Selati stage 5 continued..

The Blyde River Canyon.

Ok… I am back. I took a longer than expected break in my last post due to a stomach virus that hit me at midnight on Monday night. So Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in bed making this week even shorter.

To continue…. Bonnet had begun. This is one viscous climb with some really steep sections. Once again we quickly caught the riders that past us while we were at the water point. This climb goes on for way too long (about 8km) but some of the kicks made it seem twice as long. Once we got to the top there was another enjoyable decent into Graskop. Graskop came with about 50km to go so there was still quite a stretch left. For the next 30km’s the road was an undulating one with a good road surface. We also caught up with some of the vets and 2 of the 3 ladies who had entered the 4 day tour. We worked nicely over this section and all was pleasant until the leading lady’s mother (who will remain nameless) started shouting and screaming at the 2 women in our group that they weren’t allowed to ride with the 7 day riders. What a B!atchh.

In the end they were forced to drop from our group when the commissar was summoned. The group that remained did take great pleasure when we later passed the leading woman. The previously mentioned mother didn’t make it easy for us though she was following her “Angel” or should I say “2 Angel – FS” (the number plate on her car!) very closely and did not move her car over one inch. Luckily we weren’t racing in the Western Cape as we were forced to cross the sacred white line to get past. Martin Witters however did let her know what the group thought of her driving when he passed.

The last 20km’s were a real drag, a headwind had picked up and the road surface had deteriorated. But at the end of a long day in the saddle we made it to Blyde, where a pool, massages, Chelsea buns, protein shake awaited us!!

Once we had recovered sufficiently we caught the bus to our accommodation. The bus took us all the way up a mountain on a dirt road to get there. Once there though we were told we had been upgraded!! Oh yeah. Pierre had managed to get us into a bungalow overlooking the Blyde river Canyon (3^rd biggest in the world). Now that was luxury, and close to the pool which we headed back to after getting cleaned up. For lunch we both chose the pap and wors which filled the gap in my stomach that was threatening the Blyde Canyon to become only the 4^th biggest!!

Neil Relaxing after stage 5.

I then took a bike ride to the view point to see the spectacular views the canyon offered.

That night supper was a bit of a disaster as they weren’t quite ready for us, but eventually we were fed. On the way back to the Chalet we bumped into Tony Rominger, who told us that he had only ridden 350km’s this year! And still managing the tour comfortably enough. It must be nice to have all those miles in the legs.

Only 2 days to go and I still hadn’t managed to get a tan!!!

Selati Stage 5

Selati Stage 5

 

We are past the halfway point and heading home.  Only 3 stages to go but this one between Lydenburg and Blyde River was a biggie…  124km long with Robbers pass and the infamous Bonnet to get over.  The stage started with a nice drop of 200m over the first 37km’s.  There was a bit of a side wind in this section and having a tandem with us made the ride fairly fast.  Neil and I sat in the bunch and even though the terrain was fairly gentle the bunch had been whittled down quite a bit by the time we hit Robbers.  Robbers is a great climb that reminds me a lot of the top part of Du Toits.  It goes on for 12km’s but the gradient is never very serious averaging out at about 4%.  We took the climb very steady but even still we didn’t actually lose much time to the front of the bunch. 

 

The side of robbers that we climbed might not have been very steep but the other side was, with lots of sharp hairpins.  The decent was awesome.  The marshals had closed the road so we could use the whole width to weave our way down the pass.  At the bottom of this pass lies Pilgrim’s Rest.  No time for sightseeing but we did allow ourselves some time to stop at the waterpoints.  The ladies there were always happy to see us stop as we were usually the first people in the race to do so, and stopping meant we didn’t rip bottles out of their hands while flying past at 40km/h.  

 

Straight after the waterpoint came Bonnet.  This climb put some serious wear into the granny. (Neil had a super granny riding a 26!)

 

Ok it is now 5pm, this post will have to be continued on Monday, sorry wait Tuesday.  It is a long weekend!!!!!!!!!!!  Hope you all have a great one!

Enjoying the Downhill

This is actually a pic from Stage 1, but I
only just realised you can email pictures onto a blog. Don't laugh it
is a new feature!

Neil and I relaxing After Long Tom!

 

Selati Stage 4

Stage 4 “Jou Ma se (Long Tom) Pass” - Paul Kaye

 

3 down 4 to go.  Somewhere on the route would mark the halfway point of the tour.  Unfortunately that point was to be found somewhere on the 75km climb found on today’s stage.

 

The stage started in Nelspruit at an altitude of about 650m above sea level then made a steady climb to the highest point of the tour 2150m (that is over 500m higher than Jhb) 75 km later.

Interestingly the stretch of road at the top of Long Tom Pass is the highest tar road in South Africa!

 

This is the first day that Neil and I decided to take easy and as soon as the road headed up wards (after about 10k’s!) we sat up and began riding steadily.  There were a couple of guys riding with us, notably 3 of the over 40’s.  You would think once you reached that age you would be mature, well not these guys.  They kept on trying to attack each other.  I in the mean time kept a nice steady pace and can’t remember the number of times we reeled them in.  They eventually got away from us at one of the water points.  Riding up Long Tom in 35 degree heat requires a lot of fuel and it was definitely a good move to take a couple of minutes to refuel the bottles with Ice cold water and Powerade at the waterpoints.  Me thinks one of the vets won’t make that mistake again as when we past him (again) he was getting off his bike trying to recover from bonking because he had run out of water!!

 

The climb up the pass was a long tough one and you had force yourself to take a bit of time to look around and enjoy the views.  From some of the points you could see the Lowveld for miles and miles. 

 

Long Tom Pass is one that seems to go on forever and the steepest part of the climb comes near the end.  As easily as we took the climb, reaching the top was a welcome relief.  The last 20km of the day dropped about 700m which was nice.  The close encounter with an Audi TT wasn’t though.  There were road works being done on the decent and one of the lanes was closed so there was a stop / go for the cars.  When we reached it we were told to move into the right hand lane.  The cars coming from the other side however were let go too early and us and the cars ended up being on the same side.  We managed to move to the left side just in time and so after 3hrs 40mins we made it safely to Lydenburg.

 

Of that time 2:36 was spent climbing, 56min descending and the rest on the flat.

 

That night we were staying at the local high school.  What an adventure!  We got there and were directed to a hall which contained about 60 mattresses in very poor condition.  I don’t know whether they were leftovers from the Groot Trek or what??  Neil and I decided to pick a spot in the far back corner so that if anybody got up in the night they wouldn’t trip over us.  Oh well there were more important things to worry about so we set out looking for some food.  It was a toss up between the Wimpy and Nando’s.  Nando’s won even though it was a 20 meter further walk!  Just after walking out of Nando’s we bumped into Stephan Courtney, still grumpy that Robby Rodrigues sprinted past him at the finish after he had towed Robby for the last 25km’s of the race.  Anyway Stephan, because he finished so far ahead of us, had managed to get his own room in one of the other buildings.  So Neil and I as soon as we got back to the school carted our extremely heavy race bag up stairs.  This was a stroke of luck because the next day there were lots of complaints about the noise level in the big hall.

 

Credit must be given to the organisers who raided the local PEP and bought everyone a pillow and a sheet.  With these the accommodation ended up being quite comfortable. 

 

Only 3 more to go!

 

 

Selati Stage 3

Selati Stage 3

 

Stage 3 was meant to be a “Rest” day as it was the shortest of the tour being a shade under 50km’s.  The race though was a time trial.  Because Neil and I were in a team we could ride the TT together.  This sounds like a bigger advantage than it was because the course they sent us on had so much climbing that slip streaming just didn’t help much.

 

The first rider was meant to be off at 8am but this coincided nicely with Nelspruit’s peak hour traffic so the route was changed and the start time was delayed.  No worries here as we could spend the hour wait drinking coffee in the Garmin tent. 

 

The plan for the day was to ride it at a comfortable pace keeping the legs ‘fresh’ for the 4 days that still had to come.  Due to the course it was still a tough stage but it was nice to finish the stage with a full afternoon left.  One boerewors roll and a massage later and we were ready to leave.  The rented car was left in Nelspruit the day we arrived so we had our own transport while we were back in Nelspruit.  It was nice not to be dependant on the organisers, it also gave us time to pop into town to restock on GU and energy bars as well as get a jar of shammy cream!  The Cape Storm bibs were damn comfortable for the entire 7 days, but never having been on the bike for a solid 7 days before was taking its toll.

 

A quick dip in the pool and an afternoon nap later and it was time to head to dinner and see which pro’s and vets were going to join us for the remaining 4 days.

The dinner was in the same place as the night before so at least we knew where it was this time.  No frantic calls to Meridy asking for directions needed this time!

 

Some of the top riders were there including MTN and Harmony.  David George was there too looking a little worse for wear after arriving back from the tour of Korea that morning.  If you think he moves quickly on the bike you should have seen him rush for the front of the food queue.  The Korean food obviously wasn’t that great.

 

Having our own wheels meant we could leave early and get an early night.  Going to bed that night we didn’t take enough time to appreciate our accommodation, we would when we arrived in Lydenburg the following day!!!

 

 

 

 

Selati Stage 2

Well day 2 dawned and we were wondering what the old legs would be like after the long hard day in the saddle the day before. It was a fairly short stage planned but had a bump called Boulders after about 35km’s.

The days start was at one of Selati’s mills so the air was filled with the sweet smell of Molasses. The weather was once again perfect, hovering around the 30 degree mark with very little wind. The racing started fairly aggressively back along the same stretch of road that brought us into Malelane the day before. The first sprint point was at 25k’s. Neil was riding right near the front and I was thinking that he had a chance of winning the sprint but thing all got rather confusing as there was a toll gate and a water point about 200m before the line. In the end I think Neil got 3^rd at the toll and improved on that by getting 2^nd at the water point. Unfortunately by the time the real line came Team Cape Storm wasn’t in contention!

The road then made the dreaded left hand turn and Boulders had begun. Neil was climbing comfortably while I was suffering like a dog on the steeper sections. When Pierre came cruising past in the car shouting “HOU VAS” I was hoping he meant onto the car! I was definitely glad I had put a 25 on the back. For those of you who have done the Jock, we went up Boulders the opposite way. Once over the top we had a group of about 8, and with a lot of effort got “through and off” going. One thing that really peeves me off is when people stuff it up, especially when they aren’t prepared to work but come through anyway and then pull over before reaching the front. My next blog entry will have to be “Though and Off 101 the very basics.”

The day started at 340m above sea level, got to 956m on top of boulders and finished at 670m. Ave speed was just on 30km/h for the 77km’s to Nelspruit.

We had learnt from the day before, and put a bag in one of the following cars, so we could change out of cycling kit and relax in the selati tent after “showering” under a tap. The Selati tent was stocked up on Doughnuts and Chelsea buns. Oh yeahhh

We were staying in Nelspruit for 2 nights so we could really relax in the awesome accommodation that is Bundu Lodge. The poor Maties were holed up in a place called The Funky Monkey!!

Our room at Bundu Lodge had a pool almost right outside our door which was great before our afternoon nap.

The only small prob at Bundu was that because breakfast only opened at 6:30am they decided to deliver our breakfast the night before. This consisted of 2 cheese sandwiches on white bread, a dodgy sausage, and a hard boiled egg. Mmmmm Yummy.

We didn’t end up eating it but went to the proper breakfast instead. Now that was worth it!

What awaited us at the end of the race!

Selati Stage 1

Well after a rather disruptive nights sleep we woke up to face the first of 7 stages. Stage 1 was a biggie, almost a 150km long ride from Badplaas to Malelane, so that meant one thing….. a big breakfast!

After packing our bags we headed to the main hall for breakfast. All in all the food the entire week was brilliant, which is very important when living the life of a cycling pro where not much else is done besides eating, riding and sleeping. Oh and getting massages, but more about that later!

We got to the start about 30mins before kick off which was at 8am, but we weren’t exactly overly keen to warm up for a 7 day tour especially when we had 150k’s to do that day so the quick ride we did before the start was more to check we put our bikes together correctly than get the legs working (oh and to spot Tony Rominger).

Please people don’t watch Supercycling this Tuesday, unless they have cut the interview I did on the start line! If they have I will then give you my permission to watch.

The route profile on the first day was an interesting one, it started with a fairly gradual 20km’s then hit a 12km climb which averaged out at about 4%. This is where the bunch first broke up. Neil and I went over in the second group but managed to regroup with the front of the race during the 30km sweeping downhill!! Things got a little tough again once we got into Barbeton and followed the opposite route that the Jock takes. Not having backup meant that we had to stop at the waterpoints. Luckily the Maties didn’t have any either so we made a nice chase group after the stop in Barberton and got back on quite comfortably.

Neil and I stuck almost until we reached the N4 where the last 30-40kms were done on a dead straight road with fairly big rollers. Along this road the day started to get long ticking off the K’s one by one. Eventually we arrived Malelane golf course.

Recovery time:

The finish area of each days stage was always brilliant. Ice cold water, coke, powerade, Chelsea buns, protein shake….. and of course the massages!

These unfortunately had to be paid for but were worth every cent for the 30mins of heaven that they brought.

Getting to the accommodation was the only hassle of the day. There were a couple of accommodation options but we eventually got tired of sitting in our Cape Storm bibs, as comfortable as they are on the bike they were getting a bit much off it. We eventually caught a lift with the Acsis bus. Luckily for us they went to the correct accommodation, for us. They however on getting to the place were told that they weren’t meant to be there and had to head 25km back into town!

Our accom once again was great, it was on the edge of the crocodile river which was between us and the Kruger park. Sitting on the grass overlooking the elephants in the river while the sun went down was tough without having a beer in hand but somehow we survived!!!

Instead of firing up a braai and putting a thick steak on the fire, as the setting would have suited we headed back into town to have supper and the presentation.

What a tough day!!! Only 6 to go…..

Selati Africyle Day 1

After entering the Cape Storm competition to win entry into the Selati Africycle tour and hearing that I hadn’t won, I thought it was all over..  That was until Monday morning when Steve (my original partner) rang me up saying the others had pulled out and we were in if we wanted.  After consulting our bosses, I was still able to go but Steve wasn’t, so I needed to find someone in a hurry to come with.  Luckily Neil (no 125^th on the list!) accepted so it was a case of finding tickets to get to OR Tambo on the following Saturday morning.

 

Day 1

So off we were early Saturday morning on our way into the unknown – neither of us having done 750km’s in a week before!  At the airport we met Pierre, the representative from Cape Storm.  We were coincidentally on the same flight.

 

On arriving at Jhb we got our box of goodies from Pierre! 3 pairs of top of the range bibs, 3 shirts, arm and leg warmers and even a cranium cooler???  We were almost on our way, a quick pop into Budget, and one fully loaded Chico later, the N4 was ours.

 

We had organized to drive to Nelspruit’s Kruger International Airport.(KMI)  the problem was that trying to find its location on the internet wasn’t so easy, on the 3 sites I found that gave directions they all said it was in a different place!  Anyway luckily the road markings were good and we eventually found it.  Logistically putting this race on is quite an achievement, and us getting to the start in Badplaas was pushing the organizers limits.  You see KMI ended up being about 25km the wrong side of Nelspruit to Badplaas.  Eventually though we were picked up and made our way to Badplaas.  We missed the pre race briefing but we arrived in time for the important stuff, supper.  We ate that first supper like it was the only food we were going to get for the next 7 days!

 

Then it was off to get our race bags which we had to pack all our stuff into.  These bags would be collected at each start and taken onto the next stop for us, sometimes taking a detour or 2 but eventually arriving where we ended up!

 

The accommodation on this first night was at the Aventura resort, which was very nice.  Our roommates left a little to be desired though.  Jafta and his buddy, shuttle bus drivers,  firstly locked us out of our room, then went drinking at another chalet, then came back at about midnight and proceded to shout at each other.  When they finally went to sleep they left the TV on.  Worse still they were up at 4am and still hadn’t mastered the art of whispering!

 

Well that was the end of Day 1….