8 – 10th 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 4th
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 4th 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 1st, Ischen 2nd,
Hanlie 3rd
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 1st, me 2nd,
Hanlie 3rd
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 2nd to the flying Ariane and got enough time
to move from 4th to 2nd on GC which means I can sleep in
peace knowing the race wasn’t lost through a rock in the wrong place!!
Ariane 1st, me 2nd,
Ischen 3rd
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.
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