1st Nightride for TT1 (Tango Twin 1)

Last night I had the privilege to join Iain & Lizzie for my first night ride. 

We have been trying to arrange a night ride for the past 2 months, but different training goals and schedules made it impossible until last night. I actually cancelled as it is month end at work, but Iain kept saying how nice the trails are so I couldn't resist. 

We set off up to Leith Hill, by going up The Rookery and some of Summer Lightning and then took a fun right turn onto a kind gradient which led into a fast & fun downhill. We eventually reached Leith Hill Tower following a nice singletrack climb. Singletrack up or downhill makes me so happy. 

We were riding at a steady pace and as I've said before, in my head riding with Iain & Lizzie, is riding in another league. There were times when I was grateful that I didn't wear my heartrate monitor as  I think it might've exploded or the alarm warning you of sudden heart failure might've gone off. You know when you are struggling to breathe and starts to cough that dry irratating cough... I knew recovery usually come after a climb, but as soon as I started recovering a little we up the pace a little again. Ellie Goulding's song Burn Burn Burn has been the theme song of the majority of my rides lately. I've specifically memorised the lyrics for the Hero. :) 

 

At the top of Leith Hill we were spoiled with this view.

As the saying goes, What goes up... Must go down! From here it was all downhill.

It was the first time that I rode the new section (which were under dispute and closed for a while) of Summer Lightning it starts at the tower on the left handside of the old track down from the tower. Speedy bermy fun. Nothing to hectic, well built and super fun. 

We then continued on the SL connection to the old part. Singletrack goodness, it is so well built that your bike is just flying and getting air without much effort. 

I'm usually weary of drops, but these are great, all the drops gives you momentum and lead you from one piece of fun into another. I would've been a great ambassador for Colgate whilst riding last night. 
 

Iain & Lizzie riding the night away!

At one of the junctions where we usually go right we were turning left. My front wheel was pumped up a bit hard so it literally just slipped out underneath me, my bike came to a stand still, but I kept running to the left without falling over. This was bizarre, but definitely the best crash scenario I've ever been in. 

The darker it got the faster we were riding. What you can't see, can't harm you...

 

I'm so over this training for the Hero and am appreciating putting the fun back into riding. Thank you Iain & Lizzie for another fun ride. 

Ps. Why work late when you can go on a night ride?!

http://www.strava.com/activities/149895923

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

How to get TC quiet?

Captain Bonty arranged for us to explore Surrey Hills.

Christiaan & I was about to embark on our first maiden voyage to the hills on roadbikes... Nerves was all around, but we were rest assured not to worry if we get dropped etc etc.

11 of us met on the bridge. Richard Hemmings our token Brit was there in his baggies and as expected did not get the nod of approval from Captain Bonty.

We went through Esher, Cobham up Hungry Lane & Staple Lane & onwards towards Peaslake.

Today I was riding on Saartjie's bike after Gerhard van Niekerk's recommendation on Boxing Day. Also a Specialized. It is the size of a child's bike & looks like a toy, but it strangely fitted me better. I was well chuffed as I fitted the pedals myself this time.

Like Julie's highlight on her first mountainbike trip was when Christiaan's chain broke, mine was when I had a flat tyre. I can not say how much I welcomed the stop. In Peaslake I was allowed to fill up my water bottle, but had no time for chitchatting or even a cheesestraw.

I've discovered that my hands are short. So when I'm trying to pull the brakes when my hands are on the bars I don't seem to feel in control at all. That freaked me out a little bit as I knew I'm pulling the brakes flat out, but not in control, it was also very frustrating as I want to go faster, but didn't feel confident enough. After the 2nd steep downhill I've decided I had enough of that, so I started practising going down in the drops when I go downhill, that was much better.

Gerhard Bonthuys decided to get us home, we have to do only one more hill, Whitedowns... Seriously a 20% gradient. Are you crazy people??? And with NO granny gear! I'll admit I got off & pushed my bike until Christiaan played psychological games with me & said you can do it... I maybe could've done it, but the problem was I didn't want to do it. So with the help of Christiaan & Bonty I made it to the top.

The home stretch was nice and flat and I was very relieved to get to Hampton Court in one piece & still alive.

Thank you so much for your patience & encouragement Gerhard Bonthuys, Christiaan & Steph.

Jules - if you are reading this, this is where you should stop reading!

We met up with the A-team at Hampton Court for coffee & cake & the C-Team also blessed us with there presence. Here I made the mistake to ask Bonty for a cuppacino with an extra shot of coffee. It ended up being a double espresso which I drank out of desperation. I was silenced for the first time in my life, 90km of road cycling took it out of me... In my need to be able to speak again I ordered another cuppacino with an extra shot just to get what I wanted the first time. Needless to say I overdosed on coffee & was shaking from all the coffee by the time we left the shop.

I got home still shaking & nauseous... Julie threatened me that I'm not allowed to go cycling again if I come back grumpy again to which I've said I'd rather be grumpy from cycling than from NOT cycling... If only she knew the problem was that I had about 7 espressos on that day. Sorry Jules. It won't happen again. :)

A-Team: Simon, Louis, Gerhard van Niekerk, Lee-Anne & Myburgh, Rich Hemmings & Dawie

B-Team: TC, Gerhard Bonthuys, Stephne & Christiaan

C-Team: Paula & Jason