Training Log Archive: Mounty

Wet killarney loop. Bit of rubbish on the track from Trailwalker - a bit disappointing. The discarded Voltaren box was a giveaway. Shoes nice and grippy on the wet rock.

Evening paddle to Tunks. First had to use boltcutters to cut the padlock holding the boat in the garage, as ti had seized up from salt. A tad quicker than friday morning in the double. Hmm.

Not sure about the 50' hi-tech racing yacht at Tunks with its sponsor's name in large letters along the side "Make Poverty History". Tempting to spray paint the suffix "for me at least".

Afternoon, even tempo ride out to West Head.

Early morning Roseville to Tunks Park in the Mark 2 with Rob. Must be something wrong with the GPS - couldnt possibly have been moving that slowly. Nice to paddle a real boat again.

Can't explain the rooster that was wandering around the boat ramp.

Opera House loop. Starting to get a bit of bounce back.

Curious to know what the police divers were looking for in Farm Cove.

Rode Yeti in for service. Its had a rough month.

Quality episode of The Hollowmen last night.

Cruisy Opera House trot. The couple lying in the Domain were smoking some funny smelling choofas.

Treadmill intervals. 4*1km @ 18kmh (3:19m/k) with 1:40 walk recovery. Leg speed feeling rusty.

Weights after intervals. Good session.

Magpie! Spring has sprung. And this one is good too. Has setup shop in a position with good sight-lines, and just after a turn so speed is down.

Gave me a nice crack of the wings above the helmet, but no beak contact yet. A magpie with style - almost felt like a footballers greeting handshake at the beginning of a game. Game on.

On way to the bike.

Rode to work with Katrin. Nice to have some company.

Legs feeling good. Pack felt very light.

Rode home. So much better than taking the bus. Weather starting to get that pre-Spring feel.

River loop with Katrin. 2 runs in a row for her - she's ripe for AR recruiting.

At Sia's recommendation, gave the Montrail Hardrocks another go, which have been sitting in the cupboard since the AROC 50hr - written off as too high to be stable with my old orienteers eye. Very promising, didnt feel unstable at all lots of support/protection & nice and grippy. First trail shoes Ive worn whose last seems to suit my foot probably the main reason I think I might like them.

C • look out! 1

After dinner Killarney jog with Katrin. Gave the Montail Hardrocks a try.

Just to get the muscles moving.

Plan is to do nothing this week.

Bull of Africa report.

Event: Bull of Africa Adventure Race
 

"I must have fallen asleep quickly. I woke up with chips in my mouth." Kim,
Team Blackheart/Bunker Capital, Bull of Africa, 3rd.

Up at 2am for 3hr bus ride to the start. Actually managed to get a bit of sleep as we headed up in to the hills. At the 5am pee stop everyone discovered just how cold the first couple of nights were going to be. Chilly!

Leg 1 - 10km Trek
Race start at 9am on a golf course. Description was for a 10km trail run 'just to break up the field a bit'. Yeah right. First CP was on top of a 500m climb with steep bush bashing required to get in & out. Climbing harness wouldnt have been out of place in parts. Not a great start for us - took what appeared to be the conservative longer route choice around the road, but which served only to dump us in to a particularly nasty section of thorns and scrub. Watched teams collect the CP on the hill up ahead as we began the thorn bashing for the week. The coarseness of the bush that we noticed at Addo was repeated here. Africa is indeed not for sissies.

Finished a fair way back in the field and half an hour down. Not too concerned with a long week ahead, but a bit frustrating to have lost contact with the front-runners.

20km Ride
On to the bikes for an undulating and windy 20km out to a dam for some paddlegaining. Pulled in the teams just ahead with a respectable tempo on the bike.

10km Paddlegaine
Onto the plastic tubs to paddle around a dam, collecting 6 of 7 checkpoints on the way. Missed a quarter of an hour backtracking after misreading the instructions, then more time looking for a checkpoint that was in the wrong spot (lost less time here than many).

30km Ride
Back on the bikes as dusk approached for a ride out to the start of the uber-trek. My Mavic freehub began to play up again at this stage. Despite getting the shop to completely overhaul it before leaving and numerous cleans, it had lasted less than a couple of hours before the trademark Mavic freehub grind began to return. And this after replacing the original wheel due to being unable to solve the same problem. Rather pissed off that I was going to have to nurse it through a full week of riding so soon.

70km Trek
Could tell from the map that this was going to be a big one. Long trek over a mountain range through the night. Crappy start yet again as dodgy map led us to the top of a large waterfall, while the CP was down below. Many teams made the same mistake. Kim took a nasty fall at this point on a slippery wooden bridge and came down hard on her ribs and knee. Worse for wear, but she continued on with uncle voltaren giving a helping hand.

Rob picked a good route choice over the ridge, and we arrived at the mid-hut checkpoint having overtaken Bjurfors but still a bit down on Lafuma and the Saffa teams. Local knowledge was proving useful as the SA teams made very good time through this section.

Early hours of the morning, and the temperature dropped together with a rising wind. Above the treeline, this made for a very(!) cold couple of hours but we seemed to be prepared for it OK. Quite a few teams would end up with chect infections after this evening, causing team members to pull out. Most pleased with the buff as headwear for this leg. Always thought they were a bit too Rambo/Survivor, but proved excellent to keep the head warm up on the hill.

Following bush-bashing early in the evening, we took a wide route choice in to the CP at the end of the leg. Unfortunately we did this just in time for the bush to open up in to faster grassland (couldnt see it at night though), and so lost a couple of hours. A bit dispiriting to see Bjurfors and Coolmax ahead of us as we came in to the CP the back way, but not much to do about it.

Stopped at 5:30 for a 20 minute sleep in a nice little stand of pine trees to complete the first day/start the second.

Day 2...

Began the morning with an out-and-back up and down a 500m climb to the aforementioned CP. Weather warmed quickly as the sun came up, setting the tone for the week. Hot days and cold nights. Finished the trek a bit before early morning at the Thomas River station (the TA was in a bar) and transitioned on to the bikes for some looked-forward to sitting down time.

70Km Ride - The Shanty town ride.
I think this ride was 70-odd km. Hard to remember as the course blurs together a bit, and I cant see a course description on the website.

Rode in to Africa for real, and spent a few hours zipping around and between shanty towns. The locals, especially the kids, were all smiling and waving from their (bizarrely coloured) shacks to make for a great afternoon of riding. Thru a CP on a ruin that had something to do with Steve Biko, then over some hills to a large dam. The teams ahead of us somehow knew about a shortcut from the last CP to the TA, that we missed and added an extra half hour of undulating riding. Split at the end pretty good despite this, so bike speed must have been OK.

Shyte transition for some reason, then on to the lake before dusk to collect a few CPs.

20-ish Km paddle - The freezing dam paddle
The earlier teams had warned us they were cold during the day, so we prepared for a chilly few hours on the water. Paddling proved OK, as the wind had dropped but problems came at one of the CP. It was required that a team member remain with the boats while others ran to the cp a couple of km away overland. Kim, whose lungs had been hurting from the earlier fall, didnt appreciate 45 minutes of waiting wet in near freezing conditions, and Damon reported he could feel the whole kayak shake from shivering on the way back. Later teams reported ice forming on the water puddles on their boat.

70km ride - The gorge ride
Off the water, a couple of hamburgers at the TA and off in to a misty night. 10 minutes down the road and it was clear the combination of the fall and cold air were affecting Kim's breathing to an uncomfortable degree. We stopped, and decided to return to the previous TA for some sleep to see if things might improve. A cautious decision, but a good one in hindsight looking at the number of teams that withdrew from the race due to illness.

Overslept under a table for 3:45, having planned to sleep for 3:00 to end the 2nd day.

Day 3...
70km ride - Rest of the gorge ride
Back on the bikes at 3am, and some firetrail action down to the first gorge crossing. Some rough downhill deposited us in to thick bush at the bottom with large cliffs dimly visible on the other side.

The crossing involved picking a gap between the cliffs, which would have been easy during the day but difficult at night 'cause you couldnt see the top of the cliffs, nor the gaps in the scrub. Climbed the hill at the base of the cliffs without bikes first to determine there really was a gap there before returning to haul the bikes up through the scrub. Took ages, but figured everyone would be slow.

Dawn made for some glorious riding along the plateau above the gorge to the next checkpoint at the Kabusi lodge. Spirits rose as we were given Bushbuk hamburgers at the CP, and found Buff Coolmax sleeping there who were disheartened after spending time in the gorge.

A steep decent down in to the next gorge, but an easier climb out on a firetrail from this one. Notable was the presence of lantana in this gorge - exported from England not just to Australia clearly.

Must have been feeling good on the climb out, as we had competitions to see who could ride the furthest up the rough pinches. Green jersey sprint past the camera crew at the top of the hill, then a gentle decent to the TA.

Wildebeest action
Film crew tucked in behind us to get some footage down the hill, when we were brought to sudden stand-still by a large Wildebeest standing in the middle of the track. Camera would have picked up Rob's laughing as I didnt see it until the last minute and screeched to a halt just in front. Particularly funny as one of the ways the team passed the time during the week was to make fun of my 'tentative' approach to the wildlife. (I prefer to call it 'cautious', I think Kim would go with 'sissy').

Anyway, at this point the Wildebeest charged off towards a herd of Springbok who took flight straight towards a group of the beesties friends and mayhem ensued. All this national geographic action was caught as a backdrop to us riding along, as the camera ute had headed off the track and was bouncing along next to us through the paddock.

Arrived at the next TA in high spirits to begin the thorny trek

45Km Trek - The Thorny trek
Headed out in to the prickles and heat with a backpack full of food. Good going at first along the ridge top, but then a prickly bushbash down the hill as the marked track disappeared in to thorny nothingness.

Good going along the creek as we played 'interpret the footprints', and in to the first CP at the junction of a stunning valley. Once again the couple of hours before dark were bewdful as we headed up the natives commuter tracks along the valley. Getting good at climbing over stupidly high fences by this stage.

Headed up a valley to the rope ascending section just after dark. Unfortunate it was dark, as the CP was marked in the wrong spot. Not a problem during the day, but meant a frustrating hour bashing around in the bush for us with vague sounds of Lafuma getting scared on the cliff somewhere up ahead.

Dug out the jumars and began climbing. Cliff didnt look that high from the bottom, but it turned out to be 4 pitches and just kept going. Happily climbed up, and only discovered through photos at the presentation dinner that we'd climbed an impressive looking 180m wall of rock. Good fun, but glad for the climbing gym practice beforehand.

Trek dragged on after the climb, but kept moving in the knowledge we were catching Lafuma. 45 minute bonus loop with a nav error, but made up for with some very tidy work through the unmarked tracks on the final ridge.

Arrived at a hunting lodge at 5:00am having passed Lafuma, to great big matresses and blankets in the corner and an owner keen to ply us with toasted cheese sandwiches. Settled for one of the most pleasant hour's of sleep I can think of buried in blankety goodness.


Day 4...

90km Ride The Transkei Ride
Up at sunrise for a long ride out to the coast through the Transkei region. With the nearest main road several hours away, this ride was really special. The area is largely devoid of major infrastructure, with a series of neat villages separated by small farms. The preferred mode of transport is walking, so the same line on the map could represent a large firetrail or a small walking track - no big difference if you're walking I guess. A lack of cars and machinery over such a large area meant for a quietness you just don't get in our part of the world. Very peaceful.

With another team nearby for once, tempo lifted and we moved along okay with an endless line of waving locals to pass the time. Crossed paths with Lafuma a couple of times, until some tidy map work from Rob got us to the 'shop' checkpoint ahead. Things got entertaining at this point - we were greeted by a dance troop and what seemed like a whole village in festive mood to keep us company at the checkpoint. Hit the shop to stock up on food and coke, and enjoyed some barbequed sausages before heading off.

A flat tyre, and Damon performing some impressive gun and calf flexing while refilling a bladder for the film crew kept us entertained for the ride out to the coast.

Tricky route choice at this point. A potentially very fast/slow 13km ride up the beach depending on sand firmness presented itself vs. a longer undulating inland route. We'd been told at the shop that USN had headed for the beach route, so we went with that ? the SA teams seemed to have been making good route choice decisions. Sure enough, beach was hard and fast and took us to the TA at Mepezza Bay just before sunset. Lafuma arrived a few minutes later - same split having seen very little of each other during the day.

35km Trek - The electric coast run
Slight catch at this point - the logistics truck had broken down with our bikes, so we were told that we'd have to wait an hour (with time deducted). Pfaffed around a bit, took some photos together with Lafuma, then hit the beach.

Had agreed with the French that we would restart with the same gap, which gave us a 5 minute head start. With signs of fatigue on their part, we decided to attack the run and see if we could break them. With Marathon des Sables Damon in his element and doing an impressive impersonation of a bullock on tow, we hammered down the beach covering a very satisfying distance in the first 2 hours with French lights disappearing in the distance.

The first water crossing looked a bit sketchy. A decent current and feeling a bit sharky, not pleased to receive a sudden jolt to my leg halfway across. Thought Id been bumped by something a decent fish (or worse), until it started to pulse electric shocks as though I'd walked on to an underwater electric fence. At this point I did the 'there is something unknown zapping my legs in the middle of an African estuary' dance (complete with sound-effects) and was ready to turn around before being cajoled out of the water by my cynical team-mates.

Finished the leg at a beachside resort around 3am, put the bikes together then went to bed for an hour.

Day 5...

Cycle 90km - The last ride
Slept through the alarms (again) and woke up after an extra bonus half hour?s sleep due to throbbing feet. Lafuma arrived just as we got up, which provided a good motivator to get on the bikes and moving. The final section of the course consisted of a long ride with a couple of short runs and a paddle at the end. This suited 'cause my feet were starting to hurt by this stage, and anything on foot was becoming increasingly unpleasant.

Ride began before dawn with a climb in to a brutal wind, strong enough to blow bikes off the track. First stop was a waterfall where Damon and Rob abseiled to and jumar'ed out of a checkpoint in a waterhole. More riding, a steep descent and then the much awaited Kei river crossing.

Kei river crossing
Apparently it is normal in SA races to swim across rivers with bikes, which had some of the foreigners worried. Turns out it isn't that hard as bikes float. Very pleased to arrive here during warmth of the day. It also meant we could see a nice flat cow trail running down our side of the river, so we left the bikes and waded across and back.

The entrance to the creek at our low tide meant wading through reeds and deep mud. So amusing that we paused to get some video footage of ourselves crawling out of the waist deep slop (complete with warpaint).
Rode down our side of the creek to a car ferry, chatting to Cyanosis (who had withdrawn) on the way across. Probably not the fastest route, but no real dramas.

Hot hills to the lady's house
Ride then took us back up on to the plateau in to the strong wind and searing heat. Rather unpleasant for a couple of hours until we descended to the oasis of the next CP - a house next to the beach with nice lush grass and shade, where we intercepted and scavenged a small plate of cold chips on their way to the bin.

Hike a bike
Route choice again, and we began to ride along a coast walking track that had started promisingly. Unfortunately degenerated in to rocky hike a bike pretty quickly - and I was getting stupidly slow for anything that involved feet touching the ground by this stage - so we rode back up the hill on to the plateau.

Great support from the rest of the team here - redistribution of my luggage to the others, including Kim taking my pack together with hers helped minimise my sore foot induced hiking slowness, which was just as well as we were about to hoof it down a beach for 5km having lucked out on the tide.

More riding, through the CP that an earlier team forgot to go to, and on to the last orienteering section at Inkenkweze game park.

5km Game Park Rogaine
Some feet maintenance, then off for a plod around a loop in the bush. F'ing unpleasant for my part but kept going based on the knowledge that it wasn't far until we would be back on the comfy bikes.

Some more cycling ? the last bit
Then back on the bikes for a ride thru the game park to the final paddle. Notable for this section was the checkpoint next to a fence. Some discussion at the time as to what were the animals looking at us while Damon punched. I suggested they were bunny rabbits. Next day the other teams told us about the lions that were sitting at that spot - control description confirmed 'in gully next to fence of lion's den'.
Getting sleepy for the last section down to the backpackers next to the river with the tame giraffe.

Kayak 4 km - the sleepy paddle
Not far to go from here - 4k paddle then 4k run. I lobbied for a powernap as was unsure if I could stay awake for another few hours, but others keen to press on & off we went. Damon very nearly violated by an ostrich on the way to the boats, then on to the water for a snooze down the river.

Lots of falling asleep on this section. We awoke at one point due to the kayaks colliding. Other times Rob took great pleasure in smacking me in the helmet with his paddle to wake me up (effective).

End of the paddle involved parking the boats and wading across the river mouth. Arriving at night and high tide, this was almost flat out dangerous. Damon and Kim made it across just before a large wall of water came thru' that would have made for a very interesting trip upstream if they were a couple of seconds slower. Didn't have a lot of confidence in the marshall that was there, so was glad to get across in one piece.

4km trek - the f'ing sand-dune
All that was left seemed to be a short wander up the coast to the finish. Unfortunately the last CP would prove to be a bastard - amongst sand-dunes within site of the finish. The extra time pushed me over the edge of staying awake and I started to go a bit la la. Basically, nothing really made sense anymore and dreams started to blend together with reality to make for a rather confusing and disorienting tapestry. Couldn't really follow what the guys were talking about when saying we still had to find CP53, and attempts to explain this must have sounded like blabber. I remember looking down to see a race bib and PFD, and think "hmm, that's interesting. What's going on here?". After a while, Kim took charge of the map to sort out the pesky CP.

Arrived at the finish around 6am on a bit of a downer, awake again but feeling like I'd been to see a movie and slept through the final scene. Didn't really feel like I'd actually finished in a way.

Shower, and to bed for an hour's sleep in the room of a team that hadn't arrived at the accomm yet. 6 hours later we woke up, and I went for a breakfast of 5 pies.

The wrap
Memorable week all in all. Presentation dinner consensus among the teams was that the race was spectacular. The ride through the Transkei region seemed to be a highlight for many, witnessing a different way of living at close hand. My kids seemed genuinely fascinated last night to hear of kids that lived in huts with only a soccer ball for a toy but big smiles nonetheless. Hopefully a bit of lesson to rub off on to them.

Race wise, had a pretty crappo start and spent the rest of the week working back through the field. Patience seems to work in the long races as most everyone will have their turn for stuff ups and issues at some stage. Rest of the guys showed their experience and strength at this form of racing, holding it together right to the end and teaching me plenty along the way on how to keep moving with a minimum of fuss. Will take plenty away from the week in this regard.

Total sleep for the 5 nights just under 7 hours. Next couple of days after the race spent alternating between cafés and snoozing. Work seems very dull right now.

Notes to self for next time...
Feet. Finding shoes for my Flinstone feet has always been a problem. The wide Asiics 2120's have proved good for shorter races but didnt offer the forefoot protection for long trekking on the hard ground and feet got smashed. Switched to the much more robust Salomon's with good protection, but theyre too narrow which left blisters to go with the sore feet. Not prepared to do another expedition race till Im confident Ive got shoes sorted - bad feet is debilitating and not fair on team-mates. Would be nice if Salomon did the wings in a wide fit.
Gear. Need to get better at organising stuff & taking gear from bag on the move. Others put me to shame in this regard. Learned that ziplocks (even the aloksaks) arent good after a few days - grit blocks the locking mechanism and stuff falls out, making sh*t hard to find. 2 iPods destroyed on last water crossing as a result. Small, lightweight dry bags the way to go.
Clothes.On the plus side, got through the race only changing shirt once which is a big improvement on my traditional overpacking of clothes. Sleeveless compression base layer was awesome.
Food. At Rob & Damon's instruction, tried to eat heaps the whole time. Made a big difference. The PVM 'Original' Energy bars are awesome. Need to find in oz.
Drugs. Racing on voltaren instead of nurofen was good, but need to remember to take along separate painkillers in that case.
Animals. Apparently bulls arent scary.

C • AWESOME 4

C • wow 1

Busy morning finishing off race tubs for the 3pm cut-off, then pizza and some sleep before the 2am bus ride. Accommodation 40km from the event centre a bit annoying. Kim very nearly made the classic mistake of fogetting to put food in the backpack for the first leg, but caught it just in time.

Gear-pfaffing and compulsory checks day, with race briefing and dinner in the evening. Up till 3am plotting maps and sorting gear in to tubs. A hallmark of the race would be that we would only see tubs 3 times over 5 days, meaning plenty of load in the backpacks. Glad to have been commuting with a weighted pack the past few months.

South African race instructions entertaingly direct. My notes include the directive "Don't piss off the Rhinos".

Continued through to race venue at East London. Stopped at the worlds highest bungy jump to make Rob take the 186m plunge. Amused to find one of the bungy operators would be racing. He picked us as adventure racers by the Salomon shoes.

Arrived a few hours later in East London via the Fenn factory to get a paddle made up for Rob, then off to the supermarket to find the South African equivalent of race food.

Early morning jog along the beach to check out the J-Bay break. Watched the surfers do their thing on the barrels as we trotted along. Sand a bit grainy for lazing on but the waves were pretty awesome.

Back in the car and off to Addo (Elephant) national park. Spent the evening and following morning checking out the wildlife. Most impressive collection of elephants, warthogs, kudu, buffalo, meerkats,etc etc. Slightly nervous moment when an elephant that had been happily grazing next to the road took issue with our car and approached to have a bit of a go. Some nice video as we bravely buggered off.

Pre-breakfast run along the coast from the train. Very scenic, with all appearing to be in good shape. Finished with a swim in the chilly waters then a lazy breakfast and coffee in the sun. Mmm holidays.

Continued the drive east, stopping for coffee and internet in Knysna, then staying for the evening in Jeffrey's Bay. According to the guide books, J-Bay is a surfing mecca and has one of the world's most perfect point breaks. We also discovered that the local Mexican does a mean Nachos.

By this point it had become clear that accommodation and food in this part of the world is a bargain, and coffee is acceptably good. Shaping up to be a good week. Early night in our 2 story absolute beachfront apartment.

Coastal drive east from Cape Town. Stunning road well suited to a Bond Film. A Toyota Quantum mini-bus not the ideal vehicle, but at least we could fit the bikes in.

Stopped at enormous shopping centre at Stellenbosch to buy race tubs before continuining towards 'deepest darkest africa' in the local's parlance. At this stage it was clear that we were travelling through the wealthy part of South Africa.

Accommodation for the evening was an old train that had been parked on a beach and converted to a hostel. Not sure what conversion was done other than parking the train on the beach. Regardless, the view from the little cabins was very nice.

Arrived late in Cape Town and slept on the floor of the Keen Torquers flat.

Filled the day with a tourist drive up to Table Mountain, then down to the Cape of Good Hope via the Mocke surf ski shop at Fish Hoek to stock up on race supplies. It was here we discovered the 'Original' Energy bar for a buck each that would prove to be very popular during the race. Longing glances at the price tags on surf skis - if only they were easy to post.

Were impressed by the ostriches and baboons roaming freely at the Cape. Animal spotting standards were to rise significantly by the end of the week.