Home to deep winter | Cyclingnews

Gunn Rita Dahle Flesjå (Image credit: Tom Haga)

February 2, 2007

It's not easy to come by fantastic conditions for exercising at high altitudes in January, and also with good temperatures for a cyclist - especially for those wanting to avoid jetlag. We've been living for a month in the town of Dullstroom, just outside of Johannesburg, and it's turned out to be the perfect place for us mountain bikers. We've stayed at 2,000 metres above sea level, and most of our training has been done at altitudes of between 1,700 and 2,100 metres.

We had a couple of cold and uncomfortable days when we arrived in Dullstroom, but since January 1, we haven't had any rain when out cycling. We've had a few afternoon showers with thunder and lightning, but that's quite normal in large areas of South Africa. The rain and bad weather comes quickly and then disappears after a couple of hours. It's not like at home where heavy, rain-filled clouds just settle in and lie there, passively, right above the roofs, for weeks and weeks.

It's full of dirt tracks and roads around Dullstroom and Belfast. There aren't that many paved roads apart from the main roads between towns. That was perfect for us, as we thereby avoided all the heavy traffic and had only the surrounding nature as inspiration during our fantastic exercise stints. Of course, we had to keep our senses keen, to avoid the audience of snakes, monkeys, cows, and ostriches which were to be found both on and along the sides of the tracks.

I can certainly recommend this area to people needing good conditions for training, combined with a good climate when the winter is doing its worst at home. It might not be the best place for those who prefer tarmac and racing bikes, as there is a lot of traffic and the speed limits are 120 kilometres per hour, also on the smaller roads. The long-distance trip we had yesterday had only two short spells on tarmac, a total of 25 minutes. Apart from that, we were on broad gravel roads with partially loose and stony terrain, but perfect for mountain bikes.

The weeks have passed very quickly, which shows that we've enjoyed ourselves and had a good time. We've been able to complete our training-schedules as planned. I had fantastic interval training on Friday with a total of 60 minutes of intense intervals. Obviously one notices that the muscles start getting rather stiff and unresponsive, and that one doesn't have the same circulation as race-ready legs normally would have. But when one experiences good control and response from one's musculature and has enough "oomph" to be able to work with specific areas on each interval, it shows that we've made very few mistakes and done many things right through the last month.

So, we got to experience many hours of sun on our bikes yesterday before leaving, and we even got to see some of Africa's wildlife on four legs. Four zebras passed quite close to us. Lene just managed to snap a picture of the fantastic animals before they galloped away. A few days ago we met a large family of apes who were on an outing and crossed the road just in front of us. We've tried not to meet any more snakes, but we've seen only one this last week.

If you should ever visit Dullstroom some time in the future, we can strongly recommend a special restaurant where we really enjoyed ourselves. Wonderful food and amazingly friendly people can be found when you have to ask for Mrs. Simpson's. Not a large restaurant, but you're guaranteed to get food served with soul. If you want really good living conditions, we can recommend The Ambers. The town is small and cosy, so you won't have any problems finding your way.

Norwegian cross-country mountain bike racer Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå made an impressive comeback last year after sitting out much of the previous season due to illness. In 2008, she won the Madrid, Spain, round of the UCI World Cup and the UCI Marathon World Championships and finished 12th in the World Cup final standings.

Dahle Flesjå will take on a new challenge in 2009 when she gives birth to her first child, expected in late March. With the support of her husband Kenneth Flesjå and her family, she aims to return to competition within a few months after becoming a mother.

Don't count her out for the late season World Cups and World Championships races. She was World Champion in 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006, plus Olympic champion in 2004. In 2003 to 2006, she dominated the sport, winning the World Cup overall.

Follow her exploits in 2009 on Cyclingnews as she takes on a new, joint role as mother and elite racer. Or, for more Gunn-Rita, see her personal website: www.gunnrita.com