Du Toit Tankwa Trek, South Africa 13 - 15th February

Only in its 3^rd year the Tankwa Trek was sold out after so many rave reviews and I was looking forward to being part of the race for the first time and sharing another stage race experience with Rob.  A few days beforehand I lost my partner Nizaam and decided to race solo.  With Trans Hajar still making my legs feel pretty heavy in the run up to Tankwa racing solo at least meant the pressure was off to hang onto a fit team mate!!

Arriving at the race village at Kaleo Guest Farm outside Ceres we found the camp set out in a way the tents were nicely in the shade and everything was within easy walking distance… a thing of high importance after a few days of racing!!!  With a delicious dinner laid on and video of the next few days ahead there was definitely an excited feel amongst everyone as we headed to our tents in preparation for the early start.

Stage One

Witzenberg Valley 83km

I don’t think I will ever get used to how early stage races start in South Africa.  The alarm sounded around camp at 4.30 and in the pitch black, people started wandering to the warmth of the tent for hot oats, homemade cereals, Fairview yogurt, a full fried breakfast, and lots of tea and coffee.  There was certainly enough choice for everyone and enough fuel to get every rider to the end!   At 6.30 we were off racing down the gravel road.  TransHajar was certainly still in the legs and I had no speed to stay high up so I didn’t kill myself and instead slowed down and settled into a nice moving group with the likes of Farmer Glen from Sani2c and Cherie Vale whom I rode with a lot of the day.  The single track was great, technical but ride able though with a lack of off road training through the English winter my nerves where with me and I chickened out of a few drops much to my annoyance!!  It was very obvious lots of the trails were designed by top mountain bikers; Hannes and Sakkie Hanekom.  The scenery was spectacular and while Cherie and I rode hard on an open road section we also had a good look around at the clouds rolling off the red mountains.

Once the single track opened up to some jeep track climbs our group spit up and I passed a lot of riders before the sweeping descent round to the finish coming in 1^st solo woman with Cherie in 2^nd and Christine in 3rd

Stage Two

Ceres Valley 89km

Rob was up and away before I even got to breakfast having got the job of setting up the first water point.  We were warned today’s stage was the tough but rewarding one one and we weren’t to be disappointed.  There was one long single-track descent next to the Gydo pass with steep switchbacks that should have been a lot of fun but there was a lot of traffic and we literally queued and waited on every turn.   Following that I rode in a group including Yolandi de Villiers and her young partner Bianca before the climbs started and I again spent most of the second half catching riders in front.  There was a lot of grinding climbs but also some fast sweeping descents and soon we arrived at the Merino Monster whose name was very appropriate.  The night before we were warned the climb was similar in length and height gained as Alpe d’Huez only this was on an unmade road and would take a lot longer!  I enjoyed the climb with its steep switchbacks and amazing views along the way and while it was nice pacing myself up it I really missed a line to follow on the descent.  I had a bit of a sugar low and battled with a few rocks in the way (!) and following that we had 10km to the finish.  That was a hard section and seemed to go on forever, my own fault as I’d presumed from the top it would be 20km of downhill to the line so didn’t take on any food or drink and paid for it later.  I came in 1^st solo again and, apart from the last 10km, was pleased with how I felt.   That afternoon was so enjoyable laid around the lounge area chatting and drinking smoothies, eating ice cream and chewing biltong. 

Stage Three

Koue Bokkevel 61km plus 26km neural

The weather had been kind to us this year, last year riders climbed The Monster in 40 degrees, this year is was more like mid 20s.  The downside to this was this morning was bitter cold and with a neutral start at 6.30 for 24km it was a chilly first hour.  I was glad for the social ride in more ways than one.  It was a chance to actually get my legs functioning better for the fast starts, but I was more thankful for it when I heard something hitting my spokes and looked down to see the Specialized Brain hanging into the wheel.  The screw had come out but was luckily still there so all I had to do was tighten it back up, it could have been a lot worse if I’d have been flying along on a fast descent.  Once at the official start Dryland had sorted out a food table, tea, coffee and portaloos before the official start around 8.30am.  With a tail wind, an open, slight down hill road and single track coming up I was flat out and you could spot anyone riding a 1x11 as we had to do around 120rpm just to keep on the wheels.  I started better and had little congestion into the single track and was all alone after the next climb into the next long section of single track through incredible rock formations.  This zigzagged along this high plateau and a number of times we caught sight of riders looping round.  I did finally find some company once the trails opened out.  The pace felt high all day with fast moving smooth tracks and was again a really enjoyable ride.  The finish was down the back of camp again like Day One through these spectacular sandstone rock formations and I was much happier how much better I rode down than the first day.  I came in 1^st; with a total ride time of 11 hours 16.  Cherie came in 2^nd at 11.47 and took back 2^nd on GC to Christine at 11.53. 

Thank you Dryland… it was my first Tankwa Trek but hopefully not my last.  This race will no doubt be another Sani2C with a Race, Adventure and Ride before long.   Rob had a blast lubing chains at the feed stations… he got to also eat fudge and kooksisters without having to ride his bike there!  Huge thanks to Johan and Mindi from Dryland for your kind hospitality, real bed and tour of Oudtshoorn.  Thankyou to Deon at Cyclefunatic of Durbanville for my Specialized Epic Expert 29er, Asrin and Nizaam; though I missed my partner’s line on those descents I did enjoy my longer than usual stops for all the feed stop delights!!  Next stop: Gr300 in 2 weeks. 

Trans Hajar MTB Race, Oman. 30th January – 3th February 2015

 Leaving a wintery flurry of snow in Newcastle behind we boarded the flight and arrived a fair few hours later to the sunshine of Muscat, the capital of Oman.  The kind hospitably we were to later see through the whole week started at our hotel where, despite it been only 5am we were allowed to check in and crash out for some good sleep.  Assembling the bikes later that morning we had a few problems involving a taxi ride to a bike shop and a road side fix in the heat and my front brake refused to work at all.  Both tired it wasn’t the best start to the week but better to get the issues sorted and despite that we did find the sea on our ride over a small mountain and also found a bakery cooking flat Lebanese bread while we waited.

 

The following morning we got a taxi to the airport and after meeting a few other Brits there including Matt Page, got the transfer to the race start.  3 hours later we were on the 1000m plateau under the vast Hajar mountains, unpacking the bikes, throwing bags in tents with their big thick mattresses and getting into lycra ready for the afternoon prolougue. 

Stage One

44km Sint Bowl TT  (930m ascent)

To go from snow a few days ago and spending the winter riding on roads to setting off at 2pm in the 30-degree heat down a rocky loose descent was a shock to the system to say the least and I found it hard

to really get into race pace. The two laps took around 1 hour 50 and I came in 3^rd elite woman behind Hungarian Champion Eszter Dosa and South African Hannele Steyn.   I lost 6 minutes which is massive in such a short time, though I felt good I really didn’t suffer enough and gave myself a lot to do the next four days.  That evening we sat listening to the race briefing on bean bags under the stars before eating in the Arabian style tent.  Around midnight I lay awake for a few hours and ventured to the bathrooms.  I will never forget the surreal feeling of walking along in the warmth in PJs and trainers looking up at star formations I’ve never seen before and seeing the mountains glow under the full moon.

Stage Two

127km Wadi Bani Awf (2038m ascent)

Before light we all jumped into buses and travelled to the top of Oman’s highest pass at 2,010m.  Why a road was built up there no one knew but the other side was only a dirt road so maybe the planners had also had second thoughts! We were neutralized down in groups of 10 and stopped again at the bottom.  Matt Page had had a lucky escape on the way down.  His front brake failed and he used some cyclo cross skills to jump off, falling once off but only picking up cuts and bruises.  He was no doubt going 40 plus km/s hour so was very lucky as the drops on the side went a long way down.  The elite men went off first followed by 4 of us woman.  I rode with Eszter to start with but got a gap on one of the climbs and pushed on.  I was convinced we would probably get swallowed up by the men behind and kept expecting to look round to see a group once we were on the flat but none ever came.  In hindsight it would have been a less soul-searching day if I’d have sat up a few minutes but I was 6 minutes down so had a lot of work to do if I wanted to win.  The route was pretty flat and there seemed a constant head wind.  After the second water stop with 32km to go we started climbing through a spectacular deep canyon.  The scenery was amazing but after such a long lonely 30-degree ride the climbs and views weren’t really appreciated.  I passed the only rider I had seen in 100km, one of the elite riders walking up a climb who later got stretchered into the ambulance with dehydration.  I was very happy to see the finish line after 5 hours and even happier to pull back the 6 minutes I had lost yesterday.  Only 4 seconds separated Ezster and me now.  James Reid held onto his lead with two out of two wins.  We got a bus back to camp where lunch and dinner pretty much merged together.  The back markers together with Rob who was in the sweep vehicle arrived much later in the dark.

Day Three

64km Tanuf (2732m ascent)

The start was another bus drive away of around 1 hour 30 but was worth it for the treats in store today!  After a long 12km climb where I’ll admit I put in extra effort to stay with another rider for the company as much as the draft resulted in the most spectacular views I can remember and while we were racing hard there was no way I was not going to look around and appreciate where I was.  My Swiss friend soon was lost out of sight as the descent went down the mountain side on an impressive man made single track.  Smooth in places and wild and rocky the next it was pretty unpredictable and I took extra care in protecting my tyres from the sharp unforgiving rocks.   At the bottom Matt was just behind me and we worked together and caught my Swiss friend ahead.  We zig zagged through the back lanes of a beautiful fig plantation and then got some quick miles done on the flat open road.  Following the final feed was a mountain pass on gravel roads back over to camp.  The other two rode away from me, my earlier efforts and yesterdays time trial had caught up and I used every granny gear I had to get over the steep climbs.  Coming in 1^st I extended my lead and finishing today at camp gave us a lot more extra relaxing social time enjoying a lunch of chicken kebab, humus and wraps.  The race had even provided a masseur who dug deep into my very sore back and super tight IT band.  Rob arrived earlier too having amused his new found friends at the back of the race by running past them all back from the last feed over the pass.  It was a good job he was happy to run as his bike was slowly been taken apart and used as spares for fellow riders!! 

Day Four

47km Jebel Shams (2000m ascent)

We had a very civilized start of 8.30am so pulled open the tent to see the red mountains ahead as the sun came up.  The race started as it meant to go on, up hill.  With only 47km and around 2000m climbing it was always going to be short and intense.  The route was an out and back with a loop at the top.  The first climb was a gravel road, the reverse of the way in yesterday.  The elite men rode away leaving the rest of us in ones and twos.  Following that descent we turned up the main tarred climb of the day, around 8km and apparently averaged 26%, steep enough to be in the smallest gear at times.  The views were amazing from the top and well worth the effort.  We descended into a very remote village, met the village idiot standing in front of most of the riders to greet us on a steep downhill and looped round through a river bed to climb back out. There was a nasty steep climb back up then an extremely fast descent back down the road passing the back markers walking up and Rob in the sweep car.  The final climb was a repeat of yesterday and then straight into the finish. 

One of the topics of conversation again was why such a big smooth road was built up such a steep mountainside.  Apparently once a year the Sultan of Oman goes round the villages asking what they want and presumably this village far out in the middle of no where must have fancied a real road to get in and out of and to get to their new huge school just built.

Day Five

100km Jebel Kwar (1758m ascent)

The final start was at a chilly 7am in order to get everyone round before the presentation.  Racing along the duel track we had done a lifetime ago in the prologue I soon warmed up hanging onto the back end of the elite men.  We came out of there onto a smooth road which rolled nicely for a few km's, now in the warm sunshine before hitting the roughest descent of the event so far.  Rob was at the top warning us of some deep ditches, handy since we were all coming downhill straight off the fast tarmac.  The men were out of sight in seconds and though I rode a fair bit down I was slow and picked my line.  A couple of very close crashes and I decided to hop off and run.  It’s always hard to get the confidence to get going again after that and I was on and off all the way as were most of the riders behind the lead bunch.  Back on the road was a real fast tail wind, I was caught by my Swiss friend’s teammate and we worked together to catch one then another 2 forming a small bunch as we came off the road and headed along a rough jeep track.  I saw the markers for the 2^nd climb pretty late and we turned up a great technical rocky climb.   Following that there was just two of us and we stayed together thankfully as the route turned onto the road and into a head wind for the final section.  The views back to the finish from the valley were interesting enough to take your mind off back pain and aching legs and soon we were on the final 4km pass up and along to camp.  I had won the stage and taken the overall so there was a big sense of relief, especially as I had spent a lot of the day convinced I had a slow flat then thinking my BB was gradually getting stiffer and stiffer. 

Eszter came in 2^nd and Hannele in 3^rd.   In the men’s event the front few had missed the markers and the 2^nd climb.  They were given a 15-minute penalty so it didn’t affect the overall GC and James Reid claimed overall victory, Kevin Evans 2^nd and Max Knox in 3^rd. 

All the local dignitaries came along for the awards ceremony that gave it a special feel as well as the local Oman TV station and other journalists.  A lot of people then left camp but we were treated to the best dinner yet including some delicious BBQ’d fish, lamb and chicken and lots of chocolate cake followed by a surreal few hours watching a movie projected onto the big screen sat outside under the stars on the bean bags. 

Thankyou to all the organizers from Oman Sail, I would certainly love to come back and race in Oman again, the event surpassed my expectations lots in the variety of riding, the luxury tent facilities, the food and the friendless of all the fellow riders.  A race definitely recommended for anyone in Europe to avoid the winter blues and anyone wanting some early Cape Epic preparation as many of the routes and descents were similar.  Thankyou to Nizaam at Asrin and Deon at Cyclefunatics in Durbanville for all your support, to Les at Continental for my X King Protection tyres and De Wet for the Squirt Lube, both essential in the sand and on those sharp rocks. 

Oman was a fantastic stop over on route to South Africa where the next race will be Tankwa Trek and GR300 leading up to the Cape Epic in March.