On the Taper

I picked up my rear wheel for bacon from Gateshead this morning. AK has worked his magic on a very old and tired mess of spokes and sprockets that was at one point a wheel. B-rad claims that AK has “re-engineered” parts of it, whatever the hell that means? All I know is that it spins buttery smooth and less likely to fail than it was a week ago. Brad claims the old cones were basically square and it now has much ‘faster’ round cones installed. I am suspicious this may cause some problems with my riding style however since I don’t do smoother and fast as well as I do course and abrasive.

I also gave Bacon a new chain today. It was the last new chain I had ‘in stock’ so the road bike will just have to wait a few months since it is in DESPERATE need of a new chain. I fiddled with the shifty bits on Bacon for a while and after quite a bit of swearing and head scratching, I can now pick up a whole host of gears that were once the realm of pure fantasy. The 11 tooth on the rear remains a dream however. It will shift while on the workstand but point blank refuses to change when being ridden. Bah, who uses the 11 tooth anyway?

All that is left to do for Bacon now is put on some comfy foamie grips to salvage my hands from the inevitable battering they will take after 24 hours through Pork Barrels. The front wheel might also go in for some A mofo K engineering to get rid of the horrendous pinging and twanging sounds the wheel is making. A few minutes of TLC by someone with a spoke wrench and half a clue (ie: not me) should sort it out.

I took bacon out for a spin in Glenrock but didn’t go far, perhaps 20k’s. The weather was extremely blowy and I am still feeling the weekends hard efforts so opted for a quick equipment test followed by some quality couch time.

11 days until i can have a pie

HMBA club race report

My predictions from yesterday rang true this morning. My metaphorical V8 engine was running on 6 cylinders and the petrol tank was empty.

At the race start, I knew I was in trouble when I was hurting badly before we had even reached siberia and decided survival was the order of the day and I noodled around attempting to preserve a rapidly deflating tyre. I think the valve which I bent in an accident at the ‘Ourimbah reverse loop race’ was leaking air and the bike was becoming very unruly. I was carrying a pump but felt I was probably going to lose more time pumping up a the tyre than I would by trying to limp to the finish. That theory held true right up until the moment I crashed on the same corner you see in the banner on this blog. The rear end let go into an unstoppable slide and I was left rolling around in the dust trying to unclip.

Clearly, the tyre needed air and I stopped to pump it up and watched as riders streamed past. I though of using it as an excuse to pull the pin but decided to HTFU and finish what I had started. The last climb up camel back was painfully slow and I finished 5th from 7 starters.  Garry Millburn came up from Sydney and smashed everyone. The only time I saw him the entire race was on the start line – after that, he was gone in a cloud of dust. Trenton Day continues to be the unluckiest rider I have met with a puncture on lap 1 but he put in a valiant fight back to claim 3rd spot.

There were a few heartening signs which indicated I have some reasonable form at the moment and I may have done a little better if I hadn’t smashed myself on a cog-head ride yesterday.  All in all, things could have gone much more poorly…. I could be this guy

Cog head ride

Today’s coghead ride was a solid effort and amazing that it happened at all. The swansea ride is firmly lodged in the top 10 top 3 (Greshop has at least 10 rides in his top 3) cog head rides and I have been attempting to get to a Swansea rider for nearly 6 months . Every time it has been rained out, or I have been racing or some other excuse could be utilized. Today however, there was no hiding from the alarm clock when it sounded at 0500hrs.

I met the bot at adamstown train station and  there was a couple of sections of road commuting and a rendezvous at Warners Bay. From there, we chased some dirt trails through greenpoint and then time trialed our way out to swansea maccas.

The road commute to Swansea was remarkably well behaved as Keith spun himself silly on the single speed however two groups formed and in a moment of silliness, Dan attacked off the front of the slower group with me in hot pursuit. We rode hard to bridge to the second group which quickly put the cat amongst the pidgeons.

You should have seen the look in Andrew and Micks eyes as we rolled past them. They shared exactly the same look as a pair of greyhounds in the starting chute eyeing the rabbit as the gates fly open. They took off and pretty quickly the ‘fast group’ had become the ‘hurt group’. I hung on for dear life as the pace surged and channelled the mighty Jens in order to keep going. The pace relaxed as we reached Swansea bridge and we rolled into Maccas to meet the late starters.

Leaving Maccas, we had the biggest coghead group ever with 19 riders and it is a testament to Andrews enthusiasm that the group just keeps growing. We climbed a hill then were straight into a flowing, lumpy, exciting single track descent. It wasn’t until we popped out beside the lake that I realized I had ridden that piece of trail before. Amusingly, I had only been thinking about the preceeding climb a couple of days ago.

Several years ago before I took up mountain biking exclusively, I entered a teams adventure race in some of the foulest weather I can remember and suffered through the run and kyak legs before getting to the bike. Having no idea about race nutrition, I had eaten nothing the entire race and had reached the aforementioned hill some 5 hours into the event in the midst of my first ever colossal  bonk. I was bonking so hard that I gave up trying to ride the hill and walked most of the way over a seemingly insurmountable mountain range.

So I had been wondering exactly how steep that hill had been only recently and was surprised to see that nowadays, it was barely enough to raise a sweat. Understandable given the amount of time I spend on the bike lately, but heartening none the less.

From there, we followed numerous fire trails before dropping down in to Catherine Hill bay and joining a trail by the waters edge that threaded its way along an overgrown goat track. We were off the bike, pushing through the undergrowth and laughing at how loosely the term ‘trail’ had been applied in this instance.

Ultimately, we popped out on a beautiful rock ledge and were able to follow beside the ocean across the undulating rock shelves for quite a long way before stopping for some food and to admire the serenity.

From there, we linked some random walking trails and a fire trail or two and before we knew it, we were back at Maccas and the late starters were peeling off to their cars. We continued off and picked up the old rail corridor near Belmont Golf Course and this is where the Gresham unleashed his ‘chiseled calves of pain’. We were flying along and it was all I could do to hang on. One by one, people were spat out the back of the bunch and I was off the back but just managing to stay in touch when, there was ‘pop’, followed by a ‘ting’ and then there was no chain on my bike.

It seems the old Wipperman chain link couldn’t handle the heat and had consequentially left the kitchen. Part of one of the pins remained firmly embedded in the chain however the remainder had vanished. Thankfully, experience had taught me to never leave home without a chain tool and a powerlink. So I was able to cobble things back together and rejoin with the waiting group.

We now joined the soon-to-be-competed Fernleigh extension and once again the pace started to creep up. We were all hurting and there were a few that called it quits as we left the Fernleigh to ride some some more single track.  Up the last climb for the day, I flailed to a standstill after choosing a clearly ridiculous line and Dan rode off in search of an alternate and overshot the mark leaving Gresham with the golden ticket to climb the hill of doom.

It was a great day in the saddle with glorious weather, amazing company and a solid 75k’s on the clock at the finish. Tomorrows race at Awaba will be a humorous affair as I have written cheques my body is in no way able to cash and the XC race intensity will likely see me pop like a weasel in a children’s novel.

Warning: bloody picture included

Tonight I got the phone call.
Sister “what are you up to?”
Me “nothing much”
Sister “wanna come and pick me up from glenrock. I’ve smashed myself up more than usual and might need stitches…. Help”

So I met her in the carpark, off to the hospital and now I can kill time in ED poking fun at her and blogging. Thank god for iPhones

Mondays forgotten post

How do you get home when you realize halfway through the day that you rode to work while leaving all your lights at home? Saved by a dolphin.

HMBA night race

I had a great  night. It is the first time I have spent a race on the other side of the timing computer and there was a lot to like about it. Normally I get a real sense of longing when I am sidelined and can’t be out there racing, but since I had the timing to focus on, I was happy to sit there with a beer and watch everyone else hurting themselves.

For our first night race, numbers were down on what I had been hoping for, but we still had 27 riders turn up. By some strange confluence of events, most of the HMBA racing stalwarts seemed to be out of town on the same day so this probably accounted for another 10 riders.

Just for laughs, I brought along every light I owned and we connected them all to Marks bike where he did the first two laps putting out around 5000 lumens. It was a pretty impressive sight and we got a few laughs from it. It certainly seared our retinas as he came through the timing tent.

Halfway through the race, Mel cam in with light failure so I set her up with some other lights I had lying around and sent her out again. She couldn’t believe the difference compared to her lights.

In the end, we raised $400 for the rescue helicopter, had some laughs and held a unique event that will hopefully be repeated again sometime shortly.

A big thanks goes to Dean, Dallas, Brad and Mark for their help in getting this event happening and to everyone who came along and had some fun.

help wanted for night race

With the night race rapidly approaching this weekend and half the normal committee out of town, things are looking dire on the BBQ front. Is anyone out there interested in lending a hand to man a BBQ for an hour or so until I can finish with the timing tent and take over? Shoot me an email and we can set something up.

New shoes

This morning was spent wandering around bike shops trying to find someone who had a shoe in my size. It was a lot harder than it sounds however I found success in the third shop I went to.

All week I have been having an internal battle over what sort of shoes I needed. Clearly a pair of Sidi Dominators or S-works would fulfill all my carbon soled fantasies, however they would last a total of 10 minutes on a gnarly hike a bike on a multi day bike packing adventure. Light weight uppers and stiff carbon soles vs rock hopping and stream crossing probably isn’t going to end well.

Ultimately, it was all mute anyway. I could only find one pair of shoes in my size that felt nice, so they were the pair I bought. The fact that they were cheap was also a bonus. They didn’t tick a single box of the mental list of what i was looking for, but just trying them on was enough to make my mind up.

So what did I get?

Scott MTB comp

They aren’t going to win me any beauty pagents, but I don’t mind because they are comfy. The old Mavics didn’t have a great deal of room in the toe box and I am fairly certain they are to blame for the persistent numbness in my big toes which started fairly soon after I bought them. The numbness which has turned into some form of neuropathy in the last few days and was a clear indicator they needed to be replaced, even if they hadn’t snapped.

So I took them out and got them a little muddy today. I also got to ride ‘bacon’ and test out the new cockpit for the first time. Holy haberdashery, batman! What an amazing difference. The bike no longer felt sketchy, and it was love at first ride. I never would have believed that 60mm of bar width would make that much difference. For the record, I was using 580mm flat bars and have swapped them out for the widest flat bars I could find – 640mm. Simply fantastic, as it turns out, all the steering vagueness I was blaming on a fork that had ejaculated its oil all over the place were in fact caused by narrow little nancy bars.

So i did about 40k’s today with a few hills and was planning on doing double that until I had a sudden epiphany. Every time I back pedalled, I noticed the chain doing all sorts of funny things almost like I was halfway between gears. I assumed it was wrong geared several times until I realised it was in fact the free-hub dying a slow death. It had done the same thing several years ago and I was left to limp home on a bastardized pseudo fixie complete with horrifying crunches and derailleur cruelty if I tried to coast rather than pedal.

So I pulled the pin on the ride lest I get stuck in the middle of no-where and have to walk home thereby getting my new shoes all muddy. Now to determine if I can salvage the hub with some maintenance. Of course, preventative maintenance wouldn’t have been a bad idea either but whaddayagunnado?

Papa needs a new pair of shoes.

Crossing the bridge at hexam this morning, I felt a strange pop come from my right shoe and then it started flexing and generally behaving a little strangely. Upon closer inspection, the sole has given way and the shoe is cactus.

I recall buying them shortly after the Sydney 12 hour last year so they are just over a year old so I am a little surprised they have let go. Admittedly, they have done some serious K’s and they clearly aren’t new any longer, but I kinda hoped $250.00 shoes would last a little longer. There have been lots of hardcore hike-a-bikes with them which I am sure wasn’t in their design specs. I am half thinking about getting some carbon soled wonder shoes but how they would handle multi-day bike packing and the resultant abuse leaves me a little skeptical.

In other news, my new bars and stem have arrived. No fancy carbon fibre do-dads here, good old aluminium is all I need for the backup bike. The 580mm flat bars that were on it felt uber euro, but weren’t particularly comfortable, so I have gone with a 640mm flat bar. It sure looks the business and hopefully I will get to try it out on wednesday.

All I am waiting on now is a new Front Derailleur which will give me a granny gear bail out which I was desperately looking for on the dog track on saturday. I’m pretty sure the granny ring will get a real workout during the worlds too.

The unknown muppet

Todays Ourimbah reverse lap race didn’t quite go according to plan. My plan had been to wander around talking to people and looking casual – check.Do a quick warm up – check. Get to the start line – Fail.

I binned it hard on my recce lap and it came out of no-where. I was just noodling along behind Gresho and discussing how I wasn’t feeling particularly in tune with things this morning and the next thing I know, I am being ejected over the handlebars and landing heavily on hard ground. I still don’t quite know what happened. the tyre marks on the ground tend to indicate I washed out the front end when I strayed a little wide, however it felt like something went wrong a little before then. I guess it doesn’t really matter now, the end result is still the same.

I jumped up, grabbed my elbow and groaned. Something wasn’t right. I walked it off for a bit then got back on and kept riding. I couldn’t actually hold the handlebar so I wobbled along and slowly picked up some speed as my arm loosened up a little.

Gresh was asking how I was going and I said I would be fine. I’d make it through the race no probs.

We finished the recce and I stopped to chat to Stu and Paula. they asked me how I was going and I said I would be fine, I would do a lap and see how it felt.

I wandered over to the car to grab a drink bottle and I knew it was over. I couldn’t move my arm without intense pain and there was simply no way I was going to be able to race. Gutted. Especially since there was a great A grade turnout and there were quite a few battles within the race which would have kept things interesting.

I handed in my number plate, pinched some ice from the drinks esky for my elbow and kicked back to spectate at this race. My arm was clearly a soft tissue injury so I wasn’t overly worried – at least there are no broken bones.

The race started and it wasn’t long before the first reports of an injured rider started to filter through. Rod Day (ambo & Trentons Dad) headed off to see what had happened and while he was out dealing with a young guy that had knocked himself out and probably broke some ribs, Michael Hogan walked in with a flat tyre and blood streaming from his face.

Michael had burped all the air from his front tyre and fell in a relatively smooth and safe part of the track, only to receive a blow to the face by his bike which jammed his glasses into his cheek, opening a cut and a few grazes. Certainly 10 points for dramatic effect as there was an impressive amount of blood hosing out.

Rod returned with the young guy who was now conscious but looking pretty average. His parents took him off to hospital for observation although I expect everything will be A-OK.

On track, there was a ding-dong battle between Trenton Day and Garry Millburn. They were hot on each others heels and trading places each lap with Garry finally making a gap on the last climb to finish around 10 seconds ahead of Trenton.

The other cog-heads had a great time. Gresho confessed that in his three laps, he did three different loops as the bunting was disappearing and no-one quite knew which way the track went. Stu came across the line and wasn’t sure whether C grade was finished or not. Paula and I had no idea either so we unnecessarily sent him on on a third lap…. he was smoked when he finished.

So my planned day of high intensity training has amounted to nothing and will probably mean next week won’t be a great week of training either. I’ll spend most of the week on the road bike and see how well the arm heals.

Anyway, Happy Trails and make sure you get along to the HMBA charity night race next weekend!