Did the 2 day event on the weekend and really enjoyed it despite the first day really getting the better of me. I had been sick for a full week with gastro leading up to the race and at about 35km (round about the bottom of Spionkop) the cramping began! This made for a very painful walk up the hill followed by a somewhat hairy decent as my wobbly legs did not instill much confidence down the side of the mountain. This resulted in a very slow, long and painful day for me but some lessons learnt. Day 2 was far more fun - I started slowly and let my partner ride ahead which took the pressure off, all in all a very cool day out, loved it. Accomodation in the race village was not bad (a tent is a tent) but one thing begs a question. If you know you snore like a mating lion why do you stay in a tented race village and torture all other riders out of a good night's sleep!?! This is directed to the gent a few tents down. Bricks and morter for me next year I'm afraid! The hospitality was otherwise great, women were really catered for as we had nice hot showers and flushing loos - thank you!! The men roughed it a bit more. The food was great and the beer was cold! The water points were incredible and the spirit of the locals lifted me when I was really suffering on day 1. Funniest moment for me was riding past some local kids and telling them I am sooo tired to which they all started shouting in unison: "shame, ah shame, shame!" - I laughed to a fellow rider "at least the local 5yr olds feel sorry for me, lol!"... Really an amazing race! Next year I will be make sure I am better prepared so I can enjoy it more. Weekend warrior with one or two spinning classes thrown in doesnt really suffice
