Magalies Monster

Be warned, this is a real tough one, with some very technical terrain.

Average Guy Gets Dirty with Harry.

I headed out on Friday afternoon for Harrismith in the Freestate, with the weather forecast foremost in my mind. And 100km outside Johannesburg the rain started and the temperature dropped. Harrismith was freezing on arrival and very wet. Luckily by the 8:30 start it was a beautiful day with only a slight wind to worry about.

The start at the athletics stadium was a good venue and the sponsors (N3 Toll Concession) had made a big effort with the catering. I was also impressed to see that Mazda had brought some vehicles which were on show and also had a representative at the race. These guys put so much into the sport, but don’t really seem to take advantage of the opportunity to show their products to the mountain bikers they sponsor, so I hope that we will see more of this.

Anyone who had finished the Epic 2 weeks ago, was hesitant to talk about their prospects for the race. You never know how you’re going to feel when you first race after the Epic.

And if you weren’t feeling good, you would probably have not liked the start of this race; a couple of loops through the streets of Harrismith and then straight in to the big climb of the day. Rather than a gradual long climb this was more undulating with some really steep bits. The king and queen of the mountain were decided in the early stages. After the climb, it was onto the contour around the Platberg. This was also undulating, with a definite feeling of more up than down. There was a really cool, rocky downhill and some hike-a-bike sections, but nothing too long. The route then wound around the Platberg on some more technical up and downs and finally around the back of the Platberg onto a dirt road. Some of the guys I spoke to afterwards really didn’t enjoy this section. It was a challenge as there was a strong headwind and I could not hold on to the bunch. So I had to suffer the section alone. I felt sorry for the top ladies on this section: I went past Tania Raats and Amy-Jane Mundy on this section. They are not allowed to ride the wheels of the guys, so they have to tough it out alone.
After a left turn and a bit of tar, we turned back onto the jeep track and approached the KOM spot from a different direction. It was around this time that I realised that the race would not be 75km, but a bit longer. After going past the KOM point, we had to complete the rocky undulating jeep track that we had ridden earlier again, this time the ups seemed more, uh… up and the rocky downhill more rocky. The route then linked with the 35km course and then it was fast all the way home.
At 75km, my Cape Epic legs kicked in and I managed to make up a few places. It was a bit of a shock that the route was 7km longer than advertised. This is where I find the biggest advantage of riding my Raleigh Team hardtail. The bike feels light, even at the end of a long ride, and helps you feel like you can still climb and finish strong.
At the sharp end of the race it was Marc Bassingthwaighte (GT) edging out Kevin Evans (Raleigh MTN Energade) for first spot, with Jaco Venter (Excel) in third.
The ladies race saw Yolande De Villiers (Mazda Merida) continuing where she left off from the Epic with a win over Amy Jane Mundy (Jeep) and Tania Raats (Maverick) third.
Well done to Theo Grobler, who took over the organisation of the race at the last minute. He did an amazing job, but we really have to talk about the extra 7km…

Puncture free Cape Epic

I recently celebrated my third Cape Epic in a row - PUNCTURE FREE! That is right, no punctures. want the secret?

Maxxis Crossmark LUST UST.

These tyres are very good all - rounders and roll superfast. The sidewalls are very thick and even with me at 90kg they performed flawlessly.