2013 Scott 13hr - Team Smooth Transition

The Hard Way

In celebrating 25yrs of the Canberra Off-road Cycling Club the event committee decided to give us all an extra hour of racing fun, making it a 13hr/25hr race. The 13hr was scheduled to run as 7hrs on Saturday, restarting on Sunday morning for another 6hrs. Introducing a 'one-off' format created some motivators for us, there will only ever be one 13hr/25hr event (as oppose to 12hr/24hr) so to succeed here riders will
go down in history as being the first and last to do so.

Luckily I've got a TLC Cycles (02) 6281 5538 who take care of race prepping my bike before these big events. Massive thanks to Cath my wife for looking after the family while I get to race.

http://corc24hour.com.au/

Some people will look at the 13hr as the soft option. Entering the 13hr avoids the use of lights and we were all able to head home for a normal nights sleep in our own cushy beds. Some people might even consider it 'sand bagging' for an award or podium finish. But I can assure you that the competitiveness within our team, and the willingness to get the job done, the way our team approached the preparation and the race itself, Team Smooth Transition screamed 'Semi-Pro'. Jokes aside there is no doubt that we got serious about this race.

The entries on the day made it an extremely fast category and I hope the pace in the 2013 7+6hr help to make it an even more popular category in years to come.

13hr Pro Teams
Rockstar Racing
Cannondale Sugoi Factory Racing
Target Trek MTB Racing Pairs

13hr Semi-Pro Teams
Coming up the rear
The Magellan Duo
SpearedAvanti GU

We started the race with 2 goals, ensure the category win, and shoot for the overall. Knowing that all the obviously fast teams were racing as duo's we were banking on some fatigue to set in for them. However the blistering pace, and little to no fade in lap times from the machines in front soon illustrated the overall was most likely out of reach for us.

In summary we had an early flat, lost 9mins. Got the lead back within about 6 laps. I crashed on my 3rd lap and was out for the rest of the race and the team was down to 3 riders. Early on the second day we lost the lead again however the boys pulled through, opened the gap to 5mins at one stage but The Magellan team pulled us back to about 2mins. We ended up winning our category by 2.5mins in the end. We finished 4th overall behind the pro teams listed above, so we're happy to finish as the best of the rest.

We built a rocket ship.

Brad - bike boy from way back with a strong BMX background and recent marathon length MTB racing, Brad trains off the grid and manages to stay fit even though he has never uploaded his Garmin files to Strava.

Brad started us off and got the first runs on the board with a clean lap that had us in clear air, he was about 15th rider in, awesome effort out of about 300 starters. Super quick and consistent laps for the whole race. Going by the smile on his dial in every single one of his race photos he may have been enjoying it just a little too much.

Smiley Brad

"Awesome weekend. Ninety percent of the riding I do these days is solo, so the Scott is a great way to get together with some mates and knock out some laps. Looking forward to next year." Brad D

Hamish - Our competitive advantage consultant. Hamish put together our race order and with much thought he also put together our risk strategies. He kept us focused and never let his eyes off the prize, he spoke about that medal 4 months ago, and now he has it in is trophy room. This man makes it happen.

Hamish had some bad luck on double dissolution, broke a spoke that ruptured his rim tape and he had to throw in a tube to get him home. He stayed composed for the rest of the race and stomped some great late laps within seconds of his first.

"I forgot to tell second place that our team's goal today was to "ride easy"" Hamish S

Gordo - The machine, the work horse, our gun rider. Nothing overstated. Gordo worked real hard in the lead up to this race, he was the standout performer in our team and most definitely gets the Most Valuable award for churning out the quickest and most consistent laps.

Gordo doing what he loves

"To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect or how my body would cope with multiple max efforts over a 24hr period. Turned out to be a gruelling but highly motivating and rewarding weekend. With ups and downs, not just on the trails. Amongst it all, I still managed to create some good friendships with the newly assembled team. I will be back for more!" Gordo B

Dave (me) - Team Captain, now known as 100/80 man after introducing team orders, 100% effort on non technical sections, 80% effort on technical sections. Then forgetting his own orders, binning it on the same section that Hamish got a flattie, separating collar bone from shoulder and heading to hospital with suspected head injuries and shoulder dislocation. There by granting the remaining riders with an extra lap to complete on the second day. Encouragement award, Mates ball award?

My shoulder post crash, apparently fairly standard for a Grade 3 AC separation

To push through the last 5km with a painful shoulder, I channeled my inner Aussie soldier, and the countless war movies that I've watched, and imagined that I was on an ammo run with a bullet wound in my shoulder. If I didn't get the ammo to the boys on the front line we were all going to chopped down. I made it with 10 seconds to spare (10 seconds in front of 2nd place).

For me this race has been the most anticipated, most rewarding, most costly, most prepared for, most trained for, and ultimately the most competitive. As a consequence I probably can't race for about 3 months while my Grade 3 AC separation heals and recovers to full strength. But our team goes down in history as one of the winning teams to compete in the Scott 13hr. Not bad for semi-pro :-P

Our team suffered 3 casualties as a direct result of this race. Brad and Hamish both fell violently ill with a gastro virus in the days proceeding. In speaking with other competitors including James Downing (link to his blog on the right), it seems that at least 20 people also fell ill with similar symptoms. The cause of the outbreak is yet to be determined.

Until next post
Don't short cut rehab
Dave

2013 CORC 3Hr Round 3

1st Place - Team Roberts-Scanlain

Hamish and I had a great win and it came with perfect timing just one week before the Scott 13hr.

Can't wait to cut some hot laps this weekend with Team Smooth Transition.

2013 Scott 13hr - Team Smooth Transition entered

We have entered a 4 man team in the upcoming Scott 13hr (6+7). We are excited.

Here they are...

Brad

Gordo

Hamish

Rubena Tyres XCO Series 2013 - Round 5 Stromlo

Can I just say, that CORC is proving itself to be a progressive club that is not afraid of trying new things. I understand new things can be confronting for an administration that has been in place for nearly 25 yrs. To CORC I'd like to say, please don't stop doing what you're doing, all of your efforts are highly appreciated.

Trent keeping it smooth with sign-on

The night race on sat was an awesome novelty, and felt extremely different and more exciting then any 24hr event I've been involved in. Complete with a Red Bull DJ pumping out fresh tracks, the night had great atmosphere. Timed 5 or 6 weeks before the Scott 24hr is an excellent idea with lots of riders obviously dusting off their lights for the first time.

Paired with the odd twilight 3hr I think 1 night race is probably enough for the XCO series. The inherit risks with night racing and the extra organisation required with lights, is probably enough to take the novelty out of it if we were to do too many. This would apply to both riders and volunteers I would imagine.

My two week lead up was again less then ideal. But racing in Veterans I don't believe I can use this as an excuse. The end of winter presents sickness and time constraints for most so I think we're all on the same par. I was lucky to fall ill with a viral infection a week before rather then the day before. But again I was starting a race with the excitement of not knowing how my body was going to react to hitting my threshold and maintaining it for 70+mins.

Start/transition worked perfectly on the road crit track

We started on the road criterium track and this in itself presented a little danger in going too hard off the start. But I went out hard and found myself leading the group, pushing the wind but within my limits. First right hander on the dirt and I got some corner freeze and pushed wide, James flew up the inside and assumed position in first. The pair of us made a gap and set into a groove. 

James Collins leading the way

B grade had started in front of us and we started to reel them in, one by one. Well, until we got to the leading rider of B grade, Gordon Brewster. Then there were 3 of us riding together. It was a great feeling, flowing down through the switchbacks of the luge at a cracking night pace.

Good Old Duffy Descent

I was in front of James and I heard the all too familiar sound of a wash out taking place behind me. The switchback gave me a perfect view, James was already picking up his bike to start the chase. With only a lap to go I thought I was home free, but within a few kilometres James was back on my wheel. Danger! Gordo firmly slammed the hammer down and kept upping the pace. I stayed with him but at the end of the fast fenceline section I dry reached and it blew my rhythm. Within 5 mins I had lost Gordo's wheel and James passed me, I wasn't blown, and my legs still felt ok, but I was on the verge of painting my bike with the contents of my stomach so I had to back off the throttle. Not sure if I had drank too much fluid just before the race or had too much endura, but my guts weren't feeling right. James made a 40sec gap in the final stages of the race and I rolled over the line in 2nd place.

Next race is the a Twilight 3hr Pairs race with Hamish

Ride on

Dave

Rubena Tyres XCO Series 2013 – Round 4

Absolutely killed it today, still riding high off my second win in Vets, the racing was close, the track was rocky and technical. My bike was sweet with some race prep from TLC Cycles.

Ghetto 1x10 with Wolf Tooth chainring

This mod was as easy as it gets. I'm now running 1x10 with 36teeth up front and the standard 11-36 at the rear. Simplistic is always best when racing, and the weight saving of 422grams can not be bought for the price of a Wolf Tooth chain ring ($70 AUS). The design of the ring means you don't have to run a chain giude to keep your chain from jumping off, its recommend that you have a clutch style derailleur but its not essential.

http://www.wolftoothcycling.com/

Massive thanks to my team mate Hamish who bought me the chain ring and helped me fit it up. Because in his words "You're too dam fast for triple chain ring"....You're a legend mate, road trips always a blast, racing as a team always a blast, racing against Hamish, always tough.

Catch up results - still loving the support I get from TLC Cycles in Phillip, ACT

9th June - Rubena Tyres XCO Series – Round 2 -DNS

My rack let go of the bike on the way to the race, totaled my back wheel.

But it sparked a chain reaction where I ended up with a ZTR Crest Hope Pro 2 wheelset. I'll never miss a race due to a broken wheel again, well shouldn't miss a race now anyway.

30th June - On The Rivet 3Hr Series  – Round 2 - 2nd place Mens Pairs

Location: East Kowen, NSW
Another great hit with Hamish, couldn't catch team onya

The single trail was super greasy but with the sun out it was fun for all

7th July - Rubena Tyres XCO Series – Round 3 - 7th place Vets

Location: East Kowen, NSW
Got a flat while leading and lost 5mins, salvaged some points

1st lap winning face, going with the flow off a dam wall

14th July - Rocky Trail 4hr - Round 4 - 4th place Mens Pairs

Location: Mt Annan, Sydney
Big day out at Mt Annan in Sydney racing with Hamish, beaten by Rockstar racing but a bit disappointed to finish off the podium at an interstate event. Hamish and I are planning on doing this series next year.

Me on one of the many rocky gardens at Mt Annan, was wearing the jersey Hamish and I won in last years local 3hr series 

Hamish giving his standard...110%

27th July - 3 Ring Circus - 1st Place Mens Pairs

Location: Wingello State Forest, NSW
3 laps, 2 dudes, 50km of great trails in the Southern Highlands at Wingello State forest.

I took the start lap (6km) and the last lap (19km), Hamish took the middle lap (27km). We rode strong and cleanly and finished on top of the podium 30mins clear of the next team. Added bonus of $300 worth of vouchers for Ground Effect clothing store. Cha Ching a ming.

Team racing has the fun factor that's for sure.

The race machine, ready and waiting

Hamish looking comfortable flying through the forest

more prizes like this please

Some recent youtube uploads and photos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea5KDs6mxFU



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IGQ9qjAcg4

Rubena Tyres CORC XCO 2013 - Round 1 - Stromlo

It's been a crazy week of riding. I've been trying hard to get the Scott 920 dialed in with some suspension and tyre setups. I've ended up with the Fox Evolution forks at 90psi, 12psi over the recommended for a rider of 78kg, and I've backed off the rebound 2 notches. This seems to have reduced the fork diving mid corner and has maintained some good small bump action. I'm running the Rubena Scylla tubeless tyres both front and rear. I've also been trying really hard to get myself dialed in to the new bike. There is no doubt that it is a quick bike, but I have had some real trouble and have ended up with a series of front wheel wash outs. Even on a soft pedal hit out the day before the race, with the new rubber, I still laid it over twice. Having narrowly avoided busting my knee open again from the weekend before, I was in two minds about racing the next day. In summary I've had the bike for 2 weeks, in about 200kms have crashed it 4 times and raced it once.

The morning of the race I gave Cathy a kiss goodbye and promised that I was just going out for some fun, main goal to keep it rubber side down. With a dressing on my knee I fronted up for the race. First thing I noticed was a massive queue at sign on, it wasn't computer issues either, it was 180 riders all trying to sign on at once. What a turn out, lucky the organisers set a 9.5km loop because passing would have been a nightmare on anything shorter.

Start line with JB in full power wheelie

Knowing it was going to be close to 2hours of racing I started slowly. But a couple of kilometers into it, sitting in 6th I could see the front runners making a gap. In the effort not to lose sight of them I made a move on a fire road pinch and to my surprise, planted myself into 2nd place behind my good old racing mate, John Bridge. The two of us toured around until the 3rd lap, I led for a short period but John made it clear that he wanted to dominate the strats and retook the lead twice within a couple of kms. I was happy to sit back and plan my attack, which could happen on any number of fire trails or even on the last 100m sprint. John was showing massive strength on the climbs and fire trails  but I was able to reel him back on the descents and stuck with him.

JB led for most of the race

Before we knew it Hamish had caught us, I can't help but feel that John and I fell into a comfort zone and let Hamish climb back on. But I'm sure Hamish just gritted his teeth and pulled us back, one corner at a time. Keen to win at least one lap Hamish battled with John on a number of occasions, making some really aggressive passes and providing me with a great show while I was sitting back in 3rd. John denied him of the lap win and completed the 3rd lap in 1st place. Hamish was pushing hard, and I could tell he had lost the punch from his legs, but I was still feeling good and still happy to be watching these two dog fight in front of me. I really had no idea how this was going to pan out.

Then disaster struck for John and he lost his chain off his chain wheel, luckily I was on his wheel and I was able to sneak passed with Hamish close behind me. With only about 2kms to the finish line I literally put my head down and gave it everything. I tucked in and blasted the fire trail into a head wind,  slid through Holdens Creek, and brought it home for the win with a 20 second gap.

What a great feeling, 18 months ago I came last, one by one I've improved my finishing position to eventually end up in 1st in the Veterans class (30-39yr olds). I would have taken the contents of the race any day with so much action but to top it off with a win was a great sweetener.  The other great feeling is that I'm finally comfortable with the bike, it almost seemed like the tyres hooked up better after scrubbing in. I did away with the carbon seat and my hips/lower back are thanking me. I had no pains or niggles the entire race and would be happy to enter a 100km the way the bike is setup.

About a month until the next one, I hope to improve my strength a little between now and then as I'm positive the other guys in the class will be doing the same.

Ride on,
Dave

New Bike Fever - Scott Scale 920

Rubena Tyres XC Series - Round 10 - Stromlo

Lewy Cressy railing it in A grade

To be honest I was super pumped for this race. It was the last race of the season and I wanted to finish well and bounce into the 2013/2014 season with plenty of punch in my pedals. I'd looked at the series points and was running in 4th place only 12 points behind my main man Hamish. Depending on how things played out I could end up in 2nd, 3rd or remain in 4th for the series. So the outcome was both uncertain and very exciting.

For the first time the club allocated permanent race numbers to us at sign on. So naturally I was keen to get there early and claim my favorite race digit. I use to race BMX and Moto-x with 44, with two digit numbers reserved for series place winners, I claimed 144. Awesome and such a great idea from CORC, opens up the option to have personalised plates like BMX and for the pros it also provides a great banner space for sponsor stickers.

It was a good turn out with many of the fast guys from our class on the startline. James Collins was out of the race with an injury but collected 2nd place points by volunteering for the timing tent, a perfect tactical move to hold his position in 2nd place for the series. This simplified the plan for me a little as I knew I couldn't frog leap him in the points.

I didn't have a pacing plan, just a plan to keep 2 places between me and Hamish or to go for broke and win it. The first lap was hectic, the bunting was a little sparse so a few riders made wrong turns and lost some time. John (The Bridge of Speed, TBS and series points leader) lead us down the road crit track adjacent to the dirt single track that caused a stir, the guys behind were getting a bit excited about riding on so much tarmac. I latched onto his wheel and we chatted away about the 5sec gap we'd already opened up on the rest of the field. Then TBS made another wrong turn, I immediately yelled out to him and while he was turning around I moved into 1st place. I had two choices here, slow down let him catch up again and be the super sportsman, or put the hammer down and take advantage of his disadvantage. I chose the latter, and punched hard for the rest of the lap.

Hamish was hounding within seconds of me the entire race finishin in 3rd

2nd place (Grantly) called out to me and told me we had gapped the rest, not sure if this was a tactic or what but we ended up swapping off for the rest of the race.

On the charge in 1st on the 3rd lap, Grantly hot on my heels

By the 3rd lap Hamish had closed up on us and was within seconds of my wheel. But where was TBS, I remember thinking he must have had a problem because he couldn't have lost that much time in missing the turn.

Grantly normally a 6hr and 12hr specialist, coming with the surprise attack to win

I saw an opportunity at the top of the climb and squeezed back into 1st just before the Luge descent. My heart rate was already maxed but I entered the zone and gave it everything all the way down and crossed transition with a good 10 seconds between me and Grantly. I tried to maintain but was gassed pretty bad and could feel Grantly pulling me in. He eventually overtook me but I was holding on and was planning the exact same move for the last lap. Half way up the climb I was pretty stuffed, I didn't quite pop but was close to it and Grantly managed to put a few seconds between and I wasn't able to get them back. It was a funny feeling coming down the descent into transition for last time. It had been a great race but I was disappointed to be in 2nd and so close finishing 1st which would have put me in 3rd for the series.

4th in the end of another great CORC season

 All in all a great race and a great way to finish the series. Bring on Round 1 of the 13/14 season.

Ride on
Dave

Demo'ing the modern Penny-farthing - the 29 inch wheel MTB

Scott Spark/Scale

A couple of weeks ago I rode the Scale 29er and Spark 29er at a demo day on my home track Stromlo. It was fun trying out some new technology but the guys running the demo really blew it because the bikes were poorly maintained and were not setup for the local trails.

Firstly both bikes were fitted up with Schwalbe Rocket Ron tyres (old version with no cuts in the nobs), this tyre provides the least grip in dry gravel to sand of any tyre I have ever tried. Straight away the tyre traction fell well short of what the capability of the frame/fork geometry.

After 10mins of warm up on the Spark and a little more shifting it became obvious that the rear derailleur cable needed replacing. After some on the fly adjustment shifting was a little better but still struggled to stay on gear. So I thrashed through the trails (and the gears) on a variety of terrain to get a feel for how these big hoops handle. Then I feel the fork bottom, then it does it again, a quick bounce illustrates that the Fox fork had lost most if not all pressure. So I locked out all the suspension, thrashed the frame for a few kilometres and gave it back to Team Scott Demo. I remember thinking to myself, don't worry, you weren't going to buy that one anyway, its all about the Scale.

My experience was slightly better on the Scale, the forks worked but when it came to pushing it through the corners I immediately realised that the front tyre wanted to roll itself off the rim and only had about 20psi holding me on line. I did get to push the bike through some rocky climbs but I already knew it would perform in these conditions, it was mid corner speed, short technical uphills and switch backs that I really wanted to test as these are the places where the so called modern 29er performs nearly as well as 26er.

So after spending about 50mins on each bike I was more then happy to return to my Scale 26er with its super handling and ability to take a serious thrashing.

I give my Scott demo day experience 4/10. Fail.

Stewy's Superfly 29er hard tail

I thought about it for a week, and demo'ing bikes that aren't really setup is a tad foolish. It was my fault for having high expectations of what a demo day experience could give me. But that's ok, because I remember Stewy offered me a ride of his Superfly 29er (9.8kgs), decked out with all the XTR chrome bits that you'd expect from a guy who works at On the Rivett bike shop.

Less then a week from the up coming XCO club round might not be the best time to thrash out some laps on an unfamiliar bike but sometimes you just have to do what feels right.

It only took a quick phone call to Stewy and I was setup and on his bike that afternoon. Stewy is about the same height as me so after a quick pressure check in the forks and tyres the bike was ready to go. I had a rest day in the bank and had made sure my fuel sources were full well before ride time. Game on, its time to really understand what a race 29er feels like.

Cockpit

Seating position is similar to my Scale, but felt a tad relaxed, maybe a little less angle in the seat tube. Stewy's bars are pure XC race, with a fair bit of sweep back and felt skinny, I'm guessing 640mm wide max. The hardest thing to get use to was the SRAM gripshift, 2x10 setup.  I found I unintentionally changed gears when the going got rough and didn't quite know where to hold the bar. Also I sometimes use my middle finger on the brake levers and that resulted in more random gear changes. I may have felt better about gripshift if you changed up gears when you rotated downwards like a moto throttle, but thats not the case. Generally the cockpit was familiar enough for me to hook straight into stomping the pedals and pushing the corner speed a bit.

Handling

The Fox fork felt good and was working fine on the small bumps. The Maxxis Ikon tyres were holding the traction through the undulating single trail. Naturally the first thing you notice with these bikes is the smooth feed back you get when you're rolling over rocky outcrops and roots. That has to translate to speed and this is the well known area where the 29er really shines. Climbing through tight switch backs felt a bit slow, the power required to keep the bike going felt more consistent under foot then riding my 26er. Not sure why that is but maybe I wasn't quite getting sufficient momentum through those tighter sections to feel like I was ahead of the gears. Going up the steep rough sections felt like less effort on the handlebars to get over the terrain, but more effort on the pedals to keep the thing moving. Up and over the hill and I hit some fast firetrail descents, hopping over ruts no problem, hooking into flat fast corners no problem. Braking on loose gravel, whoa, XTR brakes are powerful. They actually scared me a number of times. I'm used to my Avid Elixr 5s that don't compare very well and are in a totally different market. The XTR stoppers probably just require a refined finesse to find the feel and sweet spot. I wasn't going to get that in a 90min session.

Race-ability

I had the fun of being Race Director and setting a course for a local XCO round last year. The course is my idea of a great race course, for tactics, for skill and for fitness. So to test the Superfly at race pace and on a race track I decided to do two laps of that very course. Also I knew it was posted on Strava as a segment so gave me another tool for comparison.

Up through the continuous switch backs the bike gained and held momentum very well but I couldn't find a flow through the tight corners. I was trying to get low and aggressive but would push wide and lose my front end. I still need to find the correct riding position for these corners when riding a 29er.

500m of uphill fire road sprint and the bike felt fast. Standing out of the saddle felt like I actually stood into a new cockpit of power and aggression. With the seat just brushing the backs of my legs, the bike felt built for this type of riding.

On and into the nasty climb of the course, a 1km steep fireroad. I didn't feel fast up this climb, I just felt like I was tractor climbing out of a bog pit. It wasn't until I checked Strava when I realised that I punished that hill and blew my last pb by a big margin.

Up and over and into the Luge, rightly named, especially now after track developments have formed continuous steeply banked berms. Some very tight, some more open. You can

be so creative through this section, Low/High, High/Low, rail the whole berm, cut the berm on the inside. On the rail the bike worked perfectly and held line, anything else and I was working really hard to keep the bike low and cranked into the corner. It felt like I needed a motogp style of riding, hanging right off the bike to the inside to get it around some of the berms. But the Superfly performed ok in the BMX track type conditions, not quite the performance of my Scale but it wasn't that far off. Keeping it on the ground over roll overs required a little more flexibility on the bike but again it wasn't much slower then the more agile and easier to ride 26er.

The Ride


Conclusion

In a racing world where you spend more time climbing then descending, more time pedalling over rocks then cornering, the sub 10kg 29er hard tail makes sense. Its not as fun to ride through fast technical sections as the more nimble 26er. However in this case I can probably improve handling a little with a slammed stem and wider bars. When I consider that 90% of my competition are on these big wheelers then any disadvantage can be nullified because they are at the same disadvantage. As a young Michael Jackson said to himself while standing as the man in the mirror, its time to "Make that change!".

2013 Mont 24hr - photo grab from aurora