Monday, March 24, 2008

Green Grass Growing in at the Barrel


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Sunday, March 23, 2008

First Dual Ride With Sasah and Ila


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Karapoti 2008 -- Rolling


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Karapoti 2008 -- Heading for the Finish Line


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Karapoti 2008 -- Bottom of the Rock Garden


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Monday, March 17, 2008

Flickr's 4 Year Birthday Party


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd
We got there too late for the free cupcakes.

Ila Hosts Gayatri and Jack at the Cottage


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Dada in the Photo


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

At the Start of the Memorial Ride


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd
The teams of the accident victims head the more than 1,000 gathered local riders to the scene of the incident.

Sad Memorial Ride


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd
Rode down from the city to Mountain View with Carrie and her past team mates Emma and Larel. Twas a sad day for our area cycling....

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Linda Kahn plants flower seeds at an impromptu memorial as Team Roaring Mouse Cycles and Third Pillar Racing Team held a joint memorial ride Saturday Mar. 15, 2008, to honor the lives of Kristy Gough and Matt Peterson, two teammates killed on Steven's Creek Canyon near Cupertino last Sunday while on a training ride.

About Twitter, Where I'm Helping Jack

Monday, March 10, 2008

Riding Dada at the Smokehouse


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Visit to the Thermal Wonderland with Sam

Pete (Trying) to Look Mean Before Race Day


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Len the Barrel Builder


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd
Close up and pretty

Len the Original "Hard Yaka" on Building Site in Kelburn, Wellington


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Rear Suspension Failure on the Rotorua Forest Race


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd
The carbon fiber structure exploded with a bang when I had 10K of the 45k to go. Made for a loss of all rear suspension and a tire rubbing loss of 2 inches of ground clearance. And made it interesting descending the final grade 5 Rock Garden trail. Took longer to complete this course than the Karapoti. Must have gotten whupped!

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Kiwi Girl Giving Samantha the Lo-Down


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Man in Yellow


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

62 Horses


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd
We found a farmhouse that rents to even the likes of us. Oddly, the place specialized in rentings to Koreans and Taiwanese.

Goopy Water at the Thermal Wonderland


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Samantha In for the Day From Geneva


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd
Samantha was in NZ doing PR work on banning cluster bombs. Came up to Rotorua for a day and met up with Mel for a breakfast at Zippy's cafe -- the local mountain bike hang out.

Kiwi Girl Mel on the Rotorua Circuit in the Pouring Rain


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Flashy Postal Uniforms on Display


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Mail Sorting to the Street and House Number


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Postal Custom Bikes


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd
The frame and the rack are one piece!

Rotorua Postal Runs -- All Done by Bikes and 1 Walker


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Pauline Giving a Tour of the Rotorua Postal Facilities


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Monday, March 03, 2008

Erik Joining for a Go


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Heading for Home


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Catching Some Air


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Down the Steps


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Hitting the Rotorua Trails


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Hitting the Rotorua Trails


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Rendezvous With Erik


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

The Hedgehog


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

The Bikes


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Pete Steps Out of Our Palace in Rotorua


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

The Huka Prawn Park En Route to Rotorua


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Free Sausages to Drum Up Business


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd
At the plumbing supply store. Why don't we have sausage sizzles like this in the U.S.?

Gasing Up at the Indian Service Station


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Last Sunshine in Wellington


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Originally uploaded by Greg Kidd

Movies at the Forest in Rotorua w/Pete & Erik

Karapoti Results

http://www.cyclingnews.com/mtb.php?id=mtb/2008/mar08/karapoti08

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Wide open racing expected at Karapoti Classic

A record field and a top class field with no clear favourite are the features for this weekend's Scott Karapoti Classic.

The longest running mountain bike race in the Southern Hemisphere has attracted a record field with no clear favorite for this weekend. Started in 1986, the Scott Karapoti Classic 50km epic around Upper Hutt's Akatarawa Forest will see 1,300 racers at the start after 1,800 applied.

"We'd love to let all of them race," said event manager Michael Jacques, "but Karapoti is a tough challenge in a remote environment and we simply can't cope with more."

Jacques attributed the record level of interest to the continuing trend of increasing popularity in mass participation endurance events across New Zealand. "Karapoti has always had a big reputation," he said. "But mass participation sports like mountain biking, road cycling, multisport and triathlon have been enjoying substantial growth for the past four or five years."

Coming up on

Cyclingnews will be covering the 63rd Omloop Het Volk and 61st Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne live this weekend starting at 14:00 local European time (CEST)/ 8:00 (USA East)/ 0:00 Australia (EST) - also on WAP-enabled mobile devices at
http://live.cyclingnews.com/wap/
Racers will compete for a NZD$30,000 prize pool with an additional $5,000 bonus for a rider who can win both the Scott Karapoti Classic and its sister event in Australia, the Flight Centre Epic.

Last year's record breakers Clinton Avery and American-based Jennifer Smith will not be defending their title. "If there is a favourite," said Jacques, "it would be Australian Tim Bennett. He's been second and third at Karapoti and last year won the Flight Centre Mega Epic and was third in the prestigious Croc Trophy across the Australian Outback."

Jenny Smith carries her bike
Photo ©: Michael Jacques (Click for larger image)
Bennett will have his work cut out. Compatriots Nick Both, who was second at Karapoti last year, and Adrian Jackson, a several times mountain bike orienteering champion, will be riding for the same Flight Centre team and all can be expected to work together in the early stages before nature decides who is strongest.

These team tactics could make it hard for a strong Kiwi contingent headed by recent New Zealand title winner Stuart Houltham. The national championship runners-up, Mike Northcott and local Gavin McCarthy, will also be at Karapoti. McCarthy has been enjoying the best form of his career and will be hoping for the home-track advantage at Karapoti. But fellow Upper Hutt rider Wayne Hiscock will also be looking maintain his place on top of the local standings and hoping to finally claim Karapoti's top spot.

Swedish riders Mathias Kraehemann and Christian Willi are in New Zealand to add to the challenge. Both ride professionally in their homeland and have based themselves in Nelson during the Southern Hemisphere summer.

The woman's race is even more wide open. Last year's New Zealand series champion and Karapoti runner-up, Fiona Macdermid, has the best recent Karapoti form, but will face recent national medallists Brenda Clapp and Cathy Hamer. Top Dunedin performer Erin Greene should also feature, as will Nelson-based former Swiss Amateur champion Sandy Vincent.

Saturday's weather is forecast for rain and a Southerly change; conditions that Jacques says should favour the top Kiwi riders.