Dimozantos to Race Cape Epic 2011 in South Africa

It's official... After being lucky enough to gain a spot in this prestigious race through their lottery draw, my entry has now being confirmed for the 2011 Cape Epic in South Africa.

The Cape Epic takes place over 8 days from the 27th of March to the 3rd of April next year and follows a grueling course over 800km starting just outside Cape Town. 1200 riders participate in this event and the men's category is UCI ranked, so the field is always very strong.

I am yet to confirm a teammate for the event. It is important to make sure that both my teammate and I are compatible in our strength and expectations.

I am also yet to confirm sponsors for the event itself. Being such a huge international event, the Cape Epic presents some exceptional opportunities for myself and sponsors alike. If you would like to be a part of this, please contact me by email at megandimo@gmail.com

I'm very excited about the opportunity to race the Cape Epic and the timing is perfect coming up towards 24 hour solo world champs in October. To have an important race on the other side of world champs will create a continuing goal to strive for above and beyond world champs.

Stay tuned for more details!!!

Adidas Supernova glasses product review

I was pretty excited a couple of weeks back to pick up my new pair of Adidas Supernova glasses from our good friends at Euro Optics. I've had some time to test them out now and I am nothing short of super impressed. The Supernova is designed as a multisport glass which is helmet compatible (and they do fit really well under a helmet)

The first ride I headed out on was a drizzly cloudy day on the road bike... Out of the driveway and straight up the hill, usually surefire conditions to cause glasses fogging, but no signs of fog as I climbed the first ascent, or for the rest of the ride, for that matter. It rained on me that day, and I didn't get water in my eyes. My initial ride with the new glasses had me quite stoked. The other thing I noticed, which is especially awesome on the road is that because the glasses have a blade design, they don't hinder your peripheral vision, so you can glance back for cars (or in a race, competitors) without having to crane your head around too far.

My next test run was out in the forest at night. I swapped in the clear lens and headed out with my lights through the forest. The lens swap system is really quick and easy. I also noticed how incredibly light the glasses were, and with the clear lens, you would be forgiven for forgetting you were even wearing glasses. Great protection but no restrictions, and once again, no fogging.

Next time out with the glasses was a mountain bike race in the rain and mud... Perfect conditions for pushing equipment to it's limits. It was cold, wet and muddy. The LST technology used in the lenses helped improve the contrast between light and shadow and, even though I was using a fairly dark lens, I didn't have any problems seeing under the forest canopy, or any problems with glare out on the open trail. Once again, I noticed very little fogging and at the end of the ride, there was plenty of mud on the outside of the glasses, but none in my eyes.

The things I love most about the Adidas Supernova glasses:
1. They don't fog
2. You have full, unhindered peripheral vision
3. They are super light
4. It's easy to swap the lenses out
5. They look damn cool (check out the pic)

In general, I've always found Adidas glasses a much better fit for my small face, and many of their glasses come in a small and a large size to cater for us littlies. Check out their designs at the Adidas Eyewear site. There's heaps of cool styles to suit any type of activity. There's also plenty of lens options available.

NDuro Winter series race 1

A bit of pre-race rain set the scene for some good winter riding in Rotorua this weekend. I was pretty keen to get back on the mountain bike after the the Red Centre Enduro about a month ago. It's been a while since I have raced in NZ, and it was great to catch up with a few old friends.

The 40km course set off at 10am and we were in for a treat. The rain over the last week or so had made the trails a pretty slippery affair and it was great fun!!! We started at the Long Mile entrance and headed straight up the hill. I could feel that my legs were strong after the month of speed work I've just done. Up the hill and then down into Waipa Mill to head along creek track and "mad if you don't" and then along yellow brick road and up to the top of "no brains". This is where it got interesting. No brains can be a sketchy trail at the best of times, but in the mud, is even more fun. My wheels turned to mud-clogged rings of recklessness and I somehow managed to dismount my bike over the handlebars, legs first and land on my feet... I had to walk back up the track to pick my bike up and rode the rest of no brains a little more carefully. It was great to be able to ride Split Enz and Pondy again after the recent logging, but Pondy Downhill had been turned into a mudfest of epic proportions. The mud was deep enough that my rear derallier was dragging in it... I think this was where my front derallier stopped working, which I discovered as I climbed back up Old Chevy. My drive train was so clogged with mud that I couldn't ride in the small chain ring without suffering from chain suck. I had the option of being in my easiest gear only, or staying in my big chain ring... I chose the big chainring...

The great thing about riding in mud is that it's so unpredictable, and to be truthful, I don't claim to be all that great at it, so I can't say I was surprised at my dismount on no brains, or when I came down the last section of Old Chevy and elegantly laid my bike down into a gorse bush at speed.

Yup, it was a fun day out, and whilst it was tough work and the times were slow, it was a good skills day. I came 5th in the open female category and right now, the bike is hanging up drying after a good blast with the hose.

Roll on winter!!!!