Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2017 i Bicycling South Africa

I’D CARBO-LOADED, PUMPED MY TYRES, SLITHERED INTO MY LYCRA AND WAS MAKING MY WAY TO THE START OF THIS YEAR’S CAPE TOWN CYCLE TOUR when my cellphone pinged with a text. Ah, I thought – someone sending me good-luck vibes. I had a score to settle with the race. 2016’s Cycle Tour had been one to forget – well, for me, anyway. I was in the start chute when a cowboy in Lycra barrelled into me, sending me crashing to the ground. That was the end of my race, and I hadn’t even made it to the timing mat. This year I was determined not only to five thousand riders, all carbo’d up and nowhere to go! Nine days later, the Cape Epic also pulled a first: shortening one of…

Get Low You’ll feel more secure steering through sharp turns if you keep your centre of gravity low. That means using the drops (the lowest part of the handlebars on a road bike); or on a flat-barred bike, simply bending your elbows and dipping your torso a bit. Loosen Up Since you’re cornering with your whole body, you need to keep your hips, feet, hands and torso free to move. So you have to keep loose! If you tense up your arms will straighten and you’ll end up fighting your bike through the turn. As you approach a turn, consciously relax your hands and arms, so you have a firm – but not white-knuckle-tight – grip on the bars, and your upper body feels loose. Your elbows should be bent.…

With stage races being such a staple of the local calendar, it’s likely you’ve either done one or are planning to do one. They’re fun, and this is why they’re popular; but they also test your will and fitness, which is why you need to be prepared. Whether you’re an experienced stage-racer or a first-timer, here’s how to achieve the best outcome you can. Train… Cycling is a sport in which the fitter you are, the more fun it becomes. Entering a stage race with the idea of just finishing is potentially a recipe for disaster. Consider the impact of finishing in seven hours, when the winner is done in three-and-a-half: 3.5 hours more exposure to the elements: heat, cold, wind, rain. More physical fatigue, on a body that’s insufficiently…

RIDING IS ABOUT SO MUCH MORE THAN BURNING KILOJOULES. But let’s face it, we probably all started riding to get rid of our excess baggage – and truth be told, we probably still carry some of it around. Here are three workouts that will torch more than 1500kJ in 30 minutes. 1. Rock the Block These sustained tough efforts increase your kilojoule burn, while helping build your tolerance to riding above your comfort level. (BURNS 1500KJ) • Warm up for 2 to 3 minutes (exertion level 3-4) • Ramp up to threshold effort for 10 minutes (level 8) • Dial back down to easier tempo effort for 4 minutes (level 5-6) • Ramp up to threshold effort for 10 minutes (level 8) • Cool down for 2 to 3 minutes…

Inspired by ski boots, Mavic’s Comete (‘comet’, in French) Ultimate road shoe twins a feather-light full-carbon outer shell with a removable material bootie that houses your foot. The design removes the need for an internal mounting insole, reducing the Comete’s stake height to 4.5mm, while increasing stiffness and reducing weight to 240g a shoe. Mavic’s Ergo Dials ensure a stable, secure fit, while anti-friction material on the bootie’s underside eliminates any movement between it and the outer shell. The Comete takes indulgence to the extreme – but for some, you can’t put a price on supreme comfort and maximum power transfer. MAVIC COMETE ULTIMATE ±R16 000 DRAGONS.CO.ZA…

T his is an MTB event, offering non-technical riding; but it does take on an ascent in the Inanda Valley that goes up 1 100m across 20km, with some gradients reaching as high as 24%. Despite this, it’s still a social ride meant for beginner and intermediate riders, and it attracts upwards of 60 people every Saturday. To ensure that everyone can deal with the climb out of the valley, the race leader takes the group up an easier hill. If the whole group survives, then they drop into Inanda Valley to climb their way out. A post-ride coffee and breakfast caps off this very sociable event. GEES FACTOR “We split the groups, to cater for strength – there’s a social group, and a VERY social group! Beginner-level…

 The asphalt ribbon, pocked by decades of overloaded lorries and frayed at the edges by torrential rain, snakes skyward into the cloud forest. A couple of stray dogs wince into the dripping greenery. Only a quarter of an hour has passed since I set out toward Matarredonda Pass, and already the thrum of Bogotá’s 8 million residents is a whisper. “COLOMBIA IS ONE OF THE MOST FORMIDABLE AND SUMPTUOUS LANDSCAPES I’VE EVER PEDALLED. I’D RETURN HERE WITH MY BIKE LONG BEFORE I’D GO BACK TO EUROPE.” High in the Andes, on the precipitous edge of the Cordillera Oriental range, I’m in the cultural and geographic heart of the country, chasing the soul of Colombian cycling. I became obsessed with the country in 2013 on a trip to the Tour de…

 Cannondale built the Scalpel Si with the explicit goal of giving riders a tool that could confidently negotiate the steepest, rockiest and gnarliest terrain, but still be light enough to be competitive on the climbs. And of course, it also needed to carry two water bottles in its main frame – something the Specialized Epic and Pyga Stage also achieve. “I’VE ALWAYS LIKED THE LEFTY, AND ITS FULL RIGIDITY... – JAMES REID” Cannondale’s interpretation of ‘new generation’ is what they call ‘OutFront Steering Geometry’, which pairs a 69.5° head angle with a lengthened 55mm fork offset. The Scalpel Si’s front centre was also lengthened, further improving stability. Compared to the previous Scalpel, chainstays were sliced and diced to 435mm, complementing front-end agility. Our testers’ summary of the Scalpel was that…

HERE’S A HINT: It involves lifting weights. But not like you’ve ever done before. “The key to being faster on a bike is not necessarily just going faster, but also not slowing down,” says Jacques DeVore, a certified strength and conditioning coach. Most strength training plans are designed to improve power. But DeVore’s programme, detailed in his new book, Maximum Overload for Cyclists, which he co-authored with Roy M Wallack, aims to boost what he calls Maximum Sustainable Power (MSP), which he says allows you to stay fresher longer. “You’ll feel as good on the last climb as you did on the first.” DeVore initially developed the programme to help improve his own results as a long-time masters road racer, as well as to fight age-related slowdown. He theory for…

WHEN LEAH THORVILSON, 38, found out that the online training platform Zwift was hosting a competition for women – with a slot on the Canyon/ SRAM pro team as the grand prize – she didn’t see bright lights; she simply saw the chance to improve her riding. “I didn’t think for two seconds about what I would have to do to win,” says the former elite marathoner, who had only recently taken up cycling after a mixture of a torn hamstring along with a series of knee surgeries ended her running career. But in December 2016, after six months of Zwift Academy – a programme including challenges such as virtual training rides, power testing, and a 10-day camp in Mallorca, Spain, with Canyon/ SRAM riders and two other Academy finalists…

How did you get into cycling? I used to do athletics, along with some trail running and duathlon. Then, when I was 12 years old, I started cycling. Vuyisa Mgolombane, a friend of mine who cycled at the time, introduced me to it. So I tried it, and I just loved it. What was training like in those early days in Capricorn? It was really difficult. Sometimes I trained on an empty stomach, because my mom was the only breadwinner. But she’d try her best for us to at least go to bed with something in our stomachs. I still admire her for all she’s done for us, and for supporting me. The roads weren’t safe either, so it was difficult for me to start training early. I always had…

Frame and Fork Rocket Ship Radness Cunnama was one of the first triathletes to race Cervélo’s flagship TT frame, the P5X. After a year, Cunnama says he’s become ‘embedded in the bike’. With a PB of 7 hours, 51 minutes, 2 seconds at the Frankfurt Ironman in July, and a winning performance a few weeks later at Hamburg’s inaugural Ironman, there’s no denying he and his carbon-fibre rocket ship share a fabulously fast partnership. With its top-tube curving around the front wheel to create a single aerodynamic shape, the P5X is as slippery as they come. The ‘X’ signifies that the P5X is not UCI-legal (no double triangle, for a start). However, it has received the green light from the WTC and ITU triathlon organisations. Riding a 56cm…

T his ride could be 50km or 200km; it could finish back where it started, or when the last rider can’t go on any longer. It all depends on the whim of the group leader, and the strength of that last man. (If the last man quits but no-one is there to see it… did it really happen?) It’s faster than your average group ride, and attracts the best riders, although anyone can rock up on the day; still, it’s generally not a good idea if you don’t think you’ll have the strength to follow through. The ride is challenging, but the bunch is fun – it’s no wonder BICYCLING gear editor Oli Munnik is a proud member of this group. GEES FACTOR “Challenging and fun, with lots…

1 OLD LETRAS PASS DISTANCE 82KM ELEVATION GAIN 3 719 METRES MAX ELEVATION 4 062 METRES AVERAGE GRADE 5% A rarely ridden back road between Mariquita and Manizales tacks on 40km of high-altitude dirt roads. Standard Letras is nearly as long and high, but fully paved. 2 ALTO EL LIMONAR DISTANCE 8.5KM ELEVATION GAIN 1 100 METRES MAX ELEVATION 2 500 METRES AVERAGE GRADE 13% There are steeper, shorter climbs, but this wall on the north side of Medellín is perhaps the meanest, with lots of sustained climbing over 20% and a few pitches over 30. 3 EL SOTE DESDE MONIQUIRA (A.K.A. DANGER CANYON) DISTANCE 47.3KM ELEVATION GAIN 1 430 METRES MAX ELEVATION 3 100 METRES AVERAGE GRADE 3% Climbing through a quiet limestone canyon, this road is mostly forgotten,…

Our Meerendal Wine Estate testing ground is no stranger to marathon mountain biking, having hosted numerous Cape Epic prologues and finishes, as well as one-day events such as the FedHealth MTB Challenge. We made sure to incorporate a wide range of terrain, including rocky climbs, twisty descents, and opportunities for flat-out sprinting. The weather was overcast, with favourable track conditions, after overnight rain delivered tacky dirt with very little mud (which speaks volumes about the quality of Meerendal’s singletrack construction).…

Steel bicycles are elegant. They ride differently to harsh aluminium or noisy carbon. In their lines, angles and profiles they reveal a homage to the earliest two-wheeled pedal-powered experiments that became the bicycle as we know it today. Steel bicycles are investments in riding and adventure that last for more than a few years – most often, they last for life. They are not replaced whenever a newer model comes along. They are repairable, strong, and you can repaint them on a whim, giving your frame a new lease on life. And you can have one custom-built right here in South Africa. STAN ENGELBRECHT / 41 / ORGANISER OF THE TOUR OF ARA, PHOTOGRAPHER…

WORKS Glutes, quads, hamstrings, and lower back YOU NEED Two dumbbells or a hex bar HOW TO DO IT GET LOW! Lower your hips to pick up the weights or bar from the floor. Look forward, with your head and chin slightly tucked into your chest (DeVore calls it ‘packing the neck’), and keep your chest up. If your shirt has a logo, someone should be able to read it while standing in front of you. GET UP… Drive your heels and midfeet into the floor as you rise, straightening your hips and knees. Pretend there’s a wall in front of you that you don’t want your knees to touch, which will force you to push your hips back. Keep your back and arms straight. Stand tall at the finish.…

 I was about to do it. I braced I myself to transform from a Noddee to a Nodder. I practised The Nod. Don’t overdo it, I warned myself. Not too much. Keep it subtle. There are a number of cycling rites of passage that signal your transition from ‘newbie’ to ‘cyclist’ – for example, when you finally manage not to fall as you uncleat at a red robot, or the first time you catapult over the handlebars, or when your odometer clicks over from 99km and you break your 100-kay virginity. So far, The Nod had been elusive. But at last, I was about to give another rider The Nod as I overtook him. The Nod is a subtle movement; a small, almost unnoticeable head tweak that lands a powerful…

This road crew plans its routes on an impromptu basis. Although Bloemfontein is mostly flat, their ride sometimes takes them hill-hunting across the city. If not, they make their way out of town, sometimes going all the way to Dewetsdorp – a round trip of 160km, give or take. The rides attract anything from 10 to 40 riders; they are a group for all types; and although most of the regular riders aren’t novices, they will turn back for slower riders who are. GEES FACTOR “This ride has a friendly vibe with lots of joking, which keeps this crew ticking, although the roadies are sometimes more serious than the mountain bikers. When we do intervals, we ride hard, and try to do fun things too. We train together,…

Medellín-based Colombia Cycling specializes in tours with big days and hard climbs, including multi-day winter training camps. Owner Tomás Molina is a native of the region, so all trips take in quiet villages and back-country roads you’re unlikely to see otherwise. ¶ In addition to cultural tours of some of the country’s biggest attractions, including Cartagena and Tayrona National Park, Pure! Colombia Travel has an extensive network of cycling tours for those who want immersion in the country as much as the riding.…

 Unveiled in 2015, the Pyga Stage was ahead of its time, engineered with progressive geometry that most major brands have only recently incorporated into their bikes. Inspired by the capability of trail bikes, Pyga’s goal was to create an out-and-out race machine that was both light and efficient, and – most importantly – didn’t exhibit any of the unnerving twitchiness associated with the marathon/XC race bikes of the time. “A DARK HORSE IF EVER THERE WAS ONE. – AARON BORRILL” Fast forward to the 2018 model year, and every manufacturer worth their carbon weave has adapted their bikes in the same manner as Pyga did two years earlier – a feather in their cap! Interestingly, rather than boost hub spacing, the Stage features Pyga’s ‘+Five’ wheel and drop-out spacing that…

With a more accessible route, the Cape Pioneer Trek is reinventing itself as a race for all. It’s still going to be challenging, with big climbs, technical terrain and pristine flowing singletrack. It’s also still going to be scenic, with the best of the Klein Karoo on show. There may even be game sightings, although organisers will be doing their best to avoid riders being chased by a giraffe this year. There will also be five out-and-back stages, which will allow for more luxury at the start/finish venues, providing a pleasant environment at the race villages and great motivation for getting to the finish. 15-21 OCTOBER, MILKWOOD PRIMARY SCHOOL, MOSSEL BAY, 572KM (7-DAY STAGE RACE) WESTERN CAPE It’s a four-day stage race, with a twist: both mountain and road bike…