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 3rd 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 1st
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 2nd 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 2nd and Hannele in 3rd.
In the men’s event the front
few had missed the markers and the 2nd climb. They were given a 15-minute penalty so
it didn’t affect the overall GC and James Reid claimed overall victory, Kevin
Evans 2nd and Max Knox in 3rd.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment