Another round of torture has come and gone with the Scott 24hr mountain bike race happening last weekend. This year's attempt was extra torturous due to my lack of battle-worthiness and a study-softened mentality. Not to worry, I arrived at the event with one goal in mind, and that was to qualify for the 24hr Solo World Championships to be held in the very same location next year. Luckily, despite my poor effort, I still achieved my aim.

At this point I usually start off on some witty tirade about how unique 24hr racing is, how many funny things I saw (or hallucinated about) or how much I really hate my slave driver, Langers. This year I  have nothing, so I'll just complain a little.

For some unknown reason they decided to change the course profile and run a single 19km lap format with an alternate lap laid out for night-time (instead of the usual red and blue alternating laps which helped to spread the riders out). This resulted in two things - extreme congestion and extreme boredom! Not wanting to doubt the decision of the fantastic CORC organisers, but I do recall riding lap after lap and questioning WHY OH WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS TO ME!

My second little gripe was the choice of trails covering Mt Stromlo. This year's course was definitely the rockiest course I have ever competed on. Unfortunately this resulted in my long suffering shoulders giving up the ghost some time around midnight (giving me a convenient excuse to go to sleep). I quite literally couldn't turn my head or guarantee brake application on some of the extended downhill sections. Untidy, and a sign of my lack of MTB fitness..........so I'll stop complaining now.

I did, however, have a great time catching up with a pile of great friends, even a few from the fixie bunch, and experiencing the usual friendliness of all the riders - especially when they see a lonely singlespeed soloist climbing the mountain for the umpteenth time.

My aim was to qualify for the Worlds, luckily by morning my shoulders had almost completely settled down and I was able to make over fifty percent of the winner's laps to guarantee my place on the start line in my age category. Not the greatest result but something I would have been kicking myself for if I didn't bother to qualify. I completed 12 laps, 8 less than last year!

Langers' absence this year had a huge effect on my performance with simple tasks ending up being quite difficult. Things that he would usually do, like calculate my battery usage and ensure a good variety of foods, were too difficult for me to do consistently. That, coupled with my lack of willpower, meant that the decision to stop at midnight was far easier to justify! With that said I must thank James and his crew for letting me situate myself with them and share their facilities, it made the weekend seem like a great little social ride, that went for 24hrs..........

In conclusion, I now know that a 24hr race isn't something you can just turn up and do. I originally thought it was just a matter of pacing yourself and persevering through the night. It's not. Those little muscles you don't even know exists, the support crew, the experience and the preparation for the months prior  all come in to play, enabling a mere mortal to ride into the night and out the other side. Not something I could do this year.

Note: The reason I have 30 or so photos of myself posted is not because I want you all to bask in my glory, it's also because I am constantly amazed at the quality of Sportograf's coverage of such an event. All the way from Germany they arrive every year with over 30 DSLRs and kit, then head back with over 85 000 photographs. I literally spent half an hour processing them in LightRoom to get the images you see above Fantastic work again guys!

Final exam yesterday!!!!! If I don't commit some kind of atrocity in the next month of overseas travel I should graduate with a masters in something-or-other in December. So we headed out for a celebratory drink at Debacle. Things sort of got out of hand until they called final drinks twelve hours later at Trinity......

Something else made yesterday a great day too. I've been looking for a small messenger type bag for a while, something that'll fit my camera, a repair kit and not much else; just for heading to the pub or the shops for a bite to eat. I discovered a small outfit called Brisbane Outdoor Gear who provided exactly what I wanted. The issue lay in the fact that I'm heading 'round the world on Wednesday and wanted the bag before I left. So I sent an email to the guys and received a reply and phone call from Dave explaining the bag he had in stock and the fact that he could express post it that afternoon along with the Strap-Ons I ordered. It was after five in the arvo and he had to make the finishing touches to the Strap-Ons before he could mail them, obviously some kind of inside line with Aussie Post!?!? It's the old school service that I really appreciated, no money had even changed hands before the deal was done and lunch time the next day I had my new kit in my hands, ready for a test run to Debacle.

The best thing about my particular bag is the use of recycled materials. Brisbane Outdoor Gear try to reduce the impact they have on the environment by making gear that is long lasting and is made from as much reclaimed material as possible. Mine uses a reclaimed banner, originally advertising a tradesmans beer of some sort, with the effect of a hand giving a 'high-five' from inside the bag (the right hand of the dude enjoying 'beer rain' in a bath tub in his backyard, instead of mowing the lawn). My drunken photos don't do it justice, but believe me, it is awesome. The strap is also made from old seat belts and is super soft and comfortable.

This bag is going to last forever and does exactly what I wanted. I think I've already secured a couple more sales for the guys as everyone that has seen it was very impressed. Stay tuned for my verdict on the Strap-Ons mounted to a pair of V12s I've had sitting in the draw for too long.

2008 pics from my old blog. Ah the memories! I haven't included any from the Scandinavian Odyssey, that'll be an entirely different flashback.

I'm not quite sure what provoked Steve to design a fixed ride that would take us to ten pubs. Maybe it was a lack of time that made him think condensing that many establishments into 3 or 4 hours was a good idea, or maybe he's just crazy! Whatever the cause, we did it!

At 4:30 on Thursday night we met at Debacle. A pale ale was devoured before moving on to All Bar Nun. Once Steve decided on a beer we drank and headed to The Front in Lyneham to enjoy beer, coffee and some great art in the gallery.

A bar that was not on the original itinerary was the Old Canberra Inn, we couldn’t miss that, and it was on the way to Trinity Bar so we had our traditional scotch on ice and were on our way. Ed met us at Trinity Bar for a beer and we watched the sun fade away while we enjoyed our cocktails.

Next stop was Edgars for $15 beer and pizzas, that went down super well and by the time we left it was dark enough that we attached lights. Unfortunately we stopped at the fluorescent shirt wearing bogan club house, commonly known as Olims. Couldn’t drink our beers quick enough! From there it was over the bridge an into Kingston for martinis at the B-Bar. And any real ride would be incomplete without a stop at The Phoenix.

 Steve then introduced me to one of my favourite new bars in Braddon, called Knightsbridge Penthouse. Simon the barman makes the best Mojito I have had in years and no matter how much we tried would not accept our tip. So we had to have another, then a martini……..the rest is history.

As we had broken Steve’s parole requirements (stayed out passed his curfew) we had to stop by the servo for some home supplies to try and smooth the situation over. Once we reached the house our efforts at silence ended in the usual elephantic noises, dropped bikes, tripping over on the stairs, loud kitchen banter etc etc etc. We finally settled down to a green tea then it was time to retire home. At least the next morning I didn’t have to go to work……..looks like Steve battled through though.

I honestly think that a lunch time start could see us visiting 15 good establishments in one day. I’d love to be proven wrong, and there’s only one way to do that!!!

There are around six mountains in the Canberra region and the common technique used to describe a ride incorparating any of these is to refer to the ride as a 'Twin Peaks Ride' - two mountains, 'Three Sisters Ride' - three mountains, or any higher number of 'peaks'. I did a Twin Peaks ride yesterday which incorporated Mt Majura and Black mountain.

Mt Majura is a hidden gem of a climb that not too many people do due to its location and the fact that the road is actually blocked to regular car traffic. This is actually what makes it such a great ride, narrow roads and absolutely no cars apart from a couple of staff that man the Air Radar system atop the mountain.

I decided to take out a bike that benefited from an small device invented by Mr Campagnolo a few years back - a derailleur. Since moving to Canberra this year I haven't usedmy roadies too much, most of my rides have been nice long flat rides perfect for the fixie, but now that the weather is getting nicer it's a pleasure to get out and do some mountains. As such I'll be seeing a lot more of my geared friends.