Scuffers, Burners & good folk, it's not just about the shorts. NZO Active.

It’s funny how things work out sometimes, but then again it was probably meant to be…

On my very first visit to New Zealand in 2006 for the DH World Champs in Rotorua, I bought a bike T-shirt from a very “home grown” type vendor/stall. This doesn’t happen often, as I’ve never been a real fan of most of the bike apparel out there. This was different, the designs were clever, it was fresh and fun and funnily enough, I still own this T-shirt.

Fast forward a few years on and we find ourselves living in New Zealand (a dream come true) and on a road trip to the North Island to the bike mecca of Rotorua. Ever since I had bought one of Nzo’s T-shirts back in 2006, this company has intrigued me and I wanted to learn more about the people behind this brand. To me, it’s about the people, their products, how they run their business and what they give back to the community. When you’re new to a country, you feel this immense sense of pride and this loyalty to promote it and everything that it has to offer and I was on a mission to live & breathe everything kiwi, but I digress… Once in Rotorua, I stopped off at the bike shop to buy my first pair of Nzo shorts. It was love at first fit and I’ve never looked back since. I wanted to represent this kiwi company and have them along for all my adventures, journeys and races. A quick call to introduce myself & say hello to Gary Sullivan or Gaz as he is so well known and Glen, and they insisted I head over to Mount Ngongotaha for a cup of tea and a tour of their home workshop where they have been selling their shorts straight to the customers from their barn. Perfect.

I’m not too sure how many of you in the bike industry knows this, but in my previous life, I submerged myself in the fashion industry. I studied in Los Angeles, sewed, screen printed, bought, merchandised, designed, the whole lot, so clothing is in my blood and a passion of mine that has been put aside for many years to make room for bikes. To be able to visit a company like Nzo, who runs everything from their house, was a dream come true & something that I aspire to one day. After meeting the dynamic duo of Gary & Glen, I was even more excited about these shorts and everything else. They were the coolest couple, making the coolest shorts and they just got on board as one of my new sponsors.

Heading into the 2014 season, the Scuffers were my shorts of choice, combined with one of their many funky T-shirts and raglans, Gary also printed up some custom Kowai designs (along with other sponsors logos) for me onto merino raglans, so I had sweet “race” kits too. With this combo, I suffered through all the Enduro World Series races, survived the grueling Andes Pacifico race in Chile, the Trans Provence multiday stage race, loads of filming & photo trips, product and bike launches, clinics, adventures, missions, wet as a dog conditions, slipping, sliding, snow, crashing & burning and of course lazy days just lounging. I was covered, literally, for anything.

It was a no brainer that I wasn’t going to let go of these guys (or my shorts) with the formation of the Juliana SRAM pro team going into the 2015 season. I was pretty adamant that my kiwi Scuffers, my new kiwi identity was coming along for the ride, and of course my team mates; Sarah Leishman, Kelli Emmet & Juliana brand manager Katie Zaffke was just as excited to get a pair fitted to their derrieres to find out what my raving has been all about.

I don’t think there are too many companies, never mind “smaller” companies out there that will do what these guys have done for our team. The timing was impeccable, as they were just getting ready to launch their new ultra lightweight Burner trail shorts and Gary & Glen offered to match our shorts with our three different colored race jerseys. We now had red, purple and green to choose from, to match our jerseys. We could pick whatever color we were in the mood to wear on that given day and we could all rock a different color on different days to mix it all up and keep our new women’s team looking fresh and funky out on the tracks. Something different & unique to what everyone else is doing & wearing.

Besides their amazing shorts, they write up a fabulous blog, support endless events, are heavily involved in the biking community, participate in races, festivals and all the fun stuff that goes along with bikes. Every few months they release a funny new T-shirt that pops up on their site and they have also collaborated with the good people over at Ride Central in Rotorua for those of you who are more visually inclined. It is one freaking cool bikers destination store.

I don’t plan to change my shorts anytime soon, they’re stuck with me for many more adventures & races to come, and they’re made so darn well, that they will last for many more years to come. Trust me ladies, these shorts are keepers!

I’m getting ready to put my Scuffers to their biggest test yet, spending the Month of March 2016 in these shorts, pedaling 3000km from the tiptop of NZ to the very bottom along with the main man Gaz himself in the Tour Aotearoa.

Cheers to Nzo Active, Gaz & Glen for all your support.

www.nzoactive.co.nz

Italian tornado's, cappuccino's & siesta days - welcome to Italy & the final EWS round.

Back to back EWS races have always been taxing, as you wrap up racing late Sunday afternoon, there is no time to just kick back, it’s usually a mad scramble to clean up and pack up – especially after the Spanish round; I had more mud & grit in my kit than you’ll find in an Egyptian backpackers. Double laundry sessions is what I busied myself with post race to get ready for a 10-hour drive to get to the final round of the series in Finale Ligure, Italy. The final race of the season! Whooohoooo!

This was the third time that we’ve wrapped up our season in Finale, but this year was to be a bit different. The weather gods had other plans for this usually calm little seaside village. Of course upon arrival on Tuesday, the sun was out, it was warm, it was what we had come to expect from this laid-back beach town, which usually gives us our last little taste of “summer”. The forecast for the week had loads of weather warnings, including rain, thunder, high winds, flashfloods and even a tornado warning! It was hard to believe as we sat lazing in the sun sipping cappuccino after cappuccino. With an event of this scale, the organizers need to make decisions ahead of time, to ensure safety, so at registration we were informed that our two-day practice was now going to be one day due to this front that was approaching us. This meant one hell of a big day on the bike to get through all of the six racetracks, with not much time to do any repeats.

We were all in the same boat (literally) with no stage riding on Friday, so it was straight into the race weekend and I felt pretty poorly prepared for some reason. I felt like I was just going through the motions, checking off the stages one by one, and wanting to get through the weekend. It was a combination of just being knackered from the previous weekend where we had a hell of a week – 8 hours of liaison & race time over the weekend and my race fire was flailing. Sadly, stage 1, my favorite stage ended up being cancelled due to possible flashfloods in the canyon & we were going to start the day with probably the most physical, pedaly, uphill stage that I’ve ever raced in any enduro race. Not ideal, but it ended up being my best stage after all. I had a very steady, average day on the bike, never really finding my flow, motivation, power or my speed, but it seemed like I wasn’t the only one. The general feeling amongst riders was very, what is the word, blah. I think we were all tired and ready for a break. In the end Finale got away quite lucky, with this tornado just barely affecting us, but lashing out on nearby Monaco and surrounding Cote d’Azur towns leaving a trail of devastation and a death toll of 17 people. A bike race becomes pretty insignificant after such sad news.

I always look for the positive in most situations, but I feel that the trails chosen for this round was not a great representation of what Finale has to offer and what it has become so famous for. The stoke level just wasn’t there and I wasn't alone in this feeling. I hope that for next year we can return to some of the classic Finale trails and that a little bit more effort can go into doing some trail maintenance before the race with a little less busy road riding during the liaisons. Sunday we pedaled for almost fifty kilometers, climbing almost 1500m, which I'm ok with and ready for but it would be nice to be rewarded with a bit more timed DH racing compared to the amount of in-stage pedaling we had on just two stages.  Other than that, Finale is just a magical place and the perfect host town to give everyone a great send off. I’ve stocked up on my gluten for the next 6 months and eaten my body weight in Gelato’s. I love Italy; it’s food, people, culture and passion and always look forward to getting back here for some sunshine and a re-charge between races.

Of course I would have loved to crack the top 10 again this season, but nonetheless, I’m very happy to have kept my 12th place overall amongst a boatload full of very fast, very talented ladies. The future of women’s enduro racing looks bright, and that makes me a very happy girl.

“This season we had eight rounds in eight countries, two continents, three islands in two hemisphere’s – the World Enduro Series really does take us around the world, which is why I keep finding myself in the start gate each year. We’ve raced on roots, mud, dust, loam, wood, snow, ice and in rivers, so it was very fitting to end on the beach in Finale, to wash it all away in the Med while eating gelato’s. Phew, I’m exhausted!”

Thank you to everyone (you all know who you are), for all your support this summer and for all the laughs, suffering, sweating, scary, fun, sad, tired, exciting and wonderful moments & memories. You guys are the reason that I keep racing & coming back for more year after year. It was a great first year of being part of the Juliana SRAM Pro team, and I’m looking forward to many more adventures with Sarah, Kelli & the rest of the crazy crew that lives this crazy, but amazing life.

Time to pack up everything here in France and make my way back home to New Zealand for a very jam-packed, exciting, adventure filled "off-season" on my bike.

Ciao bella,

Anka x

As normal as it's gonna get. Round #6 Whistler B.C.

This year I headed straight up to BC after the EWS in Colorado finished up. It is the longest period of time that I've ever spent over in Whistler. It was great. It was long enough to settle into a daily routine, a little glimpse into a normal life, a reminder of my life back in NZ and a reminder of how much I look forward to getting back home in a few weeks.

Hannah Barnes & I rented a little condo, out of the village, in close proximity to the grocery store, yoga studio, lost lake, the green mustache and of course Mt Currie coffee shop. Bliss. We cooked in for most meals and all dinners, bought a 1 month yoga pass and abused it - definitely got our money's worth there, going every single day and dragging our fellow mtb temporary residents along with us. We drank white wine while watching chic flicks, went on a paddle board date night with Seb Kemp, Tara & their dog (without knowing), Sunday market, xc rides, early morning, mid day, apres ride and evening swims in the lake. We spent copious amounts of money at the green moustache - Buddah bowls & $8 smoothies was just a daily occurrence. You become numb to the prices after a while and just give in to spending heaps. Of course we had shopping days too and yes, of course - the reason we were here in the first place was round #6 of the EWS tour. We had an enduro race to race. I knew it would be a big one, but just how big was still a distant memory, and for now we were just savoring our new normal routine life - something you don't quite come across living out of a bag on the road.

I was super excited about all the new tracks, all the hard work that went into creating these new, secret tracks and reviving old, tired tracks. Practice was super fun. We just went for a pedal and rode new tracks. They were hard, technical, challenging, scary, but fun and definitely a good challenge. To access most of them, we had quite a pedal, and finding that balance between riding them enough to race and riding too much to be knackered come race day is always hard to find. I opted to ride all the stages once, except for the last one as that was easy to access by chair lift. Due to their very technical nature, I would have liked to ride them more, as they were more like dh tracks where you really had to have all your lines dialed or else. In the end, I didn't, and just got on with it.

I don't feel like harping on things in the past, so I won't say much, but I will say that I wish we had more time and that the day wasn't so rushed. There has been a lot of complaining, and I feel that if we just had some more time, all of those complaints could have been avoided. We're all up for big days out, not opposed to pedaling or riding technical tracks. It was just a combination of short liaison times, in really high temperatures that didn't really offer anyone to recover and compose themselves for more than 10min before dropping into a pretty full on stage. Maybe 2 days would have been better? Or one less stage, to avoid that rushed, stressed out feeling for the entire day? Running stage 4 earlier in the day before we were all toast? Who knows, but I do know that I loved the stages during practice and didn't mind the climbs, but when I had to do all of the above under such a rushed environment, in that heat, it didn't really make for a very enjoyable day.

Anyhow, I still had a blast - its Whistler how can you not? I went back after the race and rode those tracks, they were amazing - amazingly scary! They challenged me, I conquered some obstacles, felt like I progressed my riding, discovered new trails. I may not have got the result I was hoping for, but I made all my liaison stages (with not much time to spare), I rode some scary shit, nailed some lines, completely messed up most of them, fumbled, stumbled, bonded, cried, laughed and survived a pretty tough day on the bike. Hats off to all the girls that raced this one & survived. My poor bike feels completely clapped out after 3 weeks of Whistler schralping, but nothing a little TLC can't fix.

And that was all just in the 2 weeks leading up to Crankworx…the actual festival week is a complete mind f@$k consisting of people, places, schedules, parties, badges, buttons, lanyards, passes, stamps, booze etc.

just some of my highlights:

• Going on a scavenger hunt in Lost Lake with Seb Kemp & the kids that he coaches - remarkable future generation - it restored my faith in the next generation. (and being taught how to ride a teeter totter by a 7 year old).

• Stand Up Paddle boarding & watching Seb get ejected off his board by his dog. (Not sure i'm keen to make SUP a hobby of mine).

• SRAM Women's riding clinics that Rebecca Rusch organizes every year & coaching with so many other inspirational women.

• yoga (some great, some not so great - "say hello to your cells" WTF?).

• Filming for Juliana Bicycles with Seb, Dan & Andy from the Union Production Co.

• Sven's new Bike Magazine cover

• Gary Perkin Photo shoots with fellow Juliana teamies Katrina Strand & Kathy Pruitt (& the Santa Cruz boys).

• Seeing the SRAM videos for the first time on the big screen that we filmed months ago in NZ with my buddy Sarah Leishman, Ross Measures & the MindSpark Cinema Production company. SO Sick.

• Fishing with Joe Parkin in the gondola.

http://www.bikemag.com/videos/video-fishing-joe-crankworx-ep-2-featuring-sven-anka-martin/#.U_Q48ZJwRTI.email

• IKAM magazine.

• Mama & baby bear encounter with Gabby Molloy. HA ha ha!

• The SRAM pop up shop was mind blowing - INSANE! LOVE #theguidetogettinglost

• Pemberton Tacos! SUSHI.

• Meeting new peeps & catching up with old one's - making current plans & planning for future adventures.

It was time to leave today. My bank account is probably in over draft, I'm too scared to check. I'm yearning for the old world and a slower pace of life. I'm looking forward to cheaper food, small espresso's, red wine & quiet time. Time to reflect on the crazy season that its turned out to be and to digest it all, process everything and then decide what I'd like to do with it. I feel the need to press my reset button, to slow down and get ready for the absolute highlight of my year and season - the Trans Provence.

Thank you & cheers to every single person that made the North American leg so much fun - you all know who you are. Till we meet again in a few weeks for pizza, gelato & more wine of course ;)

Peace out,
Anka

ROUBION BIKE LAUNCH: 44°05′37″N 7°03′04″E

I’ve been to a few press camps and bike/product launches over the last few years, and they’re all usually pretty amazing. You get to go to some exotic (for the most part) bike destination, get put up in a nice (usually) hotel, get fed local food and the beer & wine usually flows freely – and don’t forget the cool bike swag (we’re all still the same kids at heart asking for stickers but only in grown up bodies). The one constant has been the fact that I’d usually be the only woman attending these launches – for the most part. So, yes, they are great, but it’s also not that easy to always be the odd one out. This was just how it was, a very male dominant industry and if you wanted to be a part of it that was or is the norm.

It was time for my yearly nomadic stint to Europe for racing, riding, adventuring & promoting Juliana Bicycles and my first stop on this 6 month stint away from home was the beloved village of Roubion. A tiny French 12^th-century village perched atop rocky outcrops, tucked away deep in the heart of the Alpes –Maritimes in Southeastern France. This area has a very special place in my heart. It is the main character of so many great memories shared with so many great friends and of course mind-blowing mountain bike tracks that just keep going from one mountain top to the next, meandering through old villages. These trails feel like home away from home.

So let me give you some background details as to the reason I was heading back there this time around. I fell in love with this area during the first Trans Provence race that I did back in 2011, and have raced it every year since then. I loved it so much that I also started guiding a few of the Trans Provence trips when it didn’t conflict with any other races or events and every time I return to this area, I just fall back in love with it, so it was a no brainer for me to head to these mountains to test my very first Juliana Bicycle when the Juliana Bicycles brand was launched at the beginning of 2013. I was given a Santa Cruz Bronson (or as I called it my small Johnson, or Bruliana) painted up as a Juliana to race, ride, adventure and put the feelers out there throughout the 2013 season and I chose my first guided trip of the season to put this bike to the test. After a week of schralping up and over the French mountains, I was convinced that this bike was the shizzle. It was amazing. It climbed with ease, descended like a mini downhill bike, handled well, just an all round perfect trail bike and I have never felt so good on a bike, ever and I knew that this bike had to be included in the line-up for other women to ride. Later that year I managed to take the Trans Provence win on this bike – one of the highlights in my cycling career, as that race to me is what mountain biking is all about. It’s long, hard, raw, blind; technical and you have to navigate your way down the mountain to try not to get too lost. It’s a proper adventure.

Fast-forward a year and a bit and I was heading back to my beloved village of Roubion, but this time for the launch of the actual Roubion bike that was now included in the Juliana Bicycles line-up. YES! The name Roubion, named after one of my favourite days during the stage race. Pretty exciting stuff if you ask me. I was heading out to the backcountry of France to shred some of my favourite trails on a bike launch with 10 other likeminded women. A first ever in such a male dominated bike industry, and I was feeling very excited and extremely proud.

We all met up in St Martin de Vesubie, where we got to know each other, catch up with old friends and share our common passion of riding bikes and exploring new destinations and trails. We had such a great gathering of women from the bike industry, all of us having worked hard to find our place in this industry and sticking to it. We had Nicole Formosa from Bike Magazine, Aoife Glass from Total Women’s Cycling, Janet Coulson from MBR, Faye Sanders from Bike Radar & Red Bull Bike, Berne Broudy, Sofie Schneider from Velo Tout Terrain, Carla Caballero, Mary Moncorge from Pinkbike and then Kathy Pruitt (Juliana’s demo bike queen), to help get all the women set up on their bikes properly, Katie Zaffke – the Juliana brand manager, Julia Hobson our guide and fellow Juliana ambassador, myself, Ash Smith – the main man behind Trans Provence and Sven Martin & Gary Perkin behind the lens capturing all the shenanigans. Our plan was to ride parts of the Trans Provence race starting where we would usually start day 3 of the race, and make our way to Roubion, and then ride in and around that area, finishing off at the bike park that they opened up just for us (cheers Ash!). It was lovely to get a little tour of the village, to learn about some of the history and to be welcomed by the Mayor, who was pretty stoked to see that some bike company in the US named their bike after their little village. We rode and rode some more, challenged ourselves, taught, helped, guided, informed, laughed, charaded (not an actual word, I know), crashed (that would be me) and ate and drank our way throughout the 3 day camp. Of course it wouldn’t be a proper Trans Provence experience without some torrential downpours, some hail and a landslide blocking off the pass. Building bonds, forming new friendships, riding bikes, sharing experiences and clogging our arteries with copious amounts of cheese. This is what biking is all about.

Everyone was super excited about this launch, as this was a first for all of us and a great indication of the commitment and direction of companies and where they were heading. They have invested and committed to a woman’s line of bikes and they were doing it properly. They were helping us to create our own separate identity and supporting us. It’s been a long time coming, but man, to see it actually come to life is a good sign of great things to come. Women have been waiting for this for a very long time indeed.

The Roubion will officially be released on June 1 – so stay tuned for more details about the bike and how and what it will be specced with and when you can expect them to start shipping to your house. Ladies, I suggest you sell that current bike of yours and make room for this beauty in your bedroom. She’s a keeper for sure.

Thank you to everyone who made this happen and for those helping to promote, grow and support the women out there who ride, live & breathe bikes. Time to heal up for a few weeks for me know, so I can get back out there on my bike.

Check out some other written pieces about the Roubion launch with lots more to come:

http://www.bikemag.com/gear/preview-santa-cruzs-juliana-brand-launches-6-inch-womens-bike/

http://www.bikemag.com/interviews/profile-anka-martin/

 Peace out,

Anka