New Years 2008

Extreme Dinner party on top of the Drakensberg next to the tugela falls, dropping 1km down.

TAR: Deutsche Bank Mauritius Cycle Tour

We arrived on the island and it was dark already, but what a relief seeing all the island's lights from the 747 as we came in for a landing. It was the start of the amazing race (1*) also known as T.A.R. and me and my dad was doing it as a team. In our luggage both of us had our road bikes packed into our old bull boxes witch came in quite handy.

Our first encounter with the locals made us realize we are no longer in Africa, the french Mauritians don't know how to pack a minibus taxi, so after we explained to them that we were from Africa and helped them pack our bikes, we were off. Driving with a Mauritian taxi driver at night can be quite a rush, they floor the petrol, especially in the smaller streets, and it feels like you are driving with a kamikaze pilot at times, but they get you where you want fast.

Next morning... we woke up in paradise, staying 10m from the beach it was an idyllic location where we spend days just lying on the beach, carbo loading with pina coladas and Mauritian rum. As my good friend Mark Twain said: "You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first, and then heaven; and that heaven was copied after Mauritius"

On race day we were taken by taxi from grand bay (north island) to the start at blue bay (south island), the island is quite big as it took us almost 2 hours to get to the start. The race route was 100km following the eastern coast line of the island from south to north, not going over the big mountains in the middle of the island.

The race started with 6 starting groups A-F with +-1000 participants from all over the globe. The scenery en route was very interesting as we went through rural fishing villages with all the locals cheering us on in french 'ale-ale!!'. My dad saw a Mauritian chasing a big lizard with a stick
over the road while i waved at the little children and took photos.

As we rode the terrain and coast changed all the time from rocky coast lines in between mountains to idyllic coral reef beaches without any waves to beaches with big j-bay waves, they have it all. We also rode past a weird section were you see strange volcanic heaps of rock appearing at random places in a sugarcane field, this was caused by volcanic activity when the island was formed.

I stayed with my dad all the way doing this amazing ride and we arrived at the "arrivée" french for finish as a team. Life was good and we spend the rest of our days tanning on the beach and snorkeling after pipe fish and other beautiful fischies in the clear turquoise blue Mauritian waters...

Da Mauritian Mummy

(1*) The Amazing Race, sometimes referred to as TAR is a reality television game show in which teams of two people, who have some form of a preexisting personal relationship, race around the world in competition with other teams.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Race

PS: The island is not flat and has quite a few high mountains overgrown with tropical trees and plants and would make an awesome location for an AR with sea paddling between islands in the calm sea and mountains to climb, they even host a mountain bike festival (http://www.otayo.com/mountain%20bike%20festival.htm

).

Bull Of Africa 2008 - Transkei (7 day non-stop Expedition AR)

http://www.bullofafrica.com/

By Eugene Kelly (One of my Team Members)

We cannot come up with enough superlatives to describe my BOA 2008 experience, and here the credit can all be showered upon Hano and his team. Amongst all the teams we as the back-markers are the hardest to please and most definitely the hardest to manage from a logistics point of view. For my experience I’m sure I am not alone in saying that I am eternally grateful.

At times despite being literally days behind we were still allowed to test our mettle against the very same course obliterated by the top teams. We as Team Nubi did not short course ourselves but instead, like a few other like-minded teams – The Girls, Katbergers and Thule who we grew to love, we plodded on against the best Hano had to offer:

Through the maze of Lantana snares and Thorn, prickle, spike and spine barriers we did toil, our blood spilled on the very same soil trodden by USN and Mccain albeit a few days before.

We learned every lesson BOA 2008 taught (Yes this is synonymous with making every mistake there was to be made), but we came out all the stronger. Our team stayed intact despite all the hardships, and for this I am proud to say I was a part of it! In a race where there is such a high dropout rate, the personal and interpersonal discovery is so immense, it blows my mind every
time I think about it.

In preparing for a race of this nature, through the endless shopping trips, training sessions and umpteenth worries, one starts to wonder whether it is at all worthwhile. Then the AR Gods throw yet another curveball in your direction in the form of an injury, just to further test your commitment. This is in between all the team struggles that took us almost a year to overcome. So this is why as Hano said the biggest challenge of all is to get to the start line!!!

Eugene Kelly

Vit-T-Go Afriman Duathlon 2008

A duathlon with a difference, the Vit-T-Go Afriman Duathlon 2008 was hosted at Maropeng, the Official Visitor Centre for the Cradle of Humankind.
I did the Afriman: 14km Run 80km Bike 7km Run, and it was fun.

http://www.maropeng.co.za/index.php/calendar/entry/vit_t_go_afriman_duathlon_2008/

Organiser's report: Mnweni marathon

At 6 am on a strangely warm May morning, forty-six runners set off on an extreme mountain race in the Natal Drakensberg.

Only two of them returned.

The other forty-four went all the way and completed the route successfully.

Originally an informal challenge organised by trail-running legend Bruce Arnett for a handful of friends, the 38k Water for Africa Mnweni Marathon has grown over the past five years to become an established and much-anticipated fixture on the trail running calendar. This year the race was held on 17 May, and formed part of the Montrail Ultra Cup, a series which brings together South Africa's top trail races and runners in a championship league table format.

The circular route starts and ends at the Mnweni Hospitality centre near Bergville. It consists mainly of donkey trails and hiking paths, with 2000m of climb taking the runners up the Mnweni Valley to the Lesotho plateau. The source of the Orange River marks roughly the half way point. 2000m of descent returns the runners to the Hospitality Centre via the Ntonyelana
Valley.

In many places the path is loose, rocky, and very steep, and there are several river crossings to make. The path is not marked, and runners must navigate using map and compass, and carry all the food and kit they need for a day in the mountains - however, the Drakensberg streams are clean, and there is plenty of fresh water available from Mother Nature. No seconding or
support other than emergency medical services is possible along the route, although a marshal is posted at the cut-off point at the foot of the 1000m Mnweni Pass to ensure that all runners are in good shape to begin the ascent within 5 hours of setting out on the race, or else turn back to the start. There is no vehicle access to the route after it leaves the dirt road at
approximately 5km, until it rejoins the road with only about 4.5k to the finish, so emergency medical and rescue services were co-ordinated from the plateau by Rob Thomas of MCSA, and on the route by race sponsor (and marshal) Stephen Mallory, and Vandre "the Hiking Medic" van Vuuren, of SAS Medical Services.

After a hard fought tussle for the lead, the winner, Gert Forster (no relation to the writer!) stormed home in 5 hours 1 minute, with race organiser Bruce Arnett a close second only 3 minutes behind. Englishman Trevor Hughes took third in 5 hours 8 minutes.

First woman Lisa de Speville frisked home 17th overall in 7 hours 58 minutes, with a clear margin over the second woman, (yours truly :-)) who arrived several places later in 8 hours 32. A couple of minutes later, third woman Geraldine van Tromp was the next runner in, having diced for second woman for most of the race.

The safety team dealt extremely professionally with the only major incident of the day. Rob Andrew took a nasty tumble whilst boulder-hopping just before the Mnweni pass, resulting in a suspected broken arm. Stephen and the MCSA team kept Rob comfortable until he was attended to by Vandre. Once the last group had gone through his marshalling point, Stephen Mallory walked Rob back to the start, together with Bernie Shiller who was feeling the altitude, and had wisely decided to take Vandre's advice not to continue up the Mnweni pass. Vandre hiked through to the finish with the tail enders to ensure that no-one was left behind or without medical care if required.A broken finger later in the race (and a few scuffed knees!) completed the roll call of injuries for the day.

The last group of five runners arrived in darkness with Vandre, just in time for prize-giving, after 13 and a half hours, which gives a good idea of the rugged nature of the terrain. The fact that they were all smiling gives a very good idea of the calibre of people who take up this challenge!

Thanks to generous sponsorship from Water for Africa, Salomon, Sweat Shop Southdowns Centurion, AR.co.za, TMS and others, every runner left the event with a spot prize from the raffle, a reflective snap-on wrist-band, a teeshirt and a medal. The general consensus seemed to be that 2009's date will be inked into the race diaries as soon as it is released. See you
there!

Laura

Jock 150km

Lessons & Observations on a roadie-ride

Me an Carine did the Jock Cycle Classic 150km this past weekend, below a report by her.

Report By Carine Reyneke

It was perhaps more than just a little arrogant to think that you could do a roadie ride marketed as "South Africa's toughest" if you've only been on your roadie bike once after the Argus tour. But you've been on your mountain bike a few times since the Argus, the Jock was on your to-do list for quite a while already, and you had to go find out if it was really as tough as everybody said it was ... and there was another sucker (the Mummy) who was up for the challenge, so ... what the heck, enter the ride & see what happens. How tough can 150 kays be anyway?

You were about to find out.

Some lessons & observations from the past weekend:

• If you take your bike for its only training ride in months a week before a biggish event, and you discover something like the shifters are not working, don't expect the bicycle shop to be able to fix it for you there and then. Not if you don't have a decent overdraft facility, anyway.
• Have a friend like Mamparra who can change the only gear that you will be able to use on the front chain ring, from the big to the small blade. That's good enough for Jock.
• Knowing that Barberton is somewhere in Mpumalanga is not good enough. Instructions pulled from the Internet telling you to continue for 146.2 kays, and then turn right, somehow would make more sense if you had a roadmap of the area, or at least knew where Barberton fits into the bigger picture. Especially since there was no Dirt Rider at the destination already, whom you could phone for directions.
• There're a lot of roadie bikes to be seen during a roadie-bike-weekend.
• Don't leave your fleece & wind jacket behind in Barberton when you're leaving for Nelspruit at 5 in the morning, if your start is only at 7:30. Even if The Mummy says it won't be so cold. What does the Mummy know about the weather in Nelspruit at 5:30 in the morning, anyway? ;)
• Be nice to other mountain bikers when you share a mountain, a single-track or a Noon to Moon with them, 'cos you don't know when you will bump into them at roadie-events. Was great to see the familiar faces of Big Daddy Rob & girlfriend (fiancée) Lisa on the bus on the way to Nelspruit.
• Sitting in an empty classroom waiting for your bunch to start, isn't any warmer than outside, but at least there's other people to share the cold with.
• Getting a slightly above average Argus Tour time, still doesn't make you an above average cyclist by anyone's books: you will still start in the very last bunch for the Jock.
• Nelspruit is cold 7:30 in the morning.
• The bunches start out very slowly. It's no use to try and get ahead of them, though, they will catch you. They always do. So stay with them. Sittt. Stay.
• Maybe you must take your roadie bike out more. What a pleasure to ride such a responsive bike!
• If you see a notice saying "Dangerous Downhill: Concentrate", get down on your bike, find the nearest slipstream ('cos you mos don't have a big blade) and slingshot yourself from slipstream to slipstream with a huge grin.
• Note to self: definitely take road bike out more.
• Boulders is 7 kays of climbing at Suikerbossie's gradient. The steep part of Suikerbossie, that is. You can't get your heart-rate up, because it's like pushing weights in a gym. It would probably have been more fun with a Granny Gear.
• The bicycle shop and Mamparra and Dirt Rider and everyone else were right: you won't need your big blade for this race.
• If you start in the last bunch, don't lose the bunch, otherwise you solo the rest of the race.
• Note to self: learn to climb, so that you don't lose the bunch on Boulders.
• Boulder's downhill matches the uphill in every respect ... maybe even exceeds the climb. What an exhilarating downhill! WOW! W-O-O-W!!
• Going down the bends on Boulders on a roadie bike trying not to touch the brakes while marshals are trying to flag you down, can be as much fun as a single-track at night. Maybe even more.
• "Dangerous Downhill: Concentrate" is your new favourite road sign.
• If you've done 100 kays and there're still 50 kays to go and you're hungry, eat. Don't think that you'll finish just now and eat then. You'll finish much later than expected and will have to eat at some stage anyway.
• Cycling the last 20 kays into a headwind slightly uphill all by yourself is not fun.
• If you discover a week before the Jock that your roadie bike's odometer's battery is flat, and the bicycle shop can't replace it for you, and you therefore decide to fit your Suunto's bike pod on the roadie bike because it was just lying around in a cupboard somewhere, then calibrate it before the ride.
• Road cycling is hard work.
• "Give me my chocolate" - the new national greeting? Who taught these kids to beg? Who gave them sweets, thinking they are doing them a favour, and creating an expectation that who-ever passes by will have sweets to hand out? Where did they learn to try to push cyclists off their bikes and obstruct their way if they don't stop and give them sweets? (This is something that I've seen in the Drakensburg, in the Wild coast, even on the Argus Tour this year.)
• You cannot possibly allow a girl being pushed up the last uphill 400 metres from the finish, to beat you. No matter how tired you are. She's allowed to beat you if she can get up there on her own, but you simply cannot allow her to be pushed faster than what you can cycle ... so you'll have to chase them. Keep some energy in reserve for that.
• Road cycling is not for sissies.
• Road bikes are so clean after an event!
• Some races you'll keep coming back to. Sabie Shenanigans is on my to-do list for next year. The Magalies Monster and the Induna ... I will be back next year for the awesome single track and the exhilarating downhills. The Mnweni marathon, Wartrail, a weekend of Rogaining - great events; I'll keep going back for the views, the vibe, the people, the challenge. Sprint races presented by UGE events - I will keep going back for the fun and the adventure and the speed. The Argus tour - may be expensive for Gauties, but the vibe will keep people returning for more. 94.7's on my doorstep, so I will do it as long as I have a road bike.
  The Jock? Been there, done that.
  That said, that downhill after Boulders ... I might return for that. I will train a little more if I do the event again. But then again, I often say that about other events too and never do the extra mile of training.
• Roadies are a strange bunch of people. Discussions after the event was about the vets' tour next month, about a particular team's position after this race, about what roadie-thingy they're doing next, about beating a guy from another team ...almost like they're punishing themselves ... there's no discussions about the great piece of single-track of the morning, or cycling through plantations or banana tree tunnels or orange orchards or next to canals or over dodgy bridges or through surreal rock formations, or the near blow-out on a downhill, or about the horrible technical climb that they managed to do without unclipping, or about crossing the river or bunny-hopping an obstacle or pringling a wheel or showing off newly acquired scars or the fun they had that morning ...
• Note to self: appreciate your mountain bike buddies more.
• Another note to self: Take roadie-bike out more. It is excellent training, it's great riding such a responsive bike, and riding it more often will prevent sore shoulders, neck & wing-stubs the morning after a roadie-ride.

Well, and is it South Africa's toughest race? I can't say, really. I haven't done any of the toughest races to have anything to compare it with. It can't be compared to mountain bike-events like Induna or Magalies Monster; it's much harder because of the nature of roadie rides: a much higher intensity for much longer without technical distractions. It's not comparable to adventure events like Wartrail or Mnweni: the attraction of these events (for me), is exactly this: the low intensity and the variety. It's not comparable to the Argus or 94.7; anyone can get on their bicycles and do these distances - and they do.

Distance-wise and climb-wise, even wind-wise, a Double Century may be longer and harder, but it's a team event, so you will never lose the bunch, and you'll never have to take the headwind on all on your own ... and if you pick your team members carefully, you will never be the slowest person in the team, so you will never ride at a high intensity for too long. :)

So: I still don't know if it is South-Africa's toughest road race. But I did learn one thing: road cycling is not for sissies!

And I think I am one. :) A sissie, that is. So I'll stick to mountain biking, for now.

From trials rider to skater boy mummy in 10 seconds...

Crash Report:

Last Monday night i was sitting in traffic on my way to Pretoria, thinking of how much petrol i will safe when i sell my 4 liter jeep the next day for a better mountain bike and a smaller car. It was going to be my first ride in a skate park, my first introduction to the practical side of trials riding (like Mr. Leech in Roam). I was actually more nervous that i would struggle to take off my eggbeater pedals and put on platforms than riding in a half pipe, because I figured that i would take it slowly and not try something stupid.

While still on my way Werner phoned me and told me he was selling his bike, 'just like that' i replied, after a while of trying to figure out what he was up to he told me he bought the bike of his dreams. I couldn't wait to see it and after getting lost in th area around menlyn i eventually found the skate park named thrashers and Wessel trying out Werner's new bike.

We started riding in circles in a cement like vellodrome but much smaller than a real one, the first ramp was small but quite fun to jump, thereafter we started riding in the quarter pipes that you find higher up in the park above a piece of sloped grass, it was really great fun to ride in a skate park, you get lots of air and i never felt like i was in a position were i was out of control of the bike and fall. Then Wessel put up a line that was great fun, with us following, his line was cool, you don't have to check or think much and just follow the rider, Wessel you really had a cool line.

At a stage Werner was just standing there for 20 minutes totally in love with his new bike while me and Wessel played in the quarter pipes. If we didn't shout to him to get a room, he would still be standing there making out with his bike.

Then I became very relaxed in the skate park (my mistake) and with Wessel behind me wanted to make my own line, one thing i didn't know about this line making thing is that even though it looks safe, you ride the line very slowly the first time to check it out, and then when you know your line you invite others to ride it with you because you know it is safe.

Ok, so ja, I saw my line going down this piece of grass towards the vellodrome thingy and because the vellodrome was at the same slope angle as the grass going down, it looked from a distance as if the grass goes strait onto the vellodrome thingy, mean while back in the jungle somebody build a 1 meter drop-off just before the vello thingy.

Obviously i only saw it when i was about a meter from the edge and didn't have time to think of things like lifting my front wheel and stuff so i went down like a kamikaze pilot on EPO, face first onto the ground still holding on to my handlebars.

Now, what followed actually happened in mills seconds, but felt much longer, more like 10 seconds.

The first thing i remember is a lot of sparks as my glasses and forehead were scratching against the cement of the vello, then i remember my nose slowly ice skating on the vello slowly taking more of my weight, then it was my left cheeks turn, you see each part of my face had to get a turn to do ice skating on the vellodrome. Then followed a big shout, as if it would stop me from ice skating on my face!

Wessel was behind me but luckily stopped and didn't follow my line. I stood up and saw red through my left eye, quite scary, head pounding blood running i suggested they take me to some hospital kind of place. They took me to a clinic of choice, were i got cleaned and injected in the face with adrenalin. Then Werner tried to bunny hop my wheelchair while i was blindfolded on my way to the x-ray babe (i peeked you see).

Damage assessment, cracked nose, between 45 and 55 stitches (will count if they take them out), mummified for a week.

To cut a long story short, I was very lucky, the skate park is really fun and i will be back soon with more experience, be careful when you setup your own line, and always wear a helmet.

Thanks to Werner and Wessel for taking me to ER, to Wessel and his Wife for looking after me during the night and the next day at the plastic surgeon and to his lighty for waiting for his MacDonalds while Wessel was driving me around. Also to everybody who phoned/smsed me to hear how I was doing, Thank You.

See ya on a D&D ride soon.

The Mummy