Rest of the World Singlespeed Champs 2009

Otherwise known as the New Zealand Singlespeed Champs, the "Rest of the World" SS Champs was held in Rotorua over ANZAC weekend. I wasn't sure that I would make it, because of a busy few weeks with minor illness, other events, and family commitments. But, lucky for me I got to go over on Saturday for the race (I missed the movie night (and booze-up) on Friday and the big breakfast (and booze-up) on Sunday). I failed in the costume department - time, motivation, and inspiration were all against me.

My trusty Haro Mary SS was all set to go, but I gave her a cleanup and once-over anyway, and I adjusted the brakes to get more stopping power. I left home just after 9am and headed off to Cambridge to pick up Steve. We got to the Pig & Whitsle Event HQ in good time and scored an un-metered carpark across the road. I mingled, registered, mingled, and then took mary to scrutineering. Scrutineering? What, exactly, are they going to look for on a singlespeed? Gears. Anyone running a flip-flop hub was threatenend with having the spare sproket's teeth bashed over with a hammer! The scrutineer paid special attention to my hip flask in its holder on my bike, then applied a yellow dot of approval to my number plate.

Hip flask and holder

Getting the yellow dot of approval

Cool, ready to roll. We rode out to the forest from town... taking in the scenic route around Sulphur Point and avoiding the roads - very nice. A rendezvous at the gate on Long Mile Road, then we rode en masse through the forest. I felt very slow on the first hill and got rather concerned about what was in store later on in the race - would I actually be able to ride the course if I was having this much trouble on a gradual climb up a gravel road? Our stop-start tiki-tour through the forest ended at 8 Mile Gate Road, where Race HQ had been established.

Race HQ

Our bikes were placed upside-down on their seat and handlebars along the side of the road. Tradition dictates a Le Mans start, so we walked off up the road "to a position just out of sight of the bikes" said the organiser, Dean. That's because tradition also dictates that competitors’ bikes will be moved and/or hidden. So when we came running (jogging, shuffling, walking) back down the road at the start of the race, chaos ensued as everyone scrambled to find their bikes. Some people took off on the wrong bike, others wandered around looking and not realising their bike was under a table or behind the portaloos! My bike had been flipped around with the handlebars buried in the blackberry, hiding my distinctive bright green grips. Sneaky. It took me a while to find my bike - I walked right past it - but I wasn't worried, it was all part of the fun. Fun was all I was there for... the race was way ahead of me, probably already into the singletrack.

Me, extreeeeme right

The four lap course started by going up 8 Mile Gate Road and onto Sandy Skid Road, then into Pondy New, second half of Rollercoaster, down a fire road, into Old Chevy (skipping the first section) and then the option of a shortcut, or carry on to complete the course. The short cut (in fine SS tradition) required the rider drank a beer each time the shortcut was taken - up to three times/beers. On the fourth shortcut, the rider had to take the "food option", that being dry weetbix.

Me, on right, passing start/finish line

I rode, I stopped, I chatted, I rode, I laughed, I walked, I rode, I stopped, I tried to fix someone else's bike, I laughed, I rode, I chatted, I stopped, I drank beer, I fixed my brake, I rode, I laughed. That was just the first lap. Yeah, I had to fix my front brake... it was dragging pretty bad, no wonder I had so much trouble on the ride out to the race.

Another lap, with a happy beer buzz

Second lap, we went down Yellow Brick Road rather than riding on 8 Mile Gate Road. Second beer was just as refreshing as the first.

Third lap, very tired. I contemplated pulling out, but really didn't want to see those three horrible letters in the race results - DNF (did not finish). So I went out again. It was a super hard lap with no go left in my legs, and a tired head from the beer - admittedly, the beer made me feel only slightly foggier than I usually do in my oxygen-deprived state when riding. Third beer was a lovely reward. :D

Fourth lap? No way! The winners had finished their four laps in the time it took me to do two! There was no way I could get a fourth one in... besides there was a time cut-off in place because of the bad weather on the way. And it was getting dark.

My passenger Steve was still on the course. I had endeavoured to beat him. Afterall, he was dressed as Fred Dagg and riding a BMX! Lucky for me, I also beat the other freak bike - Jeff on his Jeffson 36er with 36" wheels.

Dinner at the Pig & Whistle after the race was fabulous. Prize giving was good fun too. Winners were applauded and 1st and 2nd losers were applauded a little too. The biggest and most rapturous applause went to Steve, for his efforts dressed as Fred Dagg, but most of all for coming DFL (dead f***ing last)!!!

As the other happy and delirious singlespeeders settled in for a night on the cans, Steve and I drove home. I got back in the door just after 9:30pm. Not bad. What a great day. :)

Coverage, photos, results and discussion can be found at Vorb.

Muddling through...

The days, weeks and months are really flying by at the moment. And I feel as though I am just muddling through, not really achieving much, but managing to get stuff done.

Oli and Ella have both been well, just fighting colds as the weather changed suddenly with daylight savings. Oli has developed a minor fear of the dark, so we have a night light in the hallway to help him settle to sleep. After that it gets turned off, otherwise he wakes at 5 in the morning and starts calling out to us thinking we are awake because there is a light on! He is talking really well, and copying everything he hears. I'm enjoying being able to talk about more things, but we still have times when I don't understand the word he's saying, or he gets stuck - frustrating for both of us.

Ella is growing up fast. She has really perfected her commando crawl, or "ooch" as we call it (thanks, Richard Scarry), and is now crawling on hands and knees for very short distances. She will also try to pull herself up on the furniture to try to grab whatever toys or books might be sitting on top. She is really enjoying her independence, being able to get around the lounge and choose what to play with - she enjoys going through the tunnel too. I thought it might not be as exciting to witness these developmental stages the second time around, but I find myself getting very excited with the progress she is making, just like I did with Oliver. Ella is babbling a lot, obviously wanting to be part of the conversation. She learnt to clap her hands about a month ago, and just recently has started to wave hello, goodbye, and goodnight. So lovely. :)

I took Ella for her first ride in the bike trailer - she loved it. Unfortunately she didn't like it as much the second time when she wore her helmet. The helmet is quite big and seems to make it hard to turn her head (it gets a bit caught up on the harness). Still, I will persevere for as long as Ella will allow, and eventually she will get big and strong enough for the helmet to be less of an issue.

We didn't get to see any balloon launches during the festival this year, but we did have the pleasure of watching them float over our house a few times, and Andrew and Oliver chased "Mr Bup" the turtle balloon across town to watch it land. We headed down to the lake on the final morning of the festival to watch the balloons launch, but it was too foggy. Althought we did get to see the last of their fuel being burnt off before they packed up and sent the balloon home.


Andrew and I got sick in the week before Easter, but the kids were lucky enough not to catch it. And we were lucky in that I didn't really get it until Andrew had recovered, so one of us was able to care for the kids while the other tried to stop the world from spinning too fast. Unfortunately for Andrew, his week of illness coincided with his week of annual leave, bummer.

We recovered in time for Easter, and even managed to enjoy some chocolate. Oli spent the morning of Good Friday with his Nan, baking special easter biscuits. He loved it! And he keeps asking for the biscuits, even though he knows we have eaten them all. He is keen to head back to his Nan's place one day for some more baking.

We have just had a weekend of V8 racing in town with the Hamilton 400. We bought tickets to the Friday practice day and took the kids down for a look-see. We browsed the pits of the other racing classes - Porsche, Toyota, Corvettes, and NZ V8s. Some pretty flash set-ups in there and friendly teams. One guy offered to let Oli sit in the car (Trade Zone Toyota), but he didn't want to. :( The kids got their ear muffs on and we watched a bit of racing through the fence. The cars were close, fast, and loud! We snacked on the lawn in front of the big screen tv and then headed down to the V8 Supercar pits for a nosey in there. We had a lot of comments and attention from people about the kids wearing their ear muffs. I felt really sorry for all the kids that didn't have ear protection. We were stopped by Hayden Jones from TVNZ who wanted to talk to us because we had "cute kids". A series of questions and a bit of chit chat ended with Hayden smiling and saying, "I didn't hear anything she said, did you?" The cameraman shook the camera side-to-side to indicate that he didn't hear me. Out came the sound meter which showed about 94dB and there wasn't even any racing going on at the time! The resultant footage shows a shot of Oli, then Ella, then Dad with Oli. I guess I have had my split-second of fame already when I was on the news at the Mount Downhill back in 2004.


I haven't ridden much (again). This is starting to become standard practice! I watched a couple of cool events pass me by - but I couldn't resist entering the SS Champs this coming Saturday, despite my poor form. The following weekend I will be going riding with my friend Michelle, who is up from Christchurch, and then I'm hoping to make it to all three of the winter N-Duro races. I also have my fingers crossed that R&R Sport will be able to gather enough support to run some local winter races at Pukete. And I have also spent a little bit of time setting up my new bike, just the way I want it.