If at first you don't succeed...

If at first you don’t succeed...

This weekend was supposed to be a big one. Months of training, a good eating plan, good preparation races. Everything was in place and all indications were that we were ready for this. 

The race is the CA 2 C (Cape Town to sea), or what seems to be an 11th hour sponsorship, Die Burger Weskusser. The event was conceived after the highly successful Renosterveld 3 day mountain bike challenge in September 2010 by the same orginisers. 

On Friday we arrived at Clara Anna Fontein to register and collect our race packs. The goodie bag was amazing. Aca Joe Golf shirt, sludge hamper, CO2 canister, USN Vooma gel, USN pro sports bar and a few other bits and pieces. 

After a good nights rest we gathered at Clara Anna Fontein for the start, which was moved on to 6:30 from 6:00 to ensure that SABC2’s TV crew were given enough time to set up and have good enough light to shoot the start. We eventually started at 7:10, and immediately it was apparent that this was going to be a long hard day on the bike.

We traversed “Bloemendal Hill” from the Eastern side and did a full circuit of Contermanskloof before we crossed the Vissershok road. 25 kms of racing and we were 2 km from our start.

We had a quick stop at Meerendal and was off, straight up the big climb on Meerendal and down onto the quarry with a very technical descent. 30km into the race and we have climbed 1200m already. 

All around riders were suffering and a strong South Easter was kind at times, but brutal at others. 45km into the race it was apparent that something was very wrong with me. I had no power in my legs, my balance was off and soon I was vomiting. My partner had to wait for me at the top of every climb and at the 55km water point he advised me to pull out. It was a very tough decision to make. I don’t quit. Period. But soon the medics attended to me and I was told in no uncertain terms that to continue would be suicide. So my race was over 4 hours into day 1. I was gutted. My wife was at Phillidelphia an hour later to pick me up. A rider struggling with a flat front wheel asked hopefully if he can borrow my bike. I laughed and then realised that he was serious, so I turned around and walked off. 

As I got to the finish line at 1pm, only 8 riders were in. 6 hours into the race with practically the whole field still out there. 

I collected my bag at my tent and as I walked back to my car. I passed what seemed to be a hall of fame of Epic, Pioneer and even some Trans Alp luggage bags back to the car - all of them still out there fighting the elements. 

As I waited for my partner the riders crossed the line one by one and here and there small groups of 3 or 4 riders limped in. I didn’t see many smiles as the riders came in. Asking on how the second half was, the most common response was blank stares and shaking of heads. 

At 4pm Chris finally dragged his tired body across the line. As he got off his bike, he collapsed. The medics who already had their hands full attended to him smartly. After a graphic description of the sand, more sand and the tough second half, Chris asked me to load his bike and get his luggage. Another 9 hour day would not benefit his Epic training in any way, and as he was dehydrated and feeling ill (much like myself earlier), he would rather recover and be ready for a mid-week training session. 

Soon sweeper vehicles with bakkie loads of bikes and riders came to the finish, dropping broken bodies and their equipment to go back for more. 

I am unsure of the final figure, but I suspect that more than 40% of the day 1 starters did not start on day 2. Surely the orginisers would tone down day 2 of the event, but the damage was done. It is evident that there is a fine line between a success and disaster. From an orginisational point of view, every detail was thought of and nothing was too much trouble. This is what we became accustomed to during the Renosterveld, and at CA 2 C it was certainly at the same level. It is easy to be overly critical, but some constructive comments and advice follows:

• 7am was maybe too late for the race to start
• the Bloemendal/Contermanskloof loop could have been left out and some of the more moderate Meerendal trail could have been used. We spent 2 hours doing a 25km loop that took us very close to where we started.
• more water points should have been enroute. 3 was not enough. 
• the 8km of unridable sand needed a better solution. There was 1 tractor doing duty, but if this section was unavoidable, having 3 or 4 vehicles on standby to shuttle riders through on  say 5 minute intervals, with a time credit at the end for time spent waiting for a pick-up could have saved many riders another hour in the field.
• February is possibly too dry to attempt this event in the future. September was a good time for the Renosterveld race (same orginisers)
• initial marketing advertised the event as 1800m climbing over 110 km day 1 and 1200m climbing over 120km day 2 (from memory). This changed to 2300m climbing over 115 km day 1 and unless day 2 was altered, 2100m climbing with 110km riding on day 2. This was 1400m of additional climbing from what was sold initially to the riders. Better route planning should therefor be done before entries opened. Only 2 or 3 races can get away with opening entries and then releasing route info later. This is not one of them. 

In closing I hope that those who started day 2 had a much more enjoyable time than on day 1. Riders spent a lot of money to enter for the event, and when it is too tough, the spirit of the event is compromised. Hopefully the orginisers will go back to the drawing board and come up with a better balanced event next time around, and hopefully the riders will come out to support the event in future. We need good event orginisers and we need good events. This one has the potential to become a real classic, but 3 weeks before the Epic, riders want 5 to 6 hours of riding time and sufficient time to recover for the next day.

So if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. I am sure that the next event brought to us by Renosterveld Mountainbiking will be one to look forward to.