CTS #3 update, finally...!!
Photo Credits : GVRaceTech and Erin Francis.
Thank you all for your patience, I can see that you've all been visiting so thanks for your support!
Another Chase the Sun is in the books, this time the shortest one of the year. 5 hours was all it took to decide the winners of the event, and sadly Felt Racing couldn't quite make it onto the top step of the box, instead having to settle for 3rd and 4th respectively. To put that into perspective however, it keeps us in fantastic stead for the series prize. Before the final result was noted however, it was an awesome race! (and a special mention has to be made to GVRaceTech - as well as running the SRAM neutral support for the day including setup and packup, GVRaceTech also kept the entire teams bike super clean and running smoothly with attention given ever lap regardless of the condition the bikes came back in. In less than 10 degrees, with 2 bike to wash every 30 min, thats a huge effort and well deserved of the job of National Wrench at the Worlds in Scotland in a few months.Thanks from the team as always, and in the meantime, he also shoot photos for us...!!)
This race marked the return of Jason after a family related layoff, and completed the full team roster for Felt Racing, with Ben Randall getting to ride with someone this time ;) Incidentally, the Felt Racing #2 team (#2 by name only, not nature) sits happily in 3rd place in the series, having done 2 races as a solo team, with only one rider so thats an impressive effort!
With the weather holding off, we all gambled on tyre choice and put the worries into each other before the race, before deciding that we can ride anything anywhere! Silly boys... The Piranhas were great on the open sections, and in the deep mud, but I really found them to struggle on the greasy singletrack, not being able to turn, brake or climb. Simply by changing the front tyre to a Bulldog, I was able to do all of the above with ease and still carry as much speed as possible on the fireroads.
After the start, the field spread out straight away, with a lead group containing all the main contenders. Jason was well and truly in the mix along with a very select group of solo nutters, and I was busy watching solo 24 worlds contender John Claxton tear us a new one around the reasonably flat course. The slick mud was very tricky on the first lap, taking some time to 'get your eye in' but the Virtues were extremely forgiving and ran flawlessly the whole day. By then of the first lap, both felt teams were in the top 5, and we handed over to our partners to start the day off!
For the better part of the day, Felt 1 had a dual going with AJ (scott/flightcentre) and Alex Randall, who rode themselves onto our wheel and then proceeded to make life very uncomfortable for us for the duration of the race. From my perspective, I was paired with AJ as thats how the laps fell, and I sat on his wheel after he had ridden up and past me. At one point, AJ slipped in the mud, and after checking he was ok, I decided to keep the tempo up and see what happened. I snuck a gap and handed to Jack who kept the gap similar to the next changeover. This would be my last lap and wanted to give Jack the best possibility to get around without getting caught. We were both pretty smashed ('talking to Elvis', to quote Russ C) and it was getting dangerously close to the engine shut down light coming one. My last lap was still reasonable, cramps setting in with severity towards the end of the lap and reducing me to a crawl, but I got there and handed over to Jack.
Jack charged out on his last lap, knowing it was death or glory in terms of his legs, much like mine, and he hoped they would hold out. Alex Randall is apparently in full swing for the World Orienteering Champs in Czech in a few weeks, and makes a formidable opposition out on course. Having held Alex off for most of the lap, it was within sight of the finish line (kinda - at 2 way section of 'single'track, go figure..) that Jack was baulked by another rider going around a log and had to jump off to keep going. It was right there that the engine light lit up, as did the rest of the dashboard and he was a writhing heap on the ground for all to point and laugh. In a great show of sportsmanship, Alex did catch up and stopped to see if he could render assistance in any way, before continuing on to the finish line to claim 2nd spot on the podium. Jack managed to sort his body out, clip his legs back on the correct side of his body and make his way to the line to take the final spot on the box. And all that goes to show that the race is still on, even after the clock has past finish time (this was about 15min after the 'finish' of the race, as we still had to complete the last lap)
The race for 4th place was possibly a little less dramatic than that thankfully, with the boys missing the cutoff for the last lap and finishing a dominant 10 minutes in front of 5th place, adding valuable points to keep them in the hunt for the series podium. Throughout the day, they dueled with a few teams, before ripping away aboard their 5 inch travel bikes, having a ball in the slick mud and practicing 2 wheel feet up slides!
With Chase the Sun #3 locked away, and one more to run, the series will come down to a numbers game on the day, with all the teams in the running maximizing reliability and charging for the line to claim the series prize and trophy. We'll see you out there, and for the local riders, we'll see you at the Dirt Crits in the rain/snow/hail on thursday!
**Edit** - From the fingers of Jason.
Once again it was great to be back racing with the gang. With the lack of training Ben and myself have had, we knew we would leave the pointy end of the race for Team Felt 1, giving us a day 'off' to have fun in the mud.
At the start line, Ash made me nervous by rolling over with sweat dripping of his forehead from an intimidating warm-up on the rollers. From the gun it was on for young and old, with John Claxton (Giant/FTF) rolling to the front early, just to show us all he has the strength and fitness to go all the way at the Solo24Worlds. I quickly realised that I was more out of form than expected, so I rolled in behind Australia’s #1 24hr solo champ Andy Bell for a lesson on how to pace oneself for the long haul.
The Virtue showed me once again that it handles brilliantly in all conditions, especially over the three log jumps in the back section of the course, putting a smile on my dial every time. The Piranhas did limit traction at times but which tire didn’t in those conditions?! I must thank Big G for his patience cleaning the bikes after every lap, knowing it was going to be full of mud again after the first descent, THANKS MATE!
The day was full of fun on and off the track, with Tessa and Breanna (pictured above with the Felt Blanket) coming out to help with my caffeine intake and keep the team at high spirits in between laps. Racing with Ben was great, he spent the whole day dodging puddles so his white Sidi Dragons shoes would look cool in the transition area, but always finished a lap with a smile on his dial.
Congrats to Ash and Jack for a great race!!
Until next time, CIAO.
PS: Special thanks to Troy Bailey for the STRONG words of encouragement on course!
Thank you all for your patience, I can see that you've all been visiting so thanks for your support!
Another Chase the Sun is in the books, this time the shortest one of the year. 5 hours was all it took to decide the winners of the event, and sadly Felt Racing couldn't quite make it onto the top step of the box, instead having to settle for 3rd and 4th respectively. To put that into perspective however, it keeps us in fantastic stead for the series prize. Before the final result was noted however, it was an awesome race! (and a special mention has to be made to GVRaceTech - as well as running the SRAM neutral support for the day including setup and packup, GVRaceTech also kept the entire teams bike super clean and running smoothly with attention given ever lap regardless of the condition the bikes came back in. In less than 10 degrees, with 2 bike to wash every 30 min, thats a huge effort and well deserved of the job of National Wrench at the Worlds in Scotland in a few months.Thanks from the team as always, and in the meantime, he also shoot photos for us...!!)
This race marked the return of Jason after a family related layoff, and completed the full team roster for Felt Racing, with Ben Randall getting to ride with someone this time ;) Incidentally, the Felt Racing #2 team (#2 by name only, not nature) sits happily in 3rd place in the series, having done 2 races as a solo team, with only one rider so thats an impressive effort!
With the weather holding off, we all gambled on tyre choice and put the worries into each other before the race, before deciding that we can ride anything anywhere! Silly boys... The Piranhas were great on the open sections, and in the deep mud, but I really found them to struggle on the greasy singletrack, not being able to turn, brake or climb. Simply by changing the front tyre to a Bulldog, I was able to do all of the above with ease and still carry as much speed as possible on the fireroads.
After the start, the field spread out straight away, with a lead group containing all the main contenders. Jason was well and truly in the mix along with a very select group of solo nutters, and I was busy watching solo 24 worlds contender John Claxton tear us a new one around the reasonably flat course. The slick mud was very tricky on the first lap, taking some time to 'get your eye in' but the Virtues were extremely forgiving and ran flawlessly the whole day. By then of the first lap, both felt teams were in the top 5, and we handed over to our partners to start the day off!
For the better part of the day, Felt 1 had a dual going with AJ (scott/flightcentre) and Alex Randall, who rode themselves onto our wheel and then proceeded to make life very uncomfortable for us for the duration of the race. From my perspective, I was paired with AJ as thats how the laps fell, and I sat on his wheel after he had ridden up and past me. At one point, AJ slipped in the mud, and after checking he was ok, I decided to keep the tempo up and see what happened. I snuck a gap and handed to Jack who kept the gap similar to the next changeover. This would be my last lap and wanted to give Jack the best possibility to get around without getting caught. We were both pretty smashed ('talking to Elvis', to quote Russ C) and it was getting dangerously close to the engine shut down light coming one. My last lap was still reasonable, cramps setting in with severity towards the end of the lap and reducing me to a crawl, but I got there and handed over to Jack.
Jack charged out on his last lap, knowing it was death or glory in terms of his legs, much like mine, and he hoped they would hold out. Alex Randall is apparently in full swing for the World Orienteering Champs in Czech in a few weeks, and makes a formidable opposition out on course. Having held Alex off for most of the lap, it was within sight of the finish line (kinda - at 2 way section of 'single'track, go figure..) that Jack was baulked by another rider going around a log and had to jump off to keep going. It was right there that the engine light lit up, as did the rest of the dashboard and he was a writhing heap on the ground for all to point and laugh. In a great show of sportsmanship, Alex did catch up and stopped to see if he could render assistance in any way, before continuing on to the finish line to claim 2nd spot on the podium. Jack managed to sort his body out, clip his legs back on the correct side of his body and make his way to the line to take the final spot on the box. And all that goes to show that the race is still on, even after the clock has past finish time (this was about 15min after the 'finish' of the race, as we still had to complete the last lap)
The race for 4th place was possibly a little less dramatic than that thankfully, with the boys missing the cutoff for the last lap and finishing a dominant 10 minutes in front of 5th place, adding valuable points to keep them in the hunt for the series podium. Throughout the day, they dueled with a few teams, before ripping away aboard their 5 inch travel bikes, having a ball in the slick mud and practicing 2 wheel feet up slides!
With Chase the Sun #3 locked away, and one more to run, the series will come down to a numbers game on the day, with all the teams in the running maximizing reliability and charging for the line to claim the series prize and trophy. We'll see you out there, and for the local riders, we'll see you at the Dirt Crits in the rain/snow/hail on thursday!
**Edit** - From the fingers of Jason.
Once again it was great to be back racing with the gang. With the lack of training Ben and myself have had, we knew we would leave the pointy end of the race for Team Felt 1, giving us a day 'off' to have fun in the mud.
At the start line, Ash made me nervous by rolling over with sweat dripping of his forehead from an intimidating warm-up on the rollers. From the gun it was on for young and old, with John Claxton (Giant/FTF) rolling to the front early, just to show us all he has the strength and fitness to go all the way at the Solo24Worlds. I quickly realised that I was more out of form than expected, so I rolled in behind Australia’s #1 24hr solo champ Andy Bell for a lesson on how to pace oneself for the long haul.
The Virtue showed me once again that it handles brilliantly in all conditions, especially over the three log jumps in the back section of the course, putting a smile on my dial every time. The Piranhas did limit traction at times but which tire didn’t in those conditions?! I must thank Big G for his patience cleaning the bikes after every lap, knowing it was going to be full of mud again after the first descent, THANKS MATE!
The day was full of fun on and off the track, with Tessa and Breanna (pictured above with the Felt Blanket) coming out to help with my caffeine intake and keep the team at high spirits in between laps. Racing with Ben was great, he spent the whole day dodging puddles so his white Sidi Dragons shoes would look cool in the transition area, but always finished a lap with a smile on his dial.
Congrats to Ash and Jack for a great race!!
Until next time, CIAO.
PS: Special thanks to Troy Bailey for the STRONG words of encouragement on course!
posted by Ash Thomas at 6:50 pm
2 Comments:
When you're having a bad day in the saddle it makes it heaps more bearable to be racing against a top bunch of guys. Nice one lads!
Gee, I did look rather white to begin with eh?
Umm, arnt we missing some detail about Alex stopping and giving a little on course massage to Jack? Come on boys, cant be holding out the juicy details. Maybe next time jack could carry some massage oil out there?
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