Under the Knife

Went and got my 4 wisdom teeth taken out last week, also got and my broken, sworded through, and brought forward, plated and pinned. So my mouth is really sore. Main problem is that I cant race for 3month just in case I crash and smash my chin, so I all my races over winter will not be happening I am hoping to be fit for the Epic in late August. Doctor says That I could be back on the road training in Jun. So pretty bummed but it had to be done.

6+6hr ACT

I headed down to Canberra over the Easter weekend to compete at the 24hr Australian solo championships, they hold a u18 and open age group 6+6 hr race where we ride 6hrs on Saturday then 6hrs on Sunday, runs along side the 24hr race. This year was the hottest contested 6+6 that I had ever seen. Over the last couple years I had gone down to support my grandfather Neil Dall in the 24hr race, and seen that usually the 6+6 is pretty tame with the competition. Last year saw Andy Blair and the guy from Europe tear around the course for 12hrs which was awesome to watch, in the U18 Mark, tip over Brendon in the last couple of laps to win. This year saw 5 riders in the men's field really go hard from the start. My race plan was to go out hard and minimise the amount of riders I would have to pass, with the 24hr riders and 12hr riders on the course there were alot of people to contend with on the track. I lead 3/4 of the first lap till Nick Wilson a local jr and Darren from TLC bike shop on Canberra took off and almost making a 20min gap on the next 3riders in the first 3laps. Darren(open) broke away from Nick(U18) and was not seen for the rest of the race. There was Me(u18), Jamie(open) and Frank(open) trying to case nick down. Jamie really open up some speed and was able to catch Nick back up, and stayed with him for awhile. Frank and I just road around for a while altering between 4th and 5th each attacking then catching each other up. I broke away from Frank and road around by my self trying to keep the same lap times for 6hrs. Nicks time stayed pretty consistent and the gap was about 15min all day. I put my lights on around 5pm and road till I was dark to use them, my last lap on Saturday started at 15min to 6 and It was starting to spit and get really dark. right on 6pm it was like someone turned off the lights and the rain set in. I had done little night riding so riding at night in the rain was a whole other challenge, the roots where slippery but the bike and I were able to get around safely. I finished Saturday at 6:16pm, which is my start time for Sunday morning. Over night my bike was left which the mechanic from bike culture and check over everything, seems I had really lose cranks and he was surprise I made it around with out them falling off. Sunday Morning was cold and at 6:16am I headed out to race for another 6hrs. Nick started right on 6am so I was 16min behind him. This gap stayed this way until I did everything I could to pull him back I was about to bring the time down to 8min in one lap but I could not maintain this speed and the gap dropped back again. I finished 17min behind him in 2second place in the U18 and 4th overall.

My support crew kept me going alot through the race so I would like to thank them alot, No cramps for 12hrs which is awesome I think we might I figured out a perfect formula for my longer races. Thanks Nick for the hardest race I have ever done, great competitor and you were to strong for me.

Sunshine Series R2

I missed the first round of the sunshine series because of the Anaconda Odyssey, so this was my first high intensity xc race of the year. As a missed the first round I started on the second line of the grid and with a very short starting straight around 10-15m before we hit and up hill single track I had to go as hard as I could so I did not get shut out. There was a lead group of 5 that was set from the first fire road. Ryan, Casper,Decalan, Aaron and me, these boys for hammering it and It was becoming hard to keep up the intensity. 3/4 through the first lap Aaron and I were dropping of the pace then Aaron got a flat and and I was about .5 of a second from running right up the back of him. The 3 leaders were out of sight, I was trying to pull them in but had trouble with my seat post slipping down, I road the whole second lap sanding up because the seat had slipped all the way down. My legs were burning worse then they had before I was in alot of pain. I got back into the tech zone and was able to get a allen key of day to fix it. I maintain 4th position for the rest of the race, which was the goal after the first lap.

Round 1

Its been awhile since I have posted, but I wont make this two long. Race ok but not great down at the Anaconda Odyssey. Did not have the legs for the day but its all good. Came second in U18 and 8th overall. James Peacock who one the U18 category also won overall for the 50km race. James is a great rider and will be wining the elite 100km no doubt in the coming years. Back home I finished the last race of the summer cup series in A grade placing 4th. I love the track at Illinbah and I am getting to the stage where I no the course really well. I cant wait for the QLD state round and later in the year the National Round hopefull will be a course I can do well on. Got a packed today from 2XU with some new products in it which will be tested on the weekend. These include the new compression bibs, and the new elite jersey. Sunday is the first round of the Sunshine series, at Karingal, South Brissy. The sunshine series is the south east qld series which over the last couple of years has been the state series. This year the state series is actually going around the state with a round in Cains,Rockhampton,Gold Coast and Brisbane. Some more products from RLC Sport will be arriving tomorrow, new carbon bars,stem,seat-post,water cages and a ti Bolt kit. Promise pictures in the next couple of days.

Scud

Aiden Lefmann has hooked my up with some ultra sweet carbon bar-ends, these babies only weigh 90gs for the pair. They will be tested out at next weeks Anaconda Odyssey in Victoria. Check out all the SCUD range. Hopefully I will be riding with the whole set of SCUD components soon trying to toss up weather I go full Ti or Carbon?

Summer Cup r3

Last weekend was the third round of the summer cup series. A very muddy track was going to make the race interesting with most uphill sections having to be walked. Again the plan was to go out hard and maintain that, which I did, I was first for the first 4 laps till again a crash slowed me down. I had a get back to the tech zone where I had to straighten my bars around. I jumped back on the big clipped in then had a chain stuck and tipped off. I struggle with chain stuck a lot during the muddy race which is never fun finished 12th which is a set back but I will get over it. The best part of the day was warming up with QLD's best elite riders over at daisy hill. Dave is always a funny guy even when we were smashing up the trails. Both Dave and Aiden had stacks in the mud which was a good laugh, especially Aiden un-clipping not to see that the only place his feet could go was deep in to the water and mud. Every corner was a drift session which was super fun having the rear end slid every time you turned. Last pic is of Aiden, Dave and Frendo in the A-grade mens race

Summer Cup R2

Been a bit slack with this post. A couple of weekends ago was the second round of the summer cup series of races at the Gold Coast. Once again I competed in the B-grade class and was hoping to get my first win. There had been some rain over the last couple of days to the track was a bit slippery in place, anyone that has raced there before knows how bad the black soil mud gets on the bike, and how much harder the race becomes. The pace was fast from the start with my self and another breaking away on the first climb. I got around the first two laps clean with no probably and had about a 10m gap on second place coming into the last lap. The last lap was quick with the chasers trying to bridge the gap to second place. I really pushed hard on the main climb till I dropped my chain with a couple of up hill switchbacks left. I had to jump off and run to the top of the hill to put my chain back on, while I did this I dropped back to second place. The race had only a km left and It was very hard to catch back up to first. I came around into the finish straight only 30sec behind first.