Weekend warrior, economist and singlespeed junkie Alistair Schorn has signed up for the 2015 Old Mutual joBerg2c. Having done the inaugural event, it will be his second go at the nine-day journey across South Africa and he says he is keen to experience the growth of the event first-hand. And, no, he says he is not foolish enough to ride the ol’ singlespeed. We invite you to follow Confessions of a Weekend Warrior right here on In the Bunch.
With that other big stage race in full swing in the Western Cape (Ed: Cape Epic?), it’s time to get down to the serious business of mountain biking.
Naturally, on an even more serious note, our thoughts and prayers are with those people whose lives have been affected by the terrible fires in and around Cape Town.
Nevertheless, the fact that the other race is rolling out means that it’s just a bit less than five weeks to go until the Old Mutual joBerg2c, suggesting that we should be in the middle of some pretty intense training.
Having done the first joBerg2c in 2010, I’m really looking forward to going back and seeing how it’s changed and grown up, and how the trails have gotten even better than they were in that first year (especially the first three days through the Free State mielie fields).
I have to admit, I feel really fortunate to have a job that allows me some flexibility to train at various times during the week. I can’t think that it’s particularly pleasant to be getting up at around 4am to train, especially in March and April when the sunrise is getting later and the temperatures are dropping.
At the same time, even with the flexibility that I have, it can be pretty challenging to juggle training and doing some warm-up races with running a business, supervising students and spending time with the family.
With regard to warm-up races, a few weeks ago I was at the three-day Bridgestone Route 66 MTB Experience, held to the west of Johannesburg. This event markets itself as the biggest stage race in Gauteng and also as being a lot tougher than many of the other three-day races on the calendar.
To my mind, it certainly lived up to that reputation (definitely not the place to ride a singlespeed, which is what I somewhat foolishly did).
More recently, my training partners and I were at the Babba’s Lodge event north of Pretoria, which is a lot more suited to singlespeed racing. The course is pretty flat, very sandy and not too technical, so it’s high-intensity all the way and, as such, it’s a really good test of where one is in terms of training and preparation for joBerg2c.
In the next few weeks, I’m looking forward to a family and training weekend away at Mankele.
I’ll be reporting back on my progress and confessing my setbacks as I start the final countdown to joBerg2c.
Next Confession of a Weekend Warrior.
