Thanks, although it's not a race or a podium I'm particularly proud of (as opposed to last year, or even this year's 3rd at Road champs) as it doesn't really reflect the performance I had on the day.
Anyways, so we started in a small bunch, the first mud section was probably 2 or 3 km after the start, and is where we were already reduced to 5 or maybe 6. Many many people fell in the mud or had to take a walk, and the front group was in a hurry. When the first couple of steep ramps came, the front group kept going full gas.
In my age cat, the contenders were Dusty Day, Herman Fouché, me (the usual 3 that have been on the podium at last years Gravel champs, this years road champ and ultimately this years gravel champs too) and Thinus that recently moved up (the two of us finished together last year, he beat me in the sprint to the line but we both won SA titles in 30-34 and 35-39).
Coming back to the race, Dusty decided to play the long game and as Herman was also dropping back from the front group on the steep climb, I decided to stay with them. They are rivals whom I know the strengths, the race wouldn't be lost there after only 10km.
So the 3 of us started chasing, we eventually lost Herman due to more mud baths, falls and probably not the best legs ever. Dusty and I caught up to the front before the end of the first lap. But 1/3rd into the 2nd lap, just before the same steep climbs we let the group go the previous lap, I took a fast fall into the mud, probably caught a rut underwater, because I'm usually good in sand and mud, and I know from my MX days that when it's sketchy, you must put gas, the problem is when you do that, if you fall you end up falling harder !
Took me a few secs to pick it up, to a quick self check, try to remount, realise my hoods are completely tilted, getting down, straighten them, go again, failing to remount in the mud, run out the mud.... By the time I was back on the bike the front group was already halfway up the climb and I was at max HR.
You can see there me vs Dusty, I could almost bring it back after the climb, but unfortunately the guys in front collaborated well and the next climb that I think was on the road the gap grew again. During that chase I passed Thinus that also crashed, looked like he couldn't remount (I saw afterwards that he DNFed)
I kept going for about an hour or so, thinking it's gravel anything can happen, and I think maybe someone will take a wrong turn or have bad luck (mechanical, fall ?) and I could get back into the race. But eventually when the 2nd lap ended I started contemplating stopping and getting into the car, couldn't care less about finishing 2nd or 3rd, I came to win. But that's when I thought I never get the time to ride for this long, and if I just ride to enjoy it, I might actually have a good time. Plus my flight was only at 20:30, so I'd be spending a looong time doing nothing if I stopped. So I kept going, stopped a few times to clean my bike. Had many hesitations as my Wahoo kept telling me I was off route, I knew at some point there was a turn to take on the last lap, but wasn't sure when, I kept turning around to find the same poor guy from the elite group that seemed to know the course, then dropping him again, then wait for him, etc etc.
Until Herman caught me, then we rode together to the finish. Had a lekker chat, lots of war stories between the 2 of us, lots of respect too, although we never really had time to chat before.
In the end I finish 13mins behind Dusty who seemed to have dropped of from the front group eventually. Maybe if I kept racing I could've challenged, but I don't think so, plus I was still pretty toast at the end despite cruising the last 2 hours, and even today I feel my legs like I rarely do. He's definitely a worthy champ. I was underprepared, didn't study the course, didn't plan my meals properly to eat well the day before. So I guess I didn't deserve it.
