TransBaviaans 2023 - Race Edt

[DieselnDust]

5 hours ago, Skubarra said:

Did you see any gravel bikes this weekend?

I did see a few with long faces sitting on top 

[DieselnDust]

Finally the ride report:

 

Once upon a time I rode the TransBaviaans. Yes 2005 was long ago, so long it classifies as once upon a time. In an era where the longest stage of the Cape Epic had been a 145km from George to Herbertsdale, 230km from Willowmore to Jeffreys Bay seemed like madness, reserved for a haregat few who looked pushing the Mtb endurance boundary even further. I said on the finishline of that 2005 h“never again!” Well never say never wa one of the best old 007 movies so when the opportunity presented itself again, I didn’t hesitate to say “no thank you “ but persistence pays off and when a buddy who’s never ridden it wants to give it a bash I figured that another go couldn’t hurt….

 

I didn’t specifically train for it the last time I rode it so in February as i mapped out my training plan for 2025 I simply put a marker on the 17th August and flagged it as a “C “ event. No taper week, just go ride it.

 

Now one of our team mates, also our sponsor, had secretly decided to do both the Race and the Repeat on back to back weekends. Its a good thing he did keep it a secret because it was probably one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard of. Nevertheless I was blissfully unaware of this crazy idea and later was thankful that I wasn’t part of it. As it transpired 4 became three when Mr double baviaans had to pull out of the Repeat. I also had to sub one chap from Jhb as he suddenly developed a case of lackoffitniss so I called in my not so local bike shop owner aka William to ride. A man of exceptionally rubber arm, it took little to convince him that he’d find form somewhere between Willowmore and Jeffrey’s Bay. The ride is afterall a long endurance session followed by a few threshold intervals and topped off with a tempo effort before coasting to the finish. Simple…

 

So on the 16th team Impi2 arrived at registration where we had to do the substitution and register our support driver. You’d think this process would be smooth…. Ya …right. This is the Karoo baby, nuffing r smoooove here. After repeatedly providing the data to register Will we have up and he rode as Khule. He was now the whitest Zulu alive in Soith Africa, with a Slight Northern England accent. 

We colllected the boxes packed em and handed in. Our decisions were now sealed, one I was going to regret.

 

I had worked out split times for a 12, 13 and 14hr ride. Our nutrition was based on 14 hrs at tempo intensity. Packed the right food stuff for each stage between check points. Happiness.

I elected to start the ride with my lights on the bar and helmet. Not sure why as check point 3 would have been the ideal spot to pick them up. 

 

Our accomodation was a long way off so after race briefing at the NG Kerk we wasted no time getting back on the road. 

The next morning we arrived back in Willowmore at 9 which gave us enough time to prep the bikes and head to the start. 

 

Start to CP1:

The climb to The Roof is about 33km of undulating ascent. Some of those rises are 10% gradient so one has to be very careful with pacing here. Maintaining HR in Z3 max is imperative to a good ride. But damn nothing prepares your arse for those corrugations. By the time we got to the top I was down one energy bar and about 12 jelly babies. Note to self: take the sour jelly babies next time. CP1 arrived none too soon as I was I need of something cold to drink. It was already hitting 30 degrees in places.

 

Onto CP2:

A rather picturesque journey into the start of the Baviaans Kloof with countless water crossings. This was mostly a gentle downhill with an occasional head wind despite a WNW wind blowing. I spent some brain power figuring out why it was a headwind and concluded it must be cold air being drawn through the Kloof to the warmer interior aka Willowmore. At this stage we were looking good for a 11 to 12 hour finish. This was quite motivating. Check Point 2 was at  Zandvlakte, some 93km and just on 4hrs into the ride. There some food snacks available and water . Some canisters were labelled energy but I didn’t taste anything but water so fortunately I had packed a refill in ziploc bags in my outlander2. 

 

Onto CP3:

Between cp2 and cp3 lay the Baviaans Back. Only 5km long but average gradient of 8% is nasty. I was using the routing function on my GPS which was giving us time to destination. We were still on target for a 10pm finish at the foot of The Back. Then reality hit. Will said that my kit was looking more salty than usual. My sweat rate was a bit high due to. It being used to training in heat since the Cape winter was a long one and i ride after work in the dark. I made sure I increased my drinking and popped a electrolyte tab. We got over the back well enough and at a decent pace too. By now we had had to walk quite a few crossings already, taking a strategy to not get the bikes heavily slashed with water that would wash off the chain lube. We didn’t really lose anytime doing this and we hadn’t needed the squirt lube at the water points yet.

Down The Back and k to CP3 we sped. The Back had cost us a bit and we were now heading toward a 12,5 hr ride. Still pretty good. We refuelled and picked up some dry clothes. I changed gloves but didn’t take any warm kit as we weee in target to get to CP 4 by 17:30 and that’s day light . There is get into some warm kit.

 

Onto CP4:

Leaving cp4 was a damp affair.. We had to wade through thigh deep water for about 500m. The water was freezing! By the time I exited I had a little cramp that I managed to ride through but it did not bode well. I realised I had lost my team mates and pulled over to wait. Will had cramped badly too exiting the river crossing. My feet were now frozen and I could not move my toes. I tried to stretch everything out just to get going again but I need to get hold of a slowmag soon. Will and Wayne appeared after 5min and we hit the two fangs, 12% average gradient for 1.3km and 1.1 km respectively. Those buggers hurt! Then came the MAC… this felt like the climb to Tokai mast only rough the whole way to the top. We climbed this at our own pace as each of us was nursing an issue at this point. The view over the Kloof is simply breathtaking, it has to be seen to be appreciated. I found gearing my bike down to 32T chainring was a master stroke as it allowed me to maintain a higher cadence on all the climbs. This helped me manage that electrolyte debt I got myself into and that allowed me to ride all the way to the top. I was able to wait for my team mates at the lookout but then the cold hit me and the cramp started again so i had to just keep spinning to CP4 slowly. They caught up in time not to miss the turn off and we checked in. It would be nearly an hour later that we checked out because I cramped so badly it looked

Like was making gat of B-girl Raygun’s “break dance” routine. I men there is was doing the kangaroo , the great white shark, and I still could not get my socks on ! It’s a good thing I didn’t try and change my bibs. There was a hyper energetic lightie running around asking people if they wanted coke. He brought me two “oom dans hier so lekker I bring jou sommer twee!!” At some point the slow mag I got from a medic started to work and I could start getting warm  kit on and some warm salty soup into my body. My personal waiter brought me sandwiches, more soup more coke, I tipped him a bag of jelly babies which left him beaming and eager to supply more coke to the other ooms in the tent. By now I was full decent again and thought that I have one more dance I really must go. Cramping had abated but we lost 55min. We checked out and head to CO5 where our support vehicle awaited and warm clothes. I hadn’t packed clothes warm enough for CP4 so i put on another filler and a long sleeve rain jacket plus arm warmers and was still cold. 

 

Onto CP5:

The descent from Bergplaas is fast, twisty  and treacherous. Having good lights makes it safer but the margin for error is zero. There are sheer drops from which your body will likely never be found. Once you hit level ground you’re basically out of the Baviaans Kloof and into farm roads heading toward Jbay. Dark, cold farm roads with cattle and other creatures waiting in the bush for an opportunity to dart from said bush right in front of you and yell “ wow bass!” By now I was freezing . The temp had dropped to 8drgrees and I needed to ride a bit harder to keep warm. I ended up gapping my mates again before we reached the CP5 at the pakhuis. We arrived around 8:15 and then had to find our support vehicle and driver. I needed a hot milo and warm dry clothes desperately. 

Our support driver toysrus laid out one hell of a spread; tuna and mayo sandwiches, peanut butter sarmies, salticrax, milo, hot chocolate, coffee chocolate, fruit …. Etc etc we ended staying there about an hour. By this point , we knew a midnight finish was the reality but maybe we enjoyed CP5 too much 

 

CP5 to finish:

 

Cp 6 was a table on the side of the road somewhere around the 190km point at the top of the Neverender. I didn’t bother talking about the Neverender as it was just a head down grind at 5% for 18km. What was spectacular was to see all the flashing lights in the distance as teams all soldiered onto J-Bay. There was quite a lot of farm gates and tyre and shoe disinfecting baths to get through before CP7. The most exciting bit of trail was just before Cp7 which involved dipping through a culvert,and up a steep single track climb. Giving it’s bit of gas here was a lot of fun. We pulled into the co and grabbed some coffee to warm up and a cup of milo. No rooster Broojes for us, we were just 22km away from beer and a sour burger. After this the Co the course was a bit of an improvised route to avoid traversing cattle grazing land due to the foot and mouth disease that is devastating the area. The last 5 km once took us through some single tracks before we dropped down to the finish on the fields of the Jbay country club. That was the wrap, 230 km under the belt and a few lessons in electrolyte intake and logistics. It was 00:45 in the morning and time for supper.

The sour burger went down well. We had a quick debrief and then sorted out logistics to the b&b. Myself and Wayne opted to ride the 8km to the b&b as it was too cold to try and fit three bikes on a Thule. 

 

After this TransBaviaans I didn’t have the feeling of never again. The box is ticked but maybe just maybe I’ll come back next year. There’s still a lot of improvement to be made in logistics alone and that sub 11 hour beckons…..