This week has been a load week on the Polar programme and my target was 16½ hours which I managed very comfortably. I'm really enjoying doing longer rides, mainly because I love being on the bike so much but it also means I get a decent amount of rest between rides which is great. Something else I'm really enjoying is an amazing level of fitness which allows me to do certain rides that I would never have dreamt of not so long ago. One such ride is my new favourite of riding from home to Jonkershoek, playing on the single track for up to 2 hours and then riding home again. Twice now I've been a bit naughty on the way home and sailed past some roadies on the hills coming out of Stellenbosch. I've then really stamped on the gears to make them work really hard to stay with me, however they've not yet succeeded. That's very childish (and not great for the heart rate) but lots of fun!
Today I also did my first ever ride on a soft-tail. Paul (my Epic partner) works at the local bike shop and has been talking me into trying a softtail so eventually I agreed to try a BMC. The shop had a Fourstroke frame lying around so they transferred the components over from my Mongoose to the BMC. The jury is still out but there were certain things I did enjoy. I liked the comfort but at 40+ who wouldn't? The longer wheelbase makes for a more planted feel on singletrack and on rocky climbs and it was great on some really rocky singletrack to be able to just bounce over stuff that I couldn't on my hardtail. Sadly, the bike was very poorly setup so I'll need to tinker with it to really appreciate its finer qualities. Also, my XT front derailleur wouldn't fit so the bike shop stuck a crappy Deore derailleur on the front and I struggled to change from middle down to granny which was frustrating. I'll give it several more goes before I finally make up my mind, so stay tuned.
Stats for (overload) week:
Ride time: 16:57 (target: 16:30)
Distance: 254km
Kcal's burnt: 11840
total ascent: 3745m
Mountain biking as a workout.
1 month ago
1 comment:
Give the full susser a thorough test drive. Unless you are looking for pure performance, then the HT will be a tough ride on a technical route. One of the biggest reason for not finishing the Epic is body fatigue - so you want to give your body the best chance possible - and that does not come from a HT!
Enjoy the riding - you do not know how lucky you are to have that kind of riding in the WC - we can only dream up north!
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