WSC - Thanks

A huge thanks to my support crew over the weekend at the World Solo 24hour Championships. It was fantastic to have my parents and Aunty Babs there to look after the kids. It was so good to ride out on a lap with all the kids in their Ayup jerseys yelling at me. Not the result I was after, riding well in 5th until about the 18hr mark. Then the shoulder fatigue made such a tough course too dangerous to continue. Not overly disappointed, happy I gave it a go.

Soon to be sold...

Just getting in early, but I will be selling off my fleet very shortly.

* 2 x Kona Hei Hei 100, 2010 22"
* Look 986 carbon hardtail, Large (20")
* Look 555 Road bike, SRAM Force XL (59cm)
* Kona Unit 2008? 20" (the purple one) with or without gears.

Spread the word.

Tour de Timor all wrapped up...

After entering this event I didn't really know what to expect. I knew a few people who raved about it last year, so I had big expectation. Did it deliver? Sure did. The race itself was great fun and I enjoyed every minute of it. Stage races are not what I am good at, but with a bit of extra fitness gained over the last couple of months I fared pretty well. Each day basically panned out exactly the same for me on the bike. Started with the fast guys until the pace got too hot, then dropped off into a smaller chase group. I knew if I kept my heart rate in check to the level I have been training at for the solo worlds, I would finish strong. This happened every day. Our team finished second in the male teams and I finished 16th overall.



The stages were pretty amazing. We had a great mix of fast rolling flats, Paris-Roubaix style flats, relentless climbs up to the clouds, rolling loose and rocky descents, and steep in your face climbs. Did I mention there were climbs? We had to cope with sweltering heat and humidity and some riders who were on the course for a bit longer were lucky enough to get cooled off in a massive downpour.



Whilst off the bike we walked through the villages and met the locals. It was fantastic to see how happy the children were. Whilst riding through villages, locals lined the streets to show their appreciation of our participation in such a great event, riding through their regions. School kids really know how to yell!!



Below is a selection of photos I took on and off the bike. Sorry they are a bit out of order because blogger now make it too hard to rearrange.






A great sunset fron the UN Beach in Dili.

This rain caused the streets to flood in 20mins. Very heavy.

Simon pushed it a bit too hard on day two. Two bags later and he was fine.

Walking the streets of Dili. The locals were very happy to see us walking through their side streets, seeing close up where the sleep.

These were the wash rooms made by the locals in Balibo. Very cool.

The team minus Simon at the lookout over Balibo.

Riding the train. All strung out heading towards a two hour climb off in the distance.

Before the start of stage 4. Neil VDP in front of all the bikes whilst we all shelter from the heat.

Ben accompanying Rowena Fry (female winner) and myself up the climb on stage 4.

Team photo.

All dressed in our sporting attire for the after party.

I am looking forward to next year already.

Stage 1: Dili to Balibo (From Robyn)

AJ came across the line first. Simon (Knowles) came in 8th, and Andy was 15th. Andy had a nice crash but managed to do a good tuck as he hit the ground and spared injuring his shoulder again! Ben and Rohin finished behind the other 2 ... all still adjusting to the climate, the environment and getting ready for Day 2. Sleep well in the 29C heat, guys. Hope those mozzies aren't biting!

Tour de Timor..bring it on...

Bike prep is complete. Legs have recovered. Shoulder can hold onto MTB. Think I am ready for a great week. I ended up putting some suspension and gears on the trusty Kona Unit 2-9. It rides sweet and might give me a bit more of a chance to hold pace on the fast looking course.


Looks pretty sweet. Needed to drop the forks down to about 60mm of travel to keep the angles good. Pretty sure they will be locked out most of the time anyway.

Glad I did a test ride. The old Easton carbon post was past it's used by date.

Doubt there will be any coverage over in Timor, I will update if I get a chance.

What's been going on...

It has been nice to get back out one the bike. I am still restricted to road bike only. I gave the MTB a little test last weekend, but all I could manage was slow rolling over obstacles, so I have decided to leave it for a while yet. Hopefully I will be OK for Tour de Timor.

Fortunately Kona has gained some support from Torq. This not only gives me access to their great nutrition products, but they have a testing lap with a bike fit machine. I was able to get my road bike pedalling position setup to be the same as my MTB so at least I am pedalling the same circles whilst only training on the roadie. Torq has a access to a physio for bike setups. This is far more beneficial than simple getting it done at a bike shop. The physio is able to see how you body reacts to positions. So you not only get a more powerful position, but a position you are actually able to maintain. So if you want to get yourself in a more powerful riding position, give Dean a call on 03 9775 1155.

If you haven't used Torq Nutrition products before. Trust me, you will notice the difference. For me personally, I find them the easiest to digest, particularly under the stress of racing. Their recovery products are truly unique and offer the best possible chance of backing up tough session day after day. So, with any luck, I will be in good form come October for the World 24's.

Epic? You tell me.

This is my first "real" ride back.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/41563436

I have the power...

I got myself a set of Mavic Carbone SL's with a PowerTap hub just in time to start training again. These wheels will make any bike look hot. If you are considering training with power, check out these wheels. Considering they are a complete wheels set, already built up, they are good value.

My Look 555, pictured about will be for sale as soon as my 2011 frame comes in. Probably towards the end of September. Let me know if you are keen.

Finally found the break...

Finally the CT Scan has revealed a break in my left coracoid process. You can clearly see it on the scan below. Lucky break really - another 10% and it would have totally been broken off. The good news is it will heal without complications and I should be back on the bike within 3 weeks.

Injury update...

I thought I should give an update on my condition etc. Basically racing is out for a while. I am under the care of Olympic Park Sports Medical Centre. This is going to give me the best chance of being OK to ride the worlds. I am going in for an MRI Friday afternoon, and will get results Monday night. With this I will have a very clear picture of the damage and a better idea of my recovery process. I am seeing the physio twice a week at the moment and the pain is under control, but movement is still restricted.

My limited movement obviously keeps me of the road and trails. But I am doing some riding on the dreaded wind trainer, spending much of my time sitting upright. My coach has set a great program, we are going week to week at the moment so we can monitor my recovery process and train to suit.

Joining the gym for some leg strength work was always on the card. I joined yesterday. It has never be part of my riding in the past, but am willing to give it a go.

On a racing note, I have entered Tour de Timor. I did this the day I was hit. I though, I'll be right. So fingers crossed hey. I am riding with Randall and Andy Fellows in my team.

Lost against car...

I went out for an easy spin on Friday morning, it was cold but clear. I was only 10 minutes from home, when a car waiting at a give way pulled out right into me. Luckily, my courier instincts kicked in. I was directly in front of her when I heard the rev of the engine, I tried everything to get out of the way, I sprinted and moved into the middle of the road. Basically, these actions reduced the severity of my injuries. I got my legs out of the way, leaving the rear of the bike to take the impact. This flicked me over the bars, landing on my back, left shoulder first. So my shoulder (still undiagnosed) is very sore and my right thumb very bruised. I see myself as very luck, but guess what the driver said, "sorry I didn't see you". Very poor excuse. There was nothing impeding her view, I was wearing a standout, white Look kit and hey, I'm not exactly small.

My poor bike didn't fair so well. Barely a month old and written off. Boo.

It's back to the doctors today to see if we can figure out what is happening to my shoulder. There was little to no improvement over the weekend with complete rest (thanks to Robyn for looking after everything). I have cancelled my plans to race the Merida 24 hour next month, but hopefully I am back riding within a few weeks.

Mawson Marathon...

What a race. I had no idea what to expect from myself at this one. I
knew the distance would be ok, but was a little worried about the pace
I would need to maintain to hold onto the quick boys. We (Jason and I)
made the tactical decision to let Chis and Brett go off the front
early on. The pace they were sitting on seemed a little quick for suck
a long race. We sat up and waited for the Torq boys (Fenner and Mark
T) so we could use them to our advantage on the long road streaches.
This seemed to work well, 4 man team time trial style. Little did we
know Brett and Chris had swapped to bikes setup for time trialing. All
out efforts were no match. Their lead went out to about 20 minutes by
about the half way mark. Buy this stage we had left the Torq boys,
they were both have very slight bad patches, which they rode through
and avoided loosing anymore time.

We tried as hard as we could, but any time we made up on Brett and
Chris didn't seem to last. Jason pulled me along nicely towards the
end as we thought an attact was coming from behind. In the end we were
2nd, in a bit over 14hrs for the 367kms, about 15mins behind Brett and
Chris and about 7 mins up on team Torq in third.

Logistically it was one of the toughest races I have competed it. But
every time I got to the end of my bidon, there was Randall with a
fresh one. He never missed a beat and we could not have done it
without him. Thanks Ben. Also, thanks to Jason. We normally race
against each other and it was a pleasant change to have him on my
side. We seemed to work well together on this very challenging course
for differant reasons than both of use are used to.

I will add photos soon, we are still travelling home.

Traveling done, let's race

We smashed out 1000km yesterday, only a few 100 today and we will be
in Blinman ready for race start tomorrow at 7:30am.

This pic is of Wilpena Pound. A very beautiful part of Australia.

What mud?

You would never have guessed these shoes raced 5hrs in the mud yesterday . A trick from Randall's vault, " give'em a spin in the washing machine". Good as new.

CTS Round 1 - 5hrs

With a sell out field and no rain in the sky, today's race was always going to be fun. Snoz and FGP have got organising these events down to a fine art. The course was carefully pick to make sure the park wasn't destroyed with all the rain we had during the week. Yet it wasn't boring. There was only a few bog patches and the majority of the single track was tacky and very fast.

My legs were a tad smashed from a fairly intese training week and my lungs are recovering from a bout of the flu. But I didn't let this deter me from having a good ride. I couldn't match the front runners for the first few laps but then I got into a grove and moved through the field. I rode a lap with Mark Fenner, but decided we were moving a little quick for where I wanted to be, so I dropped back. Happy with this decission, I rolled around quite happy in forth. Then, coming
into the finish of my second last lap, I saw Fenner as he pulled the pin at the end of that lap. This got me on the podium for third, 18 minutes behind AJ in first. Overall and good day in the saddle. Only another week of training before I head over to SA for the Mawson Marathon with Jason English.

Day two....

Today's stage went very well. Robin pulled the pin at about 10, so I
was able to get a bit of sleep. When I started riding the legs felt
great. I punched out another 10 laps, only about 5 mins slower than
yesterday. I held them pretty consistant and the body held up very
well. The course here was great. Plenty of fun flowing sections.
Overall the event was very well run, the atmosphere was good and there
was lots of fun had by all.

Half way....

The 12hr ends up being a 6+6 ( I get to have the middle 12hrs off), I
got a good start but it wasn't until about the 2hr mark that I got
into a rythem, then bang, I blow out my rear tyre. I did a quick
repair and got going again. I was able to keep my laps very
consistant, only really loosing time when I need to put lights on etc.
I finished up a lap and a bit up on other solos and leading the 12hr
overall. There was 3000 vertical meters climbed in my 10 laps, so I
think the plan is to get some sleep (although I want to give some
support to Robin Tullett, an old triathlon freind also flying the Kona
flag in the solo 24) and I will take the mornings ride a little easier.

Ty has been busy talking with people about the new magic link bikes.
They seem to be getting a lot of attention. Unfortunatly, Ty lost his
own personal one off the back of the trailer on the trip over, he
wasn't very happy about it. I don't think he wanted it back after it
would have hit the road doing 110kmh.

Update...

I know, I know, I have been pretty slack with updates lately. But believe me, I have been keeping myself busy as. I am now officially fully recovered from the two National Chap events (24hr and Marathon) and have sat down with Simon (the coach), to work out what needs to be done between now and the Worlds in October. The good news is there is plenty of time to get my strength up to a level where I should be competing at the front end of the race. The National 24hr was a little set back, but it did show me I have the speed, I just need to get it all together and I should be alright.

I was planning on racing the Kona Dirty Weekend in the 24hr solo category, but have really struggled to get either the kids baby sat or figure out a way to have them all travel with us (I won't do a 24hr solo without Robyn there to help). It would have been nice to simply ride the whole 24 hours comfortably and try a few new things I want to implement into my racing. Instead I will be racing the 12hr as part of the same event(2pm - 2am). I haven't raced a 12hr in a long time, so it should be a lot of fun.

A month after this event, it is back to SA for the Kona Mawson Marathon. This will really be a very unique event in so many ways. I have yet to work out the full details on how we will manage to have a support 4wd with us thought the entire race, but I can now let you know I will be riding the 380km with Jason English. Together we should be able to smash out a fasted paced ride and with any luck there will be some other strong teams entered to keep things interesting.

In other news, I finished building a new roadie over the weekend. So the old one is being cleaned up, fitted with new bar tape and a few other bits and pieces and sold off. So if you know anyone after a sweet road bike going cheep, let me know. Pictures can be seen over HERE. The new bike will go for it's first ride tonight. Hopefully I can do it justice over the winter months.

On a work related note, I finally have my website live (thanks to Rohin). You can check it out over HERE. We still have a few bugs to iron out, but at least I now have something to direct potential clients to.

The aftermath

Well that's racing. I was looking good up until 2am, sitting in fourth hunting third. Then bang, no drive left. I rolled around till 4am. Then decided to cut my losses and call it quits. This would give me a much faster recovery.

We will sit down this week and see where things went wrong. Some things went great, so once again I have learned something.

5 Hours In

Top 5 all within 2 minutes, Andy in 3rd and everything going well.

Nats, ready to go...

I made it here in good time. Got things all set up and rode 2 laps of the course. Transition is set up a little different this year, with double the riders of previous years, no pit tents will be anywhere near the feed zone. This doesn't affect riders, but supporters need to make the journey back and forth every half hour or so.

The course was lots of fun... it runs in an opposite direction to any of the races I have done here, but it flows nicely. I rode my 120, SRAM gave me some 2011 120mm SIDS, first impressions, bloody fantastic. They soak up the bumps like nothing else. I will be happy lapping on that and the Hei Hei 100.

Bring on the road trip

it's begun, the road trip to Canberra for the National 24hr titles. If you are heading up, see you there, if you aren't, stay tuned and I will try get some updates going.

R.I.P Willo...

It hurts even to type the words, but fellow enduro nutter, great friend and ambassador to our sport has died in South Africa this morning. You will be hugely missed buddy.

Hot off the press...

I hope I haven't jumped the gun, but I was sent this article today. AMB should be on the shelf in the next couple of days. Grab yourself a copy.

Product update...

I have just dusted off my lights now that the days are getting shorter. I thought this would be a great time to give you a product update from Ayup. Last year they released the new V4 kit. The updates from the old kit include a brilliant custom hard case, two red saxon caps (turns your lights into ultra bright rear light), Gecko mounts, the headband kit (head tourch) and the new batteries are now have low/high/flashing modes. I won't go into the full details on my thoughts on the lights as a whole, you can read my original review HERE. But I will say, these additions have put Ayup at the top of it's game when it comes to lighting systems. Visit their website for more details and to make a purchase.

The custom hard case. Watertight, I want to see Qantas smash this puppy.

The contents. All neatly place in foam packing. Easy to store you entire kit.

Red Saxon caps. Strap it to you post and you have a very bright rear light.

Keeping you in the loop...

Sorry I haven't been keeping you in the loop lately, things have been really busy. Work has picked up and I am now working more than I have for the past 4 years. This is a good thing. Training has been going well, plenty is being done and my form is starting to improve. The biggest issue is getting enough recovery to make the training worth while. With the kids back at school, ever night is taken up with their extra activities. Fun times.

Hopefully things are on track for a good race at Easter, but we will have to see. I have Simon Knowles looking after my training now. It is so good not to have to think about what riding I should be doing. He really knows his stuff and gives me flexibility to keep in tune with what the rest of the family is up to.

Please check over to my garage, I have some good deals going. Including my beloved Look 555 road bike and a kick arse T6c Suunto training wrist computer.

Wildside Photo dump...

The view from the top of Strahan. A great place to finish an event. Everyone was chilled, and ready for a big night post race.

Lucky moment...

Another lucky moment...I didn't see any of this.

Just like Melbourne's Beach Rd..only better.

Finishing another tough stage on the Wildside.

Thanks to Babs for all her support during the event. It really made things a lot easier. Thanks also for the pics.

Although I didn't get the result I was looking for, I still really enjoyed myself. The riding is varied and very demanding on both body and bike.

Will I be back? Maybe.

Wildside day 2

Stage 3 (first for the day). Worst stage ever. Started with group A, but 4mins in I pinch flatter the rear tire. All fixed and moving before B group caught me. We had a tough moist forest climb. Towards the top my hanger snapped (bummer big time). I took my time fixing it, making sure I didn't stuff it up because I only have one spare. This put me way off the pace.

Stage 4, the longest of the event. Started with a 6km road climb. I rolled over the top not far off the pace in group A, but the pace heated up and I couldn't stick at it... I needed a couple minutes to re-energies, so I dropped back had a relax and then got back to it. It was a really fun stage and the Look hardtail is becoming a joy to ride now that I am remembering how the ride a one. For me now, the race has become less of a race and more about enjoying the experience. Just too far back to get back into the top 10.

Wildside Day 1

The first day is done. Stage 1 was not so fun... I flatted and struggled with some very bumpy trails. Stage 2 was more my cup of tea. More climbing and fast riding. I am now 25th over all and =9 vet.

Hopefully I build momentum as the race progresses. Speed isn't my strong point.

Wildside this weekend...

Well, it's come around a bit too fast, but today I head over to Tassie for Wildside starting on Saturday. I decided yesterday that it was time for me to get back on a hardtail. I dropped into Kona's head office only to find out all 2010 hardtails in my size were sold. Just too popular I guess. Anyway I ended up with a Look 986. I had my first ride last night out at Lysterfield and I am very impressed. Hopefully the legs can justify such a rig.

I will try and keep you updated on the race over the 4 days of competitive and non competitive stages.

SA pics are still forthcoming, they should be worth it...

SA Day one....

Yesterday we (Willo, Mike Ross(AMB). Anton (a you Kiwis rider) and myself) were escorted through the Melrose bike park by Richard Bruce, the owner of the local bike shop, Over the Edge). This park has some mad riding. It's not for the faint hearted. There are plenty of places where you could slide a wheel over the edge and end up in a bad way. But this made the even more funner to ride.

We enjoyed it so much, we ended going out again this morning before we needed to depart.

I will update with more pics when I get home.

Quick trip to SA

Late last week I was invited to join AMB (Aust. MTB Magazine) and Freewheel/Enduro magazine for a promotional look at the Mawson area in preparation for a few choice SA events. Arriving early this morning, I think the plan is to ride the trails for today and tomorrow and then have a charter fly over on wednesday. Having never raced in SA, I was keen to see the area myself after hearing plenty of good reports on the riding over hear.

Sorry for the absence

Happy new year to everyone and sorry for the rather large gap since my last post. As you can imagine, it has been pretty hectic around our place with school holidays and all.

As far as riding goes, I have been getting plenty in.... I decided to try something different this year and actually train. I have employed myself a coach, Simon Knowles. He is an old triathlon mate of mine, a full time coach and extremely well qualified for the gig. I will go into more detail on this one soon, but to sum it up, things are going really well.

I have the Wildside 4 day stage race on at the end of the month for my intro back into racing for 2010. I am really looking forward to this event but have no expectations on myself. It will be my first ever stage race and I doubt it will be my last Oh yeah, speaking on stage races, I have just confirmed my participation in an exciting variation of a stage race in SA in June. A 350km, over 4 days, but if you race along side a team mate, you can ride the entire 350km in one hit. Sounds like fun hey... I will fill you in my more details including my riding partner shortly.

Anyway, things are looking great for 2010. Stay tuned and detail will come through soon.