Week 9 finished

Target 10:53
Achieved 11:09

To sum up this week is easy. I did day 4 of the Epic Training Camp and this was just over 7 hours of riding on Monday. Then I recovered for the entire week. I did 4 hours today and thus finished on target.

I REALLY struggled today as I was back in the mountains at 1800m above sea level. After about 2 weeks and several hundred km’s of riding at sea level got me used to amble oxygen. I realised today what an advantage I have training high then recovering 400m lower and then competing at sea level.

Some more tips from last week.

Mechanicals:
Ray broke a rear derailleur and had to convert to single speed. Well that was the theory anyway. The end result was a trip back on the back of a pickup. The problem was simply that no one seemed to know how to do the conversion.

Suggestions:
Have a drop out and make sure you carry it with you. It is designed to break and protect the rear derailleur in case you hit a rock or something else. In Ray’s case it would not have helped as the entire derailleur was actually broken by a stick and not the dropout. In this case one would have to convert the bike to a single speed. One of course needs a chain breaker and the one we had with us broke. Make sure you have a good one. Then you follow the following.

1 - using a chain breaker take out a link so that you've got a single chain length and not a loop
2 - trying to keep the chain fairly straight (i.e. centre front to centre rear sprocket) set the chain and observe the link overlap
3 - move up/down a couple rear sprockets until the chain would be 'just' too short if you were to shorten it
4 - remove the excess links with the chain breaker and rejoin the loop
5 - undo the axle quick release, set the chain on the sprocket then push the axle back until the chain has some tension (axle should not have returned all the way to its usual spot)
6 - do up the quick release
7 - start peddling and be careful to avoid bumps/jumps/speed which could force the axle back and damage the bike.

This could be the fix that helps you finish a race like the Epic. I do suggest that you do this before the race so you know exactly how to do this. It is easier said than done.

Summary:

I had a week with 2 big sessions and no surprises. I now know I can also finish the IronMan and I should be able to recover enough within 1 week. I thus entered the IM South Africa for the 5th April. Learn to make a Single Speed and make sure all your tools are working. Always have a dropout with you as it is designed specifically for your bike. Carry all these tools with you in the Epic.

Ride safe and train hard