Tokai Mast Challenge by davemore at Garmin Connect - Details

Tokai Mast Challenge by davemore at Garmin Connect - Details

Tokai Mast Challenge

I consider Tokai forest as my back garden because all my mountain bike training incorporates some riding on the forest trails. Much of my hard hill training is also done in Tokai as there is a long grueling climb that takes you all the way up to the mast on top of the Constantiaberg mountain at an altitude of 930 meters above sea level. Once a year this climb plays host to the First Ascent Tokai Mast Challenge, where mountain bikers and runners battle it out to see who can get up to the top in the fastest possible time.

The race therefore only takes place over a short distance of about 11km and is in the formate of a time trail. Due to this formate there would be no easing up along the way as I knew I would have to just go as hard as I possibly could as one does not know who might do the fastest time until everyone was finished and back down the mountain.

Unfortunately the weather didn't play along on the day as the gale-force south easterly wind was gusting near the top half of the climb such that at times you were almost standing still and about to fall over! This made for some even more challenging conditions and slightly slower times than anticipated.

I felt good and managed to put in a big effort to get up to the top in a time of 40min26sec with a average speed of 16.7km/hr. I then had to wait until just before prize giving to see how I shaped up against all the other competitors. I have always wanted to win this event as firstly it is a nice title to win, being the fastest person to get to the top and secondly because it is my back garden. To my relief I ended up with the fastest time overall and had the privilege of lifting the trophy! (Garmin connect file above and photos soon to follow).