Blogs

Took my bike to the Specialized dealer in Rotorua they did a great job, fixing the brakes installing a new rear tyre and adjusting the gears all in under an hour. I had two days of riding in Rotorua, I’m considering going there for another day later this week.

The people in the Rotorua and Taupo region are spoilt, so many great tracks to choose from. The first day in Whakarewarewa I only had two hours to play with, so rode a combination of the lower trails. Found a nice jump, which I did not go over

After driving through the rain all day Saturday and being diverted by a flooded road, I was desperate to put my bike together and get out for a ride. Luckily found a bike shop whilst driving they directed me to Summer Hill, which features a few different single tracks.

I wrote a while back about doing a bit of training on the commute so am following with an update. I've discovered that going over to Cremorne and Mosman is a nice little detour and now the route looks a bit like a tour of the lower north shore. Check it out:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view....

Post Jetblack Sydney 24 the Yeti needed a bit of TLC.

It got new brake pads front and rear (obviously!) and just hope the front rotor doesn't eat the new set as despite being only 2 laps old had clearly been metal on metal for quiet a lot of that second lap.

BB as removed, cleaned and replaced. Ditto for seatpost clamb. Ditto for skewers (if you can call the front axle a skewer). Everything else just got a good clean.

While we're mentioning these things - the rear brake on the Rush got a bleed and what came out was nasty black fluid. Yerch!

who knows what is the best tubes and seat for the manly dam

Hard work today. In many ways the wetter conditions made the ride more tiring than last time.

But i must say a little dissapointed that no Nobmobbers made the effort to attend with me ...... i did give at least 24 hours notice of this ride AND i now know a few of you .....( perhaps my very average sense of humour hmm ) anyway feeling pumped i decided to give my previous PB a nudge of the standard green XC course ( 41 minutes ....and it was 35 deg )
With legs that remembered the pain of riding through the mud at the Sydney 24 ...um 14.5 i mean , i took off with only a few others on track ! This place is the polar opposite of Del Rio with powdered dusty trails in all directions .

Dylan pretty much summed up our weekend with his spot on reporting but I just wanted to add that the Jetblack 24 hour was the best race meet I've been to.

Carlgroover was right about the vibe at these 24 hour races... it was like a mash-up between 'Man Vs Wild' and 'It's A Knockout'

Although the camping was wet, I'll be definitely camping again next year especially with our pole position on the first corner. It was a great learning experience as team Toasted we're sandwiched between Jason English (1st) Alex Malone (2nd) & John (1st 40's + 3rd overall)

Team Groover all enjoyed themselves this weekend and I'm very grateful for all the support I received, my wife was there constantly passing me food and drink and even putting it in my mouth so I didn't cover it in mud. Jason my 10 year old was there cleaning the drive train or passing me food for much of the race and Toasted although a bit soggy were always there to help clean me and the drive train before another lap.

What an introduction to 24 hour mtb racing, still enjoyed most of it there were times when i just wanted to go home & curl up in my nice dry warm bed, but having said that there were times when you wouldn't be dead for quids, like when hammering down that slippery rocky single track & the down hill section knowing one wrong move & your gone, or sliding around those corners in the grassy meadows before it turned to swamp.I'll definately be back again for this race .