2015 FNB Wines2Whales

[PhilipV]

Just to get the thread back on track

Here is my ride report

W2W 2015. 

 

Sjoe, what a lekker experience. This was my first W2W, and it has always been on my list of races to do. And it did not disappoint,

 

I've always heard stories about horrible bottlenecks, and trails that can be ridden for less year round and how not fun it will be. But I've learned that one needs to be careful of who you lend your ears out to, as their experiences might not be the same as mine.

 

 

Our weather was awesome, with three beautiful days for riding, with lank amounts of sun to remind Kobus how much better the Cape is then Gauteng. Kobus and his Wife moved from the Cape to Pretoria 2 years ago. 

 

 

Registration and Day 1

 

Registration was a well oiled machine, and we were very glad when we scraped it into the whale Category. And promptly celebrated it with some beers at the market. Luuks. No 123 Team Bottom Bracket was ready!

 

 

Day 1 started sort of slowly. We started in D bunch, so the group wasn't slow, and we managed to crest the first climb in the middle of the bunch. Kobus and I planned to ride conservatively until the old pass, and then bomb home. Lourensford went fast, we only had traffic in one ST section, and then managed to get away from the bunch before the rest. 

 

Local knowledge helped alot, and I still remember quite a bit from the Lourensford shop rides. The new bit in Knorhoek is nice, and there is a lot of trails we didn't ride that will warrant a return. When we got to the train track above Knorhoek I was starting to sweat bullets, and the grind up to the track itself was hard at the pace we were going. The hike itself was fine, we went up at a slow pace, as did everyone around us. When we got to the top however, all hell broke loose and my hammies started cramping. dammit. I stretched it out, and when we got going we had a bit of traffic again. Fortunately we managed to get past most of them, and only had one issue. As Kobus went past a lady with me following, she swung to the right straight into him. I shouted, Kobus shouted and the lady started swearing in a Germanic tongue and accused us of passing her on the "F'n Right." Well uhmmm, about that... We got away from her and her partner and the rest of the bunch who were laughing their bibs off at the near tussle we had, and Kobus and I sprinted ahead in an adrenaline fuelled rage. Beast Mode engaged. Some guy fell in front of us on a sandy bit for no apparent reason, but we managed to stay clear and had a sweet run through more sublime trails (the previous day's weather did a great job on the trails.) 

 

Just before WP3 my legs decided that it was an appropriate time for them to sieze in a dual cramp. Quads and Hammies saying "Nee Meneer!!" Kobus watered some plants while I stretched and rebuked a couple of spirits out of my legs and we soldiered on to WP3. 

 

Here Kobus dragged a potato through enough salt to make it look like an Alpine Sunset and then stuffed it down my throat. Followed by more of these Sodium filled monsters. I licked the salt off my snor until just before the dam,. But the cramps were gone, and all that remained was the Pain Cave. We caught a guy on the Many Bridged Trail after WP3 who decided that no one shall pass. Well that was until he fell in a switchback. I asked if he was fine? he said he is okay, and then I quipped with him with "So it is only the ego that got hurt." I am not sure if it was the ladies behind him who laughed at that, or if he had a sudden bout of conscience, but he let us all pass at the next switchback. So we had a lekker run for the last bit of the A2Z (which skips quite a big chuck of the alphabet, but don't the guys from Jozi that, they love them some A2Z...) 

 

Around the dam my wheels came off a bit, and I asked Kobus if he had a headlight for me, as I couldn't see out of the pain cave anymore. That made him realise that he needed to give it a bit less hammer. I managed to scrape myself over the hills near the end, and we managed to keep the leading ladies behind us by me using every efficiency trick I've learned in all my years of riding, and basically chowing my handlebar while sitting in Kobus' slip.It is always lekker when you have a teammate with more or less the same bulk. I actually had space to hide behind him. We did ride through some very trippy singletrack with ferns all around us. 

 

When we reached Oak Valley and I recognised where we were the pain was forgotten and we gave it some more gas. I managed to wheelie across the line before collapsing next to the speaker stand (I got used to that speaker stand next to the Fair Cape milky bar over the next two days.) When we realised we finished just under 5 hrs we were elated, and celebrated it by funneling way too many melkies. 

 

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating everything we could lay our hands on, showering, drinking beer, not going for a massage and not washing our bikes (they had some dust on them, flip, they still had our Saturday ride dust on them, so all they got was lube.) We basically did everything that a pro would not do. We did go for an ice bath and a sadist named Ian showed us how to really inflict pain on our sore bodies using foam rollers and hockey balls. We drowned the pain with some Windhoek Draughts ( I didn't ride all the way from Somerset West to have a light beer. Nee Meneer.) We met some really lekker people, had more food, went to dinner, met more people, , had a jol at prize giving after dinner, and had another beer before we went to bed. Goeie tye. 

 

 

Day 2

 

That final beer did wake me up just before 1AM, and I had to go for a very cold Grabouw walkies. Negatief. I also realised that I was still pretty sore and walked a bit like an old man. I went to bed, and we woke up just before sunrise, it was still lank cold. A quick coffee and a monster breakfast sorted us out for day 2. We collected our bikes and lined up with B bunch for day 2. We were pretty amped to start in B - bunch, hoping that they would have better skills then the guy who ran out of talent in front of us on day1. Well, uhmm about that... It turns out that there are palookas even in A bunch. Next time I'm taking a couple of Joanna Dobinson's business cards to give out to some of these strong but less brave riders. In the first singletrack I had to remind Kobus that there are life threatening rocks on the course, and that walking it is in the best interest of some of the guys  in front of us. They might have overheard it and were visibly not impressed with us. 

 

When the roads opened up again we made our way to the front of whatever bunch we were riding amongst with some hard efforts, and this allowed us to get into most of the Oak Valley singletrack sections without hindrance, we would then usually catch up with the guys in the next group by the end og the trail, and then wok to go past them. We also found that if Kobus and I had a bit of a chat with each other while tailgating someone else in the narrow bits, they were quick to give us track. Obviously we thanked them profusely when they gave us a gap. 

 

When we got to WP2 at Paul Cluver I smashed some very salty potatoes in my face and washed it down with coke and a banana. When we got going into the Amphitheater we caught someone just before the first bridge. I thought I would place less pressure on her by shouting at Kobus to "Gee die tannie 'n gap!" but unfortunately she overheard this, and screamed "wie is jou TTAAAANNNNIIIEEEEEE!!!!" back at me. oops. We got stuck behind her on the suspension nridge ad she pulled over saying "die tannie gee nou vir jou 'n gap om verby te kom!" and when we went passed I realised that she is not a tannie, she was probably younger than us. Oops. Kobus was breaking himself with laughter for the rest of the amphitheater track, and to spare myself the embarrassment of facing the not-so-tannie lady again we put the hammer down again to get away from her. 

 

We caught some riders again in the next singletrack (mamba of boomslang of so iets) and we realised that there was some life threatening switchbacks in front of us. Kobus then started tuning the Jozi guys about their lack of skills. We weren't going slow through any of the trails, even with the traffic the train had flow. 

 

We dispatched some more singletrack, and had to dig deep to get in front of two guys just before the famous Gorge bridge section (geelslang?) but we had a clear run through there as well. Just to show the guys that we were not scared we stopped for a plant watering session before the sandy climb, before I got back into the pain cave for the climb up to Jakkals (a sublime new bit.) 

 

The strategy was to get ahead on the climb to have a clean run down Jakkals, but alas, we  caught some more guys in the trail. Two corners later they gave us a gap and we had another clear run down. Some more sections was followed by more singletrack and in the forest we got given track again. It was only in the Berms section that we got caught up behind someone who's ego was writing cheques that his skills can't cash. But I was cool with that, as the berm section is rather boring and hard work in the wind, so we took a chill pill. 

 

The bit around Lebanon Village was a blur of pain filled forest tracks. We were riding hard, and I was riding just above my threshold the whole time. I knew I was playing with fire (I could feel the fire in my legs,) but we knew we were getting close to home. WP3 at Thandi farm village saw me smash more salty potatoes and licking my salty snor again, and we set off to hunt some bears in the woods up to Kromco. 

 

The  climb up the forset section was rough. My lungs were clapping hands, my legs were filled with molten lava, and suddenly I was hearing voices in the pain cave, and they were not my own. A team was starting to catch up to me in the trail, and I knew I would give them track (it would only be fair after all) but I also knew we were faster going down. So with the specter of the following team chasing me, and Kobus dancing a switchback ahead of me I started grinding up that forest. But I managed to stay ahead, and we entered a lekker fast downhill section that I've never ridden before. Luuks! 

 

Climbing up to Kromco Kobus felt strong, and told me to hang unto is backpack, and he engaged Beast Mode and dragged us up the hill to Kromco, we sped through the fruit bins, down the scaffolding and up the Anti-Climax corner and were spit out at the Paul Cluver gate. 

 

Here I just decided to ignore all my instincts and we gave it gas on the way back to the finish. It was all fine and well, until we got to the singletrack climb next to the dam. I've ridden down this trail many a time, and I was not looking forward to going up it. I had to go digging in the pain cave again, and then my Sprecter of the Thandi trail reappeared behind me, and this team was climbing faster than my comfort level. Once again my pride and stubborness forced me to go places where I haven't gone in a while. It reminded me of all the SS training rides I did in Oak Valley, the pain was familiar, the pace was slow, but then it hit me. I loved this! I was actually enjoying the pain, thrilled by being chased and suddenly I was chasing Kobus. We crested over the bridge that I believe many a rider cursed that day, and then dropped down to the dam. A familiar trail to me, so we gooied! My spectre was gone, we were reeling teams at a rapid pace, and we could smell the finish. The finish came just under 4 hours from our start, once again wheelieing across the line, and once again collapsing next to the speaker stand. We did it! we wanted to finish under 4 hours, and we managed 3h57. Elation! 

 

 

We once again consumed way too many melkies, downed more Rehidrat than should be allowed, and smashed a Spur burger. This time we washed our bikes though, I found a broken spoke (I heard the pinging noise in Lebanon already, but didn't want to stop for it.) that I removed and we relubed the chains. Bikes ready for day3, sans 1 spoke though. I had a fancy pants 26er Fulcrum wheel on the back, and I didn't think I'd get the right spoke at the village.  Oh well...

 

 

More banter, ice baths, food, Rehidrat and beers were the order for the rest of the day. Still no middag slapie, but at least I was able to catch up with Hairy and Jerome. Dinner was another lekker kuier, with us making friends wit the Frannie Pants ladies that we rode with on day1. They are lekker tannies (ag ek bedoel dames) and walked away with half the wine given away at prize giving. After dinner we realised that it was the last night, and that we can't just go to bed. So we stayed up a bit later and kuiered some more. I silently prayed that the last beer won't wake me up at a crazy hour again

 

 

Day3.

 

Corrie was right. Day3 is my kind of day. I loved (nearly) every minute of it.

 

We woke up at 5. Coffee and a HUGE breakfast was followed by packing up and man handling our bags to the DHL trucks. I prayed over my back wheel, grabbed my back pack and went into the start chute. B again.  

 

We were early, and decided the best way to warm up would be by dancing to the fat lekker beats the DJ was dropping. Well, that was until he played One Direction. Aaai. 

 

We set off at a rapid pace, and pretty soon we were through Paul CLuver. We were mixing it up with the faster guys in B-bunch and it was lekker. We got our first bit of mud and water in 3 days, but it was just enough to get our bikes and my face dirty. Some more gravel roads were dispatched with at a fast pace and soon we entered the singletrack above Houw Hoek. Sadly here we had traffic, but it was still faster than expected. Just not fast enough for our liking. But it was lekker trail at least, and also very pretty. And pretty trippy as well in places.  It reminded me of Sani at times.. Kobus and I also made a lot of dump valve and exhaust brake noises to amuse ourselves with. Some people took offence to that. I don't know why? Houw Hoek hotel came and went in a blur, and pretty soon we were racing down the old Kat Pass. 

 

Every time when I drove over Houw Hoek pass I looked at the old pass and wondered how it looked. I was not dissapointed. It is beautifull. Bot Rivier came and WP1 was at the primary school. As we rode in the commentator  shouted 1! 2! 3! and the crowd went ballistic. We loved it!! The cheering made us feel like heroes. we smashed potatoes and cokes at a blistering pace, F1 pitstop style and we went out the gate. As we raced out the gate we heard the commentator again, 1! 2! 3! and the crowd went ballistic again, and then we realised, he wasn't announcing our arrival, he was counting down the crowd. D'oh!!!

 

Nevertheless, we trapped it out of Botrivier at a pace fast enough to dry out the wheat on the fields that was waiting to be harvested. Doing our bit for feeding the country one pedal stroke at a time. 

 

The bit between WildeKlawer wine estate and the steel bridge was bliss. Lekker flowy singletrack that was fast. I was driving the front and we did not see anyone for the whole section, we had this lively trail to ourselves. Fat smiles all around.

 

When we turned off the road and onto the field climb the wind klapped us full in the face. Kobus sheltered behind me and I was too glad to finally be able to return the favour. I was feeling strong and we ground it out. Fortunately we turned back downwind for the contour path. This contour path soon turned into singletrack. And lo and behold two corners in there was a guy in the singletrack, not pedaling his bike. He was stretching while cruising downwind. I interrupted his stretch with a ring of my bell and a warning that many people will be mad at him if he was going to stop pedalling. He really tried to regain speed to stay ahead of us, but gave up a couple of corners later and pulled over. His partner in front of him did not get as much grace from me. I just shouted at him to "Kom Kom Kom trap trap trap" but he sommer pulled over. I might have given him a fright. We never saw these two again. 

 

WP2 was at the end of this contour, more potatoes and coke and koeksisters was consumed at a blistering pace before we set off again. We entered more lekker singletrack. That forest trail with the mud brick house is awesome. But soon this turned into a climb that was pretty gnarly, not because it was rocky, but because of what it did to our legs. Crossing over we dropped into a lekker trail, but had a group that must have been roadies in front of us. Sies man, skaam julle dat julle so stadig ry! 

 

We turned into a gravel road and a big bunch formed. One of the roadie uncles then told Kobus that we still had to climb over a huge mountain in front of us. But I knew that road led back to Caledon. I just decided to shut up and see if I could burn him and his team mate off. We didn't need that kind of negativity in our lives. We let the legs do the talking and after some hard grinding and flat out sprinting across the dam wall Kobus and dropped into the trail first. One team tried to stay with us, but we dropped them at the Onrus  gorge crossing. There was a life threateningly dangerous section so they decided to do the responsible thing and walk it. We raced down the gorge and into WP3. 

 

After the usual WP rigmarole we set off again, and we were pumped. we were overhauling teams rapidly. We could smell the finish line. (Shucks, I'm getting an adrenaline rush writing this) We engaged Beast Mode and raced down the singletrack, at one stage I told Kobus I would not mind it if we got caught in an infinite loop and had to ride the Hermanus singeltrack forever. He agreed. 

 

The climb up to the barrel run was painfull. This was the only part of the day that I did not enjoy. The descent I did enjoy. Alot. 

 

We ran into more traffic on the last bit to the Hemel and Aarde village/mall/Euodia cycles, and we nearly rode over two of them when they braked for no apparent reason. But just before Habonim Camp on the gravel road Kobus and I engaged Beast Mode again and flat out sprinted through Habonim and into the bush. I wanted to be on the pallets at the beach before all of them, and we managed it. Kobus nearly rode over a lady on the Peri Scaffoldng at the end of the beach, but it was wide enough that he could go next to her and push her up the last bit. 

 

 

And just like that it was over. We cruised to the campsite, I wheelied over the line one last time and gave my lovely wife who was waiting there a kiss. We had some more melkies, jumped into the tidal pool, took a cold beach shower, ate more spur and drank one last Draught together while watching the prize giving. We ended up being 81st overall, 14th Open Men and 6th in the Whale Category. Total time 12h54.

 

 

All in all W2W is great. Kobus and I will be back next year barring a complication of sorts. 

 

I had more fun than I had at Sani, I liked the route more, the trails are less manicured (not by a lot though)  and gnarlier, and we rode a lot of sections that are off limits usually, and sections that I've never done before.

 

For me it was totally worth it. And I want to be back next year being faster, fitter and stronger, and hopefully still in the Whale category. 

[Hairy]

Just to get the thread back on track

Here is my ride report

W2W 2015. 

 

Sjoe, what a lekker experience. This was my first W2W, and it has always been on my list of races to do. And it did not disappoint,

 

I've always heard stories about horrible bottlenecks, and trails that can be ridden for less year round and how not fun it will be. But I've learned that one needs to be careful of who you lend your ears out to, as their experiences might not be the same as mine.

 

 

Our weather was awesome, with three beautiful days for riding, with lank amounts of sun to remind Kobus how much better the Cape is then Gauteng. Kobus and his Wife moved from the Cape to Pretoria 2 years ago. 

 

 

Registration and Day 1

 

Registration was a well oiled machine, and we were very glad when we scraped it into the whale Category. And promptly celebrated it with some beers at the market. Luuks. No 123 Team Bottom Bracket was ready!

 

 

Day 1 started sort of slowly. We started in D bunch, so the group wasn't slow, and we managed to crest the first climb in the middle of the bunch. Kobus and I planned to ride conservatively until the old pass, and then bomb home. Lourensford went fast, we only had traffic in one ST section, and then managed to get away from the bunch before the rest. 

 

Local knowledge helped alot, and I still remember quite a bit from the Lourensford shop rides. The new bit in Knorhoek is nice, and there is a lot of trails we didn't ride that will warrant a return. When we got to the train track above Knorhoek I was starting to sweat bullets, and the grind up to the track itself was hard at the pace we were going. The hike itself was fine, we went up at a slow pace, as did everyone around us. When we got to the top however, all hell broke loose and my hammies started cramping. dammit. I stretched it out, and when we got going we had a bit of traffic again. Fortunately we managed to get past most of them, and only had one issue. As Kobus went past a lady with me following, she swung to the right straight into him. I shouted, Kobus shouted and the lady started swearing in a Germanic tongue and accused us of passing her on the "F'n Right." Well uhmmm, about that... We got away from her and her partner and the rest of the bunch who were laughing their bibs off at the near tussle we had, and Kobus and I sprinted ahead in an adrenaline fuelled rage. Beast Mode engaged. Some guy fell in front of us on a sandy bit for no apparent reason, but we managed to stay clear and had a sweet run through more sublime trails (the previous day's weather did a great job on the trails.) 

 

Just before WP3 my legs decided that it was an appropriate time for them to sieze in a dual cramp. Quads and Hammies saying "Nee Meneer!!" Kobus watered some plants while I stretched and rebuked a couple of spirits out of my legs and we soldiered on to WP3. 

 

Here Kobus dragged a potato through enough salt to make it look like an Alpine Sunset and then stuffed it down my throat. Followed by more of these Sodium filled monsters. I licked the salt off my snor until just before the dam,. But the cramps were gone, and all that remained was the Pain Cave. We caught a guy on the Many Bridged Trail after WP3 who decided that no one shall pass. Well that was until he fell in a switchback. I asked if he was fine? he said he is okay, and then I quipped with him with "So it is only the ego that got hurt." I am not sure if it was the ladies behind him who laughed at that, or if he had a sudden bout of conscience, but he let us all pass at the next switchback. So we had a lekker run for the last bit of the A2Z (which skips quite a big chuck of the alphabet, but don't the guys from Jozi that, they love them some A2Z...) 

 

Around the dam my wheels came off a bit, and I asked Kobus if he had a headlight for me, as I couldn't see out of the pain cave anymore. That made him realise that he needed to give it a bit less hammer. I managed to scrape myself over the hills near the end, and we managed to keep the leading ladies behind us by me using every efficiency trick I've learned in all my years of riding, and basically chowing my handlebar while sitting in Kobus' slip.It is always lekker when you have a teammate with more or less the same bulk. I actually had space to hide behind him. We did ride through some very trippy singletrack with ferns all around us. 

 

When we reached Oak Valley and I recognised where we were the pain was forgotten and we gave it some more gas. I managed to wheelie across the line before collapsing next to the speaker stand (I got used to that speaker stand next to the Fair Cape milky bar over the next two days.) When we realised we finished just under 5 hrs we were elated, and celebrated it by funneling way too many melkies. 

 

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating everything we could lay our hands on, showering, drinking beer, not going for a massage and not washing our bikes (they had some dust on them, flip, they still had our Saturday ride dust on them, so all they got was lube.) We basically did everything that a pro would not do. We did go for an ice bath and a sadist named Ian showed us how to really inflict pain on our sore bodies using foam rollers and hockey balls. We drowned the pain with some Windhoek Draughts ( I didn't ride all the way from Somerset West to have a light beer. Nee Meneer.) We met some really lekker people, had more food, went to dinner, met more people, , had a jol at prize giving after dinner, and had another beer before we went to bed. Goeie tye. 

 

 

Day 2

 

That final beer did wake me up just before 1AM, and I had to go for a very cold Grabouw walkies. Negatief. I also realised that I was still pretty sore and walked a bit like an old man. I went to bed, and we woke up just before sunrise, it was still lank cold. A quick coffee and a monster breakfast sorted us out for day 2. We collected our bikes and lined up with B bunch for day 2. We were pretty amped to start in B - bunch, hoping that they would have better skills then the guy who ran out of talent in front of us on day1. Well, uhmm about that... It turns out that there are palookas even in A bunch. Next time I'm taking a couple of Joanna Dobinson's business cards to give out to some of these strong but less brave riders. In the first singletrack I had to remind Kobus that there are life threatening rocks on the course, and that walking it is in the best interest of some of the guys  in front of us. They might have overheard it and were visibly not impressed with us. 

 

When the roads opened up again we made our way to the front of whatever bunch we were riding amongst with some hard efforts, and this allowed us to get into most of the Oak Valley singletrack sections without hindrance, we would then usually catch up with the guys in the next group by the end og the trail, and then wok to go past them. We also found that if Kobus and I had a bit of a chat with each other while tailgating someone else in the narrow bits, they were quick to give us track. Obviously we thanked them profusely when they gave us a gap. 

 

When we got to WP2 at Paul Cluver I smashed some very salty potatoes in my face and washed it down with coke and a banana. When we got going into the Amphitheater we caught someone just before the first bridge. I thought I would place less pressure on her by shouting at Kobus to "Gee die tannie 'n gap!" but unfortunately she overheard this, and screamed "wie is jou TTAAAANNNNIIIEEEEEE!!!!" back at me. oops. We got stuck behind her on the suspension nridge ad she pulled over saying "die tannie gee nou vir jou 'n gap om verby te kom!" and when we went passed I realised that she is not a tannie, she was probably younger than us. Oops. Kobus was breaking himself with laughter for the rest of the amphitheater track, and to spare myself the embarrassment of facing the not-so-tannie lady again we put the hammer down again to get away from her. 

 

We caught some riders again in the next singletrack (mamba of boomslang of so iets) and we realised that there was some life threatening switchbacks in front of us. Kobus then started tuning the Jozi guys about their lack of skills. We weren't going slow through any of the trails, even with the traffic the train had flow. 

 

We dispatched some more singletrack, and had to dig deep to get in front of two guys just before the famous Gorge bridge section (geelslang?) but we had a clear run through there as well. Just to show the guys that we were not scared we stopped for a plant watering session before the sandy climb, before I got back into the pain cave for the climb up to Jakkals (a sublime new bit.) 

 

The strategy was to get ahead on the climb to have a clean run down Jakkals, but alas, we  caught some more guys in the trail. Two corners later they gave us a gap and we had another clear run down. Some more sections was followed by more singletrack and in the forest we got given track again. It was only in the Berms section that we got caught up behind someone who's ego was writing cheques that his skills can't cash. But I was cool with that, as the berm section is rather boring and hard work in the wind, so we took a chill pill. 

 

The bit around Lebanon Village was a blur of pain filled forest tracks. We were riding hard, and I was riding just above my threshold the whole time. I knew I was playing with fire (I could feel the fire in my legs,) but we knew we were getting close to home. WP3 at Thandi farm village saw me smash more salty potatoes and licking my salty snor again, and we set off to hunt some bears in the woods up to Kromco. 

 

The  climb up the forset section was rough. My lungs were clapping hands, my legs were filled with molten lava, and suddenly I was hearing voices in the pain cave, and they were not my own. A team was starting to catch up to me in the trail, and I knew I would give them track (it would only be fair after all) but I also knew we were faster going down. So with the specter of the following team chasing me, and Kobus dancing a switchback ahead of me I started grinding up that forest. But I managed to stay ahead, and we entered a lekker fast downhill section that I've never ridden before. Luuks! 

 

Climbing up to Kromco Kobus felt strong, and told me to hang unto is backpack, and he engaged Beast Mode and dragged us up the hill to Kromco, we sped through the fruit bins, down the scaffolding and up the Anti-Climax corner and were spit out at the Paul Cluver gate. 

 

Here I just decided to ignore all my instincts and we gave it gas on the way back to the finish. It was all fine and well, until we got to the singletrack climb next to the dam. I've ridden down this trail many a time, and I was not looking forward to going up it. I had to go digging in the pain cave again, and then my Sprecter of the Thandi trail reappeared behind me, and this team was climbing faster than my comfort level. Once again my pride and stubborness forced me to go places where I haven't gone in a while. It reminded me of all the SS training rides I did in Oak Valley, the pain was familiar, the pace was slow, but then it hit me. I loved this! I was actually enjoying the pain, thrilled by being chased and suddenly I was chasing Kobus. We crested over the bridge that I believe many a rider cursed that day, and then dropped down to the dam. A familiar trail to me, so we gooied! My spectre was gone, we were reeling teams at a rapid pace, and we could smell the finish. The finish came just under 4 hours from our start, once again wheelieing across the line, and once again collapsing next to the speaker stand. We did it! we wanted to finish under 4 hours, and we managed 3h57. Elation! 

 

 

We once again consumed way too many melkies, downed more Rehidrat than should be allowed, and smashed a Spur burger. This time we washed our bikes though, I found a broken spoke (I heard the pinging noise in Lebanon already, but didn't want to stop for it.) that I removed and we relubed the chains. Bikes ready for day3, sans 1 spoke though. I had a fancy pants 26er Fulcrum wheel on the back, and I didn't think I'd get the right spoke at the village.  Oh well...

 

 

More banter, ice baths, food, Rehidrat and beers were the order for the rest of the day. Still no middag slapie, but at least I was able to catch up with Hairy and Jerome. Dinner was another lekker kuier, with us making friends wit the Frannie Pants ladies that we rode with on day1. They are lekker tannies (ag ek bedoel dames) and walked away with half the wine given away at prize giving. After dinner we realised that it was the last night, and that we can't just go to bed. So we stayed up a bit later and kuiered some more. I silently prayed that the last beer won't wake me up at a crazy hour again

 

 

Day3.

 

Corrie was right. Day3 is my kind of day. I loved (nearly) every minute of it.

 

We woke up at 5. Coffee and a HUGE breakfast was followed by packing up and man handling our bags to the DHL trucks. I prayed over my back wheel, grabbed my back pack and went into the start chute. B again.  

 

We were early, and decided the best way to warm up would be by dancing to the fat lekker beats the DJ was dropping. Well, that was until he played One Direction. Aaai. 

 

We set off at a rapid pace, and pretty soon we were through Paul CLuver. We were mixing it up with the faster guys in B-bunch and it was lekker. We got our first bit of mud and water in 3 days, but it was just enough to get our bikes and my face dirty. Some more gravel roads were dispatched with at a fast pace and soon we entered the singletrack above Houw Hoek. Sadly here we had traffic, but it was still faster than expected. Just not fast enough for our liking. But it was lekker trail at least, and also very pretty. And pretty trippy as well in places.  It reminded me of Sani at times.. Kobus and I also made a lot of dump valve and exhaust brake noises to amuse ourselves with. Some people took offence to that. I don't know why? Houw Hoek hotel came and went in a blur, and pretty soon we were racing down the old Kat Pass. 

 

Every time when I drove over Houw Hoek pass I looked at the old pass and wondered how it looked. I was not dissapointed. It is beautifull. Bot Rivier came and WP1 was at the primary school. As we rode in the commentator  shouted 1! 2! 3! and the crowd went ballistic. We loved it!! The cheering made us feel like heroes. we smashed potatoes and cokes at a blistering pace, F1 pitstop style and we went out the gate. As we raced out the gate we heard the commentator again, 1! 2! 3! and the crowd went ballistic again, and then we realised, he wasn't announcing our arrival, he was counting down the crowd. D'oh!!!

 

Nevertheless, we trapped it out of Botrivier at a pace fast enough to dry out the wheat on the fields that was waiting to be harvested. Doing our bit for feeding the country one pedal stroke at a time. 

 

The bit between WildeKlawer wine estate and the steel bridge was bliss. Lekker flowy singletrack that was fast. I was driving the front and we did not see anyone for the whole section, we had this lively trail to ourselves. Fat smiles all around.

 

When we turned off the road and onto the field climb the wind klapped us full in the face. Kobus sheltered behind me and I was too glad to finally be able to return the favour. I was feeling strong and we ground it out. Fortunately we turned back downwind for the contour path. This contour path soon turned into singletrack. And lo and behold two corners in there was a guy in the singletrack, not pedaling his bike. He was stretching while cruising downwind. I interrupted his stretch with a ring of my bell and a warning that many people will be mad at him if he was going to stop pedalling. He really tried to regain speed to stay ahead of us, but gave up a couple of corners later and pulled over. His partner in front of him did not get as much grace from me. I just shouted at him to "Kom Kom Kom trap trap trap" but he sommer pulled over. I might have given him a fright. We never saw these two again. 

 

WP2 was at the end of this contour, more potatoes and coke and koeksisters was consumed at a blistering pace before we set off again. We entered more lekker singletrack. That forest trail with the mud brick house is awesome. But soon this turned into a climb that was pretty gnarly, not because it was rocky, but because of what it did to our legs. Crossing over we dropped into a lekker trail, but had a group that must have been roadies in front of us. Sies man, skaam julle dat julle so stadig ry! 

 

We turned into a gravel road and a big bunch formed. One of the roadie uncles then told Kobus that we still had to climb over a huge mountain in front of us. But I knew that road led back to Caledon. I just decided to shut up and see if I could burn him and his team mate off. We didn't need that kind of negativity in our lives. We let the legs do the talking and after some hard grinding and flat out sprinting across the dam wall Kobus and dropped into the trail first. One team tried to stay with us, but we dropped them at the Onrus  gorge crossing. There was a life threateningly dangerous section so they decided to do the responsible thing and walk it. We raced down the gorge and into WP3. 

 

After the usual WP rigmarole we set off again, and we were pumped. we were overhauling teams rapidly. We could smell the finish line. (Shucks, I'm getting an adrenaline rush writing this) We engaged Beast Mode and raced down the singletrack, at one stage I told Kobus I would not mind it if we got caught in an infinite loop and had to ride the Hermanus singeltrack forever. He agreed. 

 

The climb up to the barrel run was painfull. This was the only part of the day that I did not enjoy. The descent I did enjoy. Alot. 

 

We ran into more traffic on the last bit to the Hemel and Aarde village/mall/Euodia cycles, and we nearly rode over two of them when they braked for no apparent reason. But just before Habonim Camp on the gravel road Kobus and I engaged Beast Mode again and flat out sprinted through Habonim and into the bush. I wanted to be on the pallets at the beach before all of them, and we managed it. Kobus nearly rode over a lady on the Peri Scaffoldng at the end of the beach, but it was wide enough that he could go next to her and push her up the last bit. 

 

 

And just like that it was over. We cruised to the campsite, I wheelied over the line one last time and gave my lovely wife who was waiting there a kiss. We had some more melkies, jumped into the tidal pool, took a cold beach shower, ate more spur and drank one last Draught together while watching the prize giving. We ended up being 81st overall, 14th Open Men and 6th in the Whale Category. Total time 12h54.

 

 

All in all W2W is great. Kobus and I will be back next year barring a complication of sorts. 

 

I had more fun than I had at Sani, I liked the route more, the trails are less manicured (not by a lot though)  and gnarlier, and we rode a lot of sections that are off limits usually, and sections that I've never done before.

 

For me it was totally worth it. And I want to be back next year being faster, fitter and stronger, and hopefully still in the Whale category. 

[Kranswurm]

Go over to the Lady Pros thread and ask yourself, "If it was so distasful, why are these athletes allowing pictures to be take of them".

Never forget when that captain of the USA soccer team whipped off her top and sold a million Nike sports bras

Dont understand why some people get their nickers in a twist over chics in underwear.Hang around sportswomen enough you better get used to it

[Marge]

Exactly. Special kind of stupid.

 

Sounds like someone who complains about women being seen as sex symbols, but brags to her friends about using her cleavage to get free drinks.

 

hehe yes, the irony....our team name for sani and w2w have always been cleats&cleavages (thought we were the original ones, guess not , it just flows of the tongue and is flippen funny how the MC at each water table/start always love to call out our team name…nothing wrong with a bit more motivation!

 

Anyways, before you guys think we all share the same view point, on the Vera cover: nothing wrong with it, if I had her body and talent would have done the same. On the w2w race: genuinely most of the guys were so nice overall, lots of comments like ‘go girls’ or ‘well done girls’. Yes there are one or 2 guys that would sprint to cut in front of you in the single track and then you are stuck behind them, but ja, I actually do the same when I see another lady, cause you can’t help to assume that she will be a bit scared or slow, so there I’m also guilty! If I have generalise here, I found that at the ladies in the mixed teams were pushed by their partners on the climbs, and then a bit weak on the single track which made it difficult for as to catch up to them on the climbs so that we would be in front of the lady in the single track. But that is not just unique to mixed teams, that was also the case in some mens team.

 

Anyways, w2w race was awesome!

[jcza]

Maybe someone can explain to me why you would sprint to get ahead of the ladies in the ST? I would think you would let them go first. 

[raptor-22]

Maybe someone can explain to me why you would sprint to get ahead of the ladies in the ST? I would think you would let them go first. 

 

unless you have prior knowledge of their slowness I can' t see any reason want to be ahead

[Thor Buttox]

I actually think that cover is rather nice and tasteful, I expected to see a bikini clad oiled down pic by the rant about it

 

She looks absolutely delighted.

 

Maybe a bit much is being made here.. the pictures are all tasteful

 

you often see pro ladies warm up without their shirts on, and unzip on a hot day.. End of the day, if she was not happy to do the cover like that she wouldn't have.

I agree with Gen. (Go, Chris.. )

[Rapunzel]

My body feels like it endured WW2 instead of W2W. No training programs give much info on active recovery the week after. What do the more competitive riders do the week after to aid recovery without losing fitness?

[BMCfan]

jetlineactionphoto photo's sucks balls

 

were they the only photograhers?

[BMCfan]

My body feels like it endured WW2 instead of W2W. No training programs give much info on active recovery the week after. What do the more competitive riders do the week after to aid recovery without losing fitness?

 

 

I'm deffo not competitive, i took Monday oof, went for a massage Monday afternoon and was back on the bike yesterday afternoon, albeit an easy ride. DC awaits

 

I chow like a hungry lion though. Been a struggle to keep the portions small

[Patchelicious]

jetlineactionphoto photo's sucks balls

 

were they the only photograhers?

That is distasteful! Why do only the the balls get sucked??!!! How dare you single out and objectify men like that.

[GLuvsMtb]

That is distasteful! Why do only the the balls get sucked??!!! How dare you single out and objectify men like that.

#Sexism_must_fall

[raptor-22]

That is distasteful! Why do only the the balls get sucked??!!! How dare you single out and objectify men like that.

 

 

 

but  more especially,.....why is sucking balls a bad thing?

for who is it bad? the sucker or the suckee?

 

Is there research to errr support this

[Donovan Le Cok]

My body feels like it endured WW2 instead of W2W. No training programs give much info on active recovery the week after. What do the more competitive riders do the week after to aid recovery without losing fitness?

 

I had Monday off, yesterday was 2 hours zone 2 high cadence and then today (Wednesday) off. From tomorrow it is back to the program, I have pyramid intervals. 

 

Most important thing is to try get lots of sleep and eat well.

[raptor-22]

Did the Ride:

 

Thursday 1.5hrs zone 1 and 2

Friday 1.5hrs zones 1 and 2

Saturday 1.5 hrs Zone 3 and 4

Sunday 4hrs Zone 2 and 3

Monday and Tuesday off.

Wednesday back to intervals

[Wannabe]

Anyone else feel that the food was not up to the standard it was hyped up to be?

 

Dinner on day one was really bland, not even a generous helping of salt, pepper, chilli/peri peri sauce could get it to taste any better. Especialy the chicken.

 

Breakfast was so-so, but I did not even go for breakfast on Sunday.

 

Spur Burger was ok'ish, if you could get one. Day two I did not feel like a burger immediately after the ride, but did go for lunch (again, so-so in my opinion). After lunch I went past the Spur stand to ask what time they are closing. Got told it was 17h00. I went for an afternoon snooze undet the big tent, and at 16h15 I felt like a snack and went to collect my burger. Got there only to be told the chips fryer has been switched off already, so there is no chips, and as far as the burger go, there was only a few beef burgers left. Told the young lady that I was not happy as they told me that they will be opened till 17h00. She just batted her blue eyes at me, flicked her blond ponytail and walked off. I left that burger right there on the counter.

 

But maybe it was just me that had higher expectations of this whole "adventure". Truth be said, it left me feeling rather flat.