The Castlemaine Story
It's hard to believe, but it's finally here.
The weekend started with a trip up the recently upgraded A79 on Saturday afternoon to Castlemaine, in time for the shenanigans of Saturday night. Saturday night was to host the most important race of the weekend, the 16" 4 cross (with only 2 in each race, but who cares, it's stacks of fun).
On arrival at Jubba land I found 2 familiar faces, ex-Felt Racing riders and current Felt Epix riders, Ash and Jason. I did a practice lap with them, partly to check out the new sections of the course and also to enjoy the course because it's one of the best ones going round.
Back to the racing... The 16" race course from last year got some work done on it including a new jump and an extra berm which moved the start further up the hill to add to the fun.
Nothing precise here
With the course set for the night it was time to get in some much needed practice, those little bikes are deceptively hard to ride!
Not quite my size
Some people just don't know how to take it easy! Thanks Ash for the photos.
With $100 on the line for the winner and being the runner up from last year the pressure was on, unluckily for me I came up against little J. Jackson in the second round and I swear he pushed me off. I crashed a second time before I got to the bottom of the run and that was me out of the competition. He went on to also crash out, but in the quarter finals.
With the big race of the weekend out of the way it was on to Sunday for the 6 hour Enduro. I was to be racing with directionally challenged Scott who got a little lost on the drive up in the morning, luckily he made it before the start, with seconds to spare. With sub half hour laps on the cards we decided to try double laps to allow for longer rest periods.
The first lap for me was great, with a clear track out in front I was able to really enjoy the course. I backed it off a little on the second lap to try to save something for latter...
Scott put in a solid effort on the next double but it was starting to unravel when I went out again. Double laps may not have been the best option for the two of us on the day, I was trying to get over a cold and Scott had had knee issues the day before. At about the 4 hour mark it all came undone for me, no speed or power and a head ache on a rough rocky course was the end of the day for me unfortunately. Scott went out for one more slow lap and then called it a day too, choosing to save himself for another day.
On a positive note, we got a load of comments on the new kit saying how good it looked (or was it how good we look?). So keep an eye out for some not so red looking Felt riders in the future.
And to finish off, some equipment news. The new Panaracer tires have arrived, I was able to give the Razer XC tires a go and am happy to report that they felt really good. They handled the rocky conditions extremely well, had plenty of grip up the many pinch climbs and behaved quite well while cornering. Stay tuned for some more reviews when we get a chance to spend some more time on them.
The weekend started with a trip up the recently upgraded A79 on Saturday afternoon to Castlemaine, in time for the shenanigans of Saturday night. Saturday night was to host the most important race of the weekend, the 16" 4 cross (with only 2 in each race, but who cares, it's stacks of fun).
On arrival at Jubba land I found 2 familiar faces, ex-Felt Racing riders and current Felt Epix riders, Ash and Jason. I did a practice lap with them, partly to check out the new sections of the course and also to enjoy the course because it's one of the best ones going round.
Back to the racing... The 16" race course from last year got some work done on it including a new jump and an extra berm which moved the start further up the hill to add to the fun.
Nothing precise hereWith the course set for the night it was time to get in some much needed practice, those little bikes are deceptively hard to ride!
Not quite my sizeSome people just don't know how to take it easy! Thanks Ash for the photos.With $100 on the line for the winner and being the runner up from last year the pressure was on, unluckily for me I came up against little J. Jackson in the second round and I swear he pushed me off. I crashed a second time before I got to the bottom of the run and that was me out of the competition. He went on to also crash out, but in the quarter finals.
With the big race of the weekend out of the way it was on to Sunday for the 6 hour Enduro. I was to be racing with directionally challenged Scott who got a little lost on the drive up in the morning, luckily he made it before the start, with seconds to spare. With sub half hour laps on the cards we decided to try double laps to allow for longer rest periods.
The first lap for me was great, with a clear track out in front I was able to really enjoy the course. I backed it off a little on the second lap to try to save something for latter...
Scott put in a solid effort on the next double but it was starting to unravel when I went out again. Double laps may not have been the best option for the two of us on the day, I was trying to get over a cold and Scott had had knee issues the day before. At about the 4 hour mark it all came undone for me, no speed or power and a head ache on a rough rocky course was the end of the day for me unfortunately. Scott went out for one more slow lap and then called it a day too, choosing to save himself for another day.
On a positive note, we got a load of comments on the new kit saying how good it looked (or was it how good we look?). So keep an eye out for some not so red looking Felt riders in the future.
And to finish off, some equipment news. The new Panaracer tires have arrived, I was able to give the Razer XC tires a go and am happy to report that they felt really good. They handled the rocky conditions extremely well, had plenty of grip up the many pinch climbs and behaved quite well while cornering. Stay tuned for some more reviews when we get a chance to spend some more time on them.
posted by Jack Lamshed at 6:21 pm
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