DMB here I come

I am getting very excited for Byron Blues and Roots Music Festival which I'll be heading to this week, either tuesday night late after work, or wednesday. I'll be driving up to Bryron Bay, which is like a 10 -12 hour drive, but I think it will be cool to drive up the coast of Australia.

So Dave Matthews Band is playing, which one of the reasons I'm going. It is a 5 day festival, but I only have tickets for Thrusday, Friday, Saturday (Sunday and Monday also have shows) I'll use Sunday for the drive home. (In Australia Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays so this will basically be a a 5 day weekend, YEAH!!!!!)

Anyway the lineup of bands is Awesome, Americans may Recognize
Dave Matthews Band
REM
Jack Johnson
Sarah McLachlan
Bo Diddley
G Love and Special Sauce
George Clinton Parliment / Funkadelic
George Thorogood

and the more famous / mainstream aussie acts include

Missy Higgins
Jon Butlter Tio
Cat Empire
Kasey Chambers

Unfortunately I cannot see all of them since I only have a 3 day pass...I'm bummed I'll be missing Sarah McLachlan who is playing on Sunday (bummer)

But I'll see Dave, which makes me happy.

Well, I best get back to work now...

Western Sydney Club Race

On Sunday, I competed in my second WSMTB (Western Sydney Mountain Bike) Club Race, which is my 4th race overall since I started this experiment of MTB racing about 6 weeks ago. I feel like I'm improving, I guess the wrecks over the last few weeks were part of the Crash Course of Mountian Biking, (all part of pusing ones limits, I suppose.)

The biggest issue, is that I am not very consistent, or intense with my MTB training. Most of my training is shorter than the races, and at a lower intensity. Which is bad combination, given that I still have my competitive streak.

So on this race, I recorded my splits of
34:06 for Lap1 and 34:27 for Lap 2.

(I'll set-up a post with official race results when they are ready)

Which is an overall improvement of about 6 minutes from my first WSMTB Race, 3 weeks ago....which is huge considering I haven't trained a tons [but I guess I did train more than I did for my first 2 races]. ( It also explains, why I thought I was going to die in the parking lot after the race, and why I had to take a nap when I got home, and also why I went to bed at 9pm last night...)

The moral of the story is that I need start training a little more seriously, since I seem to push myself in races...

Finally Results from Working Week Series Race 1

Finally they have posted results of the 8 hour race series I'm in...

If you are interested you can down them at the working week web site (here).

Team TRuDGe is in the Open/ Mixed 4's category.

In a nutshell, we 11th out of 13 Mixed 4's, but as mentioned in a earlier post, we feel we would have moved a spot or two if they did not call the race early due to horrendous weather. We are also eyeing the total series scoring, so completing all 5 races, should help us in the overall.

Worlds Greatest Shave

I'M BALD!!!!!!!

My friend Zac's partner Karolyn is involved with the Leukaemia Foundation and they have a massive promotion every year called the "Worlds Greatest Shave" (follow this link for more info) ... I donated some money to Zac to have his head shaved, so I went down to watch him get his noggin shaved up.

There was some mild banter around the office that I should get my head shaved or dye my hair pink, nothing was committed however. But, at the event, I mentioned that I would have done it if the people were serious...so he said he would match the donation I gave him if I got my head shaved...[add to the mix a mild feeling of being tired of being a "stodgy, conservative old manager"] and I ended up getting my head shaved as well.

I then went back and did the rounds to raise a little more money...together zac and I raised a little over $700 bucks, which isn't bad. (I think I could have raised more if I woudl planned a little farther than 30 seconds ahead...)


Here are a few shots...


"In the beginning..."




Worlds Greatest Shave stage




Getting started..."what did I get myself into!"



almost done (on the stage at least)



Just off the stage...







Finishing touches applied by a proper hair dresser around the back of the stage..although I wonder how the "celebrity" shavers can get it wrong, it is basicaly short all over...



I'll add the rest of my pictures to my yahoo photo album after I've uploaded them...

Western Sydney MTB Club Race #2

On Feb 27, I did a club race with the Western Sydney Mountain Bike Club at Yellowmundi National Park. The results are finally back and here they are....(I did C Grade Mens)

Results

If you notice the winner of the A Grades, you'll see he was flying around the Track, well that guys is super legit!!

Paul Rowney is his name and he was the 2001 Australian Mens MTB rider of the year and a member of the 2000 Australian Olympic team. Guess he's a little overqualified for a club race.