Val di Sole Photos

Post race smiles (only slightly forced)

Hectic start (Barbara, a friend of Blairy's took these race photos, and this was the 10th in the series, showing how many people were in front of me!)

One of the few slightly technical sections of the course

Some DH action

Road up Passo di Gavia (that's a pretty small car in front of us and it's taking up the whole road!)

Val di Sole World Cup

After a relaxing week in the Val di Sole spent drinking coffee, eating Gelati and doing a bit of riding it was time to saddle up for world cup #2. I had an even worse start call up than the previous week, it was going to be a battle for the first few laps.

Sure enough on the start loop was spent more grabbing the brakes as riders fell and tangled everywhere than pedalling hard, and some of the first lap was spent queued up in the narrower sections. The second lap opened up a bit, and I started moving up a couple of positions. By the 3rd lap I was beginning to feel better on the climbs and on the 4th I was in my usual mid-race feel-good-high. I was losing a few minutes each lap to the leaders, and I was thinking I was on track to get out for the 5th lap, but as I swung around the corner towards the feed-zone the 80% commaissaire was blocking my path. So 2 laps down and 134th position was the final result. My position was pretty disappointing with hindsight, but given my start position and lack of first and second kick it wasn't too surprising.

Sunday after the race was spent doing an easy ride up to the Passo Tonale, eating pizza and checking out the downhill race before packing everything up again for the road trip to Germany. Blairy, James and I left early Monday with what we thought was plenty of time for the trip to Zurich. Unfortunately we did not look too closely at the Google Maps route, which ended up taking us across some of the biggest passes in Europe. The highlight was the 2630m Passo di Gavia, a tiny ribbon of bitumen in northern Italy which was so narrow in places Blairy started beeping the horn at most corners cause the single lane road was impossible to pass on. After a unplanned diversion through Livigno and a couple more passes in Switzerland we made it to Zurich airport with just enough time for Jimmy to catch his flight home.

I was meeting Mike Blewitt (fellow Aussie racing marathon worlds at St Wendel) at the airport, and we headed off to Freiburg for the night. Cal has been living in Freiburg for a month or two, and I had sent him a message letting him know we were going to be in town and getting him to show us some trails the next day. I headed out for an easy ride once we arrived late in the arvo, and straight away it started pissing down. I was about to turn around and head home, when Cal appeared coming the other way, so I stuck with it and we spent a hour getting saturated. The ride the next day was much more enjoyable; the trails around Freiburg are fantastic!

So now we are in a small town just south of St Wendel for the MTB Marathon World Champs on Sunday. We rode the first section of course today, and I was less than impressed. The first 30km is going to be pretty much a road race, with mostly gravel and paved bike tracks with only short climbs to break things up. We have heard that the 2nd half of the course is much better, so hopefully there is some proper mountain biking somewhere!

Champery World Cup

My first World Cup XC race was never going to be stunning, but I guess I had been hoping for a bit better than a DNF. With the combination of short laps and lots of boggy sections after non-stop rain on thursday and friday, it was always going to be challenge to keep lapping and not get pulled by the dreaded commissaire and his red flag.

I had number 113 in a field of 200 odd. My start was OK, but I probably didn't really gain any places before the track narrowed down in the the first singletrack. Most of the first lap was spent running with chainrings, studs and tires biting at my ankles through the deep mud. Once we hit the first steep climb I knew it wasn't going to be a great day. On that first climb I must have lost 10 places, a pattern to be repeated on the next laps too. Second lap was spent a little more on the bike, but not much more! I had caught up with Blairy at this stage, and we were both doing OK through the flatter stuff and then losing places on the climb.

I knew it couldn't be long before I was pulled, so starting my 4th lap I thought I better give it everything. I had a clear run at the most technical section for the first time, but as I launched and landed the big drop I instantly heard the sickening sound of spokes greeting the deraileur. Landing the big drop has flexed the wheel just enough for the deraileur to grab the spokes, which was my fault as I had not shifted down from the biggest cog on the back after the steep pinch climb up into the techincal section. So all that was left for me to do was untangle the mess of chain, cables and deraileur, and walk back home. I'll give another update in the next couple of days once we get to Italy. Hopefully luck improves over the border and we have more sunshine and no mechanicals!

A bit slow off the mark

Well I have been OS for about 3 weeks now, and this is my first post on my own blog. Some of you may have read the Aussie MTBO team blog, but for those of you who haven't then I'll fill you in briefly.

The MTBO Worlds were in northern Portugal, and after a week and a half of training an acclimatising it all kicked off on Sunday 11^th July. The first race was the Sprint distance, and as defending champ I was off in the last 10 starters. After a small mistake on the first control it was a great race for me, and I snuck away with the Gold medal by more than 20 seconds over 2^nd place. After a rest day it was the Middle distance, and although I made no real mistakes, a couple of route choices and not feeling 100% physically lost me a bit of time, and I finished 2^nd, around 40 seconds behind Samuli from Finland. The long qualification was the next day which I got through fine without spending too much energy.

The Long distance final was a very tough race physically and it was made harder by many areas where the map drew little resemblance to what was on the ground. I had about half a dozen legs where I lost around 30 – 60 seconds in either mistakes or bad route choice. I was able to push pretty well up the hills, but both a crash in an obscured ditch and my saddle slipping a bit cost me time also. So I was quite surprised when I finished with the fastest time at that stage, and even more surprised to walk away with another Silver medal! The Relay was the final day, and our team of Steve, Alex and myself were looking for a good result. Steve had a solid ride first up with some of the longer split controls, and Alex was on track for a good ride but suffered 2 punctures. After using his frist tube he took a tube which the Austrians 'dropped', but unfortunately outside assistance isn't allowed and we ended up being DQ'ed. The banquet and after party were as hectic as usual, and I saw in my birthday on the 18^th in style! The rest of the day was spent packing and driving, and I flew to Geneva the following day. I met straight up with Andy Blair and James Peacock, and we made straight for Champery, the site of the UCI XC World Cup #4.

We have checked out the course, and as Josh Carlson would say it is pretty EPIC. There is lots of technical sections, but there is one new section that has a steep chute around a corner followed by a massive gap-drop into a steep down ramp. For a DH bike it would be nothing, but on our XC rigs with only a thin bit of lycra between us and death it is pretty intimidating. Whilst Blairy and I were looking at the top bit the second day here, Jimmy was down the bottom and quietly went off and hucked it for the first time. At first we didn't believe him. but after he showed us again both Blairy and I managed to clear it no worries. It is actually quite easy and fun once you get around how steep and big it looks. The rest of the course is pretty rocky and root ridden, and it is going to be a demanding race (especially with plate 113 in a field of 198). Below are some pics of the drop and around Champery. I'll try and keep the blog updated whilst I am away, so stay tuned!

Marathon Worlds

Well, my first ever international representation at a MTB world champs is done. The 2009 MTB Marathon Worlds were held at Stattegg, Austria (just outside Graz) and the Aussie team was Shaun Lewis, Mike Blewitt and I. We also had an expert manager in Laura and an extra pair of helping hands with Graeme.

We spent the few days before the race checking out sections of the course, and quickly gained respect for what we were about to do on Sunday. The climbing (of which there was a lot) was steep and sometimes rough, and the descents were much more techincal than an average Euro marathon. Throw in a good storm on Thursday and constant rain for a lot of Friday and it was going to be a tough race.

Having never raced a marathon with so much climbing I decided to not let myself get caught up with riding too hard for the first half of the race. The start climb was mostly tarmac, but one of the steepest you have ever seen! I crested the top in a small group and was happy that I had been able to pass people near the top whilst not having to dig too deep. All was good until about 15km in when I noticed my rear tire was starting to get a little soft, and soon after it was clear that it was not going to last even until the next feed zone where I could have got a spare wheel. After changing the flat, I met up with Lewi, and we hit the 2nd main climb together. I was feeling good at this point, and kept up a solid tempo, passing quite a few people who had got ahead of me when I was stopped. At about the midway point I had caught up with a group of Austrian riders, and I was still feeling like I was climbing better than those around me which is an unusual feeling in Europe, but also a sign that I was further down the field than I should have been. The climbing was pretty relentless from about 60 to 80km, and a I was in a group of 4 which was good as the tempo they were riding was just about the pace I wanted to go. Finally the highest point was reached, and the most techincal part of the course began. The track plumetted off the mountain, and despite a small spill I was catching quite a few more people. The two small short uphill pinches brought on the first twinges of cramping, but the rooted and rocky tracks were too much fun to worry about that!

In the end I finished 58th, 46min down on the winners time of 4:35. Even though I was completely spent after finishing I still had the feeling I could have gone a little harder. If it wasn't for the flat tire I would have been riding with people who would have been climbing faster, thus pulling me along more, rather than riding and passing people who I probably should have been ahead. But it is all a learning experience, and hopefully if I go to next years marathon worlds I will be stronger on the hills and able to be even further up the field. Big thanks to Laura for being a superb team manager and Graeme for helping throw bottles at us during the race, much appreciated guys.

Double Gold

It will be old news for some now, but on Sat I won my 2nd Gold medal at the 2009 MTBO World Champs. 1 day after the Sprint distance race which I surprised myself by winning, I won the Long distance race in a time of 1 hour and 32 minutes, just under 3 minutes ahead of last years Long distance champion Ruslan Gritsan from Russia. Many people seemed to expect me to do well in the Long race, but translating that on the day into a good result is always difficult and needs a bit of luck.

I started about 2/3 the way through the field after taking it relatively easy in the qualification race, and this proved a good move as I caught many riders and this kept me motivated. The heat was also a factor; it didn't bother me too much, but many of the euros found it hard going. My race was again not perfect, losing around 30 sec on 4 legs through small errors or route choice, but I think I was physically able to cope with the heat and hills the best, and this is what gave me the good margin in the end.

The final night banquet and party was as usual an absolute riot. The banquet was held outside next to a pool, and once the food and ceremonies were over everyone ended up in the pool, many not of their own free will! The party then moved back to the accomodation, and despite some teams having ridiculously early flights the next day it was a great night.

Yesterday was finally a day off the bike and relaxing. We visited the Dead Sea and Massada, an awsome clifftop ancient city where a group of Jews made a stand against the Romans and ended up committing mass suicide rather than be captured and enslaved.

I am now en route to Vienna where I will spend a couple of days before heading to Graz, site of the World MTB Marathon champs. I am looking forward to some riding without a mapboard after a pretty intense couple of weeks in Israel. There is a small Aussie contingent for the marathon worlds this year, and I will endeavour to keep sending updates as we prepare for the big day next Sunday.

Sprint Gold Medal!

I have again managed to become world champion, this time in the Sprint distance race. Three days after losing my title of current world champ in the middle distance, I managed to scrape home with 11 sec over 2nd in the sprint (my least favorite discipline). My race was not perfect, but good enough to take the narrow victory. The splits showed Lasse and I were swapping 1st and 2nd most of the race, and I hit the lead with 3 controls to go and held on to the finish. The race was held around an archelogical site, with many narrow paved and unpaved paths twisting around. Because of the nature of the site riding off the tracks was not allowed (unlike the rest of the races here), but you could run with your bike off tracks which I did quite a few times.

Tomorrow is the last race, the Long final, and with 35km and temperatures probably around the same number it is going to be a tough race. From what we can gather the terrain is steep, with less singletrack than the past few days. Hopefully the tough conditions will play into my hands, but picking the right route choice is going to be key here.

MTBO WOC rest day update

You have may have already seen the results of the first two events, but in case you didn't I once again was able to make the podium in the Middle distance race, this time in 5th place. The Long Qualification went well, I took it quite easy to save energy and wasn't too concerned with placing high in the heat as starting last offers no real advantage here; in fact the later the day goes on the hotter it seems to get.

The Middle race was a very different affair, with technical riding and navigation a plenty. My race felt very scrappy, but after looking at the splits it was really just 3 legs where I lost 60 sec or more which was the difference between the top step and where I finished.

Today was the first of two rest days for me, as with the relay tomorrow we have no team so I get an extra day off! We spent some of the day wandering the old city of Jerusalem; below are some pics of the day.

Israel Training Camp

After a rather disappointing European summer weather wise, stepping out of Ben Gurion in Israel was a bit of a shock. I was again wet, but from sweat now rather than rain!

After 1 day of training from near the WOC event centre Kay and I picked up the other half of the Aussie contingent from the airport and we headed north via the coast in our un-airconditioned van. Carolyn and Timmy also found the heat a bit of shock after coming straight from Melbourne winter. After a brief breakfast stop we dropped into a Hertz office to see if our airconditioning could be fixed. We also visited an interesting feature of the town - an elevator down to beach level from the top of the cliff.

Our accomodation for the next few days was inside a Kibbutz (just another name for a rural community). We had a real character for a chef who enlightened us each meal time with his pearls of wisdom. Four days of training and acclimatising to the rough rocky terrain and heat. Some areas remind me of Australia, with eucalyptus trees growing in pockets. The hills are tough, particularly when in the full sun, and are too steep to ride sometimes.

Kay and Carolyn visited Akko, a very ancient walled city which is still inhabited. Just today before driving back to the WOC centre we visited the ruins of a city which dates back to 10,000 BC; makes you feel pretty insignificant!

Back at Ben Shemen, WOC event centre and (airconditioned) home for the next week we had our first look at the rest of the competition. Tomorrow will be the model and it all kicks off Monday with the Long Qualification, followed by the Middle on Tuesday. I'll leave you with a few select pictures of our Israel adventure so far.

Ready to sweat it out on the first day

Carolyn out training

Carolyn and Saki (Japan) at Akko

Packed and ready to leave in smaller but airconditioned van

UK update

Well, my UK part of my trip is over, and I have once again been rather slack in keeping the blog up-to-date with what's been happening. My time in Germany went very quickly, with the testing I was doing at DLR for my PhD taking right up until the last moment to get completed. I also raced in the Albstadt MTB Marathon in the last week I was there. This is one of the biggest marathons in Germany, and on parts of the course there were barricades set up and spectators were lining the course 10 deep screaming and yelling - a bit like a MTB version of Mont Ventoux! I had an average race, once again finding myself losing contact on the steeper climbs. In the end I finished 15th in a top class field, less than 10min behind after just over 3 hours.

Next it was on to the UK; more specifically Edinburgh for the 17th International Conference on Composite Materials, where I was presenting a paper and attending a weeks worth of presentations from the worldwide composites community. I flew into London 5 days before the conference, and took the time to drive up through England and Scotland, taking detours to places like the Lakes District along the way.

The week in Edinburgh flew by as well. Presentation went well, and my head is now full of ideas and thoughts from the pretty intense program. On my last weekend in Scotland I rode in one of the UK Merida Marathon series; these aren't 'races' but mass particiaption events. The front guys still go pretty hard, but it is all a bit more relaxed - especially compared to the racing I was doing in Germany. I felt good, but had a flat early on the razor sharp rocks. I got a 2cm cut right on the top (despite it being a thick tubeless tire), and the tube I put in was bulging out past the energy bar wrapper I used to try and patch over the hole. This lasted till about halfway of the 85km course, when the tube finally gave out. I was in the lead and had to wait a minute for the next guy who was good enough to give me a tube and CO2 cannister; unfortunately the cannister he gave was empty, and I waited for the next few guys who were again kind enough to throw me one. Finally I was back going and passed people until I could see the leader on the last couple of km of flat road, and finished just a minute behind him.

In a couple of hours I get a plane to Tel Aviv, Israel for the MTBO world champs in just over 1 weeks time. We will be training for the next week, getting used to the Israel maps and terrain. My blog is going to serve as the main outlet for the teams updates, but also check out the Orienteering Australia website for news.

Waterfall and peaks in the Lakes District

More peaks and valleys in Lakes District - that sign says 25% and my ford focus barely made it up the narrow switchbacked road!

Edinburgh castle - never breached in the hundreds of years it has stood here, and I know why, those cliffs are literally vertical

Edinburgh castle inner gatehouse



Firth rail bridge

Attack of the Blog

The past week has gone by very quickly in Stuttgart. I've been at the DLR (German Aerospace Center) Monday to Friday spending some time doing work for my PhD. DLR have some high-speed testing machines which I will be able to use to test some specimens at rates representative of what you would get in a survivable helicopter crash for example; as opposed to the much slower crush testing I have been able to do back in Australia. On the riding front I still have been able to get out each day; on Wed I took the afternoon off to go riding with Hannes who showed me heaps of MTB trails in the forest around Stuttgart. Below are some pics of Stuttgart, plus a couple more pics from Trans Germany.

Stuttgart; as seen from half-way up the hill if I ride to DLR

From the main station clock tower; the centre of town gives way straight to vinyards and rolling hills

Another view from the clock tower

Palace right in the centre of town


A view of the part of town where I'm staying; I can follow the "castle" gardens all the way in

This is Mercedes country

Trans Germany: welcome to summer in Germany - I know it's a little out of focus, but it was really this wet and foggy during the race :(

Which meant desperate measures to get clean and dry gear for the next day (is there anything gaffer tape can't do?)

Trans Germany Pics

Typical size lead bunch (I'm in there - white helmet to the left of the red guy!)

Jochen looking fast in his German National Champ jersey (that's me again two places back behing the Team Bulls rider)

Definition of 'sketchy' - cornering fast in a group on wet, polished cobbles

Me on the front of the fast guys bunch - it wasn't always that way!

Team and room mate for the week - Andreas Kugler (with green climbers jersey and German mud; we all got a lot of the latter!)

The Phantom Blog

Trans Germany is over and done - and so am I! The last few stages were again very tough, and the problems for me lay more in the body than the bike. Stage 5 was 'easy' stage for the GC favourites, with a big group staying together till almost the end. Unfortunately I got dropped on a long hard climb near the start, and had to chase hard to catch back up, which I did, but then blew up big time near the end. Unfortunately Jochen flatted with about 5km to go, and could have used my help if I had still been up there. In the end he lost almost a minute to the leader, but still kept 2nd overall.

Stage 6 followed a similar pattern; losing touch with the leaders on the first big climb I then spent the rest of the day with a small group until the final 12km (550m gain) climb where I backed right off to save anything I had for the last day when I might be able to do something.

The last day was Jochen and Hannes final chance to mount an assault on the leader Thomas Dietsch from Team Bulls. The plan was to start hard to whittle the group down, then keep on attacking him. After a series of attacks, Jochen, Hannes, Dietsch and Bohme (also Bulls) were off the front, and I was still with Kugler who had to try and make up 30 seconds to get 4th overall. On a long slippery descent towards the end I pushed a hard pace and we made a gap to the rider Kugi needed to beat. I kept pushing hard until some steep climbs, where Kugi took off in an attempt to make up the time. In the end he only fell a few seconds short, leaving Multivan with 2nd (Hannes), 3rd (Jochen), 5th (Kugler) and 20th (me). Jochen and Hannes each won 3 stages, meaning there was only 1 stage that the team didn't win! We also won the Teams classification despite my best efforts to lose time with mechanicals.

Overall it was a very tough week, but made much easier by being looked after by the Multivan crew. I now will be based in Stuttgart for a few weeks; spending some time working at DLR (German aerospace research centre) for my PhD.

Return of the Blog

Trans Germany Stage 4; one i'll be happy to forget soon. 120km was never going to be easy - but it is always better when your bike stays in one piece. After about 70km of sitting on the back of the Team Bulls driven bunch at a very solid pace, we were hammering through an area that had been felled, braches and sticks everywhere. Riders amongst you will guess what happened next; crack/bang and in an instant my rear derailleur was gone in a mess of spokes and chain. I quickly took off all the necessary bits to let the bike roll freely, and proceded to walk/roll the 10km to the next spot one of the Multivan team guys was. Being a professional mechanic, it didn't take him long to fix things up and get me rolling again, but the damage was done and I had lost more than half an hour. With the gears not working too well still I met up with a group with a few of the women and also Mike Blewitt from Australia and tapped out the last 40km home at a pretty easy pace.
On the up-side Jochen again won today and is now only a handful of seconds behind Dietsch in 2nd overall. Hannes is still 3rd and Kugler 4th after Lakata again flatted and lost a solid chunk of time.

The Blog Strikes Back

My plans to update the blog daily during Trans Germany were unexpectedly thwarted by not being able to get an internet connection in the little backwaters we have been staying in.  The 1^st stage was a bit of a strange affair, with 103 km listed in the book as the race distance.  However the first 28 km were neutral and the whole field was stopped and regrouped before the real racing began.  I felt pretty good, and found myself in the 2^nd bunch on the road with a group of 5 ahead.  There were 2 Multivan guys (Andreas Kugler and Hannes Genze) in the front group, and I was with Jochen Käss.  The bunch worked well and I was surprised to find the time gap was only a few minutes well into the stage.  Kugler was 2^nd in a sprint and I was 12^th.

Stage 2 started badly for me; after sitting with the (large) lead group up the long first climb I flatted just over the top.  It was a gash in the tire, and after trying Pitstop foam I had to put a tube in.  Problem was it was so cold my hands wouldn't work properly, so when the CO₂ froze the valve, I couldn't close it quickly enough and I had only around 20 Psi in the tire.  Luckily it wasn't too far to the next feed, and after a quick wheel change I was left with the hard task of trying to catch groups of riders on my own on a very fast course.  I didn't dig too deep, but it was still tough riding most of the 82 km on my own or in groups of 2 or 3.  In the end I was almost 15 min down on the stage.  On the plus side, Hannes attacked on the last techo descent and stayed away to win and take the overall lead, with Kugler again 2^nd on the stage.

Stage 3 was a bit of a ball breaker; 96 km with quite a bit of climbing.  Stayed up with the front bunch for about half the stage, working hard as one of Hannes main GC rivals had been dropped with a mechanical. Once the big guns started to hammer I had drop off, but ended up in a good group to get back to the finish.  Quite tired now, and happy I have been able to land myself in a good spot with the Multivan guys.  These guys are a serious outfit, and it is nice to have someone take your filthy bike away as you cross the line and hand it back sparkling new :)

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A New Blog

Just like Star Wars started with "A New Hope", which was actually half way through the whole Star Wars saga, I have started "A New Blog". If you scroll down you will notice that my last post was quite some time ago now, and rather than try and fill in everything that happened over summer I think I'll just start with right now.

You find me typing from Stuttgart, Germany; 12 hours after I landed in Frankfurt and having just returned from the Merida Europe headquaters. After 2 epic flights, 1 swine flu scare, 3 trains and finding a hotel in the maze of Stuttgart University I was quite pleased with myself that everything had gone to plan, the only hiccup was getting lost in the hotel and not being able to find my room after checking in!

My first major appointment in Europe is the Trans Germany stage race, and I am being looked after by the Merida - Multivan pro team for the week. Stuttgart is where I will spend time working (PhD work that is) after the race, and it just happens that the Merida Europe headquaters is just down the road, so I knocked the bike together and pedalled over to introduce myself.

So that's about it for now. Updates will be as regular as I want this year as I have my new EeePC mini laptop with me, so keep tuning in for more episodes of the "Blog Wars" saga!

Shiny new bits for the long Euro tour, and most importantly all straight and working at the other end.

Pain at the 6Hr (or was that the 8Hr?)

Today was the last of the State Enduro Series at Officer Scout camp, a relatively local race for me and the first hit-out since the Croc (not counting Thur night dirt crit this week!). My body is in enough pain for it to have been an 8 hour race, but despite the little printing mistake on the otherwise very nice trophy it was acutally a 6 hour. My self imposed limit for solo races is 6 hours, and that is going to stay for the time being, despite many people telling me I should race 12 and 24Hrs (I like going fast too much to do silly long races). 6 hours is the longest training rides I do anyway, and what better way to get in a bit of hard training than to enter a race.

The start was typically fast as the teams guys went for the hole-shot into the first bit of steep singletrack, but I threw a spanner in the works and smashed it out to lead for most of the 1st lap. Not wanting to look like an idiot, I had to then keep up a solid pace, and rode amongst the leading teams for the first few hours. After that I began fading, but was still increasing my lead in Solo. I ended up lapping the solo field, which meant I could stop a bit before the 6 hour mark and still win. 2nd and 3rd got out for a final lap which meant they ended up back on the same no of laps, but who wants to have the presentations waiting for you ;) Craig Peacock also was out flying the Merida Flight Centre colours, and came home with a trohpy in the Solo 40+ class.

Big props to FTF dudes for putting on a tough little circuit. The Merida FLX was the perfect weapon for the tight singletrack; the geometry is dialled down for fast twisty XC racing, and being a scant 9kg doesn't make it bad either ;) Schwalbe Racing Ralphs once again proved why they are my favorite tire by hooking in all day in the sometimes loose, otherwise tacky circuit, leaning over further each lap as I got to know the course better. Pics by Stephen Rowe will be up later here, and best of luck to Stephen who will be under the surgeons knife soon to beat the dreaded C, we will all be looking forward to seeing him back soon snapping away at our races.

Not completely according to plan

Things got off to a good start at the Croc, until the racing started anyway! The vibe was good within the team, with Tim and Jo amped to have a crack at the overall titles, and Nick and I ready to do whatever we could to help them. We all arrived in Cairns a couple of days before, and in between showers (yes it was raining!) we ducked out for a quick spin, media commitments and filling our stomachs in anticipation.

Thanks to Andy from Kaos for priming the rig, it didn't miss a beat. Ozriders also gets a mention for their spiffy chain protectors, great grips (no blisters in 1300km!) and new 'Specks' sealant (no flats in 1300km!).

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This didn't stay white for long ...

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Day one (Mareeba - Irvinebank, 86km) proved to be a bit of a shock for us guys. It started OK, with all 3 of us making the selection with 6 Czechs from VIG racing, but in the end they proved too strong and we had to let them ride off as the pace was blowing us apart. Tim, Nick and I continued on, but about 25km from the end on one of the rough, washed out descents I lost my front wheel in a rut and went about digging up some dirt with my face. The other guys stopped to make sure I was OK, but the small group we were with got away, and we ended the day a disappointing 15 or so minutes behind.

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It is a long race, so we went into stage 2 (Irvinebank - Koombooloomba, 128km) with higher hopes. It turned out to be an easier day, with a big group staying together until the end, with a break away of 2 Czechs and another single one getting away in the final 1/4 of the stage.

Stage 3 (Koombooloomba - Gunawarra, 122km) we knew was going to sort out the pretenders from the contenders, and it didn't disappoint. The start was very fast, and Tim decided early on to drop back and help Jo who was having a ding-dong battle with Karen Steurs from Belgium for the women's competition. Nick and I lasted a while with the lead group, but in the end we were dropped, and had a very long ride in.

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Stage 4 (Gunawarra - Chillagoe, 130km) was the turning point for the team, as we now knew that a high GC placing was out of the question for us guys, so we decided to throw everything at keeping Jo in the women's GC jersey. We all rode stage 4 with Jo, trying a few times to drop Karen, but in the end it finished in a sprint with the Belgium edging Jo out by the width of a Racing Ralph knob - if only she had been using 2.25 tyres like me!

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Stage 5 (Chillagoe - Chillagoe, 100km) was an out-and-back which on paper should have been an easy day. We decided that one of us could afford to stay up the pointy end and go for a stage win, and that proved to be me as I jumped into an early break which the GC contenders were happy to let go. The break worked well for more than 70km until the games started, and in the end the group of 7 was down to me and Ivan from the almightly VIG team. He attacked on a climb about 5km to go, and it was the 2 of us time trialling it home with him 20 sec up the road. In the end that's how it stayed, and although I was so close to winning I was still thrilled with 2nd place.

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Stage 6 (Chillagoe - Mt Mulgrave, 138km) was a flat boring stage, and all of us rode with Jo in a good size bunch. Luckily we were all around her, as she flatted and I gave up my wheel while Nick and Tim rode her back onto the bunch. After fixing Jo's wheel, I smashed it for 10km to get back onto the bunch, and sat in for the rest of the way to Mt Mulgrave. Luckily for us although the stage finish and camp was in the middle of nowhere, there was a beautiful river to keep us cool in the 40+ heat :)

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Stage 7 (Mt Mulgrave - Laura, 148km) was one of the worst stages, long, sandy, corrugated and very hot (40+ again), but proved to be the highlight for the team. Nick went up the road in an early break and was looking good. Tim and I were riding with Jo, and through the tough sand had put a good gap into Karen and were powering on when we caught Nick who had a flat. Bad luck for Nick, but great for us and with the full team together we managed to put many useful minutes between us and Karen.

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Stage 8 (Laura - Cooktown, 142km) proved how quickly you can fall in stage racing. Things were going well, Jo and the rest of us marking Karen in the bunch, despite their dirty tactics like attacking in the feed zones! Then the hills started, and Jo was quickly going backwards compared to Karen. She managed to get in a bunch ahead of us, which wouldn't have been too bad except that she had 20 Belgiums working for her (some actually waited for her), while we were stuck in a bunch with plenty of parasites so it was up to us 3 guys to drive into the block headwind into Cooktown. It was a bad day, and we lost the jersey plus 14 mintues to Karen.

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Stage 9 (Cooktown - Ayton, 128km) was our last stand, as the final day is a neutral stage, to peg back Karen and get Jo onto the top step. After their dirty tactics yesterday, we thew everything at them, but in the end Karen proved stronger on the steep finale, and we lost more time to the Belgiums.

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Stage 10 (Ayton - Cape Tribulation, 42km) is a neutral stage as it goes along the main coastal road (dirt track) up the cape. It was an awsome way to finish an incredible race, and hitting the beach at Cape Tribulation was a surreal feeling (although you can't swim because of the crocs!)

In the end we didn't have an overall winner, but 2nd place for Jo was still an excellent outcome, and we had got plenty of airtime over the week with the close racing which is why we are really here anyway!

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Thanks to the Merida Flight Centre team and all our sponsors. Lazer helmets and BBB sunnies, for their killer products, Infinit nutrition for keeping us fueled through the toughest conditions known to man and Schwalbe tires for keeping us the most flat-free team in the whole race. Finally a big hand to Paul Traynor for travelling with us fickle racers and bowing to our every wish!

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Typical afternoon at camp Merida Flight Centre

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Although the final stage was neutral there was still plenty of steep climbing to do!

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Ivan "Ivanator" Ryarik of VIG, he's a cool guy and will be staying in Australia for 6 months.

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The team with our hero Jiri, who we always referred to as Maurice (as in the Bee Gees), or Jesus

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Where's Merida Flight Centre?

The last will and testament of AJ

I am sitting at home looking at my packed bags wondering if anything I have in them is going to help me through 1200km of far north QLD outback roads - probably not.

For those not familiar with the Crocodile Trophy let me fill you in: 1200km in 10 stages, all on corrugated sandy roads, temperatures 40+ deg and hoards of ex and current pro Euros ready to smash you into the dust. What have I got myself into?!

The Merida - Flight Centre team will be Tim Bennett, Nick Both and myself. The other 2 guys rode it last year, with Tim picking up 3rd overall, and the plan is to again get Tim onto the steps by the end of the race (preferably the highest one!). Also joining us is Tim's wife Jo, who will be looking to take home a top spot in the women's category (and yes they do ride the full distance).

It is time to get this Blog happening again, so I will be re-launching during the Croc, sending in updates whenever the reception allows. I've heard there is a guy with a 4WD who travels with the race with a huge aerial; reckon it adds value? (Castle, circa 1997)

So if you heard from me again, please be grateful, you'll never know when it might be my last post before i'm taken by a croc at one of the river crossings or simply melt onto my top tube.

World Champs Finale

Firstly my apologies for not posting sooner, but I have been a little under the weather for the final few days of the races. It all started turning pear shaped on the morning of the rest day (Thursday) when I started violently throwing up. Luckily it was only food poisoning and lasted only a few hours, but the rest of that day I had to pretty much lie down and try and eat and drink little bits when I felt I could.

Having eaten a decent amount by Friday morning I decided to start the Long Final, but the signs my body was giving when warming up were less than positive! I started a pretty conservative pace in case I had misjudged how much food I had been able to put away and I hit the wall half way round. I had a quite clean ride, losing only a little time on a dodgy Polish track which is where the eventual winner Ruslan Gritslan (Russia) caught me and I followed him home. Amazingly despite how crap I was feeling I finished the day in 6th place, my 3rd podium from the 3 individual races! I was very disappointed to have caught whatever bug I got, but I can't be too unhappy with how I went in the circumstances.

Saturday (today) was the relay race, and our team of Alex, Paul and myself were looking to move up quite a few places from our unlucky start number of 13. Things didn't get off to a good start with Alex making a big error and losing quite a few minutes to the front teams. Paul rode pretty steady and I was able to pick up a few more places, but I wasn't really feeling much better than the day before and made a single 3 minute error, so finished many minutes off the pace myself. In the end it looks like we were 11th nation across the line.

So I am signing off for now, the banquet and party are soon so it is time to finally kick back. Another point of interest is that I am avoiding my Houdini packing routine for the flight home, as I have sold my Spark to Greg, one of the NZ'ers who lives in Moscow. I fly out of Warsaw Sunday evening and land back in Melbourne Tue morning, so I will be able to catch up with some of you again pretty soon.