Greg's new ride

So Greg has finally succumbed and joined the 29er club. Today was his first ride on his Scott Spark 910 that he had the pleasure of getting last week. This is a absolutely fantastic bike with full XT, Carbon Frame (ally rear triangle), fox fork, clutch on rear derailleur and dual shock lock out etc...

 

It took some convincing to get Greg to come out with his new bike after all the rain we have been having the past few days. He agreed eventually after sending me this message "..we must avoid mud at all cost!! If there is mud, you carry my bike and I ride yours...and make sure your gloves are clean."  We met at the Wimpy at 05:45 and then headed out, planning to stick to the roads and avoid the mud.....but then we accidentally met up with Adam and Marco (our other riding mates) who were also going for a ride. Plans were changed and we all went on a very lekker 55km ride out past Serengeti Golf Estate and Dunblane Equestrian Estate. Wow did we encounter loads of mud, I could feel Greg grimace every time we came close to water and anything resembling mud (Greg can be a bit pedantic about his bikes sometimes). After a few days of excess eating and drinking at my companies "team building" I was totally flat today and struggled to keep up with the boys at times. Greg has found some new legs with his new bike and it really looks incredible - wishing you many happy miles buddy.   

Greg and his new Scott Spark 910

Yeah 3 in front and 1 lazy bastard trailing behind...

Schweeeeet

 

1st Goal Achieved

So my goal was achieved last Sunday for the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge with completing the race in under 03:30. I did a comfortable time of 03:25 and really enjoyed my ride (even though the wind was hectic in some parts of the route). I pushed it the whole race and my average heart rate was an alarming 170 bpm. It was great to catch up with good mates Craig and Mieke in the beer tent afterwards and reflect on the race.

 

This is one step closer to completing this race in under 3 hours, my plan is to do qualifying races in 2013, to get a better seeding so I can start earlier and also benefit from drafting in groups. I am planning to do 03:10 next year and then under 03:00 in 2014. It is great to see how I have improved over the years as this year was 2 hours faster then my first race 4 years ago.

Before the start of the 2012 Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge

Work colleague Martin who also completed his 4th race this year

Ready or not here I come...

Tomorrow is my 4th Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge and I am really looking forward to it. Hopefully my body will push itself to new limits and I will achieve my personal goal of riding under 03:30. The 94.7 is a great yard stick for me as I can see my improvement on the bike every year - if you troll back through this blog you will see how nicely I have progressed through the years. My first 94.7 was in a time of 05:30, second one 4:50 and last year 03:50. I am hoping that I have done enough training to really go an smash last years time. The weather looks like it is going to be very hot - over 30 degrees Celsius so I have been hydrating quite a bit today. Anyway wish me luck and hopefully my next blog post will have some bragging in it..

Up in smoke

Great road bike ride today with Jason, Rick, Gina and Trevor. We did 102km with 900m ascent, a productive training ride for the Momemtum 94.7 cycle challenge on the 18th of November. We did a great route and I felt much better then last Sunday. What did amaze me is one of the guys rding (Trevor) would stop and light up a cigarette every 25km or so and smoke it whilst riding. Below is a photo of Trevor lighting one up....

Trevor and Jason



Yesterday was another watershed day in my riding career. I spent the morning at Modderfontein - Central Park Trials Mountain Bike park with my lovely wife as we christened her new bike on the single track. It was awesome riding with her as it was her first time to ride single track, bridges, through streams etc... 'Modders' is incredible, it is a unspoilt jewel nestled inside Johannesburg. It has fantastic scenery and awesome riding, it was fantastic to ride there and share my passion with my true love.