With so much happening lately, a few missed days all adds up quickly. So...

Thursday night dirt crits was a gamble that didn't pay off. Starting out meeting Andy and Mik from Enduro Mag/ Freewheel and rolling down, dicing with the traffic on an easter long weekend. Start line, feeling good, bang - away - best lap ever at dirt crits. In however many years I 've been attending, best lap ever. Lines all hit, speed good, power good, stoked. Jack considered sitting up, but stayed on, whilst the others fell away. All good. In a bit of mid race confusion, I started to second guess the lap count, and with a confusing comment from a back marker regarding laps, I asked Jack who told me what was actually the correct number, but I gambled on him being wrong... Ooops, my bad. His wild sprint on the last lap gave me no chance to pass, and he rolled the big W (and nearly turned himself inside out in the process). Joke was on me when I found out it was a handicap and I'd be relegated to 964th anyway...

Andy gearing up the latest test sleigh at the magazine.

Mikk, like most of us, has a real job. Anyone got suggestions what that might be however??

Friday was off into the bush time. With CTS on Sunday, a good nights sleep is always desirable, and nothing is better than camping by a stream in the bush, after a hectic recovery from a very steep downhill trail in the Red Baron. When you can't get in or out, the brakes work only to skid the wheels, and low range first feels like you are running downhill, you know you are a) in the shit and b) in for a hard few hours. With Em running up and down hill directing something, we built up the holes in the track enough to get out backwards up the hill, foot buried in the plush pile, bouncing off the limiter in low 1st reverse! Turning around wasn't an option with a 45plus degree cross slope, so it was abuse all the way to get back out, as forwards just got steeper...


Excitement aside, we caught up with Nick Lewis (ex- Felt Racing team member) and wife for a spin along the Warby Trail to open the pipes up for Chase the sun tomorrow. All looks good, so we shall have a crack and see how it all shapes up in the end! Riding into Warburton along a random country road, the SRAM van come along the other way with Eva, Winny and (possibly, damm tinted windows) Grover who stopped for a quick chat, and to try and talk me into heading back into the hills for an Ada tree Epic, which I politely declined as a 6 hour death march prior to CTS wouldn't be so hot...


'Nuff said...