They say that the Tour of Utah is the hardest stage race in America, and the way I felt through it they probably aren’t too far off. I started with the intension of taking it easy the first few days, and saving the legs for the end of the week. By mid week I had to put things into perspective: after only a couple weeks back on the bike after mid season break, with no altitude preparation for one of the windiest, hilliest, highest races in America. I was simply being unrealistic thinking I could feature in the race. It was certainly a really good week of training, as well as great fun catching up with the Cal Giant Strawberry guys. I also took advantage of the opportunity to catch up with Randy @ H20 Overdrive who is based in Park City, with H20 Overdrive being a big supporter of myself as well as the MTB series. On another note, it was beautiful to see good friend Jai Crawford hold Levi off for the final stage win. Jai’s my main training partner back home in Tasmania and one of the hardest men out there, he certainly proved it on that stage. From Utah straight back to racing in So Cal @ Over the Hump Tuesday night. The race lasted all of 7 minutes, when two spokes decided to pop while leaning around a corner. Geez I hate mechanicals, but guess that’s racing some days.

After a solid few weeks of training, I’m off to the Tour of Utah. I’ve been really enjoying getting back to road racing this year, though I’m not sure I’ll have the greatest of form having not done any altitude preparation for Utah’s thin air. I’m looking at it more as a good week of training, and perhaps focusing on a stage or two later in the week. It’s looking like a solid line up with America’s top teams on the start line as well as Levi, who apparently doesn’t need a team. It’s nice to see him crossing over to the MTB at Leadville last weekend, though I’m not so sure the mountain bike community was anticipating him beating the mountain bikers at their own game. Nicely done!

It’s amazing the effect of watching the Tour de France has on people. I’ve noticed over the last couple of years the pace at the front is always a couple of miles an hour faster, as well as a few new faces popping up at the front wanting to get into the action. With this newfound inspiration of July comes some moments of amusement as well…. well let’s just say some drama. Last week was somewhat of a replay of the Tour highlights: nothing like the touching of wheels at the front that gives a domino effect the whole way through the peloton of 300 guys, just to make everyone nervous first thing in the morning. Then we go into the sprint, and apparently there was a bit of Julian Dean / Mark Renshaw action happening, which I only found out about when we stopped at the next red light. I had two guys stepping off right in front of me, ready for a Stage 6 replay, ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcJPQh72mDg&feature=related ); thankfully no one removed their wheel. Though disaster did strike shortly afterwards with a massive pile up at 30 m/h, somehow I managed to avoid disaster, I wish very one who went down a speedy recovery. To top the July story off, I heard rumors from the Orange County bunch ride, apparently two masters riders decided they want their own version of Stage 6; perhaps it’s one of those Chinese whispers stories, but drama none the less. I know young guys will decide a dispute with a physical challenge, but with age and wisdom how does a master category rider resolve a dispute? Pepper spray! I know we are in LA, but who carries pepper spray for a bunch ride? Or perhaps I’ve missed the memo about the new co2 that also doubles as self-defense device. Perhaps that wouldn’t be a bad cycling invention for the next time some agro motorist decides to do the wrong thing. Anyway, enough sh#t talking, until next week, remember we all share the same love of cycling and stay safe.

Sid Taberlay

I've had a pretty relaxed week, just been cleaning up and getting things back into an orderly way

around the house. I only touched the bike during the week for cleaning purposes. Thought I

couldn't resist rolling out on the weekend for some socializing. That's one of the great things

about cycling, not only is it a fun and exciting activity but a great way to catch up with people.

This week will be another light week before getting back to the training routine. Until next week,

happy riding.

This event has become very attractive, both as a race and the fun of some wicked single track- mostly downhill trail riding. There are not many events were All Mountain, XC and DH guys line up against each other. You know It’s serious when the current World Cup DH Series leader, Greg Minnaar, makes the start line. The rivalry starts well before the start with everyone checking out each other’s equipment. Whose running light weight to get up the climb, and whose running the big travel/big tire setup to make up time on the DH, and everything in between. I learned from last year that as good as the Epic is, it is too XC specific for this event. This year I stepped up to the Stumpy FSR, and Armadillo 2.2 Purgatory/Captain tires- no punctures this time!! Even with the heavier tires I still weighed in at 23 pounds, which was impressive for a 140mm travel bike, and I needed all of it!! I quickly figured out after the first run down the course that it’s been a while since I’ve done a race that requires serious DH speed. I guess I’ve gotten used to XC races, which seem to do more traversing across the downhill these days. Though it didn’t take long to find confidence in my setup and quickly realized how much more I could push things and what I could get away with. Apart from the great trails the other great thing with this event is the atmosphere. Everyone from the Pro’s to the Amateurs wants to work out that perfect bike set up or find or hear about that secret line or find away to clear a certain section with speed, the stories then start to flow.

The race:

XC

Carl Decker lit it up from the gun, and rode everyone off his wheel very quickly. At the top of the approx 45-minute climb he had a 4-minute lead on Adam Craig and a little more on me. At that point I was struggling with the thin air, and paying the price for having early season form and trying to hold it for too long. I hit the downhill crossed eyed and all over the place, managed to get to the finish line safely and hang onto 5th. Carl smashed last year’s race record and showed he’s got great climbing form in the thin air, perfectly timed for this event and USA Nationals next weekend- I wish him all the best.

DH

I got a little carried away early on, going wide on a corner and hitting the side bank. Fortunately I didn’t cause any damage or lose too much time, thought I did burp my tire and lose some air in the front. I still had a pretty solid run, thought a little more conservative that I would have liked with the squirmy front end. Not sure on my final result as I had to leave straight away for the 9hr drive to get Pip home at a descent hour.

Overall a great weekend on some of the most fun trails in the world.

Sid Taberlay

With the West Coast Series already tied up, I decided to pass on round five and get a solid few days of racing/training in at the Mount Hood Classic.

Day 1: the prologue, what can I say the 9pm start under lights in the rain, without a pre-ride of the circuit, and only my 2nd time on a TT bike. Needless to say I couldn’t see s##t, which made it work out the directions of the corners. Outcome: I sucked, but happy to be in one piece.

Day 2: crit, nothing like a wet circuit to make things entertaining for the spectators. With the wet roads it was going to be hard for any team to control the pace, and a break went off the front the first lap. It only took me a couple of laps to realize I didn’t want to sit in the peloton around a bunch of “C Graders” who were throwing themselves onto and off the road. I was out of there, and went across to the break, as the race progressed the road started to dry and the pelotons pace brought the break back. I spent a fair amount of time on/at the front, no purpose other than to stay away from what looked like road kill. In the end the position worked out for the finish, only I wasn’t quite committed enough on the last couple of corners to make it count and got rolled at the line.

Day 3: road race, 106 miles with basically not a piece of flat road in it. Having been on the MTB for the last few weeks I was a little conservative not knowing how I’d be feeling come the 100 mile mark, though I ended up feeling comfortable all day and made the natural selection of 10 or so guys over the top of the last climb. Though the group didn’t really work that well until the second group got back on, it was then game on to bring back the 2 minutes the break had with 10km

to go. As Maxwell Smart would say, “missed it by that much”. Was a good day for the Team with Jesse getting the KOM Jersey.

Day 4: TT, Not doing so well on GC after the prologue, and again a wet road and solid descent on the course I decided to play it safe, and roll on the road bike. Nothing special to report, though I did get a nice little picture on velonews.

Day 5: road race, 90 something miles? Thought I only needed to worry about the first 46, as that was the second KOM for the day. Yep, I was on KOM domestique duties, I’ve done plenty of chasing of point for myself in the past, but never had to play lead out on an uphill before. The plan was to either deliver Jesse the points, or take the point to keep him in the jersey. Sounded simple enough to me with only 2 solid climbs, and 2 descents for the first 46 miles. I was riding into the tour really well, and actually feeling better each day, so the biggest worry for me was the downhill start and making sure Jesse stayed out of trouble. It worked out and we quickly came under attack at the base of the climb from the guys with KOM points and the guys looking for a break away as well as Bissell wanting to take the Yellow Jersey. I was climbing well and with the alliance of United Health Care having the Yellow jersey I felt pretty comfortable upfront, I almost wanted to do a lleyton Hewitt "Come On!!!". Needless to say we kept it together to take the KOM points and kept Jesse in the jersey.

I even got a little excited towards the finish with an uphill finish, I was certainly feeling the length/effort of the day and a little uncomfortable, but after seeing the slowness of the other guys to react to changes in pace, I knew I wasn’t alone. Though when I heard the break still had a minute with 1.5 miles to go, I quickly realized that wasn’t going to come back. I think I had the biggest reverse light action in cycling history; I went from 20 or so miles/hr to barely crawling into the finish.

Day 6: another wet crit. The breakaway went early with Team-mate James in it, once it had a winning gap I drifted back to the back of the peloton and made sure I had plenty of room. Lap after lap I watched guys drop themselves in front of me. The term "C Grader" quickly took effect. James didn’t quite have the legs to take the win.

Last weekend was just my 5th weekend off from racing this year. Although it was nice to not have to put a number on, but having to actually go training seemed like a chore. I’ve really been enjoying getting to the races and not having to spend my ride time dealing with stop signs or traffic lights around LA. Although it may be limited for training options there is a good cycling community. There aren’t many places where you go on a weekend group ride that draws 300 or so riders or 150 odd every Tuesday/Thursday night.

This weekend was the next of the PRO XCT races on Lances Ranch in Texas. I was going well on the Thursday/Friday before the race; unfortunately race day was nothing short of disappointing. I couldn’t even pedal as fast as I was rolling around the course the previous days. Not sure why, perhaps I had done too much in the heat the previous days, there was only one way to describe my race- I sucked big time!

Congratulation to Max for taking the Win!!!

Now off to the Mt Hood Classic.

Sid Taberlay

This weekend past was the 2nd of the National US Cup rounds which was put on by the Mountain States Cup guys. I heard a couple of years ago from Paul Rowney that these events were big, actually that much been more like 4 or 5 years ago, boy how time flys. I've never been a fan of Altitude, it doesn't matter what I do my body and thin air just don't get along.

To give you an idea; the first night I woke up several times gasping for air, guess with a lower heart/breathing rate while sleeping I wasn't getting enough oxygen. This happened several times to the point where I started worrying about what might happen if I didn't wake up for

a deep breath, then of course I can't sleep in fear of not waking up. I learnt from Gila that I was best if I kept my heart rate and breathing under control, so my race objective was simple- stay under threshold. I did what I could in the Super D, more of a flat drag race TT, finished

4th. Short Track was interesting, no one wanted to push the pace and I was certainly happy to keep the pace slow- so I could breath. Colin Cares strung in out with 2 laps to go and JHK jumped us with a half a lap left. JHK is unreal at altitude, I'm not sure anyone has ever beaten

him at the thin air game?? he has at least 2 gears bigger than everyone else at elevation. All I could do was watch him ride away, I finished 2nd. XC was similar to the Short Track- JHK rode away and I tried to keep the pace slow so I could breath. Jay Henry also rode away from the group solo. I found myself covering Colin Cares fire road attacks then recovering in the single track. Coming off the Joe Martin road race which was full of attacking I couldn't have had better preparation for Colin's tactics. He almost had me on the final climb out of the creek

trail, opening up a couple of bike lengths gap, only he stalled with a slow gear chain and look back on crest of the climb, just enough for me to get back on. I flicked him on the line for 3rd.

Sid Taberlay

This one started with a nice little uphill time trial, I did ok, but wasn't really on top of it finishing in 6th. My Team mate, Andrew, smashed the field and the race record. Day two was looking to be a long day with 110 miles and the leaders jersey to defend, luckily it was a

tail wind start, so all the attacking between teams trying to make the break naturally just carried the pelotons momentum and I didn't need to touch the front. It all came undone when a rock started playing ping pong within the peloton, attacking Andrews bike. I dropped back with him for what we thought was going to be a simple wheel changed, which ended up being a broken fork = a bike change. Now we had some serious chasing to do. As with most races at that level there are plenty of team cars around to get a sit behind. Unfortunately it didn't work out in our favor this time, the chief official, as put in his own words decided to "make an example" out of Andrew and we got hit with a 1 minute penalty-good bye GC. That pretty much changed our agenda for day 3, I decided I was at least going to have a solid training day and made sure I covered every move to make it into the break. Was joined by Andrew and two

fellow Tassie Mates, Bernie and Karl. At one point they were 1st and 2nd on the road. Talking of Tassie Mates, what about Ritchie Porte?!? Leading the younger riders jersey in the Giro and less than a second from the race lead. I knew it wasn't that I was just unfit that I was struggling last time we rode; he's giving some of the best riders in the world an ar#e whipping!! Oh and Gossie, another Tassie Mate is right up there, for a state with a small population we've got some bloody good bike riders. One thing is for sure, I'm going to be sitting on the edge of my seat the next few weeks, All the Best boys!!!

Sid Taberlay

Usually I’m not nervous before a race, not sure why but I’ve always believed that if you’ve

done the preparation the result will take care of itself, so there is no need to be nervous. This

week I was nervous as hell, I was worried after missing 2 of the last 3 weeks of training

with sickness that I was going to get spat off the back, and not make the time cut. Luckily for me

the first stage didn’t get hard until the last hour. I made it to the final climb in the peloton

only I had terrible positioning and found myself in the second split. A sigh of relief that I was

going to make the time cut, I just tempo’ed the last 5km climb. Our young gun on the Team, Andrew had a great climb, finishing in 5th and claiming the young riders jersey.

Day 2 - War Zone! One of the most interesting days I’ve ever had in a race. With an uphill start,

and strong winds the field was split up very quickly, out of the 190 riders there was a select group of 40 left after the first 30 minutes (though it did regroup in the valley). I managed to stay in the front group. With the amount of time I spent in the gutter/dirt, jumping holes/grass clumps and slaloming through riders who were spat out the back I was wondering if I would be better off on the MTB. Not to mention the number of guys I saw hit the deck. I even found myself off the back a couple of times with the wind, got to love the convoy of cars, just enough shelter and rest to get back onto the peloton, thought while back there I saw something unbelievable, the lead commissars car hitting the brakes and taking out two guys that were behind the car, I quickly learned it was perhaps safer in gutter than anywhere near the officials. I made it through the stage safely, and in one piece and Andrew kept the white jersey.

Day 3 - TT. First time on a TT bike, I was looking forward to it until in warm up I almost got

blown across the lane and into a bus. So it was off with the disc, and on with shallower wheels. I started the time trial ok, until I got to the first downhill and with the help of a gust of wind I was fighting to keep the bike upright. Right there I called it a day, and just tempo’ed the rest of the TT. Andrew kept White jersey.

Day 4 - Crit. I actually enjoy crits, they are about the closest thing to the intensity of a MTB,

and I even got a little excited seeing an uphill in it. Though I wasn’t close enough to the front

to think about trying anything. I managed to stay out of trouble and with a bunch finish Andrew is still looking good in white.

Day 5 - The Monster. With such a long day I wasn’t expecting it to be on from the start. Though it was probably made more difficult from the amount of blue smoke I saw coming off tires and the gaps opening up from people dropping themselves. Without mentioning any names, perhaps the quote of the week was “how do guys get a pro license when they haven’t learnt how NOT to take themselves or their team mates out!” The peloton splintered on the first major climb and I wasn’t having a good day, especially when it started snowing on us. Once the rain started I didn’t want to risk getting sick again, and called it a day. It was actually good to watch the front of the race from the team car. One by one guys were dropping off as Lance rode tempo for Levi, Andrew was one of the few that managed to hang onto the group and finished the tour with white jersey. Now on routine to the Joe Martin stage race, hopefully with some oxygen content in the air I might be in a better shape this week.

Sid Taberlay

After kicking Cousin Ben out, and deporting him back to Australia, I have finally got the place back into an orderly fashion. That was until I started packing again, I seem to be in a world of

post/pre-race organization at the moment. You wouldn’t think it, but I had more stuff to set up

for the road, than I do for the MTB. Had to build my Cal Giant Strawberry Team bike, glue of

numerous tires, etc, boy that is messier than sealant in the MTB wheels. I’m pretty excited, I

even got a disc wheel, haven’t had one of those before and a TT bike will also make it to the

start for me. That’s going to be interesting, never ridden one of those before either. I’ve been

told I have the same setup as Fabian; it seemed to work for him at the world champs, so I should be set! I’ve gotten rid of my second cold for the month, so I will be plenty fresh enough,

hopefully I’ll ride into the tour and pick up form as I go. Although I have to overcome another

hurdle, a guy called Lance. Guess I’ll find out first hand if he’s as fast as they make out?? lol

Sid Taberlay

Well last week I finally got my 29er going, and after a little spin on the road Friday, I figured I’d break it in at the US Cup, Kenda Cup West #4 -Santa Ynez, this past weekend. Having no idea what to expect, I tried to keep an open mind, I spent the first lap dangling off the back of the front group, getting a feel for the new bike and learning the bikes strengths. Come lap 2 it was time to get down to business, I opened a small gap early on, and kept it till the finish line. Sundays short track was another experiment, one cool thing about the 29er is the option to put road or cyclocross tires straight on. With the short-track being a flat non-technical course I put some cross tires on, the little tires were so fast, I almost felt like I was cheating, Lol! All in all it was another good weekend of racing at Santa Ynez, Up next, the Otter!!

Till then

Sid Taberlay

It’s been a pretty uneventful week. I got knocked down with a cold after Fontana and have been

taking it pretty easy. I’ve learnt from the past it’s better to get over it than to train through

it. Though I still like to ride a little, just to blow the crap out, nothing long or hard, I keep

the time on the bike under 1.5 hours. Felling better this week, so hopefully I can get back on top

of training. I’ll be heading out to Santa Ynez this weekend to do a little racing before Sea Otter, should be good.

I can’t ever think of a time that the wind made such a difference at a MTB race. I’ve done some road races where I’ve spent just as much time in the gravel as on the road, I even remember one time on a wet climb when the whole bunch got blown into the paddock, usually the wind isn’t something you have to deal with on the MTB. The wind this weekend probably made more of a difference to the race than the course itself. With some parts of the course having a block head wind it made attacks or attempted attacks short lived, and ultimately kept the front group together. Come the last lap with the four of us still together, all the places that would normally suit me to get away were taken away by the disadvantage of the wind. I figured the best plan of attack was safety in numbers come the last 2km’s with a tail wind, so I went to the front and set the tempo to make sure we were still together to that point. Unfortunately for Max and I, Todd seized the opportunity before we did and put us on the back foot. Todd’s perfectly timed attack earned him a well deserved win, congrats Todd

After Saturdays XC, where I was somewhat reserved or put simply: I snooze, I loose. I wasn’t going to be messing around in the short track, especially now in its new 15 minute plus one lap format. I had a good start off the line, but was soon under pressure trying to hold Ryan Trebon’s wheel, though I did do better than everyone else. I found myself off the back on the flat through the start finish, though I was able to carry a little more speed around the corners to stay in contact. Ryan settled down after two and a bit laps and there was a small, but sustainable gap on the rest of the field, I set the pace until two laps to go when Ryan then put the squeeze back on me. I managed to last the lap and jumped him into the last half a lap, which was full of corners to take the win. Thanks to Max for playing policeman back in the chasing group

Sid Taberlay

JM - Congrats on the 2 in the GC, Can you tell us a little bit about how your weekend went at San Dimas?

ST - Thanks Mate, Well, I hit the TT without too many expectations. Obviously I’ve ridden the road several times being close to home, but never at race pace. I had good friend and Tassie training partner, Jai Crawford from Team Fly V Australia staying with us leading up to the event. He was giving me the statistics of the time and average speed Ben Day did for the TT last year. Not sure that was a good thing as we were both questioning our ability of being able to average 17 miles/h or 28km/h up the climb. I hit the TT with one goal, not to embarrass myself and get a half respectable time. I held 28/29km/h for the 3km¡¦s, then fell into a bit of a hole and was back to 25/26km/h, but managed to get going again on the last 2 km’s. Guess racing on the MTB where it is shorter climbs and changes in speed is a little different to doing a consistent 13 minute effort. I was happy with 13 minutes, knowing that was around the mark of the top guys last year. I ended up being third fastest, 8 seconds off Ben Day and good friend Jai can in 7th.

Day two came and I knew the Aussie boys on Fly V Australia were going to control the race, so it was going to be a pretty routine day for me. Until coming into the first intermediate spring where Fly V just brought back a break, I think it had Karl Menzies in it, who would have been a GC threat if he stayed away and took all the time bonuses. Just as they caught the break, Team Jamis were lined up with Luis Amaran (4th on GC); I had to make sure I got over those guys to preserve my 3rd on GC, in the process I picked up a 6 seconds time bonus to move into 2nd on GC. From there Fly V let a non-threatening break sit at about 45 seconds.

JM - We saw you in new colors this weekend can you tell us how that came about?

ST – I’ve been missing racing on the road and had a desire to mix it up. My best mountain

bike results have always been when I’ve been racing the road and felt the last couple of years I didn’t really have the HP on the MTB. I needed to find a way to get that back, it actually became a very easy process. I did Tour Redland back in 2005 with Cal Giant/Specialized and won the KOM Jersey and have know the Team Manger, Anthony since then. With the Team being on Specialized, Sram etc it seemed to make a lot of sense, with an easy crossover of sponsors all it took was one phone call to Anthony- Thanks Mate!

JM - A lot of people weren’t expecting you to make such an impression on the pro field, have you raced much road in the past?

ST – Really, haven’t you heard about the guy wearing the rainbow jersey, apparently he use to be a Mountain biker and also an Australian! No seriously, there was a time that I was more a roadie than a mountain biker, it’s actually how I got good at mountain biking. It wasn’t until I got thrown on a road bike, and got the roadie fitness that I became good on the MTB. I haven’t done a serious road race since 2007, but racing is just like learning to ride a bike- once you know how to do it, it’s easy. This weekend actually brought back memories with so many Australians in the peloton and what can I say, it was a bit of an Aussie domination: 1st, 2nd, 5th on GC and 3 out of 3 Stage wins by Australians.

JM - What races are you planning on doing with the Giants?

ST – Nothing until after Sea Otter and I haven’t really looked past that date yet. Perhaps Tour of Gila is next?? it will be good altitude preparation for the US Cup in Colorado. A few others that were thrown around are: Joe Martin, Mt Hood, Cascades, Utah, I’ll work it out as time comes.

JM – Do your mountain bike skills transfer over to the road?

ST – Well we had to bunny hop a hole in the circuit race, does that count? Perhaps, I’m used to cornering sideways on the mtb, riding on a track 3 inches wide, or stopping on a dime, so the only the thing I’m worried about in a road race is having to bunny hop a guy who may drop themselves in front of me!

JM - Do you do the majority of your riding on the road, and was it difficult to transition to road racing when just one week ago you were out a Bonelli Park racing mountain bikes?

ST – Yes, most of my training is on the road. I found it to be an easy transition, just like I said, It’ s like learning to ride a bike. This Tour was pretty easy, Fly V had the strongest Team and just rode tempo to defend the yellow jersey. Making it a pretty routine couple of days on the bike for me.

JM – Once again, great work and we look forward to seeing you out at Fontana this weekend for the Pro XCT, good luck.

ST – Thanks mate, same to you

The first National level US Cup started this weekend at Bonelli. Being the first race of the year

there is always a little bit of nervousness as to how everyone else’s form is. I had a good

start, taking the lead around the first corner, not intentionally, I just wanted to stay out of

trouble. Having the lead allowed me to soft pedal the start loop, I was a little unsure about

pushing the pace without knowing how everyone else was going. JB then attacked off the front on the first lap; however, he was quickly caught on the fire road. Kabush then launched a massive attack on the other side of bunny hopping the log. I could actually see it coming and had it covered, though he quickly opened up a gap on the rest of the field. We were however caught by the end of the lap. At this stage I think there were only 6 of us left in the front group. I was

feeling pretty comfortable and decided to go off the front on the second lap, somewhat half

heartedly. I just wanted to make sure the pace was solid enough to put some sting in Kabush¡’s

legs after his attack/effort and take the pressure off Team Mate, Max. I was caught on the fire

road and the cat and mouse tactics started again. With the slowing of the pace, this allowed JHK

to get back on and the Fisher boys started pushing the pace, followed by Kabush using the

advantage of his super skinny, super light tires to counter attack and put the hurt on all of us.

I managed to cover everything until everyone sat up towards the end of the third lap and looked at each other. Max then played it perfectly, carrying his speed off the back of the group, throwing down an awesome attack. Everyone looked at each other - I certainly wasn’t going to respond! Kabush then started throwing down attack after attack to try and lose all the guys on his wheel. I just made sure I was glued his wheel, watching Max’s gap go from 10 to 30 to 10 seconds each time Kabush threw down the power. It all come undone when those skinny tires Kabush was running saw a rock and burst open with fright at the end of the 5th lap. Thinking that has now changed the game, I too noticed I had a soft tire - karma! (I grazed the sidewall somewhere earlier in the lap). Coming into the pits I put my hand up, a somewhat natural reaction when in a road peloton to signal a wheel change. I found out that doesn’t translate in the MTB pits but actually causes confusion, ending in a slow wheel change. I left the pits 5 seconds off the back of JB and another 15 seconds off Kabush (who also did a wheel change) and with Todd/Sam Schultz long gone. I took JB at the base of the climb, then Kabush at the top of the climb. On cresting the climb I could just see Todd and Schultz coming to the top of the next climb. I figured that couldn’t be much more that 30 seconds. Had it pinned on the DH, then the next uphill pinch and almost came undone on the next downhill, losing my front end on the uphill lip over the bridge, throwing me diagonally sideways in the air. How I missed the hand railing and landed it, I don’t know? I then punched it up the biggest climb in the course to get onto Todd and Sam before the fire road. Once on the back I was happy to sit back and recover from the effort and wait till the end of the lap to make my move for 2nd, which came off perfectly on the final climb of the day. Nice way to finish the XC with a Team 1, 2!

Short track was a little different or interesting, with a new format: 15 minutes plus one lap.

Start was going to be super important, which went perfectly- 2nd wheel for me. A quick look at the clock at the end of the first lap was 1 min 30 something. Some quick math, translated that into 10 more laps. After the first lap it was pretty clear that there was only one real

passing/attacking spot on the course = off the road onto the grass, as the back of the course/park was basically too fast to overtake. To break that down, it meant 10 times, 20 second efforts off the road/up the speed bump hill, roll across the back off the park, 10 second effort across the grass, recovery through the start/finish line while everyone looks at each other to see who was going to attack next into the grass. My game plan quickly became to back myself on the last lap and keep it together with 9 efforts of 20 seconds to cover every attack, which was all going to plan until I got boxed in and no one reacted to Kabush¡’s attack. I had to create some room and squeeze out the smallest of gaps to give chase. Luckily for me he was running a one chainring set up and didn’t have a big enough gear to stay away. JB then went with 3 laps to go and was caught at the line with one lap remaining. On catching JB everyone paused, sensing the danger of being swamped I went to the front and set the pace just fast enough that no one would be tempted to attack and then wound it up at the end of the road to make sure I was onto the grass first. Then it was just a matter of making sure I kicked hard enough across the grass that no one could come past before the series of corners leading into the finish to take the win over Specialized rider Todd Wells.

Nothing really to report with my Super D, after the first climb I realized I had left my legs on

the short track course and simply got into a tuck on the DH and tempo’ed the next few climbs. Max took it out for a clean sweep of all 3 events for Team Sho-Air/Specialized.

Big thank you to Scott, Ty, all my teammates and everyone else who were out there supporting us!

Sid Taberlay

This week has been pretty uneventful, just catching up on putting our shoebox apartment back into an orderly way. I’m not sure what it is with traveling, but when I get home there always seems to be something that needs putting away, or is it a case that I know I need to get it out again next week, and don’t want to double handle it- putting it away and pulling straight back out again??

Anyway, I have things back under control. We have “Jumpin” Jai Crawford staying with us this week from Team Fly V Australia; it’s becoming a solid training week, which should be good leading into the US Cup in Bonelli this weekend.

See everyone at the races

Sid Taberlay

Coming off a 5hrs race straight into a 15hr sleepless flight to LA, you could say I've been a little under the weather this week, (literally as well). I ventured out to Bonelli midweek with Ty and JB and was toasted after just 1.5hrs, so I wasn't looking forward to racing this weekend.

Though from experience I know I am better to throw myself in the deep end than take the slow steady approach. So I was keen to get straight back into racing, i.e. West Coast Series #1: Sagebrush, I turned up with only one expectation: I'm going to be suffering.

The race started with several miles of road which allowed me to take the easy approach and ride myself into the race. At the top I took the lead into the single track, both to keep my glasses clean from the mud and so I could set my own tempo. JB was rubbing my tire and I though it's going to be a long hard day. I held the lead into the downhill and opened a small gap by the bottom; from there the gap seemed to grow until I couldn't see JB. I continued to ride my own pace hoping that my jetlag tiredness wasn't going to kick in and my legs weren't going to fall off

at the 1.5hr mark. At the end I had a comfortable 2 minutes up my sleeve from JB.

Sid Taberlay

With the reputation as one of Australia’s biggest MTB events, I made sure I squeezed in this

year’s Otway Odyssey on my way back over to the States. As always it was a great event though my lack of preparation left me winging everything for the event, and thank you to all the guys and girls who helped me out. Though one thing I didn’t wing was the first aid kit, I was sprung on the line, which I found out equals a 20 minute penalty, guess I need to read the race notes next time. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise? as I now had no ambitions and was thinking about looking after my legs for the first US Cup race this coming weekend. I was happy for the training day and content with riding around in the lead group, until my bike and nature decided to have a disagreement and I was left on the side of the track to fix the damage. I soldiered on letting the Epic do its thing on the downhills and tapped up the hills. Along the way I claimed the timed descent and had a solid 5hrs of sweet trail riding. On finishing I decided it would be quicker to ride back to Apollo bay that to wait for the shuttle bus as well as getting in some extra miles for the upcoming road season, making it perhaps my biggest day ever on an MTB at 6.5hrs.

Hope to see everyone out at Sagebrush this week for The US Cup opener

Sid Taberlay

It’s been a productive week I'm on top of all the chores, and everything I needed to get done

before heading back overseas. Training has been good, though I had my legs ripped off this week by Jai Crawford from Fly V-Australia Team, other than that it’s been a pretty routine week.

I’m now getting ready to fly back to LA, after the Otway Odyssey: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/world-champions-to-line-up-at-otway-odyssey. This is another must do Australian event, it’s a challenge for most just to finish, myself included as the length and the amount of climbing has gotten the better of me the last two times. Hopefully the third times a charm!

Sid Taberlay

I feel like I’ve been on the start line of a cross or mountain bike race for every weekend since the start of November. Not this week though, it kind of feels weird having a weekend off. Being home away from home for 12 months I’m now just finishing opening mail, paying bills, gardening etc (12 months of catching up). It’s good to be back living on the beach and hitting the scenic Tassie roads and trails. Tassie is a great place for training, as in the words of Max Plaxton last year: “where are the flat roads?” they are very few and far between, nothing but rolling hills here. They say solo miles are worth twice as many, though I’d also say Tassie has the roughest, slowest rolling roads I’ve ever ridden on in the world, so my current miles must be worth at least 3 times as many as those in LA.

Until next week…

Spent the week on Tasmania’s rugged west coast participating in a four-day stage race- Wildside. As usual there was a great turn out of Australia’s top riders, and the event easily made its cap of entries. It started on a dry Cradle Mountain and fast racing. I narrowly managed to take out both stages on the first day, and was feeling comfortable with the pace at the front. Day two was a different story; I sliced my tire within the first kilometer. I thought I was all-good from learning a little trick in the past- throw a GU gel wrapper on the inside of the tire to hold the tube in. Which

worked fine until the tube blew out 3 minutes later, (at that point I knew the race for GC was

over) I couldn’t work why the tube blew out, after fixing it a second time I realized the Gu wrapper was sliding around on the inside between the tire and tube with all the sealant. I now have a new trick- put the edge of the wrapper between the tire bead and rim to hold it into place. I made it to the finish in 138th :-) The rest of the race I found myself feeling more comfortable as the stage and rode away from the front group for 6 stage wins.

Was great to see Mike Tomalaris and team on hand to cover the event, please check:

http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/ for videos.

Once again, Thanks to Nic Deka and his team plus the volunteers for making one of Australia’s

greatest MTB events.

Full results: http://www.wildsidemtb.com/

Sid Taberlay

Thanks to Ty for doing my blog last week in my internet absence, here is the long winded version:

The XC course was what I would call a very Australian course about 99% single track, which is great for riding, though not so good for the dynamics of racing, as most people will finish in the position they start in. I had a good start but couldn't do anything but watch Mcconnell ride away from me and everyone else on the second lap. I was left to battle it out with Norris until I lost the front end and laid it over, causing me to go backwards on the last lap, finishing 5th.

Sunday was the Short Track, with Mike and Linda Sinyard (or as cousin Ben calls them "Mr and Mrs Specialized"), turning up my Australian mentality came out: If the boss is in the office you have to at least make it look like you know what you are doing. I had a good start, though quickly found myself in trouble, some how I managed to hang on, positioning myself into the final corner first, that bike length out of the corner was exactly what I needed to get to the line first by the smallest of margins.

From Nationals to Tour Down Under, Monday I headed out with the Aussie Saxo Bank guys, Mike

Sinyard and a few of Australia's Specialized dealers for a light roll. Tuesday/Wednesday was

following the Tour.

From TDU to Australian National Series #2 in Victoria. It featured a somewhat challenging course from a passing and uphill technical point of view. I was loving the Epic, rocky/technical uphills is where the brain suspension excels. Though someone decided I need an extra challenge and started me on the back row. First lap was challenging and took a few creative moves to get through, sorry to all the guys that got chopped on my way through. At the lap and a half mark I made it to race leader until I grazed my side wall and had to go the traditional way of putting a tube in. At that stage I was a bit over it and continued as a training exercise, slowly picking off guys. At the finish I was only 2 minutes down- what could have been?

Short Track had an ordinary start, and had to get round guys and ride across to McConnell. He

attacked me as soon as I made contact, I didn't respond as I figured I could ride across the gap

again. Only legs were tired from yesterday and Dan "fresh legs" McConnell, was making the most of his DNF in the XC race. I got caught by the Drapac/Porche Team mates and found myself under attack; I managed to cover all the attacks and counter attacked with 2mins to go to finish second.

Thank you to the guys at Sram/Monza Imports and Specialized Australia for looking after me the last two weeks :-)

I'm now back home (Tasmania) and getting ready for Wildside, really looking forward to this one.

Not only is the race 4 days on Tassie's west coast, but the format of competitive stages combined with cruising stages creates the best atmosphere of any race I've ever done, between both the elite riders all the way through to the beginner racer. You should be able to keep updated on the event website or Cyclingnews.

Regards

Sid

Well the Australian Nationals came and went for another year, and I was able to grab one of the two titles up for grabs.

I was hoping my recent fitness from CycloCross was going to transfer over into another National XC title, but come race day, I was just a little under the pump. Its been a long season for me, with my first US race coming in March, and trying to hold fitness into January is a pretty tall order.

Early in the XC race, I was able to stay with the pace, however, a crash on the pinnacle lap, relegated me to 3rd overall on the day.

In the Short Track race, I felt a little better and was able to stay in the hunt all race. When the time came, I laid down a final attack that saw me take home my first Short Track National Title of my career, in a photo finish no less.

Well I'm off to visit with family and friends and get in some good summer training.

If the form at this weekend’s cross race is anything to go by, I think I have a pretty good chance

at Nationals this weekend 16/17th. I’m just about to head to the airport and Adelaide bound. I’ll

spend a week and a half in Adelaide in total with Nationals and then join the pre- Tour Down Under stage group rides, before heading off to the second Australian National Series Round in Victoria on 23/24th. From there I head back home to Tassie, really looking forward to the laid back Tassie lifestyle. Though I imagine the first week will be a little busy with Wildside on at the end of that week, it’s a 4-day MTB Stage race across the West Coast 30th-2nd Feb. (www.wildsidemtb.com) Hopefully I won’t have the same issues of the previous two editions: keeping both myself and my tires upright. From there I will have a good 3 weeks at home getting ready for the USA season :-)

Sid Taberlay

We had no big plans for New Years Eve, though I had to come up with something since it was our wedding anniversary. I know it's kind of an unusual day to get married. It all happened from going through the motions of organizing a venue and date, which should be easy, unless you're an athlete and your main workdays are of a weekend. How do you plan a weekend 18 months ahead when race organizers don't know themselves what they are scheduling 12 months in advance? One of the venues suggested NYE and it stuck, as an added bonus we even had firework complimentary of the Hobart city Council :-) I now also have a date I can't forget. Lol. This NYE ended up being a quiet dinner with friends.

On the bike I've had 4 solid weeks of base training, combined with some solid group rides and cross races for intensity. I feel like I have pretty good form for "January". I wouldn't say I have the form of my life, though I think I'm going well enough to give Nationals a good nudge next weekend (16/17th). Surprising I've even managed to knock off my 5kg of "off season baggage" in that short time. Guess we'll see how the other guys are going come race day.

Happy New Year,

Sid

Christmas week started with Santa Cross, somehow I got volunteered to wear the Santa suit?? I wasn't real impressed with the idea at first as I wanted to win the final race, at the same time I didn't want to be a party pooper. I figured if I'm playing Santa, well Santa is not going to

disappoint! After recovering from a hard start and Santa's first lap glory I settled back in and found myself in the sweat box following Brent Prenzlow. Brent started to slow, so I decided to lift the pace and see how he would respond, from there I rode the rest of the laps out front listening to Larry Longo on the microphone talking about Sid "Santa" Taberlay. It's amazing what you hear when you are racing :-) I sneaked in 8 races for the series, with best 10 counting towards the

overall, the best I could finish was 4th overall, though I am happy with my individual results: 5 wins, 2 seconds and a third.

Christmas Eve I headed down to Mr. Tedro's for not only Christmas Eve but also his birthday :-) A pleasant evening, some great cooking and good times. Happy Birthday Scott :-)

Christmas we broke all traditions and decided to do our own thing. We figured while everyone else was having Christmas lunch it would be a good opportunity to get out and about and not have to fight with the millions of other people around LA and headed for the beach and a

coastal drive.

It seems the season starts early every year, well at least the Australian Nationals have been

creeping forward over the years. They use to be in March, then February, end of January and now, mid January. Hence training for the next year has started a little earlier, usually I stay semi

fit up until Christmas and start the big days post Christmas as a way of getting rid of all the

EXTRA Christmas pudding I shouldn’t have had. This last week and a half I’ve been stringing

together some solid 4-5 hour days, in hope that I will be fit enough in 4 weeks not to embarrass

myself at nationals. I know it seems weird not to have nationals as the main priority; but

unfortunately January is a difficult time to be flying on the bike, when the focus (US season) is

March through to September. I think I’ve carried some extra fitness through this off season doing

the cross races, perhaps 4 solid weeks of training will be enough to get another title? Hopefully

the day time rain will stay away to allow consistent training.

This weekend is the final So Cal Cross race; hopefully I can finish with solid podium placing!

Sid Taberlay

This weekend I went and checked out the 30+ Million dollar car collection at the Marconi Museum, which includes Michael Schumacher's 1996 F-1 Ferrari. Though the museum itself wasn't the only thing to attract me to the venue, a commitment to a friend, Dennis and his companies (YOR Health) event was the main reason. The story really starts about 15 months ago when I meet one of those select few riders who have the best of everything, how many people TRAIN on Zipp 808 TUBULARS?? The Pro's don't even do that! After getting to know each other as we circled the Rose Bowl each Tuesday / Thursday night, he introduced me to his products and since then I have become a big fan. Over that period of time we have developed a friendship and my evolvement with the company has also increased, now being on the Athletic Advisory Board. Every now and then I make an appearance at a meeting, only this time I had to step up to a suit and tie and talk to 700+ people. Now you'd think I'd be use to talking in front of a crowd with the amount of interviews I've done over the years, somehow a question and answer session is less daunting than having to give the story with no prompting from start to finish. Add to that, Pip just got back from a conference where she was awarded best presentation, which created some household competition, and a little pressure. Although I had an agenda, I tend to try and wing the story on stage, as I simply didn't want to sound like one of those boring pre-scripted talks- I'm sure you've experienced one and all know what I am talking about ?!? I think I managed to pull it off as Dennis was smiling, and the crowd even had a little laugh. There was some comfort in seeing a couple of familiar MTB faces in the crowd, Craig Hopps @ Efficiency Coaching and MTB Chick / Mountain Bike Action Writer, Tonya Bray, sorry to anyone else I may have missed. I'm not sure why, but I seemed to get the rock-star treatment with everyone wanting their photo with me. Though there was a time I had to laugh to myself, with one comment "Can I have my photo with you, who are you again?" That brought me back down to reality of being a cyclist.

On the bike, you could say that 2010 training has started or I've at least put 2 solid back to

back day together, 10 hrs in total which is already my biggest week since early October. Let's

hope the rain comes only during the night.

Sid Taberlay

Last weekend I joined Ned and Eric Woods @ the PV Bicycle Centre anniversary. The day started with a 2 mile uphill time trial, on signing up Ned was very quick in handing me the clip board, he's obviously learned a few tricks over the years. One being: always be the chaser, not the chased, so I had to sign up knowing I was going to be Ned's prey up the hill. From that moment it was game on, I really didn't want to be caught by the "Captain", a little over 6 minutes later I was at the top and safe. We then joined a great BBQ that the shop put on, it's been too long since I've had a bbq and it was very much appreciated :-) Thanks PV Bicycle Centre!!

I did a quick run home and a superman change to then head to the So Cal High School league

Fundraiser on the Queen Mary, in Long Beach. It was a good night with some great stories and some bidding wars going on. I had a laugh to myself when Ty and Johnny "Blogger" started taking great pleasure in bidding against each other for the signed Eddy Merckx Jersey. Pip then decided she wanted to get in on the action when the signed Lance jersey came out. I'm like- "what, what do you want that for??" her reply: "It will look good on the wall in the lab". I guess working directly on cancer research and Lance being one of the greatest cancer survivors there was some merit to that and how could I disagree?? I sat there in both excitement and fear, of how much damage was going to be done to the bank account. As Pip is the most persistent and committed person there is once she starts something she is going to see it to the end no matter what it takes, so we came home with a signed Lance jersey.

Sunday was the So Cal District Cross Champs in Ventura. It was a course with a good mixture of technical ability and power required, though with the wind and the long straights it was going to take a mighty effort for anyone to break away, hence the front group staying together the whole race. To my surprise the barriers were set up in such an attempting way that I couldn't help but to have my first attempt of hopping them on a Cross bike. I got more confidence each lap until mid race I got a little ahead of myself and had too much speed between the barriers, I stuffed the second one and landed in a heap, so I made something like 21 out of 22 barriers for the race. Luckily I was able to remount and still be on the back of the front group. Coming down to the last lap the front group of 7 was still intact; I made sure I was on the front for the last lap, knowing that the series of corners after the barriers would be a perfect place to get away, as I'd be on the bike and gone while everyone behind me was still re-mounting. The plan worked perfectly and I took the win, though I didn't get to keep the jersey being a non US citizen. Congrats to the 2009 SoCal champ: Gary Douville :-)

This weekend was Turkey Cross in Glendale, the course was setup so dismounting was the only option :-( though there were enough loose / drifting corners for me to use to my advantage. I attacked into the series of tight corners at the start of the 3rd lap and slowly edged away from Mark Noble, Brent Prenzlow and Brandon Gritters for the win.

It's been a pretty uneventful week. I've managed to string a few consistent days on the bike together, I went out Saturday and checked out the Simi Valley ride, which was fun. It’s always nice to get out on a good bunch ride as a little change of pace from the mountain bike. I really enjoy going out and meeting new people and sharing a good workout. Sunday was a local Cross Race in Torrance; it was another great course for the mountain bikers with two challenging climbs, which were also decisive points in the race. I rode it the first lap and opened a small gap, each lap after I managed to use the climb to stay ahead of Dana Webber. This weekend it gets a bit more serious with the SoCal regional championships, I’m hoping there are plenty of technical sections ;-)

A double weekend of Cross Racing in Bakersfield- although I don't have the commitment this time of year to race both days, or drive more than an hour from home. Luckily for me Eric Woods @ Specialized and the guys @ Surf City Cycles stopped to pick up a hitchhiker on Sunday- Thanks Guys :-). The course was the most fun of all the cross races I've done, lots of loose corners that required sideways action, and a nice bunny hop over a curb- followed by a good 2 foot drop. It wasn't easy, with it being in the middle of a 90 degree corner with loose sand on the entry and exit, plus the thought of "how much more fragile is a cross bike than a MTB, guess we'll find out", it was daunting enough for me to roll up to it 3 times before actually committing to it. Come the race, jumping it made all the difference, Gary Douville and I used it to get away from the first lap, we worked well together for the rest of the race to build up a minute + lead, I

managed to get a small gap at the finish to take the win.

Sid Taberlay

Two years ago Pip and I used to joke with all friends how we were sick of our boring lives and

wanted to be stars like everyone else in California and were packing our bags for Hollywood! Well that might not have been the real reason for LA, nor did we find Hollywood the suburb of choice, though we are now only a hop skip and jump away. That joke of two years ago may have some life in it, being so close to the action you tend to meet some great and interesting people, one being none other than Jon Dunham, director / producer of "Spirit of the Marathon" which was one of the biggest hits in cinemas for a documentary. Jon grew up a keen Mountain biker back in the day when Ned Overend and Johnny T were dominating the MTB world and wants his 2010 project to be a documentary on Mountain biking. As with how most conversations / meeting are done in this industry we jumped on our bikes and had a 2 hour conversation / trail riding session. Jon's actually a very solid rider as well as having a great plan that is surely going to help our sport grow / develop, I look forward to more details of his project as it progresses over the coming weeks / months.

More details on Spirit of the Marathon: http://www.marathonmovie.com/

Sid Taberlay

Another weekend, and another Cross Race! I headed down to Oceanside with Pip and "MTB Chick" Tonya Bray(who also writes for Mountain Bike Action), for what I was hoping was going to be anything but a 4th place finish!

Between Spooky Cross and this past weekend, I'm starting to think that the courses are being designed against me, last week there was "Sid and Lopes proof barriers" and this week was the worst possible course for an unfit Sid, who can no longer run. After watching the women’s race and seeing how it was a group ride requiring good flat-land power along with some running legs to get on and off the beach I knew I was in trouble with out any 'on the bike' technical sections. I made sure I was at the front of the group each time I had to dismount as I knew I could still be on the back of the group after stumbling over my own feet through the sand. Positioning paid off, once Prenzlow made the move I managed to latch on the back of him for a lap before being spat out the back. For the next 3 or so laps I managed to stay intact with the Prenzlow chasing group. Come the last lap I was in a group of 3 with Prenzlow still off the front, not feeling so good I was starting to think I jinxed myself with last week’s blog for a 4th place finish. Once that came to mind I made sure I was into the last running section first, hoping I wasn't going to finish last in the group of 3. I finished 2nd behind a determined Prenzlow who now has 100 So Cal Cross victories. Congrats to Brent!! He's also on a Specialized!!

I started the Socal Cross season with a win, then 2nd and now 3rd in Spooky Cross. I know it's the MTB off season and I haven't hardly touch the bike the previous couple of weeks (except the races) but somehow I still don't like the way this pattern is heading! Only one solution, make a change, I'm back on the bike during the week, not in the traditional way- I decided to go mountain biking on the cross bike. Boy the skinny tires are fast on the climbs and fire roads, though the descents / technical sections are a little more challenging- good skills training :-) It's brought back memories of videos, books and stories I've seen about how mountain biking started with BMX and road bikes out on the trails. A good challenge and reality check of how good it is to have technology evolve. Hopefully I'm now set for anything but 4th this weekend! Lol

I’ve just been taking the week easy trying to recharge my batteries after another lot of jet lag, and sickness. I ventured out on Sunday to the SoCal Cross race, first time back on a cross bike in 9 months. The first few laps I coughed up a lung or two while trying to get a feel for how far I could push the skinnier tires. Unfortunately I couldn't do anything but watch Prenzlow ride off the front, in the first couple of laps. In the last couple of laps I was getting one / two'ed by the Gritters brothers, luckily for me by this stage I knew where the breaking point of the tires was and I able to use the two wheel drift technique to close the gap around the corners to finish 2nd.

P.S. Sorry to all the guys I disappointed in not bunny hopping the barriers. I wasn't game to try it first time back on a cross bike, it's just a matter of time before I get frustrated with having to dismount

Last weeks 24 Hr (4 man Team) was good and bad. I won the prologue by a mere 2 seconds, but that was all I had as far as fast laps go, for the rest of the weekend. With a few team mechanical problems early on, plus a bad run with lap traffic we were on the back foot from the start. I just couldn't close the gap or hold pace, we eventually realized the win as well as second place were out of reach, and ended up riding consistent laps to finish third. As usual the event was great, with approx 2500 competitors plus family, and friends on site. Thanks to Lloydie and Trent for making it happen, the team: Pez, Brent, Matt and Carla / Emma for there round the clock support

It's now time to stop spreading myself thin and get some long over due recovery.

I've been home for 5 days and feel like I've been stretched in a million different directions, everything from catching up with friends and family, to opening a pile of mail a mile high. I got all the major stuff handled and even got a good weekend of riding in before the weather went to crap, including mountain snow. It was great to be home, waking up to the sound of the waves on the beach has been very relaxing. I'm now in Canberra for what was the worlds biggest 24 hour, whether it still has that title I'm not sure, but its bound to be a great weekend.

Regards Sid

Sid Taberlay

It's been a busy couple of weeks:

Back to back races the previous weekend, with the first of the Cross races of the year, followed

by the U.S. Cup finals. Both events went well, I cleaned up both, and then headed to Vegas for Interbike. What a blast, handing out H2O Overdrive at the Outdoor Demo to help keep everyone hydrated in the brutal heat. It was also great to get caught up with everyone at the indoor event, surprised at the number of Aussies :-) Heading back from there straight into a skills clinic, I think we managed to end the day with a smile on everyone’s face. Thank you H2O Overdrive for supplying drinks at lunch and Yor Health for the recovery shakes; they went down a treat :-)

I'm now just about to jump on a plane, heading back home to Tasmania. Oh how nice it will be to breathe some fresh air and wake up the sound of the waves on the beach, for a change. I can image that the 5 days I have at home will fly by, before heading to the Canberra 24 hour.

Until then happy riding,

Sid

It’s becoming a tiring month, full of travel, training, racing and a lack of sleep. Started with two 14-hour flights within a week to Canberra, Australia and back for the World Championship. I happened to pick up a cold on the way back to LA, which knocked me out for six days the following week. After a week of being stick I struggled a bit to get on the bike. I somehow managed to get myself to the Over the Hump race in a respectable manner. Coming up this weekend I have back-to-back races this weekend at Bonelli Park. I start off the weekend with Cyclocross Saturday, and the Final U.S. Cup on Sunday, followed by a Tom and I cruising to Vegas for Interbike. I’ll be at the Interbike outdoor demo on Monday, Tuesday with Randy @ H2O Overdrive, feel free to come by and put your drink on Randy Tab

Then I’m back in the flying sardine can, homeward bound to Australia’s “Natural State” Tasmania. It will be nice to once again suck in the world’s freshest air, and smell the sea breeze. Five days on the island and I’m back to Canberra to join the boys for the World’s biggest 24-hour event. Hopefully we can defend the winning effort we’ve achieved over the last several years.

The race itself was always going to be a challenge from the back row. First lap involved 2 pile

ups, I managed to avoid going down both times only to tangle myself in the bunting on one,

followed by the usual single track bottleneck / hike a bike. Nothing I could do but be patient and

play the waiting game. Managed to get going and slowly pick up placing on the second/third laps

until I stuffed a corner and lost my chain, also loosing the group I was with. The next four laps

I found myself in no mans land chasing a strong group and slowly picking off the riders as the got dropped from the group. Finished maybe high 30's???

High light of the day was the Aussie crowd, my ears are still ringing from all the shouting, very

much appreciated! Thank you!

Regards Sid

Sorry about the lack of updates, been meaning to do the next training tip, but seem to have been

running around like a headless chook lately. Will be back onto the tips once I get back from

Worlds, in the mean time a quick update:

After the last US Cup National, I received an unexpected call up for the World Champs, talk about

leaving things to the last minute. Any way I managed to get things organized and headed back to my

homeland, Australia. I've flown in late, arriving Tuesday for a Saturday race, I figured I've done

enough laps in the past that I don't need too much time on the course and it is just as I remember

it with a couple of sections cut out. Most of the course it bmx track style single track with one

main climb. The climb itself is some what different to most courses as the rocks and corners on

the climb literally limit the speed you can ride that section of the course at, too much momentum

and you can't set yourself for the next section of the climb, hopefully this will slow down those

super human euro climbers. I'm looking forward to the downhill sections as most corners have a

covering of gravel, which means you need to be able to ride with a controlled drift and from what

I have seen many riders are struggling. I guess my biggest hurdle is going to be the lack of UCI

points, I have a back row start, guess there is only one direct to go- forwards :-)

Look out for tomorrow race report......

Uphill switchbacks are one thing that I’m sure have gotten the better of everyone at one point, myself included. Not that they are overly difficult if we are focused on the corner, the problem

lies with a lack of preparation for the corner, whether we are unaware of it coming up or pre-focused on what is directly in front of us. The most common problems are too high a gear for the exit, too much speed, too little speed or your heart rate is at threshold and you don’t have the strength/co-ordination to be smooth around the corner.

Preparation into the switch back is the key:

Sometimes it is even better to back off a little before the switch back, just enough so you are no longer at threshold. Before entering the corner click down a couple of gears ready to pedal when exiting the corner. Have a steady speed that you can steer the bike with minimal lean. Too fast and you will lose front wheel traction. Too slow and you will lose balance. Your rear wheel will take a shorter line around the corner, ride slightly past the inside of the corner and steer the front wheel around the outside of the corner. Stay seated, as you have better balance and traction, watch where you want the front wheel to go. Being able to balance, pedal slow and steer the front of the bike around the corner is the key, the rear wheel will naturally follow. On exiting, straighten up and continue on your way.

Before we start with Craig’s question of the week, here are the raffle winners from the Efficiency

Coaching ride:

#1: JR #2. Hamat Immanuel #3. Daniel Patrick, Thank you to Team Sho-Air and Rock N Road cycles for their kind donation of prizes. Congratulations, we will be contacting you shortly for postage details.

Craig Hopps @ Efficiency Coaching, Question of the week:

"How do I fit it all in?" I am glad the question was asked as so many attempt to do the

impossible by fitting it all in all at once! That is the equivalent of eating all your calories for the day at breakfast! Not optimal at all. We are just not mentally able to handle more than one properly sized meal at a time. So the article get's into that topic:

Time, what are trading your life for?

The older I get, the more I realize that the most valuable commodity I possess is my time. I have said it before, but it is worth repeating, "If you lose money, don't worry. You can always get more money. But, if you lose time, be concerned because you cannot get more time."

Simply put, our lives are made up of days. That seems simple enough to understand. However, I think that what all of us sometimes fail to realize is that days add up and soon they turn into

weeks, months, and years. It seems as though the last forty years of my life have passed in just

a matter of minutes! Yet, I realize that those years have all been made up of days, each 24 hours long.

Life is much like a garden. When we plant good seeds, we will get a good crop. If we plant bad

seeds - or no seeds at all - then we get a crop in proportion to what we sow. It is the law of sowing and reaping. Often that principle is seen in a more negative light. We have a parent or teacher say, "You are headed for trouble - you are going to reap what you sow!" But, actually it

can also work positively for each one of us. Let me explain.

Every farmer (athlete) is counting on getting a good crop (results) when he prepares the soil

(training regiment) and plants the seed (Does the training). He is betting all of his labor on

the positive law of sowing and reaping. He knows that he will reap what he sows and therefore he prepares for a good harvest. The same can be true of us.

Instead of looking at your entire athletic season on a long-term scale, perhaps we ought to look

at it on a shorter, more daily basis, in order to see if what we are doing today will bring about

a good result in the future. For example; when you dedicate your day to a specific workout and

achieve a “personal best” effort, you have accomplished something very important that can be build on! To achieve a “personal best” week, simply string seven “personal best” effort days together! Do the same thing for four weeks in a row and lay claim to a “personal best” effort month! How do you have a personal best season? You get the picture - your season will automatically be a “personal best” by consistently addressing your daily efforts!

I have been amazed by the elite athletes I have had a chance to know. They tend to micro manage their daily allotment of minutes and have the extreme ability, therefore, to focus. As an example, thinking about tomorrow or next season is too big a topic for most cyclists who ride the Tour de France. It is all they can do to focus on the race filled minutes of each stage. As we saw in this year’s Tour, one break in focus is all it took to separate 3rd place from 4th or 5th. Lance

Armstrong is known for his intensity and focus. He is a veteran with the ability to stay 100% focused. Lance seemed to be at the right place at the right time during this year’s tour and picked up 40 seconds on an early stage (thought to be insignificant by some). By staying focused during that windy ride, he achieved a “personal best” effort day and it arguably put him on the podium ahead of Bradley Wiggens by a scant 37 seconds. Frank Schleck was only 3 seconds behind Wiggens! The tour is a profound example of sowing focus and reaping rewards. After 86 hours and three weeks of racing, these elite athletes were still only separated by mere seconds at the finish! Champions have the ability to stay focused minute by minute throughout the duration. The point; consistently micro-manage your daily efforts to optimize your performance over the season. I see many sets of intervals come across my desk where I can see where the athlete is mentally defeated by their focus. When you have 6 intervals to perform, do them one at a time as if it was the only one you had to do. Too often an athlete will attempt to mentally navigate intervals 2-6, while suffering through interval #1! Let me ask you something; is it easier or harder to do an interval while thinking about the rest of your work load? Why would you be doing an interval while thinking about anything else except the required effort at hand? And, amazingly, we all have done it! It is called “broken focus” and it is the only reason athletes fail to achieve their “personal best” effort. Many coaches call proper focus “practicing the presence”, or “being 100% in the now”. At first, it requires great discipline to accomplish the “now” mind set, but over time you can strengthen your focus and increase your daily performance. It has been shown to dramatically increase ones harvest in all areas of life.

One of Lance’s teammates commented on how much Lance does at the tour in addition to racing. He was amazed that Lance can juggle so many balls at the same time and still race so well. In reality, Lance can only do one thing at a time. He can’t juggle ten balls at once, but he, like so many other successful time management people, can focus 100% on one thing at a time, get it done, and move on to the next thing. Get that shirt autographed, talk to Velo News, do a press conference, send out a twitter video, go to drug control, get a massage, eat, etc… It is all done one thing at a time, to make the most of his time. You can do it too, one work out at a time. It just takes discipline.

Recently I came across a poem that I had first seen years ago. I was so glad to find it again!

It sums up what I am trying to say in this Tip.

When as a child I laughed and wept - time crept.

When as a youth I dreamed and talked - time walked.

When I became a full-grown man - time ran.

When older still I daily grew - time flew.

Soon I shall find as traveling on - time gone!

-Author Unknown

This poem helps me to realize the power and value of time. There are some things I wish I could go back and do differently. However, there are also many time seeds that I am glad that I planted because they brought about great results and a wonderful harvest. That is why I love coaching. I want athletes to experience a wonderful harvest! An athlete, who invests in a training plan and consistently does the work, will achieve a full harvest. I absolutely love to associate with athletes who want to pay the “full price, to achieve the full reward”. How awesome is that? See what seeds you are planting today and evaluate what kind of crop they will produce as time takes its course. As I stated earlier, the law of sowing and reaping is one that no one can ever deny. It is like gravity, it just works. It will either work against us, or for us, depending on how we cooperate with it. Live today as though you traded a day of your life for it, because you did! And, as time passes, you will see that the seeds that you carefully plant today will grow to bless your life and the life of other people as well.

We will continue to pick one technical topic and one training question each week:

To suggest a topic for next week: question4sid@yahoo.com

Ask Craig a training question for next week: efficiencycoaching@cox.net

Until next week, Happy Riding

Thank you to everyone who gave their input to both Craig and I, It was great to see so much interest.

Here’s my Hopping feature for this week and with the current hot weather Craig has decided to go with a Hydration question. Looking forward to your suggestions for next week.

Hopping

The more I’ve thought about how to write or explain this, the harder it has become. Hoping should be as easy as crouching down and pulling up, right? In theory yes, but in practice that simple technique is very limited in distance and height; your tires are the highest point off the ground. Wouldn’t it be great if you could gain the extra distance between the bottom of your wheels and the height of the chain rings by just changing your style? Or gain an extra half a bike length on takeoff AND landing? With some co-ordination and practice, hopefully you won’t be dismounting to get over the log, rock or hole out on the trails any more.

To start with, visualize your chain rings as the lowest point of the bike while going over an obstacle, to do that you pull your front wheel up to a height that will exceed the obstacle, (initially coasting on the rear wheel for half a bike length) as the chain rings approach the obstacle the front wheel will be directly over the top of the obstacle, at this point lean you’re your wrists forward and start pushing the bars down, while, tilting your toes to the ground, pushing your feet towards the back of the bike and pull the rear of the bike up while the front is dropping, the front wheel has now passed the obstacle heading in a downwards direction, while the chain rings are directly over the obstacle with the rear wheel in an upwards direction. As the chain rings pass the obstacle your rear wheel should be at a height that too will pass the obstacle, with your front wheel heading towards the ground. Very important to change your body position at this point (your weight is forward from lifting the rear wheel) transfer your weight from forward to back, as you will have a front wheel landing and don’t want your weight forward as you will go over the bars. If co-ordination is perfect by the time you move your weight backwards, your rear wheel should be directly over the obstacle, momentum is your friend when landing, with your weight back and your rear wheel over the obstacle, you will land doing a nose wheelie with your rear wheel following your front wheel, continuing on your ride.

To put that into basic step, as the technique is the same no matter how big or small the obstacle or gap is. To start with no risk I’d suggest drawing a line on the ground rather than finding an obstacle.

I’ll break this into: front wheel / back wheel, then combining the two.

Part 1-

Front Wheel- commonly known as a wheelie (don’t worry about rear wheel at this point)

1. Approach the line/obstacle at a comfortable speed to allow for perfect co-ordination.

2. On approaching lean your body weight forward

3. Before hitting the line transfer your weight from forward to back to lift your front wheel.

(If you are worried about flipping the bike, sit your finger on the rear brake, if you feel uncomfortable a quick touch of the rear brake will drop the front wheel)

Part 2-

Rear Wheel- commonly known as a nose wheelie (don’t worry about front wheel)

1. Approach the line again at a comfortable speed for co-ordination, let the front wheel roll through the line.

2. As the front wheel has crossed the line, lean forward, tilt your toes to the ground, push the balls of your feet back ward and start lifting your rear wheel over the line as the chain rings are vertically over the line. (nose wheelie- start small)

3. If feel like you are about to head over the bars, lean backwards and push your handlebars forward (just don’t let go)

4. As the rear wheel start to drop, lean back, point your toes to the front of the bike and use your legs to guide rear wheel onto the ground.

Part 3-

Combine the two movements, still will take practice and co-ordination. Start small and work your way up, remember to visualize what I explained above. You can also use these steps to gain extra distance when hopping a gap.

Summer hydration & fueling by Craig Hopps @ Efficiency Coaching:

Welcome to Summer and the associated seasonal heat it brings. Many of you are enjoying riding in the heat, and some of you are really wishing Spring weather would just come back. Regardless of whether you enjoy the heat or not, you have to stay hydrated. People have survived without food for weeks or even months, but go without fluids for even just one day you will be in immediate trouble. Water is by far the most important nutrient for the human body (besides oxygen). Your body is 61% water by weight and it is needed for circulation and other bodily processes including respiration and converting food to energy. If you are losing more fluids than you are taking in, dehydration will occur. Bottom Line; drink before you are thirsty. Whether you like it or not! Do not come home H2O depleted. It can take up to 48 hours to rehydrate once you have run the tank low! This dramatically slows your recovery process. In fact, it has been shown that if you lose just 2.5% of your body weight from fluid loss, you will lose 25% of your efficiency in recovery. For a 160 pound man that is only about four pounds of water! As you dehydrate, your blood becomes thicker and loses volume. This causes the heart to work harder and circulation of blood to be less efficient. Water is required to process your recovery fuels (think protein, carbs, & fat here).

So how much should you be drinking? Drink a minimum of one bottle per hour on the bike. REMEMBER this, go by time, not by thirst. One bottle per hour while training as a base line minimum even if you are not thirsty. If it is hotter, you will likely need to drink more.

Ever wonder if you are drinking enough? Test yourself! Do what the pros do; weigh yourself prior to your ride, and then immediately after. Ideally, your “before & after” weight should be the same. This test may surprise you however. Many riders have days where they drank a bottle per hour and come home 4-6 pounds lighter. Ouch! Check yourself with this simple accurate test of how much you should be drinking.

For sustained training and recovery efficiency, the key is staying topped off with fluids and fuel. In addition to drinking a bottle per hour (or more), eat one of the packable fuels (think gels, bars, shots, etc…) starting at one hour into the ride, and every 45-60 minutes after that. So all rides under an hour only require one bottle of water or sports drink. If you are going on 1-2 hour ride, pack two large bottles and a fuel. If you are going on a 2-3 hour ride, pack your bottles and think a refill point, or pack a full Mule pack plus your bottle(s). Also, you’ll need 2-3 fuel shots as well. So force that bottle down your throat each hour during the ride.

Additionally, keep drinking a glass of water an hour and you’ll stay hydrated. One word here concerning coffee and alcohol, both are diuretics (make you lose water) so moderation and balance is key. If you indulge in diuretics, it should make sense to you that you’ll have to drink extra water to stay hydrated.

We will continue to pick one technical topic and one training question each week:

To suggest a topic for next week: question4sid@yahoo.com

Ask Craig a training question for next week: efficiencycoaching@cox.net

Until next week, Happy Riding

I've been a little lost with what to write for a blog update; it seems that with various online

race news sites everyone knows how the race unfolded before I can even write about it. Or with

four guys on the Team I feel like I'm repeating what Max, Sam or Manny wrote with different

wording. Plus with the addition of twitter (http://twitter.com/sidtaberlay) and Facebook, it seems

everyone has a fair idea what I'm up to on a daily routine.

So I've decided that perhaps it is time to do something a little different. So with the help from

Craig Hopps at Efficiency Coaching we are going to turn my blog into a more educational piece.

Hopefully we can be an inspiration:

To get more people back out on their bikes.

Fast track the next generation of PRO's.

Overcome that obstacle that has held you up.

Make your every day riding experience more enjoyable.

I'm sure you get the idea...

We are going to structure it in two segments: A "how to" topic of the week and a "coaching tip" of the week

Here's the good bit for you - we want your involvement, "Suggest a Topic" and "Ask Coach a

Question" and we will pick the best topic and question each week to answer that we feel will allow people to greater appreciate their riding experience.

I will answer the topic segment and Craig will answer the coaching question.

I've picked next week's topic already, which is inspired by Mr Hopps himself: "Hopping to another level" (the bunny hop).

To suggest a topic for following weeks: question4sid@yahoo.com

Ask Coach a question for following weeks: efficiencycoaching@cox.net

Until next week, enjoyable riding :-)

Sid Taberlay

After 6 months of training, racing, and a couple of bad ribs to nurture, it was time to take it easy, at least that’s what I thought. Little Benny had different ideas; at 13 he has no interest in sightseeing, he just wanted make the most of his last 4 days in America riding his bike. A sucker for not wanting to disappoint, I got dragged out to show Ben the local trails. After an hour of climbing he was thrilled by the 40 minute single track downhill. Although my ego wasn’t the best after having to take all the chicken lines at terribly slow speeds trying to protect my uncomfortable ribs. It was boot camp training for the 13-year-old, 12 hours on the bike in 4 days and then we dropped him off at the airport, Australia bound.

It brings back memories of my first international flight; I was somewhat older than 13, but probably less experienced. Heading from Australia to Spain for the 2000 World Championships, looking back it was one of the worst connections I’ve ever had. The things you do to save a buck, 1hr Hobart to Melbourne, 9 hrs Melbourne to somewhere in Asia, followed by 12 hrs to Vienna (Austria), not sure how long from Vienna to Barcelona which was to be followed by another flight to Granada (South Spain), with connections the trip adds up to over 40 hrs of travel. Anyway, I missed the connection in Barcelona, and was told there was not another flight until the following day, couldn’t work out how to use an international phone card, then when I was trying to find information from the info desk, was told in English that she didn’t speak or understand English. I know Australian is a weird language, but I still thought it was a form of English?? Boy, did I feel stranded; I ended up spending my first night overseas sleeping on a wooded bench inside the airport. I woke to find that I had either started a trend or it was common practice for people who missed flights to crash on the wooden benches. Finally I made it to the Worlds, with what would have to be one of the longest travel times ever?!? Easily exceeding 50 hours from door to door! I was glad that Ben had a very simple flight path, and made it home safe and sound.

The last few days, I’ve been taking it easy, eating all the things I shouldn’t! I don’t know how I got through 5 tubs of ice-cream in as many days, but it did happen :-/ To my surprise I only put on 600 grams, which is awesome, guess the YOR Health products helped me there.

With 7 weeks to the next PRO XCT, it’s time to get the base back up, before going into the next block of intensity leading into Mt Snow. Until next time…..

Sid Taberlay

Some times I think I'm more of a Roadie than a Mountain Biker. After a week of spinning my legs off with a 40-tooth MTB gear on a hard tail with slicks, due to my crash, I was excited to knock out a few road miles over the weekend. I had a few complaints from people wishing I were still on my mountain bike, being that my turns up front were a little slower due to the big wheels. Sorry Dennis :-)

I've never weighted my road bike before, so I thought I'd check it out. I'm not sure if I’m impressed by the weight or disappointed. How can a stock standard bike weight in under the legal UCI limit of 6.8kg?? Does that mean I have to add weights to it before entering a race?? Guess I better find some heavy bottle cages and extra long steel bolts.

Bike Build:

Specialized S-Works frame/fork

Specialized Barmac bars/stem combo

Specialized Carbon seat post

Specialized Phenom saddle

Sram Red Group set

Zipp 404 wheels