You Yangs 6 hour
Now that was fun!!
After copping some ridicule for doing a 6 hour as a 3 man team from a pseudo triathlete, masquerading as a mountain biker, Felt Racing remained convinced that it was right decision to contend the 2007 You Yangs 6 hour as a team of 3. The day dawned early for all of us, and we arrived on site to find the team @ GMBC had set a great course and event for us! With a reasonable 6 hours to contend with, we set up a reasonable tent site, and dialed our Felt Virtue 1 bikes and Hutchinson Piranha tire pressures into the course. With Jason fired up and ready to rock, the Le Man running start was called, and away on course we departed.
The course was a great collection of the trails at the You Yangs with 2 major climbs (well, painful but enjoyable at the same time) and many great singletrack descents mixed with a scarce few fire roads and much singletrack putting a smile on everyones mug. What tore the smile clean off was the granite surface that seemed to peel skin off with the efficiency of a cheese grater, and kept St johns very busy all day, and shares in Elastoplast rose sharply.
Bring back jumps in racing. And keep the ambo's close by...
An example of the great trails that exist out in the You Yangs. There are boardwalks, berms, a full DH course - a mountain bike playground.
For the first part of the day, Felt Racing kept a close eye in the rear view mirror on the Specialized teams and the boys racing under the Thylacine mantle. With them firmly placed in the settling dust as we past the halfway mark, we content ourselves with lapping as fast as we could, and minimizing any potential mistakes that we could make. At this point, I should make mention of the traffic on course- the capped number of racers (220 from memory) was perfect, with a reasonably constant but spaced out number of riders all day who were extremely courteous and swift in allowing faster riders through!
Tag, you're it....
Jase, backing it into a corner, at 10/10ths.
Holding it open all the way to the end, the course did not let up at any point, and there was stuff all fireroad - hooray!
Plenty of amusement was had throughout the day, with a passing parade of comedians venturing into the Felt Tent, with the highlight of the day being a tough call between hot dogs for lunch, the ding dong battle for 2nd and 3rd in the pairs race, the last lap excitement of Claxton (Giant) and Randall (Spoken) dueling for the solo win or the hilarity of trying to get Jack out for one final lap (done, with 2 minutes to spare). Felt Racing had a great day, an awesome vibe was in the tent with the 3 man thing working a treat allowing the riders to actually talk to one another, and winning is always a pleasure, lets be real.
Jack had it wiiiide open all day, and deservedly got to do the last lap, after Ash and Jase opened the taps to get back with only a few minutes to spare!
GVRaceTech was doing a blinding job as always, made a little easier when there was no major dramas, so he busied himself with shooting the great pictures you see here! Back to the racing however, we weren't really challenged for the second half of the race, however as a testament to the determination of the riders, I'm sure that you won't see the lap times drop off, so for a 'easy' race, it was still maximum attack all day. In the end, I believe we got a lap on the field in the end, winning both the 3 man catagory, and the unofficial overall catagory by a lap, making it another golden day for Felt Racing. Our virtues we amazing in the singletrack, carving through it like they were on rails. There aren't many 5" travel XC bikes that climb better than most full suspension bikes out there, and descend with such amazing manners. There really isn't. The results are the proof that they climb like mountain goats and hammer the downhills, so between them, the riders and the Hutchinson tires (look out for a long term test of the more substantial Barracuda tires soon) Felt Racing really has it dialed for 2007.
Thanks must go to our supporters, GMBC for putting on a good race at a fantastic venue with a wild course, Felt Bicycles, Hutchinson Tyres, Echowell computers, and GVRaceTech
Ben Randall, the deserved winner of the Solo 6 hour race, with a late challenge from 24 hour solo National bridesmaid (ie. 2nd place) John Claxton.
And Rohin Adams, having just uttered words to the effect of 'don't let my sponsors see that...' - Too late....
After copping some ridicule for doing a 6 hour as a 3 man team from a pseudo triathlete, masquerading as a mountain biker, Felt Racing remained convinced that it was right decision to contend the 2007 You Yangs 6 hour as a team of 3. The day dawned early for all of us, and we arrived on site to find the team @ GMBC had set a great course and event for us! With a reasonable 6 hours to contend with, we set up a reasonable tent site, and dialed our Felt Virtue 1 bikes and Hutchinson Piranha tire pressures into the course. With Jason fired up and ready to rock, the Le Man running start was called, and away on course we departed.
The course was a great collection of the trails at the You Yangs with 2 major climbs (well, painful but enjoyable at the same time) and many great singletrack descents mixed with a scarce few fire roads and much singletrack putting a smile on everyones mug. What tore the smile clean off was the granite surface that seemed to peel skin off with the efficiency of a cheese grater, and kept St johns very busy all day, and shares in Elastoplast rose sharply.
Bring back jumps in racing. And keep the ambo's close by...
An example of the great trails that exist out in the You Yangs. There are boardwalks, berms, a full DH course - a mountain bike playground.
For the first part of the day, Felt Racing kept a close eye in the rear view mirror on the Specialized teams and the boys racing under the Thylacine mantle. With them firmly placed in the settling dust as we past the halfway mark, we content ourselves with lapping as fast as we could, and minimizing any potential mistakes that we could make. At this point, I should make mention of the traffic on course- the capped number of racers (220 from memory) was perfect, with a reasonably constant but spaced out number of riders all day who were extremely courteous and swift in allowing faster riders through!
Tag, you're it....
Jase, backing it into a corner, at 10/10ths.
Holding it open all the way to the end, the course did not let up at any point, and there was stuff all fireroad - hooray!
Plenty of amusement was had throughout the day, with a passing parade of comedians venturing into the Felt Tent, with the highlight of the day being a tough call between hot dogs for lunch, the ding dong battle for 2nd and 3rd in the pairs race, the last lap excitement of Claxton (Giant) and Randall (Spoken) dueling for the solo win or the hilarity of trying to get Jack out for one final lap (done, with 2 minutes to spare). Felt Racing had a great day, an awesome vibe was in the tent with the 3 man thing working a treat allowing the riders to actually talk to one another, and winning is always a pleasure, lets be real.
Jack had it wiiiide open all day, and deservedly got to do the last lap, after Ash and Jase opened the taps to get back with only a few minutes to spare!
GVRaceTech was doing a blinding job as always, made a little easier when there was no major dramas, so he busied himself with shooting the great pictures you see here! Back to the racing however, we weren't really challenged for the second half of the race, however as a testament to the determination of the riders, I'm sure that you won't see the lap times drop off, so for a 'easy' race, it was still maximum attack all day. In the end, I believe we got a lap on the field in the end, winning both the 3 man catagory, and the unofficial overall catagory by a lap, making it another golden day for Felt Racing. Our virtues we amazing in the singletrack, carving through it like they were on rails. There aren't many 5" travel XC bikes that climb better than most full suspension bikes out there, and descend with such amazing manners. There really isn't. The results are the proof that they climb like mountain goats and hammer the downhills, so between them, the riders and the Hutchinson tires (look out for a long term test of the more substantial Barracuda tires soon) Felt Racing really has it dialed for 2007.
Thanks must go to our supporters, GMBC for putting on a good race at a fantastic venue with a wild course, Felt Bicycles, Hutchinson Tyres, Echowell computers, and GVRaceTech
Ben Randall, the deserved winner of the Solo 6 hour race, with a late challenge from 24 hour solo National bridesmaid (ie. 2nd place) John Claxton.
And Rohin Adams, having just uttered words to the effect of 'don't let my sponsors see that...' - Too late....
posted by Ash Thomas at 8:54 pm
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