Rocky Mountain GR300 23/2/13 – 25/2/13

The GR300 this year served a few purposes, a first get together as a full team, a chance to meet the guys behind providing us with our Rocky Mountain bikes and a chance to ride in a great place with our team mates.  I was with Nikki while Yolandi and Leana were paired up.  Having spent a few days there with my husband beforehand we had already made a load of friends from the Coaches Corner Cycling Club and rode some of the route with them on their Wednesday night ‘pint’ ride.

Day One

No one felt 100% waking up, Leana had been up all night and I wasn’t too well either and upon getting to the race we heard more reports about a stomach bug going round. Nikki and myself got away to a descent start.  I felt unwell the middle section and had to stop a few times then Nikki started with bad cramps and we eased back.  Despite that though the course was amazing.  We rode the whole Harkerville red route this year and I will never tire of the part you ride out of the forest and appear on the cliff side.  After that there were some long climbs and varied trails and tracks.  We had passed the leading ladies, Ischen Stopforth and Yolandi de Villiars when they had a puncture but they soon passed us back and we finished 2^nd place while our teammates came in 4^th, Leana battling a lot with the illness.

Day Two

The start was pretty ‘hectic’ this morning.  After a long neutralized zone out of town we turned sharply up into single track.  We weren’t that well positioned and were stood around a fair bit but in that case you’ve just got to relax and save energy and not get stressed about losing time.  We rode through a poor area but the support was the best I have heard from locals.  They were out cheering us on, one was holding a sign saying 1km to go and at the top was a reggae band of all things!!  Nikki was struggling with the bug still and feeling pretty whacked.  I seemed to have got off lightly and felt fine so we rode a steady pace and met a few friendly riders on route which always helps on such a long day if your not 100%.  My work was cut out at the end though, a long flat head wind stretch back to Knysna with no one in sight followed by a technical new single-track descent right down the side of Phantom Pass.  We finished in 2^nd again to Ischen and Yolandi

Day Three

As soon as we set off up Phantom Pass this morning I knew we were in for a hard day.  Nikki, despite not feeling 100% at the start was riding really strongly and I soon sensed we were up for the race today.  We had set off in the 2^nd batch so had our work cut out after the backlog over the bridge but we did catch the leading ladies on the open road at the top and rode in the same group for a while.  Today was another varied route with plenty of single track, jeep track and lots of climbing through the forest.  We rode our won pace occasionally passing other teams and were both working hard enough that when we passed Conrad in the last feed we both were very grateful for the coke he had for us.  I had one scare when my chain came off on a descent and wrapped itself all over the place but I managed to untangle it without getting into a flap myself!  One of the best things about the race in Kysna is that you can rely on the last 5 or 6km to be mostly downhill and as we dropped down past the golf course for the last time we knew we had the stage win and came in top 20 only 16 minutes behind the winners.  The other girls still held on to their overall win but it was nice to have a day where we both felt strong and didn’t have any issues, unlike our team mates…Leana had battled with the bug for 2 days and today was Yolanda’s turn and she couldn’t finish feeling dizzy and faint so had to pull out.  

Thanks to Rocky Mountain for making a 29er fit even a shorty like me, Squirt for a chain stick free race and clean bikes, Ballistic Bike Trading for our accurate Brytons, to 32Gi for the best tasting energy drink (the raspberry one definitely the best!!)  To ASG for our flashy kit, shiny helmets and comfy shoes and of course to Bizhub for giving me a pretty good job!!

Isuzu Ride The Rock Stage Race

8 – 10^th February 2013

Having never been to the Cederberg I was looking forward to the first stage race of the year though when we arrived on this dry corrugated road in plus 40 degrees and warned anyone on a hardtail was going to suffer I was wondering maybe this wasn’t going to be my kind of race

Stage one, 81km

The stage was the hardest of the race on paper.  Setting off at a fast pace on the district road I hung onto the front group as long as possible then was on my own along the jeep tracks which became more and more rocky and rough.  Trying to follow another rider down faster than I was comfortable with I had my first flat.  Help was on hand from Pete a few minutes later after I failed to plug the problem.  There were two holes in the tire and we were only 15km in!  Back down in 4^th place I soon passed Hanlie sat fixing a broken chain then caught Ischen up.  We rode together until the long steep climb after Wuperthal where I rode ahead only to slightly knock my back wheel again on a rock at a bad angle and felt that dreaded ‘flat’ feel again.  At the last stop I’d managed somehow to break my pump and having used all my bombs Ischen threw one out to me. However I’d used my plug and made the mistake of bombing the wheel without having a plug at hand.  By the time I’d found one the wheel was going flat again and the plug didn’t t work anyway since the rim was completely dented.  By now Pete was coming along having also helped Hanlie with her chain.  We put a tube in and eventually I got away again and rode alone slowly reeling in a few guys but otherwise riding on my own all the way back to our race village in Sanddrif.  Though I’d finished 4^th way down I was still happy that finally my race legs have come back.  Using our new byrtongps was also a big help as it’s the first time I’ve looked at my heart rate in a race and was very pleased to see I rode above threshold for most of the day.  No wonder you get fit racing! 

Lesson on the day: more tire pressure on rugged rocks is a must

Ariane 1^st, Ischen 2^nd, Hanlie 3^rd

Stage two, 61km

After a perfect afternoon chatting and swimming with fantastic homemade food I slept solid and was looking forward to what promised to be a great day of trails ahead.  My back rim was shot with a big dent in the side and was very buckled and I was told to nurture it home.  Luckily the rocks weren’t anything like yesterdays, there was much more sand and single track with rocks dotted around.  I started hard again hanging onto leader Ariane for as long as possible but soon lost 2 minutes down the technical single track decent.  I am a cautious rider anyway but with my wheel I wasn’t taking any chances and walked through anything that might break it completely.  Hanlie had virtually caught me at the bottom so the last portage I ran like a gazelle, leapt back on and rode as hard as I could up the jeep track.  Out of sight, out of mind was my intention as well as trying to make up as much ground as possible on the easier stuff.  Turning onto a 12km roadie section I was in luck to be passed by a top rider who had broke his chain.  I jumped on his wheel and hung on until we hit some sandy patches and I dropped off along with another guy we (he) had swept up.  The pair of us took it in turns into the wind which helped mentally as much as anything; there is something quite sole destroying riding along a corrugated straight rode in a head wind alone especially in the driving rain.  Turning off the road we climbed again along sandy switchbacks where I did a fair bit of hoping on and off the bike and taking extra care over the sharp rocks.  With the thunder and lightning and huge red sandstone rock formations looming over the single tracks the place was so atmospheric.  A few km from the end I managed to loose the trail and started hiking through the bush before turning back and coming right not loosing more than a minute thankfully.  I finished happy with my legs and relived my wheel survived, I was more than lucky… my spokes on the rear damaged wheel were all loose, I don’t want to think how close it was coming to collapsing and still have one more day to survive. 

Lesson of the day: 32gi’s Accelerate tablets have a kick as good as any gel while a rusk while out of breathe whilst the easiest to grab on the single track just absorbs any moisture you have in your mouth!!

Ariane 1^st, me 2^nd, Hanlie 3^rd

Day Three 52km

I could have slept another two hours but instead got up in the dark, dressed and ate my usual weetabix, a muffin, toast and coffee before the 7am start.  Been a proud Brit I am a real tea drinker but after the last two fast starts I’ve managed I’ve put it down to a shot of caffeine and thismorning I needed the wake up!  After another good warm up I hung onto the front group on the rolling district roads for a good 20km before settling into my own pace up the long 7km pass watching Ariane ride off taking the final KOM.  The single track down the side of the pass should have been a real fun one especially as it was in full view of everyone riding up but I took it super careful aware that my back wheel was struggling on and looking very buckled. At the bottom Swen whom I also finished with yesterday caught me up and together we rode up the next 2 climbs and onto the finish.  I didn’t speak much at all apart from to point out a strange creature on the track ahead that turned out to be a rabbit!  Hallucinating with the effort I thought it was something far more wild looking!  With gravel steep climbs and open district roads there was little left to batter the wheel and I rode as hard as possible giving myself another sore throat through breathing.  It paid off though, I finished 2^nd to the flying Ariane and got enough time to move from 4^th to 2^nd on GC which means I can sleep in peace knowing the race wasn’t lost through a rock in the wrong place!! 

Ariane 1^st, me 2^nd, Ischen 3^rd

GC: Ariane Kleinhans 9.27, Catherine Williamson 10.11, Ischen Stopforth 10.13, Hanlie Booyens 10.24

The race was fantastic.  It is only small, around 130 riders so everyone greets each other, the organisation was perfect despite no mobile signal anywhere, the course was really well marked and took us into such pristine areas of the Cederberg and the wine is the best I’ve tasted by a long way!  Thanks to all the organizers and to my team Bizhub for entering me into another amazing event.  

EP Herald Extreme Quest, Port Elizabeth 3-4 th Feb

After Barberton last week I did what I always do when I come out to somewhere sunny, have all the free time in the world and get given a nice new bike … overtrain!  Despite Barberton knocking me for six I then did 5 hours on Sunday and so on.  Using our new brytongps at least I was able to see my heart rate on a ‘tempo’ ride not go above 140 and backed off before the weekend.

Saturday was the mountain bike event, 80km from Addo out into the mountains.  A huge amount has gone into creating some fantastic single track where this year’s XC course will be held. By then though I’d been hanging on for grim death along the gravel road yo yoing at the back.  Hitting the sharp steep hills in the single track I couldn’t muster up any power and watched the front 3 girls ride away.  I recovered a bit and started pulling back a few riders up the pass.  Riding into a water point I heard a marshal shout ‘don’t turn right’ so continued along the track.  After a while I had a de ja vu, the tracks looked very familiar and soon I was back on the XC course.  With no one around I realized I’d gone wrong and eventually came out back onto the pass.  Back tracking down the road I finally spotted some markers so went up and joined the route again.  Not overly impressed with myself for not confirming I was going right I got my head down and rode onto the finish.  I kept the pace high just to get to the end whereas in hindsight I should have just backed off and enjoyed the fantastic water points especially the last one, which even had a paddle pool!!  Finally I crossed the line, I had been lying in 4^th not too far behind Marissca but now all the girls looked liked they’d been in hours so I figured my detour had been a pretty big one! 

Sunday and we had a lie in till all of 4.30, an extra hour on yesterday!  The 6.10 am start saw just the elite ladies roll away in our own batch.  With a strong head wind the pace was really slow which for once I really appreciated.  Soon Toyota started attacking sending some youngsters up the road.  The counterattacks sped the whole race up a bit and soon Sharon Laws was away up an early climb while no one else could hold her wheel.  ‘5km climb’ came next and I surprised myself by been able to respond to Ashleigh’s attacks.  Finally the 4^th dig by her was enough to crack us and she rode off while we regrouped into a fairly small chasing group of 6 or 7.  With the men gradually coming back it was no surprise to see girls tagging back into our group though at least a number of them were disqualified at the end.  After a fast tailwind home our group sprinted for 3^rd place and I was quite content with a 7^th place.  Not the results I wanted from the weekend but I now know I must be more patient and let my legs come when they are ready!!