It would be fair to say that the start of 2015 was hectic. 25,000 miles travelled by air, 260 by sea and another few thousand by a mix of cars, buses, trams, underground trains and gondolas meant I managed to ride my bike in a different country for each of the first 5 months of the year. Each trip has been different both in terms of location and purpose. The year started with a flight across Europe to the spot-heavy city of Barcelona to film a new Ali C video for Drop & Roll, followed up by a month-long holiday/visit to New Zealand which was in turn followed by me stowing away on a work trip for Ian Johnstone to the Netherlands. The following pages feature photos from each trip as well as some collected ramblings. A few words will never do a trip abroad justice in much the same way that some photos or videos won’t either. Travelling has never been as easy or accessible as it is now, so make the most of it and make some memories of your own. Just leave the ‘selfie stick’ at home... Thanks to everyone who made these trips possible!
As soon as I got the news Ali had broken his collarbone just before our trip to Barcelona in January 2014, I knew that whatever happened we’d have to head back over there to have a proper shot at getting a video filmed. As we rode past spot after spot that looked perfectly suited to Ali’s riding style, but with him unable to do much due to his barely healed collar bone, my feeling of frustration of not being able to film all of these potential lines was topped only by Ali’s frustration at seeing everyone else ripping around the place. With the rest of Ali’s year taken up by Clan and Drop & Roll shows heading back over to the Catalan capital was looking more and more doubtful. As usual though, the dual catalysts of sub-zero temperatures and significant rainfall figures meant that as winter descended plans were put in place to escape to warmer climes. Fortunately for us, Drop & Roll decided to step in and help out with our flights and accommodation, and a few days later some boarding passes and reservation details landed in my inbox.
After the formality of travelling virtually the length of the M6 to get to Scotland, things were looking up. Ali was feeling good about riding and was excited about getting out of the now snow-covered Glasgow, and as usual it was cool to catch up with the rest of the guys at the flat. With our bikes packed up into their respective bag and box, and having checked where our passports were for what was probably the hundredth time, we hopped aboard the baller Drop & Roll Tour van to head to Edinburgh airport. 6 hours or so later - after a quick transfer at Gatwick airport - we touched down in Barcelona on a chilly, dry evening. Despite our combined past experience, the total lack of decent signage at Barcelona airport meant we still got lost finding the metro. ProTip: Get the free shuttle bus to Terminal 2B. Although the security guards will be pretty sour about it, you can also sneak the luggage trolleys into the lifts and get most of the way to the platform with them too. If they give you grief, I recommend the Ali C method: shrug and do it anyway.
Prev: Despite the rickety objects to ride, the gravel on the floor and nothing being at the right angle, this place ended up being strangely productive. This backwheel was the end of clip 1 of 3 we filmed there that day. Left: Endless waits for a clear run during rush hour in central Barca. Below: During the long pedal out to Badalona we found another colony of feral rock cats. Needless to say, Ali was keen.
With the trip being planned at the last minute, we had to roll the dice and see what was left when it came to somewhere to stay. Luckily, our apartment (A) was plush. 2 bedrooms, sweet bathroom, big kitchen and, more importantly for Ali C (the C stands for “Cold”), deluxe air conditioning setup (B). The single, 2-and-a-bit-seater sofa meant things weren’t particularly spacious, but with separate halves it meant that Ali could store all his sweets and popcorn where he wanted (C), and I could needlessly stack things on DVD cases (D). We fell into a routine where mornings would feature scrambled eggs on toast with some Mystery Meat we got from the local shop, and some video-based inspiration on the screen (E). Our “Out early, back late” riding schedule meant that things didn’t get too Gordon Ramsay when it came to mealtimes hence our fridge largely being stocked with the pinnacle of beverage excellence that is Cacaolat (F). Seriously - if you go to Spain, get involved. It’s as cheap as it is good (i.e. very).
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The lack of signage relating to Barcelona’s RENFE/Metro system continues when you’re trying to work out which station you’re either going to need to arrive or depart at. Consequently, when we headed into the city from the airport to find our apartment, we ended up stepping out at street level and having pretty much no idea where we were. Having made a quick phone call in broken English to arrange meeting up with the key-holder for our apartment, we tried to fashion some method of carrying my bike box with it stacked on Ali’s fancy Evoc bag. No doubt all the locals out enjoying themselves were entertained as we struggled to drag the contraption up the street, but neither of us were. After a bit of a wait outside our apartment complex (which involved playing football with an empty Pepsi can with the daughter of the corner shop owner - long story...), a guy showed up on a moped to let us in. Despite being equipped with a lift that looked like it was old enough (and sketchy enough) to be the original prototype lift in the whole of Europe, the rest of our apartment was sweet. Our block seemed to mainly house some Catalan OAPs who, although not psyched on the sound of Hope hubs passing their doors every day, were
Above: One of the many advantages of ‘street trials’ bikes compared to ‘pure trials’ bikes is being able to play around on the way to spots. Here’s Ali making full use of this by boosting the transitioned speed bumps alongside the C-31. Spots. Everywhere.
Above: Just look at that setup. Ideally angled take-off ramp, nice height rail and even a long, mellow flatbank to breeze back into. Take a bow, Barcelona. Take a bow. Right: Trying new grips out on a trip - just say no. A “meaty paw” led to Ali’s ability to hop being curtailed significantly within 2 hours of us starting to ride, and my stress levels rising considerably.
at least all pretty quiet. Thanks to our apartment having paper thin walls this was a significant advantage, meaning that the only disturbance we got was feeling the room shake when underground trains passed by way below (at least that’s what we put the eery swaying feeling we both experienced down to). So - with us both being settled in our new temporary home, a reasonably good weather forecast for the next week and a good idea of where some choice spots were thanks to our past trips there (and extensive Google Maps spot hunting - kudos to BarcelonaSkateSpots. wordpress.com), we were both looking forward to a productive and enjoyable week. This illusion was shattered about 2 hours into the first day of riding. With some prompting by a new type of foam grips Ali hadn’t used before, one of the callouses on his left hand decided to hit the eject button.
Continuing to use the same grips for the rest of the day led to the freshly formed blister developing into a deep-seated blister and a cut - not a state of affairs conducive to bunnyhops of any sort. To try and work out some kind of ‘repair’ for Ali’s hand so we could get more clips we had to drop in to some of the many, many pharmacies around Barcelona. Despite a lot of people in Barcelona speaking good English, we managed to pick pharmacies that were staffed exclusively by people who didn’t speak any. This led to the inevitable language barrier issues, compounded by the fact that Ali didn’t really know what he was looking for either. After an hour or two of fruitless searching we headed into a weird hardware store and picked up some superglue which became the key ingredient to getting Ali’s hand back to a ride-able state each day. This meant that I got to enjoy a daily dose of schadenfreude as Ali had to deal with the brutal stinging feeling that superglue onto cuts causes. As someone with epidermolysis bullosa simplex (Google it) I’m usually the one who has skin that falls apart, so being a spectator to the “glueing your body back together” ritual was a nice change. Although the layering of superglue, plasters, medical tape and gloves provided some relief from the state of his hand, it was clearly causing Ali some issues and the next few days were characterised by exploring the streets of Barcelona, finding incredible spots then having to roll on past as Ali found himself unable to do much on any of them. This really highlighted the duality of the pro rider lifestyle. Getting paid to ride your bike for a living is undeniably cool but there is a flip side.
While they might not do shop opening hours or normal tasting milk well, the people behind the scenes in Barcelona nail it when it comes to green spaces and public parks. The public park we had to ride through on the way to Montbau was ridiculous. Expansive flatbank setups (A), offset geometric islands (B) and huge water fountains that jet water over walkways (C) make it a cool place for people to spend an afternoon, and a pretty fun place to ride. Also ranking high up there in the “Fun place to ride� category is this carpark arrangement (D) near to the Besos wavey bumps to rail (featured in almost every BMX video filmed in Barcelona). Some of it is parked car dependent, but the pedestrianised section is good to go whenever as Ali shows with a boost over the main setup (E) at the tail end of another long day riding.
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This was certainly the case in Barcelona as the pressure of having to produce a video to justify the expenditure on the trip started to mount (in fairness to Drop & Roll, pressure that was exclusively applied by us), and that was coming on top of the usual pressure of trying to produce a video that viewers will be happy with. As Ali’s level of riding has increased, so to has the level of difficulty of finding suitable spots to ride, and then lines at those places that could be considered ‘videoworthy’. Whereas various other riders rely on the crutch of either gimmick or deliberately restrictive locations or circumstances to work around the difficulties of living up to expectations, Ali’s decision to primarily put out videos that show him riding his normal bike at normal street spots offers nowhere to hide. Add to that a desire to keep any correction hops or pauses in lines to an absolute minimum and the fun and enjoyment can fairly rapidly get sucked out of riding. As always with our filming escapades, there will usually be a turning point
Above: When is a 15set not a 15-set? When it’s a bank to wallride. Perfect step spacing and chamfered edges to the steps - those civic planners knew what they were doing. Build it and they will come.
Above: Touché Drew. Right: Strato-dab: DWI. Over: This hippy hop ended up being the watershed moment for the trip in terms of Ali getting his confidence back. After 25mins of circling, he threw himself over the bar and the curse was lifted. A few attempts later and he was rolling away cleanly.
where the stress peaks, only for a particular event to pierce the bubble it’s easy to get stuck in whilst in Filming Mode and for the good times to start again. That came in the form of a hippy hop around the mid-point of the trip which satisfied Ali’s desire to pull a legit hippy hop on street, and my desire to shoot a photo of one. With a renewed outlook we managed to get some more photos and clips in the bag, but also appreciate more the fact we were lucky enough to be in one of the best cities in the world basically to go out and enjoy ourselves. While the end product might not necessarily reflect Ali’s typical level of riding, the fact he managed to get clips of that calibre in the bag despite a painful injury is impressive. Just leave the new grips at home next time...
Since the frantic 6 or so hours I spent exploring Rotterdam with Ali in 2012 I’ve been eager to head back over there. As we drove back down the E18 to Dunkirk we both had a feeling of only scratching the surface in terms of the spots on offer there, a feeling backed up by a saved Google Maps map littered with pins marking potential spots. In the 3 years that brings us up to the present day there had been much talk with various people of crossing the Channel and spending some time there but nothing solid came of it. That changed one day in late March this year when I got home from a ride to discover a series of texts from Phoenix Riders Co founder Ian Johnstone. In them, he asked if I fancied tagging along with him for a trip over to the Netherlands - the only catch being that we left in 3 days. Without any work commitments there was no reason not to go, so, with no real idea of where we were going or how we were getting there, I headed up to Ian’s current home in Cannock.
Prev: 270 pivot off a Dutch crocodile that could have definitely benefited from a stiff upper lip.
The past few trips I’ve been on have involved flying, meaning the relentless hassle of having to pack/repack a bike into a tiny box, worrying about baggage weights and so on. By contrast, being able to throw some clothes into a suitcase, put my camera bag, tripod and steadicam into my car and throw my bike in on top was so easy it felt like cheating. That feeling would definitely change as we endured our night in a cabin in the ferry surrounded on each side by rowdy Polish truck drivers, but more on that later... As I got to Ian’s house I got a stark illustration of the many different roles that Ian has to juggle. From speaking to him before I was aware he had two small girls, a job that involved a lot of travel and a gym routine to try and help keep his sketchy knee in one piece, but seeing all of these factors in
play put them into perspective. As we were approaching the deadline for hitting the road to get to the ferry on time Ian had to have dinner with his girls then help initiate their bed time routine, make sure he had his work clothes, laptop and other bits and pieces with him, spares for his bike, pads, helmet, gloves, and so on. Once we were on the road heading to Harwich (which was news to me as I just assumed we’d be going from Dover - again highlighting how little I knew about the trip) I used the time to catch up with Ian on how things were with Phoenix and a few other side projects he has at the moment. Speaking to him was inspiring and depressing in equal measure. Ian is a very driven person, managing to squeeze a ridiculous amount of stuff into his daily life. By contrast, despite having no fulltime job and no commitments I was doing virtually nothing on a day-to-day basis. Similarly, Phoenix is a time-consuming labour of love for Ian, and in the past few years he’s put on multiple jams, attended plenty of events and helps out his team riders here and there. The process of getting a clothing line created isn’t a straight-forward one if
Above: Concrete slides and awkward hypercubes - the end result of someone who hates kids being asked to design playparks.
Right: A bumpy takeoff, low light and a not inconsiderably sized rhino led to Ian taking a couple of hits before we got this photo in the bag. Below: Ozonys Iron: available in “Liquid metallic jazz� finish only.
you’re a stickler for quality, and Ian certainly is. Chasing up suppliers, checking samples, tweaking designs and eventually receiving the goods and having to then ship them out takes up a lot of time. Again, by contrast, a quick look at the number of Clean videos and blogs over the past few years should put our relative attitudes into perspective. Work ethics aside, the fact Ian has managed to recover from a serious piece of knee surgery, rehabbed his knee and has continued to progress and improve is worthy of note too. When the pressures of being a grown-up weigh down on some people, going out riding and having fun can sometimes drop off their list of priorities entirely, but Ian has managed to make time to get out, see his friends, film videos and learn more. When his
sporadic travel schedule has meant we’ve met up for a ride he’s impressed me each time with both his willingness to send moves and also the new things he’s learned. Back to the trip though - as mentioned earlier, our ferry ride over wasn’t particularly smooth sailing in both a figurative and literal sense. After hitting up the brutally over-priced restaurant and scoping out the ‘sun deck’ (complete with bizarrely small 5-a-side cage), we headed back to our room and settled in for the night whilst watching the dog kennel CCTV channel. The quiet in our room was soon disrupted as the truckers in the next cabin returned from the bar fairly boozed up. One of them made it into the cabin, then somehow managed to lock his room-mate out whilst completely passing out himself. This led to angry shouting and constant banging on the door that wasn’t stopped even when a hapless crew member came down to investigate what was going on. Having managed to get a few hours sleep we were rudely awoken - our cabin was suddenly filled with the introduction to Bobby McFerrin’s 1988 classic “Don’t Worry Be Happy.” I’m not really a morning person, and despite them deliberately choosing this song for its upbeat connotations that wasn’t
Left: A couple of platform-to-hop-over lines from two different spots in Rotterdam. Shapes. Below: Entertainment on our ferry - a 24-hr scrolling feed of live CCTV coverage of dog kennels in the hold, with an audiobook or Euro dance music soundtrack. Weird.
Right: Full disclosure these photos were shot on a recent trip to Coventry. They certainly reinforce how impressive Ian’s time juggling skills are though, as this trip happened in a spare few hours Ian had having just come home from a week away for work (with family in tow), got them settled back at home, then headed out to come and ride with me before heading home to help out with bath time for his kids. Above, we have a tight wallride at a covered over spot where I once nearly knocked myself out at a P5 BMX jam. Because I disregarded the “Look before you leap” adage I ended up performing an attempted tribute to the tortoise by forcing my head into my body by headbutting a roof with some force. Not ideal. Below, a rear tyre tree bonk with a kicker provided courtesy of mother nature giving some paving slabs something to think about.
the effect it had. That said, I can’t imagine any song that would make a pre-6am wake-up any better, especially factoring in the hour of sleep lost due to the change in time zone too. Having been hussled out of our room by over-zealous crew members we made it back to the car and rolled out into a grey Dutch morning. The weather definitely wasn’t on our side, and it continued to give Rotterdam a fairly bleak look as we drove around trying to find our hotel. The late night/early morning combination didn’t make Euro-driving any easier. Before we finally managed to get into the weird semi-underground car park for our hotel several laws were broken, up to and including driving the wrong way down a oneway street and unintentionally finding ourselves driving down one of the awesome segregated cycle paths that’s led to Rotterdam (and the Netherlands in general) being such a great place to be a cyclist - right up until you find a foreigner driving a large car down one towards you I guess. Luckily for us, the company Ian works for have high end clients which meant that the hotels we stayed in were fairly plush, although that didn’t extend to the quality of food on offer there. After two chicken caesar salads that contained zero chicken, Ian managed to talk the waiting staff into hooking him up with a complimentary sandwich. Unfortunately, with it being a high-end hotel this ended up with Ian getting a pretty raw deal in the form of raw beef on a slab of bread. You win some you lose some. Partially fed but fully dosed up on coffee we hit the streets of Rotterdam and were both reminded of how good the spots are over there. Significant investment and being located on a major river mean some creative architecture and the associated cool spots. We were able to enjoy a brief dry spell but the heavens soon opened and we got soaked as we looked for spots. Once we were back in the hotel and had rigged up some rudimentary drying racks to try and dry our now soaked clothes, Ian was able to do some work, opening up a window for us to go out riding again the next day. Again, this is testament to Ian’s ability to get things done - we were both tired from the short night/long day combination, yet while I was idly lurking on the internet, Ian was handling business.
The end result of a rainy, rainy ride in Rotterdam (A). Bearing in mind that this was a high end hotel, the housekeeping staff were remarkably cool about us hanging wet, dirty clothes from their shower/bath arrangement. They also didn’t seem to mind us dramatically rearranging the room to create a more leisure/less business layout. It’s nothing new, but to see the amount of bikes that are all over the streets in places like Rotterdam (B) and Amsterdam is really cool. Getting to sample that kind of cycling-inclusive society is a breath of fresh air. There are interesting spots (C) for people looking for more unusual methods of cycling too, such as this partially covered over spot by our hotel. They also have fun stuff like shops called “Moto Dick” (D), and weird houses on islands (E).
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Up bright and early the next day we hit up the hotel breakfast buffet to get a reminder of how unsatisfying the continental breakfast is. Europe, up your game. The rain had moved on by this point leaving in its wake gusting winds. In spite of them we revisited the spots from the day before and managed to film some clips. Yet again it was great to just ride around the city and experience what it’s like to ride a bike in a country that actively tries to improve the lives of people who get around by bike. Sadly we didn’t get to spend all that much time in Rotterdam as Ian’s work schedule meant a drive over to Haarlem. While he chatted to clients, I went to a creepy museum (where I was the only visitor) and watched films in the car in a multi-storey carpark - not exactly soaking up the local culture. After Ian wrapped up his work we hit the road again. We rolled into Amsterdam with enough time to go full tourist and use a tram ride to get our bearings and hit up a really good
Below: This group spent quite some time trying to get the ‘perfect’ selfie in front of this landmark. The mindset of constantly needing to upload poorly composed photos of yourself is hard to understand for me, but to use a ‘Selfie Stick’ is the absolute worst. Without getting overly philosophical, live life in the moment rather than trying to cultivate that perfect social media photo album. You’ll enjoy reminiscing about experiences not Likes.
Right: You seriously thought I’d do a piece on the Netherlands and I wouldn’t include a gratuitous photograph of a windmill? Next: Yet again, a photo shot in the UK, this time in the back streets of London. This tight transition to wallride is a real handful, but Ian managed to find the sweet spot and get some over-brick-divide height. Just behind where this photo was shot Ian did a serious wallride transfer that you can see at the end of his aptly titled “RTDM:LDN” video on Vimeo.
pasta place, but didn’t get a chance to ride. Ian had to be up bright and early the day after to go and see some clients, but fortunately for me my open schedule meant I got time to absolutely devastate the breakfast buffet in a 2-hour constant grazing marathon. Fuelled by a heady concoction of muesli, fruit, Euro ham, Euro cheese, croissants and anything/everything else I could get my hands on I attempted to go for a ride into the city. I was almost foiled by the automatic gate on the hotel car park that refused to open to allow me out, but fortunately a real car showed up that put my fake car impression to shame and got the gates to swing open. Remembering the route from our tram ride the day before, I rode into the centre of Amsterdam. Despite the interesting old buildings, tourist spots and cool museums, that part of the city was much more canal-heavy than spot-heavy, leading to a ride out into the suburbs. These contained a wealth of spots that were fun to session. The estates they were located in had a certain London vibe to them, aided by the diverse architecture involved, the vast array of knock-off fast food outlets and the gangs of kids lurking on various corners. As we were on a tight schedule to make it to the ferry port on time I had to cut my exploration short and just about managed to find my way back to the hotel by using some pre-prepared screenshots of Google Maps on my phone. Once we were back on the road we caught up with what we’d been up to that day. I regaled Ian with my tales of extensive breakfasts, lazy coffee breaks in the old part of Amsterdam and a cruisy ride through the outskirts, which Ian followed up by telling me about his hectic schedule of flitting between different clients and dealing with IT issues (which did instill a slight feeling of guilt in me that Ian’s hard work had allowed me to come on this trip). Chatting to Ian about his upcoming schedule as we killed time on the ferry and in the car back in the UK reinforced my feelings of admiration that he was able to keep all those plates spinning. Despite being tired from the trip he had a physio session planned, time to spend with his family and more work to do, yet he was still trying to find out when his friends would be free to ride next. For someone as allergic to responsibility as I am it at least makes me feel better that, if you want it enough, you can make time for fun. Thanks again for the trip and the inspiration Ian!
Q: How do you make winter more bearable if you’re in the UK? A: Leave. No sooner had I got back from filming Ali in Barcelona it was time to pack my bike back up and head to an airport. This time, however, rather than for a hop over to mainland Europe it was to begin a 4-leg, 35hr trip to the other side of the world. My brother Dan has been living in New Zealand with his wife Sophie for a reasonably long time, but I was yet to make the trip and see how life was treating them. It ended up being an awesome month filled with a lot of riding, great food, cool experiences and amazing scenery (captured for posterity largely on my phone and a couple of disposable cameras). Rather than banging on about it from my “This is so much better than being in cold, wet Wales!” perspective, I thought I’d fire Dan a few questions to shed some light on what life in New Zealand was really like. I wanted to see if his feelings about life there had been tempered by working and living there for so long, but the excitement he had when he first spoke to us having moved there doesn’t seem to have dimmed at all. They’re definitely doing it right over there...
Clean: Heading half-way across the world to start a new life is a pretty big move to make - what was it that triggered your move over to New Zealand, and how long have you been there for now? I’ve been in New Zealand for just over 6 years now – I moved out here with my girlfriend (now Wife) in May 2009, via South-East Asia and Australia. I suppose it was a big move geographically but I don’t really think of it as a big deal now. Having a shared language, similar structures in place and a bunch of friends here already meant that it wasn’t too difficult, or much of a culture-shock. In fact, getting picked up from the airport by good friends of ours and crashing with them felt like coming home in a way after the travelling that we had been doing. Also, we had been planning the move since we left University; there was just the matter of getting jobs, paying bank over-drafts and saving up enough money to sort out first, which took a few years. I’ve always thought of countries a bit like people – some you get on with and become good friends, others not so much. We had always felt like there was probably a country that suited us more than the UK and having looked around a bit and considered the possibilities, New Zealand had always appealed. It certainly hasn’t disappointed. There are a lot of similarities between NZ and the UK, but what would you say were some of the biggest differences you noticed when you first moved there? Biggest differences that I noticed initially would probably be the lack of traffic, how friendly everyone was, the natural beauty and abundance of free space and easy access to untouched wilderness, how accessible surfing, biking, mountaineering, hunting, fishing, skiing, snowboarding, etc. were, along with how many people were doing these sorts of activities. One of the defining aspects of society in the UK is the NHS - it sounds like the health care system in NZ is pretty solid too though. How does the system work over there, and what have your experiences been with it? The healthcare system here is very similar to the UK in many respects – it is public, free to all and the standard of care is excellent. The big difference here comes in with the ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation). This is a government organisation that is funded by levies, deducted from employees’ salaries, much like national insurance in the UK, as well as contributions from fuel and vehicle licensing costs. The game-changer is that the ACC pays for private health treatment, lost income and any other transport/mobility requirements, should you become injured as a result of an accident. An example would be when I broke my foot having crashed at the skatepark a few years ago – ACC paid for 90% of my salary, while I was unable to work, they then paid $200 per day for a taxi to get me to work and back as part of a planned re-introduction to work. A more extreme example might be if you chop your leg off while cutting firewood with a chainsaw – ACC will fit you with a state-of-the-art prosthesis, cover any extra handrails that you need fitted around the home, sort you out with modified car, if necessary,
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To hammer the point home: the riding in New Zealand is too good. Although there’s a relative lack of photos of riding taking place, we were out riding every day and only managed to sample a small taster of what’s on offer. As a couple of examples: A, B: Sticky Woods (in Wanaka) has a range of different types of trail that make great use of it’s unique topography. It features a variety of runs down each side of a ridge, which meet up at the bottom then lead you to some fun lines to take you back up to the top of the hill. As with the rest of New Zealand, the locals do a great job of keeping this place up and running, and have even taken the time to create some fun lines that link the trails to the centre of town. C, D: Although Queenstown is a huge draw for it’s amazing bike park (where I had the most fun day I’ve had on a bike, courtesy of a rental bike with a load of travel, a full face helmet and some knee pads - you instantly feel invincible), the roads into Queenstown have a couple of turn-offs that lead to more fun places to ride too. The trails Dan and Soph are riding in these photos follow an access road to a ski field - ideal for shuttling. E, F: Both Christchurch (E) and Wellington (F) are coastal cities with great riding. Christchurch Port Hills have a wide array of trails from super tech rocky downhill lines to more bike park style runs, all the way through to meandering XC loops with some fun features along the way. Dan and Soph are lucky to live at the foot of a range of trails, but rather than just showing up when the riding’s good they both help out with the digging groups to maintain and improve them. The trails at Wellington are a treat to ride too. The weird part with them is that you can be pedalling through bustling residential streets, make a quick left then almost instantly be into a technical singletrack climb in some woods that winds its way up to the rest of the network. We were lucky to be joined by a seasoned guide for our second day in Wellington who led us around semi-hidden routes. This gave a far better strike rate of “fun descents” to “long climbs” than we experienced on our first day where our group ended up splitting up near the summit of one of the hills, all whilst being battered by rain and winds so strong a few people were blown off their bikes. G, H: Gorge Road jumps at Queenstown are amazing. They start off with some easy rollers but build up to “No thanks, no thanks” serious business lines - just look at that first hip/berm combo. This place was the scene of a constant battle between how willing you were to send it, and how much of the 30°C+ temperatures you could deal with. I, J, K: There are a plethora of great concrete skateparks too. From weird ‘80s snake runs/bowls to unusual street-style setups then on to modern bowl/plaza combinations, they’ve got them all, including some in some insanely picturesque locations. (K)
cover any lost earnings while you can’t work. A nice side-effect of this service is that people don’t tend to sue each other following accidents and insurance for setting up things like white-water rafting tours, bungy jumping companies, etc is much cheaper. It results in a lack of red-tape, no-win-no-fee claims and cottonwool, you might say… Something I noticed when I first started venturing out and about throughout New Zealand was how friendly and chatty people are compared to being in the UK. Did I just happen to bump into the right people or would you say that was fairly consistent across the board? I would say that the South Island, where you spent most of your time, is particularly friendly by New Zealand standards but Kiwis are generally pretty welcoming and helpful all over – New Zealand is consistently rated in the top five countries in the world for giving money and time to charities, as well as how often they help strangers. It still surprises me and makes me smile how nice strangers are when you talk to them in coffee shops, petrol stations, out on the trails, etc. It was cool to see the boxes/setups around Sumner for people to swap books, offload any extra fruit and veg they’d grown and so on - was that kind of mindset generated by the local people in Sumner or is that a nation-wide thing? Again, I think it is just a general Kiwi trait to help each other out. I suppose a lot more people here have the space to have a veg patch, or fruit trees etc. and if you happen to have grown too much of something, someone else may like some. This is quite a normal attitude here. One of the biggest things to happen to Christchurch recently was the earth quake in 2011. As someone who grew up in the safe and serene surroundings of Mid Wales, what was it like being caught up in a fairly major natural disaster like that, and what was life like immediately afterwards? The series of earthquakes that started in September 2010, that included the devastating earthquake in February 2011, has definitely had a huge impact on everyone that went through them. From my perspective hearing and feeling the earth shake underneath me and particularly, perhaps, feeling the Pacific Ocean shudder around me while out surfing during the February quake definitely resulted in a paradigm shift of how I understand the natural world and my place in it. Life immediately after the quake was scary, confusing and humbling; the immediate fight-or-flight reaction, that was repeated to a greater or lesser extent through thousands of aftershocks, coming from being in a very vulnerable position floating on a piece of foam out at sea, realising that the large waves that had been rolling through seconds before had now been shaken flat and what that meant for the tsunami risk. Looking up and seeing clouds of red dust blowing out to sea, from the newly exposed cliffs which had been created when the land had given
After the earthquake that hit Christchurch in 2011, I’d heard various statistics that tried to put it into perspective. However, actually arriving in Christchurch and seeing the scale of what had happened was massively eye-opening - shipping container lined roads, patches of wasteland where buildings had been flattened and building works going on throughout the city. While I was there, a new documentary was shown on the TV. I’d spoken to my brother a little about his experiences which sounded pretty gnarly, but hearing accounts from survivors trapped in buildings, rescue workers and so on gave additional perspective. I decided to go into the city and check out the various memorials. The first place I headed to was where the CTV Building had been, where over half of the total deaths in the earthquake happened. Seeing the makeshift crucifix with names scratched on (A) and the official memorial (B) was sobering, as was realising you could still make out the plan of the ground floor and see where people would have been going about their daily lives. Buildings nearby that hadn’t collapsed but had been evacuated immediately still stand empty, with markers on their windows (C) showing they had been checked for survivors. Peering inside you can still see tables, chairs and personal belongings exactly where they were when the quake hit. A little down the road was one of the iconic memorials (D), 185 White Chairs - one for each victim. The range of chairs from travel cots to office chairs to wheelchairs does a great job of humanising those victims who would otherwise just be a statistic. We were away on the day of the anniversary, but as we drove back in we saw the cones along the roads were all decorated with flowers (E) - a yearly tradition to mark those lost, but also a sign of hope as the city is reborn.
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As well as their ‘daily’ car, Dan and Soph also have The Beast (A), a Toyota Delica outfitted to be the ideal roadtrip van. It’s far from being the only older car on the road though - there are cool older cars everywhere (B). Some are more suited than others to the more rugged unsealed roads (C) that link up some parts of the country though. Thanks to it having a 4x4 option The Beast handled it with ease, even when loaded up with bikes and roadtrip essentials. Luckily, not all roads in New Zealand are like this and there are plenty of smooth, tarmac roads. The country’s volatile plate tectonics have led to some serious mountain ranges which in turn leads to some incredible mountain passes (D). Once you’ve passed through them and on to the plains, any time lost crawling up and down the hills is negated by the amazing views on offer (E).
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way and collapsed onto houses and people below. Swimming for my life to shore and finding pavements and roads buckled and cracked, boulders across the roads and in buildings, terrified people all around, familiar buildings damaged beyond repair, massive sinkholes that had opened up and cars abandoned on roads that could no longer be driven on, is something I will never forget. What was the government response to the earthquake, and what was the reaction among the local community? New Zealand is a place that is used to natural disasters and, as a result, is pretty well equipped to deal with them. There is an earthquake commission (EQC) that was set up after the Second World War, which is funded largely by contributions from home insurance premiums. It is used following a natural disaster to fund the response and recovery effort – from cash handouts to help people in need, to paying people the value of their land, if it is no longer possible to live on it. Along with the National and International response teams, there was also a range of volunteer organisations, such as the Civil Defence force, the Salvation Army, Red Cross and Student Army, who were hugely significant in the early days, weeks and months following the February quake. Along with this the, grass-roots response was also massive – from self-supporting, autonomous, community response centres that were set-up by local people, to the thousands of people who flew or drove to Christchurch from around the country to lend a helping hand. It was certainly a time of human beings came together to help other human beings out. The compassion and generosity of the people of this country along with the openness and humility that was experienced on a day-to-day basis, brought about by the shared experience of having your world turned upside down and having to exist for a prolonged period in survival mode, with no power, sewerage system or running water, has definitely changed my perspective and re-aligned my priorities. Changing tack a bit, having a car to get around seems pretty important in NZ due to the distances between towns and cities. The insurance system for cars and how they’re checked for being roadworthy seems quite different (and better...) to how the system operates in the UK. Would you be able to briefly explain how car ownership works over there, and what it’s been like for you to deal with in a long-term sense? As far as insurance goes, the biggest difference is that it is not a requirement to insure your vehicle in New Zealand. What this means is that insurance company premiums have to be quite competitive in order for people to take them up. A downside would be that if someone who is un-insured crashes into you, then there may be an issue in them financing any repair work/replacement that needs to be carried out. Again, the ACC comes in handy here as they pay for any private healthcare and lost earnings. It’s also quite handy to be able to help out on long drives when road-tripping around with friends. As far as car ownership goes, New Zealand has one of the oldest fleets of cars in the developed world – the average age is around 14 years. People don’t tend to be particularly hung up on what car you drive over here and function definitely wins out over form. Every car on the
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This photo (A) was taken on a warm late afternoon in Queenstown. We’re in the process of eating some gourmet burgers from one of the best burger places in the world (Fergburger - Google it), sipping some tasty beers and looking out at The Remarkables mountain range having just headed down from an awesome morning sessioning the bike park (complete with gondola rides back up). Days don’t really get much better. We even got free parking - what more could you ask for? This is basically an embodiment of what my trip to New Zealand was like. Good food was certainly a factor thanks to Dan and Soph being handy in the kitchen as well as out in the garden, leading to some tasty home grown fruit and veg (B) and judicious (and delicious) use of the barbecue. As Dan mentions in our interview they’re ideally located to grow a range of produce and, with some recent additions, they’re making the most of that fact. Kiwis don’t stop when it comes to food though, they’re also very much into their coffee, and this mocha (C) was a fine example. Fresh from a long morning ride where I almost fell off the side of a mountain - and having been up until pretty late the night before packing my bike up so I could fly home that day - it certainly hit the spot. I don’t think I had a bad coffee the entire time I was there which is testament to the level of care they take over it. Once again, this focus on getting the finer things in life dialed in carries over to how people set up their homes and live their lives. This cool wooden house complete with front yard ramp (D) was on the side of the road in a picturesque opening as we headed out from Queenstown, almost directly opposite a cafe serving - surprise surprise - great home-made food and coffee. Thanks to so many people over there having a dedication to having the potential to do fun stuff whenever and wherever, Dan and I had the opportunity to borrow some sea kayaks and head out into the bay (E). Although my lack of ability meant we didn’t get super far, it was still cool to be able to try something new. (B)
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road, unless it is relatively new, has to undergo a Warrant of Fitness (WOF) test every 6 months, which checks the main things that would be covered by an MOT. The emissions regulations are less strict though, meaning that older cars are able to stay on the road. I would imagine that the carbon footprint associated with scrapping an otherwise perfectly functional car wins out, vs the slight increase in greenhouse emissions. Moving on to a more fun mode of transport, throughout my time in NZ we rode a bunch of really cool trails and spots that appeared to be funded to some extent by the local council/government. Is there quite a lot of support for most outdoor activities like that? You seem to be involved with helping build/maintain your local trails so I’m guessing you’ve had some first hand experience with the system? The support for these sorts of projects comes from three main areas; there is the Department of Conservation (DOC) that is a government organisation responsible for managing around 30% of the land area of NZ that is part of national parks, reserves, or under some sort of protection, there are contributions from private industry which support trail building efforts, such as the Old Ghost Road, and there is a huge amount of volunteer work, donations and trail advocacy/fundraising groups along with local mountain biking clubs/organisations that play a big part too. The only issue that I have seen is that the pace of private organisations is generally faster than the pace of local government and there are examples where private organisations have put up money for a new trail and the local council has taken years to ok the project, as they need to fund and go through a public consultation process, which can be frustrating. However, generally the government and public are very supportive of the trail building projects, as shown by the huge number and quality of trails that we have to choose from and there are more popping up all the time. Aside from the usual anti/pro-“dumbing down” debate that seems to go on everywhere, people seem to be pulling in the same direction. Moving on from riding, there always seemed to be plenty of people out in the water whenever we were by the coast. How big is the surfing scene out there? Is it fairly inclusive or is there a “Locals only” kind of atmosphere? Living in a community where surfing is very prominent, I would probably have a slightly distorted view on this but there are great surf spots all around New Zealand, many of which are world class. New Zealand, despite its small size, has the 10th longest coastline in the world and you are never more than around 2 hours drive from the sea, so the ocean plays a big part in most people’s way of life, from fishing and spear fishing, diving, kayaking, Sailing, kite-surfing and SUPing as well as surfing. Being thousands of miles from other land masses, there is also the potential for swell from any direction and storms in the Antarctic are usually a good source. Also, living as I do, on the edge of a big round peninsular with beaches around ¾ of its perimeter facing 270° means that there is usually surf somewhere. I’ve never experience a locals only vibe when surfing in New Zealand. I have heard that Raglan, of Endless Summer fame, can be a little touchy but generally, due to
the low population density, there are plenty of waves to go around. Travelling around cities in Europe you’re pretty much guaranteed to start seeing the names of familiar franchises of food and drink chains, shops and so on, yet in New Zealand there didn’t really seem to be many bigger brands like that around - the ubiquitous Starbucks logo certainly didn’t feature much in my travels around the South Island. Is that as a result of the locals not supporting them, or have bigger multinationals not really tried tapping into that market yet? New Zealand is a nation of proud coffee snobs and as a result Starbucks coffee generally just doesn’t cut it. That said; there are much fewer chain stores here aside from the ever-present McDonalds, Burger King and Subway. As well as high standards in coffee, people over here tend to have high standards for food and service too – despite the fact that tipping is uncommon. Working in a café or restaurant is seen pretty much as a career choice here, rather than a stop-gap job and as a result employee pay and satisfaction seem to be much higher. In the end, I think it probably comes down to a lack of support. During my stay it was technically autumn in New Zealand yet temperatures were in the mid-to-high-20’s for my entire stay, and we only had a couple of days rain. A far cry from the snow and rain I left behind me in the UK! Obviously it’s not quite like that year round though, so how much does the weather vary throughout the year in New Zealand, and as someone who’s life is very much orientated around being outdoors how do you deal with the changes in season? New Zealand sits at a latitude equivalent to the south of France or Italy, and has a climate ranging from temperate in the South to sub-tropical in the far North. I think that average Summer temperatures in Christchurch would be similar or perhaps a little warmer then in Wales, possibly starting to warm up a little earlier in Spring and staying warm a little longer into Autumn, but the Winters are definitely a little warmer, dominated by clear blue sky days with little wind. There are only a handful of frosts a year, though living by the coast probably helps, meaning that Citrus trees grow pretty well here and most people will have a Lemon, Lime or Grapefruit tree in the garden. The biggest difference from my perspective would be the average rainfall in Christchurch, which is considerably lower than I was used to in the UK. This is due to the fact that weather systems tend to approach New Zealand from the west and the Southern Alp mountain range, which extends down the middle of the South Island, causes most of the rain to fall on the West coast leaving the East coast relatively dry. Being thousands of miles from anywhere also means that weather systems don’t hang around very long, so the rain that we do have tends to fall over a shorter time period. We don’t have the days and days of drizzle that I remember from living in the UK and I think it only rains around 80 days per year in Christchurch, compared to around 150 in Cardiff, for example. We get loads of sunshine here, which unfortunately leads to some high skin cancer
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If you’re a fan of getting out and doing stuff, this is the place for you. Whether it’s Cave Rocks (A) - one of Dan’s favourite places in New Zealand - or a walk into the middle of nowhere (B) with just a few orange markers to guide you across river crossings and through undergrowth, there’s a lot of scenery to take in and fun to be had. It’s hard to describe, but it really makes you feel small - both in the sense that you’re navigating a vast wilderness, but also in that you’re frequently on all fours scrambling up rocks or paddling through rivers (or exploring caves by dying mobile phone light (C), or seeing new plants for the first time (D)). While it’s all fun and games for modern inhabitants, it pays to think back and imagine how inhospitable it must have seemed to the first explorers. Coming up to the vast cliffs and mountains on the west coast of the South Island (E), with their dense undergrowth, must have been an intimidating sight. Not knowing who or what might be in there, and being poorly equipped for the task in hand, it can’t have been easy. Even inland the relentless mountains and vegetation would make progress painfully slow (F). If you ever get a chance to check out the series “First Crossings” I highly recommend it if you’d like to get more of an insight into what those first explorers had to go through. Back to the present day though, and rather than being put off by the huge lakes and mountains (G), it’s possible to take them in and enjoy their natural beauty, or look at a place like Pancake Rocks (H) and try to imagine the geological processes that would allow such a crazy rock formation to exist. As we were there Soph happened to notice some Hector’s dolphins swimming up the coast. We kept looking around the rocks, then had another look out to sea. The original pod we saw had been joined by another. We got in the car and followed them up the coast, arriving at a surf spot a little up the road just in time to watch them start catching waves with a guy who happened to be out surfing on his own. It was cool to watch from dry land, but to get surrounded by them must have been amazing. Whether you’re looking for remote golden beaches (such as at the Abel Tasman National Park (I)), or more rugged beaches with some great surf potential (J), they’ve got you covered. (E)
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rates though public awareness around covering up and using sunscreen is much better than it was. As far as my experience goes, I really enjoy the climate here; we still get to experience the seasons with beautiful scenery in Spring and Autumn and Winter is great because, though it remains dry enough to mountain bike year round, it also means the start of Ski season and there are plenty of Ski fields close by to go Skiing/Snowboarding at the weekends. Winter doesn’t hang around for very long though and before you know it the temperatures start to creep up again for another long, dry summer which doesn’t get so hot that it stops you doing things outside. What is the cost of living like in New Zealand? It’s remote position globally is certainly good for some things, but does that remoteness become reflected in the prices of every day items (and others, e.g. shoes, clothes, magazines) due to the costs of importing them? Yep, I’d definitely say that things like groceries and imported goods are a little more expensive in New Zealand. Books and magazines are way more expensive, due to the cost of importing them as well as the economies of scale that we don’t get the benefit from here, due to the small population. We also don’t have the huge supermarket chains that beat the prices down like you do in the UK. The cost of fresh produce is a little higher, though most fruit, veg and meat would be locally grown; Farmers here don’t receive subsidies and expect a decent wage, which is fair enough. Fresh produce is seasonal though and the tail end of asparagus, sweetcorn or avocado season can result in some super-cheap prices. Overall, as people here generally don’t tend to waste money on fancy cars, gym memberships that they don’t use, recreational shopping etc. the way that people in many other developed western countries do, and probably engage in some sort of hobby/sport in their spare time that doesn’t cost much beyond the initial equipment/membership outlay, it probably evens out. That said, average wages here are slightly lower than you might expect and house prices in some cities are increasing to a level that is causing a little concern. Some quick Top 5’s - for someone visiting New Zealand for the first time, what would be your top 5 places to go/things to see? In no particular order (the ferry ride from North to South would be in there too) 1. Rotorua/Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland/Tongariro Crossing 2. The Catlins/Otago Peninsular 3. Milford Sound 4. Arthurs Pass/Cave Stream/Castle Hill 5. Central Lakes What are your top 5 towns/cities in NZ? Again, no particular order... 1. Wellington 2. Auckland 3. Wanaka 4. Christchurch 5. Queenstown
What are your top 5 places to ride? This is really hard to choose and also a bit of a stretch here, as they tend to be a bit scattered around, but; 1. Queenstown (The gondola, Rude Rock, Skippers Canyon, Seven Mile, Coronet Peak, Cardrona Bike Park, Moonlight Track…) 2. Rotorua (Another MTB Mecca with a huge range of trails and perfect dirt) 3. Wellington (So many trails and awesome street) 4. The South Island Backcountry (In particular – The Wakamarina, Nydia, Heaphy, Queen Charlotte, Croesus, Kirwans and the soon-to-be-completed Old Ghost Road) 5. Christchurch and around (Porthills, Canterbury foothills and Cragieburn) Lastly, do you see yourself moving away from New Zealand in the future? Who knows what will happen down the line but my Wife and I are really happy here and are pretty settled with a cool house, jobs that we enjoy, amazing friends and an awesome lifestyle, so I can’t see us choosing to move anytime soon. Luckily, our families and friends still like to visit us every now and then, so that really helps too.
The sign of a good trip? I’d say so. That’s a month of riding, clambering, walking, paddling, driving and much more for you. Thanks to Dan and Soph for making it happen, and also to Dan for answering all these questions.
Thanks to everyone involved.
Clean | August 2015