Finally caught up some sleep and have a gap to sit and think back about my first 36One..
Going into the race, I didn't have much time to train specifically for this event as I entered with less than 8 weeks to go. I felt my base fitness would get me over the line, so my main training focus was to find that sweet spot power output I can do all day, and to test nutrition that works for me. Luckily I've been training with Biogen products for the last year, so no surprises expected at the waterpoints. I was confident that I could do the race in 21 hrs, but was quietly hoping for Sub 20 hrs.
I found that sweet spot in training to be around 195-205 watts, so there I had my pre-race plan. With the headwind predicted from the Start to CP1 at 100km, the plan was adjusted slightly to find a bunch to hide from the wind in the first 100km, even if it means power output would be a little bit higher. Then from CP1 I can ride my own race pace again to average out 195-205watts.
The start was frantic as expected. I found myself in the leading bunch after the first hour at over 300w average, the plan completely out the window! I knew if I kept this up, I'll blow by CP1, so I tapped off and waited for the next bunch on the road to catch up to me and see if I can get my head back on the pre-race plan. This group worked well together up until around 65km where we split in two smaller groups. At this point my average power dropped to 265w average, still a bit high, so was happy to sit with the back of the split. By the time we reached CP1, my average power dropped to 240 watts, still way over my pre-race plan. At CP1 I fell into the trap of chatting too much with everyone and quickly ended up spending 30mins there! In hindsight that was maybe exactly what I needed after the first 100km effort.
I left CP1 on my own, ready to refocus on my pre-race plan. Then just as I settled into a lekker rhythm, I lost focus for a second and found myself missing a turn at 140km. Single track next to a tar road spit me out on the tar road and I didn't see the danger tape pointing the route to the left. Then I realized almost a kilometer down the road that this doesn't seem right.. no markings or lights for a while, so I turned around. Luckily I then saw another rider dropping down under the bridge and he shouted to me the turn-off is a few hundred meters back. I only lost around 1,5km, could've been much worse! At this point I didn't realize that this is the defining moment of my race. I caught up to the rider, Theo van Zyl, quickly exchanged a few word about how dumb I was missing that turn, then I pedaled on. We didn't ride together, but I noticed him just behind me for a few kms. At the next waterpoint we started chatting and started riding together from there, What a legend this guy turned out to be. He was busy with his 9th 36One, done two Munga's and a few Grits, tough as nails type guy. Our pace matched so well that we ended up riding all the way together up to CP2. He knows the route so well that he could "coach" me on what to expect around every turn and how we should approach it.
At CP2 I had to fix a bottle cage that came loose, and had to take a few extra minutes to eat some spaghetti bolognaise. Again spending more time there than I planned. Theo wished me luck and carried on without me. I was quite bummed, we rode well together.
Leaving CP2 at around 23:00 there was an accident where they rerouted us through the field. I think one of the event motorcycles hit a drunk lady, and I don't think she made it. Looked like a bad accident.
Then somehow I caught back up with Theo at the next waterpoint, and from there on our races synced up perfectly and we rode together all the way to the finish line. It helped so much to have someone for company through the night! Especially someone that can mentally prepare you for what to expect from the next section.
We were making great progress from CP2 up to the waterpoint at +-240km before the Rooiberg climb starts, we even jokingly compared the distance and climbing at one point to Trans Baviaans and realized if we went like this on the Trans Baviaans, a Sub 10hrs were on the cards. That waterpoint had braaibroodjies that definitely recued me for the Rooiberg climb that waited! I saw a few people making the mistake of sitting down at the fire and not planning to get up any time soon. At the fire I recognized one of the guys that rode with our bunch up to CP1, David Jenkins. He was looking done, but we convinced him to get up and just climb Rooiberg with us. We ate Rooiberg happie for happie, knowing that we need to save some legs for that final 80 kms. At the top David pulled off at the waterpoint, Theo and I skipped the waterpoint and pushed on towards Calitzdorp CP3. Afterwards I saw David at the finishline, he unfortunately called it a day at CP3, but he looks like the type of guy that will be back to settle some unfinished business!
The roads were in such great condition from Rooiberg to Calitzdorp, I think we were able to average close to 35kmh on the flat sections to Calitzdorp. Picked up a few riders as well as we flew by them.
We reached CP3 at 05:20, had pannekoek, potato salad and an egg. Stuffed my pockets with gels and liquid energy. And off we went at 05:40. That was the last solid food I could stomach. From there I was just kapping gels every 30mins. Theo mentioned that we are comfortably on target for a sub 20hrs time, but probably not a sub 19 hrs. His previous best was 19 hrs 30mins, he would've loved to break the sub 19, but he has never done the last 80km under 4h30mins, always closer to 5hrs, so seemed like the Sub 19 was off the table as we would have to do it in 4h15min.
I obviously knew the last 80kms would be tough from the way everyone described it, but I genuinely didn't expect THAT many hills haha. My power strategy was playing out perfectly and was around 200w average by CP3, I was still feeling so strong leaving CP3 for that last 80kms. With the on-route coaching help of Theo, we ticked off one climb after the other in no time. We passed quite a few riders in that last stretch that looked to have hit a wall. Climb, gel, climb, gel in that last 60kms. Even that section with the riverbed rocks/boulders we flew over without slowing down. Probably a bit of a mistake as I bent my MTB's fork in the process (It was already bent slightly from a crash a few weeks ago, but now was bent to the point where I was struggling to keep the bike upright). We were flying down the hills and on the straights pushing 40km/h. With 35km to go, we quickly did the maths and realized that if we keep the hammer down like this, a Sub 19 might actually still be possible, so we pushed on, skipped the last waterpoint as well. With 15kms to go my upper body just couldn't take the toll of keeping the bike upright anymore. My neck, left shoulder, left hand, left knee, all compensating to keep the skew bike upright, so I told Theo to push on, he still has a chance to get his Sub 19 if he didn't have to wait for me. He pushed on, and I basically then found that standing to pedal felt the most natural with the skew fork, so that's what I did for the final 15kms, stand and pedal. Theo crossed the line in 18h53mins, and I crossed it in 18h55min. We shared our finish line beer before the clock struck 10:00.
Apart from the upper body pains from keeping the skew bike upright, I honestly still felt strong crossing the line, immediately saying I'll be back for more of this! Never felt like bonking, never felt like cramping, never felt tired, never had any sleep demons. Average watts at the end 203W, perfectly paced to what I've planned beforehand. I don't think I've ever had a race play out as perfectly as this did. Ended 18th Solo Men and 27th overall. Very very happy with that. I'll definitely be back for more!
