I don't know how I feel this morning. I had a great weekend at St Albans for the DirtWorks 100km Classic, even though I DNF'd. We headed down Saturday, Scotty at the helm and Deano and myself as wingmen. Col, Kelly and Andrea were already there, and Andrea had secured a good spot to camp. She does so much of it I guess it comes naturally. Garry and John rolled in soon after, and Camp Magnet was in full swing. A few beers around the fire and some bad jokes and trivia then it was time to sleep, having to be at the start at 6.30. What an ungodly hour to be dressing in thin layers of lycra (well not me, as I forgot to bring my knicks! Luckily I had a pair of baggies with me). As our group rolled out, the feeling in my fingers, toes, face, well everywhere really, departed. It was like a road race as we headed out for about 8km on the tar... Col and Scott and myself were in the front group of about 15, then as the pace was pretty high for this early, I wasn't comfortable and dropped off the back, riding alone until reaching the first big climb of the day, where there were riders strewn out all over the hill, pushing, pulling, dragging themselves and their bikes to the top. I rode the middle section, and made up a bit of ground. At about 30km in I caught Scotty, but no sign of Col who must've been hammering, as we weren't hangin around, passing dozens of riders through the technical, rocky, sandy sections for about 10km. I wondered if I was pushing the pace a little too much, but I felt awesome and well within my limits. As we started to drop down the other side, some hack wouldn't get out of the way through a rocky section, and as he suddenly darted to the left, I hit a huge rock with my rear wheel, and the worst sound in the world of mountain biking filled my ears... hisssss, closely followed by 'F#*K'. As I was running tubeless, I figured the rock must've ripped a hole in the tyre, but in my hasty inspection I couldn't see any damage, so I ripped out the rim strip, getting covered in Slime sealant in the process...I looked like I'd crawled out of a swamp. The tube wasn't poking out of the tyre anywhere, so off I went, riding probably way too hard trying to make up the time I'd lost on Scott. I rode straight through the 50km transition, not bothering to re-fill or eat anything. My front brake rotor had been rubbing for a while, so I checked the wheel and all seemed fine... it still rubbed when I rode though, playing on my mind, making me believe it was slowing me down. There was so much going through my head... was I going too hard? Would I catch Scott and Col? Was I going to go hunger-flat because in 50km I had only eaten one flask of gel, and still had heaps of water left? It didn't matter as it turned out. At km 70 (well 67 something), barrelling down the long descentl into Shepherd's Gully, I hit a nasty rock garden section going full clip and not in any semblance of control, and I heard it again....hisss, F%*K. A walk to the road at the bottom to where the marshalls were, and another rider waiting for the sag wagon. "Big Brett, is that you!" It was Tom, the singlespeeder I had met at this race last year, when we had a sprint finish. Then he kicked my ass at the Highland Fling later in the year. He was missing a fair bit of bark, and had also had 2 punctures while running second in the SS class...hardass! He offered me his front tube, but I was mentally defeated by this stage, and we decided a ride in the ute back to the pub would be a better option. So this morning I feel pretty disappointed that I didn't finish, but I wonder if I would've blown up due my lack of eating and drinking. Probably...the guys said the last 30km were torturous, with the 1km hike-a-bike at 75km particularly nasty. That's where Scott caught Col, who was reportedly incoherent as Scott tried to gee him up. Deano, meanwhile, was carving it up in the Vets class, smashing 200 odd riders bar one to take second place by a matter of seconds. Nice one Deano! That man can ride. Looking at the shattered carcass of Col,
and to a lesser extent Scott, and seeing all the riders coming in to the finish made me want to be shattered too, physically though, not mentally. But the beers in the sun with Tom helped ease the pain a little, and I was happy for the other guys. Oh I mustn't forget Andrea, who did the 50km race and finished 5th in her class! Way to go A! Her first race and all.... next year you've gotta do the ton though. And so do I! 70km (OK OK, 67) just doesn't cut it.
on Saturday night/Sunday morning, thus rendering me too tired/lazy to get out of a warm bed on a cold morning to head out to Killingworth for the HMBA club round 5. This didn't particularly worry me. Tim fron NZ came up for a ride in the arvo, so we hit up Glenrock with Kedan, Ben and Mal. It was a little muddy in places, I didn't think we'd had that much rain over the previous two nights. Apparently it was dry as a bone at Killi. We had a pretty good time though. Scotty and Deano were down in Woolongong for a State XC round, and Deano continued his anger-fueled bike-blitz with a win in his age group. Well done mate, again! Scotty had a solid ride too, he thinks he was 5th in his class... nice one bruvva. And in news from the Central Coast, Nath made his racing debut at Ourimbah, taking 2nd place in the B grade XC... tidy work indeed. 
Epic (90mm), and is plenty light. Just not too sure about carbon for MTB's. Not so much the material, but the look. Yeah, it's all about the looks! So I'm gonna wait it out and see what the '07 models offer. My bike is still a damn fine ride, and does it for me in the looks department. 
Basso dominated the race , but can he back up in July and take the big one? Probably. But I think Ullrich will be making him work for it. The Kaiser was just out for training at the Giro, and showed he's not far off form with a win in the TT. And now Vinokourov's team is in drug hell and sponsor-less, will he be able to pull together the remnants to back up his challenge? I'll get back to you in August.
Peipoli raises his arms in victory... WHUH? Was that gravel? No? Hmmm.... The helicopter shot goes beyond the finish line, following the road where the race was supposed to finish, up the gravel road. We deduce that the stage has been shortened due to the weather, and you can hear the wind being knocked from everyone's sails as we realise that's it. What an anti-climax! 
Maybe if Kedan had really spoken fluent Italian, as we had told the others, we might have known what was going on. It was pretty funny getting K-man's 'updates' though..."Hey Keedos, what are they saying now?" "Road's wet", "Almost there", "Gettin tired" would come his imaginative answers. So off the boys trudged, leaving only their souls and a pile of beer bottles and pizza cartons... Hey guys, Friday and Saturdays stages are also supposedly 'epic'... comin over?
And let me tell ya, it's a wild experience....some of the most bizzare images in between the racing...dogs interspersed with old people set to a backing track of heavy metal... young girls pulling inappropriate faces... and every night, the same strange audio phenomena... the images of the racing resume after a break... the commentators are obviously talking among themselves... they are quiet and sporadic with whatever it is they are saying...and it's not just a minute or two...oh no, I timed it at 6 minutes the other night. Then all of a sudden, "Eh, bongiorno blah blah blah Bettini, blah blah Basso" etc....weird shit. The racing has been top notch, our Robbie picked up a hat trick of stages, Basso has been ruling in the mountains, and lo and behold, who's that pumping the field in the time trial? 
JAN! Has done SFA the rest of the race, but that's what the plan is...be in shape for July. Has Basso put all his eggs in one basket, and fried em? Has Jan eaten one too many Bratwursts? These and other food related cycling dilemnas will be answered soon...
The plan was to get just the frame and a new fork, and sell off the Epic and Recon fork. So I rocked into work this morning ready to take the plunge, and a fax was waiting saying out of stock. It's probably a sign...saying I can't afford it, I don't need the extra travel, blah blah. So I will wait for the 07 stock to come out, but I want one NOW! I think it would be a perfect enduro racing/trail bike, 4.75" in the back, with a 130mm (5") Fox Float XTT 130mm up front. The only other option is the Carbon frame, but over $3000 for a frame is a little steep. Or is it? Hmmmm.....
and to a lesser extent Scott, and seeing all the riders coming in to the finish made me want to be shattered too, physically though, not mentally. But the beers in the sun with Tom helped ease the pain a little, and I was happy for the other guys. Oh I mustn't forget Andrea, who did the 50km race and finished 5th in her class! Way to go A! Her first race and all.... next year you've gotta do the ton though. And so do I! 70km (OK OK, 67) just doesn't cut it.
