Whilst we are being hit with stinking hot weather, Park prepare our park lands for a long dry summer....NOT.

Fury..

And out of the night comes the FURY....available in store very soon.

Randall's backyard bash...

Today Randall & Mel hosted a BBQ at their place. Amongst the reasons for the BBQ was to ride the newly finish "backyard trails".

Paulie getting some air.

Randall chasing down Troy, who is riding Randall's DH rig.

My choice of bike for the day was a poor one, although it got lots of points for uniqueness. It could have been worse, the stem snapped whilst riding back up the hill, not on the bumpy down hill ... LUCKY.

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Big George Invitational...

Yesterday got me back out on the MTB for a long awaited ride, The Big George Invitational (Stephen Van Dyke of Total Rush). It was a star studded field on a pristine Melbourne day. The plan was to ride four race courses in one ride. We linked Lysterfield, Harkaway, Upper Beaconsfield and Officer together, and had a ball doing so.

The Peleton, we only spent a few km's on the black top. Not bad for a ride just shy of 100km.

However, with plenty of rain the night before, there was a bit of this.

See what I mean...

The man with the longest arms in the world.

Hydration was the key. It was a great ride to get the body use to riding in the heat after struggling with heat stress in Queensland last weekend.

Joel Read, what more can you say, the man is an animal..

Queensland 24hr wrap up...

It's back to the real world today. Yesterday was totally lost in travel, amazing how a 2hr flight can consume a whole day.

I am pretty happy with how the race panned out. My intention was always to ride as little as possible and just get back into the solo rhythm again. With the race starting at 2pm and continuing for about 9 hours after the sun came up on Sunday, it was always going to be tough in 30plus temperatures. I felt the early signs of heat stress only 2.5 hour in, throwing up and feeling very cooked. But luckily it was evident even the Queensland riders were also suffering in the heat. I decided to ride very conservatively through the heat and try to create a gap during the night and with any luck, wouldn't need to ride for the full 24hrs.




My plan worked well. I was happy with how I was riding and very glad I could take a rest for the last 4.5 hours of the race.




A good ride also by fellow AyUp rider Sean Bekkers to finish a very tough event only two laps down.

A huge thanks goes out to my parents for their efforts looking after our little tribe while we were away, Robyn for fuelling me and AyUp for getting we up north for the fantastic event.

Its over .... We hope!

There's a good chance the race is done. Just keeping an eye on 2nd & 3rd, but very unlikely they can make up the distance. Andy stopped riding at the 20hr mark, so he'd be pretty unhappy if he had to get up and ride! I wouldn't want to try waking him!

Starting to suffer

18hrs in and andy has a vomit right in the middle of the tent - thanks honey! Gone out on another lap now. Day is getting very hot already. Will need to get him off the course as soon as possible. Hopefully just 1 more lap needed to take the win...

Tired & dirty

Just came in on lap 30. Ready to stop when its a done deal. Just a few more hours... The sun's up & its going to be another great Qld day

Into the brutal hrs of the am

Lead extended to 3 laps so he's about 1.5hrs in front now. Andy struggling with stomach probs - but nothing new there. He's still riding well so he'll hopefully be right until I can get to a chemist in a few hrs.

Now 2 laps up. Still riding strong.

8hrs in ....

Still strong. Now a lap up so taking the time to stop & eat. Nice mild night - all good.