It all started at our parents houses back in 1997 on a dodgy PC. We were fuelled by junk food and cheap Malaysian. In 2003 we started First Floor Publishing so we could have a home for all three of our magazines: Manual, Spoke and the now defunct Staple.
Spoke was created in 2001 by Caleb Smith and Emma Gee as a response to the vast amount of generic mountain bike magazines available at the time. Spoke strives to bring a fresh and innovative look at mountain biking through original content, bold design and high quality production values. It provides an unbiased look at the lives and activities of mountain bikers in Aotearoa, consistently pushing the boundaries of mountain bike photography and graphic design. Spoke is published five times a year: February, April, June, September and December, and is available throughout New Zealand and online at firstfloor.co.nz
ADVERTISING MANAGER / SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Caleb rides bikes and skateboards. If he could afford it or had the time he’d often be found out in front of the Spoke office perfecting his track bike skids. For now, he somehow manages (although at times he doesn’t manage very well) to juggle his duties as a father of three, a husband, a top level mountain bike photographer and one of the top-four table-tennis players at First Floor Publishing, which he co-owns. calebsmith.co.nz
EDITOR
Eleanor likes bikes and words. She is the author of Llamas and Empanadas, a cycle-touring book, and is currently writing another about cycling through Mexico. The rest of her time is spent working on Spoke, riding Wellington,s lung-busting hills, baking biscuits, knitting hats, tending her cactus garden and going on seaside picnics with her partner and stepson.
SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Coming Soon
COPY EDITOR / WRITER
Vikki Peguero discovered mountain biking quite by accident some ten years ago. Having just arrived in Wanaka with a $200 commuter bike, she took a wrong turn on the way home from a job interview halfway up a mountain. She never got the job, but she did upgrade the bike and has been riding ever since. Born and bred in Auckland, she much prefers the pace of her adopted home town; what’s not to love about snow and great riding on one’s doorstep? When she’s not riding or spotting spelling mistakes as Spoke’s resident copy editor, she earns a crust on two wheels as a motorcycle postie. She bakes a mean lasagne, grows veges that could make an old man weep with envy, and has a morbid fear of children and sushi.
WRITER
Australian born Brett Kennedy isn’t exactly a newcomer around here. As a kid, he made annual trips to New Zealand to visit family; in recent years, his passion for mountain biking has kept him coming back. The pull must have become stronger with time, seeing that he’s never actually made it ‘home’ to stay. These days, Brett earns a crust (and too many lightweight bike parts for his own good) working at Wellington shop On Yer Bike, supplemented by some writing (mostly) here and (sometimes) there. It’s not hard to get a handle on what he looks forward to in life: good riding, good people, good music and good beer. It would seem the capital satisfies these needs on all counts; he’s become one of the usual suspects at shenanigans both on and off the trails.
