training ride - a very long one

Its been a long while since I published a post... Things have really been busy, not only in my cycling, but school also! For example, last week I had 6 tests in a 5 days. I wrote a test everyday and on Thursday I wrote 2 tests. But I guess why school is there for us, to make it tough so that we can survive in life after school. Cycling is a very tough sport and to succeed in it you need to train really hard and give it your best(always).
School and cycling to me is almost based on the same principals... You need to study very hard and concentrate a lot too, time management is one of the key factors for us as cyclists still in school, because school starts at about 7:30 and finishes at 2:30 and then you have to still be on the bicycle for 3 hours or even more. In cycling you also need to train very hard and concentrate very hard. Riding technical rock gardens or roots for example has to be riden a lot and practised to perfect your line, and in the race you have to focus on hiting that line at the right angle and speed.

On Sunday 18 September I had a very long training ride to get some hours in the saddle. It was me, my dad, team mate Savanna Vosloo and my coach that started the ride together. I was very excited to ride my BMC Fourstroke for more than the usual hours and also being out there with my dad who has never riden that far in his life on a bicycle. I decided that I would ride with a camelback, so I loaded it up with tons of food. Jungle oats bars, energelies, bilton, vooma gels and even a nice sandwich with some peanutbutter. As we left the cycling shop I thought that I might need to use a jacket, but after 10minutes of riding it was super hot. The places we rode through were really beautiful. It was a real tough ride and the temperature also climbed very high.. The ride just made me realize how amazing MTBiking is and what you get out of it. After 6hrs and 39 minutes in the saddle I was really tired. I took an afternoon nap and felt like a human again.

At 6o'clock my family and i went to an evening service at church and it was such an amazing experience. Also the best way to end off my busy day.

Thats all for now
Jaco