MTBA XCO Round 1 - You Yangs

One of the great joys of cycling is that it can take you to beautiful places you might not ordinarily visit and you meet top quality people you might otherwise never meet.  XCO (Olympic distance Cross Country) is something I hadn’t done before and since winning the 24 solo a little over 12 months ago, my racing has been getting shorter and shorter, so it seemed like a logical progression to give XCO a go.  I didn’t have high aspirations for this race, the plan was just to turn up and give it a good crack.  MTBA are working hard to offer a quality MTB race experience and with more and more choice for races coming onto the calendar, I figured you could do a lot worse than support the peak body.

So it was that Kel, Jesse and I loaded up the trusty Hyundai i-Load and hit the road.  We couldn’t have timed it better in terms of weather.  Sydney was still a maze of gushing creeks and drainways from the recent spate of storms and as we headed south, the clouds parted and Gundagai greeted us with perfect blue skies and mild warm weather.

We arrived at the track just after lunch Friday and had a leisurely cruise around the course, and what a great course it was.  Not unlike Stromlo, the soil is dry, dusty and loose.  I’d need every millimeter of the Curve carbon hoops and Rubena tyres and keep the rubber side down.  Not only that but the track was littered with a number of rocky obstacles.  Mind you, these are not like the random rocky ruts that you find at the dam.  These are purpose built obstacles to test your skill, balance and power, and on my first lap I probably had to unclip 4 or 5 times and go back and repeat to search for the ideal line.  One of those lines brings you to the top of a huge granite extrusion that seems to descend straight to the centre of the earth, it’s so steep.  But similar to the drop off at Ourimbah, if you get the line right and stay off the brakes, it’s a hoot to ride.  Satisfied with practice, we retired to the cheap little motel we found in Corio, loaded up on carbs and hit the sack.

The Elite Women's start and Bec has her race face on from the start

Race day and again conditions are perfect, but already you can feel the temperature rising.  My Garmin peaked at 43 degrees for the day.  Poor Jesse went with the U/19 at 12:30pm for a 4 lap stint in the furnace.  Huge props to him for his first hit out in the higher age group, finishing strong and clean, well not quite clean, the heat bringing on a bloody nose.  The Elites had to do 6 laps and it was great seeing our nations best battle it out.  Not so great was the attrition rate, the heat was taking a big toll; Kel and I were in the feedzone and there were dropped bottles a plenty and that would obviously take a toll.  The Masters and Opens were delayed till 3pm, which was fine by us, perhaps the heat would drop off slightly.

The Elite Man's start and DMac paced himself for 5 laps then lifted to another level to pull away in the final lap

Finally we were on the grid and it was great to chat with a few of the locals.  They were all built like bulldogs, compact, strong and punchy they looked, unlike “muggins” Israel all skinny arms and a diesel engine, but who cares! It was just great to be there.  The start as expected was furious and I’d had a decent warm up so to be 5^th wheel going into the climb I was pretty happy.  Confession time, I dropped the wheel, but we’d dropped the main field and there were only 3 riders behind me and they were happy with my steady pace (diesel!).  I cleared all the main obstacles, it wasn’t pretty but the last thing I wanted to do was slow down my fellow competitors.  Nearing the top, one guy behind was calling to push hard and so I did.  By the time we crested I was on 96% heart rate and my throat was almost closed it was so dry.  I let the three of them pass and took a moment to get a few drops of liquid down my bile coated throat so I could breath again.  I caught one of the guys and he kindly gave me the track on the descent, and what a descent it is.  9 switchbacks, lots of flow and a great opportunity to just stay off the brakes, pick your lines and recover.  I got a gap and pressed on hard.  I took the B line when it came to the slippery dip, thinking there was no need to take risks just yet. 

Some of the Elite guys rolling into the slippery dip

We only had 3 laps to complete.  8km times three doesn’t seem like much but I must have been averaging 85% heart rate so heading up the climb the second time knowing I only had to do it once more was a good feeling.  The aim now was to keep up my pace and hold position.  The cheering crowd was great and I was picking up a few of the slower Masters 1/2 riders.  There was still no sign of any chasers, but then again there was no sign of any rabbits to chase either, so I enjoyed the final lap, took the A-line down the slippery dip and came over the line in 6^th place.  Not too bad, I have to admit I had dreamt of a podium finish but I can take away a lot of positives, knowing I was not far off the pace required, and pushed some pretty accomplished riders.

A great thrill it was to meet Peter Lister, another national level masters rider from Mackay, who had driven down for the Husky and then continued onto the You Yangs when the Husky got cancelled! Now that’s a road trip.  Peter is also a keen Christian who wanted to know more about JesusMTB.  Head of Missions for Mackay Christian College, he takes groups of students away to PNG and Africa to work on community projects and to give the kids some exposure to places not as well off as Australia.

The other day a mate of mine, quipped that believing in God in this day and age is a little akin to believing in Santa Claus.  For me, when I look around at this amazing creation we live in I don’t consider that a random accident.  The alternative that there is nothing after death and your life adds up to the sum total of the good things you did and the good times you had rings hollow for me, not to mention my own personal failings.  The story of Jesus Christ and who he claimed to be and the redemption he offers is the only thing that seems truly real to me.

I’ve been typing this as we head back north and am looking forward to getting home after a quick reccie of the trails at Bright.  That means I have a huge thankyou to Sarah and the kids for doing without me over these few days, I love you guys.  Also thanks to Kel and Jesse for the opportunity to travel and ride with you, it’s been just great.

Keep riding

Mike

It was great to see a bit of the downhill

Highland Fling 2014

Driving down the Hume Highway at 4 in the morning, tends to brings things to a certain perspective.  Alone with all your thoughts, questions and doubts driving through the fog in the dark, dodging kangaroos with just a mountain bike in the boot.  And then you notice that thin line of sunlight starting to appear on the horizon and all that matters is getting onto that start line and riding your bike with and against your mates.

It had been another busy week, carefully planned to extract value from every minute and meet my current commitments to family and work, not to mention training and recovery and now it was time to see if I had anything to offer for the final round of the Maverick Marathon series.

Rego at 6am was simple and then a quick drive over to the event centre and before long I was kitted up and ready to race.  The temperature was perfect and in just a summer jersey I headed out for a nice easy warm up and back in time to stake an appropriate possie in the self seeded grid.  My preparation had been minimalist all week in all the wrong areas.  Training, sleep and relaxation had eluded me in place of a hectic routine, but the legs had that welcome fresh and hardened feeling.  I had a sneaking suspicion of a great ride.

The start was hassle free and I quickly jumped into a nice fast bunch.  The first false flat tests the field and I was happy to find I was holding my place, whilst a few others fell away.  Into the farmland and we formed a mixed bunch of the quicker vets and masters.  Rob "CD" Weiser and Steve "Bam Bam" Henry joined me, having fought through the traffic from further back on the grid.  Kudos to them!  My heart rate was on 88% and after the first hour reaching Wingello the avg was 86% That's pretty normal for the first stg of the Fling, it is mostly fireroad and this year seemed to contain a little more vertical than usual.  Mike Blewitt sat up for us a few times and also pulled some turns.  We were spoilt to have an Elite rider to keep us all honest; Mike was having an easy day post Croc.

Getting to T1 was a relief in some ways and I quickly refilled my single bottle. The strategy for today was to go light and make the most of the available drink stops, a risky proposal but one I felt could deliver a slight advantage.  I went back for watermelon and lollies twice, emptied the sand out of my shoes from the river crossing and formed up the bunch to hit the Shimano stage.  I gave up a minute here, but figured it was worth it.  Two of my fiercest competitors in Mark "Iceman" Hardy and Gary "the Hammer" Harwood had headed out before me so in my mind I had two rabbits to chase.  Before long we caught their bunch and surprised myself when my legs went into attack mode and sped past them on one of the thousand pinch climbs we would crest throughout the day.  I gave the wall a good crack in the 34 front 36 rear but half way up realised my folly and took to walking.

running a little wide on an off camber corner, hang onto it Isy!

My theory is riding this wall might give you a few seconds at the top but you pay big time later in the race for this super effort.  I took a quick gel at the top and cut back onto the short single track just in front of Lewy and Coops.  "Sorry boys!" I got out of their way as quick as possible and got a 30 second coaching lesson from Coops before they disappeared.  Tupac, Brendan and two young TORQ guys had already sped through and the next to arrive in a screaming, shredding mess was Masters pin up boy James Downing shouting "TRACK PLEEEEEEASE" from 30 metres away, again the shout came so I pulled off and waited for him to pass none too happy to give up precious seconds near the end of the Great Wall of China, but that's racing.  Next time I might not be so accommodating JD :).
It's actually one of the things I like about the Fling even if it is a little weird starting the Elite guys last.  I had a nice little chat with English after his signature "How's YOUR day goin'?" and Glenn Columbine also ambled past a little worse for wear after an OTB earlier on.  I'll never forget the last time I did the Fling a bunch of about 10 Elites came through like a freight train somewhere in Tangles including Craig Gordon, what a thrill to see these guys ride so fast.

By the intermediate drinks stop, it was just Rob and I with a couple of others not far ahead.  At this point I should mention the Single Speed rider just behind, Stephen Tomczyk.  He'd been with us all day pushing a huge gear so the three of us hit Halfway Hill and the Kick and we got through that relatively comfort.  The next section I had a few demons to face, Outer Limits and Wild West are often where the cramps hit, but again the legs behaved and it was a great feeling to hit the fireroad and pick David O'Connell (fellow masters) and Sam Moffit (finished 3rd in the mile!).  Together with Rob the 4 of us pulled unspoken turns all the way back to Wingello, well three of us anyway we gave Sam a free tow #luckyman

This time I hit the lap button and we refuelled and used up 4:30 before heading out into the last stage.  At this point Steve on the SS had rejoined us, so the 4 of us rolled out and again pulled turns all the way to the private property.

At some point Dave got a little gap and thinking he was younger, I let him go (he finished one place ahead of me in Masters).  There still seemed to be no sign of anyone behind us, so I began entertaining ideas of a top 5 finish, and was looking forward to finishing the ride with Rob.  Brokeback mountain came and went with little fuss and by Baker's Delight the three us weaved our way through trees, rocks and obliging half flingers.  Still feeling I had some juice left and keen to preserve my position in the field, I wound up the pace before Your Call, sensing a chasing group.

Thankyou half fingers for giving us the track

As I hit the bitumen, Ben May came by, we checked each others category, him Vets me Masters OK we can work together.  "there's a group of about 4 behind and they are about to jump, let's go!" Ben said who looked pretty fresh so I breathed in deep and gave it one last effort, the two of us swapping turns on the slight downhill.  "If we can get over this last crest alone we should be clear" I said as I noticed my HR was nudging 88% again, hmm not bad, so I still have something left?  Ben hammered the last km to the finish and I was only 50m behind, elated to finish in such good shape whilst at the same time wondering if I could have gone a little harder?  Rob pulled in just a minute later, it's something special to complete such a tough race and to have shared the majority with a good mate.

Is that a smile or a grimace? Come on Rob!

My hopes of a top 5 category finish turned out to be as vague as the clouds of dust we'd endured for the last 5 and a half hours, but I was still stoked with my performance when I looked at the pedigree in front of me added to which were a couple of new names recently turned 40, including Luke Beuchat and Todd Sinclair.  Interestingly, the split on the top 34 riders was 14 Elite, 1 Open, 9 Vets and 9 Masters so age really is no barrier.

And so the MTB family swells again, with new riders, new rivals and most importantly new friends though I really think any top level triathletes crossing over to MTB need a big fluoro "T" painted on their quads or something.  Thanks especially to Rob, Dave, Sam, Steve (SS) and Bam for the company over a great ride.

Keep Riding
Mike

Nutrition
4 and a half bidons
9 gels, half a bar
watermelon, banana, lollies, oranges

Fathers Day Special - The Back Yamma BigFoot

As with all epic mountain bike rides, the preparation and what happens before and after race, often takes up more words than the actual ride itself.  The Back Yamma Bigfoot is a race I have always wanted to attend, so with a fixed elbow and a thirst for racing I entered on the spur of the moment (never a good move when you have family) only to realise it was Father's Day.  Hmmm, now some might say, hey, it's Father's Day, you should be able to do what you want! and that's true to a degree, but I hated leaving my family, so that's the price you sometimes pay to race at a high level.

The Road Trip

It was so good heading west out of the big smoke and many drivers were treated to a view of two gorgeous Lamborghinis cruisy down Pennant Hills Road in the wet traffic.  The guys were just cruisy slowly so you could follow them and pass them and take a really good look.  Wow!
Heading over the mountains, the mist and rain was beautiful and then once I got past Lithgow, the rain halted and gradually the clouds broke to reveal a picturesque landscape of blue skies, puffy clouds and lush green and golden fields as far as the eye could see.

Lamborghini on Pennant Hills Road

Michael's Mistake

The legs were a little stiff and definitely in need of some blood flow so a quick rego and tent pop up and I was off to enjoy a dusty ride as the sun set.  I'd bumped in Grantley who had just finished the first 30 km in a little over an hour, which would suit me fine.  I'd be back for dinner and an early bed.  I took a big gulp of water, fixed my lights to my helmet and I was away, and didnt it feel good.  The track was bone dry and dusty as .... in the race, you couldn't see the ground for the dust being kicked up by the wheel in front!

Sunset over Canola fields Back Yamma State Forest

I was having such a great time as I flicked on my lights, I didnt really notice I'd missed the turn off back to the event centre until I looked at my Garmin and it said 35km.  Uh oh, well nothing for it but to continue on, for some reason I had in mind that the 30 km loop went back through transition and it wasnt till I clocked up 40km that I realised my error.  Now I was really in a deep hole and I just kept digging.  No idea where I was, my lights were dimming, I was tired and thirsty, and just top it off, on a bit of fireroad I caught a tyre track with the front wheel and went down pretty hard, oh great now the gears arent working.  All the worst thoughts were racing through my mind from, "how will I fix my bike" to "I'm going to get cleaned up by a Kangaroo or a Cow" to "I'm going to miss dinner" to "I'm going to be stuck out here all night!"
Finally I flicked over to the map page on my Garmin and saw the "Begin" point wasnt too far away.  Oh thankyou! The navigational logic of the Garmin has always been pretty dodgy but on this occasion, it totally saved me.
I still had 10km or so to ride and even when I got to within sight of the event centre there was this dirty great ravine keeping me at bay, so I scrambled down and found a way out and headed straight for my tent.  By this time I was pretty cold.  It was now 9pm and all was quiet in the camp site.  Peter from Rotary, saved my life with a couple of sausage sandwiches some Milo and we even shared a beer as I recounted my ill-planned reccy, and he explained to me a little about the history of the land and the relationship with the kangaroos!
It all ended well and when I got back to my tent I was bone tired.  I washed all the dust off and set about getting some sleep while I pondered how I would repair my bike before tomorrow's 7:45 race start.

Rise and Shine?

At 5:30am, the alarm was not welcome.  I had sleep quite restlessly and you always feel you have only just dozed off into a deep sleep when the alarm goes off.  First things first, get some fuel into the tank, I was starving.  Second things second, figure out the bike.  I had kinked the cable and damage the ferrule so I wandered around looking for some friendly mechanic who might have a spare cable and ferrule.  Rod Farrell (race organiser) was kind enough to find his last gear cable and end cap for me to use, but I'd have to make do with the split ferrule.  Back to the bike, and I swapped the two ferrules at either end of the outer, inserted the new cable and reset the gears, "Yes! we now have a working bike, I wasnt really looking forward to going single speed today."

Chatting with Alex on the start, noone seemed all that keen to start on the front row

I lined up on the start next to Brett "Jeebus" Bellchambers.  I have no idea what he was talking about (the brain still foggy from last night's misadventure) and yet he still made me laugh and I was thankful just to be there.  The race start wasn't too bad and I was hanging onto the lead group for a while but soon the gaps started to appear and I was pretty tentative on the track not being able to see where I was riding for the dust and had no desire to wash out again, so I backed it off and saw my adversaries sail past.  First Jason Morgan and then Quantum team mate Alex Kooijman in hot pursuit and my heart and legs just come up empty.

Great shot courtesy of Michael Crummy drifting out of another perfect corner

For me it would be a case of enjoy the ride and use it as a training exercise in skills and nutrition and to that effect I had a great day. I rode with a group of 5 guys from the 20-40km mark and hit the front to do some work. After a few k's I had a gap with only the singlespeeder on my wheel.  At the half way point there were some pretty tired 100k riders; two guys quipped that they were trashed, but I felt pretty comfortable and had been careful to keep up the fluids and gels.  A quick bottle swap and I was off for the 2nd 50km.  For this lap I was pretty much on my own and I picked up a few riders who were succumbing to cramps, it had suddenly got hot!  The trails are so much fun out here, I liken it to Kowen Forest without the Pine trees.  Lots of flowing corners and a few tight ones that can catch you unaware.  Lots of sketchy gravelling descents that tempt you to drift into ruts and stay off the brakes.  Again the Ellsworth 29er was the weapon of choice and the 1x10 setup was perfect and kept the legs spinning all day.  The Curve/Rubena pairing continues to outperform and there was many a loose corner when the Rubena Kratos bit and held the line as my heart was in my mouth for fear of washing out.

Ellsworth Enlightenment, shod with Rubena tyres and Curve Carbon hoops

Alex had a great ride and was unlucky not to podium.  Unfortunately for him there was no Elite category so James Downing automatically took 1st place in Masters and overall, what a machine!  The next 3 places in Masters were spread by only 6 minutes and I cheekily took 5th in a dash for the finish line a further 12 minutes back, not too bad considering.

Hit the Road Jack

But my day wasn't over yet.  Normally one to stay for pressos, I was on a mission to get back for my son Thomas' confirmation.  Now 16, he made his own decision to make a public declaration of his faith in Jesus Christ.  I don't want to make a big song and dance about it, but I am incredibly proud of my son who is growing into a thoughtful, mature, happy, respectful and well balanced young man and he now has an eternal perspective on life.  What more could a Dad ask for Father's Day?

Keep Riding
Mike

Hebrew 10:23
"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful"

Tom and 7 others ready for confirmation with Rev Chris Edwards at St Philips Turramurra

Chocolate Foot Round 4 Coondoo

It was a strange feeling packing up all the gear prepping for the STM round in Nowra.  With interruptions from weather earlier in the year and then an injury, my racing season has been....well.....sparse to say the least.  Suffice to say the injury forced me to re-appraise my priorities and how I "do life" and with a few tweeks I was in a much better place mentally to head into a race.  Now 9 weeks since my accident and having completed 3 good weeks on the trainer with some help from cycle coach Dave Hunt, it was time to return to the race scene and see where the legs were at.  

The evening before was a perfect race prep, travelling down with fellow Masters racer Ian Bridgland, we took in a practice lap and found the track had drained well and would be in great nick for the race.  SCUM had put in a huge effort to prep the track and some of the new berms on the descent were just awesome, thanks guys!  I spent the evening reading a cycling blog, catching glimpse's of the classic James Bond "Dr No" and soon fell asleep to the soothing calm of a light shower signalling the end of the rain (surely!?).

Sure enough the weatherman got it right and we awoke to near ideal conditions Sunday morning.  The race started with the usual lead out on the fireroad and I comfortably found a spot near the rear of the lead bunch.  It is in these first few minutes when you discover whether you brought your race legs and I was happy with my first effort.  A errant strip of bunting diverted the lead bunch into an "hors d'oeuvre" of single track and confusion reigned for a moment, but there was nothing to be done except to hold the wheel in front and we all seemed to emerge back onto the fireroad none the worse off.  It's the little surprises like this that make a race more memorable.

And so the first lap completed, I was glad to to see we were in second with a healthy buffer to 3rd.  It turned out Mark Hardy wasn't so fortunate with the way the diversion worked out and he and Ben spent the entire day clawing back the 4 minutes he'd lost on the first lap.  Without that bit of race luck, the end result may have been a little different.

Having the Bioathletic team there was fantastic and added a whole other dimension to those riding in a team.  The option to take an ice bath in between laps and then stretch out on a roller was a great way to recover and I am sure it helped me to maintain consistent lap times all day.  Thanks to Jen and the team, you rocked.  

Dave Eccles entertaining some of the lovely Choc Foot ladies in the "IceT" bath

A good graph showing the epic battle for all you strategists out there

The rest of day panned out pretty much to plan and personally I just had a ball reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.  As you can see from above, Mark and Ben were never far away, chasing hard all day and Michael "Browny" Brown was the hero of the day setting blistering lap times and making a very good substitute for regular partner Phil Welch.  Phil is away riding the Mongolia Bike Challenge and at this very moment is probably reclining in a warm Gur somewhere on the Mongolian tundra partaking of his first swig of "airag". Meanwhile Jason and Paul set a pace that was inspiring and took the win with ease.

The Ellsworth Enlightenment setup with 1x10 performed beautifully on the track, still nimble in the tight corners and light as a feather up hill, but my lower back is complaining today!  The Curve Cycling wheels continue to impress and have taken the bike to a new level of performance.  Paired with the Rubena Kratos, steering and cornering has never been so precise and so reliable thanks to the wide profile rim.

The 7hr Masters Pairs podium.  You can actually see Mark thinking, if only I'd gone just that little bit harder!

The bridge added an extra fun feature at the end of the lap

Fi showing how it's done off a jump that launches one into orbit

I'd also like to extend a huge vote of thanks to all the support I've received from Turramurra Cyclery over the years.  My identity was practically synonymous with the Blue and White kit, (indeed many of you didn't recognise me in the new green kit from Quantum), but after nearly 8 years I reckoned it was time for a change and I'm looking forward to focussing my attention to more MTB riding together with a bunch of riders who have some similar goals to me.  All I need to do now is perfect my Euro accent.  I'm getting lessons by listening to Martin Wisata's staple Armin Van Buuren - State on Trance while I spin away on the wind trainers.  Who knows, even I could find myself on the start line of the TransAlp one day.

Keep riding

Mighty Mike

The Stromlo Grin

These days, it's kind of rare to get a bunch of guys and gals together and just go riding.  There always seems to be some race or training ride that must be done, so it was with a sense of wonder that our little crew first raised the question of taking a day off from work, JUST TO RIDE

No racing, no rushing, no stress, no strava (well OK we didnt quite go that far) just ride.

The date was set and equipped with a new elbow and a shiny new set of Curve Cycling Carbon hoops we set off down the Hume highway for what would prove to be a very valuable Mental Health Day.

After loading up the bikes just before dawn we all met up at the Trappers Bakery Goulburn for coffee.  Imagine sitting in an enclosed sun drenched verandah sipping a great coffee and pulling apart a hot date scone lashed with butter and just enjoying the idea of a day's riding ahead and no race briefing deadline to obey.  Pure bliss!

Onwards to Stromlo, and at the very civilised time of 10am we rolled out of the carpark on a perfect late Winter's morning, sun blazing and just the wisp of a cool breeze, perfect riding conditions.  After an hour or so of riding, Finchy had a grin from ear to ear, having come off a 26" Fuel 9.9, to a 29" BH Lynx, he just couldn't believe MTBing could be so enjoyable, so we quickly diverted up Bloodrock just to prove how rocky and technical MTB can get!  Rob claimed the closest rider to the "no dab" award, well done mate, and Jason, being a Stromlo virgin, could scarcely believe how good this trail network could be and rapidly began searching domain for properties located within riding distance!

The crew summitting Mt Stromlo for the first time that day

We pretty much covered every cm of trail at Stromlo, putting together our accumulated knowledge from many a race day, from the challenge of Heartbreaker and Bloodrock to the sheer "yeooowwww" factor of Skyline/Luge or Pork Barrel and Double Disillusion.  The Briony had a very off day, by not even drawing blood from one of her knees, but the smiles never stopped and Watty couldnt resist towards the end of the day and gave the pedals a bit of a burst down Breakout and into Muckraker just to remind everyone what it feels like to ride on the limit.

Watty enjoying the very popular Chicken Avocado Focacia for lunch

We'd thought about packing up and heading over to Sparrow, but everyone was just enjoying the ambience of Stromlo so much we decided there were further trails to be explored so it was back onto the bikes and out again.  On the final descent down Skyline, Matty was clearly having "too much fun" and bit the dust pressing into a berm just a fraction too hard, but he was OK, if not a little dazed and dusty.  By 4pm we all reckoned we call it a day and even finished it off with a hot shower before the trip home.  #sheerluxury

We had a few laughs when the call came from the Mazda 3 that the trip computer was saying 3km to go on fuel still 30km south of Goulburn and could we slow down and give them a tow!!  thankfully Jason put his drafting skills to good use and the Mazda 3 pulled into the servo with nothing but fumes left in the tank.

Jason enjoying some post ride nutrition on the way home

Who was that masked man?  Yep, a real true blue living legend, humble as apple pie, owner of the bakery Keith aka "The Trapper"

On the way home, it just had to be done, another relaxing stop at the bakery and we were thrilled to meet the owner Keith, who had noticed us in the morning and wanted to know all about our cycling adventures.

As for me, the elbow never complained and whilst my descending was a little more conservative than usual, it was clear "he's back" ;) and as for those Carbon rims, what can I say, simply the best hoops I've ever ridden and that includes that other very expensive and fancy brand.  Why? the profile gives you an awesome tyre profile for cornering and precise steering especially over the rocky stuff, and there was a clear advantage in the way the rims picked up speed after a slow switchback.  Take for example some of the 'A' line switchbacks on the trunk climb;  Corners I would normally struggle to make without unclipping were suddenly a breeze, as the slightest pressure on the pedals propelled the wheels forward again.  Finally Strava doesnt lie, and I set a number of PR's up a climb that I've ridden probably a hundred times and in peak fitness.  After 6 weeks off the mountain bike to set a PR without really trying says something with the wheels being the only difference.  Well you might say I am an ambassador, and I received a discount, so of course I'm obliged to say something positive.  But those who know me, now I'm pretty transparent when it comes to speaking my mind so there you go.  Give the guys at Curve a call and see what they can do for you.

Keep riding
Mighty Mike

Mighty Mike rebooted

Hello again and yes it's probably been too long since I last blogged, but here we are again and I guess this is the blog I had to write but have been avoiding for some time.  Not because of anything bad, but alot has been going on, some on the bike but mostly off, so for brevity, because you probably have more important things you should be doing, here is a quick re-cap of what has been happening.

A good day out

Some 6 weeks ago I had a very good day out on the bike at the RTE GP4 at Ourimbah.  Basically I had a blast and fulfilled my goal or riding this course for 4 hours hard.  The end reward was a podium finish in a respectable field, but that result aside, the course, the riders and the fellowship amongst said riders was pretty much close to Nirvana.  One tiny little highlight that comes to mind was late in the race grinding up the last little bit of hurt on "long Meadows".  I was taking it very gingerly in the granny gear just to keep balance and ensure the hints of a cramp didnt progress.  A young elite rider rolled up behind me and gave me a great little pep talk to get over the last pinch.  What a moment!

Ourimbah - still one of the best XC courses going

From a high to a ridiculous low

Yes you saw it on Facebook, a bit of stress and some poor preparation led to an unneccessary OTB on bitumin and it was into the ambulance for poor old Mike.  The number of times I've gone over this in my head in the last 5 weeks probably qualifies me for some kind of mental therapy, but I do prefer to see the glass half full, so.....

There was a  gorier one but you get the idea

During my recovery I saw.....

I most amazing bike race ever, Stg 5 of this years TDF, but even greater than that I saw an Aussie legend show an almost unheard amount of grace and forgiveness when he was brought down in the sprint in Stg 1 effectively sabotaging his tour.  Yes it was racing and yes sprinters ride on the ragged edge, but seriously Simon Gerrans, that was one class act.  No false humility, no gilded lillies, no veiled accusations, just a simple "Well that was tough luck, and I wish I hadnt crashed but there you go, play on"
I also saw the biggest self destruct in sporting history, Brazil v Germany.  I actually watched more of the World Cup than the TDF, sacrilege I know, but I'm also a Football tragic and that was some seriously sexy football we saw in that tournament...but Brazil? Oh my, we will be talking about that one for years to come.

Gerro, you legend!

Am I better yet?

So the last five weeks have been painful from the point of view of not riding and not racing my best mates and rivals, and I even tried to will my elbow to heal, by getting back on the bike just a tincy bit too soon, but I realised all is not lost....in fact

What have I gained?

Well it's actually been a time of reflection, a time to consider my priorities and the reasons I ride.  Yes I love riding, I am competitive and I push it hard.  but I love my health and I love my family more and the minute cycling starts to take away from those two things, it's time to take a breather, and so in closing, all things work out in the end and I do believe in a higher being who actually loves me more than I can ever hope to understand and He has a plan is is far greater than winning a bunch a of bike races.

I got to take my darling daughter to her dance Eistedford, that's gold!

Luckily for me I still think racing has a place in that plan so I look forward to coming back.

You'll notice I have a couple of new supporters in Curve Cycling and Rubena (well actually Rubena aren't so new but together with Curve they make a pretty good combo) so there will be more news on that to come once I'm allowed back on a real bike.  And there might be more exciting changes coming soon...

That's it for now, thanks for reading and also thanks to the many many friends who have sent their good wishes for a speedy recovery and given me kudos for riding a wind trainer :)

Keep Riding
Mighty Mike