Spoke 52 on sale now

Need some winter reading for those cold rainy days when you just don’t want to leave the couch? Spoke 52 is here to help ease the boredom! We take a look at the myriad of mountain biking voyagers who make their way to NZ to sample our country’s amazing trails.

If you think it’s hard to get out for a ride because it’s cold, try doing it while looking through the bottom of a beer bottle, in the dark. That’s what it’s like for Bobby McMullen, not to mention the list of other ailments that would render most of us incapable of getting out of bed, let alone smashing it down trails with only a voice to guide us. Inspirational doesn’t begin to describe him.

The Trek C3 Team beamed their way to the South Island for the first time, and hooked up with return visitors Anthill Films to shoot their next cinematic masterpiece.

Not to be outdone, Commencal all-mountain riders Nico Quere and Remy Absalon put together their own ‘Petit Tour’ and we were there to shoot the stills and moving pictures for our story.

Mike Hopkins, Casey Brown and Kelly McGarry jumped in a couple of old Kombis to experience all the Passes and Breaks that the south has to offer. Camilla Stoddart was along for the ride and shot the whole shebang with spectacular results. It’s the kind of road trip everyone should do at least once.

It’s all happening on the mainland this issue, and we dropped in to the Teva Slopestyle in Queenstown to watch the superstars of slope flip, whip and rip the downtown course to bits in front of huge crowds.

What else? Interesting people galore, products coming out of our collective, a couple of awesome bikes reviewed, and shedloads of other good words and photos.