Remember Anja?

Well she hasn't hung up her Sidi's or her old skinsuit (I'll sort that for you next order;-))


NZ CX Championship



and pics here;


Anja McD



Hey Anja, tell us all about it?

NZSS10

Tristan models a daring blue vintage number with matching dodgy tash and tats...

Lots more images from the Queenstown MTB Club gallery

Well, since cross doesn't really happen here in NZ, we've been occupying ourselves with a little bit of single speeding. NZ held our national single speed race in a spot called Queenstown. Better known for perfect postcard scenery and having earned the title of NZ's adventure capital, Queenstown was a welcome choice of venue. Although the day itself was a less than perfect - actually it was pretty yuck, as it dawned cold and drizzled right up to the race start. My specially purchased mid-calf-length pure white socks were stained before I even hit the race track.

Anyway, it was bad... In a good way. But also in an evil way. The track was squashed into a peninsula on Lake Wakatipu called 7 Mile. Somewhow they managed to jam 330 verticle meters of climbing into the 6km loop and then forced us to ride it 5 times. Add it up - that's a shade over a mile of vert. On a single speed.

Anyway, the outcome was favourable for me, but part way through the last lap I started worrying about where I was going to put the winner's tattoo...

Above two images courtesy of Scott Kennedy of Adventureskope.com

We've also written a bit about the race for the NZ importer of my lovely Ibis Tranny - Hyperformance Hardaware. Although, to understand it, non NZer and non-squash-enthusiasts might need to do a little prior research to understand it: wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Devoy

racin in 4 days!

indeed, the saturday schedule has got me excited, it should be a good one, Sandy has been around long enough to know what constitutes a good cross course, so we are expecting a cracker!

but what of last weekend?

WELL

The big hitters were hitting hard once more, Anja scored another victory, despite some early race moments, proving she really is the one to beat in the womens race, but watch out, awesome to see Jac (jackie!) back and turning the pedals hard, a sweet 3rd place was her reward, best ride of the cross season  so far, respect, must be the pink bar tape?

Over in the blokes scene, young gun Andy shot off the start line like he had a two bob banger up his arse, awesome stuff, he had to settle for an eventual 4th spot, nice work. It keeps the league very much alive with Andy, Nimmo, McInally and Fraser-Moodie all in the running.

And the rest of us? Johnny admitted to a bad race, in my terms  I would be happy with Johnny's bad results but as is I limped in out of the points in the vets and Marty continued to gain on the rest of the field, his day will come!

Elsewhere, Kenta Gallagher, shaked the whole scene, rocking out some white lycra like he owned it, good man, though negative style points for the blue in the helmet and baggy shirt sleeves! Awesome riding though.

And the Doctor was as mental as ever, damn he is fast! Damn.

Cowdenbeath this SATURDAY!

roundup.

Under grey and manky skies over 300 riders (or thereabouts) took to their one speeds and battled it out on Drumlanrigs finest slippy and slimey singletrack. The race quickly thinned out and everyone was talking about whether Shaggy sixty niner could hold on for the win, meanwhile I was busy watching the womens race! No offence Shaggy but this was the action was.

After a good start VC Moulin rider Anja McDonald found her self behind a previous SSUK winner Alison Rushton, it was looking promising going through lap 1 but Alison is a strong rider. Lap 2 came around and there out in the lead was Anja, riding strong with a big smile to prove just how much she was enjoying the trail. After depositing her outer baggy shorts at the beer stop she went on to win the womens category pretty convincingly, a great start wearing the new strip and even with enough energy left to down a Grimbergen at the end. Jac Strachan was back too after her recent illness and I'm sure her form is just around the corner.

Well done Anja and everyone else who slogged it out in difficult conditions. 

Meanwhile, over in Dalbeattie at the SXC round 2 battle John McCallum found himself penetrating the top 10 once more, he had been sitting good in around 4rth place but blew spectacularly(allegedly) on the last lap, good effort, conditions and humidity were particularly nasty today, it's only a matter of time for John, go buddy go.