Okay, here are the results for the African Champs held yesterday in Windhoek.
As I understood it, the 1st three in the Elite category are up for Olympics selection, providing all three are from different African countries.
Our hopeful, Kevin Evans finished 4th.
1st was Ben Melt Swanepoel followed by Mannie Heymans and JP Pearton. I will be keen to hear what’s u with the Olympic selection…
It’s a week since I did the Dewdale ride in Franschhoek and finally I get the chance to write about it.
I lied of course about the 2 times 25km laps. I guess that’s what happens when one uses second hand information.
It started near the Hugenot monument just outside town. From there we ( the 50km riders ) were taken out of town on a tarred roas all the way into the mountains, close to where the event started last year.
The route, once we hit the dirt was basically the reverse of last year’s route. Instead of crossing over the little hanging bridge, we rode over a low bridge with up to our cranks in the water. This was one of 4 water crossings.
The very bad rocky downhill of last year was a paved not too bad uphill this time.
From there we went slowly to the top of that section, to then go down the other side on a route with sharp, loose stone of about golf ball and tennis ball size. In that section I counted about 6 people stopping with flats and one bloody girl.
From there we rode on the bottom of the new dam looking up at the dam wall. I guess we won’t be riding there again too soon.
Once out of the dam, we got back into the mountain areas and went through a pine forest and some technical downhills with muddy sections and lekker speed humps. Back onto the tar and into town. Almost at the start we took a right and rode for about 5 km out of town until we took a right and travelled the last 5km on little farm roads to the end.
What a great ride!
I will be back.
Here’s the results in case you’ve not seen them yet.
Dewdale; Sunday,
After 2 weeks of not seeing my bike (while out of town on business) I am really keen to see whether I still know how to pedal.
So, on Sunday I will trek out to Franschhoek to do the Dewdale MTB Classic. I have done this event previously and really enjoyed the time in the mountain out there. See this information from Tygerberg on the event or go to Manic Cycles for more information.
Route Description:
An enjoyable, yet challenging ride in the Franschhoek Mountains. The 25 km and 50 km routes head off from Dewdale Trout Farm towards Wolwekloof, before turning back onto a contour road above Dewdale. After crossing the Berg River, cyclists then head off around “Matoppie”, the highest point in this valley* The route includes some sweaty climbs, rocky descents and sandy bits to test your technical cycling skills.
Most of the routes are either on jeep tracks or good quality dirt roads.
The 50 km route completes the 25 km loop twice. The 10 km route has been revamped to exclude the long downhill of last year.
DIRECTIONS TO VENUE:
From Cape Town, take the N1 towards Paarl. Take the first off-ramp to Paarl and at the stop street turn right onto the R101 for a short distance before turning left onto the R45 to Franschhoek. Follow the R45 into Franschhoek to the Huguenot Monument. Turn right and follow the signs to Dewdale Farm. NOTES: Bring the family along and leave them to stroll through the scenic town while you cycle! Due to the completion of the Sterkraam Dam next year when the Dewdale Valley will be flooded, this will be the last year this event will take place in its current format.
Distance /Start Time
50 km 10:00:00 AM
25 km 10:15:00 AM
10 km 10:30:00 AM
No Knysna
I am sad to say that this year I will be missing out on THE mtb race ( for me anyway) of the year.
I have done it so many times and really never had a bad experience there. Wet, yes, bad, no.
In fact, a trip that I have made before and will definitely do again is to travel to Knysna for the MTB event and on to Grahamstown the next day for the Festival there. After a few days there, it is not too far to proceed on to Tiffendel for some SA skiing and snowboarding.
Anyway, I will be spending the week-end in the Magaliesberg near the Hartebeespoort dam of all places!
So, if you’re doing the Knysna thing: ENJOY!