Weeks 12 - 14

Hi Everyone

Greetings from the other - Old MTB Toppie - Rick. I have been feeling very guilty that Marius has been doing all the blogging, and I have not had much to say. Good work so far partner!!

The past couple of weeks have been hectic at work. Lots of stuff to sort out, hand over etc before we head off on our Epic adventure, and wouldn't you know it, Murphy's just had to stick his hand in the mix law - just when you start to taper off your training in preparation for the race - other things - namely work volume and pressures skyrocket.

The past two weeks were ok as far as training goes, unfortunately due to the increase in workload I ended up a couple of hours short of the planned training time, however I still feel good. For the past 6 weeks or so, I have added 2x 10Km runs to my weekly training (tough for someone as big as me. I haven't done any running since my army days 23/24 years ago). I think the running will definitely benefit me on the Epic, most of my friends who have done the Epic in the past three years, all recommended adding some running / trail running to the training mix. Cycling uses very specific muscles, and in those inevitable periods when we end up walking / pushing or carrying our bikes during the race (using totally different muscles). The running will have better prepared us for this.

I have also been doing some core training (probably not enough) but it has definitely helped, In the past two weeks, two races (Argus MTB (55Km) and Argus Cycle Tour (110Km) I had far fewer lower back pains than ever before. The only problems were 1) the heat - ave 36 deg C during the MTB race, and 2) the wind - averaging 55 - 60Kmh, gusting to 100Kmh+ during the Argus last weekend.

Unfortunately the Argus MTB race caused one casualty - my Giant TranceX MTB - with a cracked seat tube. Luckily I have a second bike - a Giant Anthem MTB, since the TranceX will take 6-8 weeks to get swopped out with the equivalent frame. (I could take a lower model in the range right now, but I am not happy with that idea - I paid for a specific model - the Trance X1 and that's what I want)

I can't believe it is now less than 10 days to go till we line up at the start. I am a bit nervous, but excited at the same time. It has been a while since our 4 day Epic training camp in January, and I really enjoyed that, so am looking forward to the race, and experiencing the Epic vibe once again. The past two times were as supporters / crew - this time I get to be one of the riders.

Anyway - enough for now. Hope you enjoy the post. I need to resize some images, before I will be able to post them in the blog - but will see what I can do tomorrow to post some pictures of the beautiful area where I do most of my training - Tokai Forest / Silvermine in Cape Town.

Till next time
Rick