New Team Kit.

Thanks to Carl from Nemisis Sporting Appel for helping with our new team kit. It is top quality and fits really well. I'm very happy with it.

Custom Ayup's

You can now get custom Ayup's. Also High Powered lightest are available to everyone, not just a select few;)

A Wednesday night to remember...

OK, I'll paint a little picture. I was out on my usually Wednesday night MTB ride with Rohin, AJ, Scotty and a few other of the boys. It starts to rain, AJ after having a bit of a bug decides to pull the pin, Rohin is also keen to get it over with. Myself and Scotty on the other hand were have fun in the crap conditions. Anyway, we ended up riding the section along the yarra trails on the nth ride of the river under Chandler Hwy. Rohin in front pulls up as he sees the raging water (pic 1) running into the river from the storm water. I decide it was no match for me and my bike and without hesitation go for it. Than BAM, I was thrown to the ground in a heart beat from the absolute force of the water. I feel my knee and ankle both twist in the wrong direction, but I was concentrating on the problem at hand, getting myself and bike out of the water safely. I grabbed the bike a few times but it kept getting ripped from my hands by the water. In the end, I decided to grab the pole and say see you later to my bike. It went over a 2 meter waterfall and quickly went out of view.

We all looked on in amazement for a few minutes before a bottle popped up out of the white water, 30 seconds later an other bottle. Maybe a minute after that, my bike rose from the depth and floated out into the middle of the Yarra River. We were all pretty busy at this stage pissing ourselves with lafter. Luckily there was a couple kyakers paddling and I yelled for help to get the bike. They go the bike closer to shore but then it got snagged. Rohin didn't hesitate and jumped in to grab is as he could see I was in no state to go swimming.

The ride back to Rohin's place (and my car) was a one legged affair. As you can see in the last pic, the final result was a broken tibia. I have six weeks in plaster. Unfortunately this means I will miss The James Williamsom Enduro, Mont, Kona Dirt Weekend and the Duael. I should be back on the bike with a month to get fit enough to complete the Alice Springs Stage race in May.

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.