Felt Epix winds up...

As the once massive, now dubiously political Midnight Oil once sang, "the time has come..."

Felt Epix, as Jason and myself, has had a fantastic innings, with its partnership with Felt, as well as its co-sponsors Ascend Sport, Night Lightning, OzRiders, the ever present mechanical wizardry of GVRaceTech and Sport Recovery. We've had the privilege to travel across the country to participate in events, to experience the wonders that many will only ever read about and to meet some fantastic people. Our adventures have given our wives near heart attacks, amused our worldwide readership and given us a lifetime of laughs, and to a certain extent that will never end. Its in our genes, the desire to go and seek and adventure, and for the past few years, we've been lucky enough to share the experience with others through the generosity of our corporate partners.

But sadly for all involved, the tough decision was forced upon us. From its very inception, we as Felt Epix, and formerly Felt Racing, have always strived to offer the most value for the sponsorship dollar. Both Jason and I have always been mindful of the fickle nature of sponsorship, and constantly pushed to find new and creative ways to expose the brands that helped us get to where we are. But for that very reason, we find ourselves in a place that is not permitting of these tasks.

Whatever form of cycling we have tried our hand at, Jason and I have always *tried* to make it look effortless. To my mind, that's extremely important for a 'semi-pro', a point of difference to the public cyclist. We have the best tools at hand to achieve that goal, and hence we should make it look easy. Truth be told, to go and do a ride in 'public', it often is easy, and that's simply because of the training that goes on behind the scenes. With our time being swept away in any number of directions, the time that was once used for training, is no longer. And hence, we can no longer commit ourselves to our cycling projects with anywhere near the success we could in the past.

Cycling in all its forms is something that I don't think you ever leave. In one way or another, you'll still always ride. Jason and myself will always continue to ride, to seek adventures and to enjoy every minute of it (sometimes in hindsight). We'll continue to push Felt Bicycles as an excellent brand, and our rides of choice. Naturally like anyone, we'd love to get a new bike each year, to ride it and to show everyone we see how good it is. But thats not the way we, as Felt Epix, are comfortable to operate. We know the monetary value of a bike, and appreciate the value of positive PR, but know ourselves that our exposure wouldn't balance that equation, and as such feel it would be unfair to deprive another rider of a share of the sponsorship budget.

Formally, Felt Epix would to thank Felt Bicycles and Southcott for all their assistance and support of the past 4 years. In the future, we hope to be able to approach you with another fresh new idea, but at the moment, we feel that funding might be better directed to younger or up and coming riders. The bikes have been amazing, the support has been unbeatable and we hope that Felt Epix has blazed another unique path in the fantastic world of cycling.

Thank you,

uh oh...

Seem's like broken bones are a bit contagious at the moment...

Enduro Downhills, so 2011!!

Would it be wrong to be excited to see something like this in Australia...?

Like, hello Klingsporn....! :)

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/retired-cross-country-pro-leuchs-returns-to-racing-at-endurance-downhills

Very cool link

2010 Nemisis Marathon Challenge

It has been three weeks since I took part in the Nemesis Marathon Challenge and to be honest I think that I still haven’t recovered.

The race ticked all the boxes to make the winners work hard for their jerseys. The pre-race dinner forced me to change my race plan after Rohin Adams delivered the course to 100 riders without holding back, “go hard here... you will pay for it here!”, he said.

One thing I do like is entering in a race that no one has raced before. The high quality pedigree on the start line indicated just how important this race is on the calendar and the uncertainty of the course reflected the vibe.

30 sec 15 sec 5. 4. 3. 2 .1 GO... Brrrrup

The big hitters moved to the front early driving the lead group to the base of the first climb at warp speed. Once we hit the climb I had to initiate my race plan which was to race the course and not get caught up trying to race above my current fitness level.

With my Garmin letting me know how far I still had to go, I settled into a steady pace. It was amazing to see riders ride off into the distance only to be caught on the next climb, trying to recover from their last effort. The climbs certainly made you work hard for your smile on the descents.

The race organisers had five feed zones throughout the course. Reflecting on the day I believe this is a necessity when you hold a race in remote areas. For all five feed zones on course I never saw one rider not stop.

Each new section of track sent you into a bottomless mountain and forced you to dig deep into your reserves and make a decision, ride or walk back out? I was with six other riders and we took turns riding one then walking the next one to recover. Ride then walk, ride then walk...

At times I wanted to surrender to the course and say you beat me, but a race is a race and I never want a course to get the upper hand.

I finished the day off in just over 6hrs. I had nothing left in reserve which was transparent as I stood on the finish line standing like I was sitting in a chair *cramps*. I was really happy with my result with limited training before the event.

In summary,

Was it as hard as everyone made it out to be? Harder!

Did I get my money’s worth out of the event? Without a doubt.

What would I change? My pre-race training.

Have I recovered three weeks on? The fact my bedtime has started two hours early every night might suggest not.

Would I go back next year...? Yennoyeesno, YES.

With over supplied endurance events on the calendar this race is a breath of fresh air. If you enter next year remember one thing. It is a marathon race, not XC and not 6, 12 or a 24hr team event that we all have got used to and you will be fine. Sort of...?

Jason Jackson

Seems like the bloggers are slowly getting back in action, with Bellie and Matt just a few to be posting again. Not that we can talk, sporadic is the best description I can give, but hey we're trying! :)

So Jack reckons that he had fun on the rail trail?



Judging by this photo early on, things could only have improved!! :p



Last minute directions for Big George, who rocked up with us giving him grief, only to get out of his car, throw his helmet on and be ready to ride. Not amusing on its own, but when JD had been there for more than 20 mintues, and still wasn't ready, we did get a laugh out of it! The boys then proceeded to have a 10 minute discussion over which 'matchmaker' bracket would fit what... riiiight...



Moments after I took this, a F150 came roaring around the corner, and I did a little bit of scaredness in my pants...! The truck even clipped the trees on the inside of the corner as he reefed the truck back in line.


So we got the band back together and hit up some trail that none of us had ever heard about. 'New' might be the best description, but it was far from fresh cut. Beautifully run in, amazing flow and some great lines, although I'm tempted to offer it the name DuPont, from the makers of Teflon as it was damn slippery under the trees...

For reasons that most could guess, I'm not going to impart where these trails are, in fact I probably couldn't find them again if I wanted, but HOLY HELL they are good. As well as being fun, they are actually extremely photogenic so I'll be heading back some day with a camera and some sunshine, and perhaps with riders that aren't off to do massive stage races the next week, or race 6 hours the next day or basically have any interest in racing because they go too damn fast for this little adventurer :)





Seriously tho, amazing trail and cheers to the guys that both built it, and the riders who came along for the quick spin!

OzRiders.com.au back for 2010!

OzRiders is back for 2010 and they're bringing a brand new website full of new and exciting things, take a few seconds to check it out!

Ozriders

Mind blown... again...

Looks like it pretty quiet out there in Blogger world, everyone seems to be still recovering from the Marathon champs?

Thought I'd do a quick run throught on the Virtue, being it pretty good fun in the conditions presented... We've had Virtues for probably 4-5 seasons now, and Equilink equipped bikes for longer than that, and I can say that I did indeed scratch my head when Felt announced months ago that they were scrapping the system for their lighter, shorter travel bikes.. I reckon its damn good personally, so much so that I think I left the ProPedal off on the shock for about 60km to help with keeping traction on the rocky ground at Avoca.

IMO, this Virtue is the best on that I've used for a number of reasons. Firstly, they seem to have sorted out the pivots to a reliable, smooth action without bolts coming loose. Secondly the artwork is great, and a good looking bike goes easily 10% faster. The frame is a measurable amount stiffer than previous efforts, and I'd go so far as to say it feels better engineered than the Compulsion of last year. Power, steering and response all seem to be tapered to a more accurate point, and the bike is able to be pushed harder.

The parts spec is solid and reliable, which is really where these bikes are aimed at. Quite easily could someone drop some weight on it, through a bit of carbon here and there, wheels and groupset, but it would be chasing grams... The new Carbon bars I put on for the weekend are a bit narrower than I was used to (closer to standard than Kabush ) but they did the job admirably, and are extremely light with the carbon nano-tube technology. And the Fulcrum wheels, whilst I was nervous running untested equipment for a 90km heartbreaker, they were awesome!! So stiff, light and super super fast!! I couldn't believe how quick they where, getting in a tuck on a rolling fireroad and I was GONE from whoever I rode with. Can't say enough good things about them, and hopefully I can hang onto them for a while!! 2 big thumbs up from me!! And Avid Elixers with 180mm front rotor -haven't ridden anything better, ever. Power, modulation, ease of use, and did I mention the power...!!!!

All in all, I loved the bike for the day, and love to ride it at every chance I get! Its the most fun bike I've had the pleasure of using on a regular basis, and isn't that why we ride?

New Felt Edict

Brand new Felt full suspension with a sub 4lb frame weight - check it out

Avoca Nemesis Marathon

Just about enough pain has subsided to give the Marathon a bit of thought, although I'm fully expecting to mee my mate DOMS in this next few days... Its was a long hard day out there, felt by both the front and the rear of the field I'm sure, and in no small part by our bodies!

We headed up to Avoca in the blogger-mobile, with Mr T, Big Mak and the Epix bus. A weary morning after a bucks turn wasn't ideal, but we all got out there and met up with Rohin, who was going at 10/10ths to bring the race to the people. We grabbed some signs and rode out on course to do a bit of work and string up a little bit of bunting, but more to get an idea of what was in store.Rocking a Felt Six hardtail, Jason was absolutly confident in the right choice being made, whilst I was absolutly loving the Virtue as I hopped, railed and jumped my way up and down everything! We both were on some new equipment for the day, and I hope to run through that a bit more in some coming posts, but this is about the race so lets head back there...

A very amusing night was had Saturday night at the local golf club, with MC Tim doing some sort of double act with the local publican for the most honest chook raffle ever (paraphrased - you city folk look rich, I'm going to take a lot of all your money and give you only a little bit back, and it'll problably be something useless anyway - GOLD!) Rohin laid out the day for us, and everyone basically bailed to go and sleep at the first opportunity as they had become acutly aware they were going to need it!


Race morning saw a 3am phone call to Rohin from the toilet truck people, stating they had dropped two wheels and it was too dark to actually find them, so there was a bit of a flap about that. The situation was bandaged, and away we went, albeit with a few toilets to a lot of people, but hell nobody is putting their hand up as a magician - its Sunday morning people!!! 600 odd riders descended on the place, and a race was about to take place...


SS - are you kidding me!?!?

The gun went, and we all followed suit up the road. 5km of 'flat' fireroad led to the 8km climb, and somewhere near the middle of that, every rider had a vision of how their day would go...

Up...I saw Jason for a while, hell I saw Elvis for a while, but in the wash up it was just survival out there so the pace was dictated by the distance. I settled in for a long day out there, and just waited to enjoy every downhill. Grover was doing a roaring trade at CP1 ("What do you want?" *yelled from the distance* - *replied very close, and quietly* "to go home...") and still seemed to have the love 5 hours later.

If I'm honest, it all became a bit of a blur for the next few hours, but I do have some stand out memories. Any of the singletrack descents were awesome, and just got better as my day went on, and whilst the Heritage trail was very fresh and not particularly rideable later in my day, the descents sure were great fun! All the fireroad climbs were taken at default pace, and most of the singletrack climbs were either walked or granny-ed, such was the toughness of this race. The departure from the Peerick Winery stands out as a tough climb, and I said a few cusswords out there, but no excuses - I knew what was out there!!

By somewhere near the halfway point, the groups of people that I saw became reasonably regular, and I think we all kinda helped each other along. One poor bloke I cajoled into continuing proceeded to try and go past me like a train on one of the climbs, but was so frazzled that the downhill's eluded him, so that amused some poor corner of my soul. I spent most of the day see-sawing with Troy who did a great job up the climbs whilst I rested my chin on my stem, and then I managed to flick the switch on the Virtue and rail any descent! AWESOME, as Randall would say

The haze kinda just blurred the edges and kept me focussed on getting home, but starting at one end of every feed station table and eating everything to the other end certainly helped get me through! A lovely feature for sure! Full leg cramps hit as I rolled though 4 km to go, and it was all over for me there. At least 10 bottles on course kept me going, and with a lovely warm day, it was definatly needed.At any rate, I knew what was coming, I didn't 'enjoy' the race, but I certainly felt it was a great run event, and used the area exceptionally well for what was available. A few years of work, racing and trail building would make an awesome race course one day, but for now it was a truely Epic day!

Some photos don't need an explanation.

Wheels have arrived!

With the good graces of the team at Southcott, I've got the priveldge to slip in a set of Fulcrum Red Metal wheels into the Virtue One.

"These are still at the top of the metal alloy wheels range in the Fulcrum® Red Metal Zero series: they are specific for the use of disc brakes. They provide the ideal choice for cross-country races because of the use of the 23.5 millimetre rims machined with triple milling. The maximum lightness has been obtained as a result without weakening the sides. The result is the best compromise for indulging your passion on impervious tracks and steep descents.

Compatibility with UST tubeless systems. Aluminium spokes with an aerodynamic profile and stainless steel nipples are used for assembly. The Two-To-One™ configuration has been chosen for both wheels with 16 spokes on one side and 8 on the other. Doubling is on the disc brake side of the front wheel and on the freehub side of the rear one. The oversize hubs feature a 20 millimetre axle running on high-precision bearings.

There there is also a Red/Black version having a red rim, black spokes, and red hub.

Average weight*:
front: 720 g
rear: 880 g"

Sounds good to me! All that needs to happen is whack the discs on them, stretch a pair of Panaracer Rampages over and fill them with Spex and I'm out there riding up the hills!! :)

Last night I whipped out to the Yarra trails to have a fang around, and kinda tried to do the old 'racing daylight' thing... Lets say I was rueing the perfectly good set of Nightlightning iblaasts that I left at home.. Still, it was awesome out here, damp tacky trail and I even saw some 'Dickies' out there - for you filthmongers, I'm refering to the Dickies that are involved with this arrangement

Nemesis National Marathon Champs this weekend - Epix will be there, and I believe it may just be truely Epic!

Easters Activity's

Sunrise looking out over Lake Eildon at Mt Buller.



Our Easter weekend adventure took us to the Lake Eildon at the Delitite Arm section of the lake.
If we were rating our top ten rides and single tracks on being rewarded with magical views this ride would be number one. I will post some pics from the top tomorrow.

I reckon it might be Chrismas in April for us today....

Rumour has it that there is some very cool stuff waiting for me at work today, all designed to make the Nemesis Marathon in a few weeks, just that little bit more EPIC :)

There is even rumour that a full carbon race bike might be under our chamois - interesting! Stand by for a full and complete review of that one, as well as some other little trick bits. We know there are plenty of Virtue owners out there so maybe some of these bits are going to pique your interest ;)

And the latest from Ascend also awaits us, so best I 'd get the hell out of here and get to work to find out what its all about.

Over the weekend, there should even be some interesting behind the scenes posts about the world behind Felt Bicycles in Australia. Stand by....

Entrys Close Today

Have you taken a deep breath and entered??????

Don't be scared... be terrified. The word on the street is that this is going to raise the bar for all MTB races in Australia.

Remember, its a marathon not some willy nilly club run in a park ;)

Go on, get out there and take the challenge!

Wikipedia's View

Marathon - Marathon (XCM) is perhaps the toughest form of mountain biking because riders often have to cover more than 80 km in one race on mountaineous terrain. The distances usually vary from 60 km to 100 km. Races often exceed 100 km, but are then termed Ultra-Marathons. Recently UCI has inaugurated the Marathon World Cup. Basically it equals point-to-point (PP) discipline and that means that riders have a mass start from point "A" and they finish at point "B".

See you there.