Double Century Training

Ok, so the double century is coming up. They’ve finally decided on a date, Saturday the 22nd November so lets hope the weather is nice. The start/finish venue will be at Swellendam Primary School and covers a distance of around 205km, so that’s the Argus cycle tour plus 100km or something like that…

We started training a bit earlier this year and have stuck to the program so far. So we should be well prepared on the day if we continue with our training plan.

Our training for double century 2008:
13 July – Strand – 90km
20 July - Stellenbosch – 90/100km
27 July – Melkbos – 80/90km
03 August – Gordons bay – 100km
10 August – Stellenbosch/wine route – 100km
17 August – Fisantekraal – 110km
24 August –Cape point/chappies/campsbay -120km
31 August – Stellenbosch/agterpaarl – 120km
7 September – Franschhoek – 150km
14 September – Durbanville/stellenbosch – 150km
21 September – Gordons bay/pringle bay – 130/150km
28 September – Stellenbosch/klapmuts/pniel – 140/150km
05 October – Bettys bay – 160km
12 October – Fisanterkraal/agter paarl/klapmuts – 180km
19 October- Cape point/chappies – 120km
26 October – Gordons bay – 100km
02 November – Stellenbosch – 90km
09 November – Durbanville/contermanskloof – 100km
16 November – Cape point – 80km

Then all that riding should prepare us adequately for the 205km on the 22 November.

The route:
From Swellendam we follow the R324 through Suurbraak and over Tradouw Pass towards Barrydale. A left turn onto the R62 takes us to the challenging 7km Op de Tradouw, before making our way to Montagu. We take on the the most challenging climbs, Tradouw and Op de Tradouw Pass within the first 60km of the ride. That’s gonna be fun…

The route then snakes through Cogmanskloof towards Ashton, turning left onto the R317 towards Bonnievale and back to the finish in Swellendam.

Bring it on! We’ll be ready…

Cyclist carnage

Cycling really has become an extreme sport…and I don’t mean mountain biking. Other road users never see road cyclist or just don’t care. Cyclists have to dodge potholes, pedestrians, parked vehicles, moving vehicles, dogs, bricks, logs, stones, glass, other cyclists, etc, etc…

Every time I go out cycling, either myself or someone else in the group has a close call with, in most case, a motorist - car vs bicycle, I think it’s very obvious who would win.

This weekend was my turn. I had to hit the brakes to avoid being pushed off the road by a motorist who saw me but didn’t care. Hitting the brakes resulted in the cyclist behind me smashing into my back wheel and hitting tar… never a pleasant sound but fortunately this time was at low speed so no injuries.

Then we came to the traffic lights less than 500m down the road. It went green for us as we approached and the cars on my right all came to a stop and the cars in the turning lane to my left came to a stop but one idiot on my left went straight through the red light. He only came flying through after I had already entered the intersection (which means the light was red for a while). I saw him quite late and had to hit the brakes again to avoid being run over by the idiot… I would not be writing this had I not seen him… I couldn’t have been much more than 2 meters away from being a weekend statistic.

There was at least one incident over the weekend that left 4 cyclists injured. A motorist smashed into a group of cyclist and then drove away!

When will the carnage stop?

In New York cyclists aren’t even safe from the police. During a Critical Mass ride in New York City on 25th July 2008 a cop body-slammed one cyclist and then lied about it… The incident was caught on film though, lucky for the cyclist not so lucky for the cop. You can read more about that story Here

John-Lee Augustyn Crash

The year was 2008, the event was the Tour de France stage 16, the team was Barloworld… The rider John-Lee Augustyn…

It was his 1st Tour de France and he was the youngest this year being just 21years old but he made quite an impression going up… and evidently down mountains.

This talented young South African rider showed them how to climb to the highest point of the 2008 tour. He was first to the top.. and very nearly first to the bottom… the quick way down… the side of the mountain. Now I know he’s a mountain biker as well but the Tour de France is a road race where cyclists are meant to stay on the road…


Watch out for this guy in future… I think he will win some Tour de France mountain stages in years to come… And I think it’s been proven that climbers usually do better overall… Go for yellow dude!

A Bad weekend for Cyclists

It seems this past weekend was a bad one for cyclists… There were at least two incidents that involved a car and cyclists…

(Extracted from a story posted on http://www.thehubsa.co.za/)
Renaldo, with Fear in his voice:” Marius, you would not believe what just happened, I’m lying in the grass next to the road, please come fetch me, some one knocked me off my bike on purpose and is trying to kill me!” Those were the words of a cyclists who had to run and hide in the bush along the road after being knocked off his bike by a motorist…

This is his story:
“I was riding nearly on the edge of the road, I saw from the corner of my eye a White Open Kaddet coming into the yellow line close to me, I looked into the man’s eyes and could see he wanted to kill me. He drove into me, sending me flying over my handlebars into the gravel and grass on the side of the road. He stopped, Got out with a Panga and come for me. I run into the bush, through wired fences I don’t know what else, I just wanted to get away. The guy then loaded my bike into the car and drove off..I laid in the grass till now (when his friend fetched him) afraid he might come back to me.”

And in another incident taken from http://www.thinkbike.co.za/talk/phpBB2/index.php

Posted by ‘Big Blue’ “A friend of mine was cycling with 2 friends on Sunday morning when a car ploughed into them. One was killed on impact while the other 2 were admitted to hospital. My friend is at home today recovering from a Broken jaw, Broken cheek bone, torn ear and grazed over 30% of he’s body. This was a hit and run so I hope they catch the b%$#&^% who caused this senseless tragedy”

These are only two of the incidents over the weekend… how many more were there?

Double Century Time

So the weather is changing… no more hot sunny days, instead we have cold and wet stay indoors kinda weather… with “what’s on TV” days and “I’m sleeping late” weekends… ahhhhhhh the joys of winter…

Unless of course you’re one of the crazy people who plan on doing the Double Century cycle tour in November sometime.. I say November sometime because the date is still to be confirmed and so is the start venue and well… the route.

What we do know about the Double Century is that it’s a team cycle event reserved for the crazy people. It covers a distance in excess of 200km with a cut-off time of 10hrs 30mins and the terrain is Not easy… but with enough training it’s achievable by any keen cyclist. And Yes, I am one of those crazy people but I’m not That crazy because I’ve only done it 3 times so far…

It’s a fun (in a sadistic kinda way) event though and quite an achievement for most recreational cyclists… it’s like one of those “Every cyclist must do… before you die” kinda things. So get 6 to 12 cycling buddies together get training and do this milestone event…

And if you not crazy by the time you start the Double Century, you will be when you get halfway and realise that you still have in excess of 100km to the finish! So that’s like doing two Argus Cycle Tours in one day… it’s Madness I tell you!

Stage 3

The third stage of your training should be your power training. This should be the last thing that you need to focus on. Once you have a solid stamina base (building stamina improves strength as well) and you’ve developed some strength, do a bit of power training. On your weekday rides, choose a climb, switch to your big chain ring and your 15, 16 or 17 at the back.

Then, remaining seated, maintain a steady pace for at least 1km up the climb. Change to a lighter gear and relax for about 1 to 2km. Then once you’ve recovered, repeat the exercise. If the climb is long enough keep doing this till you get to the top then spin and recover. Remember that by the time you get home you must feel totally recovered.

Power training should be the very last phase of your training, so if you are training for the Argus tour, don’t even think about power training until February. And remember no pain sometimes strain all the gain.

The three stages - Stage 2

Ok, so now that you’ve been building that stamina base it’s time to start building the next level of our fitness, strength.

After a few weeks of stamina training it’s time to mix the stamina training with strength training. The difference between stamina and strength training? Well, strength training involves a bit of strain but not too much. So, assuming that you ride more than once a week, on your shorter weekday rides you can increase the intensity.

Interval training is one way you can improve your strength. I sometimes increase intensity up the small inclines, either maintain or increase your speed up these little inclines and recover if you need to once you over the top. Do that on a few rides and soon you won’t even notice the inclines.

And remember, recovery is very important… so always make sure that you eat, stretch and rest after every workout.

The three stages - Stage 1

There’s a lot of debate around how you should train but the truth is, we are all different so one individual’s training program could be totally different to another. But we all want to train without sustaining injury and to do that And improve your fitness you need to follow the 3 stages to fitness.

Think of it like a pyramid and with a broader base your pyramid will be able to support a broader mid-level and that mid-level will support a broader top-level. Make sense?

The first stage of your training should be to build a solid stamina base. To do that you need to spend time in the saddle at a comfortable pace, a pace slow enough (but not too slow) to maintain a conversation without breathing heavy. You also need to be on a gear light enough to maintain a high but comfortable cadence.

This will most certainly improve your endurance. After each ride you should feel good and the next day you should feel great. One very important aspect of training that athletes tend to forget is recovery so make sure you recover between rides. The three rules of recovery, refuel, stretch and rest…

I’ll tell you what stage two is all about later in the week…. but for now… get on your bike and ride, safely…

Pre season ride

The cycling season officially starts on the 1st of September but with so many cyclists out on the roads you’d think the season started weeks ago. Even though I went cycling on Sunday past, I’m not really one of those pre season cyclist… it’s just too damn cold.

I went cycling on Sunday regardless of the ice cold morning and it turned out to be quite nice. So I guess my training for the double century cycle tour has started with a short 50km ride at a comfortable pace which is a good way to start the season.

The idea is to build a solid stamina base by doing some long slow rides (not too slow). Then I’ll work on strength training and only then, like two weeks before the event I’ll do some power training…

But for now it’s stamina, stamina, stamina and by working on stamina you also improve your strength…