Paula's Debut MTB ride!

Sunday, 11 August 2013 - This post is all about Paulatjie! 

Well as I mentioned in my previous blog post, it has been years of banter and begging before Paula finally decided to come mountain biking with us. I lowered myself to even ride and buy a road bike and she still didn't budge, but as soon as Bron convinced Karen to come along she was up for it. I e-mailed Paula to invite her along and when she replied with, "Thanks for the email and your thoughtfulness!" I expected something along the lines of BUT I have to train for the Haute route. Instead she replied with, "Yes, that sounds like a great plan!" I could not believe what I was seeing in black on white.

We had a whole build up to the actual ride, I told Paula that mountain biking is like the surfing of cycling and that she will have to blend in with the cool kids.

So yes Paula finally joined the cool mountain bike crowd on her inaugural ride.

As there were engineering works on the train lines, we went down to Peaslake with the cars and did loads of single track.

We were a group of 16 all competent riders even though some joined for the first time ever. Albert invited a few old faces along and it was great to have a more people than what I expected.

Gill, Jason, Jono, Bryan, Simon, TC, Paula, Glen, Louis, Annelize, Pokkeltjie, Albert and Nathan
Unfortunately Bron, Kyle & Duncan was fixing Duncan's flat

We took Paula first to the legendary and well known Yoghurt Pots. She was right behind me the first time and it was an absolute priceless event. She recently got the nickname, Scrat, as in the squirrel from Ice Age. It was hilarious hearing her go, Ehhhh or Uhhh at the top of every dip on Yoghurt Pots. I was constantly looking back to check if she was still on her bike. She looked and rode like a potential very good mountain biker! :)

Some of us did Yoghurt Pots four times before we decided to carry on to Barry Knows Best. Jono's phone unfortunately dropped out of his saddle bag and fell somewhere on the trail. After a lot of uhmmming and ahhing and faffing with the app, locate my phone we were going to leave him there and meet up later. I suddenly just thought this is NOT going to work, no cellphone coverage and someone who potentially don't know where they are or where they need to go, so I made the executive decision that we are all going to look for the phone.

Typically mountain bikers our efforts were a bit useless as we were too selfish to push our bikes and walk and look under ferns. I was riding my bike while dialling Jono's number constantly. We gave up and just as we were about to leave Jono behind with Albert's phone Kyle saved the day.

He was on his way down Yoghurt Pots when he pulled over to let a speedster pass him. As he jumped into the bush he saw Jono's phone and Bron even picked up a pound that fell from his saddle bag too. Jono was so relieved and rewarded Kyle with the pound!

We went over to Barry Knows Best and down to Peaslake and up through the Walking Bottom parking lot over to Christmas Pudding and Carpet Land. The trails were dry and running smoothly.

  

Coming down Carpet Land, Nathan, Bron, Jason & Liezl

We went back up on the tar road to do Secret Santa. As Paula was cycling up she got into road cycling mode and brushed wheels with Jono and fell on the tar. I helped her to get her chain back on and ran some water over her elbow before we went on to Secret Santa. We were all amused that she came off on the road and not on the trails. :-) Hope your hand heals quickly!

We did Secret Santa before we head back to Peaslake for a well deserved cup of tea and famous cheese straws!

Thank you Paula for finally joining the cool kids. You were styling! Also thank you to Glen our first Aussie, Nathan, Duncan and Gill, the Newbies who joined us for the first time!

Starring Paula & Karen Rutherfoord.

If the video doesn't work click on this link and I you will be able to watch it. http://www.magisto.com/video/O0AbPQBQS2phWhthCzE

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)

TC - About me...

I thought I'll write a post on how I got into mountain biking! #interviewstyle

Where are you from?

Albertinia, Western Cape, South Africa, near Mossel Bay

Have you always been into extreme sports?

Not at all, I didn't think women of a bigger size can or should run, but then I started running in 2006 in the UK and then started mountain biking in 2008 after going on my first ride in 2007.

Where was your first ride and how far was it?

Dorking, Surrey Hills, about 25km.

What made you go along?

The friends from church that invited me along, I really didn't know what I got myself into, but was to scared that I would miss out. #FOMO As my dad says, I'm a sucker for peer pressure. (Those of you that know me better now, would probably say, I am the group pressure.)

How did you find your first ride?

I suffered and pushed up all the hills even on tar, it was hard going, my poor short legs didn't know what hit it and my calves were so sore. I was about 15kg heavier than what I was now with no base fitness or knowledge about mountain biking, so it took some effort to get me to Leith Hill.

First Ride - Almost exactly 6 years ago - 31 July 2007

What was the best part of your first ride?

Finally going downhill on Summer Lightning (an awesome piece of singletrack) for the first time! I was hooked, it made all the hard work worth it!

What advise would give to anyone trying to be better at hill climbing?

I was so stubborn and didn't want to change into the small ring at the front as the fast pedalling was just a strange concept to me, but you just need to get used to it. Don't put pressure on yourself by trying to keep up with the person in front of you. Find your own rhythm and just keep on pedalling! You WILL get there.  

What would your advise be to anyone who starts riding?

- Hou net aan met trap - Just keep on pedalling
- Ride as often as you can
- Ask questions about kit and how you should feel, no such thing as a stupid question. You shouldn't be uncomfortable on your bike, if you are, then something needs to change, it might be something simple and quite obvious.
- If I can do it, you can!

Specific advise to the ladies?

- Get a decent saddle, preferably a women's specific one.

1st Tango Cycling Ladies Ride

Last Saturday 13 lovely ladies met up and went for a cycle to Leith Hill on the 1st Tango Cycling Women's Only ride.

The ride was open to ladies only and the idea was that ladies who have never been out can get the opportunity to come along and see if mountain biking is for them.



TC, Lara, Cecilia & Taryn

Ten of us hit down to Dorking by train.
It was great so see Cecilia Jaarsma & Letitia Rowley again, they both have been out with us before and it was brilliant to meet so many new other ladies and having the opportunity so show friends where we regularly ride.

Steph, cycled down with the boys and met us at Dorking. I think the boys were very curious to see what we were up to and were scared that they are missing out. :) We said "Hi" and then told them to get on with their ride.

All set and ready to go!

We had a quick check on tyre pressure before we set off up the White Downs, across the farm and up with Summer Lightning to Leith Hill Tower.

The Pack

Three of the girls deserve extra kudos for just riding the bikes they rode on Saturday.

Cecilia rode on a dutch bike, with NO shocks and thin wheels. Lara rode on a 1980's mtb with a rigid fork, problematic gears and not very strong brakes. Taryn rode on a cross-trail bike so she had at least shocks, but also slicks.

We broke the climb up to Leith Hill into four parts and took a nice breather after every part before we set off again.


Lovely Rossie & Julie my Julie.
At our regular and signature photo spot - Rookery Farm

Letitia, Niki, Adele, Cecilia & Marie
Part 2 of 4 completed



Marie & Cecilia
Part 3 of 4 completed

 At the top of Leith Hill Tower we bumped into the boys again. As I've mentioned in one of my previous blogposts, mountain bikers have the biggest FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). We took a quick photo before they carried on with their long distance mountain bike ride (by the looks of it, it included quite a bit of road too :)).



Part 4 of 4 completed and being "Photobombed"



We succeeded in confusing the lady at the shop in Leith Hill Tower with our numerous orders. We indulged in some sandwiches, tea, coffee, cake and the largest sausage roll you can find. We camped out, had a picnic and a well deserved breather before we headed down the hill and across to Summer Lightning.

 

*Leith Hill Tower is the highest point in South East England

 

1st Tango Cycling Women's Ride - All the hardcore Divas!

  

Unfortunately we didn't escape mechanicals. Niki had a flat tyre just before we were about to leave.  Steph & Liezl gave very capable assistance as the rest of us carried on. Thank you.

 

Steph & Liezl sorting out Niki's tyre problems

 

Summer Lightning was dry and ran so nicely. After almost losing a few peeps along the way we kept the group together and then split up a little bit later again. Poor Rochelle rode with her shocks locked for more than half of the ride and I felt terrible that we didn't check that earlier. We only realised this after the most rocky part on Summer Lightning.

 

Canola field in full bloom, Adele, Jules & Steph

 

We went back to the station via route 22. It was so much fun showing where so many of us started mountain biking to the girls and also having the opportunity to meet new people. Thank you for coming along and making it a fun day out.

Time for a quick beer at the pub before we head back on the train



Rossie & Julie my Julie

I've finally upgraded my telephone and have now joined the electronic cat world. #gotaniphone... After kicking against it for so long, I am now rightfully being called a hypocrite, but this upgrade enabled me to join Strava, the athlete's facebook. So you can see the route that we followed. http://app.strava.com/activities/65079602 Being technologically still handicapped, I've lost half of the route so we actually cycled 23km. :)

Please feel free to join Tango Cycling Club on Strava.
http://app.strava.com/clubs/tango-cycling

Next Women's Only Ride: 3 August 2013

1st Tango Cycling Shirt - Available to order NOW!

I have been working with a company called Vitesse in Poland and it is with great excitement that I would like to reveal the first Tango Cycling Shirt design to you!

Vitesse have been efficient, slick, patient, professional and went out of their way to help me.

The Features:

- Shirt is made of smooth polyester and has good sweat transportation
- 3/4 zip for dressing & undressing quickly and ventilation in warm conditions

- Extra zipped back pocket for keys and other valuables

- Elastic finish to reduce movement whilst riding

Cost:

Shirts will be available to you at a special launch price of £40 each

Time:
Order will be ready 6-8 weeks after it is placed

How to Order:

1. Click here to ORDER now

2. Transfer your payment to Tharina Cronje, 86169637, 60-17-11 using Tango Cycling as reference

Order before 8 July 2013, don't miss out on the opportunity to have the 1st limited edition Tango Cycling Shirt.

Thank you!

England's 1st XTERRA - Up for the challenge?

Dear All

I've first seen this advertised on XTERRA's Facebook Page, it is now official, England will present it's first XTERRA basically on our doorstep. 8 September 2013.



Conrad Stoltz

For those that are not familiar with XTERRA, it is a triathlon, but offroad (an open water swim, mountain bike ride and offroad run). South Africa's Conrad Stoltz has won the World Championships four times already and the sport has really grown back home over the last few years. I've been following his career and that is why I'll be entering into this race regardless of the fact that I can't really swim.



Dan Hugo in action

This past weekend a younger South African, Dan Hugo won in Richmond, USA.
http://www.xterraplanet.com/news/dsp_content.cfm?id=3591

There are different races on the day, so you can basically enter whatever tickles your fancy, you can enter as a team of you can do the offroad run or 6hr mountain bike race.

http://xterra-england.co.uk/races.php

A few of us have already been egging each other on for this, so if you are up for a different challenge, then please join us?

Myburgh kindly arranged a discount code for us with the organisers, so please drop me a line  at tangocycling@outlook.com if you are keen to do this and I will provide you with a discount code. The code will only be valid if you enter the full or sprint XTERRA Triathlons.

It would be so much fun if we can do it as a group under the banner of Tango Cycling. I'm hoping to have cycling shirts available before then.

Excited,

TC

Ps. If only Paula had a mountain bike, we could possibly have a champion friend amongst us. :-)

Pss. Just to make sure you know what you are letting yourself in for...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S0wu4Zbfk :-) 

Cat Attacked...

Apologies for a non-cycling post... 

On Tuesday evening I had the privilege to go along to a Safari Wine Tasting evening at the last minute. It was an amazing evening with great food and wine. We also had the opportunity to meet 4 of South Africa's finest winemakers. It was so nice to kuier (spend time) with them. These guys are as passionate about making wine as I am about mountain biking. They tell such good stories and anecdotes. Ken Forrester demonstrated how a bottle of wine in Tesco can cost £5. Lets say the farmer who produce that bottle of wine, does not make a profit. Bruwer Raats entertained us with stories from when he worked on a farm in Tuscany. They are 2 of the 15 winemakers that formed PIWOSA. Premium Independant Wines of South Africa. 

On my return home from the station I walked up our street and right opposite Kerryn & Christiaan's flat I saw this rather posh looking cat sitting on his own, minding his own business. I love cats and I'm always trying to make friends with them. Most of the cats in our street are posh fat cats with long hair. This one was grey & his long hair was shaved. He had a bit of moer-my-gesig. 

I either tried to pick it up or stroke it, but it was not happy with me. It started moaning meaaa-oooww at me. I'm a fighter, I don't like giving up. So I tried to chat to it, I was a bit weary of touching it again, it really didn't look happy or SOUND happy. I don't know who ticked it off, but this was not a happy cat. So I even recorded his moaning on my phone whilst I was trying to speak to it. 

My talking to the cat was not so successful, so I thought I'll pick a leave and try and tickle and play with the cat while I gain a bit more distance between the two of us. Even that didn't work to win it over for a bit of tlc. 

The cat continued to miaaaw and hiss at me, but I was determined NOT to give up even though I could see that this cat was planning an attack. 

The next minute this TIGER launched itself onto my bare leg and scratched me with all four paws. I thought it was not going to get off me. I uttered a loud EINA and it ran away and sat and watched me from under the nearby parked car. 

The pain in my leg was unbearable as I limped back home, with blood flowing down my leg, I managed to get a myprodol from my handbag and drank that immediately. I planned to wake Saartjie, my in-house nurse, to clean my wounds cause I felt so sorry for myself. 

I got home, got over my neediness, cleaned the wounds myself, it looked bad. You can trace the wingspan of right front claw on my leg, it covered about a 12cm radius. The left claw went into my kneecap, he really got stuck into my knee!!! I have 4 deep cuts on my knee.

His left back foot scratched the back of my hamstring and the right back left a few scattered scratches on the bottom of my leg. 

I woke up on Wednesday morning and couldn't stop giggling at myself. Seriously... who gets attached by a cat like that!!! I told Jules & Saartjie what happened and they couldn't belief it. 

I limped into work and told my colleagues what happened. My boss just kept shaking his head in disbelief every time he saw me and said, that is exactly why he hates cats. They are nice to you while their owners are with you, but as soon they turn their backs, their claws come out. 

Last year I had an infection in my left knee after stupidly falling off my mountain bike on tar!!! Emphasis on stupidly... it seems to be a common demeanour in my life. After that wound got infected I thought to myself, I never ever want to go through something so painful again! So as I sat at work yesterday I wasn't sure if I felt tingling in my knee or if I was just getting goosebumps from the cold air. I decided to play it safe after last year's debacle and made an appointment at the doctors. I was eager to go so I can get it sorted as I didn't want to miss out on a ride this weekend. The doctor waited for me after hours so I could see her and prescribed me anti-biotics. Yay, we are going to sort this infection out in no time. She did check with me, "You said, a cat scratched you?" :)

Even after taking the first anti-biotic tablet, the knee still got angry last night from walking around too much so I popped another one of my BFF's, Mr Myprodol. 

I think I expected the anti-biotics to do miracles and that the pain will go away instantly. Sadly I was still in so much pain today and felt quite jittery, queasy and head achy at work. 

As a rule of thumb I don't normally cancel riding, but today was one of those days where I had to make a sensible call and cancel my riding plans. :(( Albert wanted to know what happened after I cancelled the ride. I responded: "Catfight Cat - 1 surprisingly TC - 0" 
He cheekily responded back: "Who would've thought, TC 0. Don't want to meet that cat!"

My mother confirmed that I've only had one Tetanus shot as a child after our neighbour's dog chomped off a bit of my bum. So tomorrow morning I'm going to get a Tetanus shot. You never know what this crazy angry cat has been up to. 

Almost a year later and here I sit with an infection in my right knee from a bust-up with a cat, oh no I mean a lion and I have to miss a ride because of that. 

Lessons learnt: 
1. Never let me walk home alone
2. Never talk to strangers or strange cats
3. Never trust your flatmates to not make use of the opportunity to update your facebook status

I'm hoping to make a quick recovery and I'm looking out for the culprit everyday when I walk past the crime scene. He should be very afraid, a big catastrophe is going to hit him! 

Ps. This is a true representation of the sequence of events.