Challenge Two: Six Hour Mountain Bike Race In Kaiteriteri

On Sunday 23rd June I woke up early and packed my bags ready for a 6hr extreme biking event.  As I got into the car I quickly snuggled up into a very warm position!  We drove to Harrison's house to pick him up and was now completely ready for the fun!

When we arrived I registered our team and sat in front of the warm, cosy brazier.  We all listened carefully to Wayne when he was giving the CRUCIAL briefing. 

I was the leader of our team of four along with Fergus, Sam and Harrison.  Fergus started us  off with a very quick lap.  Following him was Sam who took it nice and easy with a nice time.  As now it was Harrison's turn and taking him ages due to the fact of him helping a lady who had come off her bike and had broken her ribs!  Now finally as Harrison tagged me I set off, pedaling away.

I approached with caution as I slowly weaved through the sloshy brown mud.  In my mind I thought it was "Glue"!  I got to the top and felt something bounce off my bike but I didn't think to look back.  As I approached the steep downhill I took my time slow and easy while other experienced riders steamed past me.

I got to the bottom and was greeted by all of the other Pikers!  I quickly tagged Fergus as he smoked off without warning.  My time was down a little as my chain had fallen off its sprocket up on the hill and I was helped by Mrs Shurmann's daughter, which was GREAT!!

After an hour or so it was my turn to go again and this time it was way muddier and way harder to steer.  Eventually I got to the top and found my drink bottle in the bush.  I took a sip to hydrate myself and was off again.  At the bottom I was greeted AGAIN by all the Pikers.  I also found out that I had won a spot prize which was an awesome bike tool kit valued at $80!

I thought it was an awesome day with all my fellow Pikers as we enjoyed EVERYTHING!

I thoroughly recommend this event for all serious MTB's.

Nelson Mountain Bike Club

Waiting for the briefing

Starting my first lap

About to hit the mud

Having a great time up in the hills

Community Service: Finished....whoooohoooo!! Basketball Subs

For the past five weeks I have been helping my brother's basketball team by doing the subs bench.  Dad is the coach of the team and I'm the 'Assistant Coach'.  I have been changing the team for what the game needs, as in, changing good players for weaker players and weaker players for good players.  It has been easy and fun!  I work on a game plan after observing the first five minutes of play.  It helps me think ahead for what is needed.  I also get to choose the 'Player Of The Day' which is always exciting.  So far the team has won three out of their six games which is a pretty good average for a Year 5 and 6 grade.  The game goes for 30 minutes and so far I've done two and a half hours which gives me a total of 20 hours Community Service!!!!!  But I am going to continue on for the next 14 weeks of play, this will be an extra seven hours.

Community Service:  TOTAL 20 hours!

High 5's after a very close win 24/22

Why Is My Broccoli Not Forming?

I have noticed that my broccoli is very leafy but not forming the broccoli itself.  This question and response came through on the Tui website we subscribe to.  I will be looking for some potash (whatever that is!) today at Mitre 10 Mega.

Hi, we are growing broccoli and it has a lot of leaves but no broccoli heart growing in the middle. We are also growing silver beet nearby, which is flourishing. What can we do to get the broccoli growing?- Andy. Hi Andy, there will be too much nitrogen rich organic matter in the vege garden – compost, blood and bone and sheep pellets – which are all great for leafy vegetables such as silver beet and spinach but not so good for your hearting vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage.

To fix this add potash and the best to use would be Tui Fruit and Flower – Sulphate of Potash which is a commercial grade, very fast acting and water soluble. It can be mixed with water and applied in a watering can or sprinkled around the plants and watered in. If you want to get more technical you could test your soil to find out which nutrients are deficient - soil test kits are available from garden centres and hardware stores.