Weekend pics...

"look at me Mum, I'm winning" - maybe not.

Carving it up. The track became nice and gripy after the first few laps, the Jimmy's were hooking up nicely.
I did get a little muddy.
But team boss "The Hoff" managed to dodge all the mud. The Look hard tail didn't make it onto the track, but keep an eye out for this beast.
The clean up. Robyn was able to save all my mud drenched clothes. It only took three washes.

Job well done...

What a weekend for Australian cycling. Cadel crossed the line in Paris to finish second again in the Tour de France, and Aussies dominated the Adrenalin 24hr World Championships in Canmore Canada. In the elite male category -1st James Williamson (2006 Aust. 24hr Champ), 2nd Jason English (2008 Aust. 24hr Champ), 3rd Mark Fenner and 4th Jeff Toohey. Elite female - Katrin Van Der Speigel finished 2nd. Age group - 1st 45-49 Craig Peacock, 1st 35-39 Troy Bailey, 2nd 35-39 Jason McAvoy, 1st 25-29 Andrew Fellows and under 25 2nd Joel Donney.

What a great result. Well done to all athletes and their support crews.

Anaconda Enduro Round 3...

I drove home in the rain last night, and it wan't just a passing shower. We had a little flood on the corner of our street, something I have only seen a few times since living here. This rain was going to make for a tough race as well. Every slip of the tyre under power is a waste of energy, not to mention the increased chance of crashing. We were fortunate enough to see just a little rain during the 7 hours of racing, but the water on the course forced organisers to a course change around the 3 hour mark. The change was a blessing; we were sent on a fire road loop connecting with a section of the Comm. Games course.

As for my race, all went well. I had a nice start, deciding to hold back a bit and try riding consistent laps. I was looking after my own pits today and had no idea where I was placed. The mud was bike destroying from the start. I opted not to put fresh cables on the Hei Hei even though it was desperate for them. This made gear changes very hard. By the two hour mark I could only use half of my range of gears. I had the Four Supreme ready to go but it looked so nice and clean sitting in my pits ... I decided not to make my clean-up job harder and left it alone. Other than the gears everything else on the bike was great, particularly the Ozirider grips (white - well not any more). My hands aren't the least bit sore.

I ended up riding 9 consistent laps with 8 mins up on second place Scott Chancellor (Orbea), so very happy with that. Check Full Gas Promotions website for full race details (soon). I'll post more photos when I find them.

Go Aussie Go...

Well, the 24hr World Champs are about to start and there are plenty of Aussies in Canmore for the event. In the elite male field 6 out of the top 10 seeded riders are Aussie and I wouldn't be surprised if they take home some of the spoils. The course looks tough and hopefully the bad weather holds off. I think number 2 seed, Kelly Magelky will be the non-Aussie rider to watch out for, and with the form Clackers has shown it should be an exciting race. Hopefully the other Aussies will also be in good form and we have a better result than last year.

To keep up to date on the event, there is a live updated blog of the race over here.

As for myself, I will be back at Lysterfield for the Anaconda 7hr race. It should be a good slog in the water drenched trails. Should be even more fun with only a couple of hours sleep after watching Cadel pull on the yellow jersey after tonights time trial.

Expressions of interest...

Ok, my 2008 race bikes will be up for sale soon (September I think). The only reason I am putting this out there now is because 22" bike are hard to sell and sometimes tall riders struggle to find bikes to suit. Anyway, if you are interested (or know someone who is) please contact me.

Something to keep in mind. I spread my riding over several bikes, so these bikes haven't seen too much riding at all and they will more likely have brand new componenty on them. One Kona Four Supreme and one Kona Hei Hei.

I am also selling a Sunnto T6. I have been using these for 2 years now and they kick butt. I am only selling it because I am getting a new one.

MTB Skills...

Sorry for the gap between posts. I am finding very little time to spend in front of the computer at the moment.

Anyway, the weekend was good. I made the effort to get out on the Hell Ride first thing Saturday. The only problem was I needed to be at Lysterfield for 9am to instruct at MTBskills women's clinic. So I needed to turn of at Frankston and hammer Frankston-Dandy Rd if I was going to have any chance of making it. I must say. what a crap boring road to ride on. Strong head wind, 100km/h speed limit and dead flat.

The clinic was good. It was great to see almost 20 women of varied skills turn up. I know Robyn and Babs both learnt a lot and now it is up to them to use their new found knowledge on training rides the turn them into mountain bikers.

Secret training...

Tonight the whole family went for a roll to the local park. We have a pathetic attempt of a MTB crit course in our street and although I have never even ridden a lap, it is perfect for Robyn to get used to SPD's again having not used them for 6 or 7 years.
Then everyone lined up on the velodrome for a family race.
Jayden kept Robyn on her toes ;)
and Olivia was flying. Her legs spin at about 140 RPM on her little 16" beach cruiser.

Back on the bike...

This weekend I finally got myself back on the bike. Saturday I made my way down to the Hell Ride. It felt great to get back out amongst it and was even up to rolling some turns on the way back and to my surprise the group had been split by the pace. The relentless head wind didn't help the punters as we had to push quite hard to sit on 35km/h.

All aboard the Bellie train. That is Jason Jackson off to the side of the pic, waving his hand. It was nice to see him out and was even up to the task of taking Clackers over the hills before venturing down to Beach Rd.

Today (Sunday) I was invited to help out Jess and Norm Douglas during a skills session for want-to-be MTB racers. I have been asked to join their team of dedicated instructors and today I was just seeing how they run their Clinics. From what I saw, these guys are doing a great job of bring MTBing to the masses. I really got a sense that they love passing on their knowledge to novice riders and I could see the improvement the riders were making even in a short two hour session. I will be instructing at a Women's only clinic next weekend and if you are interested in checking out their business (MTBSkills), click here.

Speaking of this all girls clinic, Robyn is really looking forward to testing her new Kona Kula Primo next weekend as is my Aunt, Babs who is flying up from Tasmania with her new Kona Four Supreme for her introduction to MTBing.

Great ambitions...

Last night two of my good riding mates, Rhino and Rohin were flogging themselves senseless at the World Marathon Champs in Italy. Both headed over in very fine form and were hopeful of a good result. However, this was not to be the case. I won't go into detail on their own individual stories (click on their links above for that), but I would like to say I am proud of their efforts and hope they can both hold their heads up high in the fact they got to do what most only dream about (representing their country in the highest level of their chosen sport).

Well done guys, look forward to catching up when you get home.

Family Holiday...

Holiday hey...doesn't feel like it. We all went to Warrnambol for the week to attend the Fun for Kids Festival, and visit Robyn's Dad a brother Stuart. I had plans of my own for the week, but they fell by the way side, thanks mainly to a stomach bug that just wouldn't go away.

The first night we were greeted by 100 km/h + winds. I always wondered why our camper had extea peg eyelets and spare guy ropes. So with all the pegs and ropes in place, night two hit us with stronger winds but this time we stayed upright.


I got a chance to take the Pajero off road. Myself and Olivia hit some sand dunes for some afternoon fun. I think she will be my only family passenger on future off road adventures, she loves it.

The caravan park had these great kids trikes to hire. The kids had a ball.

Ash inspired me to get artistic, this is my first attempt. And yes this is one unaltered image.

I did get to go for a ride. By Friday a was feeling better so I dragged out the roadie and rolled around some quiet back road. I reached the end of the black stuff on my way out so I venture further on a dirt road, which then turned into a bumpy walking track which then turned into a extremely rocky 4wd track. It was worth the effort, I found a great little camping spot right on the edge of the world.
The bike looked a little worse for wear. but got me home.
With a week left of school holidays, I will try and get back out on the bike, but it is always hard when the kids are at home and need attention.