Secret SleepDeprivers
Stuff you do is keeping you awake at night – and you don’t even know it.
which one to enter can be difficult. I decided to make my job easier by choosing something a little low- key as my first ‘ post- baby’ race: the threestage Lormar Endurance MTB Tour.
The first stage was a night ride, and it was so special, riding under the stars – which out in the Karoo seem brighter than anywhere else. The next stage was a 70km ride. Having not ridden that far in a long time, my legs and butt were left a bit tender. People like to believe that riding the Karoo is easy, but between the loose sand and a solid headwind, we were made to work pretty hard to get to the finish. Needless to say I felt I had to reward myself after such a taxing day in the saddle. So we took a stroll to the brewery in the late afternoon and sampled some of the locally brewed beers, and had a cheese platter to ‘ refuel’ the tank.
Because I was on baby duty, I let Benno (my son’s dad) ride the final stage. It was a 67km ride back to the start venue, and he told me the first half was a mission, going uphill for at least 30km. Everyone finished in high spirits though, and after the stage I joined the other riders for beers and vetkoek.
The Karoo is a special part of our country, and being able to experience it on a bike left me in awe of how lucky we are. We are surrounded by civilisation most of our lives, and being in the Karoo with so much of nothing around just brings you back down to earth, and allows you to appreciate the simple things in life.
I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this event, and the hospitality was outstanding. We stopped off at Prince Albert on the way home to make the most of the holiday. It was a much-needed break – after three days, I felt like I’d been on a two-week holiday! Sleep. We all need it, but we don’t all do it well, and sometimes the things keeping us up are not as easy to pinpoint as we think. Here are two hidden factors that could be keeping you up at night – courtesy of Dave Asprey, author of The Bulletproof Diet.
Bright Lights
Even five minutes of white light from a screen suppresses melatonin (the sleep hormone) levels by more than 50%. For at least half an hour before going to bed, try to avoid bright lights. This includes all those iDevices, your phone, and the TV.
Second Wind
There’s a window around 10.45 to 11pm or so when you naturally get tired (though this fluctuates according to the season). If you choose not to go to sleep then, you may get a cortisoldriven ‘second wind’ that can keep you awake until 2am. For some, that can be majorly detrimental to their overall productivity.
...my legs and butt were left a bit tender.
Cycling has its subtle innuendos. A T-shirt that says ‘ Hung Like A Derailleur’ isn’t one of them, but sometimes you need balls- out bravado to take your cycling cred to a whole new level.
Looking for a gift? There’s also a ‘ HTFU’ T-shirt, as a wake- up call to that cycling mate who regularly misses your morning ride due to a ‘ little niggle’. R240 EACH | YAKYAK.CO. ZA