Castlemaine 6 hour Part 2 - The race!

Another brilliant day dawned at JubbaLand as its affectionately known. Various reports put the temperatures between 2 and minus 4, suffice to say there was a heavy coating of ice on everything and everyone. The bonfire was kicked back into action, and there was quickly a queue at the Thearte Royal Coffee machine, and people began to arrive from Melbourne.

Cold enough to ice up tires on the spare wheels

The paddock was covered in ice, not just a heavy frost

Even the prickle bushes didn't escape

GVRaceTech rolled in bang on time, and we set up Felt Racing in a great location on pit alley, a tradition that adds greatly to the look of the start finish, with all the bigger teams flying large flags etc and making it look very fancy. Paulie turned up with a whole hour to spare before the race, having pretty much ridden down from Mt Beauty the day before, and we had a laugh at me on the front of the Age after the media circus that was hell ride the day prior. Jack was in fine form after his wrestle with the 16" bikes the night before, and was hanging to get warmed up so he could at least move again...

Pit Alley is always a colorful place to wander

With Paulie there so early, we enjoyed a lazy start to the day, a nice warm up and some easy pedaling to get some blood circulating, and Paul managed to make it back from a nature call in time to politely sneak onto the front row of the grid.

Ready, Set (err, where's Paul? Oh, he's over there in the bushes. Oh well...)

Go!! (Now thats timing!! He could have finished getting dressed!)

From the get-go, he opened the taps and held it cranked for the first lap before the tap I mentioned opened on him and his nose began to bleed profusely. Wearing too many layers and going 10/10ths has that effect on many people, and Paul was no exception. GVRaceTech slipped on the gloves and got stuck in, making light work of most likely the worst job he's ever had to do!







As the day progressed, the music flowed through the pit area, the coffee and commentary continued, and the racing hammered around a brilliant course in bright sunshine!Whilst I was unaware who our actual competition was in-class, we had a great time leading the overall bike race for the day, with time enough in the middle of the day to enjoy the laps for what they were- riding our bikes on a great trail with some good friends. John Claxton held down 2nd place on course for a long time, before the Specialized/Total Rush boys reeled them in, in their fight with the Torq crew, but it was all in the rear view mirror for us, and we enjoyed out ride out front of the bike race.




The course was a good improvement on last years course, being damp and tacky for the entire course, with a light damp sheen over the rock sections. Being on a rigid bike would have been not amusing, a hard tail would have made you smirk occasionally, but the Virtues were just awesome. Up the climbs they just flew, hooking up in all the tech spots, and downhill they were in their element. Shock opened up (propedal off) and they just motor. Rock eating, berm carving animals, they tore the course to bits in total comfort and genuinely made us smile to ride them! Improvements on the course include more and better berms, a new start/finish loop, a new start section and the exclusion of fire road and the inclusion of corresponding singletrack. In all, a good old fashioned course build by riders for riders, for the sheer pleasure of riding. Congrats go as always to the Rocky Riders, esp. Nick Lewis (Former Felt Racing team member, and soon to be owner of an F1c) for all his hard work and commitment, and the other members of the club that got the event in such great shape.


So at the end of the day, the Results were in, the race was run and won, and the weather performed admirably. Everyone loaded up their mini cities, and headed back to their homes around the state, and we wind up to do it all again soon! In the meantime however, Paul and Gerald both head overseas to take up positions with the Australian Team, and the Chase the sun finale heads ever closer.

In a final note, Mt Beauty's Kim McCormack took out the womens solo race aboard a Felt, proudly sold to her by Paulie, at Rocky Valley Cycles. I think thats enough plugs for one day, but I couldn't get a compliment or congratulations in edge ways with Kim after her win as she was too busy thanking us... ?! Go figure, what is it with the humility of people from that town?! Well done Kim, you did awesome, and Barry, thanks for bringing Paul down on time!!

And finally, check out Grovers blog for some classic videos of us racing 16", OnTrackImages for some pics, Evan Jeffery for more pics and have a nice day.