Strava is dead

Claimed overall title of the Shimano MTB GP series for 2014 in Elite 4hr category

2014 has been a ripper year on the bike along with the arrival of my son on the 17th Aug, racing all over Australia almost every weekend from the centre of the desert in Alice Springs for a 6 day stage race, Wombat forests of Victoria  to vying for the series lead in NSW based Shimano GP series title.  

But on Sunday I was officailly awarded the title of Overall Series winner of the Shimano GP MTB series. Unfortunately was unable to race the last race due to a knee issue which has kept me off the bike but hope to be fit enough to race the full Kolwalski MTB race. However winning two of the series  events and a 2nd gave me enough of a lead to hold onto the series overall title:

THE FULL KOWALSKI (Circa 100 km):

The Full Kowalski will challenge you over a mind bendingly high proportion of flowing single track across East Kowen Forest and Sparrow Hill. Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention tantalising traverses, sweet carving descents and a few delightfully stout stem-biting climbs (provided free by the ACT Parks and Conservation Service!). This race will have it all… and more.

 

Media release, 16 September 2014

 

Stromlo rewards local racers at final SHIMANO MTB GP Series Race

 

Almost 300 riders participated in the final SHIMANO Mountain Bike Grand Prix Series event at Stromlo Forest Park. Many local riders claimed podium positions and two local riders took out the seven-hour elite endurance categories Four-hour format popular with solo racers

 

Australia's 2014 Commonwealth Games representative Andy Blair won the 4-hour elite men's race with 10 completed laps in 4:13:44 ahead of ex-Supercrosss World Champion Stefan Merriman from Newcastle and Daniel Beresford from Wagga Wagga (NSW). "It was great to win a race on home ground", said Blair and added that his fellow racers put up a good fight.

 

Noticeably absent due to injury was overall series winner in the 4-hour, Paris Basson from Sydney and the organisers credited Bryan Dunkin who secured the overall Junior series win with 9 laps and a fifth consecutive win at Stromlo. Wendy Stevenson from Sydney won the 4-hour elite women's race and was also awarded the overall series title.

 

Shooting the Santa Cruz Solo with Inciteimages.com

As you can tell the image captured here by Mark Watson from inciteimages.com are insane.

But there is a story behind every shot: 5:20am shoot on an injured knee in a undisclosed location made for a cool memory and will grace a few international magazines.

Bike was kitted with KS dropper, Sram X1, Sram 650B Rise60 wheels, wide 720 bars

​Media release, 9 September 2014

​SHIMANO MTB Grand Prix finale in Canberra draws Australia's top endurance mountain bikers

The fifth and final race of this year's SHIMANO Mountain Bike Grand Prix Series will summon more than 300 racers to Canberra's Stromlo Forest Park this Saturday. Organisers from Rocky Trail Entertainment expect a thrilling conclusion to the popular cross-country racing series that has seen a good 1500 riders cross their finish line since March. For 2015, a six-race series with headline sponsor SHIMANO Cycling Australia has already been confirmed to commence in early March next year.

For the final event, an eight kilometre race course will be set out at Stromlo Forest Park and among the participants will be some of Australia's top endurance athletes, including Canberra's Andrew Blair who finished in 12th at the recent Commonwealth Games XCO competition in Glasgow (UK). Rocky Trail's Event Director Juliane Wisata says that the series has attracted a wide variety of mountain bike racers since its inception in 2009, "We see this series as a real playground for all keen mountain bikers. Especially this year we've seen a huge influx of junior and female racers and we think it's because we provide a positive event atmosphere and professional racing platform for Australian athletes to enjoy and share their passion for mountain biking and to develop their skills." 

Series decider at Stromlo Forest Park

 

In the GP4-hour elite series, Wendy Stevenson and Paris Basson lead their respective categories. The top three series place-getters in each solo and team category will get awarded with the official SHIMANO MTB GP Series Champions socks and certificates. A minimum of two race results are required to be eligible for a placing and the best 4 out of 5 race points results will count towards to final series result

Media release, 11 August 2014

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SHIMANO Mountain Bike Series announces two equal series leaders: McNamara and Richardson for GP7 hr

 

Paris Basson, comfortable GP4-hour elite men's lead after Round 4

 

 

Paris Basson and Brooke Rowlands are the GP4-hour elite winners of the SHIMANO Mountain Bike Grand Prix Round 4 at The Australian Botanic Garden, Mt Annan. In the GP7-hour competition turned out to be a nail-biter: Canberra's EdMcDonald persisted on the challenging track and won ahead of Quantum racers Michal Kafka and Ondrej Slezak. But it was Callum McNamara that attacked Max Richardson's series lead early on and with a fourth place ahead of the final series event on his home track at Stromlo Forest Park on 13 September, McNamara now draws level with Richardson taking over the series lead ex aequo with the newcomer from the Central Coast.

Organisers Rocky Trail Entertainment summoned a record field of riders to the SHIMANO Mountain Bike Grand Prix race at The Australian Botanic Garden, Mt Annan. Almost 350 riders competed in the four and seven hour competitions and with his second victory Paris Basson further increased his series lead in the GP4-hour elite men's category. Dominating a tight race among a field of more than 100 solo racers he managed to squeeze in 9 laps in 3:59:23 for yet another successful race with the birth of his first child imminent. Mike Cameron from Maroubra came in second with a gap of 6  minutes ahead of last year's winner Daniel McDonald from Campbelltown.

Detailed results from the Mount Annan event and online registration for Round 5 are now live on www.rockytrailentertainment.com

Shimano MTB Grand Prix series

Round 4:

Magellan duo takes out line honours

 

Sydney-siders Paris Basson and James Lamb from Magellan Racing dominated the overall field all day and were the only team to complete 23 laps in the elite pairs division, taking the line honours. “I’ve been racing almost every Rocky Trail event this year and they just keep getting better”, said Paris Basson. “The atmosphere is just phenomenal! We heard the music on most parts of the track and the event centre was so well arranged, great food, great company – an awesome weekend out!” Team mate and solo endurance racer James Lamb agreed, “This was one of the best races I’ve ever been to. And this team racing thing is quite a challenge, man, you push each other to race as hard as you can, it’s actually tougher that I thought it would be.”

 

 

Overall winners and line honours: 

Team 2 Male Elite // Magellan Racing // Paris Basson, James Lamb / 23 laps in 12:05:18

Round 3:

Four-time World Enduro Motor Cross Champion Stefan Merriman took out the four-hour Elite Men’s race at the SHIMANO Mountain Bike Grand Prix (MTB GP) near Wyong on the weekend, winning against series leader Paris Basson. With 14 completed laps Jason English won the seven-hour competition ahead of Andrew Lloyd and Max Richardson from Wamberal, who takes over the reigns as new series leader in that division. In the women’s competition, Lana Moy further increases her series lead in the four-hour event, whilst Kirby Knowles held onto her seven-hour series lead finishing second behind a dominant Laura Renshaw, the Elite Women’s winner of round three.

The depth of field was impressive as almost 350 riders gathered at the start line at Ourimbah MTB Park for the third round of the SHIMANO Mountain Bike Grand Prix Series. Multiple National Champions and the 24-Hour World Champion Jason English were at the start line, as well as one of Australia’s biggest names in motor cross racing: Stefan Merriman. After a win in the 40+ master category in round one with Rocky Trail earlier this year at Awaba, the 41-year old from Port Stephens showed that his talent for two-wheeled sports also extends into mountain biking and won in the elite male category with 8 laps completed in 4:01:13, putting none other than series leader Paris Basson in second ahead of Qantum racer Michal Kafka who came third.

Paris' new Jamis Xenith 2014 Team bike, up spec’ed to Dura Ace Di2 and SRAM Quarq

All cyclists are familiar with the big brands ala Specialized, Giant, Scott and Merida here is a brand that can rival all and is producing some of the best ride quality bikes out there, ENTER the new 2014 Jamis Xenith road bikes.

To start ask most USA domestic team riders after a few drinks what is their favourite bike they have ridden and sure as shit it will be the Xenith. Jamis pro road team: Jamis-Hagens Berman had stellar results with stage wins at the Amgen Tour of California and USA Pro Cycling Challenge, as well as several other domestic events. 2014 Xenith line is a refinement of the teams development and one kick ass bike, a complete redesign of the Jamis’s tried-and-true carbon rig.

Ok well my bike isn’t exactly stock however is as dreamie as you can make it! A true mongrel of the best parts I believe is in the market to date:

Frame wise is the top end models Xenith SL and the Team are the same in different colour swatches- one red one white. Mine is the Team same carbon count and lay up as the SL. The Team comes with full 11 speed Sram Red, which I use on my Jamis Supernova Team CX bike, and works like a dream. However as I am brand manager for Magellan GPS we have been working with Shimano on integrating Di2 gearing into the Cyclo500 head unit, so you can view your current gearing and battery status on your device and analyse the gear data after your ride. This is something where the future of auto pilot or automatic gearing will go along with some great post processing software that can tell me what power I am most effectively producing in what gear ratio’s, etc.

Check out DC rainmakers site for full details : http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/03/mio-di2-wireless-control.html

 So for development purposes this I have splashed out on Dura Ace 9070 Di2 11 speed, front and rear derailleurs, DA shifters and internal wiring which the frame is setup for although there is no Di2 bike in the stocked range this year. Then to cap off my pre baby spending spree I added the most stable and attainable power meter cranks to the Jamis the SRAM Quarq Red 53/39-172.5mm crankset. I cannot stress enough to never buys a SRM due my own personal experiences with SRM New Zealand service centre (however that is a whole another story which am happy tell anyone).

Now Shimano will tell you that you will reduce the seamlessness of the shifting if you use an Quarq with DA Di2 due to the chainrings, however I have not had any issues and super happy with the Quarq and Di2 living in symbiosis. As for wheels I will race the bike with my HED’s and train on the Cole C24 lite http://www.colewheels.com/pages/product.php?type=road&id=1&ids=Road%20Clincher and they look and ride sweetly seem like built proof wheels and good for 10000km’s As for contact points this puppy is riddled with Ritchey WCS carbon bars (44cm) wrapped with Fizik super sticky bar tape, 100m WCS carbon stem, WCS carbon post with an internal Di2 battery inserted in post, real easy to fit and don’t need to go down the route of buying a Shimano Pro specific post (all that is needed is to wrap some bartape around the battery and twist her in tightly) and a 125gram SLR seat (hard to come by nowday’s).

 

As for the ride I will update you on this as have only ridden a few km’s on her and all I could tell is the excelaration is ridiculous out the blocks. So can only imagine that will have no excuses but too make sure I do the bike justice by going hard on her over the next year!
 Here are a few detailed pics for the review:

 

 

 

TRP front barke has huge power and that aero feel again

 

The lines look great without a rear brake on the stays

 

 A beefed up BB for Gripel and his mates power transfer

 

Internal routing for Di2 on frame

 

 The hidden rear brake is give it nice clean look and a few seconds off your PB's