Arch Hill Hot Lap Series #2

When the rain came down just before 6pm, I was having thoughts of having to pack up and go home for lack of interest... Lucky I didn't because we doubled last week's numbers!

The rain made for a pretty interesting evening. There were many stories of freak meetings between shoulders and trees, and we were lucky enough to witness Charlotte's amazing dismount on her first practice lap. She somehow managed to come off her bike on the first switchback and slide down the hill in the mud (a well-earned spot-prize, that one was!)

With the absence of Tom "the Whippet" Fox this evening, the evening's hottest lap could have been anyone's, and it went to Single Speeder Hayden Russell with a lap of 6min 43sec (not bad at all considering the conditions and the extra 50m on the start of the track). Our first female hot lap for the series was set by Charlotte Delamore. Both of these guys went home with a nice warm possum fur beanie from Bike 75. Our fastest male lap (non-single speed) was Daniel Alexander, who will be enjoying some of the fine flavors of Grind Coffee and a voucher to help start his spending spree at Bike 75.

Big thanks once again to Suse for setting the riders off at their start times, and to Brendan Doherty from Auckland Mountain Bike Club, who, despite the cast on his hand, still dropped by to help out. Also big ups to Ian Robertson for clearing the course, and Charlotte Delamore and Andy Fox who helped us pack up the finish area. It got me home half an hour earlier for my 6am training session the following day, so it's very much appreciated!

We have 2 Mondays left to go. Remember that we still have series hottest average lap honors up for grabs. Just to clarify, to qualify for hottest series average lap, you must have completed AT LEAST 4 laps during the series. Your average lap time will be the average of your 4 fastest laps during the series. Be there this coming Monday for some more great prizes from Bike 75, Grind Coffee and Spoke Magazine.

REMEMBER, we have 2 sets of AYUP V2 LIGHTS to give away at the end of the series on our final evening (Monday 9th of August). The more weeks you enter, the more chances you have to win. You must be there on the evening to collect your prize!

Results for this week are below... See you next Monday!!! Let's see if we can double our numbers again!

Name	Lap time	Category
Hayden Russell	0:06:43	SS
Hayden Russell	0:06:57	SS
Daniel Alexander	0:07:09	M
Tim Galea	0:07:22	M
Daniel Alexander	0:07:25	M
Russell McFarlane	0:07:55	SS
Steve Williams	0:08:03	SS
James Service	0:08:05	SS
James Service	0:08:06	SS
Russell McFarlane	0:08:07	SS
Kevin Ash	0:08:10	M
Jamie Jamison	0:08:10	M
Hayden Russell	0:08:11	SS
Steve Williams	0:08:13	SS
Kevin Ash	0:08:18	M
Steven Delamore	0:08:32	M
Gareth Evans	0:08:36	SS
Nick Strachan	0:08:43	M
Stephen Dealamore	0:08:44	M
Andy Fox	0:08:49	M
Nick Strachan	0:08:53	M
Andy Fox	0:08:54	M
Gareth Evans	0:09:03	SS
Andrew Durno	0:09:23	SS
Luuk Batonburg	0:09:23	M
Ian Robertson	0:09:23	M
Charlotte Delamore	0:09:29	F
Charlotte Delamore	0:09:42	F
James Service	0:09:43	SS
Ian Robertson	0:09:56	M
Luuk Batonburg	0:10:11	M
Stephen Dealamore	0:10:13	M
Adam Q	0:10:18	SS
Ian Robertson	0:10:22	M
Luuk Batonburg	0:10:23	M
Charlotte Delamore	0:11:12	F

Inaugural Karioi Classic

Back in the car again for some road-tripping last weekend. It was an early start from Auckland in the fog down to Raglan for this 43km mountain bike-come-roadie race. The vibe here was awesome. I've always loved Raglan. It's such a cool little community and they have so much respect for the land that we are so lucky to be able to ride our bikes on.

The race was to be a mixture of dirt roads and tar seal with about 1000m of climbing over the 43km, so it would be a fast one, but not without the pleasure of some painfully brutal climbs. I've always been of the opinion that a fast course doesn't necessarily mean it hurts any less... It just hurts more for a shorter period of time. I'd had a pretty hard week on the bike, and in all truthfulness, I really felt like a was ready for a rest day, so I didn't hold any huge expectations for the day. I arrived early enough to see the fog parting over Karioi and the blue skies we were to ride under, although it was still quite bitterly cold.

We ended up with 200 riders on the start line (not bad for a race in it's first year!!!). The pace off the mark was quite quick and there wasn't really much opportunity to warm up much as we headed straight into a climb... This would be the theme for the day... No flat riding. We were either climbing or descending the whole way. My legs felt really heavy at the start of the race and I felt like I could be in for a slow 43km, but as the race wore on, I felt better and better and started overtaking some of the people who had been quicker off the start line than me.

It was about the 20km mark of the race when I realised that I had spent the entire time so far in my big chain ring (without sacrificing my cadence, too... Nice!), so I decided to make it the aim of my day to get some good power K's in and stay in my big chain ring the whole way to the end (these are the sorts of silly games endurance riders play on shorter races). The last climb over Manu Bay nearly saw the undoing of my macho-chain ring game for the day, but I managed to pull it off. I finished in just under 2 hours (with an average speed of 22km/hr on the mountain bike), in 5th place for overall female, and first place for my category.

It was a great day out and a good excuse to head to Raglan for the day. Looking forward to next year!

Arch Hill Hot Lap Series #1

Sorry for the lateness of the results for our first evening of the Arch Hill Hot Lap series.

It was great to see a small, but eager group of riders rock up for our first evening, despite the rain during the day. We were rewarded with a beautiful clear evening. The trails were a little damp, but drain really well, so with the exception of a couple of puddles, they were running very nicely indeed. Tom Fox took out our fastest lap for the evening in a blistering 5mins 54secs and our single speed category went to James Service. Both riders are the proud new owners of a sumptuously comfy Solo possum fur beanie generously donated by Bike 75 (thanks Clint!!!). Unfortunately no ladies there this week, so we are yet to post a fastest lap for us gals yet (maybe I'll have to take it out myself?)

Many thanks to our series sponsors who are providing prizes, spotties and support to make our event all kinds of awesome fun!
Bike 75
Ayup Lights
Grind Coffee
Spoke Magazine
Auckland Mountain Bike Club

Results below... Remember, it's only $10 and the funds go towards getting me to races all around the world, so bring along some friends and make an evening of it!

Name	Lap time
Tom Fox	0:05:54
Jamie Jameson	0:07:30
Brendan Doherty	0:07:34
Jamie Jameson	0:07:37
Brendan Doherty	0:07:46
James Service	0:07:48
James Service	0:07:50
Martyn Pearce	0:07:52
Martyn Pearce	0:08:05
Brendan Doherty	0:08:09
Simon Yates	0:08:21
Kevin Ash	0:08:27
Kevin Ash	0:08:38
Andrew Reid	0:08:56
Ian Robertson	0:09:58
Ian Robertson	0:10:04
Andrew Reid	0:11:09

A Weekend of Racing

Who could think of a better way to spend the weekend than cruising around in my trusty van with my bikes and riding???

I had a trip planned down to Rotorua for the second round of the NDuro Winter Series (and man, did we see Winter or what???), and it just so happened that Morrinsville Wheelers were also holding one of their club road races on the Saturday, so I took a small detour via Morrinsville to join in the fun. The Wheelers Club runs the Bev May Women's Tour every year, so it was good to see some familiar faces, including Bev May, who thought I looked fit enough to ride in the break bunch with Roz Reekie-May. I was incredibly flattered by this, but once the race started, I managed to stay on the bunch for the first 10km, then unfortunately dropped off the back and spent the rest of the race by myself. The course was nice though. Some good undulations and some really nice flowing climbs... Then it was on to Rotorua for the evening.

I had originally planned to sleep in my van, but by some strange twist of fate, the air mattress I took with me had deflated itself by the time I got there, so I ended up an overnight flatmate on the floor of the JAFA kids motel room in front of the heater. I was glad for that when I woke in the morning and my van was iced over and the entire landscape was white with frost (brrr!!!). Nonetheless, the sun was out and the skies were clear and blue.

It must have been nearly zero degrees on the start line, but once we got going, it was such an awesome day to be out riding. The trails were running superbly and ice and frost crackled under our wheels as we carved up the trails. The start of the race took us straight up direct road, and then when we reached the top, we kept going up Frontal Lobotomy and to the top of Billy T... At least we were warm after all that climbing. Down Billy T, which was running quite nicely, but with a few unexpected changes after the rain we'd had, then another climb to the top of Split Enz. Then it was all smooth sailing back to the race finish. I dropped my chain about 100m from the finish line, which was a little frustrating, but I completed the 40km in 2hours 40min and felt pretty good.

Topped off the day with some Zippys voucher spot prizes for lunch, then headed home. Next race is this weekend in Raglan... The inaugural Karioi classic.

Arch Hill Hot Lap Series!!!

It's what you've been waiting for!!!

Mountain Bike Time Trial on purpose-built trails in the middle of the city!!

Monday Nights for 4 weeks... Come ride your bike while every other poor sod sits in traffic trying to get home!!!


First night is Monday the 19th of July, last night is the 9th of August.

Nightly Schedule:
6pm - Registration and practice begins
6.30pm - Timed runs start
7.45pm - Last registrations taken
8.15pm - Nightly prize-giving

Nightly prizes for fastest male and female lap. Series prizes for fastest average male and female lap across the series. In the spirit of single speed world champs coming up in October, we'll also run a single speed category.

We also have spotties (what would a nite series be without them?) and we even have 2 sets of AYUP lights to give away for major series spotties... The more weeks you enter, the better chance you have of winning!!!

Big thanks to our series sponsors:
Ayup Lights
Bike 75
Auckland Mountain Bike Club
Spoke Magazine
Grind Coffee
Adidas Eyewear

$12 per rider (or $10 if you are an Auckland Mountain Bike Club or Department of Cycling member... please bring your membership card)

Please bring cash as there is NO EFTPOS available.

Parking is available on and around Tay Street (just off Great North Road), but please consider the residents and the environment and ride to the venue if possible.

Make sure you bring a front white light capable of lighting the trail at least 20m in front of you (AYUPs would be perfect!), a rear red light, and a helmet.

Proceeds go towards travel and entry fees for Megan Dimozantos to race and conquer overseas this year. Thanks for your support!!!

SEE YA THERE!!!