Gaz from NZO Clothing writes some funny as newsletters. And while this week’s is not as funny as they normally are, it did carry the message that Anka Martin is now on the NZO programme, waving goodbye to some international sponsors and friends in favour of locally produced goods. The full newsletter is below and you can sign up for Gaz’s regular words of wisdom here (just click the newsletter tab).
A couple of weeks ago we had a visit from a high-profile couple who have made a life together in mountain biking. Search Anka or Sven Martin on your interweb thing and you get millions of results. A good chunk of them will be this pair of dirt surfers who have set up shop in New Zealand for the few months of the year when they are at home.
Carving a space for yourself in the top level of mountain bike riding is a real achievement; in one of the world’s fastest growing recreational activities there are thousands of talented people trying to do just that. Doing it as a photographer is possibly even harder. Not many people can put the pieces together to make a life behind the lens work. We’re lucky enough to know a few and the work rate required is pretty scary.
The odds against a married couple getting there, one as a rider and the other as a photographer, must be fairly long. These two are doing it, and make an inspiring pair.
It was good to discover they already had a pair of Nzo shorts each, but a session discussing the real world requirements of Enduro racing lead to a small pile of Nzo Ts heading Anka’s way soon after. These people lead frantic lives: within a week of our meeting they had competed at the Dodzy Memorial Enduro and then headed to Chile for the Andes Pacifico. At both of these events, and for several subsequent photography trips, Anka has been wearing her Scuffers along with an Nzo custom printed t shirt.
We have always thought of our Ts as a fun thing to make and a good thing to wear around the joint. The venerable T shirt is a product which can provide a go-to get-up for several years before having the print cut out and grafted into a quilt. The remainder can be used to transfer dirt and grease from a bike into a bin.
The idea of wearing a T for riding has never been high on our radar, but a look around the startline of the recent 2W Enduro showed that quite a few pretty serious looking entrants were looking street: Ts were in evidence, even at the pointy end of the field.
Mountain biking can be a thing we do for fun rather than to see how much discomfort can be crammed into a ride up a hill. For bouncing down a trail just for laughs, a t shirt and shorts is an outfit to consider.
Anka takes hers to the winner’s circle.
Happy Trails
Glen & Gaz
