Some Days start better than others

Q + A : What to eat on race day

What to eat on race day

Q

I am new to cycling and I am not sure what I should be eating for breakfast before one-day events and what I should eat/ drink during such an event. My ride usually lasts 2-3 hours. Please advise.

A

The goal of your breakfast is to top up your glycogen stores after the overnight fast, and so should be primarily carbohydrate-rich foods.

Depending on your tolerance and the amount of time available to you prior to the start, the portion that you eat may vary, but it makes sense that you should eat as much as you can at this time. This is particularly so if you find you are unable to fuel regularly throughout the race.

So a good breakfast could be a large bowl of oats porridge (made with milk to contribute a good value of protein) with a large glass of fruit juice. You may then like to have a bottle of your favourite energy drink to sip on whilst making your way to the start. Then from the start of the race you should aim to fuel at regular intervals using your choice fuel to provide approximately 30-60g of carbs per hour.

These can be given in the form of fluids or solids, and in fact a mixture of each would be ideal. An average energy bar and 500ml of most sports drinks will provide about 30g carbs. Any additional fluid requirements can be met with water.

The goal is to keep topping up your stores to prevent the drop in blood sugars which brings the onset of fatigue as it is very difficult to correct this without some impact on your performance. Ideally a strategy should be calculated individually during training sessions to avoid trying anything new on the day.

Article : Hardtail or Soft?

Since the dawn of time, mountain bikers have been debating the merits of hardtails versus full - sussers.Well, since the dawn of useful rear suspension, anyway, which was the mid -1990's. Ask around and you won’t find any fence- sitters on this one– you are either a rigid rigid follower, or a suspensions of tie .No middle ground.

So why do manufacturers still pour thousands of research and design bucks into new hardtails for their ranges? If full suspension was the way to go, surely it is time to trash the moulds and focus purely on plush? Fortunately,we are not quite there yet.There is still plenty of room in the market for the hardtail – it has two areas where it clobbers the full-suspension brigade hands-down: race performance and price. Full-suspension bikes are still, as a rule, between one and two kilograms heavier than similarly-specced hardtails.

This weight difference grows when you compare by price rather than spec – a R15 000 hardtail will boast race-winning componentry, yet a full-susser for the same price will be a boat anchor, by comparison. Yes, it is possible to buy a sub-9kg full-suspension bike, but it will cost you as much as a small car. For the purpose of this article, let’s concentrate on affordable bikes!

More, from the Bicycling website......

Ride Reports : Fish Eagle forest trail

2 reports by email, after rides on the newly-created Fish Eagle Trail....


Report #1 by Stef

I died 3 times. I almost killed Adriano on the narrow bridge and ate Vincent’s gel. Through the loose sand Adriano and Vincent were riding in front of me when a sand monster came out, grabbed me and sucked me into the sand. Luckily I was able to poke him in the eye with my pump and I could escape. This is the only reason Adriano and Vince had to wait for me. It had nothing to do with my 97kg digging my tyres into the sand.

Later that day Vincent fell asleep while we were talking to him, and I had the best beer(s) of the whole week.


Report #2 by Indi


Hi All,
I went out on the Saturday trip and had a good walkout. Just that after a quarter of the cycle I lost the team, either due to my pace or lack thereof. Needless to say it was then just me against the elements. I ended up taking the 16km loop as I was clueless where the 25km loop was (relying solely on my instinct given we did this at night!). It was a bit uncomfortable at times going through the isolated areas. Overall though I was content with my workout.

My appeal is that we should maintain the ‘Broke Chain Gang’ approach doing these trips together. At least 2 should be available for these cycles.

Looking forward to the next trip.
PS. I am still trying to get my bike out off reverse gear

A duo of Ride Reports : ILLOVO-ESTON

A trio of Team Flying Jellies, just before the start of the

18K race; we were joined at the event by Tee Jelly who

breezed thru the 40K, and Martijn, who stopped along the

way to assist an eplileptic rider (!)

Tennis Jelly and Capn Jelly, at the finish, just before

collecting our free frosties (no kidding!)

Report #1 by Aroon
Dabz, Bear and Yours Truly decided to make the trip up to the Mtidlands to ride ILLOVO-ESTON 18K event, once we got informed that our preferred race, the Dolphin Surf Mile Series event had been cancelled again, due to continued "sardine activity"....

Bear hired a GIANT Escaper from Cyclesphere in Winderemere Rd, and was very content with his ride and their service - it was his first offroad event, and he'll definitely be back for more! I sensed that the knuckle-whitening descents had something to do with that :)

Dabz is becoming somewhat of a veteran, riding in his 3rd offroad event this year, on Heidi's trusty Silverback. I had serviced the bike after the Big5 Mtunzini event, during which the chain had jumped off 8 times! This time round, there were no mechanical problems experienced at all, making for an enjoyable, hassle-free ride....

My CALOI, purchased from De Jesus, shaped very nicely, leaving me especially pleased with the level of confidence afforded by the downhill performance of the disc brakes.

The event was a WHOPPER in terms of attendance, which was probably around 3 thousand riders (!) and should be an auto-include into anyone's race schedule, except that you should pre-enter so that you might get into an early race batch.....







Report #2 by Tertius
This past weekend I attended the Illovo Eston MTB day and what an event! A mass turnout close to 3400 saw cyclists battle it out over 60km, 40km, 18km and 10km. A wise man told me to stick to the 18km race - which I found very challenging with lots of ‘walkout’ hills and fast descends. A couple of ‘comrades’ managed to flatten some parts of the bumpy track in the event meeting with mother earth (“koop ‘n plaas”). The 18km route took us through the Tala game reserve where I saw a few ‘Rooi bokke’ along the way with one daring Ostrich charging past in a race to the finish line – I’m convinced she took short cut..!

All in all, this event was well organized with good support from locals and suppliers of needy refreshments etc. A race I will definitely add to my MTB race calendar for next year.

Article : Zen Cycling

Check this great article I found about safe riding on the roads.....courtesy of http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/

Riding Zen means nothing more than being keenly aware of your surroundings and in control of your emotional state at all times. It also means riding safe and riding smart.

Don’t give up your right to ride, just don’t be dead right. Namaste.

Ride Report : Baynesfield July 2010

I rode the Baynesfield (near Pietermaritzburg) 45km Classic yesterday – it was tough with “MANY” seemingly unending long climbs – I’ve never stayed so long in granny gear. The course was tough and very technical in places with single track (loose sand) through the forest and another long 10km single track alongside a small river at the end. There were places where you had to carry your bike and there were also many small plank bridges across quite deep donga’s (ditches) – scary stuff. I saw quite a few guys walking back having come off their bikes, another young lady came off on a steep descent (suffered concussion) with quite a few people complaining that the route was just too tough.
I battled with cramps towards the end of the race – not sure that I’d do the 45 again, maybe the shorter 25km route.

We also had a helicopter overhead as the race will be televised.

I met Tertius (sporting ZMSC colours) at the start and end of my ride – he fortunately did the 25km which he quite enjoyed.

Report by Craig U

Ride Report : Big 5 Heatonville MTB Classic

Clinton, Neil, Hayden and I rode the Heatonville Big 5 ride on Sunday – tough course but beautiful. It had everything from hills (that’s why they call it mountain biking, I suppose), gravel road, jeep tracks, km’s of single tracks (excellent), a river crossing (see the photo’s in the attached letter) and lots of thorns. I suffered a rear wheel puncture with 3km’s to go so battled with pumping it up all the time as I did not want to change the tube with such a short distance left.

I stripped the tyre last night and found a few thorns which created the problem. On a whim, and because I’m getting quite good at this now, I decided to strip the front wheel.

I found another 3 thorns which had punctured my slime tube. The slime worked on the day as my tyre was still hard but it would most probably have deflated on the next ride.

So, after a ride, check those tubes.

Craig U

Big 5 Mtunzini Super Classic MTB race - 30 May 2010

Lined up at the rear of the 25K start - our crew is getting beeger!!!!

The event is the first in the 2010 Big 5 MTB series and it was a good one for the novices amongst us - besides the early hillclimb to warm up the legs, and a couple more along the route, the race wasn't too tough, over the 25K distance.

According to the riders in our crew, the 2 single-track sections in the forests of Mtunzini was everyone's favourite.

Before the start, Dabz and Craig, squinting in the morning winter sun....

A, showing off with his "new" bike, courtesy of Adriano, who upgraded to a GIANT XTC....

The bike frame is CALOI, which is a Brazilian brand, and the components are Shimano DEORE, which I found to be very consistent and reliable during this event, even though conditions were not too testing....

I have a feeling that my riding position on the bike needs a proper setup - my legs were cramping late in the race, and some soreness in my right hammy lasted well after the finish....

Adriano "it CAN be lighter....", posing with his new steed after the race .... rumour has it that the bike shop were glad to see the bike roll out of the store, due to all the specialized parts sourcing they were required to do to get the XTC in the shape that Carlos was looking for....

Adriano had a strong ride, again, and it was fun trying to keep up, especially on the descents, which he absolutely BOMBS down!

Craig, having had much more fun on this event, than the last one....Craig and I stopped to help fix the snapped chain on Bruce's TREK - Craig's multitool + chainbreaker combination once again came in handy, and Bruce was quite prepared to pay over R100 in cash for a master link! (we let him off with a round of drinks at the finish....)

Team-mates? I am not only your partner......Thaven is definitely progressing, physically, but he also didn't carry all his gear - no masterlink, no chain tool :(

Dressed like PROs .... soon, we'll perform like em too ;) Dabz accompanied me on the drive up to Zini, from Durban and we both agreed that Zini is a lovely place, to stay, and to recreate.....

Dabz, after persevering with a slipping chain, and finishing well amongst the backmarkers....he enjoyed the event despite the mechanical trouble, and is eagerly awaiting the next one.

Tour D'Urban - 1 May 2010

Minal, Mehul, Aroon, Thaven, Adriano and Craig, lining up for the start of the Tour Durban - except for the 2 racing snakes on the left of the photo, the rest of us in the pic did the 25K event.

Numerous adventures ensued during our longest ever 25K - lasting about 3 hours long, due to a rider with reduced blood sugar levels, a fall resulting in a fractured collar bone and pelvis and a snapped chain.

Greg had a bad fall after about 5K, and fractured his collarbone and his pelvis!

Helping to evacuate Greg's GIANT.... there were a few blokes on BMX offroad motorbikes who were great at providing support - they swept the rear of the field, giving encouragement, and to the guy who helped get Greg's bike back to the start area : Thanks, mate! You're a star!

Thaven, helping to repair my Silverback's snapped chain. Amongst the 4 of us, riding together, we had only 1 chain tool and no master link! Hopefully this helped us learn some lessons about ride prep - watch this space for some tips on the gear you should include in your race kit.....

Craig, and Thaven, conquering one of the many demanding climbs....

Craig, Thaven and Adriano drove down from Richards Bay on the morning of the race, and joined my for lunch at our new home in Durban North. We had hoped to take a cruise in the Chevy and grab a few frosties in the neighbourhood....the Chevy refused to co-operate, but thats another story :(