Riding and riding

Yes that is what I should be doing - but (un)fortunately I did a quick business trip to bitterly cold London last week which meant I spent very little time on my bike the last 2 weeks. I did manage to buy some new gloves there at a reasonable discount...

Prior to my bout of inactivity I did the 60km USN mountain bike cup race at Base3 Midrand. Quite an eventful race, I had a snake bite (when the tubeless Tyre is trapped between something hard like a stone and the rim of the wheel) on the 20km mark, which resulted in a flat Tyre. After unsuccessfully attempting to bomb my tubeless Tyre - I flagged down a (30km race) rider who lent me some tools and another CO2 canister (bomb). To cut a long story short I eventually managed to put in a tube and got going again (about 1/2 hour delay). So pretty much I thought I was coming last in the 60km race - because it was a 2 lap race I was very tempted to quit when I reached  the 30km mark and returned the tools to my good Samaritan. My bike was even at the car, but then I saw a pretty overweight guy going for his second lap (if he can do it so can I) - realizing that I would at least have someone behind me in case I had another flat - I decided to carry on. So glad I did - "pain is temporary quitting lasts forever". The second lap was great I managed to catch at least another 8 riders and enjoyed the single track as you did not have someone breathing down your neck wanting to pass you etc. I did however have a lapse of concentration when going through the forest and hit a root I did not see, which sent me sprawling over the handle bars (leaving a nice cut on my leg). But at least I finished the race and chuffed that this medal was hard fought for....

Oh I also did a little hike at Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve the next day with the family (was easier then riding the loop). Pretty awesome place, did some good cross training as my five year old had to be carried on my back most of the 5km route.

There are only hills in Suikerbosrand.....

Youngster catching  free ride during the 5km hike..

Happy birthday me...

What an awesome week this has been (besides going back to work). January the 12th was my 43rd birthday and it made me realise how riding has taken over my life. What better way to start off my birthday with a early ride with my good mate Greg - I decided to do something different and we rode from Benoni to Bedfordview and back (up Fischers hill), the hills added a little diversity but the traffic was a mare.

Home to my lovely wife and kids for a wholesome breakfast and a whole lot of incredible riding related pressies - new First Ascent Pro-Elite bib, Camelbak bottle, bandanna, 4 pairs of socks, bombs, energy bars etc...My mom gave me a voucher for Procycles and renewed my subscription to the best magazine around - Tread. Mates at work organised me another skills lesson with Dylan Victor, so all in all they are all riding related and exactly what I could have wished for.

Sunday 15th January

Today Greg and I did our longest mountain bike ride ever. We each left home at 05:15 before meeting up at the Wimpy at Lakefield. Our objective was to have at least 4 hours in the saddle. We headed out towards Irene and turned around at the Rietvlei Nature Reserve which was 45kms away from Benoni. We were averaging over 20km/h until we came to a really muddy stretch of track (next to the railway line by the Bapsfontein road). Here we struggled as my bike got really clogged up by all the mud and the net effect was,  it took almost an hour to do only a few kms.   

Bike was so full of mud that the wheels stopped turning.



The bike tan is somewhat accentuated by my muddy sun screen.

Was great to see that we can do over 90kms and still walk around afterwards. Start of our training for Sani2C and I think we will be doing a lot more of these.  

2012 is here

Yup time flies when you are riding your bike - ok so we did over 300 hours last year on our trusty steads and 2012 is definitely going to be a whole lot more.

New Years Day ride - Greg and me had organised a ride to Heidelberg with Ian (Procycles), unfortunately the weather caused us to cancel the ride early in the morning and Greg and me settled for a 60km ride on the tar later because of all the rain the night before. As you can see below even the roads took a hammering.

2nd Jan - I did a solo ride on the tar and went to Bedfordview to tackle Fischer's Hill, was an awesome ride on the MTB with 350m ascent in just over 40km.

Clarens - we were fortunate to have a family holiday in Clarens in the Southern Free State province for a few days. I managed a few rides and the scenery was spectacular. The hills were pretty hectic and really got the heart pumping. On one ride I got chased by three dogs when I rode past a rural village - quick interval session with lots of shouting and I managed to escape their evil fangs (once bitten twice shy). 

The little shack we stayed in......



Yes we had to take the trailer so all six bikes could be bought with..




Photo taken on one of the rides



  



The town of Clarens in the distance...



Thaba Trails - to finish off the first week in January Greg and me went to Thaba Trails in the South of Johannesburg for the first time. Wow is all I can say, it was really hectic - we did the green route and really struggled as there were a lot of rocky climbs and descents. Really good training as our heart rates were being pushed to new limits every hilly climb but unfortunately I also walked a lot as I did not trust myself on some of the technical stuff (both up and down hill).

View from one of the many hills at Thaba Trails..

Ride with the beasts

We had a great ride at Groenkloof Nature Reserve this morning. Andrew joined Greg and me for the first time at "Groenies" to get his taste of real mountain biking with some technical tracks and a few heart pounding climbs. It is always great riding here and fortunately after all the rain it was not muddy as the water runs off pretty well. We saw some game in the reserve - Giraffe, Wildebeest, Zebra and the herd of Sable antelopes that weren't too perturbed my us riding past.  





December time again

2011 is coming to an end and it has been an incredible year. Greg and me have competed in our first stage race, we have upped our game to riding the 70km races instead of the 40kms, I beat my 94.7 time by an hour, my kids did 3 races, I did over 6000kms (300 odd hours) on the bike and the list goes on and on......

Well I am on leave for 3 weeks and I intend to see out the old year like I brought it in - on my bike (anyone who mentions this to my wife will be shot on sight). This is how my first week of holiday has gone so far:

Day 1 - kids did a race a Babas Lodge (14km), I was the roving mechanic and had to fix two flat tyres (there were some mean thorn trees out there).



My daughter Erin with a flat front tyre



Eager beavers before the start of the race

Andrew and the kids



Had to stop for this fellow taking his crap across the road..

Day 3 - Yes I did it again - another blind MTB Internet date. Greg and me rode with a guy I met on the Hub website - Pierre, he was pretty new to mountain biking and we took him on an introductory flirt with the dirt. He managed really well and kept up with us the the 40 odd kms ride that we did.

Day 4 - Great early evening ride with Andrew - we did 33kms before the sun set beat us back home. 

 Day 5 - Greg and me had a fantastic ride, we did just under 70kms and had some serious water hazards to walk around (and both got attacked by horse flies - ouch the bites itch for days)

Day 7 - What fun was this ride, a heavy down pour made the route we did a few days earlier almost unrideable. There was so much mud and water we slid all over the place and our bikes took a real hammering and clogged up real good. At one stage we passed a van stuck in the mud the man inside said he had been stuck since the day before and was waiting to be towed out.





Bike just a little heavier then when I started with all the mud attached to the wheels.



We rode on the railway tracks for awhile the sleepers were easier then the mud.

Greg you need some water wings there bud?

So much mud and water such little time....

We ended up doing 63kms and even with all the mud we managed to have and average moving speed of 22km/h which was pretty impressive given the conditions. OK week 1 done - can't wait for next week to ride off all that Christmas cheer. 



Last day of work

How cool is it to go on a 2 hour ride on your last day of work - need to get ready for my 3 week break where hopefully I will ride myself silly. Unfortunately on one of the routes that we have been using for years they are building a big wall blocking the way to the veld below Serengeti Golf Estate.



This will cause an inconvenience to a lot of Mountain Bikers that use this route...:(



Greg taking a rest while I moan about the new wall



Ok I think I need a shower after the morning's ride



Riding stats for 2011

It was almost a year ago that my beautiful wife bought me a Garmin Edge 500 GPS for Christmas. Although my MTB riding has been the topic of many a heated conversation in this household, I know that she really supports my new found passion for the fabulous sport. The stats below however are top secret and she must never know that I spent over 314 hours of my free time (that is over 13 whole days) away from her beloved presence with my trusty mountain bike. And please don't tell her that next year is going to be even bigger, with our entry into the Sani2C we have to really stretch the legs and do some really big rides before May next year.....

Count: 177 Activities

Distance: 6,126.35 km

Time: 314:37:53 h:m:s

Elevation Gain: 41,701 m

Avg Speed: 19.5 km/h

Calories: 228,994 C

Nancy Drew ride

Yes we were a bunch of Nancy Drew's this morning, after a few days of rain we tendered stay away from the mud. It is not so much about getting dirty but about not messing up your drive chain and rear cassette as they get caked in the grimy muck that can do so much damage. It was however a pleasant ride this morning with Greg and Justin (who has just conquered the Roof of Africa), we did just over 60kms at 21km/h average. I am looking forward to the holidays so we can do some serious longish out rides.  

Justin and Greg scouting ahead for some mud less tar....

Early Mountain Biker catches the sunrise

Nothing better then getting up at 04:30, going for a mountain bike ride with your mate in the outback of Benoni  and to experience the thrill as the morning shakes off the shackles of the night.  

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

To be or not to be?

...well that is the question I now ask - whether it is nobler to be a road biker or a dirty mountain biker.

This quandary has been easily solved the the past few weeks - I like my dirt in double helpings please.

I have once again entered the 94.7 road race and a few weeks ago I dusted off my trusty old Scott road bike to have a few helpings of the tar side before the race on the 20th of November. I just managed to do just 2 weekend tar rides (75 and 80kms) before resolutely swaying back to my trusty Giant Anthem 29er.  Road is not too bad. but it ain't mountain biking - the exhilarating rush of adrenalin when you hit the single track, the beautiful morning sunrises as you venture through the veld and the constant concentration required as you vigilantly watch the track in front of you.  

One week to go before the race and once again the mountain bike was chosen as my weapon of choice this morning. We had a blistering 60 odd km ride at just under 23km/h (our fastest ride to date). And it was extremely enjoyable and that is what riding should be about, enjoyment - not worrying, when a massive truck goes speeding past you or a car hoots because you have transgressed 5cm into the road. But this a debate is for another time - I will be riding my road bike next Sun, why because it is easier and faster on the closed off roads.   

Am I ready for the race - well I am hoping that my almost 6000kms riding since the last 94.7 will hold me in good stead and hopefully the heat will not 'again' be a factor when I hit the N17 highway. At least I am starting a little earlier this year 07:35 as opposed to 08:20 last year. Watch this space for the race report next week and good luck to the 26 thousand riders taking part.  

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.  

Sun City

The past few days I was fortunate enough to go to Kwamaritane Game Lodge situated just outside of Sun City in the North West province of South Africa. Holiday - not really, it was a work team building event. Not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to ride in new places and keep up my training, I decided to take my bike with. Where to ride is the question that was soon answered on the hub website, with Neil kindly answering my plea. Neil is a local at Sun City and is familiar with all the fabulous routes around the resort.

We met pretty early after 05:00, to get an hour or two in before Neil had to go to work. I managed to convince one of the roadies at work (Chris) to venture onto the dirt side and brought a bike for him to ride. Here he is below savouring some of his first single track.

The riding was spectacular, we rode on Thursday and Friday morning. Mostly on the route that the Sun City MTB race used the previous month. We were so fortunate to have Niel as our guide to take us through the route and through the golf course etc. Loads of single track, jeep track, sand and rocky hills that added variety to what we don't get in the outback of Benoni. I had a nasty fall on the first day that will leave its mark for a few weeks and Niel also had a tumble - the roadie was the only one not getting closer to mother earth.  

Sun City - golf course and Palace in the background



Neil after he had a 'lie down' when skidding around the corner

Neil and Chris (and my trusty stead) after the ride

 Not riding related but it was an awesome experience - we went down a 2km zip line/Foefie slide off the top of the mountain at Sun City. You get harnessed to the 'trolley' that runs on the cable that is connected to a tower 2kms down at the bottom of the mountain. I had my riding helmet on and managed to record the experience on my headcam.

Bike or Bokke?

It has been exactly 3 years since my life has changed and I started riding mountain bikes. Pre my flirt with the dirt, I was a couch potato of note. Not many sporting events would escape my concentrated glare from the couch. I knew my rugby backwards and was on top of the Global Standings (for 12 rounds of the Super14 rugby competition) for the Superbru prediction game - sadly finishing 3rd out of 30,000 players at the end (used my heart and not my head being a avid Shark supporter). Unfortunately this was not a healthy lifestyle and my mates nagged me to start riding, as they got fitter and I got fatter.

And so I did, slowly ambling out doing a few kilometers at a time and then the bug bit and now my love for mountain biking has intensified so much that my wife thinks it's obsessive - but I have lost 10kgs and have never felt so healthy and happy in my life. So where am I going with this blog post? Well, I had a decision to make this weekend, either watch the Springboks play Australia in the rugby world cup quarter final or, escape to Nirvana on my trusty 29er. This was an easy one for me to make and it made me realise how my life and priorities have changed over the years.

Today, was one of the best mountain bike rides that I have ever done. Greg and I hit the dirt when everyone else was off to their mate's homes to drink, eat and watch our boys in green try valiantly to win a rugby match (my PVR was set of course).It was an awesome day for riding, not too hot or windy. We ventured out past Serengeti golf estate towards Irene. We had to do a detour at one stage, as a grumpy farmer would not let us through his farm (the security guard was ready to call the police). But the rest of the ride was great - we found some new routes - at one stage it felt as if we were riding in the Drakensburg, nature at its very best.

The ride ended up being the longest MTB ride we have ever done, 82kms at an average of 21km/h and 80% of it was on jeep track, district road and single track. It was so good to be out there for 4 odd hours to round off a good week of riding after 4 x 30km morning rides, thus totalling 200km for the week - Sani2C we not ready yet but we are getting there.....

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.