Big weekend of Mountainbikes part2

Sunday... FTF winter Series Round 4. Officer.
Final round of the series, with a 4th, 1st and 2nd I had to go. Been a while since I've finished an XC series.
The weather on saturday was ugly and sunday wasn't looking any better. And the rain didn't hold back. Cold and wet was the order of the day. With a minimal turnout for A grade it was a matter of getting around and hoping the 8 hours of saturday Epix riding wouldn't slow me down too much.
With Big George, joel and i on the startline we had went with the No Warmup and No Clipping in till the gun goes off rules. Seemed to work for me. Stunned into life up the first fireroad I followed joel around for part of the first lap before taking the lead and slip sliding my way around the park...




Early on in the race, clean...

Half waydone?? still kinda clean so maybe not....

As the race went on i lost the rear brake, over shooting a corner or two and finding the rough i realised it was metal on metal. oh well, along with my rear tyre I was relying on skills to keep me moving...

The Side knobs grip, you just have to lean it over there....

In the end I stayed in first. Covered in mud and loving it.

Finished! Mud times. RIP rear pads, front pads and bottom bracket...

Series Winner!! Dare I say one of the Best Trophys I've got...

Big weekend of Mountainbikes part1

Saturday, Epix... From Ringwood to St Andrews on the trails. My day started at 6:30am as i rode from eltham out to Ringwood for the start of the ride. In typical Epix fashion we had all weather combos. My favorite was the soaking rain that turned to hail and created a river down the trail we were riding..

Chose to ride the ARC as it was already dirty. Plenty of monos, log jumps and drifting to be done...

Not many photos taken by me cause of the rain but i got this one of Bellie..

and one of Matt...

Safe to say it was an awesome ride. Plenty of good times, good trail and a beer to finish it all off.

Checkout the EPIX blog for all the photos....

Winner!!

OnYa Mate!! #1...

I didn't make the trip upto Canberra so to keep it interesting I got some new parts for the Carbon ASR....2010 Fox, Elixir CR Mag and White Pedals.... Awesome

Staying in melb over the Worlds weekend left me with some time to do some service work... The DH9 is now ready for new bearings, should get rid of that klunk noise too.

And finally, since my Myotherapist says digging is good for my back, a few more turns have taken shape...

Tour De Timor

Awesome work Neil Van Der Ploeg, Winner of the Tour De Timor!! Champ. Neil and I raced together on the Kona team a few years ago and he (like all the VDP's) was smashing it back then.

I'm sure the Felt Racing Blog will have more details.

Go Paul at the worlds!!

More Circus Pics

Rolling into one of the many waterbars, some awesome, some dangerous. As i understand they claimed one rider who needed to be airlifted out...


Crankin it in the trail, there wasn't much single track but the sections we rode were sweet.

The last loop of the day had a long climb(which is where i dropped off the 3rd/4th group) then we exited the forest and looped through some paddocks.

Bellie and i rode the course on the day before and the wind hitting us in this section had me riding on a 45degree angle. Thankfully the road turned and we were shunted home.

back in the trees and making the most of the tailwind home.

Charging...

Rhino's YETI Arc is going on a diet.....

The Circus Came...

The AyUp stand in full flight. They brought 2 boxes of kits, in the new hardcase, and sold them all. Not bad for a race with no night riding...

Trails this way...

Bundanoon Cafe and Bike shop. A must for anyone visiting the area.

Riding the track the day before. After 600 riders came through i reckon this was a bit better cut in... Sweet trail.