[Event] DuToit Tankwa Trek

[nathrix]

Agree with the other reports about the route. Bloody fantastic. Tough and enough technical stuff to keep it interesting. The area is beautiful. A real privilege to ride there.

 

On the constructive feedback side ;

 

I think there were 8 showers for 600 people. Not nearly enough. Toilet cues were also long.

 

Food was just ok. Not nearly as good as Sani or W2W. They also had this system of marking your meal card when you were served. No seconds. First time I have experienced that at an event and it felt a bit low budget. They also ran out of some dishes. Cues were also really, really long. At 5am the breakfast line extended 100m outside the tent. So scrap the meal ticket marking and get more serving stations.

 

It's a special event. Organisation is not up there (yet) with Sani or W2W but the route and area is spectacular.  

 

For me the food and pudding was lekker. If i wanted seconds I just wiped off the koki pen marking with some spit on my meal card and dished up some more grub 

[Bos]

I havent had a gap to post my experiance, a bit belated but here goes..

 

My brother Inlaw who's company Delecta sponsored my entry, and surprised me with some nice branded ASSOS kit the night before. I was amped!

 

First day. We started in Group C, with a bang for the first 15odd kms to try make up some positions by the time we hit the singletracks but unfortunately we had to walk half of the technical singletrack climb and go very slow down the pass's singletrack. Was a bit of a downer, It seems everytime I saw three arrows pointing down It ment get off your bike and que. In the end the field spread out enough to enjoy the second half and suffer home feeling a bit ill and not being able to eat or drink much. Just stuck behind my partner who seemed unstoppable! 4:57

 

Day 2 we started off in B just as fast trying to get to the "Tankwa drop" before the masses but it ends up the technically challenged guys were just as strong or stronger on the flats (why doesnt that surprise me) the Drop must have taken me 30 minutes..Tedious stuff. The rest of day 2 was a nightmare for me as I started feeling ill and by the time we went through the Graaf pack stores I felt so weak I wanted to give up.. I suffered to the start of the Monster and ended up walking most of the steep parts(50%)I just had no power. Down the other side of the monster I found an empty road down and had the most fun I had on day 2 untill I cut a sidewall near the bottom..and flatted again about 10km before the finish in 6:30 and Moving time around 6 hours.. Ive never suffered like that before. Thank you to a very patient brother inlaw who could have ridden an hour faster by himself that day and staying posetive through it all.

 

Day 3

Started with the dusty group ride. Half way to Morester I was feeling nausious and ended up hurling in the portaloo when we got there. Needless to say I did not exacltly feel like racing at that stage. I suffered most of the day only really enjoying the downhills. The views from the top were Breathtaking though, and It was quite an experiance to have the lead group pass over us at one of the bridges with a Heli hovering 15m above. Ofcourse some technically challenged dude stalled and we all had to get off. Will probably look like fools on TV now I enjoyed the route choices for more technical or pink routes as It gave one the opportunity to pass. Im definately going back to ride Morester again. After Morester It was suffer on and by the time I got to the singletracks of Kaleo I was strting to feel some life come back into me and was able to have fun till the finish.

 

I did not stay in the tents but came for the dinners and thought the vibe was quite festive, although havent done the sani or other high profile races. I loved the fruit and Wilde Juices at the finish, must have had 4 after stage 2 and 3.

I wish I took my Go pro as the views from those mountain tops on all 3 days were amazing. I couldnt beleve how far one looked down onto riders behind..they looked like ants.

I Learnt that one can have a bad day. I was just glad I could go home and didnt have 5 more days like If it was the Epic.

Most importantly I think the routes were superb. I'd like a technical seeding system being invented though as faster riders can always pass on open roads but not on singletrack, but that was probably my only gripe

 

Great race, great people, It has a unique culture because there are so many riders from that area and I enjoyed that. Thanks again To Delecta fruit who sponsored us and for the great kit I now own.

[nathrix]

Just re-visited the results for this race. Damn that day 2 really hurt my time walking up that hill. I must have lost at least an hour. But I just didn't have enough to ride it. I decided in the morning not to change my ratio. I don't really think I would have been able to ride it no matter what gears I had on. If anyone has ever ridden that hill on a ss at that stage of the race they deserve a Bells.

 

Told you so  Well done on the ss!

[Jaco-fiets]

Day 2 route profile - The Merino Monster.

Sorry! Can't see what the fuss is about. Don't really see much climbing in this profile

[milky4130]

Sorry! Can't see what the fuss is about. Don't really see much climbing in this profile

obviously have not ridden it yet? It takes the Pro's 42mins to climb go figure at least thats what I saw one Strava segment.

[Sidmouth]

that ouma that maked those koksisters should get a medal

[milky4130]

Sorry! Can't see what the fuss is about. Don't really see much climbing in this profile

[Bos]

Its only a little harder than the mast in tokai because its so damn steep and its not tar from halfway. Also dont forget it comes right after the Theronsberg pass which is also 350m of climbing and this is at 3-4hours into the race..

 

Anyway. I was riding with some ave joe's at the back of the pack during the day 3 neutral zone when I heard a girls voice behind me say, " I really liked the monster yesterday, Its my kind of climb"...I thought who in their right mind...?

 

I turned around to see Arianne Kleinhans chatting away.. Such a nice lady!

[milky4130]

Its only a little harder than the mast in tokai because its so damn steep and its not tar from halfway. Also dont forget it comes right after the Theronsberg pass which is also 350m of climbing and this is at 3-4hours into the race..

 

Anyway. I was riding with some ave joe's at the back of the pack during the day 3 neutral zone when I heard a girls voice behind me say, " I really liked the monster yesterday, Its my kind of climb"...I thought who in their right mind...?

 

I turned around to see Arianne Kleinhans chatting away.. Such a nice lady!

you must be kidding Tokai mast is literally a road climb. But yeah the position of that climb within the race made it extra hard, I reckon going any harder if it was earlier wouldn't have made a difference.

[burty]

Cant stop thinking about how awesome this event was, all round, sooooo keen to do it next year again

[IH8MUD]

Just came back from the Tankwa this weekend. 

(First had to go and ride Jonkers Hoek, G-Spot and some trails in Elgin Valley for a week,  since i was the Cape anyway)

 

Tankwa was awesome. (lekker man . .)

 

Respect to copperhead on the single speed   (Nice bike btw)

 

Nathrix it seem it was your P29 with the Ritchey fork I kept walking past and  .

(if it was my size I would have offered to give it lift home  )

 

Thanks for the nice race reports. 

[nathrix]

https://vimeo.com/121872406

 

https://vimeo.com/121875769

 

https://vimeo.com/121878303

[AMohamed]

Organizers says there is cell reception and wifi any riders that can confirm this?

[Sidmouth]

Cell reception ok, very bad data , maybe things have changed,but its in the middle of nowhere

Bigger issue is the showers, 8 showers last year for over 500 riders, i hope they get this resolved this year

[AMohamed]

8 showers maybe they expected the riders to share lol