Life in the life of Caveman. Dealing with XTERRA Grabouw & build up to XTERRA NZ

This is my last year racing as a professional. I’ve known it for a few months, but somehow avoided putting it on paper or ether. It all started with sponsorships imploding, but that is a story for another day.

Our next chapter is very exciting: A baby girl – any day now!

Also, a unique new online coaching business, a unique racing series, Caveman Racing & Adventure training camps, Caveman Skills Clinics, an autobiography, building pump tracks, single tracks, riding motorcycles, less travel, more family time, more home time, (even) less swimming,  slower lifestyle, training for fun. And my first winter home.  More about that later.

Missing XTERRA Grabouw due to a lung infection was a great disappointment. Watching my last “home” XTERRA from the sidelines was really really hard.  If you’re not in the know, XTERRA in South Africa has really taken off in a big way. The Grabouw race has become a significant global event, with a legion of foreign athletes, big prize money, big media, and for a home boy, big King of the Hill points.

My most memorable experience at XTERRA Grabouw was during course practice. Watching a rare Berg Adder eating a mouse. (easily confused with the more lethal and much more common Puff Adder)

In the weeks after Grabouw,

To get my mojo and health back, I made sure to hit the “fun button” :

Raced #PrincessHotstuffs’ Fatboy at Perdeberg Winery Fun Ride. After being told the fatbike tubes “never flat” I did the #Caveman test on them and the result being… they’re not #CavemanProof. (for Swartland goat head thorns, you need to go tubeless- or inject  some sealant into the tube & patch the syringe hole)

Fitting six 2 litre Coke bottles in the wheel instead of a tube seems plausible. Given more time and desperation I think I could have made that wheel tubeless, and the ultimate desert crossing machine… 12L of water per wheel,  plus 3 bottles on the frame and a large Camel Back  =  30L or 7.5 gallons of fluid. Thats a lot of pedaling.

Made sure to hit the legendary Gspot Trail in Stellenbosch regularly! My Specialized Enduro bike with 160mm travel, dropper post and gravity geometry allowed me to push the boundaries of my skills- and work on my lacking flying capabilities.

A video by Spanish pro, Roger Serrano, chasing me down Gspot.

Racing past Road Side Roasted Goats Heads. (not the thorns) I love racing the Songo.info Champions Short Track MTB race (XCO) in Kayamandi. For sure one of my more memorable racing experiences. The fastest riders on the planet racing through Kayamandi Township, cheered on by thousands of kids- all for charity – makes for good vibes. Health wasnt 100% yet, but getting good work done.

Also tackled a project I’m passionate about: Building a pump track in Kylemore township in the beautiful Banhoek Valley near Stellenbosch.

After building a 25m swimming pool by hand, this was child’s’ play!

Most people in South Africa dont fully understand “pump track”. Check out the following 2 videos to see what I’m on about:

Big boys (Lopez, Ropelato & bros) & fast girls (Beerten & Kiltner) racing on a crazy fast pump track- you have to see it to believe it!

 

I like pump tracks because:

1) Pump tracks are accessible to everyone. The 5 year old who has just learned to ride his bike can safely ride on it. But, an experienced racer like myself, gets huge amounts of fun from trying to go as fast as possible. Using skill, timing and strength we try to go super fast – all by moving your body weight. No pedaling at all.

2) You dont need a fancy bike. In fact, BMX’s  are some of the most fun and nimble bikes to shred (or learn) with. Also, only a few people can ride at the same time, so you only need 3 bikes and a pump track to keep a big group of riders busy and entertained.

3) Pumping makes you REALLY tired really fast. When I’m going as fast as I can, I can only go for about 90 seconds to 2 minutes before my glutes and quads blow up. Its a full body workout – arms, core, legs & skill! In fact, I had to avoid the pump track in the days leading up to quality rides so my legs would not be trashed. Great off season sport specific (and FUN!) strength training… (Unless you like watching yourself picking up pieces of iron in the mirror)

4) Pump tracks are a fun way for kids to learn to love cycling. Its a social gathering place and is a breeding ground for budding MTB or BMX riders. Kids like being challenged, learning new stuff, being active without feeling like its serious “training.” When kids have fun on bikes they tend to stay “off the streets” and out of trouble, which is the main reason I built this track.

However, building a good pump track is not just making some piles of dirt. The spacing and size of the rollers and radii and steepness of the turns are a mathematical equation. I got this pump track plan from my skills coach, mentor, and track & trail designer Lee McCormack from Leelikebikes.com 

Of course, I had to get the real work done. I had to “Embrace the uphill” – like my ClifBar package says in its #MeetTheMoment campaign.  Of course, the photo makes the big hill look flat. Table Mountain and my #Diverge in the back ground.

Thanks to my humble genius coach, Ian Rodger, I’m faster at age 41 than than I ever was before. (at 2min hill reps, anyway)

Above is the “Defcon 4* MAP* session” which comprised of 10 x 2min Hill reps. I knocked it out of the park and clocked best ever Peak Power for 2 min of 590W. I remember a couple of years ago, I was happy to do them all at 500W. Just shows you the magic of structured, scientific training, progressed over a number of years…

You can check out Ian’s colourful description and the whole  TrainingPeaks power file here.

* “Defcon 4” I’m told, is a futuristic nuclear war movie reference. Something to do with when the whole world is about to explode in a giant ball of fire. Ian uses it to describe certain, rare training sessions.

*MAP = Maximum Aerobic Power.

Swim training has never been this scenic. I did maybe 75% of my swimming in this stunning piece of open water. Cant ask for a better view! I just found out this past week, something I suspected all along: I’m allergic to pools! (with chlorine, anyway)

My in-laws is a large, very social family. The long weekend before my departure for XTERRA NZ and Australia, the whole Wium clan gathered in the West Coast hamlet of Britannia Bay. We celebrated Pa Pieter and Ma Marietjie’s 70th birthdays and my brother-in-law, Willems’ 40th. To cap it off, they surprised Liezel and myself with a baby shower! The picture above is of a toy elephant riding a motorcycle made from nappies (diapers) and baby toys. (Headlight is a bottle and Ouma knitted quite a few pairs of baby socks)

Cant go to the ocean and not take the Fatboy. In fact, I had so much fun on it, I didn’t touch my Epic till I had to pack it for travel.

More Fatboy adventures in another blog.

There is something I just love about running and riding on the beach!

My last quality run on the beach was a good one. Due to old war injuries from ’09, my running training has typically been haphazard in volume, speed and consistency – this year however, after much body work & physio, my running fitness started rounding the corner.

It was tough to say goodbye to #PrincessHotstuff and baby bump for a whole 2 weeks! Especially on a trip to her 2nd home (and Netball stomping grounds) – New Zealand and Australia.

To be continued…