Eselfontein

Saturday 22 October and time for the Eselfontein MTB in Ceres. The course was part of the 2010 Absa Cape Epic and as a number of people have commented about the superb single tracks at this venue, it was a race I really was looking forward to. I left Cape Town at 06:00 to ensure that I arrive in good time for the registration, which opened at 07:30. It took me 1 hour 40 minutes to cover the 160 km via Malmesbury. I arrived with Kootjie Viljoen, my son-in-law's brother, who also had Corne Krige and his family in their Merecdes Vito bus. Corne was fortune enough to "test ride" a new trek full suspension 29er! Registration went without a hitch and I had about an hour to kill! I used this time to "explore" the farms facilities. There are 6 Echo Huts in a planation about 3 km away from the farmstead, as well as a self catering house about 1 km away. The race got away promptly at 09:00. Initially the going was fairly easy with some moderate climbs. Most of the tracks were purpose built single tracks with lots of turns, a little bit of soft sand, a number of rocky areas and some stream crossings. After 15 km we entered a local blue gum planation with the most awesum single tracks. It felt as though this went on for hours, but it was only about 2 km. I must say the switch backs, ups and downs and the odd tree around which we had to go made the going very enjoyable, the consentrating intence and quite tiring! After this we had a short flat section before the first serious climb of the day started. The next 5 km was a steady climb of 270m vertical ascend. That was followed by some awesum and quite scary descents. After 4 km, during which our elevation reduced from 800m to 570m, we started the real big climb of the day. With the exception of 1.3 km, it was all uphill until we reached the 35 km mark at 1,035 meters. This was followed by a 2 km downhill section on a district road where lost 90 meters and then a 1 km section of single track where we gained another 70 meters. There after came a 5 km section where we lost another 500m. This once again included some scary sections over rocks and loose stones. Fortunately I was "up to the challenge" and managed to negotiate all of them with some resulting in quite an adrenaline rush! The last 15 km consisted of some of the intial route, in reverse. I was quite pleased that the final distance was 10 km short of the advertised 70 km. Total distance was 60.49 km, which took me 4:46:39 and include 1,348 meters of climbing.

Here we go again

Planning to tackle the Freedom Challenge again in 2013, is in progress. A number of crutial training rides are scheduled before the final decision can be made. This includes a "recci" of the route from Rhodes to Kleinpoort and possibly the Rhodes Mountain Bike Extreme in September 2012, to test the effect to height above sea level.

The ongoing program will include some important other training rides and races like the Eselfontein 70 km on 22 October in Ceres. Looking forward to that!

I am quite exited about the Rhodes/Kleinpoort ride. At this stage we will be three who will be doing the ride over about 10 days, with a backup vehicle which will meet up with us at all the overnight points. This is schedule to happen from 26 April to 7 May 2012.

Gravel Travel

Saturday 27 August 2011 - Gravel Travel Ultra Marathon at Diemersfontein in Wellington. What an awesome race! 103.4 km; 8:13:04 with 2,906 meters of climbing. The start was at the Diemersfontein Wine Estate just outside Wellington. The race started a bit late at 07:58 due to the helicopter, which was covering the race. My aim was to enjoy the ride, which I thought I should complete in 7:00 to 7:30! I very quickly found myself cycling at a fair pace at the back of the field, but I was not last! The "race snakes" from the 75 km Marathon, came racing past after about 12 km. By this time I was averaging only 12 kph and have climbed 399m! During the next three hours my tempo increased a little and I managed to average between 14 and 15 kph. My average speed has increased to 14 kph by now. The terrain was also getting a little easier, but we encountered hills with regularity. By this time we were riding around the western side of Groenberg. I was now riding with the rear guard of the 75 km riders. It was interesting how we passed and repassed one another, especially around the water points. The first cut-off point was at 13:30 at the 69 km mark. At this point I still had 30 minutes in hand, so I was confidant of making the 16:00 cut-off at the end. Unfortunately, the "real" climbing only started from here. From km 69 to 78, we climbed 540 meters. That is 60 meters for every one-kilometer traveled. Now that I call serious climbing! Fortunately the gradient was fairly constant and I managed to main a steady pace, not once having to stop and push, although the thought crossed my mind a number of times. I was quite impressed when I reached, what I was sure the last water point, and still found it manned. The guys even asked me how many guys were behind me. I informed them that I was pretty sure I was the last competitor. At about 89 km I still found a lady marshal showing me where I had to turn right. I was quite thankful for this, because if she were not there I would have taken the wrong route! When I reached the 95 km mark, a scrambler came past, telling that there is one hill of 200-300 meters left and from then it is down hill to the end. I enjoyed the last couple of kilometers and was very pleased to see the guy manning the entrance gate to Diemersfontein. I crossed the finish line at 16:11 after riding for 8 hours and 13 minutes. I was a bit disappointed that the timekeepers have packed up at that point, but we were informed that the final cut-off would be at 16:00 and not 9 hours after the start as per the regulations. I also felt that they could have extended the cut-off by the 13 minutes we started late. If that were done, I would have just made it! It was a thoroughly enjoyable event and I never felt that I could not go on, even though my pace was a bit on the slow side. Sometimes it is just nice to go along for the ride!

Philip RASA 2011 :: Champion Page | BackaBuddy

Philip RASA 2011 :: Champion Page | BackaBuddy

Well, I managed to raise R18,215 of my target of R30,000! Thanks to everybody who contributed. At the Maria Zell Mission there are some fortunate students who will benefit from this effort.

Die Burger MTB Challenge in Stellenbosch

After the disappointment of not completing the Freedom Challenge, I set about getting back into shape. This took longer than I anticipated. After I receovered from the kindney infection, I picked up a stomach bug, which took 10 days to clear. I therefore only got into cycling on 7 July, only three weeks before Die Burger. As I have done the Attakwas and the Saronberg MTB, I received an invitation to ride in the 75 km race. Being the succer that I am, I could not resist the challenge and accepted.

The three weeks training went well with a couple of outings to Hillcrest and the rest around the Koeberg Nature Reserve. Not much hill training. I decided that I will go out and enjoy the race and ride at my own pace.

My friend Mike Smit entered for the 60 km race and we went through to Stellenbosch on Saturday morning 30 July at 06:00, as he still had to register.

The race started at 08:10 in good weather conditions. I maintained my leasurely pace and by the time I hit the beginning of Botmaskop, the front guys from the 60 km race were screaming past me. Our route was the same up to the 35 km point, where we went right towards Kanonkop. I therefore had lots of "company" up to that point. From there on it was quite a lonely ride. The ride up the "koppie" behind Warwick and Delvera farms was quite challenging, but very nice. There were about five of six of us that kept on passing and repassing one another. In the end the 75 km took me 5:26 and I finished 113 out of 122 finishers. I never felt exausted during the ride and really enjoyed it.

Now I am looking forward to the Garvel Travel on 27 August. A challenging 110 km ride around the hills of Wellington. now that is going to be a tough one!

The end and the final chapter

Spend Sunday in Umhlanga. Woke at about 07:30, had breakfast, went down to chemist to get something for the eye and the dry skin and relax. Met my cousin and his wife for coffee at 14:00 and had a pleasant afternoon. Went for pizza and popped into Grace Family Church on my way home. Got to bed by 21:30. Had a very restless night with lots of sweeting and waking up. Ended up taking a sleeping pill, which put me away for four hours.

Booked out after breakfast, got collected by my cousin and dropped at the airport and caught plane home at 13:10. Everything went fine. Bike arrived in Cape Town in good condition even though it was not wrapped at all. Got home at 16:45 and went to doctor at 17:15. After check over he confirmed kidney infection and some slime on the lungs. Put onto antibiotics. Heart seems OK and should be able to get going again soon.

With this I am signing off from the 2011 Freedom Challenge Race Across South Africa. The time I managed to participate was very tough, but fantastic. This definately is not for sissies. The weather conditions through the Karoo also seems to make it a tuffer that usual with tick mad being experianced by the competitors. Is was great to be part of it!

Philip

Day seven

Day seven
When I woke up I found a message on my phone that my transport, Dave and Dawn, will be picking me up at 08:00. I immediately proceeded to pack and get ready to leave. I quickly phoned Dawn to inform them that I probably will not be ready by then. That was fine with them and they duly arrived at 07:35. Dave started loading my stuff, while I went for breakfast, which consisted of Matabela and coffee. ( I just love Matabela). we got going at 07:50 and headed for Matatiele. On the road I received a message from George that he also pulled out and that they bring him through to Matatiele. It was decided that I will wait for George at a coffe shop and that we will make further arrangements. When we got to the Guest House, I was informed that George received a lift to Rhodes and that he will. Be going home from there. I started making arrangements to get home. Avis on Kokstad, which was 75 km away was not open, was not up to a journey to Durban in a taxi, so the only other option was to phone my friends at CABS and get them to fetch me. That was agreed, but it was a four journey so it was unlikely that they would get to Matatiele before 16:00. They arrived at 15:45. In meantime I started looking for a flight home. Nothing was available on Saturday and the Sunday flight was priced at R2,529. O made some sums and quickly realised that it would be cheaper to spend two days in Durban and fly home on Monday. I then proceeded to look for a guest house close to King Shaka airport. I managed to get a booking at the Umbrella Guest House in Umhlanga, paying with my cheque card, which the system accepted as a credit card. Now it was time for the flight. The best one was leaving at 13:10 and the cost was R929. I continued with the booking and again used my card. Unfortunately Kulula's system would not accept my cheque card as a credit card, so I went for the EFT option. That went fine until we got to the payment confirmation. After hanging on for about 15 minutes, I had no other option bit to cancel the transaction. When I