Mountain bike-mad Alistair Schorn continues his countdown to the 2015 Old Mutual joBerg2c. In this blog, he contemplates his new equipment, new Banting diet and new training programme that will (hopefully) see him through his second participation in the nine-day ride across South Africa. Read more Confessions of a Weekend Warrior right here on In the Bunch.
So we’re down to less than four weeks until the Old Mutual joBerg2c‘s Grand Départ from Karan Beef, and things are slowly starting to come together in my house.
Alistair Schorn. Photo: Supplied
Last week I picked up my new Merida dual-suspension 29er, which has been a long time coming. In this regard I have to thank Clint at Finish Line Cycles in Kempton Park (certainly the coolest, most laid-back bike shop I’ve ever been in) for his patience in indulging my long-drawn-out decision-making process around this bike.
I’ve also started figuring out and getting together all the bits and pieces that I think I might need for the event. More about this in a later post but, for the moment, suffice to say that the list of things to take with is growing steadily.
In preparing for the joBerg2c, I have for the first time in many years been working with a coach, Mark van der Merwe, who also coaches the Europcar U23 pro road team.
This has really helped in terms of getting some structure into my training and obtaining regular updates on my progress.
It’s been a really interesting process and I’m amazed at how far the science of the sport has progressed since the late ’80s and early ’90s, when my friends and I were racing competitively on the road.
Back then, we just sort of bashed away, thinking that if we trained enough the results would follow. Nowadays, between power meters, monthly testing and targeted training, it’s much less of a hit-or-miss affair.
Since the beginning of the year, I’ve also changed my diet to LCHF (low carb high fat), or Banting, as advocated by Dr Tim Noakes and his colleagues.
There are of course a lot of differing opinions on the benefits and/or pitfalls of this approach to nutrition, depending on who one speaks to and where their allegiances lie.
From my point of view, all I can say is that it’s working for me. I’ve dropped several kilos of weight since the beginning of the year.
Obviously, this might be as a result of all the training I’ve been doing but I probably trained even harder five years ago for the first joBerg2c than I have this time around, with far less dramatic results in terms of weight loss.
I can also feel the difference in terms of sustained long-term energy levels. Before, I could maybe train for two to two-and-a-half hours before feeling a decline in energy levels and a need to start eating, whereas now I can easily go for up to four hours before I need to start eating during a race or long training session.
In any event, we’ll have to see how feasible it will be to follow a LCHF diet during the joBerg2c, especially with the amazing catering in the race villages and even at the watering points. This is definitely one of those events where it’s quite easy to get back home weighing more than when you left.
Later this week we’re off to Mankele in Mpumalanga for the Easter long weekend, so I’m looking forward to putting in a last few good sessions in some beautiful mountain biking terrain before the joBerg2c journey begins.
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