Training Log Archive: briangardner

Total transition time of 1:31 over 7 transitions.

Leg 7 - Cyanosis were super fast in transition and left on the boats 5 minutes ahead of us. We knew we had our work cut out, as they were faster than us on the boats early in the race. We pushed hard and tried to limit the damage. Time check at the turn-around put us about 9 minutes behind. 15 minutes behind by the end of the paddle.

Leg 8 - Ferried the bikes across the dam on the boats. Cyanosis were long gone! Had half resigned myself to not catching up with them, but AR is always an interesting game... Caught sight of bike lights at CP19 (Siphon). We reckoned it could only be Cyanosis, although we weren't sure if it was a 100km team. We then upped the pace considerably and caught them between CP19 and 20, looking like they were having some bike and mud issues. Needless to say we were now hyper-motivated, after making up 25 minutes on them in the first half of the bike. Sun was up just before CP20 which also brought renewed vigour! We pushed insanely hard on the last 3 hours on the bike on some tough single tracks and horrible grassy tracks that never seemed to end. Cobus and Sue were taking a bit of strain, but showed some solid vasbyt. We could finally relax on the last downhill into the Hotel, and crossed the line in 1st place. Cyanosis 25 minutes behind us in 2nd. An epic race, and a battle right to the finish line that I wont forget in a long time! Cyanosis were strong and pushed us hard on every leg. Unbelievably proud of the Team and our performance! Some proper hard racing!

C • Well done!!! 8

Double Moon 200km AR with Team Jabberwock. Cobus, Craig and Susan. Leg 1 - hike/ run from Orion Mont Aux Sources hotel to the top of little 'berg via Sunrise ridge and Cannibal Caven. Back down to T1 at The Cavern Hotel. Pushed it hard from the start, with only Cyanosis, Accucheck and Olympus following closely. Into T1 1st.

Leg 2 - Bike from The Cavern to All out Adventures. Nice trails! Manged to hold onto 1st place going into the Zip Line section at T2.

Leg 3 - Lekker Zip Line at All out Adventures, then back on feet toward T3 at the Paddle put in. Took a non-optimal route choice from T2 to CP10, letting Cyanosis and Accucheck catch up a bit. Pushed the pace and still got into T3 1st, but only just. A bit slow getting on the water. Cyanosis were on the water half a minute ahead of us.

Leg 4 - Cyanosis were strong on the water and pulled a gap. We tried hard not to let the gap get too big. Some fun in the rapids with Craig and I swimming once! Hectic head wind for the last few km's of flat water. Off the water at T4 about 7 minutes behind Cyanosis.

Leg 5 - Good transition after the paddle and onto the bikes to T5 at Mweni. We had a good bike, with lots of towing and pace lining going on. Got to T5 with Cyanosis still there. Had to plot maps for the rest of the race.

Leg 6 - Took on lots of food at T5 and fueled up. Some nice route choices on the hike, we opted for going east from T5, across the big bridge and up the Mazana River valley. Cyanosis and Olympus apparently took the other route option up the Mweni Valley and then north towards CP13. We had about 2 hours of daylight to work with, so ran alot to get as far as possible before the light went. We had a solid hike and found a nice route off the mountain into CP13. Saw Cyanosis lights coming down the valley towards CP13, so knew they had taken the other route option. Our route seemed to work out well and was faster. Did a slight detour after CP14 in the settlement areas where roads on the map were not on the ground. Lost a bit of time here with a bad route choice, and Cyanosis caught us just before the swim. We swam across the dam together and into T6 seconds apart.