WP 2nd DH results
From Grevile:
Here are the results from the downhill held at Eden on Sunday. Apology for the delay!
It’s encouraging to see the big turnouts at the WP downhills, -and the downhill organizers deserve a big thanks for working hard on it the last couple of seasons. Well done.
Thanks Grevile for keeping us up to date!
Some feedback from one of our regular readers, Andre:
I kept an eye open for those bright and shiny new shoes, but no luck. Did you go on with the new pair?
I think it is worth mentioning that climb up to the 36km point had a total elevation of 1600m.
Must say that I chose one hell of a race for my first 70km. Had two flats, four broken spokes, no rear break… but managed to finish in 5:45. I’ll definitely be back for more punishment! Not looking forward to the bill for getting that fixed though.
Also, I’ve started a Google Calendar with all the race events, which are accessible from Gauteng. I’ll consider extending this to the rest of SA if there’s interest. I’ll also add some more detail to the events, such as costs, times, contacts, etc…
Here’s the HTML:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=7umas4j0resfqraokjok2pst6g%40group.calendar.google.com
iCal:
http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/7umas4j0resfqraokjok2pst6g%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
RSS:
http://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/7umas4j0resfqraokjok2pst6g%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic
Been there done that!
Yip, the Subaru Sabie Classic has come and gone, and so have I!
What a race, what a week-end.
On Friday I traveled with the Prutton brothers down to Mpumalanga from the Jhb airport. We eventually arrived at the registration hall in Sabie at 8pm.
The registration was very quick and efficient. As usual the “goodie” bag was nothing more than a collection of flyers, brochures and an out of date magazine. Oh, one water bottle too!
The 70km ( 66km) started at 08h00 on Saturday morning with 670 riders. There were 2250 in total taking part in all three distances.
Well, I was told by several friends and others that it as gonna be tough with major uphills.
No lies!
The king of the mountains and also the highest point of the ride was at 36km! 36km of climbing was something that even I have never had to endure with. The mamba switchback section was not for the weak.
From then on it was downhill all the way, well mostly! The downhills had lots of shale on soft earth. Very hectic and most definitely soft tail territory. The last 5km was single track all the way and a great end to an otherwise hard ride.
The refreshment points were excellent. Water, coke, bananas, boiled baby potatoes, energade, wine gums, and very friendly crew.
The 1st waterpoint even had a cooling tunnel.
The overall vibe was great. The weather was mostly overcast and made it a really pleasant experience. I may very well be back!
Epic Training
As you know, I’ve been wondering about the amount of training required for the Epic vs what riders are actually doing, so I got hold of a first time Epic rider and her schedule / training programme to date.
She, Charisse Hansen and her partner, both vets, are marathon runners and this will be their first serious MTB event, and serious it is.
Here’s what she sent me:
Well Charisse it sure seems to me that you guys will finish and finish well!
Please keep us posted and good luck!
Out with the old and in with the new!
So, the shoe saga has come to an end. I finally got a pair that:
Is it a good idea to wear a new pair of shoes for the very first time when doing a 70km MTB race?
How about changing your diet the very same week as well?
If I live to tell the tale, you’ll hear it all on Monday.
Wear and tear
I know I’ve been on about this before, but it still puzzles me. How much of my component replacements should be attributed to normal wear and tear and how much to bad / inferior products?
How long should a chain last? What about a BB?
Okay, I know not everyone rides the same and that conditions vary but surely I should not have to replace a bb twice in six months, not having done the Epic or anything drastic like that in that period?
Where do I draw the line when the bike shop tells me I have to pay for it? Should I ask them to get a replacement from their suppliers? Should I just be nice, shut-up and pay?
I just don’t know!
About that slick riding??
My riding buddy has made so many derogatory remarks about me riding with slicks on my MTB for a few days, two weeks ago that I have given up commenting on each of his jabs.
Great was my joy however when I read the interview with Gunn-Rita ( the world’s #1 women’s MTB rider ) in the latest Bicycling magazine last night.
She trains only 30% of the time off-road and the rest, a whole 70% on the road! Even more surprising was the fact that she does that road training on her MTB with slicks!
So there, I am on the road to success and fame after all!
Of course she also runs for 1 hr at a time, twice a week and swims for an hr at a time, 3 times a week!
Then there’s the 205hrs of massage she had last year….
Anyway, as my bike is in the shop, I decided to go for a run this morning. 30 minutes nogal!
Watch out world champs.
Paarl ride.
The Paarl MTB ride yesterday was just great. The weather was just fine for a ride of that length. It turned out to be about 45km of up and down on jeep tracks up in the mountains of the Paarl rock side of town. At one stage we actually looked down at the Afrikaanse Taal Monument, only to be riding up towards it a mere 30 minutes or so later. The first uphill once out of town was a long one but I never really needed to use my 1st gear. We finished off the ride with the bottom part of the previously used WP downhill track to emerge on the tar for a 6km or so ride to the finish on road.
All in all that made the road riding about 12km in total. Too much for my liking.
Truth be told: I alas did not yet do the tubeless conversion and rode once again with my bike in its current status and without new shoes.
I gotta get my act together as I want to be properly equipped for the Subaru Sabie classic this week-end.
Tubeless!
Tomorrow I will finally go tubeless! What a long wait! I really hope it is as good as everyone tells me and that my life will be MUCH easier.
I am sick of changing tubes. This week I ripped the valve from my tube and at another time had a flat due to a thorn.
So, tomorrow my favourite bike shop will doing the conversion.
Sunday at Paarl will be my first ride with the new tyres and NO tubes!
Wish me luck.