It never gets old, that feeling of the upcoming race season. Fresh kit, fresh bike, months of training and staring at squat numbers, power meters, calories and the donuts and cakes I wish I could be eating. Then all of a sudden you are on the starting line and anxiously waiting to see if you have got it right or wrong. You are either going to come out of the weekend frothing that your pre-season training was dialled, or you are going to come out terrified because round 1 is only a few weeks away.
I decided to head back to my hometown of Wollongong prior to the start of the season, for some weeks of training in the coastal summer. The winters in Vancouver are pretty mild in comparison to the rest of North America, but for a kid that grew up on the coastline of Australia, it is bloody cold and wet. Riding all winter in the slick roots and loam of the famous North Shore mountains is an invaluable skill builder and loads of fun but it can also crack you a bit after back to back weeks of riding in the rain and snow. The layering, the plastic bags to keep your feet dry and the mid ride frozen drink bottles can definitely start to become tedious. Swapping that up for some sunshine was like recharging the batteries. I’ve never been so stoked to get sunburnt. And that coming from someone who gets burnt in front of the fridge, is a pretty big statement. Spending time with family and friends while getting in some nice blocks of training definitely helped get my head around the upcoming race season.
The beginning of the year is also time for our Giant team camp. Our entire team gathers at the GIANT HQ just outside of LA to set up our new bikes and snap some photos in our new gear. There is only a couple of times a year that our entire team gets to hang out together, so it’s always a good time having a laugh and riding bikes.
So after returning to Oz in early February with my wife and son, I jumped back on a plane late February to meet up with my Giant team. I headed back to Australia with my new rig, some fresh kit and frothing for the upcoming race season.
For me, my first race of the year was the Giant Toa Enduro at the Rotorua Crankworx. It was the ideal test race before the Enduro World Series kicks of in Chile at the end of March. Rotorua is known for having some of the best trails in the world and heading over to race there is a no brainer. I travelled to Rotorua last year to race and was super excited to head back over. The trails are wicked, the locals are incredibly fast and to achieve a good result over there, I knew I would have to put together a near perfect day of racing.
I managed to piece together 7 solid stages in Rotorua and was super happy with how I felt this early in the season. 30 degrees, 8 hours out in the forest, 4 gels, 6 honey stinger waffles, 4 bananas and 5 litres of water over 60kms of riding was an absolute blast. Mountain biking is awesome! I was stoked to end up on the podium with some super fast Kiwis and happy with the way I was feeling on the bike.
With a handful of new parts for the 2016 season, my Giant Factory off road team have been working hard over the winter to build my new Reign Advanced up to be the best it has ever been . I’ve never had so much confidence in my bike and am so stoked to race it. I tested an XL size frame at the end of 2015 and was so happy with the extra room that I stayed on the larger size for 2016. At 6’1, the extra room in the cockpit felt great and the stability it provides at high speeds was unmatched by anything else I had tested over the winter. I kept my 50mm Truvativ stem to keep some weight over the front and the bike was perfect in every way. I also opted for the new Lyric fork in the 170mm size. The extra stiffness balances out my bike and with my coil in the rear, this thing is an absolute weapon. My mechanic, Colin Bailey, has built me a rig that is focused on traction and performance as well as being as bulletproof as we could make it. The ideal setup for racing the EWS .
We are pretty lucky to have a wicked build on our team bikes, Schwalbe tyres, Rock Shox suspension and SRAM drivetrains are ideal. Teamed up with some wicked new HT pedals, colours and fresh looking kit for 2016, the year ahead is already shaping up to be one of the best ever.
It sounds funny but I’m actually more nervous coming into this racing season that I ever have been before. I feel like I have been on a mountain bike racing apprenticeship over the last few years. My first year of racing as a professional, I charged like a bull at a gate and ended up in a French hospital by Round 2. In my second year, I felt like I was a little more prepared and aware but again headed down to Chile absolutely frothing and again hit the ground doing a thousand km/h. I would go on to actually finish the season but it would take me until the final round to feel ‘normal’ again. My third year, I relaxed a little bit and took a step back. I focused on my ‘trade’ and focused on learning what it took to race at the highest level. How much effort did it really take? What do I need to do to win one of these things? Can I actually work towards winning a round? How do I become world champion? These were questions I constantly searched out answers for. Did I find them? We will have to wait for the completion of the fourth year of my apprenticeship to find out.
Thanks for being a part of the Froth Factory!
Photo // Sven Martin