Week 3 started off well. I commuted to and from work on Monday; the short way and shortish way respectively. Tuesday saw an early start at work and the need for me to drive in. I put the XTC in the back of the car in the hope I’d be able to hit the trails after work. Thanks to be oh-dark-hundred start I made my way out to Sparrow Hill for some quick fun on the immaculate trails.
I cheated on Wednesday and put the roadie in the back of the girly’s car for a quick commute home. The ride itself was fairly standard except for the now infamous bike pump versus car bumper incident.
Thursday I strapped on the Shimano MTB shoes and took Kate in with the intention of taking her for a spin around Bruce Ridge on the way home. The weather was a bit ordinary with 80km/hr wind-gusts that tried their best to knock me off the bike and into Lake Burley Griffin. So I rode home via Belconnen and around Lake Ginninderra.
Friday was meant to be a medium length ride around Kowen Forest and Sparrow Hill on my Giant Anthem Zooey. But alas it was not meant to be thanks to a single phone call.
Saturday was a rest day/bike maintenance day spent preparing my XTC for Sunday’s CORC XC Race. I replaced the standard Shimano rear derailleur in favour of a Shimano XT Shadow to reduce the annoying chain slap. This didn’t quite go to plan and I was left with about four non-slipping gears for the race the next day.
I wasn’t feeling the best before this race. My heart wasn’t in it and my head definitely wasn’t. I woke up early and decided I’d give it a go. I’m glad I did. I managed to pull in fifth place and pushed myself further than I had before on a short course race. I went out fairly easy at the start and picked up the pace quite considerably for the second lap finishing almost 3 minutes faster than my first.
At the end of the race I was 149.9km for the week… 100m short of my 150km target. So after my shower I took out my single speed flat bar and rode a quick 500m to reach my 150km goal. At the end of Week 3, I had some ups, plenty of downs and one hell of a good time at Kowen Forest racing.
Blogged Down By Life 
Is the shadow plus on the bike now? what’s it like?
It’s fairly awesome. I noticed it massively on Sunday at Kowen. It was bitch to set up though. I pretty good mechanically with bikes and I struggled to get it 100%. The ride knocked it around a bit so the bikes going into Onya 2moro to get looked at. If you get one pay the shop to install it
yeah i have that C-guide on mine, but I don’t expect it to last. the shadow plus stuff looks awesome, and u can leave it engaged unless your taking wheel off. chain slap sux!
Just remember to turn the clutch off when taking the wheel off! Or you will find the cassette and chain will claim your fingers for themselves
some talk of significantly more tension in shifting…is this a biggie?
I noticed shifting was under more tension but in a good way. More sure of the gear engaging than anything else. Even on the the little ring I couldn’t hear or feel any chain slap
sweet. did you source the derailleur on Ebay or cycle shop online?
I picked it up from Pushys from Rog