It was impossible to separate us two riders as we lunged for the finish line after 153kms of hard racing in atrocious weather conditions; heavy rain and gusts of winds. Even when you enlarge the high resolution photo, its hard to tell. Most people, given my bike throw, think I might have nabbed it at the line despite the timing chip.  On the day, two weeks ago now, I did not worry about protesting it (nor had the inclination to). It was a fun ride and a good race by the front runners. The fact we finished so close together provided some good entertainment for the audience and a good story in the local Taranaki Daily. American takes out Mountain Race with myself as the first kiwi home. The full results can be viewed online at the official race website.

How the racing unfolded

I had only been in New Zealand for a couple of days and gotten two rides in before the 153km event, including a nice ride in Christchurch and my first exploratory ride in Taranaki out on the Coastal Cycle Way and out Lepperton way. For this month in January my goal was to put in some good base miles for the upcoming season. So the Taranaki event was a perfect long ride with a slight race focus.

The race start was only five minutes bike ride from the Devon Hotel where I was staying and after consuming bananas, cereal, yoghurt as my pre-race meal I turned up with 450 others at the start line. It was threatening to rain as we took off. It was a neutral start to begin with and I was content to just follow wheels and wait for the action to unfold. The 450 rider peloton rode through the city of New Plymouth at a controlled pace. When the racing did begin, it was not hard and fast as I expected it to be. It was quite windy with a constant drizzle coming down. There were the occasional riders going off the front trying their luck in either forming a breakaway or escaping solo. However the peloton was not keen to let them escape from their clutches. Before Okura, I had my first dig jumping across to a young triathlete rider in green that was going pretty strong. He did not last long on my wheel as I pumped hard through the small village of Okura. However, the peloton were steadily pulling me back so I just cruised along at a good steady pace till I was caught.

I rolled along with the bunch quite comfortably up and down the numerous rolling hills in the lead up to Okato. The young guy in green took off again and was putting some good time on the main group with no one reacting. It was not till the final steep climb prior Okato when several riders at the front of the peloton put in a big surge and a gap opened up immediately. I saw this happening and accelerated quickly to the front and spent a few moments to make the bridge across to the five riders up the road. As I connected, I saw that we had a gap and yelled out that we had one. Immediately the six of us start rotating like a well oiled machine and the gap just grew bigger and bigger.  Several minutes later, pro rider Michael Torckler comes across with eight riders in tow. The front group become a 15-man breakaway.

I was doing my fair share of the work, pulling hard into the wind and driving rain but then missed a couple of turns when I noticed half the group were just sitting on. I guess they were already on their limit as eventually most of those riders dropped away after the Opunake turn off. The pace was poured on for a brief section on this road section towards Stratford and this succeeded in reducing the breakaway group to just 10 riders. All of a sudden, we just cruised along and chatted. It was kind’ve fortunate this happened, as my legs were starting to feel it and could have cramped. The easy riding lasted for about 40 minutes before we increased the pace in the push for the finish line back in New Plymouth. Just before Eltham, Torckler’s father punctured and his son stopped to help out. They never caught back on. Once on highway 4 heading into some very strong winds, the group further split up and it was now only seven riders.  Riding through Stratford and up through to Midhurst on the way to Inglewood, the pace was reduced to a snails pace.

Right before Midhurst, the first real attack of the day came from Vaughn Obrien, the American (& eventual winner), this was quickly snuffed out by myself and then I went on the counter-attack that immediately got a decent sized gap. Local strong rider, and last year’s winner, Gregory Marfell put out a powerful attack that launched him up the road. However I saw it coming and was accelerating up to speed as he came past and it took a couple of minutes hard riding to bring him back. The American was interested in keeping it animated but I was keen on rotating hard and fatiguing riders this way.

After passing through Midhurst, I found myself on the front and drifting away. I took the opportunity to ride hard at this point and opened up a sizable gap. I went into time trial mode and hummed along at a decent 45-48km/h for a good couple of minutes. At the point I was about to be caught again, I saw Greg Marfell launching yet another one of his power attacks with the rest of the group scrambling to latch onto his wheel. I responded by accelerating hard to snuff out any forward momentum before he caught me. When the group was about to catch up, I noticed they eased up a bit so I seized another opportunity to try and get away. The attacks I put in were to no avail as I was reeled back in each time.

Going through Egmont Village, it was absolutely belting down with rain and Gregory Marfell made another big attack with one other rider. This forced me to close the gap as the others were just following my wheel. It was a hard effort but it was back together again as we passed by the old rusty spider cobwebbed covered bikes outside the camping ground. It was game on for the last five kilometers as each rider sought to bid for victory.

Coming into New Plymouth, there are two climbs that keep you honest. On the first of the climbs, Marfell smoked it hard over the top and gapped myself and the American. This climb also served to blow up the seven rider group. Going down the descent on the other side, after hard chasing by myself and Obrien we reconnected with the front two riders. Coming to the final climb into the city, Marfell again attacked hard but the group still came back together coming into the city outskirts. From there it was cat and mouse games. I was on the front leading the way, waiting for any moves by the others. With about 1km remaining, Obrien hit it out hard and immediately got a substantial gap before I reacted. I was waiting for Marfell to make his move and it was a little late. I clawed back to Obrien’s wheel just after the final turn. It was there that I should have attacked immediately, but I just sat on his wheel and this allowed him to recover somewhat. I was also not clear where the finish line was and going into the last bend about 400m from the finish line, I hit the front with Obrien on my wheel. It was there that I had no choice but to open my sprint 400m out. I was hoping that I would have dropped the American, but somehow he clung to my wheel and then came at me again and got past me with less than 50m remaining. I had another late surge for the line ending with a desperate bike throw that I thought I had gotten the win. However, the timing chip said otherwise…

Stay tuned for more reports about my Taranaki cycling adventures!

I am about to leave cold Hangzhou, China next week bound for some warmer climates in New Zealand for several weeks and I am looking forward to exploring a ‘forgotten corner’ of New Zealand: Taranaki! The reason its a forgotten part of New Zealand is that its not really on the way to anywhere, its quite off-the-beaten track and the the only real reason to go there is when the National Park Highways slicing through the center of the North Island are closed by snow.

Taranaki Tourism has been doing a very good job at promoting their region and have a very cool website that inspires and excites you to visit. Perhaps after you have been there you might even want to live there – on the Taranaki website there is information about living and working there. Just by browsing the website has me thinking about moving there to live!  Taranaki – a destination ‘like no other’. This is their catch slogan and I’ll be keen to see if it lives up to it…  The website also lists Top 50 must do’s while you are visiting Taranaki, I think we’ll be doing the Goblin Forest and Highway 45 for sure.

Now, as it happens, I am also arriving the day before the big Round the Mountain road cycling event sponsored by Egmont Seafoods (and The Waterfront Hotel) that is open to anyone who has the desire to pedal a bike and enjoy the magnificent views of Mount Egmont, a perfectly shaped volcano reaches for the sky, and then enjoy a surf in the famous Highway 45 spot. That is if you have enough energy left after doing 153kms on the bike.  Last October, the fast boys of New Zealand cycling did the same circuit and zipped around the mountain in a stunningly quick time of 3hrs and 24minutes won by Daniel Barry from the now defunct Pure Black Racing Team. See the top 10 results below. Also check out last year’s report about the Round the Mountain Challenge on Roadcycling. Hopefully this year will see better weather conditions despite being in the middle of the summer!

The Official Hotel Sponsor is The Waterfront Hotel that is located in the middle of New Plymouth’s Central Business District and this is where the after race evening function will be held for riders to share their Round the Mountain experiences.

I wonder how fast the times will be for the individual riders on January 14th? I would be happy with a time close to four hours if I got into a good bunch and everyone worked well together. It’ll also be my first road event on New Zealand soil since 2008 and while it is not a proper race, it will still be fun and no doubt the individual riders will still be going pretty quick.

The Egmont Seafoods Round the Mountain Cycle Ride is actually a fund-raiser for a unique cycling venue in New Zealand – The Cycle Park. It is a fully enclosed Cycle Park that would make for some quite exciting criterium and circuit racing. It is one of its kind in New Zealand and it is expected to be ready for completion in late January 2012. The Taranaki Velodrome Trust has been behind this since 2006 and the dedicated group of cyclists have realized their vision of completing a new velodrome and a closed road circuit.  What is even more exciting is that the venue is being built to UCI specifications so we can expect to see some international cycling events coming Taranaki’s way.  If you are stopping by the region, the Cycle Park happens to be free for all to use.

For the mountain bikers, don’t be disappointed – the Taranaki region is also home to some of New Zealand’s best mountain biking and there are some cool tips for the mountain bikers found on Ground Effect.  If you are looking to meet with other cyclists, the Cycling New Plymouth Club offers a great resource of information and friendly cyclists to meet on their bunch rides.

Thousands of riders will be challenging themselves to ride around the famous Mount Egmont and the route traverses through some prime undulating dairy farm lush green country roads via Kaponga with views of some of the world’s best surfing on a wild west coast. If you look closely on the map, I’ll be staying for the bulk of my time near the small village of Okato (pop. 500) with easy access to the surf beach and good road rides!  For the first couple of days I’ll be staying in the major city of New Plymouth that only has a population of just over 52,000.  If you are planning on doing this event on January 14th and read my article in time, you can get a discount for your stay at the Devon Hotel, they offer some quite classy accommodation and have an awesome buffet (I know this as I have stayed there before when I did the Tour of Taranaki in 2007) and judging by the Marbles Buffet menu, it has gotten better! Just quote “Bikedan in Asia” to receive a discount of their online published rates. If you see this after the event has passed and are headed to New Plymouth, don’t despair as the discount is still open if my website is quoted when making reservations. Enjoy your stay in New Plymouth.

While I am in Taranaki, I’ll be seeking out the best road routes and posting up on Strava for all of you to see. I’ll be writing a series of articles about riding in this ‘forgotten corner’ of New Zealand not to mention an event report on the Egmont Seafoods Round the Mountain Ride.  Fish Guru, Peter Bennett kindly provided me with the images I have displayed in this post, click for larger photos.

I thought I’d take the opportunity to do some artwork as I had not been doing some lately and its something that I would like to do more of for this 2012 year. During my travels around the world, before my ‘serious cycle racing’ days, I would do sketches of various old character building and sell them to the owners. I had quite a good success-rate with this and my sketches have been sold in America, St Helena Island, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and some here in China.  If you are interested in commissioning me to do a sketch for you, contact me with your request. I can provide samples of my work if needed.

Stay tuned for my next post – its about New Zealand!

The 2011 Edition of the Rapha Festive 500 Challenge was truly a global one with cyclists from all regions stepping up to embark on the journey of epic riding before the curtains of the year drew to a close. The Rapha Challenge hosted by Strava saw a stunning 3,030 cyclists sign up to do the challenge. It appeared to have inspired a great deal of people, however when you calculate the total miles world-wide against the numbers that signed up – it was a paltry 29.3kms per person for the entire week.

I think that most people would have liked to complete the challenge but keeping the motivation to actually do the challenge is another thing, especially when most of the challenge participants come from cold corners of Europe and North America. Doing 500km in a week is a big ask for most people, but try doing 500kms in freezing or raining weather conditions; that requires some unshakable will power. Then you throw in the family commitments, last minute errands before Xmas and the end of the year not to mention preparing Xmas feasts all takes time. Suddenly the Rapha Challenge becomes that much more challenging. Kudos to those people who managed to finish their 500km! Also a big round of applause to those die-hard riders that created an elite 1,000km club – just 22 riders made that distinction. I wonder if Rapha will create a special category for these types of riders for the next challenge – you either opt in for a shot at making the Mad Elite Club or you go for the Sportive Club which is completing the 500kms!

TOP 22 RIDERS - 1000km ELITE CLUB

It was interesting watching how riders started doing longer and longer rides towards the tail-end of the Rapha Festive 500, it was obvious that many were going for personal glory in their race to rank high as possible on the Strava leaderboard. It was also particularly interesting to see how some riders left their GPS postings towards the end, so as to make a sudden ambush and occupy a high-point on the board.

It was a fiercely contested battle between numerous riders, but gigantic battle of them all has to go to two riders: Rapha-Condor rider Kristian House (who cares if he is pro or not) and Spanish hard-man Stefan Rohner who is a 50 years old. The contest went right down to the wire, with 7kms the difference. Kristian House posted a mega total of 1424kms for the week. I bet that would be one of his biggest training weeks for the 2011 year period, not including racing.  For most pro riders riding 500-800kms in any given week would be a normal week, however the last week of 2011 was far from being normal. If you are interested in finding out more about Kristian, an exclusive interview is published on the Rapha site, quite an amazing read. He is one phenomenal rider and I know this first hand from having first raced him at the 2006 Tour of Southland and subsequently at races in Texas (I also lived in Austin).

For the Asia-based riders, Jeff Paine achieved the distinction of being the best with his 4th place overall for the Challenge. After his amazing 331km ride in the Jungle heat of Southern Thailand, he vaulted into the top spot and was overall leader till Stefan Rohner and Kristian House both woke up to find their rankings to be threatened and ensured big counter rides. Jeff Paine would have finished 3rd overall had Matthew Carnal from Tulsa USA not came along with his late ambush 240km ride that was only cut short by the bad weather and darkness.  Paine together with his partner-in-crime David Kolpak and one other rider made the huge ride from Phuket to Krabi and return. Check out their map below. David Kolpak finished 9th overall and 2nd behind Jeff Paine.  Peter Pouly who lives in Thailand finished 3rd with his tally of 880kms followed by myself in 4th position for Asia-based riders and 59th overall with 818kms.

Jeff Paine and his understanding wife...

In the women’s category, there were some pretty tough gals out there on bikes. One of them, Sharona Guggenheim from Irvine California put out mega-daily rides to enter the coveted Elite 1000km Club. She is the only female so far to achieve this feat with her 1030kms for the week and 18th overall. Jessica Chong came tantalizingly close to also making the Elite Club, only falling short by 19kms and along the way she achieved 24th overall. Lisa Rodgers – Green Sunn Rider was third woman on the leaderboard with her amazing 940kms in the cold climates of the UK. Judith Swallow also from the UK finished with 919kms ridden in the London area to be forth overall just 32kms of early pace-setter Carlee Taylor who chose to have a recovery spin plus a complete day off. Kudos to these top five gals and to all that participated in the Rapha Challenge.

I checked out the Rapha facebook page and collected a few photographs that caught my eye. Here is my selection below (Click on them to enlarge).  Also found a selection of blogs that are worth mentioning.  A Swedish Cyclist, Full On Triathlon Racing, Daniel’s Journey, Diary of an Epic, and  Stefan Rohner Photography. Finally, and not the least, is a cool Rapha report just in from Steve Donohue @ Headsetpress.  Steve has just recently moved to Taiwan and is discovering what a cyclist’s paradise the island is.

Bjarte Bjorgen Olsen

Peter Elmesioo

Derreck Schar

Stefan Rohner

Christopher M.Webb

Stevie Donohue

Jeff Zell

Henrik Oijer

Nicette Quintero

This year the Rapha Challenge has been somewhat easier in terms of the weather conditions. Last year, I had sub-zero temperatures, rain and snow to contend with while this time, there was no snow or rain to contend with. In fact I was quite over-dressed at times in my winter Mavic & Rapha gear. The coldest this year got was only three degrees. The final ride was five degrees and late in the day, so when I reached the mountains my nuts were freezing on the descents and by the time I got back to the main ‘country highway’ it was pitch black. I should have brought along my Hope Light I won from the Rapha Challenge last year, it would have helped make it less hair raising! I had reflective clothing and flashing lights but not enough to light the road in front of me. I was constantly being blinded by oncoming traffic and then seeing utter darkness for a few seconds while my eyes re-adjusted. To help solve this issue, I would try and speed up to follow cars that passed me to use them for guides and lower the chances of getting blinded.

There is a whole network of these roads waiting to be explored in the East Sky Mountain region (Dongtian Shan) and I am looking forward to spending an epic day or two just exploring and perhaps finding some guest house to stay overnight. Otherwise, it would be a big 250-300km day with a lot of climbing. This ride brought my final Rapha Festive 500 tally to 818kms, surpassing my previous year total by almost 100kms. Mission accomplished. This was my poster from 2010.

• Taking part in China’s first ever 29er MTB event and placing second. I also finished 5th in the elite 26″ category in the afternoon.
• Exploring some dense lush green forests just outside of Mega-city Guangzhou – I saw very few people and no cars!  The abundance of ferns reminded me of New Zealand.
• Doing my first double century ride for 2011 that took me seven hours. The last time I did double century rides was when I rode from Adelaide to Melbourne in 5 days in 2004 (1000kms) with the biggest day doing 315km. The seven hour ride took me onto new unexplored roads.
• Enjoying high class Buffet food at the Hyatt such as French lamb chops and plenty of toffee ice-cream. Riding more miles gives you the right appetite and you enjoy food that much more. On the last night of the Challenge, I enjoyed a massive dinner at a Chinese restaurant followed by ice-cream from Dairy Queen in time to watch the fireworks display over one of the West Lake Ancient Pagodas.
• Seeing the bewildered looks on Chinese faces as I enter shops to refuel. To them, I must have looked like an alien from outer-space and then to open my mouth and speak Mandarin causes them to gasp even more.

That was the 2011 Rapha Festive 500 Challenge for me. I believe what defines your challenge is extending your boundaries in terms of unexplored roads and territory. For many of my rides, I was in exploratory mode, trying to find new routes and seeing new places.  Yes, I wanted to achieve more miles and got pleasure in seeing my name appear high up on the  Strava Leaderboard throughout the challenge. But ultimately, it was all about the experience while getting the quality base miles you need to launch a successful winter training campaign.

Rapha will be pleased to know that I was wearing the Rapha Merino Wool base layer for most of my rides. I found this item of clothing to be my favorite to wear both on and off the bike. I would often come back from my long Rapha Challenge rides and feel nice and dry inside. I would agree with Kristian House, who said “Despite having so much cool Rapha clothing to choose from, my absolute favourite is the merino wool undervest. I practically live in those things. Whether it’s training, sleeping or just chilling out around the house.”
 Kristian is the rider who clocked up the most miles during this year’s Rapha Challenge with his imposing total of 1,424kms. I also wore the Rapha merino socks, although they seem to be a little on the thin side, I found them very comfortable to wear inside my cycling shoes and coupled with my booties, I was toasty warm. My feet never got freezing cold.

Unfortunately I did not have any Rapha Winter gear to wear for Challenge, so I wore my Mavic winter gear which was excellent. The Inferno Winter Jacket was my favorite – it is designed for extreme cold with its -15 degree rating and it kept me toasty warm the whole time on the bike and has some strategically placed vents you can open if you get over-heated. This year’s Rapha Challenge was not as cold as last year, so I was actually too warm sometimes! You can read my review of this jacket on Cyclingnewsasia. On top of my Rapha Merino base layer I wore the Soigneur Le Cannibal Retro Jersey, which was also worn during the 2010 Rapha Challenge.  For the tights, I wore the Mavic Echappe Bib, which is essential for comfortable winter riding.

While I did not have the ultimate Deep Winter Rapha Bundle, I did have the pleasure to put on a fresh Rapha base layer and slip on some sexy Rapha merino boxers, don the classy Merino roll neck jersey and Rapha trousers complete with the Rapha socks. I was Rapha-nized off the bike… and they became my favorite items of clothing to wear during this Hangzhou cold wintertime!

No.1 IRAN

This has to rank no.1 for me as it was a fulfillment of a lifetime dream to visit Iran. I had made friends with the Tabriz-Petrochemical Cycling Team at the Qinghai Lake Tour the previous year and they invited me to go to Iran to cover some of their big races in Azarbaijan and Tehran. Even though, I was in the middle of preparing for the World Deaf Cycling Championships in June, I jumped at the opportunity to go to Iran.  It was a brilliant experience and I also got to visit a long-time family friend in Shiraz in-between the cycling Tours.  It was an action-packed three-weeks there, covering the two international road cycling races as well as getting to explore the beautiful country on my own two-wheels.

What was so good about Iran? I know most people have certain images of Iran, mostly from what the media tells us.  You might think Iran is a dangerous place to visit etc, but I discovered a country full of hospitable friendly people, some awe-inspiring scenery, and some awesome Persian food.  The Azarbaijan Province was a particularly stunning area of Iran with its majestic snow capped mountains, ancient cities and wide-open sweeping plains.  The place is on my list to visit again and spend more time exploring by bicycle.   In fact, in 2012, I am hoping to go again.  Check out my Velonews articles: Racing in Iran and the President’s Tour of Iran. Also take a look on my own website – Iran Azarbaijan Tour and Iran Azarbaijan 26th International Tour.

No.2 MONGOLIA

Mongolia is the largest country in the world with the lowest population density and most of its inhabitants are still living the Nomadic lifestyles reminiscent from hundreds of years ago; virtually unchanged and extremely remote areas. I went to Mongolia to participate in the Mongolia Bike Challenge as both a journalist and racer. It was one of the most grueling and toughest experiences I have ever underwent in my life, but it was also very rewarding.  The scenery in Mongolia is unreal and it is a perfect place to do a long-distance cycle touring trip. If you are up to the challenge, you can enter the 2012 Mongolia Bike Challenge – its a fully supported race and they provide great food in the camp but you have to contend with icy-cold showers every day. I wrote prolifically about this epic race and some of my work can be read on Matador Network, CyclingTipsBlog, China Travel, WhatsupUsana, as well as my daily reports on my website.

No.3 CANADA & USA

This year was a World Cycling Championships year for hearing impaired cyclists and I was proud to represent New Zealand at the Championships held in Quebec, Canada. I had the most thrilling race of my life in the 1,000m match sprints to take Bronze medal for my country and I had the great support of my wife, Jennifer and also my major sponsors Hansaton Hearing Systems. Without their support, I would not have been able to represent New Zealand in Canada. After a great week long of racing in Canada, we flew down to Austin, Texas where we spent three weeks vacation. As I had the Mongolia Bike Challenge coming up, I was out clocking up some big miles on the lonely Texan roads. As always, the Driveway Racing run by Andrew Willis held exciting times to race with some of the best criterium riders in the USA. On the way back to China, I stopped off in California to visit WTB – Wilderness Trail Bikes -  in Mill Valley as I was going to be doing some PR work for them in Asia-Pacific. I got a couple of good mountain bike rides in the area where mountain biking was first invented. To end my US trip, I took part in two awesome criterium events, the San Rafael Twilighter and the Lodi Cycle Fest.

No.4 THAILAND

Thailand is always a favorite place of mine to visit. I love the food, scenery and the people there. The food is just simply the best. Even here in Hangzhou we frequently visit Thai restaurants or make Thai food ourselves. This year I was privileged to have represented the Neil Pryde Epic Riders Cycling team at the Tour of Friendship, a five day stage race in and around the Bangkok area.  It was here that I also met Wade Wallace from Cyclingtipsblog for the first time and also raced together with him on the same team. While in Thailand I could not get enough Phad Thai and drank endless amounts of Thai ice-tea.  They were my staple food and drink!  I can’t wait to get back to Thailand again for more riding and island beach time.

No.5  PHILIPPINES

I have been to the Philippines twice this year and each time it has been an amazing experience. The Philippines have an amazing cycling community and I find them to be a very friendly and positive bunch of people. I raced earlier in the year at the Tour de Larrazabal which I would have won if did not have mechanical problems during stage three. The second time there was at the invitation of the Mossimo Cycling Team to race at the Tour of Matabungkay. We stayed on the Matabungkay Beach Resort in the South of Luzon Island for four days and had an action packed three days of racing followed by endless Mango shakes and great food served up at the resort.  I will always look forward to returning to the Philippines for some more great adventures.

——-

There were other places that I visited that also deserve mentioning, but did not rank in my top five for 2011, and they include Taiwan, Bintan Island (Indonesia), Hong Kong and Interbike, USA (riding in Red Rock Canyon).  Taiwan is always a favorite place of mine to visit as it offers world-class cycling and awesome food (both night market and breakfast food). Its a place we would definitely like to move back to and live if we had the opportunity in the future. Hong Kong is also a cool place to cycle with its numerous mountain climbs and large cycling community. Bintan Island was a place we visited during the Chinese Spring Festival and enjoyed four luxurious days on the Nirwana Gardens Resort. Bintan also happens to be host to a fantastic 2-day cycling event which I missed out on this year but was part of in 2010. Finally, the Interbike experience in Las Vegas was an awesome experience and the highlight of that event was seeing the Crossvegas race, meeting the Strava team, meeting the WTB team and riding in the Red Rock canyon with Dave Christiansen.

What does 2012 hold in store for me? I think its going to be a bigger year than 2011 and we are kicking it off with a trip to New Zealand for three weeks and a trip to Australia on the way back for a week.  I also have a new cycling team that I will be racing for in 2012 and this will be great especially since I raced unattached for most of 2011. I will announce my new team sometime in early 2012 once I have everything organized.  2012 also promises to be a big year for my business and university studies.  I have a few projects that I have been working on and will be unveiled in 2012, so stay tuned to my Bikedan in Asia website.

Thank you for reading my blog during 2011 and I will continue to bring my stories in 2012.  If you like my content, please consider listing me on your blog-roll or linking to me within your own articles.  All the best to all of you and here’s to a prosperous 2012.

On Xmas Day, I flew down to Guangzhou to participate in China’s inaugural 29er Mountain Bike event which I believe was a huge success and the future of the 29er here in China looks quite rosy. The event was put on by Format and sponsored by WTB. In case you did not know, WTB stands for Wilderness Trail Bikes and they are a pioneer in the mountain biking industry. It was back in 1999 when WTB first came out with the 29er tire (The Nano) before 29er bikes became popular. Now, here in China with the cycling boom that is currently happening, WTB is nicely poised to be part of China’s growth in the 29er market.

As for Format, they are a Chinese bike brand that is very active in race promotion and have been rolling out a line of 29er mountain bikes. They are looking to promote the 29er movement in China and given the success of the inaugural event, they are planning to host 15 mountain bike events in 2012 with a separate 29er category! So, the 29er trend in China has officially begun…

The Racing

It was a bit of a frantic rush for me to get my bike ready for the start of the 29er race as I had been forced to wait by the stage for a good 20minutes so I could give a three minute speech. I still had to pin my numbers, take care of other business as well as change the front tire from the WTB Vulpine 2.1 to the Nano 2.1. So after the speech, I managed to get everything ready including the all important front tire change and line up at the start line. It would not have been good to miss the start!

On the sound of the gun crack, the riders bolted for the beckoning forest up ahead on the road. I quickly moved to the front of the race and assumed the lead quite early on. I was actually putting time on my pursuers that I had over 100m lead on the second placed rider by the top of the rough forest climb. However, my MTB technical skills were quite rusty and I was caught and passed by the Niner rider after emerging from the single track section. That single-track section was actually the coolest part of the race track, it snaked its way through the forest with a sheer drop down on one side. Some places were quite dangerous including a tight bend where there were some tricky roots and if you went too quickly, you’ll get some air and land down the ravine. There was someone stationed down there just in case some one did go over the cliff! The single track angled down steeply that required some good bike handling skills to ride it. Naturally, there was a crowd of people gathered to watch the action unfold in that particular section!  I found that the Nano 2.1 front tire handled the loose trail surfaces alot better than the Vulpine 2.1 I had used at the Nanning MTB race the previous week.

After completing the first single-track section, there was a short climb before the 2km open rough downhill section. The rider who had passed me right after the single track was riding very well and put about 20-30 seconds on me on the descent. But during the second lap 4km climb, I reeled him back in and was within striking distance of passing him. I was only 10m behind at the top when we entered the single-track again. I knew that it was a mistake that I did not try and sprint to overtake him before the top of the climb as he was no where to be seen after emerging from the single track. He was out of sight. I still rode hard as I could, but without a visual ‘guide’ it was hard to gauge how fast I should be going.  By this point, I knew that I was riding for second unless he faded badly. I was happy with this result and proud to be part of China’s first ever 29er specific event and have a second placed trophy to show for it.

Biketo.com, China’s leading online cycling media website published a good selection of photographs about the WTB-Format event and also contains a video of myself being interviewed.  Also QQride.com has some great photos.

The 2011 Edition of the Rapha Festive 500 Challenge hosted by Strava has really heated up with a record 2,860 cyclists worldwide taking part. Leading the charge is Austinite Kristian House who is sitting on 923kms with three possible rides remaining! It was Stefan Rohner and Serbian hard-man Željko Bates setting the pace with their mega-miles and it looks like the Serbian will earn the distinction of the most miles in the fewest amount of rides.

Kristian House is a Rapha-Condor Team cyclist who became the British National Champion in 2009 and has been a highly ranked professional riding for many teams all over the world. It certainly looks like that House is piling on those off season base-miles preparing himself for a fantastic 2012 season. Going by his average speed during his double century rides packed with climbing, he is already in fine form.

Six Aussies have forced their way back into the top 1o with 2nd placed overall Glynn Matthey leading the way with 852kms. So, don’t discount the Aussies yet to make a late run to be the overall leader of this highly popular Rapha Challenge. It truly has been a Ride to Redemption for many people and a great way to escape the clutches of Xmas food eating and the all-round laziness people typically fall into at this time of the year.

Californian Carlee Taylor, who is riding Downunder at the moment is clocking up some decent mileage with 724kms that puts her at 10th overall and leading the Women’s classification ahead of Compatriot Jessica Chong and Judith Swallow from the UK. Chong is only 9km behind Taylor and it looks like it will be a race to the very end to see who in fact gets the best woman title.

In the Asia region battle for the title, David Kolpak and partner-in-crime, Jeff Paine both expats in Singapore have overtaken Daniel Carruthers (myself) with 688kms and 677kms respectively. Both of these riders are hard-core to the bone, they are Paris-Brest warriors! Fidel Kreuzer in Thailand is not far behind with 618kms. There are only two days remaining for Asia-based riders and Down-under riders, while the United States are still waking up to start their sixth day. Who will break the 1,000km barrier first? will it be Kristian House from ATX, or will he choose to take a rest day?

To get onto the top 100 leaderboard, you need to have a minimum of 527kms to-date – that shows how competitive this challenge is becoming. Its no longer just a walk in the park. I would not deny it, but the satisfaction of seeing your name listed up on the leader board is enough to keep some motivation going if you need it at this time of the year especially when there is no racing on and food just keeps coming out.  This Rapha Festive 500 Challenge has really become a global competition where people’s competitive instincts are really coming alive. However, don’t lose sight of the fact that its not just about the miles; it is also about the stories and epic times you’ve had in the saddle over the last few days of 2011.  The winner of the Rapha Festive 500 Challenge, like last year, will be based on submissions that captures people’s imaginations.  What will yours be? Go to the Rapha Festive Facebook site to submit

Rapha Challenge in China

I live in, Hangzhou, city of over six million Chinese residents, located 45mins fast train ride from Shanghai. The place is just teeming with bike riders, slow moving clunky electric bikes, taxis, crazy buses, people in private cars who don’t know how to drive. I am faced with this mayhem every time I set outdoors on my road bike. To be honest, I get angry everyday on the bike – you won’t believe what happens out there. Its just chaos and even though I do expect it, I still get frustrated. The most frustration I get is when those cars decide to drive the wrong way up the road and directly into my path. Another case is when motorists decide to overtake cars and push me off the road. Pedestrians can be the most dangerous of them all and often I have to yell or whistle to prevent them from getting knocked over by me as they walk directly into my path. Near the end of my 205km ride, I was on my way home and this girl darted out into my path. I had no where to go, and she froze for an instant and screamed. However, she recovered quickly enough to move out of the way. I would’ve hit her otherwise despite braking heavily. It was one of those many misses I have. The day before I went down to Guangzhou to compete in the Format WTB 29er Mountain Bike race, a guy on an e-bike just pulled out straight into my path. I saw him coming and thought he would wait on the road-side before attempting to cross. But he did not and I just plowed straight into him, I don’t know how I stayed upright but I did. My yelling to warn him of my approach did not deter him and he just looked at me as if I was a crazy foreigner on a bike. He just nonchalantly rode away as if nothing really happened. Not even a check to see if everything was ok. There are many stories about riding in China that you’d never hear back in the US or in NZ.

Despite the challenges with riding in Hangzhou, there are actually some brilliant routes to explore and have fun on the bike. Check out last years Day Six post. Also check out Day Five with some great photos and a crash story.

I have officially completed the Rapha Festive 500 Challenge and today I only did 15kms – just my commute to the other side of town. I’ve been feeling a bit tired these few days since I did that mega-205km ride two days ago. My body is not used to doing such big miles over consecutive days like riders who train upwards of 16 hours a week. Typically, during the year, my average training weeks are between 8-12 hours with 14hours to be a big training week. Its my plan to have some good base miles before I head down to the New Zealand summer for three weeks in January!

Stay tuned for the Rapha Festive 500 Challenge updates and if you have any cool “What you missed this morning” photographs, send them to Cyclingtipsblog. Some brilliant photos cropping up on Wade Wallace’s popular website.

Shot of the day by Stefan Rohner.

Here is a small selection of photos that I took during my exploratory riding…

On this day last year, I was on my road bike clocking up 115kms for the Rapha Challenge. You can check out the post and photos on Rapha World-wide Challenge Day Four.  If you are wondering what is Rapha, take a look at their website www.rapha.cc; they have some really cool stories and video content, not to mention some excellent choices of trendy bike clothing!

As for the Rapha Festive 500 Challenge leaders, it looks like Stefan Rohner from Spain and  Željko Bates from Serbia are leading the charge. Bates is putting out double centuries for each of his rides and could be in the running to hit 1,400kms if he keeps going!  Strava’s machine-man,  Brian Toone  has finally taken the bait and has bounced into contention. Don’t discount Toone to give the two top European dogs a run for their money in the final days of the Rapha Challenge. Toone is also the un-disputed leader in the Strava Studio Velo KOM Competition amassing over 645,000 metros of vertical climbing – no one can catch him now.

29" Winners Podium

Merry Xmas to you all! I spent my Xmas Day racing at China’s first ever 29″ Mountan Bike event (A report coming soon on that!). It was a long day – rising before 7am to have American Coffee and McMuffin for breakfast before riding over to the race venue on the outskirts of Guangzhou.

About 50 riders took to the start-line for the inaugural 29″ specific event to race around the 7km track three times. It was actually quite a fun track with all of it off-road punctuated by some brilliant tight free-flowing single track twisting through trees. I banged my hips a couple of times while snaking my way through. In short, I was proud to be representing WTB and standing on the podium for 2nd place in what was a historical race. I now have a tall glass trophy to show for it and a bunch of Xmas gifts from the event sponsors!

I also took part in the afternoon’s event that was five times around the same loop for the elite category. I finished 5th place but the organizers did not give me a result since I was racing on my 29″ bike versus all the others on 26ers. I tried to convince them that in fact 26ers do have some strong advantages and that the UCI World Cup mountain bike races allow both types of bikes in the same event.

Anyway, back to the Rapha Festive Challenge, we now have one rider that has completed the 500km goal, and in just three days flat. Actually this crazy rider could have done it in 2-days but he was only 33kms short!  It was Stefan Rohner from Spain and he promises more mega-miles to come. Checking out his stats, he averages a consistent 25hrs a week on the bike… so he is no stranger to doing epic rides on his island. I wonder what he does for a living though since his rides are often up to 10hrs!  Another rider has popped up with two rides totaling 431kms, Ryan Fedorow  from Orange County California and a rider from Serbia, Željko Bates also with two double-centuries under his belt on concetive days to lie in third place.

One rider that deserves a big mention is  Dennison Ong from Southern Japan who now jumps into the Asian rider lead over Daniel Carruthers (myself from Hangzhou). His White Snow Xmas Day 200km (2,268m) ride must put him in the running to be the ‘hard-man’ of the year?  Ong now lies 7th position on the Strava Leaderboard while I’m slotted in at 16th place. David Kolpak from Singapore takes third best Asian-based rider coming in at 24th.  Strava’s own Spencer Collom is in 33rd and has only clocked two rides for the Rapha Challenge. We can expect some more action from this dedicated cyclist before this challenge is over!

Still another good five days of good epic rides to spin out before the close of 2011. Can we expect 1000km plus from the legendary Stefan Rohner? or 1,500km? The challenge is thrown at him to achieve the impossible – 1,500kms in eight days! Can he do it? He’s done over 600km in three days…

Giving a speech in front of the new-found fans...:)

Speaking before the racing... giving 29" the thumbs up

My Rapha Festive 500 blog choice of the day goes to the Live Slow Ride Hard Rapha blog. This site has a few cool looking pics taken in the dead of the European winter.

Photo of the day goes to Stefan Rohner (yes the crazy hard-man is also a photographer!)