Arriving at the start this morning it felt
like our party from the Grape Escape had been gate crashed. Same organizers, same cyclists just a
few thousand more riders! The
start inevitably started like a one day race, flat out. At first I was carried away but very
soon my legs rebelled and I had to slow down. I could accelerate when passed by a rider, hang on for 10
seconds or so then drop off so that is how I rode the first quarter. Jennie was also with me no doubt
feeling exactly the same while our rivals on fresh legs rode away. The course wasn’t my favorite, after
such great trails recently in GR300 and the Grape Escape riding sandy, loose
drags and rocky corners wasn’t a lot of fun. My legs recovered a bit, or everyone else slowed down, as we
hit the climb mid way through and with one smooth single track section my
spirits lifted especially seeing the kms tick by. However the last 10km were not fun. With the temperature now in the high
30s we climbed on a really slow going loose rocky trail while the descent
wasn’t much faster with rocks and sand, a lot of which was un ridable after so
many hours already in the saddle. If it hadn’t been for the company of a few
other riders I think I would have slowed a lot more! I was glad to finish and very pleased the organizers had cut
the distance to 68km due to the heat.
All was put right though after the finish as we were whisked away to a
shaded spot for the elite riders and given delicious sandwiches and drinks and
made to feel like real VIPs! Mariska was 1st, Theresa 2nd,
myself 3rd and Jennie 4th
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