Weekly Summary

This week was a recovery week on the Polar programme so I made a real point of resting as much as possible. That said, I nearly killed myself at Stellenbosch Uni see 'Tortured Cyclist' for more on that.

I only managed one mountain bike ride this week which was an early ride this morning. I rode with Paul (Epic partner) and a young Swiss guy called Martin Fanger who is in South Africa for the MTB World Cup in Pietermaritzburg in April. That says enough about him and his abilities! He is a nice lad and fun to ride with but he lifted the pace of the ride too much for me. Paul was keen to toy with Martin on some of the climbs but I wasn't in the mood for that.

Anyway, this morning's ride was from my house onto Sir Lowry's and the railway servitude road, over Sir Lowry's Pass into Grabouw and up Nuweberg which is a monster climb. I was feeling pretty lousy on the bike as if I simply didn't have anything in my legs. I really don't get why I had such a bad day out as I was well rested and had been eating well. I guess that my base fitness is what saw me through so in a way it was quite a good test before the Epic. I still managed 5½ hours with total ascent of 1835m which is good simulation for the big event.

Much of the route this morning will make up a large part of Stage 7 on the Cape Epic this year so it's good to spend some time on familiarising ourselves with parts of the route. This is local riding for us which is a real bonus! We're very blessed to be quite familiar with this part of the world and what it has to throw at us. One thing for sure about Grabouw, you will be doing lots of climbing!!

Stats for (recovery) week:
Ride time: 14:45 (target: 14:00)
Distance: 316km
Kcal's burnt: 10227
Total ascent: 1835m

Related Posts by Categories