Lights....Fuel....Action
Winter has certainly set in on the Surf Coast, unfortunately bringing with it unruly riding conditions, including the darker beginning and end to the days, which is generally the most popular riding times. This means that a set of good lights on your bike is a must. First and foremost the lights on your bike must ensure that motorists can easily spot you. We recommend a bright headlight with side light capacity, a red tail light on your helmet which has a flashing option, and a red tail light for your bike – again with a flashing option, at the very least. You really cannot have enough lighting to ensure your safety during the winter season.
Read more: Lights for winter
Here comes ‘Le Tour’
As all of us here on the Surfcoast battle with the often unruly and unpredictable weather on our bikes at the moment, pushing ourselves to our limits, we must take time to reflect on the gruelling training schedule that our world ranking cyclist are now in the midst of, in their final preparations for the toughest cycling race on earth, Le Tour de France, which begins next month..
Running from Saturday July 4th to Sunday July 26th 2009, the 96th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,500 kilometres.
These 21 stages have the following profiles:
10 flat stages,
7 mountain stages,
1 medium mountain stage,
2 individual time-trial stages,
1 team time-trial stage.
Read more: Tour De France 2009
The Surf Coast Cycling Club Has held its first Mtb event with great success. The response from local riders and families was overwhelming. The event included a kids race before the main event. Every kid that raced was a winner, The only casualty of the kids race was event organiser and club president Shane Haase. Shane took a spill during the practice lap but all the kids managed to negoitiate around him.
The main event was a 1 hr Mini enduro with teams of two paired up by the event organisers. Legendary Mtb rider and international track builder Glenn Jacobs got the jump on the field after hiding behind race timer Kate Done, his lead was short lived and Karma had the final say when Glenn was forced to retire with a mechanical. There were three teams that looked like contenders for first place honurs right from the start. The eventual winners were local riders Brian Happ and Sandy Maxwell. Nine seconds further down the track were second place getters Travis Edwards and Lloyd Gray. Third place went to local Mtb guru Jeff Fox and his team of associates Postie Pete and Nichol Wylie .