Muddy in Barberton.

[Li Mu Bai]

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Saturday morning race day. The kick off to the Mazda Drifter Half marathon series was abuzz. People were teeming around the high school, parking, registering, preparing. At least the day had dawned fresh and slightly overcast, the drizzle that soaked my VW time machine the previous evening had dried up. It was going to be a good race, my nervous stomach told me. My prep was simple, Whasp gels in pockets, camelback and puncture kit. And Bombs! The warm up pedal down the road from the start revealed my first major obstacle ? my cranks were loose, and playing from side to side. Emergency bells rang, at least there was still time to go and tighten things up before the start.

The race took off; almost 500 keen cyclists sped up the tarmac searching for the sand and grit of the course ahead. This soon revealed itself as slushy mud, and plenty of it. The stream crossing had also swelled to almost half a metre, with all the previous weeks rain. The going was good though; fun trading places with other riders, as each sorted their position out along the trail. The local kids were out in numbers, supporting the riders as they passed and some shouting, ?sweets sweets!?

Just before the long climb I jumped off my bike to tighten up my cranks again. Luckily I had taken my huge multitool-brick with, ?just in case?. This gave one of the cameramen a diverse bit of action, as I felt the scrutiny of his camera, and questions of what the problem was.

Now I was playing ?catch up?. The Cyclelab ladies that I regularly duel with had vanished far ahead up the trail, and I hoped the 3 or 4 minutes lost wouldn?t be too much. By the top of the climb I had reeled in and passed all those who had left me for dead. I allowed myself a brief glimpse of the scenery from the top of the hill. Sublime ? the view was just incredible. I grinned as I hit the sand road decent. It was fast, probably the fastest decent I had ever done, scary but exhilarating.

The toll of the hard climbing and soft spongy terrain soon had to be paid though ? the cramps crept into my legs and laid siege to my muscles. There was only one thing for it, spin them away and think happy thoughts!

The usual fanfare greeted us at the finish line; riders sprawled all over, chatting and smiling - all part of what makes the Mazda Drifters special.