Newbie Cyclist

Blog

  • A year with the Bombtrack Hook

    A year with the Bombtrack Hook

    With a goal of buying a commuter that I could take out on the odd gravel ride and a “rainy day” road ride I set out some criteria. I wanted disk brakes, clearance for 40mm tyres and a steel frame. My final choice was the Bombtrack Hook 2 which was a 2017 runout.

    A few weeks after buying it I was invited to join a newbie friendly mountain bike ride so I decided why not bring the Bombtrack. I loved it so much I got a mountain bike 😁.

    Bombtrack

    So in my first year or so of ownership my Bombtrack has done everything from my all weather 6km commute to SeVen to an overnight trip Bikepacking to Bunbury so far I’ve covered 4074km on this bike and I am loving it.

    Upgrades

    Although the Bombtrack is already a great bike I’ve added a couple of upgrades and accessories to make it better. I will go into more details on my experience with the accessories and upgrades but the list so far is:

    11-36 SRAM Cassette
    38T SRAM Force 1 Chainring
    Specialized Pathfinder Pro 38mm Tyres
    Brooks C15 Cambium Saddle
    Look X-Track race carbon pedals

    So far I really love the Bombtrack, and it has really got me into gravel riding. In late July I will be doing my second gravel race.

  • SeVen

    SeVen

    SeVen is a new gravel race being held in the South West of Western Australia in it’s second year. The name comes from the seven different sectors with a total distance of 125km and 3400 meters of elevation gain, scary! so I gave myself a stretch goal and joined the event with my only real goal was finishing.

    So here’s the elevation gain profile:

    Seven elevation profile

    It was hard work but I made it… 9 hours 51 minutes into the 10 hour time limit I crossed the line and officially finished Seven. Bring on next year

    Kinky Climb Riding at Seven 

  • Bikepacking to Bunbury

    Bikepacking to Bunbury

    193km there, 180km back… 2 days ride, what a challenge.

    It was a great ride and another challenge completed

    Bikepacking on the Bombtrack
    Bikepacking on the Bombtrack
  • Nice ride yesterday

    Nice ride yesterday

    Went for a nice 35km ride yesterday and feeling great.

    It was just a short loop but fun all the same, really need to spend more time riding though, no where near my target at the moment.

  • The beginning

    Well it finally happened, I went out and bought myself a bike and committed myself to riding it a few months back and now I’m at the point of wanting to take it a bit more seriously.

    Over the last few months I’ve gone from my first 3km ride to pushing myself to do a personal best so far of 85km in a day, although realistically I’m currently doing somewhere between 80-100km most weeks.

    Welcome to my journey