DCM Cape Pioneer Trek

I finally got the chance to race a proper mountain biking stage race. Training and racing leading up to the race was all going well but it still ended up being unbelievably tough! I suppose that’s what mountain biking stage racing is all about!

The DCM Cape Pioneer Trek presented by KHS took place over 6 days in one of the best environments for mountain biking. The race covered vast distances through and over the Southern Cape mountain ranges, nature reserves and farm lands, from the Klein Karoo to the scenic coast, along the beach, crossing rivers and the Groot Karoo. It truly is an appropriate area for mountain bike stage racing. However, very challenging!

As with most mountain bike stage races it is a team event completed in pairs. I got to race with Charles, my fellow team mate from Blend Properties Cycling Team. I've included a few stats with the summary for each stage of the race below. I have also put the time gaps between us and those teams we were swapping positions with on the GC throughout the 6 days as this shows how things can change dramatically from day to day.

Day 1: 136km Oudtshroon – Mossel Bay, 2900m climbing

Time: 6h13m
Position: 5th
Heat rate (average/max): 151/176

This was a very long day! We all knew it and it was certainly the most feared day of the race as we had to traverse the infamous Attakwas Kloof! We didn’t get off to the best of starts as within the first 30km I thought that I had broken a spoke as I head a loud “clang-clang” sound from my back wheel. I stopped to check it out and fortunately only found a large stick lodged in my spokes that I was able to remove. However, I felt my rear tire was a little flat. I quickly got back on to regain contact with the group and got a pump and stopped again to pump up my tire. This turned out to be unsuccessful and had to get going again to catch back up to the group. Once I regained contact Charles and I stopped to bomb my wheel. After doing this we once again caught back up to the group! In the process wasting valuable energy each time! Until just before entering the Attakwas Kloof we crossed a river and my rear tire gave in on a rock and went flat. This ended up being a longer stop of about 4min to try and fix it once and for all! The bunch soon split up completely as everyone made there way through the incredibly tough Attakwas Kloof. After the Kloof it was a long way back to Mossel Bay, which started to take its toll on my legs. I had to ride through serious cramp towards the end of the stage. In the end we had a total of 5 mechanical stops!

General Classification:
3. DCM 2 (Jacques Janse Van Rensburg, Brandon Stewart) -26min
4. Toyota Supercycling Cyclelab Vets (Andrew Mclean, Bruce Diesel) -2min
5. Blend Property Group 1 (Charles Keey, Dave Morison) 0min
6. Mtbdestination.com (Matthys Beukes, Gerrie Beukes) +27min
Specialized-Songo.Info (Christoph Sauser, Silvio Bundi) +58min

Day 2: 110km Mossel Bay – George, 2500m climbing

Time: 4h32m
Position: 3rd
Heat rate (average/max): watch wasn’t working

After a few hard efforts, firstly along the beach, the front bunch was chiseled out early into the race. Then the climbing began and Charles and I had to put in some hard efforts to stay in contact with the top 3 teams. After only about 40km Charles got a flat tire, which we had to stop to bomb. This only cost us about 2min but then we had to work really hard to catch back up again. We managed to do this and then had a decent ride until things heated up with about 10km to go. We were in 5th place, however, two teams ahead of us seemed to go the wrong way and we ended up finishing in 3rd place for the day! It was great to be able to get up on the podium that evening at prize giving!

General Classification:
3. DCM 2 -24min
4. Blend Property Group 1 0min
5. Toyota Supercycling Cyclelab Vets +20min
6. Mtbdestination.com +34min
Specialized-Songo.Info +60min

Day 3: 106km George – De Rust, 2450m climbing

Time: 5h18m
Position: 7th
Heart rate (average/max): 133/162

Today we were to leave the cooler coastal plain, ride over the Outeniqua Mountains and into the warm drier Klein Karoo. The climb up Bergplaas was done at a decent tempo until the last section which got very rough and split up the bunch. Charles and I found ourselves trailing very close behind the leaders as we started one of the most challenging sections of the entire 6 days, the climb over the Kamanassie Mountains! At this point I suppose it's reletive to say that this was when "the s*%^t hit the fan". When descending the treacherous other side of the Kamanassie Mountains Charles got a stick the size of my baby finger lodged through the top of his tire and out the side-wall! This took us 10min to fix and get going again. After carefully feeling the inside of the tire and pulling out loads of thorns we put a tube in and obviously this didn’t last very long as there were so many thorns it just got punctured shortly after getting going. Fortunately we were able to make it to the next water stop where the technical assistance put sludge in the tube, which would see us to the finish. The only problem was that we were left in no-mans-land with no-one to be seen ahead of us or behind us and a 40km stretch of gravel road into the wind all the way to the finish in De Rust. We lost about 16min due to our mechanical stops, however, we would have lost a significant amount more riding by ourselves for the last 40km as well as valuable energy! Therefore we lost our 4th place on GC.

General Classification:
3. DCM 2 -29min
4. Toyota Supercycling Cyclelab Vets -8min
5. Blend Property Group 1 0min
6. Mtbdestination.com +19min
7. Specialized-Songo.Info +32min

Day 4: 109km De Rust – Prince Albert, 1800m climbing

Time: 5h13m
Position: 7th
Heart rate (average/max): 134/182

From the Klein Karoo to the Groot Karoo! We started through the beautiful Meiringspoort and then took a left into the rugged mountain tracks where the pace was high. The usual front bunch remained together until we got to the section of dried up river bed and the big technical climb that was to take us into the Groot Karoo. Just before the river bed Charles chain broke. I just couldn’t believe that we were to have another mechanical, now one each day for 4 days in a row! This cost us about 4min to fix after which we had lost contact with the front bunch. I must add that it was once again some truly awesome riding over these mountains! However, in the Karoo on the other side it was a very long 55km of hard riding into the wind to the finish in Prince Albert. Team DCM 2 had some major mechanical problems as well and therefore dropped behind us on GC resulting in us moving back up into 4th. However, the other teams gained a significant amount of time on us!

General Classification:
3. Toyota Supercycling Cyclelab Vets -27min
4. Blend Property Group 1 0min
5. Specialized-Songo.Info +1min
6. Mtbdestination.com +8min
3. DCM 2 +17min

Day 5: 106km Prince Albert – Calitzdorp, 2200m climbing

Time: 4h12m
Position: 5th
Heart rate (average/max): 132/159

After a quite over night stop in the Groot Karoo it was time to go back over the mountains and into the Klein Karoo again. This meant heading over the towering Swartberg Pass! By this time in the race I wasn’t just experiencing fatigue like I felt at the start and during each day. It had gone beyond that and was now chronic fatigue! We were unable to stay with the leading 4 teams up the Swartberg Pass and rather settled into a solid rhythm as it was a long way to the top! At the intensity we were climbing at on a normal day I would have estimated my heart rate to be somewhere around 170bpm. After analyzing it at the end of the day it was incredible to see that it was only about 140bpm! That just shows you how fatigued I was. I felt like I was going so hard but my heart rate was so low as I was too tied to go any faster and get it any higher! The climb was about 12km long and has an altitude gain of about 1000m (summit at 1550 meters). The climb took us 51min, going over the summit about 2 to 3min behind the leaders. On the way down Charles got a slow puncture again. Fortunately it was a quick stop to fix it and with the help of Stuart (our other team mate from Blend Properties, who was now racing solo after the withdrawal of his partner due to illness) we were able to catch back onto the group we were with (2nd bunch behind the leading bunch of 4 teams). The rest of the day went smoothly and ended up being the shortest ride time out of the 6 days. We lost our 4th place on GC, however, we managed to maintain the 1min advantage over Christoph Sauser and Silvio Bundi of Specialized-Songo.Info.

General Classification:
3. Toyota Supercycling Cyclelab Vets -27min
4. Mtbdestination.com -1min
5. Blend Property Group 1 0min
6. Specialized-Songo.Info +1min
7. DCM 2 +5min

Day 6 (the final day!): 114km Calitzdorp – Oudtshroon, 1900m climbing

Time: 4h50m
Position: 5th
Heart rate (average/max): 126/157

There was no easing up for the final day and we were to cover the second longest distance of the 6 days! I was now unbelievably fatigued and this was clearly evident as we hit the first climb of the day only 17km from the start! It was a hard 7km climb up the Rooiberg Pass and I knew it was going to be a long way home with about 100km of riding still to come! We had a decent group of riders that saw us through to the finish and Stuart did a fantastic job of helping us get through the stage. It was one of the longest days of my life but an amazing feeling eventually crossing the finish line in Oudtshroon! It is crazy how I struggled to get my heart rate over 130bpm! This is less than a normal training ride! We lost our top 5 spot on GC as Specialized-Songo.Info put in a huge effort and gained a massive amount of time on us and moved up into 3rd overall!

General Classification:
3. Specialized-Songo.Info -22min
4. Mtbdestination.com -14min
5. Toyota Supercycling Cyclelab Vets -7min
6. Blend Property Group 1 0min
7. DCM 2 +8min

I included my heat rate averages and maximums for each stage as it is one of the most interesting things about stage racing and definitely the most important thing to analyze and take into consideration for future experience. You can see how these values progressively drop each day as I became more and more fatigued. The key is to be able to recovery as quick as possible from day to day so that you can keep a high intensity each day and clearly I was unable to achieve this. My body just spiraled deeper and deeper into worse fatigue each day. However, this was my first proper stage race in which valuable experience was gained and to take into the future!

Over the 6 days we covered a total distance of 681km with 13750 of vertical climbing meters. We completed it in a time of 30h20m and placed 6th overall. It was truly an awesome experience with top class organization. Thanks Dryland and DCM for the event as well as thanks to my team sponsor Blend Properties and my partner Charles and all those who helped out along the way!