24hr Solo World Champs, Canberra

9th-10th October saw the 24hr Solo World Champs in Canberra, its been 3 weeks since and I figured I better write a race report.
I found out that I had qualified for this race about a year ago and thought I would head over and do it. Qualifying meant not sucking at the 2009 Moonride 24hr Solo, this also happened to be my 1st 24hr solo race and I ended up in hospital after it (but I didnt suck). Figured I had a year to train and prepare, but really, how do you train for a 24hr solo event aside from lots of long rides?
The year went pretty quickly, I figured I would head over and compete in the race and not get too serious, I was going to have fun and that I did.

I would have never imagined I would be racing a course like this for a 24hr Solo event, my laps were around 1 hour 25 minutes and the course was very technical. All quite different to the sub 30 minute laps and flat, smooth course the Moonride offered. But this was a World class event!

I shared a site at the race with a friend from Wellington which kept setup costs down. We were all very organised, the whole event was very well orgainsed.

The race started at 12pm and we ran a short distance to our bikes and soon we were on the singletrack. The course was 18kms long and consisted of what I would call 4 sections. The 1st section was a technical uphill with lots of sharp switchbacks, rocks to climb over etc, I think I liked this section best as I found it the most fun to ride. This climb took us to the top of the course, we would cross this path again later on in the lap. Section 2 was the downhill section that followed, it was technical and rocky. On this downhill section we would meet a track called Pork Barrel, this was a very technical track with dropoffs and all sorts of things to climb over and negotiate. It took me a couple of laps to get properly comfortable riding this whole section with my seat up. Seat down would have been a  breeze as this is how I often enjoy the technical stuff, but I figured in this sort of race I should ride with it up. Once at the bottom we would get onto section 3 where we had some wide 4WD track, some long uphills, a few short downhills and some good pinch climbs. I found this part of the track particularly boring. Section 3 would take us back up to the top where we would cross paths with where we were with the top of section 1, a bridge had been constructed over the track. There was also the only aid/fuel station at this point. Section 4 followed with some more single track and then onto some very fast smooth flowy track that would take us back down eventually to the event village.

I raced from 12pm to 10:30pm at night, I stopped each lap for a new bottle, I ate some food and had a gel. I believe my hydration and feeding was very good and well organised for the event and this was thanks to my partner Candice. I would usually stop for around 3-4 minutes.
I pulled into the pits at around 10:30pm, I had just had a rather sketchy lap, I was tired and fatigued, it was dark and I no longer felt too confident riding down the technical downhill, I felt like I would make a mistake and I had had previously plenty of close calls. I was racing this for fun after all and decided I would get a sleep in, I thought I might as well get a decent sleep in too and slept until 4am. We had stretchers to sleep on that were borrowed from a friend in Canberra, they were ideal.

I was back on my bike and racing again at 4:30am, I managed to get 4 more laps in finishing the race at 10:30am. I could have got another lap in and the race allowed you to finish up until 1pm but I felt like packing it in. I ended up with a result of 11 laps which meant I had come 39th in my category (out of 50) and 282 overall (out of 264 starters).

I didn't see any spiders or snakes or other nasties out there while I raced, I did have a Kangaroo leap out in front of me though and I did see magpies dive bombing other racers.

Awesome event, definitely world class, the organisers did a brilliant job!
This was the hardest race I have ever done and an awesome experience too.

PNP Stage 2 - Wainuiomata

We had great weather for the 2nd round of the PNP so I decided to take my race bike + I couldn't face having to ride up that firebreak on a Singlespeed. If it was going to rain for this race I had decided I would not register as I still hadn't got over my cold.

I lined up on the start line with the Enduro men, the biggest class of the PNP with around 40 entrants, I was near the back but after the start count down completed I sped up to the group in front. I entered the fire break road with the leading bunch and raced to the top, some people dropped off but I remained at the front. It was a tough climb and my lungs exploded with pain - I guess that's what having a cold does to you. There were some steep pinch climbs near the top where I jumped off my bike and ran up as did others. Then we were at the top.

We were all neck and neck, about 4 of us, we weren't in front though, there was a guy further ahead we were chasing.

We followed the ridgeline to the start of Labyrinth track, I was 4th to enter in our chasing group and then at that point everyone seemed to slow down. The racer in front of me was very slow down Labyrinth and almost came to stand-stills on the 180 degree corners, though there wasn't much room for passing he would let me through either. Unfortunately a whole lot of riders had caught up to me as well. The guy finally let me through and a couple of others when we got to Snail trail. I barreled down the track but quickly caught up to the leading group, a 1 guy let me through and then there were no more places to pass. We go to the bermed switchbacks and I was hard on the tail of the rider in front and then from out of nowhere Tryfan with his bike flew over our heads and landed in front of us, he had hit a kicker on one of the corners, it was the most amazing thing I have even seen before my eyes in a race!!
At the bottom of Snail Trail Tryfan indicated the shortcut we were allowed to take and I followed him down there, everyone else went straight ahead. I am not sure if it was much of a shortcut for me as I believe I lost a couple of positions.

I then raced the rest of the race without seeing any of that leading group, I caught up with Tryfan though and rode a section of the race with him.

I dropped my seat for B-Line which im glad I did as this aided to a quick decent and later on I dropped my seat again for Spoonhill which was very muddy and rough.

I sprinted across the finish getting a 5th placing with 1:21:42, it was a close finish for the top 5. It felt like it had been a good race for me and I had enjoyed it more than Makara, though today my cough is worse than it was :(

Day Night Thriller training ride

This would be the 3rd time, 2nd 12hr Solo I would do of the Day Night Thriller. I had never found the course particularly exciting in the past but we we told due to logging they had changed the course. Unfortunately the course wasn't any better, just slightly different.
I wasn't competing in the Day Night Thriller for fun, but more for practice for the 24hr Worlds next month.

2 weeks ago I competed in the 1st round of the PNP, unfortunately is was a miserable day and rained throughout the race and unfortunately for me I got very sick from this. I had the the following week off work which worried me for upcoming Day Night Thriller.

We were pretty well organised for the Day Night Thriller, we had a good setup, we were practiced.

I was then lined up at the Start line with the rest of the competitors, we were stretched across this field and there was a lot of us. Actually there was a massive amount of us at the start line, more people I have ever seen on any start line aside from the 160km Taupo round the lake.
We had the count down from ten and then started. We all raced across this short field and then into this right corner. Things where very tight, I was mid field and if felt like everyone had their elbows out. We then got onto the course and things were very congested, I felt like I was crawling along at times it almost impossible to pass the thick throng of riders, I was in a huge traffic jam.

I rode the 1st 2 laps quite aggressively, constantly passing people, trying to work my was past all the slow riders that had started ahead of me and there was a lot of them.
By the 4th lap I had slowed down and settled into a pretty good pace that I was happy with, but still constantly passing people. I felt like I was using more energy calling to pass than actually riding the course. There were a lot of riders on the course, much much more than the Moonride, fortunately there were many places to pass.

After 4 hours I started getting some mean back pain and this continued to get worse, I also wasn't feeling so good, I guess I was still recovering from being sick. After 7.5 hours of riding non stop I pulled into my pits and had a sit down. I wasn't feeling so good, my legs were fine but my back was sore, I lacked energy and motivation. It then started to rain and I thought given the circumstances I would pull out.

The Day Night Thriller wasn't a race for me, it was a good 7.5 hour training ride.

PNP Stage 1 - Makara Peak

Last time I entered a PNP race on a Singlespeed bike I finished last, so I didn't hold high hopes for the 1st race in the series. Combined with a flu like symptoms, a sore throat and it was raining heavily outside, if I hadn't pre-entered already I would have stayed home in bed.

Often when people see a Singlespeeder they think of a fast rider, I am not that person, I am not fast on a singlespeed. I had initially planed to enter my race bike, my (geared) Blur XC, but I just couldn't face the servicing nightmare after a good thrashing in the rain. After all aren't singlespeeds more reliable on wet weather rides? And I pre rode the course last week on my SS and all wasn't too bad.

Feeling soft I entered the Enduro class, I didnt want to race T3 and I had some friends that I often rode with entering this class so I felt it would be nice and competitive.
On the start line the rain started up again (it had stopped briefly) and it pretty much didn't stop until well after the race had finished.
I felt the race went pretty well for me, at times I felt I didn't have a big enough gear and at other times I felt a bit fatigued on the climbs. Throughout the race I held my position pretty well and not many people passed me and I did pass a few. On Nikau Valley I over steered on one corner and rode into the bank bringing pain to my foot that I managed to ignore for the rest of the race.
After more climbing I was at the top of North Face, this meant there was no more uphill. I also found that there was no more pads on my front disc brake and a sparingly amount on my rear. I managed to get to the bottom without crashing but there were plenty of sketchy moments where the use of effective braking would have helped greatly. I passed a few more riders.

I was across the finish line in 1:43:46 earning me 11th place, nothing to be proud about. The Singlespeed felt like it had had a good thrashing. I think I would have been a lot faster on my race bike but it was great knowing that it wouldn't need a overhaul before my 12hr solo in a couple of weeks (Day Night Thriller).

Unfortunately after the race, my cold kicked into full gear. Today as I write this I feel terrible and don't believe I will be back at work tomorrow either :(

The DMR thats not

It was my birthday recently so I thought I would treat myself to a new bike. I had been on the lookout for a replacement for my DMR Singlespeed, I was looking for something lighter in weight and with XC geometry, it also had to made from steel.

I had my eye on a Kinesis decade Virsa made from Tange Prestige and weighing in at 4.8lbs. Chain Reaction Cycles had these for sale in the UK and when the Emerald Green frame came in stock I ordered it.

There is a great review on the bike at Bike Radar which essentially sold me on the frame http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/decade-virtue-09-34708

Kinesis partnered with Upgrade Bikes who are responsible for DMR to make this frame. Under close inspection the Virsa looks a lot like a current model Trailstar but with XC geometry, lighter weight and without the ISIG tabs. The bike shares the same swopout system as the DMR for the rear dropouts.

I built the bike up with a combination of new and old parts - Reba 100mm forks, Stylo 700mm flat bars, Juicy 7 brakes, Stylo Cranks, Mavic/DMR/Hope SS specific wheelset. Running a gear ratio of 32:18 the bike weighs in at a modest 25.3lbs - quite a bit lighter than my old DMR.

On the trails the bike feels responsive and fast; the bike climbs quicker and easier than the DMR and descends almost as well. The bike runs a 69 degree head angle and with the 700mm bars this inspires confidence and allows the bike to handle beautifully downhill. The 71 degree seat tube allows for snappy acceleration and climbing ease. The bike has a low bottom bracket at just under 12" this makes the bike very fast on tight single track but it does suffer often from pedal strike. Kinesis Decade say the frame is designed for forks between 100mm and 130mm.

I have 2 rides under my belt so far on this bike and am loving it, there is no going back.

Its a shame I have this new bike and wont be competing at the Singlespeed Worlds in October.

Back into it

I recently got back from a work trip to Seoul, this meant I had been off my bike for over 2 weeks. I had visions of hitting the gym while I was away but this never happened. I was working long hours and coupled with the 30 something temperatures and high humidity at the end of my work day, exercise was the last thing on my mind.
Seoul was a great city but while I was there I wished for clean fresh air, there was quite a bit of smog in the city and every restaurant or pub we went into allowed smoking.
And I feel like in my couple of weeks away I have added some extra weight as certain clothes aren't fitting as well either.

I got back last Sunday afternoon and after a rest day on Monday I was back into my riding. I pushed my usual pace to the top of Makara and to my surprise my head was spinning when I reached the top. Wednesday night I hit the trails again with some (fast) friends and struggled to keep up, but at least this ride felt better than the previous days. Thursday I went for a run at lunch time to ensure that if I still wasn't feeling pain from the previous 2 days I would be that day. Friday I had off as I let my legs recover from the run. Saturday I got a text saying "hard and fast" this resulted in a couple of painful laps around Makara Peak with a couple of friends. And then today I have been out again repeating yesterday's effort but on my singlespeed.
Hopefully with this weeks effort I should be back into it.

Dawn 2 Dusk a 10hr Solo DH race

Run by the Rotorua Mountain Bike club, the Dawn 2 Dusk is a multi lap Downhill event (team or solo) into its 2nd year running.

There are 4 sets of tracks you ride to get to the bottom, you can ride these tracks in any order and any amount of times but you had to do a certain number of compulsory runs of each. This year there was a pedally loop which was Billy T, G-rock, Chestnut, Rollercoaster, Chinese menu. You had to do 1 lap of this, you had to do 2 of corners, 2 of Jumps and 2 of the National DH. You would get stickers at the end of each track to confirm you had done it. Unfortunately there was really no way to force people to ride the courses properly and people were taking shortcuts or missing sections of track out. The fastest tracks to the bottom were the DH and Jumps (with the shortcuts) and this is what people wanted to ride.

I entered last year as a solo but didn't take the race too seriously, I missed the start and treated the day as a fun day shuttling. This year I thought I would try and take the race a bit more seriously.

The race was a hard race to do competively as there are so many factors you need to take in to do well in this race. While the main factor is your riding ability and how quickly you can get downhill, your race can also depend on the shuttle trucks and how they transport you back up the hill. Last year there were problems with the shuttles, there were often huge wait times to get you back up the hill, thankfully this year this wasn't really a problem.

There were other problems though and myself and a couple of other riders faced them, this was where our bikes fell off a trailer transporting them to the top of the hill. The suspect trailer had been borrowed from the Christchurch Southstar shuttles operation where they drove smooth tarmac roads to the top of the Port hills, the Rotorua uphill was far from a smooth drive up.

If there was ever an argument for why someone would need a bashguard on their bike, I was a strong contender for one. At close to 12pm on the way back up to the top my bike was flung off the trailer wheel braces and landed hard onto the trailers edge hitting my bike's chainring square and hard warping it beyond belief. I guess I was pretty lucky that no other damage was caused. After assessing my bike I slowly rode down the jump track, I couldn't pedal, then went on the search for another chainring and some bolts for my bike.

My hopes for this race were now gone, I almost felt like giving up and thought I was going to have to. After asking around a bit, the Revolution Cycles (Transition Bikes) crew sorted me out. After a search, a replacement 34T chainring was found and a couple of bolts. I installed the chainring and bolts, I was only running 3 but this was enough if I took it easy and didn't pedal too hard out. I think I lost a couple of laps while I mucking around trying to fix my bike.

I continued the race but without the dedication I had had in the morning. The rest of the race was uneventful for me and I finished it getting 12th place (18 laps) out of the 36 solo riders.

Cheers to Helen for the photos

Running again

Busy today at work and then meetings after lunch I planned I could only get a 30 minute run in this lunch hour as it would take time for me to get ready before and after and of course I needed to eat lunch.

Of all the training I do I still find running the hardest. They say running requires 3-4 times more effort (energy) than cycling, so my 30 minute run today could be equalivant to a 2 hour bike ride.

It was raining and cold this lunch hour today and I forced myself out for a run, I thought today I would just run out to the point and back, a bit shorter than my short usual run. I would also step up the pace a bit too so that I would be sure to get back in my 30 minute allocated time frame. Out to the point and back was roughly 6kms. There wasn't many people running today, but this was understandable given the crap conditions.

Running on road doesn't do much for me in excitement terms, much like road bike riding. I need things to keep me interested, keep me going. One of those things is music via my iPod and the other is these little goals I set myself. When I talk about little goals I really mean I try to catch up to people and pass them, if someone passes me I try to match their pace. The catching people and passing them goal works well for me, its great passing people, makes me think I am doing well. The matching pace when I get passed goal often doesn't work so well and buggers me out quickly. Fortunately today I was only passing people.

Running today seemed like more work than last week, though I dont feel as sore it did feel harder. Not sure if that was due to the weather, my faster pace (was it really faster?) or was I just having an off day?
28.22 minutes later and I am back, happily under my 30 minute estimate. Shower, a quick lunch and i'm in time for my 1:30pm meeting.

A proper ride for the Nomad

Today was my 1st proper ride on my new Nomad bike, though technically it was the 3rd time I had ridden it. From the continuously non stop bad weather we have been having lately the rain had finally stopped for the morning. Riding in the rain I can do, riding in the cold I can do but both together I don't really enjoy. So fortunately it was just cold.

I rode to the top of Makara Peak, it was a pretty sifty ride, not too fast but a good pace. I was thinking North Face would be a muddy bog down so I opted for Ridgeline. When Ridgeline is this worn and slippery after rain, the track really shines - it was seriously a lot of fun.

Back at the bottom carpark I thought I would give the bike a quick rinse with the hose before I continued, unfortunately someone else with more gusto than brains accidentally drenched me with their high pressured hose.  At least they thought it was funny...

I continued on, next I thought I would ride up Salvation and then down Deliverance. Deliverance is another one of those great tracks when its wet, it keeps you on your toes. Fortunately Deliverance wasn't muddy at all, plenty of slippery rocks though for shits and giggles :)

Post ride thinking about how the bike performed. I felt its uphill performance was as expected, I run a short stem on it and a burly build. The bike climbs well and comfortably, though I wouldn't do any serious XC races on it. Downhill performance was good also but not as great as I expected, I think this was due to the feeling the DHX Air rear shock gave. As mentioned below the shock has a factory tune of High Compression and I think this is where the problem is. While this tune aids climbing ability with pro-pedal, downhill with pro-pedal turned off the shock feels too bouncy.
I have read that the small bump sensitivity isnt the greatest on the DHX Air and I can agree to this. I am going to have to have a good play around with the settings on this shock, there are plenty of them. Santa Cruz forums suggest putting a coil shock such as a DHX RC4 on the Nomad makes a massive improvement, apparently Push Industries recommend this also.
Maybe this is something I can look into later.

Bitterly cold commute

Thankfully most mornings aren't this cold over winter (or summer).

I knew it was cold this morning before I stepped out of the house, I thought the cold would be comparable to how cold it was yesterday, boy I was wrong.

3 Merino tops, 1 Merino legging, pair of shorts, 1 Hi Vis jacket and 1 rain jacket later I was ready to go I also had a pair of waterproof/windproof riding gloves. I decided not to wear my water absorbing waterproof labelled pants I usually wear when it rained and just went with the merino leggings today. I was riding to work today, I am a rain or shine cycle commuter.

There was a more rain on this morning's commute and it was much colder than yesterday, this insured I got cold very quickly and remained cold until I got to work. Fortunately my commute is not a long commute and can do it in around 20 -25 minutes, if I were to take my road bike I could clean it in 15 minutes. My trusty commuter is a Generation 1 DMR Trailstar single speed, I run a 34:18 gearing which I can spin at a decent speed. My commute to work includes hills a couple of ups then downs into town. The uphill combined with the single speed gearing help on days like today, they are a great way to try and warm up a bit or adjust my temperature from "very cold" to "cold" as was the case this morning.

I only saw one other cycle commuter on the way to work this morning but that is hardly surprising given the circumstances. We both threw glances at each other our expressions confirming how crazy each of us were. I arrived at work to an empty bike cage aside from the few other bone dry bikes that staff seem to store in there for an eternity, I saw 1 other guy locking up his bike. In the changing room while warming up my hands with cold water I laughed with 1 other at how crazy the commute into work today was.

I'm now assessing my commute to work this morning, while my shell protected my top half from the water, my bottom half got soaked. My face, ears, feet and hands got so cold they hurt while the rest of my stayed a bearable cold. I need to get some better gloves, find my balaclava and maybe get some booties/covers or something for my shoes. I also need to get some mud guards again, for my bike.

Mornings like this morning

Mornings like this morning its hard to get motivated to train.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my early morning training rides and I do these training ride with a friend Chris (great way to keep motivated). We meet at 6:30am then ride for around 1.5 hours then I will start work at 9am (instead of the usually 8am).

Chris was sick this week so that meant training Tuesday and Thursday was out for him and I didn't head out Tuesday morning as there was a lot of rain.

This morning I woke about 20 minutes before my alarm went off at 6am. While I lay in bed I listened to the gale force wind outside, the wind always sounds worse inside out house than it actually is but I knew it would still be strong. Strong winds meant a road ride was out for me. I had planned to do an easy ride this morning after the run I did yesterday, I was sore from my run. I though it would be nice to do an easy road ride out to Makara beach but this would not be the case.

After the alarm went off I got up and feed the cat and readied myself for a mountain bike ride, got my lights and some warm riding gear. I headed outside and went and got my bike. It was bitterly cold outside, I didn't have too many layers of clothes as I knew I would warm up soon after I had started. I was cold, it was windy and it was dark, I got my bike and then it started to rain. I thought things over briefly in my head and decided I could do early morning, cold, windy and dark but not rain as well. I put my bike away and headed back inside.

I still plan to fit in a training ride today, but I will do it tonight on my wind trainer and road bike.

Went for a run today

Got the new training schedule for the 4 week period the other day and coach has slotted in some weekly running.

Last year over Winter I did quite a bit of running, usually once a week, sometimes twice. It was an easy training session to fit in as I could do it in my lunch hour at work, rain or shine. Sometimes I couldn't get out for a training session on the bike so running was a great way to keep me fit.

Today was my 1st run since the Business House Relay event about 2 months ago. The Business House Relay was a 2.5km team event I did with some work mates, that was my 1st run in several months and before then I had only run twice this year.

My 4th run this year was today, coach had slotted me in for a 20 minute run and I thought I would take it easy as I hadn't been out for a while. 20 minutes and taking it easy went out the window shortly after starting and I did my regular (last year "regular") 8km run around the bays, up the hill and back. I got back in around 37 minutes which I think is a fairly average time for me for this distance and route and I think because of this I will be sore tomorrow, possibly be walking funny.

One thing riding the 24hr Moonride solo taught me better was to keep pace and in today's run I felt I kept pace a lot better than I used to do. Previous runs I remember my pace often varied, I would start out fast, then slow down a bit and then die (but still keep going) for the return run home. Today's run felt like an even pace right through to the end and I event felt I could speed up a bit on my last leg home. And gone were the times I felt I had to chase down everyone who passed me, I did pass people but this was from just running at my set pace.

Because of this, post run I didn't feel destroyed like I used to and this meant it was easier to get on with my afternoon's work. Though like I said above, I will be sore tomorrow.

I think this running will be a good thing for me again and I will keep it up, over this winter.

Wainui Winter Weekender

After suffering from a virus since Tuesday this week, I was hoping I may have come right by today and raced tomorrow. But i'm still not well so have pulled the plug for my race.
Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow.

A new bike for me

I have just built up my Nomad Mk2 frame, I used all the parts from the Blur LT2 hence the frame on sale now.
This bike is to replace my Blur LT2 and Driver 8, the bike will be used as an all rounder from Trail riding to Downhill.
I have ridden the bike only once so far but I am very impressed already. The bike feels like it has a lot more travel than my Blur LT2 had.
The bike feels great with the Talas fork set to both 130mm and 160mm, this is surprising as the Nomad geometry is based around a 160mm - 180mm travel fork. With the build the Nomad feels very well balanced and I dont really notice it being heavier than what my Blur LT felt.
The Nomad pedals up hills very well. I was surprised to see the max compression tuned DHX air on the bike, but I am told this is standard. The shock feels very plush with Pro-pedal turned off and turned on it feels very stable, this makes the bike pedal up hills easily. With the Blur LT, I never noticed a difference between Pro-pedal on or off but this bike climbed great regardless.
Cant wait to hit some more trails on this bike.

2008 Santa Cruz Blur LT2 Frame for sale

The Blur LT rules. Seriously. It has a super-durable and comfortably light aluminum frame with 140mm of VPP suspension travel, featuring grease ports in the lower link, carbon fiber upper link, and big 15mm alloy pivot axles running on adjustable angular contact bearings. Straddling the line between XC performance and all-mountain abuse, the LT is a leggy trailbike that climbs sweetly, throws nicely into turns, and flat hauls ass downhill. If you could only have one bike, this would be a hard choice to beat...


2008 medium Santa Cruz Blur LT 2 with Fox RP23 shock

Shock has recently been serviced by Rick at Krankin

Frame has recently been professionally painted (powder coated), this was done through Santa Cruz NZ.

Frame includes q/r seatpost Collar and FSA headset.

This bike is the best bike I have ever owned and I feel sad to sell it but I have just picked up a new frame so I no longer require this.

2010 Moonride 24 Hour Solo

2 weeks up to the event I was off work feeling sick for 2 days, then on the Monday my cold hit me a bit worse. I was back at work, I still did my Tuesday morning training ride though it was a struggle. Each day I would turn up to work and in the morning load myself full of Zinc, Berrocca, Panadol and nasal spray.

Thursday we drove up to Rotorua and met a Mark and Arthur - 2 of my work colleagues also doing a 24hr solo, we had gone 3rds on a Camper Van for the event.

I still was sick on Thursday and the nasty asthma attack I had on Wednesday night worried me. Friday swung around and my cold was mysteriously gone, just in time.

Friday was a bit of a waiting day, we waited all day so that we could register at 4pm, but this also meant we relaxed. After registration we headed down to the event and started the setup. A few hours later some more friends from Wellington turned up to race the 24hr Solo.

After we were setup we had a bit of time to kill before the race started so I thought I would try and get a few winks in. Sleeping can be pretty hard to do when your excited about something and I think in the 2ish hours I put my head down I only dozed off once for a short period.

Race briefing rolled around at 9:30pm then Race start at 10am. The 1^st lap started off with a race down the road and back before we jumped onto the course. There is always a scramble at the start of these races and since we were racing solo –  we were in no rush, the 6 of us took up the rear of the field.

Laps were 8km long (apart from the 1^st being a bit longer) and my plan was to ride each lap at a good pace but not raising my heart rate over 130bpm which I worked out was approx 55% effort. I had a menu prepared that my manager (my partner, Candice) used to feed me every 2^nd lap and replace my drinking bottle. I had my race pretty well planned out and  with my manager this worked great for me.

I planned to sleep at 4am for 2.5 hours, then start the race again at 7am. I felt this sleep would be important for my energy levels as well as to warm up. I wanted to get 12 laps in before 4am but only managed to get 11 in.

The 1^st – 3^rd laps of the race I was cold, it was 7 degrees outside and I had trouble warming up riding at my slow under 130bpm pace (Actually this pace ended up being a bit faster than I had initially thought).
I rode laps at around 30 minutes each, stopping every 2^nd lap for a refuel in our pit area.

Having a Camper Van made a huge impact on us for the event, my manager could stay warm between my laps and when I came to sleep at 4am I really did sleep and slept well.

After a solid 2.5 hours sleep I got up and changed into some new clothes and ate breakfast, I was away again by 7am. I stuck to my 130bpm heart rate pace and continued around knocking laps off at around 30 minutes each. My next challenge was the 10am start for the 12 hour and 6 hour teams and I managed to time it perfectly where I started a new lap at 9:45am. I completed this lap and had about 10 minutes in the pit area while I waited for the majority of fast riders from the 10am start get through. Then back on my bike and I was off again.

Over the course of the day there was a lot of hustle and bustle on the track as riders tried to push past us solos and other slower riders out there. There were many good places to pass which riders used and there were bad places where riders tried to push through. I saw quite a bit of carnage out there including a young kid getting taken out by a pushy rider and one of my fellow solo riders getting taken out of the race by someone crashing into him. Fortunately for me I was pretty lucky, I had only one incident where I rider tried to pass me on a narrow section of track and pranged into the back of me causing no injury – after shouting at the rider he claimed he could do as he wanted as he was “leading the race”. Of course this is all pretty normal for the Moonride, I would hate to be one of the more inexperienced riders out there as I am sure it would not be an enjoyable race. Most riders were pretty good though and called “on your left” before passing and waited for you to let them do so.

At 3pm I put on a change of clothes as I had sweated quite a bit and was feeling cold.

Close to 4pm was the last lap for the 6 hour teams and so there was a lot more pushing and bad riding as people tried to get through to finish. After this the field obviously thinned out and laps became easier to ride.

I stopped for a short Dinner at 5pm and was told I was coming a disappointingly 9th (out of 17 male solo riders). I ate a bit too much lasagna and when I started again I felt terrible, but came right after 3 laps. At this point after dinner I also put my lights on and within 1 hour it was dark again.
All of a sudden it felt like a lot of people had stopped riding or were riding much slower, this made for easier laps and I also quickened my pace a little, riding to a heart rate bpm of 140. It was great knowing there was only 4 hours to go and I counted down the time each lap I did.

At around 7pm I was told I was now coming 6^th, this gave me a new lease almost to try a bit harder and try and move up the rankings. 1-3 placings were far off but 4,5,6 were close. It was around 8:20pm and I was told I was coming 5, but I had just squeezed in, I was beating the rider by 1 lap. I knew I could get 3 more laps in and it was great knowing there were 3 to go. I picked up my speed, I no longer tried to follow my heart rate pace. I knew if I could get these 3 laps in that was all I needed to do to hold this position and the next placing up was quite far off so I didn’t aim for that.
I completed my last lap with just under 25 minutes to spare, I figured I may have been able to get 1 more lap in if I really went for it but I didn’t need to. I was stoked that I had come 5^th.

Later on I had found out there were a duo of Tandem riders who had entered as Solo riders. The woman was disqualified as she would have gotten 1^st place in the women’s, though they let the male rider have his podium 3^rd. The results later showed differently though and I had been bumped to 4^th in the male riders.
I am very happy with this result, I felt I had put a lot into this race in preparation and training everything worked really well for me and I cant thank my manager Candice enough for looking after me while I was out there.

This is my 2nd 24 hour solo for the Moonride, though this time round I was more organized and experienced.
4^th Place in the Men’s 24 hour solo, 40 laps, approx 320kms

Bring on the World Champs Canberra!!

For Sale: Santa Cruz Driver 8 frame (near new)

Defy The Pigeonhole
Named after the much missed former head dog of Santa Cruz, the Driver 8 is a tough beast to categorize. Combining 8 inches of VPP travel with a solidly built chassis that allows 7 inches of up and down seat adjustment - and well thought out details like a super burly pair of long life, low maintenance pivots, a 1.5" headtube, an 83mm bottom bracket with ISCG05 mounts, and a 150mm spacing rear end with a Maxle thru-axle - the Driver 8 is a versatile, tough, fun loving, gravity fed wrecking ball. Daily duty DH racer? Park bike? Freeride bike? Heavy duty hucker? Backcountry bomber? Yep. All of the above...

Medium Santa Cruz Driver 8 frame
Fox DHX RC4 Shock

Comes with:

Syncros 1.5" Headset
Gease gun
Seatpost clamp
SDG I-beam seatpost and seat
Maxle rear axle

Frame has been ridden less than 10 times so in very good condition

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=26269

Will sell outside Trademe for $3000

Selling my Driver 8 and picked up a Nomad 2 frame

I seriously thought about selling the bike at the beginning of the year due to lack of riding it, but I couldn't do it. This time I can and have already sold the build parts from the bike, so the frame is for sale.

I have also picked up a 2009 Nomad 2 frame with a DHX Air shock, the parts from my Blur LT2 will be going on it.

Not sure if I can sell my Blur LT frame though, so I am thinking of transferring the parts from my Blur XC onto it. I have a sneaking suspicion the BLT2 might be faster up and down with the VPP2 suspension and improved stiffness, I'm just damn keen to try it out.
Though the BLT2 is a pound heavier than the XC, setup with a 100mm travel fork it will have similar geometry. The XC BLT2 will have a 10mm shorter top tube, same wheel base, slightly more aggressive head tube angle and a lower bottom bracket height, than that of the current BXC.

My Rides

These are the bikes I currently ride, all are custom built aside from the Cannondale

Santa Cruz Blur LT

This is my "Do it all" bike, I have ridden and raced XC to Downhill on this bike. The Blur LT is my favourite of my bikes, I purchased the frame when they 1st became available in 2008. The bike has gone through a few different setups and has recently had a new paint job replacing the old white.


Santa Cruz Blur XC (race bike)

Because I love my Blur LT so much I wanted something similar as a lightweight XC race bike, this is the reason I got the Blur XC. This bike I use for XC training (pictured with training wheelset) and XC racing.

Santa Cruz Driver 8

I picked this frame up in Canada last year, I was after a Nomad but the shop had one of these, was much of an impulse buy more than anything else. This ride rides DH sweet, it is super plush and handles easily (for a DH bike). Also pedals up hills not so bad too.

DMR Trailstar (gen1)

Built and custom painted forks and frame a couple of years ago. I have raced this at the SS Champs each year as well as this being my commuter bike. Ratio is 34:17

Cannondale Caad9

This is the only stock spec ed bike I own, its a 2010 model. I purchased this for training though already thinking of maybe doing some roadie races on it. Rides really nice for an Alloy bike, nicer than a lot od carbon bikes out there.

2010 Makara Grand Loop Challenge

Last year I ran this event with the help of friends, Bushlove ran the event this year. For "shits and giggles" I thought I would race this XC race on my Driver 8. The Driver 8 is hardly a XC bike and more of a Freeride/Downhill bike, I had ridden the bike to the top of Makara Peak before so I thought it could be interesting to race it for this event.
I was seeded near the rear of the entrants, how quick could I be on this bike? I rode the bike to the top in 39 minutes 12 seconds, this I felt was a pretty respectable time. I put a lot of energy in riding this bike up the hill as it was a lot of work, I even passed a couple of people on the way up!
I was a bit worn out for the downhill but being a 8" travel bike I could make a lot of mistakes on the way down and it was just a matter of holding on.
I completed the course in 51:37 and came 21 out of 39 and was the only racer on a DH bike.