How to race a MTB without really trying

This episode starts under the premise that whilst life is normally pretty busy, it just suddenly got that little bit busier. Recently after a particularly deflating day at my job as an IT Manager, I went home determined to do something about it. I needed a change, I needed something else to occupy my brain and the match that got struck was an ad for a mechanic at one of the local bike shops.  "YES!" my mind expanded into the possibilities of a life lived within the cycling industry, until the prospect of a fairly hefty pay cut, and the subsequent defaulting on the mortgage came into focus. Well long story short I am now a part-time bike shop mechanic, albeit with P plates but I'm loving the change of scenery and I must say the gang at Cyclery Northside rock!

So it was on a sultry Sydney Saturday where this tale begins, when Anthony Shippard (Specialised Rider) waltzed into the shop with a box of health food. You might otherwise know them by the name of Crispy Creme.
"Shall I put these with the other health food?" Anthony asked, referring to the huge pile of pizza awaiting to be eagerly devoured by hungry staff for lunch.
Mmmm I wonder if working in a bike shop is going to impact on my lean physique...time will tell.  I resisted the donuts until "Shippo"caved in so I thought I could probably get away with it as well.

The shop was going ballistic just before closing time and consequently the rendezvous with my racing partner Phil Welch was slightly delayed, but it was no problem for Phil and it was great to pack up the Santa Fe and head for the hills so to speak. The drive to Orange is pretty long and you have to be constantly watching your speed lest you get snapped by a network of highway patrol and speed cameras, but the scenery is breath taking and we were lucky to time our journey and witness a gorgeous setting sun illuminating the golden sandstone walls of the Grose Valley.

We made a quick stop for food in Bathurst, yep you guessed it pizza again (Lewy's on George St - can recommend!), and then onto Orange. Phil had sorted the accommodation at the Occidental and we went for a quick stroll to collect cereal for breakfast, much to the entertainment of some local gals cruising the main drag who clearly took our skinny shaven legs as a sign of youth, poor misguided Gen Y's!

So to the race, and Phil and I were feeling quietly confident. We knew Benny had been doing some not so secret training, Mark is always a tough competitor and we knew the #fortyplusfrothers of Troy and Matt could certainly ride fast but could they sustain it for the full 7 hours?

Shredding through the forest on my time machine, the Giant 29er Anthem - Thanks Dave Bateman for this top shot

Well without prolonging the suspense too much, the answer was yes! Phil again designated me to take the start lap and from the gun I felt pretty good. Mark beat me into the single track by a few wheels, but that was where he stayed and I kept him in sight for the whole lap. Normally I'd be expecting to hold a little buffer after the first lap, but not to today and I knew straight away this was going to be a even tougher race than usual. It looked like our competition would be taking no prisoners and by half way through the race, we'd given them around 5 minutes. Our one remaining hope was that they had gone out too hard and I was still lapping at a reasonable pace, so I asked Phil to stake me a double and if there were any signs of them cracking perhaps I could stem the bleeding, but it was to no avail and all we could do was settle for 3rd as the real battle continued up the track for 1st and 2nd.

7 hr Master Pairs series podium - L-R Troy Matt Ben Mark Mike Phil

Once the realisation set in that we couldn't win, it was good to ease off the pace a fraction and settle into some not so fast laps. We'd also learned that our no show at Awaba would be counted in the series tally so that lowered the expectation and I was quite happy to settle for 3rd on the day and 3rd in the series.

The biggest congrats certainly goes to Benny who has done some serious training and basically was the quickest masters rider on the day. Also congrats to my good mate from TORC Brad Tillack who has been chipping away at this series for a couple of years now and finally cracked his first win in Super Masters, what a great effort!

Brad and I at the rider briefing - Thanks Phil Welch for this pic

Cycling is an obsessive sport, anyone reading this who is related to a cyclist can attest to that.  The pursuit of better fitness and sharper skills is like a carrot dangling in front that you never quite reach.  The goal for Phil and I at the beginning of the year was a series win, and whilst that didn't quite pan out, we've had a great time riding, keeping fit and healthy and making some great friends.  It's always worth remembering that cycling should be fun first, and also that there is more to life than riding fast.

A few thanks I have to make.  Firstly Chocolate Foot's Joe and Fi for putting on an awesome series and setting up these races in all the best locations.  Also to the sponsors and clubs for their support without whom none of these events would happen.  I have a number of clans now that I count myself lucky to ride with like TORC, Easy Riders and Quantum.  And now Pete and the gang at Cyclery Northside thanks for giving me a go.  I am loving working with you guys and genuinely excited where this could lead "down the track"

Keep Riding
Mike

I LOVE 24 hour racing

Bobbin Head Bombers Sandy Logie, Fiona Dick, Mike Israel and Stan Moore are all smiles after there 2nd place in The Mont Mixed Masters 4

I LOVE 24 hour racing but no I don't think there should be 36 or 48 hour variants. Riding through one night is quite enough.  Some time around around 3am, riding through a crisp clear Canberra night, I really did think to myself, wow this is cool. The fairy lights, the other riders, the drummer in the middle of the bush and the banjo band with smoke machine really made it feel a little bit like Christmas it was such a good vibe.  (the pine trees might have had something to do with that too!)

Camping with our team and my son's Young Gun's team was also a huge highlight as well as catching up with many MTB friends whom I havent seen since STM at Awaba last year.

Stu and Ben MC'ing did a sterling job and seeing Tom and Sandy coming in on their last laps with smiles the size of watermelons was amazing.  Other highlights were completing a lap with Chris Southwood of Flow Magazine.  Now I am not name dropping, but following this guy down SideShow was a hoot and he showed me lines I never imagined and when I hit the final "beer garden" descent with a small gap and a clear track, I pinned my ears back and shredded like there was no tomorrow.  With spectators screaming at Chris to catch me it was the most fun you can have on a bike without landing in jail.

The Mont also has a distinct family feel to it with atleast half the 3000 odd riders being brand new to MTB or still very new to racing.  This is absolutely awesome, as it is the breeding ground for our sport and I loved seeing so many people out giving it a go and having a great time.  It shows a very promising future for our sport and cycling in general.

The track was perfect for this type of event which gives new riders a chance to learn the delicate ettiquette of passing, but also gives more experienced riders a level of comfort that they wont be held up. In 24 hours I only witnessed one poor expression of ettiquette from a rider who should have know better.  I also changed my technique for requesting to pass and found calling "How's it going guys?" as I came up behind riders was a more polite way to go.  They didn't feel pressured, we had a quick chat and before I knew it I was on my way with everyone's smile still intact.

Finally thanks to the many people to who support me at this level.  My friends Jon Leighton, Steve Britt, Karl Goodman, Cathie Drysdale, Peter Melville and Mark Rowling just to name a few.  There are lot's more good people I have grown to love over the years I have been cycling.  My local bike shop Turramurra Cyclery who have set me up on a bike that just never let's me down, the Giant Anthem 29er and of course with darling wife Sarah, what would I do without you.  I love you sweetheart. (To my kids Liam, Dan and Tom, you guys rock my world)

This weekend it's National 24 solos at Stromlo so apart from a few tired muscles, I am pumped for this event as I have never done it before.  Cant wait to do it all again.  And check out my Amgen fundraising page here for when I ride for the Breakaway from Cancer initiative in May

Keep riding
Mike

Stats
Team km: 446
Team vm: approx 8000
Mike

• 155.7km
  Distance
• 3,475m
  Elevation
• 08:37:14
  Moving Time
• 6,262
  Calories

Rubena Rubber Review Part 2

It's been a little while since I first fitted these tyres, but I've had heaps of riding time over the Summer and thought it well overdue for an update on how these tyres are performing. I guess I dont have to rabbit on too much, so if I had to sum up these tyres, I would say a very good reliable race tyre.

The only criticism I would have is in the grip department and I think that really comes down to personal preference.

The Scylla on the back is a great performer in that it is fast. With that speed some else has to give so in this case it is the grip. Cornering is fine no problem there, but every now and again I would find the tyre skipping over rocks or losing traction on a fast little winding crest under braking. Now that may not necessarily be a bad thing, it's just something to be aware of. Going around corners with the back wheel getting a little sketchy can be useful for pointing the bike in the right direction but you need to be aware of the tyre's character and have 100% confidence that you can control that sketchiness and bring the traction back when you need it. What really struck me is that on hard packed loamy trails such as Stromlo, this tyre would really be an awesome choice. On rockier trails like Kowen with lot's of tree roots, this tyre might struggle a little especially in the wet with the low profile tread. Having said that I absolutely hammered these tyres on a very rocky 80km ride over some of the rockiest trails Terrey Hills has to offer and I had an awesome day and never a hint of tyre damage.

The Kratos on the front feels more sure footed with it's pronounced side knobs. You still get the great speed as with the Scylla, but braking and cornering performance is much better. In the next month or so I'll try the Kratos on the back and see how it goes

Rating so far

Scylla (1-5 where 5 is Awesome and 1 is crap)
Ease of fit - 5
Grip - 3
Rolling resistance - 5
Puncture resistance - 4
Value for money - 5

Kratos
Ease of fit - 5
Grip - 4
Rolling resistance - 5
Puncture resistance - 4
Value for money - 5

Keep riding
Mike

PS I didnt run the Rubenas at the CPS as I had them fitted to the duallie and I ended up riding the hardtail. Thanks to Rubena sponsoring the event I now have another set of prize Rubenas for the hard tail :)

Happy New Year

Having heard about how much fun racing in a pair can be, I thought this would be a nice relaxed way to ease back into the racing scene for 2013. Mistake number 1.
I also thought we could combine it into a bit of a road trip come MTB tour for the family, taking in the delights of Canberra one day and the legendary Snake Trail in Batemans Bay the next day. Mistake number 2.

Mistake number 1: Racing is never relaxed, especially when you roll into one of the favourite playgrounds of riders with a postcode starting with 26. Added to that, I must have had illusions of grandeur when I invited Peter "The Flying Fluro" Selkrig as my partner. I knew he was strong after watching him set trails on fire last year at a couple of 8 hours so I was pretty excited when he enthusiastically accepted. What I will never forget is the utter feeling of desperation knowing Pete was on my wheel virtually cruising (and giving me a nice little shove when I needed it) while I spent 150 mins in the box AND knowing that at any moment, arch rivals Garry and Jase would be mowing us down! Off the start line, I got the hole shot and felt great powering on the wheel of the fast guys. I managed to hold a wheel all the way up to the first single track with Pete right next to me and seemingly noone else with earshot. A few k's down the track we heard that one of the On-The-Go boys had had a big fall and he was on a Cannondale. That could only mean Garry or Jase, so while the pressure might have momentarily lapsed, Pete and I both knew to win our category we'd need to go flat out to the finish. Pretty soon Pete was leaving me for dust on the little inclines so we swapped around the order and I set the pace. By the middle of the second lap, I was starting the hack and gasp like an old horse who's be flogged too hard, so I focussed on just keeping it smooth and enjoying the sweet single track of Kowen. With around 8 k's to go we heard the monster coming, it was Garry haunting us through the pine trees so we stepped on the gas a little and gapped a team we'd been trading places with all day. Garry was chasing hard and got us in the end; fortunately for us Jase was nowhere to be seen and we finished together to take 1st place in the Masters. As a postscript, Jase had come down hard after touching a wheel in the mad dash off the line and took ALOT of bark off. He ended up still finishing the race just a few minutes behind us and then smartly got himself to hospital for some stitches and xrays (thankfully nothing broken). All I can say is KUDOS! You are one tough cookie JMac!

Mistake number 2: Well to call it a mistake is a strong word, the family had a great weekend, with wife Sarah and the boys all getting into the riding. Tom is getting faster and joined me for an extra 25km along Dog Trap and Ridge roads from Mogo back to BB which was great. And even though I got us a little lost, he more than kept up with me and finished strong with a little time trial back to the beach. It just takes an extraordinary effort to prep, clean, pack, unpack four bikes with four sets of riding gear, calculating hydration for said riders, ensuring the ride is neither too long no too short and keeping everyone happy inevitably means you have to make some sacrifices here and there. It ended up pretty good, with a magic moment when Sarah arrived at the bottom of the Snake Trail, her first word was "WOW!".

Having just cleaned and serviced 4 bikes and thinking about the amazing weekend we just had really does bring home what an awesome sport cycling is, and after reading some wise commentary today I realised that what we do and why we do it has virtually nothing to do with what some self important overpaid used-to-be rider feels he needs to admit on a talk show after years of denial so he can make peace with the world. pfft get real.

Keep riding
Mike

Rubena Rubber Review Part 1

The good folks at Rubena Australia asked me to try out their tyre range and provide feedback good or bad on what I thought. I’ll split this review into 3 sections. First the fit, second initial reactions to the tyre performance, and finally, a long term review to discuss longevity and reliability.

First Episode – The fit
When Ben first approached me to test and review these tyres, the first task was to review what tyres best suited my riding; the brief was pretty simple.
A tubeless cross country racing tyre for a 29er with a solid side wall, a tread pattern that is pretty grippy but still with a low rolling resistance, and hopefully something on the front with some extra side grip for cornering. On the back I prefer something with a more pronounced centre ridge for better rolling, more predictable braking and longer life. As such the tyre of choice (there’s a choice?) till now has been the ever present Racing Ralph (SnakeSkin). I did run a Crossmark on the back for a while but it soon ran out of traction. I’ve never had any issue with punctures when running tubeless so hopefully the new rubber would prove just as reliable.

When you first visit the Rubena web site, you are confronted with a myriad of choices in names, numbers, sizes, tread patterns, oh where to start? These tyres are made in the Czech republic, so if they make tyres anywhere as good as they make beer then these puppies will rock!
Thankfully I think Ben got it pretty right from the look of these tyres, I have a V96 Scylla for the back and a V98 Kratos on the front. Both are 29 x 2.25. The Scylla looks the goods with a nice low profile in the tread pattern and lots of rubber in the middle.

The Kratos is the more aggressive of the two and clearly suited to the front with the slanted side knobs.

The tyres feel solid and while the sidewalls feel a little thinner than the RR, they look like they have a pretty robust fabric like construction, obviously designed to repel cuts from rocks. We’ll see how it lasts after a few longer rocky rides.
Fitting them to my rims is a breeze. The rubber seems to have a little more give than I’m used to and it only needs one or two tweeks with a tyre lever to get the bead over the rim. With a bit of liquid, you could just about roll them over bare handed. Similarly, inflation with a track pump is no problem. I had the bucket of soapy water all ready to go, but didn’t need it in the end, and the tyres inflated onto the rim easily and beaded at bang on 30psi (I love that popping sound a tyre makes when it beads onto the rim!). This was fitting them to the stock rims on my Giant Anthem 29er.
They look good and the bag appears a fraction thinner than the RR. Measuring confirms they are 1-2mm thinner than the RR which I think is good, especially when you are picking lines between rocks and every millimetre counts when you are riding at your limits.
Weight is quoted a little heavier than the RR. The RR is quoted at 605g, the Scylla 640g and the Kratos 695g. At my level, what's a hundred odd grams between friends?!
On the positive the price looks very attractive, with the Rubena atleast 2/3 the cost of the RR, if not less.

Planning my first ride on them tonight so looking forward to seeing how they roll
Keep riding
Mike

Every cloud has a Titanium lining

This will probably be my last post for the year, so first up I want to thank you for reading. It is cool seeing folks from all the over the world hitting my blog to see what's happening and I hope in the years to come I can visit a few of your favourite tracks outside downunder.

It's taken a week to gather up the energy to write this post and to be honest I am still not quite sure what I will type. The reason being that the last round of the STM 8 hours series at Awaba turned into a bit of a tragedy, but then again, there is always something good to take away from any time spent whizzing around a beautifully crafted purpose built xc mountain bike trail, and a better venue than Awaba to finish the year on, you couldnt wish for. If I knew my Shakespeare a little better and had the mental agility I might have crafted this post into 3 acts; the first being "The Promise", the second being "The Expedition" and the final I might have titled "The demise of MightyMike", but it's not really that bad, so settle back and let's get into it.

Act 1
The Sunday before had me setting off in the fastest group of 90+ riders for the 190km Wisemans Ferry Gran Fondo, and what a day it was. Perfect conditions, superb support courtesy of Turramurra Cyclery, and an awesome bunch to ride in. The pace was on from the start and the bunch worked like clockwork as we each took our turn on the front and keep the pace well over 35kph. The challenge was to catch the other bunches that had left between 40-60 mins earlier and to finish in 5hr 30 mins. As expected the bunch finally started to splinter on the climb to Mangrove Mountain and while I lost touch with the lead pack of 10 or so riders, I was feeling good considering I had done a good share of the work on the front and gradually picked up (and was picked up by) 4 or 5 similar riders and we worked together to keep our pace up to Peats Ridge. The second food drop was mayhem with many riders electing to ride through and I had to bring my MTB skills into play to hop a few obstacles out back onto the road and join a healthy bunch of 10 riders.
The rest of the way was a battle of attrition as riders came and went, but by Berowra we had a good bunch of 5 and we went as hard as we could all the way back to Turramurra to clock in at 5:20, just 5 mins before the main lead bunch. Huge kudos to Simon M who rode off the front and got back in 5 hours flat, simply awesome. All this boded well for the final 8 hour planned the following weekend.

Act 2
The expedition consisted of leading 12 Knox boys on the annual Year 10 Mt Kosciuszko expedition; comprising 4 nights and 5 days hiking across the highest peaks of the Great Dividing range. I have been fortunate enough to lead on this camp a couple of times and was looking forward to getting away from all the email, social media and mobile phones and just enjoying the great outdoors. The 5:30am start from school was a little tough after the big ride the day before, but the hope was that the week long walk would consolidate the legs without wearing them out too much and leave me fresh for Sunday. Starting out from Guthega, the legs were definitely feeling the exertion from the day before and climbing the track to White's River Hut with the fully laden pack with food for 5 days was quite a challenge. Overall the week was fantastic with perfect weather, a great guide from Land's Edge and a group of young guys who apart from the odd question like "how far have we got to go?" were awesome all week. Getting back to civilisation Friday night, I was a little concerned to feel how weary the legs felt but hoped 48 hours recovery would be enough.

Act 3
So here we are, ready to roll at Awaba and still the legs feel ouch, that feeling you get walking up stairs..you know what I mean? Well it was there and all I could do was hope that with a warm up lap the legs would start to fire. Warm up it did and before long the temp was ready 35 deg in the shade. This spells trouble.
I had a great spot on the grid and rode wheel to wheel with Gary up the firetrail and into the single track with Camo on the my wheel. I kept leaving space for Camo to pass, but for some reason he was happy to sit tight, perhaps that should have told me something. OK so far so good and the laps started to tally up. Before long the temp was pushing 40 and alarm bells started going off in my head, had I gone out too hard? By the 5th lap the engine was really starting to cough and splutter and Jason was steadily creeping up on me. There was the matter of a little crash with my good buddy Anne who in an attempt not to hold me up hit the descent a little too quick, clipped a tree with a handle bar and down we came. Jase saw it all from the back of a train of 6 riders and was good enough to wait and make sure we could all continue but now the wind in my sails had disappeared and pretty soon the wheels really started to fall off, I was dropping bottles and chains left, right and centre and most worrying of all the legs were telling me there was nothing left to give. Jase tapped it out up Camelbak hill and all I could do was wave bye bye. It seemed I had gone into an 8 hour race with only 4 hour legs. Worrying still was the fact that Phil had moved into second and a little voice in the back of my head said "series honours", I knew Phil wasnt far behind me in the series rankings at 4th, it was just possible with a 2nd place finish today he could pip me at the post. After a good rest and lot's of rehydration I decided to get back out and do a couple of more laps just to keep me in some sort of touch, but at lap 8 the legs said enough and I had to sit out to see Phil produce a terrific result and take 3rd in the series by a single point. Heartbreaker.

Sometimes the toughest lessons are the best ones so there is plenty to take away and ponder what might have been, but the real gold came when I stopped thrashing my body into a sweaty dizzy mess and took some time to catch up and really talk with a few of the good friends I have made from this sport. In the end I couldn't have asked for a better day and while the little trophy might have charmed my ego for an instant, this sport has so much more to offer than just what place you come in a race.

Finally I want to thank the guys that made this season one to remember, Garry J, Jason M, Phil W, Peter S and Chris T. The 6 of us have been riding hard against each other all year and every round has been a nailbiting finish (with the exception of Garry who smashed us all!) and all the while our mateship has gotten stronger through the blood sweat and tears that is solo 8 hour racing. One of my favourite sayings is "Iron sharpens Iron" and you guys have made me a better rider.

It has been a fantastic year of riding and racing with good mates new and old. I have no idea what's in store for next year, but right now I am happy to forget about training, get out and ride for pure enjoyment as we wind down for Christmas and celebrate the things that have mattered for all eternity.

Keep riding
Mike