Victorian Enduro Series Round 7 - Castlemaine

Round 7 of the Victorian Enduro Series was set to be cracker. Held at Jubberland, a private track just outside Castlemaine, it seemed to pull a big crowd judging by how many people turned up Sunday morning.  

A crisp bright morning bode well for the upcoming six hours plus in the saddle. As ever, Castlemaine Rocky Riders were great event hosts. The Castlemaine terrain is synonymous with rocks; loose ones, sharp ones and big ones, and always presents as a challenge of not only endurance, but technical ability to ride in its entirety.

With a packed racing calendar, injuries and honeymoons it was only going to be Jason Quigley, Will Geor and Llew Thomas contesting this round. Llew took what some may call the soft option and chose to race pairs with Russell Collet. Will made it pretty clear that he felt Llew was racing pairs because he was afraid to go head to head with Will after the previous weeks cyclocross race.

Will kept his usual smack talk to a bare minimum, after the last 2 rounds being disastrous for him even he knew it was best to keep a low profile in the lead up. Jason looked to be moving a little slowly at setup before the race, possibly due suffering a meat hangover after eating his own body weight in BBQ’d animals the day before. Good friend of iRide Bikes and all round good guy Ben Vlass was racing solo today and continues to impress all with his elite tent pitching abilities. He’s also pretty handy erecting a marquee. Life’s always a party when Vlass is around so the day was looking good. With a broken collarbone, Ross had to be content with downing coffees, being pit boss and breaking hearts all over the course helping young maidens with mechanicals. Ross’s injury also gave Vlass a chance to race a 6 hour without the pressure of going head to head with Ross. Vlass’ therapist just pre-payed his 2^nd child’s Xavier College tuition fees off the back of Vlass’ meltdown at Dirty deeds CX round 2.

The race was going to be a le-mans start for something different, this wasn’t met with everyone’s approval.  Will who is rubbish at any sport besides cycling seemed the most upset about having to run, he would later be seen reliving his under 13’s rugby days sprinting from the start line and proceeding to push anyone who got near him outta his way. All the guys got off to a good start, Will thought his start was particularly good until he was informed on the 3^rd lap that everyone who he thought was behind him was actually in front of him.

The rocky and technical course would prove demanding on not only the legs but basically the whole body. Llew and Rusty were smashing out the laps, Llew having a little lay done in one of the easier corners on the course, just to prove he is indeed human. Meanwhile Will and Jason were both laying down solid laps in the solo category. After 4 laps Vlass would have to pull out due a faulty bottom bracket (not purchased from iRide).

At the halfway mark Jason was sitting about 6^th but was starting to pay for his high pace earlier on in the race. Will was about 10 minutes behind in around 11^th but was pacing himself hoping to come home strong. Llew and Russell were still smashing the laps out. By this point Vlass had cleaned up gotten changed and was last seen chatting to the ladies.

In the 2^nd half of the race Jason had a few problems with cramps and was losing time, more than likely due to ‘Meatorama 2011’, the day before and a high pace early in the race. The course had many short sharp climbs that suited Will perfectly; the one man wolf pack was looking strong and storming home. Will’s plan of slowing things down in the first few hours was paying dividends that an accountant like him would get moist over. Llew and Russell were still smashing the laps out, all the way to 6^th in Male pairs.

Will rolled through transition at the 5 hour 55 minutes, smashed a coke, said a few choice words and went out for what would be a painful last lap, made even more painful by having smashed the previous lap out in order to get back in time to do a 6^th lap. Meatorama finally got the better of Jason when he rolled into transition at the 5 hour 53 minutes mark and had to pull the pin. Despite this Jason still managed an awesome 9^th place. If he can keep away from the BBQ’s look for Jason to do big things come 24 hour race season. Will rolled through at the 6 hour 37 minutes mark having done 10 laps to finish 7^th, stoked to get a good result on the board after the last 2 enduro races.

Big thanks to the organizer and volunteers for what was a great race. Shout out to Ross as well for the support and cheering over the day.

See here for full results

http://rockyriders.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Castlemaine6hrFinal.pdf

 

A Sunday in Hell.

Round 3 of the Dirty Deeds CX series was back to its homeland of the Brunswick Velodrome. Much like the previous round Llew Thomas continued to shock everyone by arriving on time and Will Geor arriving late but this time admitting that it was entirely his fault.

Team member Ken Moore was out for this race due to getting married back in his homeland of Canada. As is the tradition in Canada a grizzly bear was the minister for the ceremony. Friend of iRide Matthew Zagorski was bought in to replace Ken for round 3.  Zigga has spent the last 10 months living in the mountains on his special high altitude training program so many were interested to see what he would bring. See the below video for an example of Zigga’s Training program.

Team leader Ross Wilkinson was out of action this round due to a broken collarbone. The collarbone may have been a blessing in disguise for Ross as he was tired from having spent the previous day signing autographs with Will at Ausbike. It also gave him a chance to indulge his passion of heckling. Many a rider has suffered under the sharp tongue of Ross Wilkinson and today would be no different.

The usual smack talk with going around before the race, Llew seemed to be feeling confident after narrowly beating Will last round and had the smack talk to go with it. Monza’s own Dan Moore was also a last minute recruit to the team for the race, providing Ross with another person to bear the brunt of his sharp tongue.

By the time A grade was lining the up for the start the track was a mess with some long stretches of deep mud which would later reduce grown men to tears. Things were looking pretty serious in the starting line for the team except for Mikkeli who is always smiling. Zigga was looking to bring the noise whilst Will hadn’t said much all day and was focused on handing Llew his ass on a mother fucking plater. There is a little bit of a back story here but a week early at a State round of the Victorian Mountain bike series at Castlemaine Will was leading the race only to flat then have Llew go on to take the win while Will was left questioning his inept mechanical skills. To say that Will meticulously checked his bike over before today’s race would be an understatement.

This round start would prove more difficult than previous rounds with the start being just before a very long stretch of deep mud. Mikkeli as usual got a fast start but it was Dan who was causing jaws to drop by taking the hole shot then getting a decent gap on the field on the 1^st lap. Llew and Will both got caught in the mess that the pack trying to get through the first mud section. Zigga was somewhere between Mikkeli and Llew and so far finding CX to be very satisfying.

Dan and Mik getting a considerable gap on the field during the first lap.

By the 2^nd lap Dan realized that his legs possibly weren’t in the same condition as they were during his pro roadie days and started to drop positions like dollar bills at a strip club. Will and Llew were both working hard to make up for their poor start.  Will was working so hard in fact that instead of slowing down to dismount he decided that simply jumping of his bike at full speed onto concrete and sliding on his feet was a better idea.

Not long after this Zigga hit a wall from which there was no coming back from. This was a rare sign of weakness from Zigga and details are sketchy as to the causes but some say he did look a little distracted during the race. Could it have been the 4 hour drive in the morning from Mt Beauty? Could it be the thought of driving 4 hours back to Mt Beauty? Or was it just the thought of getting knee’s deep in clunge before the 4 hour drive home that had Zigga off his game? We will never know.  Will was the first to pass Zigga and couldn’t believe his eyes. When Llew got onto Zigga’s wheel he knew that he was getting a gift from the gods and must give it his all to capitalise the momentous opportunity. So much so that he got a little eager and almost took them both out on a corner.

Lew and Zigga bangin bars mid corner.

The Hell Krew were out in force per usual with most riders coping ass slaps and being sprayed with beer as they went past. Will who suffers from the crippling disease that is celiac’s (wheat intolerance) made sure he was hauling ass through this section, not wanting to cop any beer and be left looking for a toilet after the race while vomiting. Another possible reason he was moving so quick through this section is that he is a massive homophobe and didn’t want to be a part of anything that involved a man touching another man. For whatever reason he was looking strong mid way through the race and was putting time into Llew.

Will trying to get through the Hell Krew's gauntlet unscathed.

With the race having settled, positions stayed much the same for the remainder. Results aren’t out yet but results look better for the boys then previous rounds. Mikkeli lead the boy’s home with Will not too far behind then Llew, Dan and Zigga.

As always the Jamis Nova’s equipped with SRAM  rode great. Whilst today was sunny the ground was very soft and muddy providing a course that was testing on equipment.  The bikes were able to handle it no problem and after a clean are running sweet and ready to go again.

Big thanks must go out to Miss iRide Catherine who looked after the boys and provided plenty of cheering and support during the race.

Thanks must also go to Dirty Deeds who organized a great series that has proved to be a hit. There is a lot of people are already looking forward to the 2012 series.  A big thanks must go out to all the photographers who were out on course, you guys don’t get thanked enough but speaking from experience there is nothing better than finding a rad photo of yourself after a race and putting it on the back of your toilet door, cheers guys!

Specialized Cyclocross Melburn - Round One

A great Vid filmed by our own Mikkeli Godfree at Specialized Cyclocross Melburn - Round One