What is V O T S A ...visit their website. 

Even when we make good choices in life, buy a house, establish personal relationships, start a family, some money in the bank, become a career soldier and serve the community and country in places and do the things no-one else wants to do, life can take a unpredictable turn.

Unfathomable by most, a fog  begins rolling in. A prelude to a storm.

There are men and women in our immediate community that have knowingly sacrificed their birthdays, their family's birthdays, christmas and innumerable other special days sweating, freezing, fighting, training, dying and living in war zones.

Sadly, some of these same people are now experiencing exactly the same circumstances only now they are on the streets and homeless in our community. 

As ex-serving soldiers, and a cyclists, Dave & I are blogging about our training, racing and experiences leading up to and competing in a 24 hour mountain bike race in April 2017 and using this as a medium to raise awareness of V O T S A to the community.

Dave & I feel, that by supporting this organisation, we are continuing with the promise we made as soldiers by giving some 'covering fire'. 

Also, to raise a few dollars for what we believe is a very worthy organisation. 

Every blog entry we will be reminding you of how to, please, visit the V O T S A website and how to, please, donate some of your hard-earned cash towards the fight in supporting others that are still fighting a battle even after returning from war. 

GrindinGearz 6 hour...What a cracka!

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What a cracka! 


The course was... awesome, fun, scenic, tough, rewarding, climbing, flowing, fast, leg busting, fun, fun, fun...!!!

Some head-down pedalling
(photos https://www.facebook.com/grindingearz)

One of the features to a good race is the attitudes of the organisers and volunteers they recruit. 

Without a doubt, the super attitudes from the course marshalls, to the dudes keeping the HOT showers and toilets really clean all weekend were outstanding!

The camping/track-side area was flat, plentiful & very easily accessed. The raging camp fires are always a very welcome, toe warming, beer drinking, social aspect to an event like this.

Lots of this... (single track bliss)
(photos https://www.facebook.com/grindingearz)

I was very impressed with Andy Fellows victory speech. Andy shared his thoughts about the race and the people that organised it and the people that rode it. Nice work Andy.

The Mount Perry, 6 Hour, Gold Rush, is one very classy event!

Around to the right, then the left, again and again!
(photos https://www.facebook.com/grindingearz)

Three things standout most in my mind during the race:

1. Jay Taylor. A very respectable 2nd to Andy Fellows in the elite men's, coming past me asking how the final lap timings work and if "redbull is good to have on the final lap" My response, "pedal till they say stop and anything that has sugar is perfect for your last lap!"

This was fun after the awesome switch back descent
(photos https://www.facebook.com/grindingearz)

2. All of the very nice congratulations I received from nearly every rider I came across on the trails. Some I knew, some I didn't. T H A N K Y O U. I was very suprised and as I responded each time, sincerley, it means a lot!!!

Lots of beautiful scenery.
(photos https://www.facebook.com/grindingearz)

3. The most outstanding memory is all of the awesome and gutsy efforts I saw on the trails. Being a solo only event there was no place to hide for anyone. I was greatly motivated by the all of the riders I came across on the trails that were quite simply putting their heart into their legs converting it into kms. Freekin' awesome!!! If I came passed you on my SS and gave you a pat on the back and told you how well you were riding I sincerly meant it.

Thanks GrindinGearz for putting it on.

It wasn't just the awesome single track that was rewarding.
(photos https://www.facebook.com/grindingearz)

Until next time: Put your heart into your legs and convert it into kms on the track.

dog

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WEMBO 24 Hour World Championship Italy

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Here's a different type of blog post for me. Let the photos do the talking.

Until next time, get some Ay Up lights, train your butt off during the winter and ride your bike towards your dreams. dog


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Italy

. Two days in the Dolomites and two days in Riva Del Garda riding my MTB and climbing about 9,000 metres...legs are weary. Photos and world 24 hour race report forthcoming once back in Australia. Dog

Pre Race Jitters

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After training and racing for a few years now, rarely do I get pre race jitters. I do for this one!

The great thing about having these feelings, it is a nice reminder that I still find racing is exciting. Racing overseas is even more exciting. New trails, new riders, lots of unknowns...etc.

Two more sleeps and we will be on a plane. 22 hours later we will have our feet down in Italy. Pick up our hire car, drive for 3 hours then meet up with our dear friends Rach and her mechanic, coach, pit biatch Shannon.

I am pretty sure I will be way to eager to ride the trails. So much so I reckon I will have to get on them the same day we arrive.

As a post race treat, my dear, sweet woman and I are travelling for another couple of weeks. One of the highlights will be getting into the mountains to watch some of stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia! AWESOME!

I have gone back and read some of my closing comments on previous blog posts. Humph! Nice little reminders of how I love to ride and race my bike.

Ciao Ciao...

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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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Race Day (LunarC 8 hour)

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Dear reader

I hope you are still out there, somewhere?

What is the LunarC?

• Well, the race starts at midnight on Friday night. 
• 9.5km circuit. 
• Do as many laps as you can in 8 hours (130 mudfest kms for me last year).
• Ride/race with good friends.
• Catch up on missed sleep with a couple of hours sleep on Saturday. 
• Then head out for another training ride on Sunday. 

Sounds like a near perfect weekend!

I am happy that I blogged this race last year. I was able to check out the mistakes I made. Most importantly, I have a slightly easier gear on my single speed. Only one gear easier, but this should make a race of difference.

New jersey, new team, same old legs. However, Jens Voigt is always an awesome source of race motivation...

Jens Voigt doesn’t complain about what suffering does to him… but suffering constantly complains about getting picked on by Jens Voigt.

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BOgear (bike bling)

I am always impressed by innovation, design and vision that produces an awesome product. BOgear is a Brisbane based company that ticks all the boxes with its gear.

One of the magical features of their products is they happily customise, modify do whatever is necessary to quickly post out a product that will do what you want and will last a lot longer than only one season.

Check out the BOgear website.

Everything I have ever done has lead me to this moment...

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I recently watched the film 127 hours. In brief, it is a film about a free, adventurous and happy dude that got his arm jammed between a rock face and a large rock that dislodged. Trapping him. 127 hours later he came to the conclusions there was only one way out. So, he broke his forearm bones and cut his own arm off, escaping and was able to get help.

During his time stuck between a rock and a hard place one of the realisations he came to was this. 

Everything he had ever done in his life led him to the situation. The rock that had spent millions of years doing its rock thing had been waiting for him and that very moment.

Today is 2 years to the day that everything I had ever done led me to meeting the woman of my dreams.

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Kirstie. Thank you for taking such time & effort to put together such an amazing, wonderful & complete woman that you are today. I love the way you walk. I love the way you laugh. I love your smile. Passion, vision, support, dreams, strength, encouragement, sharing. All this & more we fit into one day. I am so looking forward to smashing out this moment, tomorrow & the rest of my life with you.

Until next time...dog

Race Report Merida 24hour

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During the dark hours of the night a rider came up to me on the trails 

and started saying "he has gone to bed, the next rider is however far 

behind...etc" I politely said "I don't race anyone else except for myself"

I don't set my goals based on someone else's performance. 

Especially in 24 hour racing.

One incident saw me being a lot less polite. A tard over took me on 

fire trail then proceeded to chop my front wheel rubbing rubber on rubber! 

He felt he was in the right because he told me he was overtaking. 

Well let me set you straight muppet! You were in the wrong! 

I make no apologies for my barking and growling abuse. You deserved it. 

My goal was to punch out 330kms in the 24 hours. I achieved 325 in 22 1/2 hours.

You will read lots of lap by lap reports on this race because there 

were plenty of laps done out there.

Here are some of the decisions that made my race so successful.

1. Lots of calories: I know when my legs start getting even the 

slightest calorie deficiency. I avoided this feeling all race.

2. A well set up Bike: Shannon at Koiled has built me the most amazing,
custom, Titanium, Single Speed. On Shannon's advice, I am more stretched out.
This saved my back & shoulders.

3. Do it before you need it: I fitted my batteries, leg warmers, put on my merino long sleeve undershirt and ate a burger in about 5 minutes. I did all this about an hour before necessary. I put my warm, dry gear on before I got cold.

4. Stick with day time lines: I experimented with smooth flowing lines during the day and stuck with the good ones all night.

5. Hydration: I managed to catch up on hydration during the night in preparation for the 6 hours of sun at the end of the race.

7. Do it before you need to: As the sun started to rise I took off my sweaty jersey and undershirt. I put on a clean dry jersey. Left my leg warmers on.

8. Motivation: Find it and stick with it...

There are a few other good decisions I made during this race. I won't tell all today. You can always catch up with me at a race. Those that have met me at races or on the trails will tell you that I am willing to share what I know.

Until next time, no excuses, just keep pedalling. Love dog.

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Tailwind Promotions 24 hour xc race

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Almost 2 years ago I did an event known as the Insomnia 24 Hour. It was another mud-fest. Little did I know that this event was the start of a very big change in direction for me.

I met the woman of my dreams. Timing was perfect, location was perfect, the woman was and still is the perfect woman for me.

What does this have to do with the 24 hour race that starts in a few days?

As most of you that have read my blog will understand, I ride my bike by myself, for myself. This weekends race I am riding in celebration of the day I met my life partner. 

I picked up another card... (read here for explanation) 

...Just when I thought self motivation was enough, I found that with the love and support of another person, so much more motivation and energy is possible. 

Kirstie will be riding her bike, for herself just as she was doing the first time we met.

Merida 24 hour race report to follow in the next few days.

Back to Front Report (Tailwind Super Series)

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Lots of racing can mean lots of race reports. Generally they start out with "The lead up to this race wasn't the best..." following on with "I started the first few laps too fast, but then settled in..." moving onto "I passed him, she passed me, the track was good, bad, ugly..." You are all getting the picture here.

I am a couple of races behind so here it is back to front. Tailwind Super Series

10. The three amigos at the end of race 2. These are also the top 3 series points holders for the Single Speed category.

9. Race 2 saw lots and lots of mud, sticky mud, sloppy mud. I even saw the bottom half of someones derailleur in the middle of the trail.

8. A good friend of mine and a very tough single speed competitor Al Cook and I spent the first half of the race attacking each other. I was in front when I got a flat. Grateful I had tubeless tyres I was able to pump it up a few times & make it home. Al passed me in the pits when I was getting it fixed. He then got 'flat legs' surprisingly I caught up very quickly and didn't see him until the end of the race.

This always only makes Al more determined next race. Damn! that's Race 3 the Merida 24 hour. Now that is going to be some serious pain.

7. Pre riding the Race 2 track was very valuable. I was able to pick the right front tyre, the right single speed ratio to use on my Koiled SS. Most importantly, I was able to plan the start of my race. Most of the mud was in the very first 5 minutes of the race. My start plan was to be right up the front to make sure I had a first good lap time. I shared this information with Al and a few others. This proved to be a very good decision.

6... more to follow soon...

dog