Big race week

Something always happens in the week leading up to a big race. Last time in January before the Attakwas national marathon mountain bike race it was a breakdown of my drive train. Fortunately it was just a matter of adjustments and some fine tuning and all was good and went fine. This time it was the valve of my inner rim tape lining of my tubeless wheels that broke on Tuesday. I was also desperately trying to track down the tyres I was wanting for Saturdays race in Sabie as I only had dry tyres and I knew Sabie was going to be very very wet and muddy! Most of this wouldn't be too much of a hassle, however, working full time doesn't leave me with much time to be able to sort these things out.

In amongst all these happenings, I was also hoping that my new bike I had ordered would arrive before I headed off to the other side of South Africa! Fortunately for me, my trusty mechanic Roland was on top of everything! I had managed to find the exact tyres I wanted and the minute my bike arrived Roland was putting it together. This allowed me to squeeze in one quick easy ride on Thursday to make sure all was good. Obviously new bike comes rain! Some of the first rain for a while in Cape Town!

So I got a new Felt SIX Pro. WOW! What a beautiful bike it is! It weighs a whole 2.5kgs less than my old Scott! Sadly, with hardly any riding on it yet I had to stick it into my bike bag and onto the plane!

Sabie is a very long way away from Cape Town! We spend pretty much the whole of Friday traveling! First the two hour plane trip to Joburg, then the 4hr car trip to Sabie. Its always such a pleasure to have friends and family to help you out along the way! Joining me on the trip from Joburg to Sabie were the two most important women in my life and my most loyal supporters, my mother and girlfriend Jayde.

Arriving in Sabie was like arriving in paradise for me! There are just endless mountains! It is magical, truly a mountain bikers playground! However, the feeling of "this is going to be a very tough race" started to creep through my body! But with this comes a sense of excitement and the feeling of "I just want to get on my bike and start the race now".

Usual pre-race routine followed:
1. set up bike
2. easy spin to loosen the traveled muscles
3. register
4. eat supper
5. sleep

Bring it on!