Never thought I’d ever attend something called a Geek Dinner, but after doing the test at http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html it appears I do qualify. I went with low expectations after attending Feb’s 27 dinner which wasn’t networky enough for my liking. Joe had put a lot of effort into organising it though so there had to be some value. Which there was…

Highlights:

• met some interesting people
• bumped into some people I hadn’t seen for a long time
• drank some nice wine
• better organised than the 27 dinner

Lowlights:

• almost all of the talks over-ran their allocated time. I think we need to do this Oscar-style. When there’s a minute to go we start playing some background music, which gets progressively louder. When speakers still don’t get the hint we have some nice looking ladies who escort you gently away from the microphone and back to your seat.
• lots of wireless people, talking about stuff I don’t really care about, and/or don’t understand
• mostly stuck at one table for the duration of the evening, which made really meeting more than the 6 others at your table a little difficult. How we make people swap tables between courses?

All in all, a good job. Well done Joe!

Tags: GeekDinner

Rode the Argus Cycle Tour last Sunday - I started in the VA (30-39 yrs old) group, but had a puncture just before Smitswinkel Hill and then joined the B who were 5 minutes behind. I rode the rest of the race with the B group and finished with a group of about 10 of them that got away on the Suikerbossie Climb.

Peter’s posted some interesting power stats on his blog. Its clear why I’m not a pro - how about David George’s figures?! Stupendous!!

Sunday night saw us having dinner at a Thai cultural centre where we watched various traditional dances. We all sat on the floor and had our dinner served there too. Most of the other diners were Thais, up from Bangkok on vacation.

We set off on the first full day of our ride on Monday, 18 December. We headed out of Chiang Mai on some wide roads and over some rolling hills. Some of the hills got quite long and probably qualified as climbs. We regrouped a few times, once at the top of a pass where all the cars were hooting as they went over. Our guide explained that passing motorists hoot to acknowledge the spirits and ask for permission to pass over their mountain.

A long downhill took us to an elephant park and hospital, where we got to see elephants painting and doing a few tricks. Amazing how smart these big beasts are. We had lunch at the elephant park too.

We carried on through to our overnight stop at Lampang. Dinner was at a riverside restaurant (first of many), but we got there by the traditional horse-drawn carts for which Lampang is famous.

To be continued…

One of the flyers in our race packs at yesterday’s Argus MTB race, was from Dirtopia, advertising AMA - the African MTB Association. Meurant from Dirtopia has been heading in this direction for many years, and finally we have our own IMBA-style advocacy organisation.

I’ve just signed up, and I hope that many of my MTB buddies will do the same. Meurant and Arina have done more for mountain biking in this country than anyone else, and their vision and plan for taking things to the next level really deserves our support.

Just looked at the results from yesterday’s MTB race. My estimate of approx 15mins loss looks about right. I overtook Guy Pike (comprehensively) about 45mins into the race, and he came in 24th in 2:29. So 2:24 is definitely about where I could/should have been.

My CTL has just edged over 80. Looking back at spring season I started feeling really good in races as soon as CTL>80, so hopefully I experience the same thing with this weekend’s Argus Subvets race!

Rode my first MTB race in a while today - the Argus MTB race at Boschendal. I arrived at the startline a little late and ended up starting at the back of the bunch, which didn’t bode well for my chances of staying with the front guys. As expected within 2ks the front guys were out of site while I was still blocked in. I eventually found a rhythm and was passing people continuously but steadily for the first hour. Until I had a puncture which I didn’t really have the heart to try and repair quickly. But I got it done and set off again, having to pass many of those that I’d passed already. I ended up stuck between small bunches for large parts of the flat jeep track, which isn’t ideal for my light frame. I grabbed a few more places up the final climb, then got stuck behind some hardtails on the descent which was very frustrating. Eventually I got past and opened a big gap quickly. Race was over by then though, and I finished in 2:39. I reckon the puncture and other hold-ups cost me about 15mins, which puts my pace at about 2:24, which would have been top 20 or so. So I definitely have some mountain biking legs and I’m looking forward to the next MTB race. Hopefully a little fitter, and hopefully I get a proper start.