Jumping the Shark

Well my time in Canada is done and I'm safely back home in Melbourne.

There was only one race that I didn't recount here, another CX race with young Tom a couple of days before I flew out.

Here is me pre-race doing my best Fonzie impression. Needless to say the race that followed was nothing worth writing home about.

Tour d'Afrique - Far less glam but no less pain.

Far removed from the continent where cycling fans gather to cheer their favourite bicycle racers and watch the stories unfold between the cols and cogs. In five months time, my cycling journey in Africa will be a lifetime experience! The Tour d'Afrique is not your typical cycling race, it's a cycling race/expedition from Cairo to Cape Town, covering 11,800 km in total. The riders will be greeted by the local tribes people and the wildlife, resting and camping in the middle of nowhere between stages. There wont be any prizes or rewards from winning, but soulful insights into Africa out weighs any material goods... better yet, the money goes back into Africa and will be used to purchase bicycles for the locals.

Thanks to the generosity of Tony Wheeler (one of the founders of Lonely Planet Publications, a natural born adventurer), two company teams have been entered into The Tour d'Afrique with 99% of expenses paid. I just could not resist to sign myself up for the toughest section of the tour, the "Meltdown Madness".

The Meltdown Madness starts in mid-Feb 2009 from Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) where I'll collect the baton and begin my 19 days of epic riding with two days rest. I'll be riding an average of 100 km per day, covering almost 1700 km of mountains and "roads", until' I reach the finish line in Nairobi (Kenya) in early March.

I'll be back in Melbourne just in time for the Victoria state mountain bike cross country championships and the 2009 Australian MTB Marathon Championships.

In the mean time, weekdays are the days I get to sleep in and weekends are long hours in the saddle contemplating...

Paul's dirty dirty dirty enduro

I decided to race Paul's Dirty Enduro, a 100km race, before I left Melbourne. Some time before the start I got it in my mind that it would be a nice easy ride. A good 5-6 hours in the saddle then back to Toronto to chill out with some beer. I was wrong, not for the first time, and probably not for the last time, but I got mauled by a 100km race.

I'm still not sleeping well, Friday night was no exception I woke up 2 hours before my alarm, couldn't get back to sleep so got up and finished my pre-race preparations. I left my place at just before 5:30 and rolled north to meet Tom, who'd thankfully offered to drive me to the race.

The race itself was around 98% single track in two big loops. The first loop included some shared motorbike trails that consisted of fine sand, often 5cm deep, that just sucked the drive out of your legs. The second loop was all loam.

I started well, slotting easily into the top 10 overall, but after an hour or two and a wrong turn I just shut down. The rest of the race including the flowing 2nd loop just went on and on. I felt strong again a few more times but by the end I just kept peddling simply to make it to mono across the line. Tom rode away during one of my low points and beat me back by half an hour. He managed 12th overall and 9th in the under 39 category, I managed 16th overall, 12th in the same category, (7 hours 34 minutes).

Tom's expression, even half an hour after he finished, sums up how shagged we all were.

Epic with a capital 'E'

In a kind of psychic preparation for Jim's own mission go big in Africa – psychic support being about all I can muster in the infinium of intra-city commuting, crushing workloads and the koo-chi-kooing of the small and new – this is well worth a look.

Three guys 'attempt two unclimbed peaks (Kukushili, 6,388m and Purog Kangri, 6,438m) and cross the Chang Tang Plateau, [Tibet]' by bike. Sounds easy enough.

'The two peaks are both over 6900m and is supposed to some of the hardest to reach on earth. Very sandy in this area. We have now left all tracks and will not find any for the next 37 days...'

Coyote Cross Racing in Canada

With our plans for the 8 Hour on Sunday cancelled due to heavy (30-40mm) rain, Tom and I decided to attend a local Cyclo Cross (CX) race, or should that be Coyote Cross?



We were aboard our trusty mountain bikes, Tom at least had the right rim size, but his 2.2" tyres, wide bars and disc brakes marked him as different, there was never a hope of me fitting in on my 26" steed.



The race was held on a local ski hill, which I was told was made from landfill years ago. The course was tight, snaking it's way up down and across the slopes before racing along a bitumen path to join it all up again. After a few practice laps I formulated my plan, start slow and pick off riders as I went. I was unsure of just how well I'd go against riders on specialist machines, but I was there to have a go.



For the first 3 laps I slowly worked my way from 20th up to 14th, making up ground by bunny hopping the two smaller barriers (6" high) set into uphill sections that were forcing the CX boys off their bikes. Sadly I was losing ground over the larger barriers (12" high) set along a flat section due to their superior dismount/remount skills.

On the 4th lap things didn't go quite as planned, at the first uphill barrier I was too close to the rider in front, leaving no room to hop when he slowed to dismount. I tried hard to regain ground down to the larger barriers but was breathing hard going back up to the 2nd small barrier, and that's when it happened. With my heart rate high already, I just wasn't able to gain the same speed from my uphill sprint to the barrier, I hopped, clearing with the front wheel, only to get hung up with the rear. Saddle met undercarriage and I let out a groan, and let past a racer.

I gained strength from hearing the last lap bell and pushed hard to try and chase down the rider in front. I cleared both the uphill barriers, but eventually had to settle for 15th, half a wheel off 14th but with nothing left in the legs to get around him from the final corner.

The Dirt on Durham

On Saturday I travelled to Durham, an area about an hours drive North West of Toronto, to get some time on dirt into my under slept body. My apologies for the lack of photos, I didn't realise my camera batteries were flat until we were almost there.

The riding was great fun, we had a group of around 12, a lot of people had registered for Crank The Shield next weekend and had come out to pick up their registration packs and get a couple of hours of riding in. The group consisting of all bar 3 riders on rigid, 29er single speeds took me on an adventure of the forest's sandy loam trails. I was a bit tired so never felt the flow of the area but the trails carved their way under the pine trees, often crossed by roots, certainly hooked up.... well until you hit a big patch of fine river sand, at that point it was drift-o-rama.

The day wasn't all smiles, we had an unexpected stop to look for a Rotor Anglis crank bolt that came unstuck through the twisty stuff. Thankfully it's anodised red body was found and returned to it's rightful place on the left side of a bike. The plants deserve a mention with raspberry plants that ripped at arms and legs, while the forest floor was festooned with Poison Oak, a plant that looks to me like every other plant, but delivers oils to your skin that 1-3 days later can give you boil like rashes. Needless to say when I returned to my apartment I scrubbed like Jim Carey in Ace Ventura.

*edit* Tom took some photos that are available here.

The Don and I

In Australia, the thought of stepping off a plane, getting some sleep then hitting some local Toronto trails after work Thursday sounded simple and easy. It seems I forgot to factor in the "night before", jetlag and finally I could have no idea that I'd be riding with THE Mark Lepper!

Toronto has a system of trails in the Don Valley, I cruised to the meeting spot of Pottery st and met some of my tour guides before (after some last minute adjustments by Ryan) setting off on an awesome few hours of flowing trails.





Sadly I wasn't able to fire off many riding shots, the thought barely entered my mind as I tried to hold wheels through corners, over logs and up small pinches. The trails were in pretty good condition, a couple of puddles, but predominately grippy moist loam.



It wasn't too long after we lost Ryan to either new parts teething problems, or just simply a wrong turn, that talk ventured to post riding food. OK I admit, I was the one that brought it up, but I don't think that adds anything to the story so I wont mention it. Anyway, the guys suggested we hit a local wings joint, and promptly re-assured me that they also would be in lycra.



They lied.

So, that's 1.5 days in Canada and 1 ride down. The weather looks like it's going to turn nasty, but I've got a long one on Saturday then an 8 hour lined up for my birthday on Sunday. I'll be pairing with local rider Tom, I think I'll save trash talk for the car ride there, I don't want to scare off my team mate before we even start the race. :)

Have bike(s), will travel.

Not to be outdone by Darren, Prue and Peter jetting off to Germany and EuroBike the mtb team have decided to take their bikes to foreign soils as well.

Jim, as mentioned last week, will be heading to Africa in a few months time, as more details emerge of his route I've become scared of the cycling monster he'll be on his return!

To fill in the time before Jim goes, I've decided to take one for the team and head to Toronto Canada for a few weeks, leaving next week. I've started to strip my Cubano back to the frame to get it sparkly clean for the Canucks.

My Canadian contacts have promised trails, racing and beer, as a good guest I thought it best to promise something in return. I've committed to them that I will bring a pretty bike, pasty legs, a morbid curiosity for North American cuisine and a camera.

I'll take a laptop with me and will try to post some updates while I'm there.