Last Race For A While

Well the end is almost here,last bike race for a while.Don't plan on racing much next year.I have to much on the go at home and at work.I have been training steady,riding the jogging as much as i can.This is the first race this year that i managed to train steady for.I feel pretty good the last couple of weeks.I think i am just about at 40,000m of painful training climbs.I haven't had my GPS the last couple of weeks because i sent it back for a new one( software )but before that i was at 38,000 m over the last few months .Bike has been working great,i picked up a new scalpel 1 for the race and have been riding it for a little over a month ( thanks Olympia ),all i want to do before the race is change the tires. Flights are booked,hotels are booked,transportation is booked.I can't believe i am going to be climbing up the sides volcanoes and riding threw rain forests.This race is going to be the toughest race i have ever done,they say every year 40% of the racers don't finish.The heat,humidity,mud,steep looooong climbs,getting up at 4:30 0r 5:00 every morning and racing every day with hardly no sleep because you sweated all night and oh i just about forgot having ride on bumpy railway tracks for km's and km's.I think if i finish in one piece a good drunk will be the order of the day.

La Ruta Stage 4

La Ruta Stage 3

La Ruta Stage 2 Oh My!!

La Ruta Stage 1

What's the deal with the sandilands race

Anyone heard anything?

XC800 Degrees Celcius

I arrived Friday night with my wife ,pre rode and then went for supper.Slept not bad (it was cool).The morning warmed up fast and i knew it was going to be hot.I did like Greg and couldn't find my bike so i got stuck in behind a pile of people.I set out to ride steady and my goal was top 10.I was feeling real good even with the heat until around my 4th or 5th lap i started having bike trouble.My rear cassette would not free wheel it would make a hell of a noise and then the chain would jump and get jammed up(crap).I stopped a bunch was times and couldn't see anything wrong.I couldn't even turn it backwards by hand so i walked a bit ran a bit and then when i was close to the end i said screw it and decided to to ride it .It worked as long as i kept pedaling but when i stopped it didn't sound pretty at all.So when i got in i decided to take the rear cassette off.I was lucky because Shawn Z was there and began to help me.After we got everything apart we noticed that the rear cassette bearing had packed it in so he offered me his wheel(thanks Shawn)We began to switch everything around and even had to do rotors because i run smaller ones.I lost a pile of time but was happy to keep riding.I ended up with 8 laps and missed the cut off by 5 mins i think, so the best i could have done if i didn't have trouble would of been 9.The fast guys did 11!I think out of the top 13 around half were from MB that's counting Paddy which i thought was pretty dam good.