Spinning Again

After what seems like a long period of inactivity and demotivation (I think it's called 'post Epic blues') I'm back on the bike and managing a couple of decent rides each week totaling about 7½ hours. I'm still struggling with the motivation side of things but I am really enjoying the riding once the legs are warmed up.

I'm planning to ride the AMA Rider 100Miler with a friend next Saturday which is a mountain bike ride from Durbanville to Paarl via Malmesbury. The route is non-technical on rolling district (dirt) roads and farm tracks so it shouldn't be too hard other than the sheer amount of time in the saddle. It should be a good test of my post Epic fitness levels.

In other news... I won a short cycle race organised by my boys school in aid of Miles For Smiles. The prize was a weekend away in a luxury tented camp which we're looking forward to. Read more on my other blog.

Pepe Rapidissimo In Glorious Technicolor

Here's a couple of photos from the Petzl Adventure Night in Jonkershoek last Saturday. The rider behind me is rod who can be seen in full Technicolor below. As you can see it really was pitch black, especially the sections through the forest, but thankfully we had some superduper lights which made life much more tolerable.

We're looking forward to riding this event again next year.

More photos can be seen on the Magnetic South web page.









Rod came up with the team name which may explain why he's looking concerned here

Petzl Adventure Nights

Rod and I, team Pepe Rapidissimo, had a blast riding in the Petzl Adventure Night in Jonkershoek on Saturday. We managed not to disgrace ourselves by finishing 10th out of the 20 finishers on the Pro course in 1:51:14. Local knowledge of Jonkers' proved invaluable as we only missed one marker (which had been hidden). Some teams enjoyed some very scenic detours which would have been great in daytime but not so funny at night. One team even took a detour down Heartbreak Hill and had to ride back up again. It's not called Heartbreak Hill without reason. I was particularly pleased with myself as I was one of the few who rode the drop-off, the 6 riders in front of us at that point all got off and walked it. The course had some interesting features with lots of singletrack, but the best bit was probably the dam crossing. Two canoes had been strapped together and teams had to pull both their bikes and riders across without getting wet. We managed amazingly well thanks to Rod and his Ironman skills.

Our race stats are:
Start time: 19:35:53
Checkpoint 1: 19.26
Checkpoint 2: 35.39
Checkpoint 3: 42.20
Checkpoint 4: 62.18
Checkpoint 5: 73.01
Checkpoint 6: 83.18
Checkpoint 7: 91.01
Checkpoint 8: 96.31
Checkpoint 9: 104.00
Checkpoint 10: 111.14
Finish Time: 1:51:14 at 21:27:12
The course was 19.8k's and we averaged 12.2kph.

One interesting aspect was being asked to carry a GPS tracking unit so that our progress could be watched on a big screen in the main tent. After the race they displayed all 10 teams who had been tracked which made for some good entertainment. Thankfully we did very well in terms of navigation so spared ourselves any embarrassment.

The event was organised by Magnetic South and they score top marks for their organisation, route planning and general helpfulness, patience and management of the event! Respect also goes to the guy who rocked up with an impromptu beer cooler and sold the beers for R5 each!