#New-Zealand

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Navigating the Old Ghost Road: New Zealand’s Longest Singletrack – Day 01

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Navigating the Old Ghost Road: New Zealand’s Longest Singletrack – Day 01

Europe is blessed with ripping trails, from the seas to the tops of the alps. Many of these trails began as footpaths, or cattle trails, or even military roads, traversing mountains, connecting towns or other trade routes. New Zealand, however, had very little need for such intricate trail networking. Being an island, it was easier to go around the mountains, than over them, even in colonial times.

However, if anything can motivate man, it’s gold.

Which is why and how some of the first mountain trails were made in this country. The path we rode on the Stigmata the day before, the Charming Creek Trail, was the beginning of a network of mining rail lines, which stopped just before our home base for the remainder of the trip, the Rough and Tumble Bush Lodge.

Shredding the All New Santa Cruz Highball CC 29r MTB

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Shredding the All New Santa Cruz Highball CC 29r MTB

Contrary to popular belief, you can shred a 29r – even a XC race-ready 29r. Those big wheels have a bit of a stigma attached to them and while they may not be as flickable as popular opinion would suggest, there’s a lot to be said about a lightweight rig being just as happy on flat as it is with a bit of rubber side up action.

Santa Cruz has kind of neglected their Highball over the years, not intentionally, but with the popularity of their Nomad, Bronson and even the Tallboy, they’ve been busy working on their all-mountain and trail bikes, while leaving the Highball sitting in the corner – void of dunce hat at least.

While the main silhouette of this bike reads the same – hey, it’s a hardtail, how different can it really be? – the Highball got a revamp from the ground up, including a new 27.5 wheelsize – more on that to come. For now, let’s just look at the 29r…

Riding the Charming Creek Trail on the New Santa Cruz Stigmata

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Riding the Charming Creek Trail on the New Santa Cruz Stigmata

After settling in New Zealand, just outside of Nelson, we awoke to one of Mother Nature’s most memorable spectacles of the year in the form of a full-nuke sunrise. Skies were scorched, clouds were obliterated and as it began to mellow out, I put down my camera and began to grind my coffee beans in preparation for my morning ritual.

When I was first contacted for this media launch, I heard four words: Santa Cruz New Zealand. During what I call the slow and sleepy first of the year, news like this is exactly what I needed to kickstart my stoke for 2015. All I could think of were the sick trails that photographer Sven Martin had been sharing on his Instagram and what HouseMartin seems to be best known for: trekking into insane singletrack and ending rides at the beach.

A Resurrection of the Santa Cruz Stigmata Cyclocross Bike

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A Resurrection of the Santa Cruz Stigmata Cyclocross Bike

The original Stigmata marked its territory inside the well stacked lineup of Santa Cruz mountain bikes in 2007. Made in the USA from Easton EA6X tubing, these ultra light race machines were quite the hit. Although, at the time and into the near future, ‘cross was and would be going through some changes. Disc brakes, through axles, pressfit 30, tapered head tubes and other technological advancements were on the horizon, many of which being already implemented by various companies.

This constant evolution and the crossing over of Easton’s tubing no longer being available in smaller batches made the guys at Santa Cruz a bit weary. They decided to sit out from a few cross seasons…

In New Zealand with HouseMartin and Santa Cruz

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In New Zealand with HouseMartin and Santa Cruz

There are worse places to wake up!

I’m in New Zealand with Santa Cruz for a press launch, being guided around its beautiful trails by Sven and Anka Martin of HouseMartin for the week. We’ll be packing in our gear for the next few days, throughout some of the lesser known trail systems.

Unfortunately, because of embargos, I can’t show you what we’re riding just yet and because we’ll be in remote areas, data and wifi will be limited. I’ll try to update the site, but no promises.

You can however follow @TheRadavist on Instagram for updates…

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SRAM: Always Summer Somewhere

It is, indeed, always summer somewhere on Earth and SRAM headed down under to New Zealand for a bit of sun chasing…

“We always dream about journeys to places like this, but for most mortals these reveries rarely become a reality. When it was decided that a group of us would spend seven days on the roads and trails of New Zealand’s South Island, hovering largely around the Craigieburn and then Nelson area, most of us were in disbelief until the moment we landed on Kiwi soil.”

Check out some photos by Adrian Marcoux and Sven Martin below.