BOZZA'S BLOG

2012

2012-01-26T15:40:00.000-08:00

Things are happening in Bozza Land.

Stay tuned and try not to get to wet in SE QLD.

WOW What a year.

2011-12-20T01:11:00.000-08:00

Well once again sorry for my lack of posting.

Riding wise: due to my new job, training rides have been few and far between. I have been managing to scratch about 100km a week which is a far cry from where I be.

Racing wise:
Gatton 4hr. me and Zack came third

Dusk til Dawn 12hr: Best mate Al and me took out 2nd in a mixed pair. Woop

Garrapine 4hr: Me and Zac once again teamed up. this race was really fun with some tight racing for the top 3 team. on the second last lap we managed to pull away with the Win. woop woop 1st

Last race of the year saw me and Ethan team up and this was the Karingal 4hr. the racing here was fast and i was a little out of my depth. It was a close race for third place between us and Zack and Dean. In the end it came down to me and Dean. i went out with about a 15 second lead and rather then flog myself to death I sat up until Dean caught up. after some discussion we decided it was only fitting that we cross the line equal third. WICKED.

I have alot of poeple to thank for my year of racing and for helping through out the year.

Ay Up for making the most reliable and lightest lights. Keep an eye on the website there is some sick stuff happening in Ay Up land.

Silverback for some pretty sweet bikes. especiallly my 29er freaking awsome.

Osprey: these bags are freaking awsome every single one of them they are regarded around the world as one of the best.

Compressports: for the super comfortable compression garments.

KWT: for helping me out with all things tyre related and any other coll stuff i needed.

FTR :[For the Riders] these guys have always been there if I have ever needed anything. Thanks to Tim and his team.

Pedal Power Plus in Gympie: Dave has been helping me right from the start. Thanks heaps Dave I will be in for a coffee soon.

Shotz Nutrition: I was lucky enought to meet Darryl from Shotz at Mountains to Beach. Since then I have been on Shotz products for all my racing and training. Shotz has been great to race on and I am looking forward to racing on it next year. Thanks heaps guys. also if your keen to sample some they do a sampler pack.

Last and definatle not least the Ay Up racing Team: With the forming of the team this year i have been lucky enough to race with all the young lads and watch them get faster and closer to achieving there dreams.. I also get to race with that old guy Fellows LOL but he's fast too. For those of you that dont know about the Ay Up racing team its the brain child of Andy Fellows and is aimed at helping young riders.

Thanks to all who read this web space and i will do my best to keep it updated.

Merry Xmas and see u in 2012.

Silverback 2012

2011-08-31T02:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.silverbacklab.com/brand.htm

Check out the 2012 line up, Silverback is surely going to turn heads next year. Cant wait to get on the full carbon Surplus 29er

Catch Up

2011-08-29T23:48:00.000-07:00

Well as you can see it has been a while between drinks.

Basically since the 3 ring circus myself and my girls have all been really sick. I tried racing the Flight Center Epic and at the 45km mark made the painful choice to ditch my epic and settle for a recorded time in the half epic instead. since then I have only ridden twice.

On top of all that I have taken on a new job. Hopefully over the next few weeks I can start getting healthy again and get some solid base km in. Might even attempt the D2D.

Stay tuned: I have been using Shotz products of late and a review will be up soon.

Circus photos

2011-08-02T01:13:00.001-07:00

Dont ask me about this one. I need my name written on my jersey so I dont forget.

Al and Crummy been along time since we have seen the Crummy. Great to catch up mate

Andy and mysefl after the night performance. Ay Up

Stay tuned report to follow

Off to the Circus

2011-07-27T13:24:00.001-07:00

Road trip to the 3 Ring Circus.

The circus is put on by the Wildhorizon the group that give you Mountains to Beach and the Highland Fling. Its been along time since I have had the opurtunity to race down here. The Circus is a 2 stage format with a 20km night stage Saturday followed by a 50km day stage Sunday and 1000 odd poeple entered should make for a great weekend.

Go Ay Up

Avanti 6hr 2011

2011-07-05T04:28:00.000-07:00

Well after 2 weeks of racing bikes I was running low on brownie points and decided I was not going to race the 6hr, but Zack and Ethan were racing a 3man team and ended up a man short 3 days out from the race. After a quick plead to the minster of war, piece and finance I was given the go ahead to race. Woop Woop

As you know I don't often race in a team and I have never raced with these lads. I knew from the Parkland session we did last month that the lads were very fast and I would have to be on it to do them proud. The Bekkers family loaded up the Vito and headed down the Hway, we arrived at Canugra, perfect clear skies and a pretty warm morning greeted us. I didn't get a chance to do a whole practice lap but I have raced here alot before and wasn't to concerned. Zack and Ethan arrived and the team was complete. Captain Dave and Ethan parents were there also, Captain Dave basically ran the team throughout the race, he kept track on laps times and when riders were due back through pits. I was voted in to do the first lap, I found myself standing along side Dave Whitney, nothing like some pressure straight up. It wasn't my cleanest start off the line, I pulled my cleats 3 times in 50m. RUBBISH

By the first hill I got myself back up to 5th and for the remainder of the lap this is were I stayed, i came into pits slapped the number on Ethan bike and he was away. This was rather foreign to me, stopping. Capt. Dave informed me my first lap was around the 19min mark. Ethan came through on about the 20min mark and Zack pretty much the same on his lap. All I could think was wow these lads are in there teens and just about smashing my times, I really need to step up my training. 1hr in and we were sitting 1st in our Category and 3rd outright. My next two laps were OK just kept running into traffic on the course, everyone on course were great at letting me pass and i managed to sneak past most people with no real hold ups. Zack and Ethan said they had the same for these couple of laps also. My last 3 laps i was quite happy with, I managed to rip them back under the 20min mark and i aslso caught sight of the 2ND outright. I caught up to 2ND and just tagged his wheel for most of the lap just before we got to transition i got a very small gap and got Ethan out on course and we were in second outright. Ethan set a cracking pace and although slipping back to 3rd whilst on his lap he showed some good grit and determination to keep within 15 seconds of 2ND outright. Zack went out and smashed his lap also, Zack didn't gain to much ground by then end of the lap but once again he dug deep and kept us within 15 sec of 2ND.

My last lap: by the end of the first set of switchbacks i had caught 2ND and went on to smashed it all the way to transition, once again the boys dug deep for there last laps. Team Ay Up end up 1st in cat by 2 laps and 2ND overall. Well done lads and I appreciate the invite to smash the race with you both.

Having a proud Dad moment now, the best thing about the race was I got to see both my girls race there first ever race. I had brought there bikes down and when they heard there was going to be a race for them i saw them practicing around the paddock. We lined them up on the start line. They started and climbed the hills like little machines. Well done girls.

Catch you on the next post

Later

Bike Fit

2011-07-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

Well for the past 3 years I have set my own bike up, adjust this here, tweak that there until it felt about right. Since having my 29er although it's unreal to ride I couldn't get it quite right. For the Tailwind 8hr I had it feeling pretty good, well so I thought.

I went into FTR [For the Riders] the other day, while I was there Tim had a look at my bike and questioned the set up, after a brief discussion about my choice of set up it was pretty clear that a bike fit would be in order. If nothing else I just wanted to see how much better it could be. A very good friend of mine Al had here bike set up by Tim a couple of weeks back and said it was an improvement a Thousand fold.

Below is a clip of my own position on the bike, there were a few stand out problems, my reach to the bars, seat height and the angle of my back was another stand out.

From here Tim could pick some changes without even going to the computer, getting the bars lower and bringing the length of my stem back to 90mm was to be the most dramatic change. Tim started with positioning my cleats in the optimal position and then went on to make me look like a crash test dummy by positioning Velcro dots on my foot,ankle, knee, hip shoulder and wrist. Only one side of your body gets measured at a time. Tim told me that most people are very different from one side to another surely I won't be an exception. As it turned out I am not to Mogny. Whilst your on the trainer the computer has a stick figure of you riding and puts all the data into a spread sheet highlighting the keys areas that need tweaking.

The next clip shows my position after 2hrs of tweaking and adjusting.

I guess it's up to you to decide whether you can see any major changes but if you look at my reach to the bars, leg extension and bar height you can see a difference. For me the bike fit has been awesome, I feel very comfortable on the bike and after some rides over the last couple of days its become clear that it has been well worth it, after racing Canugra on the weekend climbing and descending seem alot better too.

My suggestion to you guys and girls is, if you have thought about getting a proper bike fit done and did what I did " Hmmm maybe one day" I would strongly suggest getting it done. I believe I have been riding with alot of unwanted issues due to my lack of knowledge on setting up my bike. Tim from, For the Riders http://news.fortheriders.com.au/ is more than happy to answer any questions u my have.

I think it's one of the best things I have done to improve my riding.

Monkey off My Back

2011-06-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

Last weekend saw the last race of the QLD Enduro series, the 8hr. As you know my past few races have been anything but good, mechanical and the 24hr I saw aside of myself I would rather forget. So the plan leading into this race was to punch out 11 laps, and above all have fun and finish.

Race day came around really quick, when we got out to the course Sunday morning it was nice 2 degrees or something none QLD like that. From doing a practice lap the day before I knew it was going to be a rough course and although I had my dually there ready as a spare I was determined to ride the 29er and not let myself throw a race due to lack of time on a bike. I started back off the front and rolled through the first part of the course which would eventually turn into a Muddy pit, once at the first climb I decided to stay up in the gears and keep a little pace up, Clint Peirce was riding in front of me and from previous races I knew he was in good form. Having done alot of training on a single speed in the past and even now on the road bike now knowing that I climb out of the saddle on every hill, this was to be my approach for the entire race keep it in the big ring and climb every hill out of the saddle. SS roots.

As the race went on Clint kept opening up a lead and on the 3rd lap he bolt away, at this stage of the game I had no intention of chasing him down and I concentrate on keeping my lap times consistent and keep my nutrition right, I seem to always fall down in the nutrition department when it comes to racing. Kel pit crew expert kept me informed of my laps times and gap to the next rider, Mickers thanks for throwing me some splits as well. Every lap I kept increasing my lead on third as did Clint from me. The Segma 29er was great to roll on the course and handled everything that I could throw it over, but like everyone else on the course the it was punishing on the hands and arms, for the last few laps I was literally peeling my hands of the grip so I could stretch my hands out especially at the end of Rock Bottom.

All up for the race: My 29er was a weapon on the course, I got my target of 11 laps and depending on whether you use your garmin or the lap detail this equates to either just over or under 160km in 8hr 1min for me. STOKED. My average for the race was 19.4km another victory. !st in Opens and 2nd outright, a special mention goes to Kel, she crewed for 4 or 5 of us the entire race and as always had our gear ready to go.. Thanks heaps Kel. Pearso, Mikey and Richard rode well and Al coming over the line 4th and taking out 3rd in the series. Congrats to you all. Team mates Andy and Nathan took 2nd in the pairs category, Go team AY UP.

Rumour has it next year there will be a 5 races series.

Afeter some consistant weeks of training things are looking up fro getting some form back.

Keep the rubber down

Tailwind Promotions Super series Race 3

2011-06-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

Team Launch

2011-06-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

Well life is finally starting to settle into a routine which means my riding and training is becoming more consistant Woop Woop. But for some exciting news the Officail launch of the Ay Up racing team is this weekend, so keep your eyes pealed for the boys rocking the tracks.

Osprey Transporter

2011-05-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Ok so it's been a little while since I gave you a review on some Osprey gear.

Over the past couple of months I have had the oppurtunity to try some of Ospreys gear, I want to show you this awsome little bag. They come in a couple of different size pack but this travel pack wieghs in at a touch over 800grams, it folds up to about the same size a small football and once open it has a a large center compartment with two smaller end pockets.

So I guess your wondering what sets this little bag aside from all the brands out there? Well not only do you get a well manufactured bag but it comes with it's own shoulder straps that are easily attached by two quck release buckles. Even chockers the bag still feels comfortable on your back.

Once again osprey has created a very practical bag that looks great and is super versitle. Apart from my Talon pack that I ride to work with, I use this bag all the time and carry all my mountain bike gear in it when I am packing up for those little adventures or even to a race. I have noticed more and more shops getting the osprey gear in and in alot of cases it is out doing other leading bags and hydration packs. http://www.ospreypacks.com/ get on and check it out you won't be diappointed.

Later

2011-05-23T16:10:00.001-07:00

Silverback is the new kid on the block as fare as bike manufactures go but, there already making an impression on the Australian mountain bike scene. The Segma 29er in Silverbacks range is fast becoming a popular model.

What do you get straight out of the box? German engineered Alloy frame, Reba Sl forks, ZTR wheelset Tubeless ready, XT 10 speed drive train, Silverbacks own brand bars, stem and post. The only real draw back for some people would be the SLX brakes but, when you add it all up you get a race ready bike for $3000. It’s a very competitive bike build and price.

My own bike has been has had afew upgrades, it runs full XTR 2X10 with RavX carbon stem and post and a set of orange Esi grips thrown onand I have a secret weapon on the xc endurance scene.

To the ride: I have never ridden a 29er before this one, so being on big wheels was going to be a massive shock to the system, at least the impression I had. After some tuning around the backyard it was time to hit the trails, I head to Bunya in Brisbane for a bit of testing. Straight into the first bit of single track the Segma felt right at home. I was amazed by how agile the bike handled through every twist and turn. Having bigger wheels the tree rooted sections and rock gardens were almost effortless to tackle. Descending I didn’t feel at a disadvantage being on the Segma 29er and climbing was great, having a bit more rubber on the track definitely helps with traction. I felt well balanced over the bike also.

Last weekend saw me race it for about 14hrs at the Merida 24hr. The bike was comfortable all the way through and it almost felt like cheating on the fire road sections I almost felt bad for the other competitors riding micro wheels [26 inch]. During the race I was asked whether I felt any fatigue from being on the Alloy frame apposed to being on a carbon. To be honest I don’t really know last year saw me racing a full carbon dual suspension this year a 29er hard tail Alloy. I felt I could have ridden it for the entire 24hr and still had smile on my face.

To sum it up: The Segma 29er is a ready to race bike straight out of the box at a competitive price. On the XC scene, this will bike will do it all and I don’t really run into anyone else on the trails that has one either. Rumour has it theres going to be a carbon version out fro 2012.

Can’t wait for it.

Merida 24hr 2011

2011-05-15T23:57:00.000-07:00

I was wanting to have a good crack a the Merida 24hr this year and although my race prep was not great I still had high hopes for a good result.

From the start I was riding the 29er, it was a bit of a weapon on the OHV course. The conditions were perfect after having so many wet races or having them called off it was great to get a mostly dry course apart from two boggy spots. I rode well for the first 8ish hrs and was sitting top 5 somewhere. I think from here mentaly I lost mental drive to race through a 24hr, I stopped got off my bike and in my mind that was that. I have never felt like that before and I felt guilty for stopping. I think it's only fare to everyone to let you know that over the past 6month we have moved house twice and the last move was the weekend before the race. I didnt prepare myself well enough for this race.

All that aside I got to see Richard and Al very good friends of mine complete there first ever 24hr, with Al getting a 3rd, well done to you both. It was a different aspect of 24hr racing stepping off the bike and watching everyone roll around the track. In the early hours of the morining I decided to hit the track once again and had a ball, Ay Ups blazing through the trail, I really do enjoy night riding. Then hit the sack for some sleep.

Around 8 sunday morning, I was standing in the coffee line, Kiri turned around to me and said I should get out and get afew more laps in. By the time Kiri had got back to the tent with the coffee I was changed and ready to roll. Kiri said I was still sitting about 10th so my plan was simple, go out and have fun. turned out after horus off my bike my legs wetre feeling great i manged to smash some sub 50 minute laps which dragged me back up into a top 5 position.

Like I not how i want to race a 24hr but some valuable lessons learnt. Where to from here? well while i am still busy getting our life sorted and into a routine i am going to focus on the 8hr coming up, post that i will try and focus on a big race towards the end of the year.

Look forward to seeing you on the track and once again congrats to all the raced the 24hr and acheived there goals.

Thanks to all my sponsors and last and very much not least My support crew, Kiri you did a amazing job of keeping me alive and thanks heaps Mikey for your help and Hamburgers.

later

Merida 24hr photo

2011-05-15T23:28:00.000-07:00

Rolling out of transition during the 24hr on the Segma 29er.

5th in open solo.

Report to follow

29er Ay Up Team Issue

2011-05-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a bit of bling for your eyes.

I have never really ridden a 29er before this one and wasn't to sure if i would even like it. That was soon put to bed as soon as i rode it in some single track. to be honest I really couldn't tell the difference between riding this and riding my normal small wheeled version. LOL

My not so secret weapon for the looming 24hr

later

Pre 6hr

2011-04-11T01:27:00.000-07:00

Before the destruction of my bike. Mike took some good pic will post a little later

6hr Race #2 of the Enduro series

2011-04-11T00:36:00.000-07:00

Pictures worth a thousand words, up until this happened I was sitting in the top 3/4 and had found my groove for the race. My Surplus matched with Onza Tyres was great for tearing through the mud. This was an all to familiar seen from the race and for me I am personally happy with how raced even if it was cut short. Time to focus for the 24hr next month. Bring it Well done to everyone that race in those condition you deserve a medal. In particular AL congrats 3rd in open women's is outstanding and the AY UP lads your guys were killing it. Thanks to: AY UP racing Team FRF[Silverback bikes] AY UP Onza Osprey Aussie butt cream[ pretty obvious really]

Pedal Power Plus

2011-04-06T16:28:00.000-07:00

As like most people and businesses in QLD and other states earlier in the year, Dave shop was severely effected by flooding. Even after a massive clean up and moving stock by Dave and Jacob and other people that know Pedal power plus, there was still alot of work that has too be done to fix up the floor space and shop before Dave could fully get underway with business again. Dave not being one to dwell on things outside of his control saw this as an opportunity to give the shop a face lift.

As you can see the shop has had a complete change around with the display cabinet being moved up the back of the shop and this had left more space for bikes and gear for us to drool over. Well done Dave the shop is looking great.

Dave does alot to support the local biking community around Gympie and has supported me from the very first 24hr solo I ever went in. Dave continues to support me now with my new training bike [ Giant TCR ] to help me out with my commute from Bribie Island to Brisbane Airport. If your ever in Gympie and need so gear or good advice drop in and see Dave at Pedal Power Plus.

Thanks heap for your continuous support mate.

If your in the Gympie area Ay Up will be in town in May to run a night ride. Get your name down on a list at Pedal Power Plus to book a set of demo lights, Stay tuned for the date.

Onza Tyres

2011-04-04T16:25:00.001-07:00

If your not on them you dont know what your missing. Super grippy tyres I have raced these in just about all conditions and terrain. Never had a flat with the tubeless. What more could I say: they are WICKED Thanks KWT

Silverback Surplus 2 Review

2011-03-25T01:43:00.001-07:00

As you know I am on a different bike for the 2011 season. As hubcap has told me in the past you never even change your toothpaste before a race, but how about a whole new bike and on top of that going from a dual suspension back to a hardtail before a race that's in another state. Well that exactly what happened the day before I flew out for Mountains to Beach.

Da Bike: My Surplus 2 is a full carbon frame that is designed in Germany. It has a set of Rebe Rlt up front with Xt wheelset. Drivetrain is XTR 20 speed [this stuff is so nice to use], XTR brakes and after some tweaking to my own liking I am running a set of monkey light bar with Esi grips and my to finish my favorite tyre, Onza Canis. As with most top end race bikes they all look the goods so what sets Silverback apart from the rest? At first glance they look racey and the graphics a pretty appealing, you can still see the intricate weave of the carbon as you look over the frame and unlike some carbon bikes it doesn't have that real boxy balky look.

Stay tuned for the ride report.

My Race Face

2011-03-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

A picture is worth a thousand words.

I'm stuffed and Andy is ready to go again. LOL

Best race ever, book yourself in for next year

Reviews

2011-03-17T01:31:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned reviews to follow

MTB Day 4 and 5

2011-03-15T02:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry been super busy this whole last week.

Day 4 90km race stage with a 40km cruise/ hill stage. It started nice and fresh at Cooma I was a little worried about how my ribs would hold up but what the hell. The race started with a lap of the Cooma race course and the first man and women across the line would get a prize. So once the race got underway there was some foxing going on amongst the bunch, basically I was going to hug Andy wheel then just before the line go for it. Great plan hey. I got three quarters around the track and when it was time to punch it I had nothing the legs weren't keen to play at all.

After we left the race course the next 30km were all fire road, everyone knew that the best place to be was up the front and try and break away before the wall at the 30km mark. The pace was on from the start well for me it was LOL but, after the 10km mark everyone was kinda strung out over the country side. For me this was good I was sitting up the front with Andy, Garry and David thanks to Andy helping me out, after that we hit the wall, it was this fire road type climb that just seem to go on for ever with water bars dotted all the way down. Until this day no one had ever climbed the whole thing without stepping off there bike. Andy was the first out off all before him to master the climb. Congrats mate.

After the climb we crossed down through paddocks and into another farm where the one and only feed station was set up. 40km mark. Bart Hickson came sailing past me at this point and although I was keeping him insight for a while but I couldn't drag him back. I did the rest of the stage on my own. The country side we were riding in was amazing, so super long climbs backed up with some super descents. I came over the line 5th and super happy with my ride. Once again Andy dominated the field and won the stage.

The cruise stage started at Yowie [ where thats right in the middle of nowhere] from here we cruised for 40km into bermigui, we got sorted on our accommodation and then straight to the fish and chip shop. Best fish and chips ever.

Day 5:

Last stage and with 1 minute and a bit between me and Scott from GSC it was going to be 50km with the throttle wide open. The stage started under police escort and Hews car until we hit the paddock. From here it was a dash across leg zapping grass until we hit the Bermigui dirt surfers trails. This was great single track, the track had everything at this stage Scott was right behind me and even though I was trying hard on the single track my ribs were not happy. Scott waited for the perfect spot to attack and I had nothing to respond, a couple of corners later I was once again off the bike. This stage was split into 2 because of the tide and beach access or lack of it, there was an time unraced section, basically you had 30 min to get to the start of the last 30km. By this stage Scott had put another 1 minute into me. 2.5 minutes down.

Andy had a quick chat with me and like he said have a crack at every hill and I might just drag it all back. The paddock we were riding through here were freshly cut and after about 500m my rear derailleur was choking with grass. Richard from anytime fitness had the right idea and was busting out this stage on his SS. No problems with grass for him, a couple hundred meters again and then once again I had to stop and rip out grass. Ok so by this stage of the race all I could think was I have had quite abit of bad luck. Then over the next hill and round the corner I saw about 3 or 4 people that ripped the derailleur's clean off the frame due to the grass. To my surprise one of them was Scott, hey was in the process of putting a new derailleurs hanger on his bike. This was my only chance to gain some time back, then next 30 km consisted of grass paddocks, on and off beachs and running up stairs. I smashed about 4 gels into me on this stage and didn't look back. By the time I got onto the last beach to the finish I was stuffed., at this stage Richard handed me a soft drink best thing ever. Scott came over the line only minutes behind me.

I managed to finish 4th over the line for the last stage, my best result of the whole week.

I just want to say this race is amazing, super well organised event, great country side and a heaps of fun. Thanks to Garry and Richard, great meeting you and already looking forward to the next race you guys are at. [ Thanks for the lift to Canberra to Richard]

As always thanks to the people that made it all happen for me

Ben from Osprey hydraulics: everyone that used one of these packs at the race Loved it, including me.

Ay Up: for the best lights ever, bright and reliable

Onza: heaps of grip and I had no flats the whole time

Silverback bikes: considering I have never ridden this bike before the race I am super stoked with how it performed.

Infinate for keeping me going.

Aussie butt cream for the obvious reasons.

Compressports: I rode in this gear on the long stages and for recovery. It really helped with the muscle fatigue.

Day 3 MTB

2011-03-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

So day 3 starts with the Ay Up dawn raid at 5:15am, the loop was about 14km long around a dam, the loop had some big ruts and afew hills to keep you honest, no real single track and couple of sandy corners.

So the plan, because these little pegs of mine are not made for sprinting I thought the best plan of attack was to hang in the top 5 for the first lap then hopefully wind up and take a podium position, being a Ay Up rider this would have been great. The coffee van at the start of the race was under the pump it was freezing. I got into a good position for the start and after a couple of minutes it was on. I found myself in the top ten to the first corner, afew early attacks by people didn't faze me to much, just kept the legs turning and stick to my plan.

lap 1 complete sitting in 5th sweet, I knew the guys in front weren't to far away so on the first little climb I upped the pace and got away from the guys I was with and kept the pressure on. All was going great until a slip in concentration or plain bad luck washed the front wheel out from under me. I had put my hand out to break my fall but managed to land over a rutted section and instead of my hand breaking my fall it was my ribs that took the blow. For what seemed like ages but was probably only a minute I had winded myself and as you could imagine my ribs and hip was killing me. Lloyd road past just as I got my breath back and asked if I was OK, I responded yes let them ride past and then HTFU got back on the bike and pushed as hard as I could to finish. Along the way I noticed my back break felt really weird. I got over the line in 10th. Pretty stoked all thing considering.

I thought I had buckled the back wheel but upon closer inspection, I had actually moved the whole rear brake caliper hard up against the disk when I crashed. I must have hit the ground hard. Now post race I had damage to my ribs and trying to get to a doctor to confirm it is a joke, from what people are telling me they are fractured.

After breaky it was time to do the 40km cruise stage. The cruise stages are compulsory stages that must be completed by every rider, if you pull out of any stage or don't make it by the cut off time then you DNF, so for me there was nothing left to do but get on with the job. Pretty uneventful really road 40km across paddock, road and fire road all the way to Cooma. Bring on with day 4.

One of the highlights of the morning stage was seeing the amount of people that had never tried night riding before, come and borrow some lights off Ay Up and give it ago. By the time they came over the line they were completely converted into night riding.

Pretty satisfying really.

Day 2

2011-03-08T20:55:00.000-08:00

I was rather concerned about day 2 starting at the top of Perisher because we woke up to the wind punishing our accommodation at 3am. Anyway had breaky and headed up the ski tube once at the top we were greeted with 5 degree temp and a wind chill factor of cold. Andy said it would be cold for a bit then warm up after we got down the mountain but, on the start line with rain threatening this QLD mtb rider donned the jacket.

Well the mountain traverse stage from Perisher to Buckenderra lived up to it's name. By then end we completed a bit under 90km with about 1800m of vertical ascent. For all you Qld folk that like doing Mt Nebo it was Nebo twice at race pace. I really don't know how to describe it, you start in alpine forest and end up down on farmland. From the get go there were about ten guys that were out to make a statement, after 5km I was dropped by the lead bunch, I didn't let this bother me knowing that there was going to be alot of climbing ahead of us. The first feed station was about 20km into the stage and Ben from Osprey told me the guys were about 5min ahead of me. By the time I got to the bottom of the gully the bunch was insight and then the climbing begun. Over the climbing part of the course I manged to get past afew guys, knowing that towards the end of the course was going to be fire roads and wide open space I wanted to put some time into the guys rolling on 29 ers. I got to ride with Lloyd and Scott from GSC for a while and after a bit I got myself in a really good rhythm and rode out by myself once again. The picture above shows one of the sheep stations we rode through for the last feed station. No we didn't eat the dogs.

For the last 20km I managed to hold my position and drag abit of time back that I had lost from stage one. Once I rolled over the line Darryl from shotz was kept busy trying to keep everyone hydrated and from what I saw all the competitors were thankful. It wasn't until this time I actually realize how hot it was either, pretty interesting starting in almost frozen conditions to finish in the baking hot sun.

I manged 6th over the line for the Osprey mountain traverse stage.

Day 3 soon

Mountains to Beach 2011Day 1

2011-03-06T12:21:00.000-08:00

I had never done a stage race before and Mountain to Beanch 2011 was going to be my first, the event is organized by Wildhorizons the same group of poeple that bring you the Highland fling and the 3 Ring circus.

Before I get started a big shout out to Ben from Osprey for sorting me with an entry for this race. Big thanks mate

I met up with Andy machine Fellows at Canberra airport on Saturday before the race, on my arrival to Canberra I realized that I had left my riding shoes at home. Time for an upgrade anyway. Got out to Thredbo assembled my new Silverback HT [doing a review soon] and we hit the trails, so much fun up there but I knew that come race day I would have to be on it and hopefully get a good position to set me up for the rest of the week.

So race day: Stage 1:

I had everything ready to go the night before I got up and had breakfast and for me, if I could get on the chair lift without dropping my bike or making an arse out of myself I was happy. I had made it to the top of thredobo in one piece. First sucess of the day. We were sent down the hill in a time trial set up instead of a mass start. Obvious reasonsing.

Andy took off a couple of position ahead of me, then before I knew it, it was on. Surprisingly riding my hardtail down the side of Tredbo was pretty good my Canis tyres stuck like glue and I was getting past some guys on soft tails. All was great until I came through a shaded area didn't see a rock and smashed my pedal in. So for the next 9km or so I couldn't get my right leg into the pedal. This was the first problem. All good if keep going I shouldn't loose to much time.

We had been told in the brief before that we would be going on the 4X track. Remembered that as I went sailing past the end of the 4x track, didn't see the arrow onto the track. So I slammed the brakes on went back up the hill and tried not to muck anything else up. By the end of the stage 12km I smashed a pedal, went the wrong way and managed 3 mechanical. WOW nothing like pressure.

I recon I probably lost close to ten minutes over the stage. I rolled 22 over the line. Not my best start. The first stage was great and I really did enjoy the course.

Stage: 2 was a cruise stage from Thredbo village to Lake Crackenback resort about 20km. Once a there we check our bags in set up Denis the Ay Up truck and basically chilled out. I wish, in my head all I could think about is how much time I had lost from stuffing up the first stage.

Stage: 3 was going to be 2 x 15km loops around the resort utilising single track and new multi use track around the resort, some of the single track went right alongside the Thredbo river and you had the occasional wombat whole to negotiate. I was abit nervous on the start line knowing that short track racing is not my thing. Finally the gun went off and I took off up the hill, I settled in the first bit of single track in about 5th or 6th once I got half way around the first lap I tried to make a small break and I didn't pay off. The guys from Gordon St. cycles and Torque Anytime fitness got away from me and my legs did not want to play. After the 2 laps were done my heart felt like it was about to jump out of my chest and I crossed the line in 7th. This pushed me into about 14th overall.

With day 1 over and smiles all round it was time for a beverage and some dinner. Day 2 involved a trip up the ski tube to Perisher to start the Osprey mountain traverse. A 90km stage.

Stay tuned for day 2

Mountains to Beach

2011-03-04T23:51:00.001-08:00

Stay tuned for a full Mountains to Beach report as well as reviews on Osprey bags and silverback bikes

2011

2011-02-11T18:25:00.000-08:00

This year is bringing some changes for me and my racing. As you know the Ay Up racing team is formed and we have some great sponsors that are going to support us through the 2011 season, Andy Machine Fellows is team manager so as you can imagine he has us lined up for some fun.

With the team not looking for sponsorship with Tomac this year meant, LunarC 8hr was the last ride for my Tomac carbide. I just want to say thanks to Rodney and Bec for all your support throughout the 2010 seanson.

Stay tuned all will be revealed in good time.

LunarC 8hr

2011-02-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

Location: Scout Camp

Start Time: 12 midnight

Expectation: with this race being the first of the year I was pretty confident that there would be some stiff competition. With the like of Boothy, Crawford, Tim, Matt and the ever present dark horse my aim was for a top 5 result over all.

It was good to see the guys and lady [ kitten] from AA out and ready to punish themselves for 8hrs, Pearso, Richard, Smac, Al and Mike have all been training hard leading into this event and apart from trying to beat each other they all had there own goals they want to acheive. Firstly I want to that Kiri, John and Kel for all there help in keeping my nutrition up to me.

Well as usual you try to do the right thing and have a sleep leading into the race, that never ever happens for me so once 11pm rocked around I was on the bike and out for a warm up. I had already riding the track earlier in the day so I knew a good start would be key for setting me up for a good result.

I foud myself on the front of the start line [not usually where I like to be sitting but what the hell] Boothy was on the left of me, I knew from past racers that he would be off like a shot so my plan was as always ride my own race and see how we end up. The gun went off and as expected Boothy had put the hammer down, I found myself in the top 10 into the single track which right where I was hoping to be.

The first 2hrs were really well and the 2-4hr mark was terrible I was all over the show messing up corners it was pretty gross. But looking back at my lap times they didn't vary too much.

The rest of the race went well I started to come good after the 4hr mark. For the entire race I managed to average 30 min laps with my quickest 26min and slowest 33min.

All up after 16 laps the course had just on or over 2700m of vetrticle ascent. I had never riden this course before but it was heaps better to ride then slickers, more tech and hills.

With Alister Cook giving me a good run on his SS, I made break for it with 4 laps to go and kept the pressure on I managed to finish 2nd outright to Tim.

All up I am stoked with my race, nutrition was great Infinite was key with a bottle of coke for good measure. I also ran my compressports calf garment and it worked a treat absolutely no pain, cramps nor did my calves feel fatigued, I am sure these things work.

Tubeless Canis tyre were the go for the course, no flats and heaps of grip what more do you want.

Last and definately the best on the market, Ay Up lights kept me riding in daylight. Check out the website there are some pretty cool options for you at Ay Up now.

Until the next race

Later Bozza

Osprey Hydration pack review

2011-01-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

As you know, I used the Osprey packs when I did World 24hr last October and was very impressed. This review is more to do with the Talon 22 pack that I have been using while commuting to work.

Just before Christmas we moved to Bribie Is. and now I have just under a 3 hr commute to work. When you sit on your bike for this long you really learn to appreciate products that are comfy, and in my case carry a fair bit of gear ie: uniforms, lunch and spares. I have to say that I was really impressed with how comfortable the Talon 22 bag is to ride with even packed with lots of gear.

As you can see from the picture they are a pretty cool looking bag. They have two side pockets on the waist straps and a clip on the front of the bag so you can attach your helmet without it flapping around all over the place when you're travelling. It also has heaps of pockets that are great for spares, keys or wallets. I think the one thing that stands out for me more then anything is that the bag follows the contour of your back/spine and it also stays cool because it has a corrugated piece of foam to keep it off your back enough to stay cool. The Talon 22 bag also has a whistle on it so you can scare the pants off those pedestrians that don't want to move over on the bike path. :-)

So just keep these awesome bags in the back of your mind when you're in the market. They are light, comfy and a little different from what everyone else is using!

Later

Compressports review #1

2011-01-03T12:19:00.000-08:00

Well I guess the first question you would have is, what makes these little beauties better then anything else on the market? Sure Skins and 2XU are a very well known product and I have used both in the past.

So what makes compessports different? I have individual garments, meaning that I have a set for my thighs and a set for my calves. I know you thinking so what other brands bring out calf garments and this is true but, when you want to buy a compression garment just for your thighs you usually have to buy another set of knick [ which costs heaps] with compressports you can wear it with your normal riding kit.

I have to say wearing this gear while riding is really comfy and i can't wait to wear it during my next race. I usually don't ride with compression garments on and only use them for recovery, I have notices a huge difference with my training while using the compressports gear and would recommend it to anyone who is in the market for it.

Compressports brings you compression garment s at a resonable price. So if your in the market for some new gear have a little look

Stay tuned for the Osprey bag review. [ Crummy]

Ay Up

2010-12-26T21:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not blogging lately.

We have moved and been super busy.

I will give you the a full run down soon.

I have been using some pretty cool gears so reviews will be up soon.

Later

Infinate Nutrition

2010-11-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

So there are alot of nutrition companies out there that claim to have the right stuff. But how many times have you tried the good gear and the taste is wrong or it's way to sweet or just seems to be missing something. This is what make Infinate different to all the other companies out there.

You don't have to adjust your taste buds and body to suit the product the product is changed to suit you.

I got on board with Infinate about 5-6 weeks before world Jason from Infinate was great we had a chat on the phone and he asked heaps of questions about my riding what I usually eat ect. He put together a mix that we thought would work and hopefully see me through the race with no problems.

Now over the shorter races you could get away with not using any extra gels, food and just run a bottle loaded with Infinate, as you know with 24hr riding thats not possible so keeping this in mind I ran Infinate in my back pack and ate a steady flow of solids as well. Pizza mostly.

I have to say I was really happy with how my race went nutritionally.

So if your after something a nutritional product that you can tailor make to suit your taste buds then follow the link below.

http://www.infinitnutrition.com.au/

More reviews to follow in the near future. What if I told you there is a set of hubs out there lighter then XTR and can be aquired for under $200 for the set.

Ay Up racing team

2010-11-08T14:10:00.000-08:00

this is the site for the Ay up racing team.

Cx it out to keep up to date with where at and where we have been: http://www.ayupracing.com/

For Sale XTC

2010-11-02T21:50:00.000-07:00

I decided to build a very light SS

Giant XTC SL frame

Pro full rigid carbon forks

XT brakes

Truitiv bars, race face SL 90mm stem, Thompson seat post

ZTR alpine rims with circus monkey hubs [ freaking light wheelset approx. 1300g]

$2500 ono

I will get more and better quality photos up soon

ph: 0407260310

For Sale carbide XC2

2010-11-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

This is your chance to get on the best dual suspension bike getting around

Carbide XC2 mostly carbon frame apart from bottom part of rear swing arm.

Basically full XT running gear with a XTR shadow rear derailleur.

Fox fit RL 2011 forks and Fox rp 2 rear shock

Wheelset is 819 rims with DT swiss 370 hubs kenda small block 8 tyres

FSA seat post, ritchey stem 100 mm and race dues sl carbon bars

XT brakes

Will have a picture up tomorrow

price $5500 ono

ph: 0407260310

World 24hr Report

2010-10-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

Where to start: [ here you go Rach]

Well I am going to start by saying thank you to all my family and friends the have helped me at and up to this race. Kiri, Chris and Al where my crew for worlds and they did a great job. We also had Rodney and Bec form Super sports down and Mr Ay Up himself, Thanks very much for all your support guys.

And to the race:

What was my plan? Well I decided that for this race I would start slow and let everyone bury themselves throughout the arvo and hopefully come home strong. In my mind I was hoping to get myself into the top ten. Easy plan hey.

We all got called up to the start and before I knew it we where off round through transition and though to where our bike were be held. Chris had my bike and all I had to do was grab it get on and pedal. As I was running I pulled up from my run to grab my bike when my feet fell out from underneath me and I ended up flat on my back on the sealed bitumen. GROSS not the start was looking for.

My feet found the pedals and I was off, the plan for me was to set 1hr 10min laps for the first few hrs and go from there. By the end of my first lap I had cleared the course in 50min, to fast for my plan. I slowed up and cruised the course making sure I had the lined dialed before night fall. By the time night fell I was sitting in mid 20's in elite right time to turn it up a little and start heading for the top ten.

Over the next couple of laps people were dropping the pace while I was maintaining it, ever lap I came through, I would jump up 1 or 2 places. I could tell I was doing well because my crew were excited, I was talking , Joking and actually coherent throughout my race. My race continued like this until about 2 am then the pace dropped off which is ok but not ideal.

Ok once that glow appears in the sky I will be right with a bit of luck I will be able to up the pace and drag myself up just afew places. Well it was not to be I was lapping just shy of 1 and half hrs and I couldn't put any pace on. I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong the whole morning, legs felt ok, food was good and I could descend fine but just no power to go up hill. I wanted to pull the pin at 21hrs or so but with my crews help I got around the course, then on the last lap it became obvious what was wrong, going up the first lot of switch backs I could hardly get a breath in it was like I shallow breathing.

I am not to sure whether this played a factor for the whole morning or not, I am not to disappointed with my race considering that everyone suffered and pulled out for alot of reasons but I do feel I could have done better. That's racing.

I just want to congratulate Crummy on his race, it is probably the best 24hr he has ever done in my eyes, he has trained super hard this year and finished top 20 outright. Congrats mate U deserve it. Also congrats to all the Auz guys and girls that smashed there race.

I need to say thanks to all the people that make racing that little bit easier for me

Ay Up: for the the lights and other support they have given me throughout the year.

Super sports: for my trusty steads they were perfect for ripping the Stromlo course apart.

Ospray: for the hydro packs, I don't usually ride with a bag on my back but because of the length of the course and no second feed station I decided to. The bag was really good and it was the little things that made it great like the magnet on the mouth piece. [Reveiw to follow]

Infinite nutrition: Not saying that you can do a 24hr on nothing but this stuff but it would be the closest thing out there. This is really good gear [review to follow]

KWT: for hooking me up with my tread. Bike sticks like glue when your rolling with Onza.

I need to say thanks to Pedal pwr plus, Action cycles and Cognition for the help they have given me throughout the year, all of these shop a great and only to happy to help you out.

Last and not least Australian Aerospace [ my work] the company and all the guys and girls from work have been really great with all there support. Alot of them can't understand why I do 24hr racing and at 3 o'clock in the morning I don't either. LOL But thanks heaps [for all you 24hr riders out there I should be able to convince work to give you a discount on your next helicopter purchase]

That's it for 2010 for me catch you at the lunarC in Jan.

World 24HR

2010-10-07T01:29:00.000-07:00

Track Sick

Lets Roll

Catch you when my legs are ripped off.

Bozz

Esanda

2010-09-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

I need to put out a massive thankyou to Esanda.

Al cheif pit crew and soon to have her first race under her belt works for Esanda, Al approached them and asked if they would like to sponsor two riders to do the Boonha marathon. She got the go ahead and I was lucky enough get my entry paid for.

So thanks very big to Esanda for the entry. It is very hard to find companies that are prepared to support riders.

Thanks heaps

Update

2010-09-11T22:51:00.000-07:00

Well hope all your prpearation for Worlds is going well. Mine is ok but as always I could have done and do more, the joys of work and family.

Anyone want to give me a full time wage to ride?

Well I have been going over the bikes and trying to get them prep. and dailed in for worlds.

I am running my Carbide Sl with pretty much XT/XTR, 2X9 Arozine cranks and Onza Canis tyres.

And my Carbide XC2 with XT, 2X9 Arozine cranks, ZTR Alpine wheelset and Onza Canis tyres.

I have to make a special mention to a couple of people who have been helping me out along the way.....

Firstly my work, Australian Aerospace, who have been awesome in supporting me & my riding. They're giving me time off work to get down there and race this year. If anyone out there wants a helicopter I'm sure I can sort out a deal. :-)

Supersports, for sorting me out with my trusty steeds. I feel sorry for anyone on a hardtail in 3 weeks!

Ay-Up Lights.....need I say more? But after leaving one of my light units sitting in a bucket of soapy water for a week - it worked first time without fail.

Cognition, for sorting me out with all my extras & spares. These boys are located at Noosa & are more than happy to sort anyone out with gear or answer any questions/problems you may have.

Infinite Nutrition, have recently hooked up the Ay-Up team & myself with all our nutritional needs. It's a one stop drink which takes care of the majority of your nutritional requirements, apart from the good stuff like pizza & pancakes :-)

That's it for now.

Later

Tomac Diplomat 29er Review

2010-08-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a review done on the new alloy 29er by Tomac http://www.mountainflyermagazine.com/view.php/sneak-preview-2011-tomac-mountain-bikes.html

Some food for thought guys. There just might be one at World 24hr.

Stay tuned for good friend of mine Mick Pearson words on the Carbide Sl he rode last night.

Ay Up D2D

2010-08-09T01:23:00.000-07:00

Well what were my expectation for the race:

1. Don't have the nutrition problems i suffered in the Merida 24

2. Ay Up need to be on the top spot

3. Have fun

I rocked out to Canugra about 12 on Saturday to get set up relax and enjoy the atmosphere before the start, my ace crew consisted of Al, Stacey and Soz. I had a roll around the course before the start of the race and like the 24hr last year it had loose sand on the corners, fare bit of grass and those hills thrown in for good measure. It was great to have all the Ay Up boys all in the one place.

Before I knew it was time to line up for the start, the gun went and I found myself settling in around 5th before the grass hill climb. I was hoping to have a good race but my legs were not 100% because I was backing up from the Merida 24hr. And thats about were Russ layed down his race intention, he put the foot down right from the word go. So I jumped on his back wheel and for the next few hrs the lead changed between us but not by more then afew minutes. In this situation you need your crew to have everything down pat and Al, Stacey and Soz did. I rolled through the pits without even stopping alot of the time. Big thanks to my crew

Early Hrs: by this stage I had put some space between me and Russ so the plan was to stay consistant hit my lines and not flat or crash, O and stay on top of my nutrition. Which I managed to do.

By the end of the race I had put a lap on the Russ so I was well clear, I rocked around for my last lap and finished with 10min left on the clock.

So in the end I finished 1st in the solo field. Really stoked

Did I achieve my goals:

1. No nutrition problems

2. Ay Up rider on the top spot Yes

3. Have fun you bet

Thanks to my sponsors Super sports for my sick ride [Carbide sl] and to Onza for the glue that sticks to the track and Ay Up for the best lights ever. Thanks to Ay Up for supporting this event they put alot of prizes on for evevryone. A big thanks needs to go out to Andy and Jo for all the effort they put into the race. Thanks

Stay tuned for Carbide Sl reveiw

Merida 24 Race Report 2010

2010-07-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

Well I knew this race was going to be tough especially with level of competition rocking up. So what wasmy plan for this race, well try and have my head in the right place, get the nutrition down pat, top 5 outright result would be nice and maybe if all goes well I might hit the magical 400km mark.

Myself and good friend Al rocked out to Hiddenvale late Friday arvo to set up camp right across for the Australian Aerospace boys. The plan was to have a good sleep and take my time to get organised Saterday morning, after a practice lap I was feeling confident on the track so I spent the next couple of hrs chilling and waiting for Kiri, Maia, Pearso,Kel to rock up. Chris and Nat and littleman rocked up about an hr before the race.

Race: The gun went and I decided to sit straight on the back of Jasons wheel, I saw Adrian Booth take off up the front but I figured if I paced myself from the start it should set me up well for the rest of the race. I ended up rolling the first lap chatting with english before he tightened up the screws and chased Adrian down. 2 laps later I got told that Adrian and English were going head to head so I was pretty happy doing my own thing. For the next 9 hrs I was rolling around the course hitting all my lines and eating more food then I usually do. But as with these sort of races any little thing thats is not right soon shows through.

11pm: I came in off a lap and pretty much collapsed in the bottom of the Tomac tent, Al freaked out and basically woke me up gave me some soft drink, garlic bread and some other stuff don't really remember. I got back on my bike but the damage was done, I spent the next 6hrs trying to get food into me and hoping that I could finish with a respectable amount of K's under the belt. Over these 6hrs my position slipped back to 4th or 5th.

6am: I actually started to feel better my ace crew gave me some goals to get myself back into contact with the guys in front of me. On one particular occassion I was told that the guy I needed to catch was in a red jersey [It was time to play].

I caught the guy in the red jersey and as soon as he saw me coming he took off. I knew I was onto the right guy. I rode with him up through the fire trail and then put a little test on to see if he would follow or not. He didn't repsond, so I bured myself all the way up the aeroplane trail and into the gully track to make a gap, it worked. Although I tried to catch second but he rode to good a race and I couldn't catch him

In the end: I rode over the 400km mark and got a third. I could have not done it without Al, Pearso,Nat, Kel, Kiri and my little baby Maia. I also need to mention aunty Al over the last couple of races hass taken alot of time to help me achieve my selfish goal of becoming some sort of MTB rider, I don't think you can do this sort of racing without a ace crew so a big thanks to Al.

Thanks to Ay Up for my lights there the best, thanks to Super sport for my trusty stead[Tomac Carbide SL], also thanks to Onza for my tread.

Thanks to everyone that help me out.

Merida 24hr Photo

2010-07-26T17:47:00.001-07:00

Chris cruising

This is the only time you will see me riding with Jason. Before he turns the screws up and leaves me for dead.

Some quick Stats: 28 laps complete, 400km in the bank 3rd outright solo and one great job done by my support crew.

report to follow

Something AL sent me

2010-07-12T00:40:00.000-07:00

Motivation

1) I will promise to do my best. My best will vary from day to day, from hour to hour, from minute to minute. But in that minute, I will do the very best that I can.
2) Lactic acid is my friend. The wind is my friend. Anything that opposes me is actually helping me to become stronger. If I had no opposition, I would be weak.
3) If I can run, I run. If I have to walk, I walk. When I am forced to crawl, I crawl. And then I rest and live to fight another day.
4) I fear no man but I fear my workout. If I don’t fear my workout, it isn’t hard enough.
5) I may puke. I may cry. But I will not quit. Ever.
6) I never cheat. There is no honor in cheating. What joy can there be in a victory I did not earn?
7) The workout missed is the opportunity missed. I will not cheat myself of the opportunity to become a better athlete and person.
8) I understand the value of the push-up, the pull-up, the sit-up, the squat, and the deadlift. Just as there are a million ways to make chicken, so too are there a million ways to squat, sit up, pull up, push up, and deadlift.
9) I will give everything I have. And then I will find more within myself.
10) I don’t complain. Complaining is for crybabies. There are 11,232 babies born in the US everyday. I will leave the crying to them and I will soldier on.
11) I will bite off challenges, spit out results, and beg for more.

What are you going to do?

Ride my bike

Update

2010-06-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

Well after weeks and weeks of trying to get out for a ride with my mate Chris I finally did, the plan for last night was just a roll around to get the legs spinning but on the way back I ran into Chris. Chris was just heading out for his ride so I decided to tag along when i asked him where he was headed the response was Mt Cootha.

Basically we went up the front of Mt Cootha and my type X single speed smashed my legs to pieces, they felt like jelly. My ss is set up 32 on the front and a 13 on the back. Thanks for the ride Chris it's been along time between drinks.

Merida 24hr just around the corner and the competition is looking tight with the usual suspects and rumours of English rocking up.

To other news my two eldest girls have just figured out that riding there bike up and down hills is fun. No idea where they got that from.

Later

Mt Perry 6hr

2010-06-17T01:11:00.000-07:00

Well after a hectic Friday I met up with good friend Crummy who had made the trip up from Sydney to race. Saterday morning saw us through all the gear in the back of the yellow racing machine and with Al coming along as support crew me and Crummy new we wouldn't have any troubles with bottles throughout the race.

We got to Perry about 1pm on sat and set up the Tomac tent next to Adi and Rob who also had a Tomac tent Fellows and Jo arrived not long after and set the Ay Up truck Denis right next to us also. Me and crummy headed out for a practice lap and well the track is just awsome nice tight single track ect ect. once your there you can appreciate why the event is seen as a must do race.

Sat night saw the night crits I went into this as a bit of a laugh. I am no speed machine and got knocked out first round, Crummy however made it through to the second last round and only just got knocked out. Probably by a handle bar width.

So to the main event: after a average sleep I woke to zero on the temp gauge. Freaking cold lol. Kiri and Michele [Kiri mum] and my 3 girls rocked up and not long after that it was show time. I had got myself into a good position on the start line and after the gun wenti saw myslef sitting in about 8th, the elite field had alot of good rider in it so there was no point in me trying to get away to early and burn myself out, Fellows and Benson soon set the pace so i decided to settle in behind Andrew mallet, he is alot quicker over a 6hr distance then me so it seemed like a good idea. Mean while Fredo and Toohey were sitting a little further up the track. Like with most plans they change I washed out on the first lap and lost mallet, so new plan try and get back to mallet and hopefully fredo and toohey might slow a little and I can catch them around the 4-5hr mark.

Basically my legs decided not want to play for the first 4hrs and I was feeling pretty trashed Crummy was only 30 seconds back and our little state of origan race was going NSW way. This would not do, I saw Crummy and he yells out I see you Bekkers and I thought myself thats the last time you will to Crummy.

So to the interesting bits 4hrs of my legs not wanting play, the last 2hrs I started feeling better and went into 24hr mode. Came 5ht in elite and the state of origan remains in Qld.
Crummy pulled up 3rd in his age group and a massive thanks goes out to Al, Kiri and the girls for supporting us both for the entire race.

To the lads that put this race together thanks heaps for a great track and weekend. I am sure it's going to be bigger and better next year.

Merida next up, I hope my legs want to play.

Thanks heap to Tomac, Super sports and Ay Up for the support

Whats been happening in Bozza world

2010-05-30T16:08:00.000-07:00

Well I will start with the most exciting news we are the pround owners of another [number 3] little girl LOL. Maia Jade Bekkers. Mum and bub are doing great and it won't be long before she is chasing her sisters around on a bike. Well to the next most important stuff as you could imagine my training of late has been a little speratic but the time I have been putting in on the bike has been good.

For the last month or so has seen me jump back onto the Single speed[ New SS Tomac Type X] and I feel that I should be in a good place to take on Mt Perry in two weeks.

Will put some pictures up of the new ss soon.

Inferno 6hr

2010-04-21T23:54:00.000-07:00

The course was between 10-11km at old hidden vale. This course in particular is the one that the teams riders for the merida 24hr hr will be riding in July. The conditions were perfect bone dry and fun fast course. For me 6hr events are not my thing but because I was in Brisbane for the weekend anyway I thought a 6hr would be good training.

All I wanted to achieve for the race was to put down some fast consistant times for myself I was not to concerned were I finished but on the box is always good. I am not going to bore you with a long drawn out post so I will just get to the important end. I held an average of just over 20km/hr for the race had not mechanicals and finished in 2nd. 121km total.

My Carbide sl ate everything the course could throw at it and I didn't really give any consideration to slow down going into the rock gardens, were everyone seemed to be flatting. My Canis tyre were a great match to the sl and I never had a problem with traction.

I would like to thank my sponsors Tomac for my carbon stead, Onza for keeping me glued to the track, Pedal pwr plus and Ay up for all there support.

later

Port Macquire12hr

2010-03-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

Well last Friday saw the Yellow Vito van loaded up with a couple of Carbide SL, a hand full of AY Up lights, myself and Chris and a trip to Port ahead of us. We made it down to Port by about 9pm and set up camp right next to the 4 man AA team on the oval at Telegraph point. Chris had been telling me all about this race for a year so I was pretty stoked to be there, Chris yells out me come and check out the this corner then another then another by the time we thought we should head back we were about half way around the track and by 1am sat morning we had mad it around the course [Walking]. We were in for a treat this track was great.

The Port 12hr starts at 12 midnight Saturday night, so on Saturday morning we headed out for a practice lap, what can I say all of us were just loving it, every corner was well groomed, nice burms , a couple of log drops and a spine ride thrown in for fun. This was a course you could enjoy riding for a full 12hrs. The course was about 9.6km long

After a full day of being awake, you would think I would be ready for a sleep. No I couldn't sleep and by the time midnight came around, I was on the start line and yawning my head off. The gun went and I found myself alongside Fitzy into the first corner then I settled into third position for the first half of the lap. Then as you would expect English came screaming through with a team rider in tow. So the start of the race went like this for the first couple of laps and I was pushing pretty hard. After about 4hrs I was hurting my head wasn't in a good place and when I asked mickers how I was travelling, he told me I was in 5th but Jason was in 3rd. So what did I want out of this race? to see how I was travelling and have a bit of competition to push me. Well I got it I thought to myself, harden the F up got back on my bike and said to myself no more middle ring. Big ring it all the way and try and real myself back into podium contention.

So as you could imagine I kept chipping away trying to put consistent lap times in until I found 3rd. I caught him within the first km of the lap and decided to sit behind him and try and figure out where I was quicker then him and where I needed find some pace. The plan worked apart from a stack along the way I rolled into transition just behind him. I quickly grabbed some food jumped back on the bike and headed out slightly in front. I put the hammer down and kept looking over my shoulder to see if I could see his lights. I didn't see him so I kept hammer down.

As morning was upon us English was ready to lap me for the first of many[ Machine]. The rest of the race went on the same and I kept trying to increase my lead. I was in no position to catch 2nd and English was way out in front. So by the time 11:40 rocked around I was about 45min in front and with a long drive ahead of me I decided I was happy with what I had done.

Achievements : just over 200km completed, 20 laps out of 21 done in the Big ring.

All up the track is sick, definitely worth the drive to race on English home track.

Big thanks to Tomac for my Carbide SL it's wicked, Ay Up for the best lights ever and to Onza for keeping me glued to the track[Canis]

Gympie Sports Star of the Year

2010-02-27T16:53:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the year when Kiri nominated me for this. My first reaction was, isn't this only for local teams like soccor and cricket? What I didn't realize is that the Sportman association with the help of Apex raise money to help local athletes.

Here is what the Newspaper had to say:

AN explosion of cheers marked the moment when Gympie endurance mountain biking athlete Sean Bekkers was crowned 2009 Sports Star of the Year at the weekend.
A visibly stunned Bekkers accepted the honour at the Gympie Civic Centre Saturday evening during the Gympie and District Sportsmen’s Association 2009 Sports Star of the Year Awards.
“It’s a massive surprise,” Bekkers told the 170 guests present for the ceremony as he attempted to compose himself.
“I just want to thank the Gympie and District Sportsmen’s Association for the recognition.”
The 2009 Sports Star of the Year managed to edge out 11 other nominees for the award, decided by the barest of margins during the voting process.
Gympie Apex president Glen Smith opened the golden envelope to deliver the eagerly anticipated announcement.
Bekkers’ family was on hand to witness the memorable moment and the athlete paid tribute to their support.
“A massive thanks to my family for all of their support and making all this possible,” he said.
“My partner Kiri has been source of strength for me and her help makes the difference.
“I also have to say a huge thanks to Kiri’s mother who has been the ideal babysitter for us during competition.”
Bekkers’ victory in lifting the title of 2009 Sports Star of the Year marks a new brave new era in Gympie sport.
It’s the first time endurance mountain biking has been recognised at the awards, demonstrating just how diverse Gympie sport has become in recent years.
“That was my main goal,” Bekkers said.
“If I could come away and have a handful of people know more about endurance mountain biking, then that was enough for me.”
Winning the top award on the night, however, has ultimately given far more exposure for the sport than Bekkers could have possibly imagined.
Bekkers’ claim to fame came on the back of an incredibly impressive 2009 and the audience marvelled as his list of achievements were canvassed.
Numerous wins at state and national endurance mountain biking events filled his sporting resume to the brim.
But it was his success overseas in Canada that gilded his shot at the prestigious award.
Bekkers competed in the 24 Hour World Endurance Mountain Bike Championships in Canada last year, finishing first in his age group and 18th overall against the very best in the sport the world had to offer.
The dedicated athlete touched on his training regime during his acceptance speech, raising a few eyebrows when detailing the nature of his training rides between Gympie and Brisbane.
“I think this weekend when I go back to Brisbane my wife may let me use the car,” he quipped.
With the title of 2009 Sports Star of the Year safely in his possession, Bekkers now says he is motivated more than ever to continue achieving.
“It’s just a great feeling to be acknowledged for my efforts and I have lots of motivation to keep doing well,” he said.
Meanwhile, 2009 Sports Star of the Year Awards organizer Jackie Curran was overjoyed with the success of the night.
“It’s gone really well,” she said.
“The entire night flowed really well and I think everyone has enjoyed themselves.”
Curran thanked the members of the Gympie and District Sportsmen’s Association that were on the awards’ committee.
“A lot of effort went in from every one on the committee behind the scenes, so a big thank you to everybody,” she said.
“I’m just happy and proud at what we have achieved and it was great to see all the sport stars gathered here tonight.”
Curran joined Bekkers in celebrating the diversity of Gympie sport.
“We had so many different sports on show tonight, so Gympie has to be very proud of that,” she said.

I am super stoked to have won this award and to get some more recognition for the sport of 24hr mountain biking.

Thanks heaps to the Sportmen's Association you guys do a great job.

From the Jet Black

2010-02-23T03:55:00.000-08:00

About 12km of use.

Jet [Wet] Black 24hr

2010-02-10T20:52:00.000-08:00

Well, like Andy said it was a quick trip to Sydney - race a two man team, get the best result possible and get back. So we set off on Thursday arvo and the plan was to rest a little on the way down, so we drove to Coffs and set up camp probably under the noisiest bridge ever but at least we got some zzzz in.

We then drove down to Taree, and with a little help from the local bike shop and Andy's built in GPS it wasn't long before we were spinning the legs on some nice groomed single track. The track had a little bit of north shore type stuff, and if we had a little more time up our sleeves I'm sure we would have been treated to more sweet single track. The weather was nice: a little humid and sunny but this wasn't to last.

We eventually made it to Wisemans Ferry, and the country side around there is stunning. We set up camp that arvo and had an awesome pub meal and then hit the sack. That was about where our luck ended & the good weather stopped.

Race day - Woke pretty early and went hunting for the coffee van. Had breakfast and then we headed out for a practice lap. The first impressions of the course was a little boring: a couple of kms of bitumen and a big fire road climb which then dropped into a fun little descent and into a part of the course which alot of people were weary of. There was a little rock garden that went along the edge of the creek which wasn't that bad in the DRY. The track then went back out onto grass and into transition. Think the course was around 6 or 7 km.

After a little chat with Andy it was decided that he would do the first stint and we decided to string 3 laps together between changes. There was all the usual hipe leading into the start of the race then the gun went, and like you would expect from Andy he was off like a shot. He led the field out and about 21min later Andy went through transition with nothing but air behind him, followed by the rest of the field about 3 or 4 mins later [machine].

Ok so I have a team mate who's setting land speed records, so no pressure on me LOL. Andy came through transition, my turn. I set out to hold, if not build on the lead Andy had made. I had 3 good laps and that was when it started pouring. Not that this was bothering me too much but I had nothing other then my Canis tires (which were great by the way). By 8pm the race got called off by the organizers which I think was a good idea the track was not holding up and everyone was just destroying there gear. This was great - the first 24hr I get a sleep.

Sunday: The organizers had spent the night (while we were all sleeping) re-routing the course so we could get some ridding in to finish the race. Me and Andy woke to the Tomac tent destroyed and sitting in a pile, and the bikes lying all over the palce. The decision was made to race for the last 4hrs and we went into this with a 10min lead on the field. With there being only 4hrs of riding left the pace was going to be on. The re-routed course was fire trail but still a pretty steep descent and this is were the crazy part of the race was. We were chewing through a new set of brake pads in under 12km of riding (crazy). After trashing the bikes we managed to finish with the overall win and 1 0r 2 laps up on our catagory. Wicked

Big thanks to: Tomac for my Carbide and Ay up for my lights - they never fail. As usual my Canis tyres got put through their paces and were great, I love these tyres [Canis]

Thanks Andy for a wicked race, and good luck for this weekend

Later

Tomac Carbide REVIEW

2010-01-21T02:42:00.000-08:00

Where to start? Well, when I was given the opportunity to get onto a bike that a legend like John Tomac had something to do with, how could I say no? I at least had to test ride it. Rodney and Bec from Supersports gave me a run down on the Carbide and hooked me up with a demo to try.
So, I have this sweet full carbon carbide to test ride. I went straight up to Gap creek - it's where I seem to test ride everything for the first time. Some key elements that you should look for in a dual suspension are efficiency, stiffness and if your a weight weenie how light it is or could be. Well as far as being light goes, the bike with the build kit on it came in at 10kg - pretty heavy LOL. I have been told that a guy in Spain got one down to 7.4KG to race stage races over there.

As for efficiency and stiffness, the Carbide has these covered hands down. The Carbide doesn't seem to take any of your pedalling efficiency away with the rear suspension wide open and once you click the rear shock to closed you won't ever want to jump on a hard tail again. I have been a big believer in hard tails for their efficiency, but after riding this bike it has totally changed the way I look at dual suspension bikes, and hard tails for that matter! Put it this way I don't think you will see me tackle another enduro on a hard tail again.

So back to Gap Creek let's just say I had a ball, the Carbide exceeded all of my expectations and I think you would be hard pressed to find another bike that can out perform this one. Do yourself a favour, if you're in the market for a new bike give one of these a demo at the very least.

Thanks heaps to Rodney and Bec for the opportunity to get onboard with Tomac.

Bring on 2010.

LunarC 8hr

2010-01-16T20:02:00.000-08:00

Well a lot has happened since the Pitch Black last year. The LunarC was ment to be my first solo race for the year and a bit of a feeler for my performance at the moment. As with most plans in racing they change. I rang Fitzy on the wednesday before the race and he told me that his team had pulled the pin, so we decided to have a crack at the two man catagory and hopefully pick up where we left off from last year.

The race was held at last year's Insomnia track, & being the first race of the year attracted 250+ riders. The course its self was not overly technical, but pretty fast with nice flowing single track & a few hills to keep us honest. This made it the ideal track to introduce Richard & John from Aus Aerospace to the mountain biking scene. The start time of the race was midnight Friday and there was a good atmosphere among the competitors as most people wound down from their working week.

Seeing as Fitzy did first lap honours at the Pitch Black last year, it was my turn to get out there first. The solo riders took off 2 minutes before the teams, which meant there were a large number of solo competitors to get thru once the teams got underway. By the first corner it was clear that the riders who could manoeuvre thru the field the quickest would get a good lead on the other teams. With this in mind, Timmy from FTR got away from me until about the 8km mark where I managed to catch him again. As it turns out, Team FTR was keeping within a minute of us for the first few hours which kept us looking over our shoulders.

Meanwhile, John & Richard were running their own race & getting a good feel for night racing. To their surprise they were lapping consistently and holding their own in the field. This was great considering neither had much experience night riding. When I asked them if they were enjoying the race i got the same response - "loving it".

In the early hours of the morning we were finally able to get a bit of breathing space between us & FTR which we held for the rest of the race. Fitzy provided some outstanding overtaking skills coming into transition, which kept things interesting.

Andy Fellows took out the solo category with a convincing Win over the rest of the field.

In the wash me and Fitzy [ Team Ay UP ] finished in 1st in the two man and by the looks of the results were 25 seconds off taking the outright win for the race. John and Richard finished 20th in the two man which is a great result.

Thanks to everyone for making it a fun race and to FTR for keeping Honest looking for ward to the next battle.

Big thanks to my sponsors Tomac for my xc weapon, Ay Up for blazing a way through the night and Onza tyres fro keeping me glued to the track.

Keep the legs burning and I will be putting a review together on the Carbide sl soon

Tomac

2010-01-13T15:19:00.000-08:00

As you can see I have had a great opportunity to get on board with Tomac. I will get back to you with all the detail soon and a review on the Carbide sl after LunarC 8hr this weekend. Bring on 2010

Pitch Balck 12hr

2009-11-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

Well this race is the last one for me for the year and also marks the start of my training for next year the plan for this race was to have fun and race with a good mate of mine Chris. The course is set out at old Hiddenvale were the Merida 24hr was held earlier in the year, the track was 11km long and had a bit of everything little rock gardens, fast flowing sections and afew climbs to keep you honest. Our plan was to do a lap each and then go to double laps for the rest of the race Fitzy[Chris] had been nominated for the first Lap honours,our crew consisted of the usual suspects Kiri, Pearso, Kel, Nat and Boo there was also the crew form actions cycles having a crack at the solo Mick and Grant and Cam and co. came out also for moral abuse, Andy Fellows was there to race the solo category also.

First lap saw Fellows leading the race out of the first corner and Fitzy about forth, 27 min later saw Andy lay down the fastest lap of the race and Fitzy came in 4 min later post a massive crash, I went out and although may lap time was around the 30 min I was all over the show over shooting corners and making lots of silly mistakes by the time I came back in Fitzy was ready to hit the double laps and it was time to settle in for the night, we kept the lap consistent and after 5hrs we finally caught up to Andy [ I think it was because he slowed down] by this stage we had hit the lead outright but there was a 3 man team Red back cycles that were not more then 3 mins behind us the whole race trying to grab the outright position. This went on for the rest of the race they caught us twice throughout the night but we managed to get back in front and by morning I was feeling a little secondhand and by the time Fitzy finished his last double there was only 34 min left on the clock before the 12hr mark so I quickly grabbed the transponder and went for it, I knew the redback team were only 1 min behind and I would have to pull out all stops to keep the win, my lap went really well I ended up back to the start finish with 40 sec left on the clock Fitzy went out to seal the deal with another lap.

Bozz and Fitz 1st pairs

Andy Fellows 1st solo

Mick 2ND solo

Mark Ay Up 3rd in cat on a SS

Rach 1st solo

Race was good and the 24hr out there next year is going to be fun

Keep the legs burning

Canis Tyre [Onza]

2009-10-29T16:06:00.000-07:00

Well I didn't think I would be giving you a little review on this tyre so quick but I think these tyres are the best thing since Ay UP and Sram pwr links hit the market. So this is how it went last night me and my good mate Chris wacked a set of Canis tyres on our bikes Chris rides a Cannondale F1 and I put the set on my XTC we drove to the top of Mt Cootha and our plan was to drop into Gap creek from near channel 9 news HQ. The tyres claim to be a loose over hard, hard packed and medium soil tyre so what better place to give them a test ride then out at Gap Creek, being on new tread that we have never ridden on we were alittle reserved on our approach to the first fire road descent as it was all loose over hard but this reserved feeling was quickly put to bed as the tryes lived up to more then they promised, we found ourselves trying to get the trye to loose there grip [bearing in mind we were on a loose fire trail descent] within 400m of track we were stoked with both of us saying at the same time we had found the best tyre we have ever ridden on.

So how did they perform in the single track well lets just say that I don't think me and Chris could smile any harder then when finished our first peace of single infact Chris kinda look like Lenny off the Simpsons. We found the tyres were just point and shoot they went exactly were you wanted them to go and we had no problem cornering, rolling efficiency was outstand the tighter tread design in the centre of the trye doing exactly what it was ment to, roll and fast I myself had never used small block 8's but Chris told me they are faster then them and he probably won't be using small block 8's again.

Now to finish off our ride we decided to go back up the same fire road we came down to start with, we got treated to the same with the tyre just sticking we had no wheel spin and thats even being out of the saddle and putting the big ones in.

To sum up the best tyre both of us have ever ridden on. Get some on your bike

ONZA TYRES [LNYX] Review

2009-10-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

Well if your have read the latest Mountain bike Australia Mag you might have come across a review about some new tyres called Onza. There is afew guys getting around on them but KWT hooked me up with a couple to get out on the track and see how they go. The day before the Titus 24hr I ripped off my trusty maxxis Rancheros and Larssen TT and threw on a set of Onza LYNX 1.95, most people [Hubcap] would say you should not even change your tooth paste before a race. My plan because of the grass was to run a slightly narrower tyre so I wouldn't have to push anymore rubber around the course then I needed to, and I chose the LYNX because it was a little more aggressive to give me the traction when I needed it in the soft stuff.

As you can see from the tread pattern it's got pretty aggressive side lugs on it, this worked out great form me on the Canugra course and I had no difficulty biting into off camber corner whether it was on the grass sections or in the washed out sand bunkers. To the rolling efficiency well I didn't notice any difference between these tyres and my trusty tyres I was using previously. I don't use UST tyres so I used the foldable version and wait for it it, it weighs in at a super heavy 400grams [excuse my poor sense of humour] considering one of the fly weight tyres I won at an event once weighed 330 grams and had no tread on it this is pretty impressive. All up I am stoked with the performance of these tyres and I think if you want something different give these ago.

Another great thing about the tyres is they all are 120 Tpi so they are equivalent to your Maxxis exception series tyre. In the XC range they keep it nice and simple there is 3 models LYNX, CANIIS, IBEX but there is a couple of different sizes of each model though.

Maxxis has a strangle hold as fare as the MTB tyre market goes but if any other brand of trye is going to compete I would like to think Onza might be the one.

Review to come on the Canis once i hit the trails again.

Later

2009-10-26T17:34:00.001-07:00

Titus 24hr

2009-10-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

The course was set out in Canugra were they held the Dusk til Dawn earlier in the year, the race was going to start at 2pm instead of the normal 12pm start this meant that if the racing was close by day break Sunday it was going to be a case of how can survive that heat temps Saturday and Sunday were about 34 deg.

The solo field was about 50-60 approx and with Andy bell, Matt and Hubcap around I was always going to have my work cut out for me not to mention a unknown field which always seems to produce some dark horses. At 2pm the start gun went and we were off my plan for the race was to try and hang on to Andys wheel for as long as I could. First lap found myself, Andy and Matt within a couple of seconds of each other. I kept pace with Andy for afew laps but with Matt putting in little attacks along the way I decided with the heat I would drop my pace I ended up letting Andy and Matt go around lap 4 approx. and started riding my own race.

The track was 7.5 km but for such a little course it was alot of hard work as you can see by the race results, there was alot of fresh made track which smashed your legs as the race wore on. Matt took some time of the bike which ment I had a fare gap back to him and Andy kept opening the gap to me. For the rest of the race I battle my own demons that wanted me to throw the towel in buti kept trying to open the gap to third so I could get off the bike early before the heat kicked in. As the morning rocked around my lack of consistent training after the world was showing, my plan was to hold second place and not try and chase Mr Bell. 6am I stopped and had a shower put some fresh kit on and went on to hold 2nd place.

The race was good it has got me keen to start training and prepare for next year.

On a different note there were 12 people that were convinced by a mad man solo rider[ me] to get themselves sorted into two 6 man teams and take on a 24hr race when they had limited MTB experience. These guys were great not once did either team stop in the whole 24hr, I think each of them found out what endurance racing is all about. A big congrats goes out to you guys you kicked arse.

Updated

2009-10-25T15:51:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a little bit since I have updated my blog. Following my epic fail of a ride back to Gympie a few weeks ago I didn't train as much because I didn't feel 100% and following that I caught one super charged flow for 2 weeks. This bring me up to the week before last were I raced the Delxc flow 6hr. Still not feeling great i decided before the race that it was going to be a warm up for the Titus 24hr. The track was not real technical but had a bit of climbing and overall the field was fast, I rode until 12 were I stopped and had a rest then continued on until on. I placed 10th and with my sights set on having a good race at the Titus I was pleased with my result.

On a different note the boys from KWT have hooked me up with some Onza tyres, I will punch out a review soon.

Wolrd 24hr 2010

2009-10-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

Mt Stromlo is going to be the venue for the 2010 World 24hr....... Start Training

Late Night Rides

2009-09-25T19:54:00.000-07:00

Well after the worlds I decided that I needed to do some longer training rides [ over 3hrs] so at the beginning of the month I rode from my home in Gympie to Brisbane [ about 196km] with this in mind on Thursday I decided that I would ride from work back to Gympie. I left at 9pm and headed north, I am finally getting use to sitting on my roadie and managed to do my first 120km in about 4hrs which brought up to around Nambour area. Everything went great until the 180km mark Kin Kin area by this time I had done 6hrs on the bike and I totally under estimated how cold it is around the hills there at this time of the morning. I had run out of food and was about 15km from home when I rang Kiri and asked her to come and get me. Kiri's dad came down the rode and picked me up. Basically I had run out of food and I couldn't even climb the smallest of hills I am not sure how cold it was but about 5 degrees would be a good guess, I was very cold it took a good couple of hrs for me too get warm again. Next time I will be a little bit better prepared.

My Ay Ups blazed a path through the night and as fare as a roadie goes my Giant Defy from Pedal pwr Plus was Great.

Later

Go smash yourself

Giant Bikes

2009-09-08T13:35:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to be invited to the lauch of the Giant bike range held in Brisbane last night Bling everywhere. I got to touch and see the new carbon Anthem and thats were that will end becuase the bank says NO, the new XX sram stuff looks sick. It was good meeting all the guys from Giant and I might just get myself onto the new 29er.

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-AU/

Cheers Dave for picking me up and taking me along.

Cx out Crummys blog for his product reviews

Later

WHATS HAPPENING

2009-09-07T16:11:00.000-07:00

Well its been a bit over a month since the worlds and the plan was to get back into training at the end of August but I ended up pretty crook so that didn't happen. A week ago and with alot of advice from different people I have crossed over to the dark side and bought myself a roadie at least for the long training rides. I got 2009 defy 1 from Dave shop http://www.pedalpowerplus.com/ he has a wicked special on at the moment if anyone interested.

Last week I spent cruising around Brisbane getting use to the bike and over the weekend I decided that sunday nights weather look nice to ride from my home up in Gympie to Brisbane to start work 6:30 Monday morning. After getting some sleepI started my ride at 10:30pm sunday and road my usual ride though all the back ways to Brisbane airport. The traffic was great because there wasn't any and my AyUp's blazed a path through the dark, all up it took me 6hr 40 mins to punch out 196km.

Later

Pwr Breather part 2

2009-08-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

As you know from a couple of post ago I have been trialing a pwr breather over the week I have been sick so I haven't spent any time on the bike but I have been using the pwr breather. It is hard for me to give you any figures on my improvement as I don't train or ride with any heart rate monitor etc. what I can tell you is over the past week or 2 every time i use the PB i find it easier and it's nearly time for me to step it up to the next setting. I think at this stage there are benefits in using this product if anything I think you would get a similar benefit to training at altitude. I will give you a update in a month

Later

For the Riders

2009-08-11T17:08:00.000-07:00

Becuase I work in Brisbane and go home on the weekends its impossible for me to get all of my work done through my Local shop http://www.pedalpowerplus.com/ when I spend so much time in Brisbane. Tim and the boys from For the Riders have helped me out with heaps over the last year, and in the week leading up to me leaving for Canada were able to fully service my bike forks and wheelset to ensure I wouldn't have any problems. So if your in Brisbane and need some help to get out of a jam give Cx these boys out http://www.fortheriders.com.au/. Like wise if your up my way Pedal pwr plus will help you out.

cheers

Bozza

FOR SALE FORKS

2009-08-11T16:17:00.000-07:00

I have a set of 100mm Fox RL's with remote lock out if anyone is keen. They have seen appox. 12hrs use there off my new xtc that i got a couple of months ago. They have been serviced and are good to go I am asking $1000 ono. I thought I would put them on my blog before i go throw them in the paper.

Later Bozza

Pwr Breather

2009-08-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

In the week leading up to the worlds a mate of mine rang me and said that he wanted to through my name to a guy by the name of Tim Perkins who is the general manager of a company called Health Management group http://www.healthmg.com.au/. Grant has be using a product of there called a Power breather and I was lucly enough to get one from Tim to give it ago myself, Grant told me they are basically dumbbells for your lungs.

From what i have read and been told they don't increase your lungs capacity but they increase the efficiency of your lungs instead. In a nutshell the exercise your lungs. It's about 4-6 weels before you notice any real change in your breathing and studies have shown that there a gain of about 3-4% in your performance which sounds like stuff all but when you add that up over 24hrs of riding even 1% difference is alot.

Firstly you start on a build up phase of 30 breaths twice a day for 4-6 weeks then you go onto a maintenance phase.

I have not had alot time to use it but I will keep you posted on my progess. If your interested give me and email or you can get in contact with the boys fro Action Cycles in Chermside.

World Solo 24hr

2009-08-02T16:17:00.000-07:00

Well I just want to say Cananda rocks, great palce to ride and I wish I had more time over there.

To the race,

race day rocked a round with a scorching 36 degree's so it was just like racing in summer back here. There course it's self I think is best described as Mt Stromlo and Majura Pines course in one for those of you that have raced around Canberra, The course had around 500m of climbing per lap and stretched 16km.

After been introduced to the start line just before 12 it was a 500m lamonze start had a good run and had no idea were I was in the pack so on the bike and on with the job. My plan was as always go out farely hard get into a good position and work from there. After 3 or 4 laps Kiri told me that I was leading my category which I was surprised to hear. So all I had to do was stay in first for the next 21hrs easier said then done.

Basically for the rest of the race I battle the course and my body and then hit the wall around 12hr mark, the course was rough and even though I needed to eat a didn't want too. After taking some advice from Andy I loaded up on everything bad like coke, redbull and Gels to get myself back in the game.

By morning the hills seemed bigger but it didn't matter I rode well through the night and by the 20hr mark I think had put about 2 laps into second. I basically rode the rest of the race just to finish and not do anything to stupid. I ended up taking the win in the 25-29 category and finished 18th overall. I need to say thank you to my beautiful wife Kiri for looking after me and kicking my arse back out on course whenever I stopped for to long, also to Vang Andys mate that came down to the race to help cheers mate. Thanks very much Andy for showing me and Kiri around and helping to get me ready to race and well done on being the world #3. Ay Up

Big thanks to my sponsors and to everyone that helped me achieved this result.

AY UP

Australian Aerospace

Pedal Pwr plus [ Giant bikes]

Hammer nutrition

The race itself and the course was tough and beat me up but I would go over and do it all again. The race next year is coming to Australia so get training. How good will it be doing the worlds on our own turf.

Bozz

Canada

2009-07-21T16:17:00.000-07:00

THIS PLACE IS WICKED.

Just went for a strap with Fellows on the world 24hr course, pretty tough little course but it's going to be fun. I will hopefully get some photos up soon

Later

Whip them legs

Bozza

PAIN is just the WEAKNESS leaving the BODY

2009-07-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

Well it's less then a week till we board the plane and land in Canada for the worlds. Have I done enough training I think so but I will let you know when I get back. Ay Up will be over there in force with Mr Fellows taking on the big boys for the World title and myself having a crack at my age group 25-29.

Had a crack at the noosa enduro on the weekend and just got away with a 3rd place finish in the open class. The course is pretty taxing especially in the 2nd half I faded pretty bad at about the 60-70km mark due to my poor nutrition paln. Good race, not my usual type of race and I will be back next year. No more sand bagging in the opens though HUBCAP.

Just to let you guys now I will be selling my Fox RL with remote lockout once I get back from Canada so if anyone is interested give me a bell.

Whats Cracking

2009-07-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

Well its not long til Canada now but the Noosa enduro is this weekend which is good becuase I am a bit more focused on that then thinking about the Worlds. I have no real expectations for the Enduro as it is 100km race and not the type of race that I usually do, it will be good training though. Training lately has consisted of longer less intense rides and after this weekend I will be tappering off.

I don't have to much else to report.

Bring on the worlds

Keep the legs burning

Insomnia 24hr Report

2009-07-01T02:04:00.000-07:00

Well it was a dusty dry course. NO the Insomnia lived up to expectations wet wet wet. The course got shortneed to 7km and about 6.5km of this was soaking. I didn't do this race solo as the World 24hr is just around the corner so the 2 man team was the go.

My partner in crime was Mr machine Fellows, basically the paln was to get out and smash the first few hrs and see how we were travelling then do 3 or 4 laps at a time to get some km's into the legs. As it turned out we managed to get well out in front and by midnight we both were sick of the Mud and the bike component eating conditions as were alot of other poeple. We came first in the race and were fare enough in the lead to enjoy the morning without any time on the bike.

I want to say thanks Andrew from Ay Up for the Heater and for the best lights Ever made, also to my partner in crime Andy for a good race and a big congratulations needs to go out to the solo guys and girls who raced the whole race you guys are legends.

Insomnia 24

2009-06-25T04:47:00.001-07:00

Yes this is wear I will be on the weekend. Can't wait to hit the trails rain, hail or shine. Hubcap I am not racing solo this race I will be in a 2 man team instead. You have some pretty tough competition ahead of you though with the likes of Sick Mick and Matt.

I have been pretty busy lately but still managing to get the K's under the belt, anyway looking forward to catching up with the usual crew and getting the tyres dirty

If you have read the latest Enduro mag you will find a speel on Esi grips, and they great. I highly recommend them if you are having trouble with comfy grips

Smash it

Mt Perry

2009-06-07T23:26:00.000-07:00

Firstly I just want to say it was a great track with good hard climbs and big rewards coming back down to transition. I am already making plans to go back up for next years event. My goals for this race was to try and get into the top 5 if not 3, give the XTC a run and have fun.

As it turned out this was not my race, going into the first cornerI think I was in around 15th and after the first couple of climbsI am pretty sure I made it to around 6th and that was pretty much the end of it for me. Coming down the first technical switch back I ended up over the bars and flated about 2 minute after that.

To cut along story and excuses short I ended up pulling out of the race after three laps, not real proud of it but thats racing.

The XTC is wicked

Next up Insomnia 24

Well done to Andy Fellows who took number one spot and to Sick Mick who came 2nd in his catergory and 5th over all.

Keep the Legs Burning

My new Bike

2009-06-01T19:47:00.001-07:00

Here it is the my new ride from Giant. I have changed a couple of things from when I got it, I took the 819 mvic wheel set off and put my XT wheelset on instead and also put a set of Next raceface Carbon bars on it to. After going for a thrash on the 50km Noosa enduro track I have got to say it's very sweet bike to ride and very very comfortable cant wait to have a good run on it at the Mt Perry race this weekend.

I have also been trailing a set of Esi grips and they seem to be pretty good also, will do a review after this weekend.

smash it

TRAINING

2009-05-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

With about six weeks of training left as well as the Insomnia 24hr and Noosa enduro before the Worlds I am at the stage where I have to be on the bike no matter what the weather. As I was on late shift this week and didn't start work until 2pm Monday I decided that Monday morning would be great oppurtunity to put some K's under the belt for the week.

I decided to ride from my home in Gympie to work in Brisbane Aiport, the route I went is starting Cedar pocket i would stay off the highway an go all the back ways through all the little towns Kin Kin. The hills around Landsborough are pretty big and great for training. It turned out to be 207km ride in abouot 7.5hrs on my XTC.

I just want to clear up one thing most poeple have told me that I am insane I just want to say you are 100% correct and I even went to the doctors and had it confirmed, he put a insane stamp on my hand but it washed off in the rain.

Smash it up no excuses

Fully Sick Mick

2009-05-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

My number is 0407260310

Bozz

Training Rides

2009-05-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

Well, a week after I competed in the National solo event I decided to give the Merida 24hr a go. I wanted to approach this race as more of a training ride more than a race. Even though I had a good result at Nationals there were a few problems with my eating plan that I was not happy with, so another 24hr seemed like a good way to iron out those problems.

I got out to the Merida 24hr about 3 hrs before the race and Mick from Action Cycles had already set up, so I got my stuff together and set out for a quick practice lap. I was happy I went on this lap, as it prepared me for the hard race ahead. The first half of the course was pretty much a rock garden following the first grass hill climb, not much flow and pretty rough on the bike and body. The second half was a lot more flowy with not to much climbing, but as we all know, at the end of a 24hr race a little climbing is a lot.

With a little help from Mickers it was time to get on the start line, Mattdog being the only competitor on the list that I had heard of. I thought I was in with a shot at a top 3, but I never under estimate an unknown field, as there are usually a couple of dark horses in the mix. My plan was to go out hard for the first 6 hrs and see how I was travelling after that. I was aiming to complete the race but wasn't sure just how hard I should push myself. I had positioned myself just back from the Flight centre team and found myself cruising up the first hill in about 5th outright. After about 3 laps, my crew made up of Kiri, Don and Bubble, informed me that I was in a position I have never been in before - 1st! Stick to the plan - go hard for the first 6hrs then see what happens.

Well it was all starting to look like Canberra by 4 or 5pm with rain coming over. My Xtc was fine but the hard tail was starting to take its toll. On my anthem I was running 1.9 Larsen TT, banking on it remaining dry. Oh well. By the seven hr mark the rocks were slippery the track was wet and I'd had enough of the Hardtail smashing my back. The rain had stopped though, so I jumped the Anthem still with the 1.9s on. My crew told me that I had a good lead, can't remember by how much, but I had been starting to lap other solo riders by this stage. So back to my plan. Well, in my first six hrs I had a good lead - do you think I wanted to slow down? No! New plan - keep going and try to increase my lead, keep the lap times consistant and see what happens between now and Morning. To my supprise the tyres were great on the track, I had no problems at all and I was hitting all my lines. To cut a long long story short, by morning I was well clear of second and was able to finish my race at about the 23hr mark. I managed just over 350km on a pretty tough little course and to boot i have got my first ever 24hr Win. Hell ya

Chris with about 12hrs notice switched from a pair team to solo, and until his back played up had managed to get himself into 3rd during the race. Mickers in his first ever solo attempt got 10th. I need to say thankyou to my pit crew - you guys were great - and also to Pearso and Kel who came out at midnight to help out, it was great.

To add to my epic weekend, Giant has come onboard as a sponsor, i got my new XTC on Friday so stay tuned for some Photos soon.

Merida 24

2009-04-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

Well you would think after completing National 24 I wouldn't want to look at a bike for a while let alone another 24hr. I decided within a week of competing at nationals that I would give the Merida ago, i dont know whether this is a good idea or not. I am going into this race thinking of it as a training ride, its a good chance to get my eating plan down pat as well as some extra training in the dirt. I have no real expectations of myself but i would like to keep up with Chris and Mick as they are doing it as a pair.

I also need to say thank you to Duck. He sent me up a sweet set of Next carbon bars, i have never riden with carbon bars before so i cant wait to give it a go.

Whip them legs

Bozz

Thanks

2009-04-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

Its time to say thanks to a couple of people that have helped me on my mission to be a 24hr rider. Apart from my sponsors these people help me a hell of a lot.

I want to say thanks to Crummy as he's the one that got me to do my first ever mountain bike race back in 05 and since then it has always been about pushing/beating each other no matter what race or ride, Crummy has achieved some great results and has always been a bench mark for me in the sport.

Chris AKA the Forehead and his wife Bubble i met at my first ever solo attempt at the Merida 08 and since then they have become great friends, Chris is one of my training partners [coach] in Brisbane and always gives me a run for my money. Sometimes I think Chris is more excited about going to the Worlds then me.

Kiri my wife and my two girls Charlotte and Kaitlin are great. Kiri has supported me from the word go, I think she gets sick of me talking about bikes though! Both girls are also shaping up to be good little riders!

Last but by far not the least, Pearso [Slingshot], who has been looking after me at races from my very first race. He has driven with me to Canberra both times i have gone. He has been there crewing for me no matter what the weather conditions or where the race is. He is head pit crew and seems to enjoy watching me thrash myself in a 24hr (payback for all the riding I make him do!). Thank you very much Pearso for all your help.

Thanks

Now smash it

National Report

2009-04-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

It all started for me last Thursday when Slingshot & I started the long drive down to Canberra. By 7am Friday morning we had arrived in Canberra, & while setting up we noticed fully sick Mick had rocked up. I managed to get out and do some practice laps with Slingshot, Sick Mick, Duck and Graham. The track was great and went down as the best 24hr track i have ridden. It was mostly single track, with a couple of small fire road sections. The single track itself had heaps of tree roots and pine needles which in the dry made the track a little slippery. Anyway, on race day i woke up and to be honest, after all the driving, i wasn't really fussed about doing the race. By the time 12pm came around i was in the mood and ready to go!

The start line had all the big names there: English, Fenner, Fellows, Claxton, Sick Mick and Crummy. As usual, the start of the race was flat out with all the big names gone. I took off with a bit of pace and then tried to get into a rhythm which worked out well. By the 4 hr mark i had taken third place in my category and was in the mix for a top 10 finish, but with 20hrs to go anything could happen. I pulled into pits at about 5pm to put lights on and some warm clothes...... little did i know that the rain was about to unleash. On the next lap I picked up my jacket and got on with the job. By this stage my lap times started to suffer but i was still on my XTC and the harness of the hardtail was setting in, the course was pretty wet but it was not raining anymore. By 12am my XTC had no brake pad left on it and it was time to get on the Anthem for some relief.

By morning and after having a couple of small issues [ falling asleep ] i was pretty stoked to hear that i was two laps clear of 4th place but my lap times left a little to be desired. Slingshot and Duck said the guy in 4th was hammering some laps and if i didn't pick up my game my 2 lap lead would pretty much be gone. With this in mind i managed to go out and pull my lap times back down by about 10mins which was a good feeling after sitting on a bike for 18hrs. Pretty much the rest of the race i had my crew cheering me on where they could, and i just kept myself going until 12. By the end of the race I was told I had finished 3rd in my category to Andy Fellow and English, and with an outright finish of 8th I had achieved my goals for the National race. Fully sick Mick won his category and finished 11th overall with crummy finishing 6th in his category and 21st overall after suffering bike troubles. Standing on the podium with some of the machines around you is a great feeling.

I want to thank Duck and Sling shot for helping me, i couldn't have done it without you guys!

& my wonderful wife Kiri for all the telepathic support she sent me.

Check out crummys blog for his race report

http://www.mcrummy.blogspot.com/

Smash it

National Solo

2009-04-14T16:24:00.000-07:00

Here is some photos from the National solo last weekend, slingshot, duck crummy, Go sick Mick and myself. Duck and Slingshot crewed for me and did a great job i might add. on the results seen English 1st outright and Fellows 3rd outright, Sick Mick got 1st in the 40-44 age category and finished 11th outright my mate Crummy finished a impressive 21st outright after some some troubles with his bike and i finished 8th outright with a 3rd in my age group 25-29 i was happy coming 3rd considering English and Fellows were the ones that beat me.

Full report to follow

Smash it

Bozza

The Face,the Forehead and the Window licker

2009-04-05T23:09:00.001-07:00

This was the name of our three man team that enter the geocentric 6hr held on at a property at Kurwongbah. Our team was made up of myself Chris[ The Forehead] and Pearso[ The Face] and you can work out who the window licker was. Chris manage to put us in first place right from the first lap with a 19:09 min lap so for the rest of the race all we needed to do was maintain the lead, i headed out for my lap and put in a solid time, pearso was then out for our third lap and literally smashed himself [27:48] he came in pretty smoked but recovered well to continue putting in solid time for the remainder of the race. The course itself had a bit of everthing in it hills, single track and fire road, but the challendging part was the mud. With the amount of recent rain the track was soaked with two sections pretty much unriderable, dispite this we all had a ball and the 1st place was the first time any of us have got a 1st in MTB racing. I will say thanks to everyone involved in the race it was great and to our support team[ wombat inc.] thanks alot.

Bozza

Hammer Nutrition

2009-03-26T16:09:00.000-07:00

Well i think its about time i did a review on the Hammer nutrition product i have been using since the beginning of the year. Before i picked up my sponsorship with Hammer i was using Endura optimizer and the Endura electrolytes for my races and they worked pretty good with no major problems. When i started on the Hammer products i started using Hammers equivilent [ perpetuem]to endura optimizer, it took about a week to get used to the taste but apart from that worked great. I got about a month of training with Hammer Perpetuem, and the Gels before the Dusk til Dawn in Feb. The Dusk til Dawn was going to be the first major test to see if Hammer was going to be as good as Endura. The first two hrs of my race i felt very average and it basically came down to me putting to much food in my head. So at the three hr mark i cut most of my food and just lived off perpetuem, it went down very easily and didn't feel heavy in my gut.

As it turned out i didn't eat for about five hrs and was still putting in great lap times, and perpetuem was the only thing fueling me apart from the odd lolly or two. To sum up the dusk til dawn has probably been my best race to date and i managed to put in great times in against a quality feild. Since the Dusk til Dawn i have been using Heed [ which is Hammers electrolytes sports drink ] is very easy to get down and dosn't have the really artificial taste like some other drinks. In the past when i have used other sports drink and i would always give myself a half dose of what was recommended because the recommended amount would just make me feel sick. Heed is the first sports drink i have used that i can have the recommended amount and dosn't make me feel sick.

I have also started using the recovery drink by hammer nutrition [Recoverite]as well because i have not used recovery drinks in the past i cant give you a comparison to other drinks. I can tell you that i am not a huge fan of the taste but it has worked very well for me i have been recovering in between my ride alot quicker in turn letting me train harder.

To sum up you would expect someone sponsored by a company to say good things about that product. I really do believe that Hammer products are very very good and if you want a quality product to race and train with then give it a go. Hammer nutrition go into alot of detail on there website about there product.

Some photos from last week

2009-03-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a couple of photos from last weeks ride up Mt Cootha and across to gap creek. as you can see chris is a very happy Lefty owner. Three weekend til National 24.

Keep the wheels turning

Bozza

Touching Base

2009-03-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been putting any posts together lately. Kiri & I got married two weekends ago and i have not stopped since. I just want to say thanks to all our family and friends who were there for our day, we are both very grateful.

Ok, back to the bike stuff . Over the past couple of weeks i have stepped up my training, and it seems to be paying off. National 24 Solo is next month and i am sure crummy is going to give me a run for my money, as well as the likes of English, Ha i wish, i am sure i will be left in his wake. Also Australian Aerospace, the company i work for, are going to sponsor me for my flight to the World 24 in Canada. I have booked my slot in the 25-29 age group and we will see how i go. Lots more training to be done between now and then.

Today i decided that i put a solid training ride in From Brisbane back up the coast to Eumundi where Kiri and my girls were going to meet me. I left at 4am. My Ay Ups lit the way, My Xtc Alliance performed perfectly and my Hammer Nutrition gels and drinks kept me fuelled for the whole trip. The Maxxis Overdrive tyres i have on my bike were great in the wet conditions also. I ended up doing 144km in a touch over 5hrs and the stretch from Landsborough to Nambour through the back roads gave me alot of climbing practice.

Keep the wheels turning

Bozza

Ay Up D2D

2009-02-13T19:10:00.000-08:00

After a quick stop at Brisbane Airport to pick up Crummy, a good mate of mine, we headed straight down for the D2D. We got to the track at about 330pm and Pearso [new nick name Sling Shot] and Kel had already set up camp. I quickly ripped my bikes off the roof and went for a practice lap. The course itself had changed heaps from the Verticon 6hr held last November. The track was a 6km loop made up of switch backs, a fair bit of grass, some loose sandy sections and a few little rock gardens, but over all was not to technical.

Before I knew it, it was time to head over for the riders brief and get into a position for the start. Crummy and I settled into the second row while Andy and Bellie were on the start ready to rip it up, Sling shot was back in the Pack. The gun went and as expected the start was fast and Andy and Bellie were gone, I had a good start and as i usually do went out pretty hard for the first lap then tried to settle into a rhythm. Well like most good plans they fail. My first 6 or so laps were good but then my stomach start tying itself in knots. I stopped at the pits and got some encouragment from my crew and at the same time Crummy passed me. By this stage I think I was in 6th position. I decided to stop with the gels and just live off my Perpetuem [Hammer Nutrition product], this plan worked out and after a lap i had caught crummy up and started to feel better. Whilst i had finally found my rhythm i still had alot of work to do to try for a top 3 finish with fellow Ay UP rider Matt having about 10 minutes on me. I am not sure what lap i was on but coming into a corner after the long grass straight I hear Bellie telling me to jump on the Ay Up train and it was then i knew that i was about to be lapped and this was also my opportunity to make up some ground on 3rd. To my suprise i picked up the tempo and was able to hang on the back of Bellie and Andy Fellows wheel for a lap or so. By this stage it was about 1 am. I had all my lines down pat was in a good rhythm and my crew telling me i was making up time on 3rd and i also put a lap on Crummy. [Anyone who knows me and Crummy will tell you it does not matter what race we are in, as far as we are concerned the race is between us]. By daylight i had managed to get up into third and had a small break on 4th [matt] I pulled into my pit at about 5am and was handed a coffee and told all i had to do was keep it consistant if not try and step it up a little if i could. In the last hr of riding i managed to hold off Matt and also put another lap on Crummy. By the finish Bellie 1st [31 laps] Andy Fellows [ 30 laps] myself [ 30 laps] Crummy[28 laps] and Matt [ 27 laps] slingshot finished on 16 laps.

I want to say thanks to Chris, Nat,Kiri, Kel, and Boo for all the help that you gave all of us in the pits and without you guys i couldn't have achieved my 3rd. Also to Slingshot for giving me a run up the hills every time i came across you on the track. I also need to say thanks to the support crews from Ay UP and around the track that cheered me on the whole race, it was great and makes 12hrs on the bike just a little easier.

Dusk til Dawn in short

2009-02-09T12:44:00.000-08:00

In short how things went at the Dusk til Dawn. In a top 30 position is good mate Pearso, Matt dog ended up in 5th, Crummy in 4th myself 3rd, Andy Fellows 2nd and Bellie defended his title and came 1st. All up the track was good, the weather was good also. I want to say thanks to Chris, Nat, Boo, Kel and a massive thanks to my soon to be wife Kiri, legendary support crew. I will do a full report soon

Dusk Til Dawn

2009-02-02T15:03:00.000-08:00

Well the D2D is just about here. After checking the compeditors list everyone aiming for a top 10 finish is going to have there work cut out for them. With some big names around like Bellie, Fellows, Russell Worthington, Matt Powell and of course Crummy the race is set to be fast. Tapering off for this week has given me time to think about the race and my preparation, race i think i will be in the hurt locker for the 12hrs as far as my preparation goes i am pretty happy. I have been training for the last week and a bit using my Hammer Nutrition gear. I am very happy with it all, the Perpetuem took a little bit of getting use to and i cant wait to hit the race using it. For my last big race i relied on Endura optimizer alot. I have no doubt that Perpetuem is going to live up to my expectations.

Whip them legs

Bozz

Hammer Time

2009-01-24T23:25:00.003-08:00

I just wanted to give you guys a little look at some Hammer products I got last week. I think the bottle of Hammer Gel is a great idea and you can get these little gel bottles that fit into your pocket. The Gel bottle holds 150ml of gel in each bottle, so the equvilant of 3 or 4 normal packets of gel. Heaps better then a hand full of empty gel packets in your back pocket after a long ride. I will give you a run down on the products next week. Happy training

Crummy

2009-01-19T18:21:00.000-08:00

If you cx out my blog list you will find a link to Crummys blog. Crummy is making a special trip up from Nowra for the D2D. Crummy layed down some good results last year, definately someone to watch out for.

Bozz

Friday Ride

2009-01-17T16:38:00.000-08:00

During the week i decided that i would ride from Brisbane back to the Sunshine coast. I had no expectations of doing any Records but because i didnt have a lift up the coast on Friday arvo it was a good excuse to get on the bike and ride. I had most of the guys at work calling me an idiot crazy and so on but this only made me want to do it more. At 12 o'clock i got on my bike and headed for the boondal wetland bike paths. By the first Km i was roasting, it was a cool 34 degrees and with a good 4hrs or so on the bike it was going to be hot.

My plan was to stay away from the Highway so i headed straight up to Redcliff then on to Anzac Av and then got onto Deception bay rd over the Bruce Highway onto Old Gympie rd then started heading North. I rode along Morayfield rd onto Beerburrum rd then onto Steve Irwin way. I ended up at the Ettamoga Pub in just after 4hr and 30 mins and 120 km under the belt , not bad considering i was riding into a head wind most of the time.

A bit more exciting news i picked up a sponsorship with Hammer Nutrition. [Epic]

On your Bike

2009-01-12T12:50:00.000-08:00

Second week on the bike after the holidays and everthing is going very well. As i do most of my training on the SS, I decided over the holidays I wouold up the gearing from a 34/15 to a 34/14. This morning I did my 46km ride into work and in favourable conditions knocked 7 mintues off my time. [ Stoked ]

I am not sure if doing the majority of my training on my SS will pay off but I guess I will fing out at the Dusk til Dawn. With the likes of Bellie, Russell and Matt Dog planning on doing the race I have my work cut out for me.

Whip them Legs

Bozza

GOOD INTENTIONS

2008-12-26T23:05:00.000-08:00

As we all know you go into XMAS with good intentions but as always, you run into people that you haven't seen for ages and have afew drinks and your plan goes out the window. Of late i have done very little riding but because my two little girls are learning to swim i have been getting some swimming in instead. My Ay Ups have been getting some use but on the fishing seen instead.

Catch you all in the New year and keep the wheels turning

Bozz

Training

2008-12-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

This week i started running again for a little cross training with my mate Matt. My legs soon reminded why have not run for near on 12 months. I am hoping with a bit of running and afew more kms on the bike each week will put in a pretty good position to race come next year.

Ay Up Geko Review

2008-12-05T20:13:00.000-08:00

For the last week or so i have been night riding with Ay Ups new Geko light and Battery attachments. well what would you expect from Ay Up? Nothing but awesome of course! There is no other company out there that has designed a system that you can put a light and bracket and 3hr battery and bracket on your helmet in under 20seconds. The brackets are held on by 8 little velcro pads about the size of a 5 cent piece. The whole system would weigh under 400 grams if not less. When i first attached the bracket to my helmet i shook the hell out of my helmet just to make sure the light would not come off. Didn't budge. On the first ride i did which was up Mt Cootha with my mate Pearso as were hooking through some single track i got my helmet light caught on a branch and once again the lights didn't budge.

Well done Ay Up