A challenge for the mind & body.
Starting right from the beginning. I left Somerset West in the caddy and after few hours I arrived in Prince Albert at the Caravan & Camp site. There i went about "setting up camp before cooking a wonderful meal and relaxing with a glass of red wine whilst reading up on the history of the Swartberg Pass.
It was dead quite, only the sound of snoring and farthing going around the camp site when I woke up, probably some pre race nerves for some of the people. I was the only person awake that morning having breakfast quite early and also one of the only okes to do the long granfodo of 171km. It was dead quiet, but I was up and getting ready for the 7am start. By the time I left, some tents were beginning to unzip...
It's a long distance to be racing across, but the type of event and adventure that I love. I fueled myself with some eggs, bread, oats, coffee and rusks and on the bike I carried four gels(for the last 70km), bunch of jelly babies and a few energy bars, topped off with two bananas. I knew I had eaten enough real foods to survive on some sweets and bars throughout the race.
Over the first climb of the day, approximately 30km's into the race we hit some really thick mist, it changed the dynamic quite a lot with 3 guys up the road and none of us really committing to setting the pace. We knew it was a long day and we had about ten riders per one in the bunch, so we'd definitely catch them. Down we went through some misty descents and with a sharp right hand corner we were onto the first gravel sector where Charles Key set a blistering pace, enough to force a group stop headed by Oli Munnik to take a pee. What a relief. After that we klapped-it again and soon arrived back onto the tar road.
It was on the second gravel sector, where Erik Kleinhans and his team mate upped the pace and managed to open a gap on myself and 4 other guys. We worked together for most of the way but soon we lost fellow rider, Bryan Powell due to a puncture. It was myself, Oli and one other guy. We kept rolling a bit, but soon Oli tuned me about my rear wheel also being pretty much on the rim... I thought about my previous gravel race that ended because of punctures and decided that today wasn't going to end the same. I stopped, pumped up the tyre and set off. Chasing them. During that time, another rider had past me, I don't know his name, but we rolled together brilliantly and soon caught Oli and the other rider. We were 4 again. Well, till the water point at the bottom of Swartberg Pass.
We all stopped. Filled bottles and got going again. I realized that we had one MTB with us and knew on the decent he'd be faster after the pass, so I lifted the pace once we touched the gravel again. Poof Oli went and one corner later the mtbiker. From there on I was alone, 40km's left to go, I wasn't going to cramp, but keep a reasonable tempo climbing, sitting just under threshold at about 164bpm with my heart rate.
I knew that whatever happens behind me, the mtbiker can be fast descending and Oli is a dare-devil... So I played it safe but once I reached the bottom, I pushed hard. I think I went harder in that section than I over the whole climb.
I rode the Trek Checkpoint SL 6 in this years event. It's not the stock standard edition, the upgrades that we've made to it is the 1x Sram Force Groupset, Panaracer Gravel King SK tyres and CSixx Foamo Tyre protection for those extra technical gravel sectors. It's also equipped with the Gebiomized saddle and an flaring bar.
Soon after I got back onto the final tar road, the lead motor-biker arrived next to me and told me that I was laying in 3rd, for some reason I kept thinking that I was actually in 4th. I think things like that happens when you're tired, but boy was I happy. I almost crashed around the corner in the main road, managed to save it and rolled to the line really happy. I couldn't believe I managed to pull of that Top 5, well top 3 after setting that goal of top 5.
Still, I am so happy about that result.
The next day, I took my time to get back home. Enjoyed the scenery and visited some friends in the towns along the way.
A massive shout out goes to the coaching crew at Absolute Motion for believing in me and setting the programs up. I know it's difficult with setting programs when I ride my bike often for about 7hrs a day, because I love it and then having to fit in serious training somewhere in between. But thank you guys!
Till the next gravel ride.
Jaco
Photography - myself & Peter Kirk Media.
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