Token Kid/ Tazydevil epi 2

Brad and I set out again on our second epic ride today. The ride was not a far or long as the last one but we had the camera this time so Im not going to write to much. I have made a video of todays ride for your viewing, that shows Brads love to the ground. also a pic of brad after the crash

An epic ride

Yesterday Brad and I set out on an epic adventure through out Brisbane’s suburbs. The ride started from Gap creek, and dirt was short lived as we headed off to Chain Gang bikes for brad to repair his bike. On the way the pace was high with brad smashing me through the traffic and up the hill through Kenmore. I almost got lost and brad went of to the left and I went to the right at the over past near the highway I was about 100m close to mixing it up with the traffic on the highway. I manage to catch up as he stopped at the lights and waited. At the lights too was one of the Merida Road team riders and we thought I would be funny to draft behind him for a while. We sat behind him at about 40kph for about 5min till he looked behind to see two teenagers on Mountain Bikes sitting on his wheel. He dropped us as he turned off the other direction then what we were going. Brad and I have a laugh about it that we could keep up with a Roadie on a Pro team. We got to store and got new break pads for brad, and then headed to NRG cycles to catch up with Gav and Erin. Must say that NRG is got to be one of the busiest bike shops in the world. Talked to Gav for a while and he showed me some new red skewers that we be put onto my bike for the new racing season. Erin had quick look at my forks and than Brad and I headed off to Gap to tear up the dirt. We were on the road just going threw Kenmore shops as out of the corner of our I we saw a young bird waiting at the bus stop. Thought I would show off and ride pass up the hill with no hands on the handle bars, and say the smoothest line in the world… hey, How U doing…. I think she was impressed pity brad kept riding otherwise I would have had a date for the night. We got back to the dirt and then found a good trail that we when up and down on. I helped brad with some of his line choices and getting up some more tech climbs. Saw Pooly and his dad out there which was good. Brad and I headed off home after stopping of for milkshakes, pretty tasty. Was around 80km by the time I got home and was a hard day in the heat. No pictures cause brad forgot his camera for the first time ever…. Going to ride Mt. Nebo tomorrow which should be another hard day in the saddle.

Brisbane

Everything is going well since I moved works good finally happy with a job but still takes away time from riding but I need the money. Next year should be full on with riding,school and work but should be fine. In the riding front I had 2 days off at the start of the weeks just to re-fresh again while I was at the Gold-Coast. Since then I have been up around the 5:30 mark and heading off to Gap Creek to sus that out more ride for about 5hrs then head home to relax. Moving into the permanent house on Monday which should be good will the rest of the bike fleet arriving. Building a work bench over Christmas which should be good, its going to have everything I will be needing to clean, repair and to keep my bike in the best condition.
Spats have new team jerseys coming soon so I will have a few hopefully by the new year. Going to get some more frames sent up to so I can display them at races probably 3 frames all up 2 of the MTB ones and then a road frame. It will be good to see some more Spats frames rolling around QLD.

Gap Creeking

4:45am the alarm went off this morning. On the mountain bike for the first time and 6weeks and was keen to hit the dirt. A 20min from wilston to the end of waterworks rd put me at the back of the Park. The ride over was pretty quiet not much traffic at that time of the day. I was glad it was quiet as I took in the area and went past the areas that were effected by the storms. A couple of Minutes later I was at the top of rocketfrog( i think that's right) and was belting down the single track. Rocketfrog was super fast and fun coming down but was wet in places and had to slow down over roots. Road around for about 4hrs before going home and in that time got most of the trails under my belt besides some that were closed. Hope fully head out tomorrow as the motivation for riding is high and I'm really looking forward to next years racing.

Rolling

had a good session on the rollers today for 2hrs, averaging around 40. I was a bit shaky to start with and almost had a massive crash but after that go used to them and power on. I'm starting to get the endurance back and the power in my legs. Might jump on the mountain bike this weekend and tare up Gap Creek depending on the weather. Hopefully get on the Brad and Declan and we can tare it up together.

I'm Back

I am back on the bike after six weeks off. A few reason that I decided to take the break.

1. Very Long, hard season of racing
2. Exams for school
3. Moving to Brisbane
4. Becoming sick.

I found that at the end of October I was becoming sick more often and that I was overly tired. With no break since November last year It had almost been a whole year of competitive raced all down the Australian east coast. So the break was need to refresh my self. With end of year exams at school I didn't want to so drained from training that I was asleep during my exams. Last I am in the process of moving to Brisbane and have limited access to bikes was making hard to train.

So the last couple of days I have been success full in being up at 4:45am to jump on the bike a pedal around. First day back (Sunday) my mate thought that my fitness would be good enough to get up over Mt.Nebo big mistake for a come back. Was riding ok I guess but my legs just didn't want to climb for the time that is needed to get over the Mountain. I was able to get to some lookout and then we headed back into town. We headed into the city to do the half river loop. which I must say is one of the best rides that I have ever done. which meant that Monday the full river loop was going to be tested. Again I felt fine on the flats and descending was quick, but just not the endurance to keep me going as a good speed. I average 30km per hour from home around the rive and back which is ok I guess... don't really know what most people do? so I will have a break today probably go for a swim and then do another 2 days. 2days on 1 day off should be fine to get back into it.

Moving

Moving to Brisbane in two weeks after exams finish here in Toowoomba. Looking forward to the big smoke and meeting new people. Got a job at Gold Cross Cycles which opens on the 29th of November. Will be attending Kelvin Grove State College for the remainder of my schooling for grade 11 and 12. Will be living in Gaythorne so close to gap creek, so will be able to hit dirt every morning. Had surgery on my foot last week so it is a bit sore so no riding had been taken place. I will be looking at returning to the bike start of December to start my training again.

Plans

New plains for this years National Series. I will not be competing at any of the National Series or National Championships for this coming season. The reason for this this the the last week or so I have been sick and have not been training. So I am not in the shape that is needed for me to be competitive at a National level. Also I am moving to Brisbane at the Start of December, which between me finishing school on the 28th of November, having to race on the Sunday for Nationals and then moving houses the next week was not going to work. I will be on the bike training hard again soon in about 3weeks or so once I am fully recovered and have had a nice break from the bike. I will be looking at training hard for the Otway Odyssey and the 2009 State Series, than tackling Nationals as a Second year U19 in a years time.

Freedom Marathon

2 weeks ago saw me take on 40km of Nightcap National Park. We arrived in Byron Bay about 30min away from the race on Friday around mid morning. Dark sky's where above us so tomorrow's race was not looking dry. We set up camp in a holiday village and than went for a walk down to beach to meet up with some other friends. Friday night came and the group went out for dinner at the main beach pub. 7:00pm came around and I headed back to the camp to check over everything for the race. 8:30pm hit and I was in to the sleeping back and off to bed. Woke up at 6am, 4hrs before the race so time to eat and drink. Good news was that the sky was blue, and no rain over night. We left Byron at 8am and arrived at the race just after 830am. Got the bikes off and went down to register. By the time everything was done I had about 20min till race start, so I set off for a bit of a warm up. Turn around and Jason English (BMC) flew past, his warm up is faster than my race pace. After winning the Scott 24hr in Canberra last week he didn't look a tad tired. After the warm up, I took my place on the line ready for the start. The 60km riders went off and then 3min later the 40km took off. 2 of my main rivals Casper and U19 rider and Kerian who rides for Merida in the U23 class, were racing too and us 3 went off hard at the start. Casper took off and the was the last that Kerian and I saw of him till the end of the race. Kerian and I stayed close, alternating second and third between us for the first 25km till... went down into a gully and shot straight up this mud slide of a hill. We both jumped of and ran up the hill trying to stay with each other. Jumped back on the biked and went to push down on the pedal but they didnt move. Jumped back off and looked back and my rear wheel with the chain all mixed up in between ahhh!!!, it was the biggest chain stuck of the year. 10min passed and I was back on pushing hard to catch back up. I realised that I wasnt going to catching him with about 10km to go, so I paced my self up the last hill which was about 124235km long till the last 4km of down hill till the finish line. Crossed the line in 3rd place after 2hr 27min of riding, average HR 180, Average Speed 16.5kph Max 55.1kph. 19min behind Casper, and 5min behind Kerian. Finished 12th last year after 3hrs of riding so got to be happy, 9 places higher and just over 30min faster.

New Bike

When Dan came up for the 8hr from Canberra he brought my new Spats Ti frame built up with all new 09 Sram, Avid, Rockshox, Truvativ parts as followed:

• Avid Juicy Ultimates, White





• Rock Shox Sid Race, Black





• Sram XO Rear Derailleur





• Sram X9 Front Derailleur





• Sram XO Grip Shift





• Truvativ Team carbon flat bar





• Truvativ Team double clamp seat post





• Truvativ Team 100mm steam





• Truvativ Noir cranks 175mm





• ZTR Olympic Wheelset with DT Swiss 240s Hubs





• Selle Italia SLR Saddle





• Ozriders Black Grips





• Xpedo Ti Pedals





• Schwalbe Nobby Nic and Racing Ralph Tires

The bike weights around 9.2kg and rides a soft and smooth as a carbon hard tail or carbon dulie.

8HR

Raced well more like road the Geocentric 8hr last weekend just for a bit of fun. Dan from Canberra flew up and we started off well for the first 6 laps till the heat really started to kick in. The starting pace was fast and dusty so not much room for mistake. I started of for out team of 2 and after the first lap we were in 3rd place, Dan's first lap was the second of the race and he went out hard trying to stay in a podium position. we changed each lap and for about 6 laps we were in 3rd. but then it was almost midday and the sun was blazing down on us. Dan was struggling in the QLD heat and stat out for a bit. I slowly rode around the track just to sock up time and not to smash my self. I did a couple of laps till Dan went out on his last for the day. I then went for another 2 than came home and sat down. by then we had 11laps done with 90min of race time left. We started to pack up so everything was ready to go before I went out on our last lap. Overall the race was physically hard as you wanted to make it, technically not much going for it got pretty boring after the 3rd lap. No first aid there at the race which in that heat wasn't great, as well as not first aid there was no extra water. Not very happy for the entry fee. Dan would of like to been up here for a bit to get used to the heat but that happens it was just a ride not really a race just a fun ride. Dan also brought my new bike up which I raced/rode on and it was great. I will give some more information about that In the next couple of days with some pics.

National Schools Futsal

For those that don't know I like to play a little soccer/futsal and when the chance comes around to represent your state at a National level you normally don't turn it down. Last week I represented Queensland at the 2008 National School Futsal Championships in Melbourne. We arrived in Melbourne on the Sunday and had to wait about 1hr for out bus great... So we got a ball out and pretty much played futsal in Melbourne Airport which was great fun, a Bit of a crowed turned out to watch to so that was fun. Our bus arrived and we where shipped off to the hotel which was a quality place, not. We played 3 games a day Monday against. New Zealand ( W-7-1), SA ( W-10-1), TAS NW ( W-6-1). Tuesday we faced our hardest day TAS SE (W-8-3), VIC ( D-5-5), QLD Country ( L-5-6). By then I had scored 13 goals and was top scorer for my team wooo! Wesnday was finals day and we went into the semi final against QLD Country ready to win. We started of well scoring first with in 2min and than we just when goal for goal, half time it was 3-3 and everyone was ready to pull away, straight off the kick of and we scored one followed by a second a few minutes later. We were winning 5-3 but the team made the mistake of switching off and we conceded 3 goals and lost 5-6. Everyone was pretty pissed so not much was said after that.

Road Racing

The lads from bikeline have been pushing me to enter a road race so I thought that this Sunday would be the day to do it. Saturday night there was a big storm that passed through Toowoomba so the race looked like it mite be wet, but in Toowoomba it doesn't rain two days in a row and normally the day after is really hot and sunny. Once again this was the case as we headed to the race there was no water to be seen on the roads. We arrived at the race at 6:30am and it was time to register. C grade was the Jr category gory so C grade it was for me. The race started at 7:30 and by then it really hotted up. From the start the race was quick with group of about 5 attacking on the first climb. I attach my self to the back of another Jr's wheel and just sat at the back of the group. By the ended of the main decent my group was about 500m in front of the chasers. The group consisted of 3 Jr riders and 2 senior which suited me. There were 3 main climbs left in the race so on the first one i decided that I would have ago at breaking the group up, which worked. The group split and the 2 senior riders fell off the back, leaving the 3 Jr's to sort out the podium. We entered the last corner and I was leading which probably wasn't the greatest position to be in as I was unable to see the riders behind me. I quickly brought up the speed with 200m to go and one of the riders had already dropped of leaving me an another to sort out 1 and 2. He was hot on my wheel and I could not see him with about 20m to go he attacked and i was unable to respond, leaving me to finish 2ND. Lesson learnt to no be leading coming into a sprint.

Sunday Group ride

Every Sunday 6:30 at the shop, this weekend was no different, was the first one there at 6:10 . The ride was going to be around 60km by the time we got back to the shop. The route took in some of Toowoomba's biggest climbs at fastest descents. We started to ride out to Highfields along the New England high at up the 'Highfields Hill', (most hills there is all-ways an attack) this time is was started by me. I rode hard, out of the saddle and was the first up the top. Waited at the top till everyone got back together then tuned down Murphy's Creek rode. The fast twisting rode was slowed down by the fog, we could not see 10m in front. The rest of Murphy's is mostly flat and the group stayed together in 2 lines with the front 2 pealing of every view K's. Everyone stayed together till we reached the 'The Range'. The Toowoomba Range is the main road to get up into Toowoomba, and is part of the Great Dividing Range. This is about a 4km climb which can take between 13-30min. Again I took off and smashed my self up this hill. The jersey was unzipped and the legs were burning but the guy behind me got into 20m of me but I was able to hold my tempo and and finish strong about 100m in front of everyone else. We got back to the shop and the coffee shop next to us was calling everyone sat down and relaxed after a hard ride.

School and Work

Has been hard to get out on the bike with exams at school so studying hard, also been working lots at good old Hungry Jacks, saving up for nationals and to travel to some other races. Getting a big ride in tomorrow with the Rodie group hopefully 4-5hrs and then off to work again. Last week of school next week , cant wait till the holidays.

Highfields

Out on the road bike today with the Rodie group from bikeline. Ride was good, 1hr a 15min on the bike before school, so I was happy. Ride went had some good climbs heading out to Highfields, did a loop in Highfields and than powered my way back to Toowoomba. Normal Thursday routine with the crew off to the Coffee club after but not for me this weeks as school was calling, maybe next week...

New Sponsor

Spats Ti Frames have been taken on bored as my new bike sponsor. The Titanium frames are designed in Canberra by Aussie MTB nut Johnny Musladin and look and feel awesome. I will strapping up on the Purge with the 17inch only weighing 1345g. The Purge is the classic XC frame made from 3AL/2.5V seamless Ti double butted tubes. Non Integrated head tube, with a round top and down tubes integrated into the head tube. The Purge also comes with a traditional rear seat stay, V and disc brake mounting points, and comes in a stylish brush finish. Spats makes another MTB frame, the Cage. The Cage weighs a little bit more at the 17inch being 1394g. its made by the same material but has a ultra-stiff integrated hour glass head tub. The road frames Carburet a combination of Ti and Carbon gives you the best of both worlds, the Javelin is your classic sleek and elegant road frame, and the Catapult is the Smooth-lined road frame.

Men's XCO

Saturday arvo saw the Men tear up the XC course. 45 of the world best riders took to the technical course on Canberra's Mt Stromlo. Ralph Naef of Switzerland smashed him self and the course in 1hr and 45min. Australian Cris Jongewaard was always in the mix finishing an impressive 10th. Other Aussie including Olympian Dan McConnell finished 12th, Lachlan Norris 19th, Dylan Cooper 20th. World Champion Cristoph Sauser struggled from the gun still hurting from the Olympic games last week. The Olympic gold and silver medal winners were not present for the Canberra World Cup round heading back to France after the Olympics in Beijing.

Womens XCO

Saturday morning it was the Elite women's turn to smash through the Stromlo dust. Australian Zoe King went out hard but by the top of 'Cardiac Climb' she had blown up seriously. Russia's Irina Kalentieva led from then on and didn't look back. The 44kg Russian flied around the course in 1hr and 39min not even tired, with time to spare she posed for a picture with me. Australia's highest placed rider was QLD Jodie Willett in 7th place. I was lucky enough to have rode the course a lot with her on Thursday and got to have a good chat with her about the course. It was unlucky for Aussie Tory Thomas who was right up there with the leaders till a flat tired pushed her back finishing 13th.

U17 XCO Race

Friday I took place in the U17 XCO race, the biggest field of all the races on Friday with about 30 riders taking place. Didn't Start well, probably my worst start of any race this year so for the first section of single track I stayed in about 12Th lucky that didn't last long as I found some room to pass. After the first 500m of single track 1km of up hill fire road sorted everyone out, I lock the forks and pushed on hard up into the lead. Then we entered 'blue gums' a quick twisty single track section before the main world cup technical climb known as 'Cardiac Climb' the plain was to be in front here and I'm lucky I was, as I had room to maneuver about a 20m gap till second place. I pushed hard up the climb and around the corners over the rocks till the top for about 1 or 2km. Next was the main technical down hill section 'Hammer Head' Since the most grounded point with spectators I thought I would hit the A'line to give them something to cheer about, rode it well and they cheers. Rode about ten meters than crash badly on easy section silly mistake I didn't concentrate for 5sec and payed bad. Crash into a thorn bush and struggled to get out, by the time I did I dropped back into 4th. Got back onto the bike and rode hard to catch back up. I pulled in 3rd by the end of the first lap and had only one more lap to get back into the lead. By the end of the climbing on the second lap, second position was in my sight and I was only 15m away. I rode fast into corners and had some very sketchy moments. Almost to the end and I was sitting on the wheel of second getting ready for a sprint finish then.... POP! flat tire with 400m to go still trying to stay in 3rd but 4th was closing fast and riding with a flat doesn't make you go faster. Went around the last corner and 4th was right behind me I tried to go with him buy the wheel was gone and I finished 4th.

Fly away

Bike packed and ready for the 2008 Mountain Bike World Cup in Canberra. Racing on the Friday should be interesting after the Epic on Sunday but that tracks good so should be smiles all lap.

The EPIC

The time had come for arguably the hardest and most important race of the year. The half epic or Merida Pursuit stretched over 56km of some south east QLD roads, fire roads, paddocks, and best of all the Hidden Vale single track. The race started at Mt Silvia about 45min drive from home. the race its self was hard, a mixture of everything if you couldn't climb you lose time, if you couldn't descend you would be over taken and if you could put your foot down on the flats you were dropped of the back or quickly brought back in by a chaser. For some reason everyone else started before the open men and elite men took of so it was a matter of battling through the ground for the first 10km. The gun went off for out start a straight away the pace was high, since the first section was up hill I was able to pull away from the pack. I said to my self as I looked up at the hundreds of people struggling on the hill that started in front of me, ' if anymore people get in front of me than there already is, this hill is going to take hours'. With the rest of the opens and elite men group behind me I powered up the hill trying to lose my competition in the crowd. As I went over the top of the hill no one was on the other side with a free following decent in front of me. I hit the road at the bottom of the hill and was quickly brought in by a group of 20 riders. The there was a small group of 6 elite riders who powered off on the front. after a little more time the were riders dropping of the back finally leaving a group of 6 heading up Laidley Gap. I decide to attack again trying to leave the group on the climb. As I quickly pulled away from my group if pulled in 2 riders that had been drooped from the leaders. I made in over the top of the with the 2 other riders. As went through the half way checkpoint, Mum met me with 2 new bottles and some more food. We powered off again down the road till we went though a gate leading into a paddock, again another hill confronted us, and as before I attack on the climb. One of the other riders came with me and we continued to push hard on the flats trying to pull way from our chasers. 2hrs into the race and my legs felt fine but suddenly the cramps started. I feel back off the wheel of the other rider struggling to keep the pedals turning. Close to the finish and I was met with a group of 3 riders, one of who was Ryan the other guy in the U19 Category. As we got closer to the finish the pace was lifted by Ryan at the front and I had no other choice but to go with him. I was right were I need to be on his wheel till another cramp st oped my leg from moving. Ryan pulled away, just in sight of the finishing banner only 25sec in front, second in the U19 category. I had lost the race because I ran out of fluid and food, with this being my second half marathon it was a lack of experience that that caused this mistake but something to remember for the next race.