Bendigo Pics...

Here's a few pics from the weekends race in Bendigo. Thanks Tim (MTB-Images). Racing went well, even though I needed two 20 minute power naps just to get to the start. Guess I am still not over the flu I have been struggling with lately. Anyway, I rode a nice consistent, comfortable race and will hopefully be backing it up this Sunday in the CTS 5hr at Lysterfeild. See you there.

Putting the hurt down..haha.

A big thanks goes out to John and his team at Bendigo MTB club for putting on another great event. I wish I had a back yard like that, it rocked.

To race or not to race?

With a week of the whole family feeling very unwell, including myself, I was contemplating no racing in the Bendigo 6 hour tomorrow. My throat has been extremely sore and the sinuses have been blocked solid since wednesday.

After having a chat to Robyn, it was decided I would go and race. Even if I roll around and enjoy a great course, i'll be there.

Play time...

Today I heading into Randall's play ground. It is easy to see why he loves coming out here. Lots of fun, REAL MTB trails.


This is a great bridge, bush inginuity at it's best.

Not everyone enjoyed their time in this bush land.

My view for most of the ride. It is always fun trying to hold his wheel on the tricky rocky decents. Perfect terain for the Kona 120 with it's 120mm through axil Reba's.

SRAM update...

As many will know I have been using SRAM XO on my two race bike for a little while now. I am loving the slick, fast shifting and ultra reliable performance in muddy conditions. It is a welcome change.

A couple week ago I was flung this 2010 X9 rear Derailleur. It has totally been revamped. The design looks sweet. The finish is top notch.




The biggest advantage of the new design is how the profile of the derailleur is reduced by about 10-15mm. Fitting between rocks and the like without damaging your equipment will now be a bit easier.
To achieve this the cable now routes behind the main body. It gives the derailleur a total new look and allows for the reduction of the profile. As far as shifting goes, pure SRAM. I could not tell the difference when I replace my XO.

It has been on the agenda for a little while now, but I finally replace my old road group set with SRAM Force. Yet to be ridden but first thoughts are WOW. For the fun of it I weighed every item as it came off the bike and compared it with it's replacement. Every Force item was lighter than the Ultergra item excepting a 20 gram gain in the bottom bracket and equal weight of the cassette. Total saving was about 300 grams. Doesn't sound like much, but at the end off the day these two group sets are competing for sales and I know 300 grams would make a big difference when is comes to laying down your hard earned cash.

Anyone up for a ride in the rain?

This morning I rolled out the door for a bit of an unknown ride. I had a couple of choices, Hell ride, or the Spoken ride. It didn't stop raining all the way to beach road, with this rain I knew the Hell ride was not an option (even if anyone decided to turn up) because it would be no fun sucking on someone else's wheel spray flat out for two hours. So I decided to find the Spoken boys, do you think I could? Not a chance

Did another lap chasing triathletes, then rolled home. I saw this sign, thought it was appropriate for a wet saturday morning on the roads, straight to the point, I like it...

Family fun...

I am on the mend. The stitches in my finger have been removed (it wasn't very exciting, all I did was slashed it with a new stanley knife), and I am over my chest infection. So it is now time to start riding again. Today I hooked up with new sponsor boss Rob Eva (Mr SRAM), team mate Evan Franzke and James Maebus (Torq) and headed up into the Nongs on the mtb's. It was a great ride, over many trails I have never done. The legs felt ok, and I am hoping this is the begining of some good fitness.

On top of the world...well maybe not.

Getting up there isn't always easy.

I was downloading some pics from my camera today and found this little video. Before you say we should be wearing helmet, I know, but in my defence we were on private property.