Stromlo Four Cross Track

Here's a sneak peek of some of the changes World Trail is putting in to the 4X track at Stromlo Forest Park for the World Champs coming up soon. 

These moguls should make for some very interesting racing come September...

SBS Has Sold Out

What is going on with SBS? Cricket? Cricket! What the...?

SBS has always been the antithesis of cricket and football. It has always stood firmly on the side of the downtrodden and unpopular. It always held aloft a torch for foreign sports, films, detective shows starring shaggy German Shepherds and hot Eurasian news readers combining a fierce intellect with stunning good looks. Most importantly, for years it has always been the only station that gave a shit about cycling - road, mountain, you name it.

Every July SBS becomes the most important station on my television. I tune in every morning around 7am, every evening at 6pm and often for 2-4 hours late at night. You see, the greatest annual sporting event of the world is on in July...the Tour de France. SBS coverage of the event is normally awesome. Normally I say, because this year they have decided to bump it off and put on the bloody test(e) cricket instead.

I don't know what else to say. I'm astounded. SBS is not a cricket station. It is absurd. It is an outrage. What are they thinking?

And yes, apparently it is on SBS Two (the digital channel) but that is not the point. Who (other than a handful of early adopter technophile geeks) has digital television? And besides which, its the principal of the thing. They have swapped le Tour for cricket. Damn them I say. I really wanted to watch that mountain stage tonight.

The Coolest Dog in the World

Introducing...the coolest dog in the world...the one, the only, Drummer!!!

Ok, he may be a little bit soft. But he has got character I tell you. 

And in case you didn't know, he's a Bedlington Terrier. Not many of them around. Only the cool people have them.

New Rig

I just got a new bike. Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Elite. It's red so it goes fast. Check it out:

Yeah, it is a bit different to the Scott Scale I've been riding. From a light weight carbon hard tail

with only 80mm of front travel to an aluminium duallie with 140mm front and rear  is quite a leap. It's not my first duallie though - I rode a GT IDXC 1 for a couple of years and loved it.

Its gonna take some getting used to though. I've only had one ride on it so far and it is light years away from the Scott. I think its gonna be a fun learning experience. Its definitely heavier than the Scott and slower uphills. Hopefully though I'll be able to make it up on the descents by taking faster lines and holding my speed through the rough stuff. Might be slightly quicker on the more technical climbs too.

I should also point out that Specialized is World Trail's official supplier of bikes and gear, so I got looked after with this purchase. Thanks to the guys at Total Rush in Melbourne for putting it together and sorting me out.