It's been a dry start to the winter down in Dunedin so the bike tracks with good drainage are still providing good riding. However, the perma-mud has set in on some trails and will likely spread over the next month or so.

My current rear tire is a Geax Aka 2.2 which is extrememly poor in the mud/wet. Anyone got any tips on an effective rear tire that will enjoy the mud, stick well to moist roots during climbs, and stay put on the corners.

Mountain bike designs are largely variations on a theme but this one looks interesting.

They use a Shimano Alphine as a centrally mounted gearbox, this has the maintence advantages of hub gears but doesn't put so much weight toward the rear wheel as the usual rear hub placement.

The central mount means reduced pedal bob because the chain goes straight up not back to the rear wheel.

well thats what they are claiming, but both those claims certainly make sense and it'd be interesting to take one for a spin...

Heres a video, bike description is at 1m:00s.

Scrapertown from California is a place. on Vimeo.

Wellington has a long way to go...

http://www.streetfilms.org/ciclovia/

Interesting article about the chief financial officer of Giant Manufacturing, the world’s biggest bicycle maker, aka “the godmother of bicycles”.

"By and large, the world thinks of bikes as an exercise in machismo on wheels, from muddy mountain bikers to lycra-clad road cyclists or commuters taking their chances with the lorries and taxis that seem to claim ownership of the roads. Ms Tu has other ideas"

The bike in the image is a Giant Suede, ideal for riding on the next frocks on bikes ride. While I would not be caught dead one one I'm greatly in favour of the diversification of bikes so that theres a model for everone.

Mike has already posted the plot of the race, but what I was looking for before I did the Huka was a write up on what to expect. So here is mine.

Day two, hot but good fun.

Today we did:

Hot-x-buns, dragon tail, te ara puna, frontal lobotomy, huckelberry hound, little red riding huck/corners, bunny jugs 1 & 2, dragon tail, end of be rude not to, lion trail, soak hole, grinder, mad if you don't.

Out of the tracks we haven't done before we thought soak hole was shit and a bit of a make work track, Dragons tail and te ara puna were pretty good and we enjoyed the corridor yesterday. The hucks and hot-x were great again.

Callum if you look at the photo Mike is in the air so it fits the criteria, it's from near the end of Hot-x bun. We had a bit of a fail because we wanted todo Tuhoto Ariki and No Brains via Split enz but it was just too much of a mission and doing three big hill climbs followed by a long jungle track was too much.

Off to do Whirinaki tomorrow.

Good day riding Rotorua day 1. Took Campbell along.

Did:

A-Trail, The Tickler, Sidewinder, Lentil link, frontal lobotomy, Bily T, Split Enz, pondy, rollercoaster, chop suey, Spring roll, sweet-n-sour, b rude not to, mad if you dont, Tahi, Creek track, piglett, pig track, the corridor, turkish delight, the grinder, the dipper, tahi.

Can't say any more because Mike wants to go riding, back to Wakarewarewa today and out to Whirinaki Tomorrow.