Team MAGELLAN take line honours at the JETBLACK 12hr.

Shadows created by the moon on a flat piece of ground among the grapes with hot ambers warming the cold country air. The harmony of car, tent & marquee that creates a small town built in an afternoon greeted myself and Phil as we arrived after everyone's bed time on Friday night. 

It had been a 4hr drive to set our minds ready for a race that would test the mind body and fitness of everyone involved, with that Friday being quite a stressful day getting out of sydney I was relaxed to see my team mates campsite after seeing his bike posted on Facebook laying on the freeway after falling off at 110km/hr.

So the build a tent competition was clearly won by yours truly but alas Phil atleast had a useable air mattress, so I grabbed the blanket used to protect the 3 bikes in the back of a Hyundai excel safe (chops can pack a boot) as my bed for the night.

Setting my alarm for 730am would mean I get the same number of hours sleep tonight as I would the two previous nights combined, which I'm sure had Paris (Team MAGELLAN captain) worried when he rang on Wednesday asking how my taper was going, I dare not tell him about the 2.5hrs I'd spent that day doing spin classes. So begs the question, which is more important? Have you prepared correctly? Or Are you ready to ride until you can't to achieve a goal? The latter I know I always am going to do.

A correct taper has it's place though, stay tuned for my next blog entry on what I do to prepare physically and mentally.

RACE DAY

                The day begins with me replacing front brake pads and my front chainring ( supplied by SCV IMPORTS) then I take my bike to the mechanics for a new cassette and chain with them tuning my bike it's was extremely crisp. Thanks BLACKMANS cycles. I've got my bling and I'm ready to race.

Paris was to start the race for us, standing in event centre when everyone was racing was a bizarre sensation, I didn't know what to do. So began the ramblings of myself and MC Crafty on what position riders would finish the first lap.

This event centre was the best I've ever seen, as riders where 4-6mins from the finish line you could see them take on wine hill. My predictions of Paris coming in 4th were correct as he was glued to Gordo's back wheel, a slick transition and I was off on my first lap and over taking 3rd place almost immediately.

The slick transition.

The track was extremely dry and sketchy which filled me with instant regret I didn't put the new tyres I'd bought on my bike, so I rode quite conservative so I could learn the conditions and adjust to riding my bike in my 2nd race this year. Watching my heart rate throughout the first lap had it punching over 85% a lot and 90% a few times! which I'd rather not as I did not have faith that my legs were free from fatigue.

Tagging Paris we were all smiles as it was very apparent that after being riding buddies for 10years we had never done a race together, he was always a guy I have looked up to on how to live and enjoy life and a rider I spent along time chasing to match his ability. Paris has had a year filled with victories hitting his prime at the age of 40 with a baby only 5weeks away, I had the privilege of Carrie looking after us in the Team MAGELLAN tent. I was able to focus on what I needed to do and never had to watch the time as Carrie would give me a shout when and what I needed to do with 10mins before Paris was due in.

RACE LEADERS is belted ( I just got goosebumps typing that) out across the hunter valley as Paris comes stomping into the finish chute. A smile is spread across my face with the tag consisted of paris giving me a big push I shot off on my lap with a huge turbo boost and friends cheer me on as I passed their campsites hearing I was in the race lead. Up the fire road and into the wind I shake my head as the words race leader has now sunk in with a depth of disbelief. After receiving some what might say friendly sledging before the race I found that the sharing of hidden agendas plain rude. It never fuelled my fire but would only make the day sweeter if I was to prove them wrong.

Entering the singletrack my swooping skills had returned and ripped through there with ease all the while waiting for someone to catch me. Punching out another 30min lap I tagged Paris with the words of ' keep the pace and keep it smooth' Paris being a rider who has won 4hr events 50km races and some 100km epics I didn't want him to bury himself to early in all the hype of a 12hr race.

My time off the bike was filled with chatting with mates and feeding my face and receiving compliments of leading the race, which I would brush off as the finish was a long way away. But deep deep down it had become my new goal, something I wanted to share with Paris in the 2seconds we spent together through transition. If the meaning of motivation was to leap out of a book and read a book or watch a YouTube clip on motivation Paris would be that motivation. So I never got to share my thoughts on trying to win the whole race but, 

On a day like this over a mountain bike course on the edge of a valley two mates set out to battle into the night in honour of each other's ability and desire to achieve as much as possibly from the life we have both chosen. Each lap proceeded to only ride for a fellow mate, lap times where created out of respect for a team mates ability with the clock only stopping once the job done was worthy of the company that shared the battle. 

That's teams racing in a nutshell. Your inner self can achieve amazing goals if what makes your heart beat can push your body past what others can not achieve, enter in a mate and the goal becomes to ride for that common goal until the heart can no longer beat. 

 Note the sunnies...http://www.revantoptics.com 

Lap for lap we ride until the sun sets and our lead was only to increase on second place and by watching the lap times of other riders it was interesting to see peoples lap times drop unlike team MAGELLAN's, surely night laps will be slower but that's the same for everyone. 

My first night was more like a pinball game as I bounced off many trees and failed on many occasions to choose a smooth line through the powder filled trails at James estate winery. 3 trees per lap was my average for the 1st two laps.

The event centre was becoming a place where people felt the cold, I never really thought it got cold. Maybe the racing was just to hot or the adrenalin was keeping me warm, so many riders would huddle around the fire buckets where as I did my best to stay well clear and my lungs free from smoke.

We had now lapped 2nd place and taking off on my next lap my lights were to go flat, so I rush over to my tent to grab my 2nd battery that I had fully charged for it to only just die instantly once I switched on my lights, so I back track to see Paris and steal his helmet and lights, catching and passing second place just before the wine tanks.

Once back in transition i meet Paris who awaits for his helmet and has a fresh battery good to go. This was to be our only non rolling transition so 20sec later he was away.

The finish is closing in and with my stuff up, my next lap will be my last. Yup we could of got 24laps in.

Never checking the lights I borrowed for the final lap was a rookie mistake so I let peter Selkrig pass me so I can use his lights as mine were pointed to close to the ground, I hung on for quite a while as we had a good chat but once he dropped me on a climb I was left in the dark so I stopped to fix the situation.

Once going again I just followed the light and kept my lines smooth and safe, Benji caught me once out of the singletrack and we had a good chat, it was so nice to finally have some company in the race, wine hill approached and I rudely just smashed it to the top and finished my lap, tagging but following paris out of the event centre, looking back I wish I did go out and roll around that last lap with him, but crash tackling him over the finish line under the echos of RACE WINNERS will be equally memorable.

23laps completed in 12hrs 5mins 1lap clear of anyone else in the field. What an amazing 12hr race we had.

 

Clearly bloody happy with our win.

The battle was over TEAM MAGELLAN victorious in a race that will never be forgotten. To make it even sweeter was Phil with the power of the cookies I brought with us won 12hr solo master Wendy won the elite women's solo and Linda & Briony won the women's pairs as I'm now a coach to these riders it was a great weekend. A huge thanks to all the riders saying Go CHOPS as I passed you on course, apologies for just zipping by. I usually recognize who you are once I pass because I'm just that focus on going as fast as I can. So thanks for taking a breath to cheer me on.

In the east the glow of a new day begins, in the west the moon says goodbye with the ground covered in frost along with our tents, we pack up the little village we built to say goodbye to our home away from home, and head back to sydney but not before we experience a taste of Italy in the town of Denman that had a Canadian feel to it. 

Solar powered cafe and a street that looks like Banff.

Thanks to MAGELLAN for the continuing support and Revant optics for supplying me with lenses for my Oakleys.

Ready to hunt down the next podium! 

JUSTCHOPS :)) 

Adversary of the Singletrack mind.

When does your mind engage on the battle that lays before you? 

For myself this could be months, weeks or maybe just days in Advance, maybe for you it's just hours seconds before the starting horn fires. Sunday the 17th of may 2014 was a day I had dreamt about since November 2013. Far away in my mind I truly switched off any thoughts of racing as well, I don't wish to dwell on what's behind but more on where I want to go, so through the summer on one gear I would commute between up to five different gyms 7 days per week for 4months solid, to fullfil the dream of one day racing again. I had no idea and would frustratingly answer " I don't know " to anyone who would ask when I'm racing next, and quickly change the subject. 

Is that all I am? A guy who just rides and races bikes...... From the outset that's what it looks like.. From the core that's what drives me and gives my life purpose. I'm sure everyone at times or on a regular basis is confused on their direction in life and I'm no different. As much as I hate the traffic on Bondi rd outside my local cafe As I write this blog I enjoy being here and what this place offers me in life, see I'm lost in my direction as well. But what I do know, is what ever direction I may go or be going it is going to be a whole lot more enjoyable on a bike.

If the mind is strong the body will follow. The body will do what the mind says it can.

 Peoples confidence in my ability to ride the 7hr was high as I just bashed out 340km on a singlespeed in 12hrs just 4weeks prior. But what was my ability to be competitive? 

My decision to race the 7hr category at the first round of the CHOCOLATE FOOT singletrackmind series came about a week prior, working in conjunction with Fi and Joe in building a women's mtb development squad would be a great motivator to have their coach out on the battle field come race day. On a day I installed a new saddle and was informed the 3 best 24hr soloist's were racing I ticked the 7hr box and looked for head space to focus on Sundays race.

I may have not have the ability of the best guys but what I do have is a will to suffer until I reach my goals and sweat like a gypsie with a mortgage until the final payment is made.

Resting the legs for the race was the easy part for once, with using a hyperbaric chamber on Friday night really assisting me, getting enough sleep is something I'm failing at big time so I had hoped Friday and Saturday night would be more than 7hrs which would have me feeling great compared to the 5-6hrs I live off.

Saturday morning posed a big challenge, lugging my gear to the north shore.

I managed to fit what I needed for the wknd in a backpack and the tyre sealant in my bottle cage ( I hoped too, but never did get to use) with my only water bottle filled with the energy powder I would use, once I found a few bottles to borrow. The 20km ride to cyclestudio went ok.

After my classes Phil Welch arrives and we loaded up the bikes, 2carbon bikes 0 blankets.(cheap dig)  But I guess the weather was warm.

We set off on the adventures of Phil and chops. The beginning was more technical than a mtb track in taree but after we get past chatswood it was smooth sailing on a journey bound for Taree.

Arriving at the track in the late arvo with the assurance that Phil has ridden the track in the dark there was no urgency to get on the bikes, but he couldn't feel how itchy my feet were... 

When you are away from the sport you dream of singletrack nirvana, but you forget the social aspect.

We would spend an hour soaking up the atmosphere of pre event rego and reccy lap report just to chat with our mtb family.

10kms of trails I've never seen..... The manning valley trails here we come. I take the lead and with Phil hot on my heels, my theory is to hit the course at close the race pace so really get a feel of what to expect, hence I eject myself from the course quite early. Then Phil misses a corner, but I'm sure that was to just let me ride first.

Once finished we were both happy with our 'Swooping'. 

SWOOPING: A Canadian term to describe the technique one must use when riding singletrack in Australia Cory Wallace (2014). Example of Swooping below.

Soon as Dave Bateman took this photo I was excited to see how it came out.

Now Dave has been trekking around races longer than most of us have been racing, I've emailed to purchase my pic at $15each.

Once we completed the reccy lap we became dinner for the mozzies of taree, so we made a move for our motel.  The Crescent Motel where I requested a room away from any crazy EPL fans in a non smoking room on the ground floor, so out of the 3 only 1st floor rooms me and Mike hiked our bikes upstairs and went on the hunt for food.

In all class we headed for the waterfront although they were booked out, plan B was to follow their directions to the manning hotel, via picking up Timmy and supplies from Coles. 

Before to long we had followed the road out of town, and clearly lost we made a detour through a hotels drive thru, where I suggested Mike to stop for directions.

Two young ladies where having a drink probably their 10th and a durry out the front, purely for my own entertainment I asked for directions. Between them mainly arguing who knew how to get there better, and constantly repeating the same directions to the nearest roundabout and fumbling over pronouncing "Mals toy shop" (men's toy shop) so they had a good drunk laugh about that, soon their conversation was drowned out by 3 elite endurance riders stomachs growling and we made tracks before being taken in my the charm of the wildlife.

Finding a pub that has their main beer on tap (XXXX) sign brighter than their own sign does make it a challenge to find, alas we ran in for some country tucker and a spot of pool. The finesse of team Turner & Hooch made it for some intense battle for chops and Timmy. But when Tim has the skills to make Sports Tonight PLAYS OF THE WEEK, it will be a night we won't forget. 

RACE DAY

The first race since the HIGHLAND FLING 100miler and to be honest the first race my own bike in 12months, through the great help of Keedan owner of  BIKE BAG DUDE, I've been hooked up with the first HT MTB since my first ever entry level bike in 2003. 

A MERIDA BIG NINE is an unbelievable bike! 

Race briefing is underway while my head is thinking my legs are not warmed nor have I visited the loo, it's the 1%'s that make for a great day, I roll down to the start calmly chatting with Lloydy and Mike was kindly enough to donate his front row position and I nervously awaited the starters horn.

Sitting next to Guy Frail gave me confidence in having a super quick wheel to follow, with in seconds my heart rate hits 95% max but I felt amazing a dropped a few more WATTS on the ascent up to the singletrack and tucked into 5/6th a true surprise to myself but a huge confidence boost. Now to implement "let's stay under 85%MHR" 2hrs go by and I barely seen it under 85% so as Gary James came cruzing by his suggestion of let's stop sprinting was music to my legs, Taree was just to much fun to go slow.

At 2hrs in nutrition and hydration plays a big role if you want to race 7hrs strong, so I could not of achieved this race without PHIL & MIKE bottles and food was always ready on my table, it was quite guess work for them in regards to how much powder to run my bottles with.

Now the next 5hrs is truly a blur, this is what happened.

> broken bottle cage

> tyres losing pressure

> my back was giving me hell

> free hub body shat itself

> The person who suffers the most will achieve the most

> rode 500m on the rim

> kudus to Laura and Luke who came to my rescue to fix my tyre and screw my cassette back on after it fell off.

Now with just one hour to go after wanting to know my position for hours I was 5th, my goal for the race.

Lapping around knowing I could squeeze a third lap in if I had an hour to go, with the amount of cycling I'd have to do the next day I opted out on that idea. 

Taree makes it impossible to just roll around to waste away time, so it was BALLS OUT on the final lap, just for the hell of it. 

So I came in just under the 7hr mark, not something I normally do but  I didn't get lapped by the English bullet train twice so that was an added bonus.

What a great race, yeah i went through hell. That's the beauty of endurance mountain bike racing.

The more variables you can conquer the more you achieve and the greater you feel from a hard day on the bike.

The CHOCOLATE FOOT team really put on a great presentation, I was there to take pictures of PHIL, you know the only guy at a mtb race carrying around a stuffed toy? and MIKE as they finished second in pairs but first in our race.

Packing up was the 'Goodbyes' to the mountain bike family until the next Sunday get together and then a roadtrip back to sydney with PHIL. 

It's great to be back 

Content and very happy, well until post race depression blues kicked in.

See you at Round 2

Thanks to 

MAGELLAN for continuing support 

Bike Bag Dude for helping me with a race weapon

Chocolate Foot for a great days racing and for using CYCLE-STUDIO to train their development team.

JUSTCHOPS :)

IG: JUSTCHOPS007

CYCLO 500 series

This awesome unit is now on the shelves and ready for the public to take the enjoyment of cycling to a new level. http://www.magellangps.com.au

I have been using this unit for a number of months now, and feel lost without it.

My favourite feature is the weekly tally it shows you and the surprise me feature.

The surprise me option works once to enter how far or long you wish to ride for then it calculates 2-3routes that are graded from easy to hard. 

With the profile you have created on the type of bike you have, you decide what type of journey you wish to have.

Once you have chosen your route or destination it will show you what you need to get your legs ready for 

Below is an example of the data collected over a week of riding 

So while your cruising down the road 

You have lots to keep you updated on what you have achieved on your ride

I just didn't have the cadence sensor on my singlespeed.

The CYCLO comes with complete navigational to anywhere you wish to go. 

It has saved me on so many occasions, I'm quite new to cycling in sydney and when you would like to stay away from the major roads the CYCLO will take you through all the cycle corridors that the council has developed with the RTA. And just Incase you wish to change your direction or you miss a turn the unit recalculates and directs you back on course so quickly.

Bang for ya buck???

Well you get bang and a sexy very useful unit that Wi-Fi's your ride to your computer and it's on strava straight away.

So stop thinking about it and go get one! Then get your mates to get one, as you can shake n share and route that's planned on your device so everyone knows where the ride goes.

JUSTCHOPS :) 

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!