We started just after 7 and the conditions up to CP1 were quite bad, fortunately we listened to everyone and had the appropriate kit.
We paced ourselves nicely and still felt good when we reached CP3, had some lekker wors and sosaties and left the checkpoint ready for the climbs ahead. My teammate was really strong on fangs and MAC but I suffered on the steeper sections and was quite deflated as I felt I had the legs until we reached fangs.
I was rather negative when we reached Bergplaas but we had some soup, did a complete kit change, sat by the fire a bit and we left feeling a lot better compared to when we arrived.
CP5 was such a let down, I was looking forward to a chip role only to receive a small pack of chips (maybe 10 chips at most) and it seemed like you had to pay for the rest of the snacks. Fortunately my wife was there as a supporter and she had some extra snacks and a recovery drink that helped a lot.
From CP5 - CP7 we passed a lot of teams, we maintained a solid pace on never ender and only stopped once to remove some mud from our wheels. I felt a lot better compared to earlier on fangs and MAC.
The mud after CP7 was really not ideal but fortunately we managed to get through it without too much hassle, one lady really lost her **** and phoned someone to send a marshal (still not sure how that would have helped with the mud but anyway).
Mini MAC on tired legs was a real challenge but so pleased with myself that I managed to ride it, walked it in 2018 so it was a personal challenge to stay on my bike this time. The single track at the end was terrible but we made it to the end in a time of 16:34:00. The goal was 15 hours but I'm happy with our time as the conditions were quite tough.
