Agent Picolax
Link to a thread over on singletrackworld. This is the funniest thing I have read in ages. Be warned it is long, and you will be paralysised by laughter for about 20mins.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
"Those Spokes cost how much ?!!?"
"Those Spokes cost how much ?!!?" that was the reply from my wife yesterday when I went into the bikeshop to organise the wheelbuild for the powertap.
"Yes Dear, they are $4.50 each. But they are really good spokes!" I could tell I had stuffed up. First never bring your significant other into the shop when your discussing prices (even someone as normally understanding as my wife". And secondly when the damage is done don't try and placate them after the fact....
So what spoke costs $4.50 each? these do,
Sapim CX-Ray
Good news is though I will have the wheel built by next Thursday!
"Yes Dear, they are $4.50 each. But they are really good spokes!" I could tell I had stuffed up. First never bring your significant other into the shop when your discussing prices (even someone as normally understanding as my wife". And secondly when the damage is done don't try and placate them after the fact....
So what spoke costs $4.50 each? these do,
Sapim CX-Ray
Good news is though I will have the wheel built by next Thursday!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Otway Odyssey
Friday
The family all packed up and drove down on the Friday before the race. 10hrs, 890kms. Hume Highway all the way down to Melbourne from Canberra then the Great Ocean Road out the other side to Apollo Bay.
We passed through Wandong on the way through. The evidence of the Victorian bush fires is on show for all. Burnt trees line the freeway and there are even charded directional signs where they have been licked by the fires. It is both sad and amazing to witness the devastation caused, how a "tool" we consider to be under man's control can cause such a disaster zone.
Registration was simple and straight forward, with it all over and done with in 20 minutes. Good organisation by the management crew was good to see.
Saturday- Race Day
An early start to be ready for the kick off at 7.15am. Fill hydra pac, prep food, pump tires, race numbers, electronic tag, and ready to roll.
I seeded my self up towards the front to avoid the carnage, gun goes and we're off. For once I can't hear any crashes off the start line as everyone is pretty chill, it's a long day ahead. Everythings rolling smoothly left turn onto Wild Dog Road first few corners, grades still OK, then bang road tilts for the sky.
Apollo Bay to Reservoir (KOM Climb)
Up to this point I wasn't sure how I was going to ride the race Try and be aggressive, and push for a quick time and risk ending up in the serious "hurt box" or ride more conservatively and try and pick things up towards the finish. I choose the second option, be conservative aim to finish well and not kill myself. I set tempo at 156-165bpm and just stayed in this range, alot of people started passing me at this point but I'm just trying to stay relaxed knowing that the first 40km of this course just kills everyone because of the constant climbing and sharp up hill pitches. Also of note I saw someone using a powertap on the climb.
Reservoir to Red Carpet Track
This section is where I learnt my first important lesson for the day, you do need to be up front if you want to ride these climbs otherwise you get caught behind alot of people and have no choice but legging it like I did. Walking/ pushing up these we were only doing about 3-4kph not fast, put if you could ride them you would only be doing maybe 4-6kph due to the at times 20% grades, yes 1 in 5 grades!
There are probably 6-8 separate pitches in this section before you are clear and out on the road/ fire trails for the transition to the red carpet loop.
Special mention goes to the fires trails before and after the section called "White knuckle" the trails are so badly eroded through here that are two drops of about 60cm on the trail. The name of the game is trying to downhill and not fall in the erosion areas and crash badly. This particular second of track claimed two people I know of and both ended the day with broken collarbones! It is also the section where I had my first minor bingle of the day...abit a low speed one. Now I'm not the good at high speed downhill, lack the confidence and skill so I was erring on the side of caution and I still managed to come down. But no damage done other then covering myself in a bit of dust.
The red carpet loop is the first piece of single track and good fun, not really much to say about this bit. Though I did take another tumble in here but again a low speed one....and covered myself in dust again! This loop seemed to fly by really quickly and I was soon into the transition area at Forrest. I smiled and waved at Heather and Wee Man, and rolled through here feeling good, I hadn't had any trouble with my back up to this point, wrists were OK, and as well hydrated so there was no need to stop.
Shotz Super Loop
This loop is supposed to be the pay off for all the climbing to get up to Forrest. Problem being that by the time you get here your too stuffed to really enjoy it. As can be seen from the time splits there is not alot of passing because everyone is so rooted! It consists of 20km of flowing single track with the occasional fire road haul. Nothing of significance happened through this section and I cleared it an returned to transition at Forrest. This time through I stopped and topped the hydra-pac up before setting out on the final loop.
Ayup Final Loop
This loop can be summed up in one word..."Pointless". It really is just there to get the distance up to 100km for the course. This section is made up of a 7km up hill haul on fire roads to some single track which then returns you back to Forrest via the Sledgehammer climb. Because I had paced myself well I was passing people left, right and centre through this section. I also managed to ride the Sledgehammer on the return as well.
Summary
2800m/8400ft total worth of climbing for the day
A good day that ended up being geared towards training more than racing. My finish time was 6:18:10hrs for 105th place in open mens. There were a couple of lessons learnt on the day, such as if you are going to be competitive stay towards the front for the climbs. Also a hydra pac with 3 litres of fluid makes for hard going, you need to use bottles. Also of note is that the top 10 riders all rode hardtails, so something to consider if there is a next time.....
The family all packed up and drove down on the Friday before the race. 10hrs, 890kms. Hume Highway all the way down to Melbourne from Canberra then the Great Ocean Road out the other side to Apollo Bay.
We passed through Wandong on the way through. The evidence of the Victorian bush fires is on show for all. Burnt trees line the freeway and there are even charded directional signs where they have been licked by the fires. It is both sad and amazing to witness the devastation caused, how a "tool" we consider to be under man's control can cause such a disaster zone.
Registration was simple and straight forward, with it all over and done with in 20 minutes. Good organisation by the management crew was good to see.
Saturday- Race Day
An early start to be ready for the kick off at 7.15am. Fill hydra pac, prep food, pump tires, race numbers, electronic tag, and ready to roll.
I seeded my self up towards the front to avoid the carnage, gun goes and we're off. For once I can't hear any crashes off the start line as everyone is pretty chill, it's a long day ahead. Everythings rolling smoothly left turn onto Wild Dog Road first few corners, grades still OK, then bang road tilts for the sky.
Apollo Bay to Reservoir (KOM Climb)
Up to this point I wasn't sure how I was going to ride the race Try and be aggressive, and push for a quick time and risk ending up in the serious "hurt box" or ride more conservatively and try and pick things up towards the finish. I choose the second option, be conservative aim to finish well and not kill myself. I set tempo at 156-165bpm and just stayed in this range, alot of people started passing me at this point but I'm just trying to stay relaxed knowing that the first 40km of this course just kills everyone because of the constant climbing and sharp up hill pitches. Also of note I saw someone using a powertap on the climb.
Reservoir to Red Carpet Track
This section is where I learnt my first important lesson for the day, you do need to be up front if you want to ride these climbs otherwise you get caught behind alot of people and have no choice but legging it like I did. Walking/ pushing up these we were only doing about 3-4kph not fast, put if you could ride them you would only be doing maybe 4-6kph due to the at times 20% grades, yes 1 in 5 grades!
There are probably 6-8 separate pitches in this section before you are clear and out on the road/ fire trails for the transition to the red carpet loop.
Special mention goes to the fires trails before and after the section called "White knuckle" the trails are so badly eroded through here that are two drops of about 60cm on the trail. The name of the game is trying to downhill and not fall in the erosion areas and crash badly. This particular second of track claimed two people I know of and both ended the day with broken collarbones! It is also the section where I had my first minor bingle of the day...abit a low speed one. Now I'm not the good at high speed downhill, lack the confidence and skill so I was erring on the side of caution and I still managed to come down. But no damage done other then covering myself in a bit of dust.
The red carpet loop is the first piece of single track and good fun, not really much to say about this bit. Though I did take another tumble in here but again a low speed one....and covered myself in dust again! This loop seemed to fly by really quickly and I was soon into the transition area at Forrest. I smiled and waved at Heather and Wee Man, and rolled through here feeling good, I hadn't had any trouble with my back up to this point, wrists were OK, and as well hydrated so there was no need to stop.
Shotz Super Loop
This loop is supposed to be the pay off for all the climbing to get up to Forrest. Problem being that by the time you get here your too stuffed to really enjoy it. As can be seen from the time splits there is not alot of passing because everyone is so rooted! It consists of 20km of flowing single track with the occasional fire road haul. Nothing of significance happened through this section and I cleared it an returned to transition at Forrest. This time through I stopped and topped the hydra-pac up before setting out on the final loop.
Ayup Final Loop
This loop can be summed up in one word..."Pointless". It really is just there to get the distance up to 100km for the course. This section is made up of a 7km up hill haul on fire roads to some single track which then returns you back to Forrest via the Sledgehammer climb. Because I had paced myself well I was passing people left, right and centre through this section. I also managed to ride the Sledgehammer on the return as well.
Summary
2800m/8400ft total worth of climbing for the day
A good day that ended up being geared towards training more than racing. My finish time was 6:18:10hrs for 105th place in open mens. There were a couple of lessons learnt on the day, such as if you are going to be competitive stay towards the front for the climbs. Also a hydra pac with 3 litres of fluid makes for hard going, you need to use bottles. Also of note is that the top 10 riders all rode hardtails, so something to consider if there is a next time.....
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Yes it was that dusty!
Smiling now....afterwards
Clean up the next day, with some help!
I'll post a full write up in the next day. 105th Open men, not bad for cruising the race
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Delayed
Well had a message left on my cellphone late yesterday from the bikeshop, "Hi it's Shopmonkey A*,.... blah....blah please call. Haven't ordered your rim, problem understanding your order. Blah blah have a nice day" Now when I went in, I made sure that there would be no problems. I spelt everything out, Stan's Arch Rim, 26" 32h. I can't make it any easier to order than that.After hearing this it's a good thing I don't own a cat, as I probably would have kicked it!
Anyway after calming down over night and eventually getting hold of Shopmonkey A*, I find out that there are no rim's left in the country and it will be a week and half to get some in.It's probably a good thing I didn't rip in them straight off the bat as English isn't the shopmonkey's* third language.
So it's looking like I won't have this in my hot sweaty little hands until the 8hrs at Yellowmundi....if I'm lucky
* = The name of all shopmonkeys have been changed so I don't get sued!
Dropping like flies
Seems over the past week a couple of the contenders for the race this weekend have meet with accidents. John Claxton had an over the handlebars moment at the 6hr enduro in Victoria on Sunday. And James Williamson decided to fall down an embankment and break a collarbone.
Hope the two of them heal up quick.
Anyway after calming down over night and eventually getting hold of Shopmonkey A*, I find out that there are no rim's left in the country and it will be a week and half to get some in.It's probably a good thing I didn't rip in them straight off the bat as English isn't the shopmonkey's* third language.
So it's looking like I won't have this in my hot sweaty little hands until the 8hrs at Yellowmundi....if I'm lucky
* = The name of all shopmonkeys have been changed so I don't get sued!
Dropping like flies
Seems over the past week a couple of the contenders for the race this weekend have meet with accidents. John Claxton had an over the handlebars moment at the 6hr enduro in Victoria on Sunday. And James Williamson decided to fall down an embankment and break a collarbone.
Hope the two of them heal up quick.
It's off.....
It's now official the Australian MTB marathon Champs have been postponed due to the fire damage. Also the chances of holding an event in the area in the next year or so are unlikely. Details here
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Lance goes off!
This is probably one of the most controlled display of fury I have ever seen. While I respect Paul Kimmage for his stand against doping, he really crossed the line with his comments regarding Armstrong.
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