To
be honest I’ve been a bit bored riding about my own adventures when so many of
my PCS Coaching clients are having their own.
Adventure by proxy? It’s much
cheaper and easier on my legs.
I’ve often been told if I could focus on just one thing I’d
be dangerous. Well that’s in no danger
of happening now I’ve taken on the role of MTBA Vice President in addition to
my usual mum/massage therapist/coach/writer jobs. It’s been challenging and interesting so far
and enabled me to see some behind-the-scenes action. Being part of improving the management of MTB
will be something to look back on with pride though I think.
After racing the first National Series round in Adelaide I
knew what I needed to do. Get faster –
definitely get faster. Balancing
training, working and family life with jet-setting to Victoria every second
week for the remaining rounds was unlikely to happen so I’ve staying in
Brisbane while the National series was run and won.
Luckily, south-east Queensland has a booming club scene and
there has been dirt criteriums and XCO racing every weekend for the last
six. It has been amazing turning up to
see 200 local riders at an interclub.
Who says XCO is dead?? The secret
has been to make the racing fun, cheap ($10 for MTBA members) and easy with
early starts and self-seeding (grades A to D).
Racing against the guys in A and B grade has been fun and I’ve had some
epic tussles with Masters hitter, Kevin Jones.
It’s still disappointing to not have more women backing themselves and
racing A grade.
The exciting part of the last few months has been the
continuing support of Liv/giant who have offered me the chance to be an
ambassador for another year. I’m staying
away from road racing this year as a semi-protest against Cycling Australia’s
shabby treatment of MTBA events but also due to one too many broken collarbone
photos on Facebook. Who knew there were
so many sheep stations to race for at $10 crits? It’s also an excuse to play with two amazing
bikes this year: the Giant Obsess hard-tail and the Lust dual suspension. The Obsess has already acquitted itself
admirably in its first XC race and I look forward to pinning the Lust in Canada
for the Singletrack 6 (the rebranded Trans-Rockies). I might even have a crack at this Gravity
Enduro deal everyone keeps banging on about.
A new sponsor for 2014 is KWT Maxxis and the new rigs have
already been shod in Ikon and Ardent Race goodness. Showing their grip and durability at the
Adare XC where there were many flats, I’m confident of a great season ahead
with Maxxis. I’m grateful for another
year of support from Owen at Ride Mechanic who keeps me in the most amazing
chamois cream (I will spare you all the details but it literally saves my ass),
bike lube and cleaning products. Here’s
a secret, or not – I’m a slacker when it comes to cleaning my bike. You guys who spend hours polishing your
derailleurs – what the hell? Who has
time for that? RM Bike Juice, Zalish,
Avaqua and Bike Milk is a 10 minute job to get from muddy mess to sparkling
machine. This could be THE product for
busy mums who ride!
I’ve been using Shotz nutrition products for 5 years now and
am chuffed to be working with them again this year. I recommend their products to all my coaching
clients and am super excited to get new flavours. Just one message to the product managers –
don’t ever change the Protein bars.
EVER.
So here I am in Bright after some epic travelling. A few laps of the course and it’s not what
people would call ‘technical’ but with some tight sections in the pine forest
and corners which kick around just a bit more than you expect them to it will
challenge the riders at speed. It’s just
a really nice ride if you aren’t racing and it might be fun to stay in the area
and explore some more trails. I will
withhold judgement of the entire town until tomorrow morning’s coffee foray. How is my form? After a short stomach bug
last week I’ve recovered well and it might actually work in my favour being
forced to take an extra couple of days off the bike. I will just sit back now and let the taper
weave its magic.
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