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.