The Munga 2016

[Dicky DQ]

I took 3 days off after K2C and Cycled to Cape Town there we did between 8.5 and 10 hrs a day and with the K2C was just over 700km. Not that I am going to be doing the Munga any more. Work has gotten in the way.

 

Also if you want to do 8 hr rides just start earlier, then everyone is sleeping. If you start at 3am, you get home at the same time as you would on a normal ride.

 

In Ctn there are also a lot of Audax rides between 200 and 1000, km. you can just pop in and ride, there you get a good 7 to 45 hr rides in and that is just on a weekend if you want to.

[Slowbee]

I do understand that you were only talking about your personal situation, but, since it came off the back of the post about the Sheriff's long ride so thought I'd chip in on his behalf.

 

I know in his case up until now his riding has mostly been his usual weekly riding or starting earlier. His kids are also older (in their teens) so I'm sure they do a lot more for themselves. Mrs Earp is also probably the most supportive spouse around.

That being said, I do know he's still doing things with his family in what could be riding time, and if you're in his shop on most weekdays or any Saturday you'll find his family there so I doubt they're being 'neglected'.

 

Everybody is obviously in their own unique situation, and anybody who is doing whatever training they can so they can make it to that start line next month has my utmost respect.

If my post come across as an offense to Anton, then please offer my apologies. The post was not aimed at him at all. Having seen his older posts and also photo's his commitment to the family is evident.

 

My post was meant to offer a perspective on the training and time. It was meant to highlight that for an event like this the time to train has to be sacrificed somewhere. It would be totally unacceptable to make any remarks regarding someone who cannot post. So again, please accept my apologies if my post cam across as such.

 

There are 100 or so of us who have entered, each of us has our own reasons, and each their own story. All I was trying to get across was where you are in life, and how important riding is to you will all influence how much effort you put in. Again, I have had to put in leave to train. November the training really ramps up and I have to take time from work. This means we dont get time away for christmas and new year.

[Kranswurm]

If my post come across as an offense to Anton, then please offer my apologies. The post was not aimed at him at all. Having seen his older posts and also photo's his commitment to the family is evident.

 

My post was meant to offer a perspective on the training and time. It was meant to highlight that for an event like this the time to train has to be sacrificed somewhere. It would be totally unacceptable to make any remarks regarding someone who cannot post. So again, please accept my apologies if my post cam across as such.

 

There are 100 or so of us who have entered, each of us has our own reasons, and each their own story. All I was trying to get across was where you are in life, and how important riding is to you will all influence how much effort you put in. Again, I have had to put in leave to train. November the training really ramps up and I have to take time from work. This means we dont get time away for christmas and new year.

Aha,but you just had a holiday.I think your post was very clear and should not have offended anyone.Impressive training SB.I believe you will complete the event.Dont get sick!Couple of Vit B Jabs along the way will help

[nathrix]

If my post come across as an offense to Anton, then please offer my apologies. The post was not aimed at him at all. Having seen his older posts and also photo's his commitment to the family is evident.

 

My post was meant to offer a perspective on the training and time. It was meant to highlight that for an event like this the time to train has to be sacrificed somewhere. It would be totally unacceptable to make any remarks regarding someone who cannot post. So again, please accept my apologies if my post cam across as such.

 

Your post did not offend anyone as far as i know Slowbee, in fact, it should inspire people to take them out of their comfort zones and challenge themselves to do stuff like this while also keeping their loved ones happy.

[Karman de Lange]

Found this article in my FB feed yesterday. Would be interesting to know how this applies to ultra endurance.

 

http://trainright.com/how-long-should-your-longest-training-ride-be/

 

I'm hoping to enter the event next year, but my mind cannot get around training for 8 hrs,let alone 12-15hrs. Actually I've never did training ride of more than 5 hrs(normally 1-2hrs), but I've raced for 7 hrs without any issues (well not more than a 3 hrs race).

 

Personally I think the biggest thing of doing long hrs on bike is the teaching you how to manage your food/water and getting over the dead hands/feet/arse etc, also what tools/equipment works/don't work... Not so much getting your muscles stronger.

 

But of course, i'm probably completely  wrong as well, and will die at 300km

[IH8MUD]

Wow !!  That must be awesome!!

 

I am jealous! 

 

What to the guys do that have a 8+ hour/day  job, for 6 days a week,  and kids and wife do?

How do they train to  Munga? 

 

Sorry.  Did not intent my question (above) to be offensive or negative.

 

I am  very much intrigued  by the Munga and bike-packing  style ride/races.

 

Thanks for all the positive responses and to see how other regular guys (non-pro)  manage to make the dream a reality. 

It's very motivational and keeps the flame alive. 

 

Respect to all that entered and putting the sacrifices and required training.

 

I'll be rooted to the  tracking screen (like last year)   come Munga-time and cheering for all.

[BigDL]

I still can't actually comprehend a ride of this distance. Last weekend I did a 4 1/2 HR ride and you know if you are gunning for 100k then when you get to 10, that's 10% etc. and you can start knocking the chunks off in your mind. 10k only being 1% would be a real challenge for me. Having said that, this thread has inspired me to start riding longer distances, so tomorrow I plan to do 120k instead of my normal long ride of 100 and I would like to start thinking about increasing that month by month to see what I could get to.

 

Just wanted to reiterate the inspiration you guys all are to someone average like me. Also, having done a couple of short rides with Anton for his various causes, I can imagine that tough little fellow would be loving the challenge of the very long rides.

[walkerr]

I still can't actually comprehend a ride of this distance. Last weekend I did a 4 1/2 HR ride and you know if you are gunning for 100k then when you get to 10, that's 10% etc. and you can start knocking the chunks off in your mind. 10k only being 1% would be a real challenge for me. Having said that, this thread has inspired me to start riding longer distances, so tomorrow I plan to do 120k instead of my normal long ride of 100 and I would like to start thinking about increasing that month by month to see what I could get to.

 

Just wanted to reiterate the inspiration you guys all are to someone average like me. Also, having done a couple of short rides with Anton for his various causes, I can imagine that tough little fellow would be loving the challenge of the very long rides.

 

You start to break things down differently is what works for most I ride with - you start to look at a day as say a 200km, 300km, sometimes even a 400km day. Then you break that down into a series of 50km to 80km segments, with a stop, some fuel, water, leg stretch in between. So you end up just thinking about the a series of short rides, and stop worrying about what lies beyond because to get there you have to cover the next 50 or 80 or so. When you get really broken, you just look at lamp posts and trees and think "just ride to that next one and see how we feel then", and maybe take a 5 minute breather. It's amazing how even a short break can get your mind reset and ready to go again.

 

All of that is speaking as someone who purely aims at a finish - I have no idea what goes through the mind of the guys racing for a win at the front, and what keeps them at it!

[Slowbee]

What Mr Walker said.

 

For the munga there are stations every 200km. and water points every 60 or so km.

 

So my mental state is that I am riding 6, 200km stages back to back, with an hour or three inbetween. Each stage is then made of 2 or 3 60km rides. So I am doing 20, 60km rides back to back.

 

But here is the challenge for you Wahoo.

 

take the distance you did on that 4/5hr ride. Same route same everything - but ride it with as low a HR as possible. Try keep your HR in the upper part of zone 1 or lower part of zone 2. So that means you are never really pushing yourself. It will be mentally challenging not to go fast, but be conservative. When you finish, ask yourself if you could do it again at the same pace, or maybe 3 times at the same pace. It is all about conservation of energy.

 

I truelly belive that anyone who can finish argus or 94.7 has the fitness and physical strength to finish something like the desert dash, munga, TB. It is just do they have the mental ability to believe in themselves that they can do it.

 

Personally, it is currently the saddle issues that are holding me back from believing I can finish this Munga. In terms of training everything is going well. If I can get the saddle issues sorted, then I know I can finish. Yes, I will most likely finish last, but if I can get the saddle sorted, then I know I will be able to.

[walkerr]

What Mr Walker said.

 

For the munga there are stations every 200km. and water points every 60 or so km.

 

So my mental state is that I am riding 6, 200km stages back to back, with an hour or three inbetween. Each stage is then made of 2 or 3 60km rides. So I am doing 20, 60km rides back to back.

 

But here is the challenge for you Wahoo.

 

take the distance you did on that 4/5hr ride. Same route same everything - but ride it with as low a HR as possible. Try keep your HR in the upper part of zone 1 or lower part of zone 2. So that means you are never really pushing yourself. It will be mentally challenging not to go fast, but be conservative. When you finish, ask yourself if you could do it again at the same pace, or maybe 3 times at the same pace. It is all about conservation of energy.

 

I truelly belive that anyone who can finish argus or 94.7 has the fitness and physical strength to finish something like the desert dash, munga, TB. It is just do they have the mental ability to believe in themselves that they can do it.

 

Personally, it is currently the saddle issues that are holding me back from believing I can finish this Munga. In terms of training everything is going well. If I can get the saddle issues sorted, then I know I can finish. Yes, I will most likely finish last, but if I can get the saddle sorted, then I know I will be able to.

 

The sticking to a low HR zone is definitely a key to avoid a non-recoverable bonk. I don't often ride with an HR strap, but did on 36One last year and made a concious effort to stay within Zone 2. Didn't set an records, but kept me alive to the end

[SlightlyOffTheBeatenTrack]

What Mr Walker said.

 

For the munga there are stations every 200km. and water points every 60 or so km.

 

So my mental state is that I am riding 6, 200km stages back to back, with an hour or three inbetween. Each stage is then made of 2 or 3 60km rides. So I am doing 20, 60km rides back to back.

 

But here is the challenge for you Wahoo.

 

take the distance you did on that 4/5hr ride. Same route same everything - but ride it with as low a HR as possible. Try keep your HR in the upper part of zone 1 or lower part of zone 2. So that means you are never really pushing yourself. It will be mentally challenging not to go fast, but be conservative. When you finish, ask yourself if you could do it again at the same pace, or maybe 3 times at the same pace. It is all about conservation of energy.

 

I truelly belive that anyone who can finish argus or 94.7 has the fitness and physical strength to finish something like the desert dash, munga, TB. It is just do they have the mental ability to believe in themselves that they can do it.

 

Personally, it is currently the saddle issues that are holding me back from believing I can finish this Munga. In terms of training everything is going well. If I can get the saddle issues sorted, then I know I can finish. Yes, I will most likely finish last, but if I can get the saddle sorted, then I know I will be able to.

I agree with Slowbee's strategy here and this is pretty much the same way I will be attempting the Munga at the end of November..

 

The sticking to a low HR zone is definitely a key to avoid a non-recoverable bonk. I don't often ride with an HR strap, but did on 36One last year and made a concious effort to stay within Zone 2. Didn't set an records, but kept me alive to the end

[Vega]

Was out riding this morning for three hours with Thor and the Sheriff.

 

They started at 4 this morning and aiming to finish at 7 this evening...Ouch!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ouAKXEfuHk

 

We eventually finished around 19:00 with some help and encouragement. Thanks Carpet!

 

I cracked a rim early in the day. The Sheriff had me going within an hour!

 

After this ride I should change my Hub name to Humbled (by the Sheriff). He can ride!

[Pulse]

We eventually finished around 19:00 with some help and encouragement. Thanks Carpet!

 

After this ride I should change my Hub name to Humbled (by the Sheriff). He can ride!

I like!

What distance did you end up covering?

 

Tell the old man he is sorely missed

[Bloukrans]

I like!

What distance did you end up covering?

 

Tell the old man he is sorely missed by some

Fixed

 

Well done guys!!  

[RocknRolla]

We eventually finished around 19:00 with some help and encouragement. Thanks Carpet!

 

I cracked a rim early in the day. The Sheriff had me going within an hour!

 

After this ride I should change my Hub name to Humbled (by the Sheriff). He can ride!

 

 

your legs and behind must have been really thor, after all that time on the bike...

[Vega]

I like!

What distance did you end up covering?

 

Tell the old man he is sorely missed

We did approximately 240km with (I guess) about 3000m vertical. Eventual riding time was 12 hours. We stopped for my cracked rim (had to go back to his shop), breakfast and three drinks breaks. I definitely slowed us down a lot around the 160 mark. Had nothing in the legs for while.