Summers nearly here-time for some night riding!!

Now that summer is nearly upon us and the weather is getting better, dust off that bike, chuck some lights on and get out night riding!
If your looking to get some lights, or wanting to upgrade your current set you neednt look any further than Ay-Up lights. By far the most popular of lighting systems, I see loads of people using Ay-Ups at our club night rides and at races all around the country.

I'll try to keep it short and sweet, this is why you should get Ay-Ups:
- They are AUSSIE MADE. Support your country!!
- They are much cheaper than other lighting systems yet they do not compromise quality and work just as well, if not better than there more expensive competitors.
- You can use the lights for other adventures such as running, hiking, kayaking. We use them as a torch when we go camping or lose power at home.
-  There's loads of different options and kits and ordering extras such as batteries, mounts and custom Ay-Up Jerseys is simple and quick!

The half epic battery lasts 3 hours on high and 6 hours on low whilst the epic battery lasts 6 hours on high and an incredible 12 hours on low. The low setting is by no means low and lights up the track well enough to use confidently in training and racing. Included in this kit are 2 lights, a handlebar and helmet light which you get to choose from 12 funky different colours for both. I use a narrow beam for my helmet and an intermediate beam for my handlebar.

Sweet range of colours to choose, and now you can choose a black or white lightbar

Also included in the kit are red saxon caps to put over your lights to put on the back of your helmet to use as a rear red light. The Adventure Kit comes complete with all the bits and pieces you need as well as doubles and spares so you can mount lights on more than 1 bike. The extras include mounts, velcro straps, mounting bounds, cable ties and battery pouches.  It also includes head band kit and an awesome feature called the Gecko helmet mounting kit which allows you to easily and quickly put your helmet light on and off. A charger which charges 2 batteries at a time and an in car charger ensures you can always charge your batteries, and they do not take long to charge.

What I really love about the Ay-Up lighting system, apart from the excellent quality, ease of use and reasonable pricing, is the weight. Each bulletproof, waterproof light weighs a measly 50 grams. Unbelievable!! During my Enduro races I use the Epic battery, with an extension lead to the battery which sits nicely in my middle pocket of my jersey and it’s no wonder I can’t notice it as in weighs in at 250 grams for the whole getup. The battery on my handle bar light straps conveniently on to the handle bar stem or at the front of the top tube with no dramas at all. I do most of my training in the early morning before work, in pitch black on the road and Ay-Up provide such an impressive light that approaching cars slow down as they are not sure what is heading their way! So if you’re looking for a quality set of lights, to enhance you mountain biking experience and provide safety whilst out training, Ay-Up is the only way to go. 
 www.ayup-lights.com

There’s something magical and mysterious about riding at night, and night rides are by my favourite ride of the week. Likewise, the night stage of a 24 hour solo race is when the race really cranks up and makes you feel invigorated and alive! You can ride the same track you’ve ridden loads of times and it feels completely new and different when you ride it at night. Everything is more exciting, each berm, switchback and drop off more challenging yet the stillness of the night provides a calmness and pure bliss.  I can be out on the track, in pitch black with no one else around and have complete faith that my Ay-Up lights will get me home, not once have I experienced any issues with them.  

Al modelling the very bright, very cool Ay Up jerseys which can be seen a mile away, not only do they look totally radical, they make sure you are seen when out on the road or tracks

Time to rest..... BOO.

I made a few not so great decisions in the past couple of weeks that lead to me not being fully fit for the Scott. Racing your bike for 24hours requires your mind and body to be fit and healthy and unfortunately mine is currently not in the required state. The first mistake I made was ordering prawns for dinner in Albury the night before our 440km mtb ride back to Canberra. (see previous blog for more gnarly details on what went on there), my stomach has still not recovered and I am awaiting test results from the doctor regarding parasites in my stomach from our visit to Cambodia earlier this year, let’s just say things haven’t been real peachy in the stomach department since then.

The other mistake I made was letting a mate have a spin on my anthem the day before the epic ride and not remembering my seat post height, getting it wrong and riding for 10 ½ hours with it, waking up with a very sore knee which is also still hanging round. And the third mistake was to ignore the niggle in my lower back in the weeks leading up to the epic ride, although the only reason I ignored it and didn’t see anyone was due to living in a pretty remote area it takes about a month to see anyone or a lengthy drive which with school being so busy I wasn’t able to get it looked at.

The epic hike a bike section on the ride turned that niggle into a more substantial injury that is giving me some grief. When deciding whether I  would race the Scott lots of things were going through my head, but I haven’t got to race a 24 this year, you’re just making excuses, your back and knee and stomach will be fine come race day...... in the past I probably would have listened to these voices! But the older and wiser..? me realised my body is yelling at me for a break, it wants rest, I really don’t want to give it rest but I know if I am to be healthy and fit again my mind will have to give in. I was ready and rearing to go to Canada for the Worlds and then to try to fit in another 4 weeks of hard training to maintain that fitness for the Scott ended up not working, and that again was through my own mistake of being told to have 3 days rest but riding with the boys into a massive headwind doing efforts on those days, what was I saying about me being ‘older and wiser....?’

So I’m bummed not to be at the Scott and wish all competitors the best of luck, I’ll be heading to Melbourne to do a cruisy road ride with the Liv/Giant crew which I’m most excited about, heading to AusBike Expo to see all the latest toys and gizmos and then watch some mates run the Melbourne Marathon! On the upside I’ll be able to do a heap of races in November/December like Highland Fling and, SS Nationals and Rosewhite 12hour, which I am normally too stuffed from the Scott to do.

I'll try to enjoy resting as much as this fella is

HUME AND HOVELL ADVENTURE

Our good friends Beth and Seb and their Canberra friends (Alex, Steve, Aaron, Lee, Nathan) organised a bunch of keen adventuring cyclists to go to Albury and ride back to Canberra via the Hume and Hovell Track. (The route taken by early explorers William Hume and Hamilton Hovell back in the 1800's)  It turned out to be quite the adventure and I learnt a lot of valuable lessons!!

At the monument tree ready for departure

Lesson 1- Don’t eat seafood when you cannot see the ocean. I soon regretted not listening to the older, much wiser adventurer Lee who heeded me that warning when I ordered the Prawn Risotto.

At 11pm the prawn belly hit and I proceeded to spend the next 3 hours being up close and personal with the toilet bowl and the bin with some rest breaks lying on the cold tiles of the bathroom floor. It was not pretty and made worse by the fact we were sharing rooms so I did a good job in keeping everyone else awake until 2am.

Up at 5, I was feeling surprisingly better, I think I was just stoked to have survived the ordeal! Feeling dehydrated but not too bad, I decided I would join the others on the journey to Tumburumba.

An epic day, I clocked 10.5 hours riding time, which included a fair bit of hike a bike up a couple of ridiculously  steep mountains, up and over and under fences, it was a real off road and even off trail adventure that brought us 4 seasons in one day including sunshine, rain and sleet. With 40km to go we were stoked and thought it would be a cruise into town, how wrong we were, epic climbs all the way. Thankfully Jess was tracking us via Seb’s SPOT and found us with 40km to go with water and salad rolls, legend!! Soon we were watching the sunset and luckily ALL of us had our AY-UP LIGHTS on either our handlebars or helmets or both. We would have been in alot of trouble without them. Al had had a couple of mouthfuls of my dinner the night before and the dreaded prawn belly hit him in the last 20km, stopping for a quick spew here and there we were both surprised and elated we had both made it through the day.

Cruisin into Tumburumba at sunset
Photo:Steve Hanley

Day Two saw us leave Tumbarumba and make our way to Tumut, a pleasant 90km trip proved abit harder than initially thought as pine logs had crashed and blocked the track. Initially we ventured up and over the logs, taking about an hour to get to what we thought was the cleared track. A congo line of people passing their bikes up and over huge logs, scrambling losing balance in their cleats sure was a sight! We then had to turn back and congo line the bikes back as it became apparent there was no clear track. A few big climbs in today’s ride, I found if I rode my own pace I felt ok, it was when my heart rate would go up that I would feel as if I was going to be sick. I also had nothing in my legs and I think this was because I had not eaten much the day before and started the journey fairly dehydrated from the Prawn Belly episode. 6.5 hours riding time with an upper body workout meant for some tired adventurers rolling into Tumut. A few of the adventurers partners had been enjoying a lovely day out and had everything unpacked for us in our cute B & B we were staying in, out for dinner where we were all trying not to fall asleep!! Thankfully I had my appetite back and did a great job in refuelling!!



racing through the water.
Photo: Steve Hanley



having a blast
photo:Steve Hanley

I decided not to ride from Tumut to Canberra as I am preparing to race the Scott next weekend. The other guys rode 120km home over a massive amount of climbing and finished off with a hot lap of Stromlo. I had such a great time riding with the 8 other people I had met and it was a real adventure. The navigators did a wonderful job, and I honestly believe the sections where we had to ride fast from the bull, got chased by the farmer, lifted bikes up and down and over logs, climbed fences, rode back the way we came and pushed bikes up the steepest mountains; all those bits that were considered a stuff up; THEY WERE THE BEST BITS!!! They made it an adventure and they are the parts that make me laugh when I think about the trip.

SS Al Cruisin
photo:Steve Hanley



improvizing and creating a bridge
photo:Steve Hanley



pre-ride coffee at the coolest cafe with loads of teddies and it even had drop bears!
photo:Steve Hanley

photo:Steve Hanley

A massive thanks to everyone who organised it the trip, it was a great weekend.

For more photos check out: http://svana.org/photos/humehovell2012/