Today was the day that it all went wrong. We started off strong and stayed with the front group for the first 14 km of firetrail and then onto the single track section which was about 10km long. We were working hard but the pace was good and then "poof" my tubeless tyre in the front punctured and the sealant did not work. We pulled over and tried to use an air canister to inflate it, but while doing it, the connector broke. We decided to put in a tube and then flagged someone down and they gave us their connector but it turned out that the spare tube had a hole!! We were now out of air canisters and took the tube out and tried Minters tube which we then had to pump up the old fashioned.....but time consuming way. By this stage we had lost about 10 to 15 minutes but that was not the only problem, we now had 9km of single track ahead of us and it was full of the slowest riders on the planet, with nowhere to pass them.
We tried our best to squeeze past here and there, but there must have been 100 people in front of us. At one point Minter tried to take a gap and came off his bike, falling on the same arm as he had yesterday.
Once the track opened up we worked hard to make up time, but still, after placing 18th yesterday we came in 70th today, which moved our overall position from 26th to 29th. :-(
Our bodies are very tired and it is getting harder and harder. I have a blister on my right hand from all the jarring on yesterdays ride and it hurts constantly when on the bike. I am struggling to eat by dinner time as I am so tired that each mouthful makes me want to puke. Despite the fatigue, I am struggling to sleep well and feel like my mind is constantly active and I keep waking up. It is interesting how the mind works, and I have found that as I get more and more tired, I find myself longing for my family and missing Vee ( my wife) and kids more and more.....I want a "family hug".
Minter has been great and I couldn't ask for a better partner....not only coz he pulls me along, but he is just a top class friend and riding buddy. People say that this sort of event tests friendships like no other situation, and at this point my choice of partner has been spot on. That said, having his sweaty riding shorts hanging from the middle of the tent is somewhat less pleasant, and there have been a few instances where I have looked right in the tent to see him lying naked rubbing a soothing anti-septic cream onto his chafed arse. These things I could happily give a miss, and although he can claim to have seen similar behaviour, I think the view for him would be a lot more pleasant (if somewhat intimidating) than it is when I see him.
We are staying at a race village up in the mountains, next to a river and the views are great, as they were on the ride today.
Tuesday 30 April 2013
Monday 29 April 2013
Day 4 of the race
Today was one of the toughest days I have had on a mountain bike. At 122km the distance was long, and there were some killer hills and bone jarring downhills but the more technical nature of the course suited us over the many riders who may be at the same fitness level but are less confident when the trails get technical. As a result, we came in 18th today vs 27th and 28th the other 2 race days. That said we are absolutely buggered and our bodies took a major hammering.
The race started off fast once again and we managed to stay with the front group for quite a while before they broke off. On the first technical descent, one of my bottles went flying out of the bottle cage and rolling down the mountain.....not a good start on a long, hilly, sunny day. :-(
About 40km into the race, we were crossing a wet rocky river section and the guys in front of us got off to walk across. Minter got the moer in (threw his toys) and tried to charge across in anger.....slipping, falling, and hurting his arm and cutting his thumb. Luckily the nerve endings between his pain centre and his brain are somewhat slow so we carried on as if nothing had happened. Then about 80km into the race my i must have gone over a thorn and my rear tyre went flat, meaning we had to stop and reinflate it. fortunately the sealant worked and it stayed hard.
The single track and the views were amazing coming down from the escarpment, but what has burnt into my mind was the climb up to Spioenkop which had an average gradient of 22 percent, made all the more difficult by the fact that neither of our bikes was changing into granny gear on the rear cassette.
It is difficult to describe how good the trails were today, and the only thing that would have made it better would have been if there were only 80 km of them!!
The race villages and the local communities, food, etc etc are phenomenal and we are really enjoying the overall experience.
The race started off fast once again and we managed to stay with the front group for quite a while before they broke off. On the first technical descent, one of my bottles went flying out of the bottle cage and rolling down the mountain.....not a good start on a long, hilly, sunny day. :-(
About 40km into the race, we were crossing a wet rocky river section and the guys in front of us got off to walk across. Minter got the moer in (threw his toys) and tried to charge across in anger.....slipping, falling, and hurting his arm and cutting his thumb. Luckily the nerve endings between his pain centre and his brain are somewhat slow so we carried on as if nothing had happened. Then about 80km into the race my i must have gone over a thorn and my rear tyre went flat, meaning we had to stop and reinflate it. fortunately the sealant worked and it stayed hard.
The single track and the views were amazing coming down from the escarpment, but what has burnt into my mind was the climb up to Spioenkop which had an average gradient of 22 percent, made all the more difficult by the fact that neither of our bikes was changing into granny gear on the rear cassette.
It is difficult to describe how good the trails were today, and the only thing that would have made it better would have been if there were only 80 km of them!!
The race villages and the local communities, food, etc etc are phenomenal and we are really enjoying the overall experience.
Sunday 28 April 2013
Day 3 of the race
We woke up at 5am to a very cold morning.....apparently 4 degrees, so after a quick breakfast we got dressed for the ride and then spent roughly an hour shivering together as you need to go load your bags onto the trucks which take them to the next race village, meaning you can't keep on a jacket and track suit pants until near the end.
We ended up in a group with pretty much the same riders as yesterday and stayed with them until the 2nd water point at about 96km. Minter is a lot stronger than I am and to be fair he has been a legend. Coming into the water point, everyone in the group was planning to stop as we knew the main climb of the day was at about 110km, so we moved to the front of the group and I gave Minter my bottles and I rode straight through. He filled the bottles and then chased me down, leaving the group in his dust. A few minutes later Minter went over a thorn and the sealant spurted out of his tyre, but as he looked down in surprise, he hit a muddy patch and his wheel slipped out, giving him a one sided mud bath and helping to lift my waning spirits. :-). Fortunately he did not hurt himself!!
We then hit the main climb of the day at around 110km and it was around 5km with switchbacks up the mountain (we had now entered the Drakensberg ......South Africa's highest mountain range). It brought back a lot of memories of my childhood, and I can remember being about 6 years old and climbing Mont Aux-Sources as a family. Mom, dad, and my two older sisters. I clearly remember complaining that they were all walking to fast and that I was tired. Well, not much has changed, other than I am now 38 and it was Minter rather than my dad shouting at me to hurry up.
From the top of the mountain to the bottom there was a timed Red Bull run with separate prizes for the fastest times. We were flying down and I was marvelling at my courage and bike skills and contemplating whether I should take up downhill racing. That was the last thought in my mind when I lost control and hit a rock at break-neck pace. I yelped out as it was flung off the bike. Minter says that he braked to a stop, turned around and I was still rolling at that point. Very very very fortunately I just lost some skin on my right knee, but took a hard knock on my thigh. I jumped back onto my bike and we pedalled off with me in a lot of pain, but as we rode it eased up. We then arrived at Sterkfontein dam and were flying along the dam wall with Minter pulling me along, encouraging me all the way as we managed to overtake one more team on the run into the race village.
We ended up in a group with pretty much the same riders as yesterday and stayed with them until the 2nd water point at about 96km. Minter is a lot stronger than I am and to be fair he has been a legend. Coming into the water point, everyone in the group was planning to stop as we knew the main climb of the day was at about 110km, so we moved to the front of the group and I gave Minter my bottles and I rode straight through. He filled the bottles and then chased me down, leaving the group in his dust. A few minutes later Minter went over a thorn and the sealant spurted out of his tyre, but as he looked down in surprise, he hit a muddy patch and his wheel slipped out, giving him a one sided mud bath and helping to lift my waning spirits. :-). Fortunately he did not hurt himself!!
We then hit the main climb of the day at around 110km and it was around 5km with switchbacks up the mountain (we had now entered the Drakensberg ......South Africa's highest mountain range). It brought back a lot of memories of my childhood, and I can remember being about 6 years old and climbing Mont Aux-Sources as a family. Mom, dad, and my two older sisters. I clearly remember complaining that they were all walking to fast and that I was tired. Well, not much has changed, other than I am now 38 and it was Minter rather than my dad shouting at me to hurry up.
From the top of the mountain to the bottom there was a timed Red Bull run with separate prizes for the fastest times. We were flying down and I was marvelling at my courage and bike skills and contemplating whether I should take up downhill racing. That was the last thought in my mind when I lost control and hit a rock at break-neck pace. I yelped out as it was flung off the bike. Minter says that he braked to a stop, turned around and I was still rolling at that point. Very very very fortunately I just lost some skin on my right knee, but took a hard knock on my thigh. I jumped back onto my bike and we pedalled off with me in a lot of pain, but as we rode it eased up. We then arrived at Sterkfontein dam and were flying along the dam wall with Minter pulling me along, encouraging me all the way as we managed to overtake one more team on the run into the race village.
Saturday 27 April 2013
Day 2 of the race
Last night they put on a great feast for us with some killer steaks and a great atmosphere as the town put on a fantastic display of hospitality.
Today was the first real race day that counted. A 91km smash-fest where, in my humble opinion, we went much too fast, and if I had enough air in my lungs at any point during the ride, I would definitely have told Minter to slow down. Average speed was just over 26kmph and our ride time was 3:28 which put us into 27th place out of the 350 odd teams that raced today.....a result which I am very happy with as there are some very very strong riders. Winning time for the day was 3:11.
Racing for most of the day was in groups. We just missed the first group and settled in drafting in the second group. This group included the top female pair and a few mixed couples. The girls were really strong but were a bit slow on the technical (for SA but merely a few rocks and not even comparable to Manly dam) bits. Three teams including ourselves broke away from the group at the 82km mark in order to position ourselves for the Red Bull run, 2km single track with a 5km run into town. We had a good descent although we're held up a bit by one of the other teams. The last 5km ride into town was hard pushing the 90%HR zone. I think this is where we pushed to hard and may come back to haunt us - we'll know soon enough tomorrow.
After the race we arrived at the race village and headed to get our bags, but Minters had somehow disappeared, which meant no sleeping bag etc, and it is very cold here at night. Anyway, he starts hinting about how cold he will be etc etc and all I was thinking was that this was a scam so he could ask to share my sleeping bag. I don't blame him. My shaved legs are pretty irresistible and the girls doing the massages were making similar hints. It's tough being a babe magnet. Anyway, we eventually located his bag and he headed off to the showers.....a very welcome development as he was smelling way over his "use by" date.
The massages were agony as our legs are already very sore, but hopefully they will feel better for the 130km awaiting us tomorrow. Worth noting is that the furthest I have ever ridden a mountain bike is 114km at the Highland Fling, and that was after a taper and with fresh legs. I am thinking about slipping some laxatives into Minters water bottle to ensure I get a few stops en-route.
The Magellan GPS units have been great and the battery life is fantastic which is very convenient on an event like this. Based on where the battery is, it looks like it will be between 18 and 20 hours.
With respect to the Syntace Hi-flex seat post, it is difficult to know how much more comfortable it is or isn't but what I have noticed is Minter (who is almost always riding in front of me.......so I can make sure he is ok) often stands over ground where I am still seated, so perhaps this is the difference between the aluminium seat post he has on the Scott and the Syntace carbon post which is specifically designed to provide a level of flex. Early days still though so watch this space!
Friday 26 April 2013
Day 1 of the race - 116km
Last night Minter slept at my folks place as we had an early start. The guest bedroom has two single beds which are pushed together however due to my fear of attempted spooning, I had pulled the, 20cm apart. Minter looked devastated!
The atmosphere at the start was great with everyone very excited to get the race underway. The first day, despite being a long 116km, does not count towards overall placings as there is a river crossing where we all board dragon boats and paddle across......bizarre but good fun.
The weather was crisp and clear with the blue african skies contrasting against the backdrop of the farmlands, some of which were game farms where we saw buck running along which gets Minter very excited (must be a Dutchie thing???). More importantly, the food stops were great and we got to pig out.
The tracks were generally smooth and the decision to bring the hard tails seems to have been a good one so far.
The only downer was a tunnel we went through which was ankle deep sticky mud which clogged up the bikes and shoes and sent Minter into a fury......which is always amusing to see. :-)
We have been chilling out this afternoon in the race village after a well earned shower, but in all honesty I am a tad worried about the next 8 days as I am already feeling hammered!
The atmosphere at the start was great with everyone very excited to get the race underway. The first day, despite being a long 116km, does not count towards overall placings as there is a river crossing where we all board dragon boats and paddle across......bizarre but good fun.
The weather was crisp and clear with the blue african skies contrasting against the backdrop of the farmlands, some of which were game farms where we saw buck running along which gets Minter very excited (must be a Dutchie thing???). More importantly, the food stops were great and we got to pig out.
The tracks were generally smooth and the decision to bring the hard tails seems to have been a good one so far.
The only downer was a tunnel we went through which was ankle deep sticky mud which clogged up the bikes and shoes and sent Minter into a fury......which is always amusing to see. :-)
We have been chilling out this afternoon in the race village after a well earned shower, but in all honesty I am a tad worried about the next 8 days as I am already feeling hammered!
Day 1 of the race - 116km
Last night Minter slept at my folks place as we had an early start. The guest bedroom has two single beds which are pushed together however due to my fear of attempted spooning, I had pulled the, 20cm apart. Minter looked devastated!
The atmosphere at the start was great with everyone very excited to get the race underway. The first day, despite being a long 116km, does not count towards overall placings as there is a river crossing where we all board dragon boats and paddle across......bizarre but good fun.
The weather was crisp and clear with the blue african skies contrasting against the backdrop of the farmlands, some of which were game farms where we saw buck running along which gets Minter very excited (must be a Dutchie thing???). More importantly, the food stops were great and we got to pig out.
The tracks were generally smooth and the decision to bring the hard tails seems to have been a good one so far.
The only downer was a tunnel we went through which was ankle deep sticky mud which clogged up the bikes and shoes and sent Minter into a fury......which is always amusing to see. :-)
We have been chilling out this afternoon in the race village after a well earned shower, but in all honesty I am a tad worried about the next 8 days as I am already feeling hammered!
The atmosphere at the start was great with everyone very excited to get the race underway. The first day, despite being a long 116km, does not count towards overall placings as there is a river crossing where we all board dragon boats and paddle across......bizarre but good fun.
The weather was crisp and clear with the blue african skies contrasting against the backdrop of the farmlands, some of which were game farms where we saw buck running along which gets Minter very excited (must be a Dutchie thing???). More importantly, the food stops were great and we got to pig out.
The tracks were generally smooth and the decision to bring the hard tails seems to have been a good one so far.
The only downer was a tunnel we went through which was ankle deep sticky mud which clogged up the bikes and shoes and sent Minter into a fury......which is always amusing to see. :-)
We have been chilling out this afternoon in the race village after a well earned shower, but in all honesty I am a tad worried about the next 8 days as I am already feeling hammered!
Wednesday 24 April 2013
Daily Results Link
Folks,
The race starts on Friday and the daily results will be published here....
http://www.joberg2c.co.za/DisplayLink.aspx?group=About%20joBerg2c&name=Results
If you are in a rush then start on the last page and move upwards ;-)
For those of you who are in South Africa, the race highlights will be aired on SuperSport 6 at 9pm - 9:15pm each night. For the full schedule click here.
The race starts on Friday and the daily results will be published here....
http://www.joberg2c.co.za/DisplayLink.aspx?group=About%20joBerg2c&name=Results
If you are in a rush then start on the last page and move upwards ;-)
For those of you who are in South Africa, the race highlights will be aired on SuperSport 6 at 9pm - 9:15pm each night. For the full schedule click here.
Sunday 21 April 2013
The Flight
I am sitting on the plane bored to death and I am only 8 hours into the flight with another 6 hours to go. I used miles to book my ticket and had to go for premium economy as there were no economy class tickets using miles at the time. It was a good move as there are only 3 passengers in my little area of about 20 seats so I have plenty of space to move around and have been stretching doing some bench (seat) dips and push-ups etc to try keep the blood flowing and burn of some of the calories from the fat laden food.
Minter is on the same flight with Sonja (his wife....and decidedly better half) and his 3 kids ranging in age from 9 months to 9 years old. I was complaining to him that i am bored as there are only so many movies you can watch and sleeps you can have. I am not sure if it is a language barrier issue (his first language is Afrikaans), but he did not seem to fully comprehend my problem or offer the expected level of sympathy. Perhaps he was distracted by his baby crying. Fortunately for me they are back in economy class, however, he keeps trying to escape and has managed to break through the class dividing curtain a number of times to come visit. I am thinking of telling the very attentative gentleman who is my flight attendant (I should have worn my wedding ring) that Minter is harassing me and should be banned from the area.
My plan for the week is just to take it pretty easy. I have found a group of cyclists who ride on a Tuesday morning near my folks place so I will definitely join them for a spin but my left knee is still bothering me a bit so I figure that it will probably do me more good than harm to take the extra days off.
Minter is on the same flight with Sonja (his wife....and decidedly better half) and his 3 kids ranging in age from 9 months to 9 years old. I was complaining to him that i am bored as there are only so many movies you can watch and sleeps you can have. I am not sure if it is a language barrier issue (his first language is Afrikaans), but he did not seem to fully comprehend my problem or offer the expected level of sympathy. Perhaps he was distracted by his baby crying. Fortunately for me they are back in economy class, however, he keeps trying to escape and has managed to break through the class dividing curtain a number of times to come visit. I am thinking of telling the very attentative gentleman who is my flight attendant (I should have worn my wedding ring) that Minter is harassing me and should be banned from the area.
My plan for the week is just to take it pretty easy. I have found a group of cyclists who ride on a Tuesday morning near my folks place so I will definitely join them for a spin but my left knee is still bothering me a bit so I figure that it will probably do me more good than harm to take the extra days off.
Wednesday 17 April 2013
New Blog Website
Apologies to those who are getting this for the 2nd time, but we had to change blog website.
Minter and I are off to South Africa to do Joberg2C, a 911km mountain bike stage race over 9 days. We are doing it as a team and will be doing a blog which those who are interested can view.
You can take a quick look at these two youtube
promo clips below which will give you a feel for the race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3BK9HgER_Q 30 second promo
video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdo3pS7IqTI 3 minute promo
video
We were on the bikes this morning doing interval hill training and marveling over how quickly the time has gone since the beginning of the year when we started training. We fly out next week on Friday and the race starts in 2 weeks....can't wait!
We need to start tapering and will probably aim to do a 4 or so hour ride on Sunday and then 2 interval sessions next week.
Minter looks like he has put on a bit of weight and it has been showing on the hill training, as well as the level of stretch of the lycra on his ass...not a pleasant sight at all, but a good motivator to ride in front of him. Apparently choccies and ice-cream are not optimal training fuels. I have also started to find his hairy legs a tad disturbing and have been pushing him to sahve them, but to no avail.
That said, as those of us who have ridden and raced with him before know, he somehow seems to up his game considerably when need be, so I still am confident that I will be able to spend a considerable amount of time in his slipstream over the 911km :-) Fortunately he has some new kit, which will solve the ass-crack eyesore issue.
We received our new Magellan Cyclo 105's a few days ago http://www.magellangps.com.au/Products/Fitness/Cyclo_Series/Cyclo_105
The units look really good and the screen is a fair bit bigger than the Garmin. I need to get it all set up and learn how to use it, but it appears pretty intuative (even for a late-adopting technophobe like me), and some of the key benefits over my Garmin Edge 500 which attracted me will be the 18 hour battery life and the breadcrumb trail which can be used to get back to a start point if you get lost. While this hopefully will not be an issue in the race, it is a comforting feature to have when exploring new trails.
Given that Minter is insisting we use the hardtails for the race, and in my normal conservative manner, I am crapping myself about the comfort factor, I have bought the Syntace P6 Highflex seatpost and installed it on the bike. In all honesty, I had never heard of the brand, but a bit of research on the web led me to it, and all the reviews were excellent. While I have yet to hit the trails (given how wet it has been in Sydney), I am hoping/expecting that the reviews are all correct and that the carbon, together with the intentionally designed flex will help smooooth the trails out. I also got a new Syntace carbon bar and stem and the 12 degree sweep is a lot more comfy on my wrists than my old 3T was. I will report back from the trails on whether the seatpost works or if I have been duped by marketing.
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/components/seat-post-seat-pin/product/review-syntace-p6-hiflex-seatpost-12-46314
Another item we got sorted out this week was travel insurance. After contacting a multitude of insurers and cycling bodies about cover that included racing, we hit a dead end. There are some that will cover MTB races, but they have to be UCI sanctioned. Anyway, for those of you who may be in the same boat, with an international race at some point, insure4less agreed to cover us (with no extra charge) with the following policy endorsement:
A $1000 medical excess in
respect of cycling claims only
There is no cover for
physio / sports massage claims following a cycling related incident
No cover for cancellation
or repatriation in the event of a minor injury which prevents continued
participation in the event
No cover for the bike or
associated equipment
No cover under section 9
Accidental death/Permanent disability benefit whilst cycling
That's it for now, but we will hopefully be updating the blog on a daily basis while racing as we believe there will be internet access at the race villages.
Minter and I are off to South Africa to do Joberg2C, a 911km mountain bike stage race over 9 days. We are doing it as a team and will be doing a blog which those who are interested can view.
You can take a quick look at these two youtube
promo clips below which will give you a feel for the race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3BK9HgER_Q 30 second promo
video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdo3pS7IqTI 3 minute promo
video
We were on the bikes this morning doing interval hill training and marveling over how quickly the time has gone since the beginning of the year when we started training. We fly out next week on Friday and the race starts in 2 weeks....can't wait!
We need to start tapering and will probably aim to do a 4 or so hour ride on Sunday and then 2 interval sessions next week.
Minter looks like he has put on a bit of weight and it has been showing on the hill training, as well as the level of stretch of the lycra on his ass...not a pleasant sight at all, but a good motivator to ride in front of him. Apparently choccies and ice-cream are not optimal training fuels. I have also started to find his hairy legs a tad disturbing and have been pushing him to sahve them, but to no avail.
That said, as those of us who have ridden and raced with him before know, he somehow seems to up his game considerably when need be, so I still am confident that I will be able to spend a considerable amount of time in his slipstream over the 911km :-) Fortunately he has some new kit, which will solve the ass-crack eyesore issue.
We received our new Magellan Cyclo 105's a few days ago http://www.magellangps.com.au/Products/Fitness/Cyclo_Series/Cyclo_105
The units look really good and the screen is a fair bit bigger than the Garmin. I need to get it all set up and learn how to use it, but it appears pretty intuative (even for a late-adopting technophobe like me), and some of the key benefits over my Garmin Edge 500 which attracted me will be the 18 hour battery life and the breadcrumb trail which can be used to get back to a start point if you get lost. While this hopefully will not be an issue in the race, it is a comforting feature to have when exploring new trails.
Given that Minter is insisting we use the hardtails for the race, and in my normal conservative manner, I am crapping myself about the comfort factor, I have bought the Syntace P6 Highflex seatpost and installed it on the bike. In all honesty, I had never heard of the brand, but a bit of research on the web led me to it, and all the reviews were excellent. While I have yet to hit the trails (given how wet it has been in Sydney), I am hoping/expecting that the reviews are all correct and that the carbon, together with the intentionally designed flex will help smooooth the trails out. I also got a new Syntace carbon bar and stem and the 12 degree sweep is a lot more comfy on my wrists than my old 3T was. I will report back from the trails on whether the seatpost works or if I have been duped by marketing.
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/components/seat-post-seat-pin/product/review-syntace-p6-hiflex-seatpost-12-46314
Another item we got sorted out this week was travel insurance. After contacting a multitude of insurers and cycling bodies about cover that included racing, we hit a dead end. There are some that will cover MTB races, but they have to be UCI sanctioned. Anyway, for those of you who may be in the same boat, with an international race at some point, insure4less agreed to cover us (with no extra charge) with the following policy endorsement:
A $1000 medical excess in
respect of cycling claims only
There is no cover for
physio / sports massage claims following a cycling related incident
No cover for cancellation
or repatriation in the event of a minor injury which prevents continued
participation in the event
No cover for the bike or
associated equipment
No cover under section 9
Accidental death/Permanent disability benefit whilst cycling
That's it for now, but we will hopefully be updating the blog on a daily basis while racing as we believe there will be internet access at the race villages.
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