Twice in 3 weeks? Perfect weather in the middle of May? Tracks I've never ridden before?
Only a few highlights. The real highlight is spending time with like minded people that are all so very different. A few faces that were familiar and some that I've met for the first time this weekend. We made our acquaintances around the fire and after a few glasses of wine we were chatting like old friends.
Saturday morning at dawn we started grouping into the various rides for the day. I opted for a mini-enduro challenge with a few of my good friends whereby we stitched together sandy start, the first forest, dark forest, redbull descent, getting steep, pipeline and Shapiro's drop.
Each stretch of trail required a different approach and each tested some unique skill-set in a unique sequence. It was reminiscent of a musician playing a complicated piece by Mozart. I was in much more esteemed company than what I would rate myself and soon forgot about the enduro and simply focussed on execution of my own instrument in the symphony we were creating.
As the day went on, the music got louder and the tempo got faster. We all brushed over the small mistakes expertly and I was playing pieces I've never tried before. The trails opened up before me like sheet music and I felt much more capable than ever before.
The crescendo was the pipeline track and as an encore we did Shapiro's drop at a more leisurely pace.
Pieter lost his sunglasses in the first forest earlier in the day and at the junction back to the forest the rest of the group went with him to try and find it. I decided to take an easy ride back to the huts to digest the day's riding when it happened: Just before the water crossing after the junction I went OTB. An unspectacular fall out of nowhere left me with bruised ribs and another story to tell. Its a good thing that I managed to record the incident as I had to watch it to see how senseless and silly it really was.
A night ride and a short ride on Sunday topped off a near perfect weekend. I will have a few scratches and bruises for a week or two, but fortunately the good memories and new friendships will last much longer.
With BC Bike race creeping closer and closer, I have started to realize that I'm not sure what my body will do with hard riding day after day. So I decided that the Houw Hoek Tour would be a great chance to push my limits.
This was my first Houw Hoek Tour but I have done Wines2Whales before. Parking was easy mostly, expect for the selfish (pick your own words here) people that feel the need to park where they reduce the path just because they dont want to walk little. I id hear of incident where one special person cursed the parking marshal after he was ask nicely not to park there. Registration was a breeze with some free coffee and rusks on near table.
Day1
The event use a self seeding system so could start where I want. They call the first group the "racers" and I did not think I should be there. I started in second group at the front. As we start I was cycling not full speed yet as want to warm up first, but loosing the group I started in already. This was a new experience for me. I forgot about everything and everyone and just focus on my legs, pushing on but not too hard. It was not long before I started catching the back markers of the front group. Clearly they should not have start there. Working my self through the traffic and was not long before we got some short steep climbs. They really short maybe 20-30m and already got people pushing up it, but they nicely made space for people riding, at the time there 3 of us.
The first few km's was up and down jeep tracks. The first single track was at thandi. Here was some traffic, although slower than what I would want to go not to horrible bad. In fact the the slower speeds the trail flow a little beter than the pace I would normal do it. Not far in a slow rider pull over to let us pass, just for me to get a pedal strike on tree stump that I did not see. It was an instant OTB. It happened so fast the was not even time for a oh crap thought to happen. Lucky for me this did not happen at high speed. In the fall my shifter and my right leg connected that it and my brake lever was point bit up. It was not bad so I jumped on the bike and continue just to finish the single track, then I will adjust things back. The GoPro was also hang skew. Trying to get the gopro back in place dit not work well as the tape around the handler for protection got ripped and crumpled. Short after it was the first water point. I stop to get my mind cleared, drink some coke and eat a banana.
Ready to go again. Up Thandi, through oak valley in reverse direction lot of it being single track. Going over to Paul Cluver heading to the amphitheater where the second water point is. The new feature the call the barrel run was just moment after the waterpoint. It is an bridge build out of wines barrel slates. It was pity is was wet, believe it will be loads of fun when dry.
Snaking through the forest on narrow cut track, that was bit slippery, meant a little bit of caution was needed. Working our way though single tracks and jeep tracks we where slowly progressing closer towards Houw Hoek Inn. At around the 40km mark I look down to find only a snapped of gopro bracket and no gopro any more. Realising it could be anywhere in the previous 10-15km back, turning around and trying to find it would take very long, rather hope someone find it and return it. 5km's from the end was a split board where you could pick "technical" which would be a switchback single track or "non-technical" which just go through the orchards. Obviously I took single track. What they did not say it is a nasty little climb up before the decent. Going down I did have a slow rider but I was so tired of riding hard all day that I did not care to much.
Result for day ones was beter than expected. Distance 50.1km
Elevation 923m Moving Time0 2:44:59 Elapsed Time 02:48:06 Max Speed 47.9km/h Avg Speed 18.2km/h
Day2
Begin of day is where I would go into new personally testing. Have never before ridden very hard to flat out on a multi day event, as to make sure I reach the end. I could feel my legs worked hard the day before and it was a really cold morning. I decide to start in the first group as I want to try and avoid going through back markers of a group again. Started in middel of the group gave me plenty traffic in the first few km's which was a decent down the old pass. I could not start as hard as I would have like with people taking lot of caution and braking for even water puddles. Taking the rough lines that most people seem to be scared of help me pass some and by the end of the pass I got bit of open spot. The traffic may have given me bit slower start than I would have done if alone but maybe it was good as it gave bit more time for the legs to warm up.
Passing Botrivier was going along the outside road where as the W2W going into school but that is where the water point was. Shortly after the town Ryan caught up with me and I decide to try and keep up with him. After the town we had some gravel road bits which later entered in to the single track taking us all the way to the old steel bridge on karwyderskraal road. At times it got really tight for us that preferred wide bars.
Over the bridge we cruize along the tar for short piece to get the next gate. Time for a gradual climb with short bits of single track here and there to get us to the first water point. On this climb was the first place I could start to see the effects of the day before. Power was little lacking but able to keep an steady pace. Quick stop at the water I had some banana and coke or 2 and off we went. Last bit of climbing to get over the hill was a little loose jeep track through some fynbos, sandy tracks and the single tracks. Sending us out on the karwyderskraal dirt road leading towards hermanus. Here Ryan had more more legs for the open open and I could not keep up. Some rolling hills later get us to the Hemel en Aarde valley road. Ups and downs we work through the vineyards to the second water point. Again banana and coke for me but also need to stretch the gluts and my lower back started to hurt.
Ahead lies the longer climb for the day. Al the way to the top of hermanus rotary drive where you are greated with stunning views over hermunus. But all the climb meant down hill is coming in the form of the Mineshaft. It is a nice fun decent where to need to be awake as with erosion here and there, get the line wrong could have unwanted results. It is follow by few short nasty hills to burnt he legs one last time. The last few km's is a really fun flowing single track along the Hemel en Aarde road but it does require some pedalling. I caught two riders on it but my power levels was so down I decide just to follow them as they were go at ok pace. Also last time I really rode that section hard I clip my handle bar with spectacular results.
Across the finish line I was tired and happy. I could have maybe squeezed bit harder but hindsight is 20/20.
It was really fun route and would do it again next year. I also learn and experience the benefit of being strong and fit enough to be much more forward in the field. Traffic and congestion is very little of a problem. I never had to wait once over the 2 days, at worst I had to slow down till I could past a slower rider.
Day2 result
Distance 48.9km Elevation 846m Moving Time 02:32:13 Elapsed Time 02:35:00 Max Speed 57.2km/h Avg Speed 19.3km/h
During last week I managed to get a late entry for the Houw Hoek Tour from a club member who fell ill and was unable to participate. Having done the tour before and being in the area just a week prior I knew exactly what to expect.
The route on Day 1 was changed slightly from the year before to take out the Lebanon section as this was very early in the ride and caused huge bottlenecks last year. We had a few short steep climbs to warm up the legs and to sort out the men from the boys. Once again the self-seeding system failed spectacularly as just about everyone considered themselves fast riders. Even though this was not a race, some consideration for faster riders would have been much appreciated. I hear the trail etiquette in Canada is beyond reproach and I'm sure that at BCBR there will be better skills all around. The few hold ups did not detract from a very pleasant ride.
Day 2 had a very chilly start. I cheated and started just after the racing group to avoid major traffic jams. My strategy worked well and once through Botrivier I slacked off to a more leisurely pace. Day 2 of the tour did not disappoint and fun non-technical single track kept us entertained all the way to the celebration table 8km from the finish. This table is a tradition that was started a few years ago and takes the form of a wine tasting with a magnificent view of the bay from Kleinmond to Gansbaai. The only finer detail to negotiate after a few glasses of Pinot Noir is what is known as the mine shaft. I let the group I was in pass through and waited a minute or so to drop into the single track with a clear run. Unfortunately a lady rider fell on a technical section. After a brief enquiry to her health, I proceeded to catch the back end of the group again and sat on the back all the way to Hermanuspietersfontein (thats a mouth full...) to end what was another great 2 days of riding.
