First sub 3

23rd of February 2014 will a day I will always remember. This is the day when I finished my first 100+km ride in under 3 hours. The 103km Carnival City Macsteel National Classic Cycle Race for 2014 was completed in the time of 02:57, with an average speed of 34.5km/h. This was my third ride on the road bike this year after doing the bulk of my training on my mountain bike and everything fell into place.

 

Riding in a big group really helps - which I did for about 60km of the ride, there was a section of about 40km in the middle of the race, where I was in between groups and I had to battle against the wind by myself. I must admit it was a bit nerve racking riding in the bunches and I had to be really sharp on my brakes a few times. I enjoyed the race and was really chuffed that I beat my time from last year by 16 minutes and managed to crack the elusive 3hour barrier. Here are my Strava stats of the ride.

After the ride holding the spoils of war

Some of the gangsters from road group I sometimes train with  

Early morning rides

There have been some fantastic early morning rides in the past week. Besides our normal Tuesday and Thursday routes, we have started doing a longer one on Wednesday early morning before work. With the extra 20mins we find the time to ride up Monument hill in Kempton (on the dirt next to the road) and then race back via Atlas road. This little bit extra will surely help us get fit for our next big event which is the Sani2C.  Awesome to be out there and witness the most incredible sunrises - see pics below.
'Dirty Fridays' is a little earlier where I meet up with another group leaving from the BP at 04:30 - this is a longer ride (I did 50km last Fri), really great way to start the day and get those extra miles under the belt.

Turning left after climbing the Monument drag..

Dirty Friday bunch

 

Breath taking sunrises

Best month ever!!!

Wow what an incredible month of riding for Jan 2014:
25 Rides, 47 Hours in the saddle and 1001 Kilometers 

Besides the miles that have been put into the cycling bank, I have ridden in different groups, met many new people, had the chance to ride with my wonderful wife and share my passion for cycling.

I also recorded my longest ride and broke a few personal records, so pretty much the best month ever. Life is pretty busy, so my blogging has unfortunately slowed down.
I have had some really great rides before work in the mornings, the Dirty Friday ride is my favorite :- get up at 3:45 to leave home by 04:05, meet group at BP at 04:30 and do 45-50kms of mountain biking. Witnessing fantastic sunrises in the morning really enriches the soul. Weekends I try to do a longer ride, family commitments permitting. Below are a few photos taking from some of the rides:

Plenty stops with my wife for her to take photos of stuff

Great to share the open space thrill with my better half...

and she can handle any technical stuff, riding through a dip without blinking..

Mark and Becky going around a 'Do Not Enter' gate

Odd chap in my way on my final ride for Jan, did 55km early Friday before work to complete 1000km for Jan