My Niner One 9 RDO

This is my Niner One 9 RDO, the beastly bike which I've been riding for the entirety of this season. It's served me through rain, hail and shine, never having had a problem or any signs of breaking (which the previous bike I had tended to do a lot of).

No matter what I do to this bike, it has always survived and it still looks pretty damn good. It's made it through the harsh Tasmanian winter which is genuinely known for ruining bikes, it's survived downhill tracks which probably aren't recommended for hard tails (okay, definitely not recommended), and it's even survived me, which most people I know are genuinely surprised about. 

What I have to say I love most about this bike, besides the ability to ride pretty much anything and anywhere without fault, is its clean, smooth-lookin' aesthetics. This particular model comes with Niner's 'Blaze Yellow' paint colour, a personal favourite. Not only does this allow the bike to give off a florescent green colour in certain lighting (Not many bikes change colour, so that's cool), but it matches the Cyclingo shop kit and looks lightening fast on the trails.

If we get deep into the specifics of the bike, you'll notice that I run a Kenda Small Block 8' on the rear, and a Maxxis Ardent Race on the front. These tyres provide me with all the grip I need to hook into corners at blazing speed (If I've got my tyre pressure set correctly anyway...), much needed rear-wheel traction whilst climbing, but they also are created to allow for less rolling-resistance, allowing me to put the power down on any firetrails I come across. 

I'm also running a set of Mavic SLR's which I acquired second hand. These wheels are sturdy, and also apparently resistant to buckling (I've tried, believe me). The thing which is so cool about these though, is their weight, weighing lighter than a set of carbon wheels that I came across and weighed a few weeks ago.

Gearing wise, I'm running the SRAM XX1 groupset, which was a rather substantial upgrade to the SRAM XO1 (apparently there's some weight difference or something, but the price was a bit much so again, I got it second hand with minimal wear). The internal cabling of the frame is again, a nice touch which adds aesthetically. Although it might take a little while to get it in there and through the other side, I believe it's worth it. Alternatively, for those no interested in internal cabling, the option to run it external still exists on the frame.

Gearing wise, I'm only running a 30T chain ring on the front, but I do have a 32T for when I'm feeling good. One of the problems with living in Tasmania is the abundance of really quite steep hills everywhere you go (this could be seen a blessing for training), but it means that you simply can't have a big gear on and expect to make it all the way to the top of some of the climbs without having to get off because of the huge (but in reality, small) gear your pushing. This could potentially be an issue on flat races or rides, but that's uncommon in Tasmania, and the large selection of gears at the rear allows for a zone of safety.

When I swapped the groupset from XO1 to XX1, I lost the old brakes too. The Avid XX brakes took a bit to get used to, as they seemed to be considerably less touchy than the Avid XO trails. Now that I'm used to them though, they do the job exceptionally well, not that there was anything wrong with what I had before.

As the XX stuff is all integrated, I had to change everything, so what I was hoping was just a fork swap turned out to be swapping pretty much everything on the bike, which is why I've got the full XX groupset. Pictured above is the fork lockout which came with the swap. I keep getting it all mixed up though with what's locked and what isn't, because it's the other way around to what I think it should be. 

Above is one of the personal touches I've added, although I can't show you for reasons I cannot say (mainly due to forgetting to take a good photo of it...). Niner's 'Pedal Damn It' is a great motivator if ever you find yourself eating stem, wondering if you're legs are going to make it to the destination. Below that, being the sticker I put on, is one of the Aficionadi's own. What more could you ask for than a mountain bike riding pirate? 

Finally, the forks I picked up are pretty alright. The cleaning hasn't been immaculate for the photo, but i'll blame that on riding it over to the destination (gets pretty rowdy in the backyard sometimes). These forks (SID World Cup) are really damn good, and that's about all I have to say about them. They also look really nice and are really quite smooth to touch, not that what the forks feel like has really anything to do with anything.

Overall, this Niner One 9 RDO is a superb bike. It does everything I need, want, and more! And most of all, I'm stoked with it!

The National MTB Championships - 2014 edition

The 2014 National Mountain Bike Championships held at Bright was a great experience. I had never competed in an event at a national level until now, and it was good to see how I stacked up against the rest of Australia.

But first... I had to get over there. I decided to catch a plane from Hobart to Melbourne (since i'm not the best swimmer) and then get a lift to Bright with a friend who was also going. It was a long drive, especially since it took a longer time than from driving to the top of Tasmania from the bottom.. or pretty much anyway. 

A friend from down my street also had this sweet bike transport bag that I was able to borrow, which was pretty cool since I didn't actually have anyway to get it the bike up and back on the plane without using a cardboard box. Thanks! 

I caught an early flight too!

When we arrived at Bright, we found the dodgy caravan park we were staying at for the cheapest rates I've ever seen without slave labor... which was a good thing. In fact, the park was so dodgy it was apparently known to the locals as 'Camp Crusty'. Sounded real fun, I was ready to get stabbed. 

The thing I was most stoked about was how I got a medallion key-ring thing just for turning up and entering. This pretty much made my week, and I'm claiming it as well-deserved trophy. 

The cool thing about being at the National MTB Championships was that everyone was there, not just the Cross Country riders. I got to watch a lot of the trials riding and even got to watch the Downhill Qualifying that my friend Dan Booker was racing in, another Tasmanian Junior - we hung out a fair bit. The weird thing with Trials to watch was the practice. Since they weren't allowed to actually ride their bikes on the course, they had to pretend. This meant for an hour or so each day you'd see all of the riders standing on the obstacles holding an invisible bike, jumping around - it was actually pretty funny to watch. 

While I was out at the event on the second day during the Open Women race, Rebecca Henderson even wanted to stop and get a photo with me. Of course I let her.

The U23 race was fast and furious. The dust was so bad I pretty much choked from spectating. More good results from the Tasmanian bunch of bandits, having Scott Bowden and Tom Goddard from Team 4Shaw come out alright. 

The day had come and the racing was ready. I hopped on my bike for a warm-up, so steady. The bike was primed and the weather was hot, but not too much so that I felt shot... best attempt at rhyming there. Lyrical rap sensation James Goodsell. 

Anyway, the race was fast and hard. There were a few casualties in the start sprint and I worked my way up to 20th (I had to start at the back since it was my first race in U19). I thought I did alright for just 2 years riding compared to the guys who had been on their bikes before they were on their feet! The track proved to be a bit like Tasmania in terms of climbing which was good, I liked the course that they had setup. The only thing I didn't like was the heat, but I suppose I couldn't do anything about that coming from down south.. 

In the end though, I was pretty happy with 20th for my first ever national race - especially being the Championships! Thanks again to Rowney Sports, Niner Oz and Cyclingo for helping me out here and there. I look forward to some day coming back, maybe even to whip all y'all behinds. 

The Cranky Penguin 2013

Ah, the Cranky Penguin. What can I say about this race... I don't really know the right words to describe it.

It was tough. It's probably the toughest, hardest race I've ever done - and I only did the 40km version as opposed to the 70km. The Cranky Penguin had been self-proclaimed to be the hardest race for its length in Australia. Now when I read this, I looked at the distance, the elevation of the marathon, and I shrugged it off. I pretty much said to myself and my Dad, who was also entering 'How hard could it be'. 

We arrived at Penguin (Obviously why the Cranky Penguin has its name) and what was there to greet us, but penguins - and lots of 'em! The whole town was covered in miniature penguin statues (and big ones), signs and they even had penguin bins with their mouth as the hole! This race must have been a big event for the town, as the 'Top Dog' penguin was dressed and ready to roll. 

Because we arrived the day before the event, I was able to go to the Penguin mountain bike park, which was to be the start (besides a massive hill climb through the town) and the end of the race. They had a few A and B lines there which from what I could tell, didn't really give you any time bonus - it was just a series of obstacles to show off and impress people. The above is an example of such an obstacle. Anyway, I got the practice in, still brimming with confidence about how easy the race would be. Boy was I was in for a shock the next morning. 

Getting high on the walls

The next morning I was all set to go. I had scoped out the opposition, secretly planned a race strategy with the guys I knew from down south so we could beat the guys from up north (there's a bit of a rivalry going on, but no ones talks about it and everyone denies it). The 70km racers left 10 minutes before us, which gave us 10 minute of standing around getting nervous - or as I was, brimming with confidence because I still thought the course was easy and no real problem. 

The gun went off and we all left in our big pack. To start with, there was a 'cruise' stage through the flat part of the town with all the townsfolk watching and cheering. There was a lead-out car in front of us, which was to stay at a steady pace and then disappear once we got to the hill which led to the mountain bike park. What I realised was that we were able to 'nudge' the car to go faster, and faster, and faster, until eventually the pack of 100 or so riders was so spread out that it was just me and my arch junior nemesis. 

We went for it. We went fast, and eventually we paid the price. It was much. much. much harder than I had originally thought.

I suffered.

Another fun part of the mountain bike park.

The race proceeded to have continual changes of the leader. One minute it was me, then my arch nemesis, then the guys I plotted secret plans with, then my arch nemesis again. A defining part of the race for me was when we caught up to the stragglers of the 70km race - on a long, technical descent. The two guys in front of me had made it past them on the climb before, while I was stuck - with no room to overtake. With this aside though, I pushed on to eventually win the junior category, and come third overall (having the other two guys that I plotted with beat me by 3 or so minutes). 

It pretty much felt like I'd won a World Cup when I finished (Like Nino, above), only it wasn't for the victory - it was for the relief that I was able to stop, curl up into a ball and move between life and death for the next 10 minutes. 

Overall though, it was a great event - and seriously tough - but in saying that I can't wait for it to be on again in February 2015!... nor should you! http://thecrankypenguin.com.au

Gladly accepted my prizes while I was on the podium. 

The DirtDevils Cross Country/Downhill Mountain Bike Championships

Aidan Peterson doing what he does best

The 2014 DirtDevils summer Cross Country series went off with a bang, having five rounds throughout the season. All of which were a lead up to the main event - the club championships. This year, not only were the club XC championships held at Tolosa, but the state Downhill championships were sharing the venue too! We were in for an action-packed weekend.

The Saturday saw only Downhill practice runs - no qualifying yet. It also held the final race in the Cross Country series the day before the championships, and it was a TT hill climb - which wasn't fabulously ideal. Anyway, that got underway early in the morning and was very quickly won and run by Dan de Groot in the Open Male category. I had no one to race in U19 this day so I guess you could say I won, but I wouldn't count it.

Warming-up with the main opposition on the Sunday morning

I had made plans to enter the Downhill State championships, but it was on a borrowed bike that I had barely ridden up the street on, it would have been directly after the suffer-fest that the XC race was going to be and to put it quite simply, I absolutely destroyed myself on the first jump of the whole course - which didn't help in a good mindset to be honest! I decided I'd better leave until next season which would give me some time to train for it, as well as not be mentally and physically drained from a XC race an hour beforehand.

It got to the Sunday. After making the decision not to compete in the Downhill a lot of pressure had been taking off me, allowing me to concentrate on the Cross Country. I'd done my warm-up, gotten prepared and about 20 minutes before the race decided to relieve myself... As I rode back towards the main venue, I felt a prick on my side. I'd practically ridden through a blackberry bush, and in doing so, ripped a gaping hole in my knicks - all of my mental preparation had just left me at this moment. I rushed back to the car, grabbed some Duct tape (works miracles it does) and made a patch. Couldn't have been better, in fact, by the time I rode to the start line I didn't really even need to stop.

 Look ma - One hand!

The U19/Veteran start was fast paced at the start

It was close race between me and the others - especially the junior who came down from up north especially (he wasn't actually in the club). In the long and much-hated climb at the start I managed to get a small gap on him with my sprint- maybe 15s - which I somehow managed to keep for the whole race. He got close a few times, as we found he was faster on the uphills while I made up time on the descents. In the end I got him by 2 minutes, which was a relief! Dan (who was mentioned earlier and also is supported by Cyclingo) wasn't as lucky today in Open, and was beaten by Scott Bowden, riding for 4Shaw.

The Club Champions come the end of race.

I was happy to take the win, as you would be, especially because I'd never competed in a club championship before (for some reason i've just missed all of the previous ones). I also came out with a medal! Medals seem to be hard to come by down south in Tasmania for Cross Country racing - not that it matters but it's nice when you get something for all the effort.

Overall, it's been a great season of racing and I can't wait to see what's in store for Winter!

Some extra XC/DH Photos:

 The Duct Tape didn't last very long

 Dan Booker qualifying with plenty of time to spare

 ALMOST didn't quite make it, but was pretty impressive

I felt destroyed.

No one really liked riding the roots anyway.