Lap Races

There's something mindnumbingly monotonous and just a little masochistic in riding round and round in circles around the same track for hours.

Lap racing: 5, 6, 10, 12, 24 hour events where you try ride as many laps as possible in the allocated time.

But there's nothing boring in riding the same track if it's sufficiently technical. Bonus points if there's night-laps involved :)  The more you ride the difficult parts, the easier they become. That gnarly downhill on the first lap becomes a huge-grin downhill on the 5th lap - and maybe taken slightly too fast on the second-to-last lap :) That rocks that you walked on the first lap become ridable after the third try, and finally after the fifth lap you were in the right gear for that steep climbie right after the steep turn.

Lap racing is as hard or easy as you make it. Which usually make them very hard. You've got say 6 hours to ride as many laps as you can manage - or as far as you want. It's up to you to decide if you're up for another lap, or if you'd rather take a break and have lunch. You decide if you want to aim for a total of say 80 kays for the day, or if you want to see if you could ride nonstop for all 6 hours. You can find out where the boundaries are without any risk - if you entered an ultra marathon and 3/4 of the way find that there's no more energy, you still have to get yourself to the finish. Not so with lap racing - if you're at the end of your energy, you can simply stop. Safe.

If you're slow and used to arriving at the finish when the marshalls have packed up the tables, and used to searching for the timekeeper to take your time, it's great to finish with a crowd to cheer you in :)

A big bonus is that you get to see the fast people in action. On mountain bike marathons you'd start way after the big guns, and by the time you finish, they're already home and showered. On lap races, there's a good chance of being lapped by the faster okes - so you can see them clearing the obstacles, check out their lines and try it yourself next time.

There's usually a great vibe at these events. Teams (riding in relay format) vary from very social (taking beers with on the laps) to very competitive, and it's great coming in from a lap and see the festivities going on in the different gazebos. Slow and fast people all in the same team, and all can have fun. It's usually much more spectator-friendly than marathons, cos supporters can see their heroes in action. And have a chat inbetween. Or bring food :)  and carrot cake :D

There's a 24 hour first weekend in December at Rietvlei. Anyone wants to join me for a team of soloists?
http://www.entrytime.com/index.asp?GoTo=EventInfo&EventID=2904

the dirtiest bike

I found some muddy tracks this weekend.
At Omni-motion's 24 hours at Rietvlei.

The race was stopped for 2 hours due to a thunderstorm.
When the tracks opened again at 7-30-ish, it was a fairy-land of red & white lights out there on the tracks. Some bikes made it through the mud. Some weren't so lucky.

After half an hour for 2 km's, i decided to give the lap up and dragged the bike back to camp. It was slow going - the bike was too heavy to pick up, and as soon as i stopped pedalling, the backwheel stopped turning. Believe it or not - up till that stage the rear derrailleur was still working. It took another half an hour to get it back, and then about 2 hours to get the bike ridable again.

Thank you to all the samaritans out there who helped with getting the mud off!

Luckily the organisers decided to cut that 2 km out of the loop, and i was back on the bike for another few loops.

A good weekend!

4 sleeps till no sleep

Boss: Can we release early on Monday?
Me: I might be slightly useless on Monday.
Boss: K, how about Sunday morning then. 2 am?
Me: I'll be cycling.
Boss: 2 in the morning?
Me: Yes. I'll be cycling.


The expression on the boss's face was priceless.

It might not feel that good to actually try to stay awake at 2 on Sunday morning. But it sure will beat shutting servers down and running scripts.

The 24 hours start at noon on Saturday and ends at noon on Sunday. Technical (hopefully) laps of around 11 km. There is talk of climbs and forests and drops and bridges - round and round on the same track, getting to know the obstacles and going faster and faster over them - didn't clear this one on the last lap, now try something else ....

Lights are on the charger, camera is on the charger, just 4 more sleeps till Saturday.

Can't wait!


more info: http://www.bicycling.co.za/static/24hr_race