 2012 issue.

Shoulder

So its been five and a bit weeks since my surgery and all is going well.  I'm starting to get more movement and can use it for a few more things but still no weight bearing for another six weeks.  I had a meeting with my surgeon the other day to make sure the screws had not gone to far and poked out the other side of the bone they screw into, thankfully all was good.

So what my surgery did is basically provide more surface space in the shoulder socket.  This means that the shoulder needs to go a lot further before it pops out although it comes with less flexibility and movement.  They did this by cutting off a bone elsewhere in my shoulder and re-positioning it by my shoulder socket.  Along with more surface area I think there was a muscle that was attached to the bone that got re-positioned which also helps prevent the shoulder leaving its socket.

So all I do these days to entertain myself is assignments and running, yes running.  I used to hate running but when you can't do any other activity running is awesome!  And a good way to get fit for some up and coming super D races...

Surgery

If you want the rundown on my surgery and a few other ramblings hit up the bikeland.co.nz link which should hopefully bring you to a small write-up I did.

America trip

Chris from Teva asked me if I was keen to write a few words for bikeland.co.nz covering my surgery and rehab of my shoulder.  I decided I'd start out with a recap of my trip over to the USA as I hadn't really written anything in detail about my trip, so go check out  http://bikeland.co.nz/2012/08/guest-words-conor-macfarlane-usa-ok/ and keep an eye out there for updates on my surgery and how rehab is going.

Random Stuff

Colorado Course Preview Video


Colorado Freeride Festival Slopestyle Course Preview on Pinkbike

Finals Highlights


Colorado Freeride Fest - Shimano Slopestyle Finals Highlights on Pinkbike

I've been riding Teva shoes for the majority of this year now and here is the official welcome to the Teva family, stoked! Cheers Chris.
http://spokemagazine.com/2012/07/31/teva-welcomes-conor-macfarlane-to-the-family/

Somehow I ended up on the front cover of the local Winter Park news paper which is pretty damn sweet.

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!