World Champ... Again

Talk about setting the bar high....

Checkout what my mum has been upto..... http://onehourrecordattempt.blogspot.com/

For those that need a teaser, World Champ Time Trial and World Champ Road Race..... And its not the first time, yep, she can already officially wear the rainbow stripes.

Here's a pic and some text lifted from her Blog.
"So there you are. I have 2 more rainbow jerseys and 2 more gold medals, which is 5 jerseys and 15 medals in total. I also have to lug 2 HUGE trophies home..the TT one weighs 2 kgs, the RR on is 3kgs"

One day maybe.....

Castlemaine 6 hour

2 weeks in a row... and I reckon I'd make it 3 if it wasn't... well... um... Ok, no reason not to i guess. Think i probably should get over my cold first though.

This weekend Russell and I were teaming up in male pairs. Fired up with a new bike and the memories of an awesome race last year I was ready for a great day. Unfortunately the old lingering headcold decided to knock on the door again and I spent most of friday and saturday alternately shivering and sweating buckets. So I missed out on saturdays entertainment and "tapered" for Sunday.

The morning started great. 7am Russell arrives to pick me up. Start loading the car. Hmmm that rear car tyre looks a bit low.
It'll be ok, we'll pump it up at a servo. Continue loading car.
Is that tyre lower than before? Yep. Oh well, change time.
Hurdle #1, the hubcap. Downhill tyre lever got that off.
Hurdle #2, wheel nuts. Ok, the car has one of them undoing things, easy. Neg. Wrong size... Lucky the Hilux has the right size socket. Wheel changed and we are on the way.


About 10 mins down the road i get a txt from Mel, You Left Your Food Bag At Home. Damn! Turn around, back to the 'hoe and collect. Right. Ready.


An uneventful trip after that, arrived with plenty of time and ready to race, sort of.

Russell started the race and brought us in at the pointy end. Time to see if I was ok to race. Out to chase the front runners i managed to catch and pass Jack(Felt Racing) who was doing a double lap due to some logistial errors(turns out he was also on the flu train). So my legs were fine, head seemed ok and the lungs were as ok as you'd expect. Onto the new section of trail and I came up on the "dropoff". Not expecting it i might have come in a bit fast.

Back to transition and the first of our PRO changes, no Russell, look around, whoops there he is only a couple of seconds late. I can't talk. I did it on my next lap and the lap after that. I even did a lap sans gloves cause i wasn't ready, helmet on and go. Laps were too fast, 25-26 minutes.

I think by the 3rd or 4th lap we were in first and holding a 30second lead. The young guns of Torq were right there and it was on. Russ and I were hammering. The trail was magic. The bike, a rocket. I was crankin around having a ball. Launching over rock gardens, railing berms and flying up the hills.

Unfortunately we couldn't hold them off.

Funnily enough i think both Russ and I were happy to be back in second. With a healthy buffer to 3rd it was just a matter of railing around to finish.

Nice. Great trail, great race.

Big thanks to the whole Castlemaine crew for a great race and a great trail.

Think i may have coughed up a lung on the way home...

Flat tyre Jase?

First ride madness

After finishing the new ASR at work on saturday and riding the 575 on sunday it was time to take the new bike out for a spin.
A day off on tuesday sealed the deal.

First ride. Best to keep it local just incase of dramas. Yarra trails.

From my place down the bike path toward Darebin Park and the start of something good. Already the bike felt fast, being used to a 575 the more race oriented ASR was like a hardtail, only better.

Through the park toward the Yarra i hit up a few Sam Bach lines, awesome. Things were going to be good.

The trails were a bit greasy with occasional puddles, nothing to worry about.......

until this... time to wear the factory gloss off....

Thankfully that was the worst of it. "Hans' Loop" out at Westefolds was perfect. It was great to ride it in the daylight again.

Part of the Assembly and Prep of my new bike was to give it a thorough wipedown with silicon spray. It gives the frame a nice shine and most of mud will slide off as you ride. Whatever mud stays on the bike is easy to clean off come the end of the ride.

Sam Hill uses it so it must be good.

Probably smart not to get it on your brakes(rim or rotor), grips, pedals and anything else that you don't want super slipery.

Smells good too.

Alex's Latest Installment

Well the worlds training camp is on us!! The last two weeks have passed somewhat uneventfully from a training perspective, however the races have been quite interesting. Two weeks ago I travelled over into Lithuania for a 3-day race. The overall attracted a prize of about $400aus, so it could have been a big payout if the 3 races all went well.....


It didn't at all, and I was out of the GC race after a DNF in the first race. I was riding fast and orienteering well but 3/4 of the way through the 1 hour race I changed gear and the rear derailleur exploded. In the same ride I managed to snag my bars on a sapling, fall and shred my nix too......not happy Jan!!! I then had to pull a few strings to get a replacement and organise a Yeti hanger couriered from Spoke(n).
The other race was a marathon, but it was flat with a lot of bitumen and puddles. Our lead vehicle was a 4wd, which handily managed to spread muddy water all over the road just in time for us to ride through. Both Adrian Jackson and myself made the lead group of 4, but as one of them was an ex-pro roadie (who'd in the past won the Tour of Poland and a stage of the Dauphine Libere) he easily won the kick for the line. I had felt bad all day so 4th was a good result for me. We're now in a classy hotel (not!) in Nova Kaletka fine-tuning our navigation. Finished in white and mission brown its a communist classic. The champs themselves start on Monday, so I'll update once we've a few results to show.

What a day...

Epix. Castlemaine. what more can you say....

The full story will be on the Epix site eventually, with plenty of photos, so all I'll say is to get out there people... Awesome trails and the 575 tore them up.

The Castlemaine 6 hour is next weekend. Get on it!

Only a few Photos from todays ride,

Stairs, and plenty of them... Yep, i rode em.

The Blow Hole. Jase taking a photo of Ash at the other end of the tunnel.

After about 8 hours of riding, a few wrong turns, getting lost while already lost(guess that makes it loster) sweet sweet trails, rocks, stairs, roots, logs. 4 Torq bars and 2 peanut butter sandwiches. We were all pretty done in. Heading straight for home with only one stop required...

That ones for you joel...

Big shout out to Ash and Jase for the idea and Jake and Nick for the second half of the day(plus waiting patiently for us)

Cheers

As i mentioned earlier, the Jubber Land 6 hour is on next weekend. Russell and I will be racing. Rockin out on our new rigs. Got mine finished just yesterday.

Duffman says "Oh Yeah!!!"

And congrats to Bellie for winning the solo category at Lysterfield today. Only 20seconds ahead of 2nd place. Closest enduro finish ever...

Good Luck...

To those riding the last round of the Anaconda Enduro Series at Lysterfield on sunday. 8 hours in the mud... Awesome.

But seriously, I hear the track is in excellent condition.

Due to a lack of interest from the Queensland connection(apparently its too cold down here) the other option box has been ticked for Team Yeti... Time for another EPIX!

Destination.... Castlemaine.

Awesome trails that i haven't visited for years and a route devised by the locals, what could possibly go wrong!!! The 575 is prep'd and ready for a big day...


In other news.........

Look out! Another bike build....

Thomson, XO, Juicy Ultimates, XTR, Easton Carbon, Chris King, SLRs, 2009 Fox Fork..... All the good stuff... More photos when its finished

I've heard 3 rotor bolts saves weight

Harkway XC

WINNER!!

The weekend started with me sleeping in and missing my departure time to get on the hell ride(sorry Bellie), I managed to get myself together and down to St Kilda just in time for the usual Spoke(n) beach road ride. Happy to roll with the group for a bit we rolled our way toward mordy.

After Black Rock i was getting bored. Solution? Attack! Lead out at 50 kph and try and hold the front as long as possible. Usual stuff.

On the way back from mordy it was more of the same. A good hitout and back to St Kilda by 9am for breakfast and to open the shop at 10.

After work it was home for food and a friends birthday party. Beers, Mates, Shit talking, dirty jokes, more beer and then it was 2am. Time for home and sleep.

Up at 6am. Look at my bike. Nothing is ready. Lucky i got up early.
On advice from the internet i changed my tyres to some new Maxxis Medusa mud tyres. The winning move i reckon....

It was pretty obvious the race was going to be wet and cold. The rain wasn't going away and it was a struggle to suit up.

C & D grades raced first, it was hard to tell whether their faces showed enjoyment or not.One thing was clear, the track was muddy. Real muddy.

I didn't do a sighting lap of the course, didn't even really warm up.

My secret weapon would be deployed today... Old Skool MX gloves! Super warm, super white, SUPER Fluro.. The camera just can't capture the brilliance...

We lined up and BANG! off we went. 7th place off the line. Chasing James Dickey, Joel Reed and Rohin Adams. Jack Lamshed, James Maebus and Matt Molan were further ahead.

The Mud was awesome. slick goopy muck, water, slops, minimal traction, drift-o. Ride it like its dry.....

Lap one i was on fire, riding when people were off walking, running when off the bike, loving the traction of a brand new set of tyres.

Kinda forgotten the order of things but this'll do... Through lap one i passed James D(on V-brakes and crossmarks. Wrong answer Dude!!), Matt, Rohin and then Joel. Up ahead was Maebus and Jack.

Lap 2 and I passed Maebus on a run and attacked Jack on a slippery pinch. The tyres won and i was in the lead! 3 laps to go, the track got harder to ride and most climbs became a run. By the last lap the single track climbs we off the bike, flat sections sucked at your wheel and the descents were out of control.

They never caught me.

1st Ben

2nd Joel

3rd Rohin

Awesome. Love the mud...

Random Photos to make it seem like there are things happening when there really isn't...

Doing my bit for the national average

On Saturday before the mudfest that was Lysterfield, Ryan decided that the best way to assemble his bike was from inside his bike box, in my driveway. Yes, that is Ryan...

I really don't know. No it's not broken

A bit of downtime from racing/riding has let me catch up with old friends. 17 inch wheels, 3 inch exhaust, lowered at least 10 inches, look carefully and you can see the turbo in the back.... yep that's the motor from a Subaru WRX in there. Parked a few years ago due to overheating issues, go figure...

GO!

Well, that's all i got for the moment. The slightly cold weather and CBF's have made it quiet on the riding front.

Managed to get out on the usual Wednesday night ride, crashed twice and ended up with 2 flats.

Did the hell ride Saturday for the second time ever and got schooled on the way back. 53-11 into a headwind, sorry mate I'd love to do a turn but I'm struggling to hold your wheel.

Now where's that rocky decent or log ride when you need one..........

More From Alex

A Week In Warsaw

After the basic living of our shack we had a pleasant surprise in store for us for a change. The flat in central Warsaw turned out to be clean, modern, comfortable and spacious enough even for two extra short-term lodgers. On Tuesday we said goodbye to Melanie until the Worlds, and also AJ.....off to France to ride in the Hexagonal VTT TDF (see his blog for more details).


We had been told about a marathon style race to be held on the weekend. A local race team paid our entries and got us and the bikes to the race about 3 hrs north of Warsaw. It was mostly on forest roads, but these are often either soft or very bumpy, so it wasn't an easy ride.


I opted for the half-distance (51km) which was a 1hr 50 race. I managed a 3rd overall, which was great for the confidence. I was a little pissed off with the first place, as 5km from the end we had managed to get away together. After I had got onto him he motioned me to take a turn, which I did. He then attacked me straight away. I got onto himagain, and sat. He again motioned me to take a turn (the cheek!).We were getting caught by the next bunch, so I realised I needed to do the turn or we'd be caught. Once again as I did a turn he attacked and this time stayed away.....a little short on etiquette!!!


Alex

Oh why....

Yeti Argyle Socks........Ben's not a fan, but Rhino is..

Cool Stuff

Found this on ebay....

Nice.... well.... apart from the 60 bucks US they cost. Worth it??? maybe....