First real night XC run in Melbs

Been a while since my last post... back in Oz after a failed trip to the land of dreams, after having dislocated my left shoulder in the first BC cup race of the season! I guess that's what you get for slowing down!! I'm just recovering the legs from a pretty epic XC night ride last night, on one of those inviting warm, still nights... the best to be out in the forest listening to only the odd sound of a Kangaroo beating it's way through thick bush, and the squeal of the slightly off centred Avid brakes! About 25k was covered, which although was quite short in the scheme of things, ended up taking it out of my legs more than I'd expected. Believe it or not, there are some hills about in Oz that can starve your lungs of breath and legs of anything more than cramps! What a great ride to get me started on my longer night ride endeavours!! ANyone who reads this and haven't been on a night ride, get yourself a light and some new undies, you'll possibly wet yourself as it is a pisser!!
Kev

Busting about XC style

Not having the opportunity to get out on the DH bike recently has forced me to ride the Trance that little bit harder. I'm am becoming concerned about the integrity of the bike as the loose dustiness of my local trails make for some incredible cuttie explosions on cornering! Not sure the wheels were designed for such immediate and localised torsional forces, but edging up the tension of the spokes is keeping them decently straight for the moment!

It seems that on the last couple of rides, I've lost any form that I may previously have written about! I've been attempting to ride harder, as I've mentioned, but for some reason just can't stay on the bike at the moment! Two rides in a row have seen me lose the bike on a few occasions! Out for a cruise with my brother the other day saw me flailing through the air like an aspirin filled seagull! I exploded off the bike as it drew to an immediate halt, which turned out to be resultant of a hidden stump in the lowlying trailside ivy. It was one of those moments where there's no time whatsoever to prepare for impact! Luckily, no injury except for suspected busted finger... possibly just being a pussy!! I've seen the front wheel screaming for traction and failing corner after corner... just can't hold it together!! Today was the same story, having to dab time and again to stay on the trail. Then came the header I took after a 'fully-sick' cuttie attempt in some loose leaves and bark to the side of the trail! Went in a little hard and hooked the front wheel in pretty solid at some speed, and then just glided over the Deus bars once again!! This time a little more solid ground tainted me with some minor battle wounds... but still couldn't ruin the ride!! The crashes were a pisser and being out on the bike amazing!!

A few more XC runs planned for the week ahead of the planned State race this weekend at Mount Beauty! I'm hoping to keep it rubber side down for once!! Doubt it though!! Not to worry. I'm still going to have a laugh!

Kev

Random shots...

Kamloops. Racing Midgets... they stuffed up the timing so he took home my Das Boot prize!!

Mount Buller

Saturday saw the emergence of the Wilson once again from having been on the shelf for a little while now. I made a trip up to Buller with a bunch of new found riding buddies. Mount Buller is Melbourne's local lift accessed downhill riding destination. At just 1805m above sea level it's not the biggest mountain out there and with only 2 major DH runs, can obviously get pretty blown out! But for this season, it's on a tight schedule with a major lift servicing in order, cutting it short. So the trails are in decent shape and I found a pretty good laugh!
It turns out that the time that I've been spending on the XC bike has paid off in that I was set to just rip pretty quickly after getting on! I had one of those days when you can just do nothing wrong! The balding tires on the Wilson still found an amazing amount of hard under loose to tear through all the corners, boosting my confidence with every dust blown encounter!



I ended up launching into several rock gardens at top speed testing my ability, and the integrity of my ageing 40's, which ended up feeling the punch! It is time to rebuild them as I think I blew the damping chamber's bladder and both seals!! Oh well, worth the fun I had out of the day for sure!! It's something I would like to put Boxxers up to the test on at some point as this day was a thrashing and they nearly made it through! Luckily I find the internals of the 40's incredibly user friendly, so the rebuild shouldn't take much and they're to be as plush as new once done!!


I am hoping to get another day on the Mountain before they shut down after a very short, one month operating year!! How shitty!! But what a day!! Such a laugh!

I got a little farmers and glove tan out of the day and the cold beer to finish was a welcome contrast to the dry 30 degree heat of the day! Enjoy the winter!!

Kev

P.S. I think my next bike is in behind those clouds!!

Listerfield Lake, Melbourne

Another day cracking out the XC bike to spin up the legs and tire the hell out myself! I was at the point today where without neccessities like XTR shifting and the responsiveness of the Fox shox, I would have been dialling an ambulance from my back on the dirt! The wall was hit numerous times after having followed up yesterday's XC effort in the hills. It feels like a long road to come back into some sort of form after such a long time having been off the XC, or any other cardio style exercise! But every time in the red zone pushes you further and faster on every proceeding ride. That's what I tell myself anyway!! Imagining pinning the very same trail in a few weeks time with little effort keeps me pressing on! As did the candy and 2 litres of water in my Camelbak!!
It was only a short ride out around the lake, but keeping the intensity high is definitely going to pay off. It's decently flat terrain that rips through eucalypt 'plantation' style terrain, with amazing drifty corners that my bike just relishes!! I just can't praise my Trance any further after having come from a hardtail and totally different riding style, and consequently, capability! Being out there in the cooler yet sunny weather always makes me realise why such a simple contraption as a bike, takes so many of our imaginations!!
Rob would be proud, I then went and played Beach Volleyball! Still got off the ground even with the exhausted legs!!

Kev

HOT ASS days!

Been at home in Melbourne, Australia now for a few weeks with the intention of missing the misery that winter in Vancouver imposes upon all! Nonetheless, I do miss the wet roots and loam, and a cracker of a crew to rip them up with! Instead it's been heatwave after heatwave!! I was out on the DH bike the yesterday in 43 degree heat and was ripping some cutties on the road for a laugh! It was so hot in the sun that I was making Bitumen berms with the insane Maxxis' in the middle of the road! I wonder how long they're going to hang around for!? Possibly until the next scorcher turns the road into a tar lake!

Ken Faubert of team DC recently headed Down under to check out the riding, the great weather and the Aussie beach scenery... not specifying whether female or male... to be determined through his Blog! We hit up all the local DH trails about my area and had a ball!! One that he rather enjoyed in particular is one of my most favourite trails that I've ridden. It's out in Warburton, Victoria! Super quick trails with a bit of everything thrown in for good measure, lasting up to about a 6 or 7 minute run. It makes me giggle! Riding with Ken has been good fun for sure! He has moved on over to Adelaide for the Aussie Nationals that are taking place this weekend.

Just got in from a pisser of an XC ride that ruined my out of shape DH legs! My local area takes me through some dry open forest that offers kangaroo and rabbit trails everywhere! Terrain that my Giant Trance X1 relishes!! Pinning down loose tight XC trails on the Trance is making me push my cornering, and surprises me about the grip that the 2.1 Kenda tires are giving me! It's also teaching me about the benefit of lower rotational weight respecting the CrossMax wheels that the Trance is spec'd with. It makes corner transitions a treat, as well as adding massive benefit to my climbing capacity... kinda hard to keep the front wheel down though!! I'm enjoying the XC bike a bunch again, which is soon enough going to have to be coupled with hitting up the gym so I don't turn into a rake!!

Tomorrow is another day on the XC rig, followed by a weekend up the mountain at the local MTB resort, Mount Buller. Should prove to provide plenty of laughs with some new riding buddies! Am pretty stoked about getting out on the DH bike again for some solid runs! It seems a little unhappy at the moment, but a little love and the old beast will tear the trails down again! I just have to learn to untame the thing over the course of this summer at home! Keen to ride as much as possible!!

Happy riding!
Open it up!

Kev

Gap jump

This is an oldie, but a goodie... what do you think?

I like it!