end of the year training

Hi there

The year is winding down to an end and we are still doing the miles on our mountain bikes. We are off to spain tomorrow and there we will be riding long hours, an average of 4 to 8 hours long rides. our goal is to do as many long climbs as we can.

The exciting part is that we will spend time with our families and at the same time we will ride in new places all the time and as many of you know one of the biggest challenges when you are doing the miles is not to get bored of riding at the same places.

so far we have done 6.411 km and over 400 hours on the saddle. we could have riddent to cape town and back a couple of times!

a merry christmas to everyone
Joaquin

24 Hours Mugg & Bean Race

Hi there

The training is going very well, going from strenght to streght and still riding the miles big time.

Last saturday and sunday we did a 24 hour race, something completely new for me yet.

The course was set in Northern farms and the laps were 17.5 km long. the whole idea was to ride on teams and to always have a rider riding for 24 hours non stop. Our team was formed by Carlos Valverde (my younger brother), Pamina (my partner in crime and epic riding partner) and I. We did in total 27 laps and we managed to win our category (three mixed team). We did win in the most amazing win, after 24 laps we had a comfortable lead of about 20 minutes so we thought it was done, but then Pam's chain broke half way into lap 24, some kind soul helped her (you know how women and mechanics are!) and she managed to finish the lap but by them the team behind us overtook us and had a lead of 15 min. Then it was my turn, I raced like crazy and manage to cut the lead down to 5 minutes. Pam did the last but one lap and managed to keep the distance to the same 5 minutes. The last lap was up to me, so i went, I pushed like crazy (after having done about 170km and 8 hours of riding) as I had to chase the guy and cat down his 5 min lead.

2 km to the end I saw him and I couldnt believe my eyes, I had managed to cut down their lead and now I had the opportunity of overtaking him. there wasnt much space for it and after two attempts I managed to evertake him going out of the single track and taking some chances.

The guy was astonished as he thought he had secure the win! I overtook him and despise being extremely tired managed to keep my lead and get to the finish line 20 seconds ahead of him.

Pam and carlos were waiting anxiously at the finish line, looking for my red helmet in the distance, and there I was! WE WON!

anyway, this race showed me that even when you are tired and you havent slept much you can still push, is all in our heads!

cheers