One week to go....

So in one weeks time we will be heading out to Underburg to start our epic journey to the sea on pristine single track. Wow I can't wait. Am I prepared? Ummm yeah I think so, much better then last year at least. My riding this week started with a nice early ride on Wednesday, we had a great 77km spin out into the Benoni outback via the train tracks etc...I managed to get one Strava - King of the Mountain (KOM) crown on the ride. For the ride stats click HERE 

 

Today was my last big ride for my Sani2C preparation. It was truly a memorable ride because I met some great new like minded people and did a hard 90 odd km ride with them. Rebbecca and I got into contact via Strava and Twitter and then arranged a ride today from Benoni to Modderfontein Central Park Trails MTB park and back. Greg and Adam sent early morning sick notes but Mark man-ed up and joined Rebbecca, Juan, Craig, Jason, Jessica, Kevin and I. Great to ride with new people (although I have known Craig for years) and some of them are also riding Sani2C next week. The pace was fast and I pushed myself till the legs burned hoping that I will reap the benefits of this effort when climbing out of the Umkomaas valley. For the ride stats click HERE

The group at the end of the tussle with the dirt track..

Welcome customary stop at the garage for a coke and food...

 

Sani...you are always on my mind

So the last few months we have been building up to one of the greatest mountain bike races in South Africa. Our focus every week is what rides we will do that will help us manage to survive this three day event. Our progress has been relatively good, I reckon Greg and I are stronger then we were last year (even though we have not done 2 big rides in a row) and this time we know what to expect, so it is going to be awesome, I can't wait.

 

Last Sunday Greg and I went to Suikerbosrand Nature reserve after a few days of heavy rain (good to see they kept the rates the same after our social media intervention), click here for the ride stats. The route is all tar so there is no mud and washing of the bikes afterwards. We managed to see loads of game and had the odd jackal run in front of our bikes.

 

After a few rides in the week, we went on an epic ride to Modderfontein Central Park Trails Mountain Bike park and back. This was a great 101km ride with 950m climbing and I did it with Greg, Adam, Mark and Marco. Nice to be out on the saddle for over 5 hours, fantastic ride with some good people. Click here are my stats for the ride.

 

Adam, Mark, Marco and Greg at our 85km refreshment stop..

 

Morning rides normally end with some great views when going round Korsman Pan

Breedts Nek and more

Wow!! our Sani2C training got a massive boost today, we had an incredible ride from Sterkfontein Caves, up Breedts Nek and back to the Caves via Hekpoort pass. Click here: for the ride stats

After hearing about the infamous Breedts Nek climb from many mountain bikers over the years, we were fortunate enough to be able to go there today. It was quite a drive from the East Rand were we live and we left really early before 5:00 to get there by 6:30. We then met my friend Pierre at the Sterkfontein Caves car park (he had riden there from Northcliff). Pierre I must mention is a absolute mountain biking machine after doing a few Epics, Joburg to Seas, Cape Pioneer Trek etc. His weekend riding was a total of 250km - so this man knows his way around a mountain bike. Pierre was kind enough to take us on some awesome routes through to Breedts Nek, his knowledge of the area after many years of riding is enormous, we went on some fantastic tracks that not many people know about. This ride was incredible, the scenery was out of this world and the route was pretty tough at times with some big hills which is vastly different from the flat tracks we are used to in Benoni. 

Pierre and I on the top of Breedts

Greg was grateful to be at the top..

Mission accomplished Breedts has been conquered

Pierre and Greg

Now on Strava

So it has been a relatively good week of riding: 76km on Monday with Renier, 42km mad dash in the rain on Wed with the youngsters, 30km recovery ride on Thursday and a 86km ride out into the farmlands on Sunday with Greg.

I have recently discovered Strava - this is a online record of all your rides and you get to see what your friends are also doing. What is also interesting about Strava is that your ride is split into segments, that other riders have ridden in the past - these segments normally are hills, straights or certain sections of your ride and have each been given names i.e. I am currently the KOM for the Bredell Dam single track North . There is a leader board of each of these segments where the fastest riders are displayed and this makes it very competitive. So even if you are riding alone you really give it your all in certain segments to try and move up the log. Hence the picture above - if I collapse, please pause my Garmin so I can not loose my place on the leader board. It is really fun and you should give a try if you have a compatible device that can upload your ride stats onto Strava.

 

P.S. Seems like our protest about the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve fees increase has worked and they will be only increasing the fees by 10%.

Happy riding...

Suikerbosrand shocker

So Adam, Mike and I went to Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve on the weekend to get some proper hill training in for Sani2C. We had a great ride beating my best time by 20 minutes. Most of the ride was in the rain and we were very very soaked by the time we got back to the car park. It really is an awesome place to ride, the landscape is challenging for us cyclists (1200m ascent in 57km) and the scenery is out of this world. You can see lots of wild game and occasionally have to dodge a buck dashing across the road. Needless to say I was extremely disappointed to be told as we were leaving that the entrance fees would be going up on the 8th of April. Not that I should be shocked by the fact that companies increase their fees, this is a natural economic activity that occurs every year in order to at least keep up with inflation, but this increase is ridiculous.

 

To put things into perspective it cost Adam and I a total of R50 to ride today (R20 each and R10 for the car).  After the 8th of April it will cost R420 for the 2 of us to ride (R50 each, R150 per bike and R20 for the car).

 

PLEASE assist by signing this online petition to make sure these exorbitant fees are not implemented and ruin a great place bikers, hikers and nature lovers by clicking on this link: http://www.change.org/petitions/gauteng-conservation-environment-and-land-affairs-please-do-not-implement-fee-increase-for-cyclists-at-suikerbosrand-nature-reserve#share

 

New fees that have caused much dissension

 

Awesome long weekend of riding

So Thursday the 21st of March 2013 was a public holiday - Human Rights Day in South Africa (aptly renamed by me to Human Rides Day a few years ago). I took the Friday off as well and we planned a few long rides in preparation for the Sani2C stage race happening in the middle of May.

 

The Thursday ride was great, Greg, Noel and I headed out to Irene from Benoni. The weather was sublime and we had a fantastic ride looking for some hills near the Rietvlei Nature Reserve. Click here for my Garmin stats of the ride. We did 93km at an average of 22km/h. On the way home I pulled out 10 thorns from my tyres - thank goodness for tubeless tyres with Stans sealant. We also passed a large bunch of mountain bikers who had stopped to repair some punctures, I saw a friend on mine, Clint and he shared this picture below and the story. At the corn/mielie fields where we ride the farmer uses the by-product from the local sewage farm to fertilise his crops. This stinking black stuff is usually left in big piles next to the fields and Hennie (a guy I have ridden with a few times) made the terrible mistake of thinking this was tar and decided to ride over it - only to sink deep in the sh*t. The guys watching really cracked up as he struggled to get out, sinking deeper with every movement.

Hennie is in deep kak...

Friday we went for a shorter ride (Renier, Mark, Greg incl) out past Dunblane and towards Pretoria road. We were pretty shocked that the farmer had dug massive trenches blocking the access roads to his farm. We have ridden these routes for years and because of some irresponsible individuals these routes are now being blocked off.

Renier, Mark and Greg

Sunday was a monster ride from home to Central Park Trails MTB park "Modders" and back. This was a 100km ride with over 900m ascent and plenty of single track sandwiched in between some tar. This was perfect training for Sani2C as there were plenty of hills that we could test our legs on. I had my first proper crash on my new bike when coming round a corner on the single track and hitting some loose sand resulting in my back tyre washing away and me hitting the earth with one mighty thump. What an awesome ride, we really tested our bodies to the limits and were pretty tired by the time we got home. Click here for the Garmin details of the ride. 

Adam powering up the single track...

....followed closely by Mark

P.S. I sold my old Giant Anthem that I had fixed up before buying my new bike, hope that Andrew takes good care of her and has many happy kms on her like I did.

 

Let the training begin

So we have 8 weeks to go before the Sani2C and this week coming is going to be a big one. I have been keeping the training ticking along with 10 hours in the saddle last week (nice 85km ride last Sunday) but this week I only managed just over 7 hours. Greg has had some bad luck with his bike this week with his shock being sent to Cape Town for repair so he has been off the bike for awhile.

 

The real issue we have with training for Sani2C, is that Benoni is so flat and we really struggle to find any hills to make us stronger for the many many hills on this 3 day event. Mark and me went on a quest this week to find one or two small drags that can be added to our longer rides in the week. Fortunately we found some in Kempton Park and this is a lot safer then dodging the cars on the way back from Bedfordview. The morning rides are still awesome except winter is on its way and it is getting darker and colder. The experience of being outdoors in the morning riding with mates is still incredible and we get to see some beautiful sunrises.

Early morning sunrise - Mark enjoying the experience

So how is the new bike going - Wow I cant believe how incredible it still feels, I feel like a new person on my new bike it is absolutely fantastic. I think this saying below that I saw awhile ago sort of rings true..... 

Wow

So after having quite a torrid time with my 'old' Giant Anthem with all the bearings needing to be replaced (thanks to Greg for doing this for me) the rear shock needing a drastic service and the front shock to be replaced, I took the leap and purchased a brand new 2013 Giant Anthem X Advanced 29er 1.

WOW, this is my absolute dream bike, it has carbon frame, aluminium rear triangle, RochShox SID 29 RL with the Giant OverDrive 2 steeerer suspension fork, RockShox Monarch Rl rear shock, full Shimano Deore XT (2 x 10) componentry  etc. The full specs can be found here . I went for my first ride this morning and it was incredible, hard to believe that a new bike can handle so well and feel so great, I am so chuffed at the moment.



My old front FOX shock has some nasty grooves on the sanctions

My new pride and joy



The beauty of our morning rides is sometimes ignored because of urge to race..

With regards to the last few weeks, I have had some incredible rides:
2 weeks ago we did the USN Mountain Bike Cup race at the Big Red Barn. This was one of the best races I have ever done, not by the result of where I came, but because of the awesome riding and single track that was in the race. The route was incredible, over 40km of single track in a 47km race. Greg was our local champ and gave us all carrots, followed by myself, Mark, Grant, Justan and Waldi.  

Some dirty boys after the USN MTB Cup at the Big Red Barn

Last week because my MTB was in the shop, I did a bit of road biking. I joined Jacques in the mornings for a couple of 50km rides before work and then rode the 103km Macsteel Carnival City Classic race on Sunday.  This race is relatively flat and extremely fast. I started in group DL with Renier (who ended up wining the group), the pace was really frantic in the beginning for the first 20km we were averaging over 45km per hour. This gradually slowed as I got dropped from the leading bunch  and was picked up by other bunches. Total time was 3:13 with an average of 31.8km/h for the 103km. Chuffed that I finished in a faster time then last year, but still aiming to break the elusive 3:00 barrier.



Reward for the 103km sprint  

How not to do a drop off

Ok so we went to Central Park Trails (Modders) on Sunday. The new starting point and track are absolutely awesome. Greg and I had an incredible ride. I had my iPhone filming in my Optrix cover and got a good 1.5 hours video coverage of the ride.

Below is a short clip of a 'drop off' that I had problems with, it doesn't look too steep in the video (but to me it seemed enormous),  it was grassy with a kink at the bottom. First in the video is Greg showing you how it should be done and then me making a real hash of it....unfortunately, I panicked after taking a tumble here once before and didn't keep my line and then proceeded to hit the front brake sending me tumbling over the handle bars (bruising my ribs on my handle bar in the process). So long story short....this is how you should not go down a drop off, rather keep your bum off the back of the saddle thus putting your weight on the back of the bike, look ahead and gently feather the back brake (leaving the front brake alone)....

Edenvale Serengeti MTB Challenge 02-02-13

Awesome race today at Serengeti Golf Resort. Greg, Chris, Adam, Marco and Mark all had a go at this race on our backdoor. In fact these are the routes that we ride on every weekend so it was  exciting to do this race today. The race was extremely fast, we averaged over 23km/h for the 61km - which Greg and I did in 02:45 (click on link to view Garmin stats). Chris was a few minutes later as he lost his legs the last few kms. Marco and Adam were shunting at the front and took a wrong turn and ended up doing only 44km with a few other guys. The route was badly marked at one point and many people went the wrong way. We missed the turn once and had to ride back, fortunately I knew the route and we turned done the correct road where the other guys carried on straight (so I reckon the are a few unhappy mountain bikers out there today). Quite a few guys were disqualified (incl Adam and Marco) and this pushed us up the finishing order giving me my best result ever in a race - 33rd overall and 9th in category, really chuffed with my result.

Great race and we pumped it the whole way, only resting a bit when Greg had to plug a puncture. Below is a edited video of some of the race taken with my iPhone.

 

 

Nice action shot - you can see it was a bit muddy..

Greg and me at the finish line.....

Weekday rides

So the past few weeks of riding have been really great, we now have a good bunch of guys riding in the mornings (from 6 to 10 guys).  At the moment we are riding 3 times during the week and then longer weekend rides depending on races and bike parks etc.

The riding program we are developing to make our morning rides more fun goes as follows:
1.  Sneak Attack Tuesday – interval training each guy is allowed a sneak attack and when he goes everyone must follow, this is quite fun and makes intervals much more interesting (and competitive)
2.  Long Wednesday – generally do a longer ride on Wednesday 40-45km
3. Time Trial Thursday – we scoped out a route last week, it is about a 12km loop from a central point and the idea is that you go like the clappers and try and improve your time from the week before (and of course beat your mates)

I have also purchased myself a nice new gadget to mount on my bike, it's an Optrix iPhone case. It's really cool, I just slip my Apple iPhone 4 in and with an app loaded on the phone I can take great quality videos of our rides.

This is really great because now I can film those magical rides and edit the footage to post on this blog, so that I can share with  everyone and also have these rides on record for years to come. Here is my first attempt of some of the ride we did this Wednesday morning before work: 

 

Seen here in the video is Greg, Marco, Chris and Mike. Mark and the others opted for shorter route this day and had left us by the tme the video app was started (stick with us boys I will make you famous)....

2013 here we come

So it has been a great week of riding for the first week of 2013. Greg and me have done a few of rides ranging from 40 to 73km, our first was the customary ride on New Years day itself. We also rode with new people this week i.e. Ziggy and Chris which is always refreshing. Below are a few photos from our rides. 

Justin tackling the single track of New Year's day

Only in South Africa do you have railway police patrolling to stop cable theft

Ziggy

Serious Greg

Chris joined us for a great ride on his Santa Cruz with 27inch wheels and saddle hydration pack

The squeak and creak free Greg

Lastly this week I lost a hero with the premature passing of South Africa mountain bike legend Burry Stander after he was senselessly hit by a mini bus taxi. Burry was a incredible inspiration to all mountain bikers and he will be sorely missed for years to come. Burry thank you for the impact your short life had on so many people R.I.P.

Picture taken off Burry Stander's Facebook page courtesy of Gary Perkin

Last ride of 2012

Yes we went out with a bang, with a tough last ride for 2012. This consisted of a +90km ride from Benoni to the TV mast at Heidelberg and back. We started off at a staggering pace averaging around 26km/h for the first 40km (yes it was pretty flat). Then we hit the hills at Heidelberg and had a slow spin up the hill to the TV mast. Coming back to Benoni was a different story as there was a strong headwind, severe heat (high of 35 degrees) and of course tired legs. We stumbled home with an average speed of  22km/h for the total ride. Garmin stats can be found by clicking on this link.

 

Awesome to be at the top - the view is amazing

 

Riding through the mine dumps in the heat...



Greg trying his best to sort out the creak in his seat post



South Africa is a beautiful country

So that is it for 2012 it has been a fantastic year, I have met so many new people, completed my first stage race (Sani2C) and have had some incredible experiences that will be cherished forever.

Here are my stats for 2012:

Distance: 7,578.48 km

Time: 361:17:05 h:m:s

Elevation Gain: 60,089 m

Avg Speed: 21.0 km/h

Avg HR: 141 bpm

Calories: 249,230 C

Bring on 2013 and many more happy kms in the saddle....

Muddy Modders

Great ride yesterday at Moderfontein Trails Mountain Bike Park with Greg and Adam - except for one section that was very muddy. Riding through thick black mud really perturbed me, as this was my first ride with new components on my bike. I just spent a small fortune on replacing my cassette and chain (wear and tear) and my big chain ring (one of the teeth was bent after hitting a rock on a ride last week). 'Modders' is always good to ride at, it is my favourite bike park, there were lots of new sections that I have not ridden before and it is a good work out. Adam was strong as ever and Greg is flying on his new bike. I bought a piece of land when going down one of the drop offs and I panicked and hit the brakes, this resulted in me going over the handle bars, landing really hard and winding myself proper.  



Greg dunking his bike to remove the mud



Adam with a cleaner bike after a quick rinse in the river



Today Greg and me went for a quick ride past the Sandpan, Dunblane and Serengeti Golf Estate. Great to be outdoors on this wonderful day. We saw lots on animals on this ride, a couple of spring rabbits, Guinea fowl and this lovely bullfrog pictured below. 

Staycation 2012

Firstly I would like to wish everyone reading this blog a fantastic Christmas and prosperous New Year!!

Well its that time of the year when I can take some time off work and spend some time with the family (yes my bikes are included in the collective of family). This year we are not going away on holiday but instead we are staying at home for a few weeks. It has been a great few days already and I have managed to go for a few rides on my staycation - 300km this week so far. 

My first few rides were on my road bike as we have been having so much rain and I really wanted to avoid the mud. I was fortunate enough to join Clint and the CycleLink group of road bikers for 2 awesome days riding. The first one was from Benoni to Heidelberg and back, this was a brisk 95km route that was really enjoyable. The second road ride was a different story, the plan was to ride from Benoni to Cresta but after blowing up on the first big hills I told Clint that I could make it to Cresta but was not sure I would make it back home. Clint being the awesome bloke he is, said we would turn around at ZooLake and he would ride back with me whilst the other 10 odd riders would carry on to Cresta. This was a hard ride, the hills really sapped what little energy I had and I finished the 83km with (851m ascent) at quite a slow average speed.

Today Marco and me went for a incredible mountain bike ride out in the farm lands. We avoided most of the mud and completed a nice 75km outride . The views were magnificent and the terrain was not too hard on us, so the pace was pretty good. Here's hoping for a few more rides like this one during the next 2 weeks.

Marco

Yours truly

Nothing better then a pit stop for an ice cold Coke

 

I can see clearly now....

There is another transition (pun intended) in  my cycling life with the purchase of my new awesome Rudy Project dark glasses. Yes I know they don't look very dark but they have prescription transition lenses that go darker in direct sunlight.

So today was my first ride with my new glasses and it was incredible, everything looked so crystal clear and the glasses do not mist up at all when you stop. Greg, Justin and me went for a ride out in the plots of Benoni - Sandpan, Railway track and then back via the side of Serengeti - here are the Garmin stats for the ride.  We did 70km, a little longer than what Justin wanted but he is strong and easily kept up with the 29ers. So that is almost 7000km riding for the year so far, I will be on leave soon so hopefully I will be able to sneak in a few more longer rides before the new year. 

Greg's new ride

So Greg has finally succumbed and joined the 29er club. Today was his first ride on his Scott Spark 910 that he had the pleasure of getting last week. This is a absolutely fantastic bike with full XT, Carbon Frame (ally rear triangle), fox fork, clutch on rear derailleur and dual shock lock out etc...

 

It took some convincing to get Greg to come out with his new bike after all the rain we have been having the past few days. He agreed eventually after sending me this message "..we must avoid mud at all cost!! If there is mud, you carry my bike and I ride yours...and make sure your gloves are clean."  We met at the Wimpy at 05:45 and then headed out, planning to stick to the roads and avoid the mud.....but then we accidentally met up with Adam and Marco (our other riding mates) who were also going for a ride. Plans were changed and we all went on a very lekker 55km ride out past Serengeti Golf Estate and Dunblane Equestrian Estate. Wow did we encounter loads of mud, I could feel Greg grimace every time we came close to water and anything resembling mud (Greg can be a bit pedantic about his bikes sometimes). After a few days of excess eating and drinking at my companies "team building" I was totally flat today and struggled to keep up with the boys at times. Greg has found some new legs with his new bike and it really looks incredible - wishing you many happy miles buddy.   

Greg and his new Scott Spark 910

Yeah 3 in front and 1 lazy bastard trailing behind...

Schweeeeet

 

1st Goal Achieved

So my goal was achieved last Sunday for the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge with completing the race in under 03:30. I did a comfortable time of 03:25 and really enjoyed my ride (even though the wind was hectic in some parts of the route). I pushed it the whole race and my average heart rate was an alarming 170 bpm. It was great to catch up with good mates Craig and Mieke in the beer tent afterwards and reflect on the race.

 

This is one step closer to completing this race in under 3 hours, my plan is to do qualifying races in 2013, to get a better seeding so I can start earlier and also benefit from drafting in groups. I am planning to do 03:10 next year and then under 03:00 in 2014. It is great to see how I have improved over the years as this year was 2 hours faster then my first race 4 years ago.

Before the start of the 2012 Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge

Work colleague Martin who also completed his 4th race this year

Ready or not here I come...

Tomorrow is my 4th Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge and I am really looking forward to it. Hopefully my body will push itself to new limits and I will achieve my personal goal of riding under 03:30. The 94.7 is a great yard stick for me as I can see my improvement on the bike every year - if you troll back through this blog you will see how nicely I have progressed through the years. My first 94.7 was in a time of 05:30, second one 4:50 and last year 03:50. I am hoping that I have done enough training to really go an smash last years time. The weather looks like it is going to be very hot - over 30 degrees Celsius so I have been hydrating quite a bit today. Anyway wish me luck and hopefully my next blog post will have some bragging in it..

Up in smoke

Great road bike ride today with Jason, Rick, Gina and Trevor. We did 102km with 900m ascent, a productive training ride for the Momemtum 94.7 cycle challenge on the 18th of November. We did a great route and I felt much better then last Sunday. What did amaze me is one of the guys rding (Trevor) would stop and light up a cigarette every 25km or so and smoke it whilst riding. Below is a photo of Trevor lighting one up....

Trevor and Jason



Yesterday was another watershed day in my riding career. I spent the morning at Modderfontein - Central Park Trials Mountain Bike park with my lovely wife as we christened her new bike on the single track. It was awesome riding with her as it was her first time to ride single track, bridges, through streams etc... 'Modders' is incredible, it is a unspoilt jewel nestled inside Johannesburg. It has fantastic scenery and awesome riding, it was fantastic to ride there and share my passion with my true love.