Wapad, I also work in the offshore industry & trained for & participated in the Freedom Challenge while offshore. Unfortunately I have yet to make it all the way to Wellington on that one but the 1st time I rode for 13 days & the 2nd time for 7, so for the purposes of this story it is still relevant. The FC involves at least 8 hours a day in the saddle & sometimes up to 15 or even all night if things go badly, then there's the 8-10kg pack with all your kit on your back. I was training on the bike doing hard interval type stuff every day for 1-1 1/2 hours a day & I had less than 6 weeks before the start after I got home. 2 - 3 hours on an exercise bike is just not an option, unless there's some girls doing aerobics in the gym at the same time or something... Mindless stuff. Judging by your user name & pic we don't live far apart & I reckon that's an awesome place to train for these races. My main thing while home was also to get some long rides in & also to get accustomed to the added weight of the bag, I'm not sure if this will be necessary on the Pioneer Trek though. Sore backside syndrome & the usual aches & pains from riding long hours are definitely the things you want to harden up to a bit before the race & can't be done on an exercise bike. That climb up Noordhoek via the wapad & Silvermine is a good one for that I reckon, I've always been able to easily string together a staunch 6 hour ride including that, the Arboretum & back over to my place in the Valley without much imagination. My longest pre race ride was 9 hours the 1st year & 6 hours the 2nd year. You do swoeg a bit the 1st couple of days but by day 4 you are probably going to be ok if you get that far, as you say it's mainly in the mind. Get used to the thought of moving forward all day whether riding, pushing or carrying your bike until you get to the end of the leg. If you can do that you won't have any unpleasant suyrprises when after lunch you discover that you have maybe only covered half of what you need to do that day. I am however told by those in the know (allegedly) that high energy intervals & strength training are the way to go, especially for us offshore types with no hills to ride on & limited training time. They tell me that you can go from that level of fitness attained on the rig to long distance endurance mamba in a relatively short time, less than the 6 weeks you have available.
