Tena koutou tena koutou kia ora koutou kaotoa

Welcome to the 2009 Winter Continental Espoir Series blog site.
This Winter we will be introducing riders to the delights of continental styled road cycling epics - designed to find the hard-man rider within, take you to the extremes of exhaustion and test your resilience in the face of physical pain, mental torture and mechanical failure.
From Tuesday 2nd June 2009 the drudgery of day to day life will hover like a tropical Island retreat away from the excursions of the Winter Continental Espoir Series.
No rules (except Bastille day Hill Top cigarette must stay between lips until bottom of Pigeon Bay descent), no love lost, no winners, some losers.
Bring it on.

02 June Festa della Repubblica (Tuesday. Get hard. take the day off soft cock). Diamond Harbour; Purau; Port Levy; Little River; Gebbies; Lyttelton. Hose-down, Pasta feed at the Volcano. Chianti from a barrel.

24 June Matariki. (Tuesday night). Midnight ride through Lyttelton Tunnel.

14 July Bastille Day (Tuesday. Recognise the theme?). Gravel Road Col infused bash, Starting at Denton Park with escargot and vin rouge breakfast (cigarettes at Hill Top supplied - roll your own demo by Julian Mitchell. Le Route: Denton Park velodrome start; Prebbleton; Little River Rail Trail; Hill Top; Pigeon Bay; Port Levy; Diamond Harbour Ferry. Home to bed.

21 July Belgium National Day (Tuesday, enuf said). Cyclo-cross, Taylors Mistake Valley. All bikes allowed. Nasty obstacles, sand, car-park bollards etc). Cold showers, Steak, Fries and Beer on surf clubhouse 'deck'.

01 August Fiasta naziunala Svizra (Swiss National Day). Schnapps fueled downhill off Mt Olympus skifield - Top to Bottom hut. Warm bath and cheese fondue. Stay in hut.

03 October German National Day. (Saturday) Bike soccer. Sumner Beach. Low Tide 1045hrs, kick off 1100hrs. Sausage sizzle and shandy.