Keep on pushing: The Volcanic Epic 2023
Words: Lester Perry
Photography: Chris Chase
The Volcanic Epic is NZ’s newest and longest multi-day cross-country MTB event. After a storied journey to the start, the inaugural edition kicked off on 23 March 2023. Riders competed as individuals or two-person teams, across either two or four-day options.
Every rider came to the Volcanic Epic start line with their own story. For some, it was overcoming cancer or mental health struggles just to be there on the line, the event being the culmination of hard work and persistence, putting a cap on their recovery and proving they could overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges just to be there. For others, it was an opportunity to get away from ‘normal’ life and simply ‘Ride, Relax and Repeat’ (the tagline of the event), a twisted holiday of sorts.
It wasn’t just the competitors who’d climbed metaphorical mountains to be there – the event organisers, Nduro Events, headed by Tim and Belinda Farmer, had to tackle equally as large challenges just to make the event happen.
Winding the clock back to 2019, Tim was headed to the Port-to-Port stage race in Australia. Training in the bank, he was eager for the experience. Early in the first stage, a rider wiped out Tim’s front wheel, taking him down and in the process smashing up his shoulder. Whilst laid up in the hospital, a seed was planted.
“Why can’t we have more stage racing like this back home in the North Island?” Tim pondered. The Pioneer (at the time NZ’s only MTB stage race) was touted to be heading north from its home in the south, so Tim parked the idea of creating one himself.
Covid-19 took a scythe to events – literally overnight it completely shredded almost every event promoter’s plans. The owners of the Pioneer didn’t just postpone their event, but completely shelved it, opening the door for Tim and his crew to create their own stage race.
“There were people who wanted to do stage racing and couldn’t because Pioneer was gone,” explains Tim. “We wanted to fill that gap.”
The ‘Epic’ name came about whilst scouting for event venues. Every site visit culminated with the narrative, “this is going to be epic”. The phrase stuck and, when combined with the volcanic nature of the areas the stages would visit, the ‘Volcanic Epic’ name was coined.
Covid’s grasp on the community loosened in late 2021, and events slowly returned to the calendar (albeit under hefty restrictions). Spirits were high heading towards a rescheduled late January 2022 date for Nduro’s premier sin- gle-day event, the Whaka 100. Unfortunately, numerous pandemic-related issues brought a last-minute cancellation, leaving the upcoming Volcanic Epic as the organisation’s final – and only – event for the summer. Again, Covid drew its sword. A fresh spike in COVID numbers, and a change in government regulations, meant they wouldn’t be able to deliver the event anywhere near the level they needed to, and the difficult decision was made to push the event out to the following year.
Reflecting on the postponement, Tim explains: “We were passengers in the whole process, but we were committed. When you enter, forty percent of your entry fees are instantly committed to an event, so there was no option to pull out.” Belinda adds, “We were still 100% committed to running the event after we got through the Covid period, to do it for the participants.”
With the commitment to go forward, new staff were hired, and a full crew was assembled. “There are six full-time staff in the team now, and we had 28 to deliver the event. We originally had 31, but we had people get Covid just before the event started, and family bereavements and emergencies and all sorts of stuff. Volcanic Epic had 28 paid staff on it, with six full-time in the end.”
The 2023 date was locked in and the entire Nduro Events team set to work preparing to finally deliver their first Volcanic Epic.
Everything was rolling towards the event as planned, and it looked like the major hurdles had been overcome and wrinkles ironed out. The weather gods didn’t want it to be that easy though, and a month out from Stage 1, Cyclone Gabrielle flexed its destructive muscle, felling a huge block of pines and closing the trails in the Craters MTB Park (Taupo), where Stage 3 was to take place. Yet another hurdle the team would have to overcome to deliver their event.
Fast forward a month and over 500 hardy souls lined up at Te Puia, in Rotorua, ready to kick off the first of four stages. It wasn’t just locals boarding the Volcanic Epic train though – post Covid, international riders were once again lining up for NZ events.
“They came from Seattle, Mexico, Canada. We had people from England, Scotland, New Caledonia, Australia. A guy from France. We’d almost forgotten about our international community since borders had been closed, but it’s fantastic to see their return,” says Tim.
The opening day was set in the hallowed lands of the Whakarewarewa trails, covering many fan favourites and setting the tone for the days to come. After a briefing and welcome, newly crowned National XC Champ, Matt Wilson, alongside a host of Australasia’s top endurance racers, accepted a Wero (Maori challenge) and it was game on. Riders headed out past the Pōhutu geyser to do battle on the trails.
“Especially in Rotorua, the cultural narrative should always be part of mountain biking. It’s not a public forest – we’re actually riding on private land that belongs to a collective of central North Island Iwi. It’s important we honour that.”
Although the event was in play, the logistical challenges continued to come. Arriving in Tokoroa after Rotorua’s opening stage, the event team dis- covered all the course markings for the following morning’s race had not only been tampered with, but the steel waratahs used to secure course arrows and marking tape had been stolen, effectively destroying their entire course. Once again, the Nduro team swung into action. Taking advice from local police, and with help from the Tokoroa MTB Club, a revised course was quickly put in place, ready for action the following morning.
“And so that’s one of the cool things with the event… we can expose a whole new group of riders to the hard work the trail organisations do. I think the benefit of this event, for Tokoroa, is we’re just going to get more bikes on their dirt, which will be better for their trails and the area in general.
“I think the biggest thing for the riders, and the biggest bit of feedback, is that Tokoroa is a revelation – they didn’t even know it existed!”
After Gabrielle had turned day three on its head, Tim’s team swung into action once again and, in a tight time frame, pivoted to a ‘Plan B’ option. The rejigged day would now see riders take on a section of Taupo’s Great Lake Trail, including two laps of the Otaketake, Orakau and K2K loop, beginning and ending in Kinloch, right on the stony shores of Lake Taupo. Post-ride swims, and ice creams from the dairy across the road, topped off a stunner of a day. Riders were pleasantly surprised that Nduro’s ‘Plan B’ ended up being an ‘A’ choice!
The fourth and final day saw riders return to the pumice-based soils of Rotorua. Rising steam and a crisp, clear morning greeted riders at the entrance to the Whakarewarewa Living Maori Village, where they assembled for their final departure. A local cultural group kicked things off, performing for the entire field as they left the start line.
“That was a farewell from their lands, and sort of a departure and cultural performance in one. That’s part of the whole experience. It’s really hard for them to go on for 40 minutes, so they did well to try and get most of the riders through a cultural experience as they embarked on their final stage.”
The Volcanic Epic uncovered new ground for many participants; be it simply getting to ride new areas, ticking off a bucket list item, or riding with a mate each day. Four days, four stages, and a lifetime of memories not only for the riders but the event team too.
The engine inside: Redefining the impact of bicycles
WORDS: DAISY MADDINSON
PHOTOGRAPHY: DAVE MACKISON
Narrated by the legendary voice of cycling, Phill Liggett, The Engine Inside is a captivating feature-length documentary that weaves together the extraordinary stories of six everyday people. Through their experiences, the film unveils the remarkable power of the bicycle to promote profound change in our lives and communities. One of the documentary’s writers, Daisy Maddinson, shares how the film hopes to spark a feel-good revolution on two wheels.
Beyond the traditional portrayal of cycling as a sport or recreational activity, we don’t often give the bicycle much thought. Some might use it to get from A to B or commute to the office, but have you ever seriously considered the deeper impact of swinging a leg over?
The Engine Inside goes deeper, exploring the often-overlooked potential of this 200-year-old machine. Through the stories of six everyday people using the bicycle as a tool, the documentary delves into the significance of cycling in helping solve various global issues, including physical and mental well-being, socioeconomic inequality and climate change.
As writers, we wanted to go beyond the surface of cycling and showcase the true essence of the bicycle and its transformative power. In the development stage, every story we uncovered touched us deeply. We met people who faced daunting personal and systemic challenges head-on—from generational trauma and economic barriers to women’s equity and motor vehicle collisions—who have all found hope in the simple act of riding a bike. Their determination to overcome adversity through cycling left us humbled and even more inspired to use storytelling to spread the “bike gospel”.
By sharing the journeys of these everyday people from all walks of life, the film challenges anyone who watches it to reevaluate their own perspective on the transformative power of the bicycle.
The world can feel big and ugly sometimes. With so many converging social and environmental problems, the weight of the world can be overwhelming. We think, how can we as individuals change anything? And what use is one small action when the problems are so large? After watching The Engine Inside, we wanted the audience to ask themselves: Can an act as ordinary as riding a bike truly unlock strength and resilience within us all?
The documentary urges us to see the bicycle as more than just a means of transportation or a way to enjoy the great outdoors. It shows us how riding can act as a catalyst for change. It shows us that small actions do make a difference.
Our hope is that The Engine Inside will prompt anyone who sees it to change their view of cycling and embrace the transformative power of the bicycle and the engine inside us all. We can build a better world, one pedal stroke at a time.
Film release coming late 2023.
Bike Review: Norco Fluid FS A1
WORDS: GAZ SULLIVAN
PHOTOGRAPHY: SAVANNA GUET
DISTRIBUTOR: ADVANCE TRADERS
RRP: $5,599
“The Norco Fluid FS A1 was something of a revelation.”
I was looking forward to getting on the bike. Some mates in Australia had almost convinced me to get a Norco a few years back and, while I didn’t follow their advice, I was curious to find out what they were on about – and what I was missing out on.
I spent a month and a half on it – riding every other day, trying to figure out what made it feel so good.
As a representative of today’s mid-price mountain bike, it is a great example. Whether you think a hair over five and a half grand is mid-priced depends on a lot of things, but in a world of five figure builds, some of which start with a two, it seems pretty economical.
The first thing that needs saying is how good the bike looks. Obviously subjective, but a sparkly green paint job with chrome stickers does it for me.
It’s a very nice piece of design and execution. Subtly formed tubes, seamless junctions, and that lustrous paint job look really great.
The rear end finish is industrial by contrast – no effort has been made to smooth out the welds. Again, personal opinion, but I like that.
The Norco fitout has quality where it counts. Suspension is handled by Fox FLOAT components at both ends. The Factory 34 GRIP2 fork gives 140mm travel up front, and the X Performance Elite shock provides 130mm at the back end – pretty much the perfect setup for most trail riding.
The ultra-reliable Shimano XT drivetrain pairs up with a Praxis G2 crankset, with a 30 tooth chainring driving a 10-51 XT cassette. They even spec’d an XT chain.
The less critical parts are not from the big guys, or flashy boutique brands. As you might expect, they are from the more budget oriented end of things.
But that doesn’t mean they are not up to the job.
TRP supplied the brakes and the seat dropper. The brakes are Trail EVO, a four piston design hauling on a 203mm rotor up front and a 180 at the back. They worked really well while I was on the bike. The seat dropper was also well-behaved, and generous in both width at 34.9mm and travel, a handy 170mm on the Medium and Large size bikes.
While we are on that subject, the bike comes in five sizes, S to XXL, with a few tweaks along the size range. The S comes with 170mm cranks, the rest of the line-up have 175s. The seat dropper moves 150mm on the S, and 200mm on the XL and XXL.
The wheel set has Stan’s Flow S1 rims on boost hubs, and come fitted with Vittoria tyres.
So, that is the basic stuff you could find online out of the way. A bit more of a web- crawl would reveal some very positive information from the bike media – the machine is Pinkbike’s Value Bike of the Year, Vital MTB’s Bike of the Year, and Bicycling Magazine’s Best Value Trail Bike.
All good.
The stuff you can’t find online is what I thought of it.
My first ride was out the door and onto a fairly long singletrack climb. The bike is not particularly light, mid 15s in kilograms. It feels light, though. The suspension design and shock combine to make a solid pedalling platform, and the bike goes uphill as well as any bike with the handicap of having me on top of it.
A steep 76.6 degree seat tube put me in the ideal position for climbing a trail that has a lot of little obstacles and tight turns.
Turning directly into a downhill trail at the top of the first climb was a snap decision – this particular trail is a favourite, because it is at the top end of what I consider to be within my comfort zone. Normally I would go somewhere else until I felt at home on a strange new bike, but the Norco felt very familiar from the first few pedal strokes.
As much as climbing on the bike felt better than the weight would have you expect, going downhill was better than the mid-travel suspension promised.
Going down the trail, the bike was surefooted, relaxed, and felt quietly capable. The rear suspension is a very solid feeling platform and the long 480mm reach, (in size large), combined with a fairly slack 65 degree head tube, made everything I came across on the trails I like easy to ride with confidence.
The tyres were new to me, although Vittoria and I go way back – like, almost fifty years – to a couple of pairs of track tubulars I liked in a previous life. I have been very happy with a couple of sets of road tyres from the bicycle-only tyre company, but I had never tried their mountain bike rubber before.
The bike came with a 2.4 Mazza on the front and a 2.35 Martello on the rear. I think part of the sprightly feeling the bike had on the climbs and rolling along cross country trails may be down to them. Like the bike, they are not particularly light, and they are not the fastest rolling tyres around, but they were reliable on the fairly wet trails we encountered during my time aboard the Fluid.
I found the more I rode it, the more I liked it.
The Fluid is a bike that straddles the divide between a cross-country style bike and a more enduro oriented rig. For an all-day ride with a bit of everything, it’s hard to imagine what it could do better.
Ride Concepts Tallac Clip BOA Shoes
WORDS: LANCE PILBROW
DISTRIBUTOR: SOLIS NZ
RRP: $349
“If I was thinking about a ride that might have significant hike-a-bike, these would be worth considering for that alone.”
I’m the kind of guy who swings both ways when it comes to riding clips and flats. To be honest, I’m not really sure which one is my preference; I alternate between them both so much. Last year, I was able to review the RC Shoes Tallac Flat pedal shoe and it quickly became my favourite with its generous padding around the cuff, comfy D30 sole, and general good looks. It just ticked all the boxes and seemed to match my foot just right for all-day comfort.
So, when the new Tallac Clip shoe came along, this seemed like a home run. Same shoe, just in clip form. Right? Well, actually, no. But we’ll get to that later.
The Tallac Clip I received is the BOA version – yep, it’s got one of those twisty dials that magically does up the laces and, with a flick and a click, it pops up and everything releases. I’ve had a few of these and, aside from looking a little more space-age than lace-ups, I’ve had no problem with them. In fact, I’ve found them incredibly reliable. I really like how I can make micro-adjustments to the tension as I’m riding along. The low-friction textile TX4 BOA laces look perilously thin, but are in fact ultra tough. I’ve never had an issue with the system across a few different shoes. The Tallac has an additional Velcro strap across the lower part of the shoe as well. To be honest, I’m not really sure what the point of this is. I’d prefer the BOA laces just to go a bit further down. The shoes are quite stiff at this point, so I never really found that the Velcro strap was achieving much and, even with it undone, I didn’t feel like I lacked tension across that part of the shoe. Up top, the stealth black outer and purple inner looks great. The uppers are made from Cordura and have a nice woven look that is also durable, and has kept looking great after lots of riding. Internally, they are nicely padded – something I am particular about. I always like a shoe to feel like there is a bit more padding going on than not enough; I find that it really helps with comfort over long rides, and prevents rubbing and hot-points developing. That often comes at a small weight penalty, but it’s one I’m happy to pay. With all that said, I really liked the level of cushioning throughout the shoe and around the ankle collar area. Inside, they also have D30 technology in the insoles, which are designed to absorb impact and reduce fatigue. I really liked this feature on the flat version, so I was stoked to see it here too. On the scales they weighed in at 525gm per side.
Despite their casual looks, these shoes are stiff. On RC’s in-house stiffness scale they describe the Tallac Clip as “Level 5 Flex, found only on our Clipless offerings, is very stiff – designed for ultimate power transfer and support for hard-charging riders”. By comparison, the flat version I also tested is on their scale at Level 4. That all seemed a bit strange to me, as the flat version is a lot more flexible. On my own personal scale; if my running shoes are a 1, and carbon XC race shoes are a 5, I would rank the Tallac flats around a 2.5, and these Tallac Clips about a 4.5. All that is to say that the clip and flat version are totalling different beasts despite sharing the same name and aesthetics. More on that soon.
Underneath, these Tallac Clip’s also have a totally different tread pattern to the Tallac lace version. These are chunky – really chunky – massive hexagonal lugs cover the main portion of the sole with smaller notched hexagons on the toe and heel. It’s clear these shoes are designed to get plenty of grip if you ever have to walk in them. The midsole appears to be a similar thickness to the Tallac flat, and that is something I really liked about the flat version – it felt like a substantial and secure shoe that was a really good platform for walking around on. And yes, this proved true; walking up some greasy, wet clay uphills I was impressed with the great traction they provided. If I was thinking about a ride that might have significant hike-a-bike, these would be worth considering for that alone. I also liked the way the toe grip extended up around the front toe box, providing additional impact protection and durability to a part of the shoe that can get a bit of a battering. The toe box is super solid and offers a high level of protection.
But all that chunky grip did have a drawback. Most notable was that with my Shimano cleat in my preferred most rearward position, in the slotted cleat bed, I simply couldn’t clip into my XTR trail pedals. I can only assume the tread was simply too thick and was preventing the right amount of cleat sitting proud enough to engage the pedal mechanism. I experimented with sliding it incrementally forward, but it wasn’t until it was more or less in the middle position of the slot that I was able to get easy and consistent ‘clipping in’. This was pretty frustrating, and seems like a massive oversight as most people I know prefer to run their cleats in the rearward position – certainly the enduro-gravity oriented crowd that I think these shoes are aimed at. (NB: After googling this, I see Shimano do in fact sell cleat spacers to raise the profile of your cleat – something I’ve never needed before, and never even knew existed, but would perhaps solve the problem?)
Sadly though, as much as I wanted to love these shoes, as good as they felt on, and as much as I loved the BOA system, and as much as I loved the look, for some reason they just didn’t agree with my feet. About half an hour into a ride, the widest part of my left foot would consistently suffer pain and numbness. This was surprising as it didn’t happen with the flat version, so maybe there is something about the stiffness of these clip versions that is just ‘too much’ for my feet? Or maybe there is something about not being able to get the cleat to work in the most rearward position? I’m not sure. After the first ride I thought, ‘hmm, I’m sure this will solve itself once I’ve broken them in a bit more and they have moulded to my feet a bit more’, but even after 20-odd rides it was still the same. Possibly the Level 5 stiffness means they just won’t form to my feet that much. In the end – and to quote bad relationship break-up lines – it was a ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ kind of deal with the RC Tallac Clip. Maybe they are just fractionally narrow for me? Maybe I’ve got a weird issue with my left foot that I wasn’t aware of? Maybe I’ve discovered something and need to see a podiatrist? RC do describe these as a mid-volume shoe on their website and say you may want to consider sizing up half a size. I didn’t get the chance to do that, which would be interesting, but I’d also be nervous to feel too loose in the rest of the shoe as I really like the general fit at my normal EU44 size. I still really like the shoe in principle; I like it enough to persist with it for a bit longer – even after this review goes to print – in the hope that it does in fact mould to my foot just that little bit more. It’s clearly a high-end shoe made with premium materials, which means I would expect it to be extremely durable over the long term and I think it will be a winner for lots of people, so it’s still worth checking out. But, I would also say, if you’re just on the fence about which size to go for, going up might be the right call.
