I’ve had the pleasure of owning this bike for a couple of months now and racked up several different styles of rides on it, from fast bunch rides to races to hill repeats to bike path bashing, so I’ve put her through her paces in many environments.

It’s quite a different ride from the Giant TCR she replaces. Where the TCR was stiff and harsh, the Evo is smooth as silk, where the TCR was heavy and slow, the Evo glides effortlessly up the hills. Where the TCR would shift gears like a truck, the Evo is slick and effortless.

I have a lot of SRM and GPS data from the local 10 minute climb Mt. Ainslie, 5 years in fact. It’s the local proving ground for many of Canberras cyclists and somewhere I ride a bit as it is close to work. At 300W the TCR would get me up there in around 11 minutes, on the Evo with the same average wattage on the SRM, I am at the summit in the low 10′s. Sampling 10 repeats at that exact average wattage (luckily I have hundreds of efforts to pick matching data from) on each bike at that power and averaging them out, the Evo is just over 5% faster to the top. This is a significant difference in a road race, when the bunch attack a climb, 5% is the difference to being dropped like a stone and and cresting the top at the front of the group, not only still in the race, but controlling it. A handy advantage, and one I noticed immediately from the first pedal stroke up the first climb, this bike just floats up there.

Like any weight weenie I threw the bike on the scales after I built it up, stock, as supplied by Cannondale out of the box, it tipped the scales at 5.1kg. With pedals, an SRM power meter and bottle cages; ready to ride, she is 5.5kg, still over a kilo under UCI regs! Amazing. No wonder it climbs likes a gazelle.

On the decent though, this bike surprised me… It felt slow. I got to the bottom and was a bit disappointed because I was sure it was slower to the bottom… until I checked the Garmin, only to find it was actually faster than the TCR. How could that be…? It’s the super smooth ride of the Evo, it feels so smooth compared to the TCR that it might feel slower, but in fact it is eating up the bumps and smoothing the ride out so much that for the same speed, it is so smooth that it feels slow. What to do? Go faster! I have started drilling the descents a lot faster than I ever thought possible, scary fast, hospital fast. The wind is howling in my ears and the corners are a blur, but if you trust in the Evo, it rails the corners and eats the bumps, allowing some serious top speed and a new realm if adrenaline. It’s pure joy, especially on the ENVE wheelset strapped with Scwalbe Ultremo tubulars, which give amazing tactile feel for what the tyre is doing on the ground. You can feel exactly what the bike is doing, making the TCR feel like a dull instrument, a hammer, while the Evo is a surgeon’s scapel, accurate and refined.

The 2013 11sp Dura Ace is something to behold too. Coming from Di2 I was a little reluctant to take on a mechanical group set, the Di2 is just so good. Crisp and perfect shifting every time, and at the effortless touch of a button, which is leagues ahead of the Ultegra mechanical group I had come from before that. The front shifting on it was hard work and I lost count of the times it let me down shifting up to the big ring at pivotal times in races and threshold efforts in training, you push the lever and nothing would happen, leaving you to spin the small ring, frustrated. This was the pain I expected going back to mechanical on the Evo, but what I got was incredibly light front shifting, as light as the Di2 buttons… No exaggeration! It is incredible, and effortless. Slick too, in 1000km of rides it has not dropped a chain or failed a shift yet, including 1000W+ shifts during sprints in the drops. It’s awesome, so I will not be “upgrading” the Evo to Dura Ace Di2 as planned, the mechanical has better feel with equally light and accurate shifts, plus it’s lighter and weighing a machine this light down would be a crime

Today’s ride was a typical Saturday, bunch ride with the local’s then heading off for some efforts and a cruise home. Nothing out of the ordinary and I didn’t push it hard, average HR was only 125bpm, just cruising. So I was shocked to see this when I got home…

A KOM and PRs for the ascent and descent on Canberra’s other super popular climb, Black Mountain.

I have climbed it dozens of times, so to pull PB’s is a solid improvement. The KOM on the way home was surprise, as that segment is flat rough bike path, with gutters to jump. The Evo gets the credit for these records, as I rode them no different than usual, the bike was just faster.

So at the end of the day, backed up by plenty of SRM power and Garmin GPS data, I can definitely confirm that this bike is fast, over 5% faster on the climbs. I am landing PB’s every time I upload to Strava. Above all though, it’s the feel that is what sets it apart, it makes fast feel smooth and easy. It just allows you to smash it, begging you to push it harder. It’s the Evo’s supreme ride quality that takes you to a new level. The KOM’s and PR’s are just sweet reward and something to get used to seeing every time you throw a leg over the Evo.

It was worth every cent.

Jason has taken a close (64 seconds) 2nd place behind Stu Adams, with Garry not far behind in 3rd place in Solo Masters.

The course was fantastic and the crew from Chocolate Foot ran a slick event.

The Cannondales were faultless as usual, and our Schwalbe tyres felt like we were cornering on rails. Hammer nutrition kept us fueled up an the OnTheGo kits were super comfy and handled the 20′C swing in temps on track perfectly.

We are looking forward to the next round…

A tough course that had the equivalent of 1.5 ascents from sea level to the top of Kozciuszko combined with far northern Queenslands brutal heat and humidity made this years race a little harder than usual, leaving many competitors no choice but to withdraw, succumbing to dehydration and heat stroke.

Jason McAvoy stuck out there and finished 4th in Masters.

The course at Atherton Mountain Bike Park was sensational, lots of flow, challenging single track and plenty of jumps and fun to be had. It was well worth the trip to experience this fantastic venue!

Looking forward to next year (where we hope it will be a little cooler )

Gary has had great ride in the Wombat 100, winning Masters.

Congrats to Jason English on his 2nd place in the elite class.

OTG are off to a flying start in the marathons this year!

Solo 24hr, the second time round.

The story of my second solo 24hr starts about one year ago during last year’s Easter 24 nationals. I was with my family down at the coast having fun, playing card games, hitting up the beach and most importantly watching the online results very closely as Ed McDonald and Jason English battled it out in the pines of Majura. At the time I had only really just begun MTBing at a ‘competitive’ level as something of a humble B grade rider. I was totally in awe of Ed and all the other competitors for battling it out in such an under promoted event. If someone had told me that at the next year’s race, I would have been on the podium for the same race I would have simply laughed at the idea.

One year rolls around and turns out I have entered said race and upon lining up for the start I was even called up to the front row, Oh Yeah! Prior to the race Jason McAvoy had helped me with heap of advice regarding tapering, eating and a good plan of attack for the race start so I was feeling pretty good.

Like all race starts, the one minute warning is more like 45 seconds, 30 seconds like 15 and 10 seconds like 5. Once we were off the lead group was quickly established on the crit track, and we rolled out onto the first bit of trail in a very civil manner. When we pulled out onto the first fireroad I looked behind to see Jason was just behind me, I sort of invited him into the spot ahead of me to which he responded, ‘no no, you know the track’, hmmmmm. So I stuck behind Scotty and Ed who were sitting in 1^st and 2^nd respectively. Shorty after that the pace quickened slightly, but I was still very much within my limits, feeling like 75-80% effort. The two boys ahead broke away and I was not keen to follow, so  I spent a bit of a lap on my own in my own pace. Feeling well within my limits I was wondering whether Jason had incurred a mechanical or some other issue, as a world champ, he couldn’t have been going that slow? Behind me along with Jase was Ash Hyatt who I didn’t really know, but I could see Ed not far ahead so I figured I’d go bridge the gap for a quick chat. Riding with Ed, an old mate from uni, ended up being a great idea. So much fun was had and before I knew it two laps rolled by with numerous whips, girly giggles and general chat, I think at one point Ed had to remind me to up the pace(whoops)! Ed was smashing the fire road climb out the back and if I wanted to keep hanging around I was going to have to hurt, so on the climb of the third lap I bid him farewell and the solo aspect of the race truly began….

From here on in I aimed to roll out some simple and consistent laps, keep stuffing food in my mouth and keep the rubber side down. Jason rolled past soon enough on his way to chase the other boys. I was thinking how strange it was how he manages his pace that slow to start and just waits to reel in the others later, it must come from a lot of experience and also being 100% mentally in control.

After a while I noticed my lap times were slowing much more than I had anticipated, and it took me until about 7pm to realise how much I was avoiding speed and technical features due to a sore neck; I guess the gradual onset of pain was not all that noticeable. I shoved down some paracetamol with some coke and spaghetti Bolognese, half a lap later I was feeling awesome, was back into the 46 minute lap range. Midnight rolled around and my mind started to tell my body to shut down, I was literally fighting my bodies sleeping clock trying to stay awake. This was by far the hardest part of the race, when I pulled in to the pits at 1am, I decided to have some food and caffeine so I asked for coke and more spag bol. Having caffeine gels help; I was becoming quite used to the Hammer espresso gels which initially taste bitter when you try them, but in any riding/racing situation they go down quite well (and the consistency is just right). Despite the food and moderate caffeine intake I was still struggling to focus, I was practically going cross-eyed at random moments. Unable to concentrate caused my power output to drop (probably) but most significantly my ability to descend and handle technical sections suffered the most. As a result, my lap times blew out to around the hour mark, at this point I had tried plenty of food and caffeine to no avail and then made use of Einstein’s wise words;

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

I was climbing the fire road up to slant six and thought to myself ‘enough is enough’, only a quick nap would remedy this. I thought of finishing the lap and of going to the pits to have a snooze (too far), going straight back to the pits (going backwards) and it was at this point I a saw a nice ditch at the top of the fire road which looked quite comfy, so I took 5 minute nap in this lovely looking nest. My eyelids were quite heavy, and it could have been more of a deep sleep if people didn’t keep pulling over to ask if I was ok! During my nap I knew I had to look out for Brett Bellchambers as he was trailing closely behind me and when I saw him pass (he was easily spotted with his big distinctive beard and he was also the only guy who didn’t want to disturb my sleep!) I figured even if the nap hasn’t worked I may as well go and follow him in my zombie-like state. When I got on my bike, I realised that my unfocused, cross-eyed habits were no longer evident, this was amazing! I soon enough caught back up to Brett, tried to encourage some singing out of him (I one got two lines of a song, he said he didn’t know the rest haha) then proceeded onwards. I was officially out of my sleeping phase and I was VERY happy, that could have very well been the most miserable and frustration filled 4 hours of my life!

From here on in I anticipated a fairly standard race finish just having to hold off Brett. However, coming into the pits on my 25^th lap I noticed Ash (currently in the place ahead of me) was pulled over in the pits. I was sure that would have put me in third. So I grabbed some food in transition and rolled out with Ash on my tail. The pace got quite quick as we both thought this was for position and when Ash stumbled on the rock garden I decided to step on it and put a gap on him… eventually the gap managed to grow out to the point of no longer seeing him anymore. Lap times were quick (for me), down to the mid to late 40 min range. That was until I was informed by my pit crew that he had infact lapped me during my zombie like state and I still had another lap to close on him. This news hit me hard, I was sure I was in third the news pretty much broke me completely. Having two laps to go, I only had to roll them out to hold 4^th as I had safe lead over Brett from my play with Ash. For my final lap, Nathan from OnTheGo rolled with me and did his slowest climb of bluetounge in his life, but it was good to have a teammate there rolling with miserable me at the end.

I finished in 4^th place overall and 2^nd in my age category, which I stoked to get. This was my second ever solo 24 hour race and I learnt three main things about my 24 hour racing:

- My neck and its soreness can be (or should be) pre-emptively remedied at the 6-8 hour mark before it becomes an issue.

- Upon advice from experienced 24 hour racers, the sleeping phases can be minimized or largely avoided though a more intense use of caffeine and simple carbs. Perhaps different clothing options also.

- I need to enter the race with more motivation. Throughout this race I was always within the top 5 (my original goal) and lacked any additional drive to push further. Perhaps I need higher expectations coming into races.

I’d also like to thank my support crew of Dad, Kylie and Jason McAvoy and Mick Spencer. They did one of those pit stops that you see in F1 where the car stops, a group of people swarm around the car, seconds later remove themselves and the car leaves with a whole bunch of work done. Only in this situation, replace the car with me on a bike. I think in one stop I had both lights and batteries done, pockets filled with food, had food put in my hand, bottle changed, chain lubed and had a jacket put on me, it was ridiculous!

A few other cool bits of gear which I had throughout the race were:

- A set of radical lights, the light isn’t quite as ‘white’ as other LED lights, it has a warmer tone to it with softer edges. As a result, the light tends not to pick up on airbourne matter like dust. The softer light spread means that the lights don’t highlight the small bushes and the alike covering your line of sight 12 inches from your face and ultimately makes for a light pattern which causes you forget about the fact your wearing the lights at all. Also runtime is super long, 6 hrs on full power from a single battery, far better that anything I had previously used.

- The Schwalbe Snakeskin Racing Ralphs are my rubber of choice, light, grippy and I can confidently say the snakeskin models are very reliable. The wear life may be shorter that other tyres, but it’s totally worth it for the extra grip which comes with a nice predictable traction threshold.

- The Hammer nutrition I had throughout the race went down super easy. As I mentioned, the gels are awesome, but also the bars are great, not too chewy and not dry either which means you can slam them down on the bike. The HEED electrolyte drink never becomes sweet or sickly like others, you literally can drink it all day!

- Most of all, the race kit! The OnTheGo kit proved very comfy throughout the race. I had heaps of options for the varying temperatures, be it light weight vests or long sleeve fleeces, it was all covered.

We have been trialling Perpetuem Solids in training and are impressed with how easy they are to carry and use in tubes which keep them dry and easy to get to. You can just pop out a couple of tablets of Perpetuem and munch on them as you ride, they are really soft and easy to eat and provide the same benifits as mixing Perpetuem powder into water in a drink bottle, but this is an easier way to measure and keep track of your carb intake on the move.

They are easy to eat and taste good, and best washed down with some HEED. A really good addition to the jersey pocket for when you want something solid to eat when living on gels and liquid food all day long becomes a bit much.

A successful weekend for the team with Callum taking 2nd in age group and 4th overall, and Garry winning his category by lapping the field an incredible 5 times, allowing him to finish 3hrs before the race was even over!

Congrats also to Jason English on his 6th consecutive National Title win, the man is unstoppable!

Check out the video preview of the course for this years 24 Solo Nationals, it’s going to be great fun!

A top day for the team at the 2013 Willo Enduro with Garry winning the Super Masters and Jason taking 3rd in the Masters. Callum rode the 100 miles from Canberra to the race the day before, as preparation for the upcoming 24 Solo Solo National Championships, and still managed to finish a respectable 23rd in a stacked elite field on some very tired legs.

This was a top event; great trails, perfect weather and excellent event management. We’ll be back next year!

The reason these shoes last so long is the awesome construction, which is tough as nails, yet still light and stiff enough to race with. The other reason is that when a part of them wears out, like say a buckle, or heel, you can just replace that part cheaply and keep using the shoes, for years.

This week I threw on some new heels on the bottom of these 3 year old Dragon 2′s that had served me well on many a weekend epic and well over 50 races over the last 3 years. It’s an easy process, just a few phillip heads screws and 5 minutes of your time and you are off and riding again on brand new heels.

I also picked up some new Drako‘s recently and they have the same features of easily replaceable parts, but Sidi have upped the comfort level with an even better ratcheting system for a more comfortable fit, they are also stiffer than the Dragon’s allowing more power to the pedals, but supple enough to walk in. I am loving racing in these shoes this year.

Sidi’s might cost a bit to buy, but they are light, stiff, super comfortable and last like no other.