Sani2C

Sani2C consist of 3 stages, held over 3 days. The event started on Thursday morning in Underberg, a small village found at the bottom of Sani Pass. The route took the riders all the way down into Scottburgh to finish the last stage on the beach, hence the name Sani2C.

My partner for the event was Lisa Oliver (my team mate) who is fairly new to Mountain bike races but has luckily been training with Fritz Pienaar and his wife, Christie( who both need no introduction when it comes to technical skills on a mountain bike).

At first I thought Lise would struggle a bit on the technical parts because she said so but
Lise road great and to my surprise manage to keep up on almost all the technical stuff.

Stage 1

The start of the first stage was very fast seeing that it was the first day and everyone was a bit nervous. I made sure that Lisa and I stayed in a comfortable pace from the beginning because I didn’t want to repeat what had happened to me in Sabie last week.
This tactic seemed to pay out soon as we manage to pass a few fast starters from 10km on into the event.
It was an awesome route and the only dreadful section was going through thick mud during the last 20km. It made the track very slippery and I felt very sorry for my bike!!
We finished the day in 2nd place and were both very pleased with our result.

1st Yolande Speedy & Mariska Strauss (Team MTN)
2nd Lise Olivier & Yolandi du Toit (Team Bizhub)
3rd Hanlie Boyens & Fienie Barnard ( Team Jeap)

Stage 2

After a cold and wet night the race organizers decided to change the route to make it a bit safer for the riders. Going down the muddy and slippery jeep track in misty and rainy weather conditions made it hard to believe that we were on the ‘safer ‘route. It didn’t feel very safe not being able to see what or who is in front of me in the thick mist while struggling to get mud out of my eyes. It was definitely a challenge to rely on feeling more than seeing.

I enjoyed riding with Lise’s, with her I am not pushing myself over the limit all the time. Which made me realized that I have a lot more control on the technical sections and I seem to be pacing myself better and are still able to finish the final kilometers riding strong.

We had another good day on the bike and repeated the results of the previous stage finishing in 2nd place.

1st Yolande Speedy & Mariska Strauss (Team MTN)
2nd Lise Olivier & Yolandi du Toit (Team Bizhub)
3rd Hanlie Boyens & Fienie Barnard ( Team Jeap)


Stage 3

The last stage is always a very important and exciting day. Important because we had to try and keep our 2nd place until the end and exciting because you can go out and give everything without having the worry about saving a bit for the following day.

Lisa and I were very happy with how things have been going for us so far and this motivated us even more. We both felt good on the last stage and manage to stay with the leaders from the B batch which we started in.

In the first few kilometers I felt that something wasn’t right with my bike. It felt like it could possibly be the bearings in my bottom bracket that needed replacement after all the mud. So I didn’t worry at first and continued riding until my chain dropped of from one of my derailed wheels at the back.

I quickly stopped and put my chain back on without realizing what the cause was. I barely gave 3 pedal strokes and it was of again. That was when I realized that my derailleur hanger had broken of.

This happened around 20km into the race. I didn’t want to pull out of the event because we were riding well up until that point, so I decided to continue with my chain running besides the derailleur wheel instead of on it. And if this wasn’t difficult enough I was forced to stop frequently as it kept on bouncing of on the bumpy sections.

It was quite a relief to cross the finish line at the end of stage 3. We lost our 2nd place that day and were disappointed in the way we had to give it up but luckily we managed to built up a big enough lead on the previous day to hold onto 3rd place overall.

Final results:
1st Yolande Speedy & Mariska Strauss (Team MTN)
2rd Hanlie Boyens & Fienie Barnard ( Team Jeap)
3nd Lise Olivier & Yolandi du Toit (Team Bizhub)
4th Cherise Taylor & Caitlin de Wet (MR Price/Specialized/Nashua)

At the end despite having a bit of bad luck, we both were more than satisfied in our riding over the 3 days. We made a great team and I think we both enjoyed the challenge that Sani2C brings!

This weekend we will be competing in the Cape Argus Cycle Tour. So please hold thumbs that the team will have a bit more luck our side…

SABIE CLASSIC
MTN SERIES 3#

Saturday 27 February was a big day on the calendar for every professional Mountain biker in the country, considering the fact that it was our National Marathon Championships and also the 3rd leg of the MTN series.


The day turned out to be perfect for racing, with the weather being slightly overcast and cool.

As I joined the rest of the riders on the start line, I received an unexpected surprise. I was given the MTN Series Climbers jersey which is awarded to the most consistent climber in the series. It felt really special to start the event with the pink polka dot jersey on my shoulders for the first time.

There was barely enough time to get the legs going during the opening kilometers as we headed straight onto the first (13km!) climb of the day.

Starting alongside the men in the Ultra-marathon event made the start yet again extremely hard. The small group left upon reaching the bottom of the hill just goes to show how fast the pace was being made upfront.

Yolande Speedy, Carla Rowley and I were the only girls left at that point, but were also soon left behind once the guys started climbing at their ‘crazy’ pace.

This left us (Ladies category) to do the remainder of the event at our own individual pace. Hard as I tried, I couldn’t get going on the opening climb and soon the girls started passing me one by one. I lost a lot if time and it took me until half way to feel better again. By that stage I was outside the top 10 and really had to dig deep just to keep going. It is terribly frustrating when one’s body doesn’t/can’t do what the mind is telling it to do..!

I couldn’t (and still cant) understand why my legs didn’t want to respond, but I decided not to give in and kept on going in optimistic hope that I would feel better towards the end.


During the 2nd half of the event, I started to feel like my old self again.

I gave everything in an attempt to catch up to the girls up front, but I had lost too much ground already. I only managed to ride back up into 6th place.


Speedy had a great race, yet again taking 1st place, with the surprise package of the season Karien van Jaarsveld finishing 2nd and Carla Rowley in 3rd.


Sabie Classic was an important event for me and I am disappointed in my final result. Unfortunately I can’t change the past but I can learn from my mistakes and try my best to make up for it in the future.

On Thursday my teammate (Lise Olivier) and I will be taking part in the Sani2C. It’s a great event I am looking forward to it and hopefully we will have a good race!