JONAS MEIER, CHRISTCHURCH, NZ.
S PR EAD
SPOKE ISSUE 69
Man in the mirror Reflecting on autumn Words & Image Nathan Hughes East German pro slopestyler Lukas Knopf airs a hip jump in the dead of winter at a flooded coal mining area outside of Dresden. Autumn sparks a race against time for any build project in continental Europe, as a widespread deep-freeze typically arrives in time for Christmas. Just two weeks later this spot was frozen over, and under several inches of snow. Rider: Lukas Knopf Location: Dresden, Germany
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SPOKE ISSUE 69
AFTER THE FIRE Exploring Signal Hill’s scorched earth Words & Images Jemma Wells
An untouched hillside: free of trails, scrub, berms, and undergrowth, designated for mountain biking. A blank canvas of sorts, packed with a variety of dirt, tree stumps, rocks, and drop-offs. It’s not all that common these days, is it? As the popularity of mountain biking increases, so too does our expectation of trails. For some, there’s a growing demand for beautifully sculpted lines scattered through forest and tussock, where flow comes easily, even to the most novice rider. But for those more experienced, there is still the pull of untouched dirt, of having to scope lines, of trusting the bike, and sometimes just hanging on. We’ve all sat glued to Red Bull Rampage; heck, we thought we’d need to venture to the furthest corners of Mongolia after seeing Where the Trail Ends. But for riders in Dunedin this summer, Christmas came a little later—in the form of scorched earth. Now don’t get me wrong, this is very much a silver lining on what was otherwise a terrifying turn of events. On December 27 last year, crowds of riders, walkers, residents and onlookers stood shoulder to shoulder at the base of Signal Hill. They all held their breath as three choppers and nearly forty firefighters worked tirelessly to save both the hill and surrounding houses. The tinder-dry scrub, blustery southwesterly, and an unconfirmed source of ignition combined to create a blaze and subsequent plume of smoke that could be seen across the city. Helicopter pilots skilfully dipping monsoon buckets into Otago Harbour was quite the sight, each aircraft dancing around the other, wrestling with wind and
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hundreds of kilos sloshing in the bucket below. For a good few hours, every ounce of concentrated effort focused on taming the flames and readying nearby residents for evacuation should the wind pick up or shift. For those crucial few hours, the hill’s mountain bike trails were the furthest thing from anyone’s mind. Thankfully, the wind dropped and the experienced rural fire crews and pilots soon had the blaze contained. Houses and buildings were spared, and all that stood as evidence of the fire was around 24ha of charred trees and freshly-carved firebreaks. Signal Hill is no stranger to scrub fires. Prior to last year, the most recent and perhaps largest occurred in 2006. Again, buildings were spared, but the tracks on the hill and the trees surrounding them required a lot of work before they could be made safe again; it was nearly four months before riders and walkers could venture into the reserve. This time, the fire was more lenient, with damage limited to the eastern side of the reserve around the Quarry Track. A few felled or damaged trees needed attention, but damage to existing trails was incurred in the creation of additional firebreaks. After a week of close scrutiny and a shower of rain, the Rural Fire Service reopened the hill. One of many recreation reserves owned and managed by the Dunedin City Council, Signal Hill’s point of difference lies in the fact that mountain biking is specifically mentioned in its Management Plan. This has proven invaluable, as Mountain Biking Otago (MBO) worked to plan and build tracks in the area.
“But for those more experienced, there is still the pull of untouched dirt, of having to scope lines, of trusting the bike, and sometimes just hanging on.�
? Q&A
SPOKE ISSUE 69
UNFINISHED BUSINESS Sam Blenkinsop has an itch to scratch Words & Images Jay French Towards the end of last year’s World Cup season, the rumour mill fired up, as it always does. Who’s going to what team? Who’s retiring? Who’s getting paid what? One of the rumours I kept hearing was, “Blenki is leaving Norco and going full EWS for 2017”. With some solid enduro results including an occasional podium, and a less-than-stellar year (by his usual high standards) in downhill, it was a rumour that seemed to have substance. Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to find out for myself. I wanted to hear it right from the horse’s mouth. Turns out, the rumours couldn’t have been further from the truth. Anyone who follows Blenki on social media or has been to a Nationals race lately will have seen a kind of refreshed excitement from Sam that’s been missing for a while. Big bike downhill laps at the bike park, sneaky new bike teasers, giving ‘er death at the local races—something feels different this year. What happened in 2016 to give birth to these rumours? I’ve always enjoyed enduro, just for fun though. I’m not ready to go full enduro yet, as I really feel I’ve got unfinished business in downhill. Last year, I did too many races. I missed out on a lot of testing and training opportunities because I was away racing EWS, and I lost focus. I was basically giving both disciplines a half-arsed effort instead of focusing one hundred percent on one or the other.
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You’ve been a super consistent rider across an impressive 12-year career. In 2010, for example, you finished top 10 in every race, except one where you were still top 20. Last year just seemed uncharacteristic for you. What do you think contributed to that? It just wasn’t a great year for me. Across my career, I’ve usually had a couple of strong years followed by an average year. Like in my past, I’ve had a 5th overall, followed by a 3rd overall, then an average season, followed by another 5th overall. I felt I couldn’t push the bike as hard as I wanted to last year either. In saying that though, I still managed a 5th at Fort Bill, and a 9th at Mont-Sainte-Anne, so the tracks have something to do with it too. We’ve really taken something from this, and it’s helped with the design of the new bike. Last time you got a first place was back in Schladming, which is regarded as one of those true gnarly downhill tracks. What can you do to stay competitive on the newer, more bike-park style, tracks? I’ve had success on those bike-park type tracks in the past too, though more when the conditions weren’t favourable. I like riding the faster tracks like MontSainte-Anne, Schladming and Fort William, and I generally do better on those style tracks. But this year I need to concentrate on getting top 10 or top 5 on all the tracks, rather than just the ones that suit me.
Do you have a plan for getting back on the podium in 2017?
What’s the biggest obstacle standing in your way of the podium this year?
I’ve joined HP Fitness, with Aari Barrett. I felt like I needed to change something this year. I’ve been doing basically the same thing for the last four years, and it just felt like time for a change. It’s like getting a new bike. You’re doing new things each week with training, and I’m doing a lot more riding, which I feel suits me better, rather than just trying to kill myself in the gym all the time. Something I’ve noticed with some of the younger fellas is their race craft; I feel I learnt a lot of strategy when riding with Loic (Bruni), and that’s something I can take with me.
Mostly myself, thinking too much about too much stuff. I just need to get out there and enjoy the ride. I’ve gotta ride my bike and have fun, that’s what it’s about. I’ve had more fun riding this bike these last few weeks than I’ve had in ages.
What do you think is more important in preparation for a World Cup, bike time or gym time? I think it’s about 50/50. There are guys that can still win a World Cup without even setting foot in a gym. But you need to back it up; it’s about consistency. They could probably break through sometimes, but you need that fitness and recovery to keep getting in the top 5 or top 10. Most of the reason you’re in the gym is to build strength, and to help you recover from injuries so you can last a whole season rather than being a one-race warrior.
Who are your biggest threats when it comes to getting on the podium? Loic and Aaron for the top step, for sure. Then there are the young guns like Laurie. Also from New Zealand, we’ve got George and Brook that could put it together. Everyone has their own struggles and they’re dealing with new bikes, new setups and new teams. That’s one of the exciting things about World Cup racing. You never know what’s going to happen. So how about this new bike then? Are you excited about it? Yeah, I’m really excited about it. It’s cool to work with a company that pushes so hard to make something that you feel you can win races on. I mean, I felt so comfortable on this bike straight away, they listened to us and our input when designing the bike. It’s a really great place to start, all I’ve had to do is tweak some of the minor details. I got on the bike and they could see how stoked I was. It’s good for them, and it’s good for me as well.
“That’s one of the exciting things about World Cup racing. You never know what’s going to happen”
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Hand-built local goodness
Behind the trails of Lyttelton Words Michael Hayward Images Mark Bridgwater Lyttelton is a place of contrast. On one hand, it’s a trendy wee town with a thriving music and art scene and organic veggies at the Saturday markets. Then there’s the port, the town’s lifeblood, which gives the place an industrial, working-class edge. It’s the largest port in the South Island, running all hours, every day. Employing more than 500 people, relative to Lyttelton’s whole population of 2859 according to the last census, it’s a huge part of the town’s makeup. Like all of Christchurch and the communities that surround it, Lyttelton has been shaped by the earthquakes. It took a hammering in the big shake of February 22, 2011, during which several historic buildings were ruined and subsequently had to come down. The empty spaces are a constant reminder of what the township has been through, as are the abundant ongoing roadworks and rebuild projects. Perched on a steep, curved hill that cradles the settlement, Lyttelton can feel like it’s almost sliding into the sea. Like many towns of similar geography, its narrow roads sidle along the hillside before switching sharply back on themselves, and the houses hug the roads. It doesn’t take long to climb above the settlement and into the hills extending far above the town. From up high, the elevation reveals the crinkled coastline holding the many sheltered bays of Lyttelton Harbour, with Quail Island floating proudly in the middle. It’s a vista that’s impossible to ignore. Much of these hills are covered in the classic tussock with patches of exposed rock so familiar to the Port Hills. But straddling the end of a lava ridge on the eastern side of the township is a stand of pines in Urumau Reserve, and hidden in these trees is a small but growing network of steep, rocky, hand-built mountain bike trails. The Lyttelton mountain bike trails have been a quiet labour of love for about eight years, driven by locals Daryl Warnock and Greg Jack, whose names are familiar to those in the Christchurch outdoor scene. The project has a huge community focus, with a goal of creating a riding resource for local riders. Greg said the trails, which he describes as “hand-built, local goodness”, are of a particular style. The pair has tried to work with the terrain, which is steep and deeply rippled with ridges, and gullies with plenty of rock everywhere. They’ve kept it pretty old school, according to Daryl. “A lot of the riding we’ve done in the past has been rooty, off-camber, hike-a-bike style singletrack, and we’ve tried to get a bit of diversity, but a lot of the tracks have that kind of character.” Their efforts to add variety have worked, though the network still has a definite style throughout. An hour and a half on a quiet Sunday afternoon could include a mix of burly rock rolls, steep tight corners, drifty off-camber sections that are just faintly scratched in, and even some fairly gentle flow trail. The volcanic gravel that lays beneath the surface provides exceptional drainage, meaning if it rains, the tracks dry out very quickly. And in the summer, there’s plenty of excitement when it’s time to brake or turn; the thin layer of dry, crumbly soil topped with loose pine needles means either wheel can let go at any time. The lads agree most of the trails are “pretty much Daryl and Greg difficulty”, which ranges from solid blue to very black. “There’s nothing that’s pro level and nothing that’s easy,” Greg claims. Daryl has lived in Lyttelton for about 15 years. Soon after he moved there, he went out for a stroll in the hills above his new home and realised it would be a great place to put in a few bike trails. A little research revealed the area was managed by the Lyttelton Reserves Committee, which he joined about eight years ago with the aim of getting a track programme formalised.
UTE lfF NlDIDNlG Trail reconnaissance in the Indian Himalayas
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IMAGES ANDY U.O'ID It's nalable when you start grading trails according to likelihood of death. In the system we'd devised by the end of our adventure, 'exlremely likelY: 'quite likely', 'likely' and 'should be okay, were our grades. This was, of course, cheap humour, but there's no smoke without fire, and at times the fire had raged.
So it had come to be, a crack squad of six 'international mountain bike expertst (more on that lat:er) assembled at Heathrow Airport, most with little knowledge of what they would undertake over the next 19 days In the Indian Himalayas. I myseH was Ignorant; while I'd been charged with assembling a team to carry out a reconnaissance study for a local government department of India, I too had scant information about what our work would entail.