DIRTWORKS 100KM CLASSIC

The Dirworks 100km Classic is on again this weekend,

It's shaping up to be another big event, especially if the Veteran men
catagory is any indication, with some 390 entered in this catagory alone, that sure is quite a few old boys lining up to have a crack.

Be sure to check back early next week to see how the BMC team faired.

I have some tricky new products to review, coming your way soon!!!!!

Live to ride, ride to live,

Troy

Chase the Sun Round 1 report

Having a crack at Pro pairs chasing some lute with Joel,

Sundays race was a reinforcement to preparation is key,

Due to a late arrival home following the BMC 100 last Sunday night & a very busy week, my race bike didn't get the Andy tickle it needed,

Therefore the new cables installed before the BMC had stretched causing some ghost shifting from the gun, not able to find a happy gear whilst putting the power down trying to stay with the lead bunch,

The poor SRAM chain couldn't hold the strain, snapping at the weakest link so to speak, as the boys road off up the road, I proceeded to run back to the tent where Gerald & Joel hastily got her going again (Thanks guys) whilst I caught my breath from running,

With my angry pants trying in vain to get back on, was really never going to happen with a couple of very windy (to say the least) fire road sections, having to work them alone whilst the boys up front worked together,

Chasing with my agry pants on! Thanks for the image Tim.

After the first lap we were already 5 mins down, however managed to get us back into 5th place,

That's pretty much how it stayed, loosing a minute or two each lap, working alone whilst the guns up front continued working together.

When I say guns,

Check out the quality of the field ahead of us,

1st Torque Bois- Robby Hucker & Luke Fetch

2nd Felt racings - Paul & Neil Van Der Plog

3rd Giants - Murrey Spinks & James Williamson

4th Torque - James Mabus & Steel

So no real shame to be 5th to these XC whippets, especially giving them a head start.

Live to ride, ride to live,

Troy

Chase the Sun Round 1

Chase the Sun Round 1, sure was fun,

Contrery to alot of people beliefs due to weather forcasts,

Lysterfield was at it absolute hooking best.

Report on how it all went down real soon.

Live to ride, ride live,

Troy

BMC 100km Classic

BMC 100km Classic was run & won today,

The best 100 km marathon course ever, with 75-80km of
single track & predominantly fast & flowing at that,

It's quite apparent the Woodend wombat trail crew have been very busy,
building new trails obviously designed with the BMC fourstroke 01 & our riding
pleasure in mind,

As I had an absolute ball & the fourstroke just ate the trails alive,

I finished up 2nd in the Veteran class to Benny Randell,
& 16th overall, not too shabby considering the cream of the crop turned up from far & wide to make up 1200 entrants, click on the wombat for results.

Jas picked up 2nd also, to Matt Fleming in the Elite men.

A huge thanks must go out to Andy from Kaos for getting my bike race fit again, after two stage races, with numerous creek crossings,
a couple of solo 6hr Enduros & a few crits, was certainly up for a bit of TLC the Andy way, full strip down & rebuild, the result.......... didn't miss a beat.

My race wheels, nice & light built by the man himself, consisting of STANS 355 rims, DT 240 hubs & some mighty colourful TI spokes, with the Ritchey Zmin tyres were the perfect choice for the tacky single track condition, accelerating especially well out of the tight corners later in the day when the legs were not so fresh.

If your bike is feeling a little sluggish & can't afford a new one, the best performance upgrade you can give your old bike is a nice light wheel set & no one builds them better than Andy at Kaos, so why not pop in & have a chat.

The BMC team were all lucky boys too, receiving our super sleek new Lazer Genisis Helmets & BBB sunnies.

A great day was had by all & if you didn't make it on the day, I highly recommend heading to Woodend.

Live to ride, ride to live,

Troy

24hr Solo Nationals

Firstly my apologies for not getting stage 4-7 of Terra Australis to you as yet,
I do however have some very valid reasons,

With a very busy week shortened by Easter & to be totally honest, still feeling far less than great,

Then I proceeded to head to Canberra for the 24hr Solo Nationals over Easter, however due to my health, not to race! to support Kaos & BMC's own, Jac & Jason respectively.

A successful 24 it was for both of them,

With Jason taking out the win in the mens, Picking up his second consecutive National jersey & ticket to Canada for the Worlds,

Canberra's Dan Mackay took out 2nd, pushing Jas all night getting to within a couple minutes around day break, then with the rise of the sun Jas found his second wind, bringing it home,

Queensland's very own Andy Fellows was also still in the hunt until the early hours of the morning, eventually fading & hanging on for 3rd.

Jac finished a very credible 7th in the womens & an excellent result of 2nd in her age group,
It took Jac a while to find her groove, however as darkness fell, Jac got in the zone & rode very consistently all night picking them off 1 by 1, I'm sure her Night Lightning lights gave her an extra bit of confidence too, turning the pitch black Majura Pine forest into day.

Congratulations to both Jas & Jac & huge thanks must go out to Mel & Dave of the Kaos crew for their superb job of support crew for Jac.

Congrates must go out to Jes Douglas for taking out the win over Katrin(current #2 in the world)
& commiserations to Johnny Claxton & Mark Fenner, both DNF for their own reasons, click on there names to hear why in their own words.

Keep an eye out for the final wrap up of the Terra Australis as it was an absolute cracker of an event & I'll do my best to due it justice.

Speaking of great events, the BMC 100 is on again this weekend in the awesome trails of the wombat forest, Woodend, Vic.

So plenty to report on, in the near future.

Live to ride, ride to live,

Troy

TERRA STAGE 1

TERRA STAGE 1 Falls Creek - Mt Beauty
96km, 2600m+vertical gain

The hits keep coming!

It was always going to be a tough, especially when I was woken up at 5.30 Saturday morning with my throat closed up struggling to breath, due to a severe throat infection & flu like symptoms, no doubt brought on by a stressful week, not enough sleep & not allowing the body to recover from last Sundays 6hr, with a bout of concussion thrown in for good measure.

Any how, on with the show, to sum it up, I certainly wasn’t feeling great, however had a reasonable start & was holding good position, then the wheels fell of so to speak, about 20km in I started to suffer from a severe lack of power, then copped a side wall slash to the rear tire on a fast rocky virgin trail decent which the Stans did seal for a while,

Getting to the bottom of the first descents in front, it was all down hill from there, so to speak!

Time for a tube, then another, then picked up a bit of debris off the track bending my rear dérailleur hanger, so a bit of bush mechanics was required,

All & all not the start we were hoping for, still managed a 4^th place, 5 & 8 minutes down 2 Torque teams consisting of James Mabis, Pairing up with the owner of Torque & Dan Mac With Luke Fetch also suffering a few mechanicals, With Mark Fenner & Sam Back taking the Stage win in just under 5hrs.

The one consolation to all this, it was certainly one of the most scenic rides I have done & the word is there is a whole lot more to come, did I mention the weather was absolutely magic.

Thanks must go out to Joel for his patients on what was a pretty trying day.

Live to ride, Ride to live,

Troy

TERRA STAGE 2

TERRA STAGE 2 Falls Creek – Dinner Plain

106km, 2200+m elevation gained

Another tough day in the saddle, crossing a huge valley from Falls Creek to Dinner Plain {just down the road from Mt Hotham}

With some more very steep, true granny ring climbing rewarded with all out bombing, super fast descents, choosing some tractor like tires getting us through without flatting even though the rolling resistance suffered a little on some of the flatter faster fire roads, worth the trade off I reckon, as your not too quick on the side of the track playing bush mechanic.

Feeling a bit better today & getting through pretty much unscathed apart from a twisted chain about 10km from home, with a bit of a tweak got us across the line without loosing too much time & thanks to the event mechanics for sorted me out with a nice new Sram chain.

The boy's burning the candle.

We came across the line in 3^rd place behind Mark & Sam, with the stage win going to D Mac & Luke.

The highlight of the day again being the spectacular scenery & the perfect autumn weather, not to forget throwing the fresh mountain air into the mix.

Live to ride, ride to live,

Troy

TERRA STAGE 3

Stage 3 Dinner Plain - Bright
74km, 1220m elevation gained, 2480m elevation lost

These stats could be easily read as an easy day, this would prove to not be the case, Feeling a bit better again today with the course predominately going down, I thought this might be our chance to make back a bit of time,

So after the controlled start of a couple of km I went to make a breakaway, that lasted no time at all with D mac & Luke pulling me in & drove right by, soon after Mark, Sam & Joel were back on & we all worked together trying to pull them back on the climb up to Mt Hotham & then up to Mt Loch,


With the views, totally breathtaking, although chewing the stem could have had something to do with that too.

They had put a fair gap in, therfore we were on the rivit all day trying not to loose too much time to the D mac train, it was a super fast stage, some fire road descents up in the high 70km/hr with the 20km flat run in to bright averaging 40km/hr putting a different kind of hurt into the legs, from the previous two days of climbing, only to find out later that Dan was holding high 40s - 50 on the run home.

Not all was lost, we managed to put some more good time in the teams behind to consolidate our overall 3rd placing.


More to come, going to roll the legs out with the Kaos crew.

Live to ride, Ride to live,

Troy

Terra Australis report

In a word,.....WOW!!!


Without a doubt one of the best events I've experienced, with all the right ingredients,
Extremely challenging terrain with stunning scenery, really well organized (hats off to Iain, Clayton & the whole Finish Line events crew), Great people with lots of laughs & friendships forged & perfect weather all thrown in with the fresh mountain air.

Joel & I finished up 3rd overall behind the Total rush boys of Mark Fenner & Sam Bach, With victory going to the Torque Pair of Dan Mac & Luke Fetch.

Full report coming your way in the next couple of days.

Live to ride, Ride to live,

Troy