New Years!

The shit has hit the fan! A few days before xmas i was cleaning my xc bike before the Mt Taylor hill climb which I was realy looking forward to, when I decided to change my chain stay protector, and what do i find as Im washing the dust away? A great big hole at the bottom of chain stay. So the old Flx 3000 went straight to a Merida dealer where I was informed that it was most likely caused by the derailleur swining up or something. The guy from the shop has been mega helpfull, but has said he cant see them covering it by warenty. If they dont, there will be a bit of arguing on my part. I believe that the bike was well handled, and used for its intended use, yet this happened. All the parts on the bike are stock. So I havnt been doing much training as a result of the festive season and what not and all and all feeling a bit shity about nationals. Im going to continue to train for nationals since I could mabey actualy do ok, though its not looking good at this stage. The thing is, I just dont like racing XCO competitavly that much. Its fun at a club level, but when you need to do well its just too full on for me. Also, training for it is so boring, its all intervals and hill climb reps for less than 2 hours. I just want to hit the road for a few hours and climb some big hills and enjoy it.

Im realy looking forward to training for marathons again. Just going out with the intention of going some place with no intended route and finding something new. Hammering through a full on head wind to get that corner in the distance where i know i will be flying along, riding so far away from home that Im ontop of a hill where I can see all of canberra or some beautiful wildlife or riding for so long with little food that a wobble home in a numb trance. Thats what I love about riding, thats what makes me a happy chap.

On the other hand, If I were to do well in nationals I would be a very very happy chappy. So Im just going to get up early each morning (before the wind) and ride as hard as i can for one or two hours, hope that I have a new frame in the next week or so and see what happens.

In some other cycling news, Andy has managed to get us (my brother pete, andy, dave and myself) on the Jet Black team for the Sydney 24hr in febuary. The race is on the Hawksbry (sp?) river so we can swim between laps which will feel great. After the 08 scott 24hr, Im actualy looking forward to this, Ive learnt how to handle all nighters now so I will probably have a good race.

So thats all for now, I will get back to you all when I find out more about my frame.