Dirtrider

Bike Porn Time!

2012-01-07T13:31:00.001+11:00

Been awhile since blogging in and not going to proclaim that in 2012 I will blog more, because that will be a whole lot of crap!

Since the Garmin 24hr, which I still am getting over! The bike inventory has changed significantly, the Anthem has found a new home in Toowoomba, under a guy named Daniel. I really hope the bike continues to give him as much fun and joy that it has given me over the past 3 years. And in its place is a spanking sexy Rocky Mountain 2012 Vertex 990RSL.

Normally after a 24hr race I sit back try and recover and ride to work, occasionally odd road ride etc. But getting the Vertex the week after the Garmin, along with a way too good for my needs road bike (Jamis Zenith Team) which I got back in October. I have been pretty excited to get back on the bike much sooner than normal. Its funny when I got the new roadie, and this thing is blinded to the max, full top end frame (sub 900gram) full Sram RED group and Easton EA90SL wheels, to a roadie they would be drooling excessively to have a bike of this calibre that weights a scant 6.5kgs! Me not that excited.

Getting a new mountain bike, that had me annoying Simon Ross, Adventure Brands and Ross from iRide Bikes every minute of the day, is it in yet? is it in yet? It was getting to the stage I think Ross would see me coming and close the shop and hide out the back, as to avoid the harassment from my good self. Then the message arrived bikes arrived have it built up tomorrow, I didn't sleep that night, me being excited is an understatement.

Out of the box, the all important weight was 9.5kgs, size medium. Its been a long time since I have owned/ridden a hard tail. First ride was out at Youies and a 1hr 1/2 ride turned into a 2hr ride. I was blown away, The Dirty Whore, as my gorgeous wife refers to her as was an amazing compliant bike to ride. It was the first real time I have spent good time on both a carbon framed MTB and 29er no less, stiff is an understatement, both me and the bike :) and at any stage did I feel that it was less nimble than than my previous 26inch wheeled bike. Other first things for me on this bike are a 15mm front axle and 142 rear end along with a press fit BB 92 bottom bracket. Makes for a bike that is ridiculously stiff while maintaining vertical compliance and rider comfort. The BB is quite low and this was compounded on multiple crank strikes while climbing up through the rocky sections of Junction Track.

Following rides have been out at Smiths Gully, for those that don't know the trails they are tight twisty, lots of off camber hairpins and switch backs that if your weight and technique isn't right can have you stalling part way through a corner or losing traction. Whether it be the increased ground contact patch of the larger wheels and/or the geometry of the Vertex, it was definately easier aboard the Vertex. Again a very happy boy. And a couple of adventures out to Wombat and Lysterfield Park. All the talk you here about 29er bikes being boaty, difficult to change direction and hard to accelerate after slowing down for a corner cannot be said about the Rocky Mountain geometry and specifically the Vertex. The lads over in Canada spent a lot of time finding the right geometry and set up and have come up with a bike that is the sweetest thing to ride.

The full spec of the bike can be had here at the Rocky Mountain website, but the highlights for me are the SID XX Fork, would have to be the most compliant fork I have ridden, full Sram X0 group set (not completely sold on the brakes though) and DT Swiss 240 hubs! Yeap these are stock on this bike, I can't recall another bike that has these hubs, built up to DT Swiss rims (which are a little soft in my opinion) ever on a stock bike.

Other little changes to occur will be a longer set post the 350mm is at its max length and swapped the stem over to a slightly longer and negative rise to get me into a more aggressive position. The Maxis tyres aren't to bad but will be swapped out shortly before the Otway Odyssey to to the more versatile Schwable Racing Ralphs.

SID XX 15mm front end goodness

The cable stop plug removes making cable changes a walk in the park
Check the finish of the carbon, not a blemish to be seen!

"Love The Ride" say's it all really

12 x 142mm stiffness

Garmin 2011 24hr Solo

2011-11-28T23:54:00.001+11:00

Ouch!

Having ridden the track a couple of weeks ago it became pretty apparent that this wasn't going to be a fast track for the solos. No big sustained climbs, plenty of tight twisty single track with much of it freshly made and having very little time to bed down and harden up. A week out the weather was looking fantastic high 20s both days and warm overnight. Unfortunately the only thing that kept me warm overnight during the race was the covering of mud!

Bec, Will and I headed up Friday set up camp and I headed out for a practice lap with fellow iRide team mate Matt "Zigga" Zagorski, cruised around pretty comfortably in 58mins, probably a bit quick but the trails had settled down well and lines in the freshly created tracks had formed, a little rain overnight on Friday would help keep the dust down and make a track that had no real flowing down hill sections, a still reasonably enjoyable track to roll around on for 24hrs. Being only just over a hour from home I stayed home on Friday hoping to get a comfy nights sleep, unfortunately I woke around 3.30am to the sound of rain and when I finally rolled out of bed at 8.30 it was evident the rain had persisted well after I had fallen back to sleep. Being optimistic, l kept thinking to myself, Redesdale is dry as a bone it never rains in Redesdale, how wrong was I!

The usual support crew were on hand Nathan and Luke with respective girlfriends and a great mate Xavier made a guest appearance to see what all this fuss is about with this thing called 24hr mtbing, he comes from a sheltered sporting background of triathlons where roads a sealed, hills a levelled so roads become flat and mud! whats this substance you call mud all about? Well for Xavier he learnt pretty quickly about mud as the car decided to go sideways across the paddock on the way in to the event on Saturday and he learnt a few hours later that mud gets into places that mud does't really belong

The race got off to its usual frantic start, its alway difficult in these events as a solo because you don't want to cook yourself in the first hour while on the other hand you can't dawdle because you then get stuck behind dozens of riders that are there for the social outing and you end up loosing significant time to those whom you are racing against. It did become apparent very early on that the track was going to deteriorate fast and saving energy and riding really conservatively would pay dividends later on, especially if the rain was to continue to fall. From lap 3 the track was almost unridable, By this time I was rolling around with Brett Bellchambers who was having a hell of a time trying to keep traction on climbs, where he would smoke the shit out of me, he was have to stay seated and punch up them, all the while using bucket loads of unnecessary energy. Around 8.30pm the rain seemed to pass and the track became sticky and begun to stick to the tyres and again you had no traction. At 10.30 as I rolled into my pits, Zigga was there and was not in a good place, he along with a few others had gone out at a pace that was going to be difficult to maintain and was starting to take its toll, many solos and teams for that matter had decided that they had had enough of the mud and called it quits. I had decided to have a complete clothes swap including shoes, this was a blessing in disguise, getting back on the bike I felt refreshed and happy again the track for the majority wasn't great, but the clothes brought a smile back to my face and definitely made the rest of the night enjoyable, especially since many riders had decided to go to bed and see what the morning would bring.

Live updates on timing were scarce and no one could give a definative answer to my placing, I knew I was going ok because when I was being passed it was by riders with very clean legs and not the legs of someone that had been churning through the mud earlier in the race. My laps were consistent and generally I was happy to be out there apart from the fact that my handlebar light kept turning off, due to an unknown reason to myself or support crew. Before we knew it the sun was coming up and the track by this time was at its best super tacky for the most part although rocks had become more prominent through much of the track.

It was about this time I caught up with Shane Roberts and the normal chatter occurred, how you going, know what position you are in etc etc. Its around this time of the race 18+hrs in where any meaningless conversation can occupy 5-10mins and if timing is favourable could be through a section of track that you don't enjoy (i.e. The Gar slide. Sorry Luke) Shane stated that he was hurting (no surprise) and sitting in 2nd position, strange I thought I was in second position. I then put a little bit of heat into the remaining part of the lap just to see how Shane was feeling and got back into pit expressed my concern and Shane's comments about him being in 2nd! My support reiterated the fact about the lack of updates on timing and Shane and I were close and Chris Hanson was a lap up, thats strange don't remember Chris going past. Got out of pits trying to get a bit of distance to Shane and open up a gap.

The last few laps were painful hands, back, arse all the usual stuff that doesn't like whats going on after being on the bike for that length of time! I knew how many I had left unfortunately it never equals the amount that you want to do! Over the last couple of laps, my lovely supportive crew had decided that it was time to start hanging a bit of shit in me to see if they could get me angry. It didn't really work, but if I had have rolled around on one of those last few laps and seen you all sitting there enjoying a beer that would have pissed me off no end!

In the end finished in second, some 40mins down on Chris Hanson and comfortably over Shane Roberts in 3rd. A big pat on the back needs to go out to all the riders who hung in there throughout the night, that was probably the hardest of all the races I have done to date, but it is funny pain is temporary, how long till Easter.

Finally usual thanks to my support crew Nathan, Luke, great mate Xavier for their time, encouragement and banter every lap, pretty sure at telling me at 10am Sunday if I push really hard I will be able to squeeze 3 more laps out is all that funny.

Finally Ross @ iRide Bikes looking after me and the bikes and in particular sourcing a new 9 speed cassette when one of mine decided Saturday night it had had enough and needed to be replaced.

The look of thank heavens thats done with!

No thats not a beard I've grown

Myself 2nd, Chris Hanson 1st, Shane Roberts 3rd

Surfcoast 12hr Enduro

2011-11-06T13:36:00.001+11:00

In the past I have raced the 6hr event and to be honest haven't really enjoyed myself so to step up and enter the 12hr was either going to break me or learn to love the track. I'm not sure why I haven't liked this track, but mostly likely answer would probably surround the fact I've never been really up to a level of fitness that I would have liked to be at and generally racing at a level of intensity that would not be able to match the fitness level.

Going in I was going to try several new untried elements to my race riding. 1st relatively untried pedals, having been a eggbeater man for many years the loose interface of the pedal/cleat, I felt was causing some biomechanical issues in racing and after speaking to many people everyone recommended Shimano platform. 2nd over previous races cramping has played a significant part in my inability to hold a solid intensity from around the 90min mark in a race. So after chatting to a few nutritional experts from one of my suppliers at work, thanks Nikki, decided to increase my hourly calorie intake and add magnesium to my bottles, hoping that would aid in fighting off the cramps and the added calories would sustain the energy requirements that I was after.

After a good nights sleep down at Nathan's in Waurn Ponds, he and I headed down to the race, set up camp got things sorted out, worked out what the plan was, figuring out along the way, what I had forgotten (bike light brackets for the lights) and before we knew it we were away. The race included some big hitters in the enduro scene, Scott & Sam Chancellor, Cam Winn and Stu Brown. Stu has been in super form all year and it was, in my mind, a matter of how hard will he go off at the start and will he then be able to hold the intensity for 12hrs. Early on Scott, Sam and myself found ourselves together and pretty rolled around for the first few hours chatting, discussing life the ridiculous number of Specialized S-works bikes, before I found myself missing a gap into a short pinch single track climb, while both Scott & Sam got infront of the slower riders and were able to put in a bit of time on me. With so long to go and in no real hurry I continued to wonder around at my own pace. All the while Stu was laying down some pretty solid lap times that were gaining minutes on my self and the chancellor boys. Around the 7-8hr mark, Sam pulled up suffering from upset stomach and decided to have a sleep, suffering dehydration. Allowing me to move into 3rd with a relatively comfortable lead over Cam Winn in 4th. Upfront Scott was pulling in the early lead of Stu. In the end Stu held of a super consistent Scott to win by 2 mins while I followed Scott some 27 mins in 3rd.

Overall I was really happy with all the pre race changes apart from the fact I may have taken in too much magnesium and lead to a very fiery digestive system post race! The new cleat system provided no issues and the increased calorie worked at treat and I will most likely look to increase that again for the next hitout, as I felt apart from the magnesium issues the stomach had no really concerns with the amount of calories being consumed..

For now head down bum up, with only a few more weeks until the Garmin 24hr up at Redesdale on the 26-27th of November time to get the last few weeks of training in. The Redesdale course after a sneeky look last weekend wont seem to be overly hilly, but will be raced on freshly made trails that hopefully can escape any serious rain, allowing them to bed down and avoid turning them into a mud slide.

I also heard a little rumour a 29er hardtail should arrive in the not too distant future, should be in the week prior to the 24hr, from the folk at Rocky Mountain before the 24hr race. What a better way to get accustomed to a bike than in a 24hr race!

Again thanks to the usual suspects, Nath brother in law, its actually friggin awesome to have someone as support that is one step ahead of me in strategy and what I will be after next time through pits. Ross at iRide bikes for looking after the ever demanding servicing the race bike needs!

Check out iRide's website, as Ross is doing 12.5% discount off the RRP of all preordered 2012 Rocky Mountain bikes

cheers
Quiggs

I love travelling in Africa, But I would never ride a bike through their National Park!

2011-10-11T21:20:00.000+11:00

iRide Bikes Racing blog

2011-10-01T11:50:00.001+10:00

Check this little blog out, very much in the theme of giggles and laugh, especially Big Pimpin Mondays!

New Wheels

2011-10-01T11:45:00.000+10:00

It's been a while in the making but I finally updated the road bike! Big thanks to Ross iRide Bikes and especially Simon Adventure Brands for hooking me up on a sweet Jamis Zenith Team roadie. This things is a sweet looking and riding bike, for being a training bike this things is as good as it gets and would slot in beautifully in the road racing scene. Weighing in at a scant 6.4kgs out of the box, it is a scary 2.5kgs lighter than the old girl.

Everyone bangs on about carbon this and carbon that, but after many years riding a aluminium frame bike the differences are amazing, the ride is quieter with the carbon frame absorbing the road noise is awesome, stiff as buggery punching down the power. Still getting used to the "Double Tap" of the Sram RED shifters with a few unexpected braking experiences hitting the brake level looking for a down shift!

The way they have integrated naked carbon in with the paint work looks awesome

The old girl has been a great bike, long live the memories

Bit of an Update.

2011-07-14T15:01:00.000+10:00

It's half way through winter where the hell is time going............ Not much has been happening lately, much todo with the cold weather and pure laziness in some ways. Training has sort of been there, but like may the inclination to get on the bike and get cold and wet hasn't been a motivating thought. Needless to say when I have ridden the MTB it has been wet and in most cases fun.

Scott Chancellor enjoying the mud pack
treatment Woodend offered

Race wise, racing has been infrequent although results have been ok considering. Firstly was the first round of the Mountain Challenge Series up at a very very muddy Woodend, not many braved the frigid conditions that Woodend presents at this time of year and 3hrs into a 5 hour race I wouldn't say times were fun, except for the sections where you honestly a passenger on the bike in chutes of water and mud. On one occasion lead to one of the most enjoyable "Over the Bars" experiences I have ever had, as they are it all happend quite slowly and finished up landing upon a soft bed of moss and tree ferns. Words don't really paint the serenity of the landing and if not for the cold could have quite happily laid there to ponder life...

The week after, a road trip, to Albury was in order, for the 5th round of the Vic Enduro series. The weather was the opposite to the weekend prior. Warmish, sunny and not a cloud in the sky. Didn't enjoy the start, uphill firetrail to the top of the climb, normally wouldn't bother me too much but lack of training meant I was being passed by way too many for my liking at the start of a race. Considering the lack of frequent riding the goal was to get through the 6hrs. The early laps were at a cracking pace, Scott Chancellor was being led around by some local whippet how was alway going to pull out of the race around the 2 hr mark, unbeknow to Scotty, this lead to a crazy fast pace set for others to follow. I personally was never in contention, but a high placing was thwarted on lap 3 when the chain began to skip through the cluster out back. I had to nurse the amount of pressure I could put through the pedals because every time in every gear the chain would just skip across the rear cog. Finally got back to transition to have a closer look and with the help of Rick Symes realised the rear derailluer cable was being held by literally 3 strands of wire. Search through the iRide spares sourced a gear cable and 10 mins later back on the bike as if nothing had happened..

Overall it was a super fun course that rewarded the slog of a climb in the first half of the race with a super cool and fast return downhill. Rolled across the finish line not long after the 6hr mark having completed just on 100kms, placing 7th place. Solid result all things considered

for now, need to HTFU and start riding with a little more consistency and effort.

Quiggs

National 24hr Solos

2011-04-30T09:44:00.001+10:00

Been home for a few days now and the pains are beginning to subside, I even rode the bike yesterday that's a record for remounting the bike following a 24hr race. And here's the race report in record days following the race, should keep Brad Davies happy and stop him pestering me!

In a lead up that seemed pretty consistent to others that competed at the Worlds in October, my preparation hadn't been massive in terms of Kilometres or hours spent on the bike, but nonetheless, what I did do was quality and at a higher intensity than previous periods leading up to a focal race. And sticking to my goal of riding the mtb more was also fulfilled in the lead up.

The Quigley' travelled up on the Thursday and stayed at a friends place on the outskirts of Canberra, where Bec & Will slept for the weekend (thanks Em, Steve & Oscar) while I stayed predominantly at Mt Stromlo from Friday onwards. Friday Nath & I headed out on a practice lap and came to a similar conclusion, not a difficult track by any means but with the majority of single track and very little firetrail over a short (11.3km) distance loop nutrition and food where going to be difficult to keep on top of.

Woke after a chilly Friday night (down to below 0 degrees), to be met by a golden Saturday morning, no wind, cloudless skies. Perfect.

The Race

Got off to an ok start slotting around 10th position and before I knew we had just rolled out a low 30min lap for the first of what would be shiteloads over the next 24hr period. Over the first 4-5hrs the tempo was pretty solid, I was lapping around the 35mins a lap, while Jase English and a handful of others where a minute or so quicker per lap. My major interests in the age group category where consistently 3-4mins in front this seemed to stay the same for 5-6hrs. At this point Stu Brown (as he recalls) was feeling unbelievable and didn't know what the boys were feeding him but he was feeling amazingly fresh and comfortable and started to consolidate an already strong start by increasing the tempo.

By the 5th hr I had had 2 crashes, the 1st was into the back of a slower rider after he got hung up on a rocky step up and couldn't get out of my way. The second I completely missed a sizeable rock that was emerging in the middle of a corner and stopped me dead in my tracks, sending me over the bars, taking most of the impact on the traditional crashing right hand shoulder and landing heavily on a rock on my left hand. Leaving my left hand unable to take any weight on the handlebars for a good few hours. Thankfully the following hours rolled by pretty uneventful, generally maintaining around 10th position overall with Jas Mc and myself swapping positions regularly over the night as one was having a hard time the other seemed to be having a good patch. Normally for me I enjoy the night and seem to find a happy place and continue to roll around maintaining good lap times while consolidating my overall position on the track, this was to be no different except the track was really starting to erode and sections of smooth flowing track were beginning to become rock pools. Taking there toll on an already battered body. With no daylight savings the night seemed to go on for ever and finally the fiery red sunrise was finally upon us and another perfect cloudless sky was above us. Over the night positions changed a little Stu Brown had worked through putting pressure on 2nd overall dragging with him Ed Mc (on a single speed no less) Scotty C had pulled into pits for an extended break I had managed to overtake and build a sizable gap to Jas Mc, I was now sitting in 8th overall and still 3rd in my age group (behind Stu 1st and surging Brett Bellchambers), for most of the race Brett had maintained a comfortable lead over me of around 20mins or so. But with the dawn of Easter Sunday, the man they call Jebus, had a second coming and punched out 3 consecutive laps in the 36mins bracket in an attempt to catch Ed Mc in the single speed catergory. These laps where the best part of 5mins quicker than the next quickest on track! Holy Jebus, this effort squashed any thoughts I may have contained in trying to catch him.

The support not very concerned about my health after nearly fainting post race

For me the final few hours were far from comfortable, the earlier falls, the usual lack of feeling and loss of strength in the hands, were accompanied by a lower back that was far from happy! The legs strangely were ok considering they had been propelling me around the track for some 20 odd hours. I eventually rolled across the line in a touch over 24hr 10mins with 35 laps completed in an very happy 7th position overall and 3rd in my age group.

Some of the vital stats
Distance 398 kilometres
Elevation gained 7050mts
Calories burned 13000 approx.

Age group podium Brett Bellchambers (2nd) Stu Brown (1st) & me (3rd)

The Thank You
Nath, mate again you are there from the get go, as soon as I say that I may consider doing one of these epic challenges you are the first to put your hand up to help out. The way that you co-ordinated the quickness of the rolling transitions through the first 12hrs was perfect and couldn't have asked for a better service. The success that I achieve in these races is due strongly in part to your help.

The flea bag (Luke), good to have you back in the pits and sober this time. It was a massive help the work you did for me during the graveyard shift, was super and ensured that I didn't hang around for too long and made sure I kept going.

The two respective girlfriends Diana (Nath) and Holly (Luke) it can't be fun sitting there in the cold darkness of night but I do appreciate the support.

Thanks also to Andrew Beddie, after early on realising his day wasn't going to be what he hoped was regularly around the pits helping out where he could, thanks mate. Hopefully we can share a lap or two together down at Forest later in the year. Bec, continued support which I can't put a value to thanks and love you.

Thanks to Emily, Steve & Oscar for the warm bed for us Quigleys

While on the love theme Ross down at iRide Bikes again thanks mate for your help and generosity

Selfish Training Partners

2011-02-23T20:02:00.000+11:00

Yeap the title says it all really.

With only 8 or so weeks to the National 24hr solo champs, much of my training is typically solo rides, which generally doesn't bother me in fact I find I get more out of it as I know most others who carry one about their 100k ride on the weekend was probably on nice smooth roads sitting in a bunch 3 deep! Mine are always on shit roads, roads are never flat and more often than not just me and my thoughts, no different to 24hr racing in may ways really.

Well when the opportunity arises to have someone tag along for the journey I also look to it as a positive and enjoy the experience, X man and I are always discussing the finer differences of our chosen sports, blog topics, etc. But yesterday I thought I would take someone that I haven't ridden much with out for a spin on the single speed MTB, the little man Will. He loves the outdoors generally keeps me entertained and happy to give me a break every now and then, encourages me up the hills and hoots when going down them, generally at speeds mum would rather not know about!

Anyway 5 mins into yesterdays 100min hill strength set I look over my shoulder to make sure he is still on my wheel and I couldn't believe it his asleep and he stayed this way for the next 45mins! When I did stop to have a Phil Liggett "nature break" he woke up and started grizzling, I couldn't believe it.

Training partners you really cant rely on them.

Remembering the good old times

2011-01-09T21:49:00.001+11:00

I came across this old girl down in Hardware Lane, Melbourne. Just before christmas and had to stop to grab a picture. Now I had this exact model bike some 20 something years ago, Malvern Start Sportif. I paid for it out of my own pocket money, yes kids hard earned pocket money none of this put your hand out and recieve money from the olds like kids do nowadays! Even now looking at the old girl she brings back memories, I used to ride with a family friend, he had a Shogun! We would set out along the bike paths from our places in Knox and would just ride sometimes towards Jells park and that mountain of a climb up Ferntree Gully Rd or in the other direction and head for the Dandenongs, I still remember flying down from Upway on the road over taking cars at the ripe old age of 15 and coming down Ferntree Gully Rd and telling mum when I got home that I hit 80kph and how much fun it was, somethings don't change I still come home now and tell Bec how fast I went. Which reminds me I need to tell her I hit my fastest speed today down Oaklands Rd.

Some things don't change the sick obsession with climbing hills and the shear enjoyment of flying back down at warp speed!

For now remembering Back in the Day.........

quiggs

The year that was 2010

2011-01-04T19:27:00.002+11:00

What an amazing year 2010 has been and rather than throw some words down I thought pictures generally express more than words can every do. In no real order.

Thanks Ross for all your support over the year.

Worlds 2010 3rd in age group
behind Stu Brown & Jas McAvoy

Gravity 12hr.
myself 3rd & Matt Zagorski 1st

2/3rds of the greatest support crew ever
Will and Brother in law, Nathan

Our 1st christmas as a family
I don't think I have opened as many presents
since I was a kid. One spoilt kid, Will!

Overall I had an amazing year both on bike and off the bike. I had some fantastic results over the course of the year and improved in all aspect from output wise in every race I competed in. With that requires lots of thank-you's especially to Bec, for allowing me to ride where ever and when ever and never really complaining, it would have been very different if I was coming last in every race! I know. To Will for being an amazingly adaptable little kid, sleeping all night allowing Bec and I the chance to get a full nights sleep and having to hangout at races in shitty weather (Bendigo intra club comes to mind). Brother in law, Nath, whenever I mention I might do a race his answer is alway No Worries! tell me when and where and I'm there. I cannot tell you how much that makes mine and Bec's life easier, not to mention doing a virtually solo effort at the worlds in transition for me, you deserved a medal for that effort! I promise next time there will be more help. Ross @ iRide Bikes thanks for the help and looking after all my crap ( and having to losten to it)over the year, hopefully many more podiums to come in 2011. Finally to the guys who I ride on the weekends with Benny, Stormy and especially X man. All those crappy winter mornings, X, following me up to Kinglake to do repeats,for a guy that does his best work on a time trial bike, mate you climb friggen alright, thank you and also congrats on qualifying for the Ironman Triathlon Worlds in Hawaii later this year.

I also plan to blog somewhat more frequently in 2011, so as to keep those who follow me more up to date with what is happening in my little world!!

For now
keeping the rubber side down
quiggs

Merry Christmas to All

2010-12-24T19:24:00.000+11:00

A little Merry Christmas from the folk at maxxis tyres

and me!

The big X

2010-12-06T21:07:00.001+11:00

BIG congratulations goes out to me old mate Xavier Coppock, the big X man along with a few others headed over to West Aust to compete in the WA Ironman last weekend and if you follow his blog you will know how determined and desperate he has been to qualify and compete on their main stage, Hawaii in the World Ironman Championships. Well the big fella has finally cracked a qualifying invite.

Going into the race he knew he was up against it racing in probably the toughest of age group categories the 30-34year olds, speaking to him prior to the race he reeled off around 6 competitors that either had broken the ridiculous 9hr mark or had the potential to go under 9hrs. 9hrs in ironman speak puts you in the top of the field and on the right day could even win you a race overall. The big X clocked a 17 minute PB (Personal Best) time of 9hr 6mins placing him 4th in his category, his age group winner rolled out an 8hr 55. And more importantly a invite to travel to the big island next October for the Ironman World Champ of which he accepted without hesitation. Also placed him 24th overall out of 1300+ starters.

Carla Lawson, I think I can say now, X's other half, is also no slouch when it comes to ironman racing, cracked a win in her age group in a time of 10hrs 21 and is also off to Hawaii for the 3rd time. Well done Carla, I still recon you would destroy the girls on the MTB!

Another training partner Travis Aitkin on ironman debut clocked a great time of 9hrs 38, well done Trav.

Benny Robinson punched out a 10hr 30min.

Finally the wirey old cat Archie Ball another on debut knocked out a 11hr 47 not bad for a 50 something year old.

Looking forward to all the crew coming home to here the stories and crap that went on over the weekend and that performance from X should keep thedogs from barkng for a while.

Need to also make mention to another couple of riding buddies firstly. Converted triathlete to mtbing, rod Stormonth had a crack at the recent 24hr solo mtbing caper down at Forest and came away with a 3rd in his category on the first attempt. He was sitting comfortable in 1st for much of the race before the dreaded stomach problems hit him and had to stop with 3hrs to go. Another on 24hr racing debut at Forest was fellow iRide Bikes team mate Matty Zagorski finishing 2nd overall in the solo category, the wippett has moved back home to Mt Beauty recently and is training fulltime and to no ones suprise to those who know Matt is punching out some serious results. The 2nd at Forest follows on from his debut win at the Gravity 12hr a few weeks prior.

Zigga 1st & myself 3rd proudly displaying the sponsors product

Golden Triangle Epic 100km Enduro

2010-12-06T10:40:00.000+11:00

The GT epic was rescheduled from September after the rain had left Bendigo and surrounding trails in a bit of a state. Which was a bit dissapointing as was going to form a good training in race environment leading up to the Worlds, so having paid for it I headed up yesterday anyway, with no expectations of having a stella performance. Since the worlds nearly two months ago I haven't been on the bike with any frequency and the times I have, have been commutes to work and racing up at Rosewhite at the 12hr enduro at the begining of last month.

The start line looked like a deserted ghost town as many who had obviously registered for the race had decided not to show and left a field well down on numbers. The race got off to a pretty mundane start and just sat back comfortably in around 5th-6th wheel with no real effort to maintain position. I then lost contact with the first couple of riders down a narrow firetrail decent when caught behind the rider infront who was all over the brakes and taking it extra cautious. The front couple got completely away and out of sight. At around the 12 km mark another rider had worked hard to come across to me and we rode together for the next few kms. Somewhere in there we missed missed an direction arrow to go straight ahead and we incorrectly turned right down a long fasd downhill road, realising our mistake and not prepared to make the 4km trek back up the wrong road. Thankfully the other rider was a bendigo local and quickly worked out where we had ended up, we rode along to join up with the race course. At the next checkpoint fearing that we had leap frogged the leaders our fears were comfirmed and sat at the checkpoint 2 waiting to see how far infront we had ended up, the leaders came through around 5 minutes behind us and we record our numbers and decided to wait another 5mins before heading off again.

Frustrating as it was I knew I wasn't in any form to contest the category win and just continued to roll around the course. with not many riders contesting the race the track was pretty lonely and I went hrs without seeing another rider. The shorter 60km riderstrack intertwined with ours and this lead to further confusion with track markings and some in considerate people change some of the arrows around and many of the riders missed a turn around the 50km mark which meant they missed probably the hardest part of the track. A 5km section that included a leg destroying 2km climb up to the highest point of the track. I only realised this when I caught up with a good mtbing friend of mine, Craig Cummings, around the 70km mark. He and Peta Mullens had missed this section of trail due to the wrong direction of the sign.

For me, I was pretty much spent had endured some nasty cramps and wasn't enjoying my time on the bike, but being an out and back course the only way back is to finish. Craig, Peta and I rolled around for a while chatting, Peta eventually rode off and Craig and I battled through to finish just after 6hrs. Which for me would have put me 5th in age category and 13th overall, but honesty is a value of mine and recorded a no time.

Oh well, will be interesting to see if some of the others did the samething.

For now sleeping well with no guilt

Quiggs

2010 World Solo 24hr Champs

2010-11-28T16:36:00.052+11:00

It's been a while now, thanks to all those kindly reminding me to get off my arse and write something, to sit back and take it all in, of what was achieved in Canberra. And although some of the pains and tingles remain the satisfaction of what was achieved remains the strongest memory. Many have asked why in hell would posses you to ride a bike for 24hrs let alone a mtb, do you sleep, what do you eat, what about your arse that must get bloody sore? Many of the answers are easy. Cause I can and although many of my good mates who do ironman triathlons think I'm crazy, I don't think I am.

My preparation for this race was pretty much as I set out at the start of the year. Don't get injured/sick, be consistent with training and always remember to have fun. I can honestly say all of these things where achieved. Yes training over our very ordinary winter became hard and difficult to keep motivated for, particularly towards the last few weeks. When sleeping in and not riding seemed like a far better option. In the end I logged around 11,000kms and well over 450hrs of training to the start of the race. This was nearly double to the preparation going into the 24hr down at Forest last year. And for the record in comparing the 2 races on simple facts nearly 2 1/2 times the amount of vertical climbing and 70kms more at Canberra than I rode at Forest.

Car packed and trailer loaded

So the bro in law and I headed up to Canberra earlyish Thursday morning and with a few coffees and nature breaks arrived at Mt Stromlo just after 2pm. Found a reasonably flat spot to set up the trailer and decided on a late arvo ride of parts of the course checking out the first climb 5kms long constant 4-5% gradient and not to difficult (making this assumption after only riding it once) and at the top switched over to the last 4kms home down a sweet bit of trail named Skyline, grinning from ear to ear the downward homebound stretch would be one of the fastest and flowing pieces of single track I've ridden, requiring a handful of brake grabs and the smallest amount of peddling. This last section of trail would definately be lifting the spirits of moral at 3am when the body starts to hurt and the thought of having to do it all again would want to make you get off the bike and throw it.

getting to the top of the first climb
with the main transition and camping area in the background

pork barrel

We woke Friday morning to the most amazing day, had brekkie jumped on the bikes and set out for a few hours riding the course. Much of the talk before the race was about a piece of track over the other side of the course name Porkbarrel, the centre piece of the track was a largish rock rollover where exit line needed to be choosen well before the rollover was committed to. I spent a bit of time here choosing differnet lines and one aspect that was quite clear already before the race was how chopped up and rough this and the following 1km of track would become after a few hours of racing. I was right, towards the end of the race braking wasn't required to slow you down, the roughness and exposed rocks killed any momentum that you had pretty quickly and in some instances found I was peddling to get through some parts of the track! At this point you were out the western side of the Mt Stromlo and of course at the bottom. So to get back up to the start of the homeward bound Skyline trail required more climbing! This 5kms stretch of climbing was probably the toughest, real sharp leg sapping pinches, some was slippery and required concentration to not over power and spin out the back wheel traction.

So after 2hrs of riding it was dificult to determine a lap time, but sort of guessed would be around the low 60mins early, and stretching out to low 70mins by the end of the race. The rest of the day was really hectic, getting to the supermarket, registering, attending the rider briefing, and getting a massage. We finally picked up Bec and Will from the airport around 7pm, got back to camp and I consumed enough food to feed a small African village for a week.

Saturday morning rolled around pretty quickly, get brekkie in early, couple of madaitory coffees, several nervous toilet visits and before we knew it I was waiting for race call up. The race started with a 400mt run to the bikes. I got away well and worked along the firetrail before the first section of singletrack. The start of these races are so hard as the nerves are up, the energy is full and the body is as fresh as it has been for months and all you want to do is take off like a fat kid with a Mc Donalds voucher. But as you keep reminding yourself, a 24hr race isn't won in the first few hours but can certainly be lost if you blow up. As the laps ticked by the hours flew pretty quickly and with the day warmer than what everyone had been use to in training getting fluid in was important and and thankfully through good fortune I was on top of this. For the most part of the first few hours the laps ticked over with very little effort required, always a good sign I believe and I was continually passing overs and not being overtaken. This changed around the 7hr mark when J English passed me up the pinch on the back side of the moutain like he was on his first lap!

I was really enjoying the track and laps continue to punch out for a while there Tim Ferris, Damien Gillard and I swapped positions until early evening when they seemed to drop off as my laps stayed pretty consistent around the 75min mark, ave heart rate was good in the 120's, food was going in ok and and stomach was handling it all nicely. It was around this time the lights went on and the fun part of the race was about to begin! Thanks to my spanking HID Technology LED lights, night became day and flying down Skyline at over 35k's an hour there was no was I was going to fall asleep having this much fun. Thankfully the weather gods played nice and the overnight temp didn't get cold and before you know it the sun is coming up over a cloudless Canberra skyline.

For the most part of the race Jas McAvoy had dominated our age group and had by morning set up a commanding lead that was not going to be threatened, I on the other hand had been holding onto 3rd by only a handful of minutes for most of the race and Stu Brown was a good 30-40mins infront of me in 2nd. So our attention was consolidating 3rd and paying very little attention to Stuy in 2nd place. Sometime in early daylight Stu's time gap started coming back to me and I had inturn had placed a good time gap to 4th. With some swift transitions through pits and putting some effort into the climbs time I started to pull back some time pretty quickly on Stu. All the while both mine and Stu's pit were playing mind games with one another as to how each others rider was fairing. With only a couple of laps to go, you could sense the urgency in the pits with both Nath & Bec throwing bottles & gels at me telling me not to stop and have a crack! Sorry for rolling around stopping to take in the views at the top of Mt Stromlo every lap for the last 23hrs! So in the end Stu also pt in some super fast times and held on for a well deserved 2nd and I finished with a more than satisfied 3rd in our age group.

Some stats

total dist 380kms

total vertical climbing 9000 approx

calories burnt, shitloads enough to justify the beers to be drunk from now till christmas (somewhere in the region of 15,000 calories not beers)

Finished 3rd in age group

1st Jason McAvoy

2nd Stuart Brown

3rd Me

22nd overall.

To finish up a very big thanks goes out to
Bec, in her words long time suffering wife

The little fella Will, looking forward to in a couple of years time doing father and son pairs and cleaning up.

And finally to Nath, Bro in Law, good friend, riding buddy and unquestionably the biggest reason why Bec allows me to persure these crazy adventures is due solely to you being the first to say I'll help every time I vocalise that I might do one of these.
Thanks also to

Ross at iRide Bikes, cheers mate for helping me out

Xman for putting up with me complaining when we don't do enough hills everytime we ride!

keep the rubber side down

quiggs

World 24hr Solo MTB

2010-10-12T09:54:00.000+11:00

Well the race is done and dusted, what an event. had as close to the perfect race as could have wished and came home in 3rd in age group and just outside the top 20 overall. At the moment the body is hurting and the hands well, about to get on ebay and try and find a new set because these ones are completely nackered.

A full report to follow.

But quickly a big big thank you to Nathan (bro in law & good mate), Bec (the wife who has to put up with all my shit), Willbo the little champ and Ross down at iRide Bikes in King St, Melb for the support and looking after my gear.

For now trying to repair a very broken body
Jas

Big shout out

2010-10-05T09:34:00.000+11:00

Big congratulations needs to be sent out to the big X man, who raced a 1/2 ironman up on the Gold Coast. from all reports the weather wasn't the kindest to all the racers. Torrential rain, wind and somewhat chilly.

In his first hitout for the upcoming Tri season and first race under the wings of a new coach, the big X came away with a age group win by 7 mins, PB by around 5mins. This was all on a snapped frame on his beloved TT bike that he only noticed late on the day before the race, not one to get too concerned a bit of imagination and a roll of strapping tape the bike got through the slippery conditions in a tick over 4hrs 15mins for the 90kms!! then cruised through the 21 odd k run in 85mins. Things are looking real good for the big man come WA ironman in December and the possibility of a qualifying spot for Hawaii.

On that note best of luck goes across the Pacific to Carla who is over at Hawaii for the 2nd time swimming, riding and running around at ironman Worlds at Hawaii, good luck girl and enjoy.

Quigs

Little update

2010-09-06T11:57:00.000+10:00

Well been slack on the blogging dept of recent times and not because I haven't had much to type about. More the fact that as the days count down to the 9th of October, I have been training solidly and enjoying being a dad. So for a quick update, the inclement weather that we have been experiencing the mountain bike has been left hanging in the garage and the roadie has been flooged to death! with races being cancelled over the last fortnight due to safety and environmental impact the racing unfortunately is alittle scarce, as this was to form a major part of the lead in to Canberra. Not to worry the hills are a live in Kinglake for hill repeats although I enkoy the mtb more than the road bike.

Of recent times there has been 2 Chase the Sun rounds, a six and seven hr respectively, both of which I rode solo and both were treated as training rides and with that in mind I had ridden for the days leading upto the race to go in with legs feeling far from fresh. Crazy I know but come 2am in a 24hr race feeling relatively comfortable with 10 remaining is what I'm trying to simulate with the Chase the Sun races. well I definately achieved this in the 6hr as the legs had no power in them whatsoever and although my lap times didn't deteriorate as the race went on I couldn't go as riders went past and finished up 10th overall. The seven hour race was similar as far as preparation goes 3 1/2hr ride the day before but the legs felt great, not super fresh but plenty of power to punch up the pinchy little climbs around Lysterfield. Unfortunately the weather gods had a different objective and turned the tracks into what could only be described at times as big mud sink holes. With may claiming multiple riders over the course of the day (me included). As much as it was hard physically on both the bike and the body at the conclusion of 7 1/2 hrs of riding felt really comfortable and positively minded about being on the bike that could have happily could have kept rolling around for another few hours. Finishing the day 3rd behind the two Chancellor (Scott & Sam) boys.

On other things I'm excited to let the computer world know about jumping on board with iRide Bikes, http://www.iridebikes.com.au/, down at 271 King St Melbourne. Ross is a self confessed MTBer himself and a whizz on the tools and of recent times certainly been tested out in this area on my bikes. So help yourself out and get down there and spend some money or drop in for a chat with Ross as he is more than happy to recipricate in conversation as long as you take him in a coffee!

So with only 33 days to go to the Worlds I'm pretty happy with where the training and the fitness is at, physically I am in as good as shape I have been for a while if not ever and the next 3 weeks will be continuing to build on muscular endurance i.e. shit loads of hill training to get the legs used to what has been rumoured as a bit of a climbing track in Canberra, 18kms long with 500mts of ascending per lap. Knowing this we could easily be up over 10,000 mts of climbing over the 24hrs race period so the more I can punch out now the better i will feel come 1 am on the Sunday morning of the race.

So for now
Keep the rubber side down.

Quiggs

Chase The Sun Rd 1

2010-07-08T23:11:00.000+10:00

After a solid serious/fun hit out at Lysterfield last week with the boys in a Duathlon, for those who missed it Xman and I came away with a win in the teams category. I was reasonably confident of having a solid hitout in the first of the Chase the Sun Winter Enduros, a 5hr race. As always the crowds were massive with over 400 racers entered across categories. The solo line up was a pretty good field with some of the countries best having a crack at it. Going into the race I was aiming to have a reasonable start, settle into a tempo that was to result in consistent lap times that didn't drop away over the last few hours as has been the case over most of last years races.

I had had a solid week training with no taper or freshening of the legs over the later part of the week, so I wasn't expecting to fare highly on the results, maybe top 10 if I was fortunate. The race got off to its normal frantic start a little with elbows flying, people cutting one another off as the wannabe team racers try and jostle for early track position!! I settled into a cruisy rhythm and rode with the bunch.

The track consisted of 2 sections of single track broken up by a long stretch of firetrail (approx 3kms) no real climbs to speak of and no real technical sections either. The first 3 laps the firetrail was roadie central with pack speeds pushing upwards of 35kph, which I was happy to be sucked along with, with no interest of doing a turn on the front. The track was wet in a few spots but once 400 odd riders had travelled across these sections the mud and overlying water was pushed off, leaving a track that was super grippy and confidence inspiringly fast (should have been there Stormy). Thankfully the rain held off and left me and 400 of my fellow mtbers to roll around the Lysty track in pretty much perfect weather conditions.

Overall cruised around for just over 5hrs 24mins, 8 laps, total distance 105kms with 2200mts of climbing. For a 4th position! Pretty happy to say the least.

For now Keeping the rubber side down
Quiggs

Rd 2 Interclub Winter Series

2010-07-02T20:55:00.001+10:00

There is something about riding in winter... Cold fresh morning Nah, getting a wet arse (not enjoyable), riding around in cold wet conditions in the mud YEAH!!! Well if you don't like the wet and the mud Ballarat wasn't the place to be on Sunday for the latest round of the inaugural Interclub Winter series. Watching the weather over the lead-up week suggested that Ballarat was going to be cold and most likely pretty wet. Which it was on both accounts, in the lead up Friday morning got down to a chilly -2.5 degrees and the daily top temps were maxing out around 13..

So packed the car up and Bec, Will and I made our way up to the race initially I had planned to do a sighting lap but on arrival and seeing the mud that the start trail of the course had over it that idea got thrown out the window and sat around and talked rubbish to whoever was in earshot of my dribble...

With a big field, with some big gun riders on the start line it was going to be damm hot at the pointy end, well for me I haven't been feeling that great in the lead up and was happy to get out and ride in the mud with 130 fellow mud loving mtbers.

There were a couple of decisions that I was also happy about 1st not swapping the knobby tyres of the bike, I was slipping and finding traction difficult with my mud tyres let alone those dear souls sliding around on dry weather loving crossmarks, 2ndly not putting a new chain on the bike because I would most likely replacing it again after the weekend in the mud. Lastly fitting the mud guard on the front of the bike to stop the mud flicking up into the face.

Back to the race the first lap was solid tempo slippery in places but overall reasonably predictable, although I still managed a fancy over the bars somehow, that caused the bars and stem to move off centre and after I recentred the bars jumped back on the bike again only to realise they were still not straight and in the process of trying to stop fell off again!!!

During the 2 & 3rd laps the rain started to fall again and the track quickly became slippery and even more muddy, I still love the mud even though the damage bill afterwards can generally be calculated by a simple equation!

Last 24hr Rainfall X Distance travelled + Number of Use able gears left on bike (beginning with 27)
divided by Duration of the Race

So 13mm rain X 39kms travelled + 12/ 3hrs = $173 repair costs.

Now this will end up pretty close
Chain
Brake Pads (2 sets)
Gear cables and outers
Repack Bottom Bracket
Repack Wheel Bearings
Service and lube

Anyway enough of the dribble, the track was an enjoyable one in the dry would be a blast with sections of jumps, berms and largish drops that could be hit with a bit of speed and bring a smile to the face.

Overall it was a pretty noneventful race for me finished up just outside the top 10 and was happy to get away without any major mishap and enjoyed it as far as a good mental training hitout in miserable conditions.

Big shout out to the Rod Stormonth, who rode away in his first mtb race to take the win in C Grade.

for now keeping the muddy side down!

Jas

A wins a win!

2010-05-28T15:42:00.000+10:00

Sometimes racing as a solo athlete has its advantages the glory with success is no one elses but yours to cherish, but there is something that is even more satisfying and that is racing as a team and not only being driven by your inner competitive nature but the fear of letting someone else down as well.

With this in mind I proposed a idea to a good buddy of mine that we should enter a offroad Duathlon he do the running component and I will look after the mtb side of things. The idea was an immediate success and as it drew closer the thought crossed our minds that we should lay down a invite for another couple of training buddies should enter as a team as well. So Benny (runner) and Stormy (returning from the darkside of triathlons to Mtbing) would go head to head in abattle royale for bragging rights until the next time an event crosses our paths again.

So the stage has been set the course would be a 5km run (was actually 3.5kms) followed by a 20km mtb (actually 19km) concluding in a 6.5km sprint to the fininsh to determine the greatest team ever! The sledging started weeks out with many a quip thrown across the email, txts and training session. X and I were quietly confident that Benny would blow up early in the second run, but I was more confident that if X sat with Benny or be within sledging range during the first leg that I would be able to put in a quick bike leg and open up a sizable lead over Stormy.

The race nearly got off to a bad start for us as X needed a quick nature call of the squatiting kind a handful of minutes before the race start! Quick dash to the bushes and made it back just in time for the start gun. No sooner had they headed out the first of the runners were on their way back in lead by Team Deganin Ironman racer Luke Whitmore, Benny with X on his heels were some 2 minutes back from Luke's cracking run. Stormy got out just ahead of me but I made a conserted effort to get to teh single track before he did. Being only a 20km ride I literally attacked every climb in the Big Dog! hopping log roll obsticles and throwing the bike into every corner, I didn't look back once but having overtaken 6 or 7 competitiors in the first few kilometers knew that Stormy would be struggling to hold my wheel if he was there at all. I flew round the bike leg being only seconds from having the second quickest time for the day with Stormy some considerable time back. Back in transition poor old Benny knew his fate before he took off for his final run, with the only hope he could atleast run a quicker last leg than X, no chance the big X was running like he had just jumped a taxi in King St and was never going to be caught.

So we walked away with the bragging rights and fininshed 1st in the teams category and 3rd overall in what was a great day and agreed that we should do this more often.

Australian Marathon Championships

2010-05-16T21:52:00.000+10:00

I have been very very slack!
This race was nearly a month ago and haven't posted about it, not because it was a forgetful race performance or anything of that nature, Yes the pain of the day lingered in my nightmares for some weeks later. More due to the fact I've been lazy.

Quick summary entered the Veterans category along with 90 other 30-39 year olds, track was 90kms long over 3000 metres of vertical climbing with the elite guys expected to finish in just over 5hrs. My goal was to get around in 6hrs and whatever came of that from a positional point of view was irrelevant. All I knew was it was going to be a tough race, with plenty of granny gear climbs, some walking, short sections of downhill followed by more climbing and more climbing. You get the drift.

The lead up to the race had been good, training thus far had been consistent and was confident of the goals I had set. The race started out with a mass bunch start with what could only be described as the most conservative speed for a race start I have ever encountered, this proved irrelevant some 5kms later when the road turned left and up and I proceeded to sit back and enjoy the first of many climbs. Approx 7kms long and gained around 600 mts elevation! It wasn't steep (I can see my triathlon mates now thinking NOT STEEP! We don't do 600mts of climbing in a years worth of training) or technical but certainly gave you an idea of how you day was going to pan out.

Prior to the race I had an ingenious idea of rather than carrying my full hydro pack up the first climb I would leave it to pick up at the 1st checkpoint and just use a bottle, which worked out well not having to carry an extra 3kgs of water. The majority of the first 50-60kms was what you would expect from a marathon race mostly fire road climbs, not overly technical single track followed by 4 wheel drive trails for descents (watching out for the unsuspecting water bars which love to launch unsuspecting riders into the stratosphere!)

It was around this point that my legs, as with most others around me where begining to show the effects of the 2000 odd metres of climbing that we had already got over. Having studied the important aspects of the track I knew the worst was still to come. The begining of the walking track that for the next 15kms I hardly got above 15kph and spent my time either getting off the bike and walking or back on the bike. The walking track is just that it either went straight down which coinsided with a small usually dry creek crossing and a goat like track out the other side. In reflection if the legs hadn't had 4hrs and 60 odd kms in them these tracks were ridable but in this instance walking was quicker and less tiring than trying to ride them! Although the calves would argue otherwise. I wasn't the only one everyone around me was walking, and was probably about this time I caught up to Tory Thomas (last years female winner) who had suffered a mechanical and was trekking along with her bike, we got talking about hip injuries and my recover from a hip replacement and her more than likely needing to have one in the future after a bad hip break many years ago. We chatted for around 10 minutes until I realised that people that I had overtaken were beginning to shuffle past me again.

The last 10 kms was as uneventful big descent off the side of the mountain down a waterbar riddled 4wd track across the flats and home in 6hrs and 5 mins. The last descent typified the entire race it felt like we were climbing for 5hrs, 1/2hr on the flat and 1/2hr of descending.

Finished in 15th overall in my category about 48th overall
Garmin file for those how care http://connect.garmin.com/activity/30550011

Total Distance 93.55kms
Ride time 6hrs 5mins
Ave Speed 15.4kph
Max Heartrate 177
Ave Heartrate151
Total Elevation gained 3261mts!

Keep the rubber side down
J

It's been a while

2010-04-14T22:15:00.000+10:00

Been a while since the last scribble and thought I should get something down to let the millions of follows in on what I have been up to.

In a word Riding, yeap simple as that as I said at the begining of the year I wanted to improve my consistency and up the training load. And to date I can honestly tick those boxes. I have put in around 5000ks in on the bike and totalled around 180hrs of training. Everything is progressing well. Racing has been a bit scarce for the first part of the year with only the one race down at the Youies where I finished in 6th place.

This weekend is one that I have been focusing one for a while Australian Marathon Champs up at Avoca, over 90kms with 3300mts of vertical climbing, there has been plenty of anxious talk across the mtb forums regarding this but it doesn't phase me too much, being a light weight helps! Finished on the podium in this race last year, albiet on a less demanding course than this year so the aim is to ride solidly early and conserve a bit of energy and see where this leaves me towards the 2nd half of the race. Physically I am in better shape than I have been since getting back on the bike and definitely have significantly more strength which hopefully will carry me over some of the steeper sections.

So watch this space and

Keep the rubber side down

J

A new recruit to team Quigley

2010-03-05T22:25:00.000+11:00

Wow what a week, as some of you know Bec has been pregnant with our first little one. And I can let you know we have a little Jarrod Graves in the making! We had no idea of the sex and for several minutes weren't really concerned after little William Gordon Quigley was born, we were more happy and excited to see his bright eyes open up immediately once placed on mums chest and to finally look and see a compact "box and tackle" on little Will made his mum and dad pretty excited.

Most of us have been on this planet long enough to have heard the stories about labour being, at best, an unpleasant experience or just straight F#$% painful. Being there, I have to say makes me appreciate the difficulties Bec was experienceing and make me think that 24hr racing really isn't that bad compared to this labour stuff.

Here's a picture of the little fella's feet, hopefully these feet have no interest in doing prancy boy triathlons. Seriously if he wants to do triathlons, I will encourage him to learn a musical instrument!

So far the little addition to the household has been pretty exciting, after being for a ride this afternoon it felt strange walking in the front door to the sounds of Will crying. I'm sure I will get use to it but at the moment its pretty cool and throws a different perspective as to why we get up in the morning.

Keep the rubber side down

Jas

Crazy 6hr

2010-02-24T16:23:00.001+11:00

Well now that the dust has settled and the body has sort of recovered!!
Early season form is always a case of the unknown, how am I travelling? I know I am in better shape than my last race but how about everyone else?? With this race for me not really on the goal race calendar, I decided to enter late and continued training solidly leading upto the race, including a solid tempo 100kms Saturday morning which I knew could be dangerous. But this race wasn't a focus to achieve a result for me in the cold light of day and this became apparent about 90mins into the race when the legs felt like they had been going alot longer than they actually had!

I haven't raced since Kona back in November last year and therefore the race bike hadn't done alot of work, occasional cruise ride etc. So thought I better give it a good bit of race like stress Saturday arvo, lucky I did cause the malfunctioning rear derailluer that had shat itself at Kona, which I thought I had sorted out repeated its performance. So at 7pm Saturday night here I am swapping out the rear derailluer. Thankfully it was a matter of replacing the one off the spare bike and quick ride to make sure the gears would shift properly which they did.

As I said at the top of the post, I wasn't expecting to be in contention for a podium result but just wanted to race again and see what would happen from there in. Knowing what sort of course had been set up I set the Anthem X Duallie up pretty hard as to behave like a hardtail bike and thankfully I did as the course was flat with no respite from pedaling. The entire course was easily achievable in the BIG DOG with only a few sections requiring a bit of stomping on the pedals out of the saddle to clear.

The race was on from the start with Rohin (total rush) racing in a pairs, Troy Bailey, Phil Orr and Brad Davies smashing off the start at a criterium like pace. A speed that I had no intention of trying to hold onto so let them and a handful of others go. This seemed to be a good descision as they seemed to splinter up over the next couple of hours.

I started to feel the previous days ride in the legs around the 2 1/2 hr mark but from there on they were heavy but didn't really deteriorate and was able to maintain reasonable lap times over the second half of the race. In the end it was pretty uneventful race slowly picking up guys who had taken off at the start as they began to tire, finishing up in 6th place overall with a lazy 143kms at an average of 24kph. Road race like pace!!

I would also like to say thankyou to George from Deganis cake & coffees for the support and sponsorship, and hopefully will be able to deliver a few podium finishes in the not to distant future.

Now the training begins for the Australian XC Marathon Championships in April, with a rough guesstimate of 3500mts of vertical climbing over the 90km race distance. I better get out there and start becoming best friends with the hills. Ouch!

Keep the rubber side down
Jas

Rd 1 Vic Enduro Series

2010-02-14T20:42:00.000+11:00

Well first race for the year was held out at the You Yangs today.

Full race report to follow, too smashed to write anything constructive at this point but happy with the 6th overall in the solo category. Covering a massive 140 odd kms at an ave 24kph!

Watch This Space!!!!!!!!

2010-01-09T21:09:00.001+11:00

Any of you bike riders out there would know countless hours on the bike can lead to at times interesting conversations, some of which shouldn't be discussed (saddle sores!), others never to be repeated (partners)and in the case of my riding buddies and me the occasional worthwhile idea crops up and has some merit. Over the last few months the big Xman and I have had one idea that we keep coming back to. A team of like minded bike riders across the differing disciplines. At present I am sworn to a confidentiality contract and cannot devolgue too much but keep watching these pages and the link below and as developments come to hand we will keep you posted.
http://www.mtr-racing.blogspot.com/

Keep the rubber side down
Jas

The year is 2010

2010-01-09T20:57:00.000+11:00

So with the new upon us now is as good as time as any to look towards the new year, a time to make bold and outlandish statements and predict uncontrolable events and how I will be involved. In the wash-up I really can't complain about my achievements on the bike. My first race was the Otway Odyssey in Feb which still to this day was one painful experiences, through the winter months and the Chase the Sun series where every race produced a result that far outweighed my expectations, the Australian Marathon Champs where I finished 3rd. No one was more shocked than I was! This was followed by a repeat performance in the Gravity 12hr race at Rosewhite in 35 degree heat, hang on that was the most painful experience on a bike I have had, sufferring cramps from the 4 1/2hr mark till the end, all the while going through in excess of 12 litres on liquid!! And the year was capped off with the Kona 24hr, where the night before the race rain, lightning and wind had me, and most likely everyone else camping on the footy ground wondering what the hell we are doing this for? For the record the wind died down and the lightning past, unfortunately the rain stayed for the party and ensured a muddy, slippery, fun 24hr race along with the expensive repair bill.

I qualified for the World 24hr Champs at Kona with the race this October, some 270 days away. Which will be one hell of a blast, not only for me but the possibility of the potential field of Aussies that have dominated 24hr racing over the past years but never raced against each other head to head, Common Gordo one last solo hoorah. Who said 24hr racing isn't a spectator sport.

2010, my main focus on the bike will be to increase the hours and kilometres on the bike, last year I averaged around 150kms per week with this year I am hoping to increase to around 350kms per week over the year. Last year I was inconsistent some weeks big others times I wouldn't get on the bike for weeks, this year I am committed to being more consistent and with that I know my fitness and race intensity will be double what '09' was.

Races I am focusing towards this year include the Aust Marathon champs again being held in Victoria, The Chase the Sun Series, Gravity 12hr and finally World 24hr champs (obviously), the state enduro race series will most likely play a part also. Hopefully results wise I can get to the pointy end a little more often and feature in the race results.

2010 is going to be a huge year from a family perspective with Bec and me expecting our first little one in March. 2010 isgoing to be huge in lots of different perspectives, all of which I can't wait for!

So in the mean time stay tuned

Keep the rubber side down

Jas

Xman's stories from the dark side

2009-12-11T09:10:00.002+11:00

As many who read this rubbish would know one of my best mates is a guy who is a little disturbed and finds enjoyment in riding on skinny tyres and in triathlons, recently he wondered over to have a crack at the Bussellton Ironman in West Aust with two goals in mind, first race a personal best time and secondly gain a qualifying spot for Hawaii in 2010.

Fortunately/unfortunately for him he smashed out a 9hr 23min ironman, which is a PB by 4mins which is absolutely amazing considering the pro fields times were all around 7-8 mins slower than usual due to mid 30 degree temperatures and strong blustery winds. The unfortunate aspect of all this was that because he put it all on the line and raced for the moment leaving nothing in the tank. With 1500mts to go in the marathon (yes full 42.something kms) he was overtaken by 3rd and 4th positions pushing him back to 5th position and missing out on a qualifying spot to Hawaii by a shitty 60secs. Is he upset? NO As he has said to me he gave it everthing and having replayed the race in his mind several times now cannot find a aspect within the race where he could have gained that time. As he quotes "at the 21km mark anyone in my near vicinity would have seen a mushroom shaped cloud coming from my quads and calves as they exploded!".

So for him now it is off to New Zealand with Carla with the goal for both of them of trying to qualify for Hawaii there, for Carla if successful would be her second crack at Hawaii after heading over this year and for the big angry X, I have no doubt when he DOES get there watch out he is going to smash those lava fields up!

For a more detailed report check out his ramblings at http://www.xaviercoppock.blogspot.com/

In the mean time me, X , Carla, Stormy and Nath (BIL) are out on the MTBs this weekend for some fun and laughs, the camera will be out to trying to catch the moment when the big X man does his own impersonation of superman as he get his abilities on a mt bike and his ego confused and goes over the bars!

For now
Keep the rubber side down
(me likely, the big Xman most probably not)

Kona 24hr The Wrap up

2009-12-06T21:58:00.001+11:00

Its been a week the arse has finally healed, thought it was about time to get the blog sorted.

Arrived down at Forest just after midday on Friday in what felt like East African summer heat and humidity, after the weeks rains. Had a quick look at the area set out for solo transition and decided to set the camper up on the footy ground about 20mts from my transition tent, perfect. After setting up and some lunch headed out on a quick spin on the 1st day lap loop, mainly because I knew it had probably one of the best single tracks around, Marriners Run. The lap wasn't overly taxing and very little climbing involved, happy times!! Bummed around back at base, spoke to our camping neighbours Peter and Faye, who we will be visiting next year in Canberra (more about that later).

The weather was pretty wild on the Friday night with gazebos blowing across the oval and several of them ending up in the dump master later on Saturday morning! The rain was coming down side ways and all I could think of, it's going to be a long slog of 24hrs if this keeps up! By Saturday lunchtime, my brother-in law Nathan, brother Luke, good mate Lian and Bec were all in Forrest getting things sorted for the start at midday. The start was only metres from our tent so they got the most amazing view of several hundred riders ready for the start of the race. Amongst the contenders were Santa (full get up with red suit, hat over helmet and white beard), a king (crown attached to helmet) and girls in fluro green aprons with matching elbow length gloves trimmed with feathers.

I positioned myself somewhere in the middle not really thinking about racing as this was the first 24 hr race I have done and all I wanted to do was get through, the first several hours were pretty uneventful except for the on/off rain that turned the track into a mudslide in several sections. One particular section was really enteraining downhill multiple swithback coners where you needed to stay on the track otherwise fall head over the bars and one corner a tree root was exposed perpendicular to the corner and pushed you towards the edge of the track. I was following two guys down one whom I had been chatting to and was a competitive roadie normally and doing this for some fun! Well watching this guy completely out of control, for me was hilarious and me being a mtb rider was always going to be favoured by the continuing rain and deteriorating conditions. Unfortunately the organisers closed this section of the track off some hours later, most likely deeming it to be too dangerous. Me I thought it was great except for the fact that the accumulated mud  disabled the drivetrain from running properly and required changing bikes at the end of each lap.

Things pretty much ticked along nicely the body wasn't being overly taxed (heart rate was averaging around the mid 130s) energy was good, the boys in transition were keeping themselves and the bikes well lubricated. Apparently apart from 10 mins work each lap things were pretty boring so had decided to go can for lap with me!! For the record I lasted longer. This was until just after midnight, I had just jumped back onto the Anthem having just stopped for some food a clothes change and was feeling really good physically and mentally looking foward to slowly increasing the tempo on the much easier and shorter night laps. At the bottom of the 1st climb some 4kms into the lap, went to drop down a few gears and bang! chain exploded, no worries a guy I was riding with offered me his chain tool grabbed a spare link and set about repairing the chain and just as I was about to join the two links together I lost my grip on one of the links and it flew out of my hands, insert swear word HERE! Now quite shitty had to scooter the bike back to tranisition and swap bikes again. The round up of all this was that were the laps had been taking me around the 55-60mins that lap took 2hrs. Aparently the broken chain destroyed my rear derailuer (according to the neutral onsite mechanic, which I have since fixed) and put me down to one bike. Lap times show that the lap after the 2hr lap was my quickest average speed wise for the race, must have been a little angry.

Now down to one bike and the continuing rain falling meant I had to stop more frequently for Lian & Nathan to clean and lube the drivetrain, on each occasion it was probably adding 5-10mins a lap. The extra time probably cost me an extra lap on the night course before swapping to the Sunday day lap as the night lap was shorter and less demanding than the day laps. The sun came up and I caught up with Jac Connell who has been a successful 24hr solo womens racer and although I was frustrated for the lost time I was still physically and mentally travelling along reasonably well considering being on the bike for around 18hrs, Jac on the other hand was hating life and 24hr racing. It is amazing how this 24hr racing game plays with your head.

The rain continued to fall which made the second day lap slippery and tough it wan't a smooth flowing track, tight coners and sand covered switch backs sapping the very little energy out of the legs. With a few hours to go Bec said that I was in 6th place and only minutes behind 5th, so I smashed out a couple of lightning laps (ave speed 13.5kph) thinking I could possibly catch them, not quite sure what happened but she must have read the results wrong and I was actually a lap down and a few minutes behind Jas McAvoy. With 2hrs to go rolled into pits where the question was asked "You had enough? You're in 6th position and should have done enough to qualify for the Worlds next year, ask anyone who has been on the bike for 22hrs of course the answer is going to be Yes.

Stepped off the bike cracked a well deserved beer and started to let the pain catch up to the weary body. Over the last 2hrs a handful of riders caught up to me and added another lap to their results dropping me down to 10th overall. Still a great result for 1st time out in a 24hr race. In the washup covered enough ground to qualify for the World 24hr Championships next October in Canberra, in the Elite category.

A massive THANK YOU needs to go out to Nathan, Lian, Luke and Bec. Nath and Lian had about 2hrs sleep each and Bec and Luke around 4hrs, in some ways I think I had the easy job to do in riding the bike but to have stayed awake for as long as these guys did in the cold, wind and rain is just awesome and hopefully you will all come up to Canberra next year to do it all again!!

In the wash up what would I do differently, this will sound crazy but would go out a bit quicker, the leading guys were around 10mins a lap quicker than I was over the 1st 3-4hrs then the lap times really weren't that different. My food and hydration over the race was consistent.

The Stats
Time                            22hr 11 mins
Total Dist                     294kms
Ave Speed                  13.2kph
Vertical Climbing         3200mts
Calorie Exxpenditure   14,000

Keep the rubber side down!!

Jas

Kona 24hr

2009-12-01T14:41:00.000+11:00

A post is coming soon.
Still cleaning the bloody bikes!

Gravity 12hr

2009-11-11T08:22:00.001+11:00

Here comes summer, is all I can say, well not only that. But damm it was hot, reports from St Johns medical tent suggested the temp got to around 34 degrees during the middle of the day. It certainly was different from the conditions that we have been used to riding in over the past several months.

This was to be my biggest solo endurance test to date and looking back I think I came out ok, placed 3rd overall in the solo mens category, it was a really big suprise to be truthfully honest, I had no idea how I was to go or what to expect except for a big serve of pain!! Which I duly received. The start of the race was a Le mans run start for around 500 mts before getting on the bike and heading off for a ride around for 12 or so hours. Not knowing it was to be a run to your bike style start I didn't organise Bec to be their to hold the bike for me, so I found a lovely girl by the name of Michelle who stood out in the crowd (see below)

This was the farthest I have ran since I had my hip replacement 18 months ago and all I could think of was don't kill yourself you have to ride for 12 hrs after this!! So cruised to the bike said my goodbyes to the fashion consous Michelle and headed off on the bike with the millions of others. The first lap is always slow when caught in the pack with the masses and usually I would try to avoid this but but today I didn't care too much, about 2 kms in found a recognisable 24hr solo rider, Adam Kelsall and rode and chatted to him and sat on his tempo for a lap to get a feel of the intensity and effort that a repeated 24hr solo rider rides at. Unfortunately for the big man the heat kills him and had a battle on the bike for most of the day. Over the course of the race I really tried to focus on holding good bike speed and momentum to reduce excessive energy waste, I have to admit apart from a couple of spills down at Anglesea a couple of weeks ago my mtb riding efficiency has improved and so does average speed and a decrease in energy output.

With my beautiful 5 1/2 month pregnant wife, Bec, as my support crew, we devised a loose nutrition and clothes change plan which she kept up, improvised and ensured that I followed to a T and if it wasn't for her input and concentration to being organised and ready everytime I came past transition no way would I have finished as well as I did. So a big thank you with lots of love to you Bub!!

Cramps started to rear their ugly head around the 4 1/2hr mark but I wasn't the only one, I managed to keep most of them at bay with lots of nutrition and hydration (around 11-12lts for the day). For the whole race my energy and mental state was good and always felt that if I needed to really go I had the legs to do it, which is a great thought. As the day went on my lap time remained pretty consistent and finished off with 2 pretty quick laps without really having to work to hard or feel like thank heavens that is over, I really felt like I could have continued on maintaining the same lap speeds without too many troubles :)

So in reflection 4 days later I have recovered pretty good and feel like I could get on the bike again no worries and punch out a good couple hour ride without any dramas, but with the crazy 30+degree days we are having at the moment and 3 weeks to the 24hr no point throwing all the cards down now. Enjoy the bit of recovery, reflect on what improvements I can make and enjoy the weekends acomplishments.

The Stats

Time 12hrs 8mins

Distance 179kms

Ave Speed 14.8kph

Ave Heart Rate 143 bpm

Total Elevation 4800 metres

keep the rubber side down

Surfcoast 6hr MTB race

2009-10-27T10:06:00.000+11:00

What an interesting race. After checking the amount of starters it was always going to be important that to get good track position into the start of the single track you had to start reasonably fast, as always happens with starts the begining was uphill! No worries, tucked into around 15th spot heading into the first of of the single track, it made it very difficult to determine your track position as the 3hr racers and us 6hr starters began at the same time o the natural thing to do is race with/against the shorter distance riders. The first 2-3hrs went without too many issues the track was flowy in sections and tight and twisty in others very little climbing per lap, about 220 vertical mts.
While still trying to experiment with a few things, today I thought I would try wearing my orthotics in my mtb shoes, have done it a couple of times on the short hour commute to work and things have been ok. Well 3hrs in my feet began to hurt like you know what! That around the 3 1/2hr mark I had to stop and rip them out, even today some 4 days later my feet still feel like they are bruised from the orthotics, another lesson learnt.
With the course being down near the beach sand was the surface of the majority of the course and from around the 3hr mark onwards the track became more like a sand pit :) good fun and even better if you came off and landed on it unexpectantly! Twice for me, the first was no biggy just a front wheel washout around a corner and the second not quite sure what happened but must have clipped a tree with my barends and next thing I know I am laying on my back bike ontop of me. Quick system check collar bone intact, reattatch the Ayup lights back on to the helmet when I noticed a piece of foam missing from the back.

Obviously hit the ground alittle harder than I thought, all I can say is the old MET skid lid did its job and took the impact from reaching the grey matter.

Crossed the start/finish line just before the 6hr mark and decided to call it a day with Bec and family freezing standing around waiting. Finishing in 10th, with relatively fresh feeling legs.

Trying but failing to keep the rubber side down!

Jas

ROAD TRIP

2009-10-15T21:41:00.000+11:00

Been looking forward to this weekend for a while now, bit of a camping weekend with a few old football boys and our families. We generally don't get much time to catch up nowadays with increasing life demands and activities and their continual travelling that is associated to the life and times of being an AFL umpire.

For the weekend we are heading for Echuca for a relaxing time. Well they are, I am using it as a bit of quality time between the road bike and I. I am going to get up at stupid o'clock and ride up, which should take me around 6 1/2 to 7 hrs depending on the weather. In the relms of what I am trying to conquer over the coming months this should be a relatively comfortable ride.

My training of recent times has been ok but not fantastic, last week I decided to get my butt back in the gym and focus on improving my muscle endurance strength with relatively high rep set exercises. This sounded fantastic in theory, but I forgot about the painful experience of muscle DOMS that follow the first few sessions back in the gym. This resulted in no bike riding over the last weekend, which weather wise was probably the best weather cyclists have seen since last summer. But what this did open up was more time to spend with a fantastic travelling friend that Bec & I met earlier in the year while travelling around East Africa. Yazzie, one crazy muther of a Dutch girl! She is an absolute champion chick, who drove down from Sydney to spend the weekend with us before heading back to Syd to begin her final voyage towards home.

So the next six weeks are going to be hectic with races, recovery and training. Following this weekend is the Surfcoast 6hr Enduro which I am excited about as it will be the first bit of night time racing that I have done, followed by the Gravity 12hr up at Beechworth and then Kona 24hr done around some of the best trails I have ever ridden in the Otway forrests.

Before I finish up, a massive shout out to Carla who spent a bit of time in the sun last Sunday kicking around Kona in Hawaii, enjoying a bit of a swim followed by a cruise on the bike up the Queen K highway (in 44degree heat!) followed by a short 42km cooldown run. Well done girl Bec and I are really proud of what you have achieved and now enjoy your holiday and we will see you when you get home.

for now keep the rubber side down!

The Yowie Wrap

2009-10-05T22:15:00.000+11:00

The Yowie run and won (not by Me!)

Waking up Saturday morning with no rain to be heard and the trees outside the front window not rustling on the bedroom window let me know today the weather gods are in our favour for good racing conditions.

After rushing to the start line to hear the word "Go" as I fought my way through the middle packs only to look down at the speedo reading 47kph! Sorry is this a road race or a MTB endurance race and I was hanging onto the 3rd group with the front runners 150mts up the road. Oh well settle in for 100kms of lovely You Yang landscape. The course was similar to last year with the biggest change being the start from just inside the main entrance with 4kms of fire road to settle the riders into position. It was about 3kms in from the start when I realised, what I had earlier thought while eating breakfast, I had eaten waaaay too much food and that full stomach was to be an early indicator that the dreded cramps would set in at some stage later. And they did around the 45km mark. With only 4 really big climbs throughtout the lap it was a matter of getting through them and enjoying the single track through the Kurrajong region to finish off each lap. A special shout out must go to the Yowie for scaring the living suitcases out of me on lap 2 towards the top of Cressy's climb (prick!).

Although tired and unmotivated it was a really good mental exercise to continue riding even when things aren't the way you would like them to be. So another lesson learnt; don't eat too much before a race and ensure that you give it plenty of time to digest.

so for now

Overall timewise I pretty much hit my goal time of 5hr 4mins

Total Dist 99.96kms

Ave speed 19.7kph

Vertical climbing 2019mts

Ave heart rate 154bpm

Keep the rubber side down

Chasing the Yowie

2009-09-29T20:28:00.000+10:00

Well I'm coming into a hectic race period over the next few months, well actually it began a fortnight ago with the Australian XC Marathon Champs up in sunny Bendigo. After having a great podium finish in my chosen race class (veteran, don't go there!), I am really looking forward to chasing the Yowie down at the You Yangs this weekend. This was the begining of my resumed MTB career after many years away from the sport. Last year I nearly died trying to complete the 66km race in around 4hrs 50mins. This year I've entered the 99km and hoping to get around in a time not much longer than this!! But the reality is it is a training ride as it all will peak in alittle over 9 weeks time in a little race down in the Otway Forest, Kona 24hr mtb race!! I've entered this as a SOLO competitor. More on this later Keep the rubber side down Jas

Decided to jump on the blog wagon!

2009-09-22T22:22:00.000+10:00

Well being an avid reader who draws inspiration from others stories and sporting adventures I thought it was about time I joined the craze, Blogging! I also get a little embarrassed every time the big Xman mentions my name on his blog, I thought its about time I return the favour from time to time.