Had a great Tuesday night ride this week, there was only 2 of us riding so the stops were less and the pace up a bit. We seemed to cover a lot more ground than normal, though we were being fairly sifty and chatting all the way.
Started off with the 2.5km ride up the road to the walking track, that we took fairly cautiously, I must learn to DH faster, at least trust myself more on these night trails. As the wind was not so bad this week we decided to ride up to the gannet colony trail and slowly drop down the stair ridden track. It is kinda fun but slightly nerve wracking, though I am getting more confident riding them. At the bottom of the stairs we ride past the beach car park and there was a car load of drunken hoons who started yelling a bit of abuse. We ignored them but it was a bit never wracking riding up the road to the forest entrance. The road is quite narrow, dark and twisty, and drunken hoons in cars are not what I want to see on the road when I am riding.
We rode the riverside trail which is getting better and better to ride as I get more familiar with the “trail”. As this is quite un-official riding the riverside trail is probably only ridden by 10 people once a week, it is quite hard to follow as there is no defined trail yet, just markings here and there, but we are getting better and predicting the flow of the trail now. As we were way ahead of where we were the previous week then rode back up the 1.5 of road and back into the forest. I am getting so much better at the road climb, it isn’t at all steep but the more I ride it the further I can get while remaining seated. I am definitely getting stronger! We then rode down the AFL, I have never ridden this track before and man was it fun, my sort of DH, not steep, but pointing down all the way, lots of corners and lots of small jumps. I only did one of the jumps as I do like to scope these out first. Hopefully we will do it again with a bigger crowd and I can follow someone down who knows the jumps and can advise me as we go. Great track ! and a great way to end the ride.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Monday, August 28, 2006
Sunday run
I watched a bit of the worlds on TV, it is on quite late (by my standards). Last night they had the 4X. It was pretty cool to watch, of course I would have loved to have been there ! But I think on balance I would mush rather have been at SSWC06 in Stockholm, maybe 1 year I can get there.
Miracle of all miracles all the kids were home today which meant that the oldest was around to watch the youngest while I went out for a run. I didn’t take off until 11.30 and drove into town so I could run along the water front. It had been a while since I had run further than 8kms so I wanted to find something fairly flat to start with plus I had bought an arch support for my right shoe and I didn’t want to stray to far from the car. The weather was OK, though there was a reasonable breeze blowing which I hate as it really stuffs up my sinuses. I drove for 6 kms from the start of Ngapipi Rd, which took me most of the way into St Heliers, parked the car and started.
I had a reasonably OK run, I thought I was going fairly slowly as my goal was to keep a low HR, but made it to Ngapipi Rd just about dead on 30 minutes. The run back to car had a bit more of a head wind but again I kept my HR down and completed the 12.4km run in just under an hour. I was pretty happy with that, I felt OK afterwards as well.
If I can keep up a minimum 1 hour run once a week, plus a shorter run during the week then I should maintain a reasonable base for when I decide to train for the marathon.
Miracle of all miracles all the kids were home today which meant that the oldest was around to watch the youngest while I went out for a run. I didn’t take off until 11.30 and drove into town so I could run along the water front. It had been a while since I had run further than 8kms so I wanted to find something fairly flat to start with plus I had bought an arch support for my right shoe and I didn’t want to stray to far from the car. The weather was OK, though there was a reasonable breeze blowing which I hate as it really stuffs up my sinuses. I drove for 6 kms from the start of Ngapipi Rd, which took me most of the way into St Heliers, parked the car and started.
I had a reasonably OK run, I thought I was going fairly slowly as my goal was to keep a low HR, but made it to Ngapipi Rd just about dead on 30 minutes. The run back to car had a bit more of a head wind but again I kept my HR down and completed the 12.4km run in just under an hour. I was pretty happy with that, I felt OK afterwards as well.
If I can keep up a minimum 1 hour run once a week, plus a shorter run during the week then I should maintain a reasonable base for when I decide to train for the marathon.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Saturday ride
Had an average ride on Saturday, not sure if I am a bit tired but I felt I rode OK, certainly cleaned some sections while remaining fully seated, which I always view as a good sign. But I also rode like a muppet in other sections, washed out tires, dug my front wheel in on a corner and just about went over the bars and failed to make a technical climb I have done dozens of time due to bad line choice.
Rode with my normal riding buddy and a friend of his that hasnt ridden with for a very long time. Last time we rode together he cleaned us out with his power and fitness, though I was pretty confident we were a hell of a lot stronger now.
Rode up the normal Powerball trail then took the back road of Cookie to the water tower and down the Travis trail. I haven’t ridden that track for a while and had a little bit of fun on the small jumps at the end. I am getting more confident getting small amounts of air while riding with the seat right up. We then road Upland, Lightening, Enchanted Forest, Haggis, Northern Exposure, No brakes, Ironhorse – where I did drop my seat and got some air, back through Haggis and the Doris to Slipperies Delight. Slipperies was riding well, I love that trail, it is probably the most technical bit of single track in the park, nothing too complex, a few rooty tight sections with pinch climbs and drops all through it - it is fun to ride. We then rode Tree Huggas, link, by passed Cookie again and did the new section on Raceface down. We were out for 2 half hours and covered quite a bit of ground. Rode at a reasonable pace on average and had a few breaks. We did break the new guy a bit, which is always good !
It is my birthday in a couple of weeks so I will pick myself up a cheap cycle computer as I am quite keen to see how much ground we cover on some of these rides. We are certainly doing a lot more than we used to.
The next event is in 3 weeks time, the Taupo day Night Thriller 12 hour. I have done it 6 times now (maybe 5) once as a solo. I was not going to do it this year but am now in a team of 4 single speeders so it should be fun. Though the track is not really that SS compatible with quite a long grass section that is just hard work on a geared bike, will be a b*stard on the SS.
I watched a bit of the worlds on TV, it is on quite late (by my standards). Lasty night they had the 4X. pretty cool to watch, of course I would have loved to have been there !
Rode with my normal riding buddy and a friend of his that hasnt ridden with for a very long time. Last time we rode together he cleaned us out with his power and fitness, though I was pretty confident we were a hell of a lot stronger now.
Rode up the normal Powerball trail then took the back road of Cookie to the water tower and down the Travis trail. I haven’t ridden that track for a while and had a little bit of fun on the small jumps at the end. I am getting more confident getting small amounts of air while riding with the seat right up. We then road Upland, Lightening, Enchanted Forest, Haggis, Northern Exposure, No brakes, Ironhorse – where I did drop my seat and got some air, back through Haggis and the Doris to Slipperies Delight. Slipperies was riding well, I love that trail, it is probably the most technical bit of single track in the park, nothing too complex, a few rooty tight sections with pinch climbs and drops all through it - it is fun to ride. We then rode Tree Huggas, link, by passed Cookie again and did the new section on Raceface down. We were out for 2 half hours and covered quite a bit of ground. Rode at a reasonable pace on average and had a few breaks. We did break the new guy a bit, which is always good !
It is my birthday in a couple of weeks so I will pick myself up a cheap cycle computer as I am quite keen to see how much ground we cover on some of these rides. We are certainly doing a lot more than we used to.
The next event is in 3 weeks time, the Taupo day Night Thriller 12 hour. I have done it 6 times now (maybe 5) once as a solo. I was not going to do it this year but am now in a team of 4 single speeders so it should be fun. Though the track is not really that SS compatible with quite a long grass section that is just hard work on a geared bike, will be a b*stard on the SS.
I watched a bit of the worlds on TV, it is on quite late (by my standards). Lasty night they had the 4X. pretty cool to watch, of course I would have loved to have been there !
Friday, August 25, 2006
Thursday night run
Had a good run last night, it was quite a cold evening with a fair breeze blowing as well.
I did the 7.9km Godley Rd/Portage Rd/Astley Ave/Taupo/Godley loop.
My aim was to keep the pace down enough that my HR stayed below 160. Normally I find it is quite hard to run slowly enough to keep my Hr down, but last night I managed to do just about the entire loop under 160.
The last 1km back up Godley Rd I kept quite a decent pace on as well. I stopped at the end of my drive and walked back up to the house, by the time I was inside I was not puffing and my HR was close to normal.
I have had a pretty good week of exercise and reasonable diet management, lots of protein. I am hoping that my weight going back up again to 81.5 means it is muscle and not fat. I dont feel fatter.
I did the 7.9km Godley Rd/Portage Rd/Astley Ave/Taupo/Godley loop.
My aim was to keep the pace down enough that my HR stayed below 160. Normally I find it is quite hard to run slowly enough to keep my Hr down, but last night I managed to do just about the entire loop under 160.
The last 1km back up Godley Rd I kept quite a decent pace on as well. I stopped at the end of my drive and walked back up to the house, by the time I was inside I was not puffing and my HR was close to normal.
I have had a pretty good week of exercise and reasonable diet management, lots of protein. I am hoping that my weight going back up again to 81.5 means it is muscle and not fat. I dont feel fatter.
The SS race is taking shape
The Race I am organising is starting to take some shape.
I have permission from the bike parks managers to hold the race on Saturday Oct 7 as proposed.
I have a reasonable amount of interest from the local SS community and a small amount from riders from out of town. I would be really happy with 12 riders, but I have 20 on my possibles list.
I have had some people volunteer their time to be ‘dealers’.
The SS Poker rules are taking shape, at least in my head, and I cannot see why it cannot work the way I have planned it, and still be fun for all the competitors.
I now have a prize pack from a small boutique brewery which should allow me to attract a couple more riders. I can also have a beer stop in the event which will provide an extra card for those who partake.
I hope this turns out OK, and that we can have some more social riding events, and hopefully a ‘serious’ SS race later in the year.
I have permission from the bike parks managers to hold the race on Saturday Oct 7 as proposed.
I have a reasonable amount of interest from the local SS community and a small amount from riders from out of town. I would be really happy with 12 riders, but I have 20 on my possibles list.
I have had some people volunteer their time to be ‘dealers’.
The SS Poker rules are taking shape, at least in my head, and I cannot see why it cannot work the way I have planned it, and still be fun for all the competitors.
I now have a prize pack from a small boutique brewery which should allow me to attract a couple more riders. I can also have a beer stop in the event which will provide an extra card for those who partake.
I hope this turns out OK, and that we can have some more social riding events, and hopefully a ‘serious’ SS race later in the year.
MTB World champs
The MTB World champs are in in NZ right now - this week.
They are on in Rotorua 3 hours drive away. Why am I at work, when some of my riding buddies are they for a week of marshalling, riding, hanging out and having fun.
Why ? - because I am an idiot...
They are on in Rotorua 3 hours drive away. Why am I at work, when some of my riding buddies are they for a week of marshalling, riding, hanging out and having fun.
Why ? - because I am an idiot...
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Dodgy Tuesday ride
I have been having another one of those weeks at work so decided I should sneak out 15 minutes early, try get home before 5.15 and then go for a dodgy Tuesday night Murawai ride. For once it all came together ! I was home on time, got changed into riding gear and had the car loaded before 5.30, which is the cut off time for getting to the ride meeting point to be riding for 6.30.
Had a small group tonight - 2 teenagers and 3 adults, though the weather is not the best, quite a strong wind, the odd light shower and cool enough to be wearing long pants, thermal top, long sleeve shirt and a wind breaker. We rode up the road to the walking track which is a great warm up on the single speed. I had a much better run down the walking track than last time, though I am sure an 8 year old would till beat me, I am just so unconfident when it comes to downhill in the dark – well downhill period I guess. I still need to learn to trust my tyres and relax more. We did not do the gannet colony loop as the wind was so strong so we looped back up the road and into the forest for a run down Dan’s track and then down the riverside track. There was quite a few downed branches and small trees in the forest from all the bad weather over the past couple of days so we stopped to clear the trail a couple of times.
The riverside trail is just so much fun to ride, we are probably the only people who ride it so it is very unclear, quite rough, but a load of fun. We then pedalled our way back to the cars and I went home.
A damn good ride.
It must be very cold at the worlds...
Had a small group tonight - 2 teenagers and 3 adults, though the weather is not the best, quite a strong wind, the odd light shower and cool enough to be wearing long pants, thermal top, long sleeve shirt and a wind breaker. We rode up the road to the walking track which is a great warm up on the single speed. I had a much better run down the walking track than last time, though I am sure an 8 year old would till beat me, I am just so unconfident when it comes to downhill in the dark – well downhill period I guess. I still need to learn to trust my tyres and relax more. We did not do the gannet colony loop as the wind was so strong so we looped back up the road and into the forest for a run down Dan’s track and then down the riverside track. There was quite a few downed branches and small trees in the forest from all the bad weather over the past couple of days so we stopped to clear the trail a couple of times.
The riverside trail is just so much fun to ride, we are probably the only people who ride it so it is very unclear, quite rough, but a load of fun. We then pedalled our way back to the cars and I went home.
A damn good ride.
It must be very cold at the worlds...
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Sunday Woodhill ride...
A couple of Vorbii were up from Wellington this weekend so a ride had been scheduled for 10.00 AM at Woodhill, there seemed to be quite a bit of interest with some riders coming up from Hamilton as well.
My youngest son was at scout camp so I could go ride Sunday for a change. Wahoo ! As I had been preparing for the race yesterday and did not get to do the full 35km ride I had bit of excess energy today so decided to go to the forest early and meet some of my old Sunday riding crew and ride with them for an hour. Surprisingly everyone was there early so we hit the trail on time, some things have obviously changed since I have been away. The Sunday crew are definitely more into hucking and other freeriding type activities than I am so it was a slow grind up to the Spaghetti trail and then a chat and ride session for 50 minutes through the various jumps and stunts on Spag until I had to shoot back down to the car park to catch the Vorb crew. It was good to ride with the lads again but I could not sustain the slow pace for too many rides. My fitness and ability has improved immensely over the last 1 months and I just like to trail ride as fast as I can for as long as I can.
Met up with a big bunch of Vorbii and guys from the Freeriden shop, probably 20 riders altogether. We left 30 minutes late as expected and started up Powerball, waited and waited at the top and then a couple of us went back down the trail to find the other SSer had broken his chain – just like me yesterday – and did not have the bits to fix it – also like me yesterday ! Luckily some one else had all the required bits and after 15 minutes of shagging around we were back on trail chasing after the big group who had ridden on, we caught them fairly quickly on the big mama trail. We left Big Mama about half way along and shot down SPCA, had a good run down and the out of towners really had a blast. The bunch split at the end of SPCA with some riding the road up to Ironhorse and a bunch taking the longer single track options up Upland, down the Lightening and enchanted forest and through Haggis. At the end of the Haggis we lost a few more riders who took the short option and 2 of us went and rode Northern Exposure and then No Brakes. Finally meeting what was left of the group up at the top of Ironhorse. I dropped my seat for the first time in a while and hammered down Ironhorse clearing most of the jumps. It was great to get some air again and I really enjoyed the run down the track. I was really pushing my time limits to pick up my youngest so a few of us jumped onto the forest road and went back to the start of Link and then rode that and the side of Cookie, whipped down raceface down and I threw the stuff in the car and took off for home.
Had a great ride, was quite wiped out afterwards. Did a bit of chatting but most of the ride was done at a pretty good pace and we covered a bit of ground. Great to see the Wellington and Hamilton crew and to show them our bike park.
My youngest son was at scout camp so I could go ride Sunday for a change. Wahoo ! As I had been preparing for the race yesterday and did not get to do the full 35km ride I had bit of excess energy today so decided to go to the forest early and meet some of my old Sunday riding crew and ride with them for an hour. Surprisingly everyone was there early so we hit the trail on time, some things have obviously changed since I have been away. The Sunday crew are definitely more into hucking and other freeriding type activities than I am so it was a slow grind up to the Spaghetti trail and then a chat and ride session for 50 minutes through the various jumps and stunts on Spag until I had to shoot back down to the car park to catch the Vorb crew. It was good to ride with the lads again but I could not sustain the slow pace for too many rides. My fitness and ability has improved immensely over the last 1 months and I just like to trail ride as fast as I can for as long as I can.
Met up with a big bunch of Vorbii and guys from the Freeriden shop, probably 20 riders altogether. We left 30 minutes late as expected and started up Powerball, waited and waited at the top and then a couple of us went back down the trail to find the other SSer had broken his chain – just like me yesterday – and did not have the bits to fix it – also like me yesterday ! Luckily some one else had all the required bits and after 15 minutes of shagging around we were back on trail chasing after the big group who had ridden on, we caught them fairly quickly on the big mama trail. We left Big Mama about half way along and shot down SPCA, had a good run down and the out of towners really had a blast. The bunch split at the end of SPCA with some riding the road up to Ironhorse and a bunch taking the longer single track options up Upland, down the Lightening and enchanted forest and through Haggis. At the end of the Haggis we lost a few more riders who took the short option and 2 of us went and rode Northern Exposure and then No Brakes. Finally meeting what was left of the group up at the top of Ironhorse. I dropped my seat for the first time in a while and hammered down Ironhorse clearing most of the jumps. It was great to get some air again and I really enjoyed the run down the track. I was really pushing my time limits to pick up my youngest so a few of us jumped onto the forest road and went back to the start of Link and then rode that and the side of Cookie, whipped down raceface down and I threw the stuff in the car and took off for home.
Had a great ride, was quite wiped out afterwards. Did a bit of chatting but most of the ride was done at a pretty good pace and we covered a bit of ground. Great to see the Wellington and Hamilton crew and to show them our bike park.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
N-Duro 3 35km race
Friday night was nice and quiet, had a wine and then left work on time, traffic was light so I was home quite quickly. Had dinner with the family members that were actually at home and then took youngest son to his scout camp and bought a bottle of Riesling on the way home. My riding buddy turned up at 8.00 to stay the night so we could get away early tomorrow for the race in Rotorua. Had a quiet evening and I went to bed quite early.
Up at 6.00 for a quick breakfast and coffee and on the road by 6.30. Stopped for gas and a proper coffee at a truck stop on the motorway and then took a slow (determined not to get a speeding ticket this time) and steady drive down to Rotorua arriving at 9.30. We unloaded the bikes and sifted up to the registration tent and got our race numbers and then I hung around and chatted to a bunch of friends and other riders, got back to the car in time to get changed, load the pack with food and get my the last minute tasks done and head up to the start line to watch the 70km riders leave.
With the MTB world champs happening in Rotorua next week there were a lot of international riders in town and a few of the team racers were in both the 70 and 35k race today.
30 minutes later a small bunch of us single speeders drifted to the back of the 35km pack and waited for the gun.
I got off to a good start, felt strong, the first bit of climbing is on a sealed road and I stayed at a fairly steady slow pace, but surprisingly was passing people in a fairly steady stream, this continued on for pretty much the entire 20 minute climb, we walked one section that was steep and quite lose, but the rest of the climb I managed to pedal away and was felling pretty OK at the top of the first single track – the lovely downhill Gunna Gotta. I managed a great run down the trail, I passed 1 slow rider before the fun parts and then had a clear run to the end. Picked up another single speeder on the way into the next bit of single track and realised I had another 1 behind me. The 3 of us moved along in convoy at a good pace until we hit the traffic where we were forced to slow down significantly, which was probably a good thing. Cleared the end of A trail, passed the slow people on the road section before tickler and dropped down into the twisty section of tickler down to the stream.
I got about 100 metres into Tickler when BANG – my chain snapped. The quick links exploded. I had no chain breaker and no spare links. I managed to get the chain back together but it was too short and I could not get it around the cogs. Race over. Arse. My first DNF. I was gutted, annoyed that I had links in the car and not in my pack. I took the walk of shame back to the finish line and handed in my race number.
I had a coffee and a feed and hung around chatting to friends until the riders started to come in. Some of the international riders were incredibly fast. The 70k riders were coming in before some of the 35k riders, even riders I consider quite quick. Guess that is why they are at the world champs.
Watched the riders come in over time, one of my SS riding buddies also DNF’d with a damaged wheel, but every one else came in happy but tired. They enjoyed the race, said the course was tough but good and commiserated with my DNF.
We left the site about 2:30 and drove the 3 hours back to Auckland for beer and pizza. 490kms and just under 6 hours of driving, $90 of gas for a 10k 50 minute ride…
At least I had legs for a ride tomorrow.
Up at 6.00 for a quick breakfast and coffee and on the road by 6.30. Stopped for gas and a proper coffee at a truck stop on the motorway and then took a slow (determined not to get a speeding ticket this time) and steady drive down to Rotorua arriving at 9.30. We unloaded the bikes and sifted up to the registration tent and got our race numbers and then I hung around and chatted to a bunch of friends and other riders, got back to the car in time to get changed, load the pack with food and get my the last minute tasks done and head up to the start line to watch the 70km riders leave.
With the MTB world champs happening in Rotorua next week there were a lot of international riders in town and a few of the team racers were in both the 70 and 35k race today.
30 minutes later a small bunch of us single speeders drifted to the back of the 35km pack and waited for the gun.
I got off to a good start, felt strong, the first bit of climbing is on a sealed road and I stayed at a fairly steady slow pace, but surprisingly was passing people in a fairly steady stream, this continued on for pretty much the entire 20 minute climb, we walked one section that was steep and quite lose, but the rest of the climb I managed to pedal away and was felling pretty OK at the top of the first single track – the lovely downhill Gunna Gotta. I managed a great run down the trail, I passed 1 slow rider before the fun parts and then had a clear run to the end. Picked up another single speeder on the way into the next bit of single track and realised I had another 1 behind me. The 3 of us moved along in convoy at a good pace until we hit the traffic where we were forced to slow down significantly, which was probably a good thing. Cleared the end of A trail, passed the slow people on the road section before tickler and dropped down into the twisty section of tickler down to the stream.
I got about 100 metres into Tickler when BANG – my chain snapped. The quick links exploded. I had no chain breaker and no spare links. I managed to get the chain back together but it was too short and I could not get it around the cogs. Race over. Arse. My first DNF. I was gutted, annoyed that I had links in the car and not in my pack. I took the walk of shame back to the finish line and handed in my race number.
I had a coffee and a feed and hung around chatting to friends until the riders started to come in. Some of the international riders were incredibly fast. The 70k riders were coming in before some of the 35k riders, even riders I consider quite quick. Guess that is why they are at the world champs.
Watched the riders come in over time, one of my SS riding buddies also DNF’d with a damaged wheel, but every one else came in happy but tired. They enjoyed the race, said the course was tough but good and commiserated with my DNF.
We left the site about 2:30 and drove the 3 hours back to Auckland for beer and pizza. 490kms and just under 6 hours of driving, $90 of gas for a 10k 50 minute ride…
At least I had legs for a ride tomorrow.
Friday, August 18, 2006
General update
The Loaded Hog fun run season started again on Tuesday night. The weather wasn’t too bad, cool and a bit of a breeze that seemed to drop before the run started. There didn’t seem to be as many people as last year, but there were 109 runners so that is not too shabby. I was expecting to do a 23 minute 5km but ended up with a 21:34 which I was more than happy with and came 47th, top half to start the season is pretty good.
Though Tuesday nights are starting to get a bit crowded with the dodgy night ride, Hog runs, Adidas have a run on Tuesdays with 3 distance options, and there is now a spin class in a hall in Titirangi, which looks fun. Will try and do the dodgy night ride next week if I can.
The bike is pretty much ready for the race this weekend, will tweak one of the wheels either tonight or when I get there tomorrow morning. I was going to swap the cleats in my shoes but I cannot one of them out so will run with the old cleats, or maybe swap shoes to the Nikes, which don’t fit as well but do have new cleats plus a better sole for walking, and there is going to be some walking in this race. The course has 2 big climbs, neither of which I have ridden all the way to the top of before, but then I have done one of them in a race situation either.
I am expecting some of the riders from the world champs to be racing as well, as the worlds are next week, it would be great to be in a race with a world champ. Must remember to take the camera.
The social race is taking shape, just waiting on clearance to hold it at Woodhill at it will be on. Have had more interest than I thought with a few emails from some absolute strangers…
The SSWC06 is on this weekend – one year I would love to attend this, sounds like a blast.
Though Tuesday nights are starting to get a bit crowded with the dodgy night ride, Hog runs, Adidas have a run on Tuesdays with 3 distance options, and there is now a spin class in a hall in Titirangi, which looks fun. Will try and do the dodgy night ride next week if I can.
The bike is pretty much ready for the race this weekend, will tweak one of the wheels either tonight or when I get there tomorrow morning. I was going to swap the cleats in my shoes but I cannot one of them out so will run with the old cleats, or maybe swap shoes to the Nikes, which don’t fit as well but do have new cleats plus a better sole for walking, and there is going to be some walking in this race. The course has 2 big climbs, neither of which I have ridden all the way to the top of before, but then I have done one of them in a race situation either.
I am expecting some of the riders from the world champs to be racing as well, as the worlds are next week, it would be great to be in a race with a world champ. Must remember to take the camera.
The social race is taking shape, just waiting on clearance to hold it at Woodhill at it will be on. Have had more interest than I thought with a few emails from some absolute strangers…
The SSWC06 is on this weekend – one year I would love to attend this, sounds like a blast.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Bike maintenance
I must admit I suck at maintaining my bike. I can do the basics, but I do not have the tools to do the bigger jobs and well I am just not that good. One of the great things about the single speed is there is just so little to go wrong. I have taken this to a bit of an extreme and have got a bit slack at cleaning and lubing – though I do look after the chain.
Last night I went around to visit my buddy - he is an awesome bike mechanic, to get one of those once every few years jobs done which was replacing the BB. He installed a new, though, cheap bottom bracket in the DMR. I was given a Raceface BB with flogged bearings, which I will still use one day, but in this instance it was cheaper to buy a new BB.
Also replaced the chain, I did not get a test ride in so tonight I go for a quick zap around the block and make sure everything works, adjust the brakes and lube the chain. Tomorrow night I will try and get a longer short ride in to stretch the chain a bit and get the cranks going so I can make final adjustments before the 35km race on Saturday.
Last night I went around to visit my buddy - he is an awesome bike mechanic, to get one of those once every few years jobs done which was replacing the BB. He installed a new, though, cheap bottom bracket in the DMR. I was given a Raceface BB with flogged bearings, which I will still use one day, but in this instance it was cheaper to buy a new BB.
Also replaced the chain, I did not get a test ride in so tonight I go for a quick zap around the block and make sure everything works, adjust the brakes and lube the chain. Tomorrow night I will try and get a longer short ride in to stretch the chain a bit and get the cranks going so I can make final adjustments before the 35km race on Saturday.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Final gym session
Got up at 5.35 and went to the gum for my final free session.
Had a good spin and did a few of the weight machines. I think I am stronger than when I started, I sure hope so. I managed 12 out of 14 days, had 2 Sunday lie ins.
At least tomorrow I can stay in bed until 6:30... Yahoo.
Nice and quiet at work this morning, so listening to some Clutch
Had a good spin and did a few of the weight machines. I think I am stronger than when I started, I sure hope so. I managed 12 out of 14 days, had 2 Sunday lie ins.
At least tomorrow I can stay in bed until 6:30... Yahoo.
Nice and quiet at work this morning, so listening to some Clutch
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Riverhead trail digging
Friday I registered for the 35km leg of the N-Duro Marathon race. I will do it on the SS but I believe I am going to be broken at the end. There are 2 good climbs, neither of which I have ever completed on the bike. There is also some nice single track with the inclusion of Hot X buns this year as well as Be rude not to which is still one of my favourite Rotorua trails, even though I am always half broken when I get there.
The MTB world champs are in Rotorua the week after the race, with the race being the first event in a week of MTB stuff happening in town. I really wish I had got my shit together and organised to go down for a few days. I know so many people taking the week off and volunteering during the week day events for free entry in to the big weekend.
I had a good morning at the gym, got a decent ride and some weights in, it is my second to last free day and I don’t think I will join.
After the gym I went straight to Riverhead forest for a trail scoping exercise with James to try and find an old trail to be cleared as part of designing a course for the last round of the Auckland champs in December. Riverhead is a commercial pine forest that has been half felled. The area we are looking at was felled about 2 years ago and 10 ft pines are starting to grow. Unfortunately the gorse has been rampant and it is incredibly thick and well over 6 feet tall in places.
Riverhead has long been an Auckland mountain biking institution though there have been access issues over the past few years with the previous forestry company. The new owners have yet to decide on what access they will allow the various interested parties and where and how they will allocate access, so we are all being cautious and following the basic trail building rules.
He was looking for a ‘trail’ that he had seen from overhead photos, the aim was to scope the trail and see where it ends, clear the worst of the gorse so that a trail cutting crew can go through on Sunday with scrub cutters to start cleaning the mess.
The weather was not the best for scoping at Riverhead, or in fact for doing anything at Riverhead. It rained on the way up to the forest but luckily it did not rain while we there. We walked up one track clearing some of the worse old gorse until we hit the top and then climbed the road to the top of Pattersons. There was an old fire trail off to the right that had been widened into a full forestry road and at the top of that an old bit of single track headed off down the ridge. We cleared the entry into the trail with the loppers and opened up the first 20 ft or so before heading down the trail clearing the worst of the old hard gorse as we went, leaving enough space to walk down without getting too scratched. The track was fairly greasy and in parts was over 6 inches deep in muddy water, there will be quite a bit of drainage work needed as well to prevent large ruts forming before the race. We realised time was moving away from us so really started to only clear the really thick stuff that would prevent a larger gang from seeing the track. About half way down the gorse cleared a bit and we had a good run to the end of the trail, before walking back to the car.
There is going to be a lot of work needed to complete the trail before any racing can be done it, gorse and cutty grass needs to be completely pushed back, otherwise it will grow over the trail again, the major ruts need to be taken out and some decent drainage put in. It will be a fun trail when it is finished though and is another option in quite big loop.
The MTB world champs are in Rotorua the week after the race, with the race being the first event in a week of MTB stuff happening in town. I really wish I had got my shit together and organised to go down for a few days. I know so many people taking the week off and volunteering during the week day events for free entry in to the big weekend.
I had a good morning at the gym, got a decent ride and some weights in, it is my second to last free day and I don’t think I will join.
After the gym I went straight to Riverhead forest for a trail scoping exercise with James to try and find an old trail to be cleared as part of designing a course for the last round of the Auckland champs in December. Riverhead is a commercial pine forest that has been half felled. The area we are looking at was felled about 2 years ago and 10 ft pines are starting to grow. Unfortunately the gorse has been rampant and it is incredibly thick and well over 6 feet tall in places.
Riverhead has long been an Auckland mountain biking institution though there have been access issues over the past few years with the previous forestry company. The new owners have yet to decide on what access they will allow the various interested parties and where and how they will allocate access, so we are all being cautious and following the basic trail building rules.
He was looking for a ‘trail’ that he had seen from overhead photos, the aim was to scope the trail and see where it ends, clear the worst of the gorse so that a trail cutting crew can go through on Sunday with scrub cutters to start cleaning the mess.
The weather was not the best for scoping at Riverhead, or in fact for doing anything at Riverhead. It rained on the way up to the forest but luckily it did not rain while we there. We walked up one track clearing some of the worse old gorse until we hit the top and then climbed the road to the top of Pattersons. There was an old fire trail off to the right that had been widened into a full forestry road and at the top of that an old bit of single track headed off down the ridge. We cleared the entry into the trail with the loppers and opened up the first 20 ft or so before heading down the trail clearing the worst of the old hard gorse as we went, leaving enough space to walk down without getting too scratched. The track was fairly greasy and in parts was over 6 inches deep in muddy water, there will be quite a bit of drainage work needed as well to prevent large ruts forming before the race. We realised time was moving away from us so really started to only clear the really thick stuff that would prevent a larger gang from seeing the track. About half way down the gorse cleared a bit and we had a good run to the end of the trail, before walking back to the car.
There is going to be a lot of work needed to complete the trail before any racing can be done it, gorse and cutty grass needs to be completely pushed back, otherwise it will grow over the trail again, the major ruts need to be taken out and some decent drainage put in. It will be a fun trail when it is finished though and is another option in quite big loop.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
No cable - no ride !
I left work early to rush home to get the car back from the shop, it did not cost too much to get the electric window repaired, but any money spent on the car is money wasted.
Made it home by just after 5 which was enough time to get changed, load the car with bike and bike stuff, ram some bread into my mouth and hit the road to get to Murawai for a sifty illegal Tuesday night ride by 6.30 PM.
I managed the get changed bit, the start to load the car bit, before realising I did not have the bit of cable that goes between light and battery. It got left with someone at the Woodhill 12 hour. Shit bicks, unloaded car, got unchanged and sat in the lounge.
I did go round to a mates place to talk about replacing bearings in the new old BB I was given. I will check out bearing prices on Wednesday, but it could be cheaper to buy a new BB.
I have had 3 good gym sessions so far this week, getting the intensity level up, it is feeling just right now, mixing the bike one day with a run the next. 4 more days of free gym to go.
Made it home by just after 5 which was enough time to get changed, load the car with bike and bike stuff, ram some bread into my mouth and hit the road to get to Murawai for a sifty illegal Tuesday night ride by 6.30 PM.
I managed the get changed bit, the start to load the car bit, before realising I did not have the bit of cable that goes between light and battery. It got left with someone at the Woodhill 12 hour. Shit bicks, unloaded car, got unchanged and sat in the lounge.
I did go round to a mates place to talk about replacing bearings in the new old BB I was given. I will check out bearing prices on Wednesday, but it could be cheaper to buy a new BB.
I have had 3 good gym sessions so far this week, getting the intensity level up, it is feeling just right now, mixing the bike one day with a run the next. 4 more days of free gym to go.
Monday, August 07, 2006
SS Poker race
Had a day off from the gym yesterday, just didn’t get around to going in the morning and then I had the youngest and his cousin for the day so couldn’t go till my wife got home from work at 7.00 and then it was dinner and then yada yada.
I did get up at 5.30 this morning though and got in a reasonable session before work. With the car off the road until I get the window repaired tomorrow I did not want to take it to work so caged a lift of an old colleague and caught the bus home. The bus ride was OK, not too crowded and relatively quick, took an hour but that is tolerable. Will be bussing in and out again tomorrow, as well. Thank God for MP3 players though !
I have decided to organise a single speed race at Woodhill. I have posted on a couple of forums and emailed a few single speeders to see if there is any interest. If I can get 10 definite starters it will be on. Tentative date is Oct 7.
Going to be based loosely on Bike Poker. There has been some reasonable interest so far, including a few people who are happy to help out with the event.
I did get up at 5.30 this morning though and got in a reasonable session before work. With the car off the road until I get the window repaired tomorrow I did not want to take it to work so caged a lift of an old colleague and caught the bus home. The bus ride was OK, not too crowded and relatively quick, took an hour but that is tolerable. Will be bussing in and out again tomorrow, as well. Thank God for MP3 players though !
I have decided to organise a single speed race at Woodhill. I have posted on a couple of forums and emailed a few single speeders to see if there is any interest. If I can get 10 definite starters it will be on. Tentative date is Oct 7.
Going to be based loosely on Bike Poker. There has been some reasonable interest so far, including a few people who are happy to help out with the event.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
A good rainy ride
The gym has been going well, 5 days in a row and lifting the effort each day by a tiny amount. I still wonder if I am whimping out a bit though with the weights, but I am happy with what I am doing. I even went this morning before mountain biking.
The drivers side electric window in my car has broken, unfortunately it is in the full down position and for the first time in weeks it is raining solidly. Luckily I got a ride to the forest today otherwise I would have been unable to ride.
The plan for the ride today was to do a fire road loop and get some consistent hill work in – though the hills are not big, high, steep or long. With the rain and wind we decided to go straight into the forest. Rode Powerball, Spaghetti to the start of Afterglow, quick break there to take the rain coat off then a fast zap down Afterglow and the down Tortellini to the car park. Over the road and up Upland straight down the Lightening and Enchanted forest and brief break at the start of Haggis. Kept riding at a reasonable pace and was aiming to stop as little as possible. Haggis was great, cleaned that again without getting out of the seat, then the same on Northern exposure. Had a quick 5 at the start of my track and then rode up that, again sitting down for as much as possible. Had to stop in the middle a shortcut line had started to appear that cut a good 250 metres out of the track. I closed it off with logs and trail trash as best I could and we rode on. I guess one of the good things about people putting short cuts in a track means that it is a challenge to ride and they have failed to meet the challenge, which makes those who meet the challenge are the better for it. Shit the track ain’t that tough, I can ride the whole thing on the SS and I am not that good a rider. We rode the first section of Ironhorse then dropped out and finished Conifer loop and Haggis the rode the road back to the start of Raceface down and back to the carpark.
Fitness wise, I rode extremely well today, I felt good, kept a reasonable pace up, rode as much as I could sitting down. I am not sure of I was going to quickly or the conditions were a bit slippery, but I felt like I was riding like a muppet, washed out the front wheel, slipped on wet roots, Pity I cannot get skill and fitness all together in the same ride…
I have decide to do the 35km N-duro race in Rotorua in 2 weeks, will do it on the SS and it s going to be the longest SS ride I have done.
Listening to the Misfits this morning, I never really liked them that much but have borrowed a bunch of CD’s from a friend to see if my tastes have changed at all. They are still only OK.
The drivers side electric window in my car has broken, unfortunately it is in the full down position and for the first time in weeks it is raining solidly. Luckily I got a ride to the forest today otherwise I would have been unable to ride.
The plan for the ride today was to do a fire road loop and get some consistent hill work in – though the hills are not big, high, steep or long. With the rain and wind we decided to go straight into the forest. Rode Powerball, Spaghetti to the start of Afterglow, quick break there to take the rain coat off then a fast zap down Afterglow and the down Tortellini to the car park. Over the road and up Upland straight down the Lightening and Enchanted forest and brief break at the start of Haggis. Kept riding at a reasonable pace and was aiming to stop as little as possible. Haggis was great, cleaned that again without getting out of the seat, then the same on Northern exposure. Had a quick 5 at the start of my track and then rode up that, again sitting down for as much as possible. Had to stop in the middle a shortcut line had started to appear that cut a good 250 metres out of the track. I closed it off with logs and trail trash as best I could and we rode on. I guess one of the good things about people putting short cuts in a track means that it is a challenge to ride and they have failed to meet the challenge, which makes those who meet the challenge are the better for it. Shit the track ain’t that tough, I can ride the whole thing on the SS and I am not that good a rider. We rode the first section of Ironhorse then dropped out and finished Conifer loop and Haggis the rode the road back to the start of Raceface down and back to the carpark.
Fitness wise, I rode extremely well today, I felt good, kept a reasonable pace up, rode as much as I could sitting down. I am not sure of I was going to quickly or the conditions were a bit slippery, but I felt like I was riding like a muppet, washed out the front wheel, slipped on wet roots, Pity I cannot get skill and fitness all together in the same ride…
I have decide to do the 35km N-duro race in Rotorua in 2 weeks, will do it on the SS and it s going to be the longest SS ride I have done.
Listening to the Misfits this morning, I never really liked them that much but have borrowed a bunch of CD’s from a friend to see if my tastes have changed at all. They are still only OK.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
2nd day at the gym
Hit the gym again this morning, got there 10 minutes earlier than yesterday at 5.45 AM but had a better idea of what to do so did not feel so stupid standing there staring vacantly at the machines. Jumped straight on to the bike and did the hill climb ride again for 30 minutes. Slightly higher level this time, and the one I will stick to for the next few days. Though tomorrow I may run instead to break up the training a bit. I followed that up with 8 minutes on the rowing machine, I wanted to do 2km but on this particular machine I could not work out how to change the view to show distance. I feel so stupid.
I did get to use some more of the weight machines today, there were more people there so I could sneakily watch how they used them and then follow. I did get stuck on one ugly piece of machinery that I gave up on. I now have 3 leg exercises sorted and 1 upper body pull down thing.
I appear to be really weak compared to other gym users as I cannot shift some of the weights the machines are set to.
Listening to some Skatalites this morning. Oh Yeah – the music at the gym sucks terribly.
I did get to use some more of the weight machines today, there were more people there so I could sneakily watch how they used them and then follow. I did get stuck on one ugly piece of machinery that I gave up on. I now have 3 leg exercises sorted and 1 upper body pull down thing.
I appear to be really weak compared to other gym users as I cannot shift some of the weights the machines are set to.
Listening to some Skatalites this morning. Oh Yeah – the music at the gym sucks terribly.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
12 Hours of Woodhill
I have been looking forward to this event since the team was called together. We have a 4 person SS team entered in the 4/5 person open team category. I have ridden with all the riders before, 2 at the Moonride 24 hour in May and 1 from N-Duro 24 hour in Feb. I am the only local which makes it all that much cooler. I have team leader and his wife staying at my place for the weekend which is cool, nice to be able to assist out of town racers for a change. We are all Vorbers... We are racing as Essence Bicycles Singole Velocita and now have matching shirts so really look the part. Though of course we are all riding different bikes.
Saturday morning dawned extremely foggy, though the forecast was good. Team leader went directly to the site where the other guys plus a couple of other Vorb related teams had set up and camped overnight. I went into town to pick up another out of town Vorber was racing 6 hour solo women. The 50 minute drive out to Woodhill saw the fog dissipate and nice clear sky come through for by the time we arrived at 9.00 AM. We left the car at the top car park and I took 2 trips to hump all my crap down to the site, man I am a heavy packer…
The main site
By the 10:30 race start, the bike had been tweaked, though I had horrid noises coming from the BB, I had sifted around and said hello to numerous riders I knew and had a good cup of coffee from the on-site cart. I felt for the organisers as sod all people turned out for the event. I am not sure of exact numbers yet but expect less than 1 third of the maximum was there. Really disappointing as there are around 3500 riders in Auckland more could have turned out to race. At least the traffic in the forest would not be too bad.
Our site
For a change I was not the lead rider, team leader took that honour which was great as it started with a 500 metre run to the bikes. Our plan was to take this event at a gentle pace and have fun and aim to not come last. Team leader came out of the forest 8.5kms and 28 minutes later in 7th place !
Team leader on the trail
which sent number 2 rider off at a charge. I took a couple of photos at the end of the single track and there was a steep sandy descent that was screwing people up on the first lap. It was going to be fun later in the day when it got really carved up. Team leader and No 2, both looked pretty broken and when it was my turn to go out I determined to take a slow ride up the hill and conserve energy for the rest of the lap, I also had a reasonable idea of the course and knew areas where I could gain an advantage on other riders if I had the grunt left in my legs.
A broken rider 2
The lap started with a 200 metre ride up and metal road and into the single track, going up Raceface Down the wrong way, turning off and down a narrow wooden bridge to the new section of trail we dug a few weeks back, the trail meandered up the hill with a couple of tiny pinch climbs but mostly doable seated. We then went over the road into stage 1 of Big Mama, then down into a tiny section of Cry Baby, popping back out onto the unsealed road and then back into Cray Baby and down all off Cookie. I nailed it in Cookie, patience on the climb meant I had plenty for this slightly uphill but wide, twisty single track. At the top off Cookie we crossed back into Spaghetti into one of my favourite sections of really twisty, slightly rooty single track, perfect for SS, couple of small jumps and some ride-alongs. I was starting to pass people from the end of No 2’s lap and aimed to nail all the slow ones before the tight decent as that was gong to be one of the fun parts of the track, fortunately no one held me up on that and I popped out at the bottom of Granny Hill. This was a bit of a grind – didn’t really need granny, I expected this to go through to the tent site, but it popped back into the forest again for another 500 metres of single track, then out and down the steep sandy descent, up a short climb then out into the tents, and a 29 minute lap done. I was happy…
Lap change Over
No 4 went out for his lap and we were all settled down relaxing when 17 minutes later he came running back into the site pushing his bike with the chain dragging on the ground. We quickly sent rider no 1 back out while rider 4 lay collapsed in a fetid heap on the ground. His tensioner gave up half way into the forest…
My BB was making really awful grinding noises so too fix that I put the MP3 player in my pocket and turned the punk rock up loud…
My next lap came around all too quickly, so I cranked up the volume and took a nice slow ride up the first climb, passed a group of 5 solos just before hitting the single track and had a fairly steady climb, surprisingly I passed a few people on the way up. I held off a guy behind me most the way through the top single track though he finally got me just before the top of the Cookie trail, I kept him well in site as we worked through the next couple of kms, pushing the pace a bit to try and pass as many of the slower riders as I could before the tight decent – mainly because it is way more fun at speed. I got behind the guy who passed me just as we hit the steepest section and he went sideways off the side of the track allowing me to shoot past and down to the bottom of Granny Hill. I kept a fairly static pace up the climb, passing a few walkers !!! (this early in the race) on the way up, then down through the last section of forest and back to the tent site. 30 minute lap. I thought I was faster than the first but had dropped a minute.
At this point in the race we were 1st out of 20 in our category of open 4/5 person team – this actually showed how bad the field was as we would normally expect to come around half way through the field. Especially as we were on single speeds. Though we did realise we had 17 minute lap when we were averaging 29 minutes. We went and told the organisers so they could pull the lap from our results, which would add to the challenge, but this still left us in 3rd place.
In between laps I had a quick feed of some homemade chicken pasta, a couple of bars and a lot of water, it was quite warm considering it is still winter, I was in a short sleeve riding shirt and still sweating.
Lap 3 I started out slowly again, aiming to pace myself for the expected 6 laps and allow plenty of room to hammer the top trails. The field was quite spread out so I did not really see anyone on the road climb and passed a group of 5 slow riders in the forest section of the climb. The top section passed by in a blur of old school punk rock and I was soon passing the odd slow rider prior to hitting the descent again. Got most of the way down the descent, till the steep sandy section where 2 riders had got themselves a bit tangled up , 1 managed to clear himself off to the side and the other started to tripod his way down before running off the side of the track, I don’t think I had to slow down at all and I am wondering if I scared them off a bit… Got to grant hill, took the right hand line and it was so much smoother than the left, managed to get most of the way up sitting down. Saw a group of riders ahead that were struggling a bit and knew I had to pass them before the next downhill section as they would be too slow and would ruin the enjoyment of riding down hills. I managed to catch them before the single track but could not pass them before the descent. I picked off 1 on a bit of single track and as we approached the final steepish and very sandy section I saw a new line had been made high up on the left bank, I shot up their past 2 of the slow people, hopefully not cutting them off as I got back onto the main line. The last 2 held me up on the final very short ascent, I was going so slowly I had to struggle to maintain balance – so much harder on a single speed. Into tent city and off the bike in 31 minutes. Dropping a minute a lap – damn. I thought that last run was good.
When I got back to our site I had a few missed calls on my mobile, including 1 from my wife. After calling her I ended up having to go home half way through the event for a family situation – fortunately not as serious as it could have been. Luckily there was a friend lurking about with his SS looking for a ride so he stepped into my place in the team and did my remaining 3 laps. Bummer of a way to end what was a good morning and should have been a good evening.
Apparently the rest of the event went well, the weather stayed good and lap times dropped a little bit as night set in and the course got a bit cut up in places.
Next event for me could be the 35km N-duro race in 4 weeks, will do it on the SS if I can get the BB replaced in time.
Saturday morning dawned extremely foggy, though the forecast was good. Team leader went directly to the site where the other guys plus a couple of other Vorb related teams had set up and camped overnight. I went into town to pick up another out of town Vorber was racing 6 hour solo women. The 50 minute drive out to Woodhill saw the fog dissipate and nice clear sky come through for by the time we arrived at 9.00 AM. We left the car at the top car park and I took 2 trips to hump all my crap down to the site, man I am a heavy packer…
The main site
By the 10:30 race start, the bike had been tweaked, though I had horrid noises coming from the BB, I had sifted around and said hello to numerous riders I knew and had a good cup of coffee from the on-site cart. I felt for the organisers as sod all people turned out for the event. I am not sure of exact numbers yet but expect less than 1 third of the maximum was there. Really disappointing as there are around 3500 riders in Auckland more could have turned out to race. At least the traffic in the forest would not be too bad.
Our site
For a change I was not the lead rider, team leader took that honour which was great as it started with a 500 metre run to the bikes. Our plan was to take this event at a gentle pace and have fun and aim to not come last. Team leader came out of the forest 8.5kms and 28 minutes later in 7th place !
Team leader on the trail
which sent number 2 rider off at a charge. I took a couple of photos at the end of the single track and there was a steep sandy descent that was screwing people up on the first lap. It was going to be fun later in the day when it got really carved up. Team leader and No 2, both looked pretty broken and when it was my turn to go out I determined to take a slow ride up the hill and conserve energy for the rest of the lap, I also had a reasonable idea of the course and knew areas where I could gain an advantage on other riders if I had the grunt left in my legs.
A broken rider 2
The lap started with a 200 metre ride up and metal road and into the single track, going up Raceface Down the wrong way, turning off and down a narrow wooden bridge to the new section of trail we dug a few weeks back, the trail meandered up the hill with a couple of tiny pinch climbs but mostly doable seated. We then went over the road into stage 1 of Big Mama, then down into a tiny section of Cry Baby, popping back out onto the unsealed road and then back into Cray Baby and down all off Cookie. I nailed it in Cookie, patience on the climb meant I had plenty for this slightly uphill but wide, twisty single track. At the top off Cookie we crossed back into Spaghetti into one of my favourite sections of really twisty, slightly rooty single track, perfect for SS, couple of small jumps and some ride-alongs. I was starting to pass people from the end of No 2’s lap and aimed to nail all the slow ones before the tight decent as that was gong to be one of the fun parts of the track, fortunately no one held me up on that and I popped out at the bottom of Granny Hill. This was a bit of a grind – didn’t really need granny, I expected this to go through to the tent site, but it popped back into the forest again for another 500 metres of single track, then out and down the steep sandy descent, up a short climb then out into the tents, and a 29 minute lap done. I was happy…
Lap change Over
No 4 went out for his lap and we were all settled down relaxing when 17 minutes later he came running back into the site pushing his bike with the chain dragging on the ground. We quickly sent rider no 1 back out while rider 4 lay collapsed in a fetid heap on the ground. His tensioner gave up half way into the forest…
My BB was making really awful grinding noises so too fix that I put the MP3 player in my pocket and turned the punk rock up loud…
My next lap came around all too quickly, so I cranked up the volume and took a nice slow ride up the first climb, passed a group of 5 solos just before hitting the single track and had a fairly steady climb, surprisingly I passed a few people on the way up. I held off a guy behind me most the way through the top single track though he finally got me just before the top of the Cookie trail, I kept him well in site as we worked through the next couple of kms, pushing the pace a bit to try and pass as many of the slower riders as I could before the tight decent – mainly because it is way more fun at speed. I got behind the guy who passed me just as we hit the steepest section and he went sideways off the side of the track allowing me to shoot past and down to the bottom of Granny Hill. I kept a fairly static pace up the climb, passing a few walkers !!! (this early in the race) on the way up, then down through the last section of forest and back to the tent site. 30 minute lap. I thought I was faster than the first but had dropped a minute.
At this point in the race we were 1st out of 20 in our category of open 4/5 person team – this actually showed how bad the field was as we would normally expect to come around half way through the field. Especially as we were on single speeds. Though we did realise we had 17 minute lap when we were averaging 29 minutes. We went and told the organisers so they could pull the lap from our results, which would add to the challenge, but this still left us in 3rd place.
In between laps I had a quick feed of some homemade chicken pasta, a couple of bars and a lot of water, it was quite warm considering it is still winter, I was in a short sleeve riding shirt and still sweating.
Lap 3 I started out slowly again, aiming to pace myself for the expected 6 laps and allow plenty of room to hammer the top trails. The field was quite spread out so I did not really see anyone on the road climb and passed a group of 5 slow riders in the forest section of the climb. The top section passed by in a blur of old school punk rock and I was soon passing the odd slow rider prior to hitting the descent again. Got most of the way down the descent, till the steep sandy section where 2 riders had got themselves a bit tangled up , 1 managed to clear himself off to the side and the other started to tripod his way down before running off the side of the track, I don’t think I had to slow down at all and I am wondering if I scared them off a bit… Got to grant hill, took the right hand line and it was so much smoother than the left, managed to get most of the way up sitting down. Saw a group of riders ahead that were struggling a bit and knew I had to pass them before the next downhill section as they would be too slow and would ruin the enjoyment of riding down hills. I managed to catch them before the single track but could not pass them before the descent. I picked off 1 on a bit of single track and as we approached the final steepish and very sandy section I saw a new line had been made high up on the left bank, I shot up their past 2 of the slow people, hopefully not cutting them off as I got back onto the main line. The last 2 held me up on the final very short ascent, I was going so slowly I had to struggle to maintain balance – so much harder on a single speed. Into tent city and off the bike in 31 minutes. Dropping a minute a lap – damn. I thought that last run was good.
When I got back to our site I had a few missed calls on my mobile, including 1 from my wife. After calling her I ended up having to go home half way through the event for a family situation – fortunately not as serious as it could have been. Luckily there was a friend lurking about with his SS looking for a ride so he stepped into my place in the team and did my remaining 3 laps. Bummer of a way to end what was a good morning and should have been a good evening.
Apparently the rest of the event went well, the weather stayed good and lap times dropped a little bit as night set in and the course got a bit cut up in places.
Next event for me could be the 35km N-duro race in 4 weeks, will do it on the SS if I can get the BB replaced in time.
The gym
I have never been one for gym's, I would rather be out on the street in the 'fresh' air than stuck inside an air-conditioned room listening to loud music, but my youngest son's school has a fundraiser supplied by the local gym so off I went.
Every time you go to the gym in a 2 week period from the day you sign up the gym donate a whole 1$ to the school for sporting equipment. It is free to use the gym for that period. Now 1$ is not much but it is worth supporting, and 2 weeks worth of free gym is exactly what I need right now to kick training along.
I am thinking about doing the 35km N-Duro 3 race in 4 weeks on the single speed, it will be a tough event for me so anything I can do to build some leg strength for the hills will be all good.
I aim to go to the gym at 6.00 AM evyer day for 2 weeks, donate an entire $14 to the school and get some base in.
Hopefully if I can achieve that then once the free 2 weeks has finished I will be motivated enough to get out and run first thing in the morning. I just do not like road riding in the dark, especially at that time of day when drivers are going a bit faster and are a bit less focused.
I did my first session this morning, 30 minutes on the bike thing, with a nice climb program, 1km on the rower and a couple of weighty type things. As this is a free session I did not have a program and as I have been to a gym in 5 years or so I had very little knowledge about how the equipment worked. Will work out some more tomorrow. The musix was crap and too loud - louder than my mp3 player, arse.
Every time you go to the gym in a 2 week period from the day you sign up the gym donate a whole 1$ to the school for sporting equipment. It is free to use the gym for that period. Now 1$ is not much but it is worth supporting, and 2 weeks worth of free gym is exactly what I need right now to kick training along.
I am thinking about doing the 35km N-Duro 3 race in 4 weeks on the single speed, it will be a tough event for me so anything I can do to build some leg strength for the hills will be all good.
I aim to go to the gym at 6.00 AM evyer day for 2 weeks, donate an entire $14 to the school and get some base in.
Hopefully if I can achieve that then once the free 2 weeks has finished I will be motivated enough to get out and run first thing in the morning. I just do not like road riding in the dark, especially at that time of day when drivers are going a bit faster and are a bit less focused.
I did my first session this morning, 30 minutes on the bike thing, with a nice climb program, 1km on the rower and a couple of weighty type things. As this is a free session I did not have a program and as I have been to a gym in 5 years or so I had very little knowledge about how the equipment worked. Will work out some more tomorrow. The musix was crap and too loud - louder than my mp3 player, arse.
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