TRAINING

With about six weeks of training left as well as the Insomnia 24hr and Noosa enduro before the Worlds I am at the stage where I have to be on the bike no matter what the weather. As I was on late shift this week and didn't start work until 2pm Monday I decided that Monday morning would be great oppurtunity to put some K's under the belt for the week.

I decided to ride from my home in Gympie to work in Brisbane Aiport, the route I went is starting Cedar pocket i would stay off the highway an go all the back ways through all the little towns Kin Kin. The hills around Landsborough are pretty big and great for training. It turned out to be 207km ride in abouot 7.5hrs on my XTC.

I just want to clear up one thing most poeple have told me that I am insane I just want to say you are 100% correct and I even went to the doctors and had it confirmed, he put a insane stamp on my hand but it washed off in the rain.

Smash it up no excuses

Fully Sick Mick

My number is 0407260310

Bozz

Training Rides

Well, a week after I competed in the National solo event I decided to give the Merida 24hr a go. I wanted to approach this race as more of a training ride more than a race. Even though I had a good result at Nationals there were a few problems with my eating plan that I was not happy with, so another 24hr seemed like a good way to iron out those problems.

I got out to the Merida 24hr about 3 hrs before the race and Mick from Action Cycles had already set up, so I got my stuff together and set out for a quick practice lap. I was happy I went on this lap, as it prepared me for the hard race ahead. The first half of the course was pretty much a rock garden following the first grass hill climb, not much flow and pretty rough on the bike and body. The second half was a lot more flowy with not to much climbing, but as we all know, at the end of a 24hr race a little climbing is a lot.

With a little help from Mickers it was time to get on the start line, Mattdog being the only competitor on the list that I had heard of. I thought I was in with a shot at a top 3, but I never under estimate an unknown field, as there are usually a couple of dark horses in the mix. My plan was to go out hard for the first 6 hrs and see how I was travelling after that. I was aiming to complete the race but wasn't sure just how hard I should push myself. I had positioned myself just back from the Flight centre team and found myself cruising up the first hill in about 5th outright. After about 3 laps, my crew made up of Kiri, Don and Bubble, informed me that I was in a position I have never been in before - 1st! Stick to the plan - go hard for the first 6hrs then see what happens.

Well it was all starting to look like Canberra by 4 or 5pm with rain coming over. My Xtc was fine but the hard tail was starting to take its toll. On my anthem I was running 1.9 Larsen TT, banking on it remaining dry. Oh well. By the seven hr mark the rocks were slippery the track was wet and I'd had enough of the Hardtail smashing my back. The rain had stopped though, so I jumped the Anthem still with the 1.9s on. My crew told me that I had a good lead, can't remember by how much, but I had been starting to lap other solo riders by this stage. So back to my plan. Well, in my first six hrs I had a good lead - do you think I wanted to slow down? No! New plan - keep going and try to increase my lead, keep the lap times consistant and see what happens between now and Morning. To my supprise the tyres were great on the track, I had no problems at all and I was hitting all my lines. To cut a long long story short, by morning I was well clear of second and was able to finish my race at about the 23hr mark. I managed just over 350km on a pretty tough little course and to boot i have got my first ever 24hr Win. Hell ya

Chris with about 12hrs notice switched from a pair team to solo, and until his back played up had managed to get himself into 3rd during the race. Mickers in his first ever solo attempt got 10th. I need to say thankyou to my pit crew - you guys were great - and also to Pearso and Kel who came out at midnight to help out, it was great.

To add to my epic weekend, Giant has come onboard as a sponsor, i got my new XTC on Friday so stay tuned for some Photos soon.