as australia drops its support of XC…

after the recent upload of images on my flickr shot by roger from blackmans penrith [yep he's a bike mechanic and not too bad a photographer either] i decided to move across some of my own racing pic set to flickr from photobucket.

i am always in two minds now-a-days. should i race, or should i take pics and / or videos.

racing always comes up trumps

My PICS from:
WSMTB Club 2009 – JetBlack/Rockytrail 12hr

State Round – Blue Gum Lodge – Hosted by WSMTB Club 2009

ok no more – i am sick – they are sick – we all are sick. eNUFF
bigger and better things from now onwards.

i knew it would only be a matter of time. after first purchasing the basic set of ayups [now-a-days it is a much better set-up with box!] i was always going to buy a second set which would allow me to ride at night. with less hours in the day than i require for training the purchase could open up another 2/3 hrs per week. with the 4 hr summer enduro series on this weekend TWILIGHT as well, i order a new set of lights and a gekko mounting system for both lights and batteries.

i installed them on wednesday night when they arrived. they were simple as to set up and look the biz as well. now it was just time to test them out.

so on saturday night i met up with 6 other riders from BMU and rotorburn whom i hadn’t met before. in short it was bloody awesome! actually fucken awesome! i had planned on yellomundee but that just didn’t happen when an offer of riding for the first time with 6 other riders was on offer.

we met up at winmalee servo dropped into the ridge ride from halcyon ave and rode out to grose head south along the recently graded firetrail. we then turned back and descended down bees nest, turned right and rode along the swamp till the right hander to climb out. at this point we diverted back to shaws ridge [on the left] and tod [BM Epic from rotorburn] showed us a little single track he had been working on.

Grose Head South

firstly the guys/girl i rode with were so nice. it is so amazing to just meet up and go for a ride with people you have never met – but they make you feel like your good mates and have been for a while. can’t beat that ever!

secondly the ayups were just amazing. with a full set now, bars with medium spread and the narrows on the met up top it was a winning combination. towards the end of the ride i went out front just to see what they were like solo and there is no doubt they are the biz.
both sporting 3 hrs battery life its a bliss set-up.

transformer like

yes i know the blue protector is still there. i did purchase a gekko mounting system but can’t bring myself to fitting it to the roadie helmet. i may just purchase a MTB specific lid… its something i am two minds about at this point…

the night ride was so much more than what i expected it to be. it was a surreal experience. it was amazing to see a caterpillar like chain of 7 riders lighting up the way and with that many lights there was no issues with “seeing” anything what so ever.

the pace of the ride was perfect. BM Epic’s daughter was with us who is about 17ish i think and i was amazed at how well she rode and kept up with all of us. the descent down bees nest was just something everyone needs to experience at some point. considering this has a 13% grade decent at the start and averages about 7%, it was at night, it was my first night ride, i was flying! but one of the other guys [so pissed i can't remember his name] was seriously pinning it down the hill – it blew me away. theres no doubt that because i know the trail very well it was easy to feel comfortable about descending.

at about .5km from the bottom – into the swamp the temperature dropped about 5º-7º and considering it was about 29º at the time even at night it was so nice to be in the swamp. this lower swap trail is some of the best riding you can do. every time you spin the legs it just begs you to push that little bit faster. is such a perfect ride.

the swamp during the daylight hours

we climbed out then quickly diverted to a smaller single track technical section tod had/was building. me being the only one with a leg over a hardtail, it wasn’t hard to tell it was a rigid frame. i did pull up at one point and pretty much bungled my way un-clipped the rest of the way – thankfully without dropping or laying the bike over.

in all i am hooked. night riding is just the jiz. i am hoping i can meet up with the guys a lot more often. there was talk of a lawson trail, and obviously the oakes and yellomundee. again it makes the 2hrs travel to and from work so worth it. i could right this very second jump on my bike and within 5 minutes be riding on some of the best trails around. BEAT THAT.

i was so excited i only took two pics on the ride. it was just way to much fun to worry about images!
both were shit so here’s the best pick of the two

i am really interested in 29ers atm. i’ve been thinking about getting one for Karen as her bike and in the research i came across this fisher video. for once something is explained simply and i like simple things. its is however looking less likely i will be getting her one anytime soon

so after 5 weeks of complete chaos through sickness in the house the 6th week has arrived only to turn the tables, it’s now my turn. i am so totally over it all. i have some kind of virussy thing where my throat is killing me and i feel tired all the time. pftt .

i just want thing to return back to normal