Queenstown Bike Festival

The second Queenstown Bike Festival has just finished after a 10 day long exravaganza of the best cycling has to offer in the Wakatipu. The first year saw the event getting thrown together over a matter of weeks on the lead up, and the organisers Southern Traverse have to be praised for getting the festival off the ground in such short notice and on such a small budget. It was truly visionary of them and something many people have talked about being missing from the Queenstown bike scene since the demise of the "Fat Tyre Festivals " that took place many years ago. Every element of biking was covered during the 10 day long spectacle, with the goal to allow everyone in the community and outwith to be able to attend something for their level and enjoyment. We had kids mini-cross, social coffee rides, night rides, road rides, XC races, DH races, video edit competitions, super D races and slopestyle events to name but a few.

The buzz in town was immense, and this years festival had a more international feel to it, rather than just a local showdown like last year. The imagination of people outwith Queenstown has definitely been captured, and the media attention it has received is going to help cement it as a must do event for any bikers calendar. From personal experience from this festival the more you got involved and participate the more you get out of it and the more enjoyable it became. There was a warm feeling of camaraderie and bonding between the locals, as we all got to ride together more than we would normally during the busy summer in this tourist driven hot spot. Friendships that have fallen by the way side over the months as we have been too wrapped up in work are rekindled and the cranks are turned side by side once more.

What is more we got to share these proud emotions with out of towners and international competitors, many of whom it was their first visit to Queenstown riding our trails. Hopefully we put a good show on for them, they will tell all their friends and they will be back in force next year.

TEVA SLOPESTYLE

Special mention has to go to this event and a big shout out has to go to Teva for making it happen. This was a big risk for all parties involved, and a lot of work from a lot of different people went together to make this happen. The guys at Teva for funding it and marketing it so well; the course builders Tom Hey and Kelly McGarry for building such an amazing course in such a small time frame; the volunteers for picking up a spade and a rake to help Tom and Kelly get it ready in time and most of all to the crowd who turned up in there thousands to support this spectacular event.

Many words have been spoken about this event, most going along the lines of "sensational", "awesome", "mind blowing". Statements such as "best thing I have seen in Queenstown" were not uncommon also.
There are a lot of live down town events such as these throughout the year, but this one stood out for many reasons. The action was non-stop, riders were thrilling the crowd for the entire 3 hours, and the action was world class. The crowd was amazing, sometimes you can have big crowd but they can be lifeless. Not here, the crowd was loving every minute of the action and getting behind the riders making them push themselves and wanting to go higher and pull harder tricks!
Teva were nothing short of generous throughout, with a plethora of Teva branded goodies constantly sailing into the crowd. T-man and JC behind the mike did an amazing job of keeping the crowd pumped throughout and working for their free giveaways.
The event was such a success that Teva have agreed to fund the event for the next 2 years!

THROUGH THE LENS SHORT VIDEO EDIT COMPETITION

This was a new event for this years bike festival, it had a basic layout, you had to create a short movie edit 5-7 mins long that featured a mixture of riding and lifestyle shots filmed in the Wakatipu area and the final videos were all shown at the World bar where people could mark the videos for their creativity and lifestyle vibe.
All in all their were 8 video edits compiled for the final showing at the World Bar. The venue proved to be a great choice, with all us bikers getting the entire outside area which had a big projector screen and wood fires burning with plenty of room for everyone to pack in. The atmosphere was spot on, and pretty much the entire local mountain bike fraternity turned up to see what was on offer and just generally have a good time with mates.
The videos were a real mixed bag, from the super serious JonTv super tweaked pristine edit to just plain fun ones like local legend Pete MacInallys "When Lycra goes Bad" edit.
Plenty of laughs and good times were shared and in the end there was only one man who was going to win with his super polished homage to the Queenstown summer, which was a beautiful compilation of all the best bits that Jon has filmed all summer. Everyone was just silent watching it and you couldn't help but feel proud to be part of this area and it really showed that we have something special here in Queenstown.

DIRTMASTERS DH

Last but not least would describe this event. Held on the last weekend in the bike festival calender. The entry numbers doubled from last year which was great to see, with more people making the journey to Queenstown to participate in this superb event, with the top 5 NZ DH riders racing the event (all top 10 World Cup racers), it really was of truly international standard.

The track was put together by local legend Blair Christmas and it prove to be a popular one with a great mix of all the Queenstown Bike Park has to offer, with a few new sections cut in especially for the race. The finish was in town down the Brecon Street steps, finishing just outside of Vertigo Bikes. The clock stopped at the finish of the tracks in the Bike Park but the organisers wanted to have a ceremonial finish in town to help bring the event to the masses which it did nicely.

Lots of locals made the effort too, young and old, with special mention to a couple of the two young rippers that are the future of the sport being Sam Thomson and Boaz Hebblethwaite, both only 11 years old and putting some pretty hot times down on the demanding track!

In the big boys categories, the racing was always going to be hot, as the top 5 men could all win world cups on their day. In the end Sam Blenkinsop took the win

with a ridiculous time of 3.30, closely followed by Justin Leov on 3.31 and Alexandra local Mat Scoles in 3rd on 3.32. It was impressive to see how fast the worlds best could rip down Ben Lomond, and gives something for locals to aspire too.

All in all the 2012 Queenstown Bike Festival was a superb event that was received well both by locals and by the visitors. The only way is up from here and the festival can only gather momentum and get bigger each year. Us Vertigo boys are already counting down the days until next year already, bring it on!

Teva Makes Great Debut to Mountain Bike Shoe Market

Teva, thats "teh”-vah," not "tee-vah" have been around for 25 years, and have built their reputation on water based sports shoes, stemming from rafting operations in the Grand Canyon! Does this make them a suitable candidate for producing a mountain bike shoe? Well they have all the technology in place, amalgamated with a well chosen collaboration with legendary freerider Jeff Lenosky, they have produced a new purpose built flat soled freeride shoe.

But as a company Teva are not that unfamiliar with the mountain bike scene, supporting mountain biking at the Teva Mountain Games for the past five years and the event is now recognised as one of the premier freeride competitions.

They are a very environmentally aware company, and support many environmental initiatives such as the “Waterkeepers Alliance” and “Conservation Alliance”. They have a great company philosophy stating that-

“In the end, we want to make shoes that help you see the world, but not at the cost of making a world that you don’t want to see.”

Does this philosophy suit mountain bikers, yes I think it does! We are a curious breed who like to see new things, explore new areas and find special moments of solitary in beautiful environments. We love nature and being in the mountains, and if we can support a company who is dedicated to keeping the mountains the way they should be, that has got to be a good thing!

So as for the shoe itself, well we have been lucky to get some samples from Teva NZ to try out over winter, and the model we received to use and abuse is the “Link”. It is a great looking shoe, and the attention to detail is what really impressed me, they have obviously gone all out to produce a real competitor to try and dilute the 510 monopoly that is out there at the moment.

The first thing you notice when you pick them up is how light they are, they have definitely done what they can to keep the wait down without sacrificing performance and protection. The second thing you notice is the sole, which has three distinct sections to it. You have the main grip pad taking up most of the space perfectly where you want to have your foot on the pedal. Then you have a more aggressive tread design at the front and the back of the shoe. The front is to aid traction when walking up a trail, and the back section on the heel (Teva call it their E-Brake) has a reverse lug pattern to help aid traction when walking down the trail, very clever (great for trail building days!) There is also a rigid heel stabiliser to help keep your foot centred in the shoe.

These are all great little features that add to the overall package but the bit I like the best and will probably appeal to a lot of riders out there who like to ride a lot in the mud is the special technology that Teva have brought from their years of experience in the water sports industry to make the shoe resistant to absorbing water on a molecular level they say! Sounds very Star Trek, but Teva’s “Ion Mask” technology combined with waterproof materials throughout the rest of the shoe, means that the shoe should keep your feet a bit dryer and will be easier to wash after the end of a muddy ride! Love it!

So the nitty gritty! How do they ride? The sole is made from Teva’s “Spider365 sticky rubber” and to put any rumours to rest straight away, out of the box, the sole is not as glue like sticky as a 510, I would describe it to be more like a semi-worn set of 510’s. Is this a bad thing? For those of you who have been 510 users for a while will know that they are too grippy when new, and don’t start to feel their best until they do wear to a certain point, whereas the Teva Links feel like this straight out of the box. A lot of flat pedal riders use flat pedals because we like the feeling of freedom that being able to move your foot around on the pedal gives. We like the little positional shifts that happen so naturally when you are really flowing with a trail and in the air, and sometimes having a shoe that is too grippy really impinges on this.

On the trail, like any good product, you didn’t even notice them. Blasting down the Vertigo Trail in Queenstown Bike Park (which is rough and fast) I felt completely confident in the shoes from the first straight, jumping into braking bumps, rock gardens, roots and holes, there was no sign of them going anywhere on the pedals. After using 510’s for almost 10 years now, I was blown away that I could even think I could ride another brand of shoe, so well done Teva, you have hit the nail on the head with the Links!

These will be available from all good bike shops soon, including Vertigo Bikes!