Hey Guys
I was fortunate enough to be invited by Cycling South Africa (CSA) to attend a high performance program over a period of a week in Stellenbosch at the Sports Performance Institute, for some testing and a whole lot of other activities which included core training, biodex, jump testing(power),ice baths(not so nice), massaging,muscle activation (probably the most painful experience EVER).
We arrived at Huis Neethling, which was to be our home for the next 7 days on Wednesday afternoon 2nd December after being collected from the airport in Cape Town by a kamakazi driver of note, who somehow managed to get us to from the airport to Stellies in one piece.
After settling in I went for a fairly chilled ride around Stellenbosch and Jonkershoek to kill some time before all the athletes that were invited got together in the evening and Luke and I found quite a cool climb called Helshoogte that was just outside of Stellies.
Over the next couple of days we went for some tests and we were also shownsome gym techniques and core exercises, and between all this Luke Roberts and I tried to slot in our propper training programs wherever we could.
The weekend was ours to kill and we made the most of it to explore the area as much as possible. One one occassion we hit an awesome group ride to Gordons Bay and back to Stellies via the back roads. Unfortunately I picked up a puncture 15km from home, but thats all part of the experience I guess.
Then came Sunday, and I was privilaged to ride what is probably one of the best road rides I've done to date. We left Huis Neethling at 8:00 and made our way towards Gordons Bay again, but this time with only about 8 or so guys. We entered Strand and went straight towards an awesome looking mountain pass in the distance. We arrived at the pass and it was totally spectacular, it was so awesome we actually did the 4-5km climb twice and each time the ride up resulted in a race between all of us.
After a good days ride with some awesome new friends we had made while at the camp, Luke and I decided to go to a Hair Salon and get mullets. Crazy I know, but again... all part of the experience :)
After a totally magical weekend we were back at the institute for some tests on monday morning. Fortunately we had a lot of free time between the tests so we were able to fit our rides in a lot more easily than the previous week, but before we knew it, the week was over and it was time to come home.
It was really awesome to meet some new people, and make new friends. We had and insane time wondering through stellies to go and supplies and food with our mates which just added to the wicked atmosphere. This is a week that I will cherish for a long long time.
A big thank you to CSA for the opportunity to go down to SUSPI for the testing!It was an awesome experience.
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