[video]https://vimeo.com/119614566[/video]
https://vimeo.com/119614566
Great video from XC racing in Rotorua, one of the lads hopping down the rock at about 1.10 guided us round their on the tiny 100mm HT was incredible to watch 🙂

Dusty trails….. I can just about remember what it’s like to ride them.

Great vid. Droppers? No. Skills, yes.

Great film. The singletrack in the forest at Rotorua is amazing, just wish i had the time and money to go back.

Wow, nice skills and no droppers. My kind of fun!

Great film. The singletrack in the forest at Rotorua is amazing, just wish i had the time and money to go back.

What he said.
Last time I was there I came very close to not coming back!

dusty trails .. ???? what is this magic you speak of 😉

Dusty trails? They get a bit dull after a while

mikew – you probably know Te Whaka as well as anyone, do you know what trail that rock was on?

You’re getting confused with cyclocross 😉

We’re riding dusty trails in Scotland just now, but less about them, nothing to see here

[video]http://vimeo.com/81759783[/video]
Jon it’s the new Boulderdash trail, 10 mins from the first trail head
http://www.riderotorua.com/trails.php?id=99&catid=1

If you want nice challenging technical xc, get yourself to the nutcracker series in Yorkshire it’s spot on.

*Waits for mtbel to tell us all that he/she/troll does that sort of thing on a racing road bike, has done as long as he/she/troll has lived etc. *

Looks ace!

Looks lovely. I would love to ride it!

As for droppers and hardtails – way back when, we had neither. If it was on the trail you rode it or carried over it. I wouldn’t be as fast or smooth* but I would ride it on a similar bike.

EDIT: *nowhere near!

You really have taken my comment about your gravel bike riding capabilities to heart CFH haven’t you?
Oddly enough, I met up with a bunch of friends this morning for a 60 odd mile group ride. One of the guys was on a disc braked 37mm slick tyred, drop bar bike. funnily enough, neither his wider tyres nor his disc brakes opened up any new genre of riding or even the ability to ride the rough, mud strewn roads any faster than the rest of us. it simply offered him a more comfortable ride and from the momentum I still had compared to him after each corner I’m in no way envious of either his brakes or wider tyres. Being a decent well rounded adult he wasn’t in the slightest flustered by my views on such things.

Everything in Mike’s XC race vid looks completely straightforward to ride, the little rock chute in the pic certainly isn’t a highly technical feature for a half decent rider. it is indeed awesome that these XC racers aren’t getting off to walk down it though.

Everything in Mike’s XC race vid looks completely straightforward to ride, the little rock chute in the pic certainly isn’t a highly technical feature for a half decent rider. it is indeed awesome that these XC racers aren’t getting off to walk down it though.

I read your name as mt bel and thus wonder if it’s short for mt bell end…

I await the vid of mtbel riding it 🙂 It’s a stiff bit of trail, especially to race it. I’ve had the pleasure to be in some events (lap stages) with some of these top guys and ridden with a few socially and in all honesty their skill level is right up there and the commitment to ride at that level while pushing hard to race is hard work.

I read your name as flange.

pay my fair and I’ll happily ride it for you live Mike

21 minutes to come up with that. Inspired. Good job you’re so quick on a bike…

with your ability to take such issue with my opinion and resort to unsubstantiated insults I’m now wondering if your’s is short for premenstrual?

🙄

And the handbags are out!

that tick of yours seems to be getting worse ‘chach

in all honesty their skill level is right up there

Too true! Most pro XC racers have superb skills. It’s a bit like the fallacy that DH riders don’t have fitness.

commitment to ride at that level while pushing hard to race is hard work.

Pushing it lap after lap and nailing it each time is bloody hard! I know how my skill levels drop with fatigue.

Not a lot of room for over taking! Looks ace