Glad to be Alive

Cycling is a habit. Break the habit, and it’s extremely difficult to get back into it. 

If you asked a cyclist what the most difficult part of their sport was, most would probably say the climbing; dragging yourself + bike up a seemingly never ending bi-atch of a climb requires one to look deep within oneself to keep going when every fibre of your being is screaming out for you to stop, is tough. For me though, it’s getting out of bed in the morning. That’s tough! Once I’m up I’m fine, but every day when my alarm goes off (3:45am) I question my sanity. 

It’s been 3 months since I rode on a Saturday; traditionally the day for LSD (Long Slow Distance). LSD helps build endurance, without which a cyclist is nothing. Since my return to training it’s rained every weekend, and that’s all the excuse I’ve needed to remain in bed. This Saturday was the day; the day to break the habit, and make Saturday mornings about my return to fitness. 

The point of the exercise wasn’t to try and do a century first time out; I merely wanted to break the habit of sleeping in on Saturdays, so I set out with only a single bottle of water, and no food. And wouldn’t you know it, I hooked up with an awesome group, riding a really nice slow pace, and they were planning on doing about 60km (about 2:30 riding time). Even the weather was perfect; cool and overcast. But there was no way I would make that distance on water alone; certainly not with my current level of fitness. And so I turned at Umhloti Bridge, to give me a 40km ride, and did the return mostly on my own. Looking down at the ocean, and the view of Umhlanga with Durban in the distance, I felt sorry for those still in bed. 

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A Road Well Travelled

Those that know me will recognise the pattern: an enthusiastic return to early morning training for a couple of days, and then at the first opportunity I give up. I don't know how many times this has happened in the last 2 years, but I swear I'm committed this time.

Except it's already happened. But I have a good excuse - it's been raining since Saturday, almost non-stop. 

And my butt has been sore.

After 8+ years and God knows how many km's, it's not fair that I should have to go through this pain again!

So I've had a few days off, but tomorrow I'll be back, so look out for me, and if I'm fidgetting uncomfortably, you'll know why.

Thanks for reading.

A Couple of Nice Surprises

Surprise Party I've never been thrown a surprise party before, so when Candice started preparing large quantities of food as soon as we arrived home on Friday evening, a surprise party was the last thing on my mind.

When my brother and his wife arrived for a drink and to wish me for my birthday last Monday, even Candice was surprised, as it was a complete coincidence. However, half an hour later and the guests started arriving, the penny finally dropped. And I had been hoping for an early night...!
I hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as I did, and Babes, thanks a million. I can't believe you managed to organise everything without me catching on!

Greg Minnaar - World Cup Champion

From http://www.canadiancyclist.com:

The World Cup Final for the Downhill in Schladming, Austria, was expected to be the most hotly contested final of the weekend, with upsets possible in both the men's and women's races. However, both Rachel Atherton (Animal Commencal) and Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate), the leaders coming into Saturday's races, were able to successfully hang on to the top spots in the overall standings.

Atherton did it by decimating the competition, while Minnaar had a little bit tougher time of it - finishing fifth behind first time World Cup winner Sam Blenkinsop (Yeti-Fox Shox).

The long and steep course was demanding of both skills and nerve to do well. Rain during the week leading up to the races also meant that large ruts were carved into the track, making it both bumpy and slippery - a tough combination.

In the men's race it was a newcomer to the top ranks who finished number one, in the person of the young Kiwi Sam Blenkinsop. Prior to this win, Blenkinsop had a fifth in Andorra this season, and a silver medal in the Junior ranks at the Worlds in 2006. However, he was consistently the strongest rider, winning both the semi-final and final. In the semi-final, both Minnaar and his rival - defending champion Sam Hill (Monster Energy-Iron Horse) stumbled, with Hill taking fourth and Minnaar sixth.

This meant that Minnaar went into the final with a 116 point lead on Hill, and had to finish no lower than seventh to guarantee that he would win his first major title since 2005. Neil Donoghue (Bike Radar) set the fast early time, which stood up until Andrew Neethling (GT) lopped off two-tenths of a second, followed immediately by Aaron Gwin (Yeti-Fox Shox) doing the same thing. Gwin kept the lead until his team mate Justin Leov took a more significant three seconds off, with seven riders remaining.

Fabien Barel (Subaru) was next, but couldn't take the lead, followed by Minnaar, who took the top time for a couple of minutes before his team mate Steve Peat bumped him to second by almost four seconds. Then it was Hill, who knocked another second and a half off the leading time. At this point, with three riders remaining, Minnaar could finish no lower than sixth, and so the pressure to win the title was over.

But the battle for the final big win of the season was still underway. World champion Gee Atherton (Animal Commencal) slotted in just behind Hill, and Hill's young team mate Brendan Fairclough was fastest at the halfway point, but crashed further down. So it was up to Blenkinsop, and he proved decisively that his semi-final win was no fluke, beating Hill by over a second and a half to record his biggest victory and moved up to the final podium spot for the overall World Cup.

"It feels good to be back on top," agreed Minnaar. "I had a feeling that a lot of people were writing me off, but I got through some injuries, got healthy and now I'm back." "Today was hard, but I did what had to be done. I didn't start to have a conservative run, I was pushing hard. In the fifth corner I washed out a bit, so at that point I backed off a little bit. Honestly, I'm not particularly happy with my ride, it was a bit of a crap ride for me. That was disappointing, but to win the overall is pretty fantastic."

Blenkinsop was at a bit of a loss to explain why everything came together so perfectly. "Something must be working! The training has been better, and I'm on a way better bike now, so it has made everything awesome for me. This is major for sure." "I had no idea that I could even win the semi, it was weird ... I was hoping for a top-5 if I was lucky. But I love coming to this place [Schladming], it's always good for me. In the final I had a few little mistakes, but nothing major, and I knew it was going good coming to the bottom, so I just 'let it go' to try and gain any extra time.

Well done Greg!

Thanks for reading.

Dedication

This morning someone came up to me as I was loading my bike back into the car. It was 5:45, and still only about 11°C, and he said to me "I don't know how anyone can have such dedication for something that doesn't earn them any money". I'm never sure how to respond to comments like this; those were his words, but his tone said "you're an idiot to be out here at 5:45, when it is still only 11°C, prancing around in lycra".

Normally I would dismiss him and his attitude, but recently I questioned this dedication myself. I didn't ride for 8 weeks, and after a while I didn't think I was missing it. I was enjoying the extra 2 hours sleep in the morning, and some late night TV watching on occasion.

It was only when I got back on the bike that I remembered what I was missing. I love how I feel when I'm on my bike. I love the sense of freedom and solitude, and the exhilaration of taking a good line on a fast corner. I get time to plan the day ahead and think about life in general. It's a great stress reliever.

So what did I say to this guy that approached me?

"I need the exercise!"

He didn't look like he really cared.

Thanks for reading.

Best Laid Plans

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." So my plan to take a couple of weeks off the bike to recoup somehow turned into 8 weeks, and as time went on, the harder it became to get back out there. Well on Saturday that all changed, and I made the first few tentative steps to getting back into shape before summer. A gentle ride out to Umhlanga was all I was capable of, but at least it was a start.

Capsized!

Last weekend Candice had to work, and I took the boys on a cruise around Durban Harbour. The weather was fine and we were having a great time until, on the return leg, I witnessed a small fishing boat overturn in the distance. I alerted the skipper and we sped to the rescue. The pictures tell the story:


Another fishing boat arrived on the scene, and they and ourselves managed to maneuver the capsized boat over to a sandbank where the guys in the water could get far enough out of the water that they could climb into our boat, but it took time, and I reckon they were in the water for at least half an hour. All's well that ends well, but this could have been serious. Three of these guys appeared not to be able to swim, at all, and fully clothed they could easily have drowned. As it was, one of the guys couldn't hold on, and we had to throw him a life ring to keep him afloat!

The boys were understandably quite upset by all the goings on - I hope it doesn't change their love for the water.

Thanks for reading.

Rain, rain, go away...

Wow, it's been a while since we've seen rain like this in Durban, especially at this time of year. It's poured for 2 days, and our plant actually closed at about 11:00 this morning because of flooding. And it's still raining! There are 2 things I hate about rain like this. the first is that my roof leaks. After a period of continuous torrential rain it starts pooling in the ceiling, and then eventually soaks through and drips down to the kitchen below. It's only in one spot (thank God) and still leaks despite having a roofer try and patch things up. I'm told the only answer is to lift the tiles, relay the plastic sheeting underneath, and then relay the tiles. Fine, but it will cost an arm and a leg, and so for now I live with the drip in my kitchen.

The second thing I hate, is that people seem to forget how to drive. People crawling along in the fast lane with their hazards on perhaps don't realise what a danger they are to other road users. Your hazards should only be activated when you are stationery, to alert other motorists to the fact. When the whole road is full of people driving with their hazards on, it presents a real problem for anyone that really has an emergency, as no-one will notice them. On a personal level, I find it exceptionally distracting to have all these lights flashing all over the place. If you can't safely drive at a speed appropriate for the fast lane, mover over! And what's up with people that don't put their lights on in weather like this? Do they think they're going to save their batteries? Sheesh!

Cycling

I haven't commented about Tom Boonen as yet, mostly because I am so pissed off at him. In case you haven't heard, he got caught for cocaine in an out of competition dope test. Strangely, cocaine use is only a sporting violation if used in competition, and he has been allowed to continue racing. However, the ASO have excluded him from the Tour de France, as it is expected that he should "behave in an irreproachable way", so now we don't have last year's yellow or green jerseys in the 2008 race. Tom Boonen is a sporting hero in Belgium, and elsewhere, and that brings about certain pressures, but what was he thinking? In a press statement he apologised for his actions, but then also made a separate statement to say his drink had been tampered with. This is something of a conflict; what is the truth Tom?

Better news is that Silence-Lotto's Robbie McEwen has had a change of fortune. After a miserable 2008 thus far, the Aussie won his second successive stage in the Tour de Suisse yesterday. With Tom Boonen out of the Tour this year, this show of form bodes well for Robbie's quest for the green jersey.

Thanks for reading.

History repeats itself

Wow, with temperatures in the upper 20's anyone could be excused for forgetting it's mid-winter! Perfect weather for the 83rd running of the Comrades Marathon and Russian Leonid Shvetsov took advantage of conditions to not only win the race for the second time, but also to break the 8 year old up-run record. In Pretoria, the Springboks maintained their unbeaten home record against Wales, and at Le Mans in France Audi won the 24 hour race for the 3rd consecutive time. It must have been a tough weekend for the bookies! Actually, the only upset I can find in sporting news was Rafael Nadal winning his first grass court title, but with his current form I certainly wouldn't have bet against him!

Dauphiné Libéré

Dimitri Fofonov won the final Stage into Grenoble, but the day belonged to overall winner Alejandro Valverde. Cadel Evans sent his team-mate Yaroslav Popovych up the road on the Col du Granier as a test, but Valverde's team countered and the Australian settled for 2nd place. The performance of the top 2 finishers bodes well for the Tour de France, starting in less than 3 weeks time, but for 3rd place finisher, Levi Leipheimer, it'll be back to the States to begin his preparation for the Olympics, as his Astana team are controversially not invited to the Tour.

Thanks for reading.