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I have had a few months off the bike this winter. It’s been great to get off the bike and refocus my attention to my studies through the cold dark months of the Invercargill winter. I find getting off the bike really lets me refocus and gain the appetite to get back on the bike and start having fun again.

A couple of weeks ago it was a superb day and I decided to ride down to Bluff to get some photos of the Bluff Mountain bike track for the Southland Mountain Bike Club. The winter has been rather dry this year and the tracks are hard and fast with the occasional wet spot which keeps you on your toes when you not expecting it.  The Bluff track was put in almost a year ago by Nathan Greenwood and Morgs from Queenstown so the tracks are very similar to the 7 Mile. Attached are a few pictures of the track. It really is as good as it looks.

Lucky the no photos were taken when I arrived back home after my first 3 hour ride of the spring. I was rather smashed which made me realise just how much fitness I have lost over the winter. I guess all of those winter beers have caught up with me.

I have been keeping an interested eye on the Mont St Anne World Champs. A big congratulations to Samara for the 11^th in the U23 Women’s Cross Country!

All the Best to Daniel Franks for his first World MTB Champs! We will be watching.

Have had to eat my words on 1 speeders, as this single speed has been so much fun recently. The bike will be available very soon to NZ public, just in time for single speed world champs in Rototua!

We got bored in the office the other day, so hit the road to hang out up central for a while. Alexandra is just 2hrs from Dunedin and its one of the first places I discovered the joys of riding and the smell of thyme!

Continued from Part 2…

Sunday. Cruiser day. In going to worlds I took a second bike with me. A cruiser. A normal race BMX bike has a wheel diameter of 20inches. A cruiser has 24inches. Cruiser, because of the wheel size is considered a class of its own. All of the racing is exactly the same. Same supercross start hill and pro section, just on a different bike. The reason for taking it is to have a second chance at world championships. If you kind of screw up your first day then you get your cruiser out and try again. Its all the same age group racing the same people and a win is still a win. With the 3 juniors not having the best day yesterday, this was good for us. So in the morning the amateurs raced again. Then in the afternoon it was the elites turn again. We got some more practice to get used to the different bike which was only put together and taken out of the box the day before. 25 minutes as normal. I felt instantly better. First time on second straight I hit it smooth as. Clean. From then on I knew it was going to be a good day. I used the 25 minuets well and got comfortable quickly. Ken told me he also saw the instant change. I looked more comfortable. Maybe it is with me riding the MTB bikes so much but whatever it was it worked.

We did not have to do any time trials or anything so it was pretty much straight into racing. With Trent W, Nick and me, the only NZ riders riding that afternoon, luck would have it that we all got put in the same race!! Connor Fields was supposed to be in the same race but he had to pull out from his fall while leading the junior men’s final yesterday. So right off the start we were down to 5 riders in the moto. Trent had a crash in practice and completely cased one of the pro jumps and bent both cranks and forks and badly hurt his ankles. The first race came around. 5 of us on the gate with Trent riding Sarah’s bike because he couldn’t ride his and she was not racing after an over the bars crash in practice.

Gate drops and I got to the front and leas the whole lap and did the whole second straight clean which I was really happy with. I get to the finish line and turn around to see Nick Fox in 3^rd with a bent handlebar after flat landing one of the pro jumps and Trent in 5^th in a lot of pain. Trent then pulled out because of this and Nick in between the 1^st and 2^nd race had to get the bars of Trent’s bike and put them on his bike to be able to ride it. Lucky we had a spare bike. So it was all hectic! They luckily got it sorted in time and Nick had a bike to ride for the next race. The same thing happened I the race. I lead from the start and got a clean lap and nick had a clean lap too for another 3^rd I think. I was feeling good. 3^rd race we knew that we had already qualified for the next round so decided to save our energy and rolled the second straight to take 2^nd and 3^rd each.

Now it was the Semi Final! Walking up to the start me and nick were going all or nothing now. This could be our last race so there was no holding back. I started off with a good start and came into first turn 4^th with Nick behind me in 5^th. One french dude tried to go really inside in first turn and ended up crashing right in front of me. I and to brake a little bit and lost a little bit of speed for the pro section. Unfortunately nick behind me had to brake too and got caught up a little bit. I did the first jump on second straight in 3^rd and jumped really high because I had no speed and had to roll the rest of the straight. Luckily the crash stopped others doing it too so I was not passed and claimed 3^rd into the final!!!! Nick was caught up and couldn’t jump at all and not qualifying. He was looking really good like me on cruiser too and it was a shame not to have him in the final with me.

So I had made the final!!! I was so exited. I was not expecting it. I was just happy to have a world plate! I felt no pressure. I think that was the ticket for the day. On Saturday I stressed out way too much and Sunday I couldn’t have cared less. It worked for me as I was through to the final! I kept my cool and made my way up to gate with the best u19 dudes in the world. On the gate we all went. Names called out. Daniel Franks from New Zealand. Fist pump. Now I was getting a bit nervous. This was it. One lap with the rainbow jersey up for grabs! It all happened so fast.

Gate dropped. Crowd screamed. I got shut out a bit coming into the first turn in about 6^th. Now the second straight. Winding up for the jumps the Brazilian in 2^nd cased the first and crashed heavily. 3^Rd, 4^th and 5^th all hit him and completely fly over the jumps with no bike! The all front flip and crash out hard! I managed to brake in time so I didn’t go down too hard. As I braked up the lip, the dude behind me saw it as a chance to get through. He found out that there was no room and clipped my back wheel making it go instantly flat and sending him front-fliping through the air without his bike. I look up in time to see him hit the ground hard. Then I realised that im the only one still up! I get up the jump as fast as I can and start to pedal as I saw myself in second. I then realised that I had a flat tire so I just decided to ride the rest of the lap out as fast as I could and try hold this place. Unfortunately one dude got up fast and passed me. I rolled across the finish line to claim 3^rd place!!! podium!! I couldn’t have been happier!! It was the craziest race I had ever been in. 3^rd with a flat tire! I ran over to all the team and it was hugs all around.

The rest was a blur. I got to the podium and got to stand up there holding the New Zealand flag loud and proud. Got flowers and a medal. Then after they tell us all that they have had the medals stolen the night before. They are going to send some more out to us. How about that for luck! No medal on the night. Had to give that one back. ‘Second chance Sunday’ had worked for me!

It was a good night. Still buzzing from the day we had to pack up everything for a flight home the next day. From there a long flight back home and back to rainy NZ!!

A few days after being back my parent through a surprise party for me! Out of nowhere people turn up and before I know it there a good 20 people at home. THANKS MUM AND DAD!!!!

From here I now head to the World MTB champs in Canada. I have 2 week at home then more traveling.

Sorry for the huge update I’m trying to wrap it up.

I just want to say thanks to every single person who has been with me to get this result. Derek and Kashi at Yeti NZ for the awesome bikes, my coach Ken Cools and all the staff for the support on the trip, Peter Page at Doctor Bike for all the support, servicing, and effort he puts in! All my friends and family that have always been there. Mum and Dad for everything. It has all paid off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant thank all you guys enough!!!!

Thanks heaps,

Dan.

Here is some links,

HP BMX TEAM USA Trip

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=149265378421495

Cruiser Final

http://213.133.109.202/httpdocs/video/show_news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1182100377&archive=&template=Hotvideo

Continued from part 1…

The first week went by really fast. By the time we had got settled and had begun getting to business the time for getting onto the track had came around. The track itself was inside a huge main show-ground. At a glance the track looked amazing. Red clay was smooth as. Looked like it rolled really fast. But by the time our racing came around it had hardened up unfortunately and it became really bumpy. It was the first time in the history of BMX that they had used a Supercross start hill. They had almost two completely different tracks intertwined into each other. The huge 8 metre start hill looked huge compared next to the amateur hill. A really impressive sight. It also had a supercross first straight with mandatory gap jumps up to a 40 foot triple step up into the first turn. Then came the second straight. With 4 jump of a big size, ending in a berm jump over the amateur second turn. They posed a challenge for most of the riders. It was a super had straight to get right and smooth. An easy task on paper but a daunting one in reality. It was not the size of the jumps that was the issue more of the steepness and they were just highly technical! Then came the rhythm straight which was not too technical but just didn’t have too much flow to it. You could get through it fine but to get speed out of it you had to be very precise. Last straight was a simple step up, step down, roller to complete the lap. A really cool track when you got it right. Definitely a track to sort out the skill of the class. What a worlds needs for sure.

For the first couple of days it was only the amateurs that were allowed to practice. Nick, Trent W, Marc and Jimmy were sidelined to watching and sorting out our lines on the track. Then Thursday came around and we got our first taste of the track. Elites were out first. Watching them for a little bit made me nervous so we just got warmed up and after a while got out there. My first day on the track was a bit of a shocker. I didn’t feel comfortable with myself. I was having a bit of trouble. I got all straights dialled after a while except the second. That was my problem. I knew it shouldn’t be because of the training we and done in Chula Vista but yet still there I was. We got 55 minutes in our first practice and when it ended I knew I had work to do the next day…

Friday rolled around soon enough and it was time trial day. In the morning we headed to the track and got the watch the amateurs race. Trent Jones and Ryan Lewis killed it. Trent had a good day and finished with a world 5. He raced well. Ryan was on point all day too but unfortunately his day ended sooner than he would have liked with a crash in the quarterfinal. Then it was upon the big boys. We were allowed 25 minutes for practice to get ready for the day and I used every minute of it. I knew I had to. I went out there with everything and got the second straight well. Berm jump and all. I was feeling confident coming into time trials. This is the first time ever that it has been run too so it was all a new experience. We get 2 time trial runs to qualify to the racing the next day. We had 58 riders to start off to qualify to 48 places. With practice and time trials the field was reduced to 46 riders due to injury! A few broken legs and arms in practice all on that second straight. So time trails. We all knew that we had no pressure on us to qualify because we all had made it in but it was still to see how we seeded coming into the race. I thought I was going out there with a good head but I rode some horrible laps both of my laps I had to roll half of the second straight because I got it wrong. I knew this wasn’t me. I finished qualifying I think 35^th or something well back. Woodcock had an excellent lap and qualified into 5^th!!!! Nick was back in 28^th with the same trouble as me unfortunately. So with us both qualified it was good but I was still disappointed with the way I rode. I just kept telling myself tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow was race day.

Saturday. Race day. 25 minutes of practice then into racing. The moto I was seeded into had 6 of us and 4 qualify through. Trying to race with a clearer head today was not really working for me. Warmed up well and felt good but racing came round and I wasn’t there. My first race I rolled the second straight again. Still finished forth with others rolling too but was eager to get out there and complete a lap. Second race the same thing happened. Rolled with a 4^th. I was still on the qualify. Third race was more like me. I got out well and was sitting 4^th and managed to get a clean line down second straight and got it all dialed!!! So happy. I finished that race with a 2^nd behind Corben Sharrah. Im told now that everybody at home who was watching it on free-caster all screamed and shouted So I had qualified through to the next round. Quarter finals. Unfortunately there was more bad luck for Nick Fox as he did not make it through. Trent had taken a fall in his first race of the day and came back to win the next races and he qualified as well. Coming into quarter final I was feeling good of the last lap. I had a good gate and was 5^th to first turn. I knew this was it I had to commit to that second straight if I wanted to progress through and that’s just what I did. Got another clean run and did it sweet! I had the best lap of the weekend so far but still I finished with a 5^th so I did not qualify. I wasn’t too disappointed with myself though because I went out there and did a good lap and it wasn’t fast enough that day. Trent had the same thing happen to him and he finished with a 5^th as well. First day of racing was over. We had given it all.

We relaxed and watched the rest of the racing. Watched Marc ride super good to get into the Elite men’s final! And Sarah the same. Both were on point. Sarah was off first. She was chasing so hard the whole lap but unfortunately was beaten the the line for a second place finish. Marc and a solid first straight in his final and was 3^rd into the first turn looking to attack but Sam Willoughby fell in front of Marc and he had nowhere to go. A crash brought him to a 6^th place finish. Maris Strombergs for the win.

To be continued…

Hey Guys!!

I have written so much that I’m going to break it up for you all.

First of all I apologise for the lack of updating. The hotel we were staying in was almost brand new and it was a good $20 for only an hours worth of Internet! Not particularly cheep to be paying everyday. But here is the update from the trip. Once again sorry it is so late!

So last time you heard from me I would have been in Christchurch International airport about to fly out to Sydney. Well it went really well. On the flight to Sydney I worked on a video I had been making of the last USA trip that I went on. The team did some filmed and I put a little edit together. Turned out really good! Check it out in part 2. So on the first flight I got that done and tidied up. I then met the rest of the team in Sydney.

Apart from the usual riders traveling, we also had a big support team with us. Along with Ken Cools, Ryan Hollows and John Cowell, we had Hugie Castle, who is the National Bike NZ High Performance Director, and Leah Pearsall, who was our team physio for the trip. The new additions to the team made for an ever better environment. Unfortunately the downside of me being the only south island rider and everybody else from Auckland! With a bit if time to waste before we boarded our next flight to Johannesburg, I showed the video to the rest of the team. Really happy with the result we jumped on the next plane and off we went.

Flight was sooooo goood! Had 4 seats to myself so I made myself a little bed much to the jealousy of others . After the long 12 hour flight we came into Jo-Berg airport. One of the first things that hits you is the tipping. Giving people tips. For instance you have people who work at the airport coming up to you and asking if you need help getting somewhere and then asking for a tip for their troubles. It was so hard to say sorry but no because we had no South African currency. Unfortunately with the way South Africa is at the moment most people live off the tips they receive. With us being from New Zealand it is a whole new ordeal.

Rest of the trip was good. We had one more flight to Durban and then drove for an hour to Pietermaritzburg. We arrived at out hotel at around 10pm and everyone was smashed from the jet-lag and just wanted to go to bed. We resisted enough to go out for dinner. The hotel we stayed at was in a cool facility where there was a big shopping mall literally across the car-park. It was awesome to have everything within reach. There was a steak house in there called Butchers Block. This was going to be dinner every night for the whole trip. You sit down for lunch and open up the menu and see everything is priced in triple digits. Your thinking wow that’s expensive but then you remember that the exchange rate is 5 to 1 so a good 300g steak was only costing $20 NZ. After a good dinner it was back to the hotel to bed.

We arrived in South Africa on a Wednesday and it wasn’t till next week Thursday that we got to ride the worlds track. So the week in-between we did the final tweaks to our training. It would take me forever to go through day by day so I will give you a run down on the things we did. Basically the days were filled up with the local BMX track, downhill sprint sessions and gym.

The local BMX track was pretty cool. It was a small track that had a fun first straight that you could just pretty low. Nothing to prepare us for Worlds pro section but still some good time on the bike. First day there we had a big mishap. We had just begun gate starts on the track and it was a pretty dodgy gate but we needed to get dome practice in for worlds. Everyone did a few to get used it and then we got into it. Trent J, Nick, Trent W, Sarah, and Jimmy all hoped on the gate. Call went and everybody snapped hard to find that the gate did not fall. It didn’t move. Everybody went over the bars and onto the concrete start hill hard. Few with sore wrists and legs. We thought that the trip could have been in danger. But after a few days things became right and everybody was fine. Safe to say that there was no more gates for the week!

The local BMX track was based in a show ground and there was a Horse racecourse and a casino there as well but we ignored all this and found ourselves a cool downhill sprints pad. It had a speed roller in it so sprints was linked with pumping as well. There is a first time for everything huh! One time we were driving to go do sprints there was a dude standing on the gates to get in with a shot gun?! We have never seen anything like that before and it was so weird. Casually holding a shotgun.

The other thing we did was hit the gym. We went to virgin fitness. A pretty big gym! Had heaps of equipment. But I guess a gym is a gym wherever you go huh!! Story about it though! One morning when the riders had the day off John and Ken went and hit the gym. They locked up their bags in locker only to come back after a hard session to find that the locker had been broken into and wallets, iPhone and cameras gone!! It was gutting. For both of then they have most of their work on the iPhone so it was a big set back for them. Fortunately I think they got most of the stuff back through insurance.

To be continued..

Yeti riders Daniel Franks and Nicole Wright, both of New Zealand, won bronze medals in their Cruiser classes at the 2010 UCI BMX World Championships held at Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, on the weekend.

Sixteen-year-old Franks, of Christchurch, made his mark early in the competition when he raced into the quarterfinals on Saturday.

One of the youngest competitors in the under-19 category, Franks found himself among the best 32 BMX juniors in the world. He narrowly missed progressing to the semi-finals when he finished fifth in his heat (top four progress).

Note to Media: Did you know you can download any image by clicking on it?

“I wasn’t really happy with my result – I wasn’t riding well. I lacked a bit of confidence. I got through the motos fine, but I felt a little bit off the pace,” Franks said.

On Sunday, Franks progressed swiftly to the finals of the Cruiser class, which features BMX bikes with 24-inch wheels (a standard BMX has 20-inch wheels).

The Junior Elite final saw what many have dubbed as one of the “biggest crashes in BMX history” as riders flew through the air in all directions. Franks shares his view of the chaos.

“It was a very big crash. I had a good gate and was sitting in sixth going into the first turn. We were winding up around the first turn and as we came into the second straight one of the front riders went down on one of the first jumps. From there it was carnage – people were getting knocked sideways or crashed – it was crazy. Me and the front rider were the only ones who came away without crashing,” Franks said.

“When the first guy went down he fell right in front of me so I had to jam on the brakes, but the rider behind me still went for the jump. As he got to the lip he clipped my back wheel and punctured it, and it sent him catapulting through the air.”

Franks managed to limp his BMX through the next two straights to finish third and claim the bronze medal.

Franks’ was awarded his bronze medal on the podium, but didn’t get to keep it.

“They had to take it off me because the night before all the medals had been stolen, so they needed to reuse this one for the next presentation. They will send me my medal in the next week or so.”

Franks said he wasn’t expecting to perform so well in the Cruiser class.

“When I made the final, I couldn’t believe it,” he laughed.

In the Women’s 15-16 Years final, Yeti rider Nicole Wright, of Auckland, also claimed a bronze medal.

“Nicole made the finals in her class both days – she rode really well,” offered Franks.

Fellow Yeti rider Nick Fox, of Gisborne, experienced a weekend of poor luck and was unable to qualify for the main event in the Under 19 Junior Elite class at the event.

“It didn’t go as well as I had hoped. I had some trouble with the second straight and kept getting caught up with other riders,” Fox said.

The Pietermaritzburg track is the longest in the world at 440m and for Franks and Fox, this event was their first BMX World Championship racing on the “pro straight”.

“I felt good in my first Cruiser moto and then I overjumped the second pro jump, bent my bars and sprained my wrist and hurt my foot. This is my first time racing the pro straight line,” Fox said.

Sarah Walker, of Kawerau, finished second in 20-inch, but suffered some bad luck in practice in the Cruiser class.

“She went over a tabletop and tried to manual it, but sat on the back wheel by mistake. It chucked her over the bars and she went headfirst into the next jump,” explained Franks.

The 2009 double World BMX Champion did not race on Sunday as a result.

Marc Willers, of Cambridge, raced well, finishing either first or second in all of his heats on his way into the final. In the final he was taken out when Australian rider Sam Willoughby washed out in front of him in a corner, ending his World Championship podium hopes.

New Zealand’s Yeti BMX team is confident its preparation will deliver results at the 2010 UCI BMX World Championships being held at Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, this weekend

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Three 16-year-olds, Daniel Franks, of Christchurch, Nicole Wright, of Auckland, and Nick Fox, of Gisborne, are in Pietermaritzburg today hoping to qualify for the round of 32 in the Under 19 Junior Elite class at the event.

Franks and Fox are both members of New Zealand’s BMX Development Team, which is headed by coach Ken Cools, of Auckland.

Note to Media: Did you know you can download any image in hi-res by clicking on it?

Cools said the team was the most prepared that it had ever been for the World Championships. Star elite male rider Marc Willers, of Cambridge, is back in form after a shoulder surgery last year and Sarah Walker, of Kawerau, will be out to defend the two World titles she won in Adelaide, Australia last year.

“The team is in the best head space they have been in and are all ready to go,” offers Cools.

“Marc and Sarah are both peaking at the right time and ready to go. We can’t wait to race and get this thing going.”

Riding the Yeti SuperX, Cools expected development team riders Fox and Franks to debut well in their Junior Elite class.

“Daniel and Nick have just come off a great camp in Chula Vista and are both fizzing to race. They are in top form and ready to rock and I have never seen them ride better and be in a more positive head space than they are right now,” he shares.

Early in the practice, Cools saw Wright case a jump on the giant track, but Wright has since come to terms with the first two straights that had been troubling her.

“The track is big, and it’s long and has a good mix of technical jumps and long roller sections,” Cools explains.

The vibe around the event was “awesome”, Cools said.

“The high-performance team has never been in a better head space and they are all getting along so well right now.”

If the Yeti riders qualify for the main event then their racing will start on Saturday afternoon at 1:30pm South African time (11:30pm Saturday NZST). Each round of racing will have junior women, junior men, elite women and elite men.

Franks’ father Geof said that it would be a huge achievement for his son to make the semi-finals.

“He’s first year junior elite – Under 19, and he’s still only 16,” he offers.

“To make semi-finals would be a great effort. He has to get through the time trials qualifications and not be eliminated, but he should, and then get through the first round and not be eliminated – and we hope he will, but then he’s in with the top 32 Under 19 riders in the world,” he states.

“To go further as a young rider and make the top 16 for the semi-finals would be a great result.”

Blast the Mass