Tuff Guy/Idiot of the Year

The award goes to this guy...

For spending 1, maybe 2 years with this....

Yep... chipped bone. That little smiling piece of bone is supposed to be attached to the bigger one. And, according to the doctor, the whiteish line around it means its starting to heal.. Been there for awhile yeah.

New Zealand 12 hour? yep.

Ararat DH? yep.

Subaru 12hour? yep.

8th of december it gets removed..............

New Tyres and Thorn Bushes

Since getting an ASR my 575 has been left in the corner a bit. So, to give it spruce up I decide to try some new tyres.
Maxxis tyres have been my tyre of choice for a few years now. Larsen TT, High Roller, Crossmark, Ignitor, Medusa, Rendez(the tyre that doesn't exist according to maxxis.com) even some Minion DH tyres.
The new tyre to try is called Ardent, its a large casing 2.25 all mountain tyre. Perfect for a long travel XC bike. The only drama is it doesn't come in tubeless. So its back to tubes....

Straight away these tyres look the goods. Fast rolling centre strip and wider spaced side knobs for traction. Lean over on the footpath and you can feel the change in tread.

On the trail these tyres are great. The centre strip rolls fast and hooks up well, lean over and it bites into the trail. I had a set of 2.35 Ignitors on before and found them a little squirmy in cornering. The lower profile knobs of the Ardent keep the bike in control through corners and drift time is super controlled.

SO much super cool drift it was sure to get me in trouble.....
Yep, i rode off the trail and into a thorn bush.
Boo.
Now I'm a bit scuffed up on the lower legs, as usual

Worst bit was fishing myself out of the thorns, every move meant more jabs. Plus my rear tyre got a thorn in it. First flat in years and my spare has an extra hole. Time for a little bit of MacGyver work.

Awesome. Gets me to work, just.....

2009 Yeti Jersey's

The new 2009 Jerseys (promo design) are a success, and with the power of the blue bonds singlet, Rhino was able to capture another win aboard the lovely tourquise beast...
Sacrifices had to be made however, and the result of a mis-timed pedal stroke created a nice crater into my shin.

South Australia National Round

with thanks to Tim McGrath

Not really spy pics but still super cool...

Pit Lane

"Old Man" Collett on the attack.....

Parcel

A nice little parcel arrived on my desk today.......

Sent up from Melb from ben.........so far all I know is that its blue.

And upon opening it up, its a Blue YETI bonds siglet.

How very Australian......

Now I just have to wait for the YETI stubbie shorts to arrive.......

Trails Re-Revisited

Once again its been a bit quiet on the racing front. Been hitting up the road recently grinding that bigring and showing those roadies the MTB style. Attack early and Attack often.

Went to Joel and Sarah's pre-wedding party and watched the big man retire gracefully to a garden bed..... On Ya Champ. Well Done!

Another local rider suffered that night.... eat something wrong??? or was it the empty bottle of Beam....


Time to hitup some old trails
Good to see the new 575 still fits in the tray...

Good trails. Time to explore...

Wouldn't be a genuine mountain ride without having to walk up some hills. Doesn't look bad but there were plenty like this, way too steep to ride.

2009 YETI 575....new colours!!!

WORD.

One of the first photos of the 2009 YETI 575.............