Day one of the triple crown is all over! The two rides today were superb, excellent weather, great bikes and really great people. The standings are also tight, with Ty and Ed locked together with a first and second place each to their names. Tomorrow's showdown on Black Mountain will decide who wins the triple crown.
A race report along with photos will appear soon, but for now I'm here to give directions to tomorrow's start. Ther will be people riding from Wilbur's in Hackett at 10:30am and will be riding to the carpark on belconnen way, where you can cross between Bruce ridge and Black Mountain parks... We will be there at 11am and roll out for the recon lap.
Here is a link to where Belconnen way is:
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=belconnen+way+canberra&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Belconnen+Way,+Canberra+Australian+Capital+Territory&gl=au&ll=-35.261915,149.112582&spn=0.026141,0.054932&z=15&iwloc=A
The carpark is about at the "Bel" of the Belconnen Way tag before it splits into Belconnen Way and Barry Drive. I'm sure you all have someone's number if things get strange.
See you there.
Excellent day of riding, thanks for showing up and bringing the good stuff. An extra large thanks to Ben for carrying beer, ice, and prizes to the locations... Without him it would have been a dry day indeed!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
***NEWSFLASH***
I've just spoken to the head of the Canberra Association Of Tattoo Artists Incorporated (CAOTAI) and they have SOLD OUT of Canberra Triple Crown tattoos for the right and left calf. The've informed me that they have limited numbers of Canberra Triple Crown lower back and bicep tattoos available at select locations.
Meet up information for Saturday April 2nd
Meet up time for the ride is 11am in between 29 and 39 Mackenzie St, Hackett, ACT. Its a carpark at the dirtroad-head. Ther will probably be some other mtb types there and they may just get swept up in our tornado of good times.
Here is a link to the map. 29 is pinned.
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=-35.250427,149.168006&num=1&sll=-35.249956,149.164027&sspn=0.006536,0.013733&gl=au&ie=UTF8&ll=-35.249965,149.153438&spn=0.026145,0.054932&z=15
The meet up times and locations for the second and third rides will be disclosed soon
Here is a link to the map. 29 is pinned.
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=-35.250427,149.168006&num=1&sll=-35.249956,149.164027&sspn=0.006536,0.013733&gl=au&ie=UTF8&ll=-35.249965,149.153438&spn=0.026145,0.054932&z=15
The meet up times and locations for the second and third rides will be disclosed soon
counting down the hours..
I can confirm that Canberra is a BUZZ (or ABUZZ) with anticipation for the triple crown.
I walked past a bunch of ladies, 3 in all, who looked as though they were in their late 50s today. They were all wearing different plastic crowns on their heads and when I asked the one with the most rubies what they were doing, she said they were spilling over and simply couldn't wait til the weekend to wear their supporter kit. Amazing! What a great bunch of 3 ladies in their late 50s.
Anyway, there are some updates re: the weekend's event. Firstly, there are prizes! My favourite bike store, Mal Adjusted, has offered a crate of useful-bike-bits (UBBs) to give away as prizes. Giving it a very brief moment of thought, I can imagine giving prizes to bikes with cardboard accouterments, very heavy bicycles, helmets pointing in the correct direction, saddles pointing in the wrong direction... and so on. I'd give prizes for anything that makes me stop and look, basically (and I like to keep things basic).
The second excellent piece of news is that we are adding a bit of a social element to the riding, in the form of recon laps of each course. It wont count for much on the Saturday pm circuit, but on the others there will time to really meet some people, and they'll be good since they like bikes enough to show up. It'll also help with navi for the main rides. I'm thinking of putting up corner markers on the longer courses, but wont be producing maps since there are too many turns to show properly. Anyway, I think it will work well.
Thirdly and not leastly, I'm chatting with some guys from COGS about getting some BBQ action on Saturday night. It'll be a nice precursor to what could be a pretty fantastic night out. The last time I went out drinking at a bike event I ended up talking to a dude from a Wisconsin bicycle manufacturer... it was a big whisky (ha! blogger tells me that is misspelled...) night and his beard was large.
I have no idea of numbers, though there are some people confirmed on teh fazeboox and some people here are also a bit excited... I could name names and say how fast some of those people are, but I wont. I WILL however confirm that the people that I have spoken to about builds for the event have reacted to the handicaps by aiming for big time bonuses by way of reducing tire width and gear numbers/freedom. I'm excited.
I walked past a bunch of ladies, 3 in all, who looked as though they were in their late 50s today. They were all wearing different plastic crowns on their heads and when I asked the one with the most rubies what they were doing, she said they were spilling over and simply couldn't wait til the weekend to wear their supporter kit. Amazing! What a great bunch of 3 ladies in their late 50s.
Anyway, there are some updates re: the weekend's event. Firstly, there are prizes! My favourite bike store, Mal Adjusted, has offered a crate of useful-bike-bits (UBBs) to give away as prizes. Giving it a very brief moment of thought, I can imagine giving prizes to bikes with cardboard accouterments, very heavy bicycles, helmets pointing in the correct direction, saddles pointing in the wrong direction... and so on. I'd give prizes for anything that makes me stop and look, basically (and I like to keep things basic).
The second excellent piece of news is that we are adding a bit of a social element to the riding, in the form of recon laps of each course. It wont count for much on the Saturday pm circuit, but on the others there will time to really meet some people, and they'll be good since they like bikes enough to show up. It'll also help with navi for the main rides. I'm thinking of putting up corner markers on the longer courses, but wont be producing maps since there are too many turns to show properly. Anyway, I think it will work well.
Thirdly and not leastly, I'm chatting with some guys from COGS about getting some BBQ action on Saturday night. It'll be a nice precursor to what could be a pretty fantastic night out. The last time I went out drinking at a bike event I ended up talking to a dude from a Wisconsin bicycle manufacturer... it was a big whisky (ha! blogger tells me that is misspelled...) night and his beard was large.
I have no idea of numbers, though there are some people confirmed on teh fazeboox and some people here are also a bit excited... I could name names and say how fast some of those people are, but I wont. I WILL however confirm that the people that I have spoken to about builds for the event have reacted to the handicaps by aiming for big time bonuses by way of reducing tire width and gear numbers/freedom. I'm excited.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Time Adjustments
One thing that I'm V excite about is the handicapping of the rides, based on bicycle. I guess in a way its an acknowledgment that I think certain bikes are faster than others (but in a BIGGER way, its an acknowledgement that I think riders of certain bikes are faster than others) and I think adjusting times will add some excitment to the weekend. I think riding in a group and checking out others' equipment and knowing that you either need to drop them at some stage or that they need to drop you, would be a cool thing! So, as mentioned in an earlier post, handicaps (or time bonuses) will be given out in relation to the base bicycle, a suspension equipped (even if it's just a stem) mountain bike with multiple gears. Things that will earn you time bonuses are:
Narrow tires - Narrower than 43mm will usually get you a little, and narrower than 26mm will usually get you a lot.
No suspension - A rigid bike is a beautiful bike. This is pretty much to up the chances of bikes that I love showing up on the weekend.
One freewheeling gear - I love single speed and this is to encourage single speeders to show up and know they can be at the pointy end of things even though there is a near complete lack of technical riding.
Fixed gear - Or should I say (thanks to sturney archer) a SINGLE fixed gear.Lots of people have them and love them, and they should be encouraged to explore otehr types of riding... and lots of them are fast, so it might put the wind up some more trad racer types.
So here are the provisional adjustments for the first two loops.
Mt Ainslie
Bruce ridge
Narrow tires - Narrower than 43mm will usually get you a little, and narrower than 26mm will usually get you a lot.
No suspension - A rigid bike is a beautiful bike. This is pretty much to up the chances of bikes that I love showing up on the weekend.
One freewheeling gear - I love single speed and this is to encourage single speeders to show up and know they can be at the pointy end of things even though there is a near complete lack of technical riding.
Fixed gear - Or should I say (thanks to sturney archer) a SINGLE fixed gear.Lots of people have them and love them, and they should be encouraged to explore otehr types of riding... and lots of them are fast, so it might put the wind up some more trad racer types.
So here are the provisional adjustments for the first two loops.
Mt Ainslie
Bruce ridge
This is indicative of the benign nature of the Bruce ridge loop.... its pretty much a a drag to the end!
Bruce Ridge loop
Saturday night will be a twilight gravel criterium... which sounds more luxe than it will be. The loop is a tick under 2km with about 40m of altitude change. The surface is fine gravel with little to write about. The loop starts with a small flat straight and then a long, straight downhill with a tightish right hander right at the bottom. The bottom of the course is quite flat and straight, which means very fast. The climbing is split in two with a long flat section between. There is one drain pipe near the top of the course that might require a bunny hop or a dab of the brakes to ride over.
This ride will only be about 35 minutes long but I can see it being a belter with a selection being made early and riders duking it out until the last climb to the finish. My prediction is that someone on a singlespeed and large gear will take it, and have to drag themselves through the hills of other two rides.There will be little to no advantage for fat tires, suspension or gears. Bring your lights and be prepared for kangaroos (whatever that means) and the odd jogger. 8 laps of this. Finish is just before the downhill.
Pictures:
This is the right hander at the bottom of the descent. Brakes are on at this stage. Hard.
Bottom straight. Flat and fast. Big geared single speeds will have to hustle to limit losses to geared riders here.
First pinch right after the bottom straight. Maybe 20 seconds of climbing here.
Top flat section that splits the climbing. Very flat and open.
Drain pipe. Small deal.
Last pinch. And you're nearly home. The finishing straight is a slight incline... then do it seven times more.
Here is the map and elevation link:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/28322946
That will take us to the end of Saturday's organised riding, though I'm thinking we will be out and about, up to something or other afterward. There may even be a barbeque! and drinks! but that IS sounding luxe...
This ride will only be about 35 minutes long but I can see it being a belter with a selection being made early and riders duking it out until the last climb to the finish. My prediction is that someone on a singlespeed and large gear will take it, and have to drag themselves through the hills of other two rides.There will be little to no advantage for fat tires, suspension or gears. Bring your lights and be prepared for kangaroos (whatever that means) and the odd jogger. 8 laps of this. Finish is just before the downhill.
Pictures:
This is the right hander at the bottom of the descent. Brakes are on at this stage. Hard.
Bottom straight. Flat and fast. Big geared single speeds will have to hustle to limit losses to geared riders here.
First pinch right after the bottom straight. Maybe 20 seconds of climbing here.
Drain pipe. Small deal.
Last pinch. And you're nearly home. The finishing straight is a slight incline... then do it seven times more.
Here is the map and elevation link:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/28322946
That will take us to the end of Saturday's organised riding, though I'm thinking we will be out and about, up to something or other afterward. There may even be a barbeque! and drinks! but that IS sounding luxe...
Mount Ainslie loop
The first of the three rides will be a Mount Ainslie loop on Saturday morning at 11am.
Here is a bit of a course description:
Around 13km for a lap, this loop takes you around one of Canberra's three peaks. There are great views to be had along the top of Hackett Saddle and the descent after the rollercoaster at he back of the course.
The first half is quite hilly (pinchy, as all of these courses are) and rocky. The fireroads start off fine and become quite rocky in patches. There are probably two or three spots on descents out the back of Ainslie where there is no line that enable you to avoid rocks larger than golf balls. The descents are steep and loose with one sharpish right hand corner that still jumps out at me, and I've ridden it many times. There are water bars out the back that do their best to buck you off... all very good fun if you're a capable rider but can be a bit dangerous if you've not encountered that sort of thing before. Some of the (short) climbs are also rocky but shouldn't slow the skinny tired folk down much.
Overall, you need good brakes and a bike that you can move around on to get through the first half of this course quickly. Suspension will help in spots, but not a great deal. Tires over 45mm are definitely going to be the fastest to half way through this lap.
The second "half" of the lap starts at the end of the descent after the rollercoaster (which you cant really see on the elevation chart, but its there and it will sap some strength each time). From here, the course flattens out considerably and the gravel is a lot finer and faster. Bring on the narrow tires and big gears. There is a tiny bit of connecting trail that is at times double track and at times single, but always quite do-able on road bike, if push came to shove. The front of course takes us along the back of the inner northern suburbs of Canberra, and there are often walkers along these undulating, screamingly fast gravel roads. A bell will help out a lot. I rode along this section in a pretty big gear (42/13 or so) the other day and it really is a great ride. Again, there are some drains that cross the roads at points, but these are usually either hoppable or easy to find a smooth line through.
The lap ends with a really rough right hand corner and a 100m sprint to the line. Still very flat but the corner throws up one last challenge, and chance for differentiation.
Here are some photos of the course.
Early climb. There are two or three 20 or 30 second effort climbs before the rollercoaster.
Hackett Ridge. Views to Black Mountain, this is also a good example of the surface in the first half of the loop Some large features, but mostly avoidable.
The rollercoaster. 5 or so minutes of sharp ups and downs.
Typical of the front half of the loop. Undulating to flat and very quick.
And finally, the map and elevation profile for the Ainslie loop
www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/28119328
Here is a bit of a course description:
Around 13km for a lap, this loop takes you around one of Canberra's three peaks. There are great views to be had along the top of Hackett Saddle and the descent after the rollercoaster at he back of the course.
The first half is quite hilly (pinchy, as all of these courses are) and rocky. The fireroads start off fine and become quite rocky in patches. There are probably two or three spots on descents out the back of Ainslie where there is no line that enable you to avoid rocks larger than golf balls. The descents are steep and loose with one sharpish right hand corner that still jumps out at me, and I've ridden it many times. There are water bars out the back that do their best to buck you off... all very good fun if you're a capable rider but can be a bit dangerous if you've not encountered that sort of thing before. Some of the (short) climbs are also rocky but shouldn't slow the skinny tired folk down much.
Overall, you need good brakes and a bike that you can move around on to get through the first half of this course quickly. Suspension will help in spots, but not a great deal. Tires over 45mm are definitely going to be the fastest to half way through this lap.
The second "half" of the lap starts at the end of the descent after the rollercoaster (which you cant really see on the elevation chart, but its there and it will sap some strength each time). From here, the course flattens out considerably and the gravel is a lot finer and faster. Bring on the narrow tires and big gears. There is a tiny bit of connecting trail that is at times double track and at times single, but always quite do-able on road bike, if push came to shove. The front of course takes us along the back of the inner northern suburbs of Canberra, and there are often walkers along these undulating, screamingly fast gravel roads. A bell will help out a lot. I rode along this section in a pretty big gear (42/13 or so) the other day and it really is a great ride. Again, there are some drains that cross the roads at points, but these are usually either hoppable or easy to find a smooth line through.
The lap ends with a really rough right hand corner and a 100m sprint to the line. Still very flat but the corner throws up one last challenge, and chance for differentiation.
Here are some photos of the course.
Hackett Ridge. Views to Black Mountain, this is also a good example of the surface in the first half of the loop Some large features, but mostly avoidable.
And finally, the map and elevation profile for the Ainslie loop
www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/28119328
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