Smiths Gully, St Andrews

Sunday morning saw just Jason and myself saddle up for a great little loop out at Smiths Gully. On the way our there, we saw Jack from FeltRacing and Matt L for the Specialized cult, smashing each other with about 14 billion other cyclists out Kinglake way. With our shiny new grips and chain stay protectors making us feel all happy and spoilt, we hit some fantastic trails including one that has already gone on the top ten list! So much fun, a trail that bends and swoops and rails around just as you would expect it to, without unhappy suprises!

I thought I'd throw a picture of our new stickers we're playing with. The black Felt logo doesn't work against the tint, but on Jason's white car it looks great. Its only the first attempt, but it certainly grows on you.







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We both were a little uncertain as to which grip to try, so we hedged our bets and went with both...?! It was really good to have both grips side by side (so to speak) to get a good feel of which compound we each prefer. I'm still not totally certain as they both have good traits at different times, so I will continue to consider which I'll use.



Straight out of the car, the trails just rips down into the gully, down some super sweet trail. I was all over the show, with Jason just carving the way on his RXC Team hardtail, making me feel very average. I don't think Hell Ride yesterday does much for the skills, but once warmed up with a few punchy climbs, all became zen.



A bit of behind the scenes work here, Jason will have some more (better quality) pics up shortly.



The OzRiders.com.au grips were benefiting from 'shiny new stuff' syndrome, and we're actually very happy with the way they performed on their first outing





The Nightlightning jersey's don't often get to see the light of day, but we thought we'd get them out for a bit of air time. I've actaully been using my lights over the past few weeks to commute to work (some long hours...) and they continue to amaze me and dazzle drivers. Great battery life, dead easy and reliable mounting, and I'm a happy camper!




Jason wasn't that psyched on the long climb, I think he uttered some four letter medical type words as I took these. The loops had a perfect amount of variety, everything that mountain biking can throw at you, but talk is they want to shut these trails down. Damnit!

Raaaaailing it...



We'll put some more pictorials up shortly, maybe a vid or two as well, but more importantly, get out there and amongst it before it gets too cold and wet!

Jason makes his mark.

Chum Creek - June 2008 Winter Race - Lilydale Leader Article - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Chum Creek - June 2008 Winter Race - Lilydale Leader Article

More from OzRiders.com.au

On the back of the World's last week, I noticed some news this morning thats bitter sweet. It would appear that both Dan McConnell and Chris Jongewaard are in the running for the only Olympic MTB position, and it would appear that the AOC has decided to award it to DMac! Whilst both riders use OzRiders products like us, we hate to see the olympics come down to a legal battle once again, similar to the last one with Chris and Josh Fleming (wasn't it?).

Make up your own mind if Chris should be Australia's representative, but either way, OzRiders products will be making their way to China, and thats an awesome result!

The 'full' story is here, but I guess rules are rules in the eyes of the AOC.

I'll post some pictures up of our new gear atop our bikes later, but we're very happy with them thus far. A ride tomorrow in anger will tell us more!!Talk is that Jason has gone 'Michael Jackson' on his bars, can you imagine?!

And finally, on Hell Ride, I rocked along with fellow Ascend athlete John Claxton. Today he was 'resting' but being the animal that he is, we rolled off the front of the bunch for the first part of the ride - me cross eyed and saying little, him wondering what the problem was! Seriously though, John was well behaved, and working himself into great nick for the upcoming world 24Solo champs. And as a mark of shame, I'm going to post the only photo I took of Johnny.... What a POS that is, my apologies... I believe that he'll pop up a few pic's over on his blog so check them as mine are rubbish...


Also good to see the Salsa Amigo's Carson and Simon out there with the skinny tire boys, albeit in a mad rush to get to work the long way.

The svelte F1C is still still as smooth, light and supple as ever, mixing it with all the hitters uphill, down and on the flats!!


And with that, I hope to have some pics with our new grips and a great new ride tommorrow for you! Thanks for your time, now get out there!!

OzRiders.com.au joins with Felt Epix

In some exciting news just in, Jason and I will now be running OzRiders High Density foam grips, joining an already exclusive roster of riders. With a selection of white, higher density grips, and the more rubbery black compound to chose from, we've got our bars covered so to speak.

I've also been privileged enough to cast eyes on the new tyre related product that the Ozriders are developing. I can tell you its the product of a lot of passion, a great deal of research, plenty of chemical and material lab testing (seriously!) and its AUSTRALIAN MADE!! I know that its better than the competition, as I've been using it for a few months now, and from what I gather, its going to be more affordable than the competition whilst remaining Australian made!


And whilst the trails are still ridable, and people get all antsy about snow falling soon, I thought I'd combine the two :). Grips and Chainstay protectors never looked so good, than when they were on the back of the piste-ie beastie (thats snow groomer for those who don't speak idiot like me)

So with thanks to OzRiders.com.au, you'll be seeing these grips in all sorts of bizarre and inaccessible places!

So after my mildly optimistic post yesterday in regards to coverage of the Worlds, it would appear that its only the downhill disciplines that get a mention, but do yourself a favour and watch Sam Hill's run....

It is amazing, even if you know nothing of downhill bicycle riding, the sheer pace that he descends with is just mind blowing. And to see how it ends up just makes you sigh.

http://www.freecaster.com/MTB

Check it out!

2nd to last corner, at least 6 whole seconds up, and he binned it. Coulda shoulda woulda? Paraphrased - 'its worlds, I had it pinned, I went to hard, fell over, got up, still got a medal'. Honest, succinct, but do you reckon he put a hole in side of the motorhome when he got away from the public eye?



And check out Amiel's crash if you can find it on freecaster.tv - Huge!!

Sadly neither Jason or myself were able to make it to the Gingers farewell, but read all about it and wish him luck, as well as Rhino at the World Marathon Champs in a few short weeks. Good luck fellahs, and have a great trip in the Alp's!!

And with DMac and J-Blood luck amongst others as they chase the other whippets around the track at Val De Sol tonight our time. Paulie cracked it for a 50 somethink on a lap down, and Lachie ripped int0 the low 20's, but their blogs will have the full stories shortly I feel sure.

Paulie VDP is a good guy, and we here at Felt Epix like good guys. You too can have a chance to grow to like Paul as he takes on the world tonight, we believe...

Through the wonderment of the internet, we believe that on Freecaster.tv you will be able to see live coverage of the World Champs at about 9pm Melbourne time tonight!

We've worked out that the DH is going to be shown live (See below) but we're still looking for the XC footage... Anyone got any ideas...?







Check out Sam Hill at about 2.30min - ripp'n it!


But don't break a date to try and watch the footage. Even now I'm struggling to find it again... Damnit!

Keen to race XC, but you don’t know what it’s all about?

On Saturday the 28th of June, a couple of kind FTF committee members are willing to share their Cross Country race preparation knowledge with you.

The session is aimed at intermediate mountain bikers who do a far bit of mountain biking and would like to give XC racing a go for the 1st time.

What time: 9am

Where: 1st Eaglemont Scout Hall
Irvine Road, East Ivanhoe,
(Melways Ref. 31 G10)

What to bring: Mountain bike in good running order (ie. front suspension, clipless pedals etc), helmet, shoes, water, riding food etc.

Duration: 1/2hr briefing / discussion before a 1.5 - 2hr mountain bike ride around the tight and twisty Yarra Trails.

Cost: If you already have a MTBA licence, there is no cost. If you don’t have a MTBA licence, you’ll need to fill in a $5 participation permit. You don’t need to be a FTF member. We’re not aiming to make money from this session, but like to encourage new riders to the XC race scene.

We hope to see you there!

How to while away a bit more time...

So whilst I hammer along doing blog related stuff, generally I talk to Jason on Skype whilst I do so. And generally all I can hear in the background is 'work' related stuff going on, and this game being played incessantly..!!

Play this quick flash game

*sigh*

(it is good fun tho, and slightly addictive...)

Australia’s Premier Mountain Bike Club.

Sunday was the first winter series race for the Fat Tyre Flyers. It was run at Chum Creek which is about 55minutes from Melbourne.
The club has decided to run with a new format of A, B, C, D classes for the winter series. This new format turned out to be a great change that suited everyone. Over the past few years this course has acquired a reputation to be one tough XC race, which to my understanding should be the foundation for all mountain biking racers. After all we are (mountain bike riders).

The winter’s series races have always had a laid-back atmosphere, *not for some*. Joel Read letting Steve know what is in store for him after the gun goes off…

True to all good events they had the coffee van awaiting your arrival allowing everyone to get their fix before heading out into the scrub and getting dirty.

Joel and Rohin practicing their podium results for the day.

Special thanks would have to go to Croydon Cycling Shop. Not only do they support the club with fantastic prizes, they lent a set of knicks to one rider who left his in the wash after a Wednesday night Yarra trails loop. He did offer to purchase them only to be told, “That is not necessary”.
The next gesture was lending out a $$$ bike to a rider who had the misfortune of a few broken spokes on his practise lap. Only to later confess that the true cause of his mechanical was that he had been feeding out the good paddock of late!!

This photo summarises the atmosphere for the day.

Ben Randal climbing hard to catch Scott Liston.

Rohin getting ready to take on the world.

At the end of the day it was sweaty smiles all round. The FTF definitely know how to put on a great day to cater for all levels of fitness. Check here for the next for the details of the next race, HMMMMM more sweat single track!!!!!!!!!

I didn't want to add this photo, but what the hell.

See you all at the next round.

Ciao

Garmin to head Tour team

To paraphrase:

The team thats going to be riding felt bikes at the tour, has locked in Garmin computers as its title sponsor....!

For the actual story, velosnooze has the good oil...

But its more just an excuse to post a picture of something I may have alluded to a few months back...


Felt's new AR-1

There is articles on it all over the interweb, go forth and seek!

News coming to hand...

After promises of some notable articles have fallen by the wayside, we apologies for the lack of content over the last week. Happily I can report that there is still plenty going on even as we head into winter.

Whilst I was on holiday last week, I got a call from someone in the bike industry, and now can confirm that we are in the final stages of discussions to add another name to our supporting companies over there on the right. We have even been offered the opportunity to become part of the design team for their products, so look out for whatever we may come up with! The company itself is in the final stages of getting a totally new product into the market place as well, so hopefully you may see it here first!

Our contact at Night lightning has also been busy! As well as organizing some great deals for riders, he himself has been out on his bike at the races, proving that the best companies are the ones that get out there on the ground with their customers! Racing around on nothing less than a Felt Virtue, he had a great time out there. Amusingly, he took his brand spanking Virtue out to the race, with his old bike as a spare in case he 'didn't like it' - needless to say, the old bike didn't get a run. Converted, you could say, and another happy customer!

And with some new stickers adorning our vehicles, a new camper trailer on the books, another great Epix in the making, and plenty to read about on the 24Solo riders heading for the worlds, things are alive and well!!

I'll get some pic's of our stickers this week for you!

Nightlightning sale.

Nightlightning have 2 of the current iBlaast lights in stock that they have discounted by $50.

Complete set including 720lm iBlaast 2.2ah (3hr) battery, smart charger, helmet mount and carry case. $500 delivered.

If you are looking at spending your hard earned cash on a new light look no further! This is product that has been tested by us and the Felt Enduro Team for three years.

We have no doubts you too will love riding with them.

If you wish to purchase a set or have any questions please email them to nightlighting at this address.

From Croydon we chose to ascend the mountain via Montrose, and up past the dam, and climbed our way up into the RJ Hamer Aboreum (sp?). There are some nasty long pinches up there, and climbing was the news of the hour. I'm ever afraid to mention the granny ring, and it got a fair workout on those climbs...!!



Bellie was even enthused enough to come down and do it again (or maybe we weren't fast enough) yet we all made it to the top together as is the 'rule' with any Epix. We don't attempt to be the quickest, but I hope we have a heap of fun together out there!

From Olinda, Matt made the hard call to pull the rip cord and make for home. After 6 or 7 hours, the lights had pretty well gone out, and he made the horrible decision to head for home before he headed away from home once again. With our constant ribbing about catching the train home, he manned up and with a mouthful of food, hit the highway to make his way home. I think with some careful planning he actually avoided all the uphills on the way home, yet still had a monster day!!

Grover, Bellie and myself continued on, and took some sneaky little trail for the next little while... We'll leave the discussion about that little section, but it was a great trail.


Plenty of features, both man made and otherwise.


Yep, still looks like an Epix. Authentic I like to call it. Gee, that looks like it 'stings' (hint hint...)



Grover battling the blackberries and 'wait-a-while' plants. No leeches though which was nice!

Regardless, we popped out at Emerald and after coming to the realization that we were going through Emerald (!!... thats a long way from home...!) on mountain bikes, we headed down Wellington Road to Lysterfield.

Rolling turns to hold Bellies wheel, the lights slowly started to shine on my dash as well, and it was a slow old ride for me once we made the Lysterfield Track. Pushing and pushing to make it before the end of the race, I was cooked and groveled all the way there.. The boys practically skull dragged me there, and when Rob offered me a can of coke, I was a new man. 3.5litres of water down, Jack gave me a refill (thanks pal!) and with a handful of gummybears, it was 10/10ths into the evening to make it home for a dinner date.


What we now can call 'chase the sun', as the event by the same name has changed.



Bellie givn'er


Twilight after a long day, the caffiene and the sugar starting to make itself known to me - thankfully!!


And here is Bellie softening the blow to the family that he may just be a little while longer before he gets home....!

And so with that, I can declare that the latest Epix in Melbourne has been surmised. 11.5 hours door to door, over 160km on the mountain bike, nearly 3000m vertical, and at least one very tired fellah...! I hope it entertained you for a spell, now perhaps you need to get back to work??

On a footnote, whilst these adventures do cost us money, they would not be possible at all without the continuing and valued support of Felt Bicycles, Ascend Sport nutritional products, Nightlightning lights, and GVRaceTech. Please consider the products that each of these companies offer when making decisions about your next purchases.

Thank you for reading, and we hope to have you back again soon.

Onto the second installment, we find that we are following the Mullum Mullum Creek. The fog was still making itself known, the temperatures were bloody cold, and we were having a great time!!

Bellie really finds....


..... that the secret to success....


... is repetition!!



We had all the trappings of a gen-u-ine Epix, complete with river crossings!


Heading towards the Eastlink Tunnel, we rode a bit of construction zone singletrack. It seems that they've let it fall into a bit of disrepair, but we gave it a good run through, offered some suggestions and improvments to the rent-a-cops and headed on our way.



Below was the entry to the new tunnel, and every man and his dog was trying to sneakily get past the blokes in the jackets.. I think they had seen just about all the tricks in the books, and there was one at every entrance that we tried to get into... Dammit! :)


In the very next photo, Grover managed to sink it to the second knuckle - impressive!!



Hey thats me! Lucky socks there! Niiice.... Never let me down, those bad boys!


And so after leaving the beloved Eastlink and its constructive mass, we headed via bitumen to Croydon, and the bakery for some well earned warm food. Grover was pretty happy to buy a bakery with sauce...


And we now know what fuels Bellie...


But I have to leave you today with a photo of Matt, whilst its out of sequence, this is the sight of a man looking up the next hill knowing that the dash is showing a full board of red lights and its all going to get pretty brutal from here....!



I thought I'd swipe Grovers GPS plot of the ride, as mine had a little knap for a while, making his more complete. For all the details including the map, the distance and the elevations - Click here

Till the next post and a whole lot more photos...! Enjoy the still winter days, and I know my Nightlightnings just keep keeping on, making me a happy little camper (with bloody cold toes!)

And for the record, its tuesday night and I'm still smashed....