Issue 111

WORDS: LESTER PERRY
ILLUSTRATIONS: GAZ SULLIVAN
PHOTOGRAPHY: CALEB SMITH

Standing atop the podium at the Lenzerheide World Cup 2023 opener, I wonder if Erice looks out over the crowd and thinks to herself: “This is just the beginning”. Is she viewing the win as just a stepping stone towards the future, or maybe wondering; “What the heck just happened, and how did I get here?”

What began as a simple obsession on a balance bike, following her brothers around, grew into a viral video of 10-year-old Erice proving the best mountain bike is whatever bike is beneath you. She tore up Rotorua’s trails aboard her coaster-brake-equipped 16-inch wheeled kids’ bike. The video spread like wildfire, reaching such lofty heights as being included in the now defunct Dirt Magazine’s 2017 Advent Calendar. Day 14 features Erice and the caption: “this could be the raddest video we’ve seen all year.” Other notable outlets picked up the video and, overnight, Erice was on the radar of every talent scout in the industry, promptly receiving several sponsorship requests.

Commencal was early to the party and ended up being the lucky suitor. Welcoming her to their global roster, their new 20” bike suited her perfectly. A few more years of growth; roll on the launch of their 24” MTB and Erice played the lead role in their launch campaign video, again tearing up the trails to international acclaim.

Fast forward through a couple of pandem- ic-tainted years and Erice is finally old enough to race Junior UCI World Cups, and ready to step onto the bottom rung of the Junior category. In early 2023, she was announced as joining the COMMENCAL LES ORRES Team and it was game on for the season.

Under the wing of Cécile Ravanel, no one doubted Erice would soon grace a world-level podium, but it was a surprise for it to come so soon. Erice’s 2023 season kicked off with a pair of EDR (Enduro) World Series rounds in Tasmania. First up was Maydena, where perfect conditions and varied terrain greeted riders. A tight battle ensued between Erice and Canada’s Emmy Lan. After Erice led through race day, Emmy stamped her authority on the last stage, bumping Erice into second place. Both riders were well over a minute ahead of Elly Hoskin, who rounded out the podium in third. Erice left Maydena surprised and stoked; she was at the EDR rounds as a test to gauge where she was at and was using the race as some training for the upcoming DH season.

“Erice’s bike skills, and her ability to just ride fast, are pretty impressive. The tracks don’t scare or worry her, and she just gets on with it. She’s not intimidated by much, it seems. So maybe with age that will change, but right now she’s just super impressive on gnarly tracks with gnarly features and just super confident on the jumps and everything.

– CAMERON COLE, FORMER WORLD JUNIOR DH CHAMP AND GT FACTORY RACING TEAM MANAGER.

I guess it’s a bike skills thing, but maybe she’s also just riding the bike to get the best out of it. I think bikes have changed quite a lot and you can trust them so much more nowadays. So maybe there’s something in that as well.” – Cameron Cole, Former World Junior DH Champ and GT Factory Racing team manager.

Round 2 of the EDR took in the now-famous Derby trails, some old, some new. Practice day was wet, and by all accounts just getting through the course that day was a task in itself. Race day was hot and humid, and the trails were still wet from the previous day’s rain.

“On race day I was thinking, I’m actually kinda up there so why not go for it!” explains Erice. After putting in a huge effort across the first five stages, she experienced painful leg cramps on the liaison to stage 6, which saw her stop multiple times to stretch out.

“I was a bit scared then that I wouldn’t be able to finish the race, because of the pain.” Fortunately, Erice pushed on, continuing her domination, topping every stage and obliterating her U21 competition. Her overall time would have placed her 16th in the Pro Women’s class!

Finishing her Tassie time on a high, she set her sights on the main goal of her season: the World Cup Downhill series. Six weeks after her win in Derby, she lined up at the opening round of the French DH Series; another race, another win! With momentum building over the last few races, she was back in action a month later – this time at the World Cup season opener in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

“The track in Lenzerheide was so sick, the sections just linked up real good,” says Erice. “It’s obviously a difficult track but it allows you to push quite hard for speed, which is cool. The top section on the off-camber grass and then onto the famous off-camber corner were the most difficult for me, it was still fun though. I just enjoyed the track heaps and that’s when you ride your best.”

For the first time in history, the Junior races were broadcast live and free on YouTube, allowing friends, family and fans from across the world to see the future stars of the sport laying the foundations for their careers. Watching the action unfold over the week, clips of Erice practising surfaced. What we saw was a confident, solid riding style which piqued onlookers’ interest and had com- mentators picking her as one to watch.

A crash in qualifying put her in second place. But, harnessing her nerves, she headed for the start hut to take on her final run, confident her pace was there. Minimising outside distractions, she visualised the track, focussed on the present and task at hand, rolled forward and broke the timing beam.

“As I was injured at Lenzerheide, I spent a fair chunk of time trackside and that included watching the always entertaining junior practice. I’d followed Erice online but hadn’t really seen or met her in real life, and from run one in Lenzerheide it was fairly obvious that she had something special going on.

NZ DH with Erice at the helm is in safe hands both on and off the track. Her skills are something else, but so is her infectious stoke for both the riding and the other girls she was racing against. Big grins and big wins seem to be the ticket here.” – Eddie Masters, Pivot Factory Racing pro.

Five sectors made up the track. Erice started slow, building across the first three splits, then demolished the final two to put her just over four seconds in the green. She’d just secured her first junior World Cup win!

“When I won my first World Cup, the feeling was insane!” explains Erice. “I was totally over the moon. Having my dad and one of my brothers there, and some family friends, made it extra special! Another highlight was getting to see family after two and a half months. It’s so, so cool being over in Europe racing, but it is hard not seeing the fam for a while.”

Riding the high of her win, everything was looking positive as the World Cup circus headed to Leogang, Austria. A win in the qualifier put her as the fastest seed coming into the finals.

“In Leogang, I was feeling really mentally strong in my warmup at the top and on the rollers, but once I got into the start gate, the nerves hit me and I lost that composure, and that obviously didn’t work out great for me.”

Only a couple of corners into the track, Erice took a huge crash – over the bars, down a bank and onto a gravel road. A dead-stop hit that even the hardiest of rugby players wouldn’t have bounced up from.

“It was the scariest crash I’ve ever had,” recalls Erice. “I just fully body-slammed the ground and didn’t roll or anything to break my fall. Just hit it and stopped. I winded the crap out of myself so that was pretty scary because I couldn’t breathe for a bit. I can’t believe that I got away with two sore wrists and a sore torso! Nothing was broken, but I couldn’t finish the race. Looking on the positive side though, I’ve learned a lot of lessons. So, I’ll take that.”

A short two-week break between Leogang and the following round in Val Di Sole left minimal time to get her body back in shape after her crash; no downhill riding and just light road riding and gym work saw Erice nervous coming into round three. Getting back on the bike and straight into one of the most challenging tracks on the cir- cuit took all the resilience and determination she could muster.

Fellow Kiwi, Sacha Earnest, was also returning from injury at Val Di Sole, ready to take on the Junior Women’s field. Qualifying saw tight time splits between Erice and Sacha, the latter taking the number one points on the day. In finals, the cards stacked the same way, Sacha taking her first World Cup win, and Erice in second. Erice left the venue happy with her performance, and proud of how she’d bounced back after the crash in Leogang. Second was almost as good as a win!

Next up for the young star is the Downhill World Championships in Fort William, Scotland. But first, some training at team sponsor Les Orres’ bike park and a test event in Loudenvielle in the lead-up to the World Cup event there at the start of September. Erice’s calendar is chocka!

The World Cup continues throughout the year, culminating with the final round in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, in early October. We’ll be watching Erice and compatriot Sacha closely as the rounds tick off. Fingers crossed we’ll have two Kiwis atop the overall World Cup podium come the end of the season – which order they’ll be in is anyone’s guess.

Taking a line down the centre of the upper south, I’m gliding over the Nelson lakes, checking out the snowcapped mountains around Lake Rotoiti, spotting trails in the surrounds and beginning to wonder what conditions in Christchurch will be like. Continuing south in clear skies, I’m live-routing trails through the hills, debating to myself if humans have even set foot on those peaks, let alone a knobbly tyre. Oh look, a high alpine lake.

Soon the pilot announces we’re about to start our descent into Christchurch, and within minutes we go from a ‘barely a cloud in the sky’ scenario to a “heck, we’re fully socked in the cloud! How the heck do the pilots see where they’re going?!” situation, with all faith put in the altimeter.

What were mental images of fanging down dusty trails, basking under crisp blue skies are now nervous butterflies in the pit of my stomach – was this a mistake? The unknown almost consumes me as I nibble the last of my bite-sized cookie and sip the dregs of my inflight coffee. Conditions now appear to be somewhat unpredictable.

“I’ve got 48 hours off from the world, man. I’m gonna blow steam out my head like a screaming kettle, I’m gonna talk cod sh*t to strangers all night, I’m gonna lose the plot on the dancefloor. The free radicals inside me are freakin’, man!” Jip, Human Traffic, 1999.

My trip south won’t be as hedonistic as the lads from Human Traffic would have had, but Jip’s comment portrays the vibe perfectly, as I await my arrival into Christchurch. I’m headed south for a bit of a pre-season ride camp – although maybe it’s post-season, seeing as it’s closer to the end of summer than the start. An opportunity to try some new things, test some new gear (see our Pirelli tyre review in this issue), take a quick break from the daily grind and hang out with mates on bikes – that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? I’m here for a good time, not a long time. It’s not Whistler, but time away from the daily grind is what I need.

When it comes to getting the right weather, trip planning in winter is always a roll of the dice. At the end of the day you just have to commit and deal with the fallout, should you have to. In this case, we’re dealing with low cloud, drizzle and temperatures lower than ideal for this central North Islander – although surely nothing a Christchurch local doesn’t deal with on the regular. And anyway, there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear – right?

I’ve been riding and racing mountain bikes for almost 30 years – yes, I’m that old – and the bikes have changed and evolved as much as my life has in that time. I’ve never been one for testing or trying anything too different from the norm; my bikes sit pretty much stock as they come out of the box. After a couple of seasons of feeling a bit stale on the bike, it was time to mix things up and try some new stuff. After all, if you keep doing the same thing you get the same result. Even if you’re not racing, we all want to be the best we can be on our bikes. Even the act of trying new things, finding out they’re not for you, and reverting back to the status quo can help elevate your game; a renewed sense of freshness, or the confirmation that what you’ve been doing is in fact the right thing to do.

After a quick bike build and mounting up the fresh Pirelli Scorpion aboard my, as yet unridden, mullet setup (27.5 rear, 29” front), it was off to Christchurch Park for some laps and to get acquainted with the trails. Low cloud clung to the houses heading up Dyers Pass road, and my stomach sank right into my Merino socks; conditions were not ideal. Buck up buttercup, there’s work to be done and the opportunity to get away to the Mainland and ride doesn’t come frequently.

I’d met up with local trail hustler, Nathan Petrie, to show me around and get a local’s lay of the land. I had limited hours on the ground so there wasn’t time for the admin needed to figure out where I was heading, or waste time on trails that weren’t what I was chasing.

We did a lap down ‘The GC’ DH track to throw the tyres down precisely what they’re designed for – it’s a good mix of rocks, steeps, plus some speed and even bike-park style sections. Right from the get go we were on slippery hardpack – not conditions for inferior tyres! The fresh Pirelli’s hooked up well and gave us the confidence to push on down the trail. A couple more laps, then the sun dipped, the shadows grew long and we called it a day.

A catch up with Christchurch-based family over dinner, solving the problems of the world, followed by a night well slept at the Novotel, and I was set for day two on the trails. This would be another opportunity to put the Pirelli’s to use on slightly different terrain than the previous day. A Supreme breakfast, a long black, and an oat flat white – yes, a trip like this tends to revolve around food – we were hyped for the day.

I’ve not done a tonne of riding around Victoria Park, but every time I visit I’m astounded by just how many trails are crammed onto that hill – there always seems to be something new. Maybe it’s the out-of-towner in me seeing everything anew?

We took a couple of laps down who knows what trails – I was merely following the wheel in front, trying to keep it upright as we slithered through multiple rock-strewn chutes, caught by the trustworthy berms at the bottom. Although the conditions weren’t ideal, sharing the experience with mates made it all worthwhile regardless, and the trails, although wet, were plenty manageable and safe provided we kept a lid on our speed. The change from my usual mid-North Island conditions was rewarding and reminded me why trips like this help keep things fresh and exciting.

A few tweaks to my setup, a few extra PSI here, a few less there – things were looking up, until we realised we’d not had lunch and the day was drawing on. A detour over to the Sign of the Kiwi Cafe had us nervously tiptoeing inside, attempting not to leave a wet, muddy trail on the floor behind us. Our hosts weren’t concerned, beckoning us to take a seat by the heater, but we knew our place so headed outside to the deck. After devouring coffee, cake and a piping hot sausage roll the diameter of my arm, we headed over to the crowd favourite, Gnarly Nun.

A few post lunch laps through the upper rock slabs gave me the opportunity to get a feel for my new setup on unpredictable but solid terrain. Luckily, after the tweaks made to my setup – and the Pirelli’s rubber compound – everything felt surefooted and Nathan and I confidently rode a few laps through the sections – unscathed regardless of the dismal conditions.

An out-of-towner visiting gives the perfect excuse to show off your favourite spots to eat, and each time I’ve visited Christchurch on a riding trip I’ve been treated to some of the best IYKYK spots. This time around, Cassells Brewery was the dinner spot. Our small crew dined like kings. I took on the chicken burger (highly recommend), while sampling a freshly brewed Tropicana Hazy IPA… old habits die hard. I must have missed a trick though – the rest of the team went with a perfect winter option in the Double Cream Milk Stout, which seemed like a meal in itself!

Before the sun was up, my trip was over. An airport coffee and buttery croissant ease the pain of heading back to normality; knowing I’d had a good 48 hours living the dream. Just a few hours later I was sat back at the desk of my day job, reliving the lines ridden over the previous couple of days, and excited to put some of my new found freshness to work on local trails.

Christchurch was a good time. I didn’t talk “cod shit to strangers” nor “lose the plot on the dance floor”, but the Free Radicals in me were “freakin” for sure.

Words: Alex Stevens
Photography: Cameron Mackenzie

On site at Crankworx Cairns, back in May, photographer and writer Cam Mackenzie was keen to snatch a few hours away from work and enjoy riding one of his favourite mountain biking destinations. With good mate and pro rider, Sam Blenkinsop, also in Cairns to compete, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to introduce him to another good friend – local and pro rider, Berend Boer – to showcase what Cairns had to offer. Cam tells the story:

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to Cairns, for work, almost yearly since the Downhill World Champs was hosted there in 2017. Off the back of that trip, I fell in love with the area, its diverse trails, red dirt and grandeur, but was also fortunate to meet my now-close friend, Berend Boer. In the years since, I’ve been back and forth for various different tourism projects, showcasing mountain biking in the far north in what I hope has been an engaging and relatable kind of way.

With Crankworx and major events coming back to Tropical North Queensland, and Cairns in par- ticular, it dawned on me that we come and go so quickly within these regions, and often we just don’t get the time to ride and enjoy all the fun trails I’ve come to know through the local riders over the years. So, this year, going back to Cairns for Crankworx, I saw a really cool opportunity to introduce two great mates and go for a really awesome explore through the rainforest, show- casing Cairns to Blenki. Although he was fizzing to compete – and had a hectic race schedule, as he pointed out – what’s the point of coming to these places if you don’t get to see them for what they are?

Blenki and I were both travelling from New Zealand and knew we would have quite a limited amount of time on the ground. With an already busy event schedule subject to inevitable changes due to the weather in the tropics, we had quite a small window of opportunity to get off site and into the jungle. Luckily, Blenki had his new Bosch- powered Crestline, which he was able to bring with him, and Berend and I were able to pinch a couple of Mondraker Crafty Rs, also sporting the latest smart system kit from Bosch, from the guys at Mondraker Australia. Without the eBikes, we wouldn’t have been able to check out even half the spots we did, nor would we have been able to maximise our short windows of opportunity.

Mountain biking in Cairns goes back several decades, when influential and pioneering locals like Glen Jacobs first recognised its potential, in the 1980s. You can tie back points in time to key developments of mountain biking in the region, with the Cairns Mountain Bike Club hosting its first nationals in the early 1990s, and World Cup events following soon afterwards in 1994 and 1995, then the UCI World Champs in 1996. A fuse had been lit and, since then, mountain biking has continued to grow in the region.

Whether it was dedicated locals looking to build more trails for themselves to ride, or trying to bolster the region’s offerings, these different trails and parks have combined to create a strong, diverse network that stretches all the way along the coast and deep into the tablelands.

Hidden in the hills behind the James Cook University campus, 20 minutes north of the city, Smithfield Mountain Bike Park was where the first international race was held and has now become the epicentre for mountain biking in Cairns. With Smithfield also being the venue for Crankworx Cairns, this seemed like the perfect place to begin our exploration.

The terrain in Smithfield is really steep in spots. You’ve got lower undulating grassland trails but also stuff that rises high and steep into the jungle canopy, which the eBikes were perfect for. The Nationals downhill track, for example, is so steep that the ride up is almost inaccessible on a traditional bike. On an eBike though, you can just blast up there like you would in a shuttle vehicle – but self-propelled. The trail is one of the steeper, longer, rocky trails in the park, which was exactly the kind of thing we were looking to ride and showcase. It’s a real staple of Cairns, and feeds into other parts of the park really well, linking a brake-burner descent into fast, flowy turns and lofty jumps like those found on the newly built trail, Bowhunters.

With a few laps under our belts, that soon wrapped up a quick taster for what Cairns had to offer on the first day. Had time allowed, we would also have ventured out to the Atherton Tablelands. Only an hour or so drive from Cairns and sitting around 1000m above sea level, Atherton is a beautiful, quaint country town, full of small-town pubs and really quiet, with a less humid climate. With Atherton sitting much higher than Cairns – and to some degree, sitting in the clouds – the bush cover is made up more of eucalyptus and gum than the dense tropical rainforest found lower down. The dirt is similar, a bit more rocky and gravelly, but the trails are built in such a way that they are quite different to those down on the coast in Cairns.

If you’re visiting the area and have a bit of time, I’d definitely recommend checking it out, especially on an eBike. The bike trails are all on one face, out the back of the township, with some big grunty climbs and lots of short descents running off everywhere – perfect for repeating cool little loops on an eBike. On the way home, be sure to stop off at Lake Tinaroo for a cool down before heading back into the hustle and bustle of Cairns.

The next evening, we decided to boost out after the event finished and make the most of the hour and a half of daylight we had remaining. Berend really wanted to show us some of the lesser-known trails in an area up near Copperlode Dam, to the west of the city. Just 15km away from Smithfield, this area offers a distinctly different riding experience, as well as climate. Sitting higher up into the bigger mountains, there are reservoirs and dams, and the terrain is quite raw and rugged. It’s definitely somewhere you need to go with a local, and we were stoked to have Berend guiding us in this unique area, particularly with the weather turning stormy and the light all but non-existent. It was definitely too dark to shoot any photos, so this one will just have to stay etched in our memories!

It turned into a pretty hilarious scene: the three of us all of varying skill level from pro (Blenki and Berend) to not-pro (me), trying to keep up with each other riding some of the steepest trails in Cairns, in near on dark. Add in the fact that we were also in one of the most dangerous parts of Australia, where if you fall you’ll not only rip your clothes to shreds, you’ll also be waiting a while for a rescue, or a snake could come across the trail at any moment. Somehow, this all just added to the hilarity of the situation.

Cairns is really unique in its topography; you have these crazy, steep, rugged hills clad in UNESCO World Heritage rainforest rising out from the sea. It’s an insane juxtaposition between one natural wonder of the world, the Great Barrier Reef, sitting right next to the Daintree rainforest which extends across the coastline as far as the eye can see. Our mission for the next morning was to head out early to experience the stunning views across the city, and the reef at sunrise, before blasting some fun trails back down to a great coffee, whilst beating the heat and getting a run in before another day of events.

We opted to head up to Kuranda, one of the original tracks in Cairns, which runs off the side of the Kuranda Range Road and through to the famous Kuranda village and railway, sitting deep in the ranges behind the city. We had the option of either riding up on the eBikes quickly, or shuttling up like you would on a traditional bike, opting for the latter due to the early start. The main start point for the Kuranda trails is a beautiful lookout and, from there, we had the pick of some of Cairns’ oldest trails or the option to ride the newer community-built trails that Berend himself works on, rides and loves. We opted for the tried and true option that morning, showing Blenki what Cairns is so well known for in the downhill space: the Kuranda Downhill Trail.

No matter where you go and explore in Cairns, you can find the most incredibly diverse ecosystems within the forest, changing from one location to the next. That morning, up on Kuranda, we got super lucky: we were ripping along and, on our way out at the bottom, we stumbled upon a grove of butterflies which Berend, who was leading us out, disturbed. As Blenki and I arrived, Berend was screaming in excitement at the scene that lay before us. It was like riding into a butterfly sanctuary.

There were thousands of butterflies floating in the air underneath the canopy. You just don’t get stuff like that anywhere else in the world. By the time we’d gotten to the bottom, we were giddy. We’d just ridden this super fun trail with beautiful, big, flowing berms into steep rooty goodness – whatever you wanted it was there; flow, steep stuff – then, all of a sudden, you come across these butterflies. All before eight in the morning.

The wildlife is definitely one of the highlights of riding in this beautiful, unique area. As well as the butterflies on our early morning ride we saw plenty of other little critters out on the trails. It’s nice to know that there are also safe swimming spots where you can cool down without the fear of crocodiles, jellyfish, snakes, spiders or whatever else might be lurking. Luckily, Cairns has lots of these little hidden gems. Wherever you ride, you’re never more than ten minutes from neat little waterfalls, beautiful running streams or watering holes right in the middle of nowhere, amidst the incredible ancient rainforest.