Re:
Well I've been offline for a while, internet where I'm staying has died, something to do with the new house being built next door! I think they chomped through a cable or few!
Anyway I'm having an off the bike day today, I'm sat in a pub in Island bay, blagging WiFi!! I did just pay $30 for a burger and chips and pint though so I'm gonna blag WiFi for a while!! And I may have another pint, bugger, it's a hard life here.
So since my last post, I have been hitting the trails pretty hard, borrowed a car and drove up to Rotarua for Crankworx, which was epic! For those that don't know Crankworx is a week of enduro, downhill and slopestyle racing etc, it travels around the world but this is the first time its been in the southern hemisphere. I got a 3 day pass and also hit the trails in the area, if you ever get the chance to ride here then do it, its awesome. I rode the first day with Ben and Tom from the shop I work in, they are pretty handy riders and I struggle to keep up with them downhill, but uphill I have been ahead a bit so it evens out. The second day I rode with Pete the owner of the shop I work in, he's as you would expect a little older but such a cool guy, always up for a ride and a pint! So much so that we all were still drinking at 230am on the Saturday evening/Sunday morning! We then headed back to Crankworx for the last day with the slope style competition finishing off the event.
We also ran into my friend Rod Bardsley, he's the guy who helped me get a job here, he works for Spoke magazine and was covering the event, he also blagged a couple of uplifts for us aswel, legend!
Pete then got me and the other shop staff into the SRAM rider area, which also happened to be where the free food was!
Only downside for me was a slight crash which somehow meant my handlebar hit my knee cap, its been a week now and it still hurts, I did a 60km ride yesterday and I coped OK and its getting better but it still hurts when I walk and out of the saddle on the bike is uncomfortable but doable.
I now only have about 6 weeks left here, it seems to have gone so quick looking back at it. Looking forward to getting home though. I really miss my GSXR600!
I'm also bringing a friend with me, it turned out the Ben, one of the other mechanics was moving to Holland, so yes decided to join me in California and then stay a couple of weeks in England aswel so I may be bringing him to mountain mayhem, he's a good rider if anyone wants him to do a lap when he's there!