‘The Quiet Achiever’ is a multimedia project created by Tim Pierce featuring New Zealand freeride mountainbiker Conor Macfarlane. Shot on the SonyFS700 & Canon5DMKII.

Supported by:

Teva
Formula, SDG, WideOpen, Spoke, Marzzochi, Blackmarket, Gravity & Atomblab

Director/DOP/Photographer/Editor – Tim Pierce – timpierceblog.com
Sound/Colourist – Rene Eckert – blickinsfreie.de/
Title Design – Johnny McCormack – johnnymccormack.net/
Soundtrack: Artist: Civilian Sol – Track: Truth in Meiyo

Matt Walker, a fast downhiller from New Zealand, riding probably the smoothest track in the country!

Bare knees make me wince, but Matt looks fully in control as he threads his Pivot 5.7 Carbon through the smooth flowing Redwood Forest track they call The Dipper.

Riding a hardtail down this steep, techy, secret trail in Christchurch, New Zealand is hard enough as it is. But when you’ve got World Cup rider Sam Blenkinsop chasing you down, the pressure is on! No wonder Andrew O’Connell AKA Ox takes a few tumbles on his way down Oxtopia. Just a shame that this track will be logged soon.

Here’s a few words from the man who helped build the track…

Needlework

Words: Ox
I don’t want to sound like Abe Simpson but it was the summer of 2002 and I had just started sponsoring a 13-year-old Wyn Masters. I was passing through Wanganui where he was at boarding school & I caught up with Wyn. Wyn had his mate with him, this little blonde kid on a beat up budget Apollo hardtail. We went for a street ride & I was teaching them to manual. I knew Wyn had real natural skills as Glen Sisarich had put me on to him but I was still impressed with this blonde kids raw talent. Wyn was taking the piss and told me his name was Max! I thought he was Max for ages until I saw his name turning up in the results and I clicked that he was actually Sam Blenkinsop!

Regarding Oxtopia, the top half was built by the late great and sorely missed Flowrider (Dave Balderstone) with the assistance of James Rennie, Cam Cole and a few others but I’m not sure of the exact credits due. It is mostly off camber and takes advantages of some skilfully manipulated natural terrain reminiscent of the forest moons of Endor once you get some steam up.

It used to stop after the dip, there is a cliff band not far from there and it looked like it might be a dead end. Then a couple of years ago I started riding it and went for a good scout around on foot. I put the mongrel bank/corner feature in and the tricky traverse above the cliff. Pinky and Dan helped me chop out the track and before we knew it we’d traversed back under the cliff, found a chute and we’re at the bottom.

Mostly it is au-natural and raw, a paradise of pine needles. Somewhere you can get a really good needlework fix. I named it Oxtopia because it’s my happy place. Shame it is on death row awaiting the saw.

The 2012 Queenstown Bike Festival was a crazy action packed week of Slopestyle, Downhill, Freeride, Dirt Jumping, Enduro and more. Featuring: Kelly McGarry, Kurt Sorge, Sam Pilgrim, Chad Kagy, Lewis Jones, Isaac Luoni, Josh Johnston, Jarrah Healy, Phil Mclean, James Hoggan, Tomas Zejda, Sam Dueck and more!

The Perfect Line was there to capture all the action – This is our highlight reel: One Word. One Week Credit: Filmed by: Todd Couper & Rohan Batt // Music by: Kiwi band Devilskin – Little Pills.

Yeti/Fox team rider and unofficial tourist guide, Cam Cole, shows us around his home town of Christchurch, New Zealand.

Victoria Park and Craigieburn are two of Cam’s favourite spots to ride downhill and trails. In fact, it makes him so relaxed that he doesn’t even mind parading round Christchurch town centre in his tight longjohn/underpants.

I wince when I see bare knees and high speeds! Blenky giving his Lapierre Spicy a good old work out on the Christchurch trails.

Filmer John Colthorpe says: “Sam Blenkinsop rips open some of the quality tracks in Christchurch, New Zealand in his part of a fresh series wildly named “Two Hours, Two Lenses” where production values are at an all time low and radness is on the rise. With minimal time and some loose trail conditions we set to creating this masterpiece with you guessed it, just two hours and two lenses.”

Pete McGnarly is New Zealands latest MTB sensation and has just landed a sweet deal with Chinese shoe company Deva at the ripe old age of 52.

Proving that you can teach an old dog new tricks, McGnarly gives Kelly McGarry a run for his money!

The New Zealand trails always look epic even in patented Stock and Morgan shaky-cam mode!

Alex Stock and Adam Morgan but mostly Alex Stock because Adam mostly had a broken bike as he doesn’t ride a Kona. Basically a New Zealand trip to remember.

Shaw thing home in Enduro debut

February 17 2013

Rotorua’s Sam Shaw drew the curtains on a magnificent 10 days of cycling with a popular home-town win in the Giant 2W Gravity Enduro mountain biking race today.

The four-stage hybrid race, with both downhill and cross country elements, was the final event in the inaugural Rotorua Bike Festival. It was fitting 20-year-old Shaw, who has grown up on the vast Whakarewarewa Forest trail network, was able to negotiate the 18.7km distance in the fastest overall time, clocking 38mins 55secs and finishing 16secs clear of Nelson Enduro specialist Jamie Nicoll.
“It’s great having an event like this on my back doorstep and it was definitely a big advantage for me out there because I know the tracks up there pretty well, although I haven’t ridden all of those ones for at least a month because I’ve been cross country racing all over New Zealand,” Shaw said. “It was such a good time having everyone turn up and have heaps of fun and the event has got a big future.”

As does Shaw. Adding to his achievement was the fact he’d backed up from the day before, where he finished third in the national under-23 cross country race behind Anton Cooper and Dirk Peters.
“That was my aim and I was pretty happy to follow it up with this. That base definitely helped on the longest stage today, where a lot of endurance came into it.”

Nearly 300 riders from New Zealand, Australia and the United States entered the Enduro, a format similar to car rallying in which riders have 5hrs to get around and ride the four timed stages. As the stunning Rotorua summer continued, with blue skies and hot sunshine, the event neatly captured the imagination of weekend warriors and serious athletes alike.

One of those serious athletes was former Olympic cross country star Rosara Joseph, who showed she’d wasted no time getting used to her new discipline by winning the women’s overall title. She finished in 43mins 19secs, ahead of Auckland 21-year-old Sasha Smith and former world cup downhiller Jenna Makgill.

Joseph, who turns 31 this week, will link up with the Yeti team to ride the Enduro circuit in the United States this year, although she admits she’s still getting her head around the concept.
“I did a couple of Enduro events in North America and Europe last year but I still feel pretty new to it,” Joseph said. “I’m still learning a lot and working out how to do it but it was certainly a lot of fun out there and I had a great day. The tracks were super-cool and I had a good group to ride with and I found it physically really challenging.”

Nicoll just managed to see off the threat of Aucklander Byron Scott to finish second in the men’s race, although he took out the 23-39 division. The Nelson rider has been plying the Enduro circuit for several seasons and came prepared for Rotorua’s introduction to the format.

“I put a lot of time into training because it’s such a mix of cross country and downhill,” Nicoll said. “I did the Sprint Warrior race on Friday night and came in eighth, which I was pretty happy with, and it helps to have that broad range like having a lot of power and getting yourself back up to speed, because you’re always slowing down. This was a great event – it’s certainly the most pedaling I’ve done in an Enduro event but I managed to get through.”

Organiser Neil Gellatly of Dare to Sweat Events was delighted with the weather, the turnout and the spirit of the competitors and has vowed next year’s race will be even better.
“It’s really captured the imagination of people and is probably the most relevant event for all those riders who like coming out and spending a day in the forest with their mates,” Gellatly said. “Adding the competitive element to the camaraderie gives it the perfect mix.”

For full results, check the 2W Gravity Enduro website on www.2w.co.nz

A gallery of images can be seen at www.facebook.com/jtpix

Bulls-Bikes new recruit Wyn Masters brings us a slice of sunshine shenanigans from Rotorua, New Zealand.

DH train runs with the Southstar Shuttles, £55 quid for 20 uplifts, followed by some asphalt racing (Wyn likes his asphalt) and finally a cool down with some lake jumping (feeling for the unlucky pooch at 2.53!)