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Internation Mountain Biker Perren Delacour (Pezza) is a member of the Sutherland Club (and is sponsored by YETI) and isn’t too shabby in a sprint either!
Keep abreast of Perren’s activities here!
26/01/05
Hay Ya All,
After a great Xmas and a loose New Years the first trip for the year was Frank Concecaio's Training camp at Jindabyne. For the past couple of years Frank has invited me down to help out on his Summer training camp which has been running for 10 years. Its a 6 day camp where you don't have to think about what your eating as its all done for you, where your training as the bunches are organised on fitness levels and you get to Throw down with some of the worlds best athletes from many different disciplines. The idea of this camp is to show you how to train properly and recover like a Pro rider would. You get up at 7am eat and rollout at 8am. You go do 160 to 180km in the mountains and on the plains then return to base where you shower, eat, stretch and either kill the couch or go for coffee in town. Return for dinner about 6 or 7pm then there's talks from the high profile athletes passed and present then back to your room for some shut eye or a movie.
I must recomend this camp to all levels of riders as it caters for all grades. Camp 1 is in January and 2 in October.
Anyways after camp I came home for 2 days then went back to Canberra for the Tour 'De' Dirt which is a 3 stage MTB race consisting of a Short Track Cross Country (STXC) which is 20min plus 3 laps. I had a shocking start and rode from last into the single track to 9th at the finish. Not a bad 20 spot pick up in 20min. Stage 2 the Point to Point 48km was to start at 3pm where the temp was 41 degrees. So we found ourselves on this climb that seemed to go for ever with the recorded temp hiting 45 degrees. Now here is where I said to myself thats it I'm going home. Feeling the effects of the 3 degrees mornings at jindy ealier in the week the old body wasn't ready for this and I rolled home and called it quits for the weekend. I didn't start the XC the next day and took a couple of days of the bike.
Next on the calender was an Open at Heffron on Australia Day which had a massive turnout and one of the biggest A Grade fields ever seen at Heffron. The plan was to sit in for 2/3rds of the race then start attacks as we (Sutho) didn't have many riders there. With the field blown apart early the old plan was gone and no legs to get across to a break was looked like sticking, I sat in and waited for the group sprint getting 5th in the kick and 8th O/A.
Off to Tassy, now stay tunned.
Pez
Welcome back to the 04 Tour de Pez,
NORBA Sonoma CA USA
Well gang here we are again. Back in the US of A with the second round of the Norba series at Sonoma,San Fran. The venue for the race is another raceway similar to the Sea Otter Classic. During the week I got out to the course on my brand new never ridden Yeti ARC to find that there are some F4 carts racing and also the Super worked Porsche class are doing hell runs around the Nascar circuit. Mad.
I headed out for a lap on the course to find that there is no trees, no single track and savage winds. The track a 9 mile loop was in the fields around the raceway circuit. From what I can see they drove the slasher/mower round the paddock and said lets race.
The race started at an early 4pm. I got the call up for about 70th (about 110 starters) on the start grid and after the ‘Gentlemen start your engines’ call we were off. With an awesome start I moved up into the top 30 and hooked up with fellow Yeti Rider Trent Lowe. We worked our way up through the pack and I found myself inside the top 20. As we headed out for the second lap already having completed 1 1/2 I found myself fading and had to back off the pace a little. For a few minutes I bumbled around and got my head together. I found myself sitting in a bunch of 3 Specialized riders so as you do I sat on them for a while then turn it on again. Sitting in 16th I huffed and I puffed and throw down everything I had for the rest of the race, smashing myself into that crazy headwind on my own. As I entered the raceway track I put it in the 11 (Hard gear) and used the tailwind to my advantage entering the finish straight to cross the line in 13th place. My best result yet in a Norba.Mad.
Today we have the short track ( 20min plus 3 laps on a 1 to 1.5km course usually through the tech area and team trailers for the crowds viewing pleasure. It’s like racing around No1 track at Sutho but on the dirt with plenty more corners, jumps, berms etc) and its pretty much all on the road except for one dirt corner so we'll see how things pan out there.
20/5/04
Well just as I thought the short track was a killer. There were so may crashes it wasn't funny. One guy whom had managed to stay out of trouble the whole 25min ate it hard on the finishline breaking his Collarbone in 2 spots. Fellow Aussie and Bianchi rider Brent Miller (Canberra) went for a 15metre slide on the pavement and walked away with about 1/2 the skin on his body left .My final pos was 25th /79 starters. Check it out at www.oschamps.com.
Next week we are at Big Bear At 7000ft so stay tuned.
TOP
24 /5/04 - NORBA Snow Summit CA USA
Hello again gang,
Well all I can say is that altitude will take it out of you. The weekend started off with a TT beginning at the top of the Mountain so yes we XC riders finally got to ride the chairlift to the top (for our practice runs) and with 3 climbs the course worked its way down the mountain Downhill style. The result from this gave the grid for the start of the XC which was a rolling start down through the tech area and into town a little, then the cop leadout car tookoff and we were underway. Racing from about 7000ft up to 9000ft the course consisted of 3 laps, 1 short and 2 long which ever way you look at it they all went to the top of the mountain. I took it easy at the start because I haven't had enough time at altitude to adjust the old body to the lack of air. Running in the top 30 I slowly stared pulling back the guys that went crazy at the start and were now paying for it. Nice. I finished the XC in 2hr43min with a sprint finish with some guy giving it to him Sutho style. 19th place. This set me up for a second row start in the Short Track, stage 3 and the final stage for the weekend. I got not too bad a start after once again having to listen to the American anthem as you do. Slowly moving through the field I found myself with 1 lap to go in 13th place but not being able to hold off 2 strong finishing guys that pipped me on the line. 15th for that stage. Overall I walk away in 17th place. I must say that this event was probably the biggest of the year and there was about 90 odd starters just in my catergory. Well done Big Bear.
Now I move to Colorado for the next 2 weeks with The Iron Horse Classic in Durango next weekend (more altitude) and a stop or 2 at the Yeti Factory for a ride on the Enchanted Forest
Trail with the boys.
Thanx for all the support,
Cheers Perren.
TOP
1st June - Enchanted Forest
So you wanna know about the Enchanted Forest ay! Well just out the back of the Yeti Factory which is locacted at the foothills of the Rockies you have a whole bunch of trails which are usually referred to as Apex (the apex trail is the backbone of the network). Now up at Apex 7500ft there is a trail called the Enchanted Forest. This trail is so fast / flowing / smooth and in a dark thick pine forest. It’s great. Last Thursday 27/05/04 I went into the Factory to sort out a few things with the boss and to head out with the boys who have a 2hr lunch break to go and ride whether it be road or Mtb its up the them. I took out one of our new demo's to test and see how well the suspension works when climbing as we had to do alot to get to EF. The bike being put together by the boys in the factory had the brakes what we Aussies like to call "YANKY STYLE", backwards..........as they are. All ride I keep reminding myself about the brakes and was doing A OK. Until we got to the EF and I was pumped to go crazy as the new bike was working like a dream and we were at my favourite trail in the US. We take off down through the trees flowing up onto the banks of the trail and getting some crazy slides going around the corners until I came to one corner which you have to brake hard into and I grabbed a handful of the front brake loosing the front wheel from under me and going down straight onto my forearm. SHIT SHIT SHIT , I look at my arm and there is a 5 inch long fresh flesh wound white as flesh can be. I watched it fill with blood then hemoerage into a big bubble. Next thing my arm has a golfball in the middle of it and its starts aching like the bone has busted. Great my season finished I thought. Best year yet and its done................. Feeling pretty out of it I roll one handed back to the factory and ice up straight away. 40min later we're down at the burrito joint getting a burrito off this guy we meet last year at the pub pissed as pissed as I've ever been, whom had just bought his own franchised store. This guy straight away remembers Rowney and I when we walk in and rolls us the biggest burrito I've ever seen.
So the arms sore as shit but not broken. Training is going well but the altitude is taking its toll and that’s me for the moment.
TOP
3rd June 2004 - Back in Training
Hay all,
Well after a couple of easy days giving the battered body a chance to recover I have stepped it up again on the bike. Training is back on track and the mtns are getting a workout or is that I'm gettin worked off the mtns. Anyways the amount of distance you can climb just out the backdoor is awesome. The last few days have consisted of 4 to 5hr days either on the road or on the MTB. Yesterday I met up with the Yeti boys for the lunch time mtb ride. They get 2hrs for lunch and stay back till 6 everyday. We headed out to the famous Red Rocks to tackle some of the trails out there. It’s like riding on one big rock most of the time. The boys had to go back to work so Trent Lowe Yeti (AUS) and myself went out to ride the other side of the canyon workin it on these killer trails which were rocky as and if you mess up the high speed singletrack descent you go straight over a cliff. I only noticed that at the last min when we had to slow for some hikers. So today we're doing our last mtb ride here as our bikes are getting packed in the trailer to start the journey over to the east coast for the next Norba at Snowshoe West Virgina. Let’s just hope that we don't get shot at by some crazy imbred redneck again this year. I fly there on Monday so until then I'm back into the mtns to get in some more climbing. Hopefully one day soon I can work out this digital camera and get you guys some of the bad ass photo's of the areas we're rippin it up at.
Till next time ,
TOP
Wet West Virgina.
After arriving on Monday from Denver and getting out on the road for some solid kms on Tuesday checking out WV's massive astronomy / spy dishes whilst cruzing through some interesting towns. Things are somewhat different around here. The next few days were spent riding between showers and trying to master the slippery wet roots and mud bogholes of the course. Once again Team Snowshoe had put together one of the most demanding courses on the circuit. You start out along the top ridge of the mtn and then drop down to >the bottom of the valley with the whole descent being crazy rainforest wet as, with rocks and roots waiting for you to lose it and slide outa control into the closest tree or whatevers gunna help you stop.When at the base you pop in and out of the trees passing a lake then climbing back to the top of the mtn on service roads mostly.
The X-Country started on Saturday arvo in good weather as we'd been getting some crazy fog for most of the mornings. I had a second row start which is great for staying with the front bunch. I was running in the top 20 when we hit the descent and was stoked with the tyre choice I had on when another rider wipes out in front of me spread eagle over the whole track. I step off my bike to attempt to run round him but when stepping off the bike washed out from under me causing me to fall on top of it. I jumped straight back on and kept going not losing too many spots. My knee rammed straight into the back of the rear disc brake rotor slicing it open like your sharpest kitchen knife would. I look down to see blood running down my leg and a gaping hole that keeps opening and closing as I pedal. It looked pretty bad so I stopped to have a closer look and as I opened it I could see my Knee cap and all the muscle fibres/tendons inside. I rolled out onto the service track and straight passed the next turn ,under the bunting and down to the chairlift where the first aid crew were waiting at the top of the mtn for me. We went down the the Hospital and the Doc cleaned it out pulling half of what seemed to be the hillside out of the hole. They numbed the area round the hole and I couldn't feel half my leg. They stitched me up and I was pretty much done. No riding for a while and keep the feet up. I'm pretty bummed because I was killen the climbs and feeling as strong as I have in a long time. I am still hoping to race at Mt Snow Vermont this week and next week at Mont Saint-Anne. My leg is currently pretty fat as the swelling has dropped to the lower leg aswell so I'm giving it a few days before I attempt to ride again. Hopefully I don't lose the form and can race these next 2 weeks. They say it comes in three's so I'm done and its time for the wheel to land a jackpot.
Stay tuned
Perren
HMMMMM,
Well guys here we are again in the lush green mountains of Mt Snow,Vermont. After an average travel day I arrived late to check into my Pimpin chalet for the week. It is right overlooking one of the fireroad sections of the course where there is a spring seeping across the track causing a pretty cool Bog hole. After a few days of no riding I got out on the Wednesday arvo for a cruz on the roady for a couple of hours trying to get the leg bending and working the Muscles a little. At first I found myself rocking side to side keeping the leg from bending too much but after a while she was getting some movement back. Doing some easy pedaling I was thinking that this is ok and was motivated to go out and race but I guess once I got on the course over the next couple of days I was thinking that its mostly climbing in the saddle and it was putting alot of strain on the knee. I was standing for most of the climb and this wasn't working. I took it very easy keeping the leg up until the race. Doing a good warmup I lined up on the second row and planned to go out and ride the race not pushing anything hard. I was in the granny for the whole climb and then unleashed myself on the 8 min singletrack downhill that followed. At the top of the climb I was cruzzing in about 60th place still not even close to last but by the time I popped out of the trees at the bottom I was in 49th. That downhill was so fun I thought so back to the top (in granny gear,22Front & 34Rear) again. think I lost about 12 places and then made them up on the descent next time down. Once at the bottom approaching the Start/Finish the leg wasn't going so well as it had swollen up again and the circulation was getting cutoff by my knee warmer holding the dressings in place Race done.Straight home to clean off the mud and put the leg up for the rest of the weekend. No short track for me this week. It doesn't feel too bad but I'm guuna take this one day at a time.
Talk next Week in Quebec,
Pez
TOP
G-Day,
Thats not French for hello,
Here in Lovely Mont-Saint-Anne located on the East Coast of Canada the main lingo spoken is French so I guess I fit in pretty well here. Jean Perren Delacour.
The team and I drove up from Vermont on Monday crossing the boarder into Canada. This was the easiest I've ever had it in the 4 times that I done this drive. Cool I guess it doesn't matter where you are in the world Chicks dig Aussie guys. Whats up with that !!!!!!!
After the 7hr drive (1hrs worth of peak hr traffic) we arrive and head down to the usual for dinner grabbing a couple of Hamburgers made from scratch not Maccers style. We also had a few beers just to ease the pain of last nights retirement party from Aussie MTB Legend Paul Rowney. He raced his last international race ever and Won it aswell so I guess you could imagine what the party was like. We added a third "D" to our or party saying MADD.No more said.
I went out for a few easy rides early in the week and was getting no love at all from my knee so I had to decide if I was going to race or not. Being our last Olympic selection race it was important that I have the race of my life. But I guess it wasn't to be. I decided later in the week that I wasn't going to be competitive on this course as it had a lot of short power climbs and as I can't put out any power through my right leg I made the decision of not starting and giving the knee some time off the bike. So I guess you could say I spent the rest of the week on the drink taking a long overdue vacation.
I have decided to head home asap to seek more medical advise and get some scans done then go on from there. All being well I'll be heading back O/S through the States for the last Norba then onto Europe to meet up with the National Team for Swiss Cup Finals, World Championships in Lets Gets ,France and World Cup Finals in Livingo,Italy.
Look out rehab here I come.
Pez
P.S. This is my Knee after day 5 !
26th August 2004
Well here we go again,
Whats this ????? Winter !!! Haven't had one of them since 2000. " OUCH "
After a great start to the year then some unexpected misfortune things seem to be back on track. No not the track with Aero helmets and disc wheels (Thats the road!!!!!!). I underwent a couple of weeks of intense physio to get the knee back in a rideable state then I have been building my strength up to what it was. I planned on doing a few road races whilst I was back but it never seemed to happen. It always clashed with the training that I need to do wether it be on the mtb or road. I think I've riden Garie and Heartbreak about 80 odd times in the last 7 weeks...MADD. I did get a couple of races in but I think that a few more wouldn't hurt before the Big Finale.
The NSW Team Time Trial was one that I wouldn't really have chosen to do but when the club calls you must represent and do it no matter how much its gunna hurt. So the big boys Cashie and Paul O'neil along with International Celebrity Dan "The Man" Bricknell lined up for the event with me as the newcomer on the back. We rolled out after everyone tried to squeeze that last drop out on the startline. Things started pretty well and the old legs we kinda feeling a few mixed thoughts. After a while I settled into a good rhythm we all were pulling some very strong turns. Not knowing where I was going didn't help much as I had to ask the boys "which way" and got the quick stern reply of "LEFT". I kept waiting for a turn-around point but it never came then I found myself riding past the same old carparts dump yard. "oh so thats hows its gunna work ! Ok I'm with you now". Looking OK we were 30sec down at the 1/4 way mark and then probably closer to 1min at the halfway point. At the 1:10hr mark I felt myself starting to fade but with a couple of easier turns and a few of my HIGH 5 gels I was ready to rock. At this time the boys were talking well between each other and things were going pretty good. At 30min to go I was feeling ready to rip it up and was trying to get the guys revved up to bring it home strong and make up some of our time that we were down. I accidentally started riding the hills like a MountainBiker and attacking them a little too hard which meant that I was slightly gapping the boys and was soon told "Ay Pez EASY". Sorry bout that and from then on I didn't go anywhere without that wheel right behind me. One of our Super dads in the team started to fade and took a well deserved break on the back for a couple of minutes and came through with a couple more turns when we got a sniff of the finishing line. We rolled through 2min off the leaders who I must say were all imports. Not a bad days work for what I call a proper Club Team and not a pro team.
Thanks guys for letting me enjoy the experience of TTT with you. I somehow look back and say that I enjoyed myself. Cheers
(Pezza and the boys won the Bronze Medal in the NSW Teams Time Trial. Ed)
Back to the dirt and I went out to the Western Sydney MTB Club Champs at Yarramundi to open the legs up and see just how things were coming along. There wasn't much of a field out there but anyone can have a good day on their home course. I led from the gun and after a 10min warmup (Because I was too busy selling all my secondhand parts etc) I didn't feel crash hot. I found myself having to ease back and letting my Yeti Teammate Shaun Lewis take the lead for a while. This proved to be faster then I would have liked but hay we are here to race. On the second lap Lewis flatted and then Justy "BMXer" Case to the lead. I sat hot on his heels as I knew that he'd been putting in the hard yards and it has paid off because he's flying at the moment. We hit the climb for lap3 and I thought it’s time to turn it on and pushed hard up the climb leaving Justy to try and chase. Once I had a gap it was time to go crazy and see just how the fitness level is. All systems are go and that was a day.
Things are going pretty well but I am still not feeling the float that I was earlier this year. I do feel that its just round the corner as everyday I'm driving it even harder. I fly out to Europe to meet up with the National Team for Swiss Cup Finals,Bern Switzerland / World Champs, Lets Gets France and World Cup Finals at Livingo Italy. I'll be home for the 24HR at Canberra to uphold the Victorious Team Yeti's winning run. Hope to see many of you there as its’ the biggest MTB race in the country and also the most social event of the year.
Until then Best Wishes in all your upcoming races and go hard.
Perren
Thurs 2nd SEPT,
Hi all,
Well here we are again. At the moment I find myself in Lets Gets,France chillen in the most beautiful weather that I had seen in a while now.I arrived on Monday and have spent the last couple of days out in the mountains riding pass after pass.The atire is shortsleves all round.The tan is coming along quite well and the legs are feeling pretty good.
On the weekend we are heading over to Bern,Switzerland for a Swiss cup .
Mon 6th Sept,
Well just got back from the Swiss cup. The course consisted of about 3 min of Madd single track decending and 14min of steep ass climbing. I raced the short track on the Sat arvo and had nothing in the legs and could feel a head cold coming on so with an early night I awoke feeling pretty much the same with a tight chest. Thinking that this is gunna hurt I did my usal warmup and was going to decide from there.
All felt not to bad so I started and pretty much hung around the 20's mark for most of the race.I was riding the climbs at tempo not pushing to hard then my rear wheel hub body decided to shit itself dragging the chain into the wheel every time I stopped pedalling. Great I thought. This pissed me off pretty hard so I went crazy pushing at 95% for the last lap picking up all the spots I dropped trying to fix the bloody thing and finished 20th.Not to bad and I guess it felt good to open up the lungs .
WED 9TH sept,
After a couple of recovery days I went out and cut a few laps on the course and I reackon that this is gunna be a tough day on Sunday.The lap consisted of grass climbs into the pine forest where the soil was lose pine needles which got pretty ripped up after a while leaving some nice slippery roots.Riding in and out of the trees we had a few fireroad climbs 1 dry waterfall into the lake and some 7mtr drop ins.You feel as if you freefall for the first half of it the your wheels get caught in the rut guiding you to the bottom. Alot more climbing and then a few more shoots then onto the biggest and steepest climb on the track up the front valley where I can see the crowd is gunna go off. A lap is about 20 to 22 min.
FRI 11th Sept,
Great we have the only Trails rider on the Aussie team staying with us and he has passed a bout of vomiting and asspiss onto most of us.THANKS. I,m layed up in bed all day and have absoulutely no energy.
Les Gets, France World MTB Champs 12th Sep
Well Guys and Girls what can i say but OUCH.
I think that this was the hardest race I have ever done.EVER. The weather was awesome all week with 25 C days Training in shirts and shorts. Saturday night the usual happens and it absolutely pisses down hard all night and for most of the morning throught the womens race leaving the course muddy as hell.On with the mud tryes and the mud guard aswell.
The nice brandnew white aussie kit comes out of the plastic , straight into the mud and then straight into the bin.Not bad ay !!!!!!
I got out onto the trainer for my warmup and the legs felt smashed from the most greatfull bout of vomiting and asspiss we recieved from our trials boy.I did everything that I would usually do and tried to keep warm in the rain at the startline.
The gun goes off and I nearly get caught in not 1 but 3 crashes before we get even 100mtrs up the road. Then I remebered this aint Norba, we,re in Europe so the elbows went out and I gave it all I had. I started 8th row and was riding in the the 60,s when we came through for the start loop. My trye selection couldn,t have been better as I passed about 10 guys on the off camber for valley descent at high speed whilst they were sliding at 45 degrees down the hillside. This was the confidence booster that I needed as I hate to race in the mud having bad memories of West Virgina earlier in the year where my knee meet my disc brake router.
Things were looking good as I slowly moved through the field and into the top 40.I was giving everything that I had and was at the point of seeing double on the climbs.I went through for the last lap being the only Aussie left knowing that the legs were on pretty much empty. I pushed as I could fighting off cramps and the mass weight of mudd that had built up on my bike only to lose a few places finishing the race out sprinting Great Brit MTB legend Nick Craig up the last climb to come home in 44th place.
There was so much running and everything was so wet but I managed to stay upright and only use the embankment to stop me once. Not a bad day.
Stay tuned for the World Cup Finals report next week in Livingo,Italy.
See you then.
Perren
25th Sep 2004
Another year passes by!
Hey all you great people out there.
I would like to say a GREAT BIG THANX for all your support this year. What can I say but I couldn't have done it without you. Cheers to you , NOW BOTTOMS UP.
Well after another epic drive down to Livingo, Italy we had a cool week of training having to take the Passport on every ride because each way we went out of town we would hit a border control 30 min down the road. Fun Fun Fun. The old legs certainly felt their age this week taking longer then expected to recover. Must be all that running or something. I got out on the course early only to find that it was pretty muddy and you were unable to ride parts of the climb. As the week went on the mud dried and so did the Cow Shit so you didn't have to suck it off your water bottles. NICE, not.
After some mid-week snow and a day shopping TAX FREE race day arrived and I lined up in 107th on the grid. I guess you get that when you miss the earlier World Cups. I got a OK start and was running just inside the top 100 out of 214 or something. I hooked up with Trent and we started pegging back the other riders. We were running top 80's when we headed out for the 3rd 9km lap of 4 when someone turned out the lights and I started bouncing off everything in sight. Race done and I signed out. I guess you could say that after the bout of sickness and a bloody hard race at Worlds that I had cooked the Goose. Not to worry as you can't win them all so to speak.
We had a quiet night with our last Team dinner, a few drinks and off to bed with an early start heading back to the land of OZ. Wish I could click the heels instead of the 40 odd hr travelday.
Thanx again and now I go home and prepare for the Australian 24hr Champs that our Team "YETI" has won for the last 3 years. Go hard or go home.
Cheers Pez
20/12/04
Hay, Hay, Hay,
Well its back on the Tour. After a nice extended break then a bout of social riding to ease back into the swing of things (trying to loose the beer gut) starting with the Tour thats the "Sutho Tour" to Down Town Bundy I got in 4 solid weeks of training being inspired by playing team manager for my Yeti boys. You know the usual feeding of bottles every lap then being at the finish to wipe their faces,wash them down and give them the hat and clean sunnies for the podium.
Anyways the time has come to go and throw down at the next National Round in VIC at the lovely little goldmining town of Beechworth. This place reminded me of the club tour and the Hotel that we stayed in (Ghosts walking the hall ways at all hours of the night and not to mention the naughty girls in the principles office getting the whip. Hmmm or was that just Emma in the room nextdoor???????? Still I was scared) and at little town In Virgina somewhere.
Thursday night we loaded up the team commodore and did the speed run with all the trucks to Albury where we grabbed the usual scanky hotel room and awoke to drive the final leg kinda fresh in the morning. We arrived in town and went straight to the Beechworth Bakery which is the best bakery in Victoria. They have Tarts to die for.(Custard tarts). After a coffee and lunch we hit the X-Country course to cut a few laps only to get caught in the middle of an electrical storm. We ran for home and washed the bikes for the first time of the weekend.
So Saturday morning arrived and we headed out for the pre spin to clear the legs and back to the bakery for lunch. $9.00 for a facaccia. Ouch but it was good. Anyways then it was off to the Point to Point start being the first of 2 races. The course was a 42km fireroad thrash fest. In the first 10km there was attack after attack after attack then 3 guys got clear, one of them being Pete Hatton, TREK and we all know how good Pete’s legs are going at the moment so Teams Kona and Yeti went to the front to try and pull them back but to no avail. I think my hard training payed off well as I got into the second group and ended up find my rythym on this crazy rocky-as climb and pulling away with 2 other guys. We swapped off and worked well together to pull the break back to 1min at the finish where those sutho sprints paid of and I took fourth place. Then home to wash the bikes again.
The next day we rocked up stiff legged (2) to the XC where they gave us a full olympic distance race which is a standard 2 1/4 hrs for the winner. The track was pretty similar to what we locals have on offer of our extremely limited technical single track network in the natio. There was some big ass jumps and a couple BMX style burms to slow you aswell as a 6km network of twisty flowing singletrack and to make it even funner a few northshore style ramps. All these put together means nothing but "FULLY SIC FUN". The race started and the legs were in the hurt box big time but come the 3rd lap someone flicked the switch and I rode from 15th to finish 4th again. I guess when your having fun the pain seems to disappear. So all in all I finished a suprising 3rd Overall and walked away with a place on the box.
Lets go and bring on the next race.
See ya's at the track
Merry Xmas Pez
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