RUST magazine: RUST#40

adventure
w
Chris Birch in 2006
Back then I was trying to make my
name in enduro competition. I won
the NZ national championships and
had travelled to Europe hoping to
find a full-time ride. It was far from
easy and I went a very very long time
with having very very little money.
Riding in the UK didn’t go well for
me, I’d struggled in Europe and after
the 2006 ISDE in NZ I’d reached the
end.
There was a definite turning point:
the last day of the Taupo Six Days. It
poured with rain and they ended up
cancelling the day because it was too
difficult. I don’t argue that it was the
right thing to do – now, in retrospect
– but on the day I was like, ‘come
on, let’s go!’ I’d passed Mika Ahola
and Juha Salminen in the bush,
stuck, and I’d managed to finish
the whole day on time, I was telling
everyone ‘that was the best day’s
riding in my whole life’ – and then
they announced they’d cancelled
it, it was too hard. My reaction was,
‘F**k, that’s it, I’m out!’ I had my bike
for sale the next day, it was a case of
screw this, I’m through with enduro.
What I wanted to do and the
skillset that I had felt like it wasn’t
reflected in the sport anymore. And
then a friend of mine sent me a
video clip of Martin Freinademetz,
the Romaniacs organiser, standing
in a river while it was heaving with
rain and he was saying ‘yeah, we
know the track is going to be very
severe but if one person can make
the finish then we know it’s okay
and we’ll keep the race going’. I
was immediately excited, I finished
watching the clip, found the
Romaniacs website and entered it
there and then. Then of course I had
to work out how to pay for it!
58
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