Day 3 Race report - Blink and you've missed it.

The day started off at an even more leisurely pace than the day before. Another 'F' seeding and an additional 30 minutes meant we had more than enough time to get ready and pack our boxes. It seemed that the black box picked up eight overnight as it felt substantially heavier than the day before.

We were off on a down hill with some tricky off camber corners through the sugar cane fields and soon we were in some forest single track. We made quick work of 'work to be done' and got to the first water point for a splash and dash. Some more single track with dirt roads through the sugar cane fields got us to 'baby heart rate hill' and ultimately 'heart rate hill'. The second water point was also a quick stop and we rode a fast but yet comfortable pace through more cane fields and sections of single track. All too soon we crossed underneath the N2 and we were onto Scottburgh beach. My team mate dropped the pace and while I was pondering this, I saw the last nagging hill taking us up to Scottburgh High School. A new section of single track was cut right next to the school to give us a small reminder of the amazing trails we conquered over the last 3 days.

Another amazing day's riding and the operative phrase from everyone at the finish was 'next year we are going to...'. I now understand why this race is the most oversubscribed mountain biking even on the calendar. Everyone simply HAVE to come back to see how the organizers improved on what must be the ultimate mountain biking adventure.

Seen you all next year!*

* disclaimer: provided I get a sports pass from my wife for this and have sufficient leave at the office.

Day 2 race report - Can we have our desert first please?

The day started off in F batch. Even with technical issues on day 1 we managed to move up 3 start groups. With a long day ahead of us, this would work to our advantage.
We made our way to a very chilly start and had some light banter with our fellow riders before the gun went off. We proceeded to a dual track section about 4 km in and before we knew it we were on the world famous unkomaas  single track series. If we were in Paradise yesterday, then surely we were in Heaven today. The small train ahead of us were riding at about 90% of our maximum pace allowing us to move at a fast, but comfortable pace through countless switchbacks and fast, flowing single track. The 20 km of Unkomaas single track was over all too quickly and reality set in at the 30 km mark.

The next 50 km would be some of the most challenging sections I would encounter on a mountain bike. Every climb would challenge you to breaking point, and just when you would think that you've run out of steam, you'd reach the top. The first water point was a splash and dash stop, as we were planning a longer stop at the second stop. At 65 km we reached the famous Nandos stop and spent 20 minutes recovering and eating our Nandos Burgers before setting off for the next 18 km's. The terrain was rough jeep track for 14 km testing our resolve yet further. The last 4 km to the 83 km water point was again single track. By now we were riding in small groups of 2 or 3 teams and we made light work of dropping these teams to hunt down the next group. Another quick stop at 83 km and we set off for the last 16 km. Graded plantation roads laced with really great fast sections of single track got us to the last monster climb of the day. I was leading the train down one of the roughest sections of trail I've seen and we had a sick climb to negotiate to get us to Jolivet. Our position for stage 2 was 236 overall, but was not enough to bump us up to E group, as our overall position didn't change much. 

Kudo's to my partner who rode another mammoth stage like a warrior. 

Tomorrow's stage promises to be a fast and Furious affair to Scottburgh. 

Day 1 - Did you say single track?

The morning started rather relaxed and laid back. An I seeding meant an 8:30 start. Quite unusual for a 3 day race adventure. In golf they call them 'ringers'. Those guys who deliberately play off a higher handicap. Our ringer effort was however not deliberate as we had nothing to do with the seeding procedure. It didn't bother us in any way though as this is not a race where you draft for endless kilometers behind faster riders. It seems like we hit the single track on 15 km and it basically stopped at 78km of the 81km stage. With 1220m vertical ascent it was a relatively mild day from an exertion perspective. Traffic in the single track was hardly an issue as Sani2C has a system called dual track. You basically have sections where 2 stretches of single track runs parallel with each other. Usually the riders keeping the field up keeps left and the faster riders pass through the right side. We encountered some mud from 1/2 way, but I guess it wouldn't be Sani2C if we didn't have any mud. My team mate rode like a deamon and his fast pace in the first half combined with the altitude (max of about 1750m above sea level) challenged my lungs to the max. The plan was to keep the revs up until we got to the floating bridge to ensure that we were not held up there. This obstacle requires more or less a clear run, as the bridge sinks underneath the weight of rider and bike. Compound this with 3 or4 riders in close proximity and you have a catastrophe. A few riders 'got wet' today, but we had a clear run on the bridge. At about 50 km I had a slow puncture on my front wheel. We tried to plug the hole, but ended up opening it up as it would not inflate. We call them marshans. It is when the sealant in your tyre emusifies and forms a rubber ball with spikes and tentacles on them. Fortunately my riding partner is an undercover McGuyver and had sealant in his camelback. We topped up the sealant and carried on. I had to stop every 5 ams from here on to keep pumping the tyre, but at this stage my partner was struggling with cramps and the short breaks enabled him to recover a bit.
It was over all over too soon.
Tomorrow we tackle a big day with just short of 2000m of ascent and 97 km. It contains some of the best riding in SA. I am so amped for this, I'm not quite sure how I'm going to sleep tonight!
Thanks to all the riders who allowed us to shoot past on the single track. Apart from one or 2 teams not yielding to faster riders, we had a clean run orat least a fast run behind some skilled riders throughout the ride.
Now for my massage and to sort out that slow puncture.

Countdown

Today was my last big ride before Sani2C. Conventional wisdom dictates that I should have been tapering for a week by now, but after Sani2C there are other fish to fry and with Tulbagh being labelled the toughest Epic venue to date I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do the race.
It all started rather sedately behind the pace car. Soon we ascended a mountain slope to the west of Saronsberg. The views must be spectacular on a regular day, but this morning the mist was blanketing us for the first 3 hours, keeping temperatures cool. Perfect cycling weather. We reached the first water point just after the king of the mountain banners thinking that the big climb was now behind us. Another 5 km and a few sadistic forays up and down orchards and olive groves and we were moving down the mountain at breakneck speed. The descent was great fun with every turn being an off camber turn. All the while we were circumventing Saronsberg in an anti-clockwise direction, keeping it in our sights in the distance. A few farm roads laced with non-technical single track took us past 2 water points and ascending the mountains east of Tulbagh. We were doing a 90deg turn every 500 meters with short steep climbs and short descents sapping our energy all the while. The Single track sections taking us down into the valley. We realized that the route was going to be much longer than the advertised 75 km and rode a comfortable pace to cross the finish line 84km and 5h43m later.
A really tough day out on the bike, but just reward for the drive and the entry fee.
The route was well marked and marshaled. A good addition would have been markers indicating how many km's were left. The water points were stocked with fruit and energy drinks. I'll definitely be back for more of what this valley and the surrounding mountains can offer.

Cross training to the next level

I was out at Theewaterskloof dam for the Spur Tri-Challenge short route (400m swim, 10km mtb, 4km trail run). Fortunately my training partner and I decided to downgrade from the full event (800m swim, 20km mtb and 10km trail run). They both have tri athlon experience where this was my first attempt at this sort of thing. The morning started off chilly with a north easterly wind chopping up the water nicely for the swim. Both the 800m and 400m swim started at the same time. I got advice from the pro’s and stayed on the outside of the swimmers ahead of me to ensure that the stronger swimmers don’t swim over me. The first 100m was great, then I swallowed a mouth full of water as a swimmer kicked me in the ribs passing me. I was about 40 meters from the first buoy and started to swim a breast stroke to the boey. There I caught my breath and vacated my spot for my training partner to anchor himself to the buoy. His fiance was telling me to carry on, she’ll wait for him. I was looking at her like she’s crazy. I was carrying on. That was my best effort! A combination of backstroke, breast stroke and G-stroke (new type of style that I will demonstrate at the next event that combines the butterfly stroke with a back stroke / water treading maneuver) got me to the slipway.  As the 800m swimmers completed their second lap. Somewhere my partner passed me. He and his fiance waited for me to safely exit the water.

The bike ride was a 10km flat route with about 30m of climbing. The deal was that we wait for her on the bike, if she waited for us in the water and on the trail. I recovered suffiently to tackle the trail run of 4km.

The trail run was also a non-technical run with slightly more climbing than the mtb leg of the event. I did my fastest 4km yet in 21 minutes.

Sunday it felt like I did a 6 hour race. Everything was tired/sore, so I took the day off to recover for the Safari 10km walk with my wife the Monday.

How hard can a walk be? Well let me tell you, it seems harder on my legs than a 10km jog. We walked the 10km in just over 1h30minutes. My trail running shoes didn’t treat my shins well with the walk, and I am now nursing some early shin splints with rest and transact patches. It should be 100% for Grabouw this weekend.

Things I have learnt (and some of the stuff I knew, but deliberately ignored):

-          400m open water swim is about the same as a 1400m swim in the gym’s nice warm pool with a line tiled on the bottom to follow and a side to hang on to every 25m.

-          Challenging your lungs with a swim before riding and running takes a lot out of you.

-          Doing an event socially with no competitive motive is a lot of fun.

-          Don’t underestimate a seemingly unchallenging, but new work-out. The 10km walk on Monday still hurts in some places.