mud wrestling with bikes!

You Yangs was the most recent MTB National round held on the weekend.

I arrived in Melbourne on Thursday, met up with Nick and Paul, and drove out to Craig and James place in Warryndyte to ride a dirt crit. We made a few pit stops along the way firstly to our new favourite place - Ugly Moe's for a bite then to our second most favourite place - Greensborough for a coffee - which ended up being for free - thanks Paul! (Paul only asked if their coffee was better than Gloria Jeans across the road - of course they offered us a freebie) After a team decision not to race we did a few laps of the course, which happens to be a great single track on the property and then socialized with the other riders (great red wine - thanks craig)

On friday we left reasonanbly early, had a great breakfast on the way out to meet up with our sponsors at BikeSportz and Bikebox. Thanks again guys - it was a great chance to meet you all and show our appreciation of your support.

After a practice lap of the race course in the rain and a stack from me - again! we arrived at our little cottage 10min away from the race course in a small town of Balliang.

Race day was interesting, Melbourne had its biggest rainfall in over 2 years which converted the freshly graded race village into thick heavy mud. Our race was postponed 30min due to the bad conditions. I had a second row start this time, which resulted in a better start. the first two laps I was sitting comfortably in 3-5th position with Tory and Jenni King, Jo Wall and Jodie werent too far in front and Katherine had already made her move and had a good lead. Heading out into the climb of lap 3 I couldnt clip in my left foot, after looking at the bottom of my shoe I realised that one of the cleat bolts had started to come out, I stopped and tried to tighten it back up with my fingers (as I had lost my favourite caron tool and tool bag!) I managed to tighten it enough to get going again, though after another rock garden which I had to walk the bolt must have fallen out. So the remainder of the laps were interesting to say the least. I lost sight of 4th and 5th position and finished in 6th. I was happy with my result given the little problem.

Our team results • James Peacock – 2nd Under 19• Adrian Jackson – 5th Elite Men• James Kennedy – finished on lead lapped (published results are incorrect)• Nick Both, Paul Traynor and Dave Witney all DNF. Nick had a flat and both Paul and Dave broke the pedal inserts.• Craig Peacock, based on the course conditions and acceptance into the TransAlps decided not to race. Craig played a “support” role in setting up the tents, and feeding etc.

It was a pretty long day out in the cold, though lots of fun. Most of us finished up with no brake pads and very dirty bikes and clothes - but hey thats racing!

Thanks to Craig and his family for the support on the day, Mark from Advance Traders for all your help and Guy from BikeBox for supporting us on the track.

Sunday brought us some good laughs as Nick, Paul, Dave/Mike and I made our way back to Melbourne, were we made some good home made pizzas and had a couple of beers to finish off the weekend.

Next on the agenda is National Champs in Canberra on the 22 Jan

till then Ciao :)

National Round # 2 Illinbah Gold Coast QLD

Well my first experience in a National Round XC race was enjoyable yet very tough!

Tim and I headed over to QLD on Thursday to give ourselves a couple of days before my first XC race. We met up with Nick 'whigger' Both and Paul 'Geezer' Traynor for a few quite drinks at the Burleigh Heads Hotel and then onto some great Indian at a little restuarant called Zulu's.

Friday was spent putting our bikes together, doing a few laps of the course and then we rested up and had our Merida Flight Centre Team meeting. After a few hours of discussion over the year ahead we all had a great night of carbo loading, eating pizza and pasta before heading home for an early night. I didnt get too much sleep, I had those awful pre race nerves and managed a few hours, enough to get me through the next day.

Tim and I decided to head out to the race early with our team mate Craig (as he was racing early) Craig had a great start to his race though broke his chain and ran the last 3km of the lap - still managed 9th place.

I managed a good start after being positioned on the 3rd row (hopefully a better position next race) and made it into the single track fourth wheel, though had a few technical difficulties and had to run up the first climb. Not so ideal but never the less jumped back on where I could and tried to make up for some lost time. By this stage the eventual winner of the day Katherine O' Shea had broke away and had a good lead on the rest of us. The rest of my laps were ok and unfortunalty continued to have a few issues but made a bit of time on the last 2 laps and passed a couple more girls. In the end I finished in 5th position (4th Elite) and was pleased with my first National round. I learnt alot from the race and have a few things to work on. All in all I enjoyed the intensity and can only improve on my result.

On the other hand Adrian Jackson had an awesome race in the mens Elite field and blitzed the other competitors. A storm came through about half way into the race - amazing to watch it come and pass, not so for the guys...there was some pretty amazing stacks in the mud! Dave Whitney placed 4th in the elite mens field which gave him a first in the U23's. Nick Both placed 17th after a few flats and Paul Traynor finished one lap down in the elite men. James Peacock finished fourth in a tightly contested U19 race and Drew Robertson came in sixth in the Veteran Men.

To finish off the day we hung around and watched the four cross event - a great spectacle

Thanks to my lovely husband Tim for feeding us all on the day, also thanks to the support of Tod and Pete over the weekend. As a team we all should be very proud!

Next on the calendar is You Yangs - Geelong XC race #3 on the 13th Dec

till then

ciao :)