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…..