MTB Blog

Well, I just call it the Koringberg event. I missed it last year but participated the year before and really enjoyed it.
I just spoke to Barend, the organiser and he told me that the track will be great this year and that it is something not to miss.
There will be three distances, 25km, 50 km and 75 km. The 75km can be done as a relay with either 2 or 3 riders and of course individually. The 50km can also be entered as a relay with 2 riders and then there’s the 25km.
I will definitely be there.
See www.raceday.co.za for more.
See you there.

Mountain bike stage racing fever has hit the Western Cape early this season with the Citrusdal Dirty Double on 15 and 16 September offering an opportunity for multi-day race enthusiasts to meet a new challenge as they begin to prepare for the longer summer stage races like the Cedarberg Challenge and the Absa Cape Epic.

The 58km Citrusdal Challenge is one of the oldest mountain bike races in the Cape and this year also forms Stage 1 of the Citrusdal Dirty Double. It offers a variety of terrain with most of the 1370m of climbing over in the first 33km. Two long, fun downhill sections are situated in the final third of the stage, which offers magnificent scenery and a mixture of jeep track and gravel roads, punctuated with some mildly technical sections.

Stage 2 on Sunday 16 September is a 42km ride which gets the bulk of it’s 1330 metres of climbing over on two long, steady hauls within the first two thirds of total distance. But the route tilts mostly downhill after 27km to offer weary legs some welcome relief and a fast descent to the finish.

The event coincides with the annual Citrusdal Festival, which inspires an influx of endurance sport enthusiasts to the Olifants Valley country town, which is just 170km from Cape Town. The Citrusdal Dirty Double is the final of four events in the inaugural Dirty Double Series and the league champions will be crowned at this event.

Leading the Series is the Coega Ladies team of Anthea Gould and Andrea van Holdt but the Double Trouble combination of Doug Kennaugh and Nikolaas Wiechers is close behind. The overall winners will each receive a Garmin Edge 305 GPS computer worth R3500, while each of the category winners will get a hamper, which includes high quality First Ascent and Falke clothing.

The Citrusdal Dirty Double format is two-rider teams, which can enter in the following categories: Open Men, Mixed, Open Women, Sub-veteran Men (30-39 years), Veteran Men (40-49 years) and Master Men (50 years and older). The winning team earns a free entry to the highly rated Sabie Experience, which takes place from 14-17 December.

Release Centre

To enter, or to find out more information, visit www.dirtydouble.co.za

The race started at Willowmore and follow a jeep track through the Baviaanskloof and ended at Jeffreys Bay. This is said to be the longest single stage MTB event in the world.
The weather was perfect on the day and the whole town of Willomore was out and and about for the race start. We set off at 10:00AM after the race briefing. The first 50km followed a gravel road and we were fortunate to have the wind wind from behind. The first stop at Rietriver we were met with worsrolls and coffee. We quickly refueled and were on our way. The next 58km the road became worse but we were still descending into the Baviaanskloof. From here onwards we also had numerous river crossings. We reached Bergplaas at 19:55 this was after a walk of about 2km up the Mother of all Climbs.
We refeuled and started the descent towards Komdomo. From Bergplaas onwards it was very dark and fewer people were on the road. The descent down Mother of all climbs in the dark was scary to say the least(pitch black). We reached Komdomo around 21:30 with very sore behinds. Some lotions were applied to the tender spots and off we went again, now heading towards Suurbron. At this stage in the race you hardly see people on the road and we almost got lost at a Y junction. Thanks to Tjaart and his team for helping us out with directions. We reached Suurbron at 23:30 and decided to team up with Tjaart for the last part of the race to ensure we didn’t get lost. We reached the final unmanned check point at around 00:00. At this stage we we all feeling very hyped since we knew we could finish within +/- 15h. We finally cycled into the camping grounds at 01:10 on Sunday morning.
Will we do the race again absolutely YES. This is a great team endurance race to test your team work and endurance.

A great race to diarise for next year.

http://www.gardenroute.org/trans/index.html

John Vonofakidis and Omri Kleynhans Team Speedy Nr.99-1 and 99-2

Date: 08 September 2007
Distances: 35km & 15km
Start venue: NG Church Hall, Riebeek Kasteel
Start Times: 35km – 09h00
15km – 09h15
Registrations: 07h30 – 09h00 at Church Hall
Entry fee: 35km – R55
15km – R30
Enter online @ www.kasteelkerk.co.za
Route description: 35km & 15km
The race starts at the Church Hall from where you follow the guide and the signs through town towards the Cellar. From there you turn onto a Jeep track gravel road leading through vineyards. The route takes you up the slope of the Kasteelberg through olive trees, from where you descend through vineyards until you reach the split between the 2 routes. Watch out for the steep contours and loose gravel on your way down! The 15km route returns from here to the finish line at the Church Hall. The longer route continues back up the mountain through wheat fields from where there is a panoramic view of the valley with a water point at the top. Prepare yourself for a steep downhill from there. Once again, watch out for loose gravel! Now you just follow the well-marked route back towards the finish line where you can take part in our Annual Church Bazaar, until the prize giving at 12h00. A sweeper vehicle with medical supplies will follow behind the last riders.

Simon Alston and Craig Northam are two South Africans cycling from Cairo to Cape Town to raise money for two charities that provide bicycles, and promote their use, in African communities.

Alston and Northam are due to end their 12 000km adventure at La Med, Camps Bay on Sunday 5 August at 13:00, having cycled through Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and finally South Africa.

So far, Alston and Northam have raised R60,000 for the Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN), based in Cape Town, South Africa and Re-Cycle, based in Colchester, England.

One of their greatest challenges was crossing the Nubian Desert in Sudan. Alston and Northam followed a railway line for 450km as the road was covered in thick sand and unridable. Dust storms reduced visibility to one meter and temperatures often reached 45 degrees. At one point they ran out of food but managed to cook grain left for horses, while passing trains provided them with water.

Northam said about the adventure: “We were constantly amazed by the generosity of strangers throughout Africa, from people who had very little to spare”.

Alston and Northam traveled light, camping everywhere and cooking on fires. One of the highlights of the journey was meeting so many diverse and interesting people. They were also amazed at the extent to which bicycles are relied upon across Africa, which means the work of organizations like BEN and Re-Cycle is so valuable.

Alston said about the journey: “I finally got to wheelie across the equator!”

END

If you would like further information about this story, or to schedule an interview with Simon or Craig, please contact Al Mann on 082 436 8745 or visit the Website
www.cairo2capetown.org

Long time no ride, means…have time, do long ride!
I guess after weeks of neglecting my riding I am really hoping to put in about 4hrs on Thursday, being a public holiday and all.
Is that typical or what. Instead of thinking that our bodies may have difficulty coming to grips with a shock of a heavy dose of training when we’ve not done so for a while, we go and do just that to try and make up for what we’ve missed out on.
I guess it’s not such a bad idea to put the ol’ bones to the test every now and then.
So, on Friday I’ll be able to tell of my joy (…or pain)
I dunno whether I’ll be able to handle 4hrs on he gym bike if the weather is foul.