Where has your bike taken you today?

[Frosty]

just the 151km - 9km less than I rode last week and that included a 106km race - I love your rides. Firstly they impress me and then they remind/inspire me to pedal more

[emoji16]

 

 

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[The Ouzo]

Nearly as bad as a 1/2 price sale at Solly Kramer’s

As a bit of an off topic,

I met Mr Solly Kramer himself last year, even went to his house to deliver his new car to him.

 

 

 

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[CAAD4]

As a bit of an off topic,

I met Mr Solly Kramer himself last year, even went to his house to deliver his new car to him.

 

 

 

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Did he buy the Polestar V90?

[The Ouzo]

Did he buy the Polestar V90?

nope, something a lot more modest.

 

 

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[BenReaper]

Nothing like a lekker bike ride to get your head straight after a hectic day at work.

[fanievb]

It looks like conditions were terrible judging by the results alone. Looks like more than 50% on entrants on the 'full' had a DNF. Well done for giving it a go.

 

dit was rof broer.

 

CP3 het soos 'n slagveld gelyk met al die lyke

[hboli4]

dit was rof broer.

 

CP3 het soos 'n slagveld gelyk met al die lyke

 

Ek kan my net indink. Ek het so 10.00 by die huis gekom van my ride af toe was dit klaar 31 hier in Bloem. Daar seker nog warmer met 'n kopwind by.

 

Al gewonder, is die waterpunte naby genoeg aan mekaar op daai race as die kondisies is wat hulle was?

 

Sorry guys I'm busy derailing an awesome thread, will take it elsewhere.

Edited March 5, 2019 by hboli4

[fanievb]

Ek kan my net indink. Ek het so 10.00 by die huis gekom van my ride af toe was dit klaar 31 hier in Bloem. Daar seker nog warmer met 'n kopwind by.

 

Al gewonder, is die waterpunte naby genoeg aan mekaar op daai race as die kondisies is wat hulle was?

 

Sorry guys I'm busy derailing an awesome thread, will take it elsewhere.

 

 

CP's are about 50k's apart, so with 2 bottles you should be fine in ideal conditions.

 

between CP 1 and 2 there was a tap at a farmhouse, but it was further from the CP that advertised.

[fanievb]

I’ve had a few days to reflect, contemplate and feel very sorry for myself. What follows is by no means a race report, this is only applicable if you’ve actually finished the whole ride, I’m merely trying to figure out (and justify to myself) why my planned 315km TransXhariep journey ended at 120km.

 

My training went really well this year. I used the Ultra MTB plan from the Time Crunched Cyclist. My training started on 1 December with a nice endurance from the 16^th to the 31^st. The program ended on 28 Feb and in total I cycled 2556 km, with my cumulative training time amounting to 145 hours. In this time I climbed a total of 28434m (three times up Everest) and burned 69 598kj.

I had the occasional battle with allergies, but thanks to my GP and some prescription drugs (all SAIDS approved) they were quickly sorted.

 

 

Raceday arrived with a bang. We got to Gariep the day before the event and I was surprised as to how hot it was (27deg in the Shade). I got registration and box packing sorted as soon as they opened and headed back to the guesthouse to relax. When it cooled down somewhat I quickly took the bike for a spin around the dam wall to make sure everything is working 100% after the roadtrip.

 

 

 

 

The raceday nerves got me out of bed before sunrise, thankfully so, as we were spoiled with a beautiful sunrise.

 

Bottles filled, sunscreen applied and oats inhaled I set of to the startline, meeting up with a few Slummies legends and my riding mates for the obligatory pre-race chit chat and photos.

 

 

At 8 o’clock we were set off in truly South African fashion, a vuvuzela nogal and I managed to quickly settle into a rhythm in the middle of big bunch, in the process meeting up with Munga legend “Vetseun” (which by the way is one of those unexplainable nicknames)

 

 

We hit the first little climb and as I looked over my shoulder the group was gone. I slacked off a bit and was caught by the “Queenstown Boys”. We gradually caught a few guys which got dropped by faster groups and soon our gruppetto was 15 or so strong.

 

 

Just before we started turning towards Phillipolis one of the Queenstown boys had a puncture and the group broke to pieces. Even worse the wind really started hammering us from this point onwards.

We stopped at the first checkpoint, refilled bottles, grabbed some food and 4 min’s later we hit the road again.

 

By this time the wind reached its full potential, and this just as we started turning west, into the wind. What was left of our group shattered completely at around 65km.

 

Looking at my Garmin I realised that I was ahead of schedule and I could afford to slack off the pace a bit. The wind and heat was relentless at this stage and I ran out of water, yes 1.5l in just 30 odd km of riding. As luck would have it, a farmhouse appeared in the distance (Strava says 4km) and I was able to refill my bottles. I must add here that after 20min of riding the water in my bottles was about the correct temperature to make a cup of tea.

 

From this point I started feeling tired, not muscle tired, sleep tired. I reached CP2 and promptly set out to find a nice resting spot, some food and some cold water/coke. I was 45min ahead of schedule and had a good 20min recovery eating and hydrating properly, or so I thought.

 

I left the checkpoint on my own, straight into a headwind from hell. I honestly believe it was designed there and it was made there. Evil and Warm.

 

 

5km from the CP I suddenly felt dizzy and nauseas. I took a sip of water to “settle” my stomach, which immediately tried and succeeded to force it’s way back out. From this point on nothing would stay down, but foolishly I thought it would settle and I’d be able to continue.

I came up to a cement dam which was overflowing and had a long “shower” to try and get my core temp down as I was feeling really ill at this stage, this didn’t help for long and I realised that I’m in serious trouble.

 

 

I knew I had to call the “emergency number” to get some assistance. The problem however, no cellphone signal.

When I eventually managed to get signal I was in spot where the only shade was the shade made by a roadsign, a little warning triangle sign.

 

 

I phoned the “emergency number” and let them know I’m in trouble, I was vomiting, dizzy and couldn’t keep down anything, let alone fluids. I also phone my wife to let her know that I’m toast.

Eventually after waiting in the sun for an hour the race organiser and ambulance arrived, yes the “emergency crew” took an hour to get to me despite the ambulance being parked at CP2, 12km away from where I was. My wife in the meantime got hold of the organiser to find out where I’m going and set off to Vanderkloof to come and get me.

 

 

I was loaded into the sweeper vehicle (without receiving and medical assistance whatsoever, not even a check of my vitals) and later into the ambulance to Vanderkloof, definitely not the way I was hoping to end the ride for which I’ve put in so much prep. Arriving at Vanderkloof I was surprised at the number of people that pulled out, including some big names (experienced and strong guys) which was somewhat of a comfort for pulling the plug.

 

Will I do this event again? The answer is a big NO, not while it is held in the middle of summer.

 

Well done to those who managed to finish, you have earned my respect.

Edited March 5, 2019 by fanievb

[ChrisF]

Fanie RESPEK !!

 

 

VIER vriende het deelgeneem, net een het die volle afstand voltooi.

 

 

Dit was n RILLER !!

[RocknRolla]

Well done Fanie. The prep, and hours and hours of training have far reaching benefits, and this day, was just not your day.

 

The dedication of training for and up to the event is in my eyes a far bigger achievement that completing the race (not the way you see it i'm sure)

[fanievb]

Well done Fanie. The prep, and hours and hours of training have far reaching benefits, and this day, was just not your day.

 

The dedication of training for and up to the event is in my eyes a far bigger achievement that completing the race (not the way you see it i'm sure)

 

Thx bud, that's why am so bummed, all those hours for naught.

at least I have a more that decent base going in winter. 

 

 

[hboli4]

Thx bud, that's why am so bummed, all those hours for naught.

at least I have a more that decent base going in winter. 

 

 

 

You still riding 360ne? Awesome base to have!

[fanievb]

You still riding 360ne? Awesome base to have!

 

not this year.

 

I can only do one "Big" event a year

[trail - er - park]

I’ve had a few days to reflect, contemplate and feel very sorry for myself. What follows is by no means a race report, this is only applicable if you’ve actually finished the whole ride, I’m merely trying to figure out (and justify to myself) why my planned 315km TransXhariep journey ended at 120km.

 

My training went really well this year. I used the Ultra MTB plan from the Time Crunched Cyclist. My training started on 1 December with a nice endurance from the 16^th to the 31^st. The program ended on 28 Feb and in total I cycled 2556 km, with my cumulative training time amounting to 145 hours. In this time I climbed a total of 28434m (three times up Everest) and burned 69 598kj.

I had the occasional battle with allergies, but thanks to my GP and some prescription drugs (all SAIDS approved) they were quickly sorted.

 

 

Raceday arrived with a bang. We got to Gariep the day before the event and I was surprised as to how hot it was (27deg in the Shade). I got registration and box packing sorted as soon as they opened and headed back to the guesthouse to relax. When it cooled down somewhat I quickly took the bike for a spin around the dam wall to make sure everything is working 100% after the roadtrip.

 

 

 

 

The raceday nerves got me out of bed before sunrise, thankfully so, as we were spoiled with a beautiful sunrise.

 

Bottles filled, sunscreen applied and oats inhaled I set of to the startline, meeting up with a few Slummies legends and my riding mates for the obligatory pre-race chit chat and photos.

 

 

At 8 o’clock we were set off in truly South African fashion, a vuvuzela nogal and I managed to quickly settle into a rhythm in the middle of big bunch, in the process meeting up with Munga legend “Vetseun” (which by the way is one of those unexplainable nicknames)

 

 

We hit the first little climb and as I looked over my shoulder the group was gone. I slacked off a bit and was caught by the “Queenstown Boys”. We gradually caught a few guys which got dropped by faster groups and soon our gruppetto was 15 or so strong.

 

 

Just before we started turning towards Phillipolis one of the Queenstown boys had a puncture and the group broke to pieces. Even worse the wind really started hammering us from this point onwards.

We stopped at the first checkpoint, refilled bottles, grabbed some food and 4 min’s later we hit the road again.

 

By this time the wind reached its full potential, and this just as we started turning west, into the wind. What was left of our group shattered completely at around 65km.

 

Looking at my Garmin I realised that I was ahead of schedule and I could afford to slack off the pace a bit. The wind and heat was relentless at this stage and I ran out of water, yes 1.5l in just 30 odd km of riding. As luck would have it, a farmhouse appeared in the distance (Strava says 4km) and I was able to refill my bottles. I must add here that after 20min of riding the water in my bottles was about the correct temperature to make a cup of tea.

 

From this point I started feeling tired, not muscle tired, sleep tired. I reached CP2 and promptly set out to find a nice resting spot, some food and some cold water/coke. I was 45min ahead of schedule and had a good 20min recovery eating and hydrating properly, or so I thought.

 

I left the checkpoint on my own, straight into a headwind from hell. I honestly believe it was designed there and it was made there. Evil and Warm.

 

 

5km from the CP I suddenly felt dizzy and nauseas. I took a sip of water to “settle” my stomach, which immediately tried and succeeded to force it’s way back out. From this point on nothing would stay down, but foolishly I thought it would settle and I’d be able to continue.

I came up to a cement dam which was overflowing and had a long “shower” to try and get my core temp down as I was feeling really ill at this stage, this didn’t help for long and I realised that I’m in serious trouble.

 

 

I knew I had to call the “emergency number” to get some assistance. The problem however, no cellphone signal.

When I eventually managed to get signal I was in spot where the only shade was the shade made by a roadsign, a little warning triangle sign.

 

 

I phoned the “emergency number” and let them know I’m in trouble, I was vomiting, dizzy and couldn’t keep down anything, let alone fluids. I also phone my wife to let her know that I’m toast.

Eventually after waiting in the sun for an hour the race organiser and ambulance arrived, yes the “emergency crew” took an hour to get to me despite the ambulance being parked at CP2, 12km away from where I was. My wife in the meantime got hold of the organiser to find out where I’m going and set off to Vanderkloof to come and get me.

 

 

I was loaded into the sweeper vehicle (without receiving and medical assistance whatsoever, not even a check of my vitals) and later into the ambulance to Vanderkloof, definitely not the way I was hoping to end the ride for which I’ve put in so much prep. Arriving at Vanderkloof I was surprised at the number of people that pulled out, including some big names (experienced and strong guys) which was somewhat of a comfort for pulling the plug.

 

Will I do this event again? The answer is a big NO, not while it is held in the middle of summer.

 

Well done to those who managed to finish, you have earned my respect.

 

Thanks for such a candid insight!

 

 

[Meezo]

Morning buzz

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bup-QCKHidj/