It would appear that someone is getting lax in updating this blog, and for that I apologize! Its been a week of recovery and training, and things just get swept up occasionally!
After last weekend at the Felt/Hutchinson/SRAM/Big Hill Events Marathon, there has been some write ups around the place, some of which can be viewed here. at the 'race stories' section. The boys of the team were feeling straight up tired on Monday, so with a slow recovery ride for all of them, they were firing again by Tuesday, and raring to get back out there. I've been at it all week, as has Jack and Jase, mostly because we all get inspired by Paulie getting out there and killin' them at the Oceanias!! I'm not sure how many UCI points a performance like that garners, but rest assured that does his chances on the World Cup Grid plenty of favours!! From what we hear, conditions were woeful, most riders coming in each lap missing bits of bark and bikes; some with grins and some without...
Oh and whilst I think of it, GVRaceTech is again the Official Australian Mechanic for the Aussie XC team during their world cup campaign! How good is that!!
So this week has been all about getting in the K's whilst we can, and finalizing bits and pieces for the upcoming weeks. The Chase the Sun series has been entered for Felt Racing, and Beechworth S.H.I.T.S is next on the hit list for a 6 hour in the (hopefully) dust of the Beechworth MTB park. The last few years have been kind to us, and we hope to have that continue with a full strength team being in attendance. Easter weekend is the first round of the Chase series, so we wait with interest to see the 'full lap of Lysterfield' course in all its glory...! Someone has done some rough maths and called a 28km lap, but I can't see that happening, still we wait and see.
Also on the wait and see list is the 4th rider for Felt racing...!! There may be a surprise for some people when they see who is getting around with us. We've enlisted the help of another top Victorian rider as Paul is committed to his year 12 studies and WC racing over the period that these races fall. But you may just have to wait to see who the mystery rider is!
And finally, last night was another Dirt Crit, just like every Thursday down at Westgate Park. Lining up for the first night of lights for the winter series was a field of 12 riders in A Grade, just enough to make it interesting. Well for the start at least ;) Ash (on his FR1000) and Jack both elected to ride hardtails as the weather was determined to make it messy, although the parched earth of Westgate park soaks it up like a sponge! It was *nearly* dusty by the time we had finished..
Shivering before the start, the wind was screaming across the grassy area, cutting through all the skinny guys, whilst the larger guys looked on and laughed! When the 'Go' was sounded, Jack roosted out of the box, and before we got to the second corner, it was Jack, Erin (BSC) then Ash and Sean (Flemington Cycles/ORBEA) dueling for real estate. Knowing the Sean would have a mischief soon enough, we tempo'd along the flat until the first small rise where once again, Sean rocked a huge gear and broke his chain yet again..
With a 10sec gap by the start of the second lap, we were just rolling along, and began to slowly extend the gap, and then the rain started. Pouring for a few minutes, the good humour was removed until it stopped, and by the start of lap 3, Jack had enough of the company and opened it up to shake Erin and make it a race of 2. Getting a little complacent, we chatted as we rode, and not surprisingly Erin worked back on, so we opened it up again to rid ourselves of this potential drama/position taker!
At the start of the last lap, there was nothing in it between the two of us, and whilst getting rubbished from the start finish tent, apparently Jack went for the 'up the inside move' on a hairpin corner and got all tied up. I didn't see it, nor was I going to look, and made to punish his error, and kept it up around the last lap to notch up another win for the series.
So this weekend sees the last weekend of training before a few weeks of racing, so perhaps we'll see you out there!?
And check out the latest from Night Lightning also - very tasty!
Oh and finally, another plug for Sport Recovery - Providing the best range and prices of Endura products in Australia, run by a top Victorian rider, check out the prices and service and you can't go wrong! He even delivers to races!!
After last weekend at the Felt/Hutchinson/SRAM/Big Hill Events Marathon, there has been some write ups around the place, some of which can be viewed here. at the 'race stories' section. The boys of the team were feeling straight up tired on Monday, so with a slow recovery ride for all of them, they were firing again by Tuesday, and raring to get back out there. I've been at it all week, as has Jack and Jase, mostly because we all get inspired by Paulie getting out there and killin' them at the Oceanias!! I'm not sure how many UCI points a performance like that garners, but rest assured that does his chances on the World Cup Grid plenty of favours!! From what we hear, conditions were woeful, most riders coming in each lap missing bits of bark and bikes; some with grins and some without...
Oh and whilst I think of it, GVRaceTech is again the Official Australian Mechanic for the Aussie XC team during their world cup campaign! How good is that!!
So this week has been all about getting in the K's whilst we can, and finalizing bits and pieces for the upcoming weeks. The Chase the Sun series has been entered for Felt Racing, and Beechworth S.H.I.T.S is next on the hit list for a 6 hour in the (hopefully) dust of the Beechworth MTB park. The last few years have been kind to us, and we hope to have that continue with a full strength team being in attendance. Easter weekend is the first round of the Chase series, so we wait with interest to see the 'full lap of Lysterfield' course in all its glory...! Someone has done some rough maths and called a 28km lap, but I can't see that happening, still we wait and see.
Also on the wait and see list is the 4th rider for Felt racing...!! There may be a surprise for some people when they see who is getting around with us. We've enlisted the help of another top Victorian rider as Paul is committed to his year 12 studies and WC racing over the period that these races fall. But you may just have to wait to see who the mystery rider is!
And finally, last night was another Dirt Crit, just like every Thursday down at Westgate Park. Lining up for the first night of lights for the winter series was a field of 12 riders in A Grade, just enough to make it interesting. Well for the start at least ;) Ash (on his FR1000) and Jack both elected to ride hardtails as the weather was determined to make it messy, although the parched earth of Westgate park soaks it up like a sponge! It was *nearly* dusty by the time we had finished..
Shivering before the start, the wind was screaming across the grassy area, cutting through all the skinny guys, whilst the larger guys looked on and laughed! When the 'Go' was sounded, Jack roosted out of the box, and before we got to the second corner, it was Jack, Erin (BSC) then Ash and Sean (Flemington Cycles/ORBEA) dueling for real estate. Knowing the Sean would have a mischief soon enough, we tempo'd along the flat until the first small rise where once again, Sean rocked a huge gear and broke his chain yet again..
With a 10sec gap by the start of the second lap, we were just rolling along, and began to slowly extend the gap, and then the rain started. Pouring for a few minutes, the good humour was removed until it stopped, and by the start of lap 3, Jack had enough of the company and opened it up to shake Erin and make it a race of 2. Getting a little complacent, we chatted as we rode, and not surprisingly Erin worked back on, so we opened it up again to rid ourselves of this potential drama/position taker!
At the start of the last lap, there was nothing in it between the two of us, and whilst getting rubbished from the start finish tent, apparently Jack went for the 'up the inside move' on a hairpin corner and got all tied up. I didn't see it, nor was I going to look, and made to punish his error, and kept it up around the last lap to notch up another win for the series.
So this weekend sees the last weekend of training before a few weeks of racing, so perhaps we'll see you out there!?
And check out the latest from Night Lightning also - very tasty!
Oh and finally, another plug for Sport Recovery - Providing the best range and prices of Endura products in Australia, run by a top Victorian rider, check out the prices and service and you can't go wrong! He even delivers to races!!
posted by Ash Thomas at 1:34 pm
1 Comments:
You guys got it pretty bad last night, with the rain starting to pour down not long after you were into your first lap. Us Cs and the Bs all got to stand around under cover, and didn't start until after it stopped drizzling. From what I could tell that meant you all got to run soaked in cold rain and the rest of us got it a bit easier.
The start looked awesome though, wish I had a camera.
As for the CTS course, I was estimating around 27km, but it seems that the map I've seen is a bit misleading, and was informed by one of the adminguys it's more like 23km. Will know for sure on Sunday night though, though no doubt you'll be out there before that.
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