The training continues...

This weekend we got some decent training under our belts. Saturday we headed out to the 'Ruins' and practiced some portaging up the mountain with bikes slung over our backs. This upper body fitness certainly helps to make the long portages easier. Last year on the Ride to Rhodes, I checked the difference in heart rate between pushing the bike over very rocky terrain or carrying it over the back. There is a substantial decrease in heart rate carrying the bike. It is going to be interesting to see how the Nutty Professor is going to manage portaging the 'Starship Enterprise' (his tandem). After this portage Fiona found a fantastic cheese shop with a coffee shop attached where they serve light snacks. I had a Russian and chips which went down sooo well.

This ride ended up being just over 80km. On Sunday we went out with Anton from Summit Cycles to Irene. We decided to leave from home at 05:30 to test our bike lights as well as our backpacks. Fortunately it want too cold this morning, in the region of 7 degrees. I have been experimenting with various lighting options, but they still need some fine tuning. I have 2 x Black Diamond Icon lights which are mounted on the bike. The battery packs are separate so they are strapped to the frame, but the lights were mounted to handle bars but there wasn't enough space. Derek suggested I mounts them to the headset, which I did, only to find the don't turn with the handle bars, but with the frame. I am still trying to get used to this.

We ended up doing a fairly quick 110 km ride on Sunday morning. This is almost a total of 200km riding this weekend. I feel that the fitness levels are OK for the ride. I am now busy with the maps and the logistics of packing my boxes. More about this in another posting.
















(Karate Kid) The long hours of riding certainly take their toll on your sanity at times.















Stopping at the local general dealer for some refreshments.