Pick a plank

Everyone who rides a bike, has heard of the mythical pic-a-plank bridges in Gippsland. This right here, is a very good explanation of why you need to pick a plank, and stick to it!! :)

Thats gotta hurt...

Winter fun

A backyard was just crying out for some attention, so a rake hoe and a shovel, and a few hours, and this is what has been created!



And there some more camera phone pic's over here!

.........I still think that it’s a wide open race. If you look at Cadel Evans, he might be a few minutes down but he’s still riding really strongly. I think he’d be less than thirty seconds down if it wasn’t for the team time trial. In fact, he attacked a few days ago. I have to say that it wasn’t a move I expected but some of the peloton were laughing when he went away. That’s a big mistake I thought when riders were chuckling away into their team radio. Cadel isn’t a guy I know personally but I have a lot of respect for him as a rider. Some say he never attacks but there he was, putting people into difficulty. Some of those people that laughed won’t be laughing when the race hits the Alps and he’s a main contender.

*Andy Schleck. (sp.?)

*stolen from Rotorburn (ex-Farkin.net)*

"heard a rumbling that the park ranger at king lake is very open to putting in a mountain bike park similar to the you yangs mtb park. word is no one visits the king lake nat park and they are looking to increase visits. due to the success of the you yangs the ranger is looking to copy the you yangs model.

this shows that when something is done well and is respected by riders and is a success then more national parks, state parks etc will be opened up. congrats to the mtb community."

More parks, more betterer!

FTF 6hr Enduro

This is one event you don’t want to miss out on. The single track at Officer is awesome!! The venue definitely will work well for an enduro format and will test the riding ability of all levels.

Don’t be scared… just enter!

You can read more about it here.

Before the adventure truly began!



On a side note, those of you whole regularly follow the Felt Epix blog, you may have noticed that posts by me (Ash) have been sporadic at best recently. Over this winter, I've dialed my riding right back, as I've got a few other major projects on the go which are soaking up my time. I'll be back in a few months, ready to rock, so in the meantime Jason seems to be providing more than enough material to keep things ticking along! Plenty of Epix are still being planned, with our adventures taking us far and wide, and bringing you plenty of stories and images! Please be sure to keep checking back as all the latest is posted here first!

Rd # 2 FTF winter series.

FTF Winter Series Rd#2 – 12th July @ Harkaway Details
Entry & Licence:
Done in the morning of the race.
You need to show a VALID MTBA licence, if not, you can purchase a $15 day licence.
Note: Cadets need a parent / guardian to fill in a $5 participation licence.
Race Entry Fees:
$20 = A, B, C, D & for this race a "CHIX” only class.
$10 = Junior (13-17)
Nil = Cadets
Directions:
Harakaway Scout Camp, 138 Chadwick rd, Harkaway melways 210 B7

Timing:
8.30am = Registration open
9.30am = Start for the Cadets (15min event)
10am = Racing starts for A, B, C, D, Junior & CHIX classes.
Straight after racing has finished, presentations and spot prizes will be drawn, so you are best to hang around because we have plenty to give away!
The Course:
The race format is not your traditional XC race course consisting of a 5-6km loop, instead it’s a “short and intense” loop of around 2km long. It’s not overly technical, but it will certainly be close racing. So please expect a few short sharp climbs. A perfect MTB loop!

So since the course is so short, there will be only one class racing at a time. The actual race time won’t go for that long (around 15-20min or so depending on the weather). So after each class has done their 1st race for the day, the 2nd and final race will be in the reverse direction. It will be like racing on two different courses on the same day. We’ll then add the scores up for your two races to determine the eventual winner for each class. While your class is not racing, you’ll be able to watch the other classes, a perfect atmosphere.
Facilities:
Croydon Cycleworks will be providing mechanical support in association with their ‘mobile shop tent’.
There will be NO food or drinks available, so please BYO.

Parking:

We will be coordinating the parking around the buildings near the start finish line. It’s a one way little dirt road into the camp, so please be mindful of other drivers and riders. Ie. drive slow.
Thank you in advance.

Hope to see you there.

08 Cape to Cape.

The Forrest 6 hr Championships.

Reflecting back a couple of months ago MR T who is a good friend/riding partner/neighbour of mine asked if I would be keen to race an enduro with him. The first thought that popped into my head was ‘I’m retired from enduro racing’, only to reply to him “I’m in”. After all, the man is a 50hr adventure racing freak that loves punishing his body until he ends up sleeping in a dirt spoon drain to get some rest before heading out on his next leg.

We came up with the Forrest 6hr as our event of choice after Ash and I had ventured down there earlier in the year. I new we would be riding some of the best trails Victoria has to offer and had photos to prove it.
With the weather turning pear shaped late in the week the decision had to be made to rip off the old and worn summer tyres in exchange for a new set of Panaracer Rampage 2.1. With the help of SPEX tubeless tyre sealant of course.I will go into more detail about these tyres shortly.
A new set of OZRIDERS grips were fitted.

After a well hydrated Friday night MR T was sound asleep having his midday nap. I snuck out to turn the legs over. Riding out of Apollo Bay I had some very bad flash backs to the Otway Odyssey race. Heading up towards Forrest there is a bitumen climb that would last for around 32km’s. Fortunately I rode 3km’s of it and stopped to ponder for a few minutes.

Unfortunately I have no more pics of the race which is a poor effort on my behalf but I hope I can make up for it in a short race de-brief.

This was the first time the Forrest crew had held a 6hr in this location. The course turned out to be a cracker that everyone loved. Super fast flowing single track with BIG berms that spit you out twice as fast as you entered them. They really do know how to build and maintain single track down there.

My thoughts of the day to MR T before we started were, lets not race the other teams lets just race the course for six hours and see where we pop out the other side, and that was what we did.

Matt rode like a man possessed from start to end and left everything out on course. He was ‘in the zone’ that much on his second lap he forgot his helmet and on his third his gloves. But this is why his profession is logistics I guess… ;)

By the end of the day we finished with big smiles and plenty of stories to be told. This was just a reminder why I used to love racing with my mates.

Final results were 11 laps in 6hours and 34 minutes. Sixth over all and forth in our category.

One might find some pics and results here.

FTF 2009 Winter XC Series Round 2

Winter Series # 2 – Harkaway “heads up”

The FTF committee was once again hard at work yesterday ‘scouting’ out the Harkaway course that we made last year. The course is in perfect condition and ready to race.

Just to give everyone a bit of a heads up, the race format is not your traditional XC race course consisting of a 5-6km loop, instead the “short and intense” loop is around 2km long. It’s not overly technical, but it will certainly be a close race. So please expect a few short sharp climbs. A perfect MTB loop!

So since the course is so short, there will be only one class racing at a time. The actual race time won’t go for that long (around 20min or so depending on the weather). So after each class has done their 1st race for the day, the 2nd and final race will be in reverse direction. It will be like racing on two different courses on the same day. We’ll then add the scores up for your two races to determine the eventual winner. While your class is not racing, you’ll be able to watch the other classes, what a perfect atmosphere.

Check here for all the club details

Who is Felt.

All the answers are found here.

Blood, Sweat + Gears

Blood, Sweat + Gears: Racing Clean to the Tour de France from Team Garmin-Slipstream on Vimeo.