Competition Stage 2 Que River.

Sat Arvo. Smoother Fire road. Single track. Powerline track 4x4 access trails. 20km. Easier to get a flow happening.

The B group started about 2 mins after the A and I was looking to catch the back markers to drag myself back up. The start line was an unknown bunch and when the whistle blew they were off like a rocket. Funnily it was more like a sport XC start with one or 2 guys going flat out for 500m then slowing down. I took the lead in the early singletrack and smashed away chasing hard.

On one of the fast fire roads my chain dropped off and jammed up in the cranks. Quickly fixing the issue i'd only just been caught. Putting the power down i heard a crunch from the rear. My derailleur was being bent around the cassette. At this stage bellie rode past and i was in the middle of cracking the shits. Luckily the derailleur was good, only a small piece of the carbon cage was broken.

Back riding it was angry time. I caught bellie up and we rode together. Time trialing around the tailings dam of the Hellyer mining lease I was cranking it as i could see the back end of the A group up ahead.

Arriving at the Que river was a surprise for me. The trail dissapeared in the trees on the bank and i realised we had to get wet feet. Jumping off the bank with my bike i got a last minute warning from the camera man on the other side "its deep!! over knee height!" thanks mate. I nearly went under.

From there we were on a section that followed powerlines and i was back on form. Catching and passing the A group stragglers.... The strong ride had me back in the A group for day 2.

Competition Stage 1 Cradle.

Sat morning. Alpine terrain stage from Cradle Mountain. 16km. Mainly 4x4 trails. Pretty rough and hard to get a good flow going.
Rather than send everyone off as once we were split into groups according to our potential pace. I was in the A group, bellie too, Guess someone has heard of us...
Everything was good on the cruise to the start and when the starters whistle blew i was riding well. Crossing a small bridge I found myself no longer attached to my bike. i don't know what happened, those behind me couldn't tell me what went on. Landing heavily on my shoulder and knee it wasn't the start i was looking for...

Back on the bike and chasing the body seemed ok but a bit knocked about. Sadly I'd lost some air from the front tyre and while chasing the pack it let go. Tube time. Lost plenty of time and places and rolled into the finish disappointed.




Finished in 39th place. probably about 5-6 mins off the pace. Got a few gouges out of my knee and some bruising but luckily none of it effected the knee joint. So pedaling was still fine. Turns out my knee didn't hit the ground at all. All the damage was caused by it hitting the bladed spokes of my front wheel.

How did i figure this out??? (warning, unpleasantness ahead)

on fixing my front tyre at lunch i found a piece of my knee skin stuck to a spoke... boo..

Bellie had a bad first stage too and our average times relegated us to the B group. The arvo stage would be chase time.

Back from the West Coast...

well, it seems that Telstra has most of Tassie locked up. Which makes my Optus internet and Vodafone mobile useless.

Finally, a week later, I have connections again.

Wildside was a blast. unbelievable weather. Sunshine and sunburn was the order of the race. Brilliant.

I started with a fall and flat in stage 1 but dragged myself back to get 12th overall and 7th in open.

My impressions and stage breakdown shall be posted soon.

Off to Tassie!!

well, packed at least...




All ready for Wildside and beyond.


Sneaky upgrades ahoy... New wheels should make the race go faster... Super awesome Jetblack Pro Carbon



lack of interest meant they were heavily reduced, I couldn't pass up the deal. Converted them to tubeless and gave them a thrashing all week. Awesome....

now all i need to do is pedal.







Happy Birthday Rhino.

Smiths Gully Trail "Upgrades"

what?? been riding these trails for a bit now and today came across this. Someone had removed it from blocking the trail, i'm guessing that will piss off those who put it there. Strange that they choose to do it now.

We'll see what happens to that section of trail in the coming months.

Sold

Race bike is sold. Happy new owner picked the bike up on friday. Leaves me with no choice than to ride the ARC down in Tassie at Wildside. Couple of upgrades will see it a sweet race machine... Then its ASR 5 time!!

There is still a medium Carbon ASR frame and fork and 575 frame and fork available.

drop us an email if you're interested. ben.randall1@gmail.com

DT Swiss Mountains to Beach

http://www.wildhorizons.com.au/mountains-to-beach

Ben and I are going to be racing this one, and as with most things, its a little late notice but just enough time to get the legs up and running for 5 days of torture. We will be racing pairs, and the rules are that we have to stay in 'sight' of one another......

It will be a good time to get those Mavic Yellow Shoes all dirty again.....

There is the slighest of chance that we will be on the new YETI Carbon 5, which would be amazing.......then its just the decision to pull the trigger on SRAM XX or not.....but I already know the answer..!!