Race report (from my perspective)
Our goal was sub 12, splits on my bars (noting some issues with the first split)
Fast start, though I immediately realised that the first 100k were not all downhill, and the road surface was pretty rubbish (corrugated and ditches)
At the bottom of one big pass about 20k in my left hip locked up to the extent I couldn’t pedal for about 5mins and couldn’t put any torque down until CP2. Popped two pain pills, which seemed to help.
My two partners (who were on MTBs) were strong at this point.
We hit CP2 (93km) in 3:41, 30mins down on our goal (though I’m starting to suspect my maths was off for that segment)
Came out of CP2 feeling strong, first real climb of the day up Baviaans back and it got properly hot. Strongest partner overheated, and then I got nauseous on the descent. Worst descent of that race for me.
Rolled into CP3 (125k) in 5:40, now 10mins behind (see previous sus maths comment)
300m river ride out of CP3, nice to cool down but I fell over without unclipping and landed hard on my elbow.
First fang was fine, second fang was brutal, nausea was hitting me hard (heat plus stomach not agreeing with aid station Gu electrolytes I think).
Partners still strong at this point.
The Mac (10km, 500m) climb was everything I expected, and worse
Walked about a 3rd of it (at least, my memory is foggy).
Got to 8k up and told the others I was dropping at Bergplaas (CP4 at the top)
Of course they didn’t listen. One partner (who I had pushed plenty in training) gave me some good pushes up the last drag), so there was some nice poetry there.
Got to Bergplaas (143km) in 7:54, 19min down, and got our Dropbox. Big brain move was me packing a can of ginger beer which I downed in a minute. We all did a full change, stuck on our lights, I had a coffee/milo/sugar concoction.
When I took off my gloves to change them I saw the two massive blisters on my hands 🙈 Put on my thickest gloves, just for some padding.
Then we rolled out into the dark.
Bergplaas descent was my biggest fear coming into this, but it was actually fine. Got to the bottom and realised my light wasn’t actually on, so had to stop and change it. Got dropped by partners in the dark, and had a rant when I caught them again, we agreed to stick together from there.
We rolled hard from there, all feeling pretty good.
Rollers and tar into CP5 (175k) in 9:54, where we all had some hot chips and coke and a sit.
From there it was NeverEnder. Garmin has it as 5k, 200m. Garmin lies. It’s 10km long. Yoh, words were said best not repeated.
Finally got to the top and rolled down to CP7 (205k) in 11:50. Weird loop under a road for no reason, but we rolled in, had another coffee/Milo concoction and a jaffel which went down surprisingly well.
22k (in theory) to go.
Big tailwind for the next 8km, we ate up the miles until Little Mac, which is steep but short, and we all made it without much issue.
Another fast descent and then a detour off the gpx into a farm where we came across some very confused cows in the dark.
Navigated that and then it was onto the last section along the side of the road, where you have no idea how long is left and it just keeps going.
Finally finally saw the finish village and turned down without too much extra out and back.
Rolled across the finish line in 12:50. Not our goal, but we did finish as a team, without hating the race or each other, so we’re taking it as a win.
Beer, burger, BnB, bed, and the try to shut the brain off and go to sleep (mostly unsuccessful)
Would I do it again? Not on a gravel bike. Most of the first 100k simply wasn't enjoyable. So maybe on a MTB, but I don't want one of those
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