Farewell ride in the You Yangs

I was impressed by the amount of people that showed up for my very last ride in the You Yangs this Sunday. I very much enjoyed the ride in such a great company!!! Riding single track with such a big group is a bit of a stop and go in order not to lose each other and some of us(including me) got a bit cold due to heavy winds. But we were lucky with the weather and didn't get wet.Finished of with some moist 'Redwine-cake' (unfortunately it didn't rise in the oven, damn!) .

Thanks to you guys for coming along: Jacqui, Duncan, Vinca,Ewen, Katie, Russ,Ugly(not on the photo anymore), Dion, Dave, Sharon, Billy the dog, Rowan, Kelly, Ali, Marc, Scott, Turi, Tex, Pete and some others(which name I don't really know...sorry).

MTB 'Hei Hei' for sale

Trustworthy and well loved Kona 'Hei Hei' - tested in several XC and Endurance races











a few details:
Frame size 17"
Travel - 2.5"
Fork(see small pic) SID
Rear Shock - Fox Float RP2
Crankarms - Race Face
Brakes - Hayes
Stem Raceface Evolve XC
Headset- FSA Orbit DL
B/B - Race Face ??
Wheels(almost new):
- Front/Rear Hub FSA XC-300 Wheelset
- Rims FSA XC-300
- Tires Maxxis Ignitor
F/D - Shifters- Shimano XT
R/D - Shifters- Shimano XT
Color - silver
Price - $2000 ono NOW 1800

Please feel free to come around and check it out

Green

I am in Germany until June and enjoying some endless MTB trails around Heidelberg and Siegen - it's beautiful spring time.
Everything is green up here and everthing is in blossom and just really beautiful...
Noice........one early morning ride!!!

One early morning run in the forest around my home, with the family dog Tell - the day I left to fly back to Australia.

Chase the sun 1

The 'Snotrockets' revived (alias Duncan Murray and myself) came first in the mixed pair(husband and wife) category. We had an awesome race with good riding, fun tracks and lots of people to catch up with and talk to.
A good event, even with the computer system breakdown.

Time up!

This is it....my Mountainbike race time in Australia is over!
This month(may) is the last month you will see me at a race in Australia, hopefully in a team and having fun.
After tossing up and down weather to go or not to go to the 24hr Worldchampionships in Canada, I had to realize that my mind an d body need a break from it. Therefore I have to anounce my semi-retirement - at least from solo Endurance racing in Australia(still planning to race overseas).
It's about time to move on and to get closer to our families and friends in Europe.
But before we leave, Andy and I are planning to go on a trip around Australia, aiming to leave 1st of June, traveling for as long as we need. Once we come back we will have to say 'Good buy' to everyone and leave Australia for good. It's sad but very exciting!
Check our travel blog where you can follow our trip : http://www.ozoffwego.blogspot.com

Love you all!

Training in Winter

Rollers Session at Vigor Studio every Tuesday night from 6.15pm and Thursday morning from 6.15 am . I love the sessions because it is very effective training and a good excuse to socialize with the others over a dark hot chocolate at Cafe 'ici' afterwards.

The pictures show me riding on a e-motion roller for the first time...still concentrating not to fall off...and my coach Simon Knowles trying to make me pedal harder...

Melburn-Roobaix

SEE YOU SATURDAY ......

Six Hours In The Sattle S.H.I.T.S.

...it felt like riding in high Altitute with a hangover ... only two weeks after the 24hr race I didn't expect anything from my poor legs and lungs and managed to place 3rd in the woman race after Erica Gurner and Kim Mc Cormack.
Well done Erica coming first in her first 6hr solo Endurance race and kicking our butts!
Great atmosphere, I was very happy to see so many familiar faces. Always fantastic to race the tracks in the Beechworth Mountain bike park.

24 hr National Champs...

It was a tough race and the biggest battle against me that I ever had to go through during a race.It didn't look like I was going to finish this race after falling back to 4th place during the first quarter of the race and feeling very, very weak - almost hunger flatted. The cold and cough from the last weeks took its toll and I had no strength to push.
But thanks to my absolute fantastic support team Justine, Evan and Andy(Andy even jogged behind me to encourage me not to pull out, telling me that I will get better), I started feeling better at night, rode constant lap time and fought back and was able to hold 2nd place until the finish.I can tell you it was a huge mental struggle, my body showed signs of fatigue after only 3 hrs into the race, I crashed and there were tears (yes, I do regret those now). Because all those signs are very unusual for me, I knew I wouldn’t be able to perform at my best and therefore I was begging my support team to please let me pull out of the race. I just couldn’t imagine to race for another 19, 18,17,16,15…hours. Some time after about 10 hours into the race Andy gave me the information that surprised me ‘first is only 4 minutes ahead’….and I started chasing and chasing and chasing.

I realized that Andy must have given me a wrong information when Kathrin past me and was just about to lap me for the first time. I was a bit confused and thought she might have had a longer break and just tries to catch me again, but she looked far too strong to be on the same number of laps as I.
During several short stops to grab food or a bottle I insured my support team and everybody around who had to listen to my whinging that this would be my last 24hr solo race!!!
Nothing ran after schedule during this race. I had my short, warm fuzzy break and a change of clothes after only 6 hours(usual after 10 hours). The never ending night time forced me to ride with an I-pod during the entire dark period (usual I take it only for about 3 hours). I had to take 3 ‘no doze’ tablets not to fall asleep on the bike and 2 painkillers for the lower back pain….usual I avoid to take any medicine. At least it wasn’t as cold as usual during a 24hr race in Canberra and I didn’t have to stop to put on layer after layer. The longed after sunrise was most beautiful but reminded me that there were still 6 hours to go and that the almost 100% singletrack had it’s impact on my lower back so that I had to stop twice for a quick ‘deep heat’ back rub, which mad the pain go away for a short time. My support team was in a good mood, everybody out there was cheering us on and the atmosphere was fantastic. I was very, very happy that I didn’t quit, which would have made all the work that my support team had put in, worthless. On my last and 35th lap I could see a happily smiling Andy waiting for me to run the rest of the track to the finish. I refused to go out for another lap and just waited for the 24hr mark to pass to that I could roll through the finish line with all the other 24hr solo nutters, that couldn’t think of doing their last lap anymore either.
Special mentions goes to Melinda Behrens, who rides one sighted and has to turn her head constantly so that her good eye faces the track. I feel embarrassed about my winching when I try to imagine what she must go through during those gruelling 24 hours, where she finished 4th with 29 laps. What a great achievement!! Thanks again to Justine, Evan and Andy, the best support team ever. After all it is a big surprise to me that I still came second with my bad form of that day. I wish I would have been able to show everybody my current good form, when not being run down by some stupid virus.A well deserved win for Kathrin, she is -without doubt- the strongest 24hr MTB Endurance rider in this country!

female
1. Katrin Van Der Spiegel

2. Alexandra Kiendl

3. Claire Graydon

male

1. Jason English

2. John Claxton

3. Daniel Mackay

Back on track...

...more or less. The cold is gone, coughing attacks still come and go as they are pleased, but I am sure I will be fine for the race...
Bikes are ready to roll(thanks to BSC bikes), 'Ay-up' lights are charged,
the car gets packed tomorrow and we are off to Canberra by Thursday night.
Aiming to get organised on race site on Friday as quickly as posssible in order to spend Andy's Birthday(my lovely partner and support person for the race) somewhere nice and trying to relax with a glass of a good local wine.

I hope things are going well and that doing my best will be good enough for a great result!