Oak Valley 24 Hours

The weekend past was again time for the 24 Hour race at Oak Valley. With its fast flowing non-technical single track and its short, but steep climbs it is perfectly suited for a 24 hour endurance event like this. The climbs were all in the first half and was roughly split into 3 major climbs of around 80 meters ascent each over the first 6 km. The next 5 would take you down the roller-coaster single track to the start-finish area, all to be repeated in either a solo race or in various team formats. After 2 solo races I was happy to join up in Warwick Levey's team (Falcon's Rest) with Emily Brink and Alex Joubert. All passionate mountainbikers that while enjoying what we do, do not take themselves too seriously. Warwick was in charge of the arrangements and communication to everyone. I had to arrange the food for the weekend, Alex organized sponsored kit and Emily managed to be the second car through the gate at Oak Valley to peg down a good camping spot for us. After setting up camp and relaxing a bit before the start, the racing started at 12pm. We determined a starting order to provide the slower riders in our team with the most recovery time while the faster riders were geared to keep the laps ticking over. Somehow I was elected as the strongest rider in the team and ended up doing 3 double laps to get to 6 laps for the team. We ended up doing 22 laps which we were all very satisfied about. Saturday was hot and windy with my Garmin maxing out at 41 degrees C and we all were mindful to moderate our pace and ride within ourselves to allow for us to keep something in the tank for Sunday's stage. We kept clocking laps consistently until about 3am and after a 2 hour rest I took on the fist shift in the morning with my last set of 2 laps. I enjoyed the team format and it felt really great to be part of a team that knew how to have fun while riding a good consistent pace throughout the event. Thanks to my team mates for a great weekend of riding our bikes, sharing stories and getting to know each other a little better. A big shout out to Riaan and Rochelle that supported us throughout the weekend. While we were doing the laps, you were running around to keep us happy and made sure everyone got fed and were ready for the next lap. The legs will be sore tomorrow, but nothing say great weekend like a good suntan and a smile on my face on a Monday morning.