Living the dream….
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if i look back, i am lost
Claire Keane
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@beardedmntman
Living the dream….
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The Plush and the Quick!
Sending it with confidence and ease!
DT Swiss are are well known spoke/hub/wheel manufacturer. They make arguably the simplest and high performance hubs on the market. Their quality is only eclipsed by their precision. All their parts are meticulously produced to a super high standard. I love their stuff, anything they engineer and then produce is just going to be drool worthy and solid.
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Everyone is so hung up on training, and it’s important to keep consistent training to make the improvements, but we forget balance.
Balance isn’t just the skill you need to stay upright on the bike, but I mean balance in life. You have to balance work, responsibilities and training with having fun. Training can be fun, but the freedom you get from leaving the “stats” behind and just riding is really important.
The best times I’ve had on my bike are shared with riding buddies on some adventurous and hard day, which in itself was hard training. The days theme wasn’t training though, and was filled with childish man banter, wheelies and hot-dogging it down dodgy rock gardens. We stopped midday for a beer at the half-way point and shared our stories about the dodgy lines the rider in front of us took. Riding home on tired legs and novel “beer lines”, we make our way up the final hill home and find the legs are not as co-operative as they where at the start of the day. What this tell us is, that you can maintain balance and have loads of fun. Finding balance really isn’t about putting training, or work or something else aside, it’s about shifting it (prioritizing if you will) as needed. When work requires more time, you work more, when you need a holiday you prioritize rest. Most people are under the wrong impression, that to gain balance you have to give something up, when in fact it means shifting things around to gain balance…..life on a life boat, you only have 4 items inside, and if they are all at the back, the boat will tip, so you put them in all 4 corners to balance it. When you need one of the 4 items, you stay in the middle to use them, thus maintain your balance.
GO RIDE YOUR BIKE Everyone is so hung up on training, and it's important to keep consistent training to make the improvements, but we forget balance.
Ever considered pedalling technique? I mean really just thought about it?
I’ve been riding bikes a good long while now, and probably 20 years of that in clipless pedals, so pedalling should have been easier and more efficient right? Well in a manner using clipless pedals offered the potential of greater efficiency and power on the bike, but it needed practice of the right technique.
The key here to note is the word efficiency. Understand what it means, to do the same or more with less effort……..that’s what I want on my bike, to go further and faster but with less effort! The big trick that the shops told us back then was you can push and pull on the pedals to increase your power. So for a very dumbed down explanation, this is correct, but that only adds efficiency on the up stroke of one leg at the same time as the other is forcing the pedals down. What I wanted was an increase in my pedal smoothness and in a part of the pedal stroke that I’m not capitalizing on.
Technique and Practice.
So over the last few weeks I’ve been thinking about how to beat my personal bests on the climbs (which are my weakness) and, it dawned on me the other day while scouting a tricky loose section for the 2018 Absa Cape Epic. You had to ride a gear or two harder than you usually would on a similar incline (cadence gets reduced from 85/90 rpm to 65/70 rpm) and you have to “ROLL” the cranks, without rocking and without breaking breaking traction. You have to not pull on the handlebars for fear of pulling yourself skew in that split second slip of the wheel. You had to be rock solid and yet supple all at the same time. I mastered a little trick that helped me do this (more on this if you wish to attend a skill session with me). Once this trick was mastered, I set out on some of my favourite rocky, sandy and technical climbs that boast low traction, and more importantly, have a reputation for claiming non smooth riders.
I set off, not thinking I would best my record of 8:59min.sec but I set off with the purpose of holding the best technique I could. I rolled a fat gear, low cadence and I kept my core engaged. I toiled and struggled to the top and thought nothing of it. It didn’t feel faster, in fact, it had felt slower. But I noticed I wasn’t tired. I thought maybe I wasn’t trying hard enough. It was only when I got home and downloaded the file that I saw I had bested my time by 46sec but with ease. The thing is, I took the KOM also BONUS!
Since then I’ve concentrated on the importance of the technique and have had other fantastic results, reaching top 10s and higher on sections I would normally on feature in the late 30s! All of this made possible with not having to push High outputs, but pushing more of my pedal stroke with a medium high power (higher average through out the pedal stroke) than a high push and pull stroke!
Go practice rolling your pedals around rather than just pushing down and pulling up and go see for yourself!
Pedalling Ever considered pedalling technique? I mean really just thought about it? I've been riding bikes a good long while now, and probably 20 years of that in clipless pedals, so pedalling should have been easier and more efficient right?
Wet ride this AM, and freezing temps but I must say that @rebeccabartur is now well on her way to #AnEpicAdventure. @daisywaycoaching #technique #skillup #training #next_level #confidence #control #balance #happyplace
Riding grabouw on winter......terrible. #happyplace #views #grabouw (at Oak Valley)
Suspension working so well, this bike has so much traction thanks to @rbc_tech and @pushindustries & @andreanigroup custom piston and valving. My @niner_sa Jet 9 RDO is just so smooth and sweet. There's nothing quite like riding a bike that exciting to ride. #custom #msic #valved #shimmed #tuned #betterthanfactory #next_level #suspension (at Grabouw)
On the bike in the sun! What a rad day. #enoughsaid
@liviotronchin plugging a tyre for the first time since Grape Escape 2012. This year was no F1 style puncture repair.....to say the least. But it was repaired and many giggles and innuendos later.... @howard_ross_simms. #climbing #groenlangbergdescent #plugit #grabouw #views
Today I rode my bike for the love of it, I didn't get tired, I didn't hurt. My attitude toward riding my bike for nearly 6 hours was to do it for the simple pleasure, that first feeling of freedom you felt when you first got a bike. The feeling of flying, the feeling of independence and the feeling of invincibility. Today I rode my bike. #happyplace
Joined @paulgibbings from @whitestonecycles on his big day out, he rode from Hermanus and did the "Bowl" with me in Grabouw and then rode back to Hermanus in a head wind. #strongman #happyplace #training #slowmiles #ridemorethanyoudont #climbing
When in doubt go up! #climbing #torq #fat #slow
Last day of training camp for @thomas_luc_hudson and we just went and shredded some trail using the techniques he had learned! Thanks to @paulgibbings for rocking up and tagging along, we had such a good time bro! 👊🏻 #coachingpoints #skill #technique #balance #control #oldschoolisn'tslow
Custom Built Push Industries Shock by RBC.
Custom Built Push Industries Shock by RBC.
So today a parcel arrives at home for me. I haven’t bought anything or am I waiting for anything so it was pretty cool and a huge surprise. I opened the parcel, and the thick bubble wrap tells me about the contents….precious cargo! After getting halfway through the roll of bubble wrap I notice what it is, it’s a sleek black rear shock! Now I remember, Robbie (suspension guru of note and my…
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Got invaded by the Hermanus gangstas today. @paulgibbings and @gobike_hermanus throwing down the hurt today! But we had so much fun, it's so a privilege to be on a bike in the mountains. #mtblife #ridemorethanyoudont #leads_by_example #thebeardedninerd @niner_sa @rbc_tech @daisywaycoaching @jenniestenerhag we missed you (at Elgin Grabouw Country Club)
A morning spent on the bike is never waisted. @daisywaycoaching @spookgroen @daisyglug #skillup #technique #coaching (at Grabouw)
RIP Mika Malamute. No words today.