Browsing Archive: March, 2012
Posted by Nicholas Hops on Saturday, March 31, 2012,
Captains Log There was sun today...good news. But it was still incredibly cold at 07h00 this morning! The start had been delayed to 7h30 with a mass start so that the course could dry out a little and the riders could dry out too!!! I had 4 layers on my torso and my leg warmers on as well, dressed up to the nines! We headed off towards the bottom of the 1st climb and I was keen to warm up so I set off at my own pace and waited for dad 2/3rd of the way up. Turns out he hadn't been able to chan... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nicholas Hops on Saturday, March 31, 2012,
Submariners Log: Waking up today, in the rain, standing in the chute, in the rain, starting and riding, in the rain...Stage 5 was horrible. It rained the entire night so everything was wet and sodden. I don't like cold, with a body fat level like mine anything below 15degrees can bring on pneumonia so I dressed up as warm as I could and headed off to the start chute as late as possible. We had 118km and 2600m of climbing to be done so it was going to be a long day from the beginning! We starte... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nicholas Hops on Thursday, March 29, 2012,
Captains Log
At 103km and 2600m of climbing today was always going to be tough, with so much climbing packed into a "short" distance (think 147km for 2900m yesterday) we were in for a long ride. Also, Leon Evans (Dr Evil) said today would be 'hard' (with a smile) Because we're camped up on a hill the first couple of km's were speedy and dangerous but the groups quickly thinned out as the road went uphill. The first climb involved about 25% walking and was quite steep for the rest of the way, w...
Posted by Nicholas Hops on Thursday, March 29, 2012,
Captains log
With 143km and 2900m of climbing planned for the day, today was bound to be one of the longest days I have spent on a bike. And it came close, at 8h35 (Winners did 5h33) it was 10 minutes shy of the 8h45 I spent doing the argus twice 2 weeks ago. The start was fast because it was a mass start where all the groups from 0/A-H started in one big heap. The first 18km were on tar, followed by 21km of easy gravel riding. 39/143 complete. We then hit a 5km climb which wasn't too bad bu... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nicholas Hops on Tuesday, March 27, 2012,
Captains Log... Just a quick update on yesterday first!I forgot to mention that mom and vix came out to support at Spectator Point 2 and The finish! Was very nice to have some support even though I wasnt particularly talkative after the long day! Also, Kevin and Dave from 360Life (The best team in the race, just with the worse luck) won the telkom hotspot for the day and got R10000 for their efforts. They split up the check and each donated R5000 to a charity. Kev gave us his half and Dave don... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nicholas Hops on Monday, March 26, 2012,
Captains Log.... Today was death! The race started with two steep and longish climbs straight after each other, with all the other riders around it was impossible to ride and we joined in the many walkers pushing our bikes up very steep and loose hills. I can't say for sure if I would have been able to ride these if there were no people but I can only hope. Each of the two climbs were followed by steep and dangerous descents which had to be negotiated with care. Luckily throughout the whole da... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nicholas Hops on Sunday, March 25, 2012,
So today was the first day of the Epic and although it was only 27km it still had about 850m of climbing so it was no walk in the park! Dad and I set off at 8h52 and settled into his rhythm. Its better on a course like this for him to sit at the front because otherwise if I am in front of him and he drifts backwards he wont tell me that he is falling behind. We've been working on that for a while but unsuccessfully. The first climb went by pretty quickly as the adrenaline was pumping hard, th... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nicholas Hops on Friday, March 23, 2012,
First off, The Prologue is less than 36 hours away and even though it will not be hard it will definitely be dangerous! hundreds of riders on single track mean two things, 1) congestion 2) accidents. I hope to take it as casually as dad lets me on sunday just so that I dont hurt myself. People who know me may not believe this but I have genuinely accepted this race strategy. Normally in 1 day races I will start of slowly (relatively) and then speed up towards the end of the race and I hope to... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nicholas Hops on Wednesday, March 14, 2012,
The Argus cycle tour was last sunday and I along with 35000 other people took on the heat and (light) wind of the cape peninsula. It was my 3rd time doing the race and I have obviously done the route many times before in general training. Last year was a perfectly flat and calm day and I managed to do a 3h10, so I was hoping to get this down to somewhere under 3h05 since I was starting in D batch this time. Leaving at 6h36 I soon realised that I didn't have my big boy racing pants on and by 6... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nicholas Hops on Wednesday, March 7, 2012,
On Saturday the 4th of March I raced in the Argus Mountain Bike edition out at Boschendal wine Estate. Because it finished after the Columbia Grape Escape the worlds best marathon riders were down to compete, including Chrisoph Sauser, Burry Stander and Kevin Evans. In the morning it was raining, which put a massive downer on my day but once the race got underway I immediately realised that i was in for a good time. The climbs weren't too bad and if they were they were followed shortly by a d... Continue reading ...
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About Me
| Nicholas Hops |
| Plettenberg Bay |
Cancer Survivor
Riding to do my part in taking it down!
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