Sunday, October 28, 2007

Mont 24 hour race.


Leaving Mitchell at home with the grandparents we hit the road for the Mont 24 hour. We arrived just after lunch and settled into the Giant tent. Then it was time to check out the track.
Heading out with the Specialized boys i had to quickly adjust to the pace as Joel Reed led us through the trails. Feeling like i wanted a closer look at the course i headed out for another lap with the Kyneton school team. We had a chat about a few different lines and what to look for as new lines will appear as the race goes on. We did have one minor incident where my front brakes locked up sending me over the bars face down in the dirt. I am sure somebody knows what caused this. With a quick dust off, we were on our way again no harm done.

We arrived early on Saturday to soak up the atmosphere and do some trash talking. To my surprise their was a documentary being shot on the whole event and our team were going to be interviewed and followed during the race.

I had the job of starting. The start line was 50 riders wide and all were keen to rip the course apart. The start gun went and for the next 5min we were all riding by brail. I don't recall even seeing the track i was riding on until half way around the first lap. I was glad to get the first lap over as it just didn't feel like i was having fun any more.

With my lower back aching from the long drive and no sign of it improving i only had one choice, change my focus. Isn't it strange that when you change your focus and forget about what hurts or whats going wrong and focus on what brings you enjoyment you start to feel like you can do anything. From then on i just relaxed and let the bike (Anthem Advance) take me for a journey through the pine forest.

Night fell and we were in a ding dong battle with 3 other teams for the minor places as the Gu team seemed to be slowly extending their lead over everyone else. Clipping on my Nightlightning LED lights i was able to get through the night easily negotiating the pine forest.

After a short sleep the sun was up. We were now holding second place thanks to Murry and Dan who had done the hard yards before the sun came up. When you have great team mates who just get on with riding as hard as they can, it is inspiring. Kate turned up with a morning coffee and it was time to drop the hammer just in case anyone had thoughts about catching us.

With an hour and a half to go Willo was keen to finish on a double lap so he had me fired up to give him enough time to do this. Isn't it great to be riding with someone who after 22 hours just wants to make it in before cut off to do another lap. No wonder he is such a tough competitor. Not one to let a team mate down i punched out a couple of quick laps and Willo went through transition with 30 seconds to spare for another lap to finish on the same laps as the Gu team.

It was a great weekend. We made the GU team work hard for the win. We all rode as well as we could have and you can do no more, that is satisfying. With a little recovery I will be backing it up this coming weekend at the first round of the National XC series in Adelaide.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Getting ready for the Mont24.

It has been a big week Mitchell has taken his first steps and Jeff Williams wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy - congratulations. This put Jeff into hypo mode throwing around Kettle Bells like tennis balls and causing my legs to ache for three days.

Saturday was a great day. I had an early start as i had lots to fit into one day. After a tardy start due to myself running late I met up with Ash(Felt) and AJ(Scott) and headed into the Dandenongs. Along the way we picked up Jason (Felt) to make up a solid group of four. Up the elbow Ash showed off by riding no hands so he could take photo's of the action. Out of Emerald AJ turned up the heat and had us all hanging on. This was a good solid hit out before next weekends Mont 24 teams showdown.

Just before i got home i went to the TAB to put a bet on the Caulfield Cup. I left my money on the counter so somebody made an easy $50 and i couldn't put my bet on. This really pissed me off - mainly because whoever took it lied to my face about taking it. Lesson - gambling does bad things to peoples morals.

Lunch-time came and i headed to Woodend with the family for a skills ride with the Kyneton Secondary College MTB Squad. We arrived to find a keen group of riders - 13 in total. After some introductions we headed down to the footy oval to learn how and why a bike behaves the way it does. After going over some of the basics we hit the local trails to start to put it into practice. The trails were fun and challenging. By the end everyone was starting to get use to the new riding position and were making improvements. It is really encouraging to see so many keen young riders willing to learn and have fun flying through the bush trails with their mates.

Remember: Body position (Triangle or chicken position when cornering) stay relaxed.
Brake before the corner not during (Gives you more traction, carries more momentum making you ride faster and with less effort).
Where you look is where you go. So look up the track to where you want to go.
Work on one skill at a time. Make it habit so you don't have to think about it, you just do it.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

A tough weekend.

What a weekend. Saturday had organized a hilly ride in the Dandynongs, Jason(Felt) and Rowan(Specialized) were the only ones game after last weeks ride up Terry's Ave. So for 5 hours we rode solid tempo up every climb in the Dandynongs and just for fun i left it in the big ring all day.

Sunday i meet with Jason again for more hills. Jim and Brian also came out for some hurt. For another 5 hours we rode the hills around Kinglake and Yarra Glen with everyone joining in on the strength efforts. Now if you thought we had done enough strength work for the weekend, think again. Jason, Jim and myself headed over to Jeff's shed for a little more. We were in for a treat as Jeff has decided we were taking it to easy and now has us lifting for lengths of time instead of reps. This is great for it enables people of different abilities to train together more effectively.

I think i will have a very easy couple of days as my legs are tired and all that hard work won't be of any benifit untill i recover.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Ride at Woodend

Thursday i was invited by Cassidy from Kyneton Secondary College to go for a night ride with the local Woodend ride. With Jason Jackson(Felt Racing) for support we meet a group of about 15 riders and we headed out. For the next 40mins we rode up hill, what a tough start. After riding up for so long i new the reward would be worth it. We flew down the side of the mountain on some awesome technical single track that had me hanging back behind the seat. With local trails like these no wonder the boys were showing me how it was done. It was great to ride new and exciting trails that the local MTB riders put so much time into making and maintaning. It was great to see such enthusiasm in the young Kyneton MTB riders and reminded me that "The world lies right beyond the handlebars of any bicycle"-Daniel Behram.