A Little Box Of Memories

I was doing a little tidying up recently. 

You know how it goes. You start looking for something in a cupboard but can't find it for all the crap that falls out on top of you. I can't remember what I was looking for now but what I found was a mess. 

In that mess was a couple of old shoe boxes that contained packets of photos. Opening these I was pleasantly surprised to find plenty of motorcycling photos from the '90s. 

Plenty of  some young bloke and a bike.

Some even feature my little bro. Yes, he of The Road To Nowhere fame. 

(some things don't change, eh?!)

Let the embarrassment begin......Stand by, further transmissions imminent.......

Cheers.

The Second Friday Of June - Banff, Canada

Where did the last 12 months go?

 It seems like only yesterday that I was nervously pacing the streets of Banff wondering what the Tour Divide Race would have in store for me. Here we are, 12 months along the road and the streets of Banff are being pounded by many a fretting rookie Divide racer as I type.

Guy Martin has been seen wandering the streets of Banff as well. It isn't often that the words Rookie and Guy Martin can be used in the same sentence! He isn't appearing on the Trackleaders site yet. Maybe a nod to his celebrity status and an attempt at retaining some privacy on his part? Maybe he is running under a pseaudonym? Time will tell.

Dave W and Mick E -2015

There is a great post here on Bikepackers magazine detailing the route, the weather and the riders to look out for in 2016. It covers nearly all you need to know and I highly recommend it as the editor is Neil Beltchenko, 3rd place getter in 2015. He clearly knows his stuff.

To follow along over the next few weeks these are the links you will need -

Trackleaders - The official race tracking site.

Facebook - The official/unofficial page that the racers have been using in their preparations.

MTB Cast - The official site to hear rider call-ins from the trail

Richmond Paek - 2015

I would like to wish all of the Aussie contingent the best of luck this year. There are some strong riders in there and while they might be well prepared, they will also need a dash of good luck into the mix as a 4400km mountain bike ride tends to throw up some curve balls.

Looking over to Fleecer Ridge across the I 15.

So, 8am Friday the 10th of June in Banff (midnight Aust. East Coast Time) isn't far away now. I know where I will be just after midnight tonight and for the next 2-3 weeks!

Cheers.

Team Tortoise And The 24 Hour Race

Last weekend was the annual 24 hour mountain bike race out at Hidden Vale Adventure Park. Moved from it's regular Easter weekend, it gave many more the opportunity to put the hurt on themselves via some cool trails rather than being constrained to consume many "rabbit eggs" at family gatherings, as in years gone by.

I wasn't all that keen to race but Miss 13 was. Being on holidays I really had no ready made excuse to exit the state for the weekend so a Mixed Team of 2 it was!

"Team No Fitness" needed a name, an inspiring name unlike the one opening this sentence. Many were bandied around and after a week of smart-arse suggestions from all and sundry, in desperation, we settled on "The Girl And The Geezer". It very succinctly summed up who we were and put our credentials out there for the world to see!

Our local MTB club, RATS Cycling Club had three father/daughter teams in the 24 hour race. No mean feat and a situation likely to fuel the competitive spirit between the girls.

We arrived early Saturday morning and set our race base up right by the main straight. Again, no mean feat with over 500 riders racing for camping spots.

The race, for those not familiar with the 24 hour format, goes for 24 hours.....that is, you complete laps of the 16km (10mi) course until 24 hours is up, then you finish the lap you are currently on. We had a plan of just rolling around at an easy (sustainable) pace and swapping over at the half way point of the lap. This feature gave Lucy the less technical first half of the lap while I would do the more challenging second half for most of the race. This strategy was used by most teams in the 24.

We (Chris and I) lined up at the rear of the grid so as not to get caught up in the argey-bargey of the first lap. There was also a 4 Hour race starting at the same time, so there were some conflicting mindsets out there, especially on that first lap or two.

If we had been fit and doing the 4 Hour this would have been our view.

The first lap was a shortened version to allow riders to spread out with the use of extra fire road (did I mention that the race is mostly single track?) and then we went out on the first full lap. The girls were waiting until we completed this lap and a half before heading out for their first taste of the trail.

The traffic thinned out quite quickly and lets face it, I was in no great hurry anyway so there was no reason to get by. I had 24 hours to fill in !

This was the time for some mid race chat and banter. One of the topics were the new trails. Hidden Vale has a reputation for having quite rocky trails, which is fine if you are just going for a roll with some mates but in the 24 Hour race format, those same rocky trails beat mere mortals to a pulp. To their great credit, HVAP are in the middle of a huge investment in new trails and these first few, while only rated GREEN are a huge improvement on what was there. 

That said, there is still plenty of the snotty, old school rocky trail to contend with.

A nice mix some may say....

My pardner was having her first real ride on a 29er and a dual suspension 29er at that. She immediately saw the benefits of plush suspension despite the added weight over her usual bike and continued to ride the Anthem into he evening.

I must confess, I only did 3 laps on the hardtail before switching to my 8 year old, 26" wheeled dually as well. While it's efficiency was questionable on the climbs, the comfort factor was worth these losses. Maybe it is time to upgrade to a modern dual suspension bike? After all, they have come a loooong way in the last 10 years.

We rolled around, becoming caked in dust, but enjoying the flow of the new trails. My team mate was ready to go each time I rolled past the tent so there was no time lost in transition.

Daylight gave way to darkness and still my team mate was out there, lapping away. She even put in a full length lap so that I could have something to eat and have a rest!

She came into pit and stated at 9pm that "That is it for tonight". So I headed out for one more circuit while she hit the showers and ate something. I too hit the shower, had a nice cup of tea, kindly provided by our Pit Crew Chief (aka Mum) then hit the hay myself. I had to get back up to find my ear plugs though as the noise and music from the neighbouring tents was still quite lively. Some people were taking this thing seriously!

Having set my alarm for 4am I found it quite easy to bounce out of bed as I was looking forward to the quiet time on the trail that pervades in the pre dawn darkness. Many are having a sleep at this hour and the few riders out on course are taking a chilled approach to racing. 

I rolled around for 2 laps with dawn occurring about mid way through the second lap. Always the best time in any 24 hour race (well, at my relaxed pace it is).

Upon arriving back at the pit my team mate was all ready to go! She was back on the hardtail and raring to get into it at 6:40am! She did another full lap so that I could dine on pancakes with maple syrup, blueberries and greek yoghurt. Maaan, that tasted good.

I came in from a lap at 11:20am to find Little Miss ready to go out again. And not just a half lap but a full lap! It was getting quite hot now and we were secure in our race position, the team trailing us could not catch us, even if we stopped now. Getting this point across took some time as Miss 13 was VERY determined to get out there for one more lap.

Sense prevailed (thanks Mum!) and it was decided that we would roll across the line together to finish that last lap together. I took my race plate off so as no to confuse the timing system.

We both tried to steal a considerable amount of HVAP's topsoil by attaching it to our legs and bikes but sanity prevailed and we washed it off to keep the HVAP elevation consistent with what is shown on maps...

How do I keep my socks so white I hear you ask?

So, despite our relaxed attitude toward the race we actually managed to snare last place on the podium! Now, while my team mate is a regular podium visitor, I must confess that this is the first time ever for my good self and I wasn't sure what to do. Lucy steered me in the right direction though!

The winners were well clear on ummm, lots of laps with fellow RATS CC
members Wayne and daughter Jasmine nabbing 2nd place with 15 laps. Our 3rd place was secured with 14 laps.

A small prize accompanied our medallion. It was some of the ever reliable Ride Mechanic Bike Mix! The very same stuff that kept my bike running smoothly along the length of the Us of A last year in the Tour Divide Race as well as this weekend, despite the thick dust.

We had a great weekend of racing AND camping at the Merida 24 Hour, enjoying ourselves thoroughly. I would like to thank my lovely wife for catering to our every whim, not an easy task with my team mate being her Father's Daughter...if you know what I mean.

Thanks also to Hayden and Fleur Brookes of Hidden Vale Adventure Park for organising such a great event. These guys are responsible for much awesomeness and stoke within the mtb racing scene here in South East Queensland. The Merida 24 Hour, The 3 + 3 and the Flight Centre Cycle Epic to name but a few of the big ones. Without the Brookes efforts the mountain bike calendar would be quite bare.  

Finally, a huge thanks to my daughter, Lucy for making er, asking me to race with her in this 24 Hour. We had a great time, really enjoying ourselves (even when we thought we weren't) right until the finish. It was a pleasure to watch the way she prepared herself for each lap and how she conducted herself in general. It makes this old Geezer really proud.

Thanks to Lucy I now know the sweet taste of victory (or more accurately, second loser but you get the drift).
Who knows, it may make me hungry for more podium.......

Cheers and thanks for reading.

Where Does It Start ?

Earlier in the week Andrew Thomson from Bandit Rider wrote a post about where motorcycling started for him. He added a few early photos (pre colour?) and recounted books that perhaps helped sow the seed. 

One of his commentators reminded me of "The Mouse and The Motorcycle". I recall having this book read to the class by our teacher waaay back in grade 2 or 3 and loving it, what with the active imagination I had back then.

Anyway, in a roundabout way there is a connection here. I happened to be pouring over some old photographs the other day and came across a few of some early motorcycling. Of course, none were of my good self - clearly there were no cameras that far back in time.

I did find this little pearler of a certain Chillertek of "Road to Nowhere" fame whetting his ~13 year old appetite with some backyard-helmetless-frivolity. We.... he didn't need no stinking safety beanie.....

We... he used to valve bounce it up to near Mach 1 along the fence line then tip into that first left hander, all without touching the brakes.
Oh how the front tyre of the mighty Honda 50 used to drift on the wet clover......

It sure was puckering good fun. ;-)


The rest, as they say, is history.

Cheers Little Bro. Nice work.

Cross Border Raiders

I had a call from Chillertek of The Road To Nowhere fame last week. It seems he and a few mates had hatched a scheme for a four day ride that would bring them into my neck of the woods.

"Would I mind showing them around?" he asked. 

Would I mind? Hell no! It would be my pleasure!!

So began a few days of frantic activity around my Yamaha R1. I decided that after three and a half years she needed an oil and filter change as well as a bleed of the brakes, both ends. I gave the gig away back here....

I decided to ride down into New South Wales in my own cross border raid and meet them at Kyogle. From here we would retrace the Summerland Way, past Mt Lindesay, back to Brisbane where the group were staying with Rick, one of Chiller's mates who had recently seen the light and emigrated from Sydney to Brisbane.

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny overcast with periods of serious cloudbursts. Bugger! I hate heading out on a ride into heavy rain. So, I waited a while. I checked the weather radar and saw that there would be showers all morning along my intended route. Bugger! With it being a 2 hour ride to Kyogle and time starting to work against me I suited up and splashed my way out onto the freeway. Once I had crossed the hills toward Beaudesert the skies lifted and I was able to get out of my rain gear. 

I had a nice dry ride down to Kyogle (well, apart from a few light showers and wet roads) where I refuelled and placed myself outside Dave's Bakery to await the Southerners arrival.

I had plenty of time as I was a little early and the lads were a little late. By the time they arrived I was all pied-out.

I sauntered over to meet them as Chiller peeled himself off his new R1. From the grimace on his face, touring on a sports bike is clearly not as easy as it used to be!

The boys were in good spirits and it was great to catch up with my little bro, Geoff  (Triumph Sprint) whom I hadn't seen since Un Zud and to finally meet Rick (Aprillia Tuono), Stu (Aprillia Futura) and Dave (ZX10). They were soon tucking into some of Dave's Bakery's finest, with Geoff stealing the last steak and kidney pie from some unsuspecting tourist! Nice one Geoffrey!

It was then off to the servo to top up the lad's tanks for the push across the border. This was a good opportunity to get a closer look at the new R1.  And to compare it with the very first fuel injected one.

The lads insisted that I lead even though there was no way to get lost, so off I trotted. Not having ridden with them before I wasn't sure what sort of pace to set, especially as the road was wet in places. There were some B grade racers amongst them and I didn't want to hold them up so I set the pace to "holy shit", then backed it off a hair- to allow for the wet. As I don't ride much these days and certainly not in the wet I was more than a little apprehensive about the grip levels of the Michelin Pilot Power Pures that my bike is shod with.

As we got into the twisty section of road near the Queensland border I waved Steve past as I didn't want to spoil his fun. How fast could he go anyway, with the road wet and more moisture starting to drop on us?

Well, it turns out he can go pretty fr#ckin' quick! He was hooking into the wet stuff at pretty steep lean angles that had me marvelling at how good modern tyres are. This had me thinking "Well, if he can do it then so can I. I have the same tyres".......

Only thing is I don't have the same tyres! He is running some stock Bridgestones that came new on his R1. I am glad I didn't know that at the time. They do say that confidence is most of the battle.......

In spite of the rain this was a fun section to ride and it sure was nice to ride with my little Bro again. It was the first time we have ridden together on our own bikes since we toured Tassie back in 2003! Where has the time gone?

We stopped briefly on the Queensland side of the border to regroup then got stuck into the uber-bumpy section of road that passes in front of Mt Lindesay. Steve shot away through here as it was too bumpy and too wet for my poor old worn out suspension to cope.

We also stopped for a quick shot in front of Mt Lindesay itself. It was raining so we didn't linger.

The rest of the ride into Brisbane was pretty uneventful with a coffee stop in Beaudesert then we battled Sunday afternoon traffic in pouring rain for the final 30 minutes or so. I peeled off for home as my tail light had filled itself with water and my brake/park light wasn't working any more and I didn't want to splash my way home from Rick's new place, in the dark, with no rear light.

Monday morning did dawn bright and sunny, looking like a cracking day for a ride. The lads don't seem to go for early starts and eventually I met them on the M1 heading south at about 9:30am. We droned down the motorway for 30 minutes before taking the Nerang turn off.

I had two options for our return trip to Kyogle this morning. They were the road up to Springbrook or the Advancetown road down the Numinbah valley. I figured that the Springbrook road would still be wet as it is a 15km long series of 25-35km/h twisties, under tree cover whereas the Advancetown Road is more open (and a hell of a lot faster if thats your bag). So, we went down the western side of Hinze Dam along the Advancetown Road.

It didn't take Steve long to zip by me through the series of 35-45 km/h bends. It was a pleasure to watch him work as he makes it look so effortless, despite the still damp road.

We continued on up the valley to the old Tick gate crossing, where we stopped for a breather and took in the view over the Mt Warning caldera.

The lads were suitably impressed with the roads and the views.

Having been an El Nino summer with very little rain, it had finally begun to rain in the last 2-3 weeks and things were taking on their normal, green summer state. Something a little unusual for these southerners who are used to dry, brown summer landscapes.

From here Steve MADE me ride his new R1. I knew that the road coming up was narrow, bumpy and wet so I was suitably concerned! He gave me a short rider briefing then jumped on my bike and shot off.

My concerns were well justified as within the first kilometre or so I found out just how insane a modern sports bike is. The ride is ultra stiff, bordering on fully rigid feeling and the power.....the power is INSTANTANEOUS and COPIOUS!

I have never ridden anything with such a light-switch throttle. It is seriously ON or OFF. I was having some difficulty in the narrow, bumpy wet conditions and to be honest, wasn't enjoying it at all. That was until Steve said "Let me put in on Mode 3".

You see, Mode 3 is apparently the wet weather ignition setting. The throttle response went back to slightly more docile than my R1 but the insane power was still there if you wound it on.

Here is Steve asking me if I had tried the flat shifter and demonstrating how it is done......

Yep, just hold it FLAT and shift up. The ignition interrupter will take care of the shifts..........

Needless to say, I didn't take advantage of this chance to explore the engineering advancements since my old R1 ! These things are absolute weapons and no way could I hold it wide open on a public road!! I must be getting old.

Closer look at the fun section.

We had a morning's worth of winding roads to ride but we needed a caffeine break so took the opportunity to imbibe some of the good stuff in the little hamlet of Uki.

I was still trying to come to terms with the power and handling of Steve's R1 compared to my old version. What was glaringly obvious was that my suspension was shot. Fair enough, the bike is 14 years old and I am sure everything is original.

During the conversation it came to light that Rick was driving down to Sydney later in the week with a half empty bike trailer (he was racing Post Classic in the Barry Sheene Festival of Speed). My gears slowly turned over and we hatched a cunning plan. I would send my bike to the suspension gurus in Sydney that Steve had seen for his old R1 suspension upgrade.

The ride out west to Kyogle was far better than I had remembered it. The road was a good mix of fast bends, tight bends, smooth bends and bumpy bends. I think there was straight or two in there but they were bent over a hilltop..... Unfortunately I hit the wrong button on the GoPro and all I got was burst of pictures of the palm of my hand along here. The curse of the GoPro operator stikes again!

The Mt Burrell store looks like a great place to stop for a coffee and feed. I will have to return to find out.

Once in Kyogle again everyone was grinning about the ride as they filled their bikes up and sipped on an ice water. The lads were debating on which way to go back to Sydney and Dave (ZX10) and I both argued for the Bruxner Highway up to Tenterfield. This was agreed on and I hear the guys had a great ride up there as it is quality road with little traffic.

Rick and I however turned north, back along the Summerland Way back to Brisbane. We were home in about 2 hours and I soon had my bike washed and ready to load into Rick's trailer for it's trip to Sydney.

It was great to catch up with my Bro and his mates. I put almost a year's worth of my normal mileage on the R1 in the 2 days and it has definitely sparked a bit more interest in the motorcycle. I am looking forward to heading down to Sydney to pick it up after it's nip and tuck at Teknik Motorsport.

Keep an eye out for the ride report in a month or so, as I plan on joining Steve and the lads for a lap around their (and my old) home roads before I bring it back home.

Steve's write up on his entire 4 day trip can be found here.




Cheers.