Icebreaker - Pure Merino

Hey Icebreaker,

Once again this year I decided to put myself through a whole heap of pain for no apparent reason! Specifically on this occasion it was for the Peak to Peak Multisport race in Queenstown. The Peak to Peak starts at the Remarkables Ski field at the highest peak with a small run in ski boots quickly followed by a ski leg down the black run Homeward Bound.

After jumping the fence it’s on to the Mountain Bike for a blast down the access road, followed by a flat section along to Frankton Beach. Here is where the real race starts, a 9km kayak around into Queenstown bay, from this point you don the running shoes and run out of town towards Coronet Peak, at the base of the hill you jump on your bike and have the lovely ride to the top!

All in all it’s a solid day at the office!!

This year I travelled up to Central from Dunedin on Friday and then set about getting all of the gear needed ready for the next morning. I decided that I would wear a IcebreakerGT 200 long sleeve top the whole way from start to finish along with my other cycle gear.

With a dedicated support crew of Dad, my girlfriend Amy (Thanks for coming from Christchurch) and local lad Tom (I promised him Subway for helping me) we set off to Queenstown to the start of the race.

At 12:10pm on Saturday the chaos began. The ski wasn’t too bad although poor snow cover made some parts interesting! Then onto the Mountain bike all was good although in retrospect I should have chosen different tyres as parts of the road were greasy!

Into the kayak all things started well until I went to take a drink from my lifejacket, nothing happened… I came to the conclusion that there was a kink in the hose (later revealed that there was) so I was stuck drinking straight Leppin, which sat uncomfortably in my stomach!

Onto the run and I quickly downed a large portion of water from my Fuelbelt and then tried to get into a steady pace, my left leg had gone numb in the kayak, so I invented a new running style! Not sure how efficient it is though! The run didn’t really improve much, my legs felt heavy the whole time and my stomach was trying to get rid of some Leppin any way possible.

Onto the last ride and I started to push pretty hard, I had borrowed a bike with lighter wheels and lower gears than mine to make the uphill as easy as possible. Lucky I had! Through all the pain I managed to get to the top, and with Tom running the last few km’s beside me to make me go faster!!

Finally crossing the finish line I had been out there for 2hr54min, which in comparison isn’t heaps but it hurt!! I managed to be 1st junior male, and improved my time by 15minutes from last year, next year I have to jump up to the Open male section, but I will be better prepared than ever!

My clothing choices were perfect for the conditions, I never got to hot or cold, and even I was surprised I didn’t smell at the finish!! Here are a couple photos from the final hill climb, excuse the pain on my face!!

Thanks Icebreaker!!

- Blake Luff, Icebreaker Fan

We were contacted not that long ago by some Icebreaker fans, Friedel & Andrew, who were on a mission to find the best bike touring socks in the world.  These guys are serious about their socks, they obsess about it and tell us “if my feet are happy, so is the rest of me”.

After some extensive wear testing research (man did they put the socks they tested to the extreme!), they now wouldn’t be without Icebreaker merino wool socks.  You can read why here:  http://travellingtwo.com/resources/merinowoolsocks-icebreaker

Friedel & Andrew think our socks are so great - now they want to let you experience the revolutionary product they discovered.  Check out their blog, leave a comment telling them what you wear on tour or why you deserve some Icebreaker socks, and they will enter you in the draw to win one of three Icebreaker sock prize packs!  Entries close Monday July 19th.

Team Icebreaker arrived home last week after completing the epic non-stop bike race - Race Across America.

Here’s a quick thank you from the Team Icebreaker Crew Chief, Makuini Warbrick:

To our followers and supporters - Thank you all so much for your words of encouragement.  Your praise and belief in us kept us pumped for the entire journey, we couldn’t have done it without you!

To our riders - Hamish, Jason, Rob and Mike - you guys are AWESOME!  Your ability to keep going,  at all hours, loving it, hating it, feeling unwell, hurting and yet still putting out fast speeds makes you SUPER STAR’S in our books.  Thanks for keeping calm when we directed you the wrong way, for pitching in when the crew needed a hand - you were easy to crew for and we want to thank you for letting us be part of the team.

To our support crew - Kurt, Katie, Kim, Alex, Liz, & Darren - THANK YOU!!  What a huge effort put in by everyone.  There was nothing romantic about how we lived the 7 days.  Kurt’s quote ‘RAAM isn’t just a race, it’s a lifestyle’ was so true, one that can only be fully appreciated when you are sleep deprived, jittery on energy drinks, worried about causing a time penalty, cruising in an RV that stinks to high heaven, and focused on the riders every moment of the day.  Thank you for self-sacrificing and putting the team first at all times!

To our media team - Fred and Amanda - We couldn’t have done this without you. Thank you both for your commitment to stepping in to help the team out when we realised we needed more hands on deck.  Your ability to drive and navigate yet still capture the journey helped us look up and see the beauty all around.

To our Sponsors:
Honey Stinger - A natural alternative to synthetic energy bars.  We can’t rave about you guys enough!  Your products were still good for our riders right up till the end - nearly 7 days later!!  Their stomachs thank you for finding a natural product that’s easy to digest yet delivers on performance.  www.honeystinger.com

KINeSYS Performance Sunscreen - Your product is so easy to apply and wear.  We forgot how good a job it does because the effect of not using it - sunburn was never an issue for us.  Thanks for keeping us sun safe!
www.kinesys.com in the US and www.highbeam.co.nz in NZ.

Horleys - Replace Hydration kept the electrolytes up and still tasted good after 7 days in extreme heat and humidity.  Thanks for hooking us up!  www.horleys.com

Penny Farthing Cycles in Wellington NZ & Giant Bicycles - thank you for supplying Jases’ bike and all the guidance and support leading up to the race.  www.pennyfarthings.co.nz and www.giant-bicycles.com

What an amazing experience for us all!

L-R (Back Row): Rob, Jason, Darren, Kurt, Kim, Makuini, Fred, Amanda & Alex. L-R (Front Row): Liz, Hamish, Katie & Mike.

Messages of support are still flooding in from the extended Icebreaker family for Team Icebreaker as they Race Across America.  This latest video is hot off the press from our Portland office, what a great bunch of cheerleaders we have amongst us!

And the Germans have sent us proof of their hard core support from Europe - they’re really with the team 24 hours that’s for sure!

Rob, Hamish, Mike, Jase and the support crew have just checked into time station 46 (out of 55) and they’ve got less than 250 miles to go!  Go team!

Follow Team Icebreaker on their Race Across America, send messages of support and WIN IcebreakerGT gear:  http://raam.icebreaker.com/

Team Icebreaker are still cycling hard in the Race Across America.  Our offices all over the globe are sending in messages of support, photos of group hugs, and today a video message to motivate them on their last few days.

Some of the staff back in the Icebreaker office are so excited they’re ready to fly to the finish line to greet the team!  We can’t wait to see them cross the finish line, only 700 miles to go guys!

Follow Team Icebreaker on their Race Across America, send messages of support and WIN IcebreakerGT gear:  http://raam.icebreaker.com/

We’re so proud of our team currently competing in the Race Across America.

Messages of support have been flooding in at the Team Icebreaker RAAM website; and today we decided we wanted to send the guys a big group hug from our Wellington Head Office.

Here’s it is guys, go hard and cycle your hearts out!  You’re over halfway now!

Follow Team Icebreaker on their Race Across America, send messages of support and WIN IcebreakerGT gear:  http://raam.icebreaker.com/

It’s all go here.  No time to do much outside riding, preparing to ride and squeezing in a limited amount of sleep.

We came together as a group on Friday, having not met everybody or done an event like this before.  by day two into the Race Across America we are a family of 12, sleeping next to each other, supporting each other and feeding each other.

We’ve had some minor teething issues with the complex navigation and the strict 50 page rule book.  A few hand slaps to date, but no time penalties so far.

The 12 of us are living out of a RV that comfortably sleeps 6.  Since we’re wearing Icebreaker and don’t stink the shower is used as a cupboard most of the time.  While the rear bedroom looks great, it turns into a mini trampoline while the RV is moving.  Some of the roads are that rough you actually get air if you are lying on it.

Life fort he support crew is just as tough as it is for us riders.  They are only getting 3 hours sleep on average too.  They are fantastic and we couldn’t do it without them.  The opportunity to do this and the jourey so far has been amazing.  Without Makuini (our Support Crew Chief) we would not have made the start, without the entire crew we would not have made the end, and without the Icebreaker gear the girls would not be smelling sweet and the blokes would not be looking like machines.

We have just pulled into time station #23 in Ulysses, KS and found the biggest Icebreaker logo in the world hanging from a crane - 8m x 6m, 10mm steel!  A big thanks to our Mac Operator from Wellington HO Jiana Benham and her family - Dad Jim, Mum Shirley and brother Kelly Wilson.  The sign was a sight for sore eyes, a really amazing welcome for the team on this long, tough journey.  They’re wonderful hosts and have welcomed us into their home for an amazing feast - they’ve recharged out batteries that’s for sure!

We will hit halfway tonight!  Bring on Annapolis.

- Jason Brown, New Zealand GM and Team Icebreaker RAAM cyclist

Follow Team Icebreaker on their Race Across America, send messages of support and WIN IcebreakerGT gear:  http://raam.icebreaker.com/

Team Icebreaker are currently racing in an epic non-stop bike race across America.  Race Across America has begun and currently the team are at time station number 16 (out of 55) in Pagosa Springs, CO.

We know the team are looking forward to arriving at time station number 23 - Ulysses, KS; just check out the local Icebreaker family support!  Jiana Benham, one of our Mac Operator’s in our Wellington Head Office, is from Ulysses and her parents have made this huge sign of encouragement for when the team ride through.  Awesome!  We know the team will love the support, thanks Jiana’s family!

You can send through messages of support and follow the team on their challenge at http://raam.icebreaker.com/ And WIN daily prizes of Icebreaker gear and entries to the Speight’s Coast 2 Coast at our RAAM Competition page.

Go team!

Jim and Shirley Wilson

Four of our staff members - Rob Achten, Hamish Allan, Jason Brown and Mike Stepanek are currently competing in the Race Across America - one of the world’s toughest endurance races, an epic non-stop bike race across the US from June 12-20.

You can follow their progress on our specially designed RAAM website here:  http://raam.icebreaker.com/

Please send in messages of support via Twitter and Facebook.  We’re also giving away daily prizes of Icebreaker gear and four Speight’s Coast 2 Coast entry tickets on the RAAM Competition page.

Thanks to the tremendous support crew made up of Icebreaker staff - they’re doing a great job ensuring the team in well looked after on the race!

Go hard guys!

A team from Icebreaker’s head office in Wellington is about to take on one of the world’s toughest endurance events - Race Across America, an epic, non-stop bike race across the US.

Mad, huh?  We think so, but our team is committed to putting our gear to the test, taking it to the limit and getting back to nature.

Last weekend, the team - Rob, Hamish, Maureen and Jason - completed a test run, cycling from Wellington to Taupo in some of the worst weather we’ve seen in a while.  They battled the elements in preparation for the race, rocking out their IcebreakerGT gear and showing us what they’re made of.  The pictures speak a thousand words - see for yourself.  Shot by Fred l’Ami our Identity Design Director, he’ll also be covering the Race Across America.

The team and support crew will be wearing Icebreaker for the duration of the event.  We’re looking forward to putting our gear to the test during this 8 day non-stop epic Race Across America.

You can watch the progress of the team, send messages of support, ask questions, enter to win Icebreaker gear and entries to the Speight’s Coast to Coast via the following website:  http://raam.icebreaker.com

We’d love you to join in and support our guys - highlight June 12 in your diaries for the start of the race!