Gold Coast XCO#2

photo by Russ Baker

also, here is a link to a picture on cyclingnews:
http://www.cyclingnews.com.au/mtbphotos.php?id=/photos/2008/nov08/illinbah08/illinbah081/EMJ_7599

As expected, we were greeted at the Gold Coast by hot and humid weather. Fortunately our 1990’s model Toyota Tarago rent-a-wreck had air conditioning, although like the gearbox in the old spaceship, it didn’t work very well. Changing gears was like stirring a pudding; I think AJ got a bit nervous when he was following us home from the airport and he saw the reversing lights come on while doing 80kph. The accommodation made up for it though; a huge mansion with water frontage, private jetty, swimming pool, 3 TVs, games room….luxury.

Despite the recent rain, the track was relatively dry for practise on the Friday. It was fairly similar to last year, with a brutal climb and steep decent in the first half of the lap, then undulating for the second half. There were quite a few fun sections but nothing crazy, my biggest problem looked like it was going to be the heat.

The race started with a bit of excitement; I lead it out and had Neil vdP on my wheel when Dave “smack-down” Whitney came around on the right just before the first single track. His chain slipped and he did a huge superman to front flip. Whitney’s sideshow helped Neil and I to gap the field on the first descent so we emerged onto the first big climb with a small lead. It wasn’t long though before the pecking order was established with Aiden Lefmann taking control of the race leaving me on my own just in front of the chasing group of Lewi, Muzza, AJ. On the second lap I was caught by the boys and we rode around still losing time to Aido, with Frendo and Whitney close behind us.

I was starting to suffer a little bit and a small mistake on the 3rd lap meant that I was soon in 7th. Aido broke his chain which really opened the race up again as the lead group rode away from me. I started getting some chain suck problems that restricted me to the big ring by the 4th lap. This wasn’t ideal as I had to run up all the climbs and it was hard to maintain any sort of rhythm. On lap 5 it started to piss down with gusty wind and lightening. This was great news for me as it cooled down heaps and it would make riding up hills harder for everyone else, so running was less of a handicap. I was managing to hang on to 6th position but I could see Hendo catching me. Shortly after, the commissaries decided to shorten the race due to safety concerns so I was quite relieved at being able to stay in 6th.

AJ took out the win in an awesome demonstration of smart riding, and strength. He rode conservatively though the heat in the beginning and had enough to attack latter in the race. It is his first National Series win, a great effort, well done mate!

The result also puts Hendo in the lead of the national series, and if I’m not mistaken, lifts me up into 2nd.

New Bike

I've been laying low after getting the flu and having a very ordinary race at the Highland Fling. The training is starting to build up again though , and i'm starting to feel good again. It's just as well because it is getting close to the 2nd national round and the Tour of Bright, so the 5 hours planned each day this weekend it should do me good. The timing for a big weekend could have been better though with the forecast for snow and blizzards down to 1000m. I had heat stroke a couple of weeks ago! My body isn't going to know what hit it when i go to the Goldy for XC round#2 next weekend.

Luckily i just built up my new roady, so was still looking forward to riding despite the weather. My only reservation was getting it dirty. It is a new Spats Javelin Titanium Frame, with SRAM Red groupset and i am super happy with how it rides. I haven't got it on the scales yet, but it is light. It also felt really stiff and the new Red groupset works awesome. It didnt take long to get used to the "double tap" shifting, although i have to attmit, i did try to push the brake lever a few times early on. The only thing that took my mind off the new bike was riding into a hail storm. That turned out to be the first of 4 brief hail sessions. 5.5hrs later i rolled back into town pretty blown but chuffed with the new rig. I was too far gone that even my new bike couldnt make me feel any less fatigued anymore. There was only one thing that could save me....a big tray of nachos. yeah....

National Series XCO #1 - Adelaide

photo: Adam MacLeod


I travelled down to Adelaide for the National series opener on the weekend and before the race I was uncertain as to how my form would be. The Scott 24hr was pretty much the only intensity that I had done since having a break and it had left me tired for 2 weeks. The plus side of this is that I didn’t feel any pressure so I went to the line very relaxed and with a race plan of taking it a bit easy in the first 5 laps, then finish strong in last couple of laps of the 7 lap race.

After the first 200m metres it was a race for 2nd place as Chris Jongeward unloaded the chasing group of Hendo, Lewis, Aiden, Haas and me. Sensing that it would have been suicide, none of us were happy to go with Chris’ pace and he put a minute into us on the first lap. For the chasers, there wasn’t ever much time between us but Hendo the pressure on and we split up a bit. Lewi unfortunately flatted and then crashed out of contention on lap 5, and I was starting to feel the hot weather but was hanging onto 4th ahead of Haas with Hendo and Aiden still ahead. On lap 6, Haas bridged back to me with ease and put me under a lot of pressure on the hills. The descent on lap 6 was the highlight of the race as we amped each other up and tried hard to get back to Hendo. It was so much fun, but then on the last lap, I found myself unable to stay with him as I started to suffer in the sun.

So Chris got the win by 3.5mins, followed by Hendo, Aiden, Haas (1st U23), then me. The 4 of us separated by only 2.5mins. I was lucky that the race finished when it did because soon after the end i realised that i was not doing so well. I guess the snow in cooma last week wasn't great for aclimitisation because it turned out i had a bit of heat stroke and needed some medical assistance. Thankfully Carolyn McKinlay was there to look after me and get me back in order - thanks a lot Carolyn! Still, I am really happy with the start of the National Series and I’m looking forward to round #2 at the Gold Coast.

Scott 24hr

It have been over a week since the Scott 24hr and i am still feeling a little tired. 24hr races are always tough, but for us chasing the entire time, it was particularly strenuous. It became clear quite early on that it was between us and the Gu team, but unfortunately we let them go on Saturday evening when Willo double flatted on one lap and came in 9 minutes later than he was expected. I was waiting in transition and it is an aweful feeling, just watching the seconds and minutes tick by while the Gu team was riding away from us. By the time i got out on my lap, we were over 15 minutes down and the pressure was on us to chase. Through the night we gradually clawed back a little bit of time and got the gap back down under 10minutes, but we couldnt decrease it anymore as we started to tire. In the end we came in 9minutes down in second place, which isn't such a long time over 24 hours. It was a really good effort by our team, and quite pleasing to know that we pushed Gu all the way to the end, its been a while since any team has been able to do that. Despite Willo's little mishap, our "Swell" team was well oiled machine. Our lap strategy worked really well, no mechanicals, no crashes and thanks to Laura (our manager) we never missed a transition and our legs were always freshly rubbed with goanna oil through the night. It was also a really good team atmosphere, Lewi, Matty, Willo and I had a good morale the entire time and we had a good laugh, which is the best thing about this format of racing.

Special thanks to Swell Design Group for sponsoring our team, and of course to Laura, the world greatest 24hr manager. She had the least sleep out of the entire team, she was tough with us when she had to be, but nice to us when she could be. Hopefully next year we will go one better.

Off-season

I have had a bit of a break from the blog and the bike since the Angry Doctor 100km at Mogo. That race was a bit disappointing for me, I had some really good form and was exactly where I wanted to be after 65km (at the front with Lewi and Hamish), but I completely feel apart and ended up suffering to hang on the 6th place. Not sure what to put that one down to, everything seemed to be going well, never mind, at least it was good to see Lewi get the win to make up for last year debacle.

My 2 weeks off the bike went by in a flash, work happily stepped up to fill the void! So I’ve been back on the bike for a couple of weeks now and looking forward to the Scott 24hr this weekend. I will be part of the Swell Designs Pro Team of 4 along side James Williamson, Shaun Lewis and Matt Fleming. What a team, hey? I would like to think that we are a chance at the win, but with no less than 5 awesome teams the only thing for sure is that the racing will be tight.

World Cup - Mt Stromlo ACT

After all the European preparation, i had 2 weeks back home to focus on the Stromlo World Cup. I didn't do to much hard training during that time, the focus was on recovering from the flight and tapering for the big race. My only real-hit out was the Working Week 8hr race the sunday before, which was also at Mt Stromlo. Shaun Lewis and I won the race outright and i posted the fastest lap by 2mins, so indications were good that i had the right form. It didnt stop me getting nervous though. I think that would be impossible not to be, having had this World cup as a focus for the past year of training.

The race went really well. The pace was quite fast on the first lap and i put it in the red to get the best possible position on the first single track. unfortunately i got caught behind some Euros that weren't very fast on the technical stuff. The only thing i am dissapointed about my race is that i got frustrated and wasted a lot of energy unsucessfully trying to get around them. It took until i had a small crash on the 3rd lap for me to settle into my own pace and start to enjoy the race, and it was hard not to. The track was so much fun and the crowd was awesome. All the support was amazing and it made we want to give it everything, thanks to everyone who was out there. The bike went really well too, thanks to Trent from Monza who serviced it the day before, and the Monorail tyres were hooking up really well. On the last lap i noticed that a Belgian rider was catching me, i estimated that i had about a minute with only a few kms to go so i would hold him off comfortably. Then suddenly, with about 1km to go, he had closed it down to about 10 seconds and i realised that it was Filip Merharger (former world champ, olympic medalist and convicted drug-fiend). I just managed to hold him off to take 25th to be the 6th Aussie.

Overall it was an awesome weekend. So good to see a big crowd out to support mountain biking, that can only be good for the sport. I'm glad there were plently of Aussies in the mix to give the crowd something to cheer about, with Chris J up there, and Macca and Lachy achieving personal best world cup results. It was also great to see Johnny from Spats getting the bikes out there with his expo tent, the titanium bikes were definately turning heads.

I'm off to Mogo this weekend for the angry doctor 100km marathon, then i'm on a small break. Hopefully the weather is warmer when i get back on the bike becasue this cold weather in Cooma is cracking me!

L'Hexagonal - Stage #5 - Evry

These are actually photos of stage 4:

Im not sure who took this one.

The team before the start.

Dan and AJ loking good at the start.

Today was the final stage of the Hex, a 48km XC stage comprising of 2 start laps then 5 full laps. There were a few technical bits and it was fairly muddy but it was still a pretty quick track. The pace on the start laps was really quick and i was well positioned for most of it but stupidily slipped back a little before the first single track. I got caught in a bit of traffic, and lost the contact with the lead bunch. Nick and i found ourselves well back in the pack and had to work hard to make up time. With a decent amount of single trail, we were able to use it to make time each lap. By the start of the last lap we were inside the top 20, Nick went on to get 15th, but i was fading a little and held on for 19th. The good news of the day was that Dellys put heaps of time into Laurence Leboucher to steal the leaders jersey on the last day. That is a great result for Del and hopefully will give her some good confidence for Bejing. Good luck Del and Dan!

Overall, i am really happy with my first hexagonal. I definately feel like i improved thoughout the week. The highlight of the race was definately the Montmartre stage. It was really cool to launch down steep stair cases in front of a big frech crowd. Also there were plenty of Aussie tourists that felt obliged to cher us on.

Another cool thing that i will remember was on the first XC stage, the track went past some back yards and each lap there was an old couple out in their yard cheering us on from the back fence. When i arrived there on the last lap after it had started to pour with rain, i didnt see them. Then when i got closer i heard a banging noise and "allez allez allez". The old lady had gone inside and got a big pot and was banging on it with a wooden spoon from under her verandah. It so cool to see that sort of passion for cycling.

I am really keen now for the world cup in Canberra. Im looking forward to riding rocks again.

L'Hexagonal - Stage #4 - La Ferte Gaucher

Today was a super fast & quite flat 60km stage at La Ferte Gaucher, East of Paris. It was non technical except for a 5min wood section on each of the 3 laps. This looked like being a traditional Hex stage; a very fast start to blow the field appart, then bunches would form and the pace would ease slightly until the attacks start coming on the last lap. Neil (the team coach) told me to try and go with the lead bunch on the first lap, even though the pace would a bit quicker than i am able to ride, in other words i had to put in in the red and hope that i could recover enough to hang in (it the very least it would be good training).

The start of the race was exactly as expected, i positioned my self as far forward as possible but gaps started to form in the bunch as people started to drop wheels. When we hit the technical section for the first time the field was split into a few bunches with small gaps between. Realising that i might have missed my chance, i got to the front of the second bunch and smashed it through the woods as hard as i could, knowing that the tail of the lead bunch might stretch back a bit. I bridged across to the back of the lead bunch which was my team mate Dan, but i was starting to hurt. I knew i had to stay on his wheel, but i couldn't. I joined up with a swiss rider and we swapped off turns for about 30km until we eventually got caught by the chasing bunch of about 10 riders, including Nick and AJ. Before we arived in the technical section for the last time, everyone was getting twitchy. It would be very important to be near the front because the bunch would almost certainly split in the woods. In the middle of the woods i was about half way in the bunch and on a steep climb i broke my chain...bugger. i had a spare link and fumbled around for a while fixing it but the group was long gone. A couple of french guys picked me up and we rode together to the line but they rolled me in the sprint. I ended up 34th dropping one place to 28th on GC.

Overall it was a hard day. I was pretty smashed at the finish. A good result for Dan Mac as well as he finished 10th, hopefully his form is starting to come on for the olympics. One day to go.

L'Hexagonal - Stage #3 - Montmartre Urban Time Trial, Paris

Sacre Coeur church


Jakey (our masseur) going to town on me before the time trial


Dan Mac waiting in the rain for the start of his time trial


Me about to hit the course.


The last climb, believe me that is definatily a grimace, not a smile

Today was the 3rd stage of the tour, a 5km individual time trial around Montmartre in Paris. If you have ever been to Paris you probably know what it is like. A big hill, cobble stone streets, heaps of stairs, tourists everywhere, and the Sacre Coeur church in the middle.

The course was crazy. It went up and down heaps of stairs and twisted around cobbled streets. And it is not like dirt, a lot of these steep stairs, would really hurt if you fell. During practice (and even in the race) there were tourists everywhere. On some of the long stair sections it was impossible to wait for them to be clear so you just had to start and hope that all the people scattered in time. Appart from running up all the stairs, i felt relatively comfortable with the course. Being quite technical probably suits me, but i was worried by the looming clouds because cobbles get very slippery when they get wet, especially steep stairs!

The riders were realised at 1 minute intervals in reverse order of GC (fast guys last). Since most of us Aussie are quite close on GC, we were all off at about 40mins in. Right on que the rain started about 5min before i had to go...bugger. I was really scared. I had know idea whether the lines i rode during practice were even possible anymore. I decided to take it easy in the start and hopefully build confidence as i went. That was a good strategy becasue i was super careful in the first few corners and i still nearly slid out. The climbing sections were so hard, it is tough to run up stairs when you only ever ride. Running is something you do if you are late for a bus! Overall my run went well, i passed the three guys that started in front of me so that is a good sign. i made a few mistakes but considering the rain i think i rode well. Then after my rdie the rain stopped and the roads dried out for the probably the top 20 riders, very frustrating.

I just checked the results and it turns out i got 17th and was the first Aussie. That is an awesome result! i was 58sec down from the winner but all the quick guys had a dry track, so i'm realy happy.

L'Hexagonal - Stage #2 - Vittel 50km

through the feedzone


Today was the 50km second stage of the Hexagonal. We went for a lap to familiarise ourselves with the 12.5km course and it was a complete mud fest. the rain from the previous night had soaked the ground making it the very worst kind of claggy type mud. The kind that sticks to your bike and clogs up everthing. The track was pretty fun though, i was pleaseed that there were a few really fast and slick downhill sections. I cut the lap short to get back to the car and put one the Maxxis Medusa mud tyres, perfect for this kind of stuff.

The race start through Vittel was super fast. I started from the 5th row of the grid so i had to work hard to move forward. I hit the first single track climb way too far back and got caught up in the grid lock. I rode most of the first lap on my limit, trying to stay in touch, but eventually i had to drop back to a sustainable tempo because i was affraid i would blow. The course was so much fun, we were sliding around eveywhere. I had some trouble with mud clogging up the bike but i was very careful to take and extra bottle of water each lap in order to hose the drivetrain regularly, and my bike semed to be working better that others.

After 3 laps i was still feeling pretty good and it started to pour down. This was actually a good thing becasue i makes the mud a lot wetter, and it doesn't stick to the bike so much and it is easier to ride. The last lap was awesome, i lifted up my pace and managed to reel in 5 places. The downhills, were still slick but so much fun. I was super happy to be able to finish strongly, i just have to work on my speed at the start. I ended up in 33rd. AJ was the quickest Aussie in 25th.

L'Hexagonal - Prologue & Stage #1

"Don't poo in the shower please."


L'equipe nationale d'Australie


Warm up for the prologue

After much anticipation, the Hexagonal is underway. We arrived yesterday here in Vittel for the presentation des equipes, and we were surprised to discover that the organisers had decided to run and ad-hoc exhibition event as a curtain raiser to the grand depart, which was sheduled for the following day. The race was a team pursuit format run over 2 laps of a 600m course made up of logs, piles of gravel and sandpits. It not really my cup of tea but, our team of Dan McConnel, Adrian Jackson, Dellys Starr and myself made it to the semi finals where we came up against the Russian team. Everything was going well until AJ had some bad luck and dropped his chain on the last lap. Since the time was taken as the third rider passed the line so we lost the pursuit. However our time gave us the 3rd place and a Hexagonal podium...not bad!

The second surprise of the race was that the hotel that the race put us up in was 50km out of town, and was a "fomule 1" in a dodgy industrial estate. Our room smells like cigarettes, not really cool. There is a few good point though, like the thoughful sign on the shower that says: "les douches ne sont pas des WC, merci de votre comprehension". That basically translates to: "don't crap in the shower". I do not what to know what prompted them to realise they needed those signs!

The start of the race proper was today, a 7km individual time trial. With the clouds looming, it looked as if the starting order could have a big influence. Keepy, Nick Both and I where roughly half way through the field starting about 50min after the first rider, AJ was half an hour later and Dan was right near the end with Christoph Sauser (current world champ). As i was warming up i felt a few drops of rain, but it held of for my race. I felt pretty good, and clocked a time of 14m54s. As i was warming down i bumped into Dan Mac (our team's GC hope) about to start, i said to him: "go with clear glasses because it is getting really dark in the forest, and that the track is getting quicker so you can pin the D". Just then it started to sprinkle, then by the time i was back at the car it had started to chuck it down. Just as Dan rode out of the start house, it started to hail. It was ridiculous, the hail got heavier and heavier at at one stage they were up to 2cm in diameter. Dan came back in wet and muddy and covered in welts from the hail stones.

So the weather really shook up the general classification after stage 1. A few of the favourites were lucky enough to score a dry track, where as Dan Mc, Sauser and Ludwig Dubou lost a far bit of time. It turned out well for me as i ended up in 24th, 1m13s down on GC, 2sec behind Nick Both (1st Aussie) and 2 sec in front of AJ who had an awesome ride despite coping a lot of rain.

Tomorrow is a 50km stage made up of 4 laps of a track around vittel. I should get a pretty good spot on the start grid but there will be some hitters down the back that will be keen to make up time from today.

Les Arcs

Our five day training camp in Alpe d'Huez is over and i'm feeling pretty good about my form. AJ and i did some good efforts the other day and i felt strong, even at 1900m, so that is a good sign. Yesterday we drove to Les Arcs to spend a night with my friends Nico and Vanes that i meet when i came here for the ski season in 2003/4. I was really good to see them and their new baby, and Vanes is still an awesome cook! It is cool to see all the mountains that we skiied too. We are off to Annecy today and then on to Vittel for the Hex.

Transalp and Alpe d´Huez

Sorry it has been ages since I updated the blog. I left you last time 2 days into the Transalp. The remainder of the race was really good. Matty and I continued to achieve consistent performances to place in the 50’s on most days. The tough days in the middle of the race were made bearable by the spectacular scenery and the well catered feed zones. The only technical problem we had was a broken chain on stage 5 which cost us less than a minute, other than that not even a flat tire. The last day was fairly easy but had a very long technical downhill section that a lot of riders walked. On that day we had our best result of 41^st despite Matty ragging it in the last corner in front of a big crowd. We finished the tour in 53^rd overall. Not too bad i reckon.

My friends Rob, Julie and Meg (Matty´s girlfriend) were there to meet us at the finish in Riva del Garda, Italy. We spent a few well earn days relaxing at a little place near by called Lago de Ledro. It is a beautifully secluded turquoise lake surrounded by mountains. Rob and Jules spoilt us with food and as usual and I probably drank a few too many “Aperol con spritz” (my new favourite summer drink). Rosie and I still trained every day and one day managed a really cool ride up and old roman road that weaved its way along a very steep ridge. We also did a bit of cross training one day when the 6 of us hired a pedal powered boat to explore the lake. Does it still count as training if I just sat on the front of the boat drinking proseco while Meg and Julie pedalled?

From Italy, we smashed the autostrade west back to France, picking up our buddy AJ on the way. Our destination was the famous ski village of Alpe d’Huez, where Cadel lost the tour to Sastre one week ago. We have been here a few days now and have had a lot of fun riding all the trails. Both Alpe d´Huez and neighbouring Les Deux Alpes have heaps of trails dedicated for mountain biking in summer. Today was an easy day so me bought a lift pass and went up the the highest point of the resort, Pic Blanc, at 3330m. From there we rode the entire course of the Megavalanche (famous downhill mtb race) all the way to the valley floor. The XC bikes were not the best choose of machine for this course, but it was fun to get an idea of what this race is about. We had particular trouble with the snow sections finding it almost impossible to stay upright. There was also a section across a glacier, which was surprisingly heaps easier than the snow. I must say that i never thought i would ride on a glacier, i felt like i should be roping up!

Matty and I before the start of the Transalp.

One of the biker camps, we were on centre court.

Relaxing on the pedalo on Lago de Ledro

The top of the Megavalanche, Pic Blanc (Alpe d´Huez)

AJ taking on the snow at the top of the megavalanche.

Me riding the glacier

Transalp (after stage two)

After leaving Livigno, we headed our to Immenstadt in Germany to meet up with Matty Z and stay a night with our German friend, Spunti. On Friday we drove to Fussen and had our first experience of the Transalp, and let me tell you, everything about this race is huge. There are over 1000 riders, big expo areas, heaps of euro trade teams and every little town seems to get right into it.

Stage one was a realively straight forward 80km with 1900m of climbing. It took a little while to get used to the race format with teams of two, which require you to stay together. It was pretty hectic at the start as all the riders rolled away though the village of Fussen. I got a little caught up in the excitment and before i knew it i was jumping up gutters and taking sneaky urban freeride lines to work through the huge field, unfortunately i lost Matty and had to wait - lesson no#1. We regrouped and settled into a tempo, unfortunately it was slightly over Mattys threshhold, and over the top of the days big climb he was doing it tough. Luckily it was mostly downhill to the finish so we got home in a credible 61st place. Overall an enjoyable day, but no single track had me questioning whether or not this was actually a moutnain bike race.

Stage two was a bit tougher, slightly shorter at 78km but 3200m of climbing. Luckily we learned a lot from the first day and we took a much more sustainable approach to this stage, after all, this is a 8 stage race and there are plently of tougher stages to come. We kept an eye on matty's heartrate and tried to limit it to 170bpm. It worked pretty well becasue we cme over the top of the first big 1400m climb with a bit left in the tank, and looking forward to the singletrack sections. The singletracks today were really cool, typical twisty euro-style muddy, rooty and steep. It started off really fun but we got held up for most of it by Euros walking down the track....very frustrating to say the least. We finished the day in 64th, dropping to 64th overall, but we are happy with how its going and think that we have the approach sussed out that will allow us to get throught the big days and hopefully get some places back. ciao

Livigno

The sun finally came out at Livigno and the past 2 days has been beautiful, the fresh snow on the mountains adds a nice touch, but probably not worth the 3 days of crap weather. I did a cool ride yesterday to check out some of the course for the transalp, it was really good. I even stopped at a mountain refuge (also a dairy) for an awesome lunch of beef stew and polenta, nice.

Today i went out on the road with the intention of climbing the Passo Stelvio (2760m). To get there i rode over the Passo d'Eira (2210m) and the Passo Foscagno (2291m), then descended down to Bormio and the base of the Stelvio. From there it is a total of 37 switchbacks, about 20kms and 1500m vertical to the top. I was pretty happy to see the top and meet up with rosie, who brought me some warm clothes for the ride down. she is a good girl, i shouted her a gelati.

So tomorrow it's good bye Italy, and hello Germany. I am meeting up with MattyZ and we are starting the Transalp on Saturday. Should be a tough one, it's an 8 stage mountain bike race accross the alpes. I might not get to update the blog, but if you are super keen, the race website will have results each day: http://www.bike-transalp.de/

Swisspower Cup

The Swisscup was a bit disaster for me. It had been pissing down all day so the track was really muddy, I started from the back and struggled a little with the pace early on. I tried to get into a tempo and i started to overtake people on the downhill and off camber sections, which was quite fun in the muddy conditions, but on the 2nd lap i had a nasty crash. That shook me up a bit but i tried not to panic despite the fact that with a 4.5km lap, i didnt have much time to spare. I started to have mechanical problems because of the mud and i crashed heavily again. Less than a lap later i heard the ominous sound of the lead motorbike, shortly after that, current u23 world champ Nino Schurter came past me so i was out of the race. i think i was 49th and about 4 laps down. i was pretty disspointed to only last 1hr because it wasnt even a good training ride. i guess i did learn some things that i can improve on....keeping the bike upright would be a start. Putting that race behind me, Rosie and i drove over to Livigno in Italy. Im sure it is a nice place but it hasnt stopped raining since Saturday. Last night it snowed nearly all the way down to the village. i have only been able to manage 1 hour training rides because of the rain, i am really not sure how you are supposed to stay warm on the bike in this weather. hopefully the sun comes out soon.

Me and the bike after getting pulled.

During the week I went riding to a place called Crap.

Rosie and i had a crack at climbing Piz Mitgel (3100m).

"Extreme Barnes"

Savognin

Well i've been in Savognin since Monday and i am starting to feel pretty settled. I have been training in the morning and watching the tour de france on TV in the afternoons, not a bad life. It's definately easier than staying up until 2 in the morning like back home.

I have done a few laps of the Savognin XC track. It is interesting to say the least. It pretty much finds the steepest hill and goes straight up that on the road, then down a steep, tight, rooty, muddy descent that is brand new and very far from bedded in. Its a pretty cool section but it just not super long. Then it does a lap around a small lake, with a few more steep hills and a fair bit of dead grass with no path worn in. 4.5km total, and the forecast is for rain.

Anyway, thats all the news for now. ciao

Photos of worlds added

Josh, Lachy and I befre the start.

The result of my crash before the race, the damage to the aussie shorts brings a tear to the eye.
Not having a Navman, I kitted out the Spats with the next best thing.

World Marathon Championships - Villabassa, Italy

After picking up our hire car in Annecy (a Peugeot Partener minivan - cool), we took on the 9hr drive to Villabassa. It was an interesting drive that took us through the Mont Blanc tunnel, and plenty of Italian autostrade's. On friday i met up with the rest of the Aussie team and did a reconaisance of the last 10km track. I guess i got a little excited by the whole thing and managed to have a decent crash. I just layed it down around a fireroad corner at about 30kph, but it was about as good as crashes can be, the day before a big race, i lost a bit of skin off my hip, thigh, side and elbow, and i trashed a fresh set of aussie knicks....ouch. At least it made tyre selection easy, the semi-slicks were out and the Maxxis Monorails were in. I had my first decent look at the course map and it was pretty obvious that we would be for a big day, 120km with 3800m of climbing against a field of 134 riders.

Race day dawned to be perfect weather and i nervously waited for the 12 o'clock start. Me and most of the other Aussie's started down the back and we listen to all the big hitters (like Sauser, Fricshy, Martinez & Gilberto Simoni) getting called up to the line to the sound of bad 80's music and the constant sound of the TV helicopters circling. The pace at the start was one from the gun but before long we hit the first big climb, which was 1000 vertical meters, and the field was strung out. It was about 29 degrees and i was regreting not carrying much water, it's quite different to cooma weather at the time of year. I probably went a little hard up the first hill because i started to suffer through the middle section of the race and had a few problems with cramps. Fortunately i started to come good again on the last big climb and i managed to claw back a few places. I ended up coming in 78th place to be the 3rd Aussie in 5h58m. Definatley a big day, but i had a lot of fun on the downhills and met plently of other riders (including some of Simon Tarb-Jensons team mates from Denmark). The highest place Aussie was Josh Keep in 61st, which is an awesome result for the yougster.

I'm pretty happy with my race considering i only arrived on monday and haven't quite had time to settle in. It is quite a relief to get through without any major dramas and get a solid result at my first big race, hopefully i can build on that. I'm now looking forward to the Swisspower Cup in Savognin. I'm not sure i should have looked at the start list though, it is in alphbetical order and the first name is Absalon...bugger (for those that don't follow cycling, he is really fast).

Arrived Safely

Hi, Rosie and i have arrived safely in France and it feels good to be back. I am in Annecy where we will be staying with my friend Yohann for the first few days. The weather is really hot so it was down to the lake for a swim this afternoon. Just kicking back on the balcony now cooking a bbq with views of the mountains.

In the not so good news, the airline managed to loose our bags and bikes. Despite feeling slightly liberating to be freed of over 50kg of gear to lug around, i hope they arrive soon.

This is the view from yohann's balcony, not bad:

Au revoir...

Well i've just had my last big training session before i go, 4 x 20min mountain bike time trials. Its a bit of a relief to get to the end of this training block because it has been huge. Hopefully an easy week will allow me to freshen up a bit so i'll be flying at Marathon Worlds.

The Spats titanium bike is going awesome. The new SIDs are so good, i even fiddled with the lockout the other night to prepare them for some fast Euro-courses. I've also sorted out my dilemma of not having any race wheels; i am borrowing some of a mate (thanks Willo). I'm pretty happy about this becasue it turns out the noise that i've been hearing when i corner hard is the tyre rubbing on the inside of the fork, not exactly the stiffness that i'm looking for.

Also, I got a picture in the local paper today:

Blog Online

Hi all, welcome to my blog. Normally i would have hung up the bike by now and would be pumped up to ski at every opportunity, but this year i have decided to go over the Europe to have a crack at a few mtb races and have some form for the Mt Stromlo World Cup in August. Its too cold to train in a Cooma winter anyway! My itinerary is basically as follows:
-World Marathon championships - Villabassa, Italy
-Swisspower Cup - Savognin, Switzerland
-Transalp (stage race) - Germany to Italy
-L'hexagonal (mountain bike tour de France) - France

My training has been going really well. My new coach, Chris Clarke, has definately been working me hard. I even did a 200km training ride the other day, from Khancoban to Dead Horse Gap and back (then around Towong). It was pretty much the toughest ride i've done. 4650m of climbing and having to ride through snow at the top.

photos from Dead Horse Gap