The 120km Attakwas is a crazy mountain bike race! I just felt the need to get that off my chest...
But it is also one of the most awesome races on the calendar and one which every mountain biker has to do (to be able to call themselves a true mountain biker... haha only joking)! Last year I unfortunately had to miss the race due to my illness (read here). Therefore standing on the start line I had only a few faint nightmarish images of what lay ahead.
The route is composed of some proper mountain biking for the first 70 odd kilometers taking in the relentless Attakwas Kloof while the remaining 50km consists of gravel roads with tons of serious climbs on tied legs to the finish in Groot Brak River near Mossel Bay.
I started out conservatively allowing the other guys to set the pace and just made sure I stayed on the wheels in front of me. I knew there was a very long way to go and I wanted to preserve some energy for the Kloof as this is where the race would most likely split up. The first support zone came at 45km where I got see my loyal supporters and receive a crucial water bottle to get me through the Kloof. We were still a group of about 10 guys at the time with only Renay Goustra 2min up ahead. This didn't last long, as expected once going through the Kloof the group simply blew into pieces! I felt fine and managed to hold a position round about 5th with relatively small time gaps.
After exiting the Kloof and very happy to have survived I had my Blend Property team mate Charles Keey along side me to work together. We were able to gradually eat into the time gaps to those ahead, while only Matthys Beukes (MTBdestination) seemed to have other ideas and had powered his way into the lead building up a gap of 3min with 25km to go. After catching up to some of the others along the way our group of 4 consisting of Philip Buys (Contego Giant), Neil Macdonald (RECM), Charles and myself (Blend) were chasing, however, my legs started to shout terrible things at me...
With just 15km to go as we started the second last major climb our group of 4 disintegrated as Charles powered away from the rest of us up the climb in pursuit of the lone leader Matthys. I just couldn't hang onto the wheels of Philip and Neil which left me fighting the last 15km into the wind by myself with a very beaten up body.
In the end Charles was just unable to make up the rather large time gap Matthys had built up thus finishing in a very impressive 2nd place while however agonizing it was for me to see the other 2 just a bit further up the road over those last kilometers I couldn't catch up to them and had to settle with 5th place.
Overall a great race and start to the 2012 year especially for team Blend Property!
1. Matthys Beukes (MTBdestination) - 5:09
2. Charles Keey (Blend Property) - 5:13
3. Philip Buys (Contego Giant) - 5:17
4. Neil Macdonald (RECM) - 5:17
5. Dave Morison (Blend Property) - 5:19
The route is composed of some proper mountain biking for the first 70 odd kilometers taking in the relentless Attakwas Kloof while the remaining 50km consists of gravel roads with tons of serious climbs on tied legs to the finish in Groot Brak River near Mossel Bay.
I started out conservatively allowing the other guys to set the pace and just made sure I stayed on the wheels in front of me. I knew there was a very long way to go and I wanted to preserve some energy for the Kloof as this is where the race would most likely split up. The first support zone came at 45km where I got see my loyal supporters and receive a crucial water bottle to get me through the Kloof. We were still a group of about 10 guys at the time with only Renay Goustra 2min up ahead. This didn't last long, as expected once going through the Kloof the group simply blew into pieces! I felt fine and managed to hold a position round about 5th with relatively small time gaps.
After exiting the Kloof and very happy to have survived I had my Blend Property team mate Charles Keey along side me to work together. We were able to gradually eat into the time gaps to those ahead, while only Matthys Beukes (MTBdestination) seemed to have other ideas and had powered his way into the lead building up a gap of 3min with 25km to go. After catching up to some of the others along the way our group of 4 consisting of Philip Buys (Contego Giant), Neil Macdonald (RECM), Charles and myself (Blend) were chasing, however, my legs started to shout terrible things at me...
With just 15km to go as we started the second last major climb our group of 4 disintegrated as Charles powered away from the rest of us up the climb in pursuit of the lone leader Matthys. I just couldn't hang onto the wheels of Philip and Neil which left me fighting the last 15km into the wind by myself with a very beaten up body.
In the end Charles was just unable to make up the rather large time gap Matthys had built up thus finishing in a very impressive 2nd place while however agonizing it was for me to see the other 2 just a bit further up the road over those last kilometers I couldn't catch up to them and had to settle with 5th place.
Overall a great race and start to the 2012 year especially for team Blend Property!
1. Matthys Beukes (MTBdestination) - 5:09
2. Charles Keey (Blend Property) - 5:13
3. Philip Buys (Contego Giant) - 5:17
4. Neil Macdonald (RECM) - 5:17
5. Dave Morison (Blend Property) - 5:19
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