Letters from dirtland

What goes up....

2008-07-20T21:51:00.007+10:00

Round 3 of the GMBC Winter Series. A 30 km loop that took had us riding what seemed like every bit of trail in the park.

Like the last round of the series it was raining heavily in Melbourne this morning, my brain was running through a long list of 'better things to do' and another of 'why it would be bad to race', I drove on. By the time I reached the race start at the Kurrajong picnic grounds the rain had stopped and though cold was shaping up for some good racing.

Before the race Jim and I decided to work together, start at a moderate pace and pick up riders who had gone too early. Not long after the start, while I breathed hard to hold the wheel in front of me, I began to think our strategy had been forgotten by my stalwart companion. As the course started to slowly rise I hit my stride and started to work turns with Jim, we were dropped along a long stretch of fire road but still sitting pretty before the climb up the link track.

The black descent (run #4) delivered some relief to lactate filled legs and giggles to our faces, we even managed to catch up the rider in front. Our tactic was soon to end when Jimmy had a small mechanical, I pushed on feeling good on the bike, but the small pinches were starting to take their toll.

When I reached the half way mark on the stockyards fire road climb and saw the arrows not pointing up to the right but rather down the fire road to the left, I must admit I was relieved. I had lost a lot of time up the climb and I was determined to make it back. I took considerable time out of the rider in front of me but the occasional rise in the road sapped my speed and sadly I never quite made it across to his wheel.

9th Place
1:30.51
34 km
530m climbed (gained)
7268 heart beats
7 giggles
1 mono
2 tired legs
3 post race sausages.

See you at the handicap!

Winter riding.

2008-07-08T10:56:00.006+10:00

It's cold, it's wet, it's dark and it's windy. Welcome to winter!

Getting motivated to hop on the bike is pretty tough this time of year, and though my tone may imply an insight into solving this problem, I don't have one.

Once wet, once cold, once hours from home it all seems ok. Realising that those semi slicks just wont hook up and you're destined to never get good traction is the gateway to giggles.

Long live the two wheeled drift.

A tale of two Sidis

2008-06-22T22:11:00.009+10:00

The weather Sunday morning was evil, it was cold it was wet and the thought of 3 races didn't fill me with joy, but head to Little River I did for GMBCs 3 stage race. Thankfully the weather cleared and although cold, the day turned out to be suitable for the racing of mountain type bicycles.

There were three races, I think this has been mentioned before, but it's an important fact and I want to ensure it holds firm in your mind. David stepped up to A-grade joining Ryan on the rigid, single speed, Ristretto. Jim and I decided the weapon of choice involved gears and suspension, but Ryan's a hard man and rigid SS is the hard man way. Darren and Prue rolled in later with the boys, chatting and taking photos it's good to see Darren out from behind the welding gun, sadly he couldn't be convinced to race.

The first race was a short time trial. Straight up the fire road above the car park, straight down twisty single track in the open field. 6 minutes later, heart and breakfast wedged firmly in the throat it was over. Ryan 7th, Me 9th, Jim 12th and David 18th.

Between races the large crowd of riders mingled and chatted, the event really had a good club race atmosphere with plenty of talk and smiles. Soon enough though it was time for the smiles to be put away and the elbows to come out again, all aboard for the XC race. The course climbed the old boulder climb, the quick pace did well to separate riders before twisting along the link track to the top ring road. Head down, bum up to the top of the black bermed/rock garden descent and finally down to the fence track. The highlight for me was the descent, each lap the speed increased until on the final lap I had to unblock my ears at the bottom.

Just over an hour and it was back to the tents to laugh and joke, some quick bike maintenance and refuel the body. Ryan 9th, Jim 12th, Me 14th and David 18th.

During the break the 2008 Baum Mont 24 hour team was discussed. 6 man or 4 man? Geared or Single Speed? Suspension or Rigid? Roadies allowed? The jury is still out, I'll let you guess who was suggesting all the hard man options.

The criterion was short, 15 minutes + 1 lap, with each lap taking a couple of minutes. Pre race everyone discussed a gentleman's agreement for at least the first lap, after all these years I still thought it might happen so lined up near the back. 3, 2, 1, GO and go they did! With my forks locked out it was time to take 'The Dog' for a run and see who could be chased down. Me 9th, Ryan 14th, Jimmy and David got lapped.

That’s a 2-1 win to Ryan, who invited him anyway?

Fun day, good turn up of great people and awesome trails. Sounds like a recipe for grins, now if only my legs would stop hurting.

Sunday grins

2008-06-15T21:48:00.003+10:00

Ryan, David, some roadies and I headed to the You Yangs today to get a couple of hours in the saddle.

David wanted to try my bike to get ideas for his next one, Ryan was on the rigid single speed, the roadies were nervous. Rolling into the main car park we met Burnsy (Daryl Burns) heading out from a 2-3 hour session and somehow convinced him to unpack his bike and join us. The next few hours featured some of my favourite trails and an introduction to the complete Stockyards Kurrajong link track.

The pace wasn't too high and I even managed to stop atop the boulder track to check out the views, the lure of the single track grew too great and I was soon plunged back into the scrub trying to drop Burnsy off my wheel. For the record he stuck with me the whole way down.

The highlight of the day for me was the grin, first time mountain biker, Mitch had plastered across his face as he popped out of a particularly gnarly section of the link track descent. Mitch was on an early 90's, cantilever brake equipped, 63mm suspension forked steel hard tail. It's great to see people new to our sport getting so much enjoyment out of it, even after he had a few offs that drew blood.

The gentle art of crashing.

2008-05-29T14:42:00.006+10:00

Recently a lot of people have been stopping me as I ride down the street and say, "Hey Neil how do you have so many awesome scars and yet stay so lithe and youthful".

These questions have made me wonder... Do I have a skill that I could share with others? Is this yet another thing I'm awesome at? What seat clamp will look best on my hardtail?

Crashing protocol.

Rule #1: Always protect the face. Your face is your money maker and it pays to stay pretty.
Rule #2: Place the bike gently on the ground. If it says Baum on the side it's worth keeping as pretty as your face.
Rule #3: Tuck and roll, keep extremities tucked to your body and roll with the momentum of the fall. If you try to stop yourself you'll come off second best.

Rule #1 is the most important of all, from there you must follow each law providing it doesn't hinder you following the one(s) above.

Once you've stopped rolling around the ground, stand up, brush yourself down and adjust your kit like a euro pro winning a classic (socks equal height, jersey straight and zips done up).

From this point begin to check your bike and subsequently your body for any damage. If limbs are missing check the surrounding area and tuck them discretely in jersey pockets. The comfort of surrounding riders is paramount, so stay composed and polite at all times.

If these instructions have helped you, then I'm glad, but if you're still unsure, come follow my lines, you'll soon be an expert yourself.

GMBC Racing

2008-05-23T10:38:00.003+10:00

Tomorrow is the first of the GMBC winter series at the You Yangs. The series starts with a 3 hour enduro and includes a time trial, a crit and the final race is a handicap. Lots of fun. See www.gmbc.com.au for more details.

We will be there, and we will be helping the club sell some raffle tickets. Baum and the club have got together to raffle an Espresso single speed MTB frame and rigid fork with all proceeds going to the building of toilets at the Stockyards area of the You Yangs. The raffle will be drawn at the You Yangs round of the National Series.

See you tomorrow, ready for some fun racing

Rock Hop photos

2008-05-19T11:38:00.004+10:00

As predicted, it was a mud fest. It was not a really bad, slog through sloppy mud affair, but it was slippery, wet and muddy. Here are the photos...

Neil looking very serious....

....and not so serious

Rock Hop at Beaconsfield

2008-05-17T10:40:00.003+10:00

As I write this, the rain comes down outside - relentless and wet. 24 hours from now I expect to be cold, wet and waiting to head off for a lap on a track that has been thoroughly churned up by the 500 people who have done a lap before me. I don't know what our results will be like, but I do know that I will be about to get myself and my bike covered in mud. Should be GREAT FUN!!!

I will take a camera along and get lots of wet muddy photos which I will post here, just as long as the camera survives.

Until then....

GMBC Crazy 6 at the You Yangs

2008-05-05T17:44:00.004+10:00

Neil survived the Single Speed Nationals down in Tasmania (see the previous post) and fronted up with the rest of Team Baum (Darren Baum, Harbo, Neil, Jim, Ryan and David). Oh, and Prue Baum managing the whole show with sons Will and Luca racing in the kids race.

Despite the harrowing time in Tasmania, Neil was riding hard and having fun as were the rest of the team. What followings is a pictorial essay for the day.

Jim waiting for the start

The Baum stable

Darren coming down the hill just before the finish....

....around the corner....

....and off to transition

David interviews Neil. What is that man thinking?

David

Ryan refuelling

Harbo looking fresh, despite it being late in the race

08 SS Nationals

2008-04-21T10:22:00.011+10:00

The following story is of a man, a bike and a whole lot of beer. If you are offended by the absence of precision or performance I advise you stop reading now, this is not a story for you.

Photos can be found here.

Please direct any holes or inconsistencies in my telling to Mischa and the Bottles and Chains Gang. They put on a debaucherous weekend that must have taken weeks of hard work, thankfully they also providing me a place to sleep. Thanks also need to go out to the Hobart mountain bikers who shared their trails with us, I have reviewed my concept of hills and with your help found it lacking.

In the week leading up to the 2008 Australian Single Speed National Championship, I had an epiphany, I'm not hard core. I'm somewhere close to moderate core, and have been for a long time. I'm not sure if this enlightenment spurred me to prove myself wrong, or it was simply the need to get away after some solid weeks at work. Either way tickets and accommodation were hurriedly arranged with what felt like only hours to spare, then off to Tasmania I went for a weekend with my bike.

My Cubano was stripped down, cleaned and packed. The bike ready to ride, only weighed 8.8kg, but with the rest of my gear the box that contained it tipped the scales at 22kg, thankfully I booked with virgin blue, who have generous conditions for sporting goods including bikes.

I arrived in Hobart around 9:30 Friday night, hopped in a cab and proceeded to the pub with only a short stop detour to deposit my bike at some house I wasn't convinced was Mischa's. The pub was like most I've been to, full of Victorians, and fixed pool tables. Mum, if you're reading this, I only had 4-5 beers (jugs), and was home much earlier than normal (turns out Tassy shuts early).

I awoke after a restful nap showered, dressed and flew out the door to make it to a guided tour of the local trails, kindly provided by the local mountain bike riders. I should take the time to point out my current form leaves much to be desired, so when our transit route took us towards a dirty great big hill known as Mount Wellington, I was less than thrilled. 3 hours later, I'd ridden up and down said mountain and the one it had been hiding behind it, more times than my un-breakfasted legs desired. The lure of free beer and bbq had complete control of all my brain functions, it was on to the BnC BBQ.

The ravenous horde consumed the awaiting snags, showing no sign of let up until the hot plate was cleared. It took a couple of loads for the poor community electric BBQ to stop their hunger, just in time for the skid competition. I entered the lineup, nervously watching the track bike in front of me, concerned about the grip on my new tyres. I sprinted at the line, lent forward and squeezed the left hand. Past the mountain bike, past the track bike, on to the edge of the hill, calls of "stop" behind me convinced me to lean back and end a match winning skid a meter from the far fence. Triumphant i turned and watched Duncan Murry on his rigid, fixed mountain bike fly towards me, ending with his faced pressed on the fence. I had lost, I was demoralised an alone.... PROTEST! The judges heard my cry and took pity. There was to be a rematch... in the skate pipe/bowl.

I never stood a chance in the concrete lane, it's hard surface and my soft tyres bonded leaving me tens of meters short of Duncan's repeated runs. I conceded and stood back to watch the local kids ride the bowl, I was especially impressed by the young lad on the fixed push scooter and the 13 year old launching his $300 mountain bike out onto the flat concrete surrounding the lip.

The finish of our beer supplies signalled another mass trip to the pub where further chances to redeem my honour were on offer. 16" racing, drag racing, roller racing. I was in with a chance of this championship, I was sure of it.

16" bike racing in the parking lot was the awesome fun, I won my heat, was placed well in the semi but was taken out by a vicious t-bone. I lay lying on the ground as my competition rode around me, first blood was shed.

After the 16" racing was drag racing, I fared very badly as this event, my fuller figure was not suited to the clothing and was easy trounced by the slighter figures amongst us. I can't tell you who won, it was time to re-hydrate and eat. I also took the opportunity to drop the bike and camera back home to avoid late night shenanigans.

Once again the forces of evil prevailed against me in the roller derby, I copped the bike with the low gear in the semis, I span like a junior the bike was made for, but never made ground. Humiliated I retired with a quiet jug or three. In my attempts to drown my sorrows I began to accrue several buttons, maybe I was in with a chance after all. The rest of the evening blurs into the next morning, and I'm still unsure what time I finally got to bed.

Sunday morning, a quick shower, then a mad dash to town to meet the group and ride to the Glen Orchie MTB park. I made it after only drafting 3 cars and a bus. Breakfast consisted of some plain corn chips and a can of coke in the park before hopping aboard the bike and crawling out towards the race, it seems I wasn't the only one to stop late the night before, some had even (re)started drinking to ease the pain.

I will admit the will to race was low, on the start line I decided to line up backwards, throw some confusion in the mix. The megaphone siren went off, the riders went off, turns out my plan wasn't well thought out. I turned around, clipped in and looked up the road. It was about then that a cold wet can of beer was shoved into my jersey pocket. The last thing I wanted that morning suddenly sounded like a great idea. Into the first piece of single track one handed, past the dirt jumps and local kids "it's important to stay hydrated boys" I advised, trying my best to stay upright. I took the first bit of fire road as a chance to down the rest of the can, pop it in my pocket and prepare myself to claw back through the pack. I raced on feeling fluid through the corners and sprightly on the pedals.

Coming into the start/finish for lap 2 I threw my can out like a biddon and grabbed another. This time it was done half way though the next piece of single track. The flow was still there but the hills weren't as friendly. A descent towards the end of the track was a roller-coaster of nerves and speed, hard into the downhill corner, past the photographers, over the log, past the dude in pink and on to lap 3.

The can change wasn't as quick, I decided to drink it on the spot, give myself a chance to really attack the first piece of single track... stay ahead of the hydration curve. I continued like this until finally after 6 laps (of 8) I tore the side wall on my rear tyre during an evaluation of a new line on the course and decided that my race was done. At the start of that lap I had been presented with what I believed was the last can, and it would be stupid to risk dehydration without another. I emptied my jersey and found that as well as beers the marshals had given me several badges, I was still in the running for the title.

The final race of the weekend was 16" 4X, my efforts in the XC had won me a place, and I was eager to gain some points/badges. What follows was not pretty, clipless shoes skating on tiny pedals left me at the back of the field and running with the bike above my head. I took to the sidelines and began bargaining for badges.

The remainder of the 4X was an awesome display, some crashes had the crowd enthusiastic but the young man from Sweden? who gapped every field was an awesome site. Unfortunately not being Australian he was ineligible to win the day so Vietsy took out the honours.

I felt that with my racing, drinking and bargaining I had enough badges to win the overall title. 32 little black badges adorned my cap, I stood up to present my claim only to hear someone else continue to count past 50. They must have bargained better than me, so I donated my badges to one of the females vying for the women's title.

At the end of the weekend I had come away unsure if I was hard core, soft core or moderate core, all I knew was the trails were great, the beer was cold and the people were friendly. Maybe next year I'll be champion.

Single Speed Nationals

2008-04-17T22:45:00.003+10:00

Team Baum member Neil is a risk taker.

This is proved by one fact. He is going to the single speed nationals this weekend. It is rumoured that race entrants must blow at least 0.15% blood alcohol content from the drinking the night before or they will not be allowed to start the race. Further, if you do not have 7 piercings and 4 tattoos (a brand counts for 2 tattoos) you will have to go to the on course body artist to get yourself up to spec.

I hope Neil is ready for this.

Should he survive, he will be back next week with photos for the blog.

Ryan’s Week/Beechworth Six Hours In The Saddle Results

2008-04-09T13:58:00.019+10:00

Ryan's Week

Ryan Moody, who is one of the team that builds the bikes at Baum, started his week of preparation for the Six Hours In The Saddle with a night on the town finishing at 2am. He followed this up with a half marathon on Sunday. He was in building bikes Monday and Tuesday morning, then off to walk in the high country on Tuesday afternoon. He spent 3 days being blown off the Razorback and walking through snow arriving at the Team Baum accommodation on Friday night before the Six Hours In The Saddle. Darren had talked him into riding the rigid single speed (sucker), so he set off, having never ridden the Beechworth trails before, with six hours of solo riding in front of him. Now, my personal opinion is that he is a little loopy …. what do you think?

He did a pit stop to change gearing and Darren was between laps so he helped out while Ryan recovered.

After four hours he was running seventh out of the seventy solo entrants. As his fingers started running out of the strength required for braking, he was regretting being on a rigid single speed - nice and light, but a bit hard on the bumps and hills! After just over five hours he decided to have a rest…..that lasted until the end of the race time.

Beechworth Six Hours In The Saddle Results – Baum

We had a big group of riders up at Beechworth to race six hour this year. The results were as follows:

Darren: lots of cramping. Sometimes hamstring, quad and calf at the same time.

Ryan: fingers used for braking worn out.

David: a couple of crashes, two front tyre blow offs and some blood.

Jim: A realisation that four weeks off the bike affects your fitness.

Neil: A nice meal of Thai food.

We also had the kids up for the weekend and did a winery tour on Sunday to make the most of being in a wine growing region. A great weekend was had by all.

Next race: Geelong Mountain Bike Club 6 Hour, 4th May 2008. See you there.

This crew is not our kids, but they looked so cool I had to include them.

Proof that Darren does not spend all his time behind the welding mask - because in the end it is all about the riding.

Tyre Testing

2008-03-31T21:36:00.006+11:00

I did some tyre testing this week - not very scientific, but still useful. (First I should say that my views written here are my views alone and not the view of Baum Cycles). I have been running a Maxxis Crossmark 26x2.1 eXception on the front and a Kenda Karma DTC 26x2.0 on the rear. I use the Stan's notubes system with a rim strip on Spinergy Xyclone wheels (and love it!). I run 24psi in the front and 28psi in the rear.

For my testing I ride a circuit at the You Yangs split into six sections:
Section 1: Slightly down and up hill, some straight and some corners
Section 2: Up hill through corners
Sectoin 3: Down hill with corners
Section 4: Long steep, up hill
Section 5: Steep down hill and technical
Section 6: Back to the start

The Crossmark (525g measured) has been a solid performer. In corners it likes to be tipped over a long way to catch the side knobs and it is predictable when is starts to slide.

The Karma is light (450g claimed) and it tends to let go pretty suddenly. It is fine on the back but I don't like it on the front.

Keep in mind that both these tyres are a bit worn out.

Today I put on a pair of Stan's The Crow 26x2.0. These weigh in at 430g each (claimed). They have very little tread. They have very tight beads and I needed tyre levers to get them on. This should help them stay on the rim well and not burp. I found The Crow tyres were more likely to slide in corners than the Crossmarks, but they are very predictable at the limit, so you can rip into it with some confidence. They feel a like a big balloon type tyre to ride on. Squishy, soft and with grippy rubber. I found the lighter Crows felt more responsive, faster up hill and better in some technical sections where I had to pick up the front wheel.

When I compared the times for each section of the track, I was a little faster on the up hill sections with The Crow (12 seconds faster over 10 minutes) and about the same time on the flat and down hill sections. I kept my exertion level as constant as possible by monitoring my heart rate and on reviewing my heart rate after the ride found that the average for each section was within 1 beat per minute for both tyre sets.

The next tyre to test is the Schwalbe Racing Ralph, so stay tuned

Off to Beechworth for Six Hours In The Saddle

2008-03-28T00:01:00.002+11:00

Team Baum is off to race at Beechworth next weekend (the race is on Saturday 5th April). David, Neil and probably Jim and Ryan are doing the 6 hours solo. Should be fun. Darren might even tear himself away from the welder to come up for the weekend.

I heard a rumor that if, during the race, you sneak quietly through the bush alongside the single track you might spy the rare weldus magnificus riding a single speed. If you are looking for weldus magnificus, there are a few key things to look for to confirm his identity. You will notice he wears gloves, interestingly two different gloves. Usually a yellow glove on the left hand and a blue leather glove on the right hand. This unusual behaviour is thought by scientists to be related to the creature's attempts to attract the opposite sex and hence procreate.

You will also notice the welding mask that has now become permanently attached to the face of weldus magnificus. While useful for welding, the mask can be a liability when riding a mountain bike. It tends to fall lower and lower with each bump making it difficult for weldus magnificus to see where he is going. Further, it prevents the wearing of a helmet, which prevents entering mountain bike races, which makes it pointless looking for weldus magnificus on Saturday 5th........

A new mountain bike

2008-03-21T00:17:00.005+11:00

I have been working at Baum for about 6 weeks now and I am loving it! Even the bad bits are good. But I don't have a Baum bike yet . . . what? . . . what is that I hear you say? . . . "Don't be RIDICULOUS, how can you work at Baum and not have at least 3 Baum bikes!!?!??!"

Alright, alright, so I need to buy myself a Baum bike. How about a mountain bike? Well, as it happens I have been thinking about the build of a new Baum mountain bike for me.

I want it to be a fast race bike. I would also like it to be super light, but still a practical mountain bike – no road cluster or double chain rings. It will show what we can build here at Baum – to get people excited about fast, light mountain bikes with a bit of bling - and because I like that kind of bike. There will be no "it gets me from A to B" type bike for me. Finally it will have to be big because I am 188cm tall - Darren has already suggested running the large diameter Ti tube set with the 44mm down tube.

I have yet to sit down with the boss and talk through frame geometry, components etc, but my currently thinking on components is as follows:

Frame: Baum Cubano 1350 (estimate)
Forks: DT Swiss XRC 100 RL 1380
Handle bars: Schmolke 80
Grips: Extralite Neogrips 16
Stem: Ritchey WCS 4 axis carbon 124
Headset: Tune Bobo 79
Seat post: AX Lightness Europa 118
Seat Post clamp: Extralite Ultraclamp 11
Saddle: Specialized Phenom SL? 195
Front Derailleur: SRAM X9 154
Rear Derailleur: SRAM X0 197
Cables: Nokon?? 95
Shifters: SRAM X.0 trigger 225
Brakes: Avid Juicy Ultimate 683
Wheels: Tune Princess and Prince 1216
Rim tape and valves: 15
Skewers: Tune Schnellspanner 51
Crankset: THM Clavicula 440
Chainrings: Extralite Octaramps 109 or Carbon Ti chainrings
Chain: SRAM PC-991 Hollowpin 271
Pedals: Eggbeater 4Ti 167
Cassette: XTR 224
Cassette lock ring: Tune alloy lock ring 4
Tyres: Stans The Crow 820 or Schwalbe Racing Ralph
Tube: Stans notubes sealant 120
Lube & grease : 20
Chain stay protector: Stick on 12
Bidon Cage: tune carbon 9
Bidon Cage bolts: Ti 4

TOTAL 8235g

Well, that is very light. Some of these weights are estimates and of course one never really knows what the weight will actually be until the bike is built.

Comments are welcome on this build list.

Give me a few months and you will see me out at the races on a new steed. I am sure you will see more posts about this bike also – I will do posts about the build process, the parts as they arrive and photos of the finished bike before I go and get it all dirty.

David Rusden

Between the essence and the descent falls the mountain

2008-02-29T11:42:00.014+11:00

We’ve all had a lot on in life recently, it’s made it hard to get out for morning rides, and racing has been put on hold, still we’re cyclists and need to get our fix somehow.

A friend of mine runs a trip up in the hills, staying atop Mt Hotham, ride the hills, it’s good for what ails you. I’ve been almost every time, testing myself against the climb up from Harrietville, as well as Cobungra flats. I dragged the guys up with me, it would do them good to be on their bikes. This trip we decided to go do a serious ride, one to test the mind as well as the body. How little I knew, how true that statement would turn out to be.

Hotham - Buffalo - Hotham, 190km, 3km vertical gain, it was to be a ride to conjure images of T.S. Eliot’s poem, ‘The hollow men‘. We are the hollow legs, we are the stuffed legs. Legs without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion.

Saturday had us wake to the promise of a beautiful day, Jim, Steve, Brian
(BJ) and I made up the group, we started before anyone else, there were ks to cover and they weren’t riding themselves.

The decent as always is my favourite part of the mountains, get into the tightest tuck you can manage, pedal if possible, but let gravity do all the hard work. The couple of rises on the trip to Harrietville saw the huge gaps I’d created disappear as Jim and BJ span past me, gravity is a two edged sword. There was light conversation, everyone was happy, 53 12, these ks are easy we thought.

Somewhere between Harrietville and Bright we stopped to let BJ fix a flat, it was starting to heat up so arm warmers disappeared into pockets, and drinks were started. Hydration is important you know? The rest of the trip the Buffalo really passed without much of merit, no one wanted to sprint for town signs, no one knew what was ahead, I was nervous. Riding into the Buffalo national park the nerves only increased, “where’s the road?!” all I could see was a big hunk of rock and no obvious route up, sure enough the closer we got the faint line of tar slashing its way diagonally across the rocks face appeared, it didn’t look impressed by me.

BJ and Jim were playing games with each other, so I decided to roll up with Steve who was keeping it easy. Buffalo, I found it a pretty honest climb, it has a steady gradient that lets you find a gear and get into a rhythm. The occasional switchbacks don’t drain your energy, but rather break up the ride giving some interest.

Streams flow down the face of the mountain providing places to stop and refill depleted bidons, and with the day getting hotter I took advantage of this, hydration is important.

Google maps had given me a rough idea of how long the round trip was going to be, but really, we weren’t sure. Steve kept track but the road still pointed up when we got to the distance we’d marked. I’m not really sure how far we had left to go when we saw Jim and BJ come back down the road towards us. They wanted to know if we were still going to the top, Steve and I agreed, there was no way that we were not going, coming this far and not seeing the summit would be stupid. Jim and BJ didn’t see the summit, we did, the excitement is obvious.

Steve found a bit more of his descending mojo on the nice open corners of Buffalo, holding 50-60km/h for 15 minutes without peddling is great, but the day is only half done and it was getting on past lunch time so pick up BJ and Jim at the bottom and head back to Bright.

Bright offered us the promise of a bakery, fresh rolls…. What? Out of rolls? Ok how about a sandwich? What? Out of bread? Oh, um I’ll guess I’ll have 2 pies thanks.

Food eaten, we got back on the bikes and headed for home, I wasn’t feeling great. In fact I felt like shit. The food was sitting high, the legs had no power, and doubt was creping into my mind. I did what any sane man would, I sat on Jim and drafted all the way back to Harrietville. It was during that time that Hotham took that opportunity to get bigger, erosion wasn’t going to happen fast enough to make this easy, lucky I had a 27 on the back.

Once on the mountain it became almost impossible for anyone to ride with me, I was barely crawling, I managed to will myself over the Meg but once past the pinch my speed never picked up, I was in a bad place, I was alone, doubt had taken over. In hindsight I can pick out things that exacerbated my mental and physical state, but at the time I just sank deeper and deeper into the hole. I didn’t think I could get any deeper, then I called for the sag wagon, no answer. This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.

I got off the bike.

I couldn’t ride up. I couldn’t ride down. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t stand. I couldn’t sit. I couldn’t.

I have no idea what got me on the bike, I have no idea what got going upwards again, it wasn’t inner strength, it wasn’t a magic elixir, it certainly wasn’t god. Maybe, just maybe it was blind stupidity; it’s the only thing that fits.

A couple of k up the road after wishing that every car I saw would see my hand waving limply from the bottom of the hole and rescue me, my prayers were answered. Someone I knew was driving down the mountain towards me. “Want a lift?” Bev asked. I can’t recall if I simply yelped “YES!” or if it was “F YES!”, either way I was happy. I rolled down to the car on the other side of the road, someone was taking photos, I managed a small stoppie and a smile. I had the front wheel undone, it was out of the bike, then I stupidly asked “what was that you said before Bev?”. Bev was going to the bottom of the hill, my pride wouldn’t let me go downwards, so I put my wheel back in and told her to pick me up on the way back up, I started to ride again. Yep, definitely blind stupidity.

I managed to get to the toll booths, finally the day was done, the drink bottle I’d left in the esky would be mine and I could rest and wait for Bev. The drink bottle was gone, there was no where comfortable to sit, 2 minutes later I was back on the bike, a couple of stray ice cubes in the bidon and 10km of pain ahead. ‘Let’s see if I can beat Bev to Mt Smythe’, that was my challenge, 1 short 10% climb. Half way up, though tired, I started to feel like a cyclist, the ice cubes on the other hand had seen better days. I consumed their melted bodies with greed.

At the top my mind moved to CRB, a cruel soul sucking section of road that continues upward through a series of never ending left hand turns, ‘might as well go for it, give Bev a run for her money’. Down I plunged losing all that precious height, right to the bottom of CRB, into the 27 and out of the saddle. ‘This feels good’, the top arrived without fanfare, on to Little Baldy. By the time Bev caught me somewhere along the ridge, I could see the summit off to the right, I was talking to it, I was goading it, calling it names. I was off my head delirious. She beeped as she drew up behind me, I shook my head, thankfully she saw my “drinkies” motion and I was presented with 2 cold fresh bidons of water.

This mountain was mine.

For there on in it was just riding, I was stuffed but I had conquered the mountain that had taken me to a new low. Once past the summit my manic laughter bounced around the hills through the final 2km to the lodge.

Where to tomorrow? What’s for dinner? Anyone got a beer?

Otway Odyssey Mind Techniques

2008-02-28T19:45:00.006+11:00

Hi there readers of the Baum MTB Team blog. I am the newest member of the team, and I started off with a ride in the second Otway Odyssey.

I am sure many of you reading this have read accounts of the race - wet, muddy, much pushing of bikes up steep slippery hills, great Forrest single track etc. Rather than go into this, I will relate an interesting aspect of my experience.

Usually when I ride a long race, at some point it becomes plain old, no escaping it, hard work. Last Saturday this happened after five and a half hours. Usually I keep pushing myself, struggle a bit, worry about how much further there is and reflect on what a hero I am!

On Saturday I tried an experiment. I took my mind's focus to each part of me that was sore....quads.....triceps......trapezius.......gluts, observing the sensation in that area. After doing this for a short time, I found that it was not that hard after all! The drama of "oh this is soooooo hard" and "how courageous I am for doing this " was gone. The worrying about how far there is to go was gone. I found that the remaining, real soreness was actually not that bad. It brought me out of the drama, out of the future and into the present.

I went through the same process with another rider and he had the same response - it is not that hard after all.

Now I just have to learn to maintain that mindset for a few hours rather than a minute or two!

Craftsmanship and Coffee

2008-01-24T16:46:00.000+11:00

There are probably more people who think that manually butting tubes for individual riders is ridiculously obsessive than those who don't so I'm hardly in a position to make slight against the craft others' passions, least of all when it comes to coffee.

Still, this is one of those things that is either crazy or awesome. Or crazy-awesome.

With its brass-trimmed halogen heating elements, glass globes and bamboo paddles, the new contraption that is to begin making coffee this week at the Blue Bottle Café here looks like a machine from a Jules Verne novel, a 19th-century vision of the future.

More over at the NYT.

...the coffee grounds are stirred by hand with a bamboo paddle. The goal is to create a deep whirlpool in no more than four turns without touching the glass. Timing is important: the brewing cycle lasts 45 to 90 seconds.
"The whirlpool, it messes with your mind," said Mr. Freeman, who practiced stirring plain water for months to develop muscle memory before he brewed his first cup of siphon coffee. "There’s no way to rush it."

Sound familiar? Of course the question is, if this is the perfect collision of obsessiveness, hand-makedness and coffee-lovin'ness can the boys afford not get one?

What's the difference?

2008-01-12T15:49:00.000+11:00

People are always asking me: 'What's the one exercise I can do to get rock hard abs without having to spend hours in the gym or give up sweet, sweet candy?'

Ok they're not, but people have asked me if I've noticed much of a difference between steel and ti because I am in the rather unique position of having owned bikes from made from each, by the same builder, running the same wheels and very similar spec.

There's a lot of ink put to paper about frame materials and the difference they make to the ride. If you want to know what it means to a builder and an engineer I encourage you to ask Mister B himself. It's a refreshing thing to hear about it from someone who doesn't have an interest in keeping pages a-turning. If he offers you a coffee as you ask, accept. There'll be time for the explanation to gain momentum then, and there's some small entertainment value in watching the boys get fidgety once the cups are long empty and the torch-man is just getting into the details with you, each minute another away from the jig. Before long you'll know more than all the magazine editors in the world rolled together. It's a big part of what makes the place so special.

Cubano - Ti

Ristretto - steel

To be fair, the two bikes I mentioned aren't identical in every respect other the tubes they're built from. The fork on the new bike is longer at 100mm, and it has some slight geometric tweaks on ol' steelie (more on that later), but nothing so big or weird that I can't point to a few differences in the ride that are more than probably metallurgical.

Finding the words for those differences is where it gets tricky because the difference is subtle. In the simplest terms, the ti bike feels damped. If aluminium bikes are stiff and hard, and steel is springy (say it with me kids: 'resilient') and alive, then ti is damped. Smooth.

Cubano - Ti

Ristretto - steel

It felt almost dead at first after the Ristretto and I wasn't altogether sure that I liked it. I did like that it was lighter (even with the heavier fork) and it was definitely stiffer in the BB, but it doesn't have the 'living machine' feeling that steel bikes have. I think my steel bike was probably more fun for rolling around on short rides when conditions were good, but the ti bike thrives when pushed. It yields when things hit it but it doesn't bounce back, and the longer and nastier the ride is, the more that rocks. It holds a line a little better, but that could be the angles. A well built ti bike earns the material it's magic carpet reputation and if you're searching for 'the one', not having to worry about rust or denting ultra thin-wall tubes is pretty tempting.

The only problem is coming up with the Nellies. They can be something in the order of arm, leg, first born child, first daughter's virginity, and remaining childrens' college funds expensive. The problem with cheap ti bikes on the other hand, is that they won't even sink when you dump their busted remains in the river, but that's another story ... for someone else to tell. 'Think of it as an investment' as they say.

I'm not going to pretend that I know what's best for anyone else, and I continue to love steel bikes. A custom steelie is obviously where the value curve is friendliest in custom bicycle land. At the time I bought the Ristretto the coin toss for me was between off-the-rack ti or custom steel. I think that decision came out ok.

If you're tossing a coin of your own, try to wrangle some ride time on one of each. Baumteam members come in S, M and L and are friendly little critters, usually more than happy to lend you a bike for a quick spin at an event or out on the trail (just bring it back). If you're in Geelong or passing through, call the guys up and drop in. It all started for me when JB handed over a bike for me to take on a 20 minute spin around the city park before he had any inkling of how interested I was.

Cubano - Ti

Ristretto - steel

Cubano - Ti

Ristretto - steel

An End to Wood

2008-01-06T15:21:00.000+11:00

The trails at Woodend are always overflowing with awesome. The reason we can't seem to dig up any photos of gentle airs, tree rides or trails with that roll with more flow than Gift of Gab is that nobody wants to stop to take them.

Maybe next time.

Sabbatical

2007-12-18T22:19:00.000+11:00

Bikes are like big capacitors of happiness. You work hard to spin them up full of good feelings and memories and later on, when you need it, they discharge back into you through less fervent revolution of the pedals.

We've been charging the bikes a lot lately, and turning the cranks of life pretty hard too (man, just how hard can I milk this metaphor?). The aftermath of the Kona led into the onset of year end madness pretty quickly and there's been a palpable need to decompress.

Jim's year has been stellar. It's hard to believe that it was only three years ago that he borrowed a bike for Ride to Work Day, won a light for his efforts and figured he'd better buy a bike to put it on. Two oh oh seven has made him a competitive number among the Expert field, a team-mate of one of the great men of enduro racing, a husband and a home owner.

Nell has ridden himself ragged putting in the kind hours on the bike and behind a wrench that would make lesser men sick at the sound of a freewheel. Through those hours he managed to keep a wickedly juvenile sense of humour and a genuine compassion for his fellow rider alive. A new job behind a desk and good old fashioned summertime illness coincide with just a wee bit of burn out and yep, it's time for a sabbatical.

Long solos and little trips to the milk bar; agenderless afternoon dirt surfing sessions and catch up rides where the pace is measured in the width of the grin. Riding around in little circles. Wheelies.

It's the general discharging of good vibes out of the bike-capacitor and back into the rider. Ahhh, it's learning to love again.

More photos from the Kona

2007-12-08T22:40:00.000+11:00

As I'm sure many of you are already aware, OnTrack images is packing a wicked catalogue of shots from the race. Scoot along and order a print or two if you were there, they do a great job.

You have no chance to survive make your time

2007-12-06T23:12:00.000+11:00

The Kona 24 hour race at Forest has been run and won, "All your race are belong to us" finished in the top 5 in men's 4s, we're still unsure of where as one of Steve's laps didn't get counted. The team consisted of Steve, Ryan, Chris Quain (my flatmate and pump track extraordinaire) and myself. Ryan had put in some training, and Chris had some extra k's under his belt since Mont, however Steve and I both felt underdone and dubious about our form, in all we had hoped for a competitive race and some fun.

This race was pretty unique, it had 3 courses used throughout the race, something I've never encountered before. I've come to think this was to help preserve the local tracks rather than provide variety for riders. But it certainly did keep you on your toes with new trails every few laps, in some of the larger teams some riders didn't get a chance to ride all 3 courses! Every one of the courses offered a series of berms that made me smile, although I admit the big ones on the first day course were huge and made it tough to get up front on the bike, still the g-forces were something else.

This year there was no car camping, so everyone was in the small, tent city on the football oval, it created a great atmosphere, with old and new friends just a pedals throw away. All of the Baum boys dossed together creating a tent/tarp behemoth that took some effort to construct Saturday morning, and what seemed like more effort to deconstruct Sunday afternoon.

The tracks were a mix of newly cut, natural flow and man assisted, with my favourite being the night course, all 3 definitely had some great sections. I recognised a few bits from the Otway Odyssey raced at the beginning of the year, some bits I learnt to love, others once again took their toll on my tired and suffering body (yoyo trail on the 2nd day lap)

Like most races, once it has started I became fuelled with a sense of competitiveness, anxiously hanging on any new time updates. White line fever or not, days later it's not the winning or losing I remember, it's the people I meet while out there riding or back in camp that keeps me returning.

I have enormous respect for the solo riders, one of whom, Belly (Andrew Bell), I saw out in the middle of the night, around 3am, he looked pretty beaten up. Amazingly he was still able to form words and told me of his effort to catch John (Claxton), getting within 11 minutes at some point. I got the impression that the gap was by then a lot more than 10 minutes and excluding an incident had given up on the win. Shaun Kinna resplendent in his Molenti top kept rocking around and managed 7th, Shaun is 42 and suffers my repeated "hey dude, I like your top" with awesome grace, especially considering he gets it every time I see him. :)

I'm not sure what the hour was when I gave a young man a quick push up the last bit of a fire road climb, but what I won't forget is how proud he was to announce "This is my first race". He couldn't have been more than 15, it was pitch black, he was knackered with at least 20 minutes to go in that lap, yet I know that he's having the time of his life and will be back to race again.

Oh, for all of you wondering about the odd team name, and post titles, go here.

For great justice

2007-11-29T08:37:00.000+11:00

How are you gentlemen?

BaumTeam will be present and correct, if not united, at the Kona 24 Hour race in Forest this weekend. We're not all batting for the same team though. Mr Hsu will be turning out quick laps for The Old, The Fat & The Grumpy (I believe those descriptors aren't singularly representative of individuals but rather are attributes common to all of the team's members).

Neil, Ryan and I will be joining forces with McQuain under the All Your Race Are Belong to Us moniker. We have no chance to survive.

McQuain: Ice to meet you!

Swing past and say hi. For great justice.

As it happened -- in pictographs!

2007-11-18T10:30:00.000+11:00

It began like this:

Then, a few short months later, here's how it went down...

Neil building the new babies at Baum HQ:

All is quiet in camp on the Friday night.

Ryan winds it out towards the end of a lap.

This is the good stuff.

Yours truly.

Neil demonstrates the real-man's guide to race nutrition:

~~Carbo~~ Cake loading.

Hydration.

Midnight tweaking (ok, more like 3 am tweaking).

The mid-morning mellow, this is where the crush of fatigue sets in, just before the last ditch GU and Red Bull caffeine charging and panic fires everything up before the finish. (I like how the odd shadow here make it look like Mr Hsu is wearing a man-bra.)

Jim, the happy bicycle man! "Riding bicycles is FUN!"

Mr Hsu teaches Neil how to perform "bike-fu" on nasty singletrack blockers who bring dishonour on your family.

Ryan cranks it in like a demon.

We missed third by how much?

The obligatory team shot. A huge thanks to Volvo for the use of a ridiculously sweet XC90. Whatever Swedish majik is welded into that thing works; we're all home alive after all.

Feebs and I had no such luxury.

But we did get a pretty wicked sunset.