Grace2Grace ****Blog Post No 100****

How fitting is it that this is my 100th blog post and it will be about the experience I shared with (amongst others) the guy who introduced me to mountain biking a few years ago - Melt Loubser and this was to be my first race with him.

Melt before the race

Melt and me were fortunate enough to be invited to the Brait Grace2Grace mountain bike race, situated at the Mount Grace Hotel in Magaliesberg outside Johannesburg, by our long time legal guru PJ Hope. This is a team of 2 race over 48kms in the Magaliesberg mountain. PJ and me were one team and Melt and Nigel the other.

Reb Hot Chilli Peppers team 1 (PJ and me)

The race started out pretty early at 07:00 (I was up at 04:00 to get there on time) and the weather was really windy - but at least there was no rain. PJ bolted out the blocks and we spent the first few kms chasing him. Nigel felt the pace really early as this was his first mountain bike race - but he was lucky to have Melt as his partner as he is a veteran mountain biker (7 Sani2Cs and 3 ABSA Cape Epics etc etc) and he pulled/pushed him most of the 48km route. The route was fantastic, not too technical and had lots of hills to keep the heart pumping - notably the long climb out the valley. The 4 of us rode together and had good fun along the way - Naaige was a good sport and really gave his all.

Pushing or being Pulled that is the question we all ask?

 We finished together as a team in a time of 03:22 (750m ascent). Afterwards there was a feast of note - so much complimentary food and drink, we replaced all the calories burnt in the morning ride.  Thanks to PJ from Reed Hope Phillips Attorneys for this wonderful experience it really was memorable.

The TEAM at the end

 Below is a short video from my headcam during the race - you will see proof of Melt pushing me off the track in response me chirping him...

Time to get more serious now..

OK now that the Sani2C entry has been acquired, its time to start putting the kilometers in and making the most of spring riding. This has to be the best time of the year to ride, the heat is not here yet, the routes have dried up and the long grass has been burnt short leaving magical single track exposed to being brutalised by enthusiastic mountain bikers.

We had a good week of riding: 4 early 5 o' clock starts before work, doing about 30km each time (interval training on 2 of them) and then a nice longer ride on Sunday. The Sunday ride, we did 67km at an average of 20.5km/h, 360m ascent. Awesome riding, the route we did was slightly different and it was so nice to ride through parts that are normally waterlogged and muddy.

In the afternoon I got the family on their bikes (after doing some TLC on all 6 bikes). Pictured below is my youngest and myself taking the Giant 1/2 wheeler for a long overdue ride. I attached it on to my wife's bike, as my 29er is too big and the rear shock bounces the back bike a bit making him a bit nervous.

Groenkloof ride 18-09-2011

At last summer is here and the horrid cold, dark winter rides are a thing of the past. Greg and me headed out to Groenkloof nature reserve in Pretoria. This a wonderful place full of trails, single track and heart pumping hills. We arrived just after 07:00 and had an incredible ride for 2 hours doing just over 30km with 500m ascent. Plenty of single track with a few rock obstacles thrown in to keep you honest. Greg had a nice fall (which is unusual) and I had a whopper, that left some of my DNA on the reserve once again. We did onion hill twice and it did not bring tears to our eyes this time - nice change from the Benoni flat lands.

We were also fortunate to see some game - herd of zebra, family of giraffe and plenty of impala buck. Below are a few photo's and a short video of some of the ride.  

 

Greg - don't stop there is no zebra crossing (they are just standing in the bush)



Yeah I ain't moving for no one!!!



Sani2C Trial

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeha, Greg and me have finally got into the Sani2C mountain bike race. This is the acclaimed nirvana of mountain biking races in South Africa and is 300kms over 3 days next May. The race starts in Underberg in Kwazulu Natal and ends in Scotborough on the coast. Like every frustrated mountain biker in South Africa we have tried for years to get into this exclusive event – fortunately they included another day/event the Sani2C Trail and through loads of persistence we managed to get an entry. Now the serious training has to start, at least we have some time before the event....

Weekend in the bush

Last weekend we were fortunate enough to spend the weekend on  a friends private game farm just outside Belfast (Eastern highlands of South Africa). Below is a picture of the farm house which powered by solar power and water is from a nearby spring.

Fantastic to spend time close to nature with no cars, people etc. We took all the bikes with and had a few family rides which was great except the kids did not fancy the hills too much. On the Sunday I went on a nice longish ride through the game farm and down some district rides - exploring the area around the farm. Some nice hills that had me using granny gear a few times (over 600m ascent in just over 25km). Below are a few photos taken during my ride and when riding around in the animal trails when the kids were cooling off in the dam the previous day.

Nissan Down and Dirty MTB Series race report

It is not often that everything just seems to go right in a race and you feel invincible. Well this was the race that will go down in history, where Richard Dawkins rode faster than his mates and stayed on his bike the whole race.

The race started at Cornwall College in Irene just outside Pretoria and then headed under the R21highway towards the Eastrand (some parts Greg and me had the privilege of exploring the Sunday before). There were one or two hills that got the heart beat up in the first half of the 70km route, but fortunately our few excursions to Suikerbosrand had helped me not to be scared of hills (I passed a twitter legend @MTBBarbie_44 on one of these hills and introduced myself while riding past).  

At the 40km water point, to my surprise I caught up with Greg (he had started 5 minutes ahead of me in group D seeding with Clint). I was good to ride with him most of the way back to the finish, all the races we have entered before, I haven't even come close to him. I was averaging over 20km/h, which for a race I had not done before (in about 700m of climbing). I felt good and could have carried on, but unfortunately at 60km, we met up with the 20 and 40km riders and this was very hazardous trying to pass them on the single track next to the highway etc. The final single track near the river at the end was also a big disappointment (not because I had to walk over the bridges) everyone was off their bikes and there was a big bottleneck at the river crossings. We wasted at least 15minutes here. Last little hill back to the College was no problem - it was so cool to pass some of the slower riders (didn't think I would ever say that, as I am usually the one being passed). I also managed to finish ahead of racing snake legend - Clint which was also a big surprise (he had mechanicals but I will take the win anyway).

After the race it was awesome to meet some of my twitter mates @hopeleighm @gmyburgh and had a beer with @clintcosgrave, @jacquescoe etc. Really chuffed with my time - moving average time (less the stops for the bottlenecks) was 3:27 - an hour faster than my last Nissan race at Hazeldean.

Getting ready for Nissan Down and Dirty

Had a very cool ride on Sunday. Greg and me went to Barn Stormers model aircraft flying club (bikes on the car) and tried to do some of the Nissan Down and Dirty race that we had entered the next Saturday. We parked and added extra clothes as the weather had turned a little chilly and then headed out on our adventure.

This was really exciting as we were exploring new areas we had not ridden before. After a few obstacles (fence hoping etc) we headed towards Irene on what we thought would be the tail end of the 70km route we would be doing. Lovely jeep track over a koppie along power lines, miellie fields and then past a well used brick works. After stopping two MTBs that were riding from Irene, we got directions and continued on our journey.

#EPICFAIL - we ended up going in a full circle back to where we started, our sense of direction totally whacked - 20km done. Ok different route this time - new dirt roads and jeep track led us to the R21 highway near Irene, which we followed for a while before heading back to the flying club - 30km loop this time. Great ride besides not knowing where we were, but that made it more exciting. Hopefully we covered a small part of the route of the race - should be awesome.

Sunrise on my morning ride 30-08-2011

Kargo Magalies Adventure 2011

I don't think I could have chosen a harder yet enjoyable induction into mountain biking multiple stage racing. The Kargo Magalies Adventure 2011 was an incredible experience, it was extremely well organised and a professionally orchestrated event (even the cold showers did not dampen the experience - no pun intended).

Greg and me arrived there on the Friday afternoon, registered, picked up an incredible 'goody' bag (loads of clothes, accessories, even a blanket etc etc...) and then found our tent - yes it was the green one below...

Stage 1: The first stage was at night and I retrieved my glasses from the organises - after dropping them whilst unloading the car (cost me a tequila that evening), we got our bikes ready. As the sun was setting, we set off for a 25 km ride, within the first 2 kms we encountered some thick river sand, which attacked my front wheel and resulted in my first fall of the weekend - no, not a soft landing I fell onto Greg's front wheel - buckling it in the process. His wheel was really wonky and we tried to fix it for a few minutes, but with no success - turn back or carry on, the latter was the only option for the Benoni Bombers. We were stone last now and spent the next hour and a half passing the other riders, one by one. Soon we had to turn on our bike headlamps to light up the single track, as we climbed up the mountain to the Greek Church to the water point. The rest of the stage was incredible, it was difficult riding as you could only see as far as your light could shine down the single track, so you had no way of knowing what lay ahead. This was my first night ride and it was awesome, we finished in 1 hour 50 minutes with quite a few people coming in after us (some took another 40 minutes). We managed to borrow a spare wheel from the technical support, that Greg could use for the rest of the race, as it seemed his dented wheel was unfixable. Cold shower, warm supper and off to wrestle with the sleeping bag for the next few hours in the tent.

Stage 2: Cold start to the day -2 degrees C, I did not get too much sleep with all the noise that is generated by the buzz/excitement of a stage race camp. Quick breakfast, cappuccino and off to defrost my bike...

Stage 2 was the hardest riding I have ever done in my life. The first 11km were uneventful and then came the first big climb up a mountain, most of it I rode except some parts where the ground was too rocky. At the top, before the descent, I clipped a rock on the path and had another fall. This fall was bad, because I somehow managed to break my saddle - I was trying to put it back on with cable-ties, when one of the friends that we made on the race, Louis, came to my assistance with some duct tape. This was at least a temporary fix for the next 20 odd kms.

Greg was as strong as anything (I still need to check his B sample before I can make any accusations about what substance he was abusing). He rode up and through anything that was put in front of him and spent most of the ride waiting for me to catch up. The terrain that they took us through, was extreeeeeemly difficult, loads and loads of rocks and hills. I fell so many times that when anything remotely technical came along, I got off my bike and pushed (broken saddle was also playing up now). At the 35km water point we decided to call it a day as we had been slogging it out for the past 4 hours (yes, average of 8 km/hour - ouch). My bike and body were now officially broken... Out of all the people that started Day 2, I reckon only 50% managed to complete the full 75km. Our friend, Louis, was the last man home in just over 8 hours (his partner Andrew, managed only 65km).

Back to base camp to try and recover and fix the bike for tomorrow - fortunately Greg had a spare saddle so my bike was good to go in no time. At least the bike wash was worth coming home for....

Cold shower, watch the Boks loose again, supper and then an early night. Slept better this time except for someone vomiting their lungs out, Greg's snoring (and some lions roaring in the distance).

Stage 3 - This was only 45 km, but after stage 2, this could mean the equivalent of 150 km riding, compared to what we are used to. My body was scratched, bruised and battered and after much deliberation, I decided not to give up and to give it a go, even if it took me 5 hours. I told Greg that he must ride ahead and not wait for me so he could at least enjoy his ride. Below, are the 2 of us ready to start the next stage of the gargantuan journey...

Wow, what an awesome stage not half as difficult as the day before, I kept riding, waiting for the tough unrideable stuff, but it never materialised. I was so glad that I did it and managed to finish in 2hours 50 minutes. Still had a few falls, one of them captured on my head cam as Greg rode past  me and I lost concentration, ending up with me flying over the handle bars.

To end off this long Blog post, I must commend the organisers and sponsors for a fantastic event, it was really tough, "but we didn't come here for a hair cut..." and worth every cent. They really managed to give us the overall package and made it fun, adventurous, memorable and more... Lastly, to my awesome riding partner Greg, who has such patience, technical skills and knowledge, it was an absolute pleasure riding with you, even if your bike came off second best..

Ready or not here we come

Supper excited today is my first mountain bike stage race - the Magalies Adventure. It is held over 3 days, the Day 1 being a night stage which should test my technical skills (as if I don't have trouble enough in the day). Day 2 is the whopper 75km with loads of climbing and technical bits and Day 3 is a shorter stage of 45km to finish the legs off. What is different from other races, is that Greg and me are riding as a two man team and we must always ride together - this should be intereasting but I know I couldn't have picked a better partner.  

So am I ready - that is question will be answered only on Sunday. Last week we gave it horns - doing 3x30km rides in the mornings and a huge 70km ride in the flatlands of Benoni on Sunday. Winter's cold weather has left us short of where we should be before a stage race, but hopefully the other entrants were also affected, so that last spot prize won't be ours.

My next blog post will be about the awesomeness of the next 3 days and the thrills of riding in the great outdoors.....

Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve ride 31st July

After a few weeks messing around in the flat wasteland of the Benoni outback it was time again to venture to the hills at Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve. It was a chilly start -2 when we got there at 7 but as soon as the sun rose, it warmed up nicely.

Clint could not join us today to be our tour guide, as he was bailing his Garden Executive out of jail. Greg and me were fortunate to be joined by my work colleague Malcolm - real tough guy after doing the Iron Man and Comrades last year. 

It was a fantastic ride, we were the first riders to hit the road and it worked in our favour as we saw tons of game - herds of zebra, eland, wilderbeest, impala, baboons and a colony of meerkats. At one stage whilst I was in front going down a hill at 60km/h an eland gazelle ran across the road and I had too hit the brakes or else I would have come off second best.

Below are a few snippets off my headcam of the ride - the first part is when I was speeding down a hill at 72km/h (my best time on a mountain bike) when Malcolm shot past and the unclipped his feet and was vertical for the best arodynamic positon - all I can say that he is one crazy bugger...

1200 metres of climbing in just over 57km, really good tester for the legs. We managed to do it 5 minutes quicker than last time.

Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve ride 3rd July

Wow, we arrived in Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve just before 7 on a chilly morning with the temperature outside the car at -5 degrees. Not knowing what to expect Greg and me eagerly followed Clint on our first ride around the reserve. Clint said it would be tough and it sure was - 1200m of climbing in 57km. There were no flats like we are used to riding in the outskirts of  Benoni, it was either up or down. It was a fantastic yet painful experience, the reserve was lovely we saw lots of game and there road was pretty much only used by cyclists. Our legs took a hamering and I used all 30 of my gears. Great to have Clint as our guide - he let us know in advance what to expect and was supportive all the way.

After a cappuccino to warm us up, the boys are ready to go.



Yup one of the 'small hills' we were down there at one stage..(you can see Clint isn't sweating yet)



At least the views were good near the top of the climb

Greg didn't care about the view here.



Edited a few minutes of the ride on the headcam below..

Nissan Hazeldean MTB Series race 25th June 2011

Only crazy dedicated mountain bikers would get ready for a race when it is minus one outside...brrrr. Up early to be collected by Greg by 05:45, wearing a few more layers of clothes then normal. Greg arrived looking a nice green colour, as he had already vomited up the previous nights dinner. Fortunately Pretoria was one or two degrees warmer than Benoni, but it was still freezing whilst we set up our bikes and headed out to the start of the race.

Before heading to the start at 1 degree celsius

Greg was in group E (after giving up his A status in the 40km race) and Clint and myself were in group G - which started at 08:00. And off we went - I managed to keep up with Clint for the first 5km on his 'training ride' and then my heart rate monitor was beeping like crazy, so I slowed it down. At 10km there was Greg on the side of the road, now a darker shade of green as he had just done another huge projectile deposit next to the single track. We had a quick chat and he told me he was heading back as he couldn't keep anything down - eish how unlucky.

A few km's later came my nemesis the dreaded bridge that I had been dreaming about. The 9m wooden bridge was crossing a river and there was a drop off and climb on the other side - I hesitated whilst going down and braked which sent me over the handle bars and landing square on the bridge (ok I am getting better as I fell into to the water off 2 bridges last year :-). My tool canister plopped in the water and bobbed down the river, I waved goodbye to my tubeless repair kit, bombs and multitool etc as there was no way I was going into the freezing water.

The rest of the race was hard - the cold wind was terrible and with the fall my confidence had taken a major knock, so I walked a lot of the technical stuff. I was also more carefull than normal as I did not want any punctures with my repair kit on its way to the sea. I switched on my headcam after 56km and got about half an hour of footage - below is a few minutes of what was recorded. There was some fantastic single track on the race that left me in awe well into the night.

This race wasn't my race, I was cold and my energy levels were just not there - so many people went past me like I was standing still. Eventually after 4 and 1/2 hours I trundled over the finish line - poor Greg was there to greet me after waiting for the past 3 odd hours, not feeling good at all (thanks you are a good mate). At least I managed to get some bling to take home, so I can remember this race and the challenge it threw my way. Well on the positive at least I got my value for money and was on the route longer than others.  

After a 70km slog I deserve a medal....

P.S. I think I owe Jacques a bike wash

Father's Day 19th June

What better way then to spend father's day riding than on my mountain bike. I was woken up at 05:00 with the dog chunking next my bed just to remind me that being a father does not stop with my 4 kids. Got up and made a fire to take off the chill while I waited until it was time to hit the road.

Needed to take this with me on the bike this morning.

After receiving a message from Clint that the flu had chained him to his bed, I met Greg at the gym and then Jaques, Hennie and Karen at the BP. The weather was slightly nippy but warmed up as we rode, we did a pleasant ride, a little slower and shorter than expected but it was awesome to be out in the great outdoors. We split up from Jaques and Karen at one stage, but got called back as Karen had a flat and did not have a spare tube. Below are the knights in shining armour quickly putting the new tube in her wheel.

Nice ride and back home in time for a breakfast with the kids and braai for lunch. Did 50km exactly at just under 20km/h, ave heart rate a low 130. Think I am ready for the Nissan Hazeldean race next weekend - can't wait.

Guess I will have to ride a bit harder to work off some of these father day presents....

MTB Skills Clinic with Dylan Victor

Friday the 17th of June was a good day to be off work and riding my bike in one of the best bike parks in South Africa - Groenkloof/Fountains. I was fortunate enough to have been bought a couple of lessons with Dylan Victor by my 2 friends Melt and Pierre (guess they were worried about me after 3 trips to the emergency rooms in the last year).

Melt was Dylan's partner for 2 ABSA Cape Epics and knew how knowledgeable he was with mountain bike skills (he trains a lot of the professional riders). This was my second lesson and it was incredible how much I learnt, you realise that it is all about positioning, momentum and weight distribution on the bike. Dylan is a brilliant teacher and really installs confidence in you and knows exactly how to improve your riding skills. Greg came with me and also partook in parts of the lesson, so I am sure he will be reminding me of what I learnt over the next few weeks/months/years of riding.

Below are a few photos taken by Dylan during the lesson, as you can see I have learnt to lean into corners, straightening and putting pressure on the outside leg and also crouching forward allowing flexibility with the arms etc.  

 



Dylan after the lesson

This was an incredible experience and I would recommend to every mountian biker to go on a skills course to get the fundamentals of riding. No, this will not stop you from falling (I had at least 4 big falls during the lesson) but it will limit the number and the type of falls you have. A big thank you to my friends Melt and Pierre who made this possible for me.

Sunday MTB ride 12-06-2011

At last the cold spell is over and we can come out of hibernation and put some time in the saddle and not freeze our nuts off. Greg and me met up with Clint at the BP at 07:30 and it was a beautiful day for riding. We headed out past Dunblane Estate and then past Barnstormers model flying club.

Unfortunate stop for my #@$%^&* rear tyre that flated again - couple of bombs and a plug soon sorted it out. I also lost a screw for my cleat and envisaged an awkward ride home - Greg managed to find something that could fit in and secure the cleat and we were back in business. All three of us had a fall each - I think Greg won the trophy for the best one, as he ended up in a puddle and got a bit wet. I managed to get some of the ride in a video below.

Another awesome ride 63km total distance, ave speed 20km/h, ave heart rate 154bpm, 355m ascent.
Greg rode like he had a plane to catch (which he did - Nigeria for a few days), guess I will have to brave the cold and dark alone for the morning rides...

Group Mountain Bike Ride 4th June 2011

Brrrr cold start to an early Saturday morning ride, I left home at 06:20 to meet Greg at the gym at 06:35. My Garmin was showing me it was 2 degrees Celsius, my new gloves and inners were doing their job, but my face was freezing (being the only exposed area). I picked up Greg and headed off to the BP to meet Clint and the gang. Greg sent me loads of SMSs and a missed call trying to try bail out of the ride (his week in Kenya left him with a Delhi belly), fortunately these were ignored and he joined us anyway.

Was a nice group ride, 7 of us in total and from home and back it was just under 50km. Below is a short video of parts of the ride.

Sun 22nd and 29th May Rides

Sunday 22nd May was another awesome ride - we met Clint and Dee at the BP at 07:00 and then did the same route as the previous Wednesday ride. You think we would have learnt - still loads of mud and water and we all got our feet wet again (Clint did a nice dodge on the last big puddle - choosing the tar instead, in his words "if you can't beat them then cheat")

Unfortunately I forgot to clear the last video off my head cam so I only has some space for a few minutes filming of the ride (pity cause there were some good water crossing shots).

All in all a good ride I felt strong, maxed out my heart rate a few times, we did 68km at a relatively quick pace given the mud and water. Nice to ride with Dee and Clint - great people and strong mountain bike riders even if they are converted roadies....

Sunday 29th of May - brrrr been really the last few days, Greg and me chickened out of riding on Thursday morn because of the wind and the sudden cold spell. We started our Sunday ride with our Garmins reading only 3 degrees, our fingers and toes feeling the brunt of the cold. Different route this Sunday - out past the model aircraft flying club and up the small koppie. Good to do some hills, the route in some parts was overgrown, so we had to do some real mountain biking - our leg warmers covered in black jacks.

In total 64kms at 19.5km/h average speed, both of us a bit tired at the end but it was memorable.

Vote day....18th May

Wednesday the 18th of May was a public holiday in South Africa which means a day off work - oh what to do, oh what to do....

How about a nice mountain bike ride and then vote later. Once this was decided and Greg was keen (as always), plans were made - wait a tweet from The Saint (Clint) saying they were meeting at  the BP a 07:00 for a ride. Scrap the plans and lets join Clint and his group for a ride. Having never met Clint before this seemed like a great opportunity - it is amazing how technology can connect people with similar interests - Twitter is awesome. 

Greg and me met Clint, Jacques, Hennie, Mark and Karen at the BP and we then went on a nice muddy and sometimes wet outride. It was really great to be around other like minded people that ride at a similar pace. It was really fun chatting to new people and sharing our ideas, thoughts and passion for cycling. All in all, a great ride - from home and back it was just under 70km with an average speed of 19.5. Good thing is, that they meet every weekend so I am sure we will see more of them.

Good week of riding...

It has been so good to be on leave the last week. I have managed to ride 5 times and averaged over 50km per ride. Greg had 8 rides and did over 400kms in total - I will be playing catch up the next few rides. Unfortunately I had a few problems with my rear tyre that messed up 2 of my rides and I even had to get a lift home from my wife the one ride - plenty of side wall cuts (5 plugs couldn't fix it). Seems like the Continental Race Kings recently put on the back, are not the greatest (time to put the Hutchinson's back on). The 2.4 Mountain Kings on the front are a bit heavy, but have plenty of grip when climbing up hills - who am I kidding we don't have real hills in the East Rand.

The weather has not been too kind, loads of rain which means water and mud. The crunch crunch of the working parts after a few hours of mud will make any mountain biker cringe. Today we did a 67km ride that was going well until my @#$%^&* rear tyre went flat again, a few bombs and visit to the garage helped me limp home. Here a a short video of parts of the ride I did with Greg and Justin.

2nd May route through the Benoni outback...

 2,530 km done over the last 4 months, hope that winter will be kind to us and let us ride at least half  of this....

Kids big race - Walkerville Country Challenge

Wow how proud am I doing this blog, my kids completed their second mountain bike race yesterday at Walkerville - Country Challenge. They did just under 10kms and it was a beautiful route in the mist. This was thier first real mountain bike ride with jeep track, dirt road and single track. There was loads of mud and puddles so this also added to the excitement. I entered the race with them (I really wanted to do the 60km route but as a parent you have to make sacrifices for your kids), unfortunately I flated 4km into the race and had no bombs or repair kit to fix my @$#$%^& back tyre. I managed to convince a bakkie to give me a lift back to the start/finish just after my beautiful children finished the race. They really enjoyed it and are eager to do another one.



Before the start of the race

 

ok some of the hills were tough for the girls...

 

Victory and medals to prove