Sick at Scott

The frustration. Getting the Anthem back with two days until the Scott was always going to be tricky. Bike setup and feel are hard to nail in just one ride.....

It was obvious that midway through the lap the bike felt wrong. I was banging pedals badly and the bike felt mushy.
An average lap time of 1.06 with others in the team nailing 1.04 and a 1.03 I knew something was wrong.

I was leading practice climbs, sprints and big efforts leading into the event so was expecting much better.
A bit of fiddling after this lap at the Fox tent proved front pressure was down 40psi and rear 40-50psi, no wonder!

All of this didn't matter as shortly afterwards my throat was stinging and I was falling sick!
What can you do! It turns out everyone bar Phil had a shocker with Jamie stacking on his 2nd and Ian getting a migraine, Race over.

At least I got a decent photo or two, ha.

Giant Anthemx29

Completed build

WINTER Arghh If it's not freezing cold, Im sick or similar.

This last fortnight I have ridden a mere 4 hours.
My cold turned nasty, snotty and chesty. Then an aching tooth turned into an extraction. Good move the tooths root was split!

In between all of this I was building the my new Niner Jet 9 and my Avid Ultimate brakes crapped out. One of the pistons stuck and wouldn't budge. Today I had Micko fit a set of XT brakes once home fitted X0 trigger clamps necessary as the matchmakers are not compatible with Shimano brakes. Refitted grips and cycle computer and weighed in at 12kg flat.

A quick spin around the block confirmed that the bike pedals well, feels natural and fast.

Bike

Wow new year and blogger revisited

Well it's been some time between updates.
I have been training fairly solidly through Summer and now that its really cold have cut down the number of rides per week and hours spent on the bike.

As a record for me I thought I would compare Isaacs Ridge hill climb times.

Isaacs ridge (last Wednesday)
I blasted to Isaacs Ridge thinking stuff it, its time to amp it up and see how fast/hard I can go before blowing out!
I got there and was feeling fine, so got straight into it with the following times.

1st effort 10min 40sec (Wow a solid 40second off last years times!, nice)
2nd effort 10min 45sec

Feeling good I pinged it home for a total ride time of 1hr 50min.

Tonight I went out again and man it was cold, temp 4degrees!
2 jerseys and my new Cannondale winter jacket blocked out the chill nicely, undergloves and Troy Lee full fingers warmed up the fingers and my bald head has lost it's feeling. The neck was getting pretty cold though!

Isaacs Ridge

1 effort only 11minutes 10sec. Hmm thats 30 secounds slower than last week but I was sick over the weekend with a common cold.

So what am I riding?

Giant XTC 29er nice and stiff, I love this bike tapered head tube buttery smooth Fox RL and a light parts mix have the XL bike sitting on 10.8kg.