December 22, 2012

Biking again!

I've been pretty slack on the whole blogging thing lately but in all honesty I haven't had anything exciting to talk about, until now.  It's been over four months since I had surgery on my shoulder so I'm back into riding again, stoked!!  I've been doing a lot of trail riding over the past few weeks which has been awesome but have still been missing jumping.  Christmas has come early for me though and yesterday I picked up my new Blk Mrkt hardtail and its pretty damn sick!


Its nice and long at 22.5'' so that it feels like a 22'' Killswitch, should make it a bit nicer to jump from bike to bike.


Back in Queenstown for the summer so cant complain with that nor the view from the flat...


Cheers heaps to Dogboy at Wide Open for the bike, should be the start of a good summer!

November 3, 2012

Ride 2013

Its November which means that if you have the Ride 2012 calendar I'll be your poster boy for the month...


And if you are in need of a calendar for 2013 then the Ride 2013 calendar is online now for sale.  Hit up http://www.ridemedia.co.nz/product/2/ and get one!  I got December which I'm pretty stoked on as its my birthday month.

October 10, 2012

MTB UK

Another shot from the shoot up Coronet with Camilla.  MTB UK did a feature on riding around Central Otago and I managed to score the 2 page opening spread.   I'm not a huge fan of how I look, its a weird looking corked flip, but I'm not complaining and its another awesome photo by Camilla!



Go check it out, it's in their summer 2012 issue.

September 28, 2012

Shoulder

So its been five and a bit weeks since my surgery and all is going well.  I'm starting to get more movement and can use it for a few more things but still no weight bearing for another six weeks.  I had a meeting with my surgeon the other day to make sure the screws had not gone to far and poked out the other side of the bone they screw into, thankfully all was good.


So what my surgery did is basically provide more surface space in the shoulder socket.  This means that the shoulder needs to go a lot further before it pops out although it comes with less flexibility and movement.  They did this by cutting off a bone elsewhere in my shoulder and re-positioning it by my shoulder socket.  Along with more surface area I think there was a muscle that was attached to the bone that got re-positioned which also helps prevent the shoulder leaving its socket.

So all I do these days to entertain myself is assignments and running, yes running.  I used to hate running but when you can't do any other activity running is awesome!  And a good way to get fit for some up and coming super D races...



September 2, 2012

Surgery

If you want the rundown on my surgery and a few other ramblings hit up the bikeland.co.nz link which should hopefully bring you to a small write-up I did.


August 19, 2012

America trip

Chris from Teva asked me if I was keen to write a few words for bikeland.co.nz covering my surgery and rehab of my shoulder.  I decided I'd start out with a recap of my trip over to the USA as I hadn't really written anything in detail about my trip, so go check out  http://bikeland.co.nz/2012/08/guest-words-conor-macfarlane-usa-ok/ and keep an eye out there for updates on my surgery and how rehab is going.


August 1, 2012

Random Stuff

Colorado Course Preview Video


Colorado Freeride Festival Slopestyle Course Preview on Pinkbike

Finals Highlights


Colorado Freeride Fest - Shimano Slopestyle Finals Highlights on Pinkbike


I've been riding Teva shoes for the majority of this year now and here is the official welcome to the Teva family, stoked! Cheers Chris.
http://spokemagazine.com/2012/07/31/teva-welcomes-conor-macfarlane-to-the-family/

Somehow I ended up on the front cover of the local Winter Park news paper which is pretty damn sweet.


July 30, 2012

Colorado Freeride Festival

Not really sure what to say apart from I had a blast.  Course was awesome (unsure about sand landings on a slope course though) weather played ball in the end and I walked away uninjured.


I had some major troubles with blowing up tubes, about 7 over the week, which was rather annoying to say the least.  I managed to get a reasonably solid first run in but with more left in the tank for the second run.  I started my second run like my first run with a 360 on the start drop only to blow out my tire again!

Photo:  Phil Mclean
Photo:  Phil Mclean
A big thank you to ILT for helping me get over here, I couldn't have done it without them!  I should thank Phil for lending me his tire, which I managed to bust just like my previous one, and also the dude at the Shimano truck for the tubes and lending me his tire for my final runs.  I ended up getting 12th which I'm kind of happy with but its annoying knowing that you can do better, next year ae.  The other Kiwis did well as well, Kelly got 18th and Tani landed his first ever fronty and learnt what it takes to compete at an international level.


CFF Shimano Slopestyle Qualifications and Highlights on Pinkbike

Sitting in Denver airport waiting for my flight, cant wait to get home now!  Next stop is the surgeons table to get my shoulder fixed!

July 23, 2012

Claymore challenge 2012

So... I got to my hotel at midday on Tuesday, quickly build up my bike, and got picked up by Josh from masterlink rides to go to the mountain and met up with the other kiwi boys Phil and Tani.  Tani, only being 17, had issues being allowed to ride as he needed a caregiver to sign the waver for him and by the time it was sorted out it was to late unfortunately.  

The first day of practice I was knackered after being on the road for a day and a half but managed to get most of what I wanted to do sorted then time for a proper sleep!!  Didn't turn out to be the best sleep I've ever had, turns out that my shoulder didn't like the way I was sleeping and decided to pop out, not ideal with qualifying taking place in under 12 hours! Thankfully Phil and Tani were there and managed to get it in, was stoked to get it in myself without needing to go to hospital but wasn't an ideal time for it to come out!  In the morning I decided I'd try ride on it (I usually wait 1-3 weeks these days) and didn't feel amazing but good enough to ride on but no crashing!  I ditched flips due to any over-rotation and my shoulder could come out and went with easier tricks, my run was a solid run but nothing special but I didn't crash and my shoulder stayed in so I'm happy with that!  

Phil didn't have much luck, crashing out in both his runs which ended up in a broken wrist.  Seeing as I didn't qualify I had a few days to lax out and take it easy, I rode the dirt jumps and did some laps of the bike park which was awesome fun.  Huge shout-out to the Highland crew they always put on a sweet event.

R-dog, 3 unturndown.  Photo: Phill

Off to Colorado now and by the sounds of it the course could be quite big so hopefully the rumors are true!

July 17, 2012

American assault 2012

So I'm sitting here in LAX getting very restless with another 2.5 hours until my flight.  After my flight I only have a bus ride from Boston to Tilton then a 15min ride or a shuttle (depending if I get there in time) to Highland MTB park, cant wait, that place is amazing!

Not long before I left I put the first permanent build I've had on my killswitch (I had been using parts off my hardtail previously) which is pretty sweet, cant wait to properly test it out at Highland and Colorado!


July 5, 2012

Southland Times

A month or so ago the ITL (Invercargill Licensing trust) gave me a grant to help me get over to the states and compete.  Without them I defiantly wouldn't have been able to go over this year (for those of you who don't know being a student isn't very well paying) so a huge shout-out to them and also the Southland MTB club for doing all the paper work for me, cheers guys!


Hit up The Southland Times for the small write-up.


June 26, 2012

Magazines


I've spent way to much on magazines in the past month or so but it will be worth it when for when I'm old and bunged up to look back and remember the good times.


Spoke

Revolution
Spoke

Spoke



Spoke

Dirt

June 19, 2012

Camilla's Pro Photographer Showdown Slideshow

Incase you don't already know Camilla Stoddart is an amazing photographer!  A month or so ago she attended the 2012 Pro Photographer Showdown in Whistler as a finalist.  Check out her slideshow below it it packed full of amazing shots!  Plus half of it looks to have been shot in good old NZ and includes some kiwi bikers.



June 8, 2012

Trail Bike

As some of you might know when I started out riding I did a lot of xc... until I got sick of training.  Not long after I gave up on training I woke up one morning only to find some thieving scum decided they wanted to steal my bike and sell it for a fraction of what it was worth (a bike shop found the fox forks, xt brakes and front wheel, all worth quite a lot of money, on a Bauer that some lucky person bought for $100).  So from then on I have never had a good bike to pound out xc laps on until now.


I had most of the parts lying around so bought a frame and fork and built it all up, so stoked to have a good bike to go out for trail/xc rides on again.  Im already planning upgrades and with the thrashing it will get the upgrades will be burly in time for a Queenstown summer.


May 28, 2012

Magazines

I picked up the latest Spoke magazine a few weeks ago now and went in today to get Dirt and Revolution but good things take time in NZ.  Dirt comes to the shops in Dunedin 2 months after it gets released in the UK!  I did however come across another mag that I was surprised to see myself in.

NZMTBR
Spoke magazine
Last Monday I went up Signal Hill with Derek Morrison to take a few snaps, here is a b-roll photo...

derekmorrison.co.nz

April 16, 2012

Teva Slopestyle video

Teva have finally released the official video from the slopestyle in Queenstown... Check it!!

April 9, 2012

Teva Slopestyle

I cant say enough about Teva, they put on the best event I've ever been to!  They made a sick course (cheers Kelly and Tom), looked after the athletes and kept the crowd pumping.  I left Dunners on Tuesday evening with Elmo and went and checked out the course the next morning, I was pretty excited to say the least but we had to wait until 12 before we could practice.

Bar onto the fruit-bowl

I got most of what I wanted to do sorted on Wednesday including t-wiping the first stepdown which was the scariest thing I have done in a long time!

Thursday practice started at 12 again and I was feeling good until I had a silly crash 360ing off the whale-tail which I had done plenty of times then another crash t-wiping the start stepdown which really knocked my confidence.  I smashed my ankle when I crashed on the start stepdown so I decided against t-wiping it in my run and went for a safer (and a whole lot less scary!) option.

Tuck flip on the final booter
It came time for the comp and we watched the amateurs throw down which was sweet to see.  I was last on the start list so watched everyone else do their runs then dropped in and missed afew tricks, no biggy though as I knew we had 2 more runs.  Second run I watched Benny double flip and had to drop in after that!  My run went as planned and I ended up in second place for the finals.  I was still to nervous to t-wip the stepdown again so decided to try a flair/hip-flip instead... It didn't work out as I had planned but apparently I got close.  That was my night over with a sore thumb so I just sat down and watched the boys kill it in best trick.


I'm stoked to walk away with 2nd place and to be part of a successful competition which will only grow and get bigger and bigger in years to come.  Thanks Teva!!!

March 20, 2012

myPOD

Over the summer I built a jump up Coronet Peak to get a nice background and went up there with Camilla to shoot some photos and the first photo from the shoot just popped up in the latest [R]evolution magazine.


Its under the myPOD feature which they run in the mag on a regular basis.


There are more photos from the shoot coming out in magazines such as Freerider... Some German freeride magazine which will be hard to get my hands on...


March 14, 2012

Teva!

After many years and even more pairs of shoes I have finally got a decent pair of shoes that should hold up to the abuse they get.  Christopher Sharland from truealliance distributors has sent me a pair of Tevas to rock!  Cheers Christopher.


Couldn't have been better timing either with the Teva slopestyle happening in afew weeks.

Also cheers to Caleb Smith for getting me the contact.

March 8, 2012

TSG

A rather large package interrupted my study the other day which gave me something to procrastinate over.  The lads at cycletech sent me my 2012 shipment of TSG gear which was exciting!


They sent some sweet Evil Knievel inspired helmets along with the superlight which I rode along with the fullface last year.


Some of the Dunners BMX boys took me out to some DJs last night for a windy ride which was pretty fun! Thankfully I didn't involuntarily test out any of my new gear!

Photo: Dillon Earle 

February 26, 2012

Farm Jam 2012

So if you don't already know the weather at Farm Jam 2012 wasn't the kindest to us but we managed to have a good time nun the less (or I did at least).  I was planning on going out to the farm on Thursday but the weather didn't look to favorable so left it until Friday.  Friday had small fine spells but nothing that allowed the jumps to dry out unfortunately.  We found out that the airbag was going to be set up in Invercargill on Friday evening so we hit that up (in-between rain showers) for something to do and headed to the farm to stay the night.

Photo: Camilla Stoddart/Unit

We woke up in the morning hoping the weather would be kinder to us than the past few days but we weren't so lucky.  We did have some good breaks in the rain that allowed the jumps to dry out just enough to have a short ride abound midday.  This was practice for everyone as no one had ridden them in the past few days but the session didn't take long to get pretty insane with everyone throwing down.  For me watching Kyle Baldock was the highlight, perfect 360 flips flipwips etc.  Rain shut down the session after about an hour with last run glory going to Brandon Doosch whos rear wheel slipped out on the second takeoff but somehow managed to hold it together!

Unturndown the 'love triangle'.  Photo: Kalem Dow

Most people (including me) seemed to think that that would be the end of the riding for the day but an hour or two later it had dried up enough to ride again.  We managed to have an awesome 1 hour session, with everyone throwing down, before the rain set back in.

Thomas (on the left) showed us all how good you have to be to be one of the best  riders in Europe.

In the end the FMX was the only comp that ended up going down due to the weather, a bit unfortunate as some of the riders had come a long way for the event but you cant control the weather.  For me, even though we didn't get to ride much, it was just as much fun as last year.  Trying to get sneaky runs in before it started raining again, huge trains and just all round fun on your bike which its all about!

If you haven't seen the Red Bull video hit the link - Redbull Farm Jam 2012

So cheers heaps to the Frews and all the helpers and volunteers who made it happen!

If you missed the 3 News coverage of Farm Jam hit up 3 news link.

Tailwip 2nd hip.  Photo: Kalem Dow

February 1, 2012

NZMTBR

I knew this was coming out for awhile so was sweet to finally see it and see what it said.  I'm pretty stoked on how Nick Lambert worded it.  It shows or more states that I'm not just a dirt jumper which I seem to have been labeled; so cheers Nick for that.


The mag has Anton Cooper on the front and has a big article on him inside.  It's awesome to see a XC rider that isn't a roady who has decided to do XC.  Going back to my XC days there seemed to be alot of riders like that who lacked technical skills and only seemed to work on fitness not technical skills so go Anton Cooper!


So...go check it out.

January 23, 2012

Dirt Jumping in Q-Town

Another edit I managed to make in my down time.  Just a whole lot of clips that have slowly been accumulating over the summer put together so enjoy.

Queenstown Dirt Jumping on pinkbike.com

January 17, 2012

Whistler

So being a cripple at the moment I have some spare time.  My computer crashed in Whistler and It's taken me until now to get another video editor and actually do something with the clips I got over there.  Some of the clips have turned abit pixelated but you'll get the general idea...


Whistler 2011 on pinkbike.com

January 12, 2012

Remarks National DH race

This past weekend I decided to race one of the national series which was held on a grass track built up on the Remarks on farmers land.  The track was a sick old-school grass track with very little features but plenty of pinned and drifty sections to keep it fun.


I had a great time racing and was sweet to see how my times compared to other riders but I'm not in any great hurry to race nationals again.  To serious and to much waiting around for my liking's.  I wish i did feel like racing the rest of the series though because it would have meant I wouldn't have gone up the gondola yesterday and dislocated my shoulder again!  The gondi broke down for over 30min while I was in it and when I finally got back to the bottom again it was still broken so I quickly decided to go home afew meters before the turnoff out of the bike park.  Bad move, came in abit to hot and drifted into a post which my pedal got caught on and slowly sent me over the bars.  I was at the point where almost didn't go ever the bars but ended up going over and put hand out and pop...gutted.


Anyway back to racing, my seeding went well doing a 2.40 which put me in 6th.  I knew I had afew seconds in the tank because I always seem to go a good few seconds faster in a race run somehow.  I ended up going 4 seconds faster and ended up in 4th about 1/4 sec back from 3rd.  I was pretty stoked to say the least.

So now hopefully whenever people see me on a DH bike they wont be surprised and say that they didn't know I rode DH... I ride it almost as much as my DJ bike given the chance.

For more on the nationals hit up Dirt mag

After the DH race there was a unofficial pump track nats on the Outside Sports pump track.  Matt Walker convincingly took the win ahead of myself, Wyn Masters took best line with a huge manual around half the track and I took out last man standing, one of the funnest games out there!

www.fallon.co.nz   Its not all about the fastest time...