A few weeks ago I bought a new wheelset, nothing outrageous, just a decent set of XT 29ers. Of course, I weighed them against my old wheels before I fitted them and found that I'd saved about 300g. This then lead me to remember I still hadn't done anything about my knackered BB and maybe if I replaced that, I could save a few more grams. I searched around and decided that the best thing to do was buy a whole new crankset, again, nothing outrageous, but an upgrade all the same. A few days later, it arrived with a sticker saying "HGX chain only".

Whats this? A blog post that isnt about a race? Surely not?!?!?!?

In the spirit of Monday mornings (on a Tuesday) I thought I'd help you slowly transition back to work after a glorious weekend with an account of a big trip to Wingello on Sunday. There is a gap in the racing season, and most people were keen to ride - just to remind themselves of what their MTB felt like!

The bike shop where I purchased my Whyte's sent me this link to a locally made video with Jon Odams. Hope it works.
http://vimeo.com/52917382

I am after any info regarding Telegraph Point and Bonnie Hills. I'm going away for the long weekend and staying near Taree, plan on riding Kiwarrak but am thinking about a day trip to Port Mac to try out the trails over that way. Is it worth the drive to Port or should I just spend my time in Kiwarrack? I've ridden Kiwarrak a couple of times and it's pretty special so the bar is set pretty high for Port Macquarie.
Cheers Steve

Stage 6 took place over the same course as the morning time trial just under lights and with a mass start.
Have to pass out a thanks to Dicko for the Lupine lights which did a fantastic job as a helmet mount, I also had my lights on the bars for extra power.

Thursday morning was the day of the time trial. Thankfully I wasn't starting until after 10 which was most welcome after the early start the morning before.
We set off at 30 second intervals, the loop started at the golf course along sandy buggy tracks until we hit singletrack.

Today was the longest stage of the week and meant a very early start. The night before we'd dropped our bikes off for transport to the aboriginal community of Santa Theresa, the start location some 70kms from Alice Springs.

Stage 3 started out at the Telegraph Station which meant a ride of about 7km to the start line.
The weather today had cleared to a reveal blue skies and cool temperatures so perfect riding conditions.

This stage is short (300m) but straight uphill to the lookout at the top of Anzac Hill. The elevation change is about 30m which starts of quite shallow but the gradient tops out about 19% around 2/3rds of the way up, but then flattens out for about 30m before rising again around a corner to the finish.

Riders are set off at 30 second intervals with the slowest from the Stage 1 going 1st and fastest last. The atmosphere on the hill was superb with both riders and spectators watching and cheering riders up the hill.