Having spent over a week either up at The Crags or down in
Knysna and having joined Coaching Corner on 4 of their social rides I felt like
the Gr300 was a local race and knew a lot of the trails and more of the
supporters than I have ever in South Africa. Kynsna has a vibe we have both fallen in love with and
racing here for the 3rd time I was very excited for it to get
underway. Bad luck had followed us
for the whole week beforehand; a broken frame for Rob, a hospital visit from
some dodgy fish and an eye infection for me so we hoped that would be it.
Stage One
90km, 1950m ascent
Every rider I am sure had that temptation to roll over and
turn the alarm off this morning when we heard the rain hammering on the roof in
the dark. No one did though I’m
sure and at 7am even though it was still pouring down it wasn’t cold at all and
there was an excited vibe outside amongst the 400 riders at Quay Four on Thesen
Island.
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| A wet start |
We set off and straight
away I regretted having my rain cape on as we climbed up Simola Hill. I managed to ditch it with a friend out
supporting and made a big effort with some help from my partner Nizaam to get
across to the group in front consisting of mixed pair Johan and Yolande. The effort though took its toll and
once into the single track in Harkervelle Nizaam started battling. I took a tumble on a wet bridge, I had
been a little over confident having only recently been back riding my duel and
as I came to turn on the bridge I knew it was going to end in a spill. I managed not to slide out but instead
seemed to go over the bars and in slow motion whacked a tree. I managed to hit my leg right where the
pin is still so when Nizaam came along having missed the whole crash
complaining about his tiredness I had a few choice words of my own!! Still, the joys of riding in pairs is
you go through the good and bad bits together as long as you can still smile at
the end. Out of the forest and
full of coke and muffins we both picked up and finished strong, 2nd
place and 7 minutes back but with the Queen stage to come the race wasn’t yet
lost.
Stage two
100km, 2400m ascent
Day two dawned a lot brighter with blue skies. The race started out on the Rheenedal
Road before turning up into the Outeniqua Mountains through the forest and
along open indigenous forest tracks. Once onto the smaller tracks Nizaam and myself started
climbing up through the field and at Waterpoint One we caught up the lead mix
pair of Yolande and Johan. We
continued at out own pace, the route either going up or down with very little
flat. One of the hardest parts of
the day was the portage over the Homtini River with a steep descent, a fast
flowing river to climb across, then a steep hike up these massive steps but
after that we were rewarded with some nice single track descents through the
forest and down the back of Phantom Pass.
We won the stage in the mixed category and very narrowly edged ahead on
GC so the final result was all down to the last day.
Stage Three
85km, 1800m ascent
Today started with 6km neutral along the lagoon which was
nice to spin the legs and chat to Nizaam who turned up at the start line 2
minutes before the off. We were
briefly stopped at the bottom of Phantom Pass before the gun and the race
started for the Craft Attack. The
first man up would get 10,000 rand.
Nizaam got off to a flyer and I gritted my teeth to hang on his wheel.
Thankfully we eased as the road went upwards but the effort paid off as we got
in a nice steady moving group.
Timo Cooper won the big prize; that was great news for the big group of
local supporters at the top.
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| Craig racing up Phantom Pass |
The race turned off the main road, through the Goudveld
Forest, over the Knysna River, through the Gouna Forest then onto towards
Simola. The route was full of climbs
with some spectacular views and we rode in good company with leading ladies
Yolande de Villiers and Bianca Haw and a few other men’s teams. Descending down off Simola was a great
feeling with the sea coming up very quickly and the finish on the Island
waiting for us. We won the stage
and the GC with a time of 12 hours 57 so were both very happy with our
comeback. We rode nicely together and
it was all good preparation for the Epic now only 2 weeks away.
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| Riding amongst the elephants |
Our other team of Krenn Wolfgang and Craig Boyes came in 5th
overall after two podium positions on the last two days. Not bad for someone who has come from the snow only a
few days beforehand.
Thank you to Garden Route Events for a great event. Spectacular venue on the Island, faultlessly
marked routes, friendly marshals, very well stocked feed stations and overall
great vibe.
Thank you also to Cyclefunactic of Durbanville, Squirt Lube, Asrin and
Nizaam for all the extra support, especially those full body massages you
booked us with the hot towels on our eyes and soothing music: a little bit of
luxury after long hours in the saddle!
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