TUESDAY 22ND AUGUST
//DAY.01
WORDS:AARON FERNANDEZ
PHOTOS:MIKE HILL

//SEE ANY OF THE NZ RIDE CREW AROUND THE TRACKS THIS WEEKEND TO GRAB YOUR FREE NZ RDIE STICKER.
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Part of the NZRide crew rolled into town (Vegas) this morning amping to get up the mountain and get amoungst the action. Once we had our media passes sorted, we headed to the event village. The weather in Rotorua this morning was shit. It was grey and hailing, but there was blue sky lurking about. We took a while to get our bearings and checked out the circus that had invaded Rotorua. There is quite a bit to see when there is no racing happening.

When we felt comfortable with the environment we headed up to the DH finish line. Saw Chickenman wrenching at the Sram/Rockshox tent (God I admire him). We managed to scoop some free tees from his tent. Then we started to work our way up the course. Ace NZRide cameraman Waihi Mike wanted to catch some berm action at the bottom. After shooting for about 15 minutes here we saw he sad figure of NZ under 19 rep Joel Daniels walking down the track clutching his arm and looking in a lot of pain. Mavis was towing his bike down the track - Joel's Worlds were over before they had begun - broken arm. He came in to the rock garden pretty hot and clipped his back wheel which sent him to the ground. Mike said he was riding pretty ragged before this happened.

//JOEL DANIELS: OUT

We then preceeded to the bottom of the boardwalk. NZ 4x riders Craig Pattle (team manager - self claimed), Reon Boe, and Hayden Lee were checking out the action. The boys fast pics of the day were J.K, Glennie (who is looking so on it), Peaty and Aussie Bryn Atkinson.  NZ under 19 girl rep Holly went down pretty hard on the boardwalk while we were there and was taken to first aid - hopefully she will be okay. Some of the top guys are absolutely ripping through this section, the internationals look fast but the kiwi boys are also smoking and could be right up there on race day.

Nathan Greenwood (you may know him from such shows as drop in TV) has been here helping out Scarlett, and was impressed with how the Kiwis were going. Hes been on the track all day. His thoughts of fastest through the Larches were JK, Scarlett, Peaty, and Rennie and fastest through the Rock Garden were JK, Glen Haden and big Cam Cole. His advice for riders - stay low, tuck and pump like a bi..h.  His pics come race day are Sam Hill and the fastest kiwis to be Cam, JK, Glen and Rolly.

After DH practice we headed to watch the boys and girls on the 4x track. A few changes have been made since the oceanias - making the track more exciting. It took Cedric no time to get back into it. He is a big chance to go back to back on the track having won the Oceanias earlier in the year. JK again was on it as was Cam Cole. Craig Pattle (love the mo) was pulling some fairly sic whips and showing the big boys how to ride the track. Alot of the riders were struggling with the course thinking it was too big and fast. There was heaps of riders stopping and checking out the jumps and watching how they were done. This is certainly a different course than what the riders have faced thrughout the World Cups this year. It might take some of the favourites a while to adapt to this type of track. Lopes was starting to get some good flow on near the end of practice.

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// Rotorua DH Course Headcam
See the roto '06 page for a Full length head cam run of the Rotorua '06 Worlds Course

// COMPETITIONS

Check out the competions page for regular give aways and stuff. At the moment we're running two seperate competitions to guess the fastest Kiwis and the fastest overall rider in the upcoming World Champs in Rotorua.

[ENTER HERE]

Watch out for our special feature on the Atherton family - coming up soon.

//NZ RIDERS

Wonder what our top riders are up to in the off season? Each month we do a round up of who’s where, doing what and bring you reports from Kiwis in every corner of the globe and back here at home..
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//INTERVIEWS:COMING UP

We’ve got some wicked interviews lined up in the next couple of months, so be sure to check back regularly for profiles on Steve Pete, Chris Kovarik, The Athertons, Sam Hill and many more…