what about somthing like the cannondale scalpel with its softail flexing carbon chainstays, and somthing nice and short travel like a headshock. i think that would suit if integrated into a road frame.

Pearler. What did you do?

did you chew out Tomalaris?

I thought that would be worthy of a "post of the month" prize, not a banning.

Tomalaris = tool.

E-grade? you'll be lucky, think more C/D and just watch out for blood hill.

FWIW, if you're a skinny guy with no power like me, look out at the turn cause its like a weird false flat/downhill TT type feeling. I usually look for a fat guys wheel

it was a tech forum https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum.cfm
Some bloke reckoned he lost some software you have to pay for so I told him to go download it off bittorrent. They didnt like me linking/telling him to do this. So I got an one day ban. Yay!

Nice work Thunder! Did you pull someone up for being a fascist, or tell them 6500 bucks for a frame was ludacrous and that you could to an equally as good frame for half that?

See, Trek for Hincapies bike just put a Klein rear end on a Madone, so it can't be too hard to make the next step and actually work with Fox or someone to come up with an FS roadie with big-time stable platform. Forks are the big hurdle of course, coz a headshock style fork is really the only option that doesn't look too 'mountain bikey'.

me skinny? hmm no! ima lard ass, beer swilling MTB kinda guy about 5'8 and 80 kilos so no stick man here.

i just have a few questions regarding the course. i will try and drive up there this weekend, but incase that fails: the website says its 12.5 K out and back. is that the whole distace, or just in one direction?

where is blood hill distance wise on the course? is it comparable to somthing like the 2nd (big)climb at akuna bay? is that the only major climb? is that the best place to attack on the course?

Hmm ok, well E grade is only cause im a road racing virgin , hell ive only ever been on one group ride! if i smoke it then ill definatley move to D or C. remember that i have nearly no good pack riding skills so would probably get shelled in C or D for a 1st time out.

D grade is the bottom grade at Calga, E grade is for kids/people over 75 y.o who can only do 25kms, everyone else starts in D. You will not get shelled in D

25 km per lap, so yes, 12.5kms out, 12.5 back again. Blood is 3kms from the finish. Best place to attack is for you to decide but yes, Blood is a good place to do it if you are a good climber. There are a few other rises on the course but nothing as steep as Blood Hill, just longer gradual climbs.

Which website are you looking at - I see Glenvale crits on 23rd? (April I am assuming....)

https://www.centralcoastcyclingclub.com/

Ta, not Caufield then....

No. Blood hill is only 800m long and it hurts five times as much.

Guys will put in little attacks on the flat about 3km before Blood to sap the juice out of your legs. Then you dive down into a valley reaching about 60kmh before climbing 'Little Blood', a 400m pimple that you can grind over in a big gear if you are strong and silly. It pays NOT to be first over Little Blood if the pack is still all together.

Then you dive down into another little glen reaching 65kmh at the base of Blood Hill. Blood Hill is a 'creeper' at the bottom. The incline gets steeper gradually, and that makes it really hard to decide what gear to climb in. Once you are on the hill proper it is purely a tempo climb, but if you're in the wrong gear you will be out the back pretty quick. Serious lunges for the finish (which is 3.5km away) occur on the last 80m of Blood because it flattens out quickly at the top and you can make serious ground on anyone still climbing. Find a wheel and stick to it, no matter what happens, no matter what you legs are telling you. The pain will go away (sometime before June).

I forgot to mention that going out is the hard part of the course because you're climbing most of the way. Blood Hill is a mental thing, its only that it's at the end of the lap that people get all worked up about it.

Agreed, watch out for rolouers at the turn!

thanks

So Paulie Shaw's a veteran male? Any other old bastids from here in there?

hmmmmmmm....never seen first names used for an alphabetic order

I'm sure you're sick of the (Paulie Shaw) hack, washed-up actor jokes?

In latest UCI News:
Rory SUTHERLAND (AUS), tested positive with clomiphene and hydroxy-Clomiphene during the race Deutschland Tour (GER) on 23rd August 2005, sanctioned by ROYALE LIGUE VELOCIPEDIQUE BELGE, suspension of 15 months from 16th September 2005 to 15th December 2006, disqualification from the race

and here's the drum on clomiphene:

"Is clomiphene for you?"
Clomiphene can help you conceive if you ovulate irregularly or not at all, particularly if you have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). (If you have PCOS and this treatment doesn't seem to work for you, your doctor may also prescribe metformin, an insulin-sensitizing drug that can help you respond to clomiphene.) You might also take clomiphene (and other fertility drugs) before you undergo an assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), to encourage you to produce several eggs for the procedure.

Clomiphene can also help men with a hormonal imbalance (that originates in the pituitary gland or hypothalamus) linked to a low sperm count, or poor sperm quality or motility (its ability to move).

groovy. sp d grade ot os tjem. scary! will do akuna this sat as well, so hopefully that will get the legs a little more prepared.

thanks heaps for the insight jock, and welcome back to BF is it still ok to get that pump off you on the 23rd?

That'll be fine. Although I could drag it out a bit to keep you coming back for more pain each week

meh pain or no pain ill be there actaully pervesley i enjoy the pain..... i intend on doing the CC RR's for the season, mixing them up with one or 2 MTB races a month as well. should be fun.

was speaking to a friend of mine who jumped from D to B grade MTB in the space of 6 months :O apparantly he started racing road in the same period and is knocking on the door of A grade in both as well as just picking up Merida sponsorship. some people are just freaks.

yup, since the aussies pronounce shaw/shore, it's become an old gag.

Kinda rules out some names for new arrival e.g. Sandy, Toby, Rick etc

Blame yer parents.

Answer me a question. Trying to work out where I'll house myself the night before the race. Not keen on the whole camping bit and I'm not sure about travel times from various places around Sydney. The closest friends I've got down there, one lives in Glenbrook, the other in Pymble. So you Sydney folk who have a better idea of how long it takes to get places, how long do yers rekon it would take to get up to St Albans from those two locations, on relatively quiet roads and sticking reasonably close to the speed limit?

id take the pymble option, although neither is local! depends what time of the morning, but id say at least an hour, hour and a half?

Thanks Commo. Well the race starts at 6:30 and I'd want to be there 30 minutes early at least. That's making it look like a very early rise. Both locations also have a downside. Glenbrook has a couple of squarking kids, Pymble is a sharehouse full of hotties. Both would hamper me getting sleep. Looks like I'll have to camp.