Bear and Courts Tour De Cabbage Adventure

I felt as if I would either sink or swim, I was either going to really love this type of riding, or I was going to yearn for the comfort of my own bed, being clean and warm and having proper food. Obviously heading out for one night is different to going out for 30 days but I felt I could get a bit of a sense for what it’s all about. We ordered a lightweight cooker and headed into the camping shop after work on Friday night to pick it up, all set for our trip. It hadn’t arrive, dam. What to do now, we decided to ponder our options at the coffee shop then an invite for a drink at the pub with the boss sounded appealing. When chatting to the others about what we were thinking of doing, heading out for a bikepacking weekend,  we were told to be careful of snakes, wild dogs, wild farmers with guns whose land we would have to cross, ticks, angry cows and deers. Excellent. A beer, a bowl of chips and some pizza slices later we decided to go jump on the bikes and go. I told my boss if I wasn’t at work on Monday to send out a search party. Al (Bear Grylls) convinced me he knew the tracks and we would be safe. Lights on, energy bars packed, map in hand we headed off.

First part of the trip involved riding 10metres, walking 10metres through cow patties in a muddy cow paddock. I had attached a drink cage under the down tube of my frame and wasn’t overly impressed to see my drink bottle was now covered in cow crap. Let’s hope we find a tap soon. We rode for 2 ½ hours and only diverted off the track once. I have a ridiculously bad sense of direction (I sometimes get lost in Marlo, which is a pretty small town, only 300 people live here) but thankfully Gryllsy can navigate with his eyes closed. We found what we thought would be a nice place to camp and I set out the bivvy and sleeping bags whilst Al set about making a fire. Jumped into bed, and this is where we learnt a few things:

-          Don’t get into your sleeping bag when you’re sweaty from riding. It makes you clammy and uncomfortable and cold

-          Take an inflatable pillow with you. Stuffing a jacket into a sleeping bag cover does not provide any neck support.

-          Don’t get out to pee at 4 in the morning then step in it

-          Don’t decide to camp on a slope

Laying there I felt as if I hadn’t gotten any sleep, but presumed I had or I would have been incredibly bored laying there for 5 hours. When I woke up at 6am freezing my butt off, I felt somewhat of a connection with Rose from the Titanic, feeling similar to when her and Jack are floating in the ocean on a plank of wood. So the first thing I huskily said to Al was “Jack.....Jack......Blow the whistle Jack.....” which then became our catch phrase for the rest of the ride.

 We jumped up and quickly lit a fire to dry to thaw out. Our drinks had turned to ice and a frost had hit. We had some apple energy bars so we put them on a stick and toasted it for breakky. Rode for another hour, with the sun coming up and spectacular views over the valleys I couldn’t imagine any other place I’d rather be. Rolled into Cabbage Tree (yep that’s the name of the town...) to the one and only cafe and ordered some food. Unfortunately all they had were sausage rolls. Having not eaten a sausage roll for years and being a fairly health conscious person it took some self talk and persuading that I need energy to continue riding. It was very delicious and I followed it down with a nice big coffee. Then spent 25 minutes on the loo, there are downsides to eating a healthy diet all the time, you’re not used to it when you have to eat unhealthy foods. Bellies full we headed out on the back tracks towards Bemm River. It was a perfect 25 degrees and we were loving every minute of it. Somewhere along the way I dropped and lost a drink bottle and spent 10 minutes backtracking to find it, with no luck. Starting to get hungry and parched again, I was dreaming of a nice salad sandwich I was hoping to get at Bemm, 3 hours down the track. The trails were pretty rad, fireroads but quite rutted which meant you had to concentrate and use skills making the ride more interesting. We rolled into Bemm and headed to the pub, receiving a less than warm welcome and not seeing anything except greasys on the menu, we headed to the general store for a feed. I wonder what the minimum amount of supplies a shop needs in order to call themselves a general store.... Ice creams, chocolate bars and a jar of vegemite were the only edible items in the shop. A mango ice cream and a cherry ripe later, we were heading out on Old Coast Road to make it back home. Riding along the coast was beautiful, until we hit Pearl Point Track. A 6km sand track, which took us over 2 hours to get through. Ride 10metres, push bike for 10metres repeat over 6kms. It was good fun trying to fly through the sand without coming a gutza the first 3 times, then it got a bit old.

Baking in the sun pushing the bikes though deep sand we ran out of food and water, luckily we were only 18km from home. Cruised in on the bitumen and headed straight to the Marlo store. Relatively incoherent the store owner gave us some delicious big milkshakes to get the sugar levels back up!

So....did I sink or swim?? Looks like training for Tour Divide has officially began!!

ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE “WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE” MOMENTS

About 18 months ago, I came home with a world map and a book titled “Cycling Around the World” and declared I was planning a bike trip around the world. I mapped out my route, write out an equipment list and even planned out a departure date. Now I must admit, I regularly have these “What am I doing with my life?” mid life crisis’ and come up with lots of things we could and should be doing instead of saving for a house, sipping lattes and going to work 8-5 every day. I love travelling, but I always miss riding my bike too much to go away for long periods of time. I figure I can combine my love for both by bike packing.

 I have a million quotes I regularly spout off to Al, about “We’ve got a long time looking at a lid....you only live once..... life is too short...... etc etc” Unfortunately for the short term me, Al was focused on saving some money to one day buy a house, but none the less this is lucky for the long term me.

Fast forward 12 months, and we have been saving hard, have moved overseas, interstate and across the state, grinding away 8-5 every day, doing lots of races and meeting loads of cool people. Then I brought home a DVD titled “Ride the Divide.” For those of you who haven’t seen it, see it. It’s a doco on a 2700 mile (4000ish KM’s) race from Banff, Canada to Mexico. It is a self supported race and the cut-off date for females is 30 days, and 27 for males.  The same way Gordo in 24 Solo inspired me to sign up to Kona 24 hour 2 months after seeing the DVD, Matthew Lee and Mary Metcalfe Collier make me want to do this race. The idea was planted.

So now I have 2 ideas, one involved travelling around sort of like cycle touring and the other involves ultra endurance racing self supported style events. Now these ‘underground’ events are starting to get big. It involves a group of like minded people turning up to a point at a certain time, riding the same trails and then comparing times ad experiences at the end. There is no entry fee, no prize money and you are only allowed to use services accessible to every other competitor, so no support crew. This is way harder,  way fairer and heaps cheaper than racing. Whilst I love racing, the cost of entry fees, the wankers turning up in all the gear no idea, and the team racers in endurance events screaming TRACK when you’re flying down a technical single downhill section 22 hours into a solo race is making the Ride the Divide events somewhat more appealing. This type of racing involves being really tough, no one to wipe the snot off your face, feed you or provide you with motivating words or massages. You have to navigate, you have to make sure your getting enough energy and water in, setup camp, keep warm, fix your own repairs, keep pedalling through all elements of the weather and what’s best is having 3 of the same bikes on hand won’t help you a bit. It starts to make 24 solo’s look somewhat tame. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love racing and I am super pumped for the Scott 24 in about 3 weeks, and the loads of races after that, but I reckon I can combine training for endurance races with bike packing and going to see the world this way. I am now finding myself looking at bike packing websites and seeking this underground movement on bikepacking.net, looking at the Colorado trail race and reading blogs by these crazy people that race stupidly long distances all the time. We have recently watched Race Across America, and Off the Rails, 2 DVDs about riding massive distances, pushing mind and body to the limit. They truly are inspiring and made me feel quite pathetic living my somewhat mundane life.

So why don’t you just go and do it instead of banging on about it I hear you say. Well, for those of you that know me I am full of great ideas but regularly change my mind. One minute I’m moving to Alaska, the next Alice Springs, and the next Orbost. One minute I am loving being a teacher, the next I’m on seek.com looking to be a mtb instructor, work in a bike shop or study journalism. Al let me sit on this idea for 18month, thinking I would love the theory of bike packing but being stuck out in the cold and rain, with no food I would be a grumpy bitch pining to go home. He had seen me crack the sads out on training rides when we got lost, copped an unnecessary spray because I was hungry (I become a completely different person when I am hungry and Al has learnt to carry spare food so when signs of hunger hit he can try to prevent this from happening) We always laugh at the Snickers Ad “Your not you when your hungry” cos that applies to me so much. However I was convinced that if I was getting to ride my bike, I would be happy and that I had mellowed a lot more in recent times, largely due to having so much time off the bike with injuries I feel I am just glad to be back riding and not sweating the little things that can go wrong when you’re out on the bike. I have realised I can train for enduro’s by riding with my mates, by heading out on a bikepacking trip, and not having to follow a strict training regime that state I must do 4 x 4minutes strength efforts on the ergo. Yes I will do these, but it’s not the end of the world if I miss a session to go out for a night ride with my mates. I have tried this theory since being back on the bike, and I have actually achieved some pretty good results, am less injured and having heaps more fun, I reckon it’s the key to staying the sport a longer time.  

We started talking more and more about Ride the Divide, Colorado Trail Race and other exciting adventurous rides, and last weekend finally bit the bullet and bought some good quality bivvy’s, sleeping bags, thermarests and a portable lightweight cooker and decided the only way to see if we liked it was to head out into the bush for the weekend. Read the next blog to find out what happened!!!

THE ‘A’ LINE WANTS YOU: JUBBALAND ROCKS!!!!

THE ‘A’ LINE WANTS YOU: JUBBALAND ROCKS!!!!

It was that time of the year, the last weekend of August. That means only one thing. JUBBALAND 6 HOUR ENDURO was here. I freakin’ love this race, it reminds me of when I first got into MTBing and it means I get to home for a weekend of fun riding and catching up with mates! We rolled in on Saturday and I was keen to take Al on the sweet single track that goes from my folks house right to Jubbaland, do a practice lap, then ride home. Should only take an 1 ½ hours or so. My navigation skills are extremely ordinary and even though I had ridden the track 2 weeks earlier and was feeling confident it took a bit 5 minutes and I was lost.

Finally made it out to Jubbaland for a practice lap and I remembered my love hate relationship with the track. The hate stems from some of the technical, switchback rocky climbs and descents, getting frustrated when I stuff it up and going back to try it over and over. Then feeling the love when I finally nail that A line. The first A line on the track, took me almost a year of riding to it then chickening out before I finally went over it. Looking back over my training diary I have written NAILED THE A LINE AT JUBBALAND WAHOOO thats how special that day was for me, and the feeling of satisfaction I got from finally going down it. However that A line is scary that I think I simply felt relief that I had made it down alive. There was no sense of wow that was nowhere near as scary as I thought it would be, I can do that no worried now. It was all HOLY S#*& how did I not just kill myself. So I decided I wouldn’t be attempting it in the race, and when I went through on my second lap of the race and it had been taped off, I seriously wondered if perhaps someone had died on it the lap before. So our Saturday ride turned into a 3hr stint, not ideal and it would seem my race would follow the ‘not ideal’ routine as I did things that you know you shouldn’t do.

1.      Long ride with not much food and drink the day before instead of resting

2.      Using nutrition on race day you’ve never used before

3.      Not taking weather into consideration and having not enough bottles out

4.      Following other people’s advice on how much to drink, knowing I drink a lot more

5.      Changing bike setup dramatically 2 days before a 6hr race.
(Also not ideal was the Le Mans running start when I was under strict instructions from the surgeon not to run, but as Jake told me I could cheat I made a ew shortcuts to get to my bike)

The first 2 hours were painful, it was hot and I was using Hammer Perpeteum which is a high carb drink that one drink bottle would last me 2 hours for. However, due to the sun being out and me knowing I drink loads of water I was cursing this decision. I was feeling dehydrated and wonky in the head, I needed more fluid. Third lap I decided to grab a Nuun, take my time and get myself feeling good again. Just wanting to get through the race, I settled into a rhythm and decided to ride my own race, not chasing down the solo rider in front of me.

The Thursday before the race I changed my flat narrow bars to riser bars, flipped my stem, changed my saddle and chose a comfier higher position on my bike to try to negate the wrist pain from the weekend before. After Saturday’s ride I woke up with sore hamstrings and lower bike. Not ideal. Once again I set out with ‘this is just a training ride, I’m not here to race, my goal is to finish upright.’ And once again as soon as the gun went off, those thoughts went out the window.

The track is like 1 massive 10km rock garden. It’s tough to eat and drink as its 97% singletrack and the fire roads are loose and uphill. It’s a challenging course and any errors can result in significant damage. I saw loads of people with busted sidewalls, flats, busted derailleur’s, busted chains and even a busted bike or two. It seemed you needed to carry a spare bike with you just to get through the race!! Knowing the course and the conditions was a massive advantage and running my bike suited to the conditions results in no mechanicals or stacks for the day. The track took plenty of casualty’s as some were impatient in waiting to pass as well as fatigue hitting towards the end which resulted in silly mistakes being made. I decided with 1 ½ hours to go I would see what the legs had in them and up the anti a bit. On my second last lap I managed to get myself into what I thought was 3^rd position and decided to go hard until the hard.  (Pic: Marty nailing the A line with perfection as usual)

My legs were feeling surprisingly good up the climbs, but I was erring the side of caution on the technical descents to avoid stacks. I found myself struggling to get up the technical climbs which I had gotten up no dramas earlier on, I didn’t have the concentration or fitness to get up them in the latter parts of the race. I was taking comfort in seeing many other riders feeling the same way!! I was saying to myself ‘don’t hit that log’ and 3 seconds later would hit the log, or ‘don’t go off the track’ and no doubt I would go off the track. It was on the tight switchback rocky climb I knew I needed to get up to try to maintain my position, and that’s where I stuffed it up. A chick overtook me here, looking strong, and I thought she’s looking too strong to be a solo rider, she must be in a team. I convinced myself I didn’t need to bother chasing her, and I would keep my tempo and roll into 3^rd all going well. What I didn’t realise was I was actually in 2^nd, and that strong fresh looking chick was in solo, and she had just overtaken me in the last 15mins of the race. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I have been kicking myself that I didn’t go harder and chase her down however I’m pretty sure I was going as hard as I could, and she was definitely looking much stronger than what I was feeling!! Turns out the solo chick was local rider, Kim, and she got back just before the clock struck 4pm and smashed out another lap, whilst I got back 1min after. Which I was massively relieved at the time as I really don’t know if I could have done another lap even if I had of known where I was at.  Pretty stoked with 3rd though.

Jubbaland is a rippin course, its brutal on the body and kudos to the SS RIGID rider who broke his downtube. I was smashed on a dually 4 inch travel bike. Some people say it’s a XC course or for team races only, however it is a race that challenges solo riders, you’ve gotta be fit and you’ve gotta have good technical skills. And best of all, it doesn’t suit roadies and puts guys who rock up with all the gear no idea back in their box. There are lots of enduro’s out there that all you need is fitness to go well, here you need to be fit and be able to handle a mtb. There was a greater sense of accomplishment as I got home feeling absolutely smashed from head to toe.

The atmosphere at the event, on Saturday night and Sunday is stella. Camping, a bon fire, kids races and 16” races its a weekend the whole family can enjoy. A big thanks to Jake, Rocky Riders and the Jubba family for organising such a rad event. Thanks also to Giant, Ay-Up Lights and Nuun Hydration for our support and counting down to next year’s race already!!!

sweet as handcrafted trophies

WET AND WHINGING IN WINGELLO

So when the surgeon told me I could start mountain biking on August 21^st I was stoked that the SRAM Singlemind 7hr Enduro at Wingello was on that very same day. Ripper I could enter that, but not before heading out on a sneaky 5hr mtb the weekend before from Castlemaine to Daylesford to get the feel of my bike back and some endurance in the legs. (hadn’t been ridden since March) About 1hr in we hit a kangaroo, us 1, roo 0. Then it was a quick stop in the bike shop in Canberra as we live in hillbilly central nowhere near a bike shop we got some supplies. After leaving Marlo we arrived in Wingello State Forest some 8hrs later to rain and mud whilst Marlo was having its first sunny day in about a month. We set up the tent and headed out on a practice lap. My knee, hip and throat were feeling sore and I was started to get bad vibes about being at the race. No showers out in the bush so we cooked up a quick pasta then jumped into our tiny tent all muddy and tried to get some sleep through the downpour.

I was started to have massive doubts about racing, with 1 very slow 5hr mtb all the training I had had, and some short road rides I was massively underdone and concerned if I fell on my hip that I would break my femur. I convinced myself that I would take it very easily, stop when I wanted to stop and be careful. It seems the closer you stay to race HQ, the later you are to the event. 30mins before the race I asked Al to put some more ait in my rear tyre, my tubeless valve decided to bog itself and we decided to put in a tube. Madly trying to organise food and drinks for the race, we just made it to the start line in time and consequently started way back in the field. All I had to do was not fall off I kept saying to myself. According to my polar clock on my bars, this plan lasted all of 4min 32seconds. Heading round the first bend it was quite sandy and the competitor next to me slid out and lock straight into my bars and 5 of us hit the dirt. Quick examination of the hip and I was good to go, fuelled with adrenaline and angry at what had happened, I hammered out a 38min lap and came through in 1^st place solo female, not realising it at the time.

Halfway through the next lap I realised my back tyre was going flat, having never gotten a flat on my MTB in training or racing, I was significantly annoyed but set about changing it as quickly as possible. My co2 canister failed miserably, as did the next 2 I tried that some kind folks lent me. A fellow competitor lent my her pump which I had no idea how to use, and then a guy called Dave in a totally rockin CLIF bars ONESY skin suit quite easily pumped it up with his co2. Made it back round to transition and headed out for another lap, keen to catch the solo chick who I’d been chatting with before the flat. Got about 10mins up the road and rear tyre had flatted once again. Ok time for a new tube me thinks. New tube in, c02 on, and kapow co2 explodes without putting any air in, try another one, same result. What’s the definition of insanity – doing the same thing over expecting different results..... That seemed to be what was happening to me right now. So after having 4 c02’s fail, a tubeless vale and 2 tubes fail I had a quick tanty then started walking back to transition and realised my polar computer had broken off my bars. It was at this time I saw Al coming up the climb, so focused on getting up on his SS rig that he didn’t even realise I was there until I yelled at him. Sitting in 3^rd in SS, he was torn between helping me and racing. I was upset and whinging declaring I was going to go back and sit in the car. He tried to tell me to get it fixed and get back out there. Having a small domestic on the top of what we named “Tanty hill” ongoing competitors came up the climb looking a little bewildered and asked if we were ok to Al’s response “It’s ok, she’s my girlfriend” Scooted back to transition where I took my bike to the mechanic to get a new valve and ran into a mate who I hadn’t seen for 8 months so chatted to her for a bit then I got bored and cold so decided to head back out on the track. I also thought to myself HELLOOOO I have been sitting out on the sidelines for 6 months, no amount of flats, exploding co2’s or dodgy tubes could ruin my first race back as it was just RAD to be RIDING!!

The track was surprisingly tacky and not a lot of mud which was great. There was quite a lot of fire road and I was feeling for the SS riders who were busting their guts up the climbs only to be caught again on the flat and downhill sections, legs spinning like crazy. Then again, who’d be silly enough to ride a SS....... The single-track was smooth and flowy and a couple of pinch climbs were really felt towards the end of the race as the legs were burning. I soon learnt that racing unfit requires you to leave your ego at home. I had to keep reminding myself that this race was only for training, that it was simply to get fitter for the Scott 24hour. Easier said than done though, and continual thoughts of how much fitter I used to be, and how my skills used to be heaps better, and how I COULD and SHOULD be in a better position. I kept comparing my race to if I was fit, and you can’t do that when your racing unfit. I guess I can see why some people only race when they’re fit, but racing is what makes you fitter and you need to work with what you’ve got.

I was lucky enough to catch up to Al and ride the last 3 laps with him which was good fun as we don’t usually get to race together. We pulled each other along, both absolutely spent and I was relieved when I crossed the line 2 minutes after the 7hour mark, no chance to go out on another lap!! Thank goodness. Packed up the esky and tent, this was the first enduro we had done where we did our own support and it worked pretty well.

We jumped in the car and headed on the 6 ½ trip home. At about 10pm we hit the windy sections and the logging trucks came whizzing by we knew it was stupid to be driving but needed to get home for an 8am start at work the next day. Then we hit another roo, this one was bigger and this one got wedged underneath the car. Pulling onto the side of the road it took a bit of manoeuvring and Al trying to yank it from out of the grill to be able to continue driving.  Us-1, Roo-1. Needless to say the Nescafe’s were being smashed at work the next day. In regards to the event itself, for the entry fee of $80 it would have been good to get some more goodies in the show bag, and an acknowledgement of the top 3 SS riders at presentation as there was a category in the race. Organisers did a fantastic job handling the weather conditions and provided a well run event. A massive thanks to the 4 people who stopped along the way to help and at the end of the race I had acquired 4 co2’s, a pump and a tyre lever! A big thanks to the volunteers, race organisers, Ay-Up Lights, Giant Bikes and Nuun Hydration, boy it’s GOOD TO BE BACK ON THE BIKE!!!!!!!!!!

Interview with local legend- Jason Tolland AKA Jake, Frank the Tank, Gary Fisher

Chances are if you live in Central Victoria you have come across or heard about a guy , Jason Tolland, or Jake to the locals. He is a local mountain biking legend in the small but massively expanding town of Castlemaine, located smack in the centre of Victoria. Jake owned Castlemaine Cycles for ten years, until it recently sold and is now known as Cycle Concepts, in which Jake is now the Manager. (Which is great for all as it gives him more time to ride and build trails!) Jake is the driving force behind why Castlemaine is being put on the map as being one of the best places in the country to ride. Jake has spent countless hours over many years, building tracks all over the town, and organising social rides and club races. He is however quick to point out “I have had over the years a lot of support from the local guys and gals that have gotten into the mountain bike scene here in Castlemaine.  We have through the development of the club gone from 2 guys running a race to a team of people within the Rocky Riders who come together for club races, enduros and social rides. “

Each week the club has 3 rides leaving from the shop and all abilities are welcome, the riders are extremely friendly and always wait up for people. These rides are also great as they always finish with a compulsory beer and pizza at the cafe next door. Home for school holidays, I found myself in at Cycle Concepts annoying Jake most days and after hearing so many of his hilarious stories, passion and knowledge for bikes, I wanted to dig a little deeper and find out what keeps this old school, hardcore mountain biker so passionate about the sport. Here’s how it went:

Name: Jason Tolland

Also known as: Jake, Frank the Tank

Occupation: Bicycle Retailer (Cycle Concepts, Castlemaine)

No. of years riding:  20 something  years

Current Bikes: Giant Anthem Advanced SL 0, Yeti 575, and a Giant Anthem 29er (forcefully by my employer and strictly for scientific purposes only)

Dream Bike: 25^th Anniversary Yeti 575, Yeti 66 and Scott Genius LT and anything that is new and shiny from Giant

Favourite place to ride: Castlemaine, Morzine in France. Places that are technically difficult and that scare the shit out of me.

Favourite cyclists:  In the old days it would be John Gregory, he raced the World Cup series with less than $2000 in his pocket and camped at races. Nowadays it would have to be local talent Lach Norris, and all of the local boys as they’re always willing to have a crack which I greatly admire.

You’ve been likened as the Gary Fisher of Castlemaine, some might even go as far as of Australia, how did it all start?

God I hope I am not anything Like Gary Fisher ! I have never invented anything or made masses of money . Back in the day I was living in Melbourne with no car and could only go as far as the train could take me, heading out on rides around Kinglake and the Dandenong’s.  I would come home to Castlemaine once a week for a ride and then one day it just clicked that there was so much potential for riding here and it was the place to be. I bought the bike shop in town.  I happened to run into a man named Evan Jeffery, who has excellent skills and is super fit. Evan had started a loop of technical tracks in the Pineys.  We both knew that it needed more. Together we set about creating a network of trails we could ride. We built the tracks to suit both the terrain and our preferred riding style; all the steep nasty climbs are thanks to him, and all the fun stuff like flowing berms and switchbacks are thanks to me.  Through the shop and my many riding buddies, Castlemaine was a must go location for quite a while.  Before my kids came along our house was an unofficial B&B for lots of my mates to drop in for a ride and a cheap bed.  Cross country racing was more popular in the early 2000s (remember Cadel @ the Sydney Olympics ) We wanted to run races and make use of the trails that we had built, so after a few races run by other clubs helping us, we got a committee together and formed our own club subsequently the ‘Rocky Riders’ club was formed.   

You’ve been on the riding scene, and in particular mountain bike scene, for most of your life, what is it that has kept you hooked for so long?

The sense of adventure I get every time I get out on the bike, I love that.  Achieving the right balance of flow , speed and smoothness  on the trail is high on my list .  The best riders make riding look easy, that is what I aspire too. Also, it gives me friends that aren’t boring; otherwise I’d be going to bbq’s at people’s houses talking about pets, kids and house renovations. Mountain bikers in general are the right kind of people, we all share the same ideals and sense of purpose.. Riding also means I can drink heaps more beer.

What has been your craziest bike moment?

I used to head to Mount Beauty and race in the cross country on Saturday, sleep in the back of my old Land Rover  then back it up on Sunday for the downhill race with the same bike (minus the bar ends and  add motorbike goggles and chest  armour ).  Some awesome crashes but such good times.  The hairiest moment would have been on a long back country ride in the Victorian Alps.  When time, distance, huge mountain climbs and the weather took a turn for the worst.  Our pickup vehicle could not get through to where we were supposed to meet. It left our group exposed and with a long ride out.  Riding through the bush 20 miles north of Licola in the dark, without lights, food or any sort of survival gear was scary and quite dangerous.  Eventually the back-up vehicle found us and we were, tired cold and ok.

It’s a well known fact that you’re an old school hardcore hairy mountain biker who has a massive passion for all things bike related. How has the mtb scene changed over the past 10 years?

There are a lot of people that come over from road riding, buy all the latest gear and expect to be awesome at it. They need to put in the hard yards and practise the skills required in order to have an appreciation of the sport. These days if you’re fit you can go quite well, where as,  back in the early days of mountain biking ( before decent brakes, forks or frames ) you used to have to demonstrate some form of finesse. I really admire the people who practise the skills over and over until they master it, who give it all a crack in an attempt to get better at the sport. In order to succeed you need to fail, and I think a lot of people nowadays want to be good without having to put in the effort or have a crack.

You have created a heap of sweet single track all around Castlemaine, how do you decide on what to name a track?

Pretty much if someone has put in the most effort, or had an epic stack or it’s on their land etc. we name it after them. Not a lot of thought goes into the naming of a track, we try to keep things simple here.  Jubberland is named that because the guy who owns it surname is Jubber (actually spelt Dzioba), Ken’s track is named that because Ken built it, and Porno track got the name because found a porno on it one day. Baco trails sit right behind the Bacon Factory, and the Pineys, well there in a Pine forest.

What tips would you give someone wanting to build a track in their area?

Read the IMBA Trail Book, it has some great advice in it. Also, make sure you build them legally. I attempted a degree in Environmental Planning and Policy and have a basic understanding of the bureaucratic framework and implications of trail building. Following the correct processes is important if you want the trail to still be there in the long term. It’s about consulting and advising the right people before hand and maintaining a positive relationship with them. It’s when people build trails without consulting the land managers or obtaining the current permits which result in conflict and a negative outcome.

It’s because of these trails that Castlemaine is being put on the mountain biking map and races are being held here. Your weekly Wednesday night rides are getting massive, with people travelling from Melbourne to ride. Is it a good feeling to know you helped create it all and people are out having a blast riding your trails?

It’s funny, for a long time we tried to keep the trails a secret but as new members joined the club our views slowly began to change and we decided we wanted as many people to know about the trails so they could see how awesome the riding is here. I love running the events, and I always try to make the courses as fun as possible. I set out to create a course for each race that I would have loads of fun riding.

What events do you guys have going on here?

July 17^th we had the Inter-Winter Series over at the Baco Tracks which will be an Olympic Cross Country course. August 27^th/28^th we will have our 6hr Enduro as part of the State Series, which has loads of novelty events, camping and fun times. The club also has 3 social rides every week, Wednesday night, Saturday morning and Sunday arvo. In summer we also run a Crit Race on Thursday nights, and on any other given day there are people out riding and keen to ride with others.

The mountain bike purist that you are, you were a non-believer- dare I say – hater of 29er’s. However you were recently spotted stealthily riding the Giant Anthem 29er. Please explain.

Yes this is true, I was seen out wearing a pink tutu riding the 29er. However, you can’t be a hater if you’ve never tried it. What I didn’t like about it was when every man and his dog jumped on the bandwagon and then stated paying out on those who continued riding 26er’s. The course and what you want to do with the bike dictates the best choice of bike. There are definitely some good things about the 29er, but there also some not so good things. I hope that 26er’s do stay around and that 29er’s will just be another aspect of mountain biking.

Where do you think Castlemaine will be in terms of mountain biking in the next 5-10 years?

 I think Castlemaine will be seen as a mountain bike mecca for offering a massive amount of diverse tracks; we have pine forest, the Great Dividing Trail, rocky goldfields single trails and old mining access tracks. They range from stupidly insanely technical to easy and flowing. If you are a beginner there are tracks here to suit, and if you’re an Olympic Cross Country rider there are also tracks to suit.” What I don’t want to see is the trails being turned into a mountain bike park.” The fun of mountain biking is the journey; starting in one place and finishing in the other, getting a little lost in between and making your own adventure is what it’s about. I think having mountain bike parks takes that sense of adventure and the fun out of a mountain bike ride.

What has been the most significant equipment development since you’ve been in the business?

Affordable dual Suspension bikes have allowed riders to push their capabilities a little further and take their mountain biking to the next level.  It has allowed us older guys keep riding comfortably and to keep on pushing ourselves to go over higher drop offs and ride more technical trails.

Pretty much every time I walk into this shop you are either bruised, bleeding, broken, fractured or concussed. I have seen you do some gnarly moves out on the trails, your one of the most talented and skilful riders I have ever seen. How does someone with your skill level end up pinning it so often?

Well, those gnarly moves are all flukes!  Most of the time I just stack! Every time I have nailed a trick, I have fallen off half a dozen times trying to get it. The trick is to keep trying until you get it, you will never succeed if you first don’t fail and try again. I will continue to practise until I nail it, and that generally results in a lot of stacks first! The main reason for all the stacks however is I try to show off. Generally, pulling a mono whilst sliding round a berm at a quick pace will most likely result in catapulting over the bars (ed. which explains why he has brace on his wrist at the moment) most of my stacks are a direct result of trying to be a show-off!

So that’s how my chat with Jake went, his knowledge and insight into mountain biking are phenomenal. I have definitely learnt a lot from him and what I admire most is his attitude and values of mountain biking. He loves the sport at its purist and most basic form. His stories about racing cross country, early days of downhill, enduros and completing massive self supported rides across the country have me wanting to make sure I am in this sport for a very long time! Jake works full time, is a father of 2 young children, president of the Central Victorian Rocky Riders club, teaches MTB skills to school kids, build and maintains trails and coordinates the events and social rides and still finds time to ride his bike and share his awesome stories. Certainly take my hat off to him, and on behalf of everyone who has ever ridden at Castlemaine would like to say Thanks Jake!!

Another one of Jake’s ‘Where Am I?’ moments

Castlemaine is located 1.5 hours  Northwest of Melbourne smack bang in Central Victoria. There is an amazing amount of diverse tracks, ranging from pineforest to goldfields and bush tracks. The main track networks are the ‘Pineys,’ the ‘Baco,’‘and the Great Dividing Trail. The Pineys are full of tight switchbacks and technical trails, the Baco has some steep climbs and lots of fast flowing berms, whilst the Great Dividing Trail or “ Goldfields Track “ runs from Ballarat to Bendigo

( www.goldfieldstrack.com.au )has a great mixture of trail types, fire roads, double trail, singletrack ( the best is located between Daylesford and Castlemaine )  lots of harsh rocky drop-offs combined with cruisy less scary trails. One thing is for sure, these trails offer something for everyone, whether you’re a beginner or an Olympic cross country rider you won’t be disappointed when you come riding in Castlemaine.

CLUB RACES AND SOCIAL RIDES:
Sunday July 17^th: Inter-winter series “Chasing Bacon” XC Race

Sunday August 28^th: Victorian State Series ‘Jubberland’ 6 hour Enduro. Be sure to head out and setup camp on Saturday as there’ll be lots going on, the novelty events are priceless to watch.

Saturday Morning Shop Ride: Leaving from the Theatre Royal at 9am

Sunday Afternoon Shop Ride: Leaving from Theatre Royal at 2pm

Wednesday Night Shop Ride: Leaving from Cycle Concepts at 6pm, finish with a beer and pizza at the Theatre Royal

Thursday nights in Summer: Crit XC races

LINKS

-          Jakes blog containing hilarious photos, stories and general info about cycling http://castlemainecycles.blogspot.com/?spref=fb

-          Rocky Riders website: www.rockyriders.com

-          Cycle Concepts website: www.cycleconceptscastlemaine.com.au

-          Follow Cycle Concepts and Rocky Riders on facebook

Some of the Races that Rocky Riders have organised:

Pineforest enduro  2002-2003 60kms of hard work,

Singlespeed Nationals 2004  Castlemaine Fat tyre Fest 2005

Singlespeed  World Championships 2004

Interwinter 2010-2011

Castlemaine 6 hour enduro from 2006-2011

29er V 26er

This is obviously a very hot topic in the mountain biking world at the moment and as I am in the market for a new bike, ultimately I was faced with this decision. Which way should I go? I have been pondering this for a few months now and have been doing my research. I have been eagerly following the conversations on the forums, speaking to those who own 29er’s, bike shop employees, and chatted to those in the bike industry for their opinions. I was writing pro’s and con’s list about both bikes, weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of both and was losing sleep over what I was going to do. Until rather obviously, Jo from Giant told me to go ride one!! As soon as I did, I knew within 15 minutes what my decision was. I’ll share that later, firstly though I want to discuss what I was thinking prior to actually going and riding one.

Option 1: Cross to the 29er world, buy a dually for 24’s, and a hard tail for 100km races: PROS

-          Bigger wheels equals going faster

-          Rolling over rocks easier

-          Comfier dually for 24 solos

-          Everyone seems to be riding them so they must be good

-          Everyone who rides them are telling me they are awesome and I should get one

-          More of a road bike feel so would be good for fire road races/100km marathons

-          24 hour races generally aren’t too technical

-          Is this the way mountain biking is going, will everyone be on a 29er in a couple of years?

-          A lot of pros are riding them, winner of 2 of the World Cups recently have been on a 29er, as have winners of Cape Epic.

-          People who own them advise you don’t need to be a strong 6 feet man to ride one

CONS

-          Bigger wheels equates to harder to negotiate in more technical terrain, especially tight uphill switchbacks which Castlemaine has a lot of.

-          Heavier

-          Is it just a fad that in 2-3 years everyone will be back on 26ers?

-          Need to be a massive man to lift the wheel and get the full advantage of them

So these were the types of questions constantly running through my head and I was leaning towards to the 29 thanks to my ‘pros’ list being longer. After I met the crew at Giant there advice of going out and riding a demo 29er was pretty obvious. Luckily, Jason from Cycle Concepts had the Giant Anthem 29er out the back that he let me borrow. I headed out on some cruisy tracks in Castlemaine to test the beast out, I was pretty confident I would be heading over to the world of 29ers, how could I not when I was hearing was awesome things about them.

Yes they were faster, and yes they rolled over little rocks so effortlessly that you could barely notice you were on a rocky trail, however I felt as if the fun was taken out of it. I love riding with the Castlemaine crew, mainly because within that group are riders who are so skilful, they are so ballsy and do things on a bike I could only ever imagine. I admire these riders, I look up to them and hope one day I could be half as good as a rider as what these

guys are. Name a trick on a bike and they can do it, balance, coordination, speed, determination and courage are what these guys have. When I go home after a ride with them I am filled with motivation to get out there and practise. Just spending time on my bike practising still starts, monos, bunnyhops, all this stuff may seem juvenile but master these skills and you will greatly improve in any race. They launch off rocky dropoffs, hammer down descents, jump mineshafts and scoot over logs whilst doing a mono.

At first I thought these guys were plain stupid, now I can see they take calculated risks based on their skill level. Yes it seems unfathomable to me to do some of those things but to them they have failed then practised until they have mastered the skills that will enable them to ride like that. Yes it requires some courage as well, but the skill involved is what makes them so good. The funny thing is most of these guys hardly race, and if they do it’s always in a team and there’s beers being drunk on laps off. They just love to ride their bikes.

Anyways now that I’ve set the scene I’ll get back to how this fits in to my decision. What I want to achieve is to have skills like that. I want to achieve success in this sport because of my skills, determination and mental toughness, all things I am working on improving. I believe riding a 29er takes away the ability to be able to practise these skills; they make you a lazy rider and is almost a way of trying to achieve better results without actually putting in the effort and hard work. I get the feeling some people who race mountain bikes are always looking for that extra advantage and they think by having the latest power meter, speedo or heart rate monitor will do it, by having a 29er or the latest bike will get them that success; when really, if they put all their efforts in learning the skills and spending more time out on their bike for fun, they will probably achieve better results.

So, what I want to do is practise the necessary skills, have the courage to have a crack at technical drop-offs and have FUN riding my bike and I think a 26 inch is the way to do it. I do think 29er’s would be awesome for 100km/fire road races and suited to some courses, however as I am only a teacher on a measly wage I don’t have the option of having that many bikes in my shed!! Yes there are pros riding them, however that’s not their sole bike. They get to choose the best bike for the race they are doing and that’s the difference between them and me. I need one bike for 3/6/12/24 hour enduro’s, cross country races, stage races and the 26inch dually is the way to go. So now I’m losing sleep thinking about how awesome the Giant 2012 range is going to be and I can’t wait to get one!!!

The reason I became a teacher..... HOLIDAYS

So it’s been 4 weeks since I had surgery and obviously it’s a MASSIVE relief to have the problem sorted, it’s still very frustrating and slow. So laying in the hospital bed post surgery, the surgeon told me I could start riding pretty much straight away, starting at 5mins in the morning and night and to go for it. So that’s what I did.... and I built on that. The first couple of days I did 5 mins, then I built it up to 7mins, and by the end of my first week back on the bike (1week after surgery) I was at 15mins in the morning and night. It was feeling a bit sore but being back on the bike was magical and I felt like a whole new person, I was happier, and noticed a massive difference being back in the classroom.  I then decided I was up to doing 1 hour at night, out on the road at a very cruisy pace. I did this for a few nights, with a day off in between each. My hip was feeling sore because I was back on my feet all day teaching prac PE. By the third weekend the sun was a shining and my good friend Suze was down to visit.  We did 2.5 hours on Saturday and then again on Sunday, and that night my hip was pretty dam sore, so a couple of rest days were in order. Did a few rides during the week, around about the 1 hour mark and on Friday it was the last day of term. SWEET! What a massive term and full on few weeks with reports and sports days; so after a quick ride I decided to hop in the bath to relax. Upon attempting to get out of the bath I slipped and landed hard on my hip resulting in a massive amount of pain and a feeling of going to be sick as well as pass out was the result. 

Iced it and went to bed, felt it abit the next day and decided that morning I wouldn’t ride. However by the afternoon the sun was shining and the beach was looking awesome so I decided my hip was just a bit bruised and a 1 hour roll along the esplanade wouldn’t hurt it. I was wrong, it hurt. After 15 minutes of riding I knew it would be smart to turn back but as Al was a fair way up the road I decided to keep going as I knew he would be stopped up the road a bit for me. I was wrong about that too. He didn’t stop, so after 30minutes I decided to wait on the side of the road for him to turn around and wonder where I was. He didn’t. I headed home and after a 1hour ride went down to the beach for some cold water therapy. Decided I would definitely be having some rest days now. Monday morning we arrived at the surgeon for my post op appointment and waited 1 ½ hours in the waiting room, finally in to see him and he explained further what he had done. In your pelvis you have a groove where the head of your femur sits in, the ball and socket joint move together. I didn’t have a groove for some unknown reason, it was simply flat. This resulted in my femur head just banging against my pelvis, hence not much range of motion as the head of femur was catching. He also said the damage to the hip was caused by a crash/fall onto it.

He also explained the seriousness of the procedure and if I have a fall off my bike my femur head is weak that I will probably break my femur. Also, he mentioned that had I not of had this surgery I would have been looking at a falsey by the time I was 30. NOT COOL. So my plans to spend the holidays mountain biking in Castlemaine and Forrest just went out the window. DAMMIT.  He said I should still only be doing 15mins on the wind-trainer AM and PM for the next 2 weeks, then 6 weeks of road riding and THEN I can get back on the Mountain bike. OH MAN THAT SUCKS. So pretty much I’d been doing too much riding too soon and it is a 16 week recovery not a 2 week recovery like I was treating it, would have been nice to know 4 weeks ago but anyway. Over to the hospital for a CT Scan to make sure the job was done right, and a scan on my right hip to make sure that wasn’t dodge-arama. So it was turning out to be a pretty crappy day, that was until we headed out to the Giant Headquarters and then it turned into a FREAKIN AWESOMELY RAD DAY!! We were introduced to all the friendly crew there then shown some bikes, which were SWEET. Then it was out for lunch to chat about bikes, races, the tour, bikes, training and bikes. Sam Mitchell from the Hawks then joined the table much to Al’s delight. Got some sweet as gear which we were most thankful for, and I haven’t actually taken the hoody off yet it’s so comfy and looks rad, especially now we’re hanging out in Ballarat or should I say Antarctica. 

So now I’m just hanging out to demo a 29er, trying to be patient with going to the gym and swimming and making sure I do other stuff for the next 2 weeks until I can get back out there on the road. Hopefully I’ll be able to have a crack at the Scott 24hour albeit minimal training and stoked to have entered Wildside. With races such as the Surfcoast 12hr, Gravity 12hr, Forrest Festival, Highland Fling in the later stages of the year I can’t freakin wait!!!! But for now I’ll do some kayaking, yoga and other stuff to keep myself occupied.  We'll stay up late and watch Le Tour then get paid to sleep in and have an Apl De Heuz Tour party.......ah the life of a teacher..........