News from over there..

Hi From Poland

After the obligatory 24hrs in a plane to get to Europe a hotel for the first night's sleep was the way to go. There were 3 of the Mountainbike Orienteering (MTBO) crew in on the same day so sharing accommodation and some transport to the race area lowered the costs somewhat. Despite many years of communist rule the country is beautiful, with fantastic sand-dune forests and an abundance of blueberries and rasberries ripe to pick almost wherever you ride.

The 6-day, 7 stage race was about 3 hours north of Warsaw, and featured 2 world ranking events (WRE - our version of a world cup race). Given the worlds will be about 20k from this location almost all of the worlds best were there trying out their form.

We met up with our NZ friends and #1 OZ rider Adrian Jackson (fresh from his BC Bike race successes) at our hut for the week. It was pretty basic fare, but at $25/day it is hard to expect more. I unpacked my ARC and went for a bit of a ride. Trails were sandy and a bit rough as soon as you left the main vehicular roads. I found that the best option was to run my tyres at about 20-22psi (love those Stan's rims!) and the effect of having a hardtail was minimised.

The Races: Racing went very well for most of us. After a wet and muddy start to the week, the days for the WRE's dawned fine - but with muddy puddles everywhere. Adrian won both races, one closely and the other convincingly. I had two solid (if a little jetlagged) rides to score a 5th and an 8th, which was better than I could have expected for such a close flight. The rest of the week saw wins for AJ almost all the way through, and first on GC. I had two easy days (as I continually seemed to wake at 4.30am) then rode the last race hard for a 4th place on the day, and 5th on GC.

One of the problems of trying to navigate whilst mtb riding is that you aren't looking what you are riding over. On the last race I managed to crash spectacularly! I think that it was a stick that caught in the front wheel, or perhaps I caught the pedal on something.....I don't really know as I was reading the map at the time!!! All I heard was a clunk, then half a second later the bike pivoted on the front wheel and I was catapulted over the bars. AJ was 100m ahead and it was loud enough that he heard and turned to see me tumbling along the road. In his words he "slowed up to see if I was ok....as those are the sort of crashes you sometimes don't get up from". A sore hip and shoulder was all the damage I had, and I was able to get back on the bike without delay.

All for now

Alex

QLD Yeti......

Well, I have been on my YETI for 18 days, and its been amazing. 2 races under the belt, good amount of singletrack, and one huge beaming smile!

This morning was a great single track session through Daisy Hill. We avoided most of the wet trails, and stayed mainly on the tight and twisty.
Gaz, who rides a lovely medium white 575, also rode and lead the group. So two yeti's were happily flowing through the trails. And we even had time for a nice little 'gun show'...
And finally found a photo from the Noosa Enduro. With the bike built only the day before, and no time to cut the steerer on the FOX forks, its was rigid loving. The face might not show it, but I was having a pretty good day.
Two races, and both of them the most muddy I have been for 3 years. Oh well, good for the skills. Anything that can get me that little bit quicker to try and hold Bens wheel.....

More wreckage from the weekend...

You'll need the sound on for this....

Gotta love racing in the mud...

Photo dump....

A truck full of happiness........Ben, Rhino and Russ on a day trip.
Bellie, Ben and Rhino singing the national anthem at the MonsterTrucks...
Rhino is from QLD.....this isn't normal...
All the big teams were at the race, and 2 sneaky blokes from YETI managed to get some marketing done. Spot the YETI banner.....
Ah....the GUN SHOW.


Happy Birthday BEN!!!!!

Chase the Sun

All clean, and ready.

Racing, rhino was cold.
Ben was charging.
No leg warmers.....thats insane!
The only result that matters........
We raced pro pairs, and for a team honestly entered to have 'fun', we nipped on the heals of the pro pro teams most of the day. Ben has had close to 3 weeks of the bike, and rhino has been in downtime since overseas.

Some interesting facts;
Team Yeti raced on a single kit for the whole day each.
Team Yeti rode for many hours on Saturday.
Team Yeti went to the monstertrucks on Saturday Night.
Team Yeti may or may not have had a 'couple' of beers on Friday night.

All good, the team is up and runing, and the next big 2 man team race is in New Zealand.

Rocking.

A Big Weekend of Racing

Huge weekend of biking going on around the world. Tour De France coming down to the wire with the final time trial set to decide the winner. Sounds familiar. GO CADEL!

The World 24Hour Solo race is up too. With a heap of Aussies over there could be another podium call... Claxton, Toohey, Bailey, Maroney, Fenner, Peacock... plus more. All ready to do battle. Crazy times.

But the big race of the weekend is Round 3 of the Anaconda Enduro series at Lysterfield. 7 Hours of fury and mud!



It'll be Ryan and Ben's first outing as Team Yeti. Having only ever raced one enduro before, as the Delta Force with our bikes wrapped in camo, anything is possible.


Ryan will be cutting laps on his new ARC and Ben will be giving the new 575 a thrashing. Melbourne has been throwing up some awesome weather this week just to welcome our Queensland Connection..... Cold enough Rhino??

Readers Rides...

Alex Randall's 2008 ARC

Built for racing its one sweet ride.

Specs

Fork - 08 Rockshox Sid World Cup

Headset - Crank Bros Opium

Wheelset - TWE

Gears - XO gripshift, XO rear Derailleur, XTR front Derailleur

Brakes - Avid Juicy Ultimate 160front, 140rear

Cranks - XTR

Tyres - Schwalbe Racing Ralph

Grips - Oz Riders White foam

Pedals - Time

Stem - Thomson

Post - Thomson Masterpiece

Saddle - SLR Ti rail

Extras - Amoeba Carbon Barends, King Ti cages, Nokon gear cables, ceramic bearings throughout

Alex has headed overseas to race the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships In Poland. Visit the Australian MTBO website for details.

We'll be posting his race reports as we get them...

19.3lbs Yeti Asr-Carbon

Found on MTBR...
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=426279

Looks like Ben and I have some planning to do when out carbon beasts arrive later this year. Its a weird and wonderful build.......specs listed below.
2008(?) ASR-Carbon Medium frame w/RP23 shock 2160g (4 1/4 lbs? More like 4 3/4 lbs)Shimano crank bearings/bearing holders/plastic spacers/plastic center cover (included in frame above)
2007 Lefty Speed Carbon SL shock 1250g
Custom made CF/Al 1 1/8 to Lefty steerer adapter 125g
XTR M975 disc brake levers and calipers (tuned)
Scrub Components 160mm front rotor (56g)
Hope Mono Mini Pro 140mm rear rotor (58g)
Syntace F99 Ti bolt 120mm stem
Schmolke SL 560mm flat bar (97g)
KCNC BE1 bar ends (48g)
ESI race silicone grips
Sram twist X0 shifters w/al. clamp bolts
Alligator I link shifter housings
PowerCordz shifter cables
Crank Brothers Cobalt SL headset (65g)
Tune Gum Gum headset starnut with carbon cap and al bolt
5mm plastic steerer spacer
XTR M970 175mm crank arms (335g)
Extralite Octaramp 44 and 30t chainrings (2x9) (86g)
Aluminum chainring bolts/spacers, etc...EggBeaters 2Ti with Ti short axles (173g)
Campagnolo Record Ti Compact braze on FDParlee 34.9 carbon FD adapter/clamp
KMC X10SL Gold chain 106 links (228g)
'08 Sram X0 medium cage RD with carbon pulleys and carbon inner cage plate (173g)
Nino Ti 11-34 SL cassette (178g)
Tune SpeedNeedle Alcantra seat (85g)
Tuned (mildly) Yeti ASR-C seat clamp assembly (195g - ouch! I`m gonna fix this one)
No Tubes ZTR Race 7000 Lefty front wheel including Lefty axle bolt and extraction cap (570g)DT190 rear hub/DT tuned centerlock to IS disc adapter/DT Revolution 2.0-1.7-2.0 spokes/al nipples/ZTR Olympic rear rim 32hole (722g)
Yellow tape and Olympic valve stems in both front and rear wheels
Tune Skyline rear MTB bolt on skewer (13g)
Continental SpeedKing Supersonic 2.3 front tire (456g)
Continental RaceKing World Cup 2.2 rear tire (480g)
No Tubes sealant in both tires (3-4 ounces)

2008 Yeti Arc

Since I was 14 years old, I have always wanted a YETI ARC. I would buy all the US magazines for the reviews on the yeti, and even remember a freewheel review on the ARC that praised it to the high heavens. Mine arrive last Friday, and it was cruel to have the boxes sitting behind me while I worked.
I left work early, and quickly got home to get the build happening. Not one who spends too much time on spanners, it was great to build up the bike myself. The only thing missing was a beer sitting on the toolbox. Once built, I stood back and grinned. She was a beauty.
The Yeti got the final 'race prep' touches before the start of the 110km (112km!!) Noosa Enduro. I ran a set of Pace Carbon Rigid forks, just for laughs, but the smile of that soon went halfway into the race when after fixing a flat, and using a CO2 canister to fill the front I must have had 50spi that made the front very stiff. The frame itself, was everything I have dreamed about for almost 14 years. It was comfortable, and fast...climbed like a goat, and went downhill like a dream. It was, in a single word, brilliant.
It seemed a shame, that the first race for the ARC was a mud bath, but it keep the smiles up the whole race. The next time a number gets put on the bike, will be when Ben and I team up together for the Chase the Sun in Victoria. It should be fun, not sure what bike ben will ride....but we will be there!!!!

Similar yet different

Yarra trails, the perfect place to get comfortable with the new bike. I did get out on one tougher trails last sunday but a few things just weren't right...

Decending at speed with brand new brakes is great until you need to stop.

So after a few setup tweaks it was time for some closer(and easier) trails

Groomed. Sometimes a bit muddy. But always great...

Finally getting the hang of the new bike. Even started getting a bit of "Aussie Style" drift on... until I hit a greasy patch

Front wheel gone, back wheel, tried to ride it down like Steve Peat but the survival instinct took hold. You can see the foot plant, there's a hand plant just above it and a knee somewhere in there as well. Filled the derailleur up with dirt and a pedal. Too funny. Pity no one was there to see.

Rockin. Almost as good as when i burnt a hole in my shoe... eh Rhino??

G'Day Chris Winn!!

Got an email from Chris Winn, an ex Yeti rider from Melbourne town now OS living the dream.



Chris rocked some serious chops... I think (you can confirm for us mate) he even won a chop-off between a few internationals including Jeff Kabush....

any photos out there?


Smashing around on the local and international MTB scene for years he's switched to the road and picked up a team ride. Awesome stuff...


Thanks for the pic mate...

Piece of History

Gone...

the 575 is No More, Sold. Never to be ridden again... well, not by me at least.

I got a message early in the week "are you selling your yeti?" Of course, everything is for sale. At the right price...

A few emails, a spec list, price, viewing, test ride, "I'll have to think about it", then 2 minutes later "I'll take it!"

Gone. The bike that won the 2007 Subaru 12hour Solo.

Gone to a better place and the new owner couldn't be happier.

As for me, upgrades....

whats in the box??

Ah... the old out of focus spy pics

all i have to do now is finish building it........

Eddie

Former MTB racer and one of the original recipe Felt Enduro Team boys, Eddie Wilson, has entered the dark world of Blogs...

Eddie is one fast fella on the track and has custom pants

I tried to find a photo of Eddie from the MTB days but all i could get from google was this....