Fatboy's blog

Ok, I beat him because he dnf'd. I'll take it anyway.

I started with a few hot Nobmobbers around me - Steve01, ps & the man of the moment Dicko. Just ahead of us in the first wave was the always easy to spot on the start line Antsonline. I was really hoping Ant would get a podium this year as he's been getting close and of course us Nobmobbers all claim him as one of ours!

I’ve was talking to the importer of Whyte Bikes from the UK a few weeks back and mentioned I’d seen the very sexy 146 full page advertisement he’s been running in the AMB magazine – black carbon bike with green bits. During the discussion I mentioned I was off to Thailand and he asked if I was stopping at Singapore which I was as we always travel Singapore Airlines for work. Cut a long story short he organised for a 146 (as in 146mm travel all mountain bike) to be dropped at my brother’s house in Singapore for me to play with last weekend on my way to Thailand.

After a year of constant chest infections I've finally had 2 months of good health so came to this event feeling positive despite the extra 5 or so kg I'm carrying (thanks for noticing my gut on the start line ps, I'll have to go to Jenny Craig now!). My goal this year was sub 6hr - I did 6:28 last year.

I've seen the TWE ads in the local mountain bike mags and read some good feedback on this forum of their wheels. Recently I sold my race wheels and decided to do the Fling this weekend on my huck set which are the same as the race set just older.

Tuesday morning on a ride I noticed my rear wheel had a wobble which was caused by the internals of the hub. Oh crap!

So close to race day and no spare wheel! I decided to call TWE and spoke to Greg on Tuesday. I explained my need for a new wheel, gave my spec's and he built it that night. I collected it yesterday and am ready for race day.

OK so it's a road ride but I had to write about it as I have never ridden a road bike until today.

While overseas a few weeks ago with some of my work mates from Melbourne who are all roadies & triathletes we got on the grog and yours truly shot his mouth off about shaving legs & drinking soy latte's in your lycra etc. The challenge was thrown out - come and ride the Round the Bay event with us. "What's that?" I asked. "Oh just a ride around Port Phillip Bay".

We came to Coffs Harbour last week to have a quiet wedding and it turns out there was a mountain bike race on dead smack in the middle of my holiday...happy days!

There has been a lot of rain up this way over the past weeks but we arrived to terrific weather. In fact I packed longs thinking it would be cool so the washing machine in our holiday house has been working every night so I can wear my only shorts and t-shirt each day. We've even been swimming in the pool.

Finally after a crap year health wise that has seen me stack on quite a few kg I finally competed without either a chest infection or back ache.

The Rocky Trail crew put on another great event with awesome weather and at a location which has become my favorite for these type of races. I like the track because switchback kills my dodgy back so I hate racing those venues but this track has some really good technical mixed with fast flowing and such different scenery & surfaces. I find I just don't get bored on a lap.

The only difference between last year's Capital Punishment and today's race was the sun was out and we didn't freeze our butts off. The track was horrendous!

I started in the second last group as I wanted to start slow then lift the pace as I still have my chest infection which doesn't affect me if I don't go too hard. The first 22km is mainly fire road but there weren't too many places you could ride side by side due to all of the puddles & erosion. I popped out where we cross the main road spot on the time I told Liz I'd be there. A quick "cubble" with my 2yo daughter and off I went.

I came into the race having had a few months of colds and my ruptured disc causing grief in my lower back. Unlike previous races I made sure I was prepared well before the race so I didn’t spend the day before stooped over my bike only to inflame my back. I even went to bed at 7:30 the night before and got nearly 8hr sleep so all was looking good on race day.

Another great Rocky Trail event held at the new Mt Annan venue.

I came into this event knowing I was going to have a painful experience. I have a ruptured disc in my back which is the reason I started riding about 6 yrs ago as it's one of the few things I can do to keep fit without aggravating my injury too much. Last month I caused it to flare up but did the Willo event anyway. I was able to ride at 80% on the fire roads without issue but the single track hurt.