94.7 x 2 for the Apricot Tree

2015 is a milestone year for me as I have raced in some awesome new races and also not been in hospital once :-) It was also the first time that I also did the double in the 94.7 race - doing the mountain bike race and then the road race in 2 consecutive weekends. It was my first 94.7 MTB race, as I have normally avoid this  race because of the bottlenecks and bad routes etc... This is one case, when the organisers have learnt from their previous mistakes (unlike the Nissan series) and this event was extremely well run and the route was awesome. There were 2 completely different routes for the 30km and the 55km distances so you never had to worry about other slower riders not doing the same distance. I was pleasantly surprised by the route and the amount of purpose built single track that was in the 55km route. 

Me kicking up some dust followed by Hansie

I did the race with Hansie one of my fellow Benoni Rough Riders which was a great experience. Below is a video he took on his Garmin of a me following a female rider and stopping when she fell down a short drop off. She really came down hard and landed on her face. We stopped to help her until her boyfriend came back to assist her and wait for the medics. There were quite a few nasty falls in the race, given the hot, dry conditions and all the loose soil. 

I also had the misfortune of wiping out. I rode into some thick river sand and my bike came to a sudden halt ejecting me over the handle bars. Unfortunately I landed on my front wheel buckling it so badly that it couldn't rotate anymore. I thought my race was over when this happened 15km before the end  of the race. Fortunately, Hansie came to my rescue and took the wheel off my bike and managed to sort of straighten it on a tree stump so I could finish the rest of the race. This worked out to be quite costly as I had to buy a new DT Swiss rim as it was impossible to straighten out my old one. I enjoyed the race even though there were plenty of hills and it was very hot and dusty.   

Hansie and I at the end of the race, trying to cool down...

The next Sunday, I finished my 7th Momentum 94.7 road race. I once again did the race on my mountain bike which is a lot more fun (and safer) but just a bit slower. I also did the race with a friend (and fellow Rough Rider) Wayne and it was great sharing this experience with him and to have someone to chat to for the 95km route. I rode for The Apricot Tree  which is a Public Beneficiary Organisation (PBO) and is involved in the stimulation and development of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It was a privilege riding for them once again, as it really is a great organisation with some incredible people involved in running it and raising money. I managed to raise R25,000 after getting sponsorships for the 94.7 race from my friends, family, work colleagues and the company that I work for MultiChoice. I was pretty chuffed with the money that I raised and happy to see that it be put to good use to offer more to the children that they help. 

Selfie with Wayne and I shortly before we set off on the race

Start of the Momentum 94.7 road race

Benchwarmers get out in the cold and wind. Today I managed to get Paul and Greg out for a chilly and windy ride. They have been warming the bench on the sidelines whilst the rest of us have been riding. It was great to have them back out there and hopefully we will see more of them as winter is long gone and the excuses have run out ;-)

Greg and Paul on a cold and windy 'summers day'

2011 94.7 road race blog report

Garmin - details for the 94.7 race

Awesome ride today as I achieved my goal to crack the 4 hour mark (an hour faster than last year). Really chuffed with myself, after a slow start I managed to pick up the pace on the N14 highway and handled the last few hills with no problem. Fortunately the weather was not as hot as last year and it makes a big difference starting at 7:35 instead of 8:30.

Ok you want the real truth about my dramatic increase in performance - no it was not drugs or the almost 6000kms done on my MTB since the last race. I decided to become a real roadie for one day and shaved my legs (painstaking process of culling 42 years of growth). So there you have it, my slick little pegs took me home in record time.

Happy camper at the end of the race

Crashes - the story of my life

Ok so Terra-firma has a thing for me - the attraction is not mutual, as it unfortunately leaves me somewhat scarred, battered and bruised.

Early Monday morning, still nursing my bruises and cuts from riding at Sun City, I took a nasty tumble on a piece of track that I have done hundreds of times. My wheels caught the ridge in the middle of the road as I was about to turn into the single track and my bike just slid out from under me. This left a nasty painful graze on my leg (as pictured below) that has been a sore point (excuse the pun) this week, totally disrupting my riding plans.

I had to give the Nissan Cullinan Diamond Rush race that I had entered a skip, as I knew with certainty that if I rode the 70km as planned, I would fall exactly on my nice big roastie. Instead I had a short ride with Greg on Saturday morning and dusted off my road bike for Sunday.

Riding on road I thought would be uneventful - how wrong I was. I met up with some old roadie acquittance's at 06:00 at the Keg in Benoni and we headed out on old Pretoria road towards Bapsfontein. The road bike felt good and I was surprisingly averaging 28km/h for the first 35km. Then it happened - there was quite a lip between the tar and the edge of the road and Earl's front wheel slid off and he ploughed into the tarmac. Victor who was behind him, hit him and went over his handle bars connecting his head on the road. I was behind Victor and just managed to avoid the mangle ending up on the other side of the road. Long story short - Victor - hospital - stitches - plenty sore and Earl - roasties - broken bike and pride.

Can't say I am too fond of riding on the road, the cars are hectic and riding behind someone can also have its pitfalls. I was nice to get out and get a decent ride in though - we did 75km (we aimed for 100 but the accident shortened our aspirations), at least I know my road bike is ready to tackle the 94.7 road race next month.  

94.7 Road Race 2010

On a day in Johannesburg when cyclists rule the streets, 24000 people race a lap around the city in the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge. This Sunday I made it to the finish line - just! This is my tale of the race…

I was in starting group CC and after a good hour waiting in the hot sun we set off at about 08:20.

How awesome was it to ride on the highways and closed roads, this is what makes this race so great. A bit of a new longer route through the center of Joburg, great to fly down past Sunnyside Hotel this year instead of going  uphill (a mountain biker took a hefty tumble in front of me at 50km/hour - looked very sore), we went past Ponte (my training mate Peter went flying past me here) and on to the highway and back into the city through Ghandi square, M1 highway again, Mandela bridge etc. It was really unique experience riding here and I still felt strong at this stage. Then through the tree lined suburbs through to Randburg - hit my best ever top speed of 70km down Jan Smuts going past the Zoo.

Quick stop in Randburg to chat to my mates Brad and Zanne who were in their usual supporter spot just above Republic intersection. Breezed through without stopping once until the N14 highway, I was fortunate to ride with a good friend from the past - Robyn for a few kms up Malibongwe until she left me on the final hill. Great to see the supporters cheering on the side of the road - people were cooking breakfast on skottels, lying in blow up pools drinking beer, offering drinks and splashing water as you rode past...great spirit.

N14 highway and the rest of the race was pure hell, someone left the furnace door open  - the heat was energy sapping and the drags seemed to go on for ever and my feet really hurt. Eventually I had to stop under a bridge to cool off and re-energise. After initially vowing not to stop at any water points in the race - I ended up stopping at all of them from the N14 onwards, the heat was killing me. My average speed up to N14 was 24km/h and from N14 home, must have been about 10km/h - yuck. I had to stop to loosen my shoes as I couldn't feel my feet circulation was restricted. 

Eventually limped home 40 minutes faster then last year and vowed never to do the race again (until Monday morning where I already planned how to beat my time).

Reasons why the race did not go as planned:

1. I wasn't as fit as I should have been - extra 2 months training would have helped (flu and foot injury really hampered my preparation).
2. There are no hills in the East Rand for training- so the hills in the race were a struggle.
3. False view that a road bike would be easy compared to the mountain bike last year (you still need to  be fit - I really missed the granny gear option though).
4. To many kgs to drag up the hills - need to lighter for next year.

Next year I plan to slice another 40 minutes of my time and ride in pink with Brad Brown...now that's a goal to train to.  Thanks to the organizers for an awesome well planned race.