MOUNTAINBIKING MAYHEM. IS IT REAL....OR IS IT JUST ENTERTAINMENT ?

CAN IT BE BOTH ?

Therodfather is here to lighten the load. Escape for a while

You might just learn something

Therodfather is a bit of a twat. He's the guy that rears his cocky head when Rod Bardsley (that guy up top) gets something right or wins a race or manages to land a big jump without wasting himself and there are pretty girls or photographers around to see it. He's a know it all that does actually know a whole lot of stuff about mountainbikes and riding them. He's pretty good at it but nowhere near as good as he thinks he is (He thinks he's about to break into the pro-rider ranks any day now). He's been riding most days for over 30 years and aside from macramé and the Aussie TV soap "Home and Away" there's not much else that interests him. From his first mountain bike at 20 years old in 1986 , a 22 inch Healing Worldrider to the plethora of high end carbon trail bikes in his shed, Rod has seen a lot. He's stuffed up so many things, so many times, and is now in the perfect position to utilize those awkward moments to show you the way. The right way. Yes...do as he says, not as he does ... Or did.

Anyway.... therodfather wants to help you get a handle on all the things that will improve your mouintainbiking experience and provide you with a little comic relief along the way.

Tips and tricks, tuition, cool pics, advice, product reviews, places to ride and something else to do while you're sitting on the loo.

A bit of history.

1966    Rod enters the world and precedes to ruin his parents idyllic life. Moves to a farm and rides motorbikes to round up the sheep.

1975    Gets his first bicycle. A Raleigh Chopper which he rides every Friday the 16km to school and back.

1976   The first of Rod's ten near death experiences sets him on a new path in life. (A story to follow... one day).

1986    He gets his first MTB, a Healing Worldrider 12 speed with 6 inch riser bars.

(That's 2 x 6 gears to make 12 speeds, not Sram Eagle fools).

1987    Rod deceives the NZ Fire Service with a muscular, super fit Rodfather double to become a professional firefighter in Wellington and when not rescuing cats from trees he spends his days off riding heaps and learning how to maintain his bike.

The 90's    Downhill racing becomes Rods thing and he does quite well getting on the podium at most races and is soon already too old so in '96 enters the geriatric division and goes to Cairns for the World Champs but crashes and burns. He gets back on the horse and sticks to local racing, gets medically retired from the Fire Service with a blown out lumbar disc and seeks fortune by buying a share of the infamous Cycle Services shop in Cuba st Wellington.

2000  The unfortunate marquee tent experience (there'll be a story about that one day when the dust has settled) 

The 2000's    London calls and he follows his girlfriend over to the UK and works in a few bike shops as a mechanic until he lands a job as a mountainbike guide in Morzine and then Chamonix, France where he lives for a few years during which he has a shotgun wedding in Las Vegas, has his first child with his now wife, gets seriously maimed in a botched spinal lobotomy, moves back to NZ to learn to walk again, and buys a picket fence and a longer clothesline for their second child. He moves to the (at the time) worst place in NZ for mountainbiking, the Kapiti Coast 45 minutes north of Wellington and forms a MTB club to build a bike park in an idyllic location nestled in between the dog pound, the waste water treatmant plant and the rubbish dump. Nice. Kapiti MTB Park was born.

The 2010's    Spoke Magazine recognise Rod's awesome talent (no one else would work for free) and he writes his regular column "Training Wheels" where he dishes out tips and advice on all matters loosely relating to mountainbiking. The government tear down his bike park to build a motorway. He has a crack at enduro racing, but he's built for loving not fighting and it's not until he gets to 50 years old and all the competition has either quit or died that he starts to do really well. He becomes an instructor for Joyride, an mtb riding skills course, so he can show off a bit more. 

Now     With paid work getting harder to find Rod decides that his talent for talking shite and getting in front of the camera needs to be exploited so he starts this website and sits back and waits for the sponsors ,advertisers and all the money to start rolling in.......

.......................and rolling in................???????....goddammit! Help!