A month ago I accepted an invitation from a friend to do the Isuzu 3 Towers together at Mankele MTB because his partner got injured while training for the race. After receiving confirmation email of the rider change from Mankele MTB, then started asking myself if I was crazy. A week before I did Race Against Poaching (50km) at van Gaalens with my 3tower partner, he struggle and I did fairly well and thought 180km in three days should be piece of cake, forging that in Mpumalanga there's mountains on top of mountains. Anyway we got to Mankele on Thursday just after 15:00 having left Pretoria at around 11:00. I got excited by just seeing the "tent village" (I love outdoors). We did our registration and I must says the goodie bag was Later at 18:00 it was supper time, the food was amazing and that's when I made mistake number 1(went in with all my teeth sharpened) Race briefing followed at 19:00 and that's were things got more clear that this is not just any race. Slept like a baby then I commited my 2nd mistake, again indulged in food at breakfast Then reality started at 07:00 Stage1 = 66km with total ascent 1450m with 26km to go I started cramping like hell, that was the first time I cramped in my life, I must also mention that my partner was a different rider from past weekend at van gaalens. He was amazing, I managed climbs but after reaching the highest point I struggled going down with cramps. All the way down I had so much regret, we finally finished before couple of riders Our perfomance (66km; 5:44:43) Then day 2 also 66km with more elevation 1650m, I had small supper previois night and a bowl of oats in the morning I was not excited as I was on day 1. We started again at 7:00, I must says I was back to myself, especially coming to climbs, I was smilling from chick to chick. My partner pushed bike up some climbs and I refused, I rode all they way. I enjoyed myself (66km: 5:43:41) The atmosphere was amazing, I was in a jovial mood, even though it was raining. We watched Springboks beat Aus in the main tent. I thought day 3 (last day) was gonna be smooth sailing, but I was wrong 48km with total ascent of 1170 that sounded like nothing compared to the two previous days. oh boy, it started with climbing then got flat, then up again. Then my technical skills were exposed, I could ride down and I was so pissed with myself I just wanted to get home. (48km: 4:12:06) Overall it was a GREAT event, worth every cent, sweat and tear. I'm doing it again next year and I will be more clever this time now that I have an idea of what stage race is about. That weekend taught me a lot about my riding, body, diet and most importantly TEAM WORK. I had a very patient partner and our weaknesses and strength complimented each other hence we never finished last on all 3 stages
