Two weeks ago I had a new focus: a running
fell race called the Langdale Horseshoe over in the Lake District. I needed it as I’d come to terms with
the prospect of not returning to South Africa and finishing off my season of
stage races. I was still motivated
to train and in good form and with the weather turning decided to get out of my
comfort zone and race in the fells for the first time. A few days before the race started
however I became the luckiest person around by landing a place in Team Asrin, a
South African company looking for a rider to take the place of an injured team
mate of mine in the Bridge Cape Pioneer Trek. I was to ride with Nizaam Esa in the 7 day tour and we set
about via WhatsApp to book last minute flights. I still did the fell race all be it so cautiously I was
overtaken by a woman on every descent and dropped from a pretty impressive 3rd
to an ok 6th. However I
was unscathed and headed out to Cape Town that Wednesday. I stayed with a good
friend in Stellenbosch and we crammed in as many new coffee shops and
restaurants as possible before heading to the prologue in Oudtshoorn.
Once we arrived we rode the 15km route that
was far looser and trickier than I remember and even though it wasn’t that hot
I had a massive headache from the heat and didn’t feel great at all. However, plenty of water, a new
Continental X King tire and a mechanic to tell me I had no back brake left and
proceeding to fix it did wonders and riding round in the race was a different
story.
Stage One
15km Prologue
Ahead of us by 30 seconds were most of the
other mixed teams with our teammates Asrin 1 just behind. Nizaam started like a man possessed and
I never even got a chance to sit in his slip as we raced along to the first
single track. I thought I’d catch
up on the climb but my legs revolted, in fact everything did, it’s been a long
time since I’d gone to such depths!!
I was given a slight relief every now and again as we caught teams in
front of us and by the time we came to the descents I was actually enjoying
myself. It’s amazing how much of a
boost it is to catch teams no matter who they are. Nizaam also provided entertainment too riding into a bush on
more than one occasion! Near the end
we caught up one of the favorite teams, I thought we could just sit with them
but my partner had other ideas and soon I was breathing like a horse again and
hanging on for grim life. It was
all worth it though when we heard we’d got 2nd by a few seconds,
with team mates Asrin 1 just behind.
It might be the last time both of us are on the podium together but for
now we’ll savor it!
Tomorrow the real racing begins with 105km
and 1768m of ascent. The course
has a real mixture of fast open roads to technical single tracks and with today
starting hot and ending with a very unusually cold and wet evening I’m not sure
what lies in store the next few days but with Nizaam’s sense of humor and go
till we blow attitude its going to be fun!
One things for sure, if I get to the end of
this stage race I’ll have raced 50 days of stage races this year… its quite
cool to think 2 months of the year has been taken up racing round the world and
makes me feel very privileged indeed!
Three days have passed since our success in
the prologue and we have somewhat plummeted down the GC to around 5th
now I think. It rained the whole
night before Stage One and though we set off fast near the front we soon hit
the mud bath! The whole road was
barely ride able and when you pushed the bike the back wheel wouldn’t turn so
you had to carry it and an extra 10kg of sticky mud! We thought we were moving slowly but looked up to see even
the leaders weren’t that far in front.
Finally we turned onto a sandier jeep track but as we sat in a line I
slid out, crashed and two friends of mine landed on top. We were all ok but my saddle
broke. Luckily I could still ride
it after taping the front down a few times but the back was pointed pretty high
so it wasn’t the most comfortable. I was struggling a lot, my legs filling with
lactic as soon as I tried to ride hard and I was relived when Nizaam finally
slowed, his hamstring giving him a lot of pain. I also had such bad chain suck; it wouldn’t stay in the
small ring without jamming so I rode a lot of the climbs in the big ring. Looking back that was a bad error,
putting the chain and mech through that much tension in such muddy conditions
was asking for trouble and true enough soon the rear derailleur twisted up and
bent into my back wheel. Nizaam
managed to straighten it up to a fashion and I rode on though pretty soon after
the chain refused to go through the bottom jockey wheel so by passed it making
it very loose. I was still able to
pedal all be it slowly without resistance but 5km to go it broke
completely. We split the chain and
cable tied it up but with such a short distance left I said he should just pull
me. There was a fair bit of down
hill luckily but I felt pretty bad for my partner! We finished to hear that so many riders had had broken
derailers that the camp was sold out, luckily my partner came with a whole new
drive chain and 2 spare saddles and a mechanic who worked through the night
fixing it so by morning I actually had an upgrade! After the ordeal today I was extra happy to be in a nice
clean and warm camper for the night. Out of all the stage races I’ve done I’ve
never stayed in one and have to say it is so nice not to re pack every morning,
to have a duvet to sleep under, water in the fridge and a toilet. As well as a fantastic mechanic we’ve
also two masseurs for the 9 riders in Team Asrin and even someone washing our
kit!!
There were still riders running around 30
minutes before the start the next morning begging any mechanic around to help
fix their mess!
Stage two was thankfully shortened to avoid
another mud section and with the sun out, an 8.30 start and fast roads to ride,
the mood in the group was much better.
We were flying staying with the front mixed team up until the 2nd
water point. Nizaam had just
pushed it too hard and with his hamstring also giving him grief we slowed a
lot. Backing right off I took the
wind on the open roads while he set the pace on the climbs. The race ended with the Swatberg climb,
an 8km mountain that took us around an hour to ride. Nizaam battled hard, stopping and starting and we finally
made it before cruising down to Prince Albert to the luxury of our
campers. There we heard the good
news that our team mates had won the stage and with it been the Swatberg Pass
there was a bonus of 120 thousand rand so long as they also had a number of top
10s from here on in.
Stage three and we were back to our 7.30am
start that meant waking in the dark and forcing some cereal down. The start was on a straight open gravel
road for around 15km with a stiff head wind. It was pretty sketchy with people sliding in the sand and
sudden braking and I saw at least three crashes. Though the pace was easy it was better to finally turn off
and start racing across the jeep tracks. We were both riding well together. In fact I was surprised how well we spot each other after
only a couple of days riding together.
The pace was fast but not too uncomfortable. After the first feed we started a rocky climb and a hairy
descent. I rode following Jennie,
our Asrin teammates who were holding on to the leaders jersey. She is technically more confident that
me so I thought right if she rides it I will and was quite pleased to get to
the bottom with a foot off.
Whenever I hit rocky descents I think of my poor elbows that are so
battered now from crashing in the rocks that I often wear elbow pads and wished
I brought them along. We rode with
the two lead mixed for a long time after that before a long drag that saw the
now leaders ride off and us pull away from our team mates after their efforts
over the last few days holding the jersey showed. The finish put a smile on every ones faces, a smooth fun
single track leading onto a 10km downhill on the road before riding through the
finish in 2nd place and moving up to 4th on GC.
Stage Four was only 70km on paper but I
knew from last year it was one of the toughest yet and was due to be a
scorcher. The stage traverses
through a spectacular valley that is only open for cycling once a year. While it’s really impressive that also
means that the tracks are rough and rugged. The first climb starts with a 10km or so drag where we held
a good pace and sat behind Jane Nusili and Ester Suss who were 2nd
in the woman’s category. Once at
the top was the first crazy descent that was so steep Nizaam’s lightweight
brakes over cooked and he had to stop a few times. That gave me a chance to come down more cautiously! Once at the bottom we gradually pulled
away from the jersey holders in our category through countless river crossings
and steep climbs. I had one small
fall and landed on a prickly bush, which was pretty uncomfortable!! The day continued with long slow climbs
and equally slow descents. One
climb was around 5km long and too steep and loose to ride and again the
descents were sketchy so there was little rest at all. To top it off we were in for a treat
with 8km of single track at the end, trouble was it was back up a mountain and
down so most people did have a loss of humor by then! However as hard and tough the stage was we were elated to
win the day and pull our gap back to 2 minutes behind 3rd place on
GC. It was a good day all round as
our team mates took back the leaders jersey and the boys bagged enough points
with a 5th to qualify for the 120 thousand rand prize money from the
pass.
Stage Five was forecast to rain in the
afternoon but we woke up to rain in the night and the next morning didn’t look
that bright. True enough just as
we pushed our bikes into the start chute it started pouring. Everyone ran for cover and huddled in
the breakfast tent but come 7.30 we were off in true mountain bike
fashion. The start loop looked
pretty chaotic but it seemed to string out quickly and Nizaam and myself had a
clear line through the deep-water crossings and slippery single track. The climb then began and went on until
we were well in the clouds, the rain got heavier and the lightening got
closer. The rocky descent down was
also pretty sketchy but I followed Nizaam and got to the bottom safely. He was riding very strong today and I
was happy to follow his wheel down the open forest roads. It was a little sticky but nothing like
day one and while it was a lot slower riding than in the dry we did at least
feel like we were covering ground nicely.
The next decent down was a lot harder in the mud but we both arrived at
the tech zone unscathed. Having
had nothing to eat so far I grabbed a load of chocolate and put it up my shorts
much to the amusement of the girls handing it out. We tagged onto the Dutch Cube mixed team for a while on the
road. He is on the Rabo Bank
feeder team and is strong enough to ride away from us while his partner holds
on! The road section made the kms
fly by and even though it was still raining it was pretty warm. Soon we turned into the single track,
which on any normal day would have been really fun to ride. It kind of was today to slipping and
sliding round but there was no speed at all. We were lucky, whereas on Monday half the camp broke their
derailers today half the field’s pads wore out and there were a lot of stories
afterwards of doing the descents using feet as brakes and skidding around
hoping for an incline to slow down on.
Both of us had worn the pads but not to the extent they didn’t work and
we rode in in 2nd place and more importantly moving up to 3rd
on GC. Our teammates made it
through to but lost time to the Dutch and so lost the leaders jersey. The camp was soon flooded and the
tenters moved indoors. We stayed
happy and dry in our camper, had wellies from the race sponsor and had pizza as
a pre dinner aperitif so all Team Asrin was a happy camp
Stage six, the final day and with more rain
everyone was relived to hear the route would go direct to Oudtshoorn 70 odd
km’s a way on gravel roads though we would Montagu Pass to conquer first. We rolled out of George leaving a
completely chewed up field behind.
Nizaam was on a mission and all I could do was hang onto his wheel.
Montagu Pass is a grind at the best of times but with 6 days racing in the legs
it feels super slow going and gets steeper near the top. The scenery however is amazing and I
have a big soft spot for the climb and George in general having spent a lot of
time here with my teammate in the last few years. We rode a tough but manageable pace along with her and her
partner and caught another couple of teams near the top so at least had company
for the long road ahead. There
were some strong riders in our group so the kilometers whizzed by as we got a
bit of through and off going, to sit on the front all be it briefly at least
meant you could see for a brief moment… the roads were covered in a slick mud
so there was constant grit and dirt flying in your eyes and mouth. It would have been nice to have stopped
and enjoyed the last few water points but there was a sense of urgency in our
group and we didn’t stop once.
Nizaam did ask if we could but I said no as it was a long road to ride
alone!! Near the end a big group
caught us with another mixed team.
I wasn’t feeling that competitive until they sprinted past near the
finish. We hooked on and sprinted
across the field and to the finish line where we crossed ahead of them so
keeping another 2nd place stage. The Cube team were in their element today on the open roads
and were out of sight from early on, they kept the overall win with teammates
Jennie and Craig in 2nd on GC.
Stage ‘eight’ as its become known probably
took as much to recover from as the racing though as he has done all week our
savior JP the mechanic looked after us all again and found the remaining few
members of Team Asrin wandering around Oudtshoorn near dawn.. My 2.30 end to
the night was pretty lame in comparison!
It’s the third year I’ve done the Bridge
Cape Trek Pioneer and without doubt has been most luxurious and the best laugh
thanks to my partner Nizaam and the rest of Team Asrin. It’s a great race, not too big
and very well organized. The food
was better than ever this year too and though I’ve been in the saddle for 27
and a half hours this last week I’ve still managed to add a few kgs; water
retention I hope but more likely excess pancakes, chocolate and Steri
Stumpies!!
