A little of this, a little of that, and a lot to be thankful for.

I haven't managed to get back to my blog for a little while now. Life has been pretty fast paced and when I did have time I was too busy enjoying time with my family to bother. We have just returned from a week in Tully, North Queensland visiting my parents. Unless you have been living under a rock or are from another country you will be aware that on the 5th of February this year Tully (more so the surrounding region) was hit by a Category 5 cyclone. Winds were estimated to have reached 300km/hour and the results are still everywhere to be seen. In true NQ style though the locals are bearing up and are still as laconic and friendly as ever. It shocked me though. I grew up in the area, I lived through cyclones, but this was very different.
Having the boys there really made my parents happy. The boys put on a good show too with heaps of cuddles for them and plenty of hilarious moments along the way. We made the most of the time with some activities that made my childhood happy and adventurous and the smiles and laughter from all of us showed the success of the trip. We swam in the creek at the back of mum and dads place, we went to my favourite beach in the whole world and we even got to the outer reef for a snorkeling trip. I won't go into all of the details but some snippets really must be mentioned. First is my favourite beach. Etty Bay. I spent hours there as a kid and all the reasons I loved it have become the same reasons Alison, Jack and Rohan love it too. we spent hours searching the rock pools for fish and crabs, swimming in the sea and of course eating fish and chips from the kiosk.

Jack contemplates whether it should be icecream or lemonade.

Rock pool adventurers

Rohan just kept smiling for a whole week.

The next adventure worth more detail was the reef trip. A whole day out on the outer reef of snorkeling sounded great but we had some concerns as Rohan is only six. We should not have been worried as he was ready to give it a go as soon as the boat stopped and when the first thing he saw once in the water was a green sea turtle the day was set. We saw so many fish, huge clams and starfish it got to be too much. Rohan and I swam through a huge cloud of small blue fish and got to see an eagle ray gliding over the bottom but all he wanted to see was a reef shark. The tour operators went to great lengths to assure everyone they were harmless and after that it was all he wanted. Alison had taken him for a while so I could dive down a bit and explore and just after they left I turned around to swim off and there, not ten feet away was a white tipped reef shark. Bummer, he missed it. It was OK though. The boys are both still talking about the day.

We are home now. I feel blessed to have shared more quality time with the family and lived every moment of it. Easter came and went with barely a whimper but again the time with family was the focus. Alison and I had a chance to kick back a little and let the grand parents spoil the kids so everyone was happy. I have had time to reflect on how lucky I am to be where I am now and be thankful for all the help and wonderful support that has been given to me and my family along the way. This time of the year is always a time for reflection for me. So much has happened, good and bad, all falling around this time of year.
Eight years ago today began 5 weeks of torture for Jack, Alison and myself. Jack was admitted to hospital with a lump under his right jaw line. It later turned out to be Neuro Blastoma, a malignant and aggressive type of tumour common in young kids. He under went too many procedures to mention and was then put through regular tests and check ups for another 3 years. Seven years on and he was given the all clear and is now the happy, bright kid I love and cherish.
I stopped being reliant on medication to deal with my anxiety and stress issues. After two years I learnt to deal with the demons and got off the pills and have remained so. It would not have been possible without my friends and family and all the love and support I received during "The War". I still keep my little "check up, from the neck up" going, and I still make sure my feet are firmly planted on the ground but now it's more as a precaution than a way of life.
So now I am just going to cuddle my kids too much, kiss my wife until she gets annoyed and generally keep a stupid grin on my face for a while. Thankful doesn't even come close.
Life isn't always perfect, but to be living life, sharing life and loving life is perfect enough for me.

Enduro Super Series 2, 6 Hours of Mud.

So as far as race reports go it is really pretty straight forward. I showed up, I started riding, I rode for 6 hours and then I stopped riding. There was no real drama or close finishes to write about and my bike ran well with only a couple of small issues that were more than to be expected given the mud. Oh, did I mention the mud?
While there hadn't been too much rain, the soil was soaked and as 200 sets of wheels went over it, well it turned to more of a liquid than a solid. There was about a 300 meter section that became unrideable by my forth lap and seriously no fun for most of the day. After lap 9 I was stopping each time I passed the lake to give my bike a wash and clear the mud off the tyres. At least that dropped a couple of kilos after the mud section!
The bit that is writing about, at least from my point of view, is that I didn't pull the pin at 4 hours like I thought I wanted to. My day wasn't going well with my head in a particularly ordinary state and the mud and crappy conditions only added to that feeling. I struggled with a slow start as I got caught behind a lot of traffic due to a mass start and a very tiny start area. Imagine trying to fit a whole football match on a field the size of your living room. That about sums it up. anyway I got through to 4 hours and having thought I had done only about 6 laps I was fried in the head. A cold beer and a burger were all I wanted to think about by then and as I pulled into the start finish line I asked how many laps I had done just to be sure. To my surprise I was told I had done 8 laps! That was a surprise. Spencer had come out with me and had decided he had more than had his fill of mud and was sitting in the tent chatting to some people. As I came around he just said "Don't stop, just keep going." So I grabbed a gel or two, changed bottles and took off again. Once I had realised that I wasn't going to quit today, things got heaps better. Someone once said to me it is only as hard as you want to make it. I started the day telling myself how hard and crappy it was. I finished the day saying I was glad I hadn't quit and that I had a good day. Attitude people, attitude.
The upshot, 12 laps and a 6th place finish. I was still 3 whole laps behind the winner but there was a matter of minutes between me and 4th place. I am really stoked with the result and it has provided me with some more motivation to train a bit harder. My next race is a 24 hour race in 5 weeks and while the training hasn't been spectacular or even very consistent it is working slowly. My mental toughness is holding firm and I reckon if the race is dry I am a chance of a good result. Top five would be ace. Lets see what happens shall we.

http://www.mountainbikeaustralia.com/results/superseriesrace2-6hrresults.pdf

Up down across up down.

My biggest mistake on Sunday was saying to Nick earlier in the week that I thought it was time I put a bit of hurt on myself for the next couple of rides. Now although he says things like "I don't feel great" or "We'll just take it easy" or that crowd favourite "It's just a cruisey ride" I pretty much know that each time we go out he somehow tricks me into going harder than I thought I would. I'm a stooge! This time I employed the technique of reverse psychology in an attempt to trick him into going easy on me. The result? 60 kilometers, 2000m of climbing and about 150 gels to get through it.
I do make this sound unpleasant don't I? The truth is it was a great ride. The plan changed a bit along the way, the hills got a bit longer and steeper but all in all I had a top day riding around with a top bloke. We started out with the climb over Camp Mountain the short way. It's a climb that has consistant pinches of over 20% gradient and goes for about 2.2km. It has also suffered pretty badly with the rains here and is broken up and loose most of the way. Nick sat just behind me and we chatted for most of the climb. Occasionally I had to stop talking and concentrate my energies on making the particular section and then get my breath and only be able to speak in short bursts. I employed the Dale Garvey method for this climb. Don't look up, just keep pedalling and don't give up. I was even surprised when the summit appeared and although I had worked hard to clean the climb I never felt like I wasn't going to make it. I do have to admit to taking a really long time to warm up though. I reckon Nick must have heard enough of me whining to last a life time in the first part of the ride. Sorry mate.
Before long we were ripping down the tarmac to start the short haul up Nebo Road and the start of Scrub Road. I still wasn't feeling great or even normal. Dr Nick prescribed a caffeine gel as I admitted to no coffee before leaving on the ride. Half way up the climb on Scrub Road it hit me like a train! Legs felt better, head felt better, now I actually feel like riding. Alright! So up past the shelter on South Boundary and turn left towards Creek Road. The descent down to the valley floor was awesome with the usual double track four wheel drive trails reduced to a single file ribbon of dirt. It was tacky, red and swept clean of the gravel that makes the surface slippery and treacherous usually.
At the turn off to Augies Nick suggested we go further down to the very base of Creek Road and take Lightline Road back up to Nebo Village. The vallet floor had 9 creek crossings. It was beautiful to see the creek flowing clear and deep and it was pretty hard to not stop, break out a bar and have an impromptu picnic there and then.

About crossing number 6.

 Lightline is about a 12km climb with a section about 8km to start with and then a short respite before the final 4km grind to the top. It has been somewhat of a favourite of mine since the first time I made it to the top without stopping a couple of years ago. There were heaps of walkers out training for the Oxfam 100km walk. an old riding buddy of Nicks was amongst them and we stopped for a chat and a bite to eat. A pair of horse riders further up were very appreciative when Nick and I pulled over to let them pass on a steep hill. We really didn't want to spook the horses. As they passed us they stopped and asked where we had come from and told us of the conditions on Branch Creek Road where they had come from. Up we go now with the smell of coffee starting to invade my senses. it was like a ghost, just there and yet not quite. I was stoked to cross the gate at the top of the climb and hit the short tarmac traverse into Nebo Village and Boombana Cafe.
Coffee Nick style ensued. Long black, milk on the side and a panini with leg ham, swiss cheese  and tomato with just a smear of dijon mustard. Heaven. On. Earth. We stayed heaps longer than we should have but the conversation was easy and the surrounds perfect. It's always times like that where the best planning for epic rides happens. Nick and I have a couple of crackers planned now.....

Refueling and planning. Oh, and a little sponsor placement!

Unfortunately I had a time constraint on the morning and it was fast running out. A combination of the longer route to the top and the slower traverse across the valley floor had left me tight for time to get back home and meet my familial obligations. The tough decision was made to stomp back down the bitumen to Camp Mountain and then take the steep, brutal and boring climb over the summit and take the short track back down to the start point for the ride. I was sad to cut it short as we were travelling well and could have pumped out a reasonably epic ride. Nick was happy enough to oblige me and not make me feel guilty about the shortening of the ride. It was still a really satisfying ride and has left me wanting to get out that way again soon. I think that this winter is going to hold some truly epic endeavours and I can't wait to get into them.

The Mount Coot-tha Challenge.

So what else do you do on a rainy Sunday morning after throwing up for two hours the night before? The answer is ride 110km with some friends and have a to day!
I was shady when I got up. I had a wedding the night before and was careful not to drink too much. I ate heartily but not to excess but boy did I feel crook about midnight. So two hours of fun ensued and well, I was not happy.
In the last few months I have pulled the pin on quite a few rides with Nick. As he and Annick, his wife, were my riding partners for the day I knew if I bailed out from this ride and wasn't dead or missing a limb there would be merciless ragging. I got out of bed and struggled through the last of my preparations and rode over to the meeting spot, losing my breakfast along the way. Not looking good. Of course Nick coaxed me into cruising into the start line with the words"If you still feel crappy you can sit at the finish line and have a coffee while we ride." Yeah, I can see that working. Might even be fun. I got to the line and felt a whole lot better!
 I didn't think I could eat anything so I drank sparingly of my energy drink and water and vowed to take it easy and just cruise along. The plan worked great as we rolled off the start and through the city streets. The first fun bit came when we got to ride through the Clem 7 tunnel. It is usually off limits to cyclists and has a long steady descent to the bottom of the tunnel where you can really crank it out. There were a few pace lines forming and I got on one or two and even made a couple of my own. It was cool to fly down the tunnel and then start the long steady climb back out into the rain. Did I mention it rained all day?
After that it was over to the hill for the timed ascent. I had no illusions about a good time as I am a reasonable climber at best. I managed a 11:06 while Nick nailed it in 8:35. He got second in his category! All this and he was complaining of not feeling great before the climb. Just to put my effort into perspective the overall winner did  the climb in about 6:30. He could have done it twice in my time...... Once we were at the top it was awesome. There was mist! We never get mist here. The top of the hill was shrouded in cloud and you seriously could not see the other riders 50 meters in front of you. It felt like I was riding in the Swiss Alps or some other mist shrouded and exotic place. Cool.
Down the other side. It was really frustrating that everyone was on the brakes heaps. I hate that. It is much more dangerous trying to keep the speed down so much that you loose the rear wheel all the time. If you just ride through the corners and use the brakes sparingly the traction is much better. Oh well, I passed a lot of people. I also went really fast!
So there we were. Annick, Nick and I had all met up again and we were rolling along chatting and generally having a nice time. We met up with two other riders we knew in Troy and Tony at the first feed station and enjoyed some fruit and Winners Bars while chatting. The five of us set out from there and had a great ride swapping the front and trucking along at a very respectable pace. Troy has done some amazing rides around the area and is really into Audax style events and he and I chatted about some plans I have been formulating for a while. He is strong too. He held us no problems on his touring bike with mud guards and racks fitted. Tony is a laugh and we kept the banter going for ever. We just kept on trucking. With the ride over to the start and back it was about 110km.
We crossed the finish line, we had a coffee. It really wasn't much more than that. It was the company and the vibe that made it awesome. We were able to chat for the whole ride. Sure we all had a punt on the timed climb but even at the top we regrouped and rode along together again. Nice. There could only be one way to top off a perfect ride and that was with gourmet hamburgers at Nick and Annicks with my wifes lime syrup cake for desert with macadamia honey ice cream. The cup of Zambian single origin coffee, well there aren't words.
Not bad for a guy with a dodgy stomach.

Proof.

Some shots from the Super Series 4 Hour. Check out the mud. It's really just proof that I do ride my bike sometimes and not spend all my time blogging and sitting around.

Rider briefing.

This carnage was after just lap one. I did fall off but hey, you get the idea.

The go fast berms. I loved this bit. The mud started just after though.

Spencer. Game face on.

Me still cackling maniacally

How's my form?

Yeah, almost over it. Almost.

Massive thanks to my wife for not chucking me out of the house when I brought my riding clothes home! Love you darling!