Some Training rides for the Cape Epic



Would you like to follow this bloke for 8 days/ 7hours a day?
Buzz laying down the law!!!


Sun 12th Feb;

Today we drive for an hour to get to the start of a very well known MTB ride on the old convict road just north of Wisemans Ferry. Buzz, Mark Hardy and another very good offroader on a MTB, Duncan left around 6am to do the xxxxx ride which is around 70k and 5 hours riding on a very hilly and technical MTB loop. Buzz wasn't feeling to well and he still has this virus. He will have to be careful as he wouldn't want it to get much worse.






What a beauty......

 It was the first hitout for me on my new Specialized Epic Sworks 29er. What a bike! I felt I could ride over anything. They are a real race bike. A little flighty on the steering (which you want) and with theSpecialized double brain on the front and rear, the responsiveness of the bike was amazing. I felt good and did the ride with plenty left in the tank. Following an experienced wheel like Duncan's added with the Epic's performance, gave me the confidence to go over, up or down anything! We got back to the cars all enjoying the experience, even though the trails we waterlogged after all the rain we have had. 70k done in just on 4 hours of solid riding.





Thurs Feb 23;

Today is a "double day" of riding for me. With his under 4 weeks to do, I am peaking up in my training before starting my taper a week or so before the race. This morning met the rest of the boys from KMD Racing at 5.20 and did a solid 50k consisting of 8 of us rolling through at 80% effort. I felt good and the legs felt strong which is good as part of Buzz and my race plan is to really push the pace when the race hits the more open sections and can use our strength and endurance to put in some good efforts. In fact I am changing over the Specialized Epic to a triple ring so I can get a bigger gear ratio on the bike for the flat sections without loosing the "granny gears" for the climbing we have to do.


Sunday Feb 26th

Maccas Breakky!



My trusty Regatz that
I do all my wet weather miles
on



While Buzz and the boys rode over to Heffron park for a race this morning, I had a different plan. As my son Nick was rowing at Penrith lakes today, i decided to ride there in a round about way, incorporating a few hills and pushing myself over a 125k hit out. I rolled out from home just after 5am (bloody early for a Sunday) and got into a rthym. The plan was to do bobbin head climb, then Galston Gorge (900m of climbing) before doing the last 70k on relatively flat/rolling hills to the rowing regatta. It started to drizzle just as I left home, not a good sign with 4 hours riding in front of me. I took the descent into Bobbin Head cautiously, not only because it was still dark, but also due to the risk of kangaroos or wallabies being active around dawn. If you hit one, you will come off second best. I stopped for breakfast after about 70k or 2 hrs 20mins of solid riding. Macca's raisin toast and coffee devoured, I hit the flat road on a windless morning and cranked the bike up. It felt good and I pushed over the last 50k or so, happy to average over 30kph for the 125k. Had a bit left at the end which is a good sign the program I set myself is taking effect.

After we got home from the regatta, Buzz came round and we jumped on the mountain bikes for a quick lap of Manly Dam. It is good with both of us knowing each others riding styles and we did a reasonably solid lap over a very wet rocky course. That was another 14k or so on the bike. So Sunday was a very good training day of 5 hours riding and 140k.

Friday March 9th

Did 46k at "paceline friday" with Buzz, Bluncky, Rossco and Ben.  Nice solid pace and felt good and fluid with the pedal stroke. Got home from work about 5.15 and jumped on the bike for another 70k. Averaged 32k per hour for the two rides, or 115k, so was pretty happy about that.  Will be doing Coast and Toast in the morning and racing at the Manly race Sunday morning, so a 300+k in 3 days coming up. This will be the last big week before I start to taper.

All my food (gels, Winners Bars and Cliff bars turned up today. I dont want to take any risk with not getting the right bars in Sth Africa, so I am taking it all with me.  The MTB is in at the Fixed Wheel as Danny is putting a triple on it. I think I need the 42 ring on the front to be able to crank out the big gear on some of these firetrails.