A new week

Monday 2-3 hours
Met up with the full Mont team and Deb. We rode a 20 minute warmup then split up from the girls and Ian.

I rode the Red loop with Jansen pushing hard up ahead. I kept close for a 90% effort on the climb followed by Jamie and Phil. We came down the switchbacks and rode the fire trails and met up with Ian and the girls at the pipeline track.
We all rode the beginner downhill track and follwed the singletrack back to the Pavillion from the western carpark.

Wednesday 2 1/2 hours.
Met up with Jamie,Mitch and Mark for a ride around the back of Stromlo to the double black diamond loop. The trails here are in need of some serious maintenance. Dead trees and some tracks towards the end of the loop are barely visible. Regardless I managed to ride the majority of the trails with exception of some super rocky sections.....next time.

We rode back to the Pavillion and rode the time trial circuit.

I only managed to time the first effort and felt like I was doing it easy after I passed the gate and kept a steady pace upto the fire trails around the back then punched it hard to the finish.

4.56sec Wow a good 35 secounds faster than 3 weeks ago.feeling good.

Last week with Time trials

I have been lazy updating but have been riding fairly solidly. With the commencement of the time trial training I have knocked back on hours trained per week and increased training intensity dramatically.

Last Tuesday Time trials, same loop on the 29er Paragon.

1st 5.16sec

A good 15-20 secounds faster, still felt slow on the slight uphill gradient on the back of this Stromlo loop but definetely felt faster on the long steady flat firetrail in the middle section and superfast on the last fire trail section ending this loop.

Friday Long steady Endurance ride. 4hrs
A ride from work to Bruce Ridge. I rode from work to Belconnen, connected to Black mountain fire trails and rode around to O'Connor and then upto Bruce Ridge.
Once at Bruce Ridge I rode a full loop and doubled back.

Time trials=Tues Night

I met with Ian and Jamie at STromlo to commence 4 weeks of time trials.
The aim is to keep speed up on the flats and I think this is going to do it.
We linked sections of fire trail and minimal singletrack for a lap of about 5 minutes.

1st effort 5.21s
2nd effort 5.25s
3rd effort 5.35s
4th effort 5.24s

Well almost consistant but who cares these were a blast and we played cat and mouse with Ian and Jamie giving me a 20 sec head start, to even things out.

Sunday afternoon 1hour-Easy week ending

A crusy one to end the end of an easy week. I love easy weeks and just cruising! I threw in single track from Point Hut to Tuggeranong followed by another 40 minutes of riding.

Thursday Crits

Thursday crits at Majura an awesome track run at the back section incorporating a short section of car body. The race started Ok entering the single track 5th when someone decided they couldn't ride a pinch climb, calling track didn't seem to help any and the frustration kicked in. From here I took it relatively easy I was too bumbed.

Mental note chill out, who cares!
I got over it and just enjoyed the ride at a group ride pace.
Followed up by some flowy intestinal track a few times with Ian and Deb and a great wind down for my week off.

The 29er rocked on this track!

Wed 1.5 hours

Stromlo 1.5hr group ride

Sparrow Hill Tour on a 29er

I entered this race for the pure fun factor. Who doesn't like to ride Sparrow Hill. It's so fast and flowy and today Paul Cole linked it in reverse with a perfect mix of technical sections thanks to Spagetti Western bobsled and everything in between. 31kms total.

I've ridden the Paragon 29er a couple of times now and just love it. It shames other bikes for handling 29 or 26 inch and the corner grip, braking and traction are unbeleivable. Im converted!

I ran WTB Nano Raptors tubeless using Bontrager rim strips and valves. These rim strips are awesome and make Stans look like a KM-Mart kit! The Bontrager strips are a harder plastic that line the rim wall to the edge and are a hard plastic, once mounted they don't move. The tyre valve is all metal and mounts seperately to the rim strip, so in a race you could just add a tube if you flatted. Me likey!!!

Having said this I didn't bring a tube to todays race and tore the sidewall of my front tyre on a downhill rocky fire road just a few ks from the finish.

Oh well I had a blast anyway!

Wk 3/4 Hill intervals

Well I finished my Hill repeats.
Wk3 Sunday - I was on fire duty so I pushed a 40 minute session on the trainer, with focus on strength. I pumped the trainer up to max being level 20 This worked well because it was close to 40 degrees so to do hills would have been pure punishment.

Wk4 Hills We met and only rode climb. This did turn out to be a 2 hour ride though and a was hanging for a mtb ride. I will throw in another hill climb towards the end of the week concluding the strength build.

All hills done in hard gears pushing a low cadence with focus on strength build.

Week 2 Intervals Isaacs Hill

I drove to Torrens with the plan that this would make me focus on the task at hand and it worked.

I rode a solid 3 hill repeats at around 11 mins in length.

Max HR 187
Avr 183

Its the end of week 2 and Im feeling like everything is improving power, efficiency and definetely my out of the saddle climbing especially at the higher when at close to max HR.

Saturday 1.5hrs

I met with Ian at his place. I wanted to do a fun easier ride to get myself feeling good on the X0 Anthem. I m still getting that slower steering not as agile feel from the bike and just needed a standard short loop to add some faith in this bike.

It felt good and I think its all coming together. I dont feel as sluggish out of the saddle anymore. I was getting a feeling that the geometry of this bike favoured a seated rider but all that changing.

A good fun ride at 65%

Thursday Crits

Majura Crits an exciting place for the crits (I think) as it throws in some more technical variations than what the STromlo short track has to offer. I often feel strong technically so this type of track suits me.

The training is starting to feel as if its paying off. I started strong (as usual) and leap into 4th off the line and kept this position until the fire road at the start finish.

As usual this is where I start to fail but I felt strong I was out of the saddle and pushing fairly hard despite the heart rate. Anyway I think I had that feeling you get when you know your improving and things are looking up.....9th overall.

4 Weeks of Intense Intervals - Week 2

Well its week two and it was back to Stromlo Hill for Intervals. 4 Repeats
With Jamie, Jansen and Ian so much pain but damn that awesome feeling of euphoria when your finisished!

Sunday Intervals

Headed out to Isaacs atan average of 150bpmbeinga 1/2hour cycle, I let my heartrate drop gradually to 130 before putting in my firts effort.

There is a few shorter hills before I get to my 10-12min long main hill effort, so I got myself ready by getting the heart rate upto 185bpm, both in and out of the saddle.

I put my 1st effort in and although I didn't time it, I felt fast HR was sitting between 179-185 and more suprisingly (for me) was able to get out of the saddle and push through some of the steeper pinches at the end of the climb.

I am aiming to do 6 weeks of Stromlo / Isaacs intervals and will be timing my next efforts.

Monday - recovery ride with the missus followed by spectating the short track Nationals!

Wednesday,Thursday

Wednesday 2hour = 4 x hill climbs
Thursday =ride to stromlo in a headwind and I was running late so I smashed myself then had nothing left for the crits!

Thursday, Friday and Sunday

Thursday crits .5hrs at 90-100% Ahhh I just couldn't get into it! The lungs didn't open up completely and although technically I was fine these races are all about speed.

Friday 1.5hrs at 80-95% Work and back in one trip. It felt good to ride well for a change I felt really strong. Stronger than I did on Thursday and for the full length I pushed hard.

Sunday 2.5hrs at 80% A ride from home to Stromlo and a long lap. I felt good despite the heat but some borking at sections I would normally ride meant that there was something wrong. It turns out that my front fork had lost some air.....No wonder I felt like I was going to go over.

1.5 hrs Stromlo Hill climb x2

Me and Jamie set off from Stromlo forrest carpark on our road bikes. It's been a while since I threw a leg over my roadie and with the Anthem in for repairs, my knees scabbed, bruised and swollen a road bike ride was a great idea.

I had aimed for at leat 3 hill repeats but the sun set a little sooner that anticipated.
Jamie is in good form on the hills and I was happy to sit 20-40 odd metres behind.

Actually it felt good to smash some hills and not get another injury.

Training is prooving difficult at the moment as I am rostered on fire duties here at work meaning some late knock offs and compromised family time.

At the moment I am happy to keep the weight off and retain my base fitness until the fire season eases off in April.

Frustration - 1.5hours

I went out for a lunch time spin to Stromlo only 2 minutes away. Yep, you read correctly. My work is situated 5 minutes ride down the road. Did I mention that the 5 minutes ride to stromlo is on Single track.....

Thats my excitement over for this post, as getting on the bike felt awkward. Looking at the stem and alignment of the front wheel, something was not gelling. Wheel alignment was OK but the wheel was untrue and when the fork was under load it would seriously flex an inch!

I decided to keep riding and despite the hot weather made it up the Nationals climb for some sweet decending back to work. At the end of the traverse a new 8m section of traction has been dug to bypass a rocky section. Ian told me that this section was infact faster than the rocky section I would normally blast through, so I tried it.

Well it turns out someone dislodged to head sized rocks at the bottom of a rolly polly in this section, meaning they were only visible at the top of the next rolly polly.
Blasting this section at 25km/h+ and hitting one of the rocks on the down slope resulted in a high side. Ouch my knees hurt (again) and the bike is in for repairs.

It's times like these you feel like kicking yourself.

Thanks to Michael at ONYA Bike Belconnen for his patience and looking after me.

1.5 hours Stromlo

I think I have tamed the new beast. After playing around with the bar height, I think I have nailed the sweet spot, placing more weight over the front end.

Climbing is easier than the older Anthem but steering is slower. Only time on the bike is going to get me in Zen with the bike.

The nicest trait of the new Anthem is the super lively rear end. Its just so much more lively in and through its travel. I don't beleive this is due to the extra travel but more so due to the updated suspension arrangement.

I was dubious about the Sid Team fork at first but am a huge fan now. Again its lively in its travel. It doesn't have the plushness of the Fox float but in comparison is a racers drean. Pushing on it (carpark test) shows that its stiffer and harder but in real use on the trails its a dream.

Oh the ride was fun to at 80%

New bike Anthem X0

I picked up my new bike and headed out to Stromlo for its first ride.
I should have listened to Michael from Onya Bike Belconnen on the front tyre.
I opted for a Crossmark Lust Non UST and after a slow climb to the top we regrouped and headed down the berm track.

Well it happened the front tyre burped air and the bars crossed over resulting in my first off I hurt both knees but more annoyingly the front wheel is untrue.

I think a new UST front tyre is going on!

What I noticed from this short ride was that the steering is slower and will require some getting used to. The bike is definetely more rigid then last years model and offers 4" travel up from 3.5".
Next ride will be a solo one so I can muck around with the stem height in an attempt to get more weight over the front end.

Sunday 2 hour ride

I met up with Ian and we decided to ride the Nationals course for something a little different at Stromlo.
I like to aim for something pre ride wether it be intesity, endurance, skills etc so I knew this one would test me.
It was nice to ride all the techy bits without a problem for once! When you go for a ride and you have a purpose it makes these sorts of things fall into place a bit better......

After the Nationals climb in the dredded heat we decided to punch out a fast red lap.
Ouch Im still sore from this one!

Exactly on 2 hours at 90 - 95%

Voddoo 29er review. Gary Fisher 29er quick ride - 1 hour

I picked up a titanium Vodoo 29er sporting
crossmax SL 29er a wheels
Reba Race 80mm
and XT components

I took it to Stromlo for a test ride and after setting it up noticed the geometry placed me in a very upright position despite the longer flipped stem.

My aim of this test was to see if a 29er had merits for me at 6'2".
- In short I noticed that I sat in the bike as opposed to on top of the bike which was a nice feeling that promoted confidence.
- The tyres are more sure footed grabbing well on climbs under power.
- Steering differences are negligable to a 26er.
- Titanium is over rated and still very harsh and definetely not a replacement for dual suspension
- 29 wheels can not replace the smoothness of even a racier 26 short travel suspension bike
- I found it difficult to bunny hopmaybe due to the longer wheelbase of a 29er

In short Im still curious and want to try another 29er maybe a Salsa Dos Niner or Mamasita

Earlier in the day I also tried a Gary Fisher Paragon and although only a short 20 min ride noticed it steered quicker had a plusher and nicer Fox fork and a better mix of components.
The bike was also easier to moneuver and bunny hop.

On both bikes I noticed that acceleration was improved over my Anthem0 although it is noticably lighter. 29ers also roll over fist sized trail objects and trail ruts far superior to a 26er.