This was the worst I've felt on a bike after 'bonking' riding the Double Century a few years ago! This race has always been known as a 'roadie' friendly mountainbike race, so I thought it would be no problem!
The race started very fast. I managed to get to the front of the bunch and felt comfortable. I kept an eye on David and Johan Labuschagne, who I race against a lot on the road. I felt if I could just follow their lead, I would be fine - since they are very experienced mountain bike riders as well.
The first jeep track section cause the bunch to split up, with the main contenders going away. I was in the second bunch, with some good riders and feeling comfortable. A new section has been added to the race, a climb with a lot of loose rocks. Going up the climb I was not able to keep up with the group that I was in, and by the time I was at the top, I was pretty much alone.
I chased hard on the flat roads after the climb, hoping I'd be able to get back on to the group that I had lost. At the halfway mark, I stopped to fill my water bottle, and a group came past me. I got onto that group, hoping that I'd be able to stay with them to the finish. At about 40km to go the wheels started coming off!! In the next section of singletrack I just could not stay with the group, my back and my wrists were getting so tired that I was having difficulty going fast over the technical sections. Once again I got isolated was all alone after a section of singletrack that went along the side of the Vaal River. The ride would have been really enjoyable had I not been so tired.
The roads back to Parys were horrific. They were seriously corrugated, and I was really struggling. I just could not get comfortable and tried to stay on the wheel of every group or rider that came past me. I was losing plenty time and all I could think about was the finish!
With about 15km to go, the race goes onto a tarred section of road, and I was hoping that it would be tarred back to Parys. The route soon turned off the tarred road and although the terrain was flat, there were a lot of rocks and rough sections. One thing I have learned is that speed is your friend over rough terrain, but I was too tired to maintain momentum. I slowed down completely and the last 10km were sheer hell!
I finally got into the finish in a shade over 4 hours, feeling very sorry for myself. I was very surprised to see from the results that I had finished 34th overall, out of a field of 600. I thought I was the last man when I was coming to the finish.
Power stats show just how much my power dropped off through the race!
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