Mountain Bike race (MTN National - Van Gaalen) 4:15:38 [5] 77.3 km (18.1 kph) +1410m
shoes: GT Zaskar 29er 2013
I won’t lie, that was tough. Freezing cold start; was 0.5° C when I left home at 7:20. This event has been upgraded from a Nissan Trailseeker to an MTN National Series this year, so Erik decided to find all the hardest trails around… Got seeded in A batch for the first time ever, because all the Pro’s were doing the 105k Ultra Marathon. Took a good 15-20k to really warm up. Trails were just dusty, rocky and hard on the body from the start. Eventually found some good rhythm in Segwati Ranch, managed to catch and pass a few riders. The technical downhill where I broke my wheel last year was dry, rocky and looked worse than ever. Very slow down that trail, but rather safe than sorry! Crossed the floating bridge and then shared the pace with 2 other guys all the way to the base of Oom Piets climb. Got some rest in the slipstream. My quads started to tweek slightly on the lower slopes of Oom Piets, but hung in there and at least they didn’t fully cramp. Erik added a ridiculous new cut track above Nguni/Oom Piets, which was just about un-rideable. Added maybe 150m of climb above the usual Nguni loop. This new climb broke many people today. Legs actually felt good on the decent of Oom Piets, so had some fun and could put the hammer down all the way along the River trails to the finish. Got my nutrition spot on today. Only issue was the quads that almost cramped. Super tough route all round. Also, the marathon was 8km’s longer and an extra 350m of climb than previous years. Was hoping to do about 3:30 today, but no chance on this course. Not sure of overall place. Edit: 49th out of almost 500 starters.
Was still planning on getting to SA Sprint O champs, but with the ride so much longer than expected, I would have had to rush after the finish just to make my start time. So, R and R on the couch for the rest of the day... Probably better with 2 days of O still to come.