Isuzu Ride the Rock MTB Adventure

Let me first mention  that I am very much a Mountain Bike novice, so if people refer to me as a ‘Crash Test Dummy’ or the ‘Portage King’ it is probably because I spend a fair amount of time falling, crashing and pushing, especially on such a testing course.

Courtesy of Isuzu, I signed up for the Ride the Rock 3-day event in the Cederberg and thought it would be great training for Ironman. Little did I know what I was letting myself in for, as there were some very rugged sections, loads of rocks and way too much sand. However, one thing I have discovered on this Journey of Life is that if you sign up for something you try and get the task finished.When I arrived at the ‘race village’ at Sand-Drif, it was mind blowing, what a beautiful spot alongside the river, like a magical Oasis! The first person I bump into was Event Director Alexa Cunningham, one of the friendliest and nicest people on the Planet and in no time I was made to feel welcome and settling in to my home away from home for the weekend. Also bumped into Stuart Marais, who helped settle my nerves after the race briefing, with a few tips here and there.

At the start Day 1

Friday dawned and at 07h00 we set off for the toughest 85km I have ever ridden, probably because my Specialised Camber doesn’t have an accomplished jockey aboard.

The first 10km on municipal dirt roads lulled me into a false sense of security as we hurtled along, but then we started climbing hills and mountains. The climbs are fine, as I simply switch off, hike the heart rate and soak up the pain or the burn. However, there was one climb, which went on and on and we simply had to walk and push. I asked John Smit if pushing the bike up that hill was worse than pushing the scrum machine multiple times and the answer was quite humorous.

Pictured with John Smit-well done John, great prep for the Cape Epic

It was the downhills that concerned me, as the heavy rains in the preceding month had played havoc with the terrain, so I portaged whenever I felt in danger, always remembering Sibusiso Vilane’s wise words from Wines2Whales where he used to tell me ‘Rather a live Donkey, than a dead Lion!’ The problem is I would be pushing along a nice stretch, only to suddenly be careering down a hill and wondering how to stop and get off the bike without falling, which I did a couple of times.The water points were great, as where the volunteers and after the penultimate water point, I decided to time trial home as fast as possible on the open road, in an effort to make up some lost time, finishing in six and a half hours, but feeling good enough to put my shoes on and go for an hour run. Thereafter, it was time for a massage and time to relax and I met some wonderful people and was quite amazed at how the friendly MTB community welcome newbies into their inner circle.

Day 2 was also a 7AM start and approximately 61km lay ahead. I decided to start a little faster and was pushing quite hard up the initial climb, only to find some tough single track to negotiate on the other side, so had to pull over time and time again to let the more skilled riders pass (seemed like everybody was more skilled than I). I overcooked a switchback (probably going 6km/hr instead of 3) and smashed into a rock, so have the ‘Ride the Rock’ bruise to show for it and from then on it was walk those rocky downhills.

We had a little reprieve on an open road once more, so once again I upped my pace and unfortunately this leads me to getting a little too brave and low and behold not a few kilometres further on some single track I lock my wheel in a gully and fly over my handle bars. Fortunately I landed in a sandy patch as I fell on my left shoulder (with plate still in) and my head and even though the sand cushioned my fall, I was dizzy and seeing double tracks when there was a solitary one.

Amazing Rock Formations

That was almost the end of Day 2 for me, but I pushed on and got to the finish as best I could. My planned run was promptly cancelled and a massage and rest was inserted in its place. Thanks to Chris Norton and Fedhealth for sponsoring the massages, much appreciated.

Day 3 was supposedly an easier 55km, but the frenetic pace of those first 20km left me thinking I was doing an off road Triathlon and then we hit the 6km climb (which served as King of the Mountains for the Pros), which was quite fun. On the way up I saw the Pros negotiating the single track back down and I was worried and rightfully so, as once again I was going faster than my capabilities would allow and crashed once more. So then I decided to chill and cruise home and linked up with a young, enthusiastic guy called Tiaan, who was having problems of his own but we kept ourselves in good spirits, finishing in 3hrs11min and receiving a well-deserved Finisher’s Medal.

All in all it was a great experience, exceptionally well organised and for anybody with half decent MTB skills, I am sure you would really enjoy this challenging 3-day event so make a mental note for 2015. I think I may just be able to call myself a Mountain Biker, now that I have the Medal and the T-Shirt (one of the best race T-Shirts).

Congratulations to all that participated and to the Pros, well, you have my utmost respect. We see you on the TV and it looks easy, but how you rode all of those downhills and that concrete climb, I will never know, but can only dream thereof!

Thank You to…..

-The Niewoudt’s for the Cederberg wines, probably the best I have ever tasted.

-Grant, Marius and the Isuzu Off-Road Academy team for the display and test drive

-Fed-Health and the therapists for the Massages

-Mlungisi and Isuzu for the invite

-OJ and Admakers for the arrangements and support

-Michael, Alexa and the Stillwater team for a brilliant event

-All the Marshalls, Volunteers, Course Designers, Chefs and the Coffee Lady

YES, you Can, you Will, you Want to!!

 

Lance Armstrong: The End or the Beginning?

Lance Armstrong was an inspiration, my hero for more than a Decade. A cancer survivor, a great cyclist and a man who did much to create awareness and raise funds for Cancer.

But then, the Dominos all came tumbling down and one felt cheated, swindled, conned…. you name it and I felt it. The super loyal Lance will fans will tell you he was still the best because he beat a peleton of cheaters, but I don’t buy that and one of the many reasons why is best summed up by top Great Britain rider Nicole Cooke, who announced her Retirement this week.

“I have been robbed by drug cheats, but I am fortunate, I am here before you with more (medals) in my basket than the 12 year old dreamed of. But for many genuine people out there who do ride clean; people with morals, many of these people have had to leave the sport with nothing after a lifetime of hard work — some going through horrific financial turmoil. When Lance “cries” on Oprah later this week and she passes him a tissue, spare a thought for all of those genuine people who walked away with no reward – just shattered dreams. Each one of them is worth a thousand Lances.”

– Nicole Cooke (A link to Nicole’s retirement statement is at foot of this article: a highly recommended read)

I’m extremely happy that I was able to say NO and to resist any temptations to ‘cheat’ or to take a short cut but my biggest concern is for the youth of today and for my children. We hardly heard of drugs back in the day, but seemingly it is touted in the gyms and even in some inland cycle shops (if rumours are to be believed, although I still would like to believe not) these days. For me, one of the big Blessings that comes out of the Tyler Hamilton confession and hopefully Lance’s too, is that it brings out into the open the cheating. I’m not sure how they tell their kids that they weren’t Champions and that they were crooks and hopefully this will deter our kids. (in addition to the morals we hope to instill)

My big concern though is that these crooks may be becoming modern day ‘heros’ in this sick world we live in. The media portrays Tyler Hamilton as the saviour of cycling and he came out of the Carte Blanche expose looking far too good a person in my opinion. He is becoming a multi millionaire (from his book sales) and has had more TV exposure over drugs than interviews for bike races, including his Olympic Gold.

So the question is simply, is this the end of Lance, or just the beginning? Sure everybody deserves a second chance and in Lance’s case it will be a 500th + chance (500 passed drug tests!!) and Lance can presumably still do a lot of good for Cancer, but let’s not view him as a Hero once the furore has died down.

Surely the Sporting Authorities must realise that their one and two year bans do little to deter drug cheats, so how about Lifetime Bans for these unethical sportsmen and women? As they not only cheat their fellow competitor out of a medal, they cheat the sponsors, the sporting public and the televison viewer, but most of all, they, in many cases are perceived as role models and I do not want my kids aspriring to be the next Lance Armstrong.

For more on Lance and the Oprah interview, follow the link below.

http://www.supersport.com/cycling/international/News/130115/Lance_admits_to_doping_during_Winfrey_interview

For Nicole Cooke’s retirement statement, follow the loink below.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jan/14/nicole-cooke-retirement-statement?CMP=twt_gu

The Importance of Aerodynamics

When I was (still do) struggling with my weight I came across an article by Shayne Kondor that resonated with me and helped motivate me to work hard at dropping my weight and my BMI. In my opinion one of the biggest contributing factor to my success in Las Vegas at the World 70.3 Championships, was the fact that I managed to get down to a decent fighting weight.

Shayne Kondor is/was an experimental aerodynamicist at Georgia Tech Research Institute and an Ironman. The contents of this article which I have summarised are the work of Shayne Kondor.

Most aerodynamicists would be seeking methods to shave some time from a cyclists bike split and Shayne came up with an idea that eminated from wind tunnel drag measurements he had conducted on two cylists of identical weight, but with differing BMI’s (Body Mass Index).

Both cyclists weighed  85kg(188lbs) and were tested on time
trial/triathlon bikes with aerobars and deep section racing
wheels. Cyclist A was fitted on a 53 cm frame while Cyclist B was fitted on a
58 cm frame. If they are the same weight then they must have different builds to be
riding on such different size frames. There was a big difference in Body Mass
Index (BMI) between the two test subjects. Cyclist A had a stocky build with a
BMI of about 27, while Cyclist B was taller and proportionally leaner with a
BMI of about 24. Wind tunnel drag measurements showed that Cyclist B, with the
lower BMI, generated about 10% less wind resistance at the same speed, despite
being on a bigger bike.

Since their bikes were nearly identical, except for frame size, could BMI be a
significant aerodynamic variable? Wind tunnel tests by other aerodynamicists
have found that the cyclist’s body, alone, is responsible for about 2/3 of
their total wind resistance. Logically, the item that generates the most wind
resistance would be the first place to start improving aerodynamics. To get an
idea of how much time can be shaved by a lower BMI, let’s put Cyclist A and B
in a hypothetical 40K time trial on a flat course with no wind. Assume that
both cyclists can generate the same power at the rear wheel. Next, to make
comparison easy, let the stockier cyclist A finish the race in exactly 60
minutes, averaging 40km/hr.
Cyclist B could average 41,3km/hr, for the same effort! Lower
aerodynamic drag lets the leaner cyclist finish almost 2 minutes ahead at the end of
40K.

Dropping a few unnecessary pounds is where aerodynamic improvement should start. A leaner body presents a lower projected area to the wind in any position on the bike;
thus, generates less wind resistance all around. Now lets say you’ve slimmed
down to a 20 BMI, how can equipment further cut wind resistance? The biggest
savings come from aero profile helmets and aero wheel sets, shaving 30-60
seconds from a 40K time, but these were very expensive seconds. Conversely,
just addressing body composition will shave minutes from a 40K time, without
having to buy a thing. While it could be argued that aero wheels have come a
long way in 20 years, shaving some inches off your waist can have equal impact
on your bike splits (and surely cost a lot less!).

Shayne Kondor is an experimental aerodynamicist at Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta, GA, and a 4 time Ironman Triathlete. He has 17 years of experience in applied aerodynamics, specializing in active manipulation of air flow to improve control and reduce drag, and is the 2001-2 recipient of the AIAA Certificate of Merit for best technical paper in applied aerodynamics.  He has conducted wind tunnel drag measurements on triathletes, including the 2007 IM Hawaii Physically Challenged Division winner.