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.

oops....

Single speed or in the dog for 8hrs?

Update your blog you fool...

Sorry, I haven't been very good lately at updating my blog. I have been a bit busy and also unwell and off the bike, so nothing bike related to write about. I finally got out on the bike tonight, first time since feeling very short of breath nearly two weeks ago out at Randall's play ground. The lungs are feeling better now, but the legs have lost a bit of strength. At this stage I am planning to roll down to the Chase The Sun 8hr this Sunday to get some k's in the legs. I plan on keeping it easy and will stop if the body tells me it has had enough. By all reports in should be a great bash in the mud and cold.

I have neglected to give my race report from the Mont 24 a few weeks back. Most of you will know we won the six man team. Evan has given a good report over on his blog. All I would like to add is that I was very happy with how I rode. I think I had two minutes between my fastest and slowest laps, 3 day laps and 3 night laps and I also was able to keep my quickest lap till last. It was great fun relaxing and enjoying the event with my Kona team mates. On a side note, Jayden also enjoyed the weekend (except for the driving). He was able to get back on the bike for the first time in a while. He has been in a full plaster cast on his arm and his bike had been side lined for a bit.

NZ 24h wrap up..

It's about time I gave the full story on my race in NZ a few weeks back. Looking back, it seems a bit funny that I was actually going over to race a solo 24hr MTB event. Usually these events suck up a lot your thoughts, and rightfully so, they demand a lot of respect. However, I believe I was too relaxed going into this event. The day before, Robyn and myself traveled the best part of 12 hours to arrive in the car park of the race site in Rotorua NZ. We pulled up in our 6 birth camper, set up our bed and went to sleep. I had a very solid 10hours sleep without any of the usually pre race tossing and turning. We woke up to a glorious day and plenty of time to get set up and wait for the other AyUp boys to arrive. All seemed fine, nothing to worry about.

The bikes got built, the body got primed and the race start rolled around with hardly a thought about what I was getting myself in for. I didn't even roll a slow lap. A short Le Mans start got the event started, Andy Fellow (racing in the 12hr event), Thomas Lindup and the winner Tony Hog blasted off the front with myself moving nicely just behind them. Not too much changed for the next 6 hour or so. Thomas had a bike hiccup, putting him in the back seat needing to do some work to get back into the race. Fellows lapped nicely off my wheel and Tony continued to smash the field apart.
Everything seemed fine. I became comfortable in second place, still well within striking distance of the leader. I was lapping very consistently, feeling I had a good grip on the race. Then, all of a sudden, I hit the wall. I dropped 15mins in the final 1/4 of the 16th lap. I decided to pop a no doze (I usually don't use any form of caffeine) and continue on. This ended up being a huge mistake. Half way around I could hardly even balance on two wheels. I nearly came off too many times so I needed to ride the fire road back to camp and call in a night. By the time I got back, my body temperature had dropped to a dangerous level. I was fine lapping around with arm warmers in the 4 or 5 degree temperatures, but once my heart rate had dropped, I started to feel the cold of the NZ night.

At this stage, I needed to make a decision, call it quits or get back out on the bike and ride myself into second place. With the Mont 24 on the following weekend and my body not feeling like sitting on a bike seat any more, I sat the rest of the race out.

It was a similar story for the other AyUp boys also. With the exception of Andy Fellows coming away with an easy win in the 12hr. Mark crashed out breaking a rib and struggling to breath while Matt crashed breaking a collar bone. The pain became too much for him after trying to continue racing. Better luck next time hey.

Pop's bike on show...

For those who live/visit Melburne and are interested in seeing my Pop's bike in the flesh, drop into Spoken in St Kilda and check it out.

winners...

Mont 24...hear we come.

Sorry, I have been meaning to post so many things, but it has been a busy week. Had to unpack from NZ, work, then pack for the Mont. I will get back on track soon. But for now, i'm going racing.