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.