LunarC post race report

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Lots of Lunar-tiCs showed up for this years race. The weather was absolutely perfect. Every rider I came across during the 8 1/2 hours I raced, without exception, was polite and in good spirits. Over-taking and being over-taken was a very pleasant experience also.

Team Koiled. Get used to seeing this kit on the road and trails.

How did my race go?

After getting my gear on, and organising my food table, I went to check on another Koiled rider. "Hey Nick, how are you feeling?"

"How many bananas are you going to eat on the first lap??"

Nick was a little unsure of his head space. Long working days, late night...all mixed up with some pre-race nerves meant Nick was struggling to visualise a successful race. I put a few last minute tips on the table to try and help him get sorted.

I wrote my race plan on the top tube of my bike

Sharing these little tips with Nick helped me get my pre-race head sorted out too.

My dear friend and fellow, tough-arsed, Koiled rider Rach was unable to race due to an illness. A very smart decision for an endurance rider. So, she sent me a message. The message included reference to ripping some legs off! My response was caught with this photo...

Evil Grin

One of the most important factors for me to have a successful race is a good support person. Someone organised, reliable, calm and knows how I ride and think. For me it is my training partner, best friend,  and wife. The best thing is this is the one person!!!

"Biddon, coke and a Tim Tam please"

Kirstie and Ty were able to get all this done with out me having to stop!

"Nice catch Ty"

The assault weapon of choice for this race was again, my tried and trusted, custom titanium, single speed, no suspension KOILED mountain bike. I had to ride the bumpy, rocky descents a lot slower than usual. However the bike went up the climbs by itself.

A little pedalling was required on the ups.

I managed to speak with a few people on the trails. I shared a few tips, yelled "attack the hill" to few riders, gave a few friendly pats on the back and high 5s. Lots of huge efforts to be seen all night. This is always very motivating for me to see others giving it their all.

At the end of the day, or more accurately, first thing in the morning I rode well enough to win a couple of prizes and do my bit to get Team Koiled on the podium.

"Thank you In2Adventure for another awesome race!"

Tip for the week...


...Train for your race. Race what you train.




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Race Day nearly

It has been too long since my last endurance mountain bike race. I am feeling like a fat, lazy, slob. I miss the constant tiredness in my legs.

So, off to Pomona for the 000 Emergency Services Charity 12 hour xc race. 8am to 8pm. Only a couple of dark hours of racing. But better than none!

I was very rude in 2009. As a guest rider at the Police Games (Ay Up put up a couple of bike light kits as prizes) in both the road race & xc race I stole first place in both races. I surrendered my places & didnt go near the podium.





I am really excited about this Saturdays 12 hour race. It is organised by passionate cyclists. Funds are being raised for a good charity. Last, but not least, it is 12 hours of xc racing!!! Only 1/2 as much fun as 24 hours hehehe...

Ay Up will have a small presence. We are putting up a couple of prizes in support of the local racing scene & the Emergency Services.



Saturdays race Mantra: "Smooth flowing lines Dog!"

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Pre Race Jitters

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After training and racing for a few years now, rarely do I get pre race jitters. I do for this one!

The great thing about having these feelings, it is a nice reminder that I still find racing is exciting. Racing overseas is even more exciting. New trails, new riders, lots of unknowns...etc.

Two more sleeps and we will be on a plane. 22 hours later we will have our feet down in Italy. Pick up our hire car, drive for 3 hours then meet up with our dear friends Rach and her mechanic, coach, pit biatch Shannon.

I am pretty sure I will be way to eager to ride the trails. So much so I reckon I will have to get on them the same day we arrive.

As a post race treat, my dear, sweet woman and I are travelling for another couple of weeks. One of the highlights will be getting into the mountains to watch some of stage 19 of the Giro dItalia! AWESOME!

I have gone back and read some of my closing comments on previous blog posts. Humph! Nice little reminders of how I love to ride and race my bike.

Ciao Ciao...

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Eat Sleep RACE Eat sleep recover

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(photo courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)

Theres something undeniably attractive about endurance mountain biking. Race two of Tailwind Promotions Super Series was a 4 hour event that saw me riding 4hrs:20 something minutes.

My Koiled single speed.

  (photo courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)

It is all the small things at these races that make it a great event for me. Let me share some.

• The sound of dirt crunching under my tires
• The simplicity of pedalling my single speed
• Zipping through the single track
• That painful feeling in my legs when attacking a climb
• Watching other riders suffer - with a smile/grimace
• Asking another rider "hows your ride going?"
• Overcoming discomfort, hunger, thirst, tiredness... 
• Hearing my friends in the transition giving me a "cmon dog, smash em!"

Just a little insight. There are more. Feel free to visit this FB page and share what you like and dont like about endurance mountain bike races.

Shannon at Koiled has designed and built a beautiful bike

(photo courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)

(photos courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)

Single Speeding was the perfect bike for this race. I saw 4 of the top riders of the day walking back to the transition area with broken derailleurs, all at the same time on the same part of the track! 

A pressure blaster cleaned it. 1/2 a can of water displacing spray lubed it. All I needed to replace was a chain. It was on its last race anyway.

How did my race go? I had a tiny regret that I could have pedalled harder in a previous 8 hour race. So this time I hit the pedals hard. I tested out my legs and the legs of the other single speeders. There was absolutely n o t h i n g left in the tank. Thats exactly how I like it too ;-)

I came across lots of tough-arsed solo riders for this shorter race. Often looking back at their race number, seeing theyre solo, then yelling, "SOLO-MAN/SOLO-WOMAN!" giving them a little something to temporarily pull their heads out of the hurt locker.

Ride of the day goes to....drum roll.....

 (photos courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)

Shannon and his very pretty and very tough daughter! She was a pleasure to share pre-race banter with in the Koiled transition tent. She was visibly tired at the end of the race but still in great spirits.

Darn, shell be kicking our butts in the solo category soon!

 (photo courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)

Until next time, dont stop pedalling and moving forward or youll fall off.

dog

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12 hour Dusk 2 Dawn MTB race in Perth

I will fly to this event given it would take 5 long days to drive there.

New trails, new people & a bike race, sounds like a perfect trip to me already.

http://www.wa12hour.com.au

In the 3 years I have been racing I have noticed there are event organisers & then there are event organisers. Been to awesome & not so awesome events.

I have exchanged a dozen or so emails with the organiser of this event & I am confident it is going to be an awesome one!

See you roosters & hens there!

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Merida 24 hour Race day!

It is my belief that I am always ready to ride a 24 hour mountain bike race. Sometimes I am just more ready than others. Upon reflection, I dont know any race I have ever been as ready for as I wanted to be.

I work a 40-55 hour week, have the pleasure of having my two sons 1/2 the week every week, I get sick, occasionally sleep... & amongst that lot & much more I squeeze in between 10-20+ hours of training a week. I kind of figured a 24 hour race had me covered for a few days off the bike this week hehehe...

I arrived at Hiddenvale in SE Queensland on the Saturday morning. This is one of my favourite things about racing, I caught up with lots of really good people & met some new ones.

As I was wondering around I saw Tim Bennett. What a great surprise. Then Jo Bennett...Nick Both...Adrian Jackson...Paul Traynor. It was awesome to see these guys again. It is the same crew that I met & did a small amount of peloton time with on the 2008 Croc Trophy. A really good team of people. They were very supportive of me on the 2008 CT & continued this support on the track for the Merida 24 hour. Thanks everyone!



I am not too much into long winded, lap for lap race reports.

My 9 yr old son was my support person. My pre-race breifing to the dude was "Hand me a biddon & some different food each time. Here is some cash, be sure to get yourself some dinner, breakfast from the BBQ & as many hot chocloates as you like from the coffee van. Brush your teeth..." you guys know the rest.



I rolled through the transition at about 11pm & past my marquee. Ty was all tucked up asleep on a camp chair in the very cold, damp evening air. "Ty, wake up! go to the tent with the matress, sleeping bag, doona, pillow." Off he went. He toughted it out for 11 hours & was that committed he was still trackside! I didnt see him until the sun popped up the next day. Then he started his job again. He was a legend of a support person. Not one winghing word all weekend.


Needless to say, it was only natural he shared the second step of the podium with me. Proud Dad moment.


Tailwind Promotions Peter Creagh (aka Cranky) Hayden Brooks (Kiwi) & his lovely wife Fluer along with the others I dont know put on an awesome event. It had a really good feel about the event all weekend. Nice work everyone.

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Singapore 100km night race

Friday 5:30am: Land at Changi airport, Singapore, grab my bike which made it in one piece, breeze through customs, buy a cup of morning coffee & I was in a taxi by 6am on my way to Gillies house.

I have never met or even spoken to Gillie & Rina. Only a couple of emails. Both have been very generous & accommodated me for the 4 days I have been staying in Singapore. Thank you Gillie & Rina !

10:30am: Bike is built & the guys have organised a pre-race recce ride on the course. It was that hot & humid I broke out in a lather of sweat just putting my shoes on! "This is going to be great"

Course description: 10kms, some wide trails, lots of tight twisting single track, some rough, technical climbs with rough down hills. Overall a tough trail with potential to be even better with more riders & work. The final km or so of single track into the transition area was just awesome.

During the casual ride I had the pleasure of meeting a few of the local riders & some from the Philipines. The Phillipino riders dominated the race results in solo & teams.

Saturday (RACE DAY): So the race is due to start at 5pm. Cut off time 2pm. Distance to finish 100kms. Solo riders about 95. Weather: looks like it could rain a little.

I spotted Tinker Juarez kicking back so I walked over to say Gday. A really down to earth, genuine, nice guy. We just talked cycling shit for a bit then I had to go for a warm up ride.

Warm up ride: This is an interesting concept as I am sweating my butt off just putting my helmet on. As I was rolling around I pulled up beside some dude on a Twenty-9 full carbon hardtail. "Hey Gary, that is a sweet looking ride!" Gary Fisher replied with an evil kind of laugh & mentioned that it still needed to be pedalled & he was completely unprepared for the race.

As Gary & I rolled up to the start line it was already thick of starters. I looked at him & said we needed to get up to the front of the start. A few "maaf / excuse mes" later we were up the front. Phew.

Mountain biking has such a passionate following in this area. The race atmosphere, energy & smiles in the staring peloton was one of the best I had experienced. I felt honoured to be a part of this race with so many passionate mountain bikers!

3hrs into the race: A really bad arsed electrical storm smashed the course. Within minutes of the rain starting there were water rapids on the trails. Lightening strikes came in rapid succession & so close there was more than mud in my nix.

3hrs:30min: Race cancelled :o(( I managed to be part way around my 7th lap. I told Tinker I was about to put in an attack & that he was saved by the storm hehehe... He has been sick for a couple of weeks & still smashed out some awesome lap times.

Summary: Even with the race being cut short due to safety concerns (which I agree was a very sensible decision) it has been well worth the time & small amount of effort to participate. I would love to be a part of this race & festival again next year.

I will have a few photos once I get back to Oz.

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Race Day LunarC 8 hour

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Dear reader

I hope you are still out there, somewhere?

What is the LunarC?

• Well, the race starts at midnight on Friday night. 
• 9.5km circuit. 
• Do as many laps as you can in 8 hours (130 mudfest kms for me last year).
• Ride/race with good friends.
• Catch up on missed sleep with a couple of hours sleep on Saturday. 
• Then head out for another training ride on Sunday. 

Sounds like a near perfect weekend!

I am happy that I blogged this race last year. I was able to check out the mistakes I made. Most importantly, I have a slightly easier gear on my single speed. Only one gear easier, but this should make a race of difference.

New jersey, new team, same old legs. However, Jens Voigt is always an awesome source of race motivation...

Jens Voigt doesn’t complain about what suffering does to him… but suffering constantly complains about getting picked on by Jens Voigt.

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Race Report Merida 24hour

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During the dark hours of the night a rider came up to me on the trails 

and started saying "he has gone to bed, the next rider is however far 

behind...etc" I politely said "I dont race anyone else except for myself"

I dont set my goals based on someone elses performance. 

Especially in 24 hour racing.

One incident saw me being a lot less polite. A tard over took me on 

fire trail then proceeded to chop my front wheel rubbing rubber on rubber! 

He felt he was in the right because he told me he was overtaking. 

Well let me set you straight muppet! You were in the wrong! 

I make no apologies for my barking and growling abuse. You deserved it. 

My goal was to punch out 330kms in the 24 hours. I achieved 325 in 22 1/2 hours.

You will read lots of lap by lap reports on this race because there 

were plenty of laps done out there.

Here are some of the decisions that made my race so successful.

1. Lots of calories: I know when my legs start getting even the 

slightest calorie deficiency. I avoided this feeling all race.

2. A well set up Bike: Shannon at Koiled has built me the most amazing,
custom, Titanium, Single Speed. On Shannons advice, I am more stretched out.
This saved my back & shoulders.

3. Do it before you need it: I fitted my batteries, leg warmers, put on my merino long sleeve undershirt and ate a burger in about 5 minutes. I did all this about an hour before necessary. I put my warm, dry gear on before I got cold.

4. Stick with day time lines: I experimented with smooth flowing lines during the day and stuck with the good ones all night.

5. Hydration: I managed to catch up on hydration during the night in preparation for the 6 hours of sun at the end of the race.

7. Do it before you need to: As the sun started to rise I took off my sweaty jersey and undershirt. I put on a clean dry jersey. Left my leg warmers on.

8. Motivation: Find it and stick with it...

There are a few other good decisions I made during this race. I wont tell all today. You can always catch up with me at a race. Those that have met me at races or on the trails will tell you that I am willing to share what I know.

Until next time, no excuses, just keep pedalling. Love dog.

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Tailwind Promotions 24 hour xc race

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Almost 2 years ago I did an event known as the Insomnia 24 Hour. It was another mud-fest. Little did I know that this event was the start of a very big change in direction for me.

I met the woman of my dreams. Timing was perfect, location was perfect, the woman was and still is the perfect woman for me.

What does this have to do with the 24 hour race that starts in a few days?

As most of you that have read my blog will understand, I ride my bike by myself, for myself. This weekends race I am riding in celebration of the day I met my life partner. 

I picked up another card... (read here for explanation) 

...Just when I thought self motivation was enough, I found that with the love and support of another person, so much more motivation and energy is possible. 

Kirstie will be riding her bike, for herself just as she was doing the first time we met.

Merida 24 hour race report to follow in the next few days.

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Dusk 2 Dawn 12 hour xc race

I love doing the dust2yawn. 2 1/2 weeks to go. It has all of the required boxes ticked.

• Mountain bike riding
• Riding at night
• 12 hours of cycling
• Eating breakfast on my bike

I have a sweet new bike, great lights, lots of kms in my legs so the fun factor will be awesome!

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Road Trip! Highland Fling 100 mile xc race

Tomorrow Rhino & I are driving for 14 hours South of Brisbane to Bundanoon. Race 162kms. Then drive home. Thank you in advance to Marnie for feeding us.

Road Trip!

Some photos from 2 years ago.

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