2020 Trans Augrabies

[Sbloomer]

Hi all

 

I've set my sights on the 2020 Trans Augrabies as my first multi stage ride.  It is an area that I have loved since I was a kid, and hiked it extensively.  

 

Would love to hear the stories from those who did it this year.  Looks amazing from the photos.

 

Tips, tricks, advice?

[Skubarra]

Hi all

 

I've set my sights on the 2020 Trans Augrabies as my first multi stage ride.  It is an area that I have loved since I was a kid, and hiked it extensively.  

 

Would love to hear the stories from those who did it this year.  Looks amazing from the photos.

 

Tips, tricks, advice?

 

Unfortunately not a race that features here on thehub, wanted to leave a few remarks on the other thread for the archives but thought I'll answer your question

 

It was a well organised race, everything went smoothly. Smallish field but enough riders for a decent vibe. Very little climbing but the rocky and sometimes sandy terrain means you have to work for your kilometers and my bike took some pounding on the terrain. More singletrack than I expected and some of it took us over some sketchy places down mountains and over the Orange river, was punished for my limited technical abilities at some places!

 

Another plus was the use of the Augrabies National Parks camp as race village (and that the event coincides with the school holiday), you could book your family into a chalet or campsite and let them be part of the experience. Would say about 2/3's of the people in the camp were part of the race so the whole camp were part of the event atmosphere.

 

Negatives, not much. Not a fan of the age/sex-adjusted timing system they used for results, found it to be eccentric.

 

Overall one of the better events I have done and a nice alternative on our calendar for those curious about lesser known events.

 

To specifically answer your question - if you loved visting & walking in the area you would love cycling in the area. You get to cycle most of the park's roads and jeep tracks, we cycled over the moon rock which was fun, cycled over the river on a series of bridges which was tricky. Starts were really cold but for most of the day temperatures are mild.

 

Don't really have advice, not a lot of climbs but stage distances are long so be ready to cycle at least 4 hours per day, be careful on the downhill jeep tracks, lots of large rocks all over the place which can burp your tire or crack a derailleur if hit at pace.