 |
|
January 2007 Well the festive season has come and gone, and most cyclists are probably well into their ‘New Year' resolutions. Let's hope it involves a little more cycling, or at least enough cycling to lose some of that Christmas cheer! As Aidan commented the other day: this is the time of the year when I have to tighten the chest strap of my hydration pack and loosen the stomach strap! I see that the MTB calendar has been published on the website - and once again it seems very busy to me. Pleased to see that the Omaruru event is on offer again, and many thanks to Pat and Dan Craven for keeping it there. It really rates as one of the better events on the calendar and I am sure I echo the sentiments of all MTBikers in that we would hate to see it go. Last year I made a number of comments with regard to the African Championships, and I see that we have only been allocated the XC event. This must be a disappointment to the Downhillers in our midst, but increases the pressure on us to organize a top class event this year. Looking at the race calendar I see that the individual events are spread over a number of different courses, and I wonder if the committee would not want to reconsider this, and rather have a few races on the planned Africa Champs course. Let us make use of home town advantage, and at the same time we could really ‘ride in' the planned Africa Champs course. So many of our courses are used once a season and they tend to remain very rough and rocky and do not ‘flow' much. As much as we want to have a technically challenging course it must still have a ‘flow' to it that really allows for participants to build up a rhythm as they tackle the course. A thought! We now have 3 multi-day events on our local calendar (Hunsberg Hellride, Otjihavera, and the Desert Dash) and this really raises a number of issues as we prepare ourselves for these events. Last year I gave some hints on the preparation for longer events. This month I want to add some tips on training for longer events. 1. Plan your route. If you are going to be gone for 3-4 hours of riding it is useful that those at home have some idea of where you are going, and those that join you know what lies ahead. Nothing worse than someone chasing off on the first half of the ride and then bombing out 2-3 hours into a 4 hour ride. 2. Don't do it alone. Riding with someone else is not only safer, but makes the ride more enjoyable. 3. Take your cell phone. We are fortunate in that we have good connectivity around Windhoek and if the group splits or there is an emergency it is best to be able to make contact with an emergency service. Put an ICE (In Case of Emergency) entry into your cellphone contacts so that if something happens to you your buddies will be in a position to contact your preferred rescue service or your family. 4. Take enough water. A bottle is not enough and you should at least have a hydration pack with enough water. Keep drinking, and make sure you start drinking before you get thirsty. Small sips along the way is always good and keeps you hydrated. 5. Have enough spares. Make sure that you have a multi-tool (that works) with a chainbreaker and a pump (a gas bomb is very useful if you run tubeless). A spare chain link or power-link is important, as is a spare tube. Even if you run tubeless tyres you might want to carry a spare tube in the group for in case you rip a tyre that will not inflate again. 6. Enough food. Carbo drinks and gels are good, but you will find that something a little more substantial will make a big difference. Sandwiches, energy bars and fruit (bananas) are the most common choices, but we have known some to carry biltong, nuts and even mielies! So with these tips, go out and ride as much as you can. Note that there is a group that rides at 5.30pm from Blue Olive on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. You are welcome to join us. You need to be relatively fit, and have some offroad skills to keep with the group, but it is not a race and those in the group go out to enjoy the pleasures of MTBiking. Stay off the road! Len |
|
| ARCHIVE | |
