Luck runs out

Lining up with some new faces in A grade—plenty of lycra and everyone riding light hardtails—the weather was stuffy and warm. It didn't take long to raise a sweat during a short warm-up. Predictions were for rain later in the day, but I hoped it would hold off until after the race.

Launching off the line in usual sprinter fashion, we headed down the trail in road-train style. Over the course of the first lap, track conditions at Yarramundi proved dry and fast—just not fast enough for me, as the pack rode away over the next few laps.

It was on the second lap that my mechanical luck finally ran out. Turns out it has been a very, very long time since a major mechanical put me on the side of the track.

National Parks had been out with the slasher, trimming here and there and leaving a variety of sticks across sections of the trail. It could have been one of these, or just a random black wattle that jumped out from the edge to catch itself in my rear derailleur. Many times before I’ve caught a stick, pulled up, and removed the offending piece of timber. This time, the little blighter ate half my jockey wheel teeth on its way through—strike one.

Getting caught on a spoke, the lumber continued its destructive path, taking the derailleur hanger with it—strike two. It looked like a mess of twisted shiny metal and black plastic jockey wheel teeth wrapped around dark wood: classic MTB Deco Pop art.

After flipping the bike over and manually twisting the hanger back to a much straighter stance, I gave the pedals a quick spin to make sure things worked... just. The derailleur had a bit of a limp over half the cogs, but worked best on the smaller gears of the cassette. I jumped back on and completed the lap without further mishap.

Out on lap three, it was best to drop to the granny gear for the power-line climbs, then wrestle the bike single-speed style in the middle ring through the undulations.

It was lap four of five when the next incident hit. Flying down a technical descent: phf-shhhhhhh. Strike three—a punctured front tyre and tube, just a quarter of the way through the lap, and instantly flat.

My enthusiasm deflated just as fast as the tyre. I don’t consider a DNF part of my racing, but with three strikes, it was front and center in my mind. I shamefully trekked my bike back to the start/finish—the first time my luck had truly run out.

The Silver Lining

On the upside, while commuting home on Monday and trialing a new 50–60 minute route, I came across a nice tool that had taken a small beating on the road. Turns out it's probably a hundred-dollar item, and the damage was only minor.

The new route will also be great for steady spinning on flat terrain.

Ground Effect - Juggernauts

With words to describe these shorts like "Super-sized" and "long legs" I was very interested to try them out. Grabbing myself a couple of pairs I have been wearing these shorts all over the place. From commuting to and from work to training with lycra clad bandits, or racing XC.
These shorts fitted well with a breathable detachable mesh chamois liner. The chamois is Ground Effects anatomically shaped synthetic foam very similar to their seamless foam used in their lycra. The outer gave that slightly baggy look and is hard wearing, standing up to even my biggest off. The outer features lower leg zips and handy mesh zip-up pockets for when the heat is on. The crutch of the outer is well gusseted to give plenty of room when moving around the saddle.
Sadly the shorts didn’t reach my knees as promised and the super size bubble was burst. Juggernauts should live up to length expectations for most bar my super tall friends. These are well priced and solidly built shorts that hang nicely loose amongst the baggy brigade.

Read more reviews here

Scott 24 with Raging Bull Racing

Race along the crit track, down the fire-trail, two wheel drifting around the first corner to the outside of the gate. Keeping the pace up along the open trail to the short section of bitumen (now known for the spew patch). The first section of single track is dry and hard packed can be pumped and weaves through the shrubbery. The next section caught me out with its additional lumps of soil, when attempting a high speed passing maneuver found me improvising over a mound of dirt and weeds.
The climbing at Stromlo comes with switchbacks, a great place to get familiar with the 180 turn (team Powered by Freddo calls them Bill-backs). You could join a couple of conga lines lead by a slower rider, courteously passing riders when the opportunity arises. The GT was stiff and turned on a dime, it was light and accelerated swiftly when making a break for it on the sections of fire trail. The track and Bill-backs open a little as the climb continues and it wasn’t till the traverse across the top of Stromlo that it narrowed and turned just a bit rocky.
Choosing the right line became important as maintaining momentum during the traverse. Reaching what seems like the highest point, check my watch to find almost 30 minutes on track. Now for the fun part, descending off the mountain. Squeezing between the two big rocks it is all burms, drops and tabletops. It was this terrain the Velvet R fork loves. Once again it was line choice and keeping loose, soaking up the rough stuff. It was here on top of Stromlo I passed a few familiar faces, one of the fast SCUM juniors and part of the winning schools teams. Yes it was a Binder and yes she tried to latch onto my rear wheel after a quick hello. Diane Perry was pondering life atop of the mountain, "Crummy why am I doing this?" she asked switching up the last climb. Over on the decent I came across Bill of Bill-back fame tensely making his way around a small bermed high speed corner. "Bill-back", I call as I follow another rider on the inside line, "Come on Bill!" The backside and downhill trail included a couple of A line choices in the way of drops and rollovers. Everyone must have seen someone or be involved in a over the bar incident while riding these sections, it seemed like everyone had a story.
Reaching the start of Skyline, during the night laps you would head straight through to Skyline and chomp on a bit of the main downhill track before linking onto fire trail then back onto single track somewhere before Wombat Junction. On a day lap we headed left before Skyline transitioning on to the relatively smooth tabletop section. Get enough speed you would clear and often pump the mounds, reaching even more serious speed. What a ball it was.
Now the course wound its way back to near the main area via Wombat Junction and all the rocks, to only tease every rider by winding back away and crossing over the track. It included enough climbing to punish a rider not leaving a little in the tank. From here it was relatively smooth sailing, with plenty of speed down the fire trail. Braking late into the right hand corner of a dog leg, pump a couple of bumps and head into what became a muddy mess. Virtually the only wet part on course lead under and around, then back onto the crit track.
So I ended up doing six laps for the team Raging Bull Racing. The team completed 19 laps and placed mid field in the mixed fours category. It was good to catch up with many people at the race and I was happy to be on the team side of the fence again.

Scott 24

Watch out for this fun team this weekend.

Working towards 2010

A long weekend should have been a good time to do some more training. Saturday saw me head out with a very small group of hardy weather-resistant tri-athletes. A couple of flats, partial precipitation and four hours later I rode home hungry not expecting to be out for so long. It was hard work in the wind with a small group and a slow leaking rear tube. Changing the tube at the turnaround point and a thick bore pump saw a low pressure rear tyre for the return trip. Nothing like doing the hard yards, at least I had the wind on my back.
The rest of the weekend didn't go as well as the start of the weekend. Inconsistent showers, rice hail and wet tracks saw me only go for short casual rides for the remainder of the weekend. Why ride every day? What is all this for? Worlds 2010. I think it is official. Canberra will be the host of the 2010 24hrs of Adrenalin Solo World Championships. After aussie domination overseas, with the likes of Gordo, Mr Williamson, Fenz, Mr English, Shane Taylor, Mr Fellows, Bozz, Mr McAvoy smashing in both elite and age groups, and that is just the blokes. I am going to be there and having fun.
Being on the bike and having fun will only be part of it. It is going to require a combination of raising my level of fitness, study and practice of technique, and development of a strong mind to produce a top performance. Forming a focused training program will be the foundation of further developing my aerobic system.

24solo2010, join the team and have some fun.