Kirsty and I are back after our
incredible adventure in the magnificent Kalahari, and what an adventure it was,
riding through some of Africa’s most beautiful, and yet inhospitable terrain,
with sand, thorns and stones at every turn.
We were constantly reminded that the African bushveld is not for the
faint hearted, and that there are no free kilometers anywhere.
What made this race particularly
challenging for us, as a team, was that this was Kirsty’s first ever stage
race. So it goes without saying, that I’m
immensely proud of her for finishing.
There were a few fleeting moments when I thought she might throw in the
towel, particularly on Day 2 at Water Point 2, when she burst into tears almost
inconsolably, only to be comforted and remotivated by a very sweet lady at the
water point, and by me of course. We
then pushed along for the last ten kilometers, and with about four kilometers left
to ride, Kirsty hit a huge patch of sand at speed, and went flying over the handlebars,
face first into the sand. She lay there
motionless, with the bike on top of her.
I thought, this is serious, this doesn’t look good, but this tough, strong-willed,
and dare I say, stubborn lady, slowly got up and furiously dusted herself off
and got back on her bike and peddled like a person possessed to the finish,
clearly having had enough of this day’s riding!
Day 3, the final day, was much
better, and although it was actually a more difficult day, with a lot more
climbing, we got to the finish line unscathed and very proud of our
achievements. We learnt a great deal
from this challenging adventure, and I would like to share some of the experiences
we had along the way, to hopefully help those of you who would like to embark
on a stage race or something similar.
1. The Mental Challenge
When you first do a stage race,
the thought of the entire distance in a day can be quite daunting, so the best
thing to do is to break the distance up and ride from water point to water
point. So if your first water point is
at 30km, that’s all you should focus on, completing 30 km. Once you are there and you’ve had time to
rest and replenish yourself, you can reboot and head off to the next water
point. Before you know it, you’re at the
finish line.
Something else that is very
important when preparing mentally for a race, is never, ever think that any
stage race is going to be easy. New
riders make the cardinal mistake of looking at the elevation profile and if
there is not a lot of climbing, then it must be easy. In mountain biking there are loads of things
other than elevation that can make the ride tough; in our case, sand, sand and more sand. And then of course, rocks and thorn trees,
and did I mention the sand? Accept the
fact that stage races are always tough, because they are designed for tough
people. Rather over-estimate the
toughness than under estimate it, and you’ll be a much happier, better prepared
rider.
In my experience, on a three day
stage race, and I mention three days, because they seem to be the most common,
Day 2 for a lot of people is the worst of the days mentally. If you had ridden hard on Day 1, your legs
and body will be tired, especially half way through Day 2, and then suddenly
the thought of another entire day to follow becomes very daunting. What I find very interesting, is how a
clearly more fatigued body on Day 3 can ride with a lot more speed and vigour,
just because the person knows that the end is near. Amazing the power the mind has over the body,
don’t you think? So prepare yourself for
this eventuality, by acknowledging that you may feel like this, because for me,
as soon as I’m aware of a behaviour, I find myself more in control of it and I
can deal with the thoughts of impending doom better. Knowledge is power. Of course, this is purely anecdotal, but try
it, it works for me.
Of course, this is where a good
partner can be very useful. Don’t just
pick somebody who is of a similar strength to you on the bike, but find a
person who is positive and mentally strong under pressure, like you! There is a reason why most stage races are
team events, because not only does your partner help you physically in the
riding stakes, but also mentally, when you are feeling despondent and
drained. So make sure you are mentally
psyched for the event, and that you pick a partner who is too. So much of the race is ridden in your head.
2. The Physical Challenge
There is a great deal of information
out there on how to prepare physically for a multi-day stage race, so I’m not
going to rehash a lot of science.
Instead, I would just like to talk about a few things that I observed
with Kirsty and myself, over the course of the three days.
If you’re going to ride in a lot
of sand, or over a lot of loose rocks, you’ve got to be prepared to spin the
legs. Technically it’s a lot easier to
ride through sand if you get into a loose gear, and spin your legs, ie high cadence. Don’t touch the brakes, especially the front
brake, and make sure you’re relaxed and go with the sand. This is easier said than done, of
course. What you will find out very
quickly, however, is that you need to be pretty fit cardiovascularly to do
this. We both agreed that Kirsty, with
all the training she had done, was not actually quite fit enough and what this
meant was that she was riding close to her max heart rate for long
stretches. This resulted in her using up
a great deal of her available glycogen, and she hit the wall. That’s when the tears started! The best thing to do when this happens, is to
stop and rest, and get as much instant energy into your system as
possible. After that, take it really
slowly. So my advice here would be,
before an event, try and find out what the terrain is like, and if it is
possible, to ride on something similar back home. If you can’t, then you need to simulate the
riding conditions in the gym, and in this instance, a lot of high cadence
spinning, and for a good amount of time, I would say at least half an hour,
would be the order of the day.
Another physical area that is
often overlooked when preparing for a stage race, or something similar, is the
core. Core strength and stability is
absolutely essential for optimal performance on a mountain bike, especially
over technical areas, and particularly the loose stuff, like sand. Kirsty said that she felt quite unstable over
the sand, and as a result she fell numerous times in it, leaving her very
frustrated and at time furious, resulting in some serious, and dare I say,
humerous, foot stomping and cursing.
After spending many hours behind
her on the bike, in my attempts to assist her on the sand, I noticed that while
she was technically quite proficient and doing a lot right, in my humble
opinion, there was a degree of pelvic and core instability. Her core strengthening is a work in progress,
and while it is stronger than it was, the pelvis was moving too much laterally
and her pelvic reactions and stabilizing ability in the sand patches was slow,
resulting in an inability to adjust the body position in time, causing her to
lose balance and fall. One would imagine
that riding in these conditions would be a good way of strengthening your core
over time, unfortunately this is not the case, most of your core work has to
happen off the bike. There is a degree
of strengthening that happens on the bike, obviously, but particular focus on
the core in the gym or pilates studio is essential. Remember, your core is the foundation on
which everything is built, and no matter what sport or activity you do, your
success or lack thereof is directly dependent on how well your core functions.
An area where both Kirsty and I
are strong, is our leg strength. With me
being over 100kg, and being quite muscular in my upper body, I found in the
past, that I would struggle with my climbing, because my leg strength and power
was underdeveloped. Kirsty has always
been good in the climbing department.
Both of us embarked on a stringent leg power/strengthening programme,
which involved a combination of heavy leg press and power/plyometric jumps, as
well as some heavy sprinting on the spinning bike, all developing both power
and strength. The result was that both
of us could handle the climbing with relative ease. I noticed that my own performance on the
hills and my overall leg speed and strength, was noticeably better from all the training
in the gym, and this was after a relatively short period of time. So I’m quite excited by the long term
prospects. It’s important to note that
the stronger your legs, the easier they find the peddling, and therefore the
less work they do, resulting in improved all round performance.
There is no substitute for good preparation,
so before you embark on your next challenge, make sure you are physically and
mentally prepared.
The Botswana Gem Diamonds
Kalahari Challenge was an amazing race, with some breath taking scenery and
some awesome single track riding. The event
organization was also top notch, and I would recommend that all you mountain
bikers out there give this race a go. This
was a truly memorable experience. Well
done to my beautiful wife Kirsty for having completed this grueling challenge,
you really do have a mind of steal, and I’m very proud of you.
(Adrian Galliard 2015)
(Adrian Galliard 2015)
No comments:
Post a Comment