It all started last year when my husband’s usual Sani buddy decided to do some equally crazy road race overseas (John ‘O Grotes to Lands End) instead of their usual S2C. That left my hubby partnerless and, well, it looked like fun on the previous 5 years worth of pics, so why not?? I grew up on horses, not bicycles like Slowbee and I knew I had a lot of catching up to do….little did I know how much! It started with the bike…. I was thinking about R5k should get me a fairly decent bike right? Hah!! Let’s just say that it took me a long time to get over the bucks it cost to get my new blue metal pony – a Giant Anthem1 650B. Then there were the “necessary upgrades” like dropper posts and fancy wheels that make fun sounds when you free wheel (Slowbee: Hope4 hubs on Flow Ex rims). All of this I thought was seriously over the top (but now I am SO grateful I would pay double!!). Unfortunately a few months into our fitness training we both injured ourselves and had to pull out. Fast forward the next 9months (with my blue metal pony hanging in the garage) and we get to Jan 2017 where we decide we better start training. My mtb skills at this stage consist of knowing how to change gears (still not quite understanding why you call it gear down when you are in fact gearing up ie. harder in my mind!) but still having to look at the “dials” to do it, and being comfy riding on open gravel roads. Important skills like steering, cornering, cleating in and out (without panic of falling), using correct gearing, how to ride bumps etc still had to come! We both also had some physical rehab to get through as neither of us had paid proper attention to the injuries we sustained last year. I recon I owe most of my hill climbing strength to those hours on that Grucox machine. Thanks to Anel and the team @ LeRouxNel Biokinetics for giving me muscles my body never knew I had! We work long hours and have a 7yo daughter in school with a lot of extra murals so finding time and motivation to train was tough but we generally managed about 6hrs a week on the road. The first goal was to be fit enough to ride Argus on the road. Come Argus time this couch potato was more or less ready – max training distance ridden about 40km and only on the road bike until then. I would love to say I didn’t ride Argus because it was cancelled but the truth is we had decided that morning already that there was no way I had the skill to be able to stay upright in gale force winds. The Monday 13 March my mtb bike got dusted off and we began our journey. Thanks to my exceedingly patient husband, I slowly but surely went from wobbling left to right when going up a hill, panicking if I had to ride on a slanting path and freaking out if I took a gravel corner faster than 10km/hr, to being able to corner and ride with relative confidence. I am a slow learner/bad listener and nervous rider though so it was really only in the last week before Sani that and I finally started to understand what Slowbee meant when he kept on saying things like “trust your bike” and “lean your bike”. Three weeks before Sani we realised that I should probably ride a switch back or two before the event. Having ridden only on vineyard roads and the Southey’s Vines bike park track, we headed for Meerendal. Unfortunately no-one mentioned that “stairway to heaven” was probably not the smartest place to take a complete novice and still unconfident mountain biker! After a good solid cry at the top of the hill we found the more gentle switch backs and I got some of my confidence back! The following long weekend we did our first 3 days back-2-back ride and my first 80km (included some proper hills (Helshoogte) but all on all tar). With 10days to go to the start of Sani were not exactly following the “tapering week” protocol – but then again, our goal was just to finish and mentally Slowbee advised me to just see Sani as another 3 big training days. On Monday 8th we packed up the car and our trusty steeds, dropped off the last of our daughter’s goodies for the week with granny and grandpa’s and headed for the Berg! A big thanks to Granny and Grandpa for giving us the opportunity to be away this long!! We arrived at Himeville on Tuesday afternoon and got through all the necessary admin without hassle. Team Wilson 1010 were now officially registered. No turning back now! Luckily we had a late start on Wednesday so there wasn’t too much stress about getting up too early in the cold the next morning. Day 1: 82km I was fairly terrified of what lay ahead – in particular the floating bridge (still not 100% confident in my steering abilities) – but the vibe was great and I wasn’t the only one who was nervous so off we set! By the end of the 3.2km neutral zone we were at the back of our M batch – exactly where we planned to be. I loved the district road and even the first bit of single track wasn’t to bad. But then I encountered Oak Maze and had my first taste of “real mountain biking”. It was the first of many times to come that I simply held my breath, pointed the wheel in the right direction, got my weight back and prayed! We stopped at the bottom so that I could catch my breath and get my heart rate under control and we waved the last of the riders from the other batches past us. [We followed this tactic for the next 2days – “our private Sani2C” we called it – no traffic =no pressure!]. I found the first climb very manageable but my fear still lay ahead – the PG Bison bridge…! I stopped at the dam and the marshal told me it wasn’t deep enough to drown in and that my bike would float (really??) , so I took a few deep breaths, told myself just to look where I wanted to go and off I went. And it was a piece of cake!! All that pent up nerves for nothing. It turned out that for me, the bumpy, steep downhill single tracks of S2C were a hundred times more scary than any of the bridges! The rest of the day was a bit more hard work than I had expected and definitely more technical on the downhill single track than I was prepared for but all in all we arrived at MacKenzie club after 6hr30 in the saddle and I was feeling good. The legs were in good shape and nothing really hurt. The women’s showers were disappointing compared to the mens’ but the food was good and mattresses in our tents extremely comfy. Day2: 96km Our tactic for Day 1 of slow-and-steady was successful and we had only dropped one batch(now starting in N), meaning a 5 minute loss of start time, nothing serious. We were looking forward to sleeping in a bit but were rudely awaken by the loud music wake up call for the A batch riders. My nerves wouldn’t let me go back to sleep so we got up and enjoyed some delicious warm breakfast in preparation for the long day ahead. My next mental hurdle … the drop off into the Umkomaas Valley. I know that your bike goes where your eyes go but when you are afraid of heights your mind likes to play games with you and you have to fight the mental image that forms in your mind of you veering off the edge of the trail to a certain death below….... Again I was pleasantly surprised – not nearly as scary as the videos make it out to be! (“I told you so” I can hear Slowbee saying!) and I managed to ride nearly all the downhill switch backs without unclipping. I still held onto my brakes a lot going down. We went past a rider who had a serious fall and the helicopter was dropping a medic for him. Eventually we reached the bottom and everything was going according to plan. I really enjoyed the nice steady riding next to the river. On the rocky section of Giraffe Alley after Tugela bridge I had a bit of a lie down on the rocks towards the end and was very grateful for my Airflex knee and elbow guards which meant I came out of it bruise-free. The sneaky buggers videoing the Peri bridge over the rapids, only showed you the part with the scaffolding side rails so I wasn’t worried. Until half way where I realised the railings stopped and the bridge slanted slightly towards the rapids below! Luckily it happened too fast for my brain to form images of me and my metal blue pony river rafting down the the valley and I made it through. After water point 1 we were fortunate enough to see a pair of crowned cranes and their baby – what a privilege! It was a beautiful rolling climb out of the valley and we were blessed with lovely moderate weather and not the high temps and humidity I was dreading. Yes I rode most of it, but walked a few of the technical bits (for me anyway). At the base of Iconic, there was an enterprising lady selling water and then we reached Iconic … Its an iconic hike for sure. Had Slowbee known he was going to have to push my bike so much I recon he would have spent less time on the bike and more time doing pushups in the gym! Three km of pushing bikes, it was a bit of a hike! In the out of Africa 2 stretch it was gorgeous scenery but we encountered an obstacle up ahead… a huge white Brahman bull. Being a vet, I have had my fair share of seeing what these giants are capable of and knowing their unpredictable temperaments we decided to give him some space. Unfortunately the beautiful wild grass verge I thought I had to the right of the track was in fact a bit of a ditch and what I had planned on being a gentle stop off the bike landed me flat on my back , stars in my eyes and a nice whip lash! Here I was terrified of riding off cliffs and bridges and the thing that takes me out is a bull! Luckily most of the neck pain only kicked in later so we hopped back on the bike after politely waiting for the bull to give us some room. The district road to WP2 was a welcome leg stretcher after all that walking. The rain started to fall by the time we reached the Spur stop (loved the burger) and a good refuelling made Haaibo 1&2 very manageable. I had not told Slowbee this but I really never expected to make the cut off on Day 2, so when we made it to Highflats at 16H00 with 30min to spare before cut off I was ecstatic ! My first experience of a wet & slippery track kept my heart racing through the last section (Puddle Alley) but we made it to the finish still feeling fairly fresh after 8hr50 in the saddle. 10minutes before the initial 5pm cut off – a perfectly timed day! With the poor visibility due to the time of day and weather, I recon it was a great call to make the Unitrans mile was a neutral zone. We cycled into Jolivliet with the commentator not even knowing we had come in. What a relief, my body was not to sore, and my mind was in great shape. Jolivet ablutions were great and again the food and organisation was great. The rain started to come down good and proper and day 3 was no longer going to be the free-run to the finish line I had been looking forward to. Day3: 82km We started in the rain, we cycled through the rain, we rested in the rain and we ended in the rain…. Fortunately, Slowbee knew the weather on day 3 might be bad and brought me one of his long sleeve shirts from our canoe days that keeps you warm, even when it gets wet, but more on that later. The start was cold in the rain and wind but spirits were high and for the first time in the race we were riding with others for a bit of the way. When we hit the first section of sticky black mud it was like nothing I have ever experienced before. It felt like a great equaliser and it wasn’t my lack of skill that was holding us up this time! At one stage the tyres were so thick with mud the wheels couldn’t turn anymore and Slowbee was shouldering both bikes out of the muddy mess. At the first water table I was still feeling good. Unfortunately the long but essential queue to power hose the mud that glued all our bike components together allowed the cold to get a grip on my body and the shivers started. Slowbee helped out a guy with a 10-speed chain link and we set off again, now solidly taking up the rear. I was grateful for those training days in the Cape winds and also for my younger days of hiking in the cold and wet that helped me to mentally just keep on going through the freezing driving rain and wind pummelling through the sugar cane. I was worried about hypothermia but mentally I knew that exactly for that reason, stopping was not an option. Then there were more and more sections of black thick sticky mud and I spent a lot of my time jumping off my bike rather that risking a fall. I definitely let the pressure of “you’ve come this far – don’t mess it up now by doing something risky” get to me and the very patient back marker motorcycle patiently kept his distance so as not to pressurise me. At the second water table I cursed the fact that I had chosen bibs over shorts on a day when getting completely naked in the ladies loo’s in freezing cold weather and having to put on all your wet gear again was not helping my mood. Luckily I had packed an extra thin top that was still relatively dry and I used the opportunity to add another layer against the elements. Now I had on two long sleeve tops and my rain jacket. At some point Slowbee’s right cleat came loose. This meant he could not unclip. So he rode the rest of the day literally “stuck” to his bike by his right foot. This is fine if you are actually riding but if you are constantly having to dismount without much warning behind a nervy wife it can get interesting. But if he had uncleated he would not have been able to ride so he soldiered on (my knight in sticky black amour!). On the last stretch to the finish I couldn’t help but feel a bit cheated out of my “enjoyable fast 3rd day”, and even the lagoon floating bridge was a bit of an anticlimax. I have no idea who you are but to the family in the white SUV at the top of the tar road crest after the lagoon, before the turn onto the grass – I cant thank you enough for your cheers and claps! Being the second last to cross the finish line there was no welcoming committee at the main beach as the rain still poured down after 8hrs on the track. Everyone had gone home, even the commentator and the free burger man! We were totally dirty when we walked into the Blue Marlin Hotel, but a big thank you must go to all the men at one table who stood and clapped for me when I walked in. Even though we finished last, it made me feel like I was first. Thank you. 260km, 23hr 19min and Team Wilson celebrated their victory of completing the Sani2C Adventure 2017. No major injuries, bikes a bit damaged but still functional and a marriage stronger than ever!! Thank you to all of those that supported me in achieving my bucket list item. My team at work that kept the practice going and filled in many a shift for me so that I could train; my friends and family for all the child-minding hours and most of all to my amazing husband who coached me through this journey of Zero to Sani and never once stopped believing I could do it.
