Twilight 6 hour Enduro Sun March 7th Beaconsfield Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Hot racing
and high enthusiasm can be found racing @Twilight 6 Hour Mountain Bike Race
Sunday March 7 3 pm to 9 pm Upper Beaconsfield participating in 6 hours racing
with your mates on some sweet single track. Pair up, joined teams or go solo.
Camping is
available for both Sat and Sunday nights. contact me on
0409149912
Start: 3.00pm
Finish: 9.00pm Lights are a requirement for the last 1:30 hours of the
race.
Registration
Open: Saturday 2.00pm - 4:00pm and Sunday 7:00 am Until 8:30 am Cost? All Rides-
$60 Late Entry on the day add $50
Call
for late entries Rob 0409 149 912
PLEASE
NOTE- The following
categories will be available.
Solo Men, Solo
Women, 40+ Solo,
Male Pairs,Female Pairs,Mixed Pairs,
Triples 40+
Average, Male Triples,Mixed Triples,Female Triples,
Male Quads,
Mixed Quads.
COURSE
PROFILE (7.3 km, approx. 90% single track / 10% open
trails)
SCHEDULE
/ DETAILS SATURDAY March 6th, 2010
Registration and
Practice from 3 pm to 5.00pm.
SUNDAY March
7th, 2010 race day
Registration and
Practice from Sunday 12:00 am Until 2:00 pm.
Rider briefing
at 2.50pm Racing Starts 3.00pm and finishes 9.00pm.
Van Go will be
providing all you coffee needs plus a some hot food and other
goodies.
LIMITED ONSITE
FOOD CATERING WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THE FULL DURATION OF THE EVENT.
ON RACE DAY,
PLEASE TRY AND REGISTER AT THE EVENT AS SOON AS YOU
ARRIVE.
The
Mountain Bike Course The course is a little over 7.3 km loop which is
single track (90%) and some open trails. The course should be achievable by
almost all fairly competent mountain bike riders with a reasonable level of
fitness. The course itself is achievable by all except for the complete novice
or inexperienced mountain bike rider. Each lap of the course will take an
average of 25-40 minutes to complete practice lap
The race course will be
marked out and open to pre-ride on Saturday from 3 pm until 5 pm and Sunday from
9 am until race start @ 3:00pm
What's
you will have at the event? Toilets Fully marked course with first-aid
Limited Food catering on-site Mechanical support with official Bike Shop sponsor
timing Entertainment
What do I
need to bring? Each rider must have the following equipment whilst on the
course- Serviceable mountain bike Australian Standards certified cycling
helmet Water bottles (Camelbaks allowed)
Lights
MTBA full
licence or alternatively a day licence can be issued for $15.This licence covers
you, your fellow competitors and the event with insurance.Support
Crew!Individual competitors are advised to have a support crew.You will need to
set up your transition area, as well as supplying your team mate/s with food and
drinks.
Change of venue for State XC round to Bendigo Friday, January 29, 2010
Round 3 of the State XC series on Sunday Feb 7th has changed venues from Chum creek to Bendigo. Details as follows.
Victorian XC State Series Want to try something different to the Enduro’s or the weekend mates ride, then come have a shorter 1hr - 2 hr (depends on category) race or just a good intensity session on some of the “best” race tracks in Victoria. Come along have a go and support local MTB clubs.
February 7th Rd 3 State XC Series
The Bendigo club will be running the 3rd Rd of the State XC Series on the 7th February at Brians/Scottys track, Heritage Rd Sedgwick. Website: www.mtbbendigo.com Phone: 0418390602 Where: Heritage Rd Sedgwick (Direction on link below)
Trailbuilding at Lake Mountain sat Jan 30 Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Lake Mountain resort will be opening their new mountain bike trail network in Feb 2010, and promises purpose built world class trails built to I.M.B.A standards. A working bee is being held on sat Jan 30th only (not the 30th and 31st as previously advertised) and Volunteers are needed to help complete trailbuilding in time for the opening event. The first ten volunteers to reply to me will get a free entry (donated by Croydon Cycleworks) to the "Granite Grind" event on Feb 20th at Lake Mountain details here
AGM trailride and BBQ report Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Our annual general meeting and trailride was well attended with many new faces joining those familiar ones for some great riding through the dandenongs. Riders split into three groups according to ability and explored the Silvan area sweating on the climbs, speeding along fireroads, and carving up the singletrack. Evergreen club president Rob Eva's voice could be heard loud and clear throughout the hills warning any walkers or other trail users of our approach! On our return to Lilydale lake hungry stomachs were well catered for by the DH committee chefs , before the serious matter of club elections began. As usual, the incumbents returned unnaposed, so the main positions remain unchanged. Rob Eva as Executive president, Shane Currie as DH president, Joel Reid as XC president, Hans Werner as treasurer and Steven van Dyke as secretary. Not to mention a long list of committee members and volunteers. We should all be grateful for the time these people commit to the club.
Merry Christmas to all mountain bikers out there!
Trail ride and club General meeting Sunday 13th Dec Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Before you say “But club meetings are boring” think again! Come for a trail ride on the new Silvan trails (choose between 3 groups of different skill/fitness levels), enjoy a BBQ and drinks on return, then have your say at our Annual General Meeting (or have a snooze in the back row) and feel smug and self satisfied that you have contributed to that great democratic institution of dirt, the world famous FAT TYRE FLYERS. The club is there for you, so come along and share your ideas on what the club can do for the members. Nominations for committee positions will be accepted and who knows your path to infamy may start as a club volunteer. And think of all the free T-shirts!
The plan is to meet at Lilydale Lake Hall at 1pm on Sunday 13th Dec for a 2.5 hour trail ride. The trail ride will return by 4PM followed by BBQ and AGM (Our intention is to keep the AGM short –under 1 hour). Simple really, come for the ride, the food, the meeting, bring the family Lilydale Lake is a great place for the kids to hang out and have a fun afternoon.
WHERE: Lilydale Lake Hall Melways Ref 38 F7
WHEN: Trailride meets at 1PM (A,B and C groups). BBQ and AGM start around 4PM
BRING: Bikes, partners, kids, chairs. Food and refreshments will be provided PLEASE RSVP so we can cater properly. RSVP HERE.
See you there.
FTF 6 Hour 2009 Sunday, November 15, 2009
Fat Tyre Flyers would like to thank the following sponsors for the donation of prizes and their support:
Croydon Cycleworks
Rollin Cycles
Sram
BikeCorp – Maxxis
We would also like to extend our thanks to the Officer Scout Association, Ken & Frog for First Aid, team Wheezers for donating their time to assist with timing duties – it was much appreciated. John Sleemanfor assistance with rego, the setup crew and the volunteers that assisted so favorable with the pack up of the course.
A technical and challenging course was set using the best trails the camp site has to offer. We left lots of climbing in, otherwise that would not be “Officer” but took the liberty to remove the fence line climb, gun barrel climb, and heartbreak hill became heart broken. It was good to see riders tackle the short pinch with vigor knowing they were going to be rewarded with an easier climb shortly after.
It was not all about the climbing with Clacker’s drop, the Death Chute and Sanelli’s “SS” al making a welcome return to complement “the berms”. The welcoming site of a full dam also made riding the dam wall that little bit more interesting knowing there was no B line, and the bail out option meant taking a swim!
Honors today went to Phillip Orr and Jo Wall, with Phil completing a staggering 16 laps with his slowest a mere 24m20. I myself went out at XCO race pace and was shocked to find a trio of Solo riders riding back onto my wheel at the 5 lap mark. I think someone forgot to adjust the throttle screw for these guys! 10 laps in and there is Phil still tapping out the laps, with all of his competition gone by the way side, including Joel Read who is known for riding people into the ground. I was content to eat dust on my last in awe of a guy who could hold that pace for the full 6 hours.
Line honors went to team Digby comprising of Rowan Smith, and Duncan Murray. Not to be overshadowed by the feats of Phil above but in their own right stamped their authority on the race, leaving the rest of us to read it and weep.
As the dust now settles we hope that all riders enjoyed their race and look forward to the next events ahead. Stay tuned for our AGM.
Officer: 3 Creeks, 1 River? Monday, September 28, 2009
And so the rain continued to fall over the weekend, turning some harmless puddles into raging creeks. Race organisers were left with some serious questions, would these "puddles" be even rideable? Would the juniors be swallowed up never to be seen again? The trusty stick was called upon measuring a depth gauge below BB and axle height. All fears were abeited, the race was still on for those brave souls.
The wet and the mud attract a committed lot, keen to ride in all conditions, or desperate for a few extra points to claim the series win. Whatever their motivation they took to a fun course with the proclaimed "longest flowing decent ever" for an Officer course. The track held up well for the first few laps, giving riders a chance to adapt to winter series racing. Off cambre descents became a fun challenge trying to keep the bike upright, the front wheel pointing forward, and enough brake pressure to pull the bike up without locking up the wheels. Other descents it was a case of lining up a tree knowing this was your only way of making the corner as your brake pads sung out their high tunes, or screeched away to that metal on metal sound. That was one way of wearing in/out a set of brake pads.
As the course detiorated the quandry arose: Should a MTB'er attempt to ride everything, or concede defeat and run because it is faster? I chose the former, dropping the chain into a small ring, content to spin the cranks over in a desperate attempt to find traction and negotiate a path up the slight incline. Inch by inch the bike moved forward, certainly not the fastest way up, but nonetheless I was not going to be defeated by this course.
The showers and bike wash at the end of event was a welcome relief, for those confused about what color of bike they thought they rode, or colours they proudly wore. Thanks to our local scouting group for use of their venue and facilities. Thanks also to Rob for helping out with timing today.
Merida Flight Centre team second in TransAlps (Grand Masters Class) Thursday, August 6, 2009
Story below from FTF member Craig Peacock.
Merida Flight Centre team second in TransAlps (Grand Masters Class)
Craig Peacock and Hans Dielacher riding for the Merida Flight Centre team came second in the 2009 TransAlps Grand Master class (100+ age group category) with a time of 31hrs and 5mins.
The TransAlps mountain bike race is Europe’s toughest and most prestigious mountain bike race. There are over 550 teams who raced across the Alps from Mittenwald in Germany to Riva del Garda in Italy, covering some 634km and climbing 22,077 metres over beautiful mountain passes. http://www.bike-transalp.de/englisch/. Many teams were unable to finish. Why is this race so tough; well considering doing 8 Australian marathons in 8 days and climbing 3,000 meters per day. The Flight Centre Epic has 2,200 metres of climbing and the Otway Odyssey has 2,900 metres of climbing.
Our race was not without some dramatic events and incidents;
·Stage 1 was cancelled due to some seriously bad weather; it was raining and 4C at the start. Mittenwald has an elevation of 834m and we were to ride over a 1803m pass. During the day 40cm of snow fell. If the Stage 1 did proceed there would have been a number of deaths from hypothermia. On the same day last year in similar conditions some runners who raced across the same trails died from hyperthermia.
·Stage 2 we arrived some 1hr and 15mins before the race at the start line after our warm up only to find some 300 teams already before us in the starting pen. We gave away about 5 mins to the winning German team by not turning up at least 2hrs before the race.
·Stage 3 Hans’ rear wheel completely buckled on the single track and was unrideable near the top of the first mountain pass. We had over 60km to go and if we could not finish we would have been out of the race. This wheel failure cost us any chance of winning our category and we had real visions of failing to finish stage 3 and then being out of the TransAlps. We swapped rear wheels, I ran with the bike for about 30 minutes before Hans was able to negotiate a spare wheel (in German) all within the racing rules. Next time you see Hans he has a great story on how we recovered from this near disaster. It was a real blessing that this spare wheel worked perfectly, no chain slippage and had a great rear tyre. We came forth in this stage losing only a few minutes to 2nd and 3rd placed teams. We were now racing for second place in the TransAlps. Any chance of first place had vanished.
·Stages 4,5 & 6 we raced as hard as we could gaining approximately 15minutes on the Swiss (second) and the Norwegian (third) teams, but losing about 10 to 15minutes per day to the German team (first place). These were real tough days for us as we were riding at threshold for 6 hours each days, climbing over 3,000m and each stage only had 2 feed stations.
·Stages 7 & 8, the fatigue from going as hard as we could on the previous stages started taking it toll; we had second place secure with a buffer of over 45 minutes , but finished 3rd in Stage 7 then 4th in Stage 8.
The highlights of our race:
·Riding with a teammate who is evenly matched with you and equally as dedicated to achieving the best possible result
·Starting in the rain at 4C in Mittenwald, riding through snow on day 2 and finishing 8 days later in 38C at Riva del Garda
·Big mountain climbs, the largest climb being over vertical 1,700 metres
·Great mountain passes through the European Alps
·The descents are so big with very fast speeds of 60 to 70km/hr on gravel roads; many of the descents were around 900 vertical metres
·Great views of the Dolomites, riding on singletrack underneath 1,000m metre rock walls
·Racing on cobble stones rides in small roads through small villages. Some roads were closed and others were open, so we had to keep our eyes open for cars and slow moving tractors
·Sprinting for the finish at each of our host villages
We have been competing with some of the best riders in the world who live in the Alps and who regularly ride these mountain passes. They have completed many TransAlps races before, they know each of the trails, the hills, the descents and the feed station locations. We were basically riding these stages with minimal prior knowledge, it was our first TransAlps. We are proud of our efforts in coming second and have done our country proud. We each have a big trophy to take home a small cheque of over 1,000 Euros to help cover some of our expenses.
Both Hans and I trained specifically for 6 months for the TransAlps, it was the major focus of our 2009 racing season. What did we do right? What would we do differently? Here are some initial lessons learnt which will be further distilled over the coming weeks:
·If your aim is a podium finish then you need to specifically train for the event; a 6 month build up is essential
·Train to produce high power wattages (4.3W/kg in our category, more in the open category) from a standing start, up steep gradients (approx 10% to 15%) sustainable for over 90mins, then reproduce the same power output for the next two 1,000m climbs
·Train to ride 3 mountain passes per day, each with a climbing elevation of 1,000 vertical meters, then back it up the next day, and the next
·Have a full support crew, with feeders at each station
·Have one rider who can speak the local language. (Hans is fluent in German)
·Stage 1 - arrive at least 2hrs before the race into the starting pen and warm up on a trainer
If you would like further information or require mountain bike coaching assistance please contact Craig Peacock via email craig.peacock@chasegroup.com.au . Craig has a Grad. Dip in Sport Science.
A big thank you to FTF member Jilian Mulally for the following ride report.
I’ll just come straight out and say it. I love riding with chicks. Why? Because of the completely encouraging atmosphere – especially when trying something new.
When it truly doesn’t matter who gets up a hill first, if someone chooses not to ride a log or if bike and rider topple over because the stupid cleats are too tight, everyone is more likely to try new skills or push that bit harder because if it doesn’t come off, it’s in no way embarrassing.
And so it was on the Chicks Ride at Lysterfield last Saturday run by Jane Ollerenshaw. It was the biggest turn out yet, with 22 girls lining up. Experience ranged from Jane (first ride back from winning her age category at the 2009 Anaconda MTB Enduro in central Australia), to those who borrowed a bike and were out for the first time.I’m somewhere in the middle.
Before the difficult elements, we’d stop for Jane and the other experienced girls to explain how to ride it and demonstrate. It’s much easier to try a new log when there are two or three girls in catching position if we wobble over.
We rode logs, did tight corners, climbed Trigg Point and rode down the new berms. Everyone learned something, including that hill climbs can be calculated in chocolate rewards.
It was a really fun two-hour ride. I learned heaps and met some great girls. If any girls are wanting to have a go, the Chicks Rides are a really safe, friendly and supportive way to start. Additionally, there is plenty in the ride for the girls wanting to improve their skills and pick up a few finer points.
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