the birm*

Riding with a Champion/a leisurely 2h 4h30 ride... Ever since I moved to Australia when I was a teenager, I've always loved the expression "he's a champion". I've had many opportunities to hang out with "champions" over the years, and I must say I'm so blessed to know so many great people who have a passion for what they do. Last week I got to ride with 2 "champions" who I have always liked and admired. However, I believe it's the first time in my life that I actually rode with a real world champion. So I "took" (only because I live here!) Jas and Arthur up Alpe d'Huez for a beautiful morning ride. The weather was perfect and there was NO ONE on the road (only 2 other cyclists and a few cars), which is quite different to riding it on a normal day. Jas and I spent the whole way up chatting (well, I'd ask a question and then take advantage of the answer to breathe!)n making the climb a lot more enjoyable than usual. Jas didn't sit down much, nor did he drink, while I was trying not to "max out" keeping up. Thankfully Arthur was just behind us, so I guess Jas kept the pace down for him (that and it was also a "recovery" ride, as he'd just done almost 400km over 24h a few days before...). We rode up in a decent 1h25 from my place, which is pretty good for "not trying". I suggested we should head back down via "la descente de l'Ours", one of the sweetest downhill runs in the area, as, being on mountainbikes, it's always a shame to ride down the road if there's a track option. Unfortunately my memory was a bit vague about where this track started (I'd ridden it in 1995...), so we asked for directions from the locals... who weren't sure either. So the "she'll be right" attitude prevailed and we headed down the road looking for the track head. Thick fog appeared from nowhere and suddenly it was 10m visibility. We took the signposted "pas de l'ours" track and, though it didn't look very ridden, rode down the first few switchies before having to stop because of a fallen down tree. "They usually rake it and groom it before the season starts" were my thoughts and my comment, since it is known to be a beautiful track... it certainly hadn't been so far!. After a few calls to Candide saying we'de be at least another half an hour and many minutes (read 1 hour) of hiking/riding/getting off/overcoming fallen down trees and slippery roots and not having that much fun, I faced the fact that "bear's step" WAS NOT "bear's track" and that we were lost BIG TIME. As the track got thinner and steeper (we'd been walking/stepping down for a LONG time by now, just wanted to get down) we eventually started heading straight down through the forest, hoping to hit another track eventually. I felt like crying. Here we were, lost, hungry, hours from home and not knowing whether we'd have to turn around and hike back up the 600m (there are a bunch of possible descents, but there are also cliffs on either side of the forest...). A few minutes after another call to Candide telling her to start lunch without us and a quick "Lord, please get us OUT of here!" prayer we FINALLY got to the bottom of the hill, onto a path I recognised. Overjoyed, we big-ringed it back home (about 7km) just as the sausages were coming out of the oven (we had planned on heading to camp for a BBQ, but as it was REALLY LATE, that option had been dropped). Jas and Arthur were pretty good about the situation and my million apologies... I'll be heading back up soon to find that stupid track (the real one)!

A tranquille 2 hours in the sun
Well that's what the forum said anyway... And for once, thanks to the help of my favourite Linebacker Caleb, the 2 hours was spot on. As for the tranquille bit, while it wasn't exactly fun, everything went really well and the Beast now has new disks and pads. I'm glad I didn't put it off longer though, as when I removed the old pads, 3 out of 4 were shot or fell apart when I put them down. As for the disks, I assume they had never been changed... A quick purge and top-up of DOT-4 and I as off with the ol' FORD for a burn up the mountain. As the performance was fantastic, I had no fear heading back down again :)
I'd like to thank Caleb for his assistance and God for giving us such great weather and the patience I needed to get the job done with only 2 small grazes (note for later, any fast spinning action (like turning the handle on the jack) close to tar is BAD NEWS for knuckles...).

an excuse for not going for a ride/riding to the crag/there's always next time
"I'm going to do a multi-pitch climb tonight, so I have to keep my energy" is what I told myself yesterday. In a sense it was true, I didn't want to get half-way up the 6 or 8 pitch climb only to "run out of steam". So I spent another day not riding (which was probably a good option, since I need the rest).
At 5 I went past Eric's house and we rode about 6 minutes to the foot of the cliff, dumped the bikes and shoes, donned the helmets and harnesses and roped up. It's a cool thought really, you ride home from work, grab your gear and you're climbing a multi-pict route just 20 minutes later.
"Did they announce a storm?" I asked as Eric started off, as we could see some clouds forming over a mountain behind us. Sure enough, at the top of pitch 3, the skies were black and looked like that was just the beginning. "next time" was the consensus (rain, despite making things slippery, is not really that much of a hassle on easy climbs. What was more of an issue was the fact that we were climbing a waterfall couloir, which, after some rain, turns into...a waterfall. Who says waterfall also says falling debris, rocks, small animals and so on).
Evidently by the time we had rapped off the route the sky was blue, the sun shining and the storm had bolted up the valley. we hopped back on the bikes and pedalled leisurely and safely back into civilisation, not feeling sorry at all...

armchair racing/the story of a feeble mind
As I have a week or so off, I thought I'd catch up on some riding in prep for the-race-I'd-still-like-to-do-but-I-fear-it-may-be-a-bad-idea-due-to-the-lack-of-riding-I've-done-over-summer. I sat down, made a list of rides I wanted to do and thought I'd try to ride everyday...
The following day I thought I'd start to put this into practice, so I headed up to 2 alpes, "planning" to ride high up in the mountains. Evidently "mind-riding" is much easier than sitting on a bike pedalling like crazy to keep up a 10km/h pace up a seemingly never ending hill (which, for the anecdote, is only about a 6th of what I'd need to do in the race...). I got to 2 Alpes (barely!) and headed back down by some bumpy single tracks, swearing to myself that I'd quit sugar, beer, chips and anything else that would make me feel that bad riding uphill... we'll see how long that lasts!

Just in case you forget/a warning for next time
Dear Dan,
just writing you a wee note to warn you about doing the 110km race you planned to do in September. You just came back from a very tough "I-swear-I'll-never-do-anything-like-this-again" type ride... and it was only 63km...
So remember the feeling of riding uphill on dirt for almost 3 hours? HOw about "hitting the wall" multiple times? Evidently, you nincompoop, you only took about 500kcal and burnt 3500... MORON! So if you don't take heed to this warning and do actually go race, remember to fuel up! Oh and I know what you'll say, that the 4km singletrack downhill made it all worthwhile, yeah, it was pretty sweet...
yours truly,
Weeksi

Labels: mountainbike, mountains, pain, training

40km in 7 hrs/real MOUNTAIN biking
I rode past Eric's place, picked him up, and met up with Laurent and Philippe from Lyon. 9:45 on a beautiful warm, sunny day we started the slog up the road towards Ornon, then the 4WD track until we hit Basse Montagne ("low mountain"), 900m higher. we then had a real steep slog up a hiking track for 45 mins, with bikes on backs (and I see now that having a lighter bike would have been much less of a hassle!).
we got to the plateau and into the mist/wind and huddled up/in a mountain hut for a lunch break (and a hot cup of coffee, due to the gas stove that is left there for people to use).
after putting all our clothes on we got back on the bikes and rode through the thick fog (20m vis) on rocky, muddy single track until we reached the Lac Fourchu at 2066m. riding round the lake proved much easier in these conditions with Laurent's GPS (the lake is surrounded by marshlands, which are not conducive to biking!), as the track wasn't always well marked.
at the far edge of the lake, we were back on the well-marked track and had trouble wiping the huge grin off our faces (the rolling, undulating, fun, rocky, tricky, mainly downhill single track being the reason!), until Philippe got 2 flat tyres at 1 minute interval.
We hit the edge of the plateau (at about 2000m), and the edge of the mist, and started riding down the 1300 vertical meters we had left by more sweet single track through fields and into a chute of "S" bends that looked like they were made for bikers (smooth, wide, and for some, banked turns). The view on the surrounding mountains, small villages, valleys, glaciers and roads was breathtaking! we got to the village of Oulles where Laurent changed his brake pads, then hit the famous Malène descent in the forest. I actually surprised myself this time, riding a good 2/3rds of the steep, leef-covered hairpins (50, 60, 80???). from the bottom of that it was a full-pelt, 30km/h, 175 BPM, 5 minute ride back to the car via the "flat" forest track.
If you're in the area and like biking, it's definitely one to do. While the bike-carrying part was a bit of a hassle, once on the single track around the lake you can hardly even remember it. as for the 1300m single-track descent... 'nuff said!

Labels: bike, epic, france, mountains

It's more fun when you're young/the motorway is worse than in town

So we were driving home from Perpignan (south of France, about 500km from our place) when, at 130km/h the card seemed to lose power. as there was lots of wind, I wasn't sure whether that was the cause or something else. this went on for a good 5 minutes, then suddenly (still at 130km/h) it stalled. we coasted to an emergency phone booth and called for rescue...
Having old cars means things can go wrong more often than with new cars (I'm told, as I've only ever had old ones...), so paying for road-side assistance is not usually throwing money down the drain. In this case there was the towing (145€), the rental car to get back home (180€), and the train to go get the car a few days later (60€). The only thing we ended up paying (and it wasn't even up front), was the "work" that was done at the garage (80€).
Back in the day when I was still a teen/early-twenties, I'd run cars on not much fuel, as my budget wouldn't allow big fill-ups. evidently I ran out of fuel with most/all cars I owned, at some stage (usually not far from home, or at least in the city of Newcastle, which has servos everywhere, so it was just a (fun) waste of time.
It turns out, after the mechanic told us it was most probably the fuel-injection-pump (>1500€), that we had only run out of fuel, which is quite embarrassing due to the amount of effort and logistics that it was to get us home and to get the car again. but still, having to pay 80 bucks instead of 1500+ is a better outcome (though we won't trust the fuel gage again, which should avoid us having to go through that drama again!).

Labels: cars, hassles

Moon Groom
After changing the glow plugs on the Mondeo, resulting in a bust turbo-injector-return hose (another story altogether!), RC and I packed another car headed up the mountain.
We parked at the first car park and started skinning up "Vallée Blanche" in the moonlight. Fantastic conditions: warm weather (0 degrees), clear skies, almost full moon, freshly groomed slope. We climbed for an hour at a good "just being able to talk" pace.
We'd talked about doing it for years and finally it was happening! Seeing the lights of Les 2 Alpes getting smaller, feeling the wind on our face, watching people night skiing (under lights) on the slopes across the valley, admiring the stars in the clear skies above, and following the sights and sounds the grooming cats' progress were all feasts for the senses.
We joked about having "first tracks" on the groomed slopes and how people in Aspen waited for the "noon groom"...
Almost at the top we heard a hissing sound: the snow canons were starting to shoot out their micro-snow. The shadow these snow-clouds cast was amazing, but nothing compared to the feeling we had climbing underneath them: like being on a massive wave, in a giant tube...
After a Mars bar and beverage on the top of the (our) world, we took the skins off and enjoyed some sweet, sweet tele turns back to the car on freshly "moon groomed" steep blue slopes. The feeling of skiing in the moonlight is totally different to daytime and, as you can't always see if you're moving or how fast you're going, it heightens the senses and you ski by touch... hopefully we'll have clear skies for the next one in a month's time!

Going from 1 to 2 to 3 then back to 2 / if it's got wheels you're gonna have trouble

never say never!
if you know me, then you'll know that i abuse the phrase "we'll see what happens" quite a bit. yet when the forks on my merida (which i must say is still running great and, as far as i know, the forks are still in one piece) gave way, i vowed NEVER to buy suntour forks again.
evidently, when you're on a budget and looking for a bike, you have 2 options: get a good-but-well-ridden-by-someone-else second hand bike, or a not-so-good-but-at-least-it's-new one. having looked and looked and looked for ages i came to 3 conclusions: 1) the second-hand market is not worth it unless you're talking higher end bikes and 2) most/all brands are now using suntour forks on their cheaper models and 3) even if i spent a bit more and got more reputable brand shocks, they would be bottom-of-the-line ones and may not perform any better than suntour anyway.
it was only after seeing a specialized for a great price at a store in BDO (where i live) that i investigated the suntour company. and yes, it does seem that they 1) have picked up their game 2) have bought out many other major parts manufacturers and 3) actually have some good products these days.
blablabla, the point is that since i'm no longer racing and on a tight budget, i bit the bullet and bought a hardrock for just a bit more than i sold my great-but-too-small avalanche. i've taken it out for a spin (up, down, road, dirt, mud, rocks, forest, grass, hills...) and it rides really nice (like any new bike should). as for the long(er) run... we'll see what happens!