Still pedalling...

So it has been a few weeks since my last Blog post and yes I have been riding and not succumbed to an early winter slumber like some people. The early morning rides before work are getting difficult I must admit, it is starting to get really cold and is dark for most of the ride. I have been doing a few spins out to the Broodblik on Saturday morning with the CycleLab group. Below is a picture courtesy of Hansie from one of the rides:

In the same breath I have also had a few longer rides on a Sunday that have been incredible routes with good company. Below is a sunrise from 2 Sundays ago when I went out with Greg and Paul.

I have also entered a new era in my life and have the absolute joy of having my 13 year old son ride with me at the Benoni Country Club mountain bike trails. It is awesome to be able to share this experience with him and see his eagerness to ride and then we can share a coke and have a chat after the ride. Below is a pic that I took last Saturday of some of the wildlife we encountered on the route - and I am not talking about the golfer in the background ;-)

And just to remind me that mountain biking is not for sissies below is a graphic picture (apologies) of my run in with a fence a few weeks ago, leaving a nice cut on my leg. Yes I was late for a ride and should have been more careful but hey s*^t happens.

Modders and more

I joined the strong Joburg to Sea boys at 'Modders' bike park today for a short but hard ride. Greg and Paul are embarking on their 9 day, 900km journey in a few days from Heidelberg to Scott-borough. They have been putting in lots of kilometres in training and are ready to take on this amazing feat. Part of their training was to do a double lap at 'Modders' as you can get a fair amount of climbing in 80 odd km. Today we did just one lap (mostly red route) and I struggled to keep up with them as these boys are nice and strong now. It was however a very nice ride and I thoroughly enjoyed it. They have done a lot of work at 'Modders' since I was last there and the tracks now are really awesome with few new bridges etc... 

Wishing the boys best of luck for their race to the sea, this is definitely on my wish list and I would love to do it one year. 

Paul lean and mean

Greg and Dale

Last Sunday Paul, Mark, Michael and I went on a great ride out to SentraRand train switching yard and back. This was the second time I have been there (it was really misty the previous time so I couldn't see much). Incredible to see this place out in the middle of the countryside. Pretty eerie as you don't see many people around, there are hundreds of tracks and train carriages and also 2 big control big towers.  I am still reminded about this ride on a daily basis as I am still treating a nasty gash/roastie on my knee from a fall that I had. I ran out of talent when trying to avoid some water on the jeep track and the middle island collapsed sending me flying (and Paul crashing into to me as he couldn't stop in time). Mark also had a spectacular fall later in the ride after hitting a muddy patch and his from tyre slipped out, sending him into the mealies.  

SentraRand train switching station

Mark, (bloody) me and Michael 

and on the third day he rode again...

Nothing better then to have a few great rides over Easter weekend. Good Friday must be changed to Great Friday as it was an incredible ride out from Benoni to Big Red Barn MTB park and back. Nice big strong group, all very nice guys with the same desire and love for mountain biking. The route there and back was fantastic and the track at the Red Barn was amazing. I finished on 108km for this ride, here are my Strava stats. 

The gang at the Big Red Barn

Saturday I had another coffee ride with Linda, I am really enjoying our Saturday coffee rides - we average about 35km a ride and have a stop for a nice coffee/breakfast. Loverly spending time with her.

Linda waiting for the sheep and goats to finish crossing. 

And on the third riding day of the weekend, we had a great group ride out to Sentrarand and then to the Broodblik for coffee and pancakes. Nice big group of about 16. The pace was great and I finally went through Sentrarand which I have heard a lot about over the years. This a large train switching junction with loads of trains and tracks. Unfortunately it was really misty when we went through so the view was a bit dampened. Fast ride with an average of 23.4km/h for the 84km, here are the Strava stats of the ride.  

Broodblik coffee and pancakes

Group photo outside the Broodblik

Awesomeness

It has been a great week of riding, few great early morning rides witnessing some incredible sunrises, coffee ride with my wife and a awesome ride today with Garth. 

My wife Linda on our 33km coffee ride 

Coffee and sunrise at the Mug & Bean

This week I was fortunate to have a new member (Garth) join our MTB group 'Benoni Rough Riders'. Fantastic to meet new people and especially people that are passionate about this wonderful sport of mountain biking. Due to various reasons (most of them sickness related) my fellow Rough Riders pulled out of our Sunday ride, leaving only myself and Garth. We went on a great ride out to the quarry, brick yard, part of the Nissan Irene route and then back via Serengetti. So nice to experience the ride through new eyes, Garth really enjoyed the route and it reminded my of why I love this sport so much - the wide open spaces and the physical exertion whilst enjoying the view. Garth was strong and kept me honest trying to keep up with his younger legs. Here are the Strava stats of our ride. 

Garth admiring the beautiful wide open space

Garth after he watered the Cosmos flowers 

(Mud)blane March Hare

Sunday the 22nd of March 2015, is a day that I will remember for the rest of my life. This was the day that I did my first MTB race with my loverly wife, Linda. We have been having a few social weekend rides that normally entail breakfast and coffee but never any serious cycling. We woke up early on Sunday, contemplating whether or not we should ride because of the overnight rain and the possible mud on the route. I did a 75km ride, the day before on most of the route and it was pretty dry - but the overnight showers would change things dramatically. Linda was pretty nervous doing the distance of 35km (ended up being 40km), as she had never ridden that far and was also a bit wary of riding in cleats with her new shoes. 

Well, we made up our minds and got in the car knowing that there would be a bit of mud but most of the route should be ok. It was a really nice race organised by the Rotary club in Benoni, so the proceeds go to a worthy cause. We lined up at the start, all eager for our first real experience of racing together. Linda was awesome she managed the whole route and really enjoyed herself. I am so proud of her!!! 

At WP 2 after walking in mud for a few hundred meters 

The route was not too bad until we got to water point 2, at about the 15km mark. Here we were greeted with a very muddy road next to the miellies that was unridable. In fact, just pushing the bikes was hard as the wheels clogged up totally.

Never the less we cleaned our bikes as best we could and carried on the the railway tracks to ride in some beautiful Cosmos flower tunnels.

The track did get better in places and we realised that the race would be longer then anticipated but this did not phase Linda, as she soldiered on. 

Linda at the 28km mark 

Unfortunately with a few kms to go Linda got a rear flat tyre, I stopped and bombed it a few times and we limped into Dunblane Horse Estate where the start and finish was held.  Inside the estate there was still a good km to go to the finish, so we had no option but to put in a new tube. Very disappointing as loads of stragglers at the end of the race overtook us, so we pretty much ended up last. 

Wish she was riding tubeless!!!

At the finish she did create a bit of a spectacle by not uncleating and falling right on the finish line :-)

Incredible for Linda to finish she was so brave and determined. What an incredible experience it was for me to share my passion for mountain biking with someone that I love…. I was in my element.

What a champion my beautiful love is!!!

Long and hard

So what was I thinking, that I could easily do an ultra marathon mountain bike race over a 110km!!!!

I somehow got coerced into entering and completing this race by my group of fellow mountain bike nut jobs - the Benoni Rough Riders. You'll be fine they said, you did 120km to Irene and back. Well things did not go so well yesterday. It was one of my hardest rides and was possibly 30km further then I should have attempted on my current fitness levels. 

Unfortunately Greg had to pull out at the last minute and we had to reshuffle our transport to the start of the race in the small town of Reitz (Orange Free State) - thanks Wayne. It was an early start with us getting up at 3:30 in order for Wayne, Paul and I to meet Sean, Rebecca and Mark by 04:30 at the Engen garage so we could ride together. 

 2.5 hours drive to the start of the race and we were greeted with cold and windy conditions - it looked like we were in for a wet ride. Short ride from the Reitz show grounds to the centre of town where the race started at 08:00.

Benoni Rough Riders before the start of the race

We sort of stuck together as a group until the first water point and then I told them not to wait for me as I was really struggling with the hills - and there were lots of them. I stuck with Rebecca and Wayne until after the second water point and then got dropped on one of the many long rolling climbs. 

The route was pretty hectic - besides the rolling hills there were stages where we had to ride through grass fields and the tufts of grass really took their toll on my already aching body. Fortunately the rain stayed away but the clouds dissipated and the sun started beating down. Phew it really got hot my Garmin was  showing 36 degrees at one stage with an average of 29 for the ride. It was a really long ride and I took just under 7 hours to complete the 113km route. That meant I was riding the whole day - energy sapping stuff in the midday sun.

One thing that was awesome, was the beautiful scenery, there were Cosmos flowers and vast open spaces where you could see for miles. Near the end we passed through a wolf sanctuary, amazing to see all different types of wolves in separate enclosures.

Great scenery

One of the many wolves in the wolf sanctuary

The last 30km were really tough for me, it seemed that all my old injuries had came back to haunt me - my knee and back were killing me with every peddle stroke. There were some dark moments counting down the last few kilometres until the end. I stopped a few times to take some photos and have a reprieve from the constant mundane struggle. The end just would not come fast enough. I managed it though, really chuffed that I stuck it out and completed my first ultra marathon distance mountain bike race. Here are my Strava stats for the ride. 

Photo on the finish line and I was truly finished...

Longest ride take 2

Ok so my last post was about my longest mountain bike ride - well yesterday I went one up and went on a 121km ride to Irene market and beyond. Strava activity link

Fantastic group consisting of some of our regular morning 'Rough Riders' - Greg, Wayne, Paul, Mark, Becky, Sean, Anton, Juan and a mate from my work, Graeme joining us as well (Hansie and Aiden joined us for the beginning of the ride - at least until my KOM was lost on the Jess segment - thanks Hansie....).  

Awesome route to Irene with a great stop at the Irene market where we ordered cappuccinos and demolished the best muffins in the world - well worth the slog to get there. The route back was around the Cornwall Estate, along outskirts of the Rietvlei Nature Reserve and then along the power lines until the train tracks. Then the real slog started with a 10km lung burner along the railway lines until the welcome stop at the legendary Broodblik for a refreshing coke. 

Becky, Graeme and I in front of the incredible muffin man...

Group photo at the Irene Market

Graeme, Mark and Anton in front of the Broodblik

Longest MTB ride

Saturday the 7th of February was the day I recorded my longest MTB ride to date - 108km. The plan was to do 120km but the mind was willing and the body was not. There were 8 of us that embarked on a memorable ride to Irene and back - Paul, Greg, Wayne, Michael, Von, Ashley and Billy. A really hot day rushed up on us, after our early 5:00 start. The route that we took was pretty well known to Greg and I after doing a few Irene trips before. This time however we were going around Irene and not just to the edge of it, so there was a bit of clueless wondering to find some tracks until we ended up at the Irene market. 

This was a great place for a pit stop as there was plenty shade and food and coffee stalls to refresh our battered bodies. 

On the way to Irene when going through the bush we came upon a tame Zebra. This was an awesome sight as the Zebra was out of place and must have escaped from the nearby game reserve. 

The ride to Irene I can honestly say was one of my better rides. It was pretty amazing route with a bit of everything. Unfortunately Greg had a silly fall and besides ending up in a thorn bush his knee connected with a rock and it looked pretty painful (and is still swollen today). Hope it does not slow down his training for Joburg to Sea. I managed on the ride better then I thought I would, however spending 6 hours in the saddle was a bit hectic (given that I am not fully recovered from all my injuries) but it was totally worth it. 

Mid morning and the heat came up and sapped the energy out of our willing bodies, the last 20km of the ride was pretty soul searching and the coke at the end at the BP garage had never tasted better. Here are my Strava stats of the ride:

This has been a great week as I was able to have a few rides with my beautiful wife Linda. It's really awesome that she now shares the passion I have for mountain biking. We have done a few evening rides around our suburb and today we did a 34km ride out in the plots and had a breakfast stop in between. She is now on Strava and loves competing and working her way up the ladies leader board, she has a couple of top places and will soon have a QOM as she gets fitter. 

Evening rides around Korsman Pan watching the sun go down

Linda going down 'Mark the other way' segment

She loves taking photos on the rides so I will have plenty of shots of me...

Gentle does it

It has been a frustrating start to 2015 after being injured in my close encounter with the tar late last year. After 3 weeks of limited riding I finally got back on the bike this week with some great early morning rides and a awesome ride to the cell tower today. It has been gentle riding as my muscles are still a bit sore from the strain/tear of ligaments in my groin and hamstring. A bit different from this time last year where I did a 1000kms in January.  Never a less I know it is going to be a good year as it can't get much worse then 2014 from an injury perspective.

Incredible sunrise taken outside Dunblane Estate.

Enjoying a great cup of coffee after a ride with good people...
Becky, Sean, Michael, Paul and Greg

 

Please can 2014 end already…

I sit here writing this blog post in a lot of pain after yet another painful fall this morning. Wow 2014 has been a year that has left its mark on my body. It started off when I fell on my knee 2 weeks before Sani2C, a smack into the tar when I clipped Greg's wheel on a training ride, of course the big one was when the taxi hit me from behind and now this morning I hit a water covered pothole on a road bike ride. Gee, I really came down hard, my shoulder and hip taking most of the impact (I can hardly walk now and think I have torn a groin or hamstring muscle) and my helmet also took a big impact and is now broken (yay at least I get to buy a new helmet). 

I was doing a road ride (something I normally don't do after the taxi accident) - a farewell ride for Jacques who is a real character of the riding fraternity in the East Rand as he is immigrating to Tanzania  to join Mike. A nice big group considering the wet weather and riding in the middle of the pack, I hit a nasty pothole that was disguised as a puddle. So here I am still hurting from my fall and hoping that 2015 will be a better year for me. 

On the brighter side the past week of December holidays riding has been awesome. Last Sunday we did a ride to Heidelberg radio mast and back. Nice big group that I arranged and led out, including my good mate Pierre all the way from Northcliff. Always nice doing this ride and the pace was pretty quick with a few stronger riders leading the way. Here are my Strava stats of the ride:

Group at the top (less a few stragglers)

Awesome to ride with my good mate Pierre

Becky and Jess provided the entertainment for the ride

Riding at Benoni Country Club - I was really fortunate to have a few rides at the BCC MTB track with my wonderful wife Linda. Really great to be out there with her - we even did a rain soaked ride on the one day. Plenty of falls for both of us, but who is counting (3-2 is the score).

My better half stopping for a mechanical...

No I wasn't waiting for her (she had a few top 10s on some of the Strava segments)

Plenty of wildlife

On Boxing Day I went out with Clint and the roadies (as there is too much mud for MTB), we had a quick 90km ride that definitely burnt off the Christmas excess. Here are my Strava stats of this ride, we were at a fast pace of 32km/h average for most of the ride.

On a closing note here is a photo that sort of rings true for my 2014 year. Wishing you all the best for 2015…..

December time

I love this time of the year, nice relaxed riding and lots of coffee with good mates. We have had some nice early morning rides and longer weekend rides dodging the mud that is so prevalent this time of the year. We have had a few people leave our small riding group as life takes them in different directions - Adam moving to Cape Town and Mike to Tanzania etc.. Others have moved further away from our customary starting point in Benoni and are now pretty scarce (Mark and Marco). Fortunately we still have a great bunch of guys and girls and there is a wonderful spirit in this group, it makes getting up before the birds are awake much easier if there are nice people to ride with. Also we have had a few 'new' people join our group and they also bring a great new dynamic - Hansie, Anton etc…

Incredible 60km ride last Sunday with Jess (on her single speed), Greg, Wayne, Michael, Hansie and Paul (who screams like a girl when he gets a fright). Great ride around Serengeti, mainly off road and then a relaxed coffee at the Mug & Bean on Atlas road. Great to have Hansie as part of our team now - he had his GoPro on and did a fantastic job of filming and editing our ride. Please click here to check it out.

Post 94.7

It has been awesome riding the last few weeks, pressure is off to train for any events, so I can just go out and have fun. We have done a few early morning rides in the forest track that is situated next to the airport. This is a great track to test your tree dodging skills, we manage to get a couple of laps in before work. Rob who rode with us the last 2 times took the picture below and ran into a cobra in a solo ride there last week. Here is a great video taken by Hansie of the ride, click here to view...

Picture courtesy of Rob the racing snake...

We had a nice group ride last Friday (aptly named Dirty Friday) and I led the group up Monument Hill. Great ride and good coffee afterwards. Here is an awesome video that Aiden took with his GoPro (please click on the link for the YouTube clip) Monument Dirty Friday ride

December is here and it is time to wind down (and ride some more). Lekker ride last Sunday, Greg, Paul, Yvonne and myself. I managed to beat Paul at the post and steal a KOM - here are my Strava stats of the ride.

Picture courtesy of Hansie

Best 94.7 yet...

Last weekend I participated in my 6th Momentum 94,7 Cycle Challenge and as the title says above, it was my best one yet. Ok lets clarify that statement a bit - it wasn't my fastest time (click here for my stats of the ride) but the most enjoyable. This year, I decided to do it differently, firstly I rode for a cause - The Apricot Tree (a school for special needs children in Benoni) where I raised some money for this charitable cause and secondly I did the race on my mountain bike instead of my road bike.

I decided not to race the 94.7 this year but instead rode it to enjoy it. I knew I would not be able to beat my best time of last year (3:11) as I was not fit enough because of all my injuries (and the route had changed). So why not go out on my MTB which would be much harder and slower, but a lot more enjoyable. It was so great to ride the race and not race it, I managed to ride at a decent pace and left plenty in the tank for the last 20kms. The MTB is also a lot safer, I saw a lot of accidents and even had a tandem fall in front of me when we went through a paved traffic circle near the end in Steyn City, I had to brake really hard not to ride over the women that landed in front of me. I later heard that she was admitted to hospital with a broken scapula, clavicle and 3 fractured ribs.

The start of the race, Wayne already leaving me behind on the first hill

 

At the finish with a well deserved medal and coke...

All in all it was a really great race, I really enjoyed it. I managed to finish in a respectable time of 03:57 and was not exhausted afterwards. In fact I had plenty left at the end to fly past all the roadies on the last few hills and was the chief motivator in helping a lot of people forget about their pain whilst listening to my ridicule. It was also good to ride for a cause (the Apricot Tree) and in the true spirit of the race. I managed to raise R3500 in sponsorship funds and know that this really goes to a very worthwhile cause.

Wayne and I before the start.in our Apricot Tree kit