World Championship 24 Hour Racing in Italy

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a) Tickets booked.

b) Race entered (Solo Single Speed).

c) Accommodation and Vehicle sorted.

d) Countdown has begun (3 1/2 weeks until R A C E  D A Y!).

Check out these trails...

I am confident I have just enough form to show up and have a good fun race. There is lots & lots & lots of climbing in each lap. Looks like about 500 metres per 18km lap.

The best part about going to Italy for this race is I am going with my life partner and another couple of great friends.

Mr. Ay Up Lights is very kindly putting together some brand spanking new super bright lights for me along with some other essential accessories. My current Ay Up lights are 2 years old now. They are still outshining and outperforming all other lighting systems. I am really excited about these new ones!

Until next time...


...It's easier to say no after saying yes, than to say yes after saying no. Grab the opportunities when they come along. You'll never know where they lead you.




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Eat, Sleep, RACE, Eat, sleep, recover....

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(photo courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)

There's something undeniably attractive about endurance mountain biking. Race two of Tailwind Promotions Super Series was a 4 hour event that saw me riding 4hrs:20 something minutes.

My Koiled single speed.

  (photo courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)

It is all the small things at these races that make it a great event for me. Let me share some.

• The sound of dirt crunching under my tires
• The simplicity of pedalling my single speed
• Zipping through the single track
• That painful feeling in my legs when attacking a climb
• Watching other riders suffer - with a smile/grimace
• Asking another rider "how's your ride going?"
• Overcoming discomfort, hunger, thirst, tiredness... 
• Hearing my friends in the transition giving me a "c'mon dog, smash 'em!"

Just a little insight. There are more. Feel free to visit this FB page and share what you like and don't like about endurance mountain bike races.

Shannon at Koiled has designed and built a beautiful bike

(photo courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)

(photos courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)

Single Speeding was the perfect bike for this race. I saw 4 of the top riders of the day walking back to the transition area with broken derailleurs, all at the same time on the same part of the track! 

A pressure blaster cleaned it. 1/2 a can of water displacing spray lubed it. All I needed to replace was a chain. It was on its last race anyway.

How did my race go? I had a tiny regret that I could have pedalled harder in a previous 8 hour race. So this time I hit the pedals hard. I tested out my legs and the legs of the other single speeders. There was absolutely n o t h i n g left in the tank. That's exactly how I like it too ;-)

I came across lots of tough-arsed solo riders for this shorter race. Often looking back at their race number, seeing they're solo, then yelling, "SOLO-MAN/SOLO-WOMAN!" giving them a little something to temporarily pull their heads out of the hurt locker.

Ride of the day goes to....drum roll.....

 (photos courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)

Shannon and his very pretty and very tough daughter! She was a pleasure to share pre-race banter with in the Koiled transition tent. She was visibly tired at the end of the race but still in great spirits.

Darn, she'll be kicking our butts in the solo category soon!

 (photo courtesy of Alan @ Imagewerx)

Until next time, don't stop pedalling and moving forward or you'll fall off.

dog

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Junior Road Racing and HPRW.

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What a great weekend of racing.

Saturday morning was the usual roadie criterium club race. An hour of lung and leg busting fun. I then had the pleasure of riding around with the juniors as a bit of safety and assistance.



It is obvious the work HPRW are doing with their juniors program is showing results and the program is gaining momentum.



It is so good to see the already hard working volunteers sticking around for a little longer to make sure these little 'uns are catered for. After all, it's not just fat, middle age, men that don't like golf that start cycling.

Without the juniors our sport will die.



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LunarC post race report

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Lots of 'Lunar-tiCs' showed up for this years race. The weather was absolutely perfect. Every rider I came across during the 8 1/2 hours I raced, without exception, was polite and in good spirits. Over-taking and being over-taken was a very pleasant experience also.

Team Koiled. Get used to seeing this kit on the road and trails.

How did my race go?

After getting my gear on, and organising my food table, I went to check on another Koiled rider. "Hey Nick, how are you feeling?"

"How many bananas are you going to eat on the first lap??"

Nick was a little unsure of his head space. Long working days, late night...all mixed up with some pre-race nerves meant Nick was struggling to visualise a successful race. I put a few last minute tips on the table to try and help him get sorted.

I wrote my race plan on the top tube of my bike

Sharing these little tips with Nick helped me get my pre-race head sorted out too.

My dear friend and fellow, tough-arsed, Koiled rider Rach was unable to race due to an illness. A very smart decision for an endurance rider. So, she sent me a message. The message included reference to ripping some legs off! My response was caught with this photo...

Evil Grin

One of the most important factors for me to have a successful race is a good support person. Someone organised, reliable, calm and knows how I ride and think. For me it is my training partner, best friend,  and wife. The best thing is this is the one person!!!

"Biddon, coke and a Tim Tam please"

Kirstie and Ty were able to get all this done with out me having to stop!

"Nice catch Ty"

The assault weapon of choice for this race was again, my tried and trusted, custom titanium, single speed, no suspension KOILED mountain bike. I had to ride the bumpy, rocky descents a lot slower than usual. However the bike went up the climbs by itself.

A little pedalling was required on the ups.

I managed to speak with a few people on the trails. I shared a few tips, yelled "attack the hill" to few riders, gave a few friendly pats on the back and high 5's. Lots of huge efforts to be seen all night. This is always very motivating for me to see others giving it their all.

At the end of the day, or more accurately, first thing in the morning I rode well enough to win a couple of prizes and do my bit to get Team Koiled on the podium.

"Thank you In2Adventure for another awesome race!"

Tip for the week...


...Train for your race. Race what you train.




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