Autopsy of a bike race - To Hell & (not) Back

[DJR]

For those who insist on accuracy, I've edited the title. Now that the secret is out!

[Pikey]

I think Beattbox owes us the other side of this story, the "I have never waited so much in my life" saga.

It can have all the exciting things like standing admiring the view and looking every half hour to see if DJR is any closer.

lmfao here here.

[Pikey]

For those who insist on accuracy, I've edited the title. Now that the secret is out!

i think you suffered to your own hell & back. Mentally & physically,kudos for finishing day 1. It's always easier to give up then carry on,for some at least.

[Nancy Drew]

I liked your description of the descent into Hell DJR. I was terrified going down there. At one of the bends I had to stop just to take a few deep breaths and bring my heart rate down. I was convinced that I was going to die that day... going off the edge.

 

Also in the back of my mind the whole time I was thinking... "holy crap, we have to ride back up here tomorrow" 

[Nancy Drew]

oh dear - to do this 10 days before the Munga starts ...... will it be to risky ?

 

 

It'll be great training... as long as you don't plummet into the hell through the air

[V12man]

just got the ok from the boss. No J2C. No S2C. No W2W. yes for Hell and Back and L2L. (And maybe double lap Argus). And Desert Dash????

Best ask quickly for a ticket to the BC bike race....

[Headshot]

Thanks for the write up. Brings back memories of my one and only back in the 1990's on a hard tail, v brakes and a very dodgy elastomer fork. 

 

That year, hangers on in 4x4's were happily allowed into camp before the riders. They stole all the best shade spots so my recollection is of a hard, hot camping spot, and no water. Cape Nature hadn't maintained the water supply properly and there was no such thing as a shower after day 1. 

 

Its a beautiful part of the world and the race is well worth a go... 

[DJR]

I must say that I was pretty impressed with their camp in the Hell. Most tents had nice shade, the ablutions were just fine, the food was good, the beer cold. Thanks to someone dusting our tents with baby powder, the ants (kind of) left us alone. It must be a bloody difficult operation getting all the stuff in and out of there. How the driver of that 8 ton truck managed to get it around all the hairpins I really don't know. He must have nerves of steel and guardian angels at least as vigilant as mine.

[gogo@]

Nice one, thanks DJR. I (almost) want to go do it now!!

[Matchstix]

I know of some people that drove in with the trucks. On the big right hand hairpin high up, if you look down, you can't see the road if you're in the passenger seat.

[Mr Legs]

Thanks DJR, your report brings back some (painful) memories of my three trips into the Hell.

 

The first one in the late 1990's was as team support driver. In those days you could get permission to take your own vehicle down. I drove dentist Blackie's purple Kombi.  Upon arrival at the camp site on the Friday afternoon we decided to take the kombi and to scout the route. Halfway up the Swartberg we saw a very thin oke on his bike and laughed amongst ourselves, at this stupid oke wearing himself down the day before the race. On Sunday I saw him again. He won the race.

 

We saw Heartbreak Hill in the distance but turned around, as the consensus view in the kombi was that must be the road out of the Hell and everybody who said that there is no road out to the west is talking rubbish. Ignorance is.....

['Dale]

Splendid writing, DJR

 

I'm planning an adventure ride there and abouts with friends later in winter time

 

Thanx for sharing ????????

[DJR]

........We saw Heartbreak Hill in the distance but turned around, as the consensus view in the kombi was that must be the road out of the Hell and everybody who said that there is no road out to the west is talking rubbish. Ignorance is.....

If you carry on further you eventually come to the far end of the Hell where cars cannot continue. From there you can carry your bike up The Ladder to get out the Western side. The terrain is a bit like the Elands Pass, just steeper. It is a killer hike, even if you are not lugging a bike.I think the access issues with the private owners of the property at the foot of The Ladder has been resolved, but I don't know for sure. From the top of that you can carry on riding Westwards to Laingsburg. That is the Freedom Challenge route. You can also turn  East and back to Prince Albert, but then you will have to arrange for the owner of the last property before the Gamka Poort dam to ferry you across the water. Now, THAT is a route for the really tough people. 

 

@ Dale

 

Day 1 - Prince Albert into The Hell, 65 km, tough, sleep there. Day 2 - out via The Ladder, over Bosluis Kloof to Gamka Poort Dam, about 50 km ?, but tough as hell, sleep there. Day 3- Ferry across next morning, easy flat 40km to Prince Albert.  

[fanievb]

I must say that I was pretty impressed with their camp in the Hell. Most tents had nice shade, the ablutions were just fine, the food was good, the beer cold. Thanks to someone dusting our tents with baby powder, the ants (kind of) left us alone. It must be a bloody difficult operation getting all the stuff in and out of there. How the driver of that 8 ton truck managed to get it around all the hairpins I really don't know. He must have nerves of steel and guardian angels at least as vigilant as mine.

Nerves isn't the word I'd use

[Mr Legs]

If you carry on further you eventually come to the far end of the Hell where cars cannot continue. From there you can carry your bike up The Ladder to get out the Western side. The terrain is a bit like the Elands Pass, just steeper. It is a killer hike, even if you are not lugging a bike.I think the access issues with the private owners of the property at the foot of The Ladder has been resolved, but I don't know for sure. From the top of that you can carry on riding Westwards to Laingsburg. That is the Freedom Challenge route. You can also turn  East and back to Prince Albert, but then you will have to arrange for the owner of the last property before the Gamka Poort dam to ferry you across the water. Now, THAT is a route for the really tough people. 

 

 

Yes DJR, now 17 -18 years later I know the area a bit. Those days we  were very ignorant. Our long training rides was 40 km. It was the beginning of front suspension. My buddy caused a stir when he did the THAB on a Cannondale lefty. The single fork was the talk of the race. That first time we rented a house at the western end of the valley. When we got there after the end of the first stage, the caretaker lighted a big fire for a braai. An hour or two later a big thunderstorm moved over the valley.And then the caretaker lit the fire again. Before the sun set we were busy with our third braai of the afternoon. I did not mind as I was driving the kombi, but the rest of the team did feel the effect of the entertaining the next day. That was the year when the  blond twins were causing heads to turn.(Sad to think that those pretty girls must now be fifty plus) One cyclist was cycling behind them and was admiring their fine form, and promptly felt of his bike. When asked what happened he said that his handbrake got stuck.

 

A year or two later about 2001 or 2002 I did the race, trained a bit more but still suffered up Heartbreak Hill and the next day I could not get going up the steep Elands Pass. Eventually I was cycling with Edu / Edo a courageous oke, who lost his leg in an accident but was still competing with prosthesis. He used to joke that he shaves his left leg and sandpaper and varnishes the right leg. I recovered a bit and made it down Swartberg Pass in an OK time.

 

Fast forward another two or three years and one Friday morning I was in the shower when the phone rang. My wife and I had just started a business and there was no time for training. The call was from my buddy Bernard, there was a spot open for the THAB, they will pick me up at 2 pm. My other dentist buddy, a very good cyclist (third in the masters at the Epic a few years ago) was supposed to organise a place for us to sleep, but we spend the night under his bakkie. His cycling skills far exceeded his organisational abilities.

 

Not having been on a bike for a few months made the first day very difficult, I was cramping and pushing the bike up Heartbrake Hill, but I made it down into the valley. We had a camping spot at the second camp, so it was another few km in the heat and dust.  At that stage my buddies was taking their cycling a bit more serious and we did not have much of a party at the camp.

 

I did not complete the second stage, I was cramping right from the start and at about half way I hitched a ride in a Landy and left my bike at the side of the road, near Koos se Klip. Somehow when we arrived at the finish my bike was already there, almost like the riderless horses running at the front of the Grand National horse race.

 

Don't let the distance of each stage, a mere 60 km and on a gravel road fool you. People might say that to travel along the Narrow Road is tough, but let me tell you: Going to Hell (and getting back) is much tougher.

[Matchstix]

For me one of my saddest moments of life was when I had to push up heart break hill. This while I had to us my granny gear. .(still sub 3 in)

This is coming from a group of friends that believed that using your granny gear was shameful. And its only reason for being on a bike was to provide a reason to laugh, mock and ridicule the weakling in that would give in.

That said, my first 2 saw no ridicule and the gear ratio on 8spd was 11-28

That year (and a couple after) saw me walking broken hearted on that hellish hill.