Wines2Whales

It’s been a while since the race and this post is long overdue I know, but I always say better late than never! The week after this race was one that led to one of the most important and exciting days of my life, the day I got married to the most beautiful girl in the world! So my mind was very busy on other things, and then after that was a special week away on honeymoon.

So back to the Wines 2 Whales 3-day mountain bike stage race…
I was coming out of a period of serious recovery since the DCM Cape Pioneer Trek and I believed I was feeling ok by now and ready for the race. It has, however, been quite a long season of racing for me and I could definitely feel that a bit of time off the bike was in need.

None the less this was a race I had really been looking forward to, being a nice 3-day stage race in my back yard. This time I paired up with Stu, my other team mate from Blend Properties.

Day 1: 68km Lourensford – Grabouw, 1800m climbing

Time: 3h39m
Position: 4th
Heart rate (ave/max): 158/183

Starting in Lourensford on the Somerset West side of the Hottentots Holland Mountains and finishing in Grabouw on the other side of the mountains obviously meant that we had to get over there somehow. Doing this off-road forced us to portage up the old ox wagon trail above Sir Lowry’s Pass. This is a short but incredibly steep stretch straight up and over the mountain, which consists of big rocks and bushes! It is incredibly challenging simply trying to walk up there, let alone with your bike, which felt like it weighed 30kg! How the voortrekkers took their ox wagons and oxen over there I can’t imagine! It is amazing to see that there are still grooves in the rocks from where the wheels of the wagons carved there way under the loads they carried.

I knew this was going to be a very technically challenging day through the mountains above Somerset West and into Grabouw! The pouring rain didn’t do anything to help in this regard either! After a solid start and settling down after the first climb out of Lourensford we were together with a small front group consisting of 3 teams (Contego Elites, Mr Price GT and ourselves Blend Properties). We were feeling good and riding nicely until Stu’s chain broke at 38km. we lost about 3min trying to fix it as the muddy conditions made this rather difficult. We lost one position in the process as a team came past us while we were stopped. We worked quite hard after this to make up time, however, this was difficult to do over the short distance remaining in the stage and I started to struggle towards the end.

Day 2: 77km Grabouw – Grabouw, 1700m climbing

Time: 3h35m
Position: 5th
Heart rate (ave/max): 148/170

Today I felt flat from the start and was dropped by a larger than yesterdays front group from the gun! I had to work really hard to catch back on as Stu was up there. I had an upset stomach after yesterday’s stage and between then and this morning I dropped a kilogram from my starting weight, which is not good during a stage race as that is valuable energy reserves lost. This was probably the reason for me feeling so flat from the start. I managed to come right a little in the middle of the stage but could still not get my heart rate up to where it should have been (as my average HR for the stage was only 148!). At this point the front bunch had split up quite a lot and we were leading. But the worst was still to come as I blew so badly at about 55km with 22km still to go! I was finished and had nothing left in me. Stu had to drag me the whole way back to the finish. It was not a pleasant time!

Day 3: 84km Grabouw – Onrus, 1500m climbing

Time: 3h48m
Position: 6th
Heart rate (ave/max): 141/173

Today was a less technical day with more descending than climbing as we headed from the mountains to the coast. However, there was a southeaster wind to contend with! From the start I could feel a huge difference compared to yesterday as we went up the same small climb out of Grabouw in the beginning. Instead of being dropped and hanging on for dear life from the front group, I was leading the bunch and comfortably setting the pace up front. I had obviously regained that energy I had lost from my stomach issues over the previous two days.

Stu and I were going strong with a slightly bigger front bunch than the previous two days due to lesser climbing to split everyone up. We were out of contention for the top spot overall but I was amped to finish with a stage win and end up on the podium overall. However, as luck would have it on the rocky descent from the Houwhoek Inn down into the Bot River Valley at 30km, I punctured. This was very unfortunate as I was using Kendar Small Block 8 tyres, which I swear were developed during World War 2 with the intention to ride over landmines! After fixing the tyre with a plug and remounting our saddles we had lost about 4min. We rode hard to make up the lost time. I had my favorite girl supporting and doing her usual superb job of giving us time splits on the leaders. We were making up time and I was certain we could catch them back up as there was still a fair distance to the finish line. However, with about 40km still to go Stu blew! This was probably due to him dragging me for the past two days as well as just having an off day. Our pursuit on the leaders and hopes for a stage win came to an end at this point and it was a long struggle to the finish. This time the tables had turned and now it was my turn to drag Stu to the finish.

In the end it was a very technically demanding race in one of the best areas for mountain biking in the country. It seemed like Stu and I just couldn’t get it together over the 3 days. We didn’t do as well as we would have liked by coming 6th overall but this wasn’t too bad based on the way things turned out for us over the 3 days.

Now it was time to get married!!!