Hubcap's Blog

Tre-x Race 4 2011-2012

2012-02-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

Back2Back, not my favourite course....tight and twisty on the bike, flat and sandy on the run, but it's based at the Novotel Twin Waters so the track options are limited.

Anyways, it's a unique event so I won't complain.

Saturday afternoon was the first of two races over the same course. A 500m swim, 15km mtb and 6km trail run was on the cards both days.

A short run to the water and we were underway. I made the mistake of positioning myself near Timmy from FTR on the start line and we swam into and over each other for the whole swim. I think I was 4th in my category out of the water. Timmy got past me and built a lead on the bike ahead of Bart, Chris (3rd at Mt Cotton) and me.

Thankfully the run starts on a concrete path then along a wooden jetty. So at least your legs get a chance to get going on the run before you hit the sand.

The run follows the river for only a short time before cutting across the sand dunes out onto the beach proper. Coming over the dunes it appeared to have been snowing. The beach was white from the break right up to the dunes. The poor weather had whipped up plenty of foam which gave the run an odd feeling.

I felt great on the run, and pushed the pace (thanks to my new Polar toy, I could keep an eye on it) making up plenty of places. I thought I'd got up to 2nd in my category by the end of the run until I saw the guy I thought had won cross the line about 30mins behind me. He'd suffered heaps of mechanicals on the bike and lost heaps of time. Thanks must go to Bike Obsession for keeping my bike running like new. Despite the rain and sand my drivetrain kept working.

Coming back Sunday I knew what I needed to do to win. I had a 2 min lead over Timmy and 5mins over Bart and Chris. That said, I wanted to back up and win Sunday as well.

Another squiggly swim surely didn't help although Bart was the only one out of transition before me.

Two guys from my category passed me early on the bike and gained 3-4mins on me meaning there was plenty of work to do on the run.

Timmy was pretty much the only one who could beat me and he had a good lead over everyone coming off the bike. Again, though, my run saved me. The split was 1min slower than Saturday but the fastest in the category. It wasn't until about 4km into the run that I finally got to the front. I did think one guy ("Damo" it turns out) might sit on me leading to a sprint finish (yikes) however he dropped back and wasn't a worry by the time we made the turn to cross the dunes (hills AND soft sand!) before 150m of sealed road/paths to finish.

Excellent weekend all round. After a poor showing last year I was hoping to do a bit better this time. To win both days was pleasantly surprising.

The in2adventure crew put on a great race as always in spite of the weather which also meant there were no SES volunteers out on course. (they were all working hard already, cleaning up the latest round of floods) An amazing job by everyone.

Hares and Hounds 10km

2012-02-01T01:35:00.000-08:00

The traditional trail run to kick of the year is the Hares and Hounds trail run at the Woodford swimming pool. The hard men and women (hares) take on 55km to Beerburrum and back chased by the realy runners (hounds) setting off an hour later. The chumps have 5 or 10km options.

Being a chump, I chose the 10km.

My knee has really been playing up a bit lately so I didn't know how I'd go.

I thought I'd sit near the back of the pack and just see how I felt for the first half and maybe try to finish well. Everyone seemed to be taking it easy early on so despite not wanting to push to hard I was up amongst the top 5.

There is a slight incline then a long straight section along a forestry road that I never enjoy. At least it's nice and cool under the trees before the middle few kilometres that are a lot more open and can get a bit warm.

Easily holding 5th after 8km I tried to pick up the pace but could feel my legs were starting to slow.

Hitting the road with about 200m to go I managed to lose a place thanks to some, well, digestive pyrotechnics but wandered across the line in a bit over 46mins in 6th place overall.

Sweet way to kick off the year. Quickest time and best place at this race ever. My new Polar RCX5 was awesome and so were my Inov8 F-lite 195's. I can highly recommend both of these items.

Tre-x Race 3 2011-2012

2011-12-09T16:09:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhh, the enduro. Over the years it's been challenging conditions every time. From pouring rain to insane heat nature is always a real mother around this time of year in SEQld.

The enduro format means it's two laps of the short course. 350m swim, 10km mtb and 4km run done twice.

Thanks to www.coachjeff.com.au my first swim (while still slow) was a much nicer affair than normal. I got out on the bike feeling good. The aim on the first lap on the bike the idea was to make up some time without pushing it too hard. The track was pretty clear so the it was easy to set a pace without either coming up on too many slower riders or getting in any one's way. Again my Scalpel returned to it's annoying habit of throwing the chain off the chainrings when traversing quick successive bumps. At least it can now be recovered without having to get off.

The new run course is awesome! Steeper, rougher and it has a deep water crossing. Despite the more technical nature of the course I chose the smallest pebble to trip on....it wasn't too bad. A scratched shoulder, a little winded and dented pride but the worst part was my mate Barney running behind me at the time. I will never hear the end of this! My new shoes, Inov8 F-lite 195s were awesome and only found lacking on the really steep grass climb.

Lap 2-the second lap of the swim was pretty good by my standards. It's the most comfortable I've felt in the water ever. I still had a few people pass me but only just. I thought my race was really going to plan at this point.

Grabbing the bike for the ride I made sure I'd put a fresh bidon of fluid on as it was a really hot day. In hindsight I should have dropped a tea bag in it. The Nuun in it was at least 40 degrees and not at all nice to drink. I managed to keep it down though and kept the bike upright while pulling back a few category places dragging myself up to 3rd by the final leg.

Having not learnt my lesson with the bottle on the bike, before I headed out on the run I sprayed myself with water from a bottle in transition which had the net effect of heating me up. By this time it was really getting hot. I don't tend to race well in the heat and after the first kilometre I started to really suffer. I splashed water on myself at the water crossing, dumped cups of water over my head at the checkpoints, had my jersey unzipped but it still wasn't enough. The longer the run went on the hotter I got. By the end I was just concerned about getting over the finish line in one piece. (my first 24hr resulted in a trip to hospital with heat stroke)

I faded to 5th in my category, only 2mins off the podium but I was still disappointed with the result. Here's to a good summer of training and hopefully a better result at the Back-2-Back on the sunny coast.

Tre-x Race 2 2011-2012

2011-10-28T03:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I think the picture says it all.....

After a 975km drive I checked into my hotel and tried to find the remote for tv to watch the second half of the rugby-but it didn't have one, at least my room was air conditioned-it also needed to be switched on and off at the wall. The redeeming feature of the tv was the Foxtel logo on it, although, it was just the logo, it only actually picked up 3 channels....what a joke!

Not to worry, after watching the Wallabies redeem themselves somewhat I headed into town for some tea. I thought a pizza would be nice and stared longingly at all the options but eventually settled on a margarita. I have a pretty good capacity for cheese consumption but even this was nearly beyond my abilities, luckily it didn't weigh me down the next day.

The swim was a two lap affair, it was cold enough for wetsuits which really helps me. Each lap meant scrambling up a very slippery boat ramp and the short run to transition was highlighted by a trip through a patch of extremely painful thorns.

The bike leg was easily the most challenging of all the Tre-x races I've done. Rocks, sand, fast single track, kamikaze kangaroos and some killer climbs were all represented. Thankfully it was still a pretty high speed course and we were quickly out on the run. Again, the run was the hardest of the series. Steep, rocky and narrow but thankfully none of the sand from the bike course. If you spare the time, or live in Sydney (you poor thing) then get along to this race, a new must-do event I think.

I must have been leading by the start of the run because no one in my category passed me and I managed to hang on for the win (first one in Tre-x) in my category!

The tri was just the first of 3 races that weekend-but more on them later.

Freedom Marathon 2011

2011-10-15T03:13:00.000-07:00

Muddy, rooted, gears skipping, forks rooted....but worth it.

Tom-2nd, Ben-1st in category and overall, and Me-3rd, sporting my new "Road Sux" Rock Shox piss-take shirt.

Set in the hills above Mullumbimby the Freedom Marathon is one of the real highlights of the racing calender. Great location, tough course, amazing post race food and plenty of sponsor prizes.

It's "only" a 2.5hr drive from Brisbane but thanks to the lack of daylight savings in QLD (the alleged smart state...) it means a 4am wake up.

It absolutely poured rain from Brisbane right down to Mullumbimby and then magically stopped. It would remain dry for the race! I don't know if it made much difference though-the course had certainly been thoroughly soaked.

The first 3km of the race are uphill, it's a gradual climb and allows the field to spread out before the first slippery descent. I was surprised to find myself in the lead for a lot of the climb but quickly lost contact on the first descent. A group of about 10 riders managed to sneak away along the non-stop undulations that pepper the next 20km.

There is a causeway not long after the first water point that should be more well known amongst mountain bike racers-it marks the start of the massive climb that everyone who has done the Freedom is all too well aware of. It goes on for about 12km with about 600m of altitude gain.

The subsequent descent is even longer with more altitude loss-normally a lot of fun. 20mins in the big ring spinning! With my glasses absolutely filthy (and hence on my helmet) my eyes were unprotected, they are still watering now, 9hrs after I finished.

The last 7kms is yet more climbing and some "Welcome to the Jungle" single track. I managed to get tangled in the same vine as last year and crashed again. This would cost me 4th place overall.

I was happy to see the finish line and even happier when they told me I was 4th overall (actually 5th) and 2nd in my category (actually 3rd).

A big thanks to Maxxis for the set of tyres!

I implore everyone to get along to this event next year. Don't bitch about the lack of single track. By the time you haul yourself up the big climb you'll be lucky if you can still remember your name. And do the 60km-the 40km misses the best parts of the course.

http://tr.nelson.co.nz/freedommarathon.htm

http://www.kwt.net.au/view/page/1.html

Tre-x Race 1 2011-2012

2011-10-04T01:29:00.000-07:00

My legs hurt, my feet are blistered, my car smells like llama and I wouldn't have it any other way!

It's all part of the Tre-x races. Manky dam water, no time for socks and hard racing all add up to a unique experience.

After the crushing disappointment that was the last 2 Tre-x races it was so great to get back to racing with some semblance of competitiveness.

It was a nice cool windy day that greated us at Mt Cotton last Sunday as we literally dipped our toes into (rather chilly) water. Amazingly for a QLD race wetsuits were allowed for age groupers-good thing I didn't pack mine.....sigh. For 500m I didn't think the difference I'd make up in the water would offset the longer transition. I was, of course, wrong. The water was pretty chilly and I just couldn't keep up. Turns out my swim was the second slowest on the day.

My legs were burning on the bike. It was uphill straight out of transition and then down some stairs and across a narrow bridge. A woman had a massive OTB off the bridge right in front of me and fell into the little ravine but she was ok so all's well.

It was a new (and improved) bike course over last year's with a 2.5km section of single track only for the long course competitors. Not only did it spread the field out but the extended section had some really cool trail features that rewarded strong mountain bikers and also taxed the legs before the run. (Quickest in age group on the bike too!)

It's a close run at Mt Cotton as to whether the bike or the run is better. I vote bike but the run is just how it should be. Steep, all off road, even some off the trail, muddy and even through the edge of the dam!

I could see my mate Matt ahead of me on the run and try as I might I couldn't make any ground on him. He ran the fastest run split to hang on for the win while I came home in 20th overall and 2nd in age group. Well done to Chris for hanging on for 3rd after a heap of trouble on the bike.

Next up is Sydney and then hopefully a mad dash home to watch the Rugby World Cup final.

Time for a shameless plug-TK at Bike Obsession, my pimp mobile (aka my new Scalpel) ran like a dream all day.

Tre-x Preview

2011-08-17T03:08:00.000-07:00

I've made the decision/mistake/call it what you will to enter the Tre-x national series. Last year I did 5 of the 6 national races. I did one race with my ankle taped, broke my forks and sprained the same ankle at another and topped the series off with a DNF and 20mins on supplemental oxygen.

So why am I back? I'm not really sure. The races sure are fun, the other competitors are cool people and the races organisers are even cooler but after last year I was ready to pack it all in.

It can't just be me. Surely other racers question their motivations? It's not for fame or fortune. That's for sure. It certainly costs me plenty of money and if anything it limits my social interactions. Why compete? There is always a winner and a loser in any sporting contest. And to be honest I haven't won a race in about 8 years.

I was leading the national series (in my age group) going into the last round and ended up with a DNF. It was the worst way to finish of the series.

Tomorrow's course at Mt Cotton will hopefully suit me. The bike leg has plenty of climbing and is more technical than it has been in previous years. I liked old run there too, but the new lap has it's pros too. The steep climb up from the dam is a nice touch and they've kept the bit of the run that is through the dam too.

So wish me good luck tomorrow that hopefully I won't need!

Epic

2011-08-08T01:54:00.001-07:00

The aptly named Epic is over for another year.

The new course does away with the mundane road miles, the smooth graded climbs and limited single track near the end. This however is very bad news for me. I LIKE road sections in marathon races, it gives me a chance to catch up to riders that know how to ride single track. My new bike has a double crank set on it, just dandy for smooth graded climbs but not so good for 22% and rocky. Re the single track....in years gone by I would have said the less of that the better for me, but I don't feel so out of my depth now. Sure the smooth xc riders are well ahead of me but I think I go ok now. Plus mountain biking is supposed to be hard. Bring on the technical stuff.

It all started with a cruise along the fire road, no need to go offline and stack, sending your bike cartwheeling into the path of anyone. This was, of course, exactly what a guy did in front of me. Just avoiding being hit I set about my merry way easily climbing The Grinder in the big ring before having a hoot down Epic and the subsequent fire road descent to the bitumen. The fun came to abrupt end as soon as the black top started. Punctured rear tyre which took 13mins (holy crap), 2 CO2 canisters and a hand pump to fix. Massive sigh, but it was motivation to fire up and make some ground back. With Antz for company and to pull some turns we made some good time to the first checkpoint and up the big arse climb that followed.

Without a real granny ring I wasn't making it up any of the steep climbs, but neither was anyone around me so I didn't feel too bad. The descents were a hoot though. Real marathon-style I've-got-no-idea-what's-next-and-my-arms-are-to-numb-to-brake-any-harder-and-I-don't-think-it-would-make-any-difference-anyway. They were pretty steep and there were plenty of rocks scattered about the place. A lot of people buried in the field weren't taking a chance and we walking down them. Kudos for getting out of the way though everyone!

The steep fire road climb/descent/climb/descent for the next 50km (or so it seemed) was really taxing on the body but when it came to end the hike a bike was nearly done for the day and the crowded and rocky single track awaited nearly all the way to the finish.

Another flat and running out of fluid (I was told adamantly that there was 4km to go when the reality was about 10km) made for a slow limp home. Kind of a crappy way to end a great day out.

Place was way down from last year, however I did get the award for "most cussin' at oneself". I'll be investigating putting a triple crankset on for next year and setting up my tyre as tubeless.

So great to get out and race again. You never smash yourself in training like you do when you've got a number on the front of your bike.

Tailwind 8hr

2011-06-25T23:04:00.000-07:00

New bike, new crew, new Hubcap? Not quite. Well, the new bike and new crew bit is true.

It all came together a bit late for the recent 8hr at OHV but not to worry. It's a great enduro course and despite a touch of the sniffles leading up I was pumped up come race day.

The new rig is Cannondale Scalpel 2 "customised" with my preferred saddle, bottle cage and pedals. The rest of the bike was straight out of the box. I'd hardly ridden it before race day and hoped I'd guessed close enough with the set up not to have many problems.

It was pretty chilly early on and never really warmed up but it was by no means cold, that and the clear skies and dry conditions meant the day was pretty much perfect for racing.

I rolled out my customary plodding start but passed a lot of people on the first climb. The new bike was significantly quicker than my old one both up and downhill so I quickly got into the top ten in solo.

The first few hours passed with a small tumble in the mud being the only incident of note. After about 3hrs I thought I'd ease back and try to conserve my legs a bit by riding in the (27 tooth) granny ring for a bit. After nearly going over the bars twice when the chain jammed against the frame it became apparent that the granny was a no no and I'd be riding in the dog for the rest of the race.

The front derailleur needs some adjustment and my saddle was a little lower than normal, but I think the problem was that my legs just weren't strong enough to continue to the ride in the big ring. I was climbing Aeroplane on my 6th lap when I felt a sharp pain behind my knee.

It was a strain of my hamstring (biceps femoris for those playing at home) so I walked/rolled the rest of the lap back to the pits. Thanks to Shannon from Koiled for riding the whole way back with me. (and also to every other rider who all asked if we were ok)

I was annoyed that I had to pull up short but it was great to be competitive again, if only for 4hrs.

A week on and the leg is feeling pretty good, didn't notice it at all this afternoon during a ride. Thanks to Jimbo at Entire Health for checking it out and treating it through the week. Thanks also to my friend Angele from primary school who gave up her Sunday to throw gel and bottles at me.

6hr at Canungra coming up in a week, and I can't wait. Hwa!

Merida 24hr 2011

2011-05-16T03:52:00.000-07:00

I didn't plan on doing this race but Declan from work asked me to ride for the Kenmore 6 man team.

This was going to be a whole new experience for me. I've not raced or really ridden a hardtail for years, never done a 24hr in a team, haven't ridden a mountain bike with Shimano for years, never ridden on a Fiz'ik Tundra and the bike had different bars and grips too! Bring it on!

Speaking of which, is the Tundra so named because your arse is left feeling like it's been stripped bare, kind of like actual tundra??

So what did I learn from all this.

The Tundra is not the saddle for me. The Sram matchmaker system is so much better than the Shimano. They should dump the gear indicator window from the XT shifters so you can run your brakes inside them. I like duallies, they provide a lot more traction on climbs and flat sections with small bumps are much more comfortable. That said, I can see where hardtails fill a need and it was nice to roll around on one again. The biggest lesson might have been that teams are fun. (And a lot easier than solo.)

XC superstar Declan took the first lap with Forbesy, Hockey and me to follow. Two of our team members were working at the shop so it was up to the four of us to do the first few hours.

Lap 1 for me was ok...foreign bike and having spent no time mountain biking meant taking it easy and the fricken gears were jumping on the shorter pinch climbs. At least I kept it upright.

Into the evening and it was decided that the fresh legs, along with the whinging pom would ride until midnight when the really quick riders (Ratface and Forbesy) as well as me would ride until day break. The lap at 2am or so was pretty nice. Arm warmers were all that was needed to stay warm and a lot of people were tucked up in bed so the track was pretty clear. Come 4am though and it was freezing!! Granted, I actually cracked a sweat under the extra gear I'd put on but my face was totally numb. (thank you ratboy and your Oakleys)

By the light of day it was clear that we weren't going to catch Ay-Up for first nor were SRG going to pull back 2 laps on us. I had one more lap in the daylight (mostly riding out of the saddle by this stage.....) and then I could sit back and cheer on Declan and Benny as they turned in consecutive fastest laps (for our team anyway). We ended up second in our category and third outright. Picked up some nice MTB shoes from the Merida too!

All in all, I really enjoyed my first team experience. Everyone helped out each other, no one complained about night laps and the time to relax between laps was cool too. That said, I think my place at these races is solo. The best part of this was that I'm super keen to get out and race again. It's the only way to spend your weekend.

See you out on the trails! (well as soon as my bike is fixed/maybe replaced)

What's been happening.

2011-04-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

Hi all. It's been a while since the last update. With good reason. The last 6 races I've entered have resulted in a sprained ankle, broken forks, an oxygen respirator, 4 DNS and a DNF. I'm not known for my ability to cope well with repeated failures. I thought I'd calm down before I put figurative pen to paper.

So, let's head back to where it started to go wrong.

I had been looking forward to the Super Series but rolled up at the 4hr in a bad frame of mind and rode like an idiot for two laps before packing up in disgust and leaving.

Putting this out of my mind I flew south to picturesque Daylesford to contest Dirt Master Victoria, mainly focusing on scoring plenty of points in the off-road tri in an attempt to win the Tre-x National series. The second trail run and mtb were to act as a test run before Dirt Master QLD.

Anticipating freezing water conditions I procured a wetsuit and actually had a pretty good swim (well, by my standards anyway). The transition onto the bike was smooth enough and early on I was feeling pretty good. On the first descent I felt a "clunk" from the front of my bike and immediately felt the front end stiffen up. My forks had blown a seal and instead of 100mm of travel were now running at about 15mm, with basically no damping or rebound control. Despite my new but not improved front suspension the course wasn't too rough and the rest of the bike was ok.

Getting out onto the run I felt pretty good for about 500m until a small 50cm high drop down a step when my ankle rolled on landing. I've rolled my ankle heaps of times doing trail running and it's usually painful but not too limiting. Whether it was the extra height or something else this time it was really bad. It's been 5 weeks and it is still swollen. I could only put limited pressure on it and was reduced to a very slow jog. I went over on it a further 3 times during the run and dropped from 3rd to 9th in my category. And had to pull out of the remaining events that weekend.

This meant the series was now all level leading into the final race at the Sunshine Coast. However finished nearer the front would win the series. Another wetsuit swim meant I could hold my own in the water to a certain extent. The bike was really muddy and had some good climbs in it. This usually suits me but I couldn't seem to make any inroads into the lead my rival had over me. A tumble with only a few hundred metres to go on the bike didn't feel like anything but damaged the joint where the rib joins the vertebrae. I headed out on the run and immediately didn't feel well. Hoping to improve over the first few kms proved futile. I just got worse and worse and breathing became harder and harder. After 2km I couldn't breath deeply enough to run and had to walk. A big thanks to Ky who walked with me for nearly half an hour back to transition. There was no hope of doing the second lap on the run. St John's had me on an oxygen respirator for 20mins until I could breath properly again.

This was probably the worst way to end the series. I can handle being beaten, but to have to withdraw from a race under such unlikely circumstances was just awful. Especially after the bad luck in Victoria.

I don't know when I'll race again. I've not bothered to fix my mountain bike.

LunarC 8hr

2011-02-13T01:42:00.000-08:00

Early on, on a fun log.

6hr or so into the race, on the home stretch.

LunarC 8hr, a race that kicked my arse last year. But not this year! Well it did, but not until after it was over.

With a midnight start and 8am finish it was never going to be easy. Add to that, the course we were to use was too wet after all the ridiculous rain so it was moved down the road to Murrenbong scout camp. I like racing Tre-x at Murrenbong, it's a lot of fun, but for 8hrs it was pretty nuts. The climbs are steep and there are plenty of them so there's no hiding.

Anyways, after working the day in the office (as is now my custom) I was a lot more rested at the start of the race than last time around. I haven't done much endurance riding for the last couple of months so didn't know what to expect heading into the race. The last couple of longer races I've done have been a real mixed bag so I just set myself the goal of riding the whole night at a decent pace.

Early in the race I knew it was going to be hell. It was hot, the course was tough, I had a fall early which jammed my shifters into me in a few places that aren't fun and my "pit crew" seemed intent on sleeping the whole race. This was going to be a challenge, but there was only one thing to do, just keep pedalling.

The first couple of hours progressed without much ado. After 4hrs or so I started to really fatigue, I'd been awake for 22hrs at that point and the course was taking it's toll on me.

I'd wanted to keep riding so pushed on with the promise of dawn about an hour away. With dawn however, came the heat. By 6am it felt like it was 30degrees and 90% humidity. I don't race well in the heat, and after the heat all night long I could feel my core temperature climbing as the last few hours passed.

I finished just after 8am having only stopped for 11 minutes the whole night long. 12th out of 47 isn't that great a result but it was more about pushing myself to keep riding all night. Great to finally smash an 8hr and it was really fun to get back into the enduro racing scene.

Well done to Waz and Debs who got 3rd in Debs' first mountain bike race. Thanks also to Carol, their crew, who did most of the pit work for me too due to HillBilly sleeping all night. But also, thanks to HillBilly for driving me home.

Next up might be Dirt Fest in Daylesford (rural Victoria) but before that I'm definitely going to Radelaide to support Declan at XC Nationals. It's going to be a fun weekend!

Tre-x Back 2 Back

2011-01-31T01:48:00.000-08:00

First race of the year was a new event. The Tre-x Back 2 Back.

Two off-road triathlons in two days.

I've only raced on consecutive days on a couple of occasions but with a few years of bike couriering behind me I was confident I'd be able to back up for the second day.

Before that though, I had to get through the first day.

Getting up to the event early I went out for a ride over the bike course. It was loose, sandy, dead flat and had lots of tight corners. None of which suit my abilities.

After sitting around ALL day with the nerves building waiting for a 3.05pm start we were under way. The swim was out of the way without much event, 500m in salt water around a flat lagoon. I was customarily near the back out of the water and hoped to make up for it on the bike. The bike leg went even worse than I thought it would. I got a cramp really early on and it made it hard to try to power out of corners and through the soft sand. The run up and down the beach was pretty hellish too. High tide and an expected wave meant I had shoes full of sand and salt water to contend with for half of it. Not to mention the head wind on the return too!

Rolling up for Sunday's race with blood-stained socks from the damage my feet had copped the previous day and all my kit coated in salt I knew I was in for a fun day. :) I did feel pretty good though. Legs were a little sore but all in all I was ok.

Emerging from the swim a full minute quicker than Saturday I managed to get out onto the bike in front of at least one guy who'd beaten me the previous day. Thanks to all riders over it on day one and some light showers that morning the bike course was a lot quicker. The bike leg, personally, was a lot better on the second day but I didn't push too hard knowing there was another beach run coming.

The tide was a heap lower and so was the wind making the run so much easier. Even with a weekend of racing behind me I felt pretty good in the second run.

It wasn't enough though. Despite finishing in a much quicker time on the second day and finishing higher up overall I still only managed 8th in my age group, losing the series lead.

Even though it was less than three hours of racing for the weekend I was totally smashed! My feet were destroyed from the sand, my legs were shattered from running on the sand and shoulders and arms from wrestling the bike on a loose course and from the two swims.

Overall I was disappointed with the weekend. Guys I'd beaten plenty of times beat me, my bike leg was terrible and the run was pretty weak too. Hopefully I can turn it around at the champs race and maybe at Daylesford......

2010 Looking Back

2010-12-27T03:11:00.000-08:00

So 2010 is now over and I guess it's time to look back on the year.

Where to start? It's been a crazy year both on and off the bike. Lived in four different places, raced in three different states and territories, rode a bunch of races, had some great days out on the bike, had some awful days, rode nationals, rode worlds, fell off a heap of times, won some money, drank too many beers and made some new friends.

It's been my best year by far though. It got off to a slow start with a bad run at Woodford, but considering I'd ridden up from Brisbane that morning I wasn't too upset that the run was a bit below par. The following weekend at LunarC was a bit of a downer though. Having to pull the pin after only a few hours sucked, but it was a tough injury to ride with.

This was soon forgotten though, with a couple of good hit outs at Tre-x (3rd in category) and Mebbin MTB Marathon (5th in category). I think Mebbin was a real turning point, such a tough race but I'm glad I finished it.

Living with an ultra-marathon runner for a while was good too. I got back into the habit of training after work a few nights a week.

Easter brought a new challenge too when I headed south for the National Solo 24hr MTB. What a race, what an experience. The race itself was ok, enough to qualify for World 24hr, but the atmosphere around the event made it all worthwhile. It also was the start of 5 races in 5 weekends. National 24hr, Tre-x Champs, Inferno 6hr, Del 6hr and finally Avanti Plus 6hr. Needless to say I was pretty wrecked by the end of it. There were a couple of good results too.

Winter for me meant doing the Sunshine Series. I'm not much of an xc racer and while I had a bit of fun and felt like I improved my skills, I was really out of my depth, even in B grade. At least there was a 6hr and a 24hr between some of the later races of the season so I could get back to my element.

After xc had finished I got to do my first cyclocross race (so much fun) and then three MTB marathons in a row. (ps I love racing marathon distance!!)

24hrs of Adrenaline was a real downer. I had one of my worst races of the year, nay ever. It was pretty disappointing, to go all that way, spend all that money, ask RatBoy and HillBilly to head to Canberra, but I don't want to dwell on that. At least Tre-x is well under way and going well!

See you all out there getting dirty in 2011!

2010/2011 Tre-x Race 2

2010-12-02T01:59:00.000-08:00

Me, second and David third, same result for both of us as the first round.

Tre-x race 2 was the mega fun enduro race.

One off road triathlon is plenty of fun but doing two in a row is even more so!! A side effect of this is that it also hurts twice as much.

I haven't done ANY swimming since the last Tre-x race (mostly on account of a couple of nasty crashes that damaged a few ribs) so my swim leg wasn't shaping up to be strong. It wasn't. To be fair though, it's a lot better than it used to be. I'm not fast but I feel pretty comfortable in the water now.

Thankfully the first swim was done pretty quickly. On the bike for the first time I felt good being back in my element. The course is great fun. Tight and twisty parts, some fast sections, some mud, some water and some leg burning pinches, what more could you want?

The run was a heap more technical this time around. There's a new section that follows the creek that's wet, muddy, steep and almost too much fun.

After the first run I'd clawed my way up to at least second and hit the water in high spirits.

My spirits sunk nearly as quickly as I did on the second swim. I just couldn't, for the life of me, get going in the water. It was a little worrying, could barely keep my head out of the water to breath.

Somehow it was done though and it was time for bike riding again. The field was a little more spread by now so there was more room for each rider. This was good and bad. Less inexperienced riders blocking the way on the technical sections but no one to act as a "carrot" giving me something to chase.

Racking the bike for the second time I could see my arch rival from the last race was already out on the run. I was hoping to catch him early on the run but being so rooted from a long race it was a long time before he was even in sight. Luckily I had the edge on the hills and with three in quick succesion right at the end was able to get past him and hang on for second place, again.

Second, again. I don't want to bitch, but, really? I keep smashing myself at these races and haven't been able to quite crack it for a win. Oh well. At least I was fastest in my age group on both bike legs, the first run and second quickest on the second run. Might be time to start doing some swimming training......

I mentioned my ribs earlier, but didn't mention that I'd also really badly twisted my ankle the week before. If it wasn't for Power Couriers working around my injuries and the advice from Entire Health I don't think I'd have been on the start line, let alone the podium. Shout out to Bike and Cycle too for their ongoing support.

My swollen ankle only 6 days before the event.

Next round is the back-2-back, tri on Saturday arvo and then do it all again the next morning, oh yeah!!!

Courier Musings Part 2

2010-11-11T02:10:00.001-08:00

So it's been a while since the first post about the life and times of a courier. Might be time to blither on about a few more facets of life on the bike.

What do we deliver?

Best summed up as "all sorts of crap". Mostly legal, banking and engineering stuff. If it needs an original copy, it's too big to email efficiently or it's something solid like an umbrella a bike's the quickest way in the city.

Since there needs to be something wrong with you to be a bike messenger in the first place we do extend ourselves beyond this stuff too. Like, an office chair! Or a giant advertising board!

What's the weather like?

Brissy might be the kindest city, weather-wise to courier in world. And if not, certainly the best out of Australia's capitals. That said it isn't all bright sunshine and nice warm days. Summer is hot, not insanely hot, but hot enough. And it's humid, oh holy crap is it humid. 27degrees and 85% humidity at 8.30 in the morning makes for a long, hot and sticky day. Of course hot humid days often lead to afternoon storms. Riding in the rain has its charms but it gets beyond a joke sometimes.

Any rain and the roads become treacherous. It's as if council has gone out of its way to put all the cat-eyes and manhole covers right where bikes tend to ride. And then there's the storm water drains, right in the gutter, angled across the direction of the traffic and of course metal. When you ride across these your bike slides across the surface toward the gutter. Motorists have NO IDEA how to drive in the wet. The worst, though, are the pedestrians. Here's how the thought process must go "It is raining, visibility is impaired, the roads are slippery I'd better sprint out into the traffic without looking." I don't know why they do this but they do. Idiots.

It does get cold in Brisbane on occasions. The coldest morning recorded ever in Brisbane was -0.1C on the 19 July 2007. Sure only just below freezing but when we also have to contend with up to 35C during winter and up to 43c in Summer, just below zero can feel very VERY cold! And there are days when it only gets up to 17 or 18 degrees. Again, realistically not that cold but this is Queensland!

Do you ever crash?

Yes, unfortunately. If you ride all day every day you will crash. They're mostly pretty harmless but I've had some big ones. I swerved to miss a jay walker on George st one day and "high-sided" I landed on my hip at about 40km/h. It didn't break anything but the next day I felt like hell. My leg was pretty ripped up from the bitumen but the worst was the back and hip pain. A taxi pulled a u-turn in front of me earlier this year and I went sailing over the bonnet this time landing on my knee and shoulder. I still have extra bone growth on my knee and shin from that one! There have been plenty of other stacks too.

Is it good training?

It is and it isn't. Sure it's plenty of kays each week, and it's high intensity riding too. You certainly get very fit very quickly when you first start. I lost 14kilos over the first 18 months I worked as a courier. At the Boonah Marathon in 07 (about three months after I started couriering) I finished 80th out of about 200 in the shorter race. The next year I went back and finished 15th in the longer race. That said, it's not great. The amount of riding varies so much from week to week and day to day. Not just the outright kays you cover but the terrain you're riding and how much load you are carrying. Some days might be lots of big items, going up Spring Hill and very busy. The next day might see you heading to Newstead and Toowong with small envelopes with long periods sitting down doing nothing. It's this unstructured and variable nature of the riding that makes it not the best training.

That's enough for this installment. I'll do another post soon. We've got some busy day's coming up with xmas approaching, might have some more material!

Big thanks, at this point to Power Couriers. It's a great place place to work, they are very accommodating of my needs as an endurance racer and we are the fastest courier company in town. If you need anything delivered in town and it needs to get there quickly, use Power! www.powercouriers.com.au

2010/2011 Tre-x Race 1

2010-11-06T23:46:00.000-07:00

20-29 Men's Podium, Long course.

The first race of the new Tre-x series was held this morning at Mt Cotton.

I'm a terrible swimmer but stay afloat well enough and make enough forward progress that the life savers don't ask me if I need help anymore. The swim wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. After a winter spent on the bike it could have been a lot worse.

Being bogged back in the pack after the swim I jumped on the mountain bike with a bit of work to do. Luckily the Mt Cotton course suits mountain bikers. With stairs, mud and steep descents the novice riders did take some getting past. I only had to summon "rage" at one point when two riders, riding side by side on a single track climb both stopped at the same time. A quick dab though and I was back pedalling.

On the third of the three laps I took it a bit easier in an effort to save my legs for run.

I'd heard there was a heap of water out on the run course. There is a boggy section to negotiate that is sometime under water and I thought that was what they were talking about. This was true but there was a new wet section to run, through the corner of a dam no less! Calf deep water and mud to run through with 5km to run? BRING IT ON!!!

Held it together for the run and managed to finish second in age-group. Pretty happy with that and it puts me in a good position for the series.

Thanks to In 2 Adventure for running a great event as always.

And finally thanks to all the crew who make this possible. Entire Health, Bike and Cycle Obsession and Power Couriers.

24hrs of Adrenaline World Solo Championships

2010-10-15T02:31:00.000-07:00

I really looked forward to this all year. I'd qualified back at Easter and then again at Merida.

Neither of these races had been particularly good but they'd been ok, and getting better. 240km or so at Nationals and then 280km at Merida. I was pretty pumped after Merida, second highest distance I've done at a 24hr and I felt great afterwards.

I took the whole week off leading up to the race while still doing plenty of riding to keep sharp.

Race day rolled around quickly and just like that we were on the start line.

Jogged the start and spent most of the first lap getting stuck at bottlenecks. The track was pretty clear pretty quickly which was a little surprising given the number of riders.

Unfortunately for me I didn't race well. I felt ok early on but my legs just didn't want to pedal.

I stopped riding after about 10hours. At the insistance of the pit boys I went back out in the morning and did a bit more.

Big thanks to Mitch (HillBilly) and Declan (CatBoy) for coming down from Brisbane to crew.

Boonah Marathon

2010-10-01T01:39:00.000-07:00

Looking for redemption after a poor outing at Freedom Marathon and because I missed this race last year through injury I lobbed up at the Boonah Marathon with high hopes.

Not knowing how my form was after some inconsistent results, I was hoping I'd be able to sit in the group until the wall and see what happens from there.

The start was very sedate for the first few minutes. I was easily able to settle into the pack and was feeling comfortable for the first few kilometres. The course had some undulations early that strung out the field, I was still with the front bunch but near the back and then, at 7km, it happened. The front runners opened up a 25 second gap over a climb and the I knew I'd struggle to pull them back. My legs and lungs were on fire and the big hitters were looking strong.

Another guy had fallen away from the front pack and we settled into an unspoken but mutually beneficial agreement. The two of us working together managed to pull back a lonely and suffering Craig Storey. Craig and I rode together for a while, as the other guy dropped away. We were quickly caught by a rider who was full of good cheer and plenty of energy.

On the last climb before the wall both Craig and the unknown guy on the Epic got away from and even though I tried I couldn't regain contact before the wall. I was getting a little concerned. The top of the wall was barely half way through, I had no allies, no energy and didn't climb well at the Freedom Marathon.

I started to feel a little more confident when I could see that I was pulling back a rider ahead of me. I couldn't see who it was, it just looked like some guy on a black bike with blue kit on.

Given how I thought I was going you can imagine my surprise when the rider in front got out of the saddle and started cranking in a style I've seen many times. It was Bozza himself! I thought I was having a bad day but he was clearly going worse. (poor guy was in a world of hurt, turns out he is mortal after all! Bad luck big guy, if you're reading :),) After going off the course in an effort to catch him on the short descent, I caught him on the next little pinch.

We rode together for a while chatting away about racing, work, family and a variety of topics. It was just like we were out for a ride around Gap Creek. On the third of the climbs that comes in quick succession after the wall, we both were silent and suffered together over the crest and down the other side on the flats. A marshall directed us to turn right and up another short series of climbs which just totally sapped me. Boz rode away and I just couldn't keep up, I hoped I'd pull back some distance on the flats but he just kept at it like a machine.

The promise of new single-track at the end turned out to be a myth, it was grass, grass some more, fire roads, some more grass and some grass. It was a really taxing way to end the race, the only relief came in the from of a stretch of bitumen along the old road. I could see Boz ahead stopped at a car and when I finally managed to catch him, was astonished when he handed me half a can of Coke.

Turns out the car at the turn was just some guy who happened to have a bunch of cold Cokes!

It's sometimes the little things that make all the difference. Although we'd agreed to finish together Boz insisted that I set off in chase of the riders ahead of us. Apparently the good luck, in the form of a coke, had done more for me than him.

I managed to overhaul the Wally and Rupert fairly quickly and all of a sudden the finish line was in front of me. They'd shortened the course by 7km without telling us!

That said, more riding on grass and the double track didn't appeal to me so I was rather relieved to see the end of the race.

Despite what was announced as presentation I ended up third in my age-group and 14th overall.

Next race now is World Solo 24hr. I'm nervous as hell but also really excited!

See you all in Canberra!!

Ipswich Cyclocross

2010-09-30T01:46:00.000-07:00

Just for a laugh Declan from work threw down the challenge, race A-grade in cyclocross, on flat-bar road bikes with 100psi in our 23c tyres. For $15 and a race start of 3pm it didn't take much convincing to get me to agree.

The course was pretty easy, one climb I couldn't make it up, a total of four duck boards and one very short set of stairs. The rest was grass, grass, some mud and then more grass.

Declan amazingly lead the field away and was slightly off the front for about 300m until we came the first duck board. In one smooth motion he dismounted like a pro, leapt over the board, but clipped his foot on the top of the board, bringing it down, lost his chain and got tangled up in the bunting marking the edge of the course. It was brilliant! I was near the back of the field so I just plowed over the board and tried to stay upright.

Being on the entirely wrong bike I was no hope of keeping up. It was of no concern though, I was there to have fun and to beat Declan. The pumped up slick tyres made for a heap of fun. Add a little mud to the rims and it made it hard to steer, stop and climb.

I managed to overtake Gav who'd earlier raced B-grade and saw that Declan had pulled out, so at least I wouldn't be last!

It was 35 minutes of pleasure and pain. So much fun, I can see why this sport is so addictive. The next day my legs were shattered, sore from the high intensity, sore from the running up the hills and sore from mounting the bike in the cyclocross manner, something I'd never done before and it's taken some getting used to.

So glad I gave it a bash though, would love to have a go on a proper bike.

Freedom Marathon

2010-09-19T00:59:00.000-07:00

Hosted by the rad dudes from Summer of Cycling, the Freedom marathon is one event that I like to do each year.

While purist mountain bikers might lament the lack of single track the course is still challenging with wild descents and seemingly endless climbs.

The uphill start always sorts the field out quickly. With shattered legs from a big week at work I couldn't keep pace early on so just tried to settle into a good pace and see how I felt, which wasn't good.

As the first half of the race wore on my legs started to feel a little better and I felt at home on the fast fire road descents. A few of the earlier climbs saw me in the granny ring for the first time at this race but I just didn't feel like I had the strength in my legs to push the bigger gears.

On the undulating section before the assault on the massive climb I started to feel a little better, I pulled back two guys in front of me and had high hopes of pushing on as we started on the 12km long climb. Riding in the middle ring I made some good headway pulling back, among others, a very surprised Whippet boy. However, as the climb wore on it started to take it's toll. I just couldn't keep pace with Dan and a few other riders also came past me.

I was tempted to take the soft option and roll downhill from the split point for the 40km race but the prospect of the descent to come motivated me to suffer for another 6km of climbing. As a final insult most of the final 7km is uphill. The new tracks near the end were a heap of fun though.

I rolled across the line in about 3hrs 42min in 29th place overall and 8th in my age-group. Not a great result but I had a heap of fun and that almost seems more important at this race.

Enough for now. Catch you later.

Flight Centre Epic

2010-09-12T01:46:00.000-07:00

Having not finished last year's Epic I wanted to turn it around and do really well this year.

I had some goals in mind before the race. I wanted to place in my age group, ride all of Laidley gap and if all was going well, try to sneak under 5 hours.

The 20-29s were the last category, along with the Under 19s and the Elites, to leave Toowoomba. We were at the start line with plenty of time to spare. It was a nice opportunity to catch up with friends new and old.

Seeing that Fitzy and Stowy were both racing in age group, as well as a few other guys I recognised from the Sunshine Series, I knew it was going to be a tough day.

The race itself started out pretty badly for me. My legs just wouldn't push me uphill like they normally do. A few years ago, in the Mega Epic I was able to keep up the front runners all across the top of the range before we hit Ma Ma Creek, this year, however, every time the road went up, I went backwards. I nearly managed to pull myself back to the lead age-group bunch at the top of a rocky climb but just didn't and they rode away again.

I tried to settle into a rhythm through Ma Ma Creek and at least enjoy the perfect weather and fun trails but struggled, knowing that my competitors were riding away from me.

Rolling through the first checkpoint in my quickest time so far, I grabbed a bottle and gel off HillBilly and set about clawing back some places up the Razorback, a climb I enjoy and go pretty well at. I teamed up with Crazy Dave for the first part and started to feel a bit better. The fact I was skipping up the climb in the middle ring while others around me were walking helped lift my spirits too. Overtaking a lot of fit looking riders gave me some belief that my race was still going ok and I hit the descent down the other side with a bit more vigour than previously. Had a ball, blind corners, drop offs, loose rocks, Dave pulling that ludicrous pass on me and pulling some ludicrous passes of my own on other riders. Every other year I've got to the bottom and my hands and forearms have been sore, not this time though, I felt fresh as a daisy.

The next haul along the dirt road is never fun. There weren't any riders to work with so I just had to put my head down and push it. It was through here I came across Ky walking his Titus, poor guy broke his derailleur but ended up finishing after two bike changes and a 15km walk, what a legend! The reward for the hard slog is the Devil's Tail descent, I love it, get off the brakes, tuck down and check your computer later. Mine played up this year but I reckon I did at least 90km/h.

It's more bitumen into CP2 but it's over soon enough and the creek bed into the checkpoint is a lot of fun. Through half way in 2hr28. A quick bottle and gel pick up and straight into the next section. The rocky climb through the farm land was littered with slower riders (walking at this point) I nearly was hoarse by the end calling track and thanking people who were mostly very accommodating. Easy does it down the descent and out onto the black top again. A big thanks to Declan #5 who gave up his day to volunteer and blasted me with his vuvuzella, it's always nice to get support out there on a tough day.

With the noise of the vuvu still ringing in my ears I worked hard to round up some of the riders in front of me. Teamed up with a guy from the 52km event who'd caught up to me and we eventually caught another group of four who all took turns on the front. I was starting to fatigue after over 3hrs in the saddle but it was too good an opportunity to pass up. With the tow from them, I got I managed to get back in front of Naomi Hansen and Tim McCullough. One guy attacked from the 52kayers and it tore apart the group, just before we hit the bottom of Laidley gap. I sat up for about a minute, tried to relax and prepare myself for the hardest part of the climb. As soon as the road goes up I was in the granny. The whole way was nearly wheel to wheel walkers so it took some coaxing, some demanding and some maneuvering to get to the top still on the bike. But, I made it, no foot down!

Cresting the climb I could see a familiar orange and yellow Ay-Up jersey, my efforts on the climb had me only about 10 seconds behind Fitzy! After the treacherous descent the road levelled off again into the last checkpoint of the day. One of the guys in the 52km from the group who'd done so much work previously helped me and we quickly caught Fitzy about 3km out of the checkpoint.

Onto Edwards gap and my legs, while sore, still felt powerful and I easily made my way up it. I was shocked to pass Stowy and Searsto near the top. I rode as hard as I could on the descent, I couldn't keep pace with my mate Andy, just up the road, but I did a reasonable job. Unable to keep up with his pace I trudged on the property on my own and then started to fall apart on the fire road climb. Both legs were starting to cramp and I still felt like vomiting after the climb up Laidley gap. That climb just seemed to go on forever but soon enough we were onto the first single track. It's a good track but at the end of such a long day it can be tough. Some of the rocks and drops seemed a lot bigger than last time I rode them. I kept it together on the single track and tried to enjoy it but was just dreaming of the finish by this point. The grassy sections near the end were just sucker punishment so it was a huge relief to hit the bottom of the Escalator. My watch ticked over 5hrs just as I started the climb so I was going to miss one of my goals, but not by much.

Crossed the line in 16th overall, 3rd in age-group and in 5hrs04mins. I was only 40 seconds ahead of fourth placed Fitzy who had suffered two flat tyres. The poor fellow!

It was a great day!! What started out pretty poorly turned into probably my best effort on a bike ever.

A big thanks to
-HillBilly who gave up his whole day from before dawn until well after dark. Awesome job to be ready at every checkpoint, and thanks for staying around for presentations and then stopping for pizza! What a legend!

-Declan for being a one-man cheers squad just when I needed it! And for the loan of the spare back wheel.

-Power Couriers for letting me sleep in on Friday and come to work late so that I wasn't totally hammered on the start line.

And last but not least my awesome sponsors, Entire Health and Bike and Cycle Obsession.

Sunshine Series Round 5

2010-09-08T01:07:00.000-07:00

Coming only a week after the Merida 24hr I wasn't sure I'd even show up to race.

After staggering back to work on the Tuesday I thought I could justify heading out to finish the xc season.

It was a hard day. I really hadn't recovered much at all from the 24 and couldn't even keep up on the first climb. I rolled around for the rest of the lap and did enjoy the course, the first descent is great and the drop-offs after the carpet ride climb was another highlight.

I knew I wasn't going to pull myself back into contention and even thought about pulling out after realising I'd be out there for over 2hrs.

On my third lap I came up behind Alex from Kenmore who'd broken his cranks in the U19 race, having someone to ride with I cruised around with him and tried to help him catch second.

I'm glad I finished, I was so hammered after the 24hr but really enjoyed the shorter races this winter.

I was 8th (and last) on the day and 8th in the series as well. A fair result in my mind. I was consistent but outclassed. I wasn't sure what grade to race in before the series started but I made the right choice. Looking at the times, C grade would have been easy and in A I wouldn't have had chance of finishing most races. So I'll see what happens over summer, but already looking forward to it again next year.

Epic report coming soon.

Now get out there and smash it!

Merida 24hr

2010-08-07T18:14:00.000-07:00

Back to endurance racing!!

After getting my arse kicked all winter in the cross country series I was really looking forward to the Merida 24hr. I much prefer the longer distance races and couldn't wait to get amongst it!

Having the Friday off work I headed out to track to check it out. It was a challenging but achievable course.

Pitting with some friends and having Declan (not hungover!) as a pit crew it was set up to be a fun race.

The sound of vuvuzellas started us off and the big hitters took off while I just settled into a pace I hoped to maintain throughout the race.

The first afternoon was a lot of fun. The body was working, the bike was working, I was staying on top of the nutrition and hydration and most importantly I was having a ball!

On the first lap under lights the front wheel disappeared on a berm and I tore apart my left knee. It was uncomfortable but no real damage was done so I didn't stop to have it tended to.

Up until 2am, well over 200km I was feeling fine. Doing all the climbs in the middle ring easily and despite the constant jarring from the trail my hands and arms were still good. Early on my 15th lap I started to feel very light headed and sick in the stomach. I limped through the lap (slowest of the race) and headed straight to the porta-loo when I returned to the pits. I'd obviously eaten something that disagreed with me. I don't want to get too graphic, but it was coming out of both ends with some urgency. I'm told that Declan found me lying on the ground next to the toilet clutching my bike and holding my stomach. They helped me back to the pits and threw a blanked over me.

I slept for a few hours waking at about 7.30. Feeling very drained I checked the leader board and then had another "ordeal" in the gents before I decided to go back out and ride. With Declan feeding me plain water, coke and Vegemite sangers I tapped out another 4 laps in just over 4 hours. It wasn't a lot of fun but I was glad to get back out.

Ended up in 8th in my age-group and 28th overall. About 280km for the race. Happy to ride a solid distance with the problems I had and the legs still felt ok through the following week.

Still a lot of work to be done before worlds in October.

Sunshine Series Round 4

2010-08-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

Round 4 of cross country, at Upper Brookfield, drew a lot of complaints from other competitors. And I'm not sure why. Sure, the first 10 minutes were uphill on a smooth dirt road and then the descent was treacherous, borrowing sections of the downhill course, but if you don't want climbs and scary descents then shave your legs, squeeze into a one-piece suit and go and race track. No offence, trackies!

This seems to be prevailing lately. It happened after the Avanti Plus 6hr as well. Forums were full of people having a whinge. It's supposed to be hard. If you race off road there will be rocks, tree roots, mud, climbs, sand, grass. It's the same for everyone, if you're suffering on a climb, rest assured, so is everyone else.

Round for was really hard though. That climb WAS a killer. It didn't help that a taxi pulled a U-turn in front of me the Wednesday leading up and I went sailing over the bonnet at about 30km/h. I'd also hit up a thousand bourbons on the Friday night preceding to celebrate my brother's/sponsor's birthday but after a quick roadie on the Saturday arvo I felt good enough to head out to the race. Customarily running a little late I didn't go out for a practice lap.

The race got off to a cruisy start Casper and co scooted away and the rest of us settled into a good rhythm up the first climb. I went over the top of the climb in 5th but quickly lost a few places on the descent. I climbed back up to 7th on the second lap and this pattern would continue for the remainder of the race. Make time uphill and then lose it downhill.

On the final lap I managed to make enough time up the climb to hang on for 7th.

A fair result, would like to know how I would have been if I was uninjured but not to worry.

Courier Musings

2010-06-28T02:46:00.000-07:00

Photo: Smashing Adelaide and Edward Sts on the single speed.

I've been a bike messenger in Brisbane for over three years now.

I used to manage a fitness shop that sold and hired fitness equipment. I thought it'd be great when I first started there but after about 6 months I'd had enough. So I found myself without a job.

Couriering was only supposed to be a stop-gap measure whilst I found a "real" job. I remember trawling through seek.com or something like that, looking for something to do after I lost my last job and thinking it would be fun way to fill in some time while I got something else.

Fun?????????...............yeah it's fun. Nearly everyday at work I have cause to smile, even laugh out loud. On days when it's hot, or cold (it got below freezing last year in Brissie) or windy, or raining it's the only thing that gets me through. We use a two-way radio system at work and it builds a real sense of camaraderie amongst everyone. There is a lot of banter that goes on, no swearing is allowed on the two-way, so you have to be inventive. I suspect half of it's utterly meaningless to outsiders.

Fixie, gears, single speed? Initially I was using my mountain bike. Hardtail, suspension, rim brakes and knobbly tyres. Not the greatest tool for the job but it did ok. It got upgraded over the first few months, first some slick tyres then hydraulic disk brakes. This served as my first courier bike and it lasted for 18 months in that role. After about a year, tiring of replacing chains, cassettes and derailures, I turned it into a single speed. It took ages to get physically used to pushing a big gear all the time. Once I did though, I loved it. Just smash the pedals harder and you go faster. Easy as.

After totally destroying this bike I bought myself a Langster Las Vegas. Dedicated single speed, light, 700c wheels and a bit of bling with gold brakes! Aw yeah! This bike proved to be a mad urban weapon. Easy to jump stuff, strong enough to ride stairs, comfy as with carbon post and forks and it was so cheap to keep running. It's only recently come off the road when I broke the bottom bracket taking off from a set of lights. I went over the bars while the drive-side crank, chain ring and part of the BB ended up in the middle of the intersection.

Having a day to sort a new bike for work, the job fell to my old alloy roadie. Swapping drop bars for flat, some cross levers to take care of stopping and I was reading to roll. I'm loving rocking gears again. It's so much faster than single speed. No spinning like mad down Edward st, just kick it up into the biggest gear (a 52-11) and go go go!

Money? There is money to be made as a bike messenger, but it's hard work. If you get in early, ride hard, don't stop to eat, accept all the jobs they give you and carry spares then you should do ok. How can you put a price on enjoying your job though? To work in an office, you'd have to pay me so much more than couriering does.

I'll leave it at that for now.

Catch everyone at Mebbin Marathon redux on Saturday and then it's DRCC XC on Sunday. W-e-e-k-e-n-d? No such thing......

Mt Perry Pics

2010-06-25T19:09:00.000-07:00

I train hard and take my racing pretty seriously, but there are occasions when I like to let my hair down. My birthday was a few days before Mt Perry so instead of the usual trip to the city or any of that I thought I'd crack a few tinnies on the Sunday after the race. Thankfully there were some old friends and some new friends who joined me. This is just some of the photos from that night. Enjoy!

L. Group shot very late in the evening. Moments later and Declan would have had his arse out too!

R. I don't know why this guy has his shirt off?

L. This Guy!! Dave who was helping out Benson.

R. Declan, Me, Al and Dave.

L. Represent! Brissy couriers showing them how to drink after riding hard all day!
R. The reason to party so hard!! Hubcap gets another podium! That's two 6hr races in a row. As you can see the other two were pretty happy about it as well.

Photos from Mt Perry

2010-06-22T17:48:00.000-07:00

I'll have to harvest the photos from the Face Book site. Stay tuned though, there are some classics from the after party! Declan, hang your head in shame now, save you doing it later! :P

Mt Perry 6hr MTB

2010-06-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

If you own a mountain bike, go to Mt Perry next year. If you don't own a mountain bike, beg, borrow, steal, (preferably not) somehow get yourself one and go to Mt Perry next year.

Holy freak, what a course, what a location, what an EVENT!

I think this is the most fun I've ever had at event ever.

On account of setting off from the Gold Coast at about midday I didn't lob up on the Saturday until almost dusk. It worked out ok, though. My mates were already up there and had plenty of room in their tent so I didn't have to stuff arse about setting mine up in the semi-dark.

Saturday night was a good laugh watching the dirt dash, Declan, maybe better lay off the Coopers mid-race.

After a hot meal of various indeterminate food matter we tucked up into bed pretty early and tried to get some sleep in anticipation of the big race to come on the Sunday.

Lucky for me I had a mate from Gladstone who wasn't racing so he was able to throw some food and water at me for the day. Big thanks again Baz!

Knowing I was in for a long day, I started near the back of the field and cruised the first lap whilst trying to keep an eye on Declan #5. He beat me at last year's Freedom Marathon and this was to be the re-match that would determine courier bragging rights until the next time. Declan got ahead in the crush at the start but I got on his wheel after the first lap.

We decided we'd have enough to worry about without trying to smash each other and teamed up for the next five laps. My job was to set a consistent pace on the climbs and provide some shelter from the wind with my giant arse on the more exposed sections and Declan was to get on the front on the descents and show me how to ride like a pro. At about 2hrs40 I got to the top of the first climb to find that Decco had dropped well back, surprised at this and not wanting to ride three and half hours on my own I sat up a bit and he easily caught me, only to accuse me of an "attack", did NOT times one hundred.

Next lap, however same thing happened again. Declan screwed around in the pits for a few minutes and then cramped on the first climb which gave me about an 8 minute lead over him. Knowing that I was on my own I just tried to ride my own race and turn out some consistent lap times. It's a tough course and that "Punisher" climb just got harder and harder.

The next two or so hours progressed pretty well, I had one little tumble and then later got some grass in my cassette that needed to be cleared out but otherwise I was just really loving it.

I'd noticed a guy (another Andrew it turns out, who rides A grade road for M1 cycles and won the Dirt Clowns 6hr) who'd been following me around a bit and after chatting to him we worked out that we were 2nd and 3rd in our age-group. Great, it was 5hrs in and I was thinking of maybe cutting away the extra lap but this meant I'd have to push through for a 10th lap, not to worry it's all good.

I went hard on the hills on the 9th lap in the hope of pulling away but it didn't work and I blew up a bit and Andy went sailing past and quickly pulled away. (plenty of hills out there, 270m of climbing in and 11km lap, ouch!)

Heading out for the last lap I tried to give it one more go on the first climb to claw back second, but after cramping in both legs I knew I'd just have to mosey home in third and took the opportunity to have a beer with the hooligans. (How good was a cold beer at the end of that!)

Result was third in age group, same lap as the winner. Stoked with the result, over the moon with the prize money! Was really happy to beat Declan by a lap, (insert Nelson Muntz style "ha-ha") the poor fellow. And was also really surprised that I knocked off Geoff so easily. He is my arch-rival in the off-road triathlon series who is usually my competition for the fastest (non-elite) bike split. Better smash some more miles out Geoffo before you head to Maui for world X-Terra, it's a long day out.

Enough blither from me for now. I'll catch you all at the next one, although I'm not sure what that is yet. Mebbin redux maybe?

Ps, thanks to the usual suspects, Entire Health, Bike and Cycle and Power Couriers!! You guys rock! I would be screwed without the support I get from these guys.

PPs, Entire Health have a page on Face Book, be a sport and sign up. :)

Sunshine Series, Round 2.

2010-06-01T19:53:00.000-07:00

The latest race was round 2 of the Sunny series, this time hosted by the Gold Coast MTB Club at Illinbah.

The week leading up consisted of nasty fall at work on Monday from a broken bottom bracket, way too much bourbon on Wednesday night watching the might Maroons smash the blues and two days of moving house. Not ideal, but it's all part of life and racing.

The rain in the days before the race meant the course was pretty muddy. I whacked the Ignitors on the bike in the hope of having some traction, and they did a pretty good job. A few of the switchbacks on Cardiac Climb were too much for me and Dave's drop and the descent next to the downhill course were both pretty hair-raising. The rest of the course was great. I wish I'd headed out earlier to do a practice lap just to ride it some more!

The race went pretty much as expected, I held position on the climbs and stayed mostly upright on the descents. Again the more skillful riders gapped me and I was never really in contact. It's all about learning though.

I ended up 8th, up from 12th last time, although, I think I was actually last out of the finishers and was a lot further behind the winner in terms of the time gap.

Next race is the Mt Perry 6hr, hopefully the longer format will give me a chance to get a little closer to the front of the field.

It's going to be a great weekend. See you all there.

Sunshine Series, Round 1.

2010-05-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

In an effort to learn to ride faster I am going to compete in this year's Sunshine Series XC races.

Round one was hosted By Kenmore at Mt Crosby. Despite some changes to the track I was familiar with some of from racing there two years ago.

Having raced C Grade the one and only other time I had raced XC, I was unsure as to what grade I should race this time around. After riding well at Inferno and Canungra I decided to go B Grade.

I have a new found respect for XC riders, it's just so fast and crazy. There were elbows flying, people running into me and passes that make Jim Richards look like a gentleman.

I've got to say though, it was a lot of fun. I was thoroughly out-classed on the descents and wasn't able to make up enough time on the climbs to really compete. 12th in B Grade is an accurate indication of where I'm at. Had I raced C Grade it looks like I would have waltzed home in at least second. I'd rather lose and learn, than win and not improve.

Well done to Ratboy #5 (Declan) for finishing 6th in elite. Unlucky about the flat tyre champ.

Next round is at Illinbah on what I hear is a great track. Looking forward to it.

Hubcap Rocks the 6hr

2010-05-07T06:14:00.001-07:00

Oh yeah!! What a race! What a day!

I don't care what other people say, this is a great track. You have to ride it the whole way, no sitting up, no cruisey fire road descents, no super hard pack flat transition zone. For 6hrs, if you're serious, you can take this. I can appreciate that less experienced riders and longer events benefit from somewhat more forgiving course but for such a (relatively) short hit out, either put up or shut up.

The day was pretty much perfect for the event. The weather was good, my pit crew wasn't drunk/hungover, my bike had just been serviced and my legs were feeling great.

I made a point of pushing hard earlier in the race than I have previously and was in 10th place at the two hour mark. This quickly turned into 6th, 4th and then 2nd over the course of the next three laps.

I could hardly believe what my pit crew was telling me, I was right in the mix and feeling good so I just kept smashing it.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, no mechanicals, no crashes, no problem with food or drink. It just all went to plan.

I had some shades of doubt in the last hour when I started to cramp in both quads but with nearly 20mins over third place I was able to just cruise the last two laps home, and even stop for a coke before commencing my last lap.

Ended up 2nd in cat and I think 3rd in solo overall, damn you Clewsy, I'll catch you one day!!

Well done to Tim Wynan who got the win and Darren Groves for again pushing me all day. Big congratulations to Clewsy for the win in 40+, that guy is just unstoppable!!

It's great to finally get a breakthrough podium like this in a 6hr, which, really isn't my best event.

See you all out there!!

Next race is this weekend's Sunshine Series XC at Mt Crosby. We'll see how it goes.

Del Flow 6hr

2010-04-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

After crewing for Ratboy #5 at this race last year and hearing nothing but great things all day I made sure I got my arse out there to race it myself this year.

It was a nice cool morning and the track was dry and fast, just the right conditions for good racing.

The course was as good as I'd heard, perhaps a little rougher than I might have thought but rewarding if you dared and there was plenty of climbing.

Being ANZAC day we heard the Last Post before a minute's silence, the end of which was signalled by the sounding of the starter's horn. A mass start and quickly into single track meant I was buried well back in the field, a little further down than I should have been.

I got into a good rhythm early and started to claw some time back. Trouble struck just past the first hour. I landed awkwardly coming off one of the jumps and went over the bars landing on my knee, shoulder and head. The damage wasn't too bad, my knee was swollen and my neck and back hurt but I could keep going.

The middle part of the race passed without incident, I kept turning out solid if not great lap times and moved 16th after 2hrs into 9th at about 4hrs. At about 4.30hrs I clipped a tree on a descent and hit the ground hard, I landed again on my knee and really tore it apart this time. I also bent my hanger so I limped back to the pits and while Rooster from Redback fixed my bike I had Declan feed me some pain-killers and Red Bull. I spent about 3mins in the pits and headed back out to bring it home hard.

It had been a hard day out but my legs had plenty of strength left at the end and I was able to move up to 7th at the start of the last lap, and 6th by race end.

Super day out, really happy with the result, well done to Wazza for giving it a tilt, not so well done to Declan. World's drunkest pit crew but he still did a sterling job all day.

Looking forward to Avanti Plus 6hr tomorrow at Canungra. Still pretty bruised and battered from Del but hopefully it'll be a ball.

Inferno 6hr Mountain Bike

2010-04-23T21:01:00.001-07:00

Something new last weekend. For the first time ever I teamed up with a mate to do a 6hr in a team. Luckily my team mate was local cross country superstar and fellow Power Courier bike messenger Declan "#5" Killkenny. Declanmtb.com.au

The race was at Old Hiddenvale west of Ipswich. I really like racing at OHV, I've had my best 24hr there and tore it apart at the Dirty Duo.

We got out there early enough to cut a practice lap, although, Declan decided against doing this. Very unprofessional.

As he is a cross country racer, we sent #5 out to do the first lap, in the hope that he would get us off to a good start. You can understand my surprise that Declan was buried in the field off the start line and we were well down after the first lap. The idea was to do one lap at a time as fast as possible and then try to recoup quickly before doing it all again. With a 10.8km lap, it was going to be about a 30min lap with the same again to recover.

It was a great little course they set out for it. The climbing in the first 2km was a bit of a punch in face to start but it did mean that more of the rest of the lap was downhill. The climb flattened off, after a short section of single track, onto a fire road which was a good chance to spin the big dog before hooking into "007". This track was in the Merida 24hr last year and is a hoot every time. Logs, rocks, fast corners, pinch climbs, causeways, it's got it all. Oh, and the final section of the track where you get up to 50km/h is just a ball!! After this, it was up the hill under the brand new bridge and out onto the second climb of the lap. Again, it wasn't a lot of fun, but what goes up again gets to come down. This time we descended the "Gully Track", I've ridden it and run it in the other direction, but it's a whole new beast the other way. (The photos above are from the start of the track.) A short climb back out of the gully and this time up over the bridge and another short fire road climb before the flat out hectic descent to the finish.

After our rather sluggish start we quickly settled into 7th in our division and slowly edged our way up to 6th by about the 3hr mark. We were taking some time out of 5th place but it wasn't until Declan pulled back 4 minutes on one lap that we thought we might have a chance of actually catching them. With an hour and a half to go we were 4mins down, with an hour left it was less than a minute, and as I headed out on my last lap with about 15mins to go I had about a two bike length lead. I'd never been under so much pressure at a bike race. I'm no xc racer so I was really worried that I would just be blown away. However, at the 2km mark I had got away a little and by half way through the lap I'd opened up a comfortable lead. I had no idea how far ahead I was so I just kept smashing myself and riding like I should everytime, but rarely do. I eventually crossed the line in about 6hrs 15mins after having turned in my fastest lap for the race on my last lap. We managed to stay on the lead lap all day but the top two teams just snuck out for an extra lap.

I was really happy with how it all went. I was a little slower by 30-45seconds than Declan on each lap but I didn't think I'd even be that close.

Thanks to the usual crew, with the exception of Power Couries how flogged the hell out of both Declan and Me on the Friday before the event!! Just kidding, it's a great way to earn a dollar. Big thanks to the guys from OHV who put on a great event on some great trails.

Next up is Del XC 6hr MTB this weekend and then Del 6hr Trail Run in a two man the following weekend. It's going to be a tough few weeks.

Catch you out there!!

Tre-x Triathlon Championships

2010-04-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

Howdy y'all and J'ALL (you know who you are)

Sorry it's taken a week to post a new entry for this race but it's been a hectic month already.

Anyway, enough chit chat. It's time to talk about racing.

Last Saturday and Sunday saw the In2Adventure Dirt Fest weekend take place at Slickers north of Brisbane. I had a full plate for the weekend away from racing so didn't attend anything on the Saturday. There was plenty on, with runs, rides and a multisport race to keep everyone entertained. Sounds like the Saturday was a hoot. Well done to Cookie for 3rd in SS for the 50km and Shop Declan for 5th in his age group again in the 50km MTB. If you don't have anything on next year when it rolls around go along and have a ball. If you do have plans, cancel them and go anyway.

So my race for the weekend was the long course triathlon on the Sunday. 1,00m swim, 30km MTB and 10km trail run. With the mist still hanging over the dam as the race start neared the decision was made that instead of the out and back swim, we would instead do three laps of the short course swim with a short run along the bank. I suspect however the swim was a little longer than it should have been. I thought I was losing the plot very early on as I was sure the buoys were in a different position on each lap. (Turns out they'd lost their anchors and were floating around a bit)

So I got through the swim ok, didn't get kicked or punched too much. I was well behind the front runners out of the water with my heart rate through the roof and still had a long way to go. I got out of transition quickly and jumped on the bike and started to smash it up the hill behind the stage. I knew I was in trouble when about 2km into the bike the previous week of racing and couriering started to bite hard. My legs were on fire and there was 28km on the bike still to go. Knowing the course from the LunarC 8hr I was able to ride fast and still save a bit of energy. I took back about 10 place on the first lap. My legs came back to me a bit after the first lap and I set my sights on the rider in front of my. I sailed past the guy and pulled away from him only to have him catch me back up again. I chatted with the fellow as we traded blows, turns out he was a mountain biker and that's way I wasn't able to get away from him for a while. I ended up pedalling my way to the fastest bike split in my age group and 5th overall. This, however would hurt me on the run.

With the longer and more technical bike leg compared to previously and the longer swim to boot I started the run well past the 2hr mark of the race. The last two years I've managed to run close to 50minutes to make up some place and even score a podium last year but soon into the run, the heat and the effort up to this point started to really take their toll. I pushed through 8km in about 43mins and hoped to get a bit of a spring in my step for the final shorter lap. I was in a world of hurt over the final 2km, I really slowed down and even stopped at the turn around point to splash some water over myself. Coming across the dam wall for the final time was a real relief, it was all about to be over.

I crossed the line with a roar (literally) and promptly lay down in the shade with Robyn from I2A and Decco from Bike and Cycle dowsing me with water.

I got back to feet after a short while to go and pig out on fruit. I spoke briefly to Simon who assured me I had placed in my age group, although I wasn't so sure at that point. Amazingly, he was right. I'd managed to finish second only to Xterra World Champs qualifier Geoff Suess.

It's one of my favourite race series and I'll be doing the whole long course series next summer, might even head south for some interstate racing too.

Thanks to Declan from Bike and Cycle for some of the photos. Also, many thanks need to go to all the I2A crew, the SES, Surf Lifesaving, the Scouts, TA and everyone else who clapped and cheered.

And finally thanks to the crew who help keep me out racing. The guys at Bike and Cycle Obsession who keep my bike tip-top it ran perfectly for the whole race, Entire Health Physiotherapy for getting me sorted after a tough race in Canberra and Power Couriers who tried not to run me too ragged and Monday morning, and were very understanding that I need a bit of a sleep in.

Well time to go. 6hr Inferno race at Hiddenvale tomorrow. Teaming with Declan Killkenny in two man. Wish us luck!

National Solo 24hr

2010-04-12T02:38:00.000-07:00

The Hubcap is off to the 24hrs of Adrenaline World Solo Championships!!

I wouldn't have thought I ever would be but this October I'll be racing the world 24hr champs. Albeit as an age grouper.

It all came about from last weekend. It was the National Solo 24hr MTB at Majurra in Canberra.

I nearly did this race last year on a whim and in hindsight, I wish I did. The atmosphere and the location were both just awesome!!

About 170 riders took part in the 24hr and a bunch more in the 7+5. Everyone seemed as if they'd rather be out smashing it then anywhere else in the world. All of the riders were just so nice, no one was pushy or aggressive when overtaking it was just great. This would have made it a good event on its own but the COURSE, fricken heck !!! How good was it! Just wickedly fast single track, frightening levels of grip, not much climbing and it was just as good on the last lap as it was on the first.

Admittedly I wasn't really ready to try to tear apart a 24hr, but with world's in the land of Oz this year this was going to be my last real chance of qualifying.

I felt pretty good early in the race and was keeping pace to ride elite qualifying until I had nothing more than a tumble about 7hrs in. It was a nothing stack, the front wheel just slipped on a log and I fell on my arse. For some reason though, my right calf just violently cramped. I managed to get it freed up and got riding again pretty quickly but I had done a huge amount of damage to the muscle tissue, it still hurts today, 8 days later.

The injury to my leg really slowed me down and I fell way behind elite qualifying. I kept riding ok through the night until about 4am. I knew I was going to be able to qualify but was pretty sore and sorry so I turned in for a quick nap (3hrs, thanks Hillbilly) and went out in the morning to roll a few more laps and get a finishing time after midday to classify at the race.

I have so much work to do over winter if I don't want to be made a fool of in October but in the words of JFK "we choose to do these things, not because they are easy but, because they are hard".

So qualifying is out of the way. The pressure is off to get that done but now the riding in earnest begins.

The usual crowd did their usual amazing job. So big thanks to, Entire Health for nutrition and post-race treatment. Bike and Cycle Obsession for boxing the bike and servicing it before the race, it didn't miss a shift or play up all weekend. Power Couriers for keeping me in shape by kicking my arse all over the city 5 days a week, and for the time off work I needed to recover. Andy Fellows for letting us set our kit up under his tent. It was amazing to pit with someone like that and watch just how hard they race. Trish's folks for opening their house and fridge for me for the weekend.

Last but not least Hillbilly for giving up his Easter weekend to crew for me. Thanks buddy, you helped me get through and book a ticket to world's!!

National 24hr Preview

2010-03-31T03:01:00.000-07:00

So it's only a few days now until I fly down to Canberra to have a go at the National 24hr.

It's been an ok lead up. The last couple of races have gone well, the bike is tip top and I've really been enjoying riding on the dirt lately.

It's going to be a new experience for me. I've never flown to a race, I've never raced in Canberra and I haven't raced at national level since 1998.

I'm really looking forward to it though. I really want to soak up the experience of such a big event, without getting overwhelmed.

Going by the results from the last two years, it looks like I'll need to ride a shade over 200km to qualify as an age grouper. It shouldn't be too hard to do that, but the mental side of 24 racing is so hard to train for. I think having such a reasonable goal to aim for will give me the ability to relax into the race and break it down into manageable sections.

I've pulled out of the last two 24hr events after 16hrs and 12hrs respectively so it's been a long time since I've kicked on through to the end of one of these events. Too late to do another race now, I'm just going to have to suck it up and keep going.

I've heard it's a great course for this event. Flowing and fun with a minimum of climbing. Word is it rewards fast flowing riders, so we shall see if I can get my head on right and ride like I should.

Anyways, dinner beckons (spag bog, bring on the carbs!!) so I'm off. I'll keep you all posted.

Wish me good ability and good skill and hopefully I won't need the luck.

Bring it on!!!

New Pimp-Mobile!!

2010-03-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

I'm not turning my back on fat tyre riding by any stretch of the imagination. However, since recently I did 130km one weekend on my single speed work bike, which is almost in constant need of some sort of repair, I've gone and got a brand spanking new roadie.

The idea with this bike is that my occasional need to pump out some serious road kays will be a lot more useful for my training than the suffer-fest SS rides that I'd previously been doing.

So the new weapon is a 2010 Giant TCR Advanced 2. I consulted Alex at Bike and Cycle about what would be the best bike within my budget (well it ended up being a little more than I was going to spend) and it was pretty clear that the TCR was going to tick all the boxes. The frame has a fairly aggressive geometry (long top tube, short head tube and steep head and seat post angles) but the fit was almost perfect straight off the floor. You see, apparently somewhere back in my genealogy there a T-Rex. I'm all torso with stumpy little limbs. This obscure set up I lug around the place basically counted out the Defy (also from Giant) and the Scott CR1, which was also a considered.

The other two bikes are a bit more relaxed in their geometry and would lend themselves to long training rides purely from a comfort point of view but they just would have been awkward for me to ride. I would be sitting too tall and cramped. Plus, the TCR will make a nice TT weapon next summer if I do Half Ironman again.

So keep an eye out next time you are up on Mt Coot-tha or Mt Mee, you just might see a guy on a roadie with hairy legs and dirty MTB shoes.

See you out there guys, hopefully we'll get to race the MTB's again soon. Six hour now postponed too. :( It's for the best, we can't destroy the trails.

Mebbin MTB Marathon

2010-03-03T03:50:00.000-08:00

Sunday saw the second Mebbin MTB Marathon take place in the hills surrounding Mt Warning in Northern NSW.

I didn't do this race last year but it looked awesome on paper (well, on my computer's screen actually). With 75km of varied terrain and over 2,000m of climbing it sounded just like my day out on two wheels.

Unfortunately, due to the amount of rain in the area leading up to the event the course was changed to two laps of about 37km each, instead of one big 75km loop and then on the morning of the race it was again changed, this time to a 37km lap followed by a 23km lap.

The warnings to pack mud tyres were well heeded and I set the bike up with a set of Maxxis Ignitors, thanks to Ratboy #5 declanmtb.blogspot.com for the loan of one of his. I had worried that they might be too aggressive but they proved to be pretty good for what was in store.

After a quick 3km out and back to start the race we returned to the start finish area to turn left onto Cadel Rd (go Cadel!!) and started to climb our way out of the camp ground. The conditions were ok on the graded roads but as soon as we turned off the gravel onto the forestry roads the surface quickly became sticky but slippery mud. I was feeling strong at the start of the race and was sitting comfortably inside the top 25 so at least all the other riders around me were powering up the climb and picking pretty good lines with a lot of traction. After a short section of undulations on a pretty well graded road the trail went skywards and the pushing and suffering began in earnest.

At one point on this early climb I was using the shrubbery at the side of the trail to pull myself up as I couldn't get enough traction even with footy tags in the front of my riding shoes, it was totally ludicrous.

The trail conditions quickly improved to be rideable, even if a bit slippery. I was booting down one of the more open descents that had a slight left hand bend at the bottom when I got a little loose and ended up in a deep rut which swallowed the bike and saw me come crashing head and shoulder first onto the ground. I took a second to find my water bottle, refit my helmet (which had nearly come off) and wait for the stars I was seeing to disappear. Besides a very sore neck I found myself feeling pretty good and took off again.

The next part of the course was a nice undulating trail through some farm land. Mostly non-technical double track with some rocky creek crossings to keep us honest. The last of the these crossings had a nasty trick though, as soon as you crossed it you were in for yet another walk-a-thon. This climb seemed to take forever and it was around this point that the Zoidberg-esque whoops and cheers of the other riders started to fade into memory and more and more people looked like they just wanted to quit. I can't blame them, what in the dry would be a tough climb was just a slog in the wet. I wasn't having fun and neither were the people around me.

The course continued in this fashion for the next hour, unrideable climbs, slippery descents, rocky creek crossings. I came into the third checkpoint on the first lap pretty much knowing I wouldn't have the will to push on for another lap. And was sure that I would quit halfway after leaving there when the next long climb I came to, saw me push my bike for nearly 20mins at points dragging the back wheel as it was so clogged with mud it wouldn't turn. My spirit was further crushed on the descent that followed when I had to stop on three occasions to clear the back wheel as it was jamming up and locking up even going downhill.

The last few kms of the first lap back on the fire roads were a welcome relief, I was really hating being out there but I could sense the end was near. I pulled into the start finish in about 3hr15m.

Thank you to following: EVERYONE WHO CLAPPED AND CHEERED, WHOEVER SQUIRTED SOME WATER ON ME AS A TOKEN "SHOWER" and finally RED BULL.

It's amazing how a few simple things can turn your race around. I was sure I was done for the day, but the above mentioned and a few minutes to refuel and swap Camelbaks and suddenly I felt $1million again. I scampered out of the transition and quickly got stuck into the second lap with renewed vigour.

Suddenly it was all good again. Climbs I was trudging up 2hrs earlier I was skipping up in the middle ring. Creek crossings that saw me cursing and unclipping from my bike were now like puddles after a rain shower, and I was kid seeing how much of a splash I could make. The riders ahead who had seemed so far earlier were now dropping like flies in front of me. It was a great feeling to be so close to pulling out and so physically stuffed and then turn it around and start kicking it.

I got a little bogged at the last water point waiting for a rider in front of me to fill his (seemingly) 15lt Camelbak and whilst waiting was told I could option out and ride 2km directly to the finish or turn left at the junction for the full 10km to finish, the choice was easy. I hadn't come all this way, suffered so much to pull out now, I was going to finish. The last big climb, which of course I walked, dragging my bike, not even bothering to clean it, was pretty tough, my feet were in pretty bad shape, my quads were cramping but I was mentally up to the challenge. I got to the top and made sure I cleaned my bike properly this time, I wanted to hit that last single track and not stop.

The last few kms on the fire road were a real relief. It's always nice to finish a race riding hard and fast.

I crossed the line in about 5 and half hours, totally rooted, but all smiles.

Marathons are never easy but this was one of the hardest bike races I've ever done. The fact that more than half the field didn't finish reflects that it wasn't an easy day.

Turns out I was 12th overall and 5th in my age group. So no podium, but I did get a free Larsen TT just for finishing.

Tre-x Triathlon

2010-02-01T01:53:00.000-08:00

Oh what fun that was!!!!

My only goal at this race was to have as much fun as possible. I think I achieved that easily. A few days of pouring rain leading up to the race and further showers before and during the race meant the course was muddy and very slippery. I had thought about packing some serious mud tyres but thought the Rancheros floating about in the back of the car would do the trick.

So the morning kicked off in a manner most unusual. I awoke with a start, thinking it was already well past dawn only to realise the bright orange light in the sky was in fact the streetlight on the road out the front. Well at least it got me up and out of bed in a flash. A quick cup of coffee and some Nutella for fuel and I was out the door excited about getting a dirt fix.

Driving into race HQ I was already kicking myself for not bringing the mud tyres I was now certain I would really appreciate. With the Subaru scrambling for traction at points you know it's going to be carnage on the bike.

Swimming is not my strongest leg in triathlon, in fact it's a little embarassing sometimes. I cruised through the swim without incident and didn't actually lose all that much time to the eventual winner. I was 69th (out of 104) out of the water with plenty of work still to be done.

The bike leg is twisty and really good fun. In the dry it is a really rewarding course, the climbs are short and some of the fire roads out the back see speeds climb fairly high. The wet and slippery nature of the course really highlighted the mountain bikers in the field and was able to hammer my way to the 5th fastest bike split on the day. I didn't have a single person pass me on the bike and was still feeling fresh and strong when I got off to start the run.

The run is only 4km but it may as well have been a second swim, there was that much water across the trails. I passed my mate Whitney on the part of the run that doubles back on itself so I knew I had no hope of winning my category but I was feeling strong and running at a decent pace so I just continued loping along and enjoying it as much as I could. Ended up turning in the 6th fastest run on the day. A guy, who I think may have been in my cat, went flying past me at one point but he was the only person to pass me out of the water for the whole day.

I felt so happy to cross the finish line. This was the first race this year, and the first in a while that was just pure FUN!!

I thought I was way out of contention but Simon from In2Adventure assured me I had finished near the front of the field and his thoughts proved correct.

Turns out I was 3rd in my age group and 5th overall. Not bad for a gumby bike rider who can't swim either....

Ps, train spotters may have noticed that the guy next to me is Team Merida rider Dave Whitney. Just my luck to have a sponsored rider show up to race me!!!

My Old Anthem is for Sale

2010-01-25T17:12:00.000-08:00

Hello there. Well it's been sitting around not doing a whole lot so I thought I'd throw it up on here and see if anyone was interested.

I'm selling my former steed. It is a 2007 Anthem 0 frame and rear shock with all the other goodies being from a brand new Anthem X2. Is it a large, suit most people taller than me.

You get any alloy frame with 3.5inches of wonderful Maestro travel (it is really good!!)

The reason I'm selling it is that the frame was a little big for me, I would have bought the same model in the smaller size but it proved difficult to find one.

This is a wicked fast bike. It is the same frame geometry that Willo rode to victory in the mud in Canmore 2008 (albeit his was carbon).

Drop me a line through the site or facespace if anyone needs any more details, it's also up on mtbdirt.com.au with a full spec list.

2009 in Review

2010-01-11T00:45:00.000-08:00

Well 2009 has come and gone. What a year it was.

Some dizzying highs, some crushing lows and some creamy centres.

Highlights of the year for me were my podium finishes at Tre-x Champs, Glasshouse 12km and Hidden Vale Dirty Duo. Although due to finishing 3rd at Glasshouse I now have to step up (as promised to the Glasshouse regulars) and do some longer runs again, 30km in May?? We'll see. :)

Lows were Insomnia, Epic and Kona. But let's not be negative.

I think the time off has done me the world of good as I now feel ready to get back into it all again. It's not much but at least yesterday morning consisted of 4hr40 on the bike followed up with an hour long trail run. Hurting today, but in a good way.

So hopefully all of last year's bad joo-joo(as HillBilly would say) is behind me and I can start over.

Still toying with the idea of this Friday night's 8hr, we shall see how my first week back at work goes.

Kona 24hr

2009-12-11T03:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, sorry it's taken so long to put up a post about the Kona.

Suffice to say that it didn't go well. Because of the events surrounding the Kona I'm taking some time off racing altogether and taking a decent break from endurance racing.

Thank you to all the people who wished me well. In no particular order, Sally, Mum, Jimbo, Mule, John, Dad, the Dog, Kenzo, Ratboy #5 and Bozza. And anyone else I may have forgotten.

Titus 24hr

2009-11-11T04:05:00.000-08:00

It was nice to go into a race relaxed and refreshed. Because of my work I'm usually screwed before the race even starts but I took the Friday off work to just laze about and it seemed to work a treat. Later start probably helped too.

I raced at the Canungra track before at the 12hr earlier in the year and really enjoyed it. Sure it was tough and rocky and the raced took me better than a week to get over but it's not supposed to be easy.

I didn't bother with a warm up lap due to the high temperatures and being a 24 there is loads of time to find your way around!! I've got to say, I was hoping for a course a bit closer to what we did at the 12hr in Feb and the 6hr last year. They've obviously done a heap of work there but some of the sections out the back were just a mindless grind for solo athletes, there's tough but freshly turned soil was just crushing. And with rumours of no 24hr next year we won't get a chance to ride the track after it's bedded in some more. Shame.

So the race got underway like these things always do. All the team riders and big hitters take off like a shot and I hang out and roll out near the back and then curse myself for the whole lap because I'm stuck behind slower riders.

I rolled around at a good pace for the arvo trying to just settle in enjoy my racing again, something that had been missing over winter this year. It was going ok during the arvo, just put my head down and rode some laps. Kept on top of food and fluid and had plenty of laughs with Hillbilly and TK writing all sorts of crazy crap on the white board we nicked for that very reason.

As seems to happen a lot as the evening approached so did the rain. There was some spectacular lightning and it provided a wonderful backdrop for the race as we moved through to the all important night. Unfortunately rain+rocks+Hubcap=lots of pain. I was riding through one of the rocky sections just after the rain had come down and lots control of the front end and ended over the bars. I ripped up my knee a bit and bruised where the tendon attaches to the bone which really limited my peddling, copped the bars and stem on the inside of the thighs which provided a nice change from the usual white legs I have by adding some colour. It seemed nothing at the time but I also hurt my right wrist.

I got myself cleaned up and had some anti inflammatories and went back out to ride on. The rain cleared as quickly as it had come in and the rest of the night was lovely, no arm warmers, no jacket, no nothing, just zipped up the jersey and kicked on. I had another seemingly innocuous fall much later in the night and landed on the same wrist I had knocked earlier, jarring it again.

Just after dawn on the second morning I pulled the pin. I had ridden all night and enjoyed the racing for the first time in a while so instead of pushing on and really hurting myself I thought I'd be happy with what I done and just relax. It's not the end of the world.

In hindsight I think I made the right call. It's been a few weeks now and I've still got some tenderness in my forearm and I feel physically pretty good other than that.

Thanks to the usual candidates, Hillbilly for helping out in the arvo and all the gear I borrowed, TK and Brooke for coming down and sticking around for the remainder of the race. Power Couriers for the time off work. Alex and the crew in at Obsession for the spares, Nick from Endura for the nutritional advice.

And finally, all of the people at the race who lent me a cheer. The checkpoints, friends and family of the other competitors and even other competitors themselves, (world champ Sean Bekkers literally put me back on my bike after one crash and stopped to see if I was okay at one of the others!!)

Ps I've just entered the Kona 24hr to have a tilt at qualifying for worlds next year in Canberra.

Freedom Marathon

2009-11-06T17:09:00.000-08:00

Firstly I'd like to ask everyone to remind me never, EVER to travel interstate with Ratboy #5 from work ever again. You might know about him from his blog, declanmtb.blogspot.com but it hardly reflects just how annoying he is. I can't believe I spent the whole weekend in the car and racing with him without strangling him at some stage.

Anyway I'm getting ahead of myself.

So I guess the whole story kicks off at about three o'clock on Friday arvo. As is the custom before a race, we are getting absolutely caned with work. This could mean I'll end up riding more than 100km for the day through the heat and wind at top speed, not the ideal lead in. Anyway the radio crackles to life at one point and it's base asking one of the drivers if he's able to drop something at Bangalow, near Byron Bay in the morning. The guy has to say no as he is looking after his kids in the morning but Declan pipes up and base gives the job to us to take down. Sweet! That will cover the cost of the weekend easily.

So all is looking well on Friday night heading down to where we are staying at the Coast (aren't Mums great) until we get to Underwood and Deco realises he's forgotten his helmet....what a tool. After heading back to retrieve it we finally lob up at the Coast at about 10 in the evening.

Saturday morning rolls around and my alarm is blaring after what feels like about 20mins sleep but I'm out of bed in a flash, it's race day and the Freedom Marathon is one of the most spectacular rides of the year. We drop off the light bulbs that we have ferried down to Bangalow at great expense to someone and we up at the race start with nearly two hours to spare.

The race itself was fairly uneventful from my point of view, I couldn't really get going all that well. Normally I can push my HR up to about 180bpm on the climbs and tick along at over 170 for hours but this time I was struggling to even reach 160. I could feel it too. My legs were good and I was climbing strongly but everything was just being done at a much slower rate than normal. It's frustrating but as long as I keep couriering all week I suppose I've got to accept that I'll be fatigued come the weekend.

I finished in 24th overall and 8th in my age group, ok but lower than I was hoping for. Well done to Declan who finished 5th in our age group and 15th overall. Hard luck for Aiden from work who also trooped down for the event. A cold he had picked up from his girlfriend saw him pull the pin after the first 12km loop.

We hung around for the presentations before finally getting back to Mum's at about 6pm. Both of us were exhausted and with the trip to Warwick the next day for the Dell XC 6hr neither of us stayed up past 9. More on the Dell coming soon.

Dirty Duo XC Duathlon

2009-09-22T03:15:00.000-07:00

Solo placegetters: Russell, Colin and Hubcap

I didn't know what to expect going into last Sunday's XC Duathlon at Hiddenvale. I hadn't done any multisport since the Tre-x finale way back at the start of the year.

I thought I'd be ok, I'd run well over the same distance the previous weekend and have been spending more time on the bike of late but it can all be a bit hit and miss trying to put the two together.

I rolled up still thinking the run was first, I thought this would suit me as I am a better rider than runner when I am tired, one of the lessons couriering teaches you is to suffer on a bike. Word quickly spread, however, that the ride would be first followed by the run.

I had no idea what the course on the bike would be like as I haven't ridden a lot of the trails at Hiddenvale. A quick look at the course map at least gave me an idea as to the number of hills we'd be riding. I got off to my usual plodding start only to be stuck behind slower riders as soon as we started climbing. I really need to be more aggressive at the start of these things, or perhaps riders who think Mt Gravatt is a tough climb should perhaps seed themselves a little further back.

The bike course was a great test of skill, fitness and finesse. A lot of very loose gravel, some nice drop offs, a killer climb about half way through, never ending rocks and baking heat just to make it really fun. I had no idea where I was positioned on the bike due to my lazy start and also there was no way to tell apart the soloists from the teams and riders just doing the ride. Nothing to do in that situation but put your head down and hope you don't blow up on the run!

I really did ride like a gumby, (sorry to anyone who was behind me on anything but the climbs) so you can imagine my surprise when I got into transition to hear "well done mate, you're in second". I could hardly believe it.

I felt pretty good for the first 4km of the run and quickly had another runner in sight who looked like he might be a soloist due to the amount of filth coating him. I passed him and found myself in the lead, for about 500m. The eventual winner went sailing past me on his way to recording an amazingly fast run time. There was no way I could have gone with him over the last 7km of the run. Not to worry.

I held on for the rest of the run to finish second in solo and beat most (maybe all) of the pairs home. A second podium finish in 8 days!!! And to think I was going to have the rest of the year off at one stage over winter.

I can't wait for the next race which at this stage is the Freedom Marathon in mid October.

See you out there!

Glasshouse 12km Trail Run

2009-09-16T04:37:00.000-07:00

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After so many attempts I've finally got a medal at a Glasshouse event!!

Last weekend saw the 20th running of the Glasshouse 100, Australia's premier 100mile trail run. I take my hat off to the guys and gals who do this race, you are all amazing, maybe one day.

There are several support races that run over the same weekend and since I have basically ridden my bike for the last 2 and a half years I thought I'd only subject myself to the 12km.

Of all the runs that I've done at Glasshouse (19 and counting) two particular courses stand out as my least favourite. They are the 10km for January and May (sorry Tamyka, the 30km is a lot better!) and the 12km in September.

The run starts at one of the lookouts with a steep, paved descent. This quickly gives way to a well graded but rocky fire road. It levels off after about 1.5-2km and is basically well used dirt roads with no real hills to speak of until the last 2km which has some narrow "single track" sections.

I thought I'd be fairly competitive given I'd come 6th in the last run over this exact course and 6th in a similar run the went up hamburger hill to finish. (I much prefer this big climb at the end of the runs, why is everyone else happy to go the other way round???)

Eventual winner Warren Young (who is ironically 46!), Kenny and I took off from the gun and were never headed throughout the race. The front two shared the lead for about 3km when Warren streaked away never to be seen again. I was still able to see Kenny at the Caves Road checkpoint but I think he was able to pull some time on me on some of the gradual and long descents in the final stage.

I had a few moments of concern with the fourth placed runner being close enough to see on some of the more open sections but I was able to finally hang on to 3rd overall out of about 110 runners.

To think I was so close to having the rest of the year off any a few weeks ago. I guess it just shows that sometimes you can be so close and keep coming up with nothing.

Photo is of the 12km top three.

Flight Centre Epic

2009-09-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

DNF.

It's the first time in 12 years that those letters have appeared next to my name. There have been some capitulations at enduros but this is the first time since the BBC Cross Country at ANZAC Park in 1997 that I haven't covered the requisite distance at a race. I've got to say that it hurts, really hurts.

I don't care about what the guys at work say, or if I had the 'flu and all of my family try to convince me that I hadn't recovered. Nor do I accept that 7 months of compromised training is to blame. Sometimes the performance you turn in on race day just isn't good enough for your own expectations. Epic '09 for me will stand out as one of those days.

It all started off well enough, registered early (jeez I hope the Glasshouse crew aren't reading this!) was up at the start line with heaps of time to spare, had Dad primed to crew for the day and got myself a good spot up near the front for the start.

I like having a climb right from the start at the Epic, it gives the serious riders a chance to get away before the narrow technical descent through Ma Ma Creek. In previous years this hasn't been an issue as I have been the kind of rider the serious riders are looking to get away from so I don't hold them up, not so this year. I've been holding my own on the rougher sections so I went hard from the start to be with the top (non-elite) riders when we got to Ma Ma.

I was sitting on the front, setting the pace, working in tandem with my mate Brendon (who I'd ridden with last year) when disaster, in the form of a flat front tyre, struck. I only lost a few minutes changing it but it meant I was buried back in the pack. For the first time ever in MTB, I was being held up on descents.

I eventually got past a lot of the people who had passed me as I changed my tube but in the ensuing chase of the front runners I went too hard for too long. The pace I was trying to ride, coupled with heat left me with debilitating cramps in both legs.

I pulled the pin just after the third checkpoint. I had ridden just over 85km but any slight incline was proving too much for me to climb on the bike and I didn't have the motivation to push on just to finish.

In spite of my terrible effort the following people still did more than was asked of them.

TK and Alex of Bike and Cycle Obsession, my Anthem was primed for the race. Dad, for AGAIN! doing a great job of crewing. You should have seen the pro bottle hand-outs from a moving car!! James from Entire Health Physio and Allied Health, I wouldn't have been back on the bike so soon if it wasn't for him.

Well done to Hillbilly for completing his first Epic and Trish for finishing the Half. Sounds like both of you went through hell to get over the line, THAT'S THE WAY!!!!

As a result of this latest effort I've decided to take some time off racing while I refresh mentally and try to get back into riding just for the fun of it. At this stage my next serious race will be the Freedom Marathon at the end of October, I'll be racing before then but I might take the time to look around and enjoy my surroundings.

3plus3 Enduro MTB

2009-08-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

In spite of the condition of my feet and legs from the morning's run the first day of the 3plus3 was great fun.
The first day was run over the same course as the Merida 24hr. After an expected sluggish start I warmed up to the task at hand and even though I was never going to be competitive I still really enjoyed the riding. It's a great location and course, do get out there to ride if you haven't already.
I finished my last lap about 3 minutes after the three hour mark so I would have to be content with 6 laps, pity, but I know it was going to be tough to back up from the run in the morning. Still it was enough to put me in front of Hillbilly and our mate Nathan who was a big rival of mine running cross country in high school (been racing this guy for 13 years now!!)
Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay into the evening for the festivities as I had some family commitments to attend. Sounded like everyone out there had a ball, I saw an unusual amount of empty rum containers for a bike race, with maybe the exception of the last Alley Cat (messenger race) I went to.

I can't recall a lot of day two. I woke up very stiff and sore but put it down to the previous day's antics. The day two course in my opinion was tougher than the first day but apparently I'm wrong as everyone else I spoke to disagreed.
Anyways I started to feel really sluggish on the second lap and pulled the pin after a bit over two hours. After taking 3 hours to drive the 120km home I fell into bed and slept for 20hours. I moped about the house until Tuesday morning when I woke up with a temperature and got taken to the doctor. Turns out I had raced all weekend with the 'flu (don't know if it was swine) and the order from the quack was to have the whole week off!!! I nearly went crazy being stuck at home.

Held onto fifth in my age group although Hillbilly will protest this for the rest of the year, unlucky champ!!!

See you all at the Epic!! It's going to be great!

Glasshouse Trail Run

2009-08-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

A change of pace recently swapping two wheels for a pair of running shoes. I have always enjoyed cross country running and the Glasshouse series of runs are a perfect way to satisfy my craving for some dirt based racing.

The July race sees three races contested of 10km, 25km and 50km. Since I've spent nearly the whole year on the bike I thought I'd just do the 10km, plus I had to finish early enough to make it out to Grandchester for the 3 plus3 that afternoon.

It's a wonderful course with a nice big climb about 1.5km in. I was feeling strong so positioned myself with the front runners early on and managed to be second over the first climb, with the leader taking a wrong turn on the descent I found myself leading as the course flattened off and worked it's was out to Caves Rd and the first checkpoint. My time in the lead didn't last long as the stronger road runners were able to pull away on the flatter terrain. A group of three quickly established a 1 minute lead and I was pushed back to fifth with my mate Sandon also getting about 30 seconds ahead of me. I was in fifth through the Caves Rd checkpoint and was able to work hard along the fire road to catch back up to fourth by the bottom of the second climb of the day.

Looking to try to run down the leaders I attacked on the climb and after bringing my breakfast back up about half way up I was able to pull away and move comfortably into fourth. Even though I pushed hard into the second checkpoint I wasn't able to gain any time back and had a fast finishing runner round me up over the final 2km.

I still managed to hang on for fifth place, which I was pretty happy with given my complete lack of running for four months. It was also the closest I'd ever been to the eventual winner being less than four minutes down at the finish.

It was great to finally feel competitive again after some poor efforts recently and it's always a great morning up at Glasshouse. Unfortunately I wasn't able to hang out and catch up with my mates there as I had to bail to drive the two hours out to Grandchester to race again that afternoon.

Some bad news was the condition of my feet after the run over a sandy and wet course, check out the photo of the blood blister around the ball of my right foot. Gotta love it!!

Noosa Enduro

2009-07-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

Looking to redeem myself after a poor showing at the recent 24hr I headed north to the Noosa Enduro.

I had high hopes for this race after doing better than expected last year at my first attempt.

How often is it that when you go into a race looking to perform well that things don't go your way?? This was to be the case.

A cracked exhaust on the car on the drive set the tone for what was to be a long, physically and emotionally draining weekend.

Things started to look up on Sunday morning before the race, I woke up feeling refreshed and relaxed and headed to race looking for another fun day out around Pomona. You can imagine that this quickly turned to frustration on the start line when I realised I had two RH gloves and not enough time to get another LH glove from the car. Thanks to guys from Cognition who allowed to nick a set of gloves and pay for them after the race. Things looked to be on the improve as we rolled out of town, I was way down toward the back of the pack after missing the race start but started to quickly move through the field until we hit the first little rise in the road and my gears started to jump all over the place. I was really gutted by this development. The trouble with the gears persisted unabated to the extent that I was going to pull the pin at the first check point, the Worm Farm. However rolling down the hill and through the checkpoint the cheers of the crowd motivated enough to at least ride on a bit further. I was still contemplating pulling the pin at half way but I'd figured out by that point that I had seven of the normal 27 gears available to me. Having a few very low and a few very high gears I thought I'd be able to push on through the second half of the course as it mostly big climbs and big descents.

I rolled through half way in about 2.30hrs sitting about 15th or so in my category. I hit the fire road and single track from Pomona out to Kin Kin with a renewed vigour and enthusiasm, even started to pull some places back and caught a few of the elite riders!! After doing my customary surge on the Mother (ie walking quickly rather trudging along slowly) I pushed really hard up the next big climb up toward the arm pumper. After holding it together on the arm pumper I tried to relax and keep a good rhythm through to Kin Kin.

I got to Kin Kin in about 4.15hrs but the lack of gears and my mental state were starting to take their toll on me. A quick fuel up on Endura and some cold water over my head and I was ready to take on what is in my opinion the hardest section of the course, those farm land climbs seemed to go on forever when you're hurting. After a long climb that turned very rocky toward the top it quickly became apparent to me that I'd pushed too hard up until this point. I struggled to keep pedalling and was suffering from cramps in both quads. After five hours of battling the bike and pushing myself I was starting to wonder how I would go trying to nurse myself back to the finish. I don't really remember a lot from the last hour of so of the race until I realised I was only about a kilometre from the finish.

It was nice to still finish the race in spite of all that had transpired for the weekend and even more surprising to see that I'd finished 11th in my category and 37th overall, down on last year and worse than I was hoping for, but considering I was about to pull the pin at 30km I wasn't too dejected.

The good will I was feeling from the results quickly soured when I went to hose down my bike and heard a clunking noise from the rear of it. I did not want to find that I damaged the shock, wheel bearings or rear suspension. A short investigation revealed a loose quick release axle on the rear wheel. Could that have been the cause of all the trouble I'd had throughout the race?? Admittedly the chain was close to needing to be replaced but a loose wheel for 100km cannot have helped. I had changed the rear tyre on Saturday night and it could have been that I did not tighten the axle properly, amateur mistake.

Lesson learned though, I think that will be something I'll check every time I ride for the rest of my life.

Big thanks to Andy and Jo for putting me up for the night, the guys at Cognition for the gloves and TK for having the bike tip top before I got my grubby paws on it. And last but not least USM Events and all the sponsors that make the Enduro possible, it is a great race and everyone should go and do it.

Glasshouse trail run and 3+3 MTB next weekend should prove a nice double.

See you out there, I'll be the one checking my QR skewers every nine kilometres.

Hubcap

Photo is of Dan and Will eyeing off dinner at Andy and Jo's. Pizza, pasta, garlic bread, beer and Endura. There was something for everyone.

Insomnia 24hr and EOFY

2009-07-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

Insomnia 24hr

Last weekend saw the third annual running of the Insomnia 24hr and once again Brisbane turned on it's best weather for the event. Above average rainfall recently meant the track had to be shortened from 17km to 7km. As much as the really muddy sections tried to be avoided even the "dry" parts of the course were muddy, slippery or muddy and boggy (that section out the back!!)

I really wasn't enjoying the ride at all so I pulled the pin after about 8 hours. I'd only ridden 100km to that point but felt like it was closer to 200km. I guess it is going to happen from time to time that things won't go to plan at these sort of races but it was a disappointing weekend on a whole.

Some positives to take away from it though. I tried a new tyre combo for the conditions that worked really well. One climb that was proving impossible at the recent six hour was a breeze, well comparitively.

I used a Maxxis Medusa on the back which provided heaps of drive uphill and a Maxxis Ignitor on the front which proved very useful for some front end control. Thanks to TK, MattDog and Hillbilly for the advice on these tyres, pity I didn't put them to much use..... Will certainly reaching for them again the next time the weather turns nasty.

At least the fairly easy weekend left me pretty fresh for one of the busiest times of year at work!!! End Of Financial Year, bring it on!!!

EOFY

A poor performance on the weekend left me fresh and fired up for some hard riding leading up to EOFY.

Did no-one in Brisbane get that memo from "Ferguson" in accounts??? Tuesday was the end of financial year and it was an absolute fizzer, guess it makes sense, new year's is rarely as good as it should be, only this one consisted of lot less bourbon than the calendar one. Even 1/7 proved busier than the previous day, the 30th. Not to worry though the rest of the week chugged along nicely and the Friday was on like Donkey Kong. Nothing like riding like a maniac all day in those lovely westerly winds pumping through the city!

See you all at Noosa!!!

Hubcap

Insomnia, not long now

2009-06-24T05:33:00.000-07:00

Insomnia 24hr is this weekend.

I don't know about you but I can't wait.

Admittedly it hasn't been a great lead in. I've done one ride off-road since the last race. The Merida 24hr really knocked a lot more out of me than I initially thought. I felt pretty good immediately after the race and for the next 48hrs but after rolling up at work on Tuesday and hammering myself all day, (I think the third job of the day took me up Spring Hill) I started to suffer some pretty severe swelling in my right leg. Basically the muscle tissue was trying to swell within the muscle fascia and it was crushing the blood vessels and nerves in my lower leg. Check out Wikipedia's article on compartment syndrome if you like. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartment_syndrome

After three weeks of anti-inflammatory medication and pain killers I woke up one Sunday and lo and behold my, leg was fine, it hasn't troubled me since? LUDICROUS!

I'll be coming in with a fairly limited training base but I feel good on the bike and I'm really looking forward to the challenge. I'll just try to have some fun throughout the night and see where I am positioned and how I'm feeling when the morning rolls around.

See you all Saturday, unless you're being soft and going to a mate's birthday and not the race.

Cheers,
Hubcap

THANKS HEAPS NRG

2009-05-10T03:12:00.000-07:00

I felt I needed to put this in here.

I don't normally go to NRG Cycles at Jindalee. Nothing personal, it's a bit out of my way, my pit crew TK doesn't work there and I don't ride a brand of bike that they sell.

For reasons I won't go into here I wasn't able to get my forks serviced where I normally would have.

I rang up NRG two weeks before the Merida 24 to see if they could help me get my forks rebuilt and returned to me in time for the 24hr. They stayed back on Monday night after closing time to allow me to do the mad dash from the city to Jindalee (on the single speed with a Crumpler full of gear no less, thanks to all the roadie commuters who towed/got burnt by me) to drop my forks off. By the following Thursday (that's 8 business days) my forks were rebuilt and back at the shop for me to pick up.

This was amazing that these guys did this so quickly and cheaply. I don't know how I would have gone at the 24hr on the forks I was using (see Frankenbike and the 6 hour).

So thank you very much to all the crew at NRG, Gavin, Erin, Merv, Rob and Lydia. You guys are all legends.

You can check them out at www.nrgcycles.com.au or call them 3712 0821

Now get off the computer and hit the trails.

Hubcap

Merida 24hr

2009-05-10T02:11:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Sorry it has taken so long to update my blog, I'm still struggling to type due to nerve damage in both hands but more about that later.

As we arrived a little later than hoped on the Saturday I had no time to do a practice lap but with 24hrs to find my way around I wasn't too concerned about not nailing everything on the first lap. Besides I'm hardly renowned for nailing A-lines at any stage of anything.

I don't know if I would have been so excited about the race had I seem the course in advance, we thought it would rough and rocky so bike set-up followed suit. The suspicions proved accurate as a challenging but still rewarding course was on offer.

The first kilometre basically climbed up a grass out of transition (which seemed to get steeper as the hours wore on) after a brief foray down a fast dirt road (in the Dog all race) the next kilometre was rocky and very rough with some challenging sections particularly some rock drop offs in quick succession that deteriorated throughout the race and proved my undoing on a few occasions as fatigue started to set in. A few faster and more flowing sections followed before what was the only other real section of climbing in the course, being broken up into short sections it proved to be more upsetting to the rhythm than particularly taxing. The second half of the course was far less technical with some wickedly fast sections that got a bit damp in the early morning if you strayed off the race line. From the seven kilometre mark all the way back to transition was flat enough to be ridden in the Dog all race.

Just about perfect weather greeted us as we rolled out for a midday mass start. This gave us a great afternoon of fast riding as we all settled into our respective rhythms and learned to listen out for team Merida riders as they came caning past at ridiculous speeds. It was amazing to watch some of the best riders in Australia really hammer around the course. From about 3pm however dark clouds were seen to be massing in all directions and word filtered through about a storms rolling through the area. The first rain started to fall at about 4-4.30 on the first arvo (I'm not sure, I don't want to know the time that early in these races) but thankfully wasn't heavy nor did it hang around for long.

The cloud cover did for a while though which kept things a bit warmer into the evening. I stopped at about 6.30 for a undershirt and some arm warmers which proved adequate for the rest of the night.

The night riding was great, I really had a ball all night. TK was doing his usual amazing job in the pits with lights, food and drinks which makes things easy on me, all I have to do is keep riding. I knew I was losing ground to the big hitters as I had been lapped a few times by Matt Powell and Shaun Bekkers. I wasn't too concerned with how the other guys were going I was just trying to focus on keeping myself fed, hydrated and in good spirits ("eat, drink and be merry" was the mantra for the weekend) Even throughout the two hours leading up to dawn I was still riding strong and finding the going pretty easy.

With dawn however came a new challenge, I was well on my way to riding my goal distance and was sitting inside the top 5. I don't know whether I was just tiring or maybe had got a bit complacent but I had a nasty fall on the dawn lap, and aside from a pedal into the back of one leg there was no major damage but it's just the sort of thing that you don't need at that stage of a race.

It was something of the beginning of the end though. My hands were losing all feeling and strength as were my feet and the calf that copped the pedal was starting to give up on me. I pulled into the pits 9.30 after taking over an hour for that lap. I sat down for about an hour. I was sure I'd had enough and wouldn't be able to go on. Being almost unable to use the brakes is a problem. They were so weak I couldn't hold a banana in one hand. After sitting for a while, changing socks and gloves (first time in 21.30hrs) I stopped sooking around and went back out for two more laps.

I crossed the line just after midday having ridden 300+km for the first time in a 24 (first time ever in anything actually) and managed to finish 5th in solo men.

Congratulations to Bozza Bekkers for his first win in a 24, Mattdog for yet another great ride into second and to Dan Graham for rounding out the podium.

I'll see you all at Insomnia.

Hubcap

Frankenbike and the 6 hour

2009-04-08T05:49:00.000-07:00

Well the Geocentric 6 hour has been run and won in atrocious conditions. Full credit to Louise and Craig for putting on another great event despite the best efforts of Hughie. Unfortunately the course had to be shortened so as not to completely destroy the sweet single track that runs along the creek, but after Insomnia for the last two years I think we can all agree that it was best left out. Congratulations to Werner Wilson on his win, Sam Stow (2nd) and Matt Powell (3rd) for their efforts. Yours truly it would appear has been relegated to 6th (I was listed as finishing 5th on the day) may have to contact GAR about this one........

The train spotters amongst you may have noticed I was riding something of a Frankenbike last weekend. Unfortunately when TK stripped down my forks recently for a rebuild the damage done after all those muddy races last year was much worse than originally thought. So my forks get a trip down south to Dirt Works and I get to (again) hand over my hard earned. All was not to be lost however as TK was gracious enough to sacrifice his beloved Trance to loan me his (120mm not my usual 100mm) forks and front wheel for the race. I might add that I am also in need of some repair work on my front wheel, but since Industry 9 have dropped their Aussie distributor it is proving to be most difficult.

Bike issues aside I still had an absolute ball at the race. Nothing beats competing with yourself and your mates, although, I'd wish they'd play nice and let me win once in a while.

Thanks to Hillbilly for again giving up his day to come and crew for and also to Grant for tagging along, hope we didn't scare you too much mate.

Massive thank you to TK from Bike and Cycle Obsession for again doing a MacGyver like job of getting my bike ready for another race. And for sacrificing your bike for parts too.

Well it's late and sleep beckons. Look forward to seeing you all out there on the trails.

Breaking news (not really), the 24hr has been postponed. Such a shame, was looking forward to it. That's ok though, we can all sharpen up for the Merida 24hr now.

A Warm Welcome

2009-03-29T03:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome one and all to my blog.

A bit about me, my real name is Andrew, but most of you will know me as Hubcap. I am a mad keen endurance mountain biker and trail runner. I hope that this blog will help you all keep abreast of what I'm up to. I'll try to keep it up to date as best I can but races aren't won sitting at a computer.

You'll have to excuse the minimal amount of content, it's late and I'm not known for my computer literacy.

See you all soon.

Cheers.