After Joberg2c I had almost two very restful weeks down in
Stellenbosch riding out to new wine estates for coffee and spending the
afternoons sat around drinking more coffee at Ride In where I was also
staying. I did do a few efforts
leading up to Sani where I was riding again with Yolande De Villiers in Sasol
hoping to wake my legs back up. I
felt recovered for Sani but not particularly fresh and bouncy on the bike
however nothing would have prepared my for the pain I was to go through on that
1st stage!!
Day One
Glencairn Farm – MacKenzie Club
79km
We drove to the start glad we were only leaving at 8am in
order for the sun to warm the temperature from the fresh 2 degrees it was first
thing. Leaving with Batch A I rode flat out in the neutralized zone hanging
onto the group. I battled hard and
Yolande had to drop back for me as we entered the first set of single track. I felt drained and empty and wondered if
it was the beetroot juice I’d made yesterday and made a mental note that the
day before a stage race is not the time to try new fads!! The single track was even smoother than
in Joberg2c, Farmer Glen having had the team out widening and smoothing out the
trails and gone were the dried up cow trodden bumps. We rode conservatively in Joberg2c as we had a big lead but
here there was nothing to lose and it felt great zipping in and out of the
trees. Yolande was convinced the
trees were closer in and had a small collision with one just seconds after been
told by Justin how fast she was riding.
Yolande never complains though and grabbing her bike she lost no time at
all, in fact I only noticed after we’d finished the whole race that her knee
was pretty scabbed up. Over the
floating bridge we settled into a group.
Well, I never felt settled, I was glad I had taken the scenery in a few
weeks earlier because today I was just following wheels. I was beating myself up for riding
badly but then we saw 2 woman’s team just in front and as we caught and passed
them, though my legs were still screaming, I was glad the effort was worth it
and realized I wasn’t riding bad, we were just riding fast. We caught and rode with mixed team
Jeannie and Martin Dreyer for a long while and enjoyed the single-track
descents a lot. Despite Sani2c now
the largest stage race in the world, the way the races are separated into the
Ride, Adventure and Race and each race is batched I saw and heard no one
complain about congestion on the trails.
The new finish up through a few farms allowed us to look
around to see no other woman’s team close by and we came in 2nd to
Ariane and Cherise of RECM whom had had a solid first day and finished with our
team mates Johan Labuschagne and Yolandi du Toit who came first in the Mixed. Our other team mates Leana de Jager and Dalene
Van Der Leek came in 6th Woman. It was by far the fastest I’d ridden a
race all year and my legs told me but after a great massage from Jarrad and
lots of comfort food in the form of banana bread, Clover Vanilla Milk,
crunchies and rusks I felt ready for the Queen stage tomorrow.
Day 2
MacKenzie Club to Jolivet
99km
Despite a 6.30am start I think I had the record number of
over 8 sleep hours in one night in the tent! After a bowl of oats I got down to the van and found my bike
already gone. Yolande was
determined to be on the front line and took our bikes there before 6am. We laughed a lot about how she must
have looked alone in the dark on that line as no one else was there for a long
time.
As soon as the sun rose up we were off racing down towards
the single track and down the famous Umkomaas Valley. The trail splits off to the right and left and while the
right had more traffic on its said to be the quicker line and as Yolande was on
the right I also stayed there. Unfortunately
the split track caught Candise and Bianca out as Candise went left and then
took a wrong turn. We found Bianca
at the bottom of the valley asking everyone if we’d seen her. The descent down
was the best I’ve ever done. We
were in a line of riders but moving along at a nice pace and for the first time
I can remember the cloud allowed us to descend without been blinded by the sun
and also meant there was no mist in the valley either. By the bottom we had caught our Mixed teammates
as well as Jennie andVera and then
a lost looking Bianca. We stayed together until the first
water point then after that we were near the front and in and out of the river
crossings we pulled away from the others.
I thankfully had much better legs and have always enjoyed this stage
with the steep climbs and grinding nature that I find a lot easier than the
fast flatter stages. At one point
we saw the RECM girls and got within 30 seconds though once they saw us
sneaking up they pulled a gap on us again. Through the 2nd water point we decided it would
waste too much time filling our bottles and both had a full small one left so
instead of Nados burgers and coke we continued with Biogen energy drink and jels. We didn’t catch onto the girls group
though up ‘Push of a Climb’ and both knew descending down the forest without
any men for company we wouldn’t catch up now. Yolande was again a super strong teammate and though at
least today I did do some turns at the front she did the lion’s share. The downhill finish was much
appreciated, as was the new spread out venue with lots of chill areas for a
social afternoon (and more crunchies).
Johan and Yolandi came in 2nd a few seconds behind 1st
so keeping their lead and the other Sasol girls came in 6th.
That evening for the 2nd night running we were
the audience to the live feed of interviews watched by 10000 and tonight both Yolande
and me were involved. I think I
was more nervous than on the start line 12 hours earlier!!
Day 3
Jolivet – Scottsburgh
84km
Batch A and B started out at 10am in order to let most of the
riders get down to Scottsburgh and see the elite riders finish. As it was one of the elite men racing for the win fell off the floating
bridge a few hundred meters before the finish trying to overtake a rider so they
did have something exciting in store to watch. I made the most of some extra sleep and woke to hear batch C
ride off at 7am. We had a relaxed
breakfast and even got a warm up in before lining up. The downhill start was dry and dusty and it was a matter of
trusting the riders in front as you couldn’t see the floor. I got stuck behind
some riders and then tried to bridge across on a flat section. I put in so much effort once we hit a
hill everyone who was sat on my wheel came whizzing past and I then struggled
to recover and dropped a lot of places.
I finally sat in a small group and we caught a big group in front but
then I was at the back and having to do intervals out of every bend to keep up. The group split up gradually which I
was glad for, as it was way to big and I happily sat behind one of the buffalo
teams (combined weight of 180 ish kg I think) who were motoring along the flat
sections.
The stage defiantly went by quicker than in Sani2c and while
the legs weren’t quite as sore, we rode the race much more intense not letting
up or chatting much at all, especially once we caught Candise and Bianca. I felt stronger the last 20km than the
rest of the race (probably something to do with the can of Red Bull been handed
out) and didn’t mind the ‘Three Bitches’ in the last 10km or the short sandy
sections before the floating bridge.
As always the bridge did have a bit of sideways movement and with so
many spectators it was a bit worrying but we got over dry and over the moon
with another 2nd position and 2nd overall in best woman’s
field ever assembled at Sani2c.
Our time was 10h14.55, 8 minutes down on the winners. Johan and Yolandi
had a great day and finished with another win extending their lead on GC with a
time of 10h12 and Leana and Dalene, Sasol’s tough cookies finished in
Scottsbrough happy and looking strong despite Leana’s suspected fractured ribs
from Joberg2c and Dalene’s virus picked up after the Epic. The men’s race was a tight one with
20seconds separating 1st and 2nd going into the last day
and was eventually won by Darren Lill and Waylon Woolcock.
Big respect and congratulations to Ariane and Cherise, I
know Cherise dug deep riding with Ariane for three days and heard how fast they
were hitting every descent but they both finished without crashes or
mechanicals and always with a smile and hug for us at the finish line. In third was Jennie Stenerhag and Vera
Adrian, ahead of Samantha Sanders and Theresa Ralph, followed by Bianca and
Candice. It was certainly a privilege been in the mix amongst such a strong
field and the friendship I see that builds up amongst our competitors in the
men’s and woman’s field is pretty unique to mountain biking. Though we are all extremely competitive
and always want to do our best mountain biking is as much against the
environment and conditions as fellow riders and struggling through bad and good
days forms a bond amongst us allowing us to finish racing, chat, laugh and consolidate
no matter the position we finish.
Thank you for the second time in the space of a couple of
weeks to Farmer Glen, family and crew for another awesome race, groomed trails,
massively improved venues and competitive field. Thank you also to Sasol, Jarryd our masseur, Johan and
especially Yolande, my hard as nails partner. I spent three days in the hurt box and loved the
satisfaction and pure exhaustion by the end. I can tell I need a rest but she
brought out the best in me and was a great wheel to sit on through the tress
and when my legs did buckle on the fast sections.
No comments:
Post a Comment