Beer & Bike - 26 July 2014

A day of fun awaits

On Saturday 26 July I finally arranged an event for the guys. I’ve been neglecting them since I started the ladies rides last year. So last Saturday was their turn. Iain & Lizzie who live locally in Dorking led the ride and showed them some new trails.

Carl, from Squirtlube told me about this race, the Iditarod Trail Invitational he did in Alaska a few times at the Skills weekend last year when he kindly joined us. He degreased each of our chains and re-applied/induced our chains with Squirtlube. So I’ve been trying to think of when and where to host an event where he can get the opportunity to talk to us about this extraordinary race which he has completed twice, and even WON.

A group of 11 keen, energetic guys met at Dorking station on Saturday morning. I joined the ride for the first hour just because I didn’t want to miss out and it is more fun to ride with people than on your own.

We did a new trail at Denbies before we hit over to Whitedowns lane. I was in a bit of trouble over here as the last time I rode this area was about 3 months ago with a few of the guys and I threw a proper tantrum as it is very steep and rooty. The long, steady climb on the tar road up Whitedowns Lane to the start of the trails as well as a leaking Camelbak contributed to this bad start. Poor Rich Hemmings got the brunt of my strop and were mocking me on Saturday as suddenly I rode down it and didn’t make as much as a peep about the steepness etc. In my defence, I’m stronger & more confident now than I was back then - might be these rides with the boys, I’d never admit that to them though!

The Pack: Wynie, Carl, Iain, Jono, Willem, Rich, Lizzie, J & Roelof
Photo: Zane Smith

I left the group at route 22 as they were heading back towards Dorking and I went right onto the 22 towards Abinger before I joined Hoe Lane to pick up the key for Peaslake Village Hall. I booked the hall the week before with a lovely lady called Marg who has been living in Peaslake all her life. What a lovely place to grow up in?

Our beautiful playground
Photo: Zane Smith

Jules & Nicole met me at Peaslake where we quickly set up the hall for the afternoon activities. We went for a walk towards the bottom of “Barry Knows Best” to show Nicole where we usually ride. From there we went over to Death Star and turned right at the top down to the graveyard before we got back to the Village Hall to start the fire before the guys got there.

We had cold beers ready for the guys on their return (which they were VERY grateful for) and we all sat round the fire as Louis braaied the boerewors for us. The guys were tired out as Iain & Lizzie dragged them up & down hills and showed them new trails around the North Downs Way and Shere. A few of the guys who know these trails said they felt like they had now conquered every single hill to conquer in the Surrey Hills. It may have been a bit of a shock to the system for some of the newcomers.

We headed inside once had all refuelled ready to listen to Carl from Squirtlube talk about his experiences of the gruelling Iditarod Invitation Trail ride. This ride is an unmarked route covering 1000 miles over the snow covered Alaska. It includes riding your bike over snow, frozen lakes, frozen rivers and even frozen sea. Carl attempted this ride 5 times, completed it twice, won it once where he also set a new course record! This is a no jokes ride. The effort and planning that goes into this race purely on how to survive and move forward in this race is astounding. Things that I would never even think about but what he had to prepare for. Things like: defrosting snow so that you have enough drinking water, blowing the water in your camelbak pipe back once you sipped from it so that it doesn’t freeze in the pipe, not wearing 2 pairs of socks to keep your feet warm, but rather having more movement in your boot.

The Audience

Carl told us afterwards that to do this race it is better to undertrain and be overweight then over train and have no fat on you. It is about being mentally prepared to carry on when the elements are against you.

Carl's Bike & equipment

The talk was really inspiring and made us realise again that if you put your mind to something, you can do it, anybody can attempt something like this.

I would like to thank everybody who joined in on the day. Iain & Lizzie for taking the lead on the ride. Carl for taking the time to join the ride, prepare the presentation and share it with us. Julie, Nicole & Louis for their help in setting up, cleaning up & preparing the food.

Saturday's route
http://www.strava.com/activities/171207056

Tango Cycling Kit Spotting

On 21 August my Tango Cycling Kit arrived, this was one of the best pre-birthday gifts I could have received. I kept refreshing the UPS page to see when delivery would be due and as I was looking at the page, Claire phoned from reception to let me know that my precious parcel arrived. It was with great excitement that I opened the box. I was so relieved to see that I didn't leave a 'c' out of cycling and that all was ok!

Louis & Saartjie trying to claim it all!

I took my precious goods home in my wheelie suitcase.I was prepared to show the contents of my suitcase to anybody that looked vaguely interested. My chest wanted to explode with pride and excitement. :-)

Saartjie & I baked my Ouma Lina's milktart as a trail as I wanted to bake one for work later in the week. So it was ready to serve as a treat for those who picked up their kit on Wednesday evening along with a complimentary chocolate yazoo.

Liezl arrived a little bit later and the two of us acted as if we were Tango Cycling's Next Top Models, I think we are especially with this perfectly in sync Usain Bolt pose!

Tango Cycling Next Top Models
Chunky Fries on the left & Skinny Fries on the right!

Tango Cooking in It! :)



Big G - Today I'm keeping up with Bontie

Dawie - The Beast






Multi-purpose Kit
TC, Big Ring Paula & Steph

"TC, it's your birthday and we'll ride cause  you want too!!!"
Thank you so much for riding with me on my b-day in the rain - #legends
Louis, Albert, Lara, Jono, Christiaan, Pokkeltjie, Zelda & Simon
 

3rd Ladies Ride and we bump into so many faces also wearing their kit at Head for the Hills
Lizzie, Adele, Nikie, Louis, Scottish Iain, Liezl, Simon, Lara, Saartjie, Natalie & Jeanpant
 

Louis roped into fitting Liezl's brakes

Adele & Niki

Saartjie styling in her kit!

Willem one of the last ones to receive his kit! Making me us 'tea' in it #malemodel

 

The level of service I received from Vitesse was impressive. They were always happy to make any changes that I required and nothing was a chore for them, the bonus was that my order was delivered 10 days before it's due date without any fuss. I am very happy with the quality of the kit especially with the bib shorts.

I have a limited number of men's and ladies tops left, they are available at £45 each and I also have 2 incredibly comfortable and well padded men's bib shorts left for £55 each. Contact me on tangocycling@outlook.com if you would like to wear your own Tango Cycling kit!

Gerhard van Niekerk: "This is definitely the best pair of cycling tights I own right now!"

David Duffy: "I really like the zip pocket at the back of the top."



2nd Tango Cycling Ladies Ride

The Ladies Rides seemed to have taken off, 13 ladies joined on 3 August to explore Peaslake. 5 Brand new girls that has never been out with us before.

We met at Raynes Park station as before. Paula was so paranoid that her sister Karen was joining us before her that she just had to come and see what we were up to. She clearly didn't fit in with her road bike.



Paula slowly infiltrating the MTB-group

We did a quick check on tyre pressures and made sure that everybody shocks were unlocked this time.

We set off along the White Downs then followed Cycle route 22, had a scary road crossing at Abinger Hammer, up past Holmbury St Mary YHA to Yoghurt Potts, our first fun part of the day.

I was so proud of everybody and special kudos to Izelle who attempted it with almost no back brake. Some of us did Yoghurt Potts twice before we set off to Barry Knows Best. Angela had a bit of a crash on Yoghurt Potts, but she got back on her bike and soldiered on.

We then got to Barry Knows Best. I was a bit nervous about BKB, because the drop is a bit scary and I wasn't sure if I should warn people or if I should just leave them. I had to hang back a little bit to wait for Liezl and Ange to join us again, so I sent Bron and the girls off. As soon as Liezl arrived I carried on, because I was as worried as a mother hen with her chicks about my girls. Big was my surprise when I got to the drop that they discovered the chicken run on the right hand side. I didn't even know there was a chicken run. I was so relieved! :)

We descended and waited at the bottom for everyone. The next minute I looked up I saw Izelle hitting a tree. Panic struck as I said, "Liezl... Izelle just went into a tree!" Izelle was fine, she moved out of the way for a speed junkie and because she only had a front brake she grabbed it and went over her handlebars into the tree.

Tarynne with her slick wheels had the biggest smile on her face and was saying how much she enjoyed it.

We made a quick loo stop at Peaslake and got Izelle's bike sorted at the bike shop. It was so straight forward, only a little screw that had to be adjusted, if only we knew that, but now we know.

We went back via the flat route, through the Tunnel of Love to Tillings Tea Rooms in Gomshall where we spoiled ourselves with coffee, cool drink, sandwiches and cakes.

Parked off at Tillings

Mel chilling

Our Route:
We covered 35km. I felt so proud every time I looked around there was a long line of girls riding along. They are all pretty hardcore for doing 35km on most of their first ride ever and all deserve kudos.
http://www.strava.com/activities/71840936

Thank you's:
Great thanks to Letitia for making the circle bigger (who tagged 3 friends, Mel, Tarynne & Carrie along) and for Emily from Ireland who came along not knowing any of us. We met her boyfriend, Glen the week before in Peaslake and I told him that I was taking some girls out the next week. #networkingisking. Special thanks to Pokkeltjie aka Liezl van Zyl for co-leading so self-sacrificially. Thank you everybody for a fun day out!

Video:
The day was filled with banter at Paula's expense as Karen her sister came mountain biking before her. I've known Paula for a few years now and we have bumped into each other at Peaslake Village Store plenty of times. Paula on her road bike and myself on my mountain bike. I've tried all strategies to get her to join, I even started road riding and then Bron had the winning strategy. She convinced Karen to come along whilst we were in France so we had loads of fun taking small videos that we showed to Paula to stir the pot a little bit.

If the video doesn't work, you can use this link to see the video...

http://www.magisto.com/video/PE4bYUVWBzQpUhJgCzE

Some of the ladies requested tips on how to improve hill riding, so I thought I'll put my top tips down for you.

TC's TIPS for next time:

1. Ride as often as possible to build up some base fitness
2. Ride at your own pace up a hill, best not to try and keep up with the person in front of you as you are just burning yourself out quicker than you ought too
3. Use your gears, use a lighter gear and increase your cadence (cadence = the amount of pedal strokes you give per minute) so you might will feel like a hamster on a wheel, but you will get used to the technique and the benefit is that the quicker you learn this technique the more energy you will safe
4. Just keep on pedalling, you will get there even if it feels like you won't
5. Don't look at the top of the climb, keep your eyes in front of you and before you know it, you will be at the top
6. Sorry for the over share, but it is common knowledge in cycling circles, so think it is appropriate to go on this blog. Ride commando under your cycling shorts/tights - you don't need more rubbing than what is there already 

NEXT Rides make a note in your diary:

31 August 2013
5 October 2013
2 November 2013 (Yes we ride whatever the weather, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing)

What goes UP must go DOWN!

Last weekend four of us signed up to do the Wiggle Ups & Downs in our local playground, Dorking, Surrey Hills.

I have also done this race in 2010 so knew not to expect a lot of single track, but knew it would still be worth our while to ride it. Ray Hince, my friend from the Cape Epic usually volunteers for the Wiggle races and I thought maybe if I do the race I can convince Ray to do the race too. That was not hard to do, Ray was so keen to compete that he actually signed up before me.
 

Liezl & I set off with the boys, Zane & Jason. Zane fore warned us that he will be taking it easy. I knew what he said and actually meant was two different things. Jason left us early on, Zane was still hanging back, but Pokkeltjie & I was just not strong enough to go at his leisurely pace.

Pokkeltjie & I soon realised that we are actually picking up quite a few people along the way, that gave us a lot of confidence. We kept our pace, didn’t stop, just kept on pedalling. Unfortunately Liezl took a bit of a non-spectacular tumble when she looked back to see if I was still with her. She was left feeling bruised, but kept on going, not even stopping to look at her wounds.

It was great to be out, the route was well sign posted, better than 3 years ago. It was also great to ride some of our usual trails in the other direction.
 

The last third of the race was mainly on trails that I have not ridden before, so that was really great. It was at the top and back of the North Downs and Ranmore Common. It was just before the last water point where we started to slow down a little bit as we were not sure how far we still had to go, but we asked a guy with a Garmin how far we have gone. He said we had 37km on the clock. I knew it would take us roughly another hour to the finish as we were already riding for 2:30. The race finished with a very steep hill finish where it was almost impossible to ride. We attempted to ride it, but with lots of people pushing in front of us, we were glad to also push as this was hard going.
 

We cheered riders on that were riding up and made jokes with others who were also pushing just to lift our own and their spirits. We knew we would be home soon once the hill was out of the way as it was just downhill from there.

We rolled over the finish line after 3 hours 34 minutes. We were very chuffed with that. The boys smashed it and were already waiting for us at the Finish Line.
 

I met up with Ray afterwards and we kuier’ed up a storm. It felt like the good times we had at the Epic. I’m so pleased that he got to meet some of my friends. One of his first observations after meeting Liezl was, “She is just as nuts as you are.” J I am now also his self-appointed adopted 7^th child. He-he.

Final Observations:

-          No man likes being overtaken by women

Favourite Quotes of the day:

-          Passing on your left
-          Let’s hit it – Zane Smith

http://www.ukcyclingevents.co.uk/videos/wiggle-ups-downs-mtb-2013/ 

Cape Epic Reunion with Ray Hince
Photo taken with TC's Nokia C5
 



Happy!!! Liezl, Jason, TC & Zane
Photo taken with Zane's Blackberry
#samesame

The Mountain Bike Bite

The first time I got on a mountain bike was in 2007, a few guys from church was going out & I can't really remember how I got roped in or convinced to go along. I think it was mostly peer pressure & being completely overwhelmed by such friendly people & wanting to spend more time with them.

Before I knew it, I was in Evans with Elisca & Annelize trying out cycling tights & buying gloves. I just followed there lead, because I knew nothing about the sport. The only other people I knew who mountain biked was Conrad Stoltz & his buddies when I was at university. They were in a totally different category & washed there bikes all the time which was a complete foreign concept to me.

Now the last time I was on a bike was at university where my daily commute was 3km to campus, at that time, it was a long way... :) I hardly had any brakes on the bike as replacing brakes was low priority with all the other fun I was having.

So totally unfit & not knowing WHAT to expect I've mounted a 17" framed mountain bike, I am only 5"2.

We got to Leith Hill & had a well deserved cup of tea. This is also where my sentiment & tradition of having tea whilst mountain biking was born.

I also didn't know that it is NOT cool to take leftover chicken drumsticks from a party the night before as 'padkos' with you, but one of the guys must've felt bad for my goodwill gesture, so carried it in his backpack for us. 

Soon after that we made our way to Summer Lightning & this is where the "mountain bike bite" bit me. (Die gogga het my gebyt.) My arms was so tired from stretching so far to reach the handlebars, but all the complaining for going uphill was long forgotten as the downhill made up for it.

We took the train back to London & went Hein's house where we had to wash the bikes.
My thoughts was: "Wash your bike? Why?" But it is like my uncle always says when I cook, "Part of the cooking is the cleaning."


2 Traditions that stuck from the very first time riding:

1. Tea with 2 sugars @ our halfway stop
2. The original invite from Hein Muller said, we are riding whatever the weather.

Elisca & Me

Hein & Ricky
"We are riding whatever the weather."

Chicken drumstick lunchtime @ Leith Hill Tower
Renee, Elisca, Annelize, Eloff (the chicken carrier) & Daleen

Cheesa & TC (TC1)

Thank you Hein, Ricky, Eloff, Elisca & Annelize for getting me into this!