Stormsriver Traverse Day 1

July was a particularly busy month. In between a nasty flu, Werner losing a bike, funerals in Gauteng and a very busy work schedule it was no surprise that very little training was done. If I had not booked the trip to Stormsriver last year already, I may have been tempted to cancel the trip altogether. With very little choice but to come and do the ride, we left Cape Town on Thursday morning early. The drive up was pleasant and by 3pm we reached the race village and registered. We checked in at Misty Mountain Reserve http://www.mistymountainreserve.co.za/ We had supper at the race village and went to bed soon afterwards. Day 1 started off rather chilly as we left Stormsrivier in an Easterly direction. With all the recent rains the trails were wet, but fortunately not too muddy. I resolved to ride at my own pace today and this paid off as I started to pick up the pace from 20km onwards. I was happy with my tyre choice for the race (a spesh purgatory 2.2 up front and the trusty Geax Saguro on the back). I completed the ride in 2h40 and was the third sub vet home and 13th overall male on the stage. Hopefully I've not gone too hard in the second part of the race today.