Sponsored Riders

Marty Clark

Marty on his new toy on the Aorere Goldfields track Golden Bay!

 
   Well it’s not every day you get to lay your sweaty palms on a new bike but with some help from Mike and the team at Avanti plus Nelson, I have!
 
   Many riders in Nelson will know me as a keen rider of some of the more technical local trails and someone who isn’t afraid of a good climb. Given I ride with one leg there are some interesting challenges to be faced with getting power through to the rear wheel for climbing and frame geometry that won’t throw me over the bars on descents.

     Having had the Torrent 3 now for nearly two weeks I have ridden myself into the ground having clocked up some serious ride time including 4 hours Sunday up in Sharland’s.
 
     I can say the Torrent is definitely the well balanced trail bike they said it would be. It climbs effortlessly to the point where it is almost enjoyable! Once pointed down hill the 5 inches of travel sucks up most of the hits via the fox set up but it is on fairly smooth twisty single track where the grin really comes out. The relaxed angles make it a lot of fun to throw around and with the nice Easton Haven wheel set it rolls along like it is on rails.
 
    I can’t wait to get back up Sharland’s , Involution or even Codgers where the bike just shines. It feels like a long time since I’ve sat at work waiting for the moment I can jump on the Torrent and go ride. I’d sum up the bike as a very well balanced trail bike and if I say so my self - nice on the eye but then I would say that! Bring on ride o’clock!!
 
   Stop me on a trail and check it out…    

Marty testing his new bike out landing a wee jump.
 

Thomas (Hodge) Delany
 
2010 Tour of Southland Rookies Report
 
Three phrases I can best describe the Tour of Southland with - in the box, in the gutter and in the box. This was my first time doing the race. I had just done the Junior Southland Tour four weeks earlier. This was my first time experiencing racing at this level.

Originally I planned to basically sit in the bunch and have an easy ride, and save my legs for the Bluff Hill and Crown Range stages. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. It was pretty soon that I realized I can't just have a wee sit in the bunch at this level. It’s just a whole level up. I found the bunch was always fast paced no matter what. While “share the road” team had Jack Bauer in yellow, they spent the whole day just riding on the front in the gutter. When the crosswinds picked up, the whole peloton just strung out at like 400 Metres. It really annoyed me when guys just dropped off wheels, and didn’t put up a decent fight. It meant I had to bridge the gaps they left. It was on the 5th stage to Winton that really made me give 100% effort. The stage was off from the gun, and the pace never slowed and I found myself quite near the back always nearly getting dropped. Every long straight in the wind was in the gutter. I've learned that I really need to be more aggressive and get myself onto about one of the top 20 wheels. I always found I was fighting for position, if you didn’t fight eventually you’re out the back within about 30 seconds. It took about 55km before I was a gonner. (losing 6 mins) alongside side Nix and Richard Ussher. One thing I really want to get better at is learning to always stay near the front of these big pelotons, to avoid getting dropped. It is hard though, the guys who are constantly up the front, usually high profile guys, tend to throw there weight around a bit, and just pushed me out of the way, as I tried to get in, Leaving me with my tail beneath my legs and drifting to the back.

As far as performance goes, I managed to get 25th up Bluff hill stage, and 23rd up the Crown Range stage. This isn't great, but it’s not bad either. If you look at the guys who were in front of me, the placing I got were as good as they were going to be.

Riding day in day out, was the hardest factor for me, basically, I would go just as hard as a Tuesday Nighter, except 4+ hours long and for 6 days straight. By the Crown Range day, my legs were bloody stiff. The guys here have got so much stamina, endurance and miles in there legs they can go really hard nearly every day. I just want to get some good endurance next year, and have a much better race head and be more aggressive. So hopefully when I come back from overseas next year, I’ll race again and should go a lot better.

Anyway, happy I finished the tour. Have a small break, then festival in Chch, then January big racing at Tour de Vineyards etc. Then hopefully off to Belgium in April. Thanks to Avanti plus Nelson for helping me out with lots of stuff before the race.

Cheers,
 
Thomas (Hodge) Delany

Hodge is behind Jeremy Yates in the blue helmet.
 
Canberra Tour 2010

Well here is my little blog on the racing with the NZ U19 Team, in the Junior Tour of Canberra. July 2010.
 
 The first day was a 23 km ITT. That was good; Dillon and I were the only guys who used our road bikes and not specific time trial bikes. I placed 12th and Thomas Ashley was a further 6 seconds behind.
 
The funny thing is though, during the Time Trial I actually passed around 11 riders ( all with disc wheels and expensive bikes), but that was all good, until one rider decided he was going to sit on my wheel, and then pass me when he felt recovered from my slipstream. So I got angry and told him to get off my wheel, which upset my rhythm. Fortunately for me, the course was very hilly so I could ride the big guy of my wheel, and that was Mitchell Lovelock who took out the time trial with an impressive time of 32:28.
 The next day was about a 53km road race, and a 45 minute criterium, later in the day. I
 decided I would take a shot at the KOM; the first one hit me hard, about 9 km into the stage.
 


 I had brick legs and just held off for 5th (Only the first 4 rider’s collect points) we weren’t as organized as we could have been though. This stage was all a big hit for some of us, as it was the first race ever to take part in out of New Zealand, and I was a little nervous. All in all it went average and I got some results in the KOM’s.
 Straight after we went back to the AIS for lunch and also we received a massive lecture from our coach Ken Bewley (father of Sam Bewley, the young kiwi rider in Lance Armstrong’s Radioshack Pro Tour team) he basically told us we need to start taking control of things and he was absolutely right. So a couple of hours later, we hit the criterium. It was off the chain! My legs were feeling great, so I went from the gun, and made some attacks off the front to get the Aussies to work in order to help either Thomas Ashley or Dillon Bennett who both had a better chance of winning a sprinters criterium than I did.



 There were also two big crashes that I was very fortunate not to get involved in, unfortunately Paddy was not so lucky, but he wasn’t too badly knocked up. Ken was happier with our performances in the criterium, but we still had something to prove the next day.
 
 The last day of racing featured a 106 km road race, with 6 KOM’s up for grabs. That
 one day of racing was by far the most incredible day of racing in my entire life. Just like
 Ken said we would, we all rode into this tour on the last day, and it was great! Here’s how it went - I was riding with both my head and legs screwed on, as there is a KOM 9k into the stage. I went right from the gun and it worked out beautifully, we formed a breakaway group of around 6 riders of which 3 of the guys were in my team. Paddy, Denay and I took control and I overpowered them and the Aussies to collect maximum points. The break soon lost momentum and the bunch caught us. When we were caught it was great tosee our whole team on the front in total control of the bunch. I then ended up taking the majority of the points and with 15km to go Dillon Bennett attacked with 2 other Australian riders with him. As soon as that happened, our whole team
 got into the third wheel from the front and stopped contributing to the pace making.
 
They didn’t like it one bit; there was a lot of abuse going on! But my team mates
 did it for me when I was up the road, so now it was my turn. After some abuse, angry looks and foul language Dillon had nearly taken out the stage, but got 2nd, which is a
solid effort considering that stage was the Australian ACT championships. That day of racing was so incredible, because we took control from the start till the end of
 the race. We had it sorted, and that is something I’ve never experienced before in my time in racing. All in all, I am very happy with the experience and my results, I ended up getting 1st equal in the KOM classification and 8th overall. But unfortunately I didn’t receive the polka dot jersey or prize money because the guy I tied on points with, Jackson Law, was higher up than me on the GC which meant it was given to him. So I was a little bit gutted, because the polka dot jersey was what I really wanted. A bloody good experience though.
 
Thanks to Avanti plus Nelson for maintaining my bike and giving it an awesome full service to make it run nice and smooth before the trip and Mitchell for lending me his wheels.
 
Cheers
 
Hodge -  Thomas Hodgson
 
Tasman Wheelers Nelson
 

Peter Gibbs

Just because you get older, it doesn't mean there's any lessening in the competitive spirit. Nor does it mean the competition gets any easier.
 
You can line up in a Wheelers race or a tri club event and know you're going to get hammered by all the young blood, but there's plenty of opportunity nationally and internationally to race other geriatric competitors.
 
I find that the many of the same competitors I raced so enthusiastically when I was 35 are still there now, nearly 30 years later. And that's part of the challenge. Time can cut you down if you let it, but you can slow down the decay by racing on as if you were forever young.
 
Since I entered the ranks of 60+ competitors, I've worked harder and smarter to keep the competitive edge, helped considerably by my sponsors Stewarts Avanti Plus Nelson and Shoe Clinic and my coach Lionel Padial.
 
For the last two years, my twin goals have been medals at national triathlon events and top ten finishes at the world age group triathlon championships.
 
In both 2008 and 2009 I picked up the bronze in the sprint distance and the silver in the Olympic at Triathlon New Zealand's national championships.
 
The international goal is a little more elusive. Back in 2003 I picked up 12th place of 80 competitors in the 55-59 age group at the world tri champs in Queenstown. ( I also placed first in the warmup aquathlon event)
 
In 2008 I slipped a bit, breaking my scapula six weeks out, then striking some atrocious weather in Vancouver to place 13th from 100 starters in the 60-64 section.
 
On September 12 2009, it's time for another throw of the dice. With record numbers, there could be 120-150 of the world's best lining up in the 60-64 age group. Training through the winter's been no fun, so I'm not feeling like a world-beater, but watch this space for developments. I'll be on the best tuned and maintained bike on the course, thanks to Mike and the team at Avanti Plus Nelson.
 
Reuben Olorenshaw
 Still going strong Reuben is holding the winners trophy of the 2011 North Island DH race for U19.
 
He just won the Nelson U19 race by 4 seconds putting him 6th overall ages!
 
Reuben cleaned up both the South Island Downhill Cup and the NZ Mountainbike Down Hill Champs in the under 17's in 2009.
 
Reuben at the End Jump Dunedin 2009

Rueben End Jump Dunedin 09_w500

Reuben at Rotorua 2009

Reuben thanking Avanti Plus Nelson for the total reliability of his bike. Reuben's bike is serviced at the shop.
 
 
Michelle Bellamy

Michelle a former sponsored rider by us for many years. She is shown in action at the 2009 Nelson Nationals.