nickcoyne.com

Finished my new bike build up (for now). New parts are
* Thomson Masterpiece seatpost to replace the USE Carbon. A little lighter, but more importantly a lot stronger.
* XTR cranks to replace the well worn XT cranks. A bit of a weight-saving, as well as making he bike look a lot nicer. Those XT cranks clashed a bit. They’ll move on to my Kona commuter bike project which I’ll hopefully build up this weekend.
* Eggbeater pedals are back on. I’ve installed the short-length Ti spindles. The main problem I’ve had with Eggbeaters is that the spindles are too long. These new spindles solve that problem, as well as losing some weight with the Ti versions

Total bike weight as you see it in the pic, is now 10.6kg. Future upgrade possibilities are:
* Hope blue seatpost collar
* Hope blue quick-releases
* KCNC blue pulley wheels
* KCNC SC Bone handlebars
* maybe a new saddle

More pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/nic.coyne/GiantAnthemX

My new Giant Anthem X1 arrived last week, so we got all the bits transferred from the Zen across to the new bike. With my American Classic wheels on she weighs in at 10.7kg, which is almost 400g lighter than the Zen.

All the Giant’s bits got moved to the Zen, which is now Nicole’s bike.

Nope, I’m not dead. Nor have I moved, been kidnapped by aliens or fallen into a long, deep sleep. No excuses, this blog has just been neglected and forgotten.

In the next few weeks I’ll be upgrading WordPress, creating a new design, and starting to post again.

Most posts will likely focus around my training for next year’s Cape Epic.

I’ve been rather quiet - work has been pretty busy, and I’ve been trying to do a lot of riding.

League races have gone relatively well, with Paul grabbing one win, and both Paul and myself with the front group over most of the climbs. We rode Sani2C together and managed 20th overall. We’re pretty chuffed with that, since neither of us are at peak fitness. In fact Paul was giving me a push up some of the climbs on the last day. Sani2C has by far the most spectacular course of any mountain bike race in South Africa. There was soooo much single-track. And mostly nice fast, flowing, non-technical stuff, which was a lot of fun.

Yesterday was funride world champs, and the VA group had a very smooth (and crash-free) ride to come in around 2:47. Not the fastest time, but I’m not complaining. I managed to sneak in with 17th place in the very long sprint.

Cycling will take a bit of a back seat now as I try to prepare for the 7-day hike we’re doing in Scotland in early April. The average day is over 20km, and I’m carrying the tent and everything. Looking forward to it!

As a beginning to the training I need to do for next year’s Sani2C, I rode the 35km route at Lourensford yesterday. The rain was threatening but luckily it stayed dry the whole ride. I’m a bit stiff since its the first time on the MTB since May. I only managed 4th after 3 youngsters went a bit too hard for me up the initial climbs, before I was warmed up. Still waiting for the results to see how far behind them I finished. I received a gap of about 4mins just past half way.

Legs were pretty stiff this morning and I grovelled on my training ride today, which did not escape the rain. It was wet, cold and altogether miserable.

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.