|
Steven Hanley
About
email: sjh@svana.org
web: http://svana.org/sjh
Other online diaries:
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Andrew Pollock,
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Martijn van Oosterhout,
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Michael Still,
Rusty Russell,
Tim Potter,
Tony Breeds,
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Fri, 09 Dec 2011
Around the K in a Day - 10:26

Only 100km to go (fullsize)
|
Though I have previously been calling this the SLER loop/ride that does
not make much sense as that was only what we called it on the 2004
attempt. The moniker a few people have been using recently makes a lot
more sense. Around the K in a day.
The course is 320 km on road with 6500 metres of climbing (and
descending) spread around the loop. Some of the best scenery in the
Australian alpine region that is easily accessible and a fantastic day
out on bikes.
We did it last time in
Feb though my diary entries for it were
a bit
later. It
seems the standard timing for us these days is to get around with a
5:15am start and finishing around 9 to 9:15pm. This time we had two half
hour stops for food (Adaminaby and Khancoban), a shorter stop at
Carbramurra and a few water refills from mountain streams.
I still did not make it this time around, I did feel I was able to
however was riding a lot slower than the others on the hills. With a
20km climb to go before rolling mostly downhill to Jindabyne we managed
to find a lift for me up the hill so the others did not feel bad leaving
me behind as it got dark. Still a wonderful day out on bikes and I am
keen to try again. Looks like we may try again on Feb 18, or Feb 25th
(though I think I would prefer 18th if everyone can manage that
weekend).
Anyway all the photos I
took are online, fun was had.
|
[/mtb]
link
Thu, 03 Nov 2011
The most awesome armwarmers ever - 10:21

Cycling Armwarmers do not get any better!
|
I happened to mention back in June how
awesome
the kids I coach mtb to are, as well as their really enjoying riding
and getting into the sport and improving their handling skills. As a
thanks for teaching them they had tracked down a Dr Seuss jersey and
gave it to me.
This time they have trumped that effort, they all notice how much I love
riding my pink race mtb and my pink gear, so check this out, they hand
printed a design with all manner of coloured bikes on a set of arm
warmers, and the pink one is the coolest bike there. Thanks to Callum,
Zoe, Declan, Tristan and Jack, these are awesome I am showing them off
on the mtb ride tomorrow morning for sure.
I have long lamented the fact that cycling arm warmers tend to be
boring, they are usually black, sometimes a solid other colour. Not many
come with interesting designs (except commercial team trade colours,
which are colourful, but not something I find interesting to wear) so
to have such a great design and something interesting and so cool is
really touching.
|
[/mtb/gear]
link
Sun, 02 Oct 2011
Googong multisport challenge 2011 - 21:15
Sri Chinmoy moved the
event
a few weeks earlier in the hopes that being further away from the
Scott 24 hour mtb race and to no longer clash with the Upper Murray
Challenge. I have also been making an effort to remind people how
awesome this event is in the hopes of convincing more to come and
compete.
Fortunately something worked as this year the largest field ever
rocked up to the race on the shores of the 100% full Googong Dam
at 10am on September 18. Compared with last year I was severely
lacking in fitness, with no fast paddling whole year (and not much at
all since Geoquest), not much running for a while and my bike strength
feeling weak I was in it for the fun of the event and not expecting to
do too well.
Results
from the day are available, plus
photos
and an
event
report but once again I would like to say anyone who was not there
missed out on a great event. The paddle was actually 10km for the
first time ever which would have pushed out the event times, however
not to the extent that I was 30 minutes slower this year than last
year.
However the top three places put in an awesome race, Dave S was
always likely to come away as the winner barring mishaps of the people
there that day. Sean had a fantastic race I thought to make 2nd, and
though I was in in 3rd until Seb caught me near the end of the bike
(he was paddling something akin to a bathtub). I had obviously pushed
too hard for my current fitness levels and began cramping on the
second run on the first downhill (after needing to stop and puke a bit
twice in the first run due to pushing my pace too hard). Still I loved
the event and having a strong field there made it so much
better. Thanks to all of those who were there to make it great.
Fortunately the Sri Chinmoy team have said they will be running it
again so I hope to see this event continues to get more interest now,
it is a great event in an area not many people go to visit and I am
glad to see it will remain on the calendar. Oh and impressive effort
from Aaron and Alex who both did the remarkably tough, steep bike leg
on their single speed mtbs.
Libby seems to think the race should be held in Feb as a lead up to
the Jindabyne multi sport, I personally disagree as I like having a
reasonable spacing through the year of these events. Yerrabi in May,
Jindabyne in March and this event in September is a pretty good gap
and I am not convinced people would use it as a Jindabyne Multi
training event (too short and intense for soloists to get great
traing) and many of the teams are not really out there at Jindabyne
for the speed/win so much as the experience.
[/mtb/events]
link
Sat, 01 Oct 2011
Try to remember what is normal - 21:28
At many times I really do need a reminder about what most of the
population would consider kind of normal in the exercise realm. This
became obvious over the last few months while reading the Canberra
Times articles about the preparation for people training for the
Canberra Times Fun run.
This is a stark reminder that to many people a 10KM run is a challenge
and something they can not just go and do any given day. Another
strong reminder of why my sister often tells me myself and the
majority of my friends are freaks.
Sure I go around telling people I am not particularly fit, this is
because of relative comparisons. I tend to compare myself to friends
such as Dave and Julie, so obviously I am not that fit
really. Friends that think it is normal to run a 100 KM ultra marathon
then back it up two weeks later with a 24 hour rogaine. They have been
known to head out for 84km training runs.
In the bike realm I hang around with the likes of Ben Henderson,
Andrew Hall, Ed McDonald, and their ilk and am well aware they will
beat the pants off me on the mtb or road bike. My friends and I will
happily go do a 15 km Tuesday evening training run at faster than 5
minute km pace chatting away with hills and bush in the dark. This is
normal behaviour for us. Same goes for riding, a 70 km road ride
before work of a morning or 2 hours on the mtb is not strange.
I remember thinking at Dave's bucks party a few years back there was no
one in the room who would not be able to do a 100km mtb event in under
7 hours or a marathon in under 4 (or both for most of them). Now I
admit I do a lot of exercise, and a large part of it is I love having
fun outdoors, and the further you can go the more of the outdoors you
can fit into limited time. I like being able to have some friend
suggest some trip or event and know I will be able to say sounds good
let's go do it. And I will be able to do this activity and get through
it with confidence and not find it too hard.
These activities include things like: the 320km Jindabyne to Jindabyne
loop via Khancoban and Adaminaby, riding to the top of Mt Kosci in two
days from Canberra off road (camping overnight in the bush), 48 hour
adventure races, 360km non stop mtb races, 100 km ultra marathon in
pairs (half each).
Though I run a lot more now than I did around 6 years ago I have been
reasonably fit since I got into cycling seriously at the age of 12 or
so, thus I would never think it impossible to head out for a 10 km
run. Nowdays I would not even consider it particularly difficult to
decide to compete in a 25 km run tomorrow with no specific
preparation. Thus it really is a wake up call to see these multi-month
training schedules to get people to complete a 10 KM fun run.
A previous housemate who had been running a lot (more than I do) had
competed in the bush capital marathon (and did very well), so decided
to enter the Fitzroy Falls marathon, however a week after that he had
also entered his first ever 100 km mtb event and the following week
was heading to Tasmania for a 4 day bush walk. To me this sounded like
lots of fun and I said he should go ahead and enjoy it. He claimed I
was the only friend he had that did not think it all rather over the
top. Again it reminded me how different so many of my friends are as
many of them regularly do similar series of weekends.
Last year one of my sister's friends had spent a while trying to
convince her to compete with her in a 5 km run, however Jane was
convinced she would not survive the event and instead suggested a
triathlon in a team so she would only have to do the swim legs (a
sport she does at her local pool often), (I thought otherwise about
her ability to complete a 5 km run, but I have to remember I filter
these things differently). I think it a laudable goal to do a
triathlon in a team, I have never competed in a triathlon by myself
either.
It is a huge wake up call to be reminded that most of the population
would struggle to do a 10km run without a fair amount of preparation
and would struggle with a reasonably paced 30km ride around the lake
or similar. I was interested to hear from a friend in Adelaide
recently who took his 8 year old son for a running race, 6 km, the
first time his son had raced more than a 2km event at school sports or
similar. And from the sounds of it they both had a great time doing
this together. It is good to see the children of some of my friends
who fit into the similar fitness category to me as they grow up
surrounded by people who consider this normal.
Susie and Phillo's kids will grow up thinking 24 hour rogaine events
and marathon runs are what everyone's parents do and probably emulate
their parents to some extent, I already see Sam and Ben's daughters
doing so much cool stuff, such as CORC Dirt Crit events from the age
of two and a half to family fun runs, or multi day hikes though Abel
Tasman National Park in New Zealand. I do however have to remind
myself often, not everyone is like myself and so many of my friends,
it is a bit like when university educated people so often only hang
around with others with similar backgrounds and then are shocked at
the sentiments coming from people who have a completely different life
and background.
It is worth remembering to celebrate the Infinite Diversity in
Infinite Combinations of the people out there (to use a Star Trek
term, IDIC) even when it is surprising to us.
[/mtb]
link
Mon, 15 Aug 2011
Yell for Cadel, Australia's best ever XC mountain biker won the tour! - 21:38
I know it has been a few weeks, however I have not exactly been on a
blogging rampage, what with having my first ever month of no entries
here. However I should start writing again and this is something of note
for sure. How exciting it is that Cadel Evans won the tour!
I have been a fan of Cadel for a while, I guess since reading mtb
magazines through out the 90s and marshaling at the mtb National
Championship races in Majura Pines in Canberra when he won the title
here. That he won the MTB World Cup series for two years in a row, has
also won the Road World Cup series two years running, won the Road World
Champs and now the Tour de France it is fairly obvious to all he is the
most complete successful cyclist Australia has ever produced.
I still remember watching him lead through some of the single track at
Majura in 1997 from where I was marshaling, seeming to be riding on
smooth pavement through sections I rattle and bounce over, sure it was a
shame when he left mountain biking, I am after all a mountain biker at
heart, but there were as we all know bigger achievements in his future,
there is nothing in the mtb world that could possibly excite a nation
the way he has the last few years.
For the entire tour this year Cadel and his team seemed to be well
organised, know what they were doing and went about everything the right
way. Leopard also dealt with the race well, thus as Andy Schleck has
said it definitely seems the best rider did indeed win this year. The
final time trial was an incredible hour of viewing, seeing Cadel so
focused and confidant at the start and then he almost won the stage and
blasted away everyone else. Of course seeing him get air on a time trial
bike was pretty cool too.
I really hope this helps move Australian's recognition of bikes and
cycling forward, the reception for Cadel in Melbourne on Friday was
awesome, with St Kilda rd lined 5 deep on each side all the way along
and then Federation square packed so full along with all of us watching
who did not make it down. The media coverage across the board has been
positive and pretty good. Now we can all hope for a repeat performance
next year. Rock on Cadel.
[/mtb]
link
Mon, 27 Jun 2011
The Cat In The Hat - 15:07

Front of the jersey (fullsize)

Back of the jersey (fullsize)
|
I obviously am teaching the most awesome group of junior mountain bikers
around. Three of my students had noticed my love of interesting and fun
jerseys in the months I was teaching them and for my instruction efforts
they gave me this wonderful gift. A Dr Seusss cycling jersey, what a
truly awesome gift. Thanks Declan, Zoe and Callum. Hopefully your
mountain bike skills continue to improve and you continue to love riding
your bikes, it is all about having fun on bikes.
|
[/mtb/gear]
link
Tue, 24 May 2011
24 Hour Solo MTB Championships 2011 - 12:19

Andrew Hall finishing a lap (fullsize)
|
If you have a look at the link to my
24 Hour Solo MTB
Nationals photos page you can see the photos I took at the 24 Hour
MTB Nationals CORC ran in April.
|
[/mtb/events]
link
SLER Photos - 11:53

Climbing past Thredbo (fullsize)
|
I finally uploaded the few photos I took back in Feb when a few of us
went up to Jindabyne to do the SLER loop, find them
here.
|
[/mtb]
link
Tue, 17 May 2011
TNF100 in pairs, what was I thinking? - 16:32

Running along Narrow Neck (fullsize)
|
Aaron and I headed up to the Blue Mountains on the weekend to compete in
The North Face 100 Ultra
Marathon in pairs this year. Julie won womens, awesome race against
an international field (and beat her own race record by 36
minutes). David knocked 20 minutes off his PB too. The Blue Mountains
were rather pretty so I took some photos and wrote about it
here.
|
[/mtb/events]
link
Mon, 04 Apr 2011
ACTRA Multisport Rogaine 2011 - 16:24
Aaron and I did the
ACTRA
Multisport Rogaine yesterday and here are some
photos.
[/mtb/events]
link
Wed, 23 Mar 2011
Jindabyne Multisport Classic 2011 - 16:15
The event site is
here
with
results
a
race
report and
photos.
I rocked up to compete in the Jindabyne Multisport Classic as a solo
athlete for the fourth year in a row. This is probably my favourite
race on the calendar, a gorgeous area to race through, really fun legs
and a good attitude out on the course from everyone there.
In the lead up this year I have been unable to do much training from
January 10 until the race day, with an injury and illness keeping me
away from exercising much for 3 months I was definitely a bit
underdone for the race.
All along I had ben hoping there would be a really strong solo field
again, with the likes of Alex, David, Julie, Randall, Gary
Rolfe, Aaron, Lee, Gary Rake, Ben Rattray all competing as
solos. However for various reasons the only solos I knew who were
competing ended up being Aaron, Lee and myself.
At the start line I was not looking forward to the swims, most years I
have had a few months of doing at least 2 or 3 swims a week, this time
I had swum twice since January 3rd and maybe 8 times since this race
in March the previous year. I defintiely have to stay in the pool and
put some serious time in to my swimming if I ever want to do this
event really well.
1 Solo Female and 5 solo Men were at the start line, all of us
obviously hoping to complete the day and have fun. Race start was
6:45am so we got going and I gave everyone entertainment or a cringe
when I immediately went off in the wrong direction sighting on the
wrong saddle in the distance while everyone else swam toward the first
bouy. This was definitely a theme for me, going all over the place in
the swims, in the end I lost 10 minutes or more to Aaron each time we
did a swim through the day.
The first kayak following the swim is always a good leg to get settled
in to the day and get used to the continuous moverment all day. This
year my friend Kerrie (ENM as Gramps calls her, I think Awesome Nurse
Muir is more accurate) had once again sepped up to the role of support
crew for me, thanks to her for being an absolutely awesome support
crew again this year, organised and keeping me moving well all
day. She had me through al the transitions smoothly and encouraged me
to keep going well.
Lee was unlucky enough to fall out of his kayak in this leg and I
passed him there, the SES boats were both in the final 800 metres of
the kayak so had not seen him fall out, I yelled at one of them to go
have a look, in the end Lee said a fisherman helped him get to shore
to empty the boat before continuing on. On to the run, which has less
climbing and stays closer to the lake than the old first run I was
soon passed by Sal and a few other fast runners on teams (I was already
well behind the really fast teams due to my pathetic swimming)
The first run leg is still quite technical and a lot of fun, and it
leads in to what in my opinion is the best leg of the day, the first
mtb leg is rearkably technical and suits me down to a tee, if only it
were 30 km long rather than 8km. There had been a lot of track work
done on the trails here and the return leg of this ride toward
transition had been improved a lot, easier and shorter but a heck of a
lot of fun. I saw Aaron at the shared section of track so he already
had a 15 minute lead on me here, due to my complete lack of
preparation I expected this theme to continue for the rest of the day,
he was racing well for a first time soloist here.
On into the second swim, the worst leg of the day (2.5km of swimming)
I labored through that getting passed by a whole lot more teams and
caught again by Sharon the solo female, however into the paddle I was
able to move fairly fast again. Through the paddle I headed out on the
second mtb leg, hoping to get some food down, a problem with my water
meant I could not get much down for the leg however still felt pretty
good on the whole. I saw Aaron again now with around a 23 minute lead
on me.
Through the day I was fairly close to the teams Desciples of Ming the
Merciless and Followers of Ming the Merciless, some of the children of
the team members are those I coach mtb skills every week and they were
cheering me through every transition all day which was awesome support
from them and lifted my spirits. I got on to the long run feeling
alright, stopped for my normal toilet visit at the thredbo river picnic
ground to ligten my load for the climb and headed on up the hill.
During the climb two women from teams caught me up and Lee also
managed to catch up, I picked my pace up a bit to stay near them, Lee
however had not bought any water or food on this leg and suffered
mightily for it, so ended up dropping off the pace ocne we hit the
waterfall at the top. I thanked the women for their company as I had
to stop to stretch out cramps near the end of the leg and then ran in
toward the transition for the long bike leg.
Most years this leg is one of the most spectacular parts of the race,
up into alpine grass lands near the Gungarlin river, however due to
the river being too full and boggy terrain near it they had to change
the leg to a ride up the road from Sawpit to Charlotte Pass before a
car shuttle down to the lake again at Creel bay. This changed the
dynamic of the race a lot, I appreciated the rest in the car and
sitting at the swim start for an hour, however I missed the lovely
long mtb leg. I was able to eat some solid food again and watched
Aaron do his swim leg before I started. Some friends lined up someone
to kayak next to me for this swim to keep me going straight, thanks to
Tara and Michael for all of that.
The last few years the final kayak has been very windy, almost a case
of surfing or crossing large waves for much of the 9.5km paddle. I
borrowed Mark's surf ski for this leg rather than my Time Bandit, it
was still windy up near Charlotte Pass so I assumed it would be windy
ont he lake. As it turns out this is the calmest I have seen the water
in years at this time of day, however better safe than sorry, I
completed this leg in around an hour and only had the 5.5km run to
finish off the day. I got moving and immediately felt my core muscles
in pain with the jarring of running. Amazingly my legs felt fine but I
could not pick up the pace due to the pain from the final paddle and
swim in my core muscles.
Still I had at least 30 minutes on Lee in third and knew Aaron would
already be finished so I settled in and tried to finish as fast as I
could without too much jarring. Just as I neared the finish, Zoe,
Declan and all the other kids that had been cheering me on saw me and
rode and ran in next to me to the finish which was another awesome
show of support from them. Finished in just under 12 hours, or just
under 11 if you take off the hour enforced stop before the final swim.
Thanks to Kerrie for being awesome and supporting me, thanks to
everyone who helped Kerrie out through the day. Thanks to Aaron and Lee
for the race and thanks to Prachar and the rest of the Sri Chinmoy
race team for this event, such a lovely course and such a fun day
out. Easier and prettier than triple tri and less swimming, all good
things.
Good to see a strong performance from Sharon the solo woman coming in
around 15 minutes behind Lee too.
You should all put this race on your calendar nex year, it will be the
weekend before the 6 foot track marathon and probably not clash with
Huskisson or the Willo MTB race either. Fun to be had up in Jindabyne
in early march 2012.
[/mtb/events]
link
Tue, 08 Mar 2011
Buy known good quality, or avoid RavX at least - 18:00

Crappy RavX Gloves (fullsize)
|
So a few weeks ago I decided to buy some new gloves, though not worn out
some of mine were getting a bit old and rank. Also they tend to have no
padding profile and work fine for mtb but I tend to think some padding
helps on the road bike. I order some Serfas gloves from one shop, but
they have still not appeared after a month at this point.
So while waiting for the Serfas and in need of some gloves the other
week I purchased the pictured RavX gloves. They were cheap, and I think
I found out why, I can not say much apart from do not buy these
ever. The padding worked fine, however when I took this photo I had done
3 rides wearing them. One on the shopping/touring mtb to the fyshwick
markets and back, around 20km. The next two were road rides, a
cotter/uriarra loop and a climb from Jindabyne to Dead Horse Gap and
back, so around 145km on the road bike. It is hard to see here, but
looking at the enlarged photo I have circled the 4 places on the right
glove and 1 place on the left glove that have already worn through or
show serious wear signs (about to wear through). That both of the
gloves have worn through the palm in less than 200 km of pretty tame
riding is pathetic.
I have quite a few pair of cycling gloves, some of which have done over
2000km of fairly tough mtb riding and a lot of other riding in between,
I have never seen a glove fail this fast.
|
[/mtb/gear]
link
Fri, 04 Mar 2011
Another attempt at the SLER - 10:28
Back in 2004 a few of us headed up to Jindabyne to do what we were
calling at the time the
Silly Long Easter Ride,
this is a 318km road ride in the Australian Alps region with over
6000m of climbing. It has been done by quite a few people since that
time in two days, however only a few I knew had done the ride in one
day (Davo, Ads, DeathMarch).
I have been keen to go back for a while, so Alex, Bleeksie, Greg,
Chris and I were planning to do the ride last weekend. We headed up
there and stayed at the Snowgums Jindabyne unit. I had the problem of
a sore throat for two and a half weeks leading up to the weekend and
was simply hoping it would get better by the time we were there to do
the ride. Unfortunately the sore throat deteriorated into a cold and I
tried to start the ride. As we did the first few climbs up toward
Thredbo I realised I was not going to be able to continue all the
way. At what was a fairly easy pace I was falling behind trying to
conserve myself, once I made the decision to pull out rather than do
the entire loop I started wasting myself a bit more to keep up all the
way to Dead Horse Gap.
I want to do this ride so hope to return later in the year or next year
and gt it done. Once I left the others I returned to Jindabyne, bought
a newspaper and rested for most of the rest of the day. Slept for a few
hours, read the paper and waited for the others to finish the
ride.
After having some of the pies from
Funky Pies from 42 Cafe in
Nimitabel in December I was keen to have some more, I had not gone to
the Canberra stockists. However I noticed on the funky pies website
that the Jindabyne Bowling club sells them, so I headed there for some
lunch. Vegan pies with a good variety, what could possibly be bad
about that. It turns out they no longer stocked them, however there
were a few left in the freezer so the chef prepared them for me, a
little old and dry, however still tasty I was happy with that for
lunch.
As for the ride, the guys hit Khancoban around 10am, Cabramurra by 2pm
and Adaminaby before the bakery shut. Chris had started to pull away
as his gearing made it difficult to climb slowly. Chris finished the
ride by 8:10pm and the others pulled in at 9pm after a 5am start. Good
to see, solid riding effort, I was jealous but with the Jindabyne
Multisport classic 2 weeks later I did not want to make myself even
sicker and possibly be unable to compete.
[/mtb]
link
Tue, 22 Feb 2011
Egos Like Hairdos at another AROC sprint - 15:50
Thanks to Ian and Aaron I was able to have another fun reasonably fast
race in the recent AROC Sprint at Stromlo and the Cotter. I of course
had a camera with me and took a bunch of photos. They can be found in
the normal place.
[/mtb/events]
link
Wed, 16 Feb 2011
Olive Clips - 20:02
I was trying to find the correct name of the pink clips on the end of
the Q-Spear rack bungee cords the other day. I got as far as "shock cord
clips" but still was not getting too many results. I have a few purple
clips I use on bike tow systems I bought at the Marine shop in Woden
years ago, however the shop has since closed.
Fortunately one of my friends discovered they are called "Olive Clips"
in Australia and are somewhat readily available at boating supply stores
around the place.
[/mtb/gear]
link
Tue, 18 Jan 2011
Withdrawl - 17:39
I do not know how people who do not exercise often can manage it. Of
course this may have a lot more to do with my exercise addiction than I
am willing to admit. Monday last week I had to go to the doctor to get a
rather uncomfortable thing on the outside of my glute looked at and
fixed. She ended up digging around with a scalpel and cleaning it all
up. However the upshot of that is I ave been unable to do any exercise
(cycling, running, paddling in order to avoid aggravating the wound and
slowing healing, swimming to avoid infection) since Monday afternoon
last week.
I did ride back to ANU from Belconnen after the work was done, but that
hurt quite a bit and the Doctor was not amused. Since then I have not
done much. I was able to ride to Fyshwick markets for shopping on Sunday
and it only hurt a little bit. Now the wick has been taken out it seems
to hurt less most days. I still can not sit on it but cycling seems to
be getting better. Tomorrow I intend to do the morning road ride in an
easy group and then ride to Belconnen for my next doctor/nurse
appointment for a new dressing so hopefully that will not hurt.
I know I have been told that moving too much/vigorously may slow
healing, however I really need to do something energetic and I like to
think the same applies as with some other healing I have had to go
through in the past, so long as it is not hurting it is probably not too
bad for it and exercise is good for you so get out there and have fun.
The past few months I have tended to around 4 hours intense exercise on
Tuesdays, more than 1 hour on Monday and Wednesday, around 2 or 3 hours
on Thursday and usually about 1 hour of hard exercise plus the morning
mtb ride on Friday. Going from my normal pattern to nothing is definitely
quite challenging, hope to do something about that and see how it feels
lets hope I can get back into it.
[/mtb]
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Tue, 14 Dec 2010
Baldylocks at the Coast 2 Kosci - 11:37

Chris, Julie, Dave and I at the Summit of Kosci (fullsize)
|
So this is not an event I competed in, however I was there as support
crew to ensure Dave finished. The
Coast 2 Kosci is an Ultra
Marathon now in its seventh year. Starting on a beach near Eden it heads
up to the summit of Mt Mosciusko and back down to the finish line at
Charlotte Pass. So that is 240 km (actually 246) of running, mostly on
bitumen/hard surfaces and the current race record is 26h01m.
Dave finished in 33h10m which for a first attempt and someone who has
never run more than 125km in one go before is fairly impressive. Most of
the people who compete are regular ulltra runners and it sounds like a
few were wondering who this Baldwin guy was for much of the race. I took
a lot of photos and have put them up on my
Baldylocks at the
2010 Coast 2 Kosci Ultra Marathon page.
|
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Sun, 05 Dec 2010
Paddling at Googong Dam when 100% Full - 10:32

Water running over the spillway (fullsize)
|
Aaron and I headed out to Googong for a paddle today, we ended up doing
a good 19km paddle up to Washpen crossing. We had his camera so I managd
to get some photos, have a
look at the
googong paddle photos, then head out there yourself for a paddle as
it is pretty awesome.
|
[/mtb]
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Tue, 30 Nov 2010
Another AROC Sprint, or more fun on the water slides. - 10:01

Ian and Aaron running to the slides (fullsize)
|
Or maybe we should just combine the two. Tom and Al did on the
weekend. The AROC Sprint race once more visited the water slides (the
last time was around 2006 in the Friday night BC sprint race). The
course was a lot of fun, and as always I had my camera with me so here
are a bunch of
photos.
|
[/mtb/events]
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Wed, 24 Nov 2010
Fun ride into the alps - 17:30

(fullsize)
The group ready to leave Ororral |
Alex had the idea of riding an interesting looking off road route up to
the top of Mt Kosciuszko over two days. With a few friends doing support
to carry food and camping gear for camping somewhere overnight.
A bunch of us were keen to join in, so we set out to attempt this on
Saturday November 20. We got up as far as 3 Mile dam for the over night
camp near Cabramurra, however it took a while, the pace was much slower
than expected on the alpine grass land based trails. We decided to turn
around and ride home on Sunday rather than go deeper into the wilderness
as we were not sure we would make it through to where a car would meet
us in a reasonable time.
We all had a lot of fun and are keen to try at least the second day of
riding if not the full thing again, maybe when the trails have dried out
a bit so we can ride faster in the alpine areas. Photos from the weekend
are online at my Canberra
to Kosciuszko ride Nov 2010 page.
I have a GPS trace most of the way there and a few others have the full
GPS trace of where we went (and a GPX file for the full planned route)
which I can share if anyone wants to see it.
|
[/mtb]
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Thu, 18 Nov 2010
Shopping/Touring/etc N+1 - 10:19

(fullsize)
Diamond back Topanga ready to ride |
As mentioned a few weeks ago, my
sister has
a new bike, as a side benefit of this I was able to take ownership
of her old bike. This is a 1994 model Diamond Back Topanga frame, at
this point everything except the headset and forks is newer though.
I have owned a Diamond Back Ascent previously (my first SS) and it is
the model up from the Topanga, also I had another Ascent frame I had
never built up so eventually sold it. Though this is the lower model it
is a bike with history in the family and looks nice. I also hope it
looks less appealing to bike thieves than some other bikes may.
After my cyclocross bike was stolen I no longer had a bike with a
pannier rack mounted for shopping or similar (maybe the odd cycle
tour). I have the black hardtail but it does not have rack mounts and I
have never liked riding the aluminium hardtail that much. I have been
thinking about selling the black hardtail for a while, however this bike
should be a good keeper in my stable, I may still add mud guards to the
bike, but it rides nicely, even with the silly long stem on it. I
flattened the saddle after riding it this morning as it was initially
did not feel quite right, everything else feels pretty good, though the
narrow bars may also have to go eventually.
|
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Wed, 17 Nov 2010
How we all wish we could ride - 19:33
So most cyclists, and many others have seen the
Danny
MacAskill street trials
video that hit youtube in April 2009. Since then there have been a
few others, the last day or so a brand new one has come out that really
is awesome.
Way
Back Home is based around the idea of him riding areas from
Edinburgh back to his home town on the Isle Of Skye. So the video is
full of spectacular scenery as well as jaw droppingly incredible bike
handling.
If you have not seen either video I strongly suggest watching them (even
if you have no interest in cycling), the latest one also has a
The Jezabels song on it which
is a good bonus I reckon.
[/mtb]
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Mon, 15 Nov 2010
Why I need to go back to Melrose and not be too stuffed to ride - 16:54
When I was in
Melrose in SA earlier this year I was a little tired and worn
out. Even with the rather interesting looking Fat Tyre Festival on I
could not bring myself to get back on the bike and ride some more,
instead I enjoyed the sunshine, beers and company in town.
However I found this video on the
AMB Blog which
has Chris and the AMB crew claiming Melrose is one of their favourite
riding destinations. Have a watch of
Melrose
- The Film and you will see why a return trip appears to be
necessary. Preferably not immediately after riding 360km the previous
day.
[/mtb]
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Sun, 14 Nov 2010
Another CX race in Canberra - 15:33
In July last year the vikings ran a cyclo cross race out at Stromlo. I
was there
racing and enjoyed it a lot. There was talk at the time of trying to
run a series of them this year which would have been fun. Due to a whole
host of reasons the series did not happen, however Simon and Simon
managed to get another race happening this weekend.
I went along again and I think this was an even better set up for CX
racing than last time. I no longer have a CX bike at the moment as mine
was stolen earlier in the year. However they were allowing other bikes
to enter. Though I could have ridden a mountain bike I decided I should
have drop bars so rocked up to race on my commuter, the 1984 steel
Apollo single speed road bike with mud guards. There was a smaller
turnout this year, partly due to clashing events and things on, a less
CX friendly time of year, less promotion the week before the event
(Canberrans have a bad habit of deciding what to do the day before it
happens) and a few other reasons.
I feel sorry for everyone who missed out as this was one of the most fun
races I have done in ages. The course was set up around the Narrabundah
Velodrome (Simon N got the idea when he saw a velodrome used in a
similar manner at a CX event in Illawarra earlier in the year) and it
worked really well. Jump boards to do your running dismounts over
littered around the course, using the oval in the middle of the
velodrome, the track itself and the hilly surface around the back of it
to make an interesting but not too technical (ie beginners would have
no problems) course.
Racing started at 12pm and they had 4 races over the following hours, a
novice event (to get the feel for the track or to try out CX for some),
a single speed event (there were 6 of us competing in that one), a
masters race (I could not do that obviously) and then the open
race. So for the $10 entry fee (MTBA license covered my insurance) I was
able to do 3 short hard fun races (the longest, open race at 6 laps was
around 40 minutes). It was a completely different feel to mountain bike
events and different skills helped even. Also the course could be seen
almost entirely by spectators from almost everywhere. They had a bbq and
beer for sale which was great, I was able to refresh myself with a Boags
after each race.
A crew from Melbourne rocked up, they race dwell and shared their
experiences from running their own CX race series. Sounds like they have
a good local scene with 120 or so people at each round. They have a
format where there is a pure cross race and a separate event for all
other bikes. Thus mtb owners can race but not in the CX only event. All
sorts of things could work, however I think this was a great event and
hope like heck something can be done to get a series of 3 races or so
(May, June, July maybe) next year at the velodrome. They are planning
at least one event in June and I would strongly recommend attending,
whether it be to watch with beer in hand and cheer or rattle cowbells at
people racing, or to compete. Fun is almost guaranteed, Simon was even
talking about trying to get some earth moving equipment to make the
course more interesting (soft sand/mud pits, some rolling lumps like
found on parts of a 4X track (though not jump sized) and other features.
Anyway I had a great time and would like to thank Simon, Simon and
vikings for another excellent event.
[/mtb/events]
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Ride like a girl - 15:28

Ride Like a Girl (fullsize)
|
When I first saw this jersey being worn by my friend Kath I thought it
was rather awesome. However due to it being a commercial jersey and a
company unrelated to me directly (AMBC) I was a little wary of buying
one of the jerseys. In the end though I decided it was too cool not to
own one.
The sentiment is there (Heather and Lib hand out cans of whup arse on a
regular basis to myself and many others for example) and it works well
with my theory that pink goes faster anyway. So now I wonder if I will
last with a concerted effort to not purchase any more jerseys for a
while.
|
[/mtb/gear]
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Fri, 12 Nov 2010
Jeffson Jersey - 12:10

Jeffson Custom Bikes (fullsize)
|
With some of these jerseys you may think there is a theme appearing,
which is lots of black. Obviously the perfect choice for coming into the
Australian summer. To the issue of having lots of black jerseys, I
guess i just have to obey Rule 5 in summer. As for the theme, do not
worry the jersey I will put on the diary tomorrow will break the theme
and return to normal race gear (for me).
This one, another purchase while in Rotorua, comes from Jeff Anderson at
kiwibikes. A frame builder who
had some rather cool bikes on display that he had built. I have been
missing my CX bike a bit since it was stolen so decided I would get Jeff
to build me a new CX frame. I sat down and talked with him about all the
things I want to do with it and how I want to fit it out. He checked out
my sizing and riding style and listened to what I did and did not like
about my previous CX bike and about other bikes.
So in a few months I should have a new Jeffson CX bike, I got started
on my accessory collection early with this jersey.
|
[/mtb/gear]
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Thu, 11 Nov 2010
Single Speed Worlds Jersey - 10:29

Front of the jersey (fullsize)

Back of the jersey (fullsize)
|
Many people know I tend to have a cycling jersey addiction. I used to
count all cycle tops (winter warm tops, and summer weight also) however
I did an inventory of just the summer weight tops recently, I am now up
to 30. Of those 30 I have purchased 4 in the last 6 weeks.
I thought I would upload the images of these new jerseys, just to keep
my collection of jerseys online. There were two jerseys sold by the SS
Worlds crew, the first one was a woolen jersey I thought looked somewhat
boring. This one on the other hand looked cool, colours on the sides,
kiwi influenced design, RSSS branding. So for a good price they were
offering I got one.
|
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Wed, 10 Nov 2010
Rule 5 - 16:55

Front of the jersey (fullsize)

Back of the jersey (fullsize)
|
So when we first learned of
The Rules a few
of us were quite a fan of some of them. In particular
Rule Number 5. I openly admit I am not
much of a roadie and do not obey rule number 1 (adhere to all the rules)
however I like to think I do at least from time to time obey rule number
5.
As we are such fans of in jokes we decided to get the jersey pictured on
the left made up and the website
registered to display that particular rule. Of course I could not help
putting a Jens quote on the collar as the man defines the rule. "Shut Up
Legs"
|
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Sun, 31 Oct 2010
Photos from the SS worlds week - 15:58

Climbing a hill on the course in my baby outfit
|
As mentioned the other week, I was in Rotorua for a while to have fun on bikes
with friends. Coinciding with the 2010 SS World Champs and the 2010 Whaka 100
race. I am now back home and with the additional bandwidth available I have
uploaded all the photos I took during the week. I also took a lot of shweeb
photos I will upload separately, and have got a lot of helmet cam or chest cam
footage of the single track fun to be had over there. I will get it in a nicer
format/more manageable size before uploading that anywhere too. (4.5 GB from a
Contour HD 1080p camera set at 720p Brent was using and 7.5 GB from a GoPro
chest cam that Col borrowed from Liam at Swell).
My photos from the 2010
World Single Speed Championships are on the link.
|
[/mtb/events]
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Thu, 21 Oct 2010
SS Worlds, Whaka 100 and the Rotorua Bike Festival - 15:56

Shane half way through setting a fast 52.4 second three laps on the shweeb
|
So I am in Rotorua in NZ for 11 days for a holiday, this holiday takes in the
Whaka 100 mtb race which
I
did on Sunday. Then a week long
cycling festival and the
2010 World Single Speed
Championships. One of the festival activities is a
Shweeb championship for all the single
speeders to enter. The photo to the left is from Shane's laps today, we are
planning to head back for another go tomorrow.
I have not been updating much this week, and am definitely not providing as
much entertainment on the blog as Burky and Coops from Swell on their
Swell Design Group SS World
Tour but thought it worth putting up a photo after riding the shweeb
today. (Mikal insisted I get footage of
it anyway).
I arrived on Saturday afternoon, the direct flight from Sydney to Rotorua made
the trip here easy and I was able to be here in time for the 100 km race on
Sunday. That was a hard race, I made my normal mistake of going out far too
hard, average HR for the entire 100 km was 150bpm over 6h46m, however most of
that is from having my HR above 170 for the first 50 km. I then of course
began to realise I had gone out too hard once more and was suffering on the
climbs (most of the hard climbs came in the last 40km of this event). Still it
was cool to do a race taking in almost every good trail in the Whakarewarewa
forest in one event. I had been hoping to come in under 6 hours however with
the amount of walking I did late in the race up hills I was well over that.
Monday I had off the bike, wandering around town, settling in,
recovering. Tuesday morning I headed out for a 42 km ride with Heather, Shane,
Rob, Gaye, Juzzy and a few others. Each night so far here we have all been
soaking up the atmosphere (and beers) in the Pig and Whistle and a few other
locations. Morning coffee at Zippys every morning has also been a good start
to the day.
Wednesday morning we headed out for a lap of the SS Worlds Course (it is a
tough one, more climbing then expected, but I guess they have to break up the
over 1000 rider field somehow). I grabbed some lunch and ran in to Col and
Adam (mentioned above) some other Canberra riding buddies so headed out for
another ride with them after lunch, getting 70 km on the single speed on
Wednesday which was all good fun.
Today I had a chat to Jeff at
KiwiBikes for a while in the morning
about a new Cyclocross frame I am getting him to custom build for me (I miss
having a CX bike). Had some lunch and was sort of thinking about going for a
ride when Shane, Heather and I made plans to go do the Shweeb thing
instead. Agroventures (run shweeb) recently were given a Google grant to
develop the shweeb technology to implement it as public transport
somewhere. After riding in it I can see that it could work out pretty well for
that sort of thing. As well as being fast, dry, safe, away from traffic, it is
a lot of fun to get around on. We are planning to go back tomorrow and I will
get some better video footage then. Fun will be had (especially with some of
the costumes (myself included) that I hear may be worn on Saturday for the SS
race)
|
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Tue, 12 Oct 2010
Faith in your training buddies - 15:47
So this is a story (heard through the grapevine) I found most entertaining
recently. When Michael "Bling" Matthews
won
the world under 23 road cycling championships the other week, a whole
bunch of his training buddies were down there watching and cheering him on.
This bunch of his mates were watching on the final climb, they watched him
come up the final climb in the bunch that remained at that point and said to
each other. Cool he has won it lets go find a pub and celebrate. This was
before he had gone through the formality of crossing the line in first
place. Great to see such faith (rewarded too) on observing his form on the
final climb compared with everyone else around him. Go Bling.
[/mtb]
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An N+1 in the family - 13:15

Jane's new Kona Dr Fine (fullsize)
|
So not a bike for me (though it is damn sweet, I almost wish it were), my
sister Jane last got herself a new bike in 1994 when we returned from
England. That is a Diamond Back Topanga. She has still been using that bike to
this day which means it has had a long useful life (and will continue to do
so, more on that later). However she started asking me a while ago about a new
bike, most of her riding is a commute in Sydney to her work at Macquarie uni,
grocery shopping and sometimes a cruisy weekend ride.
My recommendation for her was a flat bar road bike, set up to be a kick arse
commuter. The bike I found for her (thanks to an excellent price from
Maladjusted) was a 2010 Kona Dr Fine. Pictured to the left, I got full length
fenders put on to make the commute experience more pleasant in Sydney wet
weather and also the pannier rack as she carries her gear in panniers for the
commute and grocery shopping.
The very cool thing about this bike (apart from it being fast, light, new,
etc) is the internally geared rear hub, so it only has a single speed drive
train exposed to the elements, also with hydraulic disc brakes it really
should be bomb proof for lots of km without much maintenance work. Now I just
need to add the bidon cage, U-Lock mount (for the new lock, so do not even
think about stealing it from her, bastard bike thieves) and a pump mount or
similar.
I am somewhat jealous, this is a very nice bike, though I guess one benefit is
I will get the Diamond Back so I can turn it into my shopping/rough treatment
town geared bike, so it does at least stay in the family.
|
[/mtb/gear]
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Tue, 14 Sep 2010
Photos from the SS Nats - 17:06
Though I wrote about this event
on Sunday I
had not uploaded photos yet. They are
now online, not many but
another rider asked to see them so here they are.
[/mtb/events]
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Sun, 12 Sep 2010
2010 SS Nationals - Majura Pines, Hosted by COGS - 21:47

A possible new pink bike?
|
After a few years of being keen to get to them, I finally made it along to the
SS national championships this weekend, helped by the fact they were held in
Majura Pines in Canberra. Canberra One Gear Society (COGS) hosted the
event and 120 or so riders rocked up
for a fun weekend.
My SS is not pink (though my race bike is) I wonder if I should get an
upgrade, maybe to something similar to the bike pictured? The Hill climb and
Time Trial were fun yesterday, then the novelty events were held, the photo
was taken by Rob during the 16 inch crit races, which were in fact a race down
a hill trying to stay upright on small bikes, possibly the most fun on a bike
all weekend trying to balance on them had us all giggling a lot.
The traditional (well traditional for an SS race) XC race was on today. The
beer shortcut cut around three and a half minutes off my lap time, so after
doing the long lap the first time round to work that out I took the beer
shortcut every lap after that. Five laps, 4 beers, around 21m per lap I
think, though I may be a bit off with that as my gps stopped when drinking,
still it was a fun race. I am looking forward even more to the world SS
championships in Rotorua in October now, it should be a lot of fun.
I guess I will not be upgrading to the specific bike pictured as it was later
used in the huffy/barbie bike toss event on Saturday afternoon.
|
[/mtb/events]
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Sat, 28 Aug 2010
A Port Mac Mosey - 2010 Geoquest, photos and report - 21:13

Three of us in wetsuits heading for the gorge swim/trek (fullsize)
|
The photo on the left is no the most common AR image, three of us in wetsuits
(though it could happen in a canyoning leg also) but it captures a good race
image I think. The photo is of course from my Geoquest race report, not as
long as some it has 7800 words or so, 110 images and can be found on
the 2010 Geoquest - Team
iAdventure.com.au/iRule - A Port Mac Mosey page I put up.
We had an awesome support crew with Amanda and Prue, some support from a
sponsor and a laid back attitude to the event. We were heading up there
expecting to finish mid field, so it was a pleasant surprise to be higher up
in the ranking. Fun was definitely had which is what matters most. Have a read
if you are interested, it is a good event.
|
[/mtb/events]
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Wed, 04 Aug 2010
Oh no am I becoming a trend following roadie - 17:20

My roadie team kit (fullsize)
|
A few weeks ago (just before D and G flew off to Europe) I noticed Cadel Evans'
wife mention the BMC racing team shop on Twitter. So I headed off to have a
look and see what they had for sale. Lo and behold they had full team kit (bib
knicks and jersey) in a kit bag for CHF 60 (which is approximately AUD $60) a
set. Wow brilliant price for that cycle gear, G wanted a set too, so I bought
two sets, with postage it became around AUD $80 each. Still a great price.
As can be seen to the left it arrived the other day, it is not Hincapie
Sportswear clothing (I have one Hincapie jersey which I like well enough)
however is a full euro pro roadie team kit. This may come as a shock (it does
to me) as, although I have many
cycle
jerseys, they tend to be more unusual or interesting designs, I have never
really understood why people wear euro pro team jerseys with sponsors product
littered all over them, and pay a premium price for them. My exception to this
is the T-Mobile womens jersey as Hot Pink Flames are cool.
However I like Cadel and I like the look of the BMC kit, it is also pretty
simple with only BMC mentioned on the kit, so no other sponsor names all over
the clothing. The price was too good to pass up, now to find out if I like
wearing bib knicks (my first pair ever).
|
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Tue, 15 Jun 2010
Finished the Kona Mawson MTB Marathon - 11:16
Andrew and I finished the 367 km mtb ride in 19h52m, there are
photos and a report
online. We were a little disappointed not to finish faster, however it was a
great event and the scenery was incredible. Good to see Claire and Joel win
mixed (and 5th overall), Brett Bellchambers riding a geared bike and giving it
a good stab with Jason McAvoy (4th overall), Mark Tupalski coming 3rd with
Mark Fenner and Bec and Phil finished too to make up the Canberra contingent
there.
It would be nice to be able to run/walk up some of the mountains and really
see more of the area, however this event at least got me down to the area
which tends to be how my tourism is focused now days (around events and
racing). Thanks to Andrew for a good race.
[/mtb/events]
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Wed, 09 Jun 2010
A ride in the desert - 10:36
I am heading to South Australia this evening, and hopping on a bus tomorrow
morning to get up to
Blinman
for the start of the
2010
Kona Mawson MTB Marathon. People competing in the 4 day stage race have
already started this morning, however those of us doing the non stop option
start on Friday morning.
I am looking forward to this event for a number of reasons. I have never been
to parts of Australia that look like classic Australian Desert (or the Red
Centre as it is known). I have been told that the Flinders Ranges definitely
live up to this look. Lots of big Australian desert to look at. I have not
competed in a 24 hour race solo since 2004 so I am looking forward to this as
it will take me out of my comfort zone in my best discipline again. (AR is
different as you change discipline fairly often).
Andrew and I are both fairly bike fit and should be able to get along at a
good pace for the whole event, I plan to take photos while riding but will be
working hard to avoid wasting time and stopping much. Hoping to get in under
20 hours to the finish at
Melrose,
and who knows once we finish and rest a bit I can even hope I feel up to
walking/running up Mount Remarkable in Melrose. However that is on Saturday
and we still have 367km of mountain biking starting at 7:30am on Friday
morning to get through. Bring it on.
[/mtb/events]
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Mon, 17 May 2010
Chocolate Foot 8 Hour round 2, Nowra - 14:57

Singlespeed podium, Sean, Me, Kent with Joe on the mic (fullsize)
|
As part of our lead up to the Mawson mtb Marathon, Andrew and I headed down to
Nowra to compete in round 2 of Joe and Fi's
Chocolate
Foot Single Track Mind endurance mtb series. This time it was an 8 hour
race on the SCUM course at Nowra.
Many of the mtb-oz crew were there (Dave and Helen, Matt and Sim, Liam, Tyno,
Rob, sMarti, Spoonie, Ray, Dreggsy, etc) though none of them were racing solo,
oh well Andrew and I were. After my night ride of the course on Saturday I
thought it was a little bit boring, however my mind was soon changed once the
race began on Sunday morning, the course is a lot of fun once you up the pace
and have others around you.
As always I started off a bit harder than I probably should have, with a few
laps around 30 minutes (one sub 30 minute lap even), then after my first stop
for new drink bottles I slowed down to 33 minute laps for a while, by the end
of the day I was stopping most laps for a bottle or similar and was doing 35
to 36 minutes a lap. Andrew caught me around lap 5 and by the end of the race
had almost lapped me, he got 15 laps in, I got in 14 lap. On the 10.5km course
that was 145KM on the single speed in almost exactly 8 hours (I timed my
finish and effort fairly carefully as I was not keen on heading out on a 15th
lap (yes I am aware they did not have CORC style rules in place, I did not
have to be on track after 8 hours, however I would have felt I should head out
if I came in before 8 hours)).
Even though it was the single speed enduro champ round of the series there
were not many people there on SS bikes, early on I thought Liam was winning as
he passed me, however he was in a team so it turns out I won the category
(though only by 13 minutes) which was cool. Fun was had.
|
[/mtb/events]
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Wed, 12 May 2010
Yerrabi, taking the Cyclocross bike out for a race - 16:30

Riding through Mulligans
|
The Sri
Chinmoy Yerrabi Multisport race was held on Sunday, another gorgeous day,
and for me a great excuse to use the cyclocross bike in a race. (the bike
course is fast fire roads and is well suited to a CX bike)
The Yerrabi race is a great multi race, it is short and fast (just over 2
hours for the mens winners most years), no where near as tough as Googong and
no swimming (and not as tough as Jindabyne solo obviously). Also being able to
do a race in Gungahlin is an interesting change as generally that is not a
location we normally think of for any outdoor events (running, road cycling,
mountain biking, paddling, etc).
I won the race
last
year, however I was expecting it to be tougher to win this
year, for two main reasons. I have been unable to run since the Aus Rogaine
championships due to various knee injuries and with my knee still injured I
expected it may not hold up well in the two runs. The second reason was Mark
was rocking up to race and I knew he would be pushing me to try and get ahead
of him and hold him off if I managed to get there at all.
I did finally manage to pass Mark in the bike leg (he had a faster first run
and I did not catch up in the paddle), however did not get much of a gap and
he passed me in transition and then held me off in the run easily. We have
both been talking about how awesome it would be if we had more of our friends
compete in the race next year. The competition and field would be incredible
if all the Arnuts rocked up to do the event. Randall, Chris T, Dave B, Alex,
Gary R, Gary L, Mark, Nathan, Kim, Ian, Tom, Myself, etc. The womens race
could be awesome if more of our friends rocked up too, just imagine the
competition if Selina, Susie, Libby, Danielle, Danealle, Heather, Julie and
Alina all raced.
I am sure no one who knows me will be surprised to hear I had slow transitions
too, Mark commented to me that my transitions that he saw were really slow,
maybe Fatty is on to something with
suggesting
transition
training (highly amusing). More photos from the race are on the
sri
chinmoy site.
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