The AusTREKalian Flag

Try Strava and get riding more

Who has a Garmin and downloads to GarminConnect to check out their rides? Well there’s another alternative that you might like to try, and it’s called Strava. If you don’t have a Garmin or similar bike computer, but have a smart phone, Stava have an App so you can still log your rides.
Strava does what the other sites do, and a little more; and you can have a free account (there is a pay account too, for extra features.) What Strava.com does that the others don’t, is it compares your ride to others on, what Strava calls, Segments.
If you do a ride that has a segment(s) your data over this part of the ride is automatically compared to others that have ridden it previously, like a virtual race with other riders. Who is the fastest up One Tree Hill? There’s heaps more to check out at this site too, and I’ll tell you a bit more in another post.
The other thing that I should point out is to make sure you sign up to M1Cycles club. Once you sign up (follow the link below) and create your profile, signing up to M1Cycleseasy; Click on EXPLORE on the menu bar just to the right of the STRAVA logo at the top left, then click on ‘Clubs’, type Gladstone, Australia in the second search box (Location) and search. Click on ‘M1Cycles’ and you’re taken to a new page; Click JOIN.
What are you waiting for? Give it a try

The Rocky Cup On Wheels

If you've got nothing planned this weekend, head on up to Rocky to see Grainfed and Jodine in action at the Rocky Cup on Wheels.

Racing starts at 6pm on Friday night and from 3pm on Saturday night. The major wheel race is on Saturday night and with Grainfed's current form I'm sure he's in with a good chance for a podium placing - especially after his 3rd place at the Townsville carnival scratch race on Saturday night.

And if you haven't had enough of bike racing by Saturday night, head on down to Tannum on Sunday morning for the Tannum Tri. A few M1 riders will be there and I'm sure they'd welcome the support.

The Mud Bath

Well, the awesome foursome had a very dirty weekend away.... maybe I should rephrase that.... A very very very muddy weekend at the 4hr Woodenbong MTB enduro.

The course was pretty cool, mostly firetrack with one horrid hill climb of about 750m, a whole bunch of muddy swamp sections and heaps and heaps of cow pats.

Sneaky Pete was on FIRE, completing 12 laps and just missing out on a top 3 placing in the mens solo division. The Hef was still getting over the wog and wasn't much good for anything except for playing team mechanic and support crew. Kaz and I were having our own little dual in the women's solo division, with Kaz making a downhill pass - on me!! - on the second last downhill section to take out 3rd spot.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable race, except for the heat and the flys that were hitching a ride up the hill on every lap. Definately one that we'll be back to next year.

The Hunters and Collectors Ride

At the start of the ride this morning, the numbers were looking a little thin, but by the time we'd ridden past Bunny's we'd picked up quite a few riders - including a few bunch originals Micky Young in particular.

The bunch ended up to be quite big and I'm sure some people managed to bycott a turn all the way to the turn back onto the highway!! Mini Mick even managed to get over the dirt section for the first time in history.

It was good to see Mr Anderson back on the bike this morning after his face plant last Tuesday morning. I must admit Mr Anderson, I had the heebeejeebees riding up past Bunnys - I kept well away from the edge of the bitumen. And if you're wondering why you're now known as Mr Anderson - its from the Matrix movies.... "Mr Anderson, how good it is to see you". Sorry, its just stuck in my head!!!

Bundy Shane, myself and Hef turned early and headed back for an early brew shop stop. No silly k's today before tomorrow's 4 hour.

The Knees

Ahhhh, nothing like a few tumbles on the Sunshine Track to add a few more "tough girl" scars to the legs.

All I can say is that "my tough girl scars look better than your tough girl scars Drop Bear". In fact, I reckon I've had bigger tough girl scars when shaving!!!

Oh, and by the way Drop Bear.... I'm coming for ya on the track - I'm out sneaking in ekky laps and ekky woo-boys whilst your still laying in bed!!! And it doesn't count if you completed a full lap without unclipping if you could have walked faster than you were riding!!!!

The Woodenbong 4hr

The awesome foursome are off to the dirt again this weekend, this time south of the border to Woodenbong - obviously a town that is on the hippy side of things with a name like that!

We'll again be tackling a 4hr enduro mtb ride - will Sneaky Pete get an extra lap in on Hef??? Will there be any downhill sections to wipe the smile from Karen's face????? And will Cyclops dare to show his face for another showdown with Flee-Fly????? Only 3 more sleeps and all questions shall be answered.

Stay tuned for the post race report, when we return from Woodenbong....

The Cairns Cup

Congrats has to go to Brad who raced up north last night at the Cairns Cup on Wheels track carnival. Racing in A grade, Brad claimed 3rd in the scratch race, 2nd in the team sprint, 2nd in the kieren and 2nd in the major race, the Cairns Cup Wheel race.

A big night of racing and obviously the training has paid off - well done Brad.

CYCLOPS - ruler of the single-wheeled singletrack

Q How quick does a single man on a single wheel travel on single track?

A Ask Kate.

The Karingal MTB 4 hour

Last weekend, the Hef and I flew south with BlowFly and FleeFly to hook up with Pete and Karen in Brissy to do the 4hr MTB ride at Karingal on Sunday morning.

About 250 riders turned up for the ride.... there was every kind of MTB under the sun, hard tails, dually's, single speeds and some turkey on a unicycle.

Hef and Pete did the most laps...... Pete earned a new nickname, Sneaky Pete when he played doggo as he rolled in with Hef before sneaking off to do one more ekky lap. Karen as always rode with a smile on her face - even down the scarey downhill sections!

Did I mention that Hef got overtaken by 4 chicks???? Even on the downhill sections!! And I thought I was a hubbard!!

The PlayBoy Bunny's Ride

So Snapper and I are bunting along at the back of the pack this morning and he says to me "Does that flame on the back of Matt's bike look like the PlayBoy Bunny symbol to you???"..... Well funny enough, I think it does!!

So, Thunder will no longer be known as Thunder.... he'll be known as The Hef.

It was a pretty cruisy bunch ride this morning with a big tailwind pushing us from the Marina to the coffee shop. Welcome to new riders Shane from Bundy and John from Tannum.... I mean Boyne.

A few riders backed up for the double turning up for the Dirty Rats ride through the Sunshine Track. Our Baby Dirty Rat did well, managing a full lap of the Cotton Wool Track (not that I'm boasting or anything!!).

2012 Superfly

All you gotta do is ask the few guys around town who are on the new superflys, and they will agree with every word said in the review below.

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/trek-superfly-pro-and-soho-deluxe-just-in-32438

The Weekend That Was

Dogs are talking that we officially have a new Mountainbiker, and apparantly he is struggling to keep upright, 3 times in the ditch to be exact. Welcome to the dirty side Brown Knight! BSB babied The White Knight around the track, starting with the Cotton Wool Track, then smashing the Woo Boys without fear!

If anyone saw Dominc riding aound on an elegant pony in his cycle gear, there is a perfectly good explanation. Dom took on the liberty of baby sitting Gary for me while I was in brisbane with Matty. What a privelage I say!

Not many on Bunnys ride, too many riders saving themselves for the Mountain Bike Ride.

The Master & The Apprentice

Matty has always promised me that he would take me on a road trip to a race, this one ended up being the Vault Crit at Nundah in Brisbane- the biggest criterium event in Queensland.

We found a great place to stay, right around the corner from Park Road. The Milton Motel. Great rooms, better rates. Boy, we were gonna look good making our way to Park Road on our roadies. Just could not wait to be sippin' on my latte like a true yuppy.

Before the race got under way, we had a few things to do, or explore. Actually, I'm not quite sure what exactly we did. This is where the weekend became the quirkiest, yet most memorable, and it only took an hour and a half.

The day started at 5.45am. A brew and some raising toast was on the menu for a 6am start. We rolled the 200m down to park road, and pulled up like pro dogs. Of course, we were the first yuppies at La Dolce Vita for or latte. This is where matty had organised to meet up with a very old friend of his. We all know him, but by what name exactly? Well, heres a few- King Kunda, The Croc Hunter, Yarrum Ttocs, Adnuk Fognik, and Cowboy. We can't reveal his real name on this blog.

Matty just wanted me to ride with the so-called master. Off we went around the Croc Hunters favourite training ride. It included several laps around The University of Queensland. Apparantly, I had to learn to admire true beauty - Adnuks' words, not mine! I dont know what the Croc was on about, but there was a lot of female talent running beside that truely beautiful river front. We endured gutters, footpaths and parks. I would never have thought i'd be taking my brand you SSL where we ended up going.

Off to south bank to do a few laps of Kunda's own Southbank Criterium course. Apparantly, it was harder to ride then normal, because someone has put market stalls, and road blocks all through the crit! That didn't stop us, roadies can do anything in Brisbane.

A gentle roll down beside the river at Southbank. I learnt that the greatest comliment of all for a woman is to get a gentle pat on the bottom by a roadie as they cycle past. I wasn't game to try, but i took his word for it. A brief hitout through pedestrains and recreational cyclist on the bike path, we rolled into Yarrum's favourite brew shop in west end some where. Coffee was great, and the food was better.

It was time for The Vault Criterium. Average Speed was 44.5 km/h. I placed 5th, and Matty 10th. The Best thing was that we had heaps of laughs and got home with all our skin on our backs.

Trek World 2012

Notice anyone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kE1gYlxfWg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDQTf-my5HA

Dazza and Bontrager

Dazza is the fair dinkum, aussie bloke. Footy shorts, polo shirt, and the Indi Rambler trike to go with!

So when it came to using an American product, he was a bit reluctant. After using the Bontrager tyres on his trike and trailers, he will never go back!

"They handle so well on the road, especially when you hit over the 25km/h mark" he said, "they just handle superbly in the tight, technical streets".

If they are good enough for Darrens grueling rides through the streets of gladstone every day, you should probably get off the german made excuses for tyres and jump on a set of Bontragers.

Done!

Crank Brothers Pedal Deal

Buy any Crank Brothers Candy or Eggbeater 3's and recieve a Crank Brothers M10 multi Tool, and a Crank Brothers Speed Lever absolutely free.

What makes this deal so much better is that the 3's retail for $199, you can pick all this up for $165! While stocks last, so be quick.