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Showing posts from February 18, 2024

'24 Xterra South Africa - Day 8 and 9

  Sunday was our last full day in Gordon's Bay. We didn't make any plans for Sunday as we wanted to see how we felt after the race on Saturday. I felt pretty good although my right foot was sore from all the uneven footing from the race. Karel didn't sleep well so he was really tired in the morning. The night was incredibly windy. We sleep with our door open and it sounded like waves were crashing as we were sleeping. The wind was super gusty in Gordon's Bay in the morning as well.  I really wanted to swim since it was my last opportunity for a swim for a week. The closest option was the Strand Indoor Swimming pool  but the happiest option was the Coetzenburg outdoor pool . We decided to make the 35-minute drive to the outdoor pool for one last long course swim in the sun. It wasn't windy and the sky was completely blue. It was a wonderful 3200 meter swim.  After the swim we were getting hungry as it was nearing 1pm. We drove a few miles down the road to the beautif

'24 Xterra South Africa Race Recap

  Friday was a chill morning for me. I spent a good amount of time foam rolling and loosening out and Karel went out for a 25 min, 3.2 mile shake out run. Around 12:30pm we loaded our rental car with our bike gear and drove to Elgin Valley Country Club (race venue) for one last recon ride. Karel planned a great route for us so that we could ride on a few key sections of the course, while taking jeep roads in between. I had struggled with my body position and gear selection in a few areas and this ride was the perfect confidence booster for me as I didn't have any stumbles and took some mental notes on which line I wanted to take for each of those sections. The main areas that concerned me where the very tight turns on sand - some where steep uphills and some where steep downhills. I needed to get my body position and momentum just right for going up and then body position and knowing when to brake (and release the front brake at the right time) for the downhills. Conrad Stoltz (Xte