Prep...

Life is back to normal life in Melbourne. The kids need to go back to school to give us some piece at home. It's come around too quick, but it's time to get all organised for the trip north to Canberra for the Scott 24hour. I am looking forward to this event. It was huge last year and looks to just as big this year.

One of the keys to riding a good 24 hour solo race is bike preparation. Some thing many may not know is that I do all my mechanical work etc myself. I believe having a sound understanding for your equipment is a great advantage. It gives you the power to choose the best equipment and bike set-up to suit riding style and make riding for 24 hour as comfortable as possible. Throughout the year my race bikes have been used across many shorter races, but when it comes to 24 hour set-up I like to make a few changes.

I have been trialling Ozirider's foam grips for a few month now and I really like their feel. I will be running the softer black ones on the Four Supreme and the newly released, firmer Blue ones on the Hei Hei. I find the slight change in density to give a slight relief to the hands as the race progresses. Oziriders latest product will also make its' way onto my bikes for this event, SPEX tyre sealant. From all reports it is the product to use if you want reliability.

Another product I have been testing of late is the Ascend Recovery Bars. I used them as my sole food energy source in the 12 Hour in NZ and am planning on doing the same at the Scott. The Felt Epix boys swear by Ascend products and I am beginning to see why.