Sani2C Trail 2014 - demons conquered

Sani to Sea 'Trail' 2014 was spectacular for many reasons but the two that stick out are my knee injury and that I conquered all the demons from previous Sanis'.

Just over a week before the start of our 3rd Sani, I fell on a training ride and badly sprained my right knee. It was really a stupid fall: I was leading a group of 20 mountain bikers on an outride when I looked back to see if everybody had caught up, hit a bit of a ditch and didn't un-cleat properly resulting in a really hard fall on some small rocks. What a painful ride, I gritted my teeth for another 60km before hobbling home. After X-rays, a few days off work, physio, anti-inflammatories, trans-act patches and plenty of ice, I made a call a few days before we were meant to leave - that I would be able to ride. There were some dark moments when I thought I wouldn't make it at all and even asked Greg to find a standby replacement just in case (thanks Paul).  So this was my most nerve wracking Sani ever - I was not sure if I had made the right decision and whether my knee would hold up for a very tough 266km. What makes it even harder is that there are 2 of you in a team and I did not want to mess Greg's ride up by falling out after a day or 2.

 

So the journey begins - Greg picked me up at 07:00 and we headed out to Underberg me still tenderly nursing my knee on the way down. Traditional Wimpy breakfast at Mooiriver and then registration in Sani2C village in the primary school in Underberg by 13:30. Wow did we get some loverly kit this year - jackets, jerseys, t-shirts etc...  Next was the drive to our bed and breakfast The Old Hatchery and we hit some heavy traffic....

 Great accommodation at The Old Hatchery and a fantastic steak, eggs and chips for supper. I had to spoon with my bike for the night....

Day1 - 82km nervous cold start, will my knee hold up? I had a trans-act patch and a knee guard on to protect it. One fall on my right knee and my Sani was over.

So started my self conservancy journey to protect my knee from stress and any falls. After about 20km my right foot was numb so I had to loose the knee guard. We were fortunate to have a few friends doing the Sani with us this year. Rebecca, Molly, Juan, Ian, Marius and a few others.... Day1 we rode most of the way with Becky and Juan and their partners. It was great fun.  

Becky and Marlette

 I rode everything on Day1 only stopping at Water points, a little slower then I could have but I was worried about the next 2 days, never the less it was a great ride. Unfortunately I couldn't stand on down hills or technical bits as it would have put pressure on my knee. With 3 kms to go I experienced my first cramps on a bike when my right hamstring seized up and I had to get off the bike to stretch - ouch!! We managed to beat our best time by 7mins, Greg rode well and had to wait for me for quite often. Strava ride stats click here.  

Greg stashing the free drinks in his shirt :-)

Great overnight stay at Mackenzie tented village, great massage to get the blood flowing in the legs, best tent position, fantastic food, awesome neighbors....  



+700 two man tents and a massive catering tent 

Supper with another 1400 riders





Day2 - 100km this is the notoriously hard day of Sani. 30km of breathtaking riding in the beginning going down the Umkomaas Valley followed by a uphill slog of another 70km to get to Jolivet Farm. Another day where plenty of demons were conquered, I rode areas that I couldn't the year before and paced my self nicely to finish without any injuries. Greg had to wait for me once again and we could have beaten our time by a least an hour if I didn't stop to take photos and ride carefully protecting my knee. Also after leaving WP1 I realized that I only had one glove on as I'd dropped my other glove, so I had to ride 1 km back to find my glove while Greg patiently waited.



Awesome view over the Umkomaas Valley



I was pretty tired towards the end of Day2 but happy that we still beat our time by 20min. Click here for the Strava stats of my ride. Unfortunately Rebecca fell on a rock in the Valley knocking her knee and had to be flown out in the helicopter -  that was to be the end of her Sani2C for 2014. I only had one fall the whole of Sani when I ran out of talent up Push of a Climb and used a thorn tree as a pin cushion to stop my fall. The camp at Jolivet was amazing once again, the addition of the Barn where the riders could relax afterwards with plenty of free stuff was a great...



The Barn

The local Farmers cooking thick juicy steaks for 1500 people

Great supper with friends - Greg, myself, Ian, Juan, Molly and Becky

Day3 - 84km So my knee survived 2 grueling days and I could ride the last day without any worries. Day3 was a great day - Greg and I rode strong together and it really was a awesome riding.  A few more demons were overcome - I rode down a long drop-off where I crashed on both previous years and rode up steep hills where I un-cleated before. I really enjoyed this day and we managed to finish 30mins faster than the previous year. Click here for the Strava stats.

Greg and I ready for Day3

Plenty of riding through the sugar cane fields https://www.facebook.com/sani2c?fref=nf

Yes Greg also falls sometimes :-)

Greg and I at the top of Work to Be Done climb

Traditional finish on the beach and a photo with Farmer Glen

We were fortunate to stay with Greg's parents who spoiled us with their hospitality once again in Scottborough before driving back to JHB the next day (stopping for our traditional Wimpy Bacon Burger in Harrismith). Wow, this was another fantastic experience that I shared with my good (kind and very patient) friend Greg. I was so relieved that my knee held up for the 3 days and we could still finish faster than the year before. What an epic adventure!!!!!

 

Lastly thanks to my beautiful wife Linda for her for holding the fort at home during my long training rides on some weekends, this would not have been possible without her support and encouragement. 



Mayday groupie.

1st of May was a public holiday and it was great to go out on a long ride during a normal working week. 21 of us met for an awesome group ride that started from the BP at O'Reilly Merry street before we headed out to the Benoni outback.

The group before the ride

Fantastic strong group that was well matched. So awesome to ride with different people and have the continual banter and entertainment provided mainly by George.

First obstacle was a little river crossing and after a bit of hesitation we all got our feet wet, some braver then others - riding through the rocky riverbed and a few choosing to walk it out. Below of some photos of the ride:  

Greg wetting his nice white shoes

Clint's new Ghost gliding over the water

Jaco - ex roadie

Gary riding a real bike once again

George showing the youngsters how it is done

Tuck and roll when approaching thick sand

George at his best after going round the locked gate to the quarry

Birthday boy Paul had to be different

Heading down into towards the quarry

It has been a great week of riding, starting on Sunday, we did a ride to Modders and back (incl. airport trees)  98km. There were 4 of us that rode  Greg, Eddie, Milton and I. Few tumbles but good riding all-round. The next day Greg, Dee and I went for a chilled 56km to loosen the legs.

Sani2C starts in less then 2 weeks so our preparation is pretty much done now, few more medium rides and then we can relax until the 3 days of madness begins.

 

 

 

Happy Easter Riding

Easter weekend and it started off by being an awesome good Friday. 8 of us ventured out to Big Red Barn mountain bike park just outside of Irene and yes, we rode there and back from Benoni. Incredible ride with a great bunch of guys - I ended up in doing almost 100km (click here for: Strava stats). I was a bit worried after going to Physio  during the week as my right knee was playing up the previous week - this is too close for comfort as Sani2C is in a few weeks time.

 

Turns out that my knee is out of alignment (joggers knee), my outer quads are doing too much work and pulling my knee cap skew. This may have been caused by my right pedal having some play and my cleat being worn on my shoe - long story short, I replaced my cleats and Greg lent me some new pedals and there seems to be no more discomfort - yay!

 

I was really impressed by Big Red Barn - wow what an amazing track... I do need to go back there as my technical abilities are a bit rusty (scary drop offs and loads of bumps). We only did about 16kms at the bike park as we still had a 40 odd km ride back to Benoni and time was not our friend. Here are some photos of the gang at the coffee shop at BRB.

Paul, Greg, Clint, Mark and Warren

The gang

Easter Monday and what better way to ride off all the excessive chocolate than riding at SuikerBosRand Nature Reserve. Greg, Paul and I headed out for a great hilly ride as the East Rand is soooo flat and we need to do some hill training before Sani next month. I really enjoy SBR because it's so picturesque and the riding is safe but hard.

 

Paul removing his arm warmers (note the hills in the background)

 

 

 

 

Training ride/race in Naaaigel

We did a fantastic race last Sunday from Nigel Italian club in the East Rand. This race is called Suikerbosrand Route 42 MTB Classic and it really was a classic race. I have done this race a few times and it keeps improving every year. The route was really awesome loads of single track climbs and flowing jeep track. Fair amount of climbing 800m in the 75km route to keep the legs honest. It was great training ride for Sani2C next month as you had to go flat out for close on 4 hours. Although we did a 95km ride last weekend this ride was twice as hard and my legs really felt the training efforts that we had done during the week.

Greg and I at the chilly start

I also learnt something from this race - don't try keep up with the racing snakes in front at the start - I burnt a few matches trying to keep up with the front runners averaging over 30km/h for the first 15km. Nice field of nearly 300 people that entered the 75km race and even with pap legs I managed to finished in the top half. Here are the Strava stats for this ride.

Some of our weekly riding group - Rennet, Greg, me, Becky and Sean

Lovely early morning MTB rides this week and the chance to witness the sun come up

 

 

To Hill and back

Great ride on the weekend to Heidelberg and back from Benoni. We met at 6:00 at the gym as it is starting to get darker as winter slowly creeps in. Nice group of 11 guys: Greg, Adam, Paul, Warren, Sean, Renier x 2,  Aiden, Michael and Mike. The pace was fast out to Heidelberg through the mine dumps and then a lung bursting spin up to the top of the radio tower hill. The weather was brilliant and most of us did between 90-100kms for this ride (depending where you started), click here for my Strava details of the ride



Nice flat tracks lined with Cosmos flowers

Quick pit stop to pump up a wheel

The group at the top of the Heidelberg Hill

Me and Adam in our new Section7 kit

Warren looking out for oncoming trains

Aiden and Michael

Paul

Sean

Greg

Yours truly making the cosmos look pretty



Mr Calves (Warren) trying to catch up with the single speed

 

At last there is Sun

So after a few weeks of rain we finally managed to get out and ride in the sun today. Riding the past few weeks has been really hard with the continual rain - the only riding I have done is when there was a gap in the clouds (and there were also a few wet rides). Last weekend I managed my quickest ride at Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve with Jessica on her single speed. She is really strong and gave me carrots on the first hill - yes!! without any gears on her bike. Great ride and one of the best places to train, 57km of safe road with 1200m of climbing in a picturesque game reserve. Click here for my Strava stats of the ride. 

Today we went out and tried to avoid the mud, this was not really possible judging by the photos below. Guys on the ride with me were Greg, Paul, George, Mike and Renier (for a few kms at the end). Awesome ride which involved a bit of bush-whacking at one stage as the single track was completely overgrown. It was fun adventuring and we had a bit of a disruptive ride as our route had to keep changing because of the terrain we encountered.  I did 79km - click here for Strava stats of this ride.



Muddy road stopping us from going to Irene

Paul and Greg getting their feet wet looking for a way around

Wise old George giving some suggestions

Not so wise George and Renier choosing mud over the route the rest of us chose

First sub 3

23rd of February 2014 will a day I will always remember. This is the day when I finished my first 100+km ride in under 3 hours. The 103km Carnival City Macsteel National Classic Cycle Race for 2014 was completed in the time of 02:57, with an average speed of 34.5km/h. This was my third ride on the road bike this year after doing the bulk of my training on my mountain bike and everything fell into place.

 

Riding in a big group really helps - which I did for about 60km of the ride, there was a section of about 40km in the middle of the race, where I was in between groups and I had to battle against the wind by myself. I must admit it was a bit nerve racking riding in the bunches and I had to be really sharp on my brakes a few times. I enjoyed the race and was really chuffed that I beat my time from last year by 16 minutes and managed to crack the elusive 3hour barrier. Here are my Strava stats of the ride.

After the ride holding the spoils of war

Some of the gangsters from road group I sometimes train with  

Early morning rides

There have been some fantastic early morning rides in the past week. Besides our normal Tuesday and Thursday routes, we have started doing a longer one on Wednesday early morning before work. With the extra 20mins we find the time to ride up Monument hill in Kempton (on the dirt next to the road) and then race back via Atlas road. This little bit extra will surely help us get fit for our next big event which is the Sani2C.  Awesome to be out there and witness the most incredible sunrises - see pics below.
'Dirty Fridays' is a little earlier where I meet up with another group leaving from the BP at 04:30 - this is a longer ride (I did 50km last Fri), really great way to start the day and get those extra miles under the belt.

Turning left after climbing the Monument drag..

Dirty Friday bunch

 

Breath taking sunrises

Best month ever!!!

Wow what an incredible month of riding for Jan 2014:
25 Rides, 47 Hours in the saddle and 1001 Kilometers 

Besides the miles that have been put into the cycling bank, I have ridden in different groups, met many new people, had the chance to ride with my wonderful wife and share my passion for cycling.

I also recorded my longest ride and broke a few personal records, so pretty much the best month ever. Life is pretty busy, so my blogging has unfortunately slowed down.
I have had some really great rides before work in the mornings, the Dirty Friday ride is my favorite :- get up at 3:45 to leave home by 04:05, meet group at BP at 04:30 and do 45-50kms of mountain biking. Witnessing fantastic sunrises in the morning really enriches the soul. Weekends I try to do a longer ride, family commitments permitting. Below are a few photos taking from some of the rides:

Plenty stops with my wife for her to take photos of stuff

Great to share the open space thrill with my better half...

and she can handle any technical stuff, riding through a dip without blinking..

Mark and Becky going around a 'Do Not Enter' gate

Odd chap in my way on my final ride for Jan, did 55km early Friday before work to complete 1000km for Jan