Thursday, October 14, 2010

Musical! A Month Late

Had a blast to the past in the school musical production 'Disco Inferno'. After 6 months of dancing and singing rehearsals (which all payed off) the end result was awesome! Kind of like racing with all the adrenaline pumping just before going out onto stage. Anyway, it was loads of fun and so many good memories and new friends that I've come away with. Thanks to everyone who got us to where we ended up.

Here are the only photos I can currently find, for those who weren't able to make it to the performance I will try and get a fair few more so you can see what you missed out on :)


The whole group just before warming up

Backstage... Everyone trying to work everything out

So I will stay true to my word this time and chase up some more photos ASAP!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Late US nationals race report

So I went into this race pretty confident, due to the 2 weeks I had spent with reasonably low oxygen (at altitude), but things were not to go the way I planned after the first time up the ridiculously steep start hill. Had a decent start, 3rd row and not too fussed after my starts in Europe, and was mixing in the top 5 up the hill. This was not to last though, as my throat began to dry out and fill with dust, starting to struggle for oxygen I was getting to lose the wheel in front of me, still a long way to go on the hill, and in the race.

So I decided to just tap away and try to recover from the hard start. Unfortunately that second wind never came and I was slowly slipping back through the field of about 40. Getting as much water as possible, in the neutral feed zone and from dad, and chasing for a wheel I could hold, finding a pair of riders in blue kits whom I sat sandwiched between for the better part of a lap until an unfortunate front flat which needed to be changed. The change went smoothly, guessing it took around 2 minutes and I was back on trying to chase those guys down with the strength I didn't have.

The last lap was just an attempt to stay on the bike going up that start hill and pull back the lad I sighted at the top of the hill, which didn't happen, again because my legs decided it was not to be.

Finished with what strength I had, securing myself an 18th overall. I would like to be able to say it was the unlucky draw of number 666 but really the 17 guys in front of me were faster and deserved the positions they got. Well done Skyler, that was a good ride mate. Hope to be back next year to mix it up again!

Around the corner before the feed/tech zone

Top of the hard climb

Will be back with more photos when I can chase them up from the relatives!

And blogger has decided it won't let me delete the second copy of this photo so I guess I'll leave it there!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Sorry for the wait AGAIN!


Hey everyone, once again sorry to take so long between posts. I'm kind of just using it as a race report page which I guess till works alright. I just got home and have been running around frantically trying to get together everything I need to go on Leadership course tomorrow. So, in 10 days I will be back on with a race report and photos from the US national mtb championships in which I finished in 18th.And it just so happened that the nationals were held on the same day as my birthday, turning 17 this year and maybe starting to get old?! Maybe not.. But here is a photo of the awesome ice-cream cake grandma made for me, to celebrate both of our birthdays (hers is a day before).

It is actually a bike on the hill of brown sugar with little trees and chocolate rocks to make it a bit real!

One more time, sorry for the long waits and I'll try to be more informative when I get back!


Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Wisconsin Pro XCT

Finally we got a hotel with internet on our trip from Wisconsin to Wyoming, because I wasn't able to get into McDonalds for free wi-fi before we left! So here's how the racing went:
Saturday was the main event, the cross country, where there were about 10 juniors in a field of about 80 guys in category 1. The whole category thing was new as well, my licence said I should be racing cat 3 (social) and had to chase down the national coach to email the event organizer to let me race cat 1, which was a good thing! The weather was awesome compared to Germany, about 30 degrees celcius and had rained the night before so the track was nice. My start wasn't so great, even though this time I had a front row spot, couldn't get my foot in losing a fair few spots on in the first 100metres. Was able to reel the spots back, half way through the first lap sitting in about 5th with two of the other juniors, Payson and Will. There is a nice little pinch at the end of the lap and I decided I could wait no longer, and made a move to break away from our small group, turned out my legs were going very strongly because I only saw them at the finish line. The next three laps were spent just siting strong, not making mistakes, chasing down the cat 1 leader and even that eventually happened, half way through the fourth I was on my way past and he asked for a set of allen wrenches, which of course I had a set in my back pocket. So on the way up this hill I passed them over and said to give them back at the end and he did so no loss there! Finished feeling really good, it's always fun to come from an unknown and especially when I was meant to race cat 3!
The photos:

Always smiling :)


Representing the NT and Merida Flight Centre with the lovely ladies I'm travelling with.


On top again, maybe a little too dressed up?


The start line, packed!


Across the finish line

And now to the short course, also a bad start from the front line of the grid, sat in top 5 for a couple laps then decided to have a dig and test everyone's legs again. Not a good idea this time around, blew up and struggled to hold third wheel for the rest of the race, thinking to have a decent sprint at the end, only to come out of the last corner (which was super sketchy) and drop my chain, almost sending me into the tree on the outside! Pulled it back in and finished up 4th, not a bad effort.
A couple photos from this one:

In the front, but nothing lasts forever


And hanging on by the skin of my teeth

Thanks everyone for following and the continual support!!!
Cheers

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Engelberg Swiss Racer Cup

Sorry this one has taken so long to get posted too, have been travelling and getting settled in to the US. The race was muddy, as expected, but a different kind of mud compared to the stuff in Albstadt. Here it was super thick (like pedalling downhill to keep moving) and the short laps meant we did 6 all up. Once again I got a spot near the rear for the start, which I didn't really mind because my starts are pretty good, and this one was no exception. Got up to the top 15-20 by the top of the climb but also true to my style lost too many places on the descent. It went on like that for the whole race which is unfortunate because I was doing really well on the climbs, although losing more places descending than I could make up on the ascents. Another thing was the weather, again the rain played a big role, but this time it was 5 degrees celcius (40 farenheit) and thought my toes would have to be chopped off because of frost bite! Finished up in 31st position this time, out of about 50 I think, but still getting some awesome exposure over here.
And some photos, don't have any from the race because the coaches were doing their duty and manning the feed zones:


Race day - looking up the hill


Snow on the hills


After pre-running the course


Biggest, best sandwich ever made!


Saturday, June 19, 2010

Race weekend - Engelberg

Okay, we are just about to leave for the Engelberg Swiss racer cup which is tomorrow. So far the forecast is 45degrees farenheit which is about 10C and rain! Still looking forward to it though, maybe because no one else is and I can have one up on my mental approach.
Will have another post when we get back on Sunday afternoon
Cheers

Friday, June 18, 2010

Another week down


So this week has gone way too fast for belief, thought we would have lots of time but it seems that was not the case. Hasn't been quite as nice weather this week, it's been raining since Wednesday (and it is Friday now) and pretty cold this morning when we were riding up in the clouds! Have ridden a fair number more awesome trails during the week though and really looking forward to the race this weekend and getting more experience in the mud. Did my activation this morning for the race on Sunday at Engelberg, Switzerland which is about a 3km loop and goes straight up then straight down with over 130m of climbing.

Here is the course profile if you can see it, we are doing the yellow one, should be exciting coming down as well as going up.

Have a few more photos of stuff we saw during the week on our rides and in Freiburg:

Wind power generators at the top of the Rostkoff (not sure how to spell it, a really long hill starting in Freiburg which is below the bottom of the picture)


Random little 'water chime' on the side of the trail, the water spins the mill which moves the little metal thing to ding the bells.


A small sanctuary in the middle of the forest.


Climbing through the forrest.


Fresh bread and jam.. soo good



Wednesday, June 16, 2010

New photos

Okay, the photos as promised:

Warming up


Dropping in


Getting to the bottom, on the bike this time


The one corner I could take with pace


Bike after the race


Shower after the race

First Race

Sorry for taking so long to update the blog on my race, anyway here is my race report:

The race today went well considering the conditions, I started on the back row (out of 50-60 riders) and was in the top 10-15 by the start of the climb. It had started to rain in the morning which wasn't good but I decided it wouldn't be so bad, turns out I was wrong. It was crazy slippery, and the courses here are really steep and the mud is not at all the same as anywhere in Australia that I've ridden. As the race went on the rain came down harder, but by then I had already spent more time on the ground than I really wanted to, luckily in the slippery mud crashing doesn't hurt a whole lot because I went down probably 20 times in the 5 laps! Ended up with a rasberry on my hip and some cuts on my shin, and my knee is still sore I think from bending it the wrong way while slipping/tripping down one of the hills!

Anyway, had a lot of fun racing apart from not staying on the bike, finished 35th, kind of hoping for another muddy race next weekend so that I can get better at riding this stuff!

Have to go riding now, will get some photos up when I get back.

Thanks again for all the support everyone!

Friday, June 11, 2010

Day 3

So it's day 3 now, just did activation ride in the hills this morning, feeling pretty good about the race this weekend which is the Gonso/Albstadt Bundesliga XCO. A bit of rain last night cooled the place off a bit which is good because it's been really humid.
Not much happening other than that, just resting this afternoon, about to clean my bike then maybe afternoon sleep.

The accommodation just outside Kirchzarten


Our new kits

I'll be back on Sunday afternoon from the race and keep you posted.

Cheers

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Finally here

Went for a ride yesterday, definitely loving the trails over here, can't wait for racing. About to go for another ride this morning, it's really nice being able to sleep in too!
Also just want to throw a huge thanks out to everyone who's helped me get over here and get to the point that I am able to be riding at this level!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Onboard

Hey everyone, so this is my first post. I'm sitting in the Darwin airport waiting for my connection to get me one step closer to Germany, where I'll be spending the next couple weeks riding my bike and also doing a touch of racing. Will keep you all updated!
Oh, and thanks to EVERYONE who has helped make this possible (Merida Flight Centre MTB team and all their sponsors, all the local people who also help out, and of course mum and dad!)