Bawbags, burns & bothies in Ballater.

Ballater

Ballater is a burgh in Aberdeenshire, Scotland on the River Dee, immediately east of the Cairngorm Mountains. Situated at a height of 213 m in elevation, Ballater is a centre for hikers and known for its spring water, once said to cure scrofula.

Man, Scotland is RAD.

I've just returned from one amazing week in Scotland. The sun was shining the entire week, there were no midgies in sight, the trails were mint, the whiskey tasting was endless and the crew was the best. We were out in Ballater with the Santa Cruz Bicycles boys & girls for the new Solo bike & Women's specific Juliana bike launch & we had such a fun week of everything. I finally got to meet & ride with Andy McKenna & his lovely wife Aneela - been wanting to meet these guys that run the www.go-where.co.uk Scottish guided company for so long now - always drooling over their instagram pics, so this was perfect. I got to experience a little bit of their daily instagram-ed lives & I'll never forget Aneela's amazing laugh! We just had a blast riding with the girls, ripping up the heather clad Scottish hills - cheers Mary -Anne, Aneela & Zea!

I also learnt a whole bunch of new Scottish words, don't think they're all good one's, but here are a few - thanks to Aneela: Bawbags, Burns, Fannybawbags, Fannybaws, bothies, Royal Deeside tweed, man, the list goes on and on...and I had a lesson in Whiskey making, smelling, sniffing, tasting & finally drinking. Turns out I'm not too keen on heavy peat flavored whiskey, made my tongue go all numb & tingly.

As for the first WC of the season - it was insane! Such a great venue, i have forgotten how good this venue was and how amazing all the Scottish fans are. I was bummed that the porridge cart wasn't there, but I did sample some delicious Haggis & tatties (the veggie version) and it was YUM. Our Juliana Bicycles booth got a lot of attention & the gals (and guys) loved the bikes! I got to catch up with some members of Team Dark Cloud, reminiscing about the trials & tribulations of the Trans Provence & I cannot wait to ride with this crew once again in September - Team Dark Cloud strikes again! Great to see & catch up with all the Ball's, and got to eat at one of my favorite restaurants ever - The Ben Nevis Inn.

The trails were sick, the scenery mind blowing, the riding crew - super fun. Cheers to everyone who made this week super special. Visiting new places are the best, riding new tracks are insane, making new friends - priceless (no, this is not a visa add). Now I'm back in Italy, in the Valley of the sun for some more world cup action & trail exploration this weekend.

Thank you to Sven for the stunning shots!

Peace out.

Anka

x

Juliana does Provence.

What better way to get acquainted with your new bike than going away on a little romantic getaway in the mountains. We rode up & down a few mountains, explored faraway trails, we scared each other a little bit, got lost, had our moments, explored villages, drank coffee & in the end we bonded. She's a keeper! Check out some of her mates at  www.julianabicycles.com  & if you're interested in riding in this area be sure to check out  www.trans-provence.com

Cheers

Anka

A wee bit late, but a bit of a catch up on life on the flip side.

It has been freezing cold, snowing & raining outside (has been since we arrived), accompanied by a wind that just cuts right through any wind block jacket. Yes, it is summer in Europe & I’m pining to be back in the New Zealand winter…pretty crazy thought hey, but their daily temps have been blazing warm (a slight exaggeration), compared to the French temps over here.

I just got back to base camp (mom’s house) after guiding a 7 day mountain bike trip, dragging 12 guests up and over some big mountains in Provence, so I’ve been a bit out of touch with the happenings in the rest of the world and internet was pretty non existent in those parts of the mountains, so here is a wee update.

I feel like the past month or more has just been an absolute whirlwind, trying to get our lives in order for being away from home for the next 6 months. Not an easy feat to get everything organized and taken care of while still trying to keep normal jobs, training, learning about & paying US & NZ taxes, immigration, business licenses, safety plans, environmental impact plans, racing licenses and other normal day-to-day activities going. The stresses of getting bikes built up, shipped to different countries, collecting them during layovers, getting used to them at races – all these little things have just added up to be a wee bit overwhelming, but thanks to everyone who helped to make this process of yearly migration to the other side of the world a little bit easier. O, the dilemma’s of living this lifestyle – I wouldn’t change it for anything, but you definitely need the support from a good crew of peeps to pull this off J

The most exciting happening for me this season has got to be the launch of the new Santa Cruz Bicycles Women’s bike lineup; Juliana Bicycles! This is such exciting news for all the female shredders around the world & I feel really proud, excited & very honored to represent this new line as one of their ambassadors. Have a look at the range of new curves on offer. Powerful, Beautiful, Natural

(www.julianabicycles.com).

A huge big thanks to the guys at Santa Cruz Bicycles for getting my beautiful “roarange” colored Juliana frames sent out to Jon Cancellier at SRAM in CO, who then built up my two new steeds for the season, after hours, over his weekend, and in-between traveling, then shipped them to Clay Porter in Ventura, CA who specially drove them down to LAX and dropped them off for us - curbside service during our short layover in Los Angeles. We quickly repacked them into our EVOC bike bags and checked them back in for our continuing flight over to Europe. Phew, we made it.

At home in Nelson we have Jodie taking care of all our admin & making sure we don’t get into trouble with the tax man (again) – Jodie you’re a legend! Derek is our landscape man & Trade me organizer and the rest of the crew will be visiting our cottage on the hill to make sure it is A OK throughout the winter. You guys all ROCK – thank you!

Back in France, we set off in our jam packed trusty old van for Punta Ala in Italy for the first round of the Enduro World Series, well, sort of. The van didn’t quite make it out of the driveway before we realized something major was broken. After a few hours of stressing, renting vans in French, unpacking, repacking & a trip to the local mechanic shop, we set off on the 11-hour drive to Italy.

Punta Ala, Italy was beautiful. Tuscany- by- the- sea. The forests were stunning & wild, growing right down onto the sandy beaches. The red dirt, green rolling hills, cork tree forests and the shimmering turquoise waters made for such a spectacular backdrop and venue for a race. The tracks were amazing, rough, rocky, long & dry – it was everything that I loved and I felt really confident on them. Practice was so RAD. I loved my new Juliana bikes and I felt so ready for this first round. I was ready to race after our first day of practice, but there was still a long week of training ahead of us. Way too much in my opinion and towards the end of the week, I was pretty over it. People were shuttling everywhere, including us, as if you didn’t, you were at a disadvantage, but it didn’t feel like the usual enduro’s. It felt rushed, stressed and destructive to the forest. I felt like we were invading the forest and drowning out the bird song with engine noise and fumes and stressed out drivers wheel spinning in the mud. I understand that this was the Italian way, but this past week was a bit too much. Too much practice, too many people trying to bend the rules towards their advantage, too many people not respecting the spirit of enduro or respecting the rules. Things like hidden food & water in the forests, not wearing required helmets or back plates etc, left me feeling a bit sour. Never the less, no point harping on silly things, just a tad sad that it was actually present.

I started off my race with two massive crashes, trying too hard & not being cautious enough in the slippery conditions. I was bummed, frazzled and sore and my goal was to just get through the day, to finish. I definitely felt the pressure of the whole week prior to the race. I felt the presence of all the big rigs parked everywhere, of all the mechanics milling about, rebuilding and servicing bikes and parts to death. It was serious no matter what anyone says. People were walking around with compression tights and socks and bottles filled with recovery juice. Everyone had names printed on their jerseys with masseuses and support crews scurralling about to support their riders. There were hoards of press & camera’s and flashes everywhere – even on the tracks. Interviews & photo shoots. It was a bit scary to me. It is great for the sport, and the development of the discipline, and I am truly excited about that, but I did miss the low-key vibe just a little bit. During the Trans Provence when you hammer your bike for 7 days, if you get to put chain lube on your bike & manage to have a shower before you pass out in your tent, then you’ve managed to do well.

The level of racing has skyrocketed and it seems like you’ll need to start wearing a heart rate monitor again if you want to be super competitive in this series and ditch the après ride beers & wine. Do I want to go down that route? Not too sure about that just yet. I think it was the French wine & cheese between stages that drew me to these fun events to begin with.  Hopefully some of the riders also had a moment to appreciate the beautiful forests and scenery, to catch up with friends and to sample the local Tuscan wine.

Other than that, it was a magnificent event. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Enrico so happy, and to have a bike race end on the beach is just so rad. The EWS crew did an amazing job to get all of this organized in one off season. Bravo! Cheers to you guys. It was amazing to have so many World Champions in one place and all of them riding together. Pretty epic stuff to have been a part of. Hats off to all the girls who finished this tough day of racing, it was huge.

I cannot wait for the next EWS round; hopefully I got my crashes out of the way for now. Tomorrow I’m off to Scotland for some bike exploring  & adventuring with the Santa Cruz crew, dinner & many pints at my favourite restaurant in the whole world: The Ben Nevis Inn (http://www.ben-nevis-inn.co.uk), and of course to catch some DH action at the first round of the World Cup in Fort William.

Sweet As.

Anka.

Finding art in all the "right" places.

Who says you have to go to the big cities and the snooty galleries to look at art?  

Well we haven’t been near a big city or a snooty gallery for months now, but we have been deep in the mountains on overnight outback rides and finding pretty amazing pieces of "artwork" in the most unlikely of places. Now, these pieces won't sell for thousands of dollars, but they are just a delight to find when you least expect to see them out in the whop- whops. Just another reason why I am utterly and completely head over heels in love with New Zealand’s backcountry huts, and I cannot wait to explore & overnight in many more of these hidden gems next summer.

If you've ridden some of the sick trails out in the Craigieburn area, you might recognize some of these.

The best part about these finds: you don’t get into trouble for taking photo’s of them, so snap on!

Cheers to the artists!

bikes, burgers, beers & a bit of racing in Queenstown.

What a great week of riding bikes, racing, hanging out, full moon yoga in the park, stunning sunrises, warm sunshine, swimming, drinking beers, racing down rude rock, shopping & eating massive Fergburgers while being surrounded by the most spectacular scenery wherever you looked.

First up was the 6-hour enduro Super D race that Rosara Joseph & I teamed up to race together in the super competitive women’s category of teams of two. We were team Trail Fund NZ (www.trailfund.org.nz), and I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.  Not wanting to let down my Olympian XC teamie, I was getting a bit nervous, and even more so after our first lap when it was revealed to me that this was going to be way more of a xc race than anything else and not at all the track we thought it was going to be held on (which was nice and downhilly). Anyway, not having much of a choice, I gave it everything I could and we managed to clock 13 laps over the 6 hours of racing. I was knackered, but it felt great and we took the win! (Hats off to Rosara who almost died the day before after her carbon bars decided to snap while descending at mach speed).

The rest of the week was spent exploring old and new trails, shuttle runs, xc rides, coffee shopping, eating & free full moon yoga in the park with gluten free cupcakes & wine après savasana – thank you Lululemon! (No wonder their sports bra’s cost what they do).

Next up was the Enduro race, which consisted of 4 super fun tracks, two of them were super pedally and 2 of them were proper, fast, flowy enduro tracks which made for a great combination of racing. There were also two pretty long liaison stages in-between and made for an all round super social, fun day of racing. The racing was super tight and that made it very exciting, especially when I ended up with a mechanical during my 3^rd stage. A quick MacGyver fix managed to hold up so I could race the last stage, but in the end, I finished in second place only a few seconds behind the winner. Harriet & I ended up getting the exact same time down the last stage – Zoot’s, with a time of 1:55, which was really close to the top men’s times, so I was very pleased with that. Cheers to Harriet for taking the win & to Rosara for third place. We rocked it.

Of course a week of riding bikes will cause a few casualties - Boyd hit a tree, really, really fast and is nursing a fractured pelvis, Simon has another gimp shoulder for a few weeks after not agreeing with a gap jump, Sven tore his shoulder ligaments and wrote off his new helmet. Healing vibes coming your way!

Exhausted after a pretty jam packed week, it was time to pack up and head back home to Nelson to hopefully catch a few more sunny days up there on the bike before the Winter sets in.

Cheers to Queenstown!

The Old Ghost Road trail comes to life!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/_Fx4Ugdri5Y] In the North West corner of the South Island of New Zealand a ghost is awakening. A long-forgotten gold miners' road is being revived as a tramping and mountain biking track. Connecting the old dray road in the Lyell (Upper Buller Gorge) to the mighty Mokihinui River in the north.  The 80km-long Old Ghost Road will traverse virgin native forest, tussock tops, river flats and forgotten valleys.

We cannot wait to get out to the West Coast & ride these new trails! They look soooo sick! Cannot believe this is in our backyard either, could be the perfect spot to spend Christmas or New Years. Stoked ;)

peace out.

Anka

Trans Provence adventures of Team Dark Cloud aka The Village people.

It has been a pretty busy week since the finish of the most epic Trans Provence adventure last week, I haven’t had one moment to just sit back & reflect upon the many crazy & many memorable events that occurred within those short 7 days, but here goes…

This past week has been an endless project of trying to pack up all our bikes & stuff that we have had here in Europe for the past 5months. Not only do I have to pack up the 5 bikes that we have with us, but I’ve had to scrub & wash each and every one of them, including all the tires, shoes & gear so that they are squeaky clean for the Nazi New Zealand customs inspectors. Trying to get 5 months worth of European Summer mud off of everything is no easy feat, and I am pretty darn over cleaning shit right now. The only good thing about this, is that the bikes & kit will be ready & raring to get riding as soon as we get home. Yes please.

Right then, back to the crazy adventure that is called the Trans Provence.

Well, I didn’t think that this year would be able to top last year, but it did, in epic proportions. It wasn’t harder, in fact, it was easier, as some of the stages were made a bit shorter, but due to some massive storms, bad weather, near death cliff flinging experiences, helicopter rescues, general crashes due to us pushing too hard, navigation issues, bad water & some emotional stuff that we were trying to get to terms with, it made for a pretty amazing 7 days. From the start we naturally split off into smaller groups and that seemed to stick for the duration of the race. We never tried to get home last everyday, or have something crazy & pretty scary happen to us every day, but somehow it did, and our group just kept growing tighter & tighter, to the point where we were sticking together like glue. We ate together, rode together; pee’d together, high fived together, quit jobs together, laughed & cried together. After a series of events that started happening, we named ourselves Team Dark Cloud, as it seemed like wherever we went or whatever we did, shit would hit the fan! Most of the Team Dark Cloud members were friends before the TP, but we became really great friends last week, and it is a crew that I cannot wait to share many more adventures with.

Tired of me ranting on about the crew, it is hard for me not to. Yes it was a race, but it is hard to explain this race to anyone who hasn’t experienced it before. It is hard, really, really hard & it is mentally & physically very challenging. You start off wanting to win, wanting to push as hard as possible, but as you figure it out, you realize that there is so much more to it that just racing & the results. Of course we are all there, because we like to race & we want to do well, but this week just proved to me again, how important it is to have great friends, and how incredibly lucky we are to meet such great, likeminded people on our bikes.

I am really happy about my 2^nd place finish behind Anne Caroline Chausson, and even happier that I was actually able to win the overall on one day. Rosara and I were close all week too, she would put minutes into me on the longer climbing stages and it would take me days before I could make up the time with some of the shorter downhill stages, but in the end I managed to take 2^nd place with Rosara in third, Aimee Dix in 4^th & Hannah Thorne in 5^th (Not bad to have 3 Kiwi girls in the top 5). Apart from the results, it was great to get to know Anne & the other girls better. A few of us have  been to so many races & raced together for so many years, but we’ve never actually hung out. We did at the TP. We drank red wine, chatted about babies & boyfriends & became friends. I’ll never forget my first encounter with ACC. It was my very first Pro race at Sea Otter classic in 2001 & she started behind me #FML! I take my hat off to each and every girl that finished the TP week – it was hard & they should all be super proud of themselves. It was so great to meet some new girls who like to do silly things!

The race between the AM class men was the most exciting, with Sven, Chris Ball, Seb Kemp, Tobias and many others racing against each other as if they were back on the World Cups circuit! It was great to see these friends rotating results every day, and drinking & bantering over the results each night. In the end it was Toby who took the win, with Seb in second place & Joe in third.

Of course the Pro Men’s race was very exciting as usual. With Nicolas Lau taking the win, Nicolas Vouilloz in second & Jerome Clementz in third (not bad for being part of Team Dark Cloud).

What happened to Team Dark Cloud on a daily basis was more exciting than most people experience in a lifetime. Looking back on the week now, puts a huge grin on my face & I cannot help but giggle to myself. Not funny at the time, but we will be sharing these stories for many more years to come, and that is what life is all about to me. We are rich with memories & friends.

Below are just a few of the happenings that occurred during the week:

Jon Cancellier started off the first stage by carcassing down the steepest part of the track, then I was attacked by a stick that almost poked my eye out, but instead just poked a hole in my forehead causing blood to gush out like a drinking fountain. Hannah Barnes was attacked by that same stick, and the two of us looked like we got into a cat fight.

We got caught on the top of a really exposed mountain, during a really, really big, scary thunder, lightning & hailstorm, where we just wanted to get off the mountain. We didn’t even bother with kneepads; it was too cold to feel your hands. At one point I didn’t even know if I was braking or not, I was so frozen. There was no thought of racing, it was absolute survival, and I was hoping & praying during my race run that someone wouldn’t die. During this stage, we got stuck crossing muddy, waist deep flash flooding rivers, which were mere ride able creek crossings for the earlier groups. Jerome crashed & lost his pants during the thunderstorm & put a hole in his penis. Well not his penis, but close! He managed to finish that stage in his extra holey, fishnet Mavic stockings, I mean lycra. What a legend. Jey also managed to recruit an entire Cannondale team after handing out dry t-shirts to all of us for the remainder of the day. Go team Dark Cloud Cannondale – and this was only day 2.

We all got lost, a lot, especially Chris Ball – that man needs a compass, o, and Hannah & Seb also joined in – or were they just the search & rescue team looking for Chris?

Devastated about his navigational error & time loss, Chris decided to take flight off a cliff the next day, into the abyss, in front of us all, on his 10-year anniversary day. I thought he was a gonner & still have visions of his yellow 29er cart wheeling down to the valley floor & for a moment there I had visions of having to call Kate & e-mail her the photo he took for her just minutes earlier.

Sven managed to acquire the nickname of Sven doggie, so of course that stuck as we all thought it to be hilarious (maybe due to all of us being delirious).

A wasp nest decided to attack some of our crewmembers & of course they were allergic. Bad water the previous day, caused us to almost loose Seb & Jon. Thank goodness I had charcoal tablets & rehydration powder to get them through the day. Jon managed to vomit all day long, including during his timed stage races. As if this was not enough, Jon also slipped & fell down a massive cliff, thank goodness we had Paul Smail the fireman to hoist him back out & then to top it all off he hit a tree going full speed 20 meters before we finished for the day. Not a day Jon would like to repeat.

Sven managed to flat, then double flat again along with Seb & Chris also flatting. Smail knocked himself silly one morning & jacked up his shoulder pretty badly.

I can go on and on, but there were too many things to list. I must say the funniest one was when JC was lying in a ditch and all I could see was a talking head when I came down shouting at me not to take this line!

As the week progressed we tried to stick together incase something really bad had to happen, and of course it did. All we had to do was make it to the beach on a relatively short day, but Sven had other plans. Day 7, stage 1 was slippery & wet and he went down hard, or hit a tree hard I should say. A few of the Team Dark Cloud members were still at the top, so we were able to get to him quickly. He was pretty out of hit, hit his face & head pretty hard, and his arm was looking a bit wrong. As Sven would later say after some morphine, “God, who was I riding with, the fucking Village People?” We had Hannah Barnes, a nurse in real life, who just took charge, she was amazing, and then we had Bjorn the doc who supplied all the morphine & Smail the “handle bar mustached fireman, we had Toby & Sam, the logistics brothers & organizers & Jerome the translator. Chris, Jon, Joe & Matti were the moral support & keep the humor going crew. The whole team was amazing. Team Dark Cloud pulled together. Thank you to everyone that helped. We got Sven stabilized & he got heli lifted out of the forest & off to Nice – beating us all to the beach after all.

"Ankie, Ankie, do they know my arm is broken?"

"Joe Barnes took that inside line, and he made it look so easy".

"Can I take my baguette with me to the hospital, I'm so hungry".

"Be careful, I think it's very slippery today"

Sven’s whole incident in that forest last week was very emotional. It ended up being a badly broken arm & concussion, but it brought back so many memories of when he broke his neck & it freaked me out. I couldn’t stop thinking about my good friend Gabby, who had just lost her soul mate a few weeks earlier & seeing Sven lying there, wrapped up in space blankets, I couldn’t even begin to imagine how Gabby must have felt & how amazingly brave she must have been. We had also been riding with the presence of Jaymie Mart, a good friend of ours that left us all too soon – she was laughing at us & all our antics from the back of Chris Balls number plate all week. Matti also broke down when he saw Sven with flashes of all his past injuries coming back to him and just being too overwhelming to deal with. It brought out so many emotions between all of us, things that we have been trying to deal with and get to terms with over the past few weeks, and I personally want to thank each and every one of you for being there with me. I truly feel we have all made progress with whatever demons we’ve been chasing or have been chasing us.

What was supposed to be a relatively short day with a swim in a sunny, hot Mediterranean sea, turned out to be quite a bit different for Team Dark Cloud. After Sven took off for Nice, we all had to carry on racing. Not ideal. I still had 4 races to do, or to hold it together and get to the bloody beach in one piece. Of course due to our delay  - thanks babes- we got caught in another massive storm while everyone else had completed the Trans Provence & were drinking beers & high fiving all around. Team Dark Cloud was back! Jerome took Sven’s timing chip & clocked him in for every stage race. That was so rad. Thanks Jerome. Sven even managed to get a 2^nd place in the Pro class during the one stage! We raced the last two stages in pouring rain, on slippery ass rocks, and we just wanted to be done. Of course it would all be too simple if we actually just finished up. Two stages, big deal. Hannah managed to flat, I managed to have a massive crash, Toby ripped off his rear mech, we were all starving & out of water, then to top it all off, Chris Ball had a massive crash, wrapping his neck around a tree and that had Seb & Jon pile right into him, leaving them all in a big pile up 200meters from the finish of the race. Chris & Seb managed to get up and clock out, but Jon had done his ankle in pretty badly. Paul Smail, the fireman had yet another rescue to tend to, as he had to carry Jon out of there and get him off to the hospital. OMG, we had all sort of all finished the bloody Trans Provence.

We promised to jump into the ocean for Sven, so we had a mission. Come hell or high water, we were going for a swim. We survived; we bonded (especially with Paul’s leopard print speedo). We became great friends. Hopefully nothing else would happen with our crew before the end of the day, as it turns out Toby couldn’t swim – so we all got a bit nervous, and got the hell out of the water! It wasn’t complete with our missing compatriots, but it was a great feeling of accomplishment. So there you have it, another Trans Provence done & dusted. It was time to drink beer & share stories with all the other brave soldiers. Will I be back next year, hell yes, I’ll be back!

Peace out

Anka x

My own Piwakawaka saddle.

I am pretty excited & quite proud to show you my new signature saddle...It is the SDG Women's Allure saddle that just got a fresh, new look for 2013. This has been my first collaboration with a company as far as designing something new goes. I have been one of SDG's sponsored athlete's since way back when when I started racing downhill in 2001, and the Allure saddle has been my choice of saddle for all my adventures ever since they released it. It is truly an amazing saddle, and has been my close companion for thousands of miles over the years, so when Tyler asked me to help them with "updating" it a little bit, I couldn't be more pleased.

So here you have it. Some bright, funky colors, some clean, minimalistic lines, the same comfy construction & saddle with a touch of fun & something that is very dear to my heart since my move to New Zealand - the Piwakawaka, or Fantail bird to keep you company on your next adventure.

Even though it is a woman's specific saddle, I'm hoping some of the lads out there will be brave enough to buy one!

www.sdgusa.com

Peace out

Anka x

URGE helmet ambassador!

I am very proud to be one of the new URGE helmet ambassadors!

It is something that I am very, very excited about, as it is a company that is really close to my heart. I love their helmets, I love what they stand for, and I love that they are eco friendly & conscious about the environment. A company that gives back, in fact they are a 1% for the planet member, and they have a veggie range of helmets made from linen fibre?!? How freaking cool is that?  I love this, and I cannot wait to go on many more adventures, trips & races representing the URGE brand & trying to make a difference by bike!        (Above pic is me on Day 1 of the Trans Provence, and also my first day wearing my new helmet - I had to see if it worked!)

I just completed the very brutal 7 day Trans Provence race with my new Endur-O-matic  helmet, and it was fantastic. It never moved, the visor never dropped forward to cover my eyes during rough, technical descents - and believe me, there were plenty of that during the TP, the straps were comfortable, my riding glasses fit like a glove, it wasn't too hot, it kept me warm during all the storms we encountered and it matched my green Santa Cruz Nomad to a tee! A girl's got to look good on her bike you know!

Anyhow, check out their 2013 line & see what this forward thinking company is all about.

www.urgebike.com

Driven by our roots.

Peace out

Anka x

Float planes, bear spray, wedding bells & Crankworx shenanigans!

We just got back to France after a whirlwind 2-week trip out to Canada for the annual Crankworx festival. This 10-day festival is usually a pretty busy time due to all the events, races & social activities, but this year it was crazier & busier than ever it seemed.

The week kicked off with our dear friends Steph & James’s wedding on top of the mountain, which was beautiful. A magical setting for a wedding, and a first for me, attending a wedding in kneepads, body armor & a smelly riding jersey. Vows were read from the book of Dirt, and sealed with some good old aged whiskey & champagne before all the guests rode down in procession behind the bride & groom with their new matching D3 TLD helmets & her veil blowing in the wind as she hit the jumps all the way down to the valley floor.

The week ahead was filled with commitments. Sven had a ton of events & photo shoots to do, and I had a few days of Ladies clinics & media rides lined up that I was doing for SRAM. We also had a ton of friends that were out to play from Oregon & from New Zealand, so it was great to catch up with everyone, just a pity it all happened at once. Needless to say our food & drinks expenses were astronomically high, as I think Whistler is the most overpriced resort town ever when it comes to food & drinks, I have no idea how people can afford to live there & eat? (and drink loads of wine..).

I ended up racing the Enduro race, which didn’t end up so great for me as I missed my start to the second stage, due to the liaison stages being far too short to reach in time, then on my way to the third stage, I ended up getting lost and not being able to find the start in time. The fourth stage was the only proper enduro stage that started on a new Alpine trail called Top of the World, which was a great trail, but due to me missing a stage, I ended up with a DNS. Apart from the final stage, this race was definitely a Super D race & not what I would consider an enduro race, which is such a pity as this mountain, has such potential to host the most amazing enduro event. Hopefully it will be a bit more enduro style next year, but all in all a good training day out on the bike.

Rebecca Rusch invited me to help out with her SRAM Gold Rusch Ladies rides & clinics that she was hosting, along with Lindsey Voreis, Katie Holden & Lorraine Blancher, which turned out to be a huge success, helping the ladies out there to tackle the Dh & XC terrain. We also had a Ladies Lounge on the top of the SRAM truck for all the ladies to get together, hang out, watch the A line race & of course drink wine in the hot sun in the middle of the day. Isn't that what athlete's are supposed to do? Check out what this Queen of Pain gets up to - she is one BADASS lady & runs an amazing women's program. http://www.rebeccarusch.com/

Of course riding the bike park in Whistler is super fun, but every year I try to ride something new that is outside the bike park, just to get away from the craziness of the festival. These rides usually end up being the highlight of my trip, and yes, this year the out of park trails once again proved to be my favorites. I finally rode Khyber Pass trail, which is the perfect trail bike trail, from the top of the world all the way down to Creekside. Our SRAM media ride was on the Yummy Numby trail & parts of Comfortably Numb, which was another amazing trail, offering a bit of everything & it definitely made you work hard for that after ride beer. Another new one for me was the Golden Boner trail, super fun & I love the name!

As the weekend of the Slopestyle approached, and the crowds got thicker, the brake bumps bigger & the lift lines longer, I decided that it would be a great time to get the hell out of there. They were expecting around 70 000 spectators to show up on Saturday to watch the Slopestyle, and the thought of that was just a bit too much for me. I needed to get away from all the people, the busyness, the parties & the socializing, so Jerome Clementz & I decided that it would be the perfect time to catch a float plane & head into the wild Southern Chilcotin mountains for some sweet singletrack trails & some much needed peace & quiet with the grizzlies. I have been wanting to get on a float plane since our first visit to Canada many, many moons ago, so I was as giddy as a 10 year old going to Disneyland for the first time. In the end it was just 3 of us who ended up going (Jamie missed the plane & Dan was afraid of the grizzly bears). Jerome’s friend Ben came to the rescue with extra sleeping bags, mats & cookers, and so we set off with ghetto packs, bear spray, a big air horn & foam mattresses strapped onto our packs with luggage straps & enough food & beer for 2 days in the wilderness. Now this was the Canadian experience that I have been looking for.

We set off in Ben’s big old Ford truck (or Chevy...), on Saturday morning, as we had a bumpy 3 hour drive on a dirt road to get to the Tyax resort where the float plane was going to pick us up. Our plan was to get dropped off at Warner lake, ride to Spruce Lake to camp and then head back over Windy pass, down into the Eldorado basin & then up the Lick Creek pass to descend the long downhill singletrack (1800m, 17km) back to the Tyax resort on Sunday. The 25min floatplane flight was amazing. A dream come true for me, and something to check off that has been on my to do list for many years now. Unfortunately due to the wind conditions, we were not able to land on the turquoise water of Warner Lake and we had to get dropped of at Spruce Lake. Of course we were a little disappointed, but then again, we have to save something for next time. We got our small two man tent set up (for the three of us), unloaded our food into the bear bins and set off for a late afternoon exploration ride. We were out there, it was wild and you could feel it. Senses were on high alert as you came around every corner expecting to see a grizzly bear & we sang our way through the thick forest sections, just incase our presence came as a surprise to whatever was living out there. The wild flowers were stunning, and the variety of different landscapes & geology was beautiful.

Back at camp we got a fire going, and got all our food out to prepare for our camping feast. Our beers were chilled in the lake while we went riding & we stayed up late eating, drinking and speculating who had won the slopestyle that day & watching the most amazing lightning show in the distance. Of course this storm was heading straight towards us, and as beautiful as it was, we weren’t quite sure how waterproof Ben’s little tent was going to be. Some of us were planning on sleeping outside, but that changed as the storm just kept building and eventually it came crashing down right above our tent. It was a small tent, and the three of us were crammed inside with all our packs to try and stay dry as the rain came pouring down for hours on end. Of course the weather has been hot & perfect for 10 days straight up in Whistler, but Murphy had other ideas for us. We stayed dry for the most part, waking up a bit damp & tired from not being able to sleep. It was so tight in there, if one of us turned, we all had to turn in unison!

Our start to the day was a bit later than expected, but it was great to just relax and enjoy the morning. We had a big day ahead of us, and it was pretty slow going with all the gear, which forced us to do a lot of hike a biking on the technical climbs – good training for the upcoming Trans Provence race. The weather was perfect. Calm, clean & crisp after the storm and it was hard not to stop everywhere to take some shots. Once we got up to Windy Pass, we felt the need for more adventure and so made our way up to the shaley top of Spruce peak. Definitely worth the extra slog, just to find your own lines & make turns down the shale mountain all the way down to and through the Eldorado basin. We had one more pass to climb up to before the final descent back to the lodge. It was all so worth it, as the singletrack back down was pristine. Natural, fast, flowing trail. Nothing better than hitting a trail for the first time, pinned, not knowing what was around the next corner. It was bliss (except for my foam mattress bashing every tree I would lean into, and my pack pushing my helmet over my eyes).

All in all, a great little 2-day adventure away from it all. We got home late Sunday evening, just in time for a sushi dinner with a bunch of friends to catch up on the weekend’s happenings in the park & to start packing up to head back to Europe. It was a great 2 weeks, but I was ready to get back to France for some cheap wine & food. I can’t wait to get back out into those mountains next year, and hopefully Sven will be able to blow off some events to come and experience this beautiful playground with us. Cheers to Jerome & Ben for organizing this awesome ride & for letting me cram into their small little 2 man tent with them!

Next stop: Leogang for the World Champs!

Peace out

Anka x.

Mountain bike al suo meglio! (Mountain biking at its finest - according to google translator)

Cinque, Quattro, tre, due, uno, wai! These were the words that summed up the weekend for me. A countdown in Italian sounds so much nicer than the beeps that you usually hear in a start gate – it had a relaxing feel to it, very calming before you headed out there to attack the track. This weekend I was in the beautiful village of Sauze d’Oulx at the Enduro des Nations race.

Italy sure is a special place. The energy & passion of the Italian people is contagious, and when you mix that with the amazing cappuccinos, great food, wine, spectacular mountain scenery & perfect, natural flowy trails, you get one of the best combinations for a race weekend ever. The whole vibe of this event is electric, thanks to one man in particular, Enrico. His passion for enduro racing & riding is something so rare, and so amazing to be around. You cannot help but feel like you are a superstar at a big formula one race or something. He makes every single athlete feel special and welcome and he knows everyone by name. He gets so taken up and excited about the races and that is how he gets all the local people and the villages excited & involved with this race in particular. Like I have mentioned in the past, we need more Enrico’s out there in this sport!

Today is another perfect, blue-sky day out here in Sauze, and I have just finished up another great weekend of racing. It was the first stage of the Enduro des Nations race, which means that there are teams of 3 from all different countries racing against each other to see which nation is the fastest and then next weekend they will have round 2 in Valloire, France to see who the fastest nation will be.

The tracks out here are amazing, natural, single-track riding at it’s best, with long descents covering all kinds of terrain. Roots, rock, fast, smooth sections, jumps, grass, steeps, the whole lot and with all the people screaming down the trails, it got pretty blown out and beat up by race day. Our bikes & bodies took quite a beating and it felt like we were racing downhill on our little bikes. Of course on Saturday morning the thunder hit and the rains came down by the bucket load, just enough to get everyone worked up into a frenzy before the start, scrambling to put spikes onto our wheels – as one of the rules at the SuperEnduro races is that you have to use the same set of wheels for the entire race, same fork and same frame, so you cannot be prepared, if something like that happens, you have to be able to act quick and change up. Yes, something that I am not so great at, changing tires and then getting them to be tubeless…my morning was frantic to say the least. Thanks to Matt Wragg for helping me with that and also to Jerome & his dad, for all their mechanical help & advise on everything. Jerome really is such an amazing person & racer, always staying calm, smiling & willing to help out even when he has to get ready for his own race. Merci! Well the spike was good for the first stage, and then not so much, but we had to keep running it until we had our allocated lunch break back at the pits where once again, everyone was frantically trying to get their regular tires put back on.

I didn’t have a team, as my situation is not an easy one to fill: South African, American, sort of Kiwi – not so easy to find other girls who will fit that mixed up nationality status…not a problem though, as you are also able to race solo & still get to have an overall ranking or position along with the teams. It was a tough battle between the girls, the level of racing has really improved from last year, and with 23 solo girls entered and 3 girls teams racing, the numbers had increased hugely from last year’s turnout. We battled it out over two days of racing and after so many races we were only seconds apart, which made for some really exciting racing between the women. I ended up winning the overall race, with Morgane Such in second place & my good friend Pauline Diffenthaler in 3rd. The French girls ended up winning the team race with Italy in second and Finland in third. Bravo to all the girls that raced this weekend!

For the men, the competition was super tough as usual, but Jerome Clementz took the overall win, with Nicolas Vouilloz in second and Nicolas Lau in third place. The UK ended up winning the team event with France in second & Italy in third place. Jamie was also out here representing New Zealand, and he killed it as usual. He did get a 1 minute penalty for not leaving the lunch area on time, but there are so many rules and regulations involved with these races, and each event has it’s own set of rules, that it is really easy to make a mistake like this. I almost forget to check in at the checkpoint after my final race, luckily someone reminded me, if not, I would have lost the race. I guess that is how you learn hey?

All in all, a wonderful event, great spirit, great level of racing in the men’s & the women’s fields, amazing terrain and of course way too much pasta, pizza, red wine & gelato! If those things listed above isn’t enough to get you inspired to get a team put together and head out here for next years race, well then, you’re just missing out on a really great event.

The Enduro des Nations will continue next weekend in Valloire, France, where the battle to be the fastest nation will continue, and I think the French are hungry to get their title back in their home country, it will be another exciting weekend of racing between those guys.

For now, I am done racing for a few weeks. These enduro races are full one, you do one event, but during that event that runs over 2 days, you end up doing between 8 – 10 different races on different tracks, so they are full on. I am very happy & relieved with how my enduro season has turned out this year. It has been a tough last few weeks, with back-to-back races and a really high level of racing between the girls. There has been no easy race, no chilling, just full on pinned down every run. My body is so beat up, and I feel the need for some much needed R&R. Time to get back on my xc bike now to train for the upcoming 7 day Trans Provence race in September.

Check out some of the coverage from this weekend:

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Enduro-of-Nations-Round-One-Sauze-DOulx.html

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Enduro-of-Nations-Sauze-DOulx-Saturday-Racing.html

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Enduro-of-Nations-Sauze-DOulx-Sunday-Racing.html

Peace out Anka x.

My two weeks of mass starts & glacier mayhem – welcome to the French Alps!

I have not had time to write about my Mountain of Hell mayhem from last weekend, so I’ll start off with the most recent race that I just completed, the grand daddy of them all – the Megavalanche in Alpe D’Huez… Happy girl on top of the world.

It’s 4:45 am and I am lying in bed, wide-awake waiting for my marimba alarm clock to go off. The stars are still bright out and the white snowy glaciers from across the valley is almost luminous as it shines bright in the morning hours. I am like a giddy kid that can’t sleep anymore and as I lie here looking at another beautiful day unfolding, a big, content smile appears across my face. It is Sunday morning here in Alpes D’Huez and my biggest race of the year is over, I am sort of in one piece and I am a very happy girl on this beautiful day. This morning it is Sven’s turn to get up early and head up to the glacier battlefield to fight his fight from the front row start that he earned in his qualifying race.

The views in Alpe D'Huez never seems to get old. I love single track & flowery meadows.

Loving my Nomad in the dry, rocky terrain under the brilliant blue skies.

Try & spot me on the single track above! Good thing I was wearing some bright Sombrio kit.

Showing some of the boys where the best lines were during practice - lol!

Testing out some faster, straighter lines for race day, this one was pretty fun.

I qualified 5^th on Friday, which was a tough battle in itself, as the line up this year was absolutely stacked – definitely the most competitive women’s field I have ever raced against. All four girls that finished ahead of me had rainbow stripes! The track was so beat up as we went down last so it had seen some 2000 men come screaming down the mountain before it was our turn. I was really happy with the qualifier but knew that race day was going to be a whole other ball game and that the target was definately on my back.

Happy girl (with a dirty face) getting in the mini bubble lift after qualifying in 5th place behind 4 World Champions!

On race day, I ended up in 3^rd place behind super legends Anne Caroline Chausson & Tracy Moseley. It was an absolute battle from the start, with really sketchy glacier conditions, you had the choice of starting on jagged rock, snow, ice blocks or a little bit of everything. I opted for as much rock as possible, as I am not that comfortable on the ice. The glacier was getting soft and we knew we had our work cut out for us – we were getting our running legs ready, and boy o boy, did we have to run, the entire bottom section of the glacier was too soft to ride, so we went running. Of course the whole experience was completely surreal, an outer body experience like no other, you just go through the motions and do what you have to do. Survival, and in this case slow motion running & bumbling through the snow. Under normal race circumstances you would usually be red lining towards the end of the glacier, mostly due to the adrenalin rush from the mass start and the whole bike on the glacier part, but yesterday was even worse. The level of fatigue that I felt after running the glacier was insane, and then you had to actually start racing. So many things happened in that hour, so many almosts, so many crashes, so much fighting in my head, so many decisions, line choices, pushing, pushing, pushing, cramping legs, spitting & snotting into your helmet, arm pump & elation all wrapped together in one measly hour of the day. It is unreal that you can feel and go through so many emotions in one hour!  I am still trying to process all the occurrences that happened during that torture hour yesterday, but for the most part they were great memories. Friends & spectators were cheering us on so hard on the climbs and I was just feeding of their energy. After what felt like an eternal battle, it was a sprint to the finish line with 2 other girls and I ended up in 3^rd place. Hats off to fellow Kiwi Rosara, a top pro xc racer for finishing 4^th in her first ever attempt at this craziness. I think she’s hooked now J

Hanging out & trying not to get too nervous on the glacier with two of my very dear friends, Sabbo & T-Mo. Good times.

Ready to get this show on the road - hanging out on the glacier for 3 hours before the start is very nerve racking & cold!

Glacier riding with my good friend from Nelson, NZ - Jamie

Heading down the glacier on race day, trying to keep my bike upright.

Once I crossed that line, I just started crying, I had so many emotions that I worked through during this race and then finishing & realizing that I had reached my goal was pretty overwhelming. I know this sounds like something you only write when you win a race, but to me this was winning a race. I had finished behind two cycling legends, and I was really happy. This race has been on my mind and irritating me for the past year, after qualifying 2^nd last year and then flatting in my race run, I had to come back to face my demons and now I have conquered them. Thank God, because I couldn’t deal with another year of stressing & worrying about this race.

Standing on the podium with Anne Caroline & Tracy is something that I will never forget & is probably the most special result of my cycling career.

How many times do you do these kinds of races? For some it is something that you check off on your bucket list, or just finish, for others it is something you keep doing until you are completely satisfied with your performance and results. I am very satisfied with my result – it only took 5 tries to get there, but I got there, so now I can stop chasing this demon and keep coming back to this addictive race if I wish to or not, but whatever happens in the future, I know that I got a solid result here with some of the fastest ladies in the world and that will keep bringing a smile to my face for a very long time to come – Like Jerome said to me after the race “you earned your brakes, Anka” - Cheers Jey!

Mountain of Hell Mayhem!!!

Let’s rewind a bit and go back to last weekend though, it feels like a lifetime away, but it was only last Sunday morning that we were huddling up at the top of another glacier just across the valley from here at Les 2 Alps, where we were getting ready to race the Mountain of Hell. It was snowing at the top with a whopping temperature of -9 Degrees Celsius! Nice summer weather out here in Europe. The best way to describe this race is a smaller, more disorganized, more French (if that is possible), less rules, mass start race where 700 people – including the women start together on one fast, straight, crazy glacier where all you can do is hold on for dear life and hope to god that your bikes speed wobbles don’t turn into high siding flingers.

Shaly rocks & steep ass shoots is what the Mtn of Hell was all about.

Another beautiful Sunday morning on top of a glacier. Happy to have qualified 3rd to get a 7th row start amongst the men.

I qualified 3^rd for this race & ended up in 4^th place which I was very happy about. It was Anne Caro’s first shot at this race, and of course she took the win, but said that it was the craziest race that she had ever raced. Second & third place went to the French junior girls, Morgane & Isabeau - little pinners they are and really fun to race & battle with. It is great to see a whole new young generation of girls on the Enduro scene and I am sure that this discipline of racing will attract many more girls and women in the future. It is hard for the women to have a fair race at this event, because so much of it depends on how many men you get stuck behind and it just becomes a mass of people waiting in line to ride the trails. The women get spread out between all the men, depending on how you qualified, so you never really know where the other girls are to gauge how you are doing. Of course most of the guys go balls to walls on the glacier, so it was probably the scariest thing that I have ever been involved in, with guys flailing, flying and hauling past you at mach speeds and then piling up in every turn.

I am really happy that I was able to survive these two races. They were my two big races this year where I really wanted to do well, and I am really happy with how these two weeks in the big mountains turned out. I am feeling these two weeks in every part of my body, I am bruised & battered & scabby, but happy – I think I’ll give my bikini a skip for a few more days as I may get some strange looks from the skinny, model type girls on the glitzy beaches and they may want to lock Sven up for abuse…

Next weekend is the Enduro of Nations race in Sauze d’Oulx, which is such a great event and I look forward to carving some turns through their beautiful, green meadows and to not see a glacier for a while. Then back on the xc bike for some serious training for my personal favorite event or "gathering" of the 7 day Trans Provence race in September. www.trans-provence.com

I could not have done these events without the help of Jon Cancellier & Todd from SRAM, they were so amazing and made sure my bike was in tip top shape everyday and took care of all the stresses that go along with putting your bike through this kind of abuse day after day. Of course Sven helped me to get through all his crazy lines, sort of and he is just the most amazing partner ever ;) Jerome Clementz & Pauline for all your help – cheering squad, masseuse provider, French translators, van fixers – the lot – it is really nice to have some good friends in a foreign country where English is not really spoken so much.

Jon, Sven & I with the SRAM support van - THANK YOU for everything!!!!!

Now it is time to head up to the hill climb and cheer Sven and the other lads on to push that little bit harder! (Obviously this post is a day late, so the men's race has happened & it was an absolute nightmare of a start for the front row men - Sven included. The guys were forced to start on a massive ice block and there was just one massive pile up right out of the start. It was absolute chaos, with loads of injuries and crashes. Sven was lying in 6th place, made it past the crash, only to get mowed down by someone slamming into his back and taking him out. He struggled to get going again, because the guy that slammed into him somehow managed to get his entire seat stuck between Sven's spokes and the only way to get it out was to man brute the spokes apart. Poor guy. Even after all this carnage, Sven finished in 53 place after the horrible start and a bruised as hell body - not to mention his concussion from earlier in the week. I am so proud of him & I think that is a brilliant result. Well done to all the guys that had to charge off onto that ice slab.

So happy that we made it through the week in one piece - sort of. Time for some much needed R&R. Thanks for all the amazing photo's Sven!!!

Peace out

Anka

x

My long overdue European summer adventures update.

It has been another whirlwind summer over here in Europe, I can’t believe we have been here for 2 months already and have 3 more months to go before we get to go back to our much missed cottage in the woods of Nelson, NZ.

Sven has been off working nonstop at the various World Cup races, and I have been guiding guests from all over the world through the beautiful, big mountains of Provence (I know, hard to imagine that in Provence, but the mountains there are big, dramatic and out there, with not much lavender fields around).  I have been helping Ash from Trans Provence with guiding these 7day trips and it has been magical. Hard work, but very rewarding to experience and share this adventure with other like-minded people.  The trips would start near Gap and end roughly 300km later on the glitzy & glamorous, Ferrari & bikini clad beaches of Monaco. During one of the weeks all of our guests were from Czech, so communication was not easy, but we managed to figure it out, and it just proved to us that bikes and trails didn’t need a common language. We all experienced the same amazing feeling of shredding down unknown trails in the middle of nowhere. It was SUPER as the guys would express after every run. Perfect. It is amazing how well you get to know complete strangers over the span of 7 days, and it was usually quite sad when it was time to say good- bye at the Nice airport.  Just one more reason why I LOVE to ride bikes, the amazing and varied group of people you end up meeting from all different walks of life.

You can get a look into one of our guided weeks that one of the guests made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4beoLvhHXpM&list=UUBkmDU3X741TrmFpmcNVFMQ&index=1&feature=plcp

Apart from guiding, it was time to do some Enduro racing here in France. Enduro racing in France has been around forever and it is a hugely popular discipline with up to 400 entrants at most events – that is a huge amount of crazy fast Frenchies. First on the schedule was the first round of the French Enduro series in Samoens. These races are intense, you do between 8 – 10 races over the 2 days, and all the tracks are blind. Yes, you have no idea what you’re sprinting off into, but that is what makes it such a great event. You have to wear full body armor, fullface helmets & kneepads, and you don’t see any lycra anywhere. Don’t get me wrong, they are extremely physical, meaning you definitely have to be fit and strong and be able to ride uphill, but it is more downhill oriented, and you need to know how to ride technical, fast downhill tracks to do well here. The girls are fast. The field is big and the racing is close, with only seconds between people after two full days of racing. I ended up in 5^th place at this first round, which I was very happy with. Conditions were very tricky with the sun shining, but the woods wet & slimy from weeks of rain.  We sported full DH spikes on the front all weekend, which took a while to get used to again, and made the climbs feel even harder. Overall it was a great weekend and the fact that I had some friends from the UK & NZ over there made it even better.

The next race was the second round of the French Enduro series, this time at Val d’Allos and it was to be a special 10 year anniversary weekend where we were going to be descending 10 000 meters over the 2 days of racing. That meant 10 races over 2 days, with the races being between 10 – 25minutes each. It is more like marathon downhill racing, as there is no time to relax in between races, or to work on your bike, it is just go time the whole time. It is unreal how knackered you feel after doing a weekend like this. Again, all the races are blind, and you have no idea where you are trying to go to as fast as possible, so you are mentally pretty drained from trying to navigate the whole time. After this marathon event, I ended up in 6^th place, missing the 5^th spot by 10 seconds - so close after so many races, but that is how it goes. There are so many things that can happen and that does happen during 10 races – it is pretty impossible to have 10 perfect races, the riders all really respect each other and the level of the racing.  Again it was fun to have Tracy Moseley & James out there and my friend Jamie from NZ to hang & ride with.

At this very moment I am sitting in the media center in Les 2 Alpes, getting ready to head up to the glacier this afternoon to go and practice my bike snow sledding maneuvers. We have been out here since Monday, as this is the first year that they have turned the Mountain of Hell race into a weeklong Crankworx festival – a “sister” event to the popular Crankworx Canada.  The riding out here has been amazing. This place has big mountains, big views and a lot of descending. My bike has been getting all the love and much deserved attention from the SRAM guys after months of riding and abusing, so my beloved bike is happy yet again. Thanks guys!

Yesterday, I spent the morning with my crazy Italian friends photographer Matteo & and Lukka, the editor, shooting for their magazine 365 - it was so fun, they even got me onto some north shore stunts which I usually avoid like the plague – look forward to seeing the article when it comes out.

This weekend I have the Mountain of Hell race, similar to the Mega Avalanche race, but I guess I would explain it as a smaller, more disorganized event where no one really knows what is going on and nobody speaks English. It makes for a very exciting weekend of racing. We have a qualifying race on Saturday and then we have the actual race on Sunday where there is one mass start from the top of the glacier on a completely separate track – with all the men, so organized chaos I guess would be a good explanation for this event. What makes it even more exciting is that you never get to practice the main glacier start section or the last section to the finish line – as that is a highly illegal hiking trail that is always shut to bikers and only open on this day of the race. Nice. Of course you head into these events with all kinds of expectations and plans of doing well, but there are so many variables and things that can go haywire during these mass start events, that you really just have to go with an open mind and try to have fun with it. Ride the best that you can ride and hope that you won’t get taken out by some flailing weapons all around you.

If I survive this race on Sunday, we head across the valley for another week of riding and racing at Alpe d’Huez for the famous Mega Avalanche. The absolute grand-daddy of endurance racing. Last year I qualified 2^nd behind Anne Caroline and was lying in 2^nd during the main race, when I flatted, so I guess I have some unfinished business there which I’d like to finish off.

After these two crazy races I head over to Italy to defend my Enduro des Nations title which I won last year at the amazing resort of Alpi in Sauze d’ Oulx, then we head to Canada for the Crankworx festival & a wedding down Blue velvet – yes, a wedding train! Then back to Europe for more races & some training, then the grand finale race – the 7-day Trans Provence race in September, which I am soooo looking forward to.

This season I have been a very lucky girl to be sponsored by Sombrio clothing, and I have been absolutely loving their threads. They have hooked me up with such nice riding kits and the casual clothing is to die for too. It is such a nice feeling to be rocking a great brand and to be representing Sombrio in Europe.

Also, be sure to buy the latest issue of Dirt Magazine – The Adventure Issue, and also the new Spoke Magazine and have a wee look at the feature article that I wrote in there about riding the Heaphy Track in New Zealand, and how to tackle this 3 day overnight trip – Racks, Packs & Six Packs.

I am in the process of updating my blog, so check it out and have a look at the guided mountain bike trips & adventures that Sven & I will be offering out on the other side of the world, in stunning Nelson, New Zealand and join us for some sick riding. http://housemartin.wordpress.com/

To find out more about the Enduro Racing in France, see some of the links below and get your butts out here to experience raw racing & magnificent riding.

Mountain of Hell race report to follow next!

Peace out

Anka x

www.tribesport.com

www.avalanchecup.com

www.sombriocartel.com

www.les2alpes.com

www.transprovence.com

www.sram.com

www.worldbicyclerelief.org

The Queen Charlotte Track - not just for your rental bike tourists.

Not wanting to do a solo 12h drive down South by myself to head down to Queenstown for all the bike festivities going on down there this past weekend, I decided to do something new that I still haven't done as a newbie here. I am still very much a tourist in my own new hometown, and absolutely loving it. I was ready for a solo mission. No rushing, no stressing, no waiting or chasing. Just me, myself & I to worry about and my bike. I decided to ignore all the local banter about how incredibly shitty the Queen Charlotte track is, and headed out there to find out for myself just how shit this track could possibly be. My friends let me tell you, it was quite possibly, the MOST scenic, spectacular 2 day ride that I have EVER done on my bicycle - and that says quite a lot. All the elements decided to work together to create the most spectacular day, and that doesn't happen too often out here with the NZ-5-different-seasons-in-one-day-weather (but, you know, Nelson is the sunniest place in NZ - that one is for you Jerome), but last weekend it was magnificent.

This is how it works to ride this trail - which in itself makes it very exciting & special, as you cannot do this anywhere else.

You catch a water taxi from Picton and they drop you off at Ship's Cove - the start of the trail & Captain Cooke's favorite hideaway spot. This takes about an hour to get there, as the taxi stops at various other little bays and inlets to drop off newspapers, food, people, mail and your luggage. Yes, they drop your bag off wherever you are staying for that evening so you don't have to slog your stuff along with you (RAD).

Once dropped off at Ship's Cove, you then start the ride - 71km which you can choose to do in one day or take as long as you'd like with various options along the way to camp, stay in luxury or at backpackers. The start had a pretty steep climb to begin with, but in untouched forest with magnificent trees and views over the sounds. I opted to do the ride over 2 days, so I could check everything out, take photo's and just enjoy the moment. Thank goodness I opted for this, because with views like these, I stopped  A LOT.

The ride was just super fun, some rocks & wet, rooty sections, wet clay dirt, no trampers, no other cyclists, I had this amazing track all to myself, and you could let it rip. I had a massive perma grin plastered on my face all day. I kept moving along at quite a steady pace, and it still took me about 4h30min to get to Portage and the Debretts backpackers where I was staying for the night. It was not as easy as everyone makes it out to be, quite a bit of climbing - 52km later with about 1500m in climbing. A definite monster of a day for your average rent-a-bike type tourist biker.

Of course DeBrett's backpackers was on the top of the hill, so another climb up to a lovely house overlooking the Pelorus Sounds. There was a note on the door stating that they've gone to the beach, but to go inside and make myself welcome. So I went inside and found my backpack waiting for me in my room - now that to me was just amazing. Not too many places in the world that you can still do that. I guess I found my room. The great thing about staying at a backpackers, is that you can splurge on dinner & drinks, and that is just what I did at the Pelorus resort hotel. Dinner, wine, my book & the last sunset before daylight savings time kicked in - which sort of means the end of Summer...

After about 10 hours of sleep, I woke up bright and early to a very calm, very clouded in morning, beautiful in a completely different way again. I headed out and upwards for the next hour or so, with really steep switchbacks and hills to climb, until I got right above the clouds. It was magical. Once again, there was no one else around, and I had this scenery all to myself. The joys of only being allowed to mtb on this track during the off season. Perfect.

The vegetation changed quite a bit, and you could see farmland and Picton in the distance, meaning that the trail was coming to the end. There were some really wicked downhills, more magnificent views and sort of a sad feeling that it was nearing the end. The last 20km went by way too quickly, and before I knew it I was in the little sleepy town of Anakiwa - where the QC track ends. It was rather busy with a triathlon going on, kayakers paddling about, a bus load of older Americans from a cruise ship took up the entire town and they kept getting in all the triathlete racers' way, clogging up the transition area to take photo's and it was all just a bit too chaotic to end with. I wanted to be back on the trail, far away from everyone, but the trail has ended and I had to wait for my water taxi ride back to Picton, which was one more cherry on top to finish off a wonderful weekend of riding. Six and a half hours of total riding, 71km and a fair bit of climbing - about 2100m was a good weekend of riding in my books. For all you local QC track haters, do yourself a favor and actually go and ride the trail - I guarantee you'll like it :)

Once you arrive at Picton, you just pick up your bag again - that is so cool. After a quick lunch & mandatory flat white, I hit the road back to Nelson. A quick hour and a half trip through beautiful vineyards and farmlands and endless mountain ranges with endless possibilities - so much potential out here on our doorstep, in our backyard. My mind is racing, working over time to make plans & plot adventures out here. I am inspired again, I want to show people these trails, I want to share what I get to experience on my bike. Could this be the beginning of a new exciting venture...

Peace out & thanks to my bike for being such a great model to work with. Never complaining or whining.

Anka x.

Better late than never!

Sooooo, this will be my first blog post back since last year after the Trans Provence, which feels like a lifetime ago with so many changes & happenings since then, I don't even know where to begin, so I thought I'd do a bit of a brief summary of what I have been up to over the past few months.

The most exciting new happening & most time consuming occurrence was our move to Nelson, New Zealand! We've been dreaming of living out here since our first visit in 2006 for the World Champs, and we finally made that dream come true, and we LOVE it out here. Best decision ever made, and so happy to live in the mountains with the ocean on our doorstep again, with the most insane riding ever. Nelson ROCKS!

We were fortunate enough to arrive in Nelson smack bam in the middle of a 100 year flood - never seen or experienced rain like that before and we were worried that Nelson was going to slip away into the ocean before we even got a chance to live here. I guess it couldn't get any worse than that, so it was good to witness the worst and hope that it won't happen again for the next 100 years.

We had some good friends visit us in NZ - perfect timing for them to arrive for their summer vacation during these lovely rains. Jerome Clementz & Pauline Dieffenthaler toured their way around NZ in a campervan and Jon Cancellier also escaped the CO snow to visit us during the torrential downpours. Nelson was unrideable, so we all headed down South to Queenstown to get some riding done & did our first of many more to come Heli drops.

We moved into an "off the grid", eco, rental house out in Wakapuaka, about 10 min out of Nelson, with the most spectacular views out over the ocean and the hills. We have never, ever lived in such an amazing spot, and it will be a hard one to match someday. We are fully self sufficient, solar, rain water & a worm farm toilet system, which is just a nice way of putting that you shit into a bucket and the worms process it for you into worm tea, which you then in turn water your garden with and get massive sized apples - just kidding about the apples (not the bucket)!

We bought a taxi! Well it's a van, but it looks just like a taxi!

We've done heaps of riding out here, all new trails of course, all gnarly as hell, but o, so fun. They have some amazing trail builders here, dedicated to create some seriously amazing trails to a huge bike community. All these new trails have led me to some serious crashing too, just new, unknown trails, new conditions and locals that rip, that push you to go harder & faster and then it smacks you down hard when you least expect it, but that is all part of figuring out a whole new trail network system and trying to keep up with the locals.

Nothing like getting to a country that is right in the middle of their summer racing season, with everyone at their peak fitness and then trying to race against them when you don't feel so, em, peak, just quite yet. Nothing better than to jump right in and get started though. Our first event was the Super D National champs, where I got 2nd behind Harriet Harper - the machine, that was followed up by the Downhill National Champs the following day on a super fun, but pretty long, gnarly DH track where I ended up in 3rd place - which I was super happy about since I haven't had much DH time lately. A few weeks later we did the famous Coppermine Classic race, a grueling 40km xc race out here in Nelson, a must do if you live here. I underestimated the 40km a wee bit, and didn't go into it quite prepared like I would say going into a Cape Epic stage, but I learnt my lesson. It took me about 3h20min to complete, but I cramped all the way down the entire DH section where I was supposed to make up all my time! Well that didn't happen as I kept having to stop, and try to straighten my legs etc...o well, now I know, that my body always needs salt tablets to prevent cramping. I ended up 5th in my age group along with the other xc bandits, so I was happy with that. Sven killed it out there, so proud of him.

I have witnessed countless incredible sunrises & sunsets - the most spectacular shows that I have ever seen.

I have seen & discovered the most amazing birds, the flittering fantails, the giant sized Kereru pigeons, NZ King fishers, Black Swan's, Hawk's, the inquisitive Weka's, the list goes on and on. Still have not seen a bloody kiwi bird though....

I got my first ever mountain bike cover on SPOKE magazine! A great photo from the URGE invitational race in Cabo Verde.

We did the craziest, all day, epic, heli-drop, hike-a-bike ride, adventure ever with a great group of friends with many tales to tell...good one's and not such great one's.

The Sprig & Fern has become a Wednesday ritual with ginger ale beer & fish & chips. YUM

Finding a vinyasa yoga studio has proven to be quite a challenge. I ended up getting sucked into buying a month membership at a hot yoga studio and have never sweated so much in my life, hating every moment of it, with no possibility of enjoying my beloved savasana in my own pool of sweat. Thank god that month ended. Still searching for my Mandala yoga community out here...

We've seen many friends out here, Dane from Easton, the Coastal Crew, Nico V, Cesar R....pretty cool to meet up with friends from the other side of the world.

I was put on the actual SRAM athlete "BLACKBOX" program for this season for enduro racing - what a privilege & an honor to be racing for them. I cannot wait to get this season started.

My sister finally got to come out and visit me - I've been waiting for her visit for the past 12 years, so this was a really special time & treat for both of us. Eating, drinking & being complete tourists around town. She fell in love with Nelson, so I have a feeling that she won't wait another 12 years before she returns.

The Sombrio Cartel has become one of my new sponsors for this season - YAH!!!! I have loved their clothing for forever, and I cannot wait to start rocking their kit.

Two Orca pods spotted right in front of our house.

Sven is still in South Africa working the Cape Epic & I am sad not to be there racing this year. i always love the challenge of that race, it prepares me mentally for the upcoming season.

Lots of hiking in the most amazing native bush with gigantic sized tree's everywhere. Amazing to learn about all these new plants & tree's.

Sven has been killing it with his work, traveling about a lot, getting loads of covers and writing articles. His season started months ago and he has been pinned ever since, and won't stop for a little while until October sometime.

For now, there is a lovely, crisp chill in the air and with it comes the most spectacular, crisp, beautiful, calm days - perfect for riding and trying to build up those vital base miles for the season. The ocean is brilliant blue as it stretches out in front of me and the hills are getting more vibrant green by the day - if that is even possible. The season's are changing. The daylight savings time is changing here this weekend, a sign of Winter approoaching and a sign for us to follow the swallows and to get ready for our next stage - our European summer and a life of living in our beloved vanie, chasing races, events and a never ending summer - well European Summer anyways!

I am pretty sad to leave this little paradise, but also so very happy to finally have found our little paradise. A place that we can call home, that we LOVE & that we look forward to coming back to at the end of every crazy season. Cheers to new beginnings and to dreams that can really come true if you believe in them - it is up to you to make them happen!

Peace out.

Anka x.

Trans Provence & good-bye's.

This will most likely be the hardest blog post to write about all year, because I just don’t know how to put this event – more like an adventure down into words. How do you explain to people what you experienced over 7 days out in the wild countryside of Provence on your mountain bike along with 50 other nutters, racing down super sketchy foot paths with extremely exposed cliffs on either side. Sounds pretty strange that you could be out in the wild, and in the middle of nowhere in Provence of all places, even I was super surprised at how rugged, dramatic, stunning and completely remote this part of France was. It was mind-blowingly beautiful. We rode through and up and over massive mountains, rugged and barren like high altitude Colorado mountains, then through green lush rolling hills, then through Alpine meadows and every now and then we’d end or start a stage in some small gorgeous, medieval village, usually built into and on top of a rock outcropping with old, and I mean ancient ruins and equally old men & women sitting on the benches overlooking and contemplating the world and wondering what the hell we were up to. We even rode on moonscape terrain, completely surreal and it looked like a grey version of Utah. Provence? Was I in the right department? I thought Provence just had pretty (but boring) lavender fields and picture perfect houses you’d see in Architectural Digest & Elle Décor….boy, was I wrong, and very pleasantly surprised.

And so we pedaled our bikes, and carried our bikes. Up, up and over. Over and over, day in and day out. I don’t think many of us expected this event to be as physically demanding as it turned out to be. I think everyone just read 26 timed DH stages and signed up – forgetting to read the fine print as usual, the 10 000+ meters of climbing, 7 days & almost 400km sort of didn’t stick in my memory, but I could still feel the effects of the climbs & hike a bikes a week later, walking the streets of Paris with my mom. And this was just the Liaisons in-between the timed stages, then you still had to do between 3-4 races per day, and they were not just pedal out of the gate and roll down the hill downhill type racing. O no. We had our work cut out for us during these downhill stages, and they were hard. We had to climb, run, push, hike, pedal, hang on, navigate (which was the biggest challenge for me – trying to go as fast as possible, but to go as fast as possible on the right trail), and then to make sure that you didn’t have one of the World Champions’ coming up behind you and getting in their way. O, yes, and you had to try and nurse your bike through 7 days of really rough, rocky, bike eating terrain to actually finish this event.

The mileage went by pretty slowly, but the days were amazing. I don’t think that I have ever done an event like this, and I don’t think that it will ever be the same again. Like I said before, I don’t really know how to put my experiences down into words. I’ve had some time to reflect upon everything in the complete opposite environment and world to where we rode – in Paris, and all I could think about was how thankful I am that I was able to experience such an adventure with so many amazing people and that I have been so lucky that my life has been so enriched and fulfilled by the simple pleasure of riding my bike in the mountains. Never will most of these city dwellers ever experience what we all went through.

The riding was spectacular in every sense. It was rough and very challenging and I take my hat off to every single one of you that finished this pretty crazy event. It was so great to see some of the top elite cyclists suffering and asking about chamois butter and what the hell to do with it, and wrenching & helping others wrench on their bikes with headlamps every night. Spare parts were getting handed around and shared like a bags of candy. Classic memories.

The food was unreal and the crew was just amazing. Where else do you get specially cooked vegetarian & gourmet food like paella, mussels, giant prawns and a delicious different gourmet fancy type of soup every night? The massage team actually knew how to massage and not just rub oil around your body, and the shuttle drivers were more like rally car drivers than shuttle drivers – the shuttles up to the top was quite exhilarating. This event was quite the logistical feat, and hats off to everyone involved and all their always smiling faces – when they all wanted to ride their bikes, but instead worked their assess off for us to ride our bikes.

Anyhow, I can go on and on, but until you actually just go and ride this race, and experience it for yourself, the words don’t really mean much. Sven killed it winning a few stages, and ending in 3^rd overall after a terrible first day of running and just experiencing a complete shock to the system – not too shabby for someone that managed to get 2 rides in total before this race. I ended up getting 2^nd place behind Tracy Moseley, which I was super happy about. I did actually end up winning one stage, which felt pretty great, but T-Mo knows how to ride that little Trek of hers pretty damn fast, down some pretty damn gnarly trails, and I was honored to be able to experience another amazing adventure with her and ride bikes in cool places. There were 8 women in total, and they all kicked ass – it was really great to see these girls pushing themselves to their limits and having fun while doing it. Never complaining, almost always smiling and returning day after day covered in more bruises.

Cheers to Trans Provence and the masterminds behind a true mountain biking event!

Right now I am sitting on a jet plane listening to Ali Farka Toure heading back to the US (or to our storage unit & friends couches) after spending the past 6 months in Europe – mostly France. I am sad. I have grown to love France and it feels like home to me. It is familiar. We have made & met some great people, we had amazing quality family time, drank boat loads of champagne & red wine and had very rainy trips in our trusty van and my French has actually progressed past the menu food ordering phase, and now I feel like I am leaving home…au revoir noisettes, and hello giant sized 2 pump, skinny, no caffeine, sprinkles on top starbucks coffee jugs.

Always hard to say good- bye to family, but we have our next adventure to start plotting & planning in the Southern hemisphere, a summer to go and catch and a storage unit to empty out.

Peace out

Anka x

bikes are a girls best friend

I have finally been able to ride my new bike this week, and it has been AMAZING!!!!!! She is a beautiful brand new Santa Cruz Blur TRc, and she is an absolute beaut and oh so sexy with her matte black body and green accents colors....mmmmm, who ever said that diamonds were a girls best friend. I don't think so.

We got her built up in Annecy - thanks to our good friend Terry Chanethomvong - the GT mechanic for sick Mick Hannah, and he also owns a company called Unik Suspensions. It is hard to find a bike shop out here in the countryside that is capable of doing a good custom build, and we all know that building up a custom bike is never easy and never straight forward, so thanks to Terry and all his patience with the non- mechanically minded Martin family we got her built up and running like a dream.

This baby is packed up in the van and ready to hit the road tomorrow, as we head out to the Trans Provence, a 7 day stage race from Gap in Provence to the beaches of Monte Carlo. But wait, it gets BETTER...you only get timed on all the downhills!!!!! We are still climbing A LOT every day, but we can take our time, and then we have between 5/6 timed downhill sections each day, and the fastest guy wins. This is soooo exciting, and I cannot wait to get this event started on Sunday 25th September. I'm even more excited to be racing my new bike and to show her what kind of life she is in for.

Here is a quick rundown of our 7 day adventure in a nutshell: 7 days, 26 timed stages, 320 km, 9500 metres vertical ascent, 15200 metres vertical descent... and most importantly: more sweet singletrack than you can shake a stick at!

I cannot think of a better way to end off the crazy season, and what better way to celebrate than to go on a 7 day adventure, with your bike & your babe (Sven) in a tent starting in the mountains of Provence and finishing up with a jump into the ocean, o yes, and sharing that with all your mates - priceless.

Thank you to everyone that made this possible. You all know who you are. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!

Peace out

Anka x.

You can follow us at the Trans Provence, and check out the daily updates here:

www.trans-provence.com

Check out all the tech specs and stuff boys are usually more interested in (I usually just like to look at all the colors) at: http://www.santacruzmtb.com/blurtr_carbon

A huge shout out to SRAM for getting this bike rolling :) www.SRAM.com

Also check out more about UNIK suspensions here:  http://www.unik-suspension.com

cheers to the new SRAM truck!

The beautiful new SRAM truck had a warm welcome to the world cup circus and what a great event to choose as it's virgin pilgrimage - the World Championships in Champery, Switzerland. May you have a wonderful truck life filled with loads & loads of miles, races, nespresso, beer & Boxxer world championships.

Cheers!

Anka x.

good times. summer. finally.

So the summer finally decided to show it's face this year, I mean it's only September and due to start snowing again in some places in October! It was time to hit the road again in our trusty van for the last leg of the season. We had the final world cup to go to in Val di Sole, Italy (thank God), then a week of well deserved  holiday time & riding with friends in Lake Garda, Italy (where the sun always seems to shine) & then off to the World Champs in Champery, Switzerland (where it will most likely rain on us for the entire event).

We decided to go to Val di Sole via Provence and the French Riviera - not out of the way at all, but summer was finally here and we wanted to go for a swim in the sea. August is crazy vacation month in France, so driving around and trying to find a spot in the ocean wasn't that easy, but we squeezed our way (white bodies and all) through the beaches, restaurants and shops all along the beautiful beaches & coves of Cannes, Nice & Monaco. After a few days of maddening crowds and shiny, vessels, it was time to head back to the hills to visit our friend Fabien Barel, and to push on to the mountains and stunning vertile apple valleys of Val di Sole.

It was the first world cup of the year where it didn't rain, and it was wonderful. It was hot and we couldn't complain. Great for living in the van, because we could go and swim (shower) in the river everyday, and the sunshine just brought a great feel to the event. I had a great week of exploring the little villages and the beautiful Dolomite mountains (and helping Sven with a bit of his work). I just wanted this race to be over, because I knew we had a full week of chill time ahead of us in beautiful Lake Garda - our favorite place to go, with absolutely insane trail riding and camping on the lake - it really is the highlight of our European summers. There are a few of us who have made this a yearly tradition, we have the most ghetto campsite, filled with bikes & lilo's, but we spend our days riding bikes, swimming and eating copious amounts of pizza, pasta, wine, beer and of course gelato. This year the crew consisted of Victor Lucas, Chris Ball, Oliver Munnik & Jon Cancellier - all of us either sleeping in our van's or in Chris's case, on the mighty Challenger - his inflatable row boat that he bought.

The summer was here in full swing, with a heat wave that hit the lake, we were having temperatures in the 40's every single day, so we opted for more shuttling than climbing. The place has the best trail riding, and we still haven't even scratched the surface. It is Nomad heaven, but it beats up your bikes and bodies like none other (that is where the lake & all the lemoncillo comes in handy).

We rode, we swam, we drank, we Via Ferrata'd up a canyon (I got really scared & started crying), we hired scooters and rode around very old villages, ate some more, swam some more, shopped a little, lost an i-phone, worked a little, rode some more, ate gelato a lot and actually rested & had a summer holiday for the first time this year. It was bliss, and none of us wanted to pack up our lilo's to head back into the gloomy mountains of Switzerland...It was time to leave, and it was the end of August, which meant all the holiday makers also had to leave, summer was officially over, and i felt really sad that that was that. That was my summer. Over. Back to real life and Sven working all day long, every day, till the wee hours of the morning. I was just getting used to this. LOL!

Champery was spectacular. The mountains are absolutely spectacularly fucking beautiful. They are so dramatic, massive and overwhelming. You feel so small, looking up all around you, as far as you can see, they surround you. The colors, the textures, dimensions and depth of these mountains really do touch you. The riding out here on the other hand, is not the most exciting, they love their very steep fire road climbs & fire road descents, but they are very scenic, and well worth the slog. I didn't mind the slog up & down fire roads after having a week of insane trail riding in Garda anyways, and I was just trying to get some miles under my belt for the upcoming 7 day stage race, the Trans Provence that we are racing at the end of this month, so it was perfect.

The rain held off all week, of course waiting for the main racing days to come down, and I mean come down. The DH track was insane on Sunday, it was absolute survival out there. Danny Hart's run - unbelievable. No other words to describe what he did on a bike in those conditions. Hat's off to all the other racers, that was one hell of a hard day at the office - including the press. Sven's camera's all packed up and died as soon as the racing finished - a perfect end to another amazing, crazy season on the road. We did have one more thing to take care of though, the shaving of Gary's beard that he had started to grow at the first World cup of the year and now it was time to get that thing off his face!

2011 World cup season done. Thank goodness. Another hectic few months done, another set of waterproofs that aren't waterproof anymore, thousands of dollars of camera equipment that is either broken or needs some serious attention, a very tired, overworked, but relieved husband. Now the hard work really starts for Sven, to get everything edited and out to his clients. Hats of to you babes - you are amazing!

We do have one more very exciting adventure ahead of us, the Trans Provence 7 day stage race, where we start in Gap and race over 7 days to finish on the beach in Monaco. The best part of it all is, that they only time all the downhills and they have between 4/5 timed downhills per stage! Time to get Sven on the bike and riding, he only has Nicolas Vouilloz, Fabien Barel & Jerome Clementz to beat! I on the other hand cannot wait to have another great adventure with my good friend Tracy Moseley who will also be racing this event.

Check it out here & follow us on our adventure http://www.trans-provence.com/

That's it for now. Time to chill with the family in Vernassal & to enjoy the slower pace of this tiny village.

Peace out.

Anka

x

enduro des nations race, Sauze D’Oulx, Italy

This post is WAY overdue, but  I've been too busy riding my bike in the sunshine (finally) to sit down in front of the computer, better late than never, so here goes: I needed to get away, I needed fresh air to clear my head, and I needed to go and ride my bike, to have a fun weekend surrounded by beautiful mountains and villages, so I headed out to Sauze D’Oulx in a completely jam- packed little Fiat Panda rental on another solo mission to participate in the Enduro Trophy of Nations race. Needless to say, I couldn’t muster up a South African team, nor an American team, so I decided to compete in the solo category and represent myself.

The last few weeks of life have been pretty hectic, with everything happening at once: moving, flying back & forth, driving, life, work, immigration and so on – absolutely everything except riding bikes, so I haven’t really had much time in the saddle since the MegAvalanche - I was a tad bit nervous of what my fitness level would be like for the actual racing part, but as long as I was out there having fun and riding my bike, I’d be happy (a little sunshine wouldn’t hurt either).

I wanted to approach this race with a very casual attitude. I didn’t want to take it too seriously. I tend to do that if I really want to do well, and I get too caught up with trying to do everything the right way like at the Mega, and then it all just goes to shit when you experience a mechanical and you end up beating yourself up for weeks on end about an event that was really just supposed to be fun in the first place. So, for this race, I just wanted to go and ride my bike like I knew how to ride my bike. I didn’t want to get there too early, I didn’t want to practice too much, and I didn’t want to be too prepared. I managed to achieve all of the above goals, and ended up being just a bit underprepared when it came to how this SuperEnduro format of racing actually works.

The Super Enduro racing format requires that you pedal back up to the start of every race run. At this particular venue, we took a chair lift to a midway station, and then we had to climb roughly 400m back up to the top of the start gate, which was still a hell of a climb after every race.  The race would descend roughly 3800m and 38km on Saturday and about 1900m and 20km on Sunday.

The first obvious rule that I wasn’t aware of was the fact that you had to wear a helmet at all times. If caught without a helmet, you would be disqualified and they had marshals checking for that on the climbs up. So that explained my confusion of seeing everyone practicing with their full-face helmets and carrying their xc lids in their hydration packs.  I thought it was just some Italian way of doing things. Needless to say, I had to do all the climbing with my full- face helmet and as you can imagine, it was rather hot and claustrophobic.

The second rule that I was unaware of was that you were not allowed to swap out wheel sets, and our wheels were marked with stickers to make sure that no one switches out their wheels to suit different tracks, or to have some spikes ready for when the heavens opened up. (Good thing I wasn’t prepared for this race – usually I would have mounted some spikes on my other wheelset – ready to go).

The third rule that I was unaware of was the fact that you only had a certain amount of time to get back to the top. This meant that there was no time to catch your breath after a race run. You would literally sprint through the finish line, pop up your hydrolic seatpost and start pedaling back up the hill to get to the top in time for your next timed race run. You couldn’t have a leisurely, recovery ride, you had to really pedal hard to get back up there in time. I saw people get up to the top and roll right into their race run with no time to spare or even put on goggles. The top men were struggling to get back up there in time to catch their breath.

We all had a specific time when we had to go and physically check in down in the village square. Everyone had two check inn times throughout the day and this would be the only time that we would get a few minutes to grab some food and tend to any mechanicals. Once checked in, the whole routine would start over again, until the end of the day when we all raced and completed 5 races.

Besides all these rules, which all make perfect sense once you are aware of them, the trails were amazing. I cannot even begin to describe how beautiful the trail network of Sauze D’Oulx is. It is the perfect trail network for enduro type bikes. It is fast, flowy, long and technical and requires some fitness, but you’re not going to get some 29er riding, xc dude winning this enduro race. Loamy hero dirt cut into what looks like perfectly green mowed lawn and grass – I mean it is so perfect and so pretty. It doesn’t look real. I for one am used to pine forests with pine needles on the ground, not manicured, soft green grasses. The trail crew had marked the entirety of every single racetrack from top to bottom with tape – their main goal to prevent any kind of course cutting or cheating. It was unreal. They used over 1000 wooden pickets and about 40km of tape to mark out all the racetracks (Once again I favored from this amazing tape job– being underprepared and only getting there late on Friday afternoon, I didn’t get to practice all the tracks, but they were so well marked, there was no way of ever getting lost).

Thank God we were all given a massive sticker printout that we had to stick on our top tubes with all our times for everything.  Our race times, check in times, lift times – it was quite a logistical nightmare in my eyes, but the SuperEnduro crew pulled it off absolutely flawless. I never started a race run even 1 second later than what my sticker time was. Unbelievable timing and coordination, I have never experienced such perfection at any event ever before.  We had 5 different races on Saturday on 3 different tracks of which 2 of them were very short, and the other 3 were pretty long 15+ minutes long. On Sunday we had 2 races on 2 different tracks and then the grand finale of the mass start in the afternoon.  Saturday ended up being a perfect day for racing, dry all day with the rain barely holding off, but making the climbs in my full -face helmet a bit more bearable. Of course we woke up to pouring rain on Sunday morning and I had to replace my precious morning coffee time with putting or rather trying to put full spikes onto my wheels (nothing new this summer). We were in for a long, wet, slippery day of racing, but once out on the hill, it was so much fun – well everyone with spikes were having fun, the others, not so much.

I ended up winning the Women’s race after 7 tough, but super fun races, and I was stoked. I did what I wanted to do this weekend, and that was to have fun on my bike and to ride like I knew how to ride. No expectations, no pressure, no seriousness. It was the most enjoyable enduro race that I have ever raced. I think it has to do with the warm, passionate personalities of the amazing Italian people and organizers.  Even though there was zero communication between us, I was welcomed, embraced and included into the Italian community for the weekend. A wonderful weekend, shared with an amazing group of people that are passionate about bikes, trails, their culture, food (lots of it) and enduro racing.

There was one last rule that I didn’t know about. When you go onto the podium at a SuperEnduro race, you get to take your bike up with you and park it on the stage for everyone to check out. Unfortunately mine was in a million little pieces (to fit into the smallest rental car in the world – the Fiat Panda) and parked down at the hotel, so unfortunately my bike missed out on it’s first bike podium.

Thanks to Enrico & the SuperEnduro crew for putting on an amazing event - the best enduro race that I have ever done - I can't wait to race more of these! Huge big thanks also goes out to SRAM and all their support - especially to Simon & Julian who was always there to help, and of course to the Le' Assiette restaurant for feeding us like kings & queens every evening.

Loads of posts to follow soon - Val di Sole, Italy, sunshine & shreddage in Lago di Garda & World Champs in Champery, Switzerland.

Peace out

Anka x