The Life of Sloth

May 2007 - Posts

• Night Rider

  Just been out on my first night ride up in the port hills. Borrowed somebody's home-made light, attached to helmet, 2kg battery in camelbak. Think there were about 15 of us, more girls than blokes. Up Rapaki again and godDamn was it a killer this time! Thought it would be easier in dark but no! Ok so i was last up, well somebody has to. This lot do this every week tho! Singletrack took a bit of getting used to but sorted it out and before long was flying along. Great views of all the city lights down below. Still pretty warm too- way too warm for this time of year! Pretty insane riding thru the trees, then almost lost it several times before reaching the Bowenvale track and back to the road. Off to the pub for beer and wedges. Not the usual wednesday night! Published with BlogMailr Posted May 23 2007, 09:45 PM by le_sloth with 1 comment(s) Filed under: MTB, New Zealand, Mountain Biking, Christchurch

• Snowboarders take message of God to mountains

  Chairlift preachers Originally uploaded by le_sloth. From this weekend's newspaper: "Young Christian snowboarders are using chairlifts to deliver unsolicited six-minute sermons in an effort to spread the word of God among fellow skiers." Full Story Here Oh, please, please let one of them get on a lift with an early morning angry Jarmarl! I want to see this. But really, what the *** is this all about??!!? What would you do? Turn iPod up, look straight ahead and ignore them or come back with a full-on rant? Answers below please.... Posted May 21 2007, 08:34 AM by le_sloth with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Snowboarding, New Zealand, Christchurch, Queenstown, randomness

• Trailbuilding at Haven mtb park

  Went over to the Banks Peninsular yesterday to help out on a trail building day at Haven Mtb Park. Stopped at the Blue Duck Cafe on the way and got the most ridiculous sized BLT bagel I've ever seen. Taller than a burger from Gourmet Burger Kitchen! Great news. So after that I drove off up into the backcountry(ish) and up to where they're building the trails. Another incredible spot - bit like Wales really. After a quick guided tour, got started shifting rocks around then digging out one of the corners. Big turn-out for them today, with 21 people doing bits here and there. After lunch, 3 of us got cracking on a second corner, pretty much starting from scratch. Well, I'll leave the photos to tell the rest. Definitely a lot of satisfaction in riding stuff you've had a part in building . Really am feeling the burn today though - aching all over, blisters, bruises. love it.      Posted May 20 2007, 07:35 PM by le_sloth with 4 comment(s) Filed under: MTB, New Zealand, Mountain Biking, Christchurch

• Autumn Riding

  The weather's been doing a strange, confused thing recently. When we got back from the UK trip, Winter was definitely on the way, windy, cold and wet. However, the last 2 weeks or so have been almost back to Summer - up at 18-20c, bluebird sunny days and no wind. Snow has been and gone (but will return!). Global Warming weirdness. Anyway, all this goodness has meant plenty of opportunities to get out riding. Have been over to Bottle Lake Forest a couple of times, getting my lap time down to 57 minutes. Is that good? I dunno, but people on www.vorb.co.nz seem to post sub 1 hour times. Love the riding in there, the definition of flowy singletrack . There's a night race series coming up soon, which you never know, I may even enter! Hmm, that would be the first time this Sloth's been racing since, erm, about 10 years ago! Need some decent lights though - anyone got any recommendations? Had a great couple of rides up in the Port Hills too. First one was back on the Godley Heads track, however this time I added on the DH to Taylor's Mistake (a beach). Am I pleased I did that one! BIG bermed corners, little jumps (and bigger lines for bigger boys on bigger bikes), flowing all the way down to sea level. Only thing is, once you reach the beach, there's pretty much nothing down there (just a local surf spot), and the only way out is by road or back up the same trail. Climb back out of there was a bit of a long slog, as even once you've got up the Anaconda trail, it's up another hill to get back to the Scarborough trail. All good, big smiles. Which brings me on to yesterday's ride...Finally I got round to posting on Vorb, the NZ cycling site. Found a page for introducing yourself, immediately got added in to the "Christchurch MTB Mafia" group and within an hour was invited on a ride. Now why couldn't I have found all this 6 months ago?!?! Met up with 3 others at the start of the Rapaki trail and got straight into the 4km climb up the double. This is where I really noticed the difference with riding with other people - had I been on my own I would've stopped a couple of times, either to take photos or just to be lazy! But not today, kept pushing it all the way to the top, short break then continued on up a single to Mount Vernon (462m). Slogging over, we headed off into blinding sunlight along the Traverse track. The views from up here were incredible - city down below, looking over the Canterbury plains to the sun setting over the Southern Alps! Reached Victoria Park just in time to catch the sun literally drop behind the mountains, before taking various DH trails (Cool Runnings, Bowenvale etc.) in and out of trees (could barely see in there, minimal light left) and eventually ending up back down on the edge of the city. Not bad for a midweek ride, eh?! Defo got a sore Ploughman's now though! Dan Black, I can only sympathise with you. And before I forget, yes I really will be getting round to putting those Wales photos up this weekend! Published with BlogMailr Posted May 18 2007, 08:18 AM by le_sloth with no comments Filed under: MTB, New Zealand, Mountain Biking

• Back to Akaroa

  The stress of too many long days of work was getting too much for me, so it was time to get away for the weekend and chill out away from this damn computer. Friday night we were out with my cousin Louise who was over in NZ for a while, but broke her ankle skydiving. Not good! Set off early-ish on Saturday morning, with the compulsory stop at Maccas for a roadtrip breakfast. One and a half hours later we were checked in to our B&B, The Olive Grove at Robinson's Bay. Seems we'd made a great choice here - amazing views, superking size bed, big bath (we only have a shower so that's something SJ misses). Quick explore then off into Akaroa for big fish and chips lunch - damn good down there, way too much for 1 person! SJ had booked a massage at Lumiere for both of us; now I found this one so relaxing I fell asleep in there! Alan was all over me when we left - barely knew what was going on. Back to the B&B and walked up through the olive groves, taking in the views, wagtails following us from tree to tree. Sat out on the balcony watching the sun go down on a perfect day with a glass of pinot and some local cheese. Downstairs for olive oil tastings and more wine in front of the fire. Back in to Akaroa for dinner at Bully Hay's - fine piece of venison and great desserts. Back to that super-comfortable bed for decent night's kip/ Sunday began with an excellent breakfast of french toast, eggs benedict (from their own hens), juices and an awesome apple compote. Chilled outside in the morning sun listening to the birds. I could get used to this. Feeling much better already. With another day of beautiful sunny weather (18c in late Autumn!), we headed up the Woodhills track for the climb up to Heritage Park - more incredible views. On the descent we found a random peacock wandering the woods - are they wild? No idea. Sheep with bright white new winter coats. Lunch was followed with a round of mini-golf (got to play every one we see!), walk around Akaroa and time to leave. Great sunset over the Southern Alps as we drove back; back home in time for a spa. Job done. Published with BlogMailr Posted May 13 2007, 07:30 PM by le_sloth with no comments Filed under: New Zealand, Christchurch, food

• The King and Black enter 24 hour mtb marathon

  This weekend while the rest of us are either drunk or asleep, The King, Dan Black and Mr A.N. Other will be riding, and riding some more, and still riding after that. Last I heard they were 1 man down, so are faced with at least 7/8 hours in the saddle each! Best get lubed up for that one. Anyway, the event is the Clic 24 and you can sponsor The King right here. I assume Mr Black is also sponsored but I have no link for that. Good luck and may the vaseline be with you. Look forward to a full report on here soon.  Posted May 11 2007, 10:22 AM by le_sloth with 3 comment(s) Filed under: MTB, Mountain Biking, England

• Les Arcs: The Other Bits

  I've got this big long list of the random words and ramblings that popped in over the course of the Les Arcs trip. If any of the brothers want to comment and explain any of these words, go for it! I can't be arsed to type them all in so here you go: Other than that, in keeping with tradition, here are the final standings: Yes, I'm glad to be the clear winner on TP usage. Dan Black, after a slow start, farmed out consistent quantities of Mutzig every day, and in fact might well have beaten me on the last day, but we lost the pen and the list, so maybe we'll never know who was the true winner. All I do know is that I never, ever want to return to THAT BATHROOM. Stay well clear.   Now that really is the end! Over and Out. Posted May 06 2007, 07:41 PM by le_sloth with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Snowboarding, Fancy That Productions, France, randomness

• What happened in Les Arcs? Part Four

  Where was part three then? Oh, that was in Sainte Foy, which you can read all about here. Last Day  It was bound to happen some time I suppose, time to go home. I think we were all at the point of needing a rest day anyway, but seeing as this was the last one, and it was bluebird , time to head right up the top. Last time we had a look at the Aguille Rouge lift, back in 2004, it was a frozen ice palace, full of FEAR and no way we were going up there. Funnily enough they had a photo of it in that very state - must've been something special. Well, now they've replaced the lift and in these near-perfect conditions it was awesome. The views from the top of there are incredible, as the following photos show. There we were up at 3226 metres - sort of makes Coronet Peak (1649 metres) look tiny!!    2000 Metre Descent From Aguille Rouge it was a long, long ride down to Villaroger (1200m). Not bad, but definitely prefer the tree runs over in Arc 1600. My rib was giving me loads of crap so struggling to keep up. Got ourselves down to a cafe and relaxed in the deck chairs for ages, Alain taking control of the situation. Mr Good Stuff still serving up on demand. Had a look over towards Sainte Foy from here - wish we had enough time to go back for more!    Finishing Off (in pain)  Back up and over to Deux Tetes, still finding fresh pow! That area never gives up! Farted around there before heading off to the park. Gutted I had to sit this one out while the others played on the swings - ribs just giving me too much crap. The two mad-heads were back on the wall again, straight up and over the top! Got themselves off all the black jumps too, but no chance of hitting the competition ones - they were the size of a house (or 2). Not good.    Before we knew it, last lift had been and gone, so off in search of the last of the pow. Found it over towards the Vallandry side of Arc 1800, but getting a bit crusty now. Rode down as far as we could then it was all over. Job done. But not quite! Who is that I can see in the red one-piece? Oh dear me - there he is - "Vive Le Mono!" You beauty! However, I can't reveal exactly what happened here - you'll have to wait until the release of a forthcoming Fancy That Production.   Back to London  Things get a bit hazy from here on in, bcos we were so damn tired. Worth mentioning here are Mr Goodey locking his keys to his padlock, all his clothes and stuff inside his board bag. Which was locked with the padlock. Arsebiscuits. Another trip to Mountain Cafe but too tired to take on the Triple Mountain Burger. Fart-in-a-can. All followed by a taxi to the station, a long queue and lying on the floor, then passing out within 30 minutes (and 1 beer) of getting on the train. Legs everywhere, at every height and angle. Don't bother sleeping on the train floor with knackered ribs. 2 hours stuck at Lille thanks to a missing driver, but that got us a free Eurostar ticket each next time. Straight to Boiled Egg and Soldiers for breakfast (nowhere near as good as it used to be), followed by an argument with a bus driver.  The End.   Oh but there's more... Posted May 06 2007, 06:01 PM by le_sloth with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Snowboarding, France, food

• Sainte Foy Powder Mission

  Day 7: A very early start! Not even time for the morning chorus today, up at 6am and out the door to catch the first bus over to Arc 1600. Down the first funicular to get the first bus to Sainte Foy. Already this was setting out to be a day of firsts. Still snowing heavily, much FEAR and anticipation of the day ahead - would it stop/would there be a whiteout/will we ever get there? Still, the bus dropped us off in the lower Sainte Foy village, where we were told to wait for a minibus to take us up to the resort itself. This pulled up pretty quickly, Mr Good Stuff asking the driver if he would be taking us to Santa Fe. Whether it was the broken Spench and Franglish or just that he got out of the wrong side of bed, this driver was hating us immediately. In typical French style, he just took off into the cafe opposite. Got ourselves in there - SKIER HEAVEN, yes we stood out like carrots in a bag of sprouts. Found the driver having his breakfast, so figured we'd do the same. Obviously, by the time ours came he decided it was time to leave.    Got almost up to the village but road hadn't been cleared so sliding all over the place, annoying the driver further still. Or was it the foul stench coming from a certain Fart Tennis star with us? Dear me that was not good; poor skier guys in front of us having to get the windows open quick. Pas bon! Poo [Poudre] Everywhere  So where is everyone? Just as I'd been reading about, there really was barely anyone here in Ste Foy! Coupled with untouched powder everywhere. Perfect. Got ourselves sorted with a guide for the afternoon, got some transceivers and packs sorted, then up the one and only lift. Ok, so the visibility wasn't the best, but the higher we got the more pow there was. With this amount, there was no need to go off piste (they don't seem to actually get the piste bashers out anyway here). Knee-deep on piste! Get in! Massive cheesey grins all round, loving it. Back up again and nobody had even been down where we had - seriously like having a whole mountain to yourselves! Spent the rest of the morning horsing it round through the trees, then bit of a schoolboy error onto a closed piste. Couldn't figure out why it was closed as the first bit was awesome. Ah, yes, then the last 300 metres or so was a thin layer of neige on top of thick mud and rocks. Oops. Got lunch in the oldest building in France (well, it looks like it is!) then off to meet our guide.   Into The Backcountry Our guide, Nicholas, took us straight to the "Off Tracks" area under the Aiguille lift, gutted though as immediately the whiteout closed right in around us. Couldn't see a thing, so just had to sit it out for a bit. Got down to the trees and rode some pretty mad stuff down there until vis improved. Back up to the top and over to the new lift La Marquaise. He was telling us of one of the descents we could do in better weather that would take us from there all the way down to near the dam at Tignes. Something like an hour-and-a-half's ride down! Sweet. Although ours turned out to be about the same anyway. Still pretty bad vis, we started hiking just past a sign reading "Past this point you are putting your lives, that of your friends, and the emergency services at risk. You have been warned!". Alrighty then, that put the shits up us. My rib wasn't too happy about the hiking, and this boot pack was a bit unstable, no idea what was below, but Jarmarl saved me a few times. Eventually finished the hike and got our breath back before dropping in to the soft white deepness. Oh, and where this photo of us 4 was taken, well there was a damn big cornice about 2 metres behind us. Feck. We Can See Again!  Within about 50 metres it all cleared - awesome. Well, from here on down it was waist-deep pow all the way. BIG hits to fly off, landing in more soft white stuff. This is what we came for. Down into the trees and on to a mad path high above a river - very tight turns, didn't want to get anything wrong down here! Ended up in what seemed like an abandoned mountain village, riding through the middle of it, reminded me of a bit in the December movie. Which is also where I managed to give my board a free base grind across the tarmac. Classic from the Goodey here, thinking that the guide was riding it all one-footed, goes for it himself "How the feck's that dude doing it, man?". Guide goes up the banks on left and right, Mr G can't quite make it and bales. Damn good go at it. Oh, and the guide wasn't riding one-footed after all. Finally ran out of snow to ride and walked the last few metres into the village of Ste Foy chef lieu (think so anyway). Who came along to pick us up? Our favourite grumpy driver! And his day had got even worse since!    Long journey back over to Les Arcs and Alain was ready to chuck us all into bed pretty early. What a day. Sainte Foy is definitely THE ONE!   Even if it is a bit of a mission to get to: bus, funicular, bus, minibus, walk followed by walk, minibus, taxi, funicular and bus back! All the photos are here.  Brothers - I salute you!  Read more in Part Four  What happened before this?  Posted May 05 2007, 03:49 PM by le_sloth with 4 comment(s) Filed under: Snowboarding, France, top 10

• Come on Sloth, catch up!

  Well, yes, you'd be right in thinking that. I really need to. Still waiting for the rest of the story on Les Arcs, the amazing Wales trip (Coed-Y-Brenin), other things from the UK and probably what we've been up to since getting back to NZ. Thing is I've been spending way, way too much time working on this here compoooter machine every day, so the last thing I want to do is spend yet more time writing stories on it. If only I could just dictate it all I could do it in my sleep. Well, hopefully this weekend, you never know. Oh yeh I've also got to get cracking with the rest of the Boys Are Back in Town vid. Feck, really am behind. First big snow of the year up at Mt Hutt a couple of days ago, so loving that - hopefully that will be the base of it all. Been looking round for new boards here but tell you what the shops in ChCh are nowhere near as good as in Queenstown. Considering one of them there wavy-edged Lib Tech Magne-Traction things, they've got bananas in them this year. I like bananas. Have been having some great cheese lately, thanks to my friends down the road at Canterbury Cheesemongers. Ironstone being one of them, smelly, tres fragrant. Some other weirdness that came from a sheep but a bit of a feral one. Their soughdough loaves and teacakes are unbeatable too. Best yet. Also enjoying this bottle of Terravin Sauvignon Blanc. Well it's back to the flat-out Psy-Trance for me, courtesy of these guys. Love it, too much. p.s. careful driving to that stuff, you might get a few points on your license. Knees up Mother Brown  Posted May 04 2007, 05:25 PM by le_sloth with 1 comment(s) Filed under: New Zealand, Christchurch, Cheese