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