The Highland Fling 2013

Iconic

Prestigious 

Longer than most

Festival

End of year catch ups

Paddocks

Creeks

Hills

Bagpipes

A weekend away

All spin around the minds of all mountain bikers when the words ' The fling' are whispered.

Months out from the race MAGELLAN my sponsor and also the major sponsor of the event offered me a ticket to race with for free. Knowing my story of my stolen bike well I still agree to race and hope the planets align in all other areas so I can race on the day.

Lucky for me I get to ride the Rocky Mountain Element again, which I picked up on the Friday before the race.

Once I get away from work on Saturday I head for the m5 to escape the city only to realise at the airport I had forgotten my helmet, my new helmet so I'm forced to turn around to retrieve it. 7plates of sushi later I'm back at the airport enroute to bundanoon. 30mins before rego closed so it was quite easy for the ladies to know my name as I was the last one to do rego in my category. Now to find my tent..... Luckily I bump into Wilson tent building pty ltd on my way in and we head over to camp to share many laughs and set up bikes before game day, to the disgust of one fellow camper who thought it was necessary to yell SHUTUP..... It wasn't even 1030pm, it's quite a different atmosphere within this camp compared to the Convict marathon where I feel people are a lot more chilled.

We awake to bagpipes at 530, at 535 I attempt to drown it out with john butler tunes to the joy of James. I'm mr calm then James is mr stressed as he can't find his cycle knicks.. One hissy fit later and a few laughs I'm mr stressed as I'm not organised and rush off to find my support crew, with the help of the event microphone. Maybe some free advertising is always helpful but it solved the problem in a place with no phone reception, let's just hope Tim Stubenrauch could find my eski and meet me at the feed station, he's a guy that gets shit done and he's word is as reliable as steel. But the what could go wrongs went through my mind. On the start line I had a small look around to see who was here, but really didn't get involved, I was deep in my own thoughts in my own zone. Pretty happy I left the leg warmers on, looking silly compared to the Canberra guys. There is no tough points up for grabs if it fatigues you and you don't finish the race.

In usual 2013 mountain bike race fashion, the drone goes up and the racing gets underway, with big dog (Xc specialist) charging off the front, I'd see him again at the 75km mark packing his bike into a car. No matter how fast you are, it can come down to how long you can hurt for. I was ready for a lot of hurting. The 110km category riders swarmed around us as we slowed the pace, it was nice to have more MAGELLAN riders around for company, but I know the fitness of these guys and I know I brought my Diesel engine with me, not my V8 so I knew it was not a smart idea to try and hold their pace.

Looking at my strava I have done 400kms in the last 4months, I'm up against guys who do that midweek. My staying power is my best weapon, so I settled into my rhythm ready for a day on the bike.

We approach the free bike wash, I trudge through and it's only 15mins into the day. I would never feel my toes again from this point onwards, my thoughts where ' I don't need feet... I just need legs' back to the job at hand.

Get through stage 1 without going to deep into the hurt box

Stage 2 survive it so you will want to do it again.

Stage 3, let's just assess that when we come to it. But knowing if I had come that far surely another30km is possible.

Entering wingello everything was under control, stopped for a quick feed from tim, and I was on my way over the rail line and into the part of the race track sets the tough from the weak really fast.

It's been a couple of years since racing the fling and was caught out by the extra amount of single track, it felt quite slow and loamy and the rocks and tree roots were to get wetter and quite tricky as the day went on, as they had no grip compared the dry sometimes loose single track. Up and over the wall and further away from anywhere, passing the feed station you begin to descend a long way down. It's plenty of time to think about the impending doom of halfway hill and everything else that hurts from here to wingello. In the past the elite boys would come charging through not far from here, my fondest memory is while I was grobbling on a climb I had Gordo come past me in the big dog, and further on the late James Williamson came by and I got to work and ride with him and one other ride for close to 15kms together that day. And then shared war stories and burgers after the race.

In the distance on a climb I spot a familiar sight, the rock solid form of a great friend of mine and a long time training buddy. A guy that helped me build a lot of fitness on a bike, Crawford!!!! Each other's company super charged our legs and we really got stuck into the climbs and once hit the dirt road to wingello, a place you do not want to be alone. He offered to help me along as it's rude for a Mile'r to pull the 110k riders, but the conditions where really cook crawfords legs. He worked on the flats, I worked on the climbs. With sleet coming sideways at us, it was a tough jaunt into Wingello. Breathing was difficult as when you sat behind a rider dirt would fly into your face, at times I was shielding my mouth with my hand so I could breathe with an open mouth and not have a mouthful of dirt.

Coming into wingello I was quite cooked, I went to hard but hey I enjoyed the company so we gave each other a high five and Crawford wished me luck. 

Once at the 100mile lounge Tim was frozen to the core, I was hurting but ready for more. Here comes the moment that all riders today fear. You roll through timing down some single track if you go left it's 30km home. You go right it's 80km. 50km of which you are most likely to not even see another soul. You picked the 100mile option chops. I go right....! 

With a few harsh words to and with myself I get to work on finding my physical limits on this one day in November. It's now not a race but a ride, it's a ride that I want to achieve in under 8hrs so it's a race then? It's always a race, maybe not always for first. 

I hit the loamy single track again the rocks are now super slick. I feel super slow.  Come on chops your average speed is dropping, so I really get stuck in and try to smash through it. 90km in I'm having the time of my life. At 98km in, I'm in a world of hurt but out of the single track and looking for the feed zone. I'm thinking I am doing ok, I go to talk to the feed zone ladies and all that is produced is some dribble.. Ok so maybe I'm in a darker hole than I think I am, so I take more time than I had planned so I can pull myself out of the dark hole. By wearing a vest and a camelbak it's impossible to get food from my pockets so I stuff what I can in my Knicks and get back out there. I'm chewing hard on my stem up the climbs not that it will satisfy my appetite but now all roads point towards home. 

Back onto the dirt road to wingello and now all alone memories of hours before fill my mind to take the pain away.

 Tim is now really frozen to the core. Poor support crew had it real tough. I try to make this stop real brief so I don't get to cold. I get rid of the camelbak take everything I could and stuff my pockets and get back on the saddle.  I cross the rail line and head for home, most of this journey will be new to me as the course has changed a bit since I have raced the Fling. But far out it was full of slow, well I was going slow single track. My sub 8hr goal slowly slips away from me, my legs totally destroyed. I keep turning the pedals over and over knowing every revolution is getting me closer to the fire bucket and hopefully seeing some friends at the finish line if everyone has not gone home.

Through the free bike wash again the rest is all a blur, I remember the ' my call' section, I talked myself into the long way around option but as I soon the sign I just went left for what ever reason I'm not sure.

Ok sweet we hit the dirt road home, WRONG. We are now directed off the road and into a farm, it now really starts raining. I'm alone I'm hurting I can barely see through the rain and splatter and I'm really cold. I yell to the power from above " is that the the best you got" and charge through the shit to finally see the finish line. 8hrs 14mins. I pretty damn happy.

All my closet mates come to congratulate me and it was so good to see Wayne, James and Joel as we take shelter in the Magellan tent.

I'm all smiles as I soak up what I just achieved off the back of not owning a bike or doing any training.

Except spin classes and Altitude training at Altitude88. 

We all mop up from a days riding pack the tents and escape the shit cold weather of bundanoon. The fling really missed out on the festival atmosphere after the race, but the 2013 edition of the Highland fling will go into the history books that's for sure.

Once again thanks to Magellan for race entry GPS equipment and the bike, James for setting up my tent and pre race entertainment, Joel for always making sure I ride hard. Wayne for getting all my camping gear to James and the good chat afterwards.

A huge thanks to Tim for being my go to man on the day and toughing it out all day to give me food when I needed it. Couldn't of done the race as well as I did without you.

So folks that's a Wrap on racing in 2013.

Now to find a bike sponsor and to race again next year.

JUSTCHOPS :) 

http://www.magellangps.com.au

http://www.altitude88.com

http://www.theathleticclub.com.au

http://www.cyclestudio.com.au

ROCKY TRAIL 4hr at STROMLO

The final race of the series has been raced and here is the run down.

Race four was to be on the fourth bike I have used in the series, kindly donated by MAGELLAN.

A Rocky Mountain 29er, entry level spec bike, but a bike is faster than no bike at all.

Once I picked up this rig I added my fav pedals pumped the tyres up and slammed the stem.

The journey got under way from Hornsby station where the lovely Laura Renshaw picked me up and we road tripped it to stromlo, which for laura was the first ever trip she has made to MTB at stromlo, hence why the trip seem to drag on for ever. But like any good mtb'rs trip the hours are passed by dodging highway patrol cars and solving the worlds problems, while Scotty and Rocky travel in the back.

Once in the car park of stromlo laura is soon scooting about on Scotty to stretch her legs after the drive, we then meet up with some mate for a reccy lap..

Winding our way around the switchbacks on the very smooth dry stromlo course all expecting a long climb to the top,to be surprised with a descent down the bottom of the DH course and back along the car park. We then climbed our way up to skyline via heartbreaker (I think) amazed at how easy that felt,but knowing 4hrs of trying to go fast up this would be anything but easy.

A quick scoot along skyline made the Rocky Mountain bike come alive, it wanted to go and go and go and that it did forward and off the ground.

A team selfie at the bridge over looking Canberra then the luge track home, OMG it was the smoothest ever. I played it cautiously as the bike is unknown to me but holding this bad boy on the ground was next to impossible, so I let rip where I could. Look I will be honest, I'm not a fan of shimano, but I'm not sure what people pay for Slx brakes whatever it is just get some. They were awesome, spend the money you save on better rotors and pads that suit the conditions and you will always have your bike under control.

RACE DAY

The night before was spent at the Mcvoys hotel, which you could only compare to being an athlete at the A.I.S. It's the place that all great endurance athletes go to find a calm serenity and to be fed until they can eat no more, and then be chauffeured to the start line in style with everything organised and in place, from water bottles and nutrition to great pit row position. I don't recall ever being so relaxed before a race, thanks jase and Kylie. 

In the starting blocks: Blair,Lewis,Ward,shippard,odams,cooper... So if you are not sure who I'm talking about, then I'm guessing you have not read a mtb magazine in the past 7years. So to get you up to speed on who is actually racing, mountain biking is a craft and all the master craftsmen are here on this day to lay down their skill over 4hrs to carve out a mountain bike race.

Then you have chops who is trying his best to not quiver in his non Fluro socks, must of miss this dress regulation for racing elite. So we roll down a hill thru a puddle, a whistle blows and we get 150m to race for a tight right hander into single track with some 100+ riders behind you, a recepie for disaster.

Well I survived, I feel sorry for anyone not in the top dozen. 

The plan

To be consisted for 4hrs. First and last laps to be the same duration and everything else the same as well. This is to eliminate crashing and burning, it's to enhance the enjoyment of riding and to take advantage of riders racing a 4hr race like a 2hr battle.

This plan played out well, energy levels stayed consistent throughout the event. But of course there was levels of hurt to make the 4hrs count and well there was a race on as well. It was a battle of points between myself and Kyle Ward to decide the series.

Now in the past he has faded throughout the last hour of the previous races, so my aim is to just limit the damage going up against riders putting in 300-500km+ more then myself. 

I had some track side motivation in the form of Greg Lang who is a guy I went to school and played soccer with as youngsters he now lives in Canberra and has caught the mtb bug.

Don't forget I had to Emcee after the race as well, I have to finish in one piece and if you were at the presentation then you could sorta tell I cooked myself a tad.

The 4hrs of fun came to an end with a prize of tan lines and a throat full of stromlo dust.

PODIUM ! 

I take  hold of the microphone to call riders to the forefront in celebration of their fitness and skill. It was nice for ROCKY TRAIL to call up the top 5, well they do it in downhill and at world level for XCO.

So I had my work cut out for to convince the crowd I hadn't rigged it so I could get on the podium in 5th place.

75 guys turned up for the 4hr event to stamp there authority. Kyle ward 1st, Andy Blair 2nd Shaun Lewis 3rd Anthony Shippard 4th CHOPS 5th. See I told you the big guns were here.

Another 4hr race completed on a borrowed bike and only a rucksack for luggage.

Kudos to Kyle with a Stella ride to win the day and leap frog me in the overall standings to win the series.

I complete this blog entry the day before the Highland fling, 100miles for me 2moro, the race at stromlo was the last time I was on a mtb.. 

Hmmmmm.... Yup trust me I'm concerned to.

But you have to make the best of a bad situation, so a huge thanks to MAGELLAN for hooking me up with some wheels to express my passion.

JUSTCHOPS :) 

ROCKY TRAIL 4hr at Mt Annan

The preparation stage before an event is the key to place the mind and body in the right place to perform from the start line.

Time has flown by quite fast since the previous race, I am now a Bondi resident and teaching a few classes at week in the eastern suburbs plus the training sessions for a research study for NSWIS.

In the week leading up to the race I really yearned to get out racing, so without a bike I made a call to Jon Odams at bike culture to see if he had a demo bike.

Friday rolls around its 8am and I have already done two spin classes but by lunchtime I had spent 1.5hrs in a Hypo2 hyperbaric chamber, surely that was to balance things out and all afternoon I had felt so refreshed, I zip into the city as CBD cycles had the demo bike we get it all setup, their customer service was awesome. A WHYTE 29er 2nd time ever rolling the big wheels.

Forever grateful for this rig to hit the trails with.

On race day, I catch the train to Campbell town and pedal the 6kms to the start, warm up check, pump some tyres up as I have tubes I may have gone a bit hard on the psi.

After a bit of a chat with crafty on the mic I'm allowed to push in on the start line and off we go flying into the single track about 15th, completely sight unseen, but I have ridden here before, then my back wheel goes a drift as its caught in a muddy rut front wheel is now sliding, I tried to correct only to drop the front wheel and slam into the ground hard... Worse possible time to crash... Super fast section and with seconds a thousand people go past u, ok maybe 30-50..

So it's now quite hard to have confidence in the bike, but you know it's a mountain bike race, get on with it.

Smooth is the key at mt Annan, but to go quick u must attack all the pinch climbs, but this comes damaging for ur back among other muscles.. I don't know I just felt slow, my heart rate would pump anywhere near the red, no power... Very frustrating.

To be honest, I could whinge all day about this race. I did have TORQ. Nutrition. CELL bikes have it fairly cheap at the moment,

I grabbed a time check coming through timing 1hr to go.. That made me happy, as the last 3hrs I have nothing to report on. I had rode around with songs on loop in my head as the next I had a very important 2hr spin class to teach.

I ramped it up quite a bit in the last two laps, when I stopped my mate Joel was there, I couldn't even talk and my quads were close to cramping, I'm keen to see that lap time, as it's how I should have been racing, but just couldn't.

I finished 9th on a day others had a blinder, and will have to really bring my A game in the last round at Stromlo to get a good result in the series.

Which bike will I be on then, who knows.

JUSTCHOPS :) 

If anyone needs me, I'll be at the drawing board re-evaluating.

ROCKY TRAIL 4hrs at OURIMBAH

The morning before:

Hello North sydney police station how can I help?

I'm james lamb and I want to report the theft of my bike.

Ok just hold the line.

Life goes upside down in a flash. I was absolutely crushed.

I've spent heaps of money on that bike most of which was money from turning 30 from the family, and being at uni I just can't even fund enough savings for a crankset.

By the afternoon I was offered a bike to race with by the super generous Alex, it took some convincing as I was just so deflated from the dramas.

Wayne drops by a bit later and gives me a lift back to the coast.

RACE DAY.

   I kindly take possession of a carbon BMC 26inch (remember this when you read the result) duallie with conti tubeless tyres, and set to work on getting the shock and tyre pressure right. Under 30mins from the start I go for a pedal up the dirt road to see how it feels, with shopping cart handle bars I'm thinking a big washout will be on the cards today.

We roll down the hill to the start line, with cold legs and with more 'guns' on the front row then we had in the trenches at Gallipoli, I sneak into the second row, with Martins famous 15sec count down

15 14 13 321 GOOOOOOOOO, ! 

All hell breaks loose and we launch into the uphill start, someone takes themselves out and about 10others are held up, I sneak up the left, but still way back in say 15-20th, into the single track another person wants to make love to the dirt and I have to track stand and ride the roughest shittest line I have ever chosen through here, but came out alive and picked up a few more spots, through jurassic and towards the drop off I'm genuinely scared for my life on this bike..  I'm right on the wheel of David ludennia riding for 'team bogan' I think, he's has dropped his front chain but gravity is feeding us into the drop off, not thinking of the complications of David's mechanicals at the roll up to the drop off he nearly comes to a complete stop, I veer left now trying to go around him on only my front wheel, but he gets down the drop ( max is behind me with a front row seat) in just enough time before it goes horribly wrong for me, i get on the right line to go down the drop off, and not over my bars.

David hits eject at the bottom to fix the chain, me and max smack it to the fire road, for quick chat about how the hell I saved it from a front endo at the top of the drop off.

Right I'm still alive lets settle into riding this race for 4hrs, pushing a 44t around was a tad different, the fire road climb was over pretty quick.  Soooo, Odams is here, Ward and Shippard also, and I didn't even see cameron ivory, well chops are you going to be happy with 4th.? Lets make that our goal, definitely no worse.

It took a good two laps to get comfy on the bike before I felt ok with riding ourimbah how I know how to. Around the 4th lap, I'm doing the maths on the race, it's surely to be a 9lap race, so lets eat for 4.5hrs not for 4hrs of racing. 

Amongst everything else nutrition for this race was very different, with no time to get the Torq nutrition I like, I opted for cadel evans gels from Coles, they went well with the BMC I was riding 4 is not enough so I loaded my bottle with my recovery carb/protein mix I use after gym sessions. At @250cal a bottle I never got hungry.

As many of you know lap 2 to lap 9 can all just merge into one within the mind, but there was one standout.

Hitting the timber berm at Campbell's gully got very interesting on one occasion with all sorts of commotion which resulted in a slower rider riding at the base and me railing high up on the timber berm to pass him, it was a day were jelly leg never beat me, but the small rock step up on the final climb did. I was forced to go up the rock step up on the climb before the dipper about 5 times as people were taking the line on the left its the perfect spot to pass,  one guy had me laughing, as he screamed out the f***king brilliance of my effort to make his day. I'm sure it was like only lap 3, so the step up was pretty easy.

That's the brilliance inside so many mountain bike races, and the inner beauty of Enduro racing, it posses the opportunity to learn from other riders, at some stage in life on a mountain bike someone is going to smoke it past you and leaves you in awe of the sport and you leave wanting to have those skills, so you just keep coming back for more. Racing at Dargle farm is the best for the above experience so many people cheer you on, going up the final climb "freak" "come on you can do it" "your my hero" "holy shit that guys in the dog" are some of the lines I've heard, and you just can't give up with support like this now can you. 

Hitting up lap 7 I get a time gap call from the 'Odams' camp, I leave transition with some extra fire power then I ponder who he was actually referring to..... Because I then caught stu Adams, as the time gap would be so much greater to Jon Odams. But who knows as A rider 30-60sec in front of you at ourimbah is out of sight, after the roller coaster I see anthony shippard in the distance.. With Kyle ward just in front.. I had to rub my eyes.. I couldn't believe it.. So I try not to close the gap to fast, as I thought they will just accelerate once I caught up. 

We go Congo line into the graveyard, now I'm feeling pretty good, but will I feel good if this turns into 1hr of Xc pace to the finish of the race? 

Anthony plays team tactics and slows right down to let
Kyle can slip away..it doesn't seem to work, so he lets me through, once on the wheel of Kyle he hands over his position with the words "you go through I'm done".

The look of death on his face explained alot. I enter transition/timing with crafty going ballistic as I started the lap in 4th and I'm now 2nd. I give it heaps on the way back onto course for lap number 8. I finish lap 8 at the 3hr 55min mark, so I pull up for chat with crafty.  Odams is totally un catchable, Odams on 4hrs of single track is on another level, not knowing the time gap back to Kyle & Anthony, but in my mind I knew they wouldn't be rushing to do extra Kms. So I bid Bon voyage to crafty to make sure of my position and do my 9th lap. Now just don't take yourself out and you get 2nd place chops.

When you feel great on a bike there is now better track then ourimbah.

On the PODIUM! 

So there we have it.. What a roller coaster two days! 

Big thanks to

Rocky trail Entertainment http://www.rockytrailentertainment.com/

MAGELLAN. http://www.magellangps.com.au/

To alex for the bike.

And to charli who gave me a lift to the race.

I'm very lucky to have the support I get.

Chops still needs a race bike. So if you want your company represented by ME, please get in touch.

JUST CHOPS :)

My stolen bike^^^^^^^^ 

Xo group set now

Hope brakes red rotor on the front

Black rotor on the back.

PODIUM! 

CONVICT 100

It's that one day in May. It's a race so many people begin their marathon racing adventures on, it's a race that people measure their fitness against. It's the only race that gives you sweaty palms in the weeks leading up to it. It's usually a race you buy a ticket for 6months before the event knowing you have all summer to train for. Yes this race is iconic. If we held the state of origin in mountain biking this would be the battle ground for such an event.

For someone who lives on the central coast it's the 'local' marathon being 85km from home, in which you ride 50km of that during the race through the bush back towards mangrove mountain, its literally out the back door and over the fence to go and practice on the race course. With plenty of wet weather in feb and march we rarely got out there to check the condition of the course, the main deterrent being its destructive nature to bike and body and also how remote the course is. We must make friends at that buddha temple one year.

So with just a few days out from the event the crew at Magellan organise me a race ticket, I rush back from uni and we make the dash to St. Albans on the Friday arvo, stake our claim of ground race to put our tents up and head straight to rego. Once me and Wayne made the rounds of the event centre we rugged up and headed for a feed at the local pub. The 3rd oldest pub was looking pretty modern for Wayne, now he is either that old or just from the UK.
Neither of us were smart enough to pack anything for breakfast and I was already borrowing gels from Wayne, I think I stole 8. A warmish night was broken by people in snoring competitions and the early or late participants to the event, but once out of the tent we were greeted with an awesome sunrise. Some avocado on one slice of bread was breakfast, far from ideal but if you are going to let this beat you then your already beaten before you start the challenge of a race.

In the starting hold of the race plenty of big breathes were taken and the race was under way before you had time to think about enormity of 4-5hrs of hurt. In the back of my mind I had the result from the Rockytrail event in my legs, so I knew I had a good 4hrs in me.
Starting in elite with more coasties then I can ever remember the 3 of u, knowing they were so keen to knock me off my perch was a concern, to see big benny split the peloton was an awesome sight, that breakaway stuck and 5-6riders cleared the climb ahead of the main pack. On that climb young max left me behind as well, to only have a flat day, maybe my turn on the front was not a wise move, but I just get frustrated being blocked in and need some fresh air, so I took off out of the pack and my legs hated me for a long time after that.
It can be a very lonely race once over the big climb, but this year I was just concerned in keeping a solid pace and finishing with no injuries. 30kms in and my legs are still feeling crap I've also had some gearing issues which seem to fix themselves as well. I remember passing the 60km to go sign and really enjoying life, then looking at a rocky section thinking, oh shit wrong line wrong line wrong line, if you are to crash here not even a helicopter could get you out, (partically hate this part of the race) I'm giving the option to hit eject, knowing it may cause a shoulder dislocation or everything is going to hurt, or hang on an crash with hands on the handle bars. So I'm sliding down the embankment into trees but still attached to my bike.. The heart rate was really pulsating now! I get back on the track and continue on to the 50km mark with my legs getting better every kilometre I ride.

This part of the race is now the most deadly, riding smooth and safe is all I try to do from here to the canoes. With shepards gully the final technical section all senses must turned up to the highest of frequency to negotiate what goes from a flowy decent with a smooth line to what looks like a waste dump of bowling balls. You must hang on for your life through here.
Now rolling down the road I consume another gel, looking at my Magellan GPS unit I'm consuming a gel every 20km, I never had a moment of 'oh I need energy'. The heart begins to beat faster as the canoe crossing enters my vision, it's neck to waste deep this year. I ride through the grass section clearing my mind. I look at the bridge shake my head, and roll onto the planks.

The trick is to relax your grip on the handle bars and the bike just rolls straight. With cameras on the other side and everyone wanting you to ride your bike into the water, I refrain from taking my hands of the bars to salute and be ready to negotiate the sand trap and try not to make national tv for crashing.
Yewwwwwwwwwww. I survived.
Across the paddock to the road section I look back to see some guys from the masters category absolutely smashing it, they were to far back to wait for so i took on the road alone, well until I had a sheep dog wanting chops for lunch, he came very close to getting me.. Heart rate peaks again.
Onto to the switchback climb it is as brutal as rewarding but it's the home stretch. Climb after climb if your going to suffer for 25km on a bike this is not the place to do it. It will be the longest 25km of your life. On one of the peaks I see a black and red jersey, I try to contain my excitement it's big benny. I up my tempo to close the gap, hoping to sneak up on him on the next climb but a stick in my rear derailer blew my cover, I have to dismount to fix that and catch him on the next one, it was important cause the chances are slim on catching him once the altitude began to drop. Hey benny
Hey chops
" can we call a truce on this battle" I ask. Ben agrees, the company over the next 15-20km was really going to make the race more enjoyable. So we kick on together the mojo went up for ben and my legs where hungry for more. It was only bens second time across the ridge so I had fun being his tour guide on how far we had to go, the distance to creek, the distance after the creek. Because he kept asking are we there yet?, where is the descent? I discuss what we had left and the decent is where you will next see some volunteers/marshals. They appear about 2kms later and we let out a cheer, and start slip sliding and flying down the steep descent, once out on the road we take turns all the way to the creek, unable to ride through the creek we trekked through it and on the other side I wait for ben to chugg his way thru the sand. Once out on the dirt road, I give another time check, which has been constantly talked about for 20kms, after we round the right hander I suggest we have a crack at making 4hrs15min, so we smacked it so hard to the finish with me on the front, we over take another 100ker on the last corner and roll over the line at 4hrs 18min, two very happy mountain bikers doing PB's. 11th place in elite.

The one day in May comes to a close with a free beer and a presentation in the beer garden with podiums filled by local coasties. A road trip back with Wayne to hear about his battles of the 100ker and we all feel sore the next day.

This race is loved by all.

http://app.strava.com/activities/52217431

Enjoy the pics.

JUSTCHOPS :))

Rocky trail 4hr, James estate winery.

Race preparation delivers results, if its training, or nutrition, the amount of sleep one can get and the levels of stress all have an affect on the outcome, you can have these effect your day or you have the choice to overcome adversity and prove to your body that your mind is the game changer on game day!

My Friday began with a biomechanics class at uni (Olympic park) and after Adam Scott winning the masters I was keen to film and analyse my golf swing. The afternoon was spent at the Australian health and fitness expo, exciting on so many levels, being my 6-7th visit now it still gets the blood pumping, but getting to take mates from uni who had never been was just like when you introduce someone to mountainbiking or a friend to the biggest descent you know and seeing them smiling so hard it hurts their cheeks, mix that with all the free pre-workout and protein samples you can handle and your drunk on exercise!

I make it back to the central coast for dinner, a feast of vegies, chicken and quinoa from memory and load up my friend charli's (who is part of the Rockytrail timing crew) car, grabbing a carton of milk and loaf of bread on he way out for the journey.
Charli had the route sorted out as we drove in darkness the whole way, neither of us had been out this way before. There wasn't much to see, apart the well lit what look like coal mines.

We arrive very tired and ready for bed, and that was very well sorted by caretakers of the winery inside the homestead two comfy beds awaited us. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Race day:
I lumber out of bed feeling very drained, unfortunately this has been a regular occurrence this year and for a couple of months, I'm not sure why, hoping its nothing to serious, I take my time to find first gear and put down some muesli. And jump on my bike and pedal the few Kms over to the event centre. Riding around event centre learning the course through the pits and the first couple of Kms into the vineyards to warm the muscles up, or the while hiding under a jacket and in a new race kit for 2013. This year I'm riding for MAGELLAN, A company that is making a huge impact in the mountain bike industry with their range of GPS units. Already well known in adventure racing, I was very happy and proud to be wearing their kit to represent them in the endurance side of mountain bike racing.

Vineyards, natural bush, dirt roads and a distillery is where our 9km battle will take place. It's the first race on this home built course out in the hunter. I loved all of it, I can't wait to go and race at James Estate Winery again.
We roll down to the massive shimano start banner, I look across the start line, and see a mix of Euro faces, but the guess of who was in a team or running solo had me baffled. I didn't even know where my own fitness was, I have bottles in pit lane, gels in my pockets and bike attached to me and 4hrs of racing, I was frothing just to get riding!
The gun goes off and in Euro fashion (or at the croc trophy) riders take off like Usain bolt running for gold. I do my best to hold on but they blow me to pieces. I had a sense that the 'flat road' was far from flat, and in the 500m before the single track I pick off at least 10riders who went to deep.

Into the single track we go, and few early casualties as people try to ride the course like where they are from, and hit the ground fast into the loamy dirt. Never seen this track before I take the fastest cautious approach possible, keeping myself upright is my number one priority(I don't have the time or funds to be injured) when I came up for air after 4-5kms of cool single track a lead group had formed, making lots of dust in the distant with about 7riders, one of them being stu Adams, who I knew would be doing solo, and is on fire at the moment, but if he is being pulled along by the Euro guns, it will be a miracle for me to close the gap(I will try though)
We pop out of the bush into the vineyards and up a long grassy climb for which I would attack out of the saddle on every lap of the race. The legs just preferred it that way, who's to argue with your legs?.
Through the massive tanks of the distillery and through timing, before you knew it, life was back on the 'flat road' that would make you explode when you reached the singletrack. I was never to have a riding buddy on that road, I did get to chase troy glennan through the vines and up the dirt road on one lap, trying to hold is back wheel was not a good idea. So I was cranking the pace for at least 90mins before cramping pains in my glutes would start to affect my day(a regular pain in the arse occurrence) it's all about management and just blocking out the pain for the rest of the day, at times it will really zap power from the pedal stroke, stretching when I can and just battling on is all I know how to deal with this problem (that I hate).

I keep cranking out the laps, trying not to explode on the dirt road, so I'm quicker through the now very chopped up single track, I thought it was mad fun riding through the powdery soil. Conti X-Kings where loving it. I kept it strong on the grass climb that everyone grew to hate. Doing some maths in my head when I was looking at the number of laps I would complete, 9 or 10 was going to be the finishing amount I really started to eat more. With the pain in my glutes/hip flexors I was just out there to finish what I had started at 9am.

I was on my bike under blue sky's riding unseen mountain bike trails pedal eat drink repeat, life s grand when life is simple.
"Chops your 2nd" is screamed from timing. I ask how long to go.. it was like an hour, i screw up my face.... i hear the laughter of a lady as she was amused by my reaction.. well i was just having fun riding around, now its a race again, where i have an hour to catch first and an hour for third not to catch me.. sooo... Pedal faster eat faster drink faster live faster, knowing there was at least 3laps to do and possibly 4, I started eating like I had another 40km to race. 2laps later I come through timing I'm now informed I'm in first place. And it's my last lap. Hooooraaaa!
I catch up to some coasties on the flat road, after some exchange of banter I get the jump into the singletrack to rip it one last time.
I cross the finishline just over the 4hr mark to see stu Adams being interviewed, lucky for me he was in the older gents category, he still smoked me! I then had my I interview with martin, proceeding that I took the reins or the microphone rather to be the MC for the remainder of the event.
The return trip home was much like the journey to the race, carton of milk and bread for the trip home, as Sunday was to be an even bigger day, with a fitness course in the city till 4pm and a mad dash to was the central coast mariners kick some arse!
BEST WEEKEND EVER!!!!!!!!


So begins a day in mountain bike folklore where we rode through vineyards with passion driving our legs and smiles leading the way to another happy Rockytrail day.

The myth of did the MC present first place to himself, well that story would only be in the minds of who was there on the day.

Huge thanks again to MAGELLAN & SCV IMPORTS.


JustCHOPS.

STRAVA- RAPHA 500

With the Australian summer well and truly underway, my heart goes out to all the farmers who have lost stock and huge amounts of healthy pastures from all the rains in our last summer.

Once the summer begins the racing evaporates and so do the blogs. If a mountain biker wants to race where does he go. Well he goes on strava. Something I had heard about but until you start logging rides you have no idea how fun or addictive it can be, having not ridden my bike today because of the heat, I sit here writing this blog so I'm not out trying take some poor buggas KOM in the dark. I'm better off resting and saving my legs for the spin class I have at 745am. The segments will always be there tomorrow right?

My thanks go to Magellan for supplying me with a multisport gps unit called "switch up" a device to track your every move and heart beat while swimming, running and cycling..

So my journey begins via the satellites high in the sky. I was having a great old time ripping up any climb I could find doing so with a 11-32 cassette has defiantly been a battle but for the first time in a long time my riding mojo is burning deep with, yes the hills hurt and some days have been tough but all the while I am having fun. So what does one do when the challenge of strava has a challenge. With some peer pressure I sign up for the RAPHA 500. Simply put 500kms from Xmas eve to new years eve. With not going home for Christmas I thought this will be a good week to keep me busy.
I got off to a very rusty start with coming down with flu symptoms just before Xmas eve. I taught on Xmas eve to a packed spin room then headed out that night for some shenanigans. Xmas day well was the wettest one in 70years, boxing day comes around and with a class in the afternoon I had to start doing some Kms fast. I looked at the wind and jumped on it as it blew me north to Norah head lighthouse, I was hoping to do a lap of some sort but I was short of time so I just turned around and rode the soul destroying headwind for the 30km ride back to base.
Day 2 had a lot more fun factor riding with mates to dubbo gully. It was great to have my close friend Paris there as the last time any of us did this ride was together maybe 6years ago. The ride took in the most technical parts of the CONVICT 100 race. Sheppards gully spat us out near st albans, we ride all the way to wisemans ferry. To where we reach the western commissioners track. From what Wayne had to say its a brutal climb. I bid everyone farewell and good luck and I set to work on the climb, this climb was truly a monster, finally I reach the top near the powerlines oh but so wrong it goes up again. As I begin the descent the reward all thoughts of returning to the others rudely skipped my mind and I soon catch up to other riders from the central coast, after a quickly learn there is more riders ahead and good friends of mine. I switch to seek and destroy mode and close the gap as fast as I could, we get to all descend into dubbo gully together. They all ride on, while I wait for the rest of my party. We carry on back to mangrove shops to get 89kms done.
Day 3 I get up pretty early and head towards yarramalong valley to crank out some Kms, I made it back home for lunch with another 80km but that's just not enough I really wanted 120 for the day. So I did a loop of Brisbane waters before my 530spin to make it to 120km.
Day 4 being a Saturday I have spin at 745am then I set on my strava mission I no longer can handle easy road Kms I head to the bush I suffer all of the first 60km but as each km went by my spirits lifted as I was getting closer to the 120k mark. I went every where I could but always staying in touch with civilisation so I could refill my water bottle. 5hrs, 2100m later I made it home and into the ice bath I soak.
Day 5 I get to ride with a mate bryce and show him some trails he has never been on and before a late breaky 40km was done. I head out again in the afternoon and I only fitted in another 45before the sun went down.
Day 6. So close now needing only 20kms to finish it off I take a cruzy ride to terrigal for breakfast then back to Erina for my new years eve 915am spin class.

500k 8200m of climbing.

Now that was the perfect way to end 2012.

Just chops.