I’ve been traveling, so you’ll have to excuse the gap since the last update. For the first update, you get photos of a very foggy Eagle Park in the early winter.

Next, a breif update on the BB7 brake upgrade. I’ve used the BB7s in a few races, and in dry, wet and muddy conditions. My conclusion is that they work and they are a worth while upgrade. Benefits over my old rims brakes included more predictable braking in the wet and less hand fatigue, which is particularly useful in the enduro events. Areas of concern are the increased weight, braking noise and degraded modulation. However, even with the drawbacks, I would strongly recommend BB7s for cross country use.

Moving on, I’ve converted the Eriksen to 1×9. Prior to the last enduro I removed the granny gear, so removing the big ring was the next logical step. I used a Paul’s Chain Keeper, and kept the XT crankset with the 32t middle ring. I’m still adjusting things (mostly the chain length), but the system seems to work well and the big ring hasn’t been missed.  That said, I’ll give the 1×9 setup more trail time before I give a more detailed review.

Finally, my old (but not that old) Adidas Marathon shoes died. The sole surrounding the cleat cracked after about two years of use. I wasn’t impressed. So, I got a pair of Shimano SM-M086L (catchy name, huh?) shoes as a replacement. The Shimanos aren’t as flashy as some of the shoes out there, but they are reasonably priced and appear to be durable. They have been comfortable on the road, and haven’t given me any reason to complain off-road in the mud. That’s all for now, but I’ll have some non-cycling related updates shortly…

The 2010 Australian MTB Championships will be in Adelaide this year.  While I won’t be competing (I can lose sufficiently well at the local level), I did put together this map of the 2010 Olympic XC (XCO) course from some GPS data, track descriptions and several weeks of riding the course.  While this map isn’t official, the route has been verified as correct.

I overlaid the XCO route on the existing Eagle map.  If you are familiar with Eagle, then you’ll see that some of the XCO course is on existing tracks, and some is on new tracks not included on the current Eagle map.  The new sections of track are in the vicinity of Tunnel Vision, with some smaller sections near the “skills development area” and a loop around the new 4x track, located on the east side of the skills development area.  Sunset Blvd was (to my knowledge) an existing track that was not on the existing Eagle map, but is part of the XCO course and can be found to the north and east of the “Overlocker” label.  Unlike the other unmapped sections, Sunselt Blvd. is signed and clearly marked.

Download the printable Eagle 2010 XCO Map (PDF, 2.0MB)

The ‘Eagle Short Course’ race was the second race in the 2009/2010 AMTBC Summer Series, and my second MTB race.  This race was similar in format to the ‘Dirt Crit‘ in that the course was short (about two minutes per lap), but the terrain was a little more technical.  The race was time limited plus two finishing laps, with the riders separated into five race grades.

Based on my performance and observations in the first race, this time I decided to enter in the ‘C Grade’.

My race stated well.  I was in second after the mass start, and held that position for two or so laps.  I passed the leader and actually held the lead for about a lap, and then crashed one one of the slightly technical sections (around 2:30 in the video).

I had ridden this section of the course several time prior to the race, but this time I didn’t quite make it.  My front wheel grabbed a rut in the dirt and I went over the bars.  Surprisingly, the front wheel came partially out of the dropout and the brake jammed.  After a quick repair and wheel realignment I was back in the race, though apparently about 30 seconds down (on a sub two-minute lap).  The rest of the race was unevetful with a few passes and being passed a few time.  I ended up finishing seventh of ten.  The complete C Grade results here:

I was race plate 421.  As you can see, the first few laps went pretty well, then in lap 4 I crashed.  My remaining lap times never quite recovered to my pre-crash lap times.

For comparison, average lap times by grade; minutes:seconds (number of laps completed):

Full results and more info available on the Adelaide MTB Club site: www.amtbc.com.

Like many others, I’m going to lay blame from my problems, at least partially, on my equipment.  I decided to swap my front Larsen TT tire with a 2.1″ Maxxis Rendez eXCeption series.  Supposedly, this tire should offer more cornering grip than the Larsen TT, and it may, but what it doesn’t offer is any braking traction whatsoever.  The Rendez was sketchy on any slightly loose descent, and felt disconnected in heavy sprints/acceleration.  Interestingly, this 2.1″ Rendez is actually 1/4″ narrower than the 2.0″ Larsen TT.  I rode the Rendez on a few trails prior to the race, and against my better judgment, I left it on.  For those who are interested, I generally ride the rear Larsen TT at 32 psi and the Rendez in front at 28 psi, both with tubes.

Overall I am happy with the results, and I’ll have more video and data tables after the next race.  The video turned out much better this time (no leaf on lens).  The first-person on-bike video was from the ATC3K helmet camera and the Sony W300 was used for the rest of the video.  Next time I think I’ll try for more off-bike angles