Back on the start line

So Nic is back racing again.... maybe not what everyone would expect?! Was happily hitting up one of the doubles even though Mikey P thought it'd be easier without suspension rather than what is on the trusty 150....Think trade me surfing might be on the agenda again while she looks for something with better ability to hit up the big tabletops?

Welcome to Rotorua...

So while I was having a ball trashing round the forest testing out the all new Avanti Vapour 29er, I thought I should maybe strap a helmet cam to my head.

Mainly for the benefit of our international friends here is exhibit (a) in the case for visiting Rotorua. About 1km of the 100km or so of trails we have to play on on our doorstep.

And for you XTERRA athletes..... this is 2min of the XTERRA NZ course. If you get down here for April 2012 you'll get about 20mins+ more of this style of downhill singletrack.... Along with the rest of the stunning 30km bike.

Where did July go?

It's a bit of an odd feeling when despite no real racing the year seems to be flying by even faster than normal. Leaving us chasing our tail's and trying to catch up. July and through the start of August have proved to be pretty hectic for us so time for a bit of a catch up.

First up, and most important has been the launch of Nic's new business.....


Handily located instore at the brand new Avanti Plus Rotorua is Nic Leary Physical Therapy Ltd... Steep learning curve for Nic as she sorts out the business aspects of the venture, but she is loving the ability to build her own client base through her specialist physiotherapy skills and knowledge (She's also operating the Bike Fit studio). With her experience and knowledge not just as a physio but also as an athlete she offers a unique understanding and premium service (if I do say so myself!)

So when in Rotorua be sure to book yourself for visit. nicleary@orcon.net.nz or else 027 244 6997

Meanwhile my job has changed too, and I now find myself working for Sport BOP rather than BikeNZ as previous. As program advisor for the Rotorua in Gear project it actually gives me even more leeway to try out a few other ideas locally for cycling development and community skills training so it all works out well.


I've also just come back from a full on week in Auckland at the Avanti/Scott 2011 dealer conference (and 2012 product release). Found it kind of odd looking at bling new bikes presented with that funny looking dude in the background pictures I must say.

Was able to assist with the Avanti MTB 2012 presentations and hopefully add some value. Was great to meet dealers from all over NZ and Australia (especially the ones who wanted to talk Moto!), and I was stoked to be invited and involved. It might sound strange but this is perhaps the first time I have felt of real value to a bike sponsor. Believe it or not this is the first time I've ever even been invited to a product release, let alone being part of it. Better late than never.


Of course I was especially excited about this piece of hardware. The all new Vapour 29er platform. My somewhat cryptic twitter references were indeed directly related to this feet of engineering; and whilst rumours abounded amongst dealers I was busy putting in about 15hrs of trail time on the prototype during the week I had the privilage of "hising"it in the garage. Super fun to just go ride with no purpose other than to play, and test the limits of the bike. Was great fun... now the show is over can't wait for the bike to make its way back to our garage. Huggie...?

And racing? Well we now have a few exciting developments and events locked into our schedule giving us plenty of training motivation. More on that later....

Cyclocross Nationals 2011

Another nationalchampionship on the list for 2011, so to keep consistent, it was another 3rd place for me. Happy with that and considering the "preparation" that went into my debut in "cross" I'd be pushing it to expect more.

Huge credit to the team down in Queenstown that made it happen. While cross has a rich heritage in europe it is essentially a newborn here in NZ so its a learning process for everyone. But QTMBC put together a great track, spectacular location, great crowd = the start of something big.


Perhaps my legacy on CX 2011 might be the Downhill bog.... A quick pre-event discussion with T-Man concluded a slippery slope was required. T-Man promptly grabbed a hose and began creating the soon to be centrepiece of the course.


Pretty spectacular location for a big race eh? Might look sunny, but the temp was struggling to crack zero. The lungs didn't lke it, but perfet for cross.


My race started well enough, then got a little over excited chasing Dan Warren and crashed rather spectacularly on an off camber rise early on losing contact. Whilst Dan heading off on a solo mission to dominate the day, I soon latched onto Alex Revell and proceeded to figure out strategy to get the better of him. Turns out the best strategy would have been to forget the strategy and just pedal. I had good legs for 50mins but unfortunately the race went 70. So despite feeling pretty confident all race, when it came down to it there wasn't anything left.

So congrats to Dan Warren and Alex Revell. I certainly learned plenty and think I may have developed a new addicition. There's an international CX scheduled for downtown Queenstown for Aug 20th. Airfares anyone...?

So that was June

Hmm. So June is at an end and no update on here since the Moonride. Well, I guess life got in the way and we've been, well, living! Nic has been really busy setting up her own business. Nic Leary Physical Therapy.... with a great wee physio clinic conveniantly located instore at Avanti Plus Rotorua. Now open so check it out.

Had good intentions of resuming training after the Moonride but after a couple of false starts decided the body just wasn't ready. I really did need that extended break I talked about way back after Karapoti. It really was a few years acumulated fatigue.

We've hardly been inactive. But any activity has been sporadic, unplanned, and certainly not structured. I would say there was no intervals, but I did volunteer to film the 3D multisport race with a helmet cam, and chasing Rich Ussher and Dougal Allen wasn't exactly easy. So I took the following week off after that too!

Looking to snap my mid-winter hibernation I did partake in a couple of events over the past weekend.


After a disaster at its last outing (when clutch basket disintegrated and jammed up the gearbox), $800 later the 125 was back in functioning trim and despite its rider having had only 30min ride time in the last month we were raring to go.

After a couple of hours and 80km odd of tight technical and muddy trails we were both still in one piece. I tried hard to break my leg on stumps and branches a couple of times (and maybe cartwheeled myself down a slippery clay descent, but no one saw it, so it didn't happen ok?!) but the protective gear did its job.

We even picked up this wee beauty of a trophy. It might only be intermediate grade, and I might only be finishing in the 40's (of approx 70) overall. But this ones goin straight to the pool room...

Sunday morning I was a bit stiff and sore. Figured I should try some intervals with the NZ CX champs looming and next to no quality training having been completed. Lacking the motivation for intervals, I instead cracked out the race shoes for the first time since XTERRA and towed the line at the RATS Winter Duathlon.

Of course I had to use the CX bike and it proved a good choice. Had a reasonable run, then soon took lead on bike leg despite a very average transition. Pro? yeah right. With Garth chasing in 2nd I figured with the luxury of gears I should be able to hold him off, and at worst I'd just have to out run him. Hung tough and grabbed a win. Good training session for sure and hopefully I'll last next week without blowing too spectacularly. We'll see.

Mudride 2011

Over the years, I reckon I must of spent well over a week camped out in a tent in the paddock at Waipa while my various teams took on the Moonride. Having done more than my fair share of time it shouldn't be a suprise it wasn't exactly high on the priority list... but its hard to avoid!

And after an approach from our good friends at Avanti Plus Rotorua, and a promise it was a casual team with no expectations we again found ourselves on the startline of the 12hr version.


Being a casual team I thought it'd be a good chance to give my brand new Avanti Circa CX bike a whirl. Fresh out of the box, the race start was literally the first time its wheels had rolled off road. Combined with legs/lungs that had done very little in 5 weeks, a track severely cut up from torrential overnight rain, and it was an interesting first lap


"casual?". Connor looking awfully focussed here. I think its more likely a pissed off look as he was hurried into action unexpectadly and had to put his food down when I lost my seat and had to send him out early.


Post riding and look at the state of that. Hard work for everyone pushing through the mud. Made a usually fast flowing track seriously hard work. A tough way for Nic to put herself back into competitive action. The CX bike was actually pretty quick, but after 3 or 4 laps I did woose out and "resort" to the 29er. Not a bad change.


Mid afternoon and the casual plan suddenly got a bit serious when we realised we were leading the bike shop category.... and it was Specialized NZ in 2nd. Suffice to say we made sure a few solid laps were then thrown down. Comfy win in the end and we picked up this nice decoration for display at the new Avanti Plus Rotorua store( Interestingly while we recieved a trophy to display for 12mths, no prize for winning, yet 2nd and 3rd did. Whats up with that event promotions?).

Thanks to team mates Nic, Saul "the Roadie" Webb, Connor "Osama" Corbett, and Patrick "bike destroyer" Corbett.

Mud, Shuttles, Hot Chips, and Crowns: Sunday in Vegas

It's officially. XC is clearly the best discipline of MTB sport, as proved yesterday as Nic and Dirk Peters were crowned King and Queen of the rapidly becoming iconic Triple Crown event in sunny Rotovegas yesterday.

Pitting riders of all disciplines against each other over 3 Super D runs the event really is an allround test. Too much pedalling to favour a DH rider, too intense to favour as XC rider, and varied enough to make bike choice confusing. If in doubt, don't change anything. Just ask Carl Jones with full XC hardtail set up in 5th.


Nic hasn't raced her MTB since December but showed her skills certainly haven't diminished. It was a successful comeback on all accounts. Rode some mean trails, did a few drifts and jumps, and talked smack with many equally stoked riders. Threw a trusty Nevagal on the front of the XC race hardtail to give some extra grip, and bombed away on the trails. Won the womens comfortably and scared more than a few of the men with a midfield finish overall. Was gutted defending champ Alice was out with a broken ankle. Showed some pretty sharp skill and hopes to see more top Women take her on next time. The challenge has been laid down.


I was, well, average. I got better as the day wore on. On the first run (that should have favoured me) I was smoked from pedalling so hard after weeks of complete laziness. Nearing the end I must have been sub conciously looking for short cuts and took an unplanned diversion off the side of roller coaster. Wouldn't reccommend the route as was someway down a bank and had trees in the way (Apparently a few others tried the same line with similar lack of success).

Lost way too much time on that run and put muself well out of top 5 contention as Dirk, Des, Pattle, Byron, and Carlos all put way too much time into me. I got better the less pedalling was required. Here I am pretty excited and maintaing good focus and speed as the finish line, and the mean feed awaits.


Quintessentially Kiwi. Not only was I handed a steinlager by fellow riders at the finish, but the organisers had thought ahead and ordered $100 worth of hot chips, pre-buttered bread, and loads of tomato sauce. Mean.


Johnny Click wasn't shy to get amongst the chips. A wee bit of consellation for him after I pipped him for 6th place by 0.3 secs (over 24min)! Big thanks to Stefan Bennett and his team of volunteers for making the day happen. Really look forward to the next one


And a huge thanks to Gavin and Brent at Avanti for the loan of the sweet Avanti Torrent for the week. One very capable bike, and a bucket load of fun to ride. It certainly wan't the bikes fault I missed the top 5. That was simply being outclassed by an awesome bunch of allround skilled MTBers