Today was the descent into the Umkomaas Valley which is considered the best single track in South Africa - we weren't disappointed. The views were spectacular although the corners were sketchy and if you got it wrong it was a long way down!
After the first 40km the climbing started - we were well placed within the first 10 groups but soon started to fade. Ian was faltering like the Lions Super 15 hopes (the doctors say he has a fever and he has also had the "runs" which a number of people seem to have, so I hope it's not my doing after yesterdays hard ride). We were soon being overtaken by the teams we caned yesterday. To top things of Ian had mechanical issues where his chain kept coming off the front chainring, but also kept coming off the lower jockey wheel and we had to stop every km or so to sort out the bike. That said, we still came in a respectable 25 overall and 5th in our category - hats of to Ian who guts'ed it out for the day.
South Africa is a truly beautiful country and I would recommend this race highly as a way to see the place. We had a number of river crossings (I slipped on my arse on one of them), hard climbs, white knuckle descents and a hell of a lot of fun.
Tomorrow it's into Scottburgh - it's going to be an emotional entrance given this where I had the best holidays of my life. Ian and I will be taking it slow given the warning from the doctor o to push his heart rate up given the fever, so I am trying to even things up tonight with a couple of beers (Ian here....he is on his 7th to be precise.....although has now moved own to Klippies and Coke......showing his Dutchie roots).
It's been an excellent race with a great mate. Thanks to our wives who have put up with all our training and bitching about sore legs, lack of sleep and general grumpiness - we had a ball (but don't for one moment think we are going to up the chores around the house).
Sunday 5 May 2013
Day 8 - The Umkomaas Valley
Today was the descent into the Umkomaas Valley which is considered the best single track in South Africa - we weren't disappointed. The views were spectacular although the corners were sketchy and if you got it wrong it was a long way down!
After the first 40km the climbing started - we were well placed within the first 10 groups but soon started to fade. Ian was faltering like the Lions Super 15 hopes (the doctors say he has a fever and he has also had the "runs" which a number of people seem to have, so I hope it's not my doing after yesterdays hard ride). We were soon being overtaken by the teams we caned yesterday. To top things of Ian had mechanical issues where his chain kept coming off the front chainring, but also kept coming off the lower jockey wheel and we had to stop every km or so to sort out the bike. That said, we still came in a respectable 25 overall and 5th in our category - hats of to Ian who guts'ed it out for the day.
South Africa is a truly beautiful country and I would recommend this race highly as a way to see the place. We had a number of river crossings (I slipped on my arse on one of them), hard climbs, white knuckle descents and a hell of a lot of fun.
Tomorrow it's into Scottburgh - it's going to be an emotional entrance given this where I had the best holidays of my life. Ian and I will be taking it slow given the warning from the doctor o to push his heart rate up given the fever, so I am trying to even things up tonight with a couple of beers (Ian here....he is on his 7th to be precise.....although has now moved own to Klippies and Coke......showing his Dutchie roots).
It's been an excellent race with a great mate. Thanks to our wives who have put up with all our training and bitching about sore legs, lack of sleep and general grumpiness - we had a ball (but don't for one moment think we are going to up the chores around the house).
After the first 40km the climbing started - we were well placed within the first 10 groups but soon started to fade. Ian was faltering like the Lions Super 15 hopes (the doctors say he has a fever and he has also had the "runs" which a number of people seem to have, so I hope it's not my doing after yesterdays hard ride). We were soon being overtaken by the teams we caned yesterday. To top things of Ian had mechanical issues where his chain kept coming off the front chainring, but also kept coming off the lower jockey wheel and we had to stop every km or so to sort out the bike. That said, we still came in a respectable 25 overall and 5th in our category - hats of to Ian who guts'ed it out for the day.
South Africa is a truly beautiful country and I would recommend this race highly as a way to see the place. We had a number of river crossings (I slipped on my arse on one of them), hard climbs, white knuckle descents and a hell of a lot of fun.
Tomorrow it's into Scottburgh - it's going to be an emotional entrance given this where I had the best holidays of my life. Ian and I will be taking it slow given the warning from the doctor o to push his heart rate up given the fever, so I am trying to even things up tonight with a couple of beers (Ian here....he is on his 7th to be precise.....although has now moved own to Klippies and Coke......showing his Dutchie roots).
It's been an excellent race with a great mate. Thanks to our wives who have put up with all our training and bitching about sore legs, lack of sleep and general grumpiness - we had a ball (but don't for one moment think we are going to up the chores around the house).
Day 9 - Into Scottburgh......it is all over!
After spending most the afternoon sleeping after popping an overdose of Imodium and the prescribed Paracetemol, I was feeling a bit better but still struggling to eat much at dinner.
I woke up feeling very much below average. One of the hardest things about the stage races is eating enough volume of calories (primarily carbohydrates of course) to replenish what you are burning each day. Once you get a running stomach, it is impossible and that really does take its toll. I popped 3 Imodium and 2 paracetamol about an hour before the start and tucked a heap of toilet paper into my shirt pocket just in case.....I am a city boy and using leaves in the sugarcane fields was not an appealing option.
The plan was to keep my heart rate below 155 bpm at all times which is what we did, but what had not been factored in was that the mechanics who were supposed to have fixed my gears did not do it so I had another day of stopping repeatedly to fix the chain etc which was very frustrating. At one point I looked down at my gears momentarily to see what was happening but we were near a corner and my front wheel slid out and I went down, cutting up my knee and shin and the left side of my hip. There may have been a few words used which I would not want my kids to hear!!
We arrived at Scottburgh to be met by Lisa and Keith, Minters sister and brother-in-law. We grabbed our luggage, had a quick clean up and jumped into the car as they are off for a well deserved holiday and I needed to head to the airport for the flight back to Joburg.
So....what am I feeling after my first stage race? It is tough, very tough but great fun, a fantastic bonding experience, and a sense of achievement. The downside is that a lot of your overall results depends on luck (avoiding punctures) which is similar in any mountain bike race, but when you have 2 bikes and 9 days, the odds increase. It also depends on other people doing what they should....the team of mechanics we used, were sub-par at best and did not maintain the bikes of fix things they should have. This is very frustrating when you have trained so hard and raced so hard.
I would recommend it anyone who is interested in the personal journey and wants to see parts of a country that they would not otherwise. A great experience!!
I woke up feeling very much below average. One of the hardest things about the stage races is eating enough volume of calories (primarily carbohydrates of course) to replenish what you are burning each day. Once you get a running stomach, it is impossible and that really does take its toll. I popped 3 Imodium and 2 paracetamol about an hour before the start and tucked a heap of toilet paper into my shirt pocket just in case.....I am a city boy and using leaves in the sugarcane fields was not an appealing option.
The plan was to keep my heart rate below 155 bpm at all times which is what we did, but what had not been factored in was that the mechanics who were supposed to have fixed my gears did not do it so I had another day of stopping repeatedly to fix the chain etc which was very frustrating. At one point I looked down at my gears momentarily to see what was happening but we were near a corner and my front wheel slid out and I went down, cutting up my knee and shin and the left side of my hip. There may have been a few words used which I would not want my kids to hear!!
We arrived at Scottburgh to be met by Lisa and Keith, Minters sister and brother-in-law. We grabbed our luggage, had a quick clean up and jumped into the car as they are off for a well deserved holiday and I needed to head to the airport for the flight back to Joburg.
So....what am I feeling after my first stage race? It is tough, very tough but great fun, a fantastic bonding experience, and a sense of achievement. The downside is that a lot of your overall results depends on luck (avoiding punctures) which is similar in any mountain bike race, but when you have 2 bikes and 9 days, the odds increase. It also depends on other people doing what they should....the team of mechanics we used, were sub-par at best and did not maintain the bikes of fix things they should have. This is very frustrating when you have trained so hard and raced so hard.
I would recommend it anyone who is interested in the personal journey and wants to see parts of a country that they would not otherwise. A great experience!!
Thursday 2 May 2013
Day 7 - Ok...ok....we couldn't help ourselves - we finished 8th overall. :-)
The morning started off on a very worrying note. Minter and I were in the tent which we are sharing and we were getting dressed and ready for the day ahead when Minter broke out into song....the song by the Divinyls.....for those of you who may not know it, the lyrics go "......when I think about you I touch myself". Not what I wanted to hear!!
Despite Minters assurances that we were no longer racing we ended up bolting out at the start and flying along at a killer pace. About 14 km we entered some single track and this time there was a left and right path. The left looked much smoother and the right more rocky and bumpy and everyone in front of us took the easy option, but not Minter who started flying down over the rough route. It was steep and fast and we were flying along bunny hopping over ruts and dodging rocks but managed to get ahead of most of the group we were in. We hit the dirt road at the bottom and powered along with a group of about 5 of us. The guys were strong on the hills and I was struggling to stay with them on the climbs (Minter was not afflicted with the same problem), but then on the descents we were flying past them (admittedly we may not have been 100% in control). We started to catch small groups that had splintered away and kept overtaking them until about 3 km before the end we saw a group of about 6 riders and started chasing to catch them Minter managed but it was a hill and my heart rate was up at 169 beats per minute and I just couldn't give any more so we came in just behind them.
Overall it was an excellent result for the day, with us placing 8th overall and second in our age category (30 to 39 year olds....they use the age of the youngest team member). We were very chuffed and how fantastic to actually see the results of our efforts, rather than to be standing on the side of the trails changing tyres after killing ourselves for half the race.
The 7th, 6th and 5th positions were all within 20 seconds of our time of 3:08:51 ahead of us, and according to Minter (who was screaming like a psycho...."hurry up boet.....come boet...come" ......repeated about 100 times over 2 minutes.....as if I was sitting on a friggin sun-lounger and sipping a piña-colada), if I had just dug a bit deeper we could have taken them. According to me, I would have died on the spot if I tried to accelerate.
The Magellan unit has performed as one would expect. It is difficult to say too much about it as it does what it should do. Compared to the Garmin Edge 500, the Magellan battery life is better, the look is nicer and the screen is bigger. The mount is also more robust. At the moment, the time of day is not an optional field on the screens, but is a separate screen (you just click "enter" to flip the screen), and I would prefer it as a field option. The good news is that (I believe) they are looking at fixing this in the next firmware upgrade....which is my only moan about an otherwise great unit.
One thing I can say at this point is that the Syntace Hi-Flex seat post was a great purchase. It definitely allows me to stay seated quite a lot when Minter is up off the saddle. If you are riding a hard tail (or a road bike) then I think this would be a very valuable addition from a comfort perspective. Given the quality of the Sydney road, and the fact that my current roadie seat post is aluminium, I will be buying one for the road bike.
Despite Minters assurances that we were no longer racing we ended up bolting out at the start and flying along at a killer pace. About 14 km we entered some single track and this time there was a left and right path. The left looked much smoother and the right more rocky and bumpy and everyone in front of us took the easy option, but not Minter who started flying down over the rough route. It was steep and fast and we were flying along bunny hopping over ruts and dodging rocks but managed to get ahead of most of the group we were in. We hit the dirt road at the bottom and powered along with a group of about 5 of us. The guys were strong on the hills and I was struggling to stay with them on the climbs (Minter was not afflicted with the same problem), but then on the descents we were flying past them (admittedly we may not have been 100% in control). We started to catch small groups that had splintered away and kept overtaking them until about 3 km before the end we saw a group of about 6 riders and started chasing to catch them Minter managed but it was a hill and my heart rate was up at 169 beats per minute and I just couldn't give any more so we came in just behind them.
Overall it was an excellent result for the day, with us placing 8th overall and second in our age category (30 to 39 year olds....they use the age of the youngest team member). We were very chuffed and how fantastic to actually see the results of our efforts, rather than to be standing on the side of the trails changing tyres after killing ourselves for half the race.
The 7th, 6th and 5th positions were all within 20 seconds of our time of 3:08:51 ahead of us, and according to Minter (who was screaming like a psycho...."hurry up boet.....come boet...come" ......repeated about 100 times over 2 minutes.....as if I was sitting on a friggin sun-lounger and sipping a piña-colada), if I had just dug a bit deeper we could have taken them. According to me, I would have died on the spot if I tried to accelerate.
The Magellan unit has performed as one would expect. It is difficult to say too much about it as it does what it should do. Compared to the Garmin Edge 500, the Magellan battery life is better, the look is nicer and the screen is bigger. The mount is also more robust. At the moment, the time of day is not an optional field on the screens, but is a separate screen (you just click "enter" to flip the screen), and I would prefer it as a field option. The good news is that (I believe) they are looking at fixing this in the next firmware upgrade....which is my only moan about an otherwise great unit.
One thing I can say at this point is that the Syntace Hi-Flex seat post was a great purchase. It definitely allows me to stay seated quite a lot when Minter is up off the saddle. If you are riding a hard tail (or a road bike) then I think this would be a very valuable addition from a comfort perspective. Given the quality of the Sydney road, and the fact that my current roadie seat post is aluminium, I will be buying one for the road bike.
Wednesday 1 May 2013
Day 6 - Same Shit.....Different Day
We woke up to a freezing cold morning up in the mountains. After eating breakfast and getting dressed for the ride we went to get our bikes only to find ice on our saddles and grips from the condensation and the cold.....nice.
We spent the first part of the morning shivering uncontrollably before the race began with another very strong start which heated us up pretty quickly as it was the hilliest of the days. We had no problems keeping up with our targeted group for the first 40 km at which point about 3 teams broke away on a monster climb. Minter and I moved to the front of the group which had splintered off by the top of the climb and then started the white-knuckled descent back down the other side of the mountain and at about 52km Minter hit a rock which dented his rim and put a small cut into the sidewall of the tyre.
We tried to re-seal the tyre but it was not working so I pulled out my brand new tube....confident that unlike yesterday, it would not have any holes in! We whip off the tyre, put a bit of air into the tube, and start remounting the tube.....only to realise I have been carrying a 26 inch tube around and we are both on 29ers. At this point we just started laughing....clearly I can't be trusted with bike spares. We put Minters spare tube on and had to pump it by hand. We had lost about 8 minutes and just decided that there was no point in killing ourselves any more....after what would be 2 disastrous days. The views were spectacular and we just rode along at a moderate pace. We even stopped for the first time since the race began at a water point and scoffed choccies (bar one's), bananas, and Minter ate some sort of pink looking sausage thing. We then stopped and took some photo's along the trails as the views were awesome with the snow covered peaks of the mountains in the background.
On the one hand, we are disappointed, but that is the nature of the sport and it is nice to have the opportunity to focus on th e pleasure of the sport rather than the pure race mentality.
We spent the first part of the morning shivering uncontrollably before the race began with another very strong start which heated us up pretty quickly as it was the hilliest of the days. We had no problems keeping up with our targeted group for the first 40 km at which point about 3 teams broke away on a monster climb. Minter and I moved to the front of the group which had splintered off by the top of the climb and then started the white-knuckled descent back down the other side of the mountain and at about 52km Minter hit a rock which dented his rim and put a small cut into the sidewall of the tyre.
We tried to re-seal the tyre but it was not working so I pulled out my brand new tube....confident that unlike yesterday, it would not have any holes in! We whip off the tyre, put a bit of air into the tube, and start remounting the tube.....only to realise I have been carrying a 26 inch tube around and we are both on 29ers. At this point we just started laughing....clearly I can't be trusted with bike spares. We put Minters spare tube on and had to pump it by hand. We had lost about 8 minutes and just decided that there was no point in killing ourselves any more....after what would be 2 disastrous days. The views were spectacular and we just rode along at a moderate pace. We even stopped for the first time since the race began at a water point and scoffed choccies (bar one's), bananas, and Minter ate some sort of pink looking sausage thing. We then stopped and took some photo's along the trails as the views were awesome with the snow covered peaks of the mountains in the background.
On the one hand, we are disappointed, but that is the nature of the sport and it is nice to have the opportunity to focus on th e pleasure of the sport rather than the pure race mentality.
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