Trubie Posted July 13, 2009 Posted July 13, 2009 So, there I was yesterday, out on my first real MTB ride with friend Obelix (droodt), whom I like to call druid as in Asterix & O.He took me out on some really cool jeeptrack (some new word I learnt recently), on the route of the Walkerville race, and some not so cool more difficult singletrack. But thanks bru, memorable 55 k ride, great for a beginner, so maybe I can now change my name back to nuwbie? Slave, that hybrid would have not worked well, not without the knobblies, and not without the front shock. Not many tarred roads either. We wanted to go and see some racing, so we rode the 60 k route backwards - at least some of it.Missed them at our first vantage point as my navigator had the staring time wrong. Managed to see the start of the 30 k's @ the first road crossing at +/- 5k's. We then went to the last waterpoint(about 10 k's from the finish) , just in time to once again see the short race leaders (was very interesting to se the change in front as opposed to what we saw at 5k's), spend a lota time there and saw plenty familiar faces, some hubbers et al. Missed some as well.Many surprised faces, when I called out a name. Best was Frosty's reaction!!No Andy though? Where were you dude? We left there at about 11:15, and headed home straight into a rather strong headwind. Ok , I survived the Argus, so it was really just a breeze.Slave, you reckon the steps are bad, come ride on other side of the R 59 back up to Brackendowns on the dirt into a headbreeze. Hope you did not go out yesterday at 11:00 to start yr 100k's, it would have been suicide. Have a bad case of the sniffs, so I hope I will be ok to start training properly again tmrw am. Oh by the way - will pencil Walkerville in on my race calender for 2010.
Slave Posted July 13, 2009 Author Posted July 13, 2009 Good one there Trubie / Newbie. So have we lost another roadie to the dirt tracks? That wind you speak of did suck some. I left home just after 10 to do my 100k's. Saw the two kids before I got very far and had a bit of a chat, having not seen either of them for a while. That would be the blue child and his kid. The 1st 18k's and the last 60 of my ride were just painful. In between was a breeze. Doing the Allewynspoort (Eye of Africa) road was brilliant with that 25 k and hour wind from behind. Managed to average just over 42 k's and hour over that 15 k stretch. Magical. Turning into the wind from SBR towards Henley and the ride degenerated into living hell. It was a struggle from there all the way home. No-one to hide behind. All good in the end though, the wind made a very good training partner. All I can say is that was definitely one of the tougher rides I have been on.
GreyOwl3.0 Posted July 13, 2009 Posted July 13, 2009 Maybe Slave...but dont you feel stronger because you did it?! Thats 100km you cant take out of your legs now...good for you!
Slave Posted July 13, 2009 Author Posted July 13, 2009 GOv2.0, dude, If feeling stronger now is the way I feel, then yes, I guess I feel stronger. I had the impression that sore legs, bordering on cramping and needing outside assitance to stand up were signs of grave injury rather than strength. Nah, seriously, I am glad I did the ride but there were times when I questioned my own sanity (not that I was ever under any illusions of havng any). On more than one occasion, I would have bailed if there was a car to bail into or if someone offered me a lift, I would have jumped at the chance. The ride up the steps was just plain hell. I think I might have managed to push a 22 on the flat parts f the steps. That wind really did hurt, a LOT. Or was it a combination of Hill and headwind? On the Eye of Africa road I saw loads of okes riding around on the farm Zwartkops. Must have been the MTB chaps doing their Walkerville race. I was just having too much fun running in front of the wind to stop and check them out though.
Slave Posted July 13, 2009 Author Posted July 13, 2009 So, the weekend behind us now, we need to plan the wekend ahead. NArco popped up on the radar last night. Sent me an SMS about what we doing this weekend. Told him we are doing the Suikerbosrand Nature reserve. Is this still on? So far Andy, Trubie and yours truly are on for the 18th. Start time around 07h30 from the car park? I'd very much like to do one loop plus do that frist hill and the short cheetah loop again. Sould give us around 68 to 70 k's if I am not mistaken. GO, you into an encore of yesterday? Who else is keen to join?
Guest Agteros Posted July 13, 2009 Posted July 13, 2009 Trubie, for a reasonably technical MTB race you should participate in the Parys Island Dirtmax series. It is a short multilap course (each lap=10km). No place to just sit and spin the legs, you constantly have to be aware and ready for the next sharp bend / descend / ascend / combo thereof.. BEAUTIFUL! I did the MTB duathlon on that course over the weekend. The roadies pretending to be able to ride on dirt suffered somewhat Was not so cool was on the first lap having to suddenly stop for a bloke who got the fright of his life where the ground disappeared at a 2meter 'drop-off' (It was possible to ride down there!)... His handlebar hooked mine as I overtook him while he was dismounting and moving his bike around... I went down the slope back first, bike following through the shrubbery... Gave him [quite a large] piece of my mind
Slave Posted July 13, 2009 Author Posted July 13, 2009 Oxman, you should be careful about giving people a piece of your mind. It leads to having no peace of mind left at the end of the day. Fortunately, I can't give people a large piece of my mind since it is so small to start off with. Apparently in the MTB 101 manual, they strongly suggest that the handlebars of the bike, remain in as far as possible, in the forward position. Come to think of it, they make the same recommendation on the roadie manual as well.
Guest Agteros Posted July 13, 2009 Posted July 13, 2009 For peace I just cycled away from him (I hope) as I was not really looking behind me, was too busy concetrating on the route ahead. Caught up (and overtook) a few more people Had to give it all back when my legs decided to go on strike during the second running stretch... Cramps in quads and hamstrings simultaneously! It was frustrating to see the other age groupers overtaking me while I could barely move note to self: do not be in hospital in week before a race
Andyr249 Posted July 13, 2009 Posted July 13, 2009 Hey Trubie, didn't have a very good ride yesterday. On the first rocky descent within the first 15km my front wheel got caught on a rock and I crashed quite heavily banging both my knees and lower back. Also cut my one knee in 3 places. In that crash I bent my rear brake disc so for the remaining 45 odd km I had added resistance even though I managed to bend it straight enough to be able to ride to the finish, but didn't initially realise it was bent. After the crash I managed to claw my way back to my friend I was riding with. Then on the second rocky descent I was over cautious and stopped to check bike and discovered the bent disc. So lost time on my friend again. But managed to claw my way back up to him again. Then as I was dripping blood and had the bent disc I decided not to push anymore and just ride with him. He was also having a bad day out. But there was the one hill near around 10km in which makes that first hill at SBR easy!! Slave, what does the mtb manual say about rocky descents? SBR for Saturday is great!!
Trubie Posted July 13, 2009 Posted July 13, 2009 Slave - good on you for banking those miles yestarday.Andy - oi, that sounds bad bru. Sorry to hear, gald you were able to finish though.Ox- BIG NOTE- do not attempt to be brave when you know you shouldnt even be out there. Coming from hospital to go and race - bad decision! Seems as if the hospital wasnt good to your nerves either - if you wanna play bully, go do the rugby thing.......What's this with everybody trying to get me on the technical stuff. I need to get in sync with my bike, ride some dirt roads and use the MTB to get strong for the road. What's with you guys. I am on no suicide mission. Yes SBR on sat, try start earlier (7:00), if weahther permits.
Andyr249 Posted July 13, 2009 Posted July 13, 2009 This was my third mtb race. From experience stay off the really technical stuff for now. Yesterday I much preferred the dirt roads and jeep track sections. Even the single track in the fields was good. I would like to do more of that to get my confidence up before do the rocky and really technical stuff!I will also ask a friend about SBR.
Slave Posted July 13, 2009 Author Posted July 13, 2009 Sounds like Andy will be a doubtful starter for Saturday, injured and all from his ill-fated rocky decent. Andy, I only read as far as the bit about rubber side down and handle bars pointing forward. Anything after that was way to technical for me so I fell asleep doing the RTFM thing. All this talk about toe overlap, Shifters, core strength and the bit about lactate threshold just got me. Not even mentioning such things as cadence, hill accelerations, intervals and other stuff that just smokkels my kop. To me,interval is that break they have betwwen all the adverts and when the movie starts so you can adjust the nicotine levels, have a beer and a bowl of peanuts, buy a burger and something that crinkles and crunches so you can annoy the hell out of all the other movie house patrons. Now I just ride and hope for the best. I have the basics, what else do I really need. I have a suspicion all this info in my brain might make it heavier to drag around, so I try to keep it light. Trubes, SBR only open gates at 7, so looks like we can get there at 7 and then head for the car park. Not sure how relaible Narco will be in actually showing up and the Jock is on so Delgado and his Colnago gang will be somewhere in the foothills of Mpumalanga. So Andy, despite your grivous injuries, are you going to be able to make the SBR on Saturday? Sound like you should go meet Ox at the Olivedale clinic. Trubes, how are you on the idea of doing that first part of the loop twice?
Guest Agteros Posted July 13, 2009 Posted July 13, 2009 Trubie it is on the technical stuff where you become strong (in mind, in legs, and in upper body!)Spinning around a place like NF is kewl, but does not add much more to your cycling repertoire than what road cycling does... It is just a safer environment... Once a while some technical stuff should be added to the training regime (It will help to be able to bunny hop the ditches and kerbs on your road bike!) The past week was not THAT bad 9eventually) - ran my fastest recorded 5km since high school on Thu, did 35km @ NF on sat (Great work on the shock Johan Bornman! - thanx she's working like a charm again! ) Sunday moning I did a 10-12 km scouting trip of the route before the time - tapering? What tapering!?!?
Andyr249 Posted July 13, 2009 Posted July 13, 2009 Oh ok. Rubber side down is a good start!I will be there! I really like the SBR ride! The extended route sounds good! Think I will leave Ox to his private ward at Olivedale.
Guest Agteros Posted July 13, 2009 Posted July 13, 2009 Guys, I'm not sick - just had a bit of a scare Was out training again on Wednesday (felt like a dog, but still did 2km run 6x400 running sprints!) Thursday = 5km time trial (running )Saturday = 35 km MTBSunday = duathlon So, not sick, but performance was affected...
Slave Posted July 13, 2009 Author Posted July 13, 2009 Cool Andy, hope the legs recover in time for Saturday. Bring your buddy along for the ride as well. The more the merrier. A ride around the NR is always a cool one. So who else wants to join in?
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