Downhill, Freeride, Dirt Jump, Race, Trials, Urban
Megan and I finished the Cape Epic a few weeks ago now, and it all seems a distant memory already.We finished the Epic 306th overall out of about 665 teams, beating a hell of a lot of blokes on the way (which always feels great).
There were 25 Women’s teams at the start and only 17 of them made it to the finish line. We were the 14th women’s team overall, and we finished 10th place in the last stage (not too bad for two non pro xc racers). Continue reading ‘Team Iron Horse Maidens Killed it!’
Well, as I am sitting here on this beautiful Monday morning, my stomach is turning and I am getting nervous. I finished my last weekend of long rides, and now we only have a few short rides left until we start. Our training is complete. It has a weird, anti climatic feel to it. All these long hours in the saddle - in the snow and scorching sun has come to an end.
We went on the most beautiful xc ride on Sunday with a local crew of friends. We set of to Grabouw in the dark, to have an early start, because it was supposed to be another real scorcher of a day. It was like a kid in a candy store, because I have been wanting to do this ride for year’s, and just have never been able to…
So, with 23 days to go, I decided to enter a mountain bike race to see how my training has been going. There were 3500 entrants, and it was on a beautiful wine farm Boschendal, where you are not usually allowed to ride. It was 55km long, and because I was not seeded, I had to start with hundreds of people way back in the bunch. I played catch up the whole race, and the last 15km, all the age groups were thrown in on the same trail towards the finish line. It was chaotic, with kiddies and grannies and very large people on bicycles, you had to control yourself not to race past the kids and push over the grannies, but to still try and get to the finish line ASAP! I finished 18th overall out of 50 in the pro women’s category, and only 7 min behind some of the top xc pro.
From Fluidride Team Rider: Anka Martin
The reason that I am in South Africa is because I am participating in the Absa Cape Epic, a 9 day xc stage race where Megan (my partner) and I will be riding 920km (580 miles) on dirt!Our team is called the Ironhorse Maidens, and we will keep you updated here on what we are getting up to with our preparations for the Epic.
From Fluidride Team Rider: Anka Martin
As I am writing this, I am struggling to stay awake after having ridden many miles in 40+ (102) degree heat on the one day and sweating buckets in monsoon style rain and humidity the next. We rode some of the finest singletrack in South Africa in Jonkershoek, Stellenbosch on Sunday and in Grabouw on Saturday. The South Easter wind has been howling everyday, and it has just gradually been getting hotter and hotter, yesterday being the hottest day I think I have ever ridden my bike in. The weather has been very strange this year, not normal at all, and not cooling down at all. I woke up to pouring rain, which was a pleasant welcome after Saturday’s scorcher.
Continue reading ‘Monsoon rain, heat, sweat and sweet singletrack!’
From Fluidride Team Rider: Anka Martin
We made it home after 15 hours of driving from Bend to San Clemente, 10 hour flight from LAX to Paris, 12 hour flight from Paris to Johannesburg, 2 hour flight from JHB to Cape Town and then a 30 min drive to my parent’s house! Rather jet lagged to say the least, sleeping until 1 o clock in the afternoon was a first for us. Waking up from the heat was quite a change from the minus degrees and snow up in Oregon.
