Now that the
mud has been properly washed from all clothing, shoes, bicycles, cars and
everything else that was with at this years Sani2C, I can finally sit down and
reflect on the event.
Yes, this
year’s Sani2C Race was a mud bath to say the least, and given the conditions,
one of the toughest too. My sympathies went out to the event organisers who
were faced with a very challenging event. Be that as it may, the race had to
continue and for the Pro’s - there was no backing out.
I
participated in this year’s race with a fellow V-bike Valencia team mate, Amy
Beth McDougall.
Amy and I
arrived in Underberg late afternoon on the Wednesday. We drove straight to
Glencairn where the race starts and also the venue for registration. We
immediately pulled on some riding kit and jumped on our bikes to catch the last
bit of day light. Having travelled down by car, it was vital for us to get the
legs turning & loose and blood flowing if we wanted to race well the next
day. Once that was out of the way, we continued onto registration, collected
our race numbers and set off to find dinner and our overnight accommodation.
During stage racing, nutrition is as important as ever. We were fortunate
enough to find a decent Spar. Dinner was roasted veggies, chicken breast and
rice. Perfect race food, and luckily already prepared! Upon arrival at our
accommodation, we were met by a brief but severe thunder storm, the first of
plenty more rains that would fall. Thankfully, the clouds cleared and we had a
sunny start to Day1 of Kap Sani2c.
The start was scheduled for 8am. Amy and I
made our way down to Glencairn with plenty time to spare. After a good warm up,
we lined up for the start of our Sani2C Race. The field was well represented in
both men and womans races. Our biggest competition was the teams of Ascedis
Health (Robyn De Groot & Mariska Strauss) and Dorma-Kaba (Candice Lil &
Vera Adrian) Other teams present were that of Galileo Risk/ Velocity (Theresa
Ralph & Carmen Buchacher) to name a few.
The gun went
off at 8am sharp and racing commenced. Myself and Amy, Ascendis & the Dorma
girls manged to get away fairly early. We all stayed together for the first 30
odd kilometres after which we dropped Ascendis. The trails were sublime and the
pace was fast. We raced hard and my new Scott RC World Cup flew through every
corner and over every bump. It is truly a pedigree race machine. With the bit
of rain that had fallen, the surface was fast and grippy and fun was had out
there! In the end, the two teams stayed together until the last 8km where Amy
and I managed to get away from Dorma on the last few climbs toward Mackenzie
village. We crossed the line with a 1min+ lead on the Dorma girls. Ascendis had
not only dropped off the pace but also suffered a puncture to set them back
over 10mins. After a brief celebration & interviews- it was down to the
business of recovery: Cool down, shower, eat, massage, nap.
Normally
people will have collected their black boxes the night before at registration,
packed all their belongings into the boxes (Yes- that is clothes, sleeping bag,
pillow, towel, nutrition and racing kit) and these are then dropped off at an
allocated zone. The boxes are loaded and transported to the next race village.
On arrival at the race village (end of the day’s stage) you walk to the
allocated zone, collect your box and then mission on to find your tent, hauling
along your black box. As you can imagine, this is not a part of the event which
you enjoy… but it is all part of the experience. This year, and although we
were tenting in the race village, we opted to have our vehicle driven from
village to village. This just makes life a little easier and saves time to
allow recovery to start sooner.
By lunch
time the clouds had arrived and the heavens had opened. The rain continued
through the night and was still falling when we awoke the next morning.
Day2 of Sani
is the queen stage. Riders are treated to some the most special trails, the
pinnacle being the drop down Umkomaas. What makes the trail iconic is that you
get to ride and experience views that are not accessible by car. It is also the
longest and toughest day and the batches normally start from 6:30am… But at
6:30am on this day, it was still pitch dark. The organisers decided to not only
neutralise the stage but also detour the route along tar and district roads. A
difficult but necessary decision to protect the health & safety of the
participants. In short, you had to ride from Mackenzie to Jolivet if you wanted
to stay in the race.
It was a 70km ride in severely cold & wet
weather. I decided to go full out and put on as many layers as I had in my bag.
It still wasn’t enough to keep me warm or dry. Nevertheless, Amy and I finished
safely to line up for the last day, and another race Day. As predicted, the weather
didn’t improve and the we were warned by Farmer Glen to expect plenty of mud,
and there was exactly that. Having used all our layers to
try stay warm the day before, and not being able to dry anything properly. Amy
and I chose to use a very simple but effective way to stay dry and warm on the
last day. We made ponchos out of garbage bags. Tucked them into our bibs and
put our race shirts over the bag. It worked like a charm. Genius.
Everyone was
quite somber in the start chute, but the mood quickly changed when the siren
blew to begin our race. Dorma were very aggressive and went out fast. Amy and I
responded and jumped on the wheel. Weaving between the men and jostling for
position and lines through the mud was adrenalin pumping and I must admit I was
loving the ride. The mud was crazy but rideable if you had the skills. Amy unfortunately
suffered some chainsuck early on which eventually kicked her chain right off
the chainring. Dorma managed to get passed us while Amy struggled with her
chain. We started the chase back but another chain drop gave the Dorma ladies a
further advantage. Although it was a relatively quick mechanical, it was still
enough to give the Dorma ladies a gap which Amy and I would not be able to pull
back. We spent the rest of the day chasing hard but eventually finished 2nd on
the day and 2nd overall. We were both sorely disappointed to lose the win, but
we tried our best and dug deep to not only finish but race. Many riders pulled
out of the event and opted not to finish, but as Pro’s, we get paid to race. It
isn’t always ideal or glamorous but if you focus on the goal and embrace the
situation, you can still have fun.
Congrats to
not only the Dorma Ladies
but also,
all the troopers who stuck it out to
finish.
