Well my last week of training has certainly been dominated by the weather. Joburg's rains seem to have come in earnest and with that the threat of lightning, which generally does not go with riding... normally. But I fear that entering into the Epic exceeds the realm of normality... I only managed to clock in 13 hrs last week which, under the circumstances was not that bad. My partner was away doing Hell and Back, so I did not have the partner motivation getting me out of bed - coupled with the bad weather. Anyway my 3hr Friday ride begain at 5am with a torrential downpour - which did not let up for the entire day - needless to say by the end of it I was very cold and wet, not to mention paranoid about the chance of getting zapped... Any way I managed to escape unscathed. Overall I was happy with my ability to control my heart rate throughout the ride within my zones.