Bluey takes a Naseby holiday

Bluey in trail mode as Craig contemplates a backflip

This from Ventana test rider Craig Tregurtha who has been riding the pants of an El Saltmontes test bike dubbed Bluey. He hit the North Otago riding mecca of Naseby for their infamous 12 hour race, with some great results!

Actually, it wasn’t much of a holiday as poor Bluey got pushed pretty hard. There were 156 teams and the magnificent Bluey helped us to get 2^nd overall, just 4 minutes from Ryan Cull’s Cycle Surgery Team. A brilliant all day battle where 1^st place was swapped backwards and forwards on several occasions till their team did a couple of flying laps at the end to secure their gold medal position. This race was the test for me for the Salty. She was heaps of fun on the Port Hills and the West Coast but I wanted to push it hard in a race, and the result? Big thumbs up from me, that’s what. I was really impressed and felt like I stayed in touch with the track at all times and never felt loose or on edge despite pushing it harder than I have ever pushed my hardtail. And it still climbed well too. We then went out yesterday for a 2 hr blat around the more technical trails and I fell in love with mountainbiking all over again. The fun trails helped a lot, but the way I feel on that bike in that sort of terrain is better than eating boysenberry ice-cream on a hot summer’s day.

Craig Catches makes some G's on the Naseby's famous dipper

Look for Craig aboard Bluey at this Sunday's Yahoo Challenge, the final of the Canterbury XC Series. Oliver will also be dusting off his El Fuego for a final late-season fling.

Mountain Pedaler out...