Most people are aware of the fact that the city of Johannesburg is a long way from the coast line. For the large population of South Africans living the high-speed lifestyle customary to the city of Johannesburg know the N3 highway that delivers them to their annual holiday destinations usually somewhere in sight of the sea in Durban. Hence the trip through the millie fields and the single stop at the Harrismith Wimpy goes by very quickly and often noticed.
I got a chance to enjoy a different and more interesting approach to this journey, which took 9-days (opposed to 5hrs...) and involved a few more stops, eating lots of traditional koeksisters, meeting new people and of course racing my guts out through some of the most beautiful scenery our country has to offer. This came in the form of the Old Mutual joBerg2c mountain bike stage race.
As the name implies you start just outside Joberg near the town of Heidelberg on the Friday and head south to finish on the beach in Scottburgh 9 days later. This was my second time participating in this event after thoroughly enjoying it last year! A lot happens in just one day of racing so one can imagine how much takes place in 9 days! I thought about trying to touch only on some of the highlights of the race/event, however, this proved to be difficult as in this case everything was a highlight!
Stage 1 was a non-race day due to the dragon boat crossing of the Vaal Dam being the only, yet fun means of getting across this large body of water. It is, however, a nice way of easing the legs into the 8 days of racing ahead and still involved covering a lengthy 114km of riding to get us to the first over night stop in the town of Frankfort. This would also be the first time riding with (and not against) my partner for the 9 days, Louis Bresler Knipe from the Contego Giant Team. Myself being from the Blend Property Team, we had been given an opportunity and formed a coalition as the Itec Connect-Vodacom Team to take on the Old Mutual joBerg2c. The racing would begin the following day and I'll also get a taste as to how my legs have recovered since finishing the ABSA Cape Epic only 4 weeks ago!
The clever structure of the prize money available for each day made the racing fierce every day! The first racing day being stage 2, was a mere 93km with 1000m of climbing taking us from Frankfort to Reitz. Clearly this prize money structure made all the guys forget that there was 7 days of racing still to come after this stage as the pace was so fast and intense! We finished the stage with an average speed of 30.4km/hr and the top 5 teams crossing the finish within 2min of each other! We managed to take 4th position, knowing that that incredibly sort after podium is not going to come easy over the next 7 days!
The next day was a solid 126km ride through the millie fields and I think after the furious pace set in yesterdays stage the sting had been removed from many of the guys legs. After the initial split up of the field soon after leaving the town of Reitz the front bunch remained together until things heated up with about 30km to the finish on the waters edge of Sterkfontein Dam. An amazing 4km stretch along the mighty Sterkfontein Dam wall lead us to stage 3's finish line after 4hr24min with yet another 4th place.
The 121km (1600m climbing) stage 4 from Sterkfontein Dam to the little town of Winterton is one of the most amazing routes in the country! Some single tracks mixed with some steep undulations soon takes you to the "Great Wall My China" as it is known as. Basically this is a stretch of single track running along the very top edge of the escarpment. Without much between you and a couple hundred meters sheer drop and an amazing endless view to the right, one important rule was enforced and that was strictly NO overtaking on the right! The route also took in a brutally steep climb up to the top of Spionkop which is known for the Battle of Spionkop that took place on 24 January 1900 during the Anglo Boer War. After a long hard 4hr55min we had to settle with 5th place for the stage.
Stage 5 took on 101km and with the Drakensberg Mountains in the vicinity some uphill riding was instal. The stage profile looked like it was only an uphill ride between Winterton and Kamberg with only 900 meters of descent compared to the 1400 meters of climbing! The first part of the route was relatively flat and easy going resulting in the bunch remaining together for quite some time. As soon as the major climbing began things split up and we once again found ourselves lying in 4th position only seconds behind 3rd! We chased hard, however, today wasn't meant to be our day... With about 20km left in the stage Louis seat clamp broke causing his saddle to come off completely! In true South African words "'n Boer maak 'n plan" and we managed to thread wire through the saddle and around the seat post to stabilize it. This obviously cost us precious time and was still not ideal but at least with 20km to go we could limit our losses. We ended up 8th on the stage and dropped one position in the overall standings to be lying in 5th.
3 days is what was left between us and the finish on Scottburgh beach and these weren't just an ordinary 3 days... The route from Underberg followed the famous trails of the Sani2c mountain bike race taking in the endless flowing single tracks and of course for our non-swimmers out there, the famous floating bridge! Today's stage 7 saw us racing as a group consisting of the three top teams for most of the way and then battling it out up the final sting in the tail to finish at Mackenzie Club 80km and 2hr53min later. Now that the podium ice had been broken the day before we yet again managed a 3rd place finish.
The penultimate day saw the arrival of the much anticipated Umkomaas River Valley soon after the start, which involved a 17km stretch of downhill single track. Not forgetting the 100km total distance over hard mountain biking terrain and 1500m of climbing stage 8 had to offer making it a real tough day in the saddle especially after the previous 7 days! Team 360Life had got a substantial lead quite early in the stage while we were left fighting it out between 3 teams. With about 30km to go things split up between us and Team RE:CM of Neil MacDonald and Waylon Woolcock managed to get the upper edge on us while we left Paul Cordes and Arno du Toit of the Transact Team trailing closely behind. This is what it came down to at the finish in Jolivet Farm thus claiming another 3rd place.
The fast and furious dash through the sugar cane fields is what characterizes the final day taking us from Jolivet Farm onto the beach in Scottburgh. The stage is only 73km long with double the amount of descending to climbing (800m to 1600m respectively). But that's not to say its an easy walk in the park especially trying to go all out after 8 long hard days of racing! We found ourselves fighting for 3rd place about 2min behind the leading two teams of 360Life and RE:CM with the Transact team who were even more hungry for just one podium position! It was a great battle and without much opportunity to get away and gain time on each other, about 10km to go to the finish we put in a huge effort and made a deciding break to have a nice run into the finish to claim 3rd place for the 4th stage in a row.
So from Johannesberg city life through the Freestate millie fields, wolf sanctuaries, river crossings, bridge crossings, mountain passes, forest plantations, single tracks and through the lush sugar cane fields of Kwazulu Natal onto the beach sand of Scottburgh, to those who completed it-well done! The joBerg2c 9-day mountain bike stage race is a fantastic N3 for mountain bikers!
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