The Rocky Mountain Garden Route 300

Last Wednesday the team made its way down to Knysna for the 2^nd edition of the Rocky Mountain Garden Route 300.  The reason for coming down a day prior to the event was to do the team photo shoot on Thursday.  With the riders on the team being geographically spread across the country, it is not an easy task to get everyone together. As our full team (Nicci Grobler, Leana de Jager, Catherine Williamson and myself) was competing, it was the ideal opportunity for a team photo shoot.  (You are welcome to have a look at the pictures on the team’s Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/teambizhubcycling

With all the formalities completed it was time to start the race.

The Rocky Mountain Garden Route 300 takes place over 3 consecutive days and covers a total distance of 300km (hence the name).

Each stage starts and finishes at the Cruise Cafe situated next to the Knysna Lagoon with the beautiful Knysna Heads as a stunning backdrop. As the days went by and the calorie deficit grew, the focus shifted from the Knysna Heads to the delicious buffet meals Cruise Café had on offer.

The race routes were mostly laid out in and around the lush green Knysna forest and largely consisted of single and jeep track.  Some of the single track had logs placed across them to form steps, so I guess walking trails would be a more suitable description for some of the single track we negotiated. It is a peculiar feeling racing your bike on routes surrounded by thick forests allowing just enough sunlight through to not leave you wondering around in the dark.

Day 1 – 105km, 2100m ascent

Last year I rode the race with Catherine but for this year’s edition I teamed up with Leana de Jager.  I’ve ridden several stage races with Leana as team mate and we’ve always combined well making for some good memories. I was looking forward to another adventure alongside Leana and upon reflection it was indeed an adventure.

At first everything seemed to be perfect (the trails, the weather, the location etc) but the morning of stage 1, the entire team woke up feeling a bit under the weather. A stomach bug made its way into the race village and affected all of us in the bizhub camp. As the saying goes – we ride together, we die together...

Leana and Nicci were the first to get affected by the virus.  Despite feeling ill, Leana rode her heart out and pushed herself over barriers I’m sure she didn’t even know she had. At the end of day 1 we crossed the finish line in 4^th place in a time of 5h 40min.

Day 2 – 115km, 2300m ascent

Stage two was the ‘big’ stage of the race as it was the longest stage and included the most climbing.

Leana felt a bit better while I started to feel the ill effects of the virus. This levelled things out making us quite a fitting pair on the day. We kept focusing on maintaining a good race pace which would get us to the finish line as soon as possible without fading out on course.  After a long day we were happy to cross the line in 3^rd place in a time of 6h 02min.

Day 3 – 80km, 1700m ascent

We started the stage with high hopes of fighting for a podium spot. Sadly my hope vanished as soon as we were set off to start the final stage. Leana felt her old self again while I felt the exact opposite. I started feeling nauseas and “empty’ with nothing left to give. I was moving pretty fast that day, unfortunately just in the wrong direction (backwards). Leana and I assessed the situation and we both decided it would be best for me to not risk my health and rather stop before causing any permanent damage. I hate pulling out of a race but this time I honestly couldn’t see myself reaching the finish line in one piece. Very disappointingly that is how our tour ended- 20km into stage 3.

Despite the team having to endure some setbacks over the 3 days of racing, we still had a happy ending as Catherine and Nicci went on to win the final stage and finished 2nd overall for the weekend.

If all goes well we will be back next year to fight another battle and hopefully this time it will be the right one!

USN CUP SERIES

The 2nd round of the USN Cup series was hosted at The Big Red Barn on the outskirts of Pretoria.

The 50km race route consisted mainly out of single track; yes your eyes aren’t deceiving you - 50km of fun, fast, flowing single track in the middle of Midrand. This forced the race organiser to limit race entries to 1200 people to prevent bottlenecks from happening and ensuring everyone had a pleasant ride.

Overnight rain storms cleared in time for us to start under pristine summer skies. Unfortunately flash floods had caused some damage with wooden bridges being washed away during the night’s deluge.  Andrew Grobler and his team did a fantastic job of rerouting the course and the race still ran smoothly despite a few last minute detours.

A furious pace was set from the word ‘GO’ as riders were fighting for position going into the first stretch of single track. In the opening kilometres of the race I found myself battling for the lead alongside Cherise Stander. The two of us road together until I was forced to stop with a deflating rear tyre around 15km into the race. I inspected the tyre but couldn’t find a cause for the loss of air. I quickly ‘bombed’ the tyre (inflating it with a CO2 canister) and set off in hot pursuit of the leaders as I now found myself back in 3rd position.

It took quite an effort to make up time as the flattish route didn’t really lend itself to chasing. Just before the 20km mark I passed the lady in 2nd place and shortly afterwards I caught Cherise who had to deal with a flat tyre herself.

It wasn’t long before I felt my rear tyre going flat again. Now I had to gamble between stopping again and continuing with a slowly deflating tyre. Which would cost me the least amount of time?  In the final 10km I felt my tyre starting to fold over the rim through the corners and I had no other option but to stop and ‘bomb’ again.
Luckily none of my competitors passed me while I was inflating my wheel. This time it was just a brief stop and I quickly got going again. I gave everything I had left during the final kilometres as I couldn’t afford another stop and I had no idea how close the other ladies were to me.

In the end I managed to hold on to the lead and won the 2nd round of the USN Cup Series. I am very pleased with the victory as it is my first victory for this year and the first in team bizhub’s 2013 colours!

The USN Cup series is only in its 2nd year of existence and judging by the entries being sold out well in advance of each event, it just goes to show what a great job the VeloCourse team are doing. So make sure you enter well in advance as the USN Cup races are definitely not to be missed.

Cross Country Provincials series #1, Thaba Trails

I wasn’t quite sure, but I knew it had been a long time since my last cross country race. In fact, while reviewing my racing calendar I found that the last time I did a cross country race was back in 2010! Fast forward a few years and I found myself standing on the start line for the first event in the Provincial Cross Country Series, also named the The Burry Stander Memorial XCO.

Needless to say, I didn’t know what to expect from a cross country race, my competitors or my skills. The only thing I did know was that the event was held at Thaba Trails Bike Park in Alberton, which is part of my training ground, so how can one not support a local race... :)

On arriving at Thaba Trails Bike Park there was a palpable buzz in the air. The younger category riders were already out on course racing for the coveted top spots on the day.

Cross Country racing in itself is a lot more spectator friendly as riders do several laps. The laps are usually around 4 to 5km long and riders can be seen on every lap as they fly through the start/finish area before making their way onto the next lap. The supporters took full advantage of this and put up gazebos alongside the course to cheer on riders and hand up much needed sustenance to tired riders.

The Elite and Under 23 ladies set off together at 9am to do 5 laps of the 5km course. It was a flat out sprint on the 400m gravel road leading into the first single track, as riders were fighting for the lead position.

Amy MacDougall won this ‘sprint race’ and was first on course with Yolande Speedy right on her heels. I found myself lying in 5^th place and by the end of lap one I moved into 3^rd place, 45sec behind the 2 leaders.

The first half of the course consisted of steep, rocky single track ascents and descents. While the second half of the course was mainly on very flat slalom like single track. I managed to make up time on the first half of the course but the 2^nd half suited Amy and Yolande more than me. Evidently the snaking single track, being off camber and on loose gravel, is one area where I can still improve significantly.

Amy kept her lead for the entire race, winning the first leg of the provincial series with Yolande Speedy in 2^nd place, while I rounded out the podium in 3^rd place.

All in all I really enjoyed the cross country race. It was very different to what I am used to in Marathon racing. There seems to be some truth in the saying – a change is as good as a holiday.

Thanks to Wendell Bowl and his team for putting together a great course and spectacular event.