Grinding to a hault

New pads ordered: NFI how they will be in comparison to the organic pads I am used to running but they are dirt cheap compared to OEM Avid pads so if they don’t work very well, I can use them to prop up a wobbly table or something.

They are from “bike fridge” ebay store and are around $50-$55 aud posted for 4 pairs, rather than $30 a pair (on CRC) for OEM.

I will post some kind of review when I have them in my hot little hands. Hopefully that will be before the 4 hour enduro that is rapidly approaching.

Avid Elixr sintered pads

Inspecting the damage

Today was the first day I have looked at the mountain bike since the first club round a week and a half ago. Since I had the new road bike and the trails have been to wet to ride, I didn’t really have any incentive to finish cleaning the bike up.

I knew from the lever feel towards the end of the race and the god awful sound the bike was making as I wheeled it inside after cleaning it up post race, that something wasn’t happy. So I pulled the pads out to see what the damage was…..

lets just say it was lucky I wasn’t racing ‘A grade’ and needed to do another lap! The pads were all but new at the start of the race and after four laps = 28k’s they are a throw out job. This really gives me something to think about after the reported carnage at the Jetblack 24hr in Sydney last weekend. Conditions were far worse there and people weren’t even making a full lap before their pads were junked.

So I think some sintered pads are going to be the order of the day for the 24 solo nationals as a “just in case” purchase. A couple of sets to keep in the tool box and break out if the weather is looking suspect. Those riders using sintered pads at the jetblack managed to do the entire race without a change of pads – smart thinking.

Now I had better hurry up and order some more since I am planning on racing the WSMTB 4 hour in a little over a week and will need some way of slowing down once the 4 hours is up. Unfortunately this race clashes with round 2 of the club championship which should also prove to be the debut of the new section of track during a race. I would dearly love to be there but the longer enduro is a much better training option for the 24 hour races I have coming up shortly.

Build day wrap up.

A weeks worth of rain and the ever present grey skies ensured this months build day received limited attendance. Four of us were there with a special mention to the Ronnster who was sporting a hangover and a list of reasons as long as your arm as to why he should have stayed home, yet he came anyway.

With small numbers, a bit of track maintenance was scheduled after all the wheels that went over the trail during last weeks wet club round. The track has held up really well. I was quite surprised at how little damage there actually was. Since it was raining while we were out working, it gave us a good insight into the problem areas and lots of little drainage culverts were dug to try and prevent trail erosion.

Tim added bird wire to the steel mesh bridges for some much needed traction. I think it will prove to be a big success as it already felt much more grippy even just walking on the bridge.

A couple of extra benches were dug in where the trail was clearly creeping down the hillside in a few spots and a little bit of widening was done in the newest section of trail.

My leech count today was very modest, I think I only pulled off 5 or 6 from my arms and a special vampire leech that has attached itself to my neck. Ron on the other hand was bleeding more than an upturned red cross blood courier van. Evidentially the leeches don’t mind ethanol.

There was no riding today, I still have a few nooks and cranny’s that need cleaning on the bike after last weekends club race and with the rain falling, I am glad I didn’t bother to bring it.

Next months build day should see us start working on an entirely new bit of trail that will link S-Bend road to Little Falcon Rd. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into that bit.

Just for interests sake, I took a photo at the big bridge near “little Borneo” which was almost completely dry a month ago. There has obviously been a LOT of rain fall as it is now nearly waist deep.

There is now a hell of a lot of water. If you get the bridge wrong, you are going to get seriously wet

Getting schooled by the doctor.

This morning saw blue skies and the chance to take the new road bike for a longer ride. Since Dr_Rob was coming off night shift, he was keen for a ride around town before day sleeping through until his next shift.

So we met up around 10 am and rolled into town so Dr_Rob could purchase a set of euro wet weather booties to remove any temptation of switching off the alarm clock on the cold wet winter training mornings on the pretense of “I don’t have any dry shoes to go out it”. Clever boy, sounds like I might need to remove some of my excuses aswell.

After that, we rolled out along the industrial highway and headed out to the freeway with a lovely tail wind the whole way. We then proceeded to pay for it back along the freeway and the link road, however all was pretty good.

We headed into town, did a lap of the beaches, had a coffee at Estabah and then the heavens opened and Rob smiled knowing he had a set of booties in his back pocket. Then I smiled because I had thought seriously about doing the jetblack 24hr as a solo this year but decided against it. Given the MUDBATH and utter carnage of last years race, and the steady rain beating out a rhythm on my roof as I type this, it may have been the smartest decision I have ever made.

Today, one thing became abundantly apparent to me. There is a word of difference between mountain bike speed and road bike speed. Rob annihilated me today. Embarrassingly so. Whereas he was rolling along in zone 3 having a chat and taking it easy, I was getting awfully close to the top of zone 4 and feeling the burn. Yet I beat him by a couple of minutes at last weeks mtb race. All we could put it down to was technique. Since I don’t have a motor anywhere near as big as his, I must be making up the time through technique and efficiency? Which seems like a bit of a stretch? I can’t see how I would be (ballpark figures) 20% more efficient than him on a mountain bike.

I have pondered this question for a long time and I haven’t been able to come up with a good answer. All I know is that I need to be doing more quality k’s if I want to get faster from this point on.

Flying below the radar

Woohoo! The bike is finally done.

Dr_Rob has some spare time this morning and what better to do on a rainy morning than tinker with bikes.

The 8.65kg stealth bike

Now, I know it is confusing for single speed bike mechanics, but this bike has GEARS! And how sweet they are! Of course, the saddle is now much further in now I have actually sat on the bike.

I took it for a spin this afternoon and several things were immediately apparent.

Firstly: The frame is so much stiffer than the ALAN. Standing and hammering on the ALAN always felt like riding a dually, there was always flex and sway soaking up some hard won forward progress. This bike feels so much more lively.

Secondly: Carbon really absorbs bumps and vibration well. I had always been suspicious that this effect came from the vivid imagination of journalists attempting to fill their word quota and forum trolls espousing their knowledge on all things cycling. In actual fact, the vibration dampening of this frame is better than my faux inch travel ALAN.

Thirdly: It sure is quiet. I didn’t quite realize how many creeks and rattles the old bike had. No wonder people would get the hell out of the way on the cycle way without me even having to say a word.

Finally: New bikes make you want to ride more. As if I am not getting up first thing in the morning and taking it out for a ride.

There is a funny knock in the bottom bracket that turned up around 10km’s into this afternoons ride that needs a little investigation. Other than that, all systems are go.

Origins of the frame

Road bike update

The new road bike is so close to being done, all that remains is to install the cables and some bar tape and yet, I don’t think I am going to be able to find the time to do it until saturday.

It looks amazing and weighs bugger all aswell. By bugger all, the scales are showing it as 8.5kg at the moment with a wheelset crafted from solid granite.

I am really liking the ’stealth’ look of the stickerless all back frame and the all black parts. I’ll post some photos when completed and then I might even go ride it!

New multi-tool

Here is a nice piece of kit I just bought from CRC. After uttering the famous “does anyone have a chain breaker” at least 3 times in the last 3 weeks, I decided I had better invest in a multi-tool that actual has this ride-saving invention.

Now being a closet weight weenie, I spent quite some time pondering the merits of all sorts of carbon do-dads and ultimately came to the conclusion that I should eat less pies to save weight and buy a multi that didn’t cost more than my bike.

Enter the Lezyne V10.

It has a fantastically simple chain breaker on it that is all but impossible to lose parts from (A critical component is missing from my PRO multi-tool making it all but useless), has 10 functions and still only weighs a (claimed) 102g. It even comes with a little stretchy cover to stop it from getting beaten up in a saddle bag or beating up whatever is near it.

I have played with it a little and the only criticism I can make is that it is a little wide. If you are attempting to work on a bolt in a tight space, the tool may be too wide to allow a reasonable angle of attack. Having said that, I intend to use it as little as possible so for emergency situations, it should do all I need.

Now I can head out with a pocket full of power-links safe in the knowledge that a single speed conversion is right at my finger tips.

Happy Trails

Build day this sunday

Just a note to anyone that can lend a hand; the ‘new’ section of trail will have the finishing touches applied this sunday. Kick off will be at 0730 at the main carpark. Tim will fire up the bbq and drinks in the carpark for a 1230 finish.

Jobs for this sunday include building a (very) large bridge, widening  some sections of the new trail (such as the berm at the bottom of the chute) and modifying ground effects & mawkes creek bridges to increase traction in the wet. There may well be a few problem areas that need some fixing following the weekends racing also.

See you all there.

HMBA round 1

What a race.

The weather was an against us from the start and the track was pretty slippery through the mid laps. It started out OK but with 105 sets of wheels across it after the first lap, it quickly turned into a slip and slide.

I got a jump on everyone into the single track and smashed myself through the first lap to try and open a gap. It seemed to work pretty well however I nearly slid right off the edge of a bridge and decided to slow up a little. I think everyone I spoke to after the race had a story of a near death experience in the greasy conditions.

For the last couple of laps, I just rolled around trying to keep the bike upright. Gingerly pottering through corners to try and stop the front from washing out. It was a funny sort of race, I only averaged 156 bpm and I think it was due to the conditions. You couldn’t push hard on the climbs or the rear wheel would slip, you couldn’t push hard through the corners or your front wheel would wash.

On the last lap, chain suck arrived wearing a party hat, although I still had some brake pads left unlike half of the riders. I spent the whole of the last lap looking over my shoulder – waiting for someone to catch me, but they never came.  I dragged my sodden carcass across the finish line about 1-2 minutes ahead of the Danbot in second place.

So now I have a conundrum. Do I continue to sandbag in B grade or step up to A grade and have my arse handed to me as a hat? I certainly don’t have the pace to  mix it with the fast guys in A grade however I don’t race for podiums – I race to do better than I did last time. So perhaps therein lies the answer.

I think the right decision was made to run the race and I am surely glad we got to play in the mud. I am glad we didn’t race the new section of track – it would have been absolute carnage!

Thanks to all the race volunteers and to the other competitors for a great day!

mud and lots of it

The anthem lives again

Tuesday afternoon following the Australia Day Ride saw me ordering a new rear deraileur from ebay after my old XT shadow gave up the ghost. I had it in my hot little hand on thursday morning and finally found the time to install it today with Dr Rob.

It sure is a work of art, far too nice to actually use in the mud and grime (and it is looking like i might not have to if this rain keeps up and cancels tomorrows first club round). Of course, it wasn’t all perfectly smooth sailing. at 1:30 as we were fine tuning things, we noticed that the gear cable outer was now far too short and it had put a nasty tight radius bend in the cable. The mounting position between the old shadow mech and the new non-shadow mech were different. A hunt through the garage revealed a distinct abscence of sacraficial cable outers, so we scrambled and made it to Gateshead cycles just in time to buy some more.

Notice the 'angle of the dangle' on the right hand mech? It steadfastly refuses to do its job as a chain tensioning device.

This afternoon I have fitted the “retro ralphs” which were kindly donated by weight weenie Dr_Rob who seems to be more susceptible to their inertia than myself. Of course, going to the effort of installing new tyres will mean tomorrows race will be washed out for sure! If i had left the scummy old crossmark on there, the race would  be on and I would be slipping and sliding my way all over the place.

Happy trails and fingers crossed for 24 hours of dry weather!