Andy Fellows

NEW WEBSITE

2011-02-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys and Girls,

I have just set up a new website for my new race team.

I will be posting on there from now on...

Check it out at
http://www.ayupracing.com/andy-fellows/

Thanks, Andy

2011

2011-01-09T20:25:00.000-08:00

Hey guys and gals.

Things have been progressing well. There are some big things in the pipeline and should be out in about a week.

I have had a great break off the bike and am motivated to train once again, but harder than ever!

Race schedules, details all the fun stuff will be released in the coming week!

Wedding

2010-11-18T00:27:00.000-08:00

Well things have been quite on the bike, but I have been extremely busy in life, on the weekend I married the most beautiful girl in the world. I'll let the pictures do the talking...

This weekend is the last race for me, for this year, it's the National Round in You Yang, Victoria, hoping I can go out with a bang...

Up coming races..

2010-10-24T19:54:00.001-07:00

Hey, well since the WSC I have managed to bag the Sunshine Coast's Cycling Clubs overall rider of the year for A Grade, not bad for a mountain biker!

Also been doing some speed sessions as I head into some XC racing, the calendar looks fun for a few weeks with the following races:

Nov 7th- Bike leg at Anaconda AR in WA
Nov 20th- National round in Vic
Dec 5th- Bike leg at Anaconda AR in Vic

Then some r+r in Thailand with my new wifey!

WSC Report.

2010-10-18T04:17:00.000-07:00

The 2010 World Solo Championships were held in Canberra on the 9th and 10th October. It was great to have the champs in Australia, being able to take all the desired equipment and not being stung with huge oversize baggage bills, on the downside it was in Canberra. Trying and compare Canmore to Canberra is like chalk and cheese, lets hope next year is somewhere cool and exciting to travel to!

So I loaded up the Ayup truck (Dennis the Landrover) and started driving down the coast on Monday, aiming to arrive around Wednesday, giving me enough time to scout the track and do some last minute shopping. The drive would have been easy, except they shut down one lane of the highway due to stupid amounts of water over the road, so I had to bypass Coffs and head up to Armidale! Down to Sydney the next day, and onto Canberra as planned on Wednesday lunch time.

Not long after arriving I hooked up with another Ayup Team Rider Sean Bekkers and we headed out to the famous Stromlo for a little looksee. The course was a basic figure 8 and saw riders climbing the mountain twice, once on the frontside and once on the backside, the front climb was mainly singletrack and it was easy to mantain a reasonable rythym and I enjoyed it, dropping down into a gnarly descent, known to the locals as Pork barrel, a sweet section of track, even had a couple of A and B lines. Once at the bottom, there was a steady fireroad climb up to the observatory. You then crossed the trail on a purpose build bridge and descended down into the skyline and luge trails. All in all about 18kms, fastest lap was 48mins and slowest 1hr18min. A lot of people thought the track was technical, especially in the descents, I love technical riding, so it didn't seem to bad, do remember struggling to hold onto my handle bars at one stage late in the race, so it sure was bumpy!

This year I had everthing I needed, in particular, all the people I needed. Mum and Dad had come up from Tasmania to support, my good mate, Richard Quinn had come over to throw the spanner around and hangout, and my fiance Jo had come down and had the title Pit Boss, which soon turned into Pit Bitch! I also had alot of support from friends and family throughout the country, thanks to you all!! So as we headed into Saturday morning the pit was running super smooth and the rest was up to me!

The race started with a Le Man run start, (riders run in bike shoes for 400-600metres to their bikes to start the race) stupid idea if you ask me, especially at Stromlo, especially on the bitumen crit track, have to say my super stiff carbon soled shoes didn't handle to well on the bitumen! When I grabbed my bike I nearly fell flat on my face, I recover, through a leg over and miss the pedal, wow, the pressure, I must have looked stupid! Anyway we set off at a fast pace and nessle into the top 5. It was such a relief to get racing, so much mucking around before the start!

Almost instantly my stomach is upset, so I try to calm it down with some water and lemonade, it works after about 5hrs and start to come good. Not the start I wanted, never the less I start to make some progress reeling in the riders who went off to hard at the start, mind you Mr English is way up the road by now! I think its around midnight and I make it up to Scott who is in 3rd, we ride together for a while and Cory the Canadian has some bad luck (flat tyre, I believe) so we move into 2nd and 3rd respectably. Things stay like this for a while and we just start discussing the idea of working togther to stay away from Cory, to extend our lead. Funny, only minutes later he catches up. "Hi buddy" "Ay man" "how you travelling?" "good, except I nearly hit a fricken Kangaroo" and that was it, he attacked, Scott tried to go with him, so I watched them go up the road.

The next few hours into day break were probably the hardest, struggling to say awake and motivated! It wasn't until English caught me that I woke up, I rode with him for the next lap and eventually we caught Scott. Not long after I dropped Scott and Jason and rode off in search of Cory, I was feeling good and ready to takedown the 2nd position. I passed him in the pits on the very next lap and kept the pressure on, putting 4 minutes between us in the lap. Heading out on my second last lap I still felt good and hoped to put some more time in, I reached the pits for the final lap and was told I had around 4mins to Cory, I can do this I thought as I powered up the first climb, but, near the top, Cory came blasting past and simply couldn't hold his wheel, he was to fast! He ended up taking 2nd and there was about 2mins back to me in 3rd.

The last 5hrs of the races were crazy, I have never experienced that intensity at the end of a 24hr race.

Third again, while I didn't have the race I wanted, I do feel happy with the result.

Thanks must go to the following:

-My Pit Crew- Mum and Dad, Rich, Jo (who I can't wait to marry in 4 weeks!) without my pit crew none of this would have been possible, thanks again.

-The Ayup Crew, especially Andrew Patten, for helping make dreams come true!

-Supporters all over, in particular, Greg and Mark from Noosa, who actually got kicked of the mountain for sceaming to loud!! You guys were great!

- Cognition Bikeshop, the whole team for servicing and taking car of my bikes and me!

-Tomac Bikes, the Carbide's didn't miss a beat, very slick bikes

-Onza Tyres, I run the popular Canis UST version, awesome, handled the rock/rough terrain well.

-Osprey Hydralics- keeping my fluids up the easy way!

-InfinitNutrition- Create and dominate!

-Aussie Butt Cream- this stuff is gold to any enduro rider! get some!

Thanks to everyone!

WSC Report

2010-10-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's coming, I have the pictures now, just getting some thoughts together!

The count down.

2010-09-27T00:03:00.000-07:00

So there is less than 2 weeks to go until I race the world championships in Canberra, so over the next week I am going to look back over my cycling career and thank a few people who helped turn me into the rider I am today. So to take you right back to my early days in Tasmania as a sub junior. I grew up in Launceston, and for such a small place it sure had some quality riders and trails to match. All the Tassie crew were great to ride with and learn from. I remember the days we would load up the Subi and head out to Dalgarth (forestry area) for some exploring, throw in some 4x4 rally and few bakery stops and you have a truly epic day. Whenever I am having a bad day on the bike I often think back to those 'epic days' and it gets me through!

Richard and I, at his wedding back in March.

I have to thank both Mum and Dad, as they are very supportive of my 'Fad'. Dad as been at most of my big 24hr races throughout Australia and Canada, it is great to have his company at the races! Through school I often joked about being on the M and D race team and can even remember when Dad sold his chainsaw, he used the money to help buy me a new bike, she was a real beauty- Giant ATX 870! So thanks! I look forward to another great race with you both next weekend, let's make this one count!

Dad and I at the 2010 Solo Nationals!

Mum, Dad and I at the 2009 Solo Nationals.

Thats enough for now, more to follow...

Meet Charlie, our Chocolate Lab, AKA, Destructacon..

Shameless Self Promotion

2010-09-21T01:35:00.000-07:00

The latest AMB mag has a cool feature on the 24hr solo coming up!

The ugly truth

2010-08-26T17:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had an experience, an experience that I think you need every once in a while, the type of experience that brings you back down to earth, in a really fast way. So I was out at the mt bike park, Harwoods, it boasts over 100kms of singletrack, I wanted to ride as much as I could in the time I had, because that evening they have a race, 40-50minutes on the rivet, so after 4.5hr of solid riding I rocked up to the start line of the race.

The background- hahah- I always find it challenging to eat well on the road, finding good food, keeping it cold and fresh is hard work. Especially when your only there for a week and have no esky or fridge every night! So yesterday was typical, a quick breakfast at the hotel, a bananna, coffee and a donut, that should get me through my ride? Yeah it did, top up with a coke and race for 50 minutes, sure, easy, right?

The race went off fast and just hung on, feeling suprisingly good, I slowly moved up to 2nd, about half way, then the guy in front ran off the track, so I took up the lead, started smashing it actually, hey I was feeling good! Then the clock struck 35minutes, and all of a sudden my HR went from 180 to 150, arr not good, then the shakes came, blurred vision, might have pushed abit hard, 1st to 7th in as many minutes.. Not good, should I vomit? Nar hold it in, stop for a breather? Don't be soft, keep going..

Needless to say I crossed the line and headed straight to the cafe for a coke and sandwiches, the experience was not overly fun, so guess I will remember to eat more next ride.. Moral of the story, is that we are all human and everyone can crash and burn...

Racing head to Albion Hills this weekend with a 24hr, I am racing in a team of 5 mixed, podium hunting for sure, then it's time to head home, and to the GC anaconda, doing the bike leg!

Last ride in Crested Butte

2010-08-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

Well thats a wrap for Crested Butte, great riding, I will be back! Now it time to head to Gunnison for the 24hrs of Sage. I think I am racing in a celebrity team, so should be able to punch out some fast laps!

The Raptor 18

2010-08-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

Hey. While I have been out and about in Colorado I have been putting the Osprey Raptor 18L through its paces. The pack is awesome, and with 18 litres I have room for everything, which is not always a good thing. The 5 best features of the pack....

1- 'Best feature'- A magnet holds the bite valve in place, makes it super easy to grab

2- Storage pockets on the waist belt, perfect for energy gels

3- Number of pockets, everything has an organised place, clip for keys

4- Looks, it does look pretty good, good range of colours

5- Well constructed, and easy to maintain

I have also done a quick video review, its here, it also shows some of Aspen beautiful scenery! The pack is available at all good outdoor/bike shops!

Reno / Flag / Bear / Deadmans

2010-08-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

Tommorrow I am off on another epic in the mtns of Crested Butte, then of to Salida to meet with Joel from Tomac, to check out some new bikes! Below is a sneak peak of tomorrow's landscapes!

Use the LINK

Crested Butte

2010-08-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, lets start with some pictures!

This place is magical, the riding is insane. Anybody who has been here would know! Today I rode, starting in Crested Butte and went out on Upper Upper track, onto Teocalli track ( mental DH, rough!) onto Deer Creek track, into Gothic and up the road to Schofields Pass and down trail 401, into Mt Crested Butte and home, about 5:45hrs and 87km...Feeling pretty flogged now!

Fruita / Creste Butte

2010-08-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

I rocked into Friuta a couple of days ago, bought some maps and went out for a sneaky ride. The hype of this area is amazing, the pictures, stories, wifes tales all lend me to believe that this place was going to be awesome. It didn't dissappoint, the before I was riding in high alpine single track with killer climbs, but Friuta was completely different, within a 2hr drive I was in a semi arid desert, I guess Friuta is a lot like Moab, and you have all seen pictures of the Moab landscape. Another way to describe it would be like the Alice Springs stage race on steriods! Any way I rode the best areas I could in the time I had, in particular one trail, 'Horse Theif' at Kopelli was probably my favourite. I need to return, with a crew and stay for a week, even Jo would love it there!

Next up, I arrived in Creste Butte yesterday afternoon, after a quick ride in Friuta in the morning. I went to a cool looking B and B, only to find them booked out, (summer is super busy, hiking, biking and wildflower watching?) so I moved onto the next one, while checking in I thought I knew the girl working behind the desk, turns out it is Jari Kirkland ( 2nd at the WSC in Canmore) so she hooked me up with some of her favourites, 3 day of wicked rides await! Also went up to the local twilight race, race a format called, 'up, down, up, down, so you ride up the ski hill on a narrow single track, bomb down the DH track, up another ST and back down a different DH track, although still suffering from the altitude a bit I thought I might go ok. So I start with the leaders, held him to the top, he smashed me on the DH, held the same distance on the climb, then smashed me on the DH. 1:02, a couple minutes down on the leader, so yeah, number 2 again!

I better kit up, about to do a big ride, will keep you posted.

Travels

2010-08-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hey.
I write this post from Aspen CO, USA, after an epic adventure today! I had a nice 6hr ride today, it took in most off the trails that Aspen has to offer. Started on a hill named smuggler, took around 1hr to climb, lung-buster! I was rewarded with 30min single track descent and then it was time to climb again up onto a ridgeline, the views were awesome and the environment changed every few kms, from grassy fields to birch forests, then into desert like red dirt and insane rocks! The descent of the day took down through the 10-15 million dollar estate. Then a small commute to Snowmass for another adventure across the mountain to Buttermilk and onto aspen. Massive day. 6hrs and only 80kms, super steep climbs.

Leadville 100, managed to sneak a view of Levi L smash the field apart. The racers spanded out over a mile at the start, with 1600 starters, apparently the lottery had 30,000 people apply. No wonder I couldn't get a start! Reba Rusch took the womens.

The Rocky Mtn Festival, was a great chance to see some gucci ti frames and parts, the festival was slower than I was hoping for, some good contacts were made all the same.

Well tomorrow I head to Fruita, CO, another epic will be had, stay tuned!

Ay Up D2D

2010-08-09T03:57:00.000-07:00

The AYUP Team

The Ay Up Dusk til Dawn was held on the weekend out at Canugra. We had a heap of team riders out there, all posting very impressive results. I was teamed up with Chris Fitz and Greg Long in a 3 men team. It started off with Chris and Greg going lap for lap for a couple of hours, I was kept busy on the mic and having some fun on the turntables! It was a real party! So in the end I did 3x3lap blocks. I have to say the track was in awesome shape and totally enjoyed drifting around the sandy corners. The boys rode a solid race, we won our div and took the overall GC. A huge shout out to the Ay Up Junior boys all 8 of them! They were inspirational and I am sure they will be a force at the next race!

In other news, I am off to the US and Canada again for 3 weeks on Wednesday for some more Ay Up promotional touring, plus a couple of little races. I'll keep you posted!

Update.

2010-08-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

The other day I recieved a new riding back pack/hydration/storage does every thing kind of pack. Its super cool and fits my back well. Last night I took it out for a quick ride, seems really good, I entend to do a full review over the next couple of weeks. I have the 16 litre Raptor! Anyway it is made by OSPREY, and I would like to welcome them aboard as a sponsor of mine. Cheers to Ben at Outdoor Agencies!

Thursday Night Race

2010-06-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

Held at Buckwallon cycling centre, similar to all the other cycling areas, privately owned and operated. 10 bucks gets you a day pass. I managed to get there early today and did a practice lap. The course was short, so we would race 2 laps. This place was different to all the others, as it had some balls! There where rocks the size of cars in the course, you rode up the side of them, lauched off them and picked your line very carefully. A tornado had gone through the day before, while they didn't get the wind, they received a bucket load of rain. Sections of the track were extremely wet, add the numerous off camber rooty sections and we had a super hard, technical course, I loved it.

The start was hectic, they called the top 10 to the line, so I lucked out there, and by the time I made it near the front the leader was well up the track. It took the whole lap to catch him, again I was glued to his wheel, and yet again he made a slight error and I went around and put on the gas and never looked back. Ok I looked back once, saw I had a gap and settled into a comfortable tempo, eventually winning by a good minute.

So that's it, I am hanging the bike up for a couple of weeks, time for a rest, then rebuild for the worlds,
with the help of FTP training. I think the next race is Huw's Three Ring Circus.

I am heading down to the Summer Soltice 24hr for the weekend, to set up the AYUP Expo, and enjoy the race from the comfort of a chair, with a Canadian beer in hand, ey!

Wednesday XC race

2010-06-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

Last nights XC race was held at another great venue. Harwood ski and cycle centre. You have to pay to ride at these venues, but it's worth it as the trails are always kept in great conditions. They have 5 loops you can choose from, ranging from beginner to to elite. I did a practice lap on a trail named 'gnarly' 12 kms of pure heaven, but raced on 'Radical' a 15km trail that the elite guys race on. The races run every week and you build up your points to the end of the season and the person with the most points wins. So only a small prize is given to the winner. So to make it worth it for me, well to get my 20 bucks back I had to win!

Radical- The course was super twisty technical riding, what I love! We started hard-ish. Again I was happy to sit on, as I had never riden the course, racing a course blind is a big rush, bombing around corners at max speed, not knowing what lays ahead, so having a bike that you can trust is vital. Go the Tomac! Anyway, old mate was working hard on the front and I let him know I was there a number of times, eventually, maybe halfway around, he didn't quite make it up a short, steep, rooty climb, so rounded him up and put the pressure on. He seemed to pop instantly, so I kept the pressure on and raced it home. The trails were great and I meet some great people, who are going to come try some Ay Ups at the 24hr on the weekend. I won a co2 gun for my efforts, I wonder if I can fly with that? Hahah.

Racing again tonight, at Buckwallow cycling centre, the word is it's even more technical- Beauty!

Tuesday Night XC Series

2010-06-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

I went out to Albion Hills tonight to meet the organisers of the Chico Racing team, plus to have a ride in their weekly night race. I lined up as the under dog, lights bazing, I think I stood out abit, especially with bright pink gloves!

The race started pretty hard, I found myself about 15 deep, and decided it was time to move on up, straight up the inside rounded up about 10 riders, I was right on it, a nice little climb and I was in 3rd. I stayed there for a while, the guy on the front was kinda slow in the ST, but was puching the fireroad. I was super recovered when I launched an attack on him, and everyone else. One of the locals rode across to me and we lifted the tempo up. The race is only 18kms, 40 minutes, I know that I can be on near max for most of that, so I turned it on, all the way to finish gapping 2nd on the hills. The course was super fun, it's actually what they are racing on weekend at the 24hr. Good mix of ST and fire road.

I am racing again tomorrow night, different location, same distance and style. I think I backing it up on Thursday night aswell, with a different race organiser.

Video Clip

2010-06-21T14:42:00.001-07:00

A little video clip from the LumberJack-

Lumber Jack Pic

2010-06-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

Professional photo, kinda- it's here!

Canuck

2010-06-20T21:27:00.000-07:00

It's official I am now in Canada, just across the border. Yep, they let me in.

Where am I going to be?

Tuesday- Tuesday Night Series at Albion Hills features the best weekly courses in Ontario, a great atmosphere and great sponsors Link-

Wednesday- ON, Canada- King Township - near Hwy 400 and King Road Link-

Saturday- Summer Soltice 24hr- Link

The LumberJack

2010-06-20T16:56:00.000-07:00

For those of you who didn't know I am currently over in North America. Last weekend I raced in an event known as the LumerJack 100. It's in Michigan, USA. The race is 3 laps of about 50kms or 33miles and is part of the ultra endurace series that races throughout the US. The race attacts the bigger hitters of the USA.

The other/main reason I am over here is to promote AY UP lighting systems, so we sponsored the Lumber Jack with our products going to the winner of the single speed class and a lucky draw. Both were stoked with their score. We had a stand set up at the events and performed a number of demos.

Race Day- Its a funny feeling being surrounded by random people, who don't even know who you are, or what you are capable of, on the same note I didn't know them or how they would perform! I managed to score a front row start, which soon become swamped by bikes as we speed off behind the pace car- they gave us 3kms of bitumen to sort us out before entering the forest. Just like clock work, some guy went past me about 500m the forest, I jumped on his wheel and he lead me to the singletrack in 2nd position, great start.

The loop is 85% single track and 15% fireroad. The ST was easy, really fast and following, averaging 30km for some sections, no real killer climbs, just 10-15sec of punch to get over them. So I thought I would try and holh Jeff Shalkc wheel for as long as possible. ( he is the series leader). That lasted about a lap, I was a bit slower through the TA, and he and another guy gapped me. I could see them on the first climb but was aleady in the red without chasing them. About 10kms into lap 2, 2 other guys passed me, pushing me back to 5th overall. But by the end of the lap I had caught and passed one of them as he looked shattered. ( been there before buddy!) The last lap, the guy who ended up 3rd over passed me, I tryed to stay with him, but in the end he was to fast. Back to 5th and thats where I stayed!

All in all, great race. I would love to do the whole series one day. Check the results here, Jeff is an animal,

Andy

Mt Perry 6hr

2010-06-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

Well, another race has come and gone! A bit of a delay on the report as I was waiting for some pictures. I will keep it simply.

I raced hard and well, but was simply beaten by someone faster. Basically felt good for 2hrs, felt bad for 2hrs then felt good for the last 2 hrs, but by then it was too late.

Bozza Rippin it.

A big shout out to Mike for another great event.

Recent Happening in Pictures!

2010-05-30T02:24:00.000-07:00

Alice Wrap up!

2010-05-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

Today was the last stage of the race, the make or break stage. I had some serious time to make up, and I was keen to give it a nudge. The first 10kms or so really hurt and I thought that I simply didn't have it today, but things change. I had 3-4 minutes on 2nd and 3rd to make up. Ben Randell went up the road early on as he had to make 5 seconds on Adrian to move into 2nd, we all sat back and let Adrian chase him down, later on I saw some signs that made me attack and try to chase Ben. Local boy (name escaping me) and Ben Henderson joined me as we turned it up and attcked. At the feed station it was just the 3 of us, which shortly turned into just Ben and I. We hit 40km mark and I was feeling confident, hoping for a big time gap back to the others. We came around a sharp corner and unforunately Ben Randell had flatted and we moved into 1st and 2nd. The next section of trail was rough and rocky and Ben H managed to get a slight gap on me. Suddenly the 2km to go sign popped up, 6km short! Shit! I couldn't quite get across to Ben and he took the stage, with me 5 seconds back! As the clock ticked over minute after minute things were looking good for me to move up in the GC. Looked great! I managed to leap frog Ben into 2nd on GC, absolutely stoked. 2nd in Alice Spring Stage race is awesome.

Well safe to saw I might have a beer or 3 tonight, get back on Saturday and look towards Mt Perry to defend my title. Thanks to Ayup for there support, Tomac @ supersports for my ride, and huge praise to ONZA tyres- probably the key to my success, while everyone around me was flatting I was still riding hard. Cognition for all their continued support. Look forward to catching up when I return.

Alice Update- 1.7- Night Race

2010-05-13T15:26:00.000-07:00

Just quickly as I have to kit up for todays last stage. We had the night stage last night, we raced the same course as in the time trial, 23 kms- awesome loop. The group stayed together until the halfway mark when I was on 2nd wheel and Robbie who was leading ran slightly off the track, leaving me on the front. I did the same thing slightly up the track leaving a space for Ben Randell to come through, which was fine, as he was a great wheel to follow down the descents. With 5kms to go, Ben found some sand allowing me to pass, I thought this is my chance, so turned it up and put in 100%, with 2km to go I had a good gap and managaed to mantain it until the finish, taking the win and a course record.
Right better go, last stage in on in half an hour, 49kms. 2.5 hrs.

Alice Update 1.6 - Stage 5- Time Trial

2010-05-12T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well I can safely say I put in 100%. From the gun, to the finish, flat out the whole way! With 3 other fast boys behind me the main aim was not to get caught. We were set of in 30 second intervals, with Ben Henderson ahead of me my main aim was to catch him and ride together and make sure he didn't get any time on me in the GC. I caught him early on, and felt good, so I pushed it hard the whole way. Around the halfway mark I could see the boys coming, with English leading the charge. I thought if he drags them all across to me that would undo all my hard work, so I pushed harder. With 2 kms to go there was no sign of head, I put my head down and 'pinned' it all the way home. Unfortunately my time was only good enough for 2nd, he posted a time better by about 40sec. Still a great result. Tonight we race the same course, just as a mass start, in the dark, with AYUPS of course!

Alice Update 1.5

2010-05-11T22:58:00.000-07:00

Stage 4-95km
We were up early today, and were driven by bus to the start out at Trephina Gorge about 80kms from Alice. It was to be about 95km home via over grown 4x4 tracks and heaps of sand, (off and pushing the bike, sand). Things were ok until the first feed station, which snuck up on us. I grab my bottle and headed off up the track and into the first real sandy stretch, off pushing, running, ride a bit, push about. Fast section, off and push again, on, off, on, you get the picture. Eventually we make it to the midway feed station, by this time it is just 3 off us, Adrian, Ben Randell and I. Another bottle and back to the sand! I was having flashbacks to my adventure racing days. An hr or so, we saw the event photographer, Emily, who drives a 2 wheel drive, so thats a good sign, feed station 3. Still 3 of us and no sign of anyone else. 10kms of rough road and 6km of single track lay ahead. We swap off, doing turns into the wind, with Ben doing the grunt of it- Machine. I slowly drop of the pace as we head into the singletrack, maybe cause I did the turn leading into it, maybe cause I am soft! Maybe because I was knackered, no excuse, I need to be with them. The single track turns out to be only 2 km and I manage to hold a convincing 3rd and Ben takes a hard earnt win.
I guess it's nice to be at the pointy end, racing Australia best and being able to call shots, not just making up the numbers anymore. I look forward to smashing myself in the time trial tomorrow, 23 kms, 1 hr of pain.

A picture from yesterdays stage

Alice Update 1.4

2010-05-11T02:04:00.000-07:00

Day 2- Stage 3- 49km
Today was a better! I finished todays stage in a lot better shape than yesterday, and have high hopes for the coming stages. The race started on bitumen and soon moved onto a sandy firetrail, that took us out the back of Alice Spring and into some sweet single track riding. It was a beefy singletrack with some gnarly natural berms, ruts and steep little ascents. After 24kms we hit the midway feed station, grabbed a bottle of water and started another insane single track, at this stage Jason and Ben broke away, I was kind of boxed in and couldn't chase until I passed another rider on the tight track, by then they were out of sight, hence out of mind. In the end Jason won the stage, then Ben Randell, I tried to outsprint Adrian for 3rd but got alittle off track in the finish schute and he got me. 4th Today and 4th in GC.
Had a awesome crash into a barbwire fence. It's going to look cool, when it scares!

Tomorrow is the big one 98km stage. I will be gunning for it, I just hope I have the legs. Its a 4am start, I better go....

Alice Update 1.3

2010-05-10T15:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the cyclingnews website, results and report, plus a nice picture!
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/mtb-enduro-red-centre-sr/day-1/photos/120194

Alice Update 1.2

2010-05-10T02:00:00.000-07:00

Guiding the Carbide to victory in stage 2. Distance 300 metres.
The plan, find the right gear and smash it. I have to say I wanted this win, as this mornings stage left me hungry for a good result. 44 seconds and it was mine, clear by 2 seconds. Yeap, max HR was acheived. Feeling good heading into tomorrow, ready to rip it. Until then it's time to rest up. After an average start with the XX groupset, I have to say it is growing on me, clean shifting. Heaps on flats and busted up wheels today, unlucky for some, oh well they should have been running the Onza Canis. Awesome tyre.

Alice update 1.1

2010-05-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

Alice Stage 1- 44.6kms,
Wow, what a start to an incredible race. The race started with a police escort through Alice Spring town, past cheering school kids, we all felt very special! Rock star treatment. Once the police car pull off the road the pace increased as will began to ride alongside a railway line, on a sandy fire trail. I managed to get in the front bunch of riders, rubbing shoulders with AJ (adrian Jackson 08 winner) and Jason English. Turning off the firetrail and onto a trail called the 'Hell Track' described by the race organise as the 'shit track', lots of steep ups and down, gnarly! Loving it, was even of the front for a while. Then onto another super techo ST and AJ broke away abit- eventually staying away. We chased hard, but around 24km I lose touch with the top 3, and concertrate on finishing respectably, more techo trail followed. The sort that you would really love if you were social riding, but racing it was hard, slick, tight and gut busting, rentless and no rest. Eventually I lost 4th and popped at 38km, felt like vomiting, not a good look, managed hold 5th and gained some respect. The postitives- things are looking good for the rest of the week, I will pick it up tommorrow.
The STATS- Total race time (there was a cruise at the start) 2:16:23, 44.6 km, Av HR 182, 98% of Max Hr, 2128 calories, total ascent 564m, av speed 19.6.
I am well flogged now! Off to have a snooze and race again at 3, a 300m uphill sprint, estimated time around 1min of pain!

Alice Springs Stage Race

2010-05-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I have arrived in Alice Springs and I am about to start the 5 day, 7 stage race. Managed to sneak out for a spin yesterday with the boys to get an idea of what we are in for! Rock, rock, and more rock. Some stunny counrtyside.

Having trouble uploading pictures, will try again tonight.

About to kit up for stage 1- 40km/ hrs.

Del Xc

2010-05-05T02:42:00.000-07:00

This picture is Stolen!

Delxc was hard and my head wasn't in the right place, after a hard weeks training I am now focused on Alice Springs, for the 5 day7 stage race, should be awesome, I intend to update daily.

More DelXC Exposure..

2010-04-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

Delxc six-hour race on tap for this weekend

DelXC

2010-04-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I rode out to Eumundi and did the local road race, I used this race as a tester, to see if my legs had recovered from the 24hr solo. They were a bit sluggish, but once they got going I was fine. Great race, 4 laps of 20km, with some punchy climbs, bunch split, then split again until there was only 2 of us left, managed to find some speed and outsprinted for the win.

With the form that I found on Sunday I decided to race the up coming Del XC 6hr MTB race out at Warrick. Should be a good track, 6kms of singletrack with hopefully some good riders, so that we have a good little tussle!

Solo Nationals

2010-04-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

What a massive weekend and an epic race. We ( Dad and I) made it down to Canberra on Friday afternoon and headed out to Majura for a look at the course, while putting my bike together I found that I was missing the rear derailer bolts - mistake 1, luckly the guys a Mal Adjusted hooked me up with some new ones! So I headed out on the practice lap and around 5 minutes in I snapped the cage of my brand new XX rear deralier! - mistake 2, this time it was Bike Culture who came to the rescue! These mistakes usually come in three's right? Whats next?
After a good carbo load and solid sleep, we headed out to the race to get set up and prepare for the race, Before we knew it we were on the start grid ready for a solid session. It was decided that we would all roll the first lap out of respect for 'Willo' before the hammer went down.
The course was the same as last years and in great condition, around 9kms in length and only one solid climb, making it very single speed friendly. Tight, twisty single track and a couple of good feeding straights.
The first 6 hours of the race were probably the worst for me, just could find any rythym or composure. Mistake 3 was lurking, luckly it came only 1km for the feed zone, my left pedal just fell off! I then became the one legged man until I could swap bikes and continue on my way! (thats why we use 2-3 bikes) Dad even found the pedal! Just as darkness fell I started to find my legs, I soon caught Bellie, then John, then scott and Brett, leaving only Jason up the road. Around 10pm I really started to feel good and put down of good lap times and tried to catch Jason, but just couldn't, although he didn't lap me, which is an improvement! Next time Jason!! Haha..
Nutrition was good but still needs some fine tuning, the bananas worked well until I turned into a monkey! Piklets and sambos are always a winner, especially with vegemite- a little salt hit. Drinks ranged from sports drinks, water, lemonade, up and go, ribeena juice, orange juice and coke! 20 odd gels comsumed.
Bikes ran well, other than the 'mistakes' which were just unlucky, Go Tomac! Thanks to Rodney at supersports, they were tuned to perfection by the crew a cognition, my Onza Canis railed every corner! Ayups preformed well as usually, and big thanks to Dad for all his support and staying up all night! Cheers

Mt Buller Recap.

2010-03-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

Just got home from an awesome weekend of racing in Mt Buller. Mt Buller is really lending itself to mountain biking. The mountain has some excellent trails on offer, both DH and XC, all developed by a great team of local trail builders, headed by Mr Glen Jacobs.
The race was ran over Saturday and Sunday and consisted of three stages.
First up was the 25km XC race, one big loop of the mountain. Starting at the clock tower we headed up the road towards the summit, Giant rider Murray Spinks attacked within 5 minutes and there was only the two of us left as we started the descent. I had to stop on the next climb to investigate a horrible noise that was coming from my forks, turns out my wheel was about to pop out, the skewer was loose! Murray pulled away as I stopped, I thought that was the last time I would see him. Luckly for me, he flatted in the next technical descent, what an opportunity! From there I smacked it with everything I had, throwing it all on the line. Finishing about 4 minutes up in 1st!

The second stage was a 16km Super D. I started the stage thinking that I would just hang back and not let anyone get to far up the track. It didn't take to long and was just Murray and I out the front again. The descent was fast but relatively easy. At around 13kms I needed to attack if I wanted the stage win. The track followed a big valley down the mountain and boys had told me that there was about 12 creek crossing and the valley opened up into a big park and the finish line. So I attacked, riding probably beyond my ability, it was super slippery and wet, drifting around the corners, it didn't matter I was on a mission, I wanted the win. Across the last creek and sprinted at the line, 1st, by about 15 seconds.

The last stage was 50km out and back loop to Mt Stirling. Big descents = big climbs! My strategy for today was just to hold Murrays wheel for as long as I could. He pulled away on the first major climb up Mt Stirling, but I was able to catch up on the descent, from there I was like glue on his wheel, until the final sealed climb up to Buller. Keeping him in eyesight meant that he would struggle to get the 5 minutes he needed to take the overall win. He crossed the line just 20 seconds up. So I took the win. Super stoked. A big thanks to AYUP for making it possible, supersports for my TOMAC, cognition for keeping it rolling, and Onza for some insane Canis tyres ( these are the best tyres, Ever!) cheers. Next up Solo 24hr Nationals, Canberra.

Pictures from Rapid Ascend, Bridget Jacoby, Nicola Drummy

Mtns To Beach

2010-03-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

Well the Mtns to Beach was a great race and a good indicator on how my form is coming along.

In a nut shell-
Stage 1- 13 km Downhill from summit of Thredbo. 3rd. Felt good.
Stage 2- 26km XC style race around Crackenback Resort. 2nd, got outsprinted for 1st.
Stage 3- 80km Marathon. 3rd. Felt good til 60km, hit the wall, went backwards quick!
Stage 4- 30km XC style race, dawnraid. 1st, felt great.
Stage 5- 90km Marathon race. 4th, rode well and smart, saved some energy, rode with 4th on GC
Stage 6- 50km final stage, 5th, finished with Nic and Brad.
Overall 3rd on GC.

I can recommend the race to anyone, I had a great week, great friends and some awesome riding.

Being 'Schooled' Otway Style.

2010-02-22T20:13:00.000-08:00

The Otway Odyssey has been referred to as the hard 100ker going around, boasting some killer climbs. It starts in Apollo Bay on the great ocean road and finishes up at the mountain bike mecca of Forrest. For me I find the 100ker format very challenging, it’s kind of like making a marathon runner do a 5km run. My body seems to respond better to the longer 24hr type events. All the same I still do enjoy smashing myself in a marathon race!

The race started at 7am with over 1000 riders nestling for a good start. The first section of the race was up hill, around 1hr give or take, by the time we had reached the middle of the climb I was sitting around 20th place, riding my own race, trying to keep some fuel in the tank for later. The first feed station was at Forrest and 67km away, so 2 bidons on the bike and 1 rocket in the jersey made sure I made it to Forrest hydrated. From Forrest we headed out on a 20km single track loop, this was where I started to feel good, knowing that I would pay for it later I kicked it up a gear and started to hammer the trail. Picking up a few more places and notable names. Feed station 2 was at 87km and there we headed out on the Ay-Up Loop. This is where I started to fade, it was a long gradual dirt road climb, maybe 6 km long and in the direct midday sun. Not even my bidon of coke could pick me up, eventually making it to the top, we descended a super gnarly single track that followed an exposed ridgeline, popping back out on the dirt road and eventually the finish. 5:09, was the time and 14th was the place. Very happy.

Highlights were the steep, long, steep climbs. The sweet technical single track, the wide open fast descents and the cold beer at the finish line.

Next up, DT SWISS Mtns to Beach.

Jetblack Pic's

2010-02-11T18:34:00.000-08:00

Jetblack 24hr

2010-02-10T18:33:00.000-08:00

A road trip of epic proportions,

It was Thursday afternoon as I rolled into Sean’s place to pack the Van for our road trip down to Wisemans Ferry. We planned to arrive at the race on Friday afternoon, set up and kick back. So off we went, the rude yellow Vitto loaded to the max with 3 Tomac’s (bikes) and whole swag of camping gear. We pulled up stumps just south of Coffs Harbour, under a bridge. It was so noisy with all the trucks rattling across the bridge all night long. How good are ipods. Friday morning we were greeted by the lovely Bellinger council workers as the cleaned and emptied all the surrounding bins. Next stop Taree, I had heard the local trails are amazing, so we managed to get out for spin and were not disappointed. See see-saw picture! After leaving Taree it rained the whole way to Wisemans Ferry, giving us just enough time to get setup. A nice pub feed and we were off to bed.

RACEDAY- Woke up earlier than I would have liked, headed to the coffee van and eventually out on a practice lap of the race course. First impressions were a little disappointing; the course had some huge sections of bitumen and fire road. I prefer a technical course with some real challenging sections, but there was a nice big climb that was going to hurt everyone! After discussing with Sean I was to head out first for 3 lap’s totalling around 1hr. At 12noon we started, I went a little bit ballistic lapping in around 21 minutes, a good couple of minutes ahead of anyone. The course was like this, smack the bitumen road section, about 2kms, smack the fire road climb, big ring the whole way, HR maxing out at the top, fast roll the top fire road section, drop into a gnarly 2km descent, rough and slippery, cross a creek, drop some rocks, come out onto an access road, big ring smack fest, steep little switchback, smack it back to transition along dirt roads and grass. All in the rain! We were starting to find our rhythm then race was shut down at 8pm because it was deemed unsafe. So we managed to have a nice sleep and some r and r. During night it rain so hard our trusty Tomac tent collapsed and course was washed away. Martin (race director) re-route the course, yet more fire trail, but at least we could ride. The re-start time was 8am. We were up by 10 minutes overall and a lap up on our division. So the last 4 hours was ridden very fast to try and hold our position, which we did! Tough race with weather conditions! 3 sets of brake pads gone!

Shortly after presentations we departed and started the drive back to Brisbane, getting home around 2am. EPIC. Thanks to everyone who made the trip possible- AYUP, Supersports, Cognition, Onza

So much to report!

2010-01-30T19:07:00.000-08:00

2010 has started with a big bang! A few big things have already happened! Probably the most important is that I have taken up a position at ayup-lights.com as a sponsor/event manager! This will enable me to train more efficiently and hopefully lift my results a bit! So exciting times in Ayup Land.

The 2010 race season has also kicked off, the first for me was the Lunar C 8hr, what an interesting format, from 12 midnight to 8am. There seemed to be a good turnout of around 60 solo riders and plenty of teams to keep you honest. I tend to start hard and this race was no exception, coming in over 3 minutes ahead of everyone. After a couple of hours on the 'rivet' I settled into comfortable pace and rode out the rest of the race. It was nice to see slickers (the race venue) dry and dusty, as it's usually wet and horrible. Only grumble is that it's not very technically demanding! But I am sure it ticked the box for alot of people. All in all, a good race, managed to climb on the podium which is always a bonus.

the range TT

2009-12-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

Did another time up the range the other day, took the time down to 5:07, probably the most pain I have been in for while. Arms pumped out, hands could hardly grip the bars and it was a stuggle to keep it upright. Was it work it? Hell yeah..

Road Racing Hurts

2009-12-15T23:56:00.000-08:00

Up here on the Sunny Coast we have a night crit every second Tuesday, and last night I finally made it to one. We had 5 guys from Noosa racing, so we were keen to leave a lasting impression. We had a plan, but like usual in road racing, nothing ever goes to plan! but I have to say chasing wheels in the dark at 40-50km/h is kinda fun!

Pitch Black Recap..

2009-11-23T02:27:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend I headed out to the Tailwind Promotions 12hr dusk til dawn race at Hiddenvale. I was racing solo to gain some fitness to carry into 2010, and simple because I like to rrace solo!!

Arriving out there with a few hours to spare enabled me to do a practice lap in the daylight hours. After racing last weekend at Karingal on a super technical course it was great to see a few sections where I could actually reach for my drink bottle safely. So after 11kms I rolled back to HQ with a big smile on my face, loving the trail I was about to ride for 12hrs.

The race started at 7pm, and I thought I may have a shot at the fastest lap, so I set off at a furious pace, coming into the tranistion in 1st place and good couple of minutes ahead of the main field. (taking the fastest lap by a good 2 minutes) Knowing that this pace was un-maintainable for 12hrs I sat back into my HR zone and chipped away, thinking I would be caught in the next lap or two. To my suprise it took 5hrs before Sean caught me.

It was a pretty un eventful race, just chipping away all night allowed me to sit up at 6am and enjoy a hot egg and bacon roll. 200 odd kms in 11.5 hrs, good night out!

Until next time-peace out.

Pitch Black 12hr

2009-11-19T18:28:00.000-08:00

Only 1 day away to the pitch black 12hr at Hiddenvale, and I can safely say that I have fully recovered from my smashfest at Karingal last weekend. A good massage by Mikey at Totally Balanced, and plenty of compression skin modelling and I am ready to race again. Just picked up my Carbide from Cognition and she is running in top notch condition- thanks guys. Looking forward to a good hitout.

Hoping this doesn't happen again, it's from the HOTROCK 8hr, Townsville.

Karingal 4hr Race Report.

2009-11-17T22:14:00.000-08:00

The weekend saw my return to racing after a 3 month break. The race was held at Karingal a scouts property on the South side of Brisbane and the format was a 4hr Enduro. The course was technical and physically demanding, lasting around 7kms of pure single track, lots of little ups and plenty of steep gnarly descents. The thing that killed me was the lack of rest opportunities; you were pretty much on the rivet the entire race, hard yakka.
Standing on the start line, I could see the usual suspects! And with the temperature rising knew that I was in for a hard ride. 9-1, as many laps I can, here we go. Heart rate through the roof on the first climb, managed to hit the single track first and proceeded to hit it hard, typical fellows style, not thinking of the consequences it would have later, heart rate hovering around 190 for the entire first lap, not good! Good old Mallet was right there. We kept tempo for few laps, swapping the lead in the process. Around lap 4 of 11, I decided enough was enough and dropped back a bit to rekindle the fire and conserve some energy for the last hour, Mallet pulled away and I was happy let him!
It must have been around Lap 9 when JT (Jeff Toohey) yelled out, ‘Mallets got a minute or so on ya’ that I decided to ramp it up and see what I had left in the tank. The old heart kicked back to the high 180’s and off I went, catching him by early lap 10. Here’s what I should have done, sat on his wheel, recovered and prepared myself for an attack on the last hill into the finish! But no, I decide to ride up to him, click it up 2 gears and ride off the front, it worked, and started to form a gap, although I was working in the red zone. I was playing a psychological l card, hoping to emotional break him! I thought if he sees me go past at that speed he may not even bother going out on the last lap. Wrong. I got help up in the extremely tight single track, he caught up and now we were head to head again, and I was shagged. Started the last lap knowing I needed to catch my breath if I was to have any shot at this, so I sat up all the way around until Mallet hit me up the last climb and gapped me heading into the finishing chute. Oh well, put that one down to experience.
Thanks to Brisbane South MTB club for a fantastic race, tuff, but fantastic. Thanks to everyone who help me out with bottles, most all thanks to http://www.ayup-lights.com/, Tomac bikes @ http://www.supersports.net.au/ , Onza, and Cognition Bike Shop in Noosa for keeping my ride primed! Until next time safe riding….

choosing races...

2009-11-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

With only 2 more camps to go before I can train properly, I have picked a few races to help get me fit- thinking- 4hr at Karingal next sun, then pitch black 12hr, Lunar 8hr and the ayup D2D 12hr. That should get things rolling for the up coming 2010 season. Yeah Yeah.
About to head on the local trails and test the Canis tyres out..

New Gear

2009-11-04T00:18:00.000-08:00

A box from KWT arrived today containing a bunch for tyres and co2 bombs, over the next couple of weeks I will give a couple of reviews to let you know how they go. Onza ( hailing from Swiss-Land) are trying to make their mark in Aust, and I am happy to help out. Sean's already tested his, check the review at his blog- http://www.bozzablog-bozz.blogspot.com/

The range TT

2009-11-02T17:26:00.000-08:00

Well, posted a 5:24, but I think I will have to do it again, as I had to round up the bunch and apparently I could have drafted them! haha, anyway come Jan, I think I can go 5:15 at least.

Crazy Noosa Tri Weekend.

2009-11-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

The Noosa Tri was on this weekend, so it was a pretty good weekend. Managed to sneak in 140km on the new roadie- Malven Star Oppy c6. What a machine it is too! More on that later. Watched the roadie crit, drank some beers, watched the tri hards and shouted out some postitive encouragement!
Tomorrow I think I will have a crack at the Gyndier Road Time Trial, the road winds it's way up the side of the hill out of Noosa, has an easy gradient and last about 3kms. The record stands around 5min 32 sec. Will report in tomorrow, hoping to punch out around 5:15.

A Hellish time...

2009-10-21T01:48:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend gone I was lucky enough to partake in a little adventure race called Hells Bells. It was a 24hr job, although our team cleaned the course in about 10hrs. Go TEAM. I was racing with some great mates, Jason & Tim. Having not done an adventure race for around a year (XPD would have been last) I was out for a good time. The race had everything, from archery to a high ropes section, the best would have been the canyoning, a great time, cheers Geocentric.

Now back to banking the kms....

2009-10-03T23:06:00.001-07:00

Sunday Session...

2009-10-03T23:06:00.000-07:00

Well, the local road race was fun... Ended up 3rd and had a good hit out. Need to give up the beers!!!

Road Racing

2009-10-03T01:26:00.000-07:00

Well after a couple of weeks back on the bike I have been talked into doing a local road race, it's at Lake Weba and it's a points score race, 15 lap with a sprint every 3 laps. Apparently I am a lead out man, domestics duties!! It seems these club races are a big deal to some people.

Thought I would race then put on another 3+ hrs out through the hills. Giddy up..

Motivating...

2009-09-25T00:45:00.000-07:00

Things are ticking along for the first week back... Speed sessions are popular for some reason.. 6am tomorrow, the Noosa bunch, it's on.....

It starts right here, right now..

2009-09-22T03:19:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a while between posts and a while between rides, taken some time out and had a break, but the time has come to throw a leg over again and start doing some k's.

IT STARTS RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW

Will keep you posted. Anyone for an epic ride, let me know..

Oh Yeah, next year is going to be massive...

24hr WSC Report

2009-08-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

It’s now been a week since the 24hr WSC were held in Canmore. In that time I have had the chance to reflect and evaluate how I performed. Last year I won my age group 25-29, and would have placed 8th overall, this year I managed to climb onto the podium in the Elite category in 3rd outright. A big step up! I am not really sure how I did it? I realize that maybe there weren’t the high profile riders that were there last year, but I still rode a cracker of a race. The lead up to the race was hard, work took over, the weather was ordinary and I lacked the k’s compared to last year. On the brighter side, I was winning races, good races, and the sort of races that you needed a week’s recovery time! So, I suppose I had mixed expectations on how well I would actually perform on race day in Canmore.

Anyway race day came, and went without too many hiccups. Here is how the day unfolded for Team AYUP (consisting of Jo, Vang and I) I think it is important to have a good sleep the night before any big session and being able to park our 28 foot RV at the race was awesome and everyone came into Saturday feeling good, nervous, but good! With the help of my awesome crew we set up AYUP land and were ready with oodles of spare time. Eventually we were called up, seeding us by number, ready for the 500m run start. Running the circuit was hard in bike shoes and the 36d temp didn’t help either, by the time I had reached the pit and grabbed my bike my HR was around 185 and I was in 6th or 7th.

The first 6-7minutes we spend climbing before entering about 8kms of rough, techo singletrack, I manage to hold 4th. As per normal the front runners take off at a stupid speed, knowing that it is unsustainable for me, I hold back, hoping that I can peg it back later. By late afternoon the temperature dropped and I find a good rhythm.

Around nightfall I do a bike swap so the crew can put on my lights, I swap to my hardtale, it was the worst lap of the race, so rough, and I need the dually back!! Riding consistent laps all night I emerge in 3rd place as Tony, from New Zealand has pulled out and was suffering from dehydration. It is now just a matter of riding a few more laps to make the 24hrs.

Eventually the clock clicks 12 and I cross the line, taking 3rd in the Elite men.

It’s funny how people refer to it as 24 ‘solo’, I don’t believe it is ‘solo’ because without the help of my crew I would not achieved the result I did and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them, especially Jo and Vang for their tireless work. Also a massive shout out to Andrew Patten @ AYUP Lights, Tomac bikes @ Supersports and Cognition, without you this all wouldn’t be possible. Cheers.

1 More sleep...

2009-07-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

Only one day til the 24wsc, oh yeah.....
Feeling good, may have a good chance for a podium, have the new ayup kit, looks great, will try and get a pic off the pits up later...
Anyway, back to preparing...
Rock on.

Legs 11

2009-07-21T16:28:00.000-07:00

Did another couple of laps today...
Feeling good...
Have race number 11..
All good...

2009-07-19T19:00:00.002-07:00

Epic

2009-07-19T19:00:00.001-07:00

Today was Epic.

100km, 3 mountain passes and a load of sweet flowing singletrack.

Stage 1- Head out off Canmore on Highway 1 fuelled by Starbucks, 20kms up the road turn off and start climbing to Jewell Pass, about 25 minutes up. Descend a fast, rough, awesome singletrack into Lake Barrier.

Stage 2- Cross a highway and head up Baldy Pass, 3o minutes, solid. Super techo descent for about 25 minutes. Cruise the highway to Nakiska Ski Resort, eat plenty of food to fuel for the next climb.

Stage 3- Skogan pass is a big dog, 45 minutes of solid climbing in granny, HR around 160-170 bpm for most of the climb, broke off at the top and did a local secret, 12 kms descending through alpine meadows, dropping through pine forests, eventually ending up at Highway 1 for quick roadie into a block headwind to Canmore.

Epic, epic day, can’t wan’t till tomorrow…

First Impressions

2009-07-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

Hey.

The 24 hr WEAPON

Well I have safely arrived in Alberta Canada.. A few hickups along the way, but nothing to serious. The Carbide went missing for 2 days, but she's back now!

Lake Louise

The weather has been awesome for riding, so I have been out a couple off times firing around on some off the best singletrack Canada has to offer.

Thursday- Hit up Canmore for a couple of hours, did last years course plus some trail named EKG? Pretty cool.

Friday- Went out at Lake Louise, did what the locals said and wasn't dissapointed, the trail was insane, backcountry riding at its finest, the Carbide ripped it!

Saturday- Riding from Banff to Camore via a mountain Range..

Sunday- Riding in Calgary somewhere?

Life is good..

Travel Time

2009-07-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

The Noosa Enduro was on last weekend, a great race for me, as it's only a 15 minute drive away. As far the racing goes, the heat was on from the very start as the rockstar boys settled into controlling the race. In a good display of team work, Hamish went out on the hard 50 feeling alot fresher that what I did, somehow I always magage to get worked over!! Anyway it took me a good 20kms before I felt half decent and by then the leaders where already up the track. I chased but they were to far gone! It was a good tester for the worlds that are on in 2 weeks in Canmore.

Well, everything is boxed up, packed up and ready to rock! Just waiting to be picked up and then heading down to the airport in Brisvegas, onto Sydney, Vancouver and finally Calgary. Oh yeah, it's 3:30am!

Rock on

Insomnia 24hr

2009-07-06T01:05:00.000-07:00

Well.
I am a bit late reporting on this race, mainly because it was not a real highlight of recent races. It was wet, muddy and eate through any moving part of my trusty Tomac. The postitive was that I got to race as a pair and enjoy the social side of racing again. Thanks to Sean my partner- you rock buddy, looking forward to tearing the Canadians apart!

By 12 we were well infront and able to ease off the hurt. Infront by enough that we finished riding by 6am. Thanks to Andrew Ayup for his support, tomac bike and cognition bike shop for servicing my destroyed bike.

Now its time to focus on the Noosa Enduro on Sunday, 2nd last year, lets turn it up!

Townsville Hotrock Pics

2009-06-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

The goldrush

2009-06-07T23:18:00.001-07:00

After racing in Townsville last weekend, I had a week on school camp and completely off the bike, dodging sick kids and trying to stay healthy. Until Thursday, I got hit by a nasty stomach bug! Straight off to bed, waking up on Friday feeling about 70% and by Saturday was about 90%

After loading up the car with 2 bikes, heaps of camping gear and one chocolate brown lab we hit the road to Mt Perry. Jo and I managed a quick reccy of the course and then it was onto the dirt dash, 2 laps of a 1km circut, top 4 finish to progress onto the final. I made the final and nearly got the better of Dave Whitney XC racer. 2nd.

The race course was 11km, it had something for everyone, big climbs, gnarly descents, smashing flats, basically a sick track, best that I have ridden in a while. The event was put on by Mike from Grinding Gearzs Promotions and it was a well run race and I would recommend it to any budding mtb enthusiast.

Personally for me, this was a hard race, being pushed the whole way. I seemed to attack, get caught, recover, attack again. It took til the second last lap until I was finally able to make a break that would last. With all the climbing and a stupid starting pace I was cramping around 3hrs in, and it continued til the end. Thats 2 tough races in 2 weeks, time to chill out a bit!

A big shout out to Jo for supporting me all day, and to AYUP lighting, Sunshine Bicycle Works, Tomac Bikes, without you this race would not have been possible!

How good are chicken crimpies!

Hotrock 8hr

2009-06-07T15:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I headed up to Townsville to compete in the Hotrock 8hr. The race was held at the Ross Lake/Dam on a fast course. The surface was slick with a loose layer of gravel over the trail, making cornering at speed very sketchy! Townsville turned it on with some great weather and huge turnout of competitors, the race was ran by Peter and the crew from Tailwind Promotions.

Here are some stats from the race!
Lap is 16km long, total elevation gain of 160metres, hot and dry conditions.
Lap 1- 46 minutes- Max Hr 193- Av Hr- 160- Massive stack, bloody everywhere
Lap 2- 46-186-162 -Flat number 1
Lap 3- 56-184-159- Flat number 2+3
Lap 4- 52-183-163- Burbed Front tyre- another CO2 gone. Busted wheel
Lap 5- 50-181-162- first good lap. ran over a snake.
Lap 6- 49-186-162- second good lap.
Lap 7- 51-179-160- third good lap.
Lap 8- 53-177-157- getting hungry!
Lap 9-53-172-156- fourth ok lap
Lap 10- 1.02-173-158- Flat number 4+5

Not one to complain, but that was a hard day out, physically and mentally. Managed to claw my way onto the podium and take a hard win. Next up, Mt Perry. Thanks to Jo (number 1 support crew) Dan and Ray ( local connections) Ayup, Sushine bicycle works, and Tomac Bikes, and to Aaron from topbrand for a tube and co2.

Rock on.

Mt Perry...

2009-05-25T23:56:00.000-07:00

Had some work on today near the Mt Perry 6hr course, so of course I ducked out there to have a look. I think I may may have even riden the course backwards, who knows! All the same I gathered the data I need and am confident that the race will be good one. The course seemed easy and fast.

Flights are booked for the WC in Canmore...

Are You Ready?

2009-05-24T02:39:00.000-07:00

On Friday night we will be heading up to Townsville to contest the Hotrock 8hr, its the first time we have been up that way and I am looking forward to a good hit out. The last couple of weeks have seen some good kms banked, so it should be 'on'.

The tomac's are preforming above expectations and I would happly recommend them to anybody, the type X will be the weapon of choice for the 8hr and the 6hr on the following weekend.

Some big things are in the pipeline, stay tuned!!!

...did someone say Epic?

2009-05-12T19:43:00.001-07:00

I really like the word 'Epic'

The meaning according to the dictonary is many things, two of which are:

-a long series of events characterized by adventures or struggle,

-impressive by virtue of greatness of size, scope, or heroism

But to me it means, a big big day out on the bike, only you know when you've done one, it's that feeling of satisfaction, dizziness, that feeling that your completely smashed, ' got nothing left to give', probably only just made it home, ran out of food, the list goes on....

For me, epics make me stronger, so I have a few planned in the next few weeks, especially as I have to make a major decision, should I race the WC in Canmore again? Time to ponder...

Things are ticking along well..

Solo 24hr- Majura Pines- Canberra

2009-04-19T00:58:00.000-07:00

Well.

The solo only is always a good race. The fact that you don't have the speedy teams passing you constantly is fantastic. The trail was great, a 9.6km loop through the forest with not much climbing and only a few sections of firetrail, the rest was on sweet singletrack. It was a fast hard pack surface with the maxxis crossmark (back) and monorail (front) really hooking in for some fast hard turns.

We arrived about 9 am on race day and started to set up. Matt and Amanda, my Canberra connection had made some space available for me in their ezi up tent. After a few hours of fafting around it was time to get to the start line. Because i didn't race last year I was seeded at the back, about 9 rows back from the start. Oh well, a speedy start saw me take 5th wheel into the first section on singletrack. The plan for this race was to let Fenner/English/Claxton hit it out at stupid fast speeds and pick up the pieces as they hopefully fell apart. the paln worked well and by 7hrs Claxton was out, then Fenner soon followed, elevating me into 2nd.

I find Canberra cold at the best of times, so when it started to rain I wa alittle bit concerned, but I was able to keep my HR high enough to stay warm and quickly added knee and arm warmer and continued through what I think was my best part of the race. The track became slower, slippery, but most of all, I was having a ball. The years of riding in the rain and mud in Tasmaina were finally paying off. The graveyard shift didn't go aswell as planned, but it never does, I dropped to 3rd and lost vaulable time when my rear brake pads stopped working and had to swap to the hardtale. The hardtale is fast but you pay for it, the rough ride wasn't doing my back any favours so I jumped back on the dually asp.

The sun rose around 7, but the lights went off at 6, with the eery Canberra light shining through the pines I was digging deep to finish the race respectably, the legs were starting to feel a little 'used' and the lower back was killing. So when the option of sitting and waiting for the clock to tick 12:00 came I took it, all in all I had just covered around 400kms, and finished third outright.

I would like to thank my wonderful support crew, Barry+ Vicki, Jo Jo for her words of wisdom, Matt + Amanda for helping out, also CORC for the race/volunteers.

I big thanks to AYUP for lighting me up, Tomac Bikes for the sweet rides, Sunshine Bicycle works for tuning my ride. BlackHeart for heaps of other goodies.

The Lead Up

2009-04-08T00:50:00.000-07:00

First there was the Ay Up 12hr-Dusk til Dawn, followed by the BMC mountains to beach. Then the 12hr NZO in Rotorua.

Ay Up 12hr
Going into the first race of the season is always hard, not knowing what to expect. One thing was for sure, it was not going to be an easy ride, the competition was tough with Andrew Bell making the journey north. I managed to break away from the gun and hold the big guy off for a couple of hours, then we rode together for a few, then he broke away from me! All in all, a good race to give things a kick start.

BMC
Another great race. Went down with the boys from AyUp in the big bright orange truck, called Dennis! What a great experience, 5 days of racing from Mt Kozzie to the coast. By the end of the week I ended up in 5th place, and had a solid weeks worth of training under my belt.

12hrs of ROTORUA
Held in co with the 24hr, just finishing earlier! After last year I had to return the trails are just awesome in the Redwoods forest. Had a good race, walked away with the win, and knowing that I had just raced on some of the best trails in the world! The following day I did a 4hr ride on some of the othe trails that the forest has to offer, favourite being Billy T and Split Ends, if you are in NZ be sure to hit up thoses little babies!

Canmore

2008-07-24T11:36:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Canmore a week ago today, and I can safety say that this place is a mecca for anyone who loves the outdoors. Canmore is about 1hr out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada and sits at around 1400metres. Everywhere you look, east, west, all the eye can see is sheer mountain tops.

The reason I am in Canmore is to race at the world championships for solo 24hr mountain bike racing. The course is located at the nordic centre which has seen it's fair share of quality events, in winter it hosts a xc ski/biathlon event nearly every weekend and has even hosted world cup mountain bike race, some aussie won it! I hear he is pretty good roadie now!

The course is brutal, brutal climbs, technical descents, but does have some good crusing fire trail where we will be able eat/drink. It shares no similarities to any Australia 24hr course! The descents are rough, rooty and off-camber, it rained last night and the level of technical difficulty increased, slip slinding away! The best way to ride it is fast and don't brake, fly over the top of all the wet roots. Someone WILL hurt themselves, touch wood it won't be me. It's around 20km loop, with a feed zone at 10km. Get this the total elevation gain per lap is 2100ft (around 700m). The winner will be lucky to hit 400km.

The altitude has affected my performance slighty, I should be firing on all cyclinders come Saturday, I definately woundn't wanted to arrive any later, and feel for those are only arriving now.

I will be racing age group, I am quietly confident that I will do well in my category. I will also be pushing for a top result in overall placings. The Yeti 575 is the bike of choice and I have tweaked it for the big outing.

Have a massage today to loosen up a bit, and then race in 2 days. Bring it on. I didn't come here to play scrabble!

Andy

AY UP dusk til Dawn

2008-03-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

‘Beat the Heat’ soon turned ‘Beat the Rain’ at this years AYUP 12hr. With the event being cancelled once nothing was going to stop it this time!

Arriving at 5 to register for a 7pm start was great, I thought I would be able to help Andrew from AYUP with light demos, but to my surprise he was pretty much already out of lights. I think AYUP demoed around 80 sets of lights to the general public! That’s massive; nearly every second rider was sporting a set of these powerful, funky looking L.E.D lights.

After a chat to some of the competitors it was revealed that the track has held up well after the massive amount of rain the area has received in the last month. Mind you, we soon found there were still a few mud holes out there!

The racing was fierce, as many teams battled it out, with the big hitters lapping in less than 23 minutes for the 10km course. The real battle was in the solo class, Andrew Bell had his work cut out for him as Craig…. remained on 2 minutes behind him after 6hrs of riding. In the female class there was a battle between local favourite Prue……. and Victorian Alex…. With Alex eventually proving why she is one of the best in the business.

Racing conditions were great, although the wind picked up in the wee hours of the morning the rain stayed away and the stars were out for those of us who could afford to look!

As the sun was rising teams were calculating how many more laps they could squeeze in, or in some cases the solos were stretching the lap times out so they didn’t have to do another!

When the dust had settled the winning teams had punched out 28 laps and the lead soloist Andrew Bell had managed 24 laps in what was a great night of racing, the track had held up well, I believe it became quicker as it dried.
A big shout to AYUP, Two wheel Promotions and to everyone who attended!

Rotorua 24hr

2008-03-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

Rotorua 24hr - Red Woods Forest

After only finding out about the race on the Monday, come Thursday I found myself sitting aboard an aircraft bound for Hamilton, New Zealand. From there I would catch a coach to some of the best riding you will ever experience in down town Rotorua.

While in New Zealand I would be staying with Andrew and Mark from the AYUP crew. Our hotel was about 5 minutes by bike to the race head quarters, also only 5 minutes to a great coffee shop, appropriately named “Zippies”. I soon found that Rotorua is a mountain bikers heaven, with a population of around 70 thousand it supports 8 bike shops and it is estimated that around 200 thousand tourists come from far and wide just to ride the forest.
The course was 13km long and contained only 1 km of fireroad and the rest was solid, technical, life changing singletrack. With sections of the trail named, ‘be rude not to, tickler, exit trail, I could already tell we were in for a real two wheeled treat. The area of the race course was only the tip of the iceberg, as the trails run well back into the forest. The N-Duro boys run a 100km marathon in the same forest, just to give you an idea was big the area really is!

The weather for the race was great, overcast with a slight drizzle, although when you were in the forest (about 90% of the time) the huge redwoods sheltered you from the rain. The temperature remained high throughout the night and made for pleasurable racing conditions. Night riding was such a rush! Ducking and weaving through the tight trail, launching of natural ramps, railing every corner trying to conserve any energy where ever possible. Throughout the night my ipod served as my best friend, having a constant beat helps me find a rhythm, and also keeps the sleepmonsters away! After a long night the sun came up around 6, but it wasn’t until 7 that the light actually filtered through the canopy of the forest and allowed us to switch of the lights. By keeping the pressure on for most of the night I had worked my way into a position of comfort and was able to enjoy the last few hours. The highlight was going out for my last lap with a great bunch of mates and enjoying what is undoubtedly the best location I have every ridden. So mark the date on your calendar and make the journey, you won’t regret it!

And, for all the single speeders, you will happy to hear that the fastest lap was set on a SS. Also New Zealand is having a national SS Championship in Rotorua.

More photo's

2007-12-17T17:26:00.000-08:00

Done and Dusted

2007-12-17T17:13:00.000-08:00

Well, we managed to get around the Island, I will update all the details later, in the mean time here are some of the better photo's.

Circumnavigate Fraser Island non-stop

2007-12-10T17:44:00.000-08:00

Sandy Cape.

I have been planning a little Fraser trip for the last few months, here are a the nitty gritty details. It should be quite an adventure.

14-16th December 2007

Objective: To circumnavigate Fraser Island non-stop

Participants: Linton Burns
Rob Edgar
Jason Cheshire
Andrew Fellows

13th December
Rob and Linton arrive early evening.

LEG 1- Paddle
Estimation with stops for water, 11hrs
Total Paddle Distance = 73kms

4:00am: Get up and have a highly nutritional breakfast
4:30am: Drive down to Urangan Boat Harbour and prepare to launch.
5:00am: Launch boat and start paddling towards Big Woody Island. Due to low tide predictions we must hug the western side of Fraser Is. Tides are attached.
4:00pm: Arrive at Inskip Point. Meet Elisa’s parents for a boat shuttle.
5:30pm: Last barge leaves from Inskip to the Island, we must be on this!

LEG 2- Ride/Hike
Estimation with stops for water and an hour sleep, 11hrs
Total Ride/Hike Distance = 102.5kms

6:00pm: Start riding up towards Hook Point, and follow beach all the way to Orchid Beach, stopping at Dilli, Eurong, Happy Valley, and Indian Head for water stops if necessary. The opportunity to buy food will probably not be possible because of the time. We will be leaving on Low Tide, so fast pace will be required until we run out of beach. The ride breakdown is below.
So if even at the slowest predictions it would take 10 hours, 11hrs with water and food stops.
4:00am: Arrive at Orchid Beach, optional hour snooze.

LEG 3- Hike
Estimation, 7kms per hour = 11hrs
Total Hike Distance = 69kms,

500:am: Depart on Sandy Cape Trek. Walk walk walk.
3:00pm: We would be hoping to be nearing Wathumba Creek, if estimates are correct it will be mid tide and swim may be necessary. Short break may be required, meet support crew.

Wathumba Creek.

LEG 4- Bike/Hike
Estimation, 2hrs, the tide is outgoing, perfect!
Total Hike Distance = 32.5kms,

3:30pm: Depart on bikes to Moon Point. Arrive ASAP.

5:00pm: Moon Point Barge LEAVES

Moon Point.

Total Distance
Leg 1- Paddle- 73km 11hrs
Leg 2- Bike/Hike 102kms 11hrs
Leg 3- Hike 69kms 12hrs
Leg 4- Bike/Hike 32.5kms 2hrs
TOTAL 276.5kms in 36hrs

The Fling

2007-11-19T18:42:00.000-08:00

The Highland Fling was a race I had been anxiously awaiting, the race holds a reputation for being a tough day in the Southern NSW Highlands.
Arriving at the lovely Bundanoon after a solid 2 days worth of rain had us camping in what seemed to resemble a swamp more than camp ground, contemplating just how wet the trail would be. After a killer pizza from the local pizzeria we bunked down and prayed for fine weather.

Ever been awoken by a mad scotch’s man bagpipes at 5:30am? I can tell you its not much fun! Sunday bought in a blue sky with clean crisp day, typical of the Southern Highlands.

As usual the start was crazy, cold legs and super high pace saw me drop the lead group around the 1hr mark to drop into a pace that was going to be sustainable for 9hrs. The course consisted of 4 different loops
1- Vaude Stage- 28km,
2-NSW stage (Wingello forest) 54kms, (we did this one twice)
3-Specialized Stage 27kms

Vaude stage was easy, and took only just over an hour; it was the Wingello stage that was the real killer. It was the longest and probably the most demanding. It had single track that was technically demanding and had you concentrating the whole way, combined with some steep ascents. The worst part was having to do the loop twice! It took some real mental strength to go out on the second lap! My rationale was ‘if I can have a can of coke, I will go, no coke, no go!’

The second lap was much easier, the ground at compacted with the thousand something riders. By the time I reached the last stage I was feeling great and started amping up the tempo and managed to finish strong. Unfortunately it was not strong enough; I had tried, but could not reel in 1st spot Dennis Van mill! So after 8hrs 25minutes I was happy to sit down and relax.

A great race in a great location.

Still Rolling,

First Posting

2007-11-18T16:23:00.000-08:00

Just checking out this whole blogging thing!