Chase the crit, round one.

Last night I headed down with Cam to check out the FTF Chase the crit. With the event location practically at my front door there is no excuses not to attend. After reading the below spiel I did think this sounds too good to be true, to that I say I was most definitely wrong!

(Attached Spiel)

Here is the ultimate in single track mountain bike crits; only 4 minutes from the Warrandyte Bridge.
Course Profile ‐ all condensed into 1,000metres of beautiful single track:
• Berms
• Switchbacks
• Singletrack
• Fire road
• Rock garden
• Logs
• Climbing (50m per lap)
• 4 to 5 minutes per lap

The loop had it all. I was told before the start that is was 1.2km and thought, easy... (not). It felt like at least 4 but that was because there is more than enough to keep one amused and wanting more. Mind you I was riding the Black Stallion.

Craig Peacock taking the big $5 to boost the global economy.

One can see how Craig and James get their bike skills with this 3m gap jump! Lucky for us we rode past it and not over.

Sweet private singletrack.

I have been riding with Cam now for around a year and never seen this side of the man,**GAME ON**.
B and C class giving their all and loving it.

For the full details of the event check here. I hope to see you there next week.

Jason Jackson

Elmo

We've got a new toy!!

After a very brief test, the capacity is there so look out for some serious POV camera work!

Sorry there isn't more, but this weekend should change that!

Getting dusty.

I headed out with Cam for some local soul searching on the Felt SS.

I didn't want to tell Cam that its not a tire problem, its a wheel size issue! But keep pumping mate...

Hmmmm, the little people have been busy!

Yep, its always exciting hitting new dirt for the first time ;)...

Later...

Ascend starter packs.

Ascend have just released their two new protein starter packs. Check out the links and get more bang for your buck. I have been told the muscle bars and recovery bars are about a week away from hitting the shelves so stay tuned.

Muscle Starter Pack.

Recovery Starter Pack.

Winter series memories...

Ponying up at dawn o'clock, all too silly to suggest its to wet/cold, saw us rolling down the road at 6.30am. Jason was ready to rip after a festive evening, not altogether unhappy at the prospect of a shorter local ride, having driven through one of the many storms just to meet up.



Singlespeeds were the decision at 10.30pm last night, a concession to the weather.



And the weather was truly crap, with hail, driving rain and one tiny, tiny glimpse of blue sky that whisked off on the wind.

Lysterfield loop was the order of the day, and was quite pleasant really. Nothing too mental, just lots of chatting on familiar trails and hammering around our old haunts. The trails seemed to hold up quite well to the weather, but a drought will do that now won't it.



So muddy as hell, we were looping back when the heavens opened once again. So cold was the rain, that we all got instant ice cream headaches!!



A full set of thrashed brake pads for all of us, thumbs up for my Innova tyres which were soldiering on through the mud we found, and big thumbs up for the Squirt chain lube in the crap conditions!



And to leave you, we have this...

You know you have crap timing when...

You are midway through planning your weekend and subsequent rides, and you read this...

***************

MELBOURNE is forecast to be soaked in a month's worth of rain this weekend as Gippsland braces itself for possibly devastating floods.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a flood warning and flood watches for East, West and South Gippsland catchments as a low pressure system developed in eastern Bass Strait.

Senior forecaster Richard Carlyon said the “East Coast Low” was looking very similar to the systems that developed for the June and November floods last year.

“Falls of more than 100mm are expected with gusty, squally wind,” he told the Weekly Times.

The floods in June killed about 600 livestock, destroyed thousands of kilometres of fencing and ruined roads, sheds, tanks and farm equipment.

Mr Carlyon said the slow moving system would bring rain from Saturday afternoon, through Sunday and clearing on Monday.

The State Emergency Service will meet today to prepare for possible widespread flooding.

Meanwhile, Melbourne is expected to receive close to its average rainfall for November in one weekend.

To read the full article...

Yarra Glen loop. (with new photos)

Finally getting over the WA slog we decided to rally the troops for a fun day out on the slicks.

We all met in Heidelberg and set off to Kinglake then on to Yarra Glen for some time in the saddle. One of the joys of this ride was the pace! No hearts rates recorded, no specific zones to be reached, just a punch of friends catching up on a Saturday morning out to enjoy the sport.



More photos of Grover goofin off. Easy to do when you are sporting some legs!

Old bar tape (John) vs tidy whitey (Jason)

In the big dog and that gear, nice and ready for the wild dog climb (NOT).

A new record was set on this loop. I have heard of it happening but never witnessed it in person. Six mountain bike riders rolling turns… yep I will say it again, rolling turns! For around about 30kms we rolled around in some sort of formation and didn’t shell each other in the process. It was a miracle.


As Grover is midway through explaining the merits of the shaken coke bottle, it blows the top off and sprays all in the vicinity with a nice fine coating of sticky...

It takes either a good pie, or a long ride to get Jason's eyes to do this little trick!

He may look confused but we know exactly what the sign means. Please don’t ever do it to yourself.

Just another pic of Ash smiling away and me suffering. Home by 11am and around 130km under the belt, and headed straight for the fridge *food*.

New products

Whilst over at the Cape to Cape, we were lucky enough to get our hands on some brand new chain lube.

Squirt Lube is a South African company that is now making chain lube which they claim to be sensational! Most companies would say that now wouldn't they, but when you have T.Brown, Ned 'the lung' Overend, Mike Kloser, Jaap Vergier (from the 'Croc' a few years back), and Anna Baylis all lending their name to the product...

It would be rude of us not to give it a thrashing!

My chain is totally clean at the moment, and it will solely be getting squirt lube on it for the duration of the container, and we'll see how we go!

Stand by...!

Photo dump from the Cape to Cape

I've found a few more stories and such about the net for your viewing pleasure, and I'm also going to hijack some of their photos as well, so photo credits are due to Ascend Sport and to Rohin.

More stories can be found here and here so be sure to check them out, but amuse yourself by scrolling through the photos below for a few moments. I'll endeavor to get through some of the cool stuff we found and used whilst over there, some time this week...





Looking (kinda) pretty with all the shiny new products on offer to the riders. To directly quote the Ascend boys,

"In answer to the many requests; the bars will be available online before the end of November; rolling out in select gyms, specialist cycling & triathlon stores soon after that. The drinks are scheduled for a similar roll-out, beginning before the end of 2008 – so look out for them!"

Also look out for a special offer that will be made available to readers of this blog when purchasing their Ascend products.




Bogged down in the sandy starts, after a team time trial to make the start. We soon sorted that out though, with Johnny and Willow smashing it out at the front.




The end of stage one, happy to have that out of the way!




Curiously, the tallest lighthouse on the mainland at 39m apparently...






Stage one - go!!



Its was a super fun week, sadly Johnny had already made it to the massage table and was in no mood to get up from it!






And finally, putting the hurt on the boys... Be sure to check out Rohin's take on the week as well, and let us know if you see any other stories around the web.

Stage 4 with some delay

And so with some delay, stage 4!

Starting at the Seashells Resort at Yallingup, or Caves house as its otherwise known, we headed out to the stage start at Ngili Cave. The morning was a little less than exceptional, overcast and a bit blowy but it is the coast and there isn't a lot west of that point to distract the weather...



Redbull was the order of the morning for some after a pleasant evening function at Caves house, and we made it in good time for a warmup at the start.




A sandy climb was to be the order of the day to start us off, and we creaked the rust out of our legs up the climb as a pre-ride. And it was lucky we did. The stage began on the edge of a carpark, and headed straight up a very sandy track, which by the time the field had gone through, was forcing the tail riders to have to start walking straight away.

Willow and I amused ourselves by packing a moto-x style start groove in with our shoes whilst we waited for the starting instructions (time to note this stage was described as 'pleasant with some bitumen...' or words to that effect.) As we departed, using our packed grooves for maximum traction for about 3 metres, the field turned up the steep sections and the hiking began. Run, push, heave, run, push heave, watch Rohin ride away... It was a nice beginning...

Jason was locked in a battle with World 24hour competitor Johnny Waddell and the current junior XC champ of WA, and they were all feeling the days previous efforts. The sand was keeping most riders equal, negating any moves or extra skills they may have had.

On seemingly maximum attack, Rohin and Willow attempted to string the field out into the pain box, and succeeded nicely. I spent the morning chasing Rohin, and trying to get Willow to do some work other than speeding off on me whenever it went down or sandy. He was paying the price for a decent solo attack the day before, but was able to bridge back on whenever it really counted. Rohin was tapping away up front, gapping us every time it went up and watching us ride back on in the really sandy stuff.

And then it started... Course makings that either didn't exist or were moved, or we just missed? The 3 of us on the front blew past an intersection in a BS sandy paddock, and then somehow did a lap of the paddock, hand railing the fence. I'd say it was also the worst sand of the day too, cultivated by machinery at some time, and you'd stop dead if you missed even half a pedal stroke. As we completed what we found to be a lap, he ran headlong into Jason and Johnny, milling around as they tried to work out where to do. I wasn't that stoked...

Out onto the bitumen only to be attacked by one of the guys who'd benefited from our error, and it was on. Through the turnaround at the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse to the cheers of 3 men, no dogs, and grabbing a bottle of Ascend from the boys, and smashing it back towards the end. Somehow we'd managed to get cars in between us, so at about 60kph down the tar, we were dicing with drivers who had no idea what we were up to. But thats ok, the traffic management guys stood in the middle of the road and stopped the cars...?! I think he did truly think his life was ending as he did so, mountain bikers and cars all mixed together and he had to separate them. No envy there!

Back into our friendly sand paddock with the full crew, and headlong into the rest of the field. We were traveling back along the same sandy track, at 10/10ths into the rest of the field. Climbs, descents, sand, bog holes, all good and head on! With some more dubious trail marking and instructions, that was the final blow. Half the bunch split to try one gamble, the others went down the second choice and only one group was going to benefit. Sadly, it wasn't mine.. Jason's however took the right path, and they carried on through the sand towards the finish.

I committed to my track and hit it hard, only to come to a completely unmarked junction and realize it wasn't correct, and wandered up to intersect with the other track option. That was pretty much the nail in my day. As I reached the track junction, Jason rolled along and we rode together for a while, before I lost all enthusiasm and waited to chat with some of the other competitors on the final stage.

More sand took us all the way back to the start, and we experienced about 200m of singletrack as a pleasant final section all the way back into the finish area. I took the time to check out the national park as we rode though, whilst Jason and Johnny put on an airshow of their own for the photographers on their way into the finish, and as we crossed the line, it marked the end of the Cape to Cape for 2008.

A week of beautiful scenery, some great racing was had by those into smashing each other, and the hospitality was top notch. There are plenty of improvements that will be made before next year I'm sure, and it will be a good race for anyone to come along and achieve.

I've got more material to post up here next week in regards to Spex, and great new chain lube we've found and a general overview of our equipment and nutrition. Read whats been working for us, and see if it can work for you too.

Till then, thanks for stopping by and taking the time!







And we'll leave you with Perth on a bad day...!

CApe to Cape MTB wrap - Stages 3 and 4

Stage 3 dawned with rain. and a lot of rain! In fact it was flat out pouring for quite a while before the stage, but strangely, and thankfully, the sun came out as we rode to the start.





Starting at Wharncliffe Mill, we were again subjected to a few calamities, this time perhaps of our own doing. The instructions we were given the night previous said hope back onto the bike path that you finished on the day prior and take that all the way to the Mill. We rode along the same path, but found that it took us back out to the Margaret River surf beach. We realized as we puffed up a 'rail trail' (how steep can trains go??) and elected to return and try again as this obviously was not the right way.

We'd been out to the beach the night previous and found the swell was running pretty good. In fact there was lefts and rights for all the family, and no shortage of surfers out there enjoying it.










Back to the Rail trail however, and Jason, Rohin and myself were swapping turns along the correct Rail trail to get to the start on time having left it as late as possible due to the rain. Arriving in good time, covered in rail trail mud, we signed on and took our place on the start line.

With another ralaxed, softly uttered "off you go", we were away. Downhill or sandy starts mean that Willow is going to be on the rivet, and sure enough we were smashing it straight away. Back onto the bike path and it was rolling turns and dodging posts whilst the pace was racheted up.

A short while later, we'd shelled the rest of the field to be back with our 5 of Johhny, Willow, Rohin, Jason and myself, and we were heading for Yallingup. Screaming winds were bashing us around the paddocks that we rode through, with a fair stint on the bike paths, but later in the day we hit the dunes again.

Some suspect navigation was again getting us confused, with presumably locals getting a bit mischievous and forcing us to take some guesses. Some nice fellow had even collected a bunch of the markers and stacked them up in one place for us, so we had a pile of lefts and rights in one spot. Charming...

More sandy climbs made things tough, and once again Willow took his leave from us. Rolling off the front through the sand, he established a break once again. Back out onto the roads for the final kilometres, we worked hard to drag him back but it conspired against us by turning back into the fire roads and sand, and we simply ran out of road over the last new climbs and once again he took the first place.

Staying at the lovely Seashells resort, we again had the opportunity to get out and check out the local area. Yallingup - thumbs up!










And you know its a good place when enough people are sandboarding to get it banned!!




More to come as we go, and we're still waiting on some racing photos. They definitely exist, we just can't seem to get our hands on them as yet.