Dirtopia and Team Cape Storm

This past long weekend (thanks Thabo!) was Dirtopia and the launch of Team Cape Storm.  The festival for 2008 returned to its roots and was once again held in Greyton.   This year things were a little different to previous years with a more relaxed program in terms of races, but don’t worry all the classics were still there, the ENDURO, the widowmaker hillclimb, the trophy race and of course night polo.

 

Day 1

Myra, Andre, Tamara and myself arrived on Thursday morning and quickly got our campsite in some sort of order.  Next on the agenda was to track down Pierre from Cape Storm and our new kit!!  It felt like Christmas had come early and there was a massive box of stuff for Andre and myself.  Most importantly Pierre had remembered to bring along my CS Firefly sleeping bag so no cold nights for me.  Once we were fully kitted up Andre and myself were on our bikes and headed off for lunch in Greyton.  Myra who unfortunately had picked up a bad case of flu caught a lift with Tamara.

After a slight altercation between Andre and a Greyton motorist (I thought only people from the city got road rage!) we found a spot to eat.  There must have only been about 10-15 of us in total but this coffee shop was totally unprepared for this group of mtb’ers.  After we had eaten all their food they actually had to close!

 

Once we had eaten all their food we saddled up for the 17km trek home.  I use the word trek because the burgers in our stomach made the ride home feel a lot longer than it actually was!

 

Next on the program was the night race (2 laps of 7km).  After a bit of humming and harring and checking to see if our lights had enough batteries we decided to join in the fun in the dark and ride the night race.  As with any mtb race it started at a pace.  My legs were actually feeling really good and started off really well until I decided to test out my helmet and go over my bars!  The fall was actually quite harmless but when I got up and tried to remount I fell into fynbos!  I got quite stuck and battled a bit to get out.  I managed to regain my position (4^th) and seeing as though Andre (3^rd) was now a fair distant ahead and 5^th place was quite far behind I decided not to take too many more chances.  In the end Andre managed to get Team Cape Storm’s first podium!

After a shower it was braai and beer time!

 

Oh I must tell you about the carbon Giant with Crossmax that I was riding!!  I had taking my bike (Raleigh) into Flandria to send for the fork to be serviced and it didn’t come back in time.  Leonardo however kindly let me his bike, hence the upgrade which made Andre very jealous!

 

  

Stu has a new toy!!

As of 2 weeks ago I have been the owner of a Power Tap power meter.  It is a really great toy that is going to get me from my current state of absolute unfitness to race ready form.

It in conjunction with my newly acquired coach are going to make my life hell!!  I see 4:30am intervals on the not too far horizon!  (What have I gotten myself into??!!??)

 

   

 

The software I am going to be using is Training Peaks.  SO for the next couple of months I will be monitoring my Normalised power, my PowerZone distribution and my TSS,TSB,ATL and CTL scores. 

Will it help, well time will tell but with the form I am in at the moment the only way is up.  6 months till Spring league!  I will keep you informed!

 

Just over 2 hours till the long Easter Weekend.  4 days to really get to know my PT.

Bloem

This weekend saw me heading up to Bloemfontein for Leila and Declan's wedding. During the weekend Myra and I managed to visit the now infamous Reitz res at the UFS!!







Take a look at the licence disc on the car I rented from Imperial!! It expired over a month before I rented it. Besides that the dashboard kept flashing at me to say that the car needed a service. Oh yeah I couldn't open the passenger door with the key seeing as though somebody before me tried to unsuccessfully use a screwdriver!!




I must say Bloem just doesn't want me to have an enjoyable trip. Besides the wedding which was great the rest wasn't worth writing about!

SA Taxi Story...Justice! - A must Read!!!

 

Old but still good

 

This morning, yours truly, decided to sneak in a pinch of top-secret and highly professional canoe training at Emmerentia dam, before the first farts of the sparrows could escape their imprisoning sphincters, and even before the glories-of-mornings of most non-gay South African men could rise to view the possible prospects of "before work" swims.
Yep, I was up and onto that little patch of water before sunrise, tearing around it at record-breaking pace, sneaking in a wee bit of pre-Duzi training in order to wrestle the crown away from the well slow and soft Martin Dreyer (present Duzi champion, for those of you not in the intellectual canoe mix) next time around.
Anyway, the details of my incredible canoe talent are not up for discussion here, but rather what happened on my drive home after the session, in rush hour traffic and, in particular, on Jan Smuts Avenue near to the Old Parktonian Sports Club around 8am.
I was happily chilling in my car, cruising along at about 60kph, in pretty much bumper-to-bumper traffic, with nobody going anywhere any faster; it was simply not an option.  Well, not an option for anyone with a brain, with an ounce of logic within their crania, with a drop of sense inside the membranes of their cerebral hemispheres. You'd think that a creature without a brain would equate to a fly or less, a category that includes mosquitoes, stones, anvils and......taxi drivers.
Yep, enter Sipho "I'm a d*ckhead without a brain cell" Ndlovo, driver of a Toyota Hi-Ace with 4 wheels, 1 brake pad, no lights, half a steering wheel, about 30 people inside and 3 masking-taped windows, standard issue for a South African taxi driver.
He had more than likely participated in the demonstration march last month with hundreds of other taxi driver idiots protesting about having had their 'vehicles' impounded for not being roadworthy.  The rocket-scientists couldn't understand what wasn't roadworthy about a taxi with a bobejaan spanner for a steering wheel, or one without brakes (they reckon a handbrake is just as good as the foot brake pedal).

Anyway, my mate Sipho decided things weren't flowing fast enough for him so started weaving in and out of the traffic, arm hanging out of his window like a baboon's tail hanging from its ring piece.
I heard this aeronautical engineer-like taxi driver coming from about 5 cars back, because everyone was hooting and slamming on brakes to avoid the accident that he was trying his damnest to cause.  After he narrowly missed the back of my canoe as he swerved in behind me I made a stubborn little vow that he definitely wouldn't be cutting in front of me like that, and so began the fun and games.

The bum-wart first tried the standard tactic of intimidation, just gradually cutting me off, in the typical "you'd better slow down and let me in, or I'll crash into you" method.
Well, I used the typical "F_ck you faeces-brain" tactic, with one hand on the hooter, the other pointing straight at him, with my foot firmly on the accelerator, until he backed down like Mike Catt had done in 1995 when Jonah Lomu ran straight over him.
This had a snowball effect, which had me chuckling the whole way back to my humble abode.  Syphilis-face then decided to put all his well acquired driving skill to the test and adopted the smartest technique of them all, the "Eish, I weel ovah-take on the wrong side" method, one that sadly has caused numerous accidents in the past, including the untimely death of one of our awesome mates a year ago.

This made old Maccatini madder than a spitting cobra with a red hot cactus lodged up its rectum.  No skin off the f_cking taxi drivers nose, he just accelerated more, and tried to cut in front of the double-cab in front of me, this after he had hooted at me and showed me a middle finger accompanied with a few swearwords, something that made me want to beat him harder than Campbell hit the gay boy who stabbed him repeatedly with a pen all those years ago!

Well, the fella in front of me had obviously also been observing the proceedings, and likewise refused to let Sipho D*ckdribble Ndhlovo in so the acceleration by the monkey continued, while he tried his hardest to outstare the double-cab driver.  Sadly for the nuclear physicist the emergency lane was shortly going to end, with a solid
stone pavement to mark its ending.

More sadly for him was the fact that he, and his 30-odd passengers were all trying their damnest to "intimidate by staring" myself and the double-cab man, instead of watching the road ahead something that most brain-owners do when driving.

I saw it coming, and was smiling my full-tusk smile even before they hit!!

Anal-bum-wart hit that pavement at about 70kph, 31 passengers bumped their heads on the roof of the Hi-Ace in poetic unison, adding an extra 31 dents to the already-f_cked minibus, and the two front wheels were ripped off the chassis as the bus slid to a delightful halt.

Thankfully no passengers were hurt, which made it the most fantastic thing to witness.  Sadly though, Sipho, arm still hanging out of the window, was also unscathed. However, his car was more f_cked than that prostitute at PE harbour named Deloris, and his mood was somewhat down-trodden.

I hooted and made sure he got the full-frontal of my biggest-ever super smile, as did the driver of the double-cab, and then to my absolute joy, looked in my mirror to see every driver behind me doing exactly the same!

The brain-cell-lacker had received his well-earned treatment!  I was happier than the Proteas when they beat the Aussies, or at least as happy!!

So folks, what a peachy morning it has been so far.  The sun is shining, it's Friday, I've done my training.  There will be a lot of thirst quenched this weekend, and Sipho, Faeces-face Ndlovo is one mini-bus short of a taxi!

Now that is justice....!

 

DC Pic - Team Ngubane

 

The Double Century

Yip, it’s the end of the year and that means it was Double Century time again.  The race this year followed the same route as last year except that it started and finished in Swellendam rather than Montague.  The effect of this is that the 2 big climbs came between km’s 40 and 60 rather than 140 and 160.

 

This year I rode for Team Ngubane.  A team I have been riding for, for the Spring League as well.  We were one of the last teams to start and got underway only at 6:58am.  In a way it was nice because we didn’t have to wake up so early, but we also knew that the wind was going to get worse later.

 

For those that don’t know about the DC, it is effectively a 202km time trail.  You can start with up to 12 riders and it is the time of the 6^th rider that counts.

We started with a full compliment this year, which always makes things a little easier.  In my first DC we started with only 6, so had no luxury of dropping anyone.

 

Gert, Willies dad wasn’t feeling too great and unfortunately had to pack it in early.  His strength on the flats would have been valuable later on.

 

In total we dropped 3 riders on route and had to stop to fix 2 punctures.  The 2 unplanned stops ended up ruining our chance of breaking the 6 hour barrier.  We eventually did it in 6:03!!

 

The team (including backup crew) was great.  Everybody did as much as they could and when a breather was needed another team member just rolled through to take the front.

 

Team Ngubane will definitely be back next year, and the goal of breaking 6 hours next time will be replaced by trying to crack the top 5.

Tour de Worcester

Here's a pic from the tour de Worcester that was held
on Saturday. The course was almost completely flat and there was very
little wind so it ended in a big bunch sprint. The only tricky section
was a 1.8km gravel section, which was really fun! This weekend coming I
am heading to Durbs for the Amashova. I am riding with the Pro's so it
is going to be a real tough one.

Selati

Neil, Pierre, and me

The last stretch (Solo)

So, writing a complete account of the Selati Tour has taken a lot longer than what it took to do the event, but eventually I am onto the final stage.

 

Waking up for the 7^th day was made slightly harder due to the late night thanks to the rugby.  As I write this the Boks are in the Semi final about to take on Argentina.  Lets hope they play the same way they did against the poms!

 

Ok back to the race… The day was off to a disappointing start with Neil having to abandon so close to the finish, but with an entire racing season ahead it was the wise move not to risk it.

 

The route was a superb one, with an easy start and then some biggish rolling hills towards the end.  It is amazing how ones body reacts to a hard week of riding.  On this the final day my legs felt completely fresh and better than they did all tour and it was nice to be apart of the racing.  Only the top 2 in the GC managed to get away just after the KOM.  I even found myself pushing the pace on the hills towards the end to get rid of some of the other riders. 

 

The finish was a hectic one as the last 300m were on a brick surface through the botanical gardens.  I managed to finish about 4^th in the sprint so ended up being 6^th overall for the stage.

 

I must say it was a relief to be finished but disappointing to think that 2 days after the finish and I would be back in the office!!

 

But what a tour, it was a great week and I must really thank Cape Storm for the opportunity, and Neil for making up the other half of Team Cape Storm.

 

I should be getting a cd of pics from Pierre this week so will post some of those soon.

Stage 6

Only 2 stages to go!

Well after the 35 degree heat that we experienced in the first 5 days the weather on stage 6 came as quite a shock. It was overcast and very chilly.

Getting to breakfast was made easy by hitching a lift from Andrew Maclean in his Porsche Cayenne, a very nice vehicle!

The stage for the penultimate day was just under 90km long with a nice drag back up to Graskop via the climb to God’s Window. I believe that the view from God’s Window is spectacular, I will have to take other peoples word because when we got there the mist was so thick that it was impossible to see further that 10m ahead.

Stupidly we thought, after the previous days, that the day was bound to warm so we didn’t take the prototype Stratos Jacket with us. What a mistake. Climbing God’s Window the temperature had dropped to only 12 degrees. Worst of all when Pierre came past in the car and we asked for the jackets he said he had given them to Tony Rominger and his buddy, the Astana manager, already!! Neil and I had worn these jackets at the start and played around with the “revolutionary new (REGISTERED) design that allows you to quickly unzip (one handed) and stow away your jacket sleeves whilst still riding - leaving you with a well fitted wind vest for warmer days” and must admit they are really cool jackets. It is just a pity we couldn’t test them on the way down God’s window ;-) Pierre did save us in the end and gave us the jackets he was wearing!

Unfortunately Neil was really struggling with his Achilles and was in a lot of pain and with the weather, making it to the finish was the day’s only goal.

Luckily the ride from Graskop was predominantly downhill and with the company of some of the vets and ladies (no we didn’t pace them, so stop shouting at us) we got to Sabie with an average speed just on 30km/h.

Once again we went for a massage. Neil booked a double session to see if he could get his Achilles right for the final day.

For the second time of the tour we were staying at a school. This time however the organisation was great and very comfortable.

Because most of the riders were scheduled to head back home soon after the final stage the main presentation was held at the supper after stage 6. Once again supper was awesome. After eating we moved towards the bar to watch SA take on England. A few beers were also allowed seeing there was only 1 stage left!

Only 1 stage to go! The final hurdle.

Cape Storm Sale

Sorry for the delay since the last entry, lucky the Selati trip was such a memorable one that I will be able to finish the entries for the last 2 stages with no problem!

But first……

Between now and when I wrote the last entry was the legendary Cape Storm Sale. What an event. As soon as news of the sale hits my inbox, my calendar gets a great big red mark on it. Myra and I were both super keen for the trip down to CS’s Wynberg store and not even a very late night of wine and sushi at a friend’s house was going to make us late for this one! We got there at 7:30am for the 8am opening and there was already a queue.

On entering you get given a huge plastic bag and the madness begins. Due to there being a limited quantity of each line the stategy I adopted the stategy of stuffing anything that I thought I might want into the bag and then try it on later. Well let me tell you by the end of the sale I was needing a second bag!! Prized items include a Spitfire jacket, that I am actually wearing now because summer still hasn’t reached Cape Town, and a pair of XA Pro 3D Salomon’s. Tim I hope you are jeleous.

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….