Rob's blog

Some might have noticed I didn't have much to say last week, and now you can see why... we were in Bali having a really rather nice time

It was rather nice to be able to get up and relax this morning. Breakie (naturally of bacon, beans & eggs) while watching Le Tour from last night.

Then a nice sneaky ride at the Dam just after midday that didn't even require leg warmers showed signs of spring on the horizon.

What a perfect day weekend

As I said elsewhere, "Mont24 - pretty much repeat of last year. Only with female support, faster laps, more rest and no rain. What's not to love about that? :)"

To which someone has commented, "You forgot the dust ..."

Well... meh... the dust wasn't that bad. I didn't even wear clear shades on the night laps (because had leant a pair to Ray and couldn't find the others, then forgot to rip them off his head at transition ) or experience any backscatter from the headlight.

First up - thanks to Unclebullbar for the suggestion and looking after the two randoms (one of whom happens to be a colleague of mine) on the second lap.

However, not sure I thank him for bringing Tate along - he damn near killed me on the 3rd lap. Luckily I was happy for being dragged round as PB'd that course with a 37:34. Interesting that last week I had a similar experience trying to keep up with Steve01 & co and managed a 39:17, so gotta be happy with almost 2 minutes faster today.

I've said it before... scumming kills MTB skills... but really, wow, today really showed how much.

This morning I rode an MTB (the trusty Yeti - let's eeeeease into this) for the first time since Jan 3. That's over 2 months! 69 days to be precise.

I didn't compete in the event this year, but somehow couldn't stay away... Gazza talked me into scumming out from Hornsby (107km return) to check out the race - initially wasn't keen but the few minutes there made it worthwhile. The scum wasn't all that bad either - but given the amount of flood debris on the road it was clear things at Del Rio were not going to be pretty.

Wow! What can you say about this trip... this place... that can do it justice? I guess you really can't so this will probably seem a bit short:

It seems like an age ago that a very brave Supagav posted up this trip and left it open to all. Amazingly brave but it worked out beautifully, and many thanks to him and V and the folks over in NZ for taking care of so much of the organisation.

This was a bit of a strange experience for me to be honest. Usually taking care of every detail of a trip, but this time was able to just turn the brain off and wonder around, eating when food was shoved under my nose, getting in the van when everyone else did, sleeping when tired, pedalling when there was a hill to climb and grinning like an idiot when there were sweet, flowing berms to follow. It was all a blur, but that just about sums it up!

Today I changed the tyres on the Yeti.

Brand new Monorail (2.1) on the front, brand new Larsen TT (2.0) on the back. Both LUST Kevlar bead. Let's call this it's 'XC trim'... for the upcoming trip. Probably only drop 300g weight compared to the 2.35 Minion/Highroller but these should roll a lot easier and they have the LUST side walls which feel a lot tougher.

Will hopefully have a quick test ride tomorrow to check the Monorail feels as good as others claim they do.

Yes, that's right... almost six and half hours for the Half Fling!

You knew this was going to be a relaxing ride as I spun across the parking paddock from the car not long after Huw had counted down the start for Half Flingers and Elites and most of them were well on their way. There had been a slight delay as was helping the guy parked next to use out with his brakes but no damage done as I managed to find Pratiwi on the line and saunter over at the back of the grid. And that was pretty much where we'd stay for the rest of the 'race'.

Ah... the Rush is no longer a ninja! It's star jockey wheels have been replaced. Boooooo!

Interestingly the top one is far less worn than the bottom. Will keep that as a spare.