Sani2C - Stage 3

After the hard work done on day 2, the extra rest was most welcome. A 8:40 start meant some extra shut-eye and time to digest breakfast. I have given up on avoiding the carbs, as big race menus simply run on carbs. After 2 wheet-bix and some mieliepap I was ready to rock n roll. We went out fast and hit the dual tracks at speed. For once I could stick on Chris' wheel and we made it to the first water point in 1 hour. Unfortunately the big push over the first 22 km took its toll and the second 34 km was a real suffer fest. I had to dig really deep for Work To Be Done and Heart Rate Hill and after the second water point I was really just hanging on to the finish. Soon we were on the beach at Scottburgh making our way to the High School. The drag up the hill had me tasting blood again, but soon we crossed the finish line to celebrate 3 of the most spectacular days of mountain biking South Africa has to offer. I am commited to doing only one race next year (more on that in a later blog), but should I manage to schedule another one, there is simply no doubt which race I would pencil into my diary for 2013. Thanks to the Haw family for their hard work to put this race together for 4600 riders to enjoy, thanks to all the sponsors for making this dream a reality. To my partner, Chris: It was the best 3 days on the bike I have had, thanks for your patience and encouragement theoughout the race. To my fellow riders: it was a privilage to race against you for 270km and to succeed with you. Last but not least, to Rochelle, my wife: thsnk you for all your support and for being there at the start and the finish. Enjoying this moment with you made it all the more special.

Sani2C - Stage 2

The day started somewhat more leisurly than most races. The seeded start meant that we started at 7:45. The first 10 km got the legs going and soon we were hitting the dual tracks with glimpses of the valley below. Chris was once again up ahead and I was riding mid pack, mindful of what was to come. As we hit Yankee Doodle my spirits lifted. This was the reason we all mountainbike...absolute singletrack bliss! Soon we were onto Murray's Meander and with some open track I managed to stitch a few proper sections together. We passed the school singletrack and I realised that my partner was further back. Selfishly I continued my run down into the valley trusting that Chris would not need assistance. All too soon we were on the Umko single track. I waited after the section for Chris and after a few minutes I saw his grinning face in a group coming through. We made our way accross the floating bridge into some more single track. Soon we crossed the Peri scaffolding bridge into the first water point. A splash and dash saw us on our way and straight away the climbing started. Kms 38 to 68 to Nandos took us 2h30m to do with 1200m ascent and 13 water crossings. A new addition to this years event was bridges over some of the more challenging water crossings. The result was that every single crossing was ridable. It was getting hotter and the climbing seemed to carry on for ever. The climb before Nandos was particularly untimely, but we soldiered on. At Nandos we had a 15 minute rest as Push of a Climb was coming up. I felt quite shattered and the rest rejuvinated me for the remaining 32 km. After push of a climb, we worked our way to the fishermans trail and onto the third water point. At this point I simply wanted to finish the ride. As we left Chris mentioned that a time of 6:30 would not be too shabby, and I took it upon myself to kick really hard to see how close we could get to it. So the last 15 km took us 32 minutes and we crossed the line in 6:35. Like they say at Sani2C "That was PROPER !"

Sani2C - Stage 1

5:00. Underberg. Its sub zero outside when my alarm sounds to wake me for the day's adventure. I had a bit if a fever in the night, but hopefully its nothing serious 5:45. Dressed and ready for breakfast. Doing a low carb breakfast is a challenge when everything is carbs on the breakfast table. 2 pieces of bacon and a scrabled egg will have to do 7:10. All packed and boxes delivered to the truck. Its warmed up to 2.5deg Celsius 7:50. We're off! It soon becomes aparant that I'm in no shape to hang with "F" group, so I try to get my heartrate down while my lungs are protesting violently about the altitude 8:50. We hit the first singletrack and riders keep passing me. The legs are completely shot. I am also quite annoyed with my squeeling brakes. It was fine yesterday, today it sounds like a rusty wheelbarrow. The singletrack is sublime though and I manage to get clear trail on lare parts 9:20. It feels like I'm climbing with a brick in my back pocket. Chris has to wait at nearly every hilltop. I feel frustrated and dissapointed 9:45. The floating bridge is a treat! We give the tandem ahead of us a clear bridge, more out of fear than curtousy. 10:00. The first water point. A quick banana, some blue pills (not the raunchy kind) and a refill and we're off. Sections of single track laced with short(ish) climbs make the time pass quicker and my legs start to feel like something more solid than jelly for the first time in the day. I rip through the singletrack at high speed and relish in the pure ecstacy of riding my bike. 11:00. We are now truly in rural KZN. Everywhere there are Zulu huts scattered in little clumps. We stop to take some pictures. 11:30. The second water point and the camera man points his lens in my face and ask how the ride is. I push a smile out and say that its magnificent, omitting the bit where I feel like a walking corpse today. 12:00. We're on new trail through a diary farm and the riders in our group start to rev their engins for the final push to the finish line. 12:30. We cross the finish line in what felt like an eternety today. Lets hope for better legs tomorrow.

The night before

So after a fairly uneventful flight (thank goodness!) and a very relaxing day in the Southern Drakensberg I find myself in front of a cosy fireplace at Pile Inn eves dropping on Brandon Sreward and Darren Lill's war stories and getting a bit of insight into the world of the professional SA mountainbiker. It seems like everyone knows everyone's business and that they all ride hard and party even harder. They are also not uber-orginised either. I suppose its like another business trip to them and that they take it as it comes. The SoutHern Drakensberg gave us a perfect autumn day in which we visited a local art gallery (and purchased the most stunning photograph), the Underberg Cheesery (which we sampled and then bought just about every cheese they have), lunch at Moorcroft Manor topped by a drive to the SA border on the Sani Pass. I am feeling incredibly blessed tonight as Chris and I are about to embark on an Adventure of note. 3 days of the best trails SA have to offer while mixing it with some of the worlds best! Bring on Stage 1.

Houw Hoek Challenge Day 2

After the first day of the Houw Hoek Challenge I ran into a minor snag with my seat post. More about this in another post. The end result was that I was riding the second day on my trusty old hardtail. On a trail that was not technical by any stretch of the imagination, I actually enjoyed all the feedback from the rear stays and tyres while racing.
The day started off at the Houw Hoek Inn.  Day 1's fast group almost doubled in size. Somehow riders thought that finishing day 1 constituted being a fast rider. I started once again in the second group with a very gentle pace from the front. The old Houw Hoek pass remains a gem. If you ever pass the area with your 4x4 and have 30 minutes to spare, turn off at the Inn and follow the old pass to Botrivier. The railway line running next to the trail takes you back to an era where rail transport was the pinnacle and bicycles had funny wheel sizes (some things never change).
After the Pass we skirted Botrivier through farmland with interesting little sections of single track. The weather was hotting up nicely and I removed my long sleeved cycling jersey at one of the stoppages where riders were not able to negotiate a small A frame bridge.
Once we passed the steel bridge, the climbing started. The sun was shining and the gradient was gentle. The water point was well stocked with jelly babies, potatoes, coke, water and sarmies. I simply filled my bottle and moved along. I had to constantly tell myself to slow down as I was definitely not racing this one. I judged my effort quite well to ensure that there was a reasonable gap between my group and the group ahead of us. I took the front and cleared down the single track in the reserve. After about 2 minutes we caught up with the group ahead of us. They seemed to be more intent on chirping each other than focusing on riding their bikes and I had a few choice chirps to add myself. After some more friendly banter I moved off to find less chirpy company ahead.
The Hermanus trail network has eluded me for years, but suddenly I found myself right in the middle of it. I was pleasantly surprised by the work done here and resolved to make a return at the first proper opportunity to get away for the weekend to the Whale Route. The trail is beautifully constructed with provision for water run off, settled properly cambered berms and nice flowing lines. I opened up the throttle and flew on the parts where I had clear track.
The second water point was as well stocked as the first, but I opted for a simple water fill and a small piece of banana.
The celebration table just beyond Fernkloof at the top of the hill served a very well rounded Pinotage of which I had a few glasses. With views of the coast line from de Kelders to Sandbaai on our left we sped down to hook up with a nice little stretch of single track with a few small rock gardens and ruts to negotiate it kept us honest.
The Hemel and Aarde stretch of single track provided some fun as well and all too soon I was crossing the finish line at Hermanuspietersfontein to enjoy the wonderful vibe with fellow riders and supporters.

A huge thanks to Johan and his dedicated team for a fun weekend. It was really well organised and the overwhelming feedback from fellow riders was that it was very positive on the whole.

Houw Hoek Challenge Day 1

The weekend past I completed a very fun Houw Hoek Tour. The 2 day "race" was coordinated by Johan Kriegler from Wines2Whales fame and included some of the trails used during this race. Funds generated from the event goes towards maintaining and expanding the ever growing trails network in the Grabouw Area, so in my books its as good a cause as any.

I decided to travel from Table View to Houw Hoek (close to Botriver on the N2 towards Caledon) daily as weekends at home these days seem few and far in between. This meant getting up at 5am, but the benefits of sleeping in your own bed outweighs the rising early bit.

Registration:
This was done at the Houw Hoek Inn which was also the start / finish venue for day 1. I registered early on Saturday morning and was done in 5 minutes. We all received good quality arm warmers and a long sleeved T-Shirt that will definitely be worn. My wife commented that its cotton-Lycra and this is apparently good quality. For me it simply looks cool, so for now it rests with my winter clothes in the cupboard to be worn this winter.

After greeting some of the regulars I lined up in the "Medium Fast" group. The so called "Fast" group consisted of a mixture of racing snakes, recently converted house wives, roadies and overweight baggy-panted riders, so in essence the self seeding system failed dismally. Never mind: Its not a race (well not a timed event in any case) and the first climb sorted out a few of the not-so-fast "Fast" riders. Getting stuck in the Lebanon trail network behind riders that over estimated their ability to start in the Fast group was inevitable, but to all the newbies out there: This is often what stage races are about. Experience and patience usually pays off in these situations and a friendly "thank you" when riders move over helps everyone to enjoy the ride.

Once we got to Thandi, the field have spread out slightly and I decided to skip the water point to get some nice clear track for riding up the switchbacks. As we crossed over to Paul Cluver, we nearly missed the turn to Oak Valley, but a huge bunch of riders up front was coming back our way and signalled to us that we needed to turn around, and so we did. Hey, its not a mountain bike ride if you don't get lost at least once.

Oak Valley treated us with her usual flowing fast single track, done in reverse from the usual trail position. This provided a nice little twist to a route that most of us can ride with our eyes closed. We stayed on what was essentially the Green route and it took us back up to Paul Cluver where we made our way past the infamous Pofadder (venomous and very aggressive African snake) and the less intimidating Erdwurm (Earth Worm). I opted for the less intimidating route as we were advised at the start that when slightly wet, the wooded embankments may be a bit slippery. Since I am doing Sani2C in less than 2 weeks, caution was the better part of valour.

The trails taking us back to Houw Hoek Inn yielded some surprisingly good single track on the slopes of the hill that guards the Inn and with much fun and fanfare the ride completed in just over 3 hours.

Not a hard ride by any stretch of the imagination and a great way to introduce stage race virgins to the concept of multi stage races.

Big thanks to the Medium-Fast guide (Lance Stevenson from Epic Bike Shop) who kept all of us in good spirits while we waited at some of the more congested sections of the trail. The guide system seemed to have worked well lower down the field too.

Day 2 report to follow :)