Rest week

After a crazy week of work, training and studying, I am heading off to Australia for some work stuff. In other news, Mike had to unfortunately withdraw from Team Burger Kings. But the team lives on in name (and hopefully dedication to bankrupt the Epic by all the burgers we are going to eat). Russell, the sun burnt englishman, will be Mike's replacement. We should be in for a great time!

Lebanon MTB Trail - Red Route

Following our long ride around Grabouw, Craig and I did some hard riding on the Lebanon Red route. We managed two laps in just over 3 hours. This has got to be one of the best places to ride! The MTB fairy has been visiting me in my sleep, as my technical skills are much improved, and I was able to pretty much stick on Craig's wheel as we flew down the singletrack. It's also good to see that the training is working as my legs felt quite good. Should be on track for the Epic.

View Lebanon - Red Route in a larger map

Grabouw

Craig and I did a nice long ride in Grabouw, and I brought along my GPS. Check out the route below:

View Grabouw - All Trails - 23/01/2010 in a larger map

Omni-Motion 24 hour

What a hectic weekend - the flight out of Cape Town was delayed on Friday because of thunder storms up in Jhb (should have taken the hint), with us only eventually getting to bed at about 2:30 on Saturday morning. Got up early to buy the last of the snacks and supplies before heading across to Alberton. After sitting in the traffic for about 2 hours (and almost heading off to Durban) we made it the venue 20 minutes before the start.

The course

Lucky number 13? I think not

And then they gave me my race number - 13. (I really should have taken the hint)

I hastily got some kit on, put on some sunblock, applied some bum cream, gave Anton the pre-race evil eye and the next thing I knew we were racing. I had put my bike back together earlier that morning, but I hadn't taken it for a test ride, so that first lap was spent trying fine tune the gears, sort the shock out and generally try to find a rhythm on the bike, which at the pace we set off was quite difficult.

And we're off

The Specialized guys showing off their skills.

Lap one done.

Where did you Jhb guys hide all the air? I always thought that people used the "thin" air as an excuse, but after experiencing that for the first time I now understand. And the heat - I got a max of 36C. I have a new respect for Jhb MTBers and cyclists in general.

The course was good, a little bit of everything for everyone - I was only too glad when they took that horrible section in the beginning out after the rain - it felt like I was riding aimlessly around a field looking for 10c piece...

The atmosphere in and about the camp was great - it is really cool seeing so many people making a weekend out of an event like this.

Me, with some of the support crew

First lap out after the rain, and covered in mud!

A dirty looking Svalbaard - check out the algae on the spokes from where I dunked the bike in a dam!

And then the rain came. I hadn't packed any rain gear (after all, it's summer and that means no rain in Cape Town!). That first lap after the rain took me about an hour - I fell 3 times, had to dunk my bike in the dam to free up the back wheel, and completely soaked my second (of two) sets of kit. The next lap wasn't much better, and after falling quite hard I decided to call it a night.

More mud!

Trying to get some sleep in the back of the Polo

The only problem being that we didn't bring a tent or any sleeping stuff. We managed to borrow some stuff from the Specialized crowd, and spent the next 4 hours crammed into the back of our hired Polo.

Back on the bike

Just before sunrise, we got up, I put the wet and mud soaked shorts and shoes and a clean shirt on, and got back on the bike. Amazingly, my legs felt a lot better (I think I got out before the Jhb guys hid the air again), and put in some good laps. Any real chance of doing well was long gone, and being able to ride for fun was great. Anton had pretty much sewn up the race with some great laps early on, and then perservering through the night.

Feeling much better

Finishing off the last lap

Done

Tired, and glad to be finished

To the organisers - a great event (and good improvising given the rainy circumstances), the riders - well done for surviving an interesting 24 hours of bike riding: from the winners right down to the guys riding in takkies and PT shorts - well done, the supporters: thank you - without you us riders wouldn't last 3 laps, and to the people that broke the showers - damn you!! I had to fly down to Cape Town looking (and smelling) like something the cat brought in! Thankfully we weren't delayed this time and eventually got to bed at 10pm after a long long weekend...

The Specialized supporters

Someone asked me at the finish if I would be back, and I was rather non-committal, but a day later and I can say that I definitely will be back.

The official race photos

The official results

Double Century 2009

The Double Century was a bit of a disaster for me this year - the team was very strong, and I had ridden the Makadas the previous weekend. I managed to last about an hour with the team, until we got to the bottom of the Tradouw climb, before I popped off. The only reassuring fact was that I wasn't the first to get dropped.

The rest of the ride was spent wheel sucking other teams, or battling into the head wind on my own, in temperatures in excess of 36C. My slowest DC yet - 6:56.

Enjoy the pictures.

Swellendam

Team Rockets heading out of town

One straight stripe

Look - I'm still in the bunch!

Some famous cyclist in her SA colours.

Bonnievale, in the midday heat.

Makadas Overland Adventure

I'll have a full write up soon - in the meantime enjoy the photos. (Eighteen hours of riding gives me lots of stuff to sift through before I can write it all down)

Nervous anticipation

Trying to tie the map to my bike - after the start of the race

Team Altus Minnie - Julian, Altus, and me

The entire field squeezed together for this photo

The support crew playing a game of cricket

Checkpoint two - 60kms down - 240kms to go!

Some of the wildlife

The cricketers having fun while Megan fords a mighty stream

Going uphill - racing the sun

The long and windy road

Cricketers taking some time out of the game for supper

Lights on and ready for some night riding - 100kms to go

Some very tired cricketers

My favourite photo

Finished - 18h30!

The welcoming party - we had made it

The game continues - day two's play getting underway

Team Altus Minnie - Makadas Challenge

Team Altus Minnie - Makadas Challenge