Just a very quick little article to tell you what I’m up to at the moment, because I reckon you still might have time to join me if you’re really organised? As with last year, it’s shameless that the leading news article on our website still reads ‘Happy Christmas’ and it’s taken us until now to prepare a new story. Our excuse – TORQ is extremely busy at the moment, so I guess that’s a good thing. Anyway, I’m in Australia preparing myself mentally for an epic Mountain Bike race called ‘Terra Australis’, a 550Km off-road challenge run over 7 days…
We sign on this Saturday and the race starts Sunday and despite what their website says, they’re still taking entries, so come on over, it’s not far away. I’m paired up with James Maebus, one of TORQ Australia’s finest team riders (TORQ Australia are a UCI-registered world-class outfit), so I reckon I’m going to be dragged around this course kicking and screaming. Other TORQ teams include Dan Mc Connell & Luke Fetch who have to be the favourites to win and Dean Clarke (TORQ Australia’s head honcho) & Katherine O’Shea, the TORQ mixed pair who I’m determined not to let beat us. There we go, I’ve said it and I know I’m going to regret that, because Dean and Katherine are on fantastic form. Katherine won the Elite National MTB series and Dean has transformed himself from leisure Mountain Biker to ‘serious hard nut’. He weighs 61Kg, which is about as much as both my legs! God the boy can climb…
If you want to keep track of our progress, you can do so by visiting www.terraaustralismtbepic.com
There are also some useful TORQ articles on this website too aimed at helping riders to prepare for an event like this, so they’re well worth a read if you’re thinking of doing something similar this year.
Many thanks to our UK, sponsors. I’ll be riding my Kona Hei Hei Supreme (because it has some suspension, which I reckon will help to protect my batty over the 7 days), Magura Marta SL brakes, especially designed for TORQ attached to their Durin SL forks, which are fantastic. I’ll also be using the new Schwalbe Rocket Ron’s fitted around my Stans hoops and of course my comfy and light Ergon grips.
