April 2010 Newsletter

APRIL!

Yes, I know, time flies. Well the Argus is gone. Well done to all the riders. I’m sure you’ve enjoyed it tremendously, and that you will go back next year. Hopefully the Capetonians will have learned to control their wind by next year. Haha.

JOBERG2C.
Rodney and I will be attempting the Joberg2c race, except we see it as an adventure and not a race. We leave the racing to the pros. It is taking place from 23 April – 1 May all the way from Suikerbosrand to Scottburgh.

Total Distance 923km
Total Ascent 12 875m
To see more of the route and to read more about the event check out www.joberg2c.co.za The gym will be closed from 12:00 on Thursday 22 April and will reopen on Monday 3 May at 6:00.

KREMETART
This is a must do on any cyclist’s list of rides to do. It is a road event and can be called, The Argus of the North because of popularity and organisation. It is also nicely warm up North during winter when all of us further South, want to cocoon ourselves in winter woollies. The event takes the form of a 4-stage race except all the stages are happening on one day, starting at 7:00 and the last stage starting at 16:00. You will be provided with lovely food after each stage and they even provide a spectators bus following the cyclists on the 175km route. There is a shorter route of 70km that sounds a whole 100km less daunting. More info on www.kremetartcycling.co.za

Saturday 5 June 2010.

BAVIAANS
Some serious training is already taking place for this event. All the teams haven’t been finalised yet, so please don’t feel you don’t have a team to ride with. Please speak to me so we can start finalising the teams. It is very important that you do train with your teammates, as you do need to get to know them better before attempting the 230km Mtb marathon. I know, August, sounds like a far off month, but believe me, it is not!

I would also like to finalise accommodation in Willowmore, which I’ve explained in a previous newsletter, is a small little Karoo town. All this excitement is taking place on 14 August.

TRAINING RIDES
We do training rides over weekends. Please keep in touch for details of planned rides.

I am in training for The Freedom Challenge later this year and will appreciate any riders coming out to ride with me.

YOUR TRAINING

Although this might sound like only cycling and nothing else, it is eventually about the individual and his/her training. How are you doing? In a rut? Keep your training fresh by adding another day, another time, maybe a run in between spinning days.

Keep fit! Have fun!

Forever Bulla Team

The Argus and the Baviaans

Goodness Gracious! It is March already. I hope that you have by now slotted yourself into a nice training programme.

Lots have been happening here at the gym. The bike workshop with Gert was a huge success as was the Urban Assault. We’ve also done a couple of good training rides as well as some racing, road and dirt. The most successful was the Ride for Sight with many participants from the gym.

Argus 2010

We wish all the riders taking part in this year’s Cape Argus, a wonderful ride with a lot less wind than last year. Go fast, but go safe!

The gym will be closed from Fri. 12/3 – Mon. 15/3. Classes will run normally again from Tues 16/3. Just a reminder that Mon 22/3 is a public holiday and that the gym will be closed. And then in April, the gym will also be closed during the Easter long weekend Fri 2/4-Mon 5/4.

Baviaans MTB Challenge: 14/15 August.

I’ve received a lot of interest for the Baviaans this year. It is a mountain bike marathon starting in Willowmore to Jeffrey’s Bay. 230km in 24hrs! Willowmore is a tiny little town in the Karoo and accommodation is scarce. I’m busy organising accommodation and if you are definitely sure you want to do this, speak to me URGENTLY otherwise I’ll have to leave you to find your own accommodation. Accommodation in the school hostel is available with thin mattresses and rickety beds and 2-drip showers. I’m looking for something a little more comfortable. I’ve put a list of sorts together. If you don’t understand all the technical talk, please ask.

You will need:
Gear
A Mountain Bike with shocks. (Dual suspension an added bonus).
Bike lights- Rodney is the man to talk to.
Headlamp
Slime
Squirt
Chain links
Spare Batteries/ Battery packs
Tubes/pump/CO2 bommers
Backlight
Cable Ties
Duct tape
Camel bag /Bottles
First Aid Pack
Whistle
Multi tool
Chain breaker

Clothes
Rain jacket
Extra cold jacket
Leg warmers/ long cycling pants
Toasties socks
Gloves: short/long/rain
Undergarments: Nike/Canterbury/second skin
Cycling shoes, maybe extra pair for wet weather.
Buff/winter buff/balaclava
Extra set of riding clothes for change over.


Food
Energy bars
Biltong/Dry wors
Bananas
Nuts
Energy drinks.
Lots of food and drink are available at all the checkpoints. You just need extra for in between checkpoints.

Remember: It is not what you’ve got, but how you train, that counts.

Baviaans Mountain Bike Marathon, August 2009

This was my 5th Baviaans event and my team mates were two guys, Carl and Peter, both from Cape Town. The other team from the gym was Rodney as the captain, with Amanda, Marle and Mario as team members. My ride went well with Carl and Peter but I do think it is better to train with your team so you know their strong and weak points. This is a marathon event starting at 10:00 on the Saturday morning and ends at 12:00 the next day. Be prepared for your teammates to go through euphoria stages as well as down in the dumps stages. Euphoria when you reach the top of yet another mountain and can appreciate the view and scenery and down in the dumps stages when the legs are getting very tired and there is still 60km to go and it is two in the morning.

We reached Willomore at 8 o’ clock after driving through the night. Rodney and I took turns behind the wheel and at some stage did 120km/h through the sleepy town of Graaff Reinet. Totally unintentional, but I think at that stage we were as sleepy as the town. We phoned through to Willomore to wake up Amanda whom we had to pick up and then drove through to Jeffreys Bay where we would leave the cars at the end point of the race. Mario and Marle were waiting for us there to drive us up to Willomore again. I know, it sounds a total muddle but because this event is an open ended race it means you have to get the riders at the start without their cars so that they can have their cars at the end waiting for them. Still confused? Come and be part of this great ride and experience this confusion firsthand.

Both teams decided to make use of the boxes provided instead of the 4x4 support. So on Friday night every team had to pack their boxes with the stuff they think they might need at that stage of the race. Careful planning is needed here, as there is only one box per checkpoint for the first 3 checkpoints and nothing after that and also only one box per team was allowed. These boxes had to be dropped off on the morning of the race so the truck could drop them off at the different checkpoints.

Saturday morning dawned beautiful and warm, in fact the warmest of all the times I have done this race. More than enough food was available at the different checkpoints. The riders had to make sure to fill their water bottles as this was the driest ever I’ve seen the Baviaans. Normally there would be enough water in the rivers we had to cross. This year the riverbeds were dry.

Doringkraal checkpoint looked like a picnic, but after Doringkraal it was the big climb up to Bergplaas. After setting and attaching our lights to our bikes we tackled the beast!

Reaching Bergplaas we changed our clothes into something warmer for the colder part of the night. There was also a mechanical tent where you could have your bike checked over and the chain oiled etc. That was wonderful to just hand your bike over to the specialists and have something warm to eat in the meantime. Now it was time for the very steep descent. Take care and rather ride conservatively than having a fall and ruining your bike and the chances of finishing the ride. Once at the bottom of the mountain it is plain sailing to the next checkpoint, Komdomo.

From Komdomo to Suurbron lies a never-ending hill. Slowly climbing up and up. My lights were playing up with a loose connection because of all the corrugations in the road. Once we fixed it we could keep a good steady pace again. We arrived around 2:30am at the last checkpoint and what a lovely surprise. Vetkoek with mince and jaffles and enough hot coffee for an army. We almost didn’t want to leave the warm cosy friendly area, but with only 26km to go, we dragged ourselves away.

We arrived at the end, jubilant, relieved, mission accomplished. Waiting for us was a wonderful hot spur burger. We just sat down on the curb and devoured it. Yumyum! When last have you had a spur burger at 4:30 in the morning? Unfortunately for me, the spare key of the car didn’t want to open the boot of the car where all my clean clothes were waiting for me. So I just wrapped myself in a blanket and fell asleep in a chair while waiting for the other team to arrive. And they did arrive, everyone with their own story to tell. Till next year!

Bulla One and the Baviaans

If you thought that we were impressive, just read the story or the ride about Bulla One. Christo almost had to ride with the Bulla Team and he would have but fate had it otherwise. Finally , finally on number 99 we found Christo a partner, Dennis Finch. We didn't know he was a pro, but we clearly understood when he unpacked his bag on Race Day. The best quality of cycling jerseys, tops, leg warmers, bootees, caps, gloves, you name it, he had them all plus an array of other drool over goodies. But what a nice down to earth guy. We were all glad that Christo found a great partner.

After sorting out Christo's light with a better fitting so it won't topple him and the bike over, they were also ready to go.

As we checked in at the different checkpoints, we received the latest reports from Maggie and Elzet of their fast progress. "They are 35min ahead of you"."They are 1hour and 25min ahead of you". We didn't ask again, they were clearly in a different league.

On top of the beast of a mountain they put their lights on, Dennis in front, but Christo always reassuring his teammate: " Dennis I'm here."

Their support Juliana and Marina had to follow a different route and only saw them at Komdomo for the first time, that's after about 170km. Marina always wanted to be a sports photographer and really took the opportunity to show her style. With reel after reel of film falling into the developing basket, they waited with abated breath at the end for the two heroes to come in. And so we are waiting to see the photos she took. They came in at a mere 13hours and 39min. If it wasn't for the buck that jumped in front of Christo's bike and unfortunately got killed in the process, they could have shaved more minutes off their time. The story of the buck is true. A Duiker was run over by a bike. We saw the evidence of buck hair still stuck on the bike.

So they went to bed and didn't wait for us to finally arrive. But the next morning Christo's face said it all; What an experience!

Till next year then, when we will hopefully see you there!

The Bulla Team and The Baviaans

Well, after a long battle again with Telkom, here I am at last to tell the story of the Bulla Team and the Baviaans. So much to tell, what do I tell and what do I leave out? The easiest I think is to tell you about the Bulla Team and then about Bulla One

(that is now Christo and Dennis Finch).

Yes, it was a long drive down and we have wisely decided to do it by air next time, but it was still fun driving to Willowmore, offload most of the stuff, drive to St Francis, drive to Jeffreys Bay, drive back to Willowmore with all team members now in a 4x4.

The morning dawned freezingly cold. We were packing, repacking,

testing the bikes, packing the support vehicle and waiting for the

starting time which was only at 10:00. Some were more nervous

than others and tried to calm themselves by doing warming up

exercises in the dirt road in front of the house in Willowmore.

The ride itself went fine with a few hick ups here and there. Rodney had a bad fall and with that came a few trouble spots. He lost his granniest of granny gears and with those hills he needed them all. The problem was he forgot he had lost a gear and keep shifting over to the missing gear, with the result the chain kept on falling in between the granny and the plastic plate.(ok, ok, it got stuck!) Of course it does call for throwing toys in all directions and lots of yanking.

Then came the deep river crossing and Renzo got his tyre's sidewall slashed. Ok, no problem, we have one tube, we have bommers, we have a tube and we have 3 bommers but we also have a pump. But if we use the pump, we can save the bommers and maybe we should save the tube too. But if we can put the tube in and only half inflate, we can save the bommers. That is the gist of the two men conversation going on while I'm standing waiting for something to happen. In the end with a hurried word or two from me, they got going again just to have the tube blown out of the tyre still fully inflated. That was touch and go, but in the end they did it perfectly-took about 30minutes?

The Baviaans only start testing you when there is only about 50km left over. The never ending hill seems like it was going to never end. The pace got slower and slower but eventually we did reach our support team. After chasing Red Bull, V-Power and double coffees down their throats, we attacked the last 25km with gusto. We made it in style and came in 20hours and 27 minutes.

Our support team was the best team! Not blinking at any of our demands, always ready, packing and repacking the 4x4. Driving where no man has been before-well almost. Sitting up in the cold, waiting for us at 4 in the morning, greeting us with cheers and smiles and I will never forget Elzet's words: Jissie! Julle is oulik, julle lyk goed. Thanks to Maggie and Elzet for fantastic support. To my teammates Rodney and Renzo; We made it as a team, finishing together. You made my day!

We sort of worked it out, we think:

The Baviaans is only about 100 000 pedal strokes.

Anyone with a closer answer? How many pedal strokes on 230km? More or less.