So this past weekend I went to do the 65km at Nissan TrailSeeker No.4 at Hakahane Fritz Pienaar and the guys from ADVENDURANCE, BuyCycle.co.za, Fpc Jhb Cycles, USN SA – Ultimate Sports Nutrition and Bryton once again put up a great race.
It was the 1st time I did a 65km race for this event. I decided to do this race and I’m glad I did, as it was great preparation for the Bridge Cape Pioneer Trek. Originally I was aiming to completing the race in about 4 hours but my bike and “Mother Nature” had different plans. The other really stupid thing I did was to forget the Sun tan lotion at home it was ridiculously hot, especially for a long day in the saddle.
I was really having fun the 1st couple of kilometres and really flying until at 11km my rear wheel started giving me problems and I struggled with it for 3km until I decided to stick a tube in and kept going. By now I was fairly disappointed and I let go of the Idea of completing the race in 4 hours, deciding instead to use it as a nice training ride.
Knowing me that plan didn’t last long and I started having way to much fun on the technical sections. At roughly 18km at a very steep technical decent I took a chance, but Mother Nature was calling and I listened. Took a nasty tumble using my hand and the left side of my body as a brace and used the rest of the descent as a slide. Ultimately I would have probably laughed at myself if I was standing there looking at it. In hindsight not the cleverest thing using your hand or body as brace but reflex is sometimes not always thinking about the consequences.
The rest of the 65km race really was painful as I normally like flying on the downhill sections hence the nickname “The flying Vos” the guys at Bridgestone and the Leverage Corporation gave me at Route 66 in the beginning of the year. Over every little rock and bump I felt like stopping and it was really difficult holding onto the handle bars. Of course this resulted in breaking and slowing down on the downhill sections, changing gears with the thumb was impossible so letting go of the handle bars and changing with my hand was irritating.
None the less at the split between half marathon and marathon the marathon guys turned into the Georotek grounds, wow does not even begin to describe it, lots of different terrains and crazy descents with nice rolling hills and one mother of a climb. If ever you find a 4 X 4 that has driven the entire 4 X 4 course and survived, buy it no doubt it will be a great machine.
When I found out our own Olympian was competing I was ecstatic. What other sport do you get to compete in the same race as some of the top athletes in the world? Well to be honest I’d like to think I compete against him but in fact you realise how good these athletes really are. I found new respect for guys like Phillip Buys true heroes and who knows? Phillip maybe one day I’ll really race against you!!! Not just in my dreams. I asked some of our top athletes for advice, Ariane Kleinhans and Max Knox you guys are truly inspirational and great ambassadors for the sport and the advice you guys gave me will be invaluable thank you very much.
Thank you Fritz, Wessel and all their helpers, we as Mountain bikers appreciate all you do for the sport we love and the amount of pleasure and “pain” you give us. We love it and appreciate all your effort!
My Next blog update in all probability will be just before the race I’ve been preparing for. The Bridge Cape pioneer trek, I’m looking forward to seeing my sponsor’s Bridge and Karoo Sun Guest house. Not forgetting the good things that the best mountain biking magazine TREAD has done for me, thank you Sean and Dino. Also a large thanks to the individual contributions from Mr Sybrand Nel and Bridgestone SA for the entry into next year’s Route 66 mountain bike event.
Folk are welcome to follow me on Twitter @MartinvosVos or look for me on Facebook under my name. If anyone wishes to, can or want to support or sponsor me don’t hesitate to contact me, any help or assistance is highly appreciated.
Thank you
Blog: Martin Vos
