Kargo 10hr MTB race

Saturday was the first of my 3 weekends of biking fun. The Kargo 10hr MTB challenge took place at the Kloofzicht Lodge near Muldersdrift, and seemed, as we arrived at 5:30am, to be a lovely spot for it. Quite a few buck spotted on the way in brought to mind the infamous YouTube clip of the South African MTB rider being taken out by the flying hartebeest. When I jokingly mentioned that to a couple of folk at registration I was greeted with grim faces and a reminder that buck generally have horns that can puncture lungs and break ribs and other bones and such-like. Bit of a reminder that mountain biking in Africa has slightly different hazards from Europe. 

Registration was swift and easy, the lodge toilet facilities were a dramatic and luxurious contrast with your average race portaloo arrangement, and the race briefing was, well, brief and to the point.

After a bit of faffing around with kit bags and last-minute adjustments to bikes we (I was there with my race partner for next week’s 3-day MTB race, Declan) were rolling over the start line and getting to grips with our first lap of the 8km course.

Generally, the course was great – the opening kilometre or so was basically flattish and open dirt trail, where you could afford to push the legs a bit, then there was a steady (slightly bumpy) descent, followed by the first steeper uphill slog, another flat section to open the gas, then another steepish climb to the high point of the course (also roughly the halfway point), from whence the more technical section kicked in with a fast, loose, bumpy and rocky descent, a brief respite down a (still pretty fast) section, then another bumpy (relatively) technical downhill. Then the course wound around a small fishing dam with a short section of singletrack through some pushes and reeds, before the final kilometre and a bit around the bottom of a couple of more open fields and back up to the Lodge where the transition/rest area was situated.

From the outset the atmosphere for the day was great – there was some fast riding out on the course, but the race village/transition area was extremely relaxed, the organisers had the air of very chilled guys who were totally on top of everything and concentrated on everyone participating having a good time, and the weather was fantastic – warm, sunny with clear blue skies all day.

My race ‘strategy’ was, at best half-baked. I’d taken along a bunch of food to see me through the day, and Declan had said he was keen to ride for at least 4 or 5 hours, but didn’t think he’d do the whole day. I went off reasonably fast, but was mainly keen to have a good long day in the saddle and put the new 29er hard-tail to the test.

As per the description above, the first half of the course gave a good chance to put the hammer down, with the second half more of a test (for me at least) of handling skills and late-braking. As my first major race foray on a hard-tail, this second section was definitely the trickier, and hugely useful training and practice for handling and especially descending at pace with a rigid rear-end. The pattern pretty quickly established itself – I’d happily chug past a few folk on the first half (especially the ascents), only to have them blast past me on the descents. My goal became still trying to overtake people on the ascents, but to try to hold them off on the descents, without also terrifying myself too much, or losing control on the looser sections. Kept me entertained at least.

I stopped for the first time after about 3 laps, having been lapping in around 23 to 24 minutes, for a quick convenience break and to re-fill water bottles and grab a hot-cross bun (essential race food). The event had 2-person and 4-person teams (male, female and mixed), so there were always quite a lot of riders on the course, and as usual it was next to impossible to work out who was racing what category or where they might be in their own race (or at least it was for me – perhaps I should have been paying more attention).

Another quick blast and I stopped again for a longer break (10/15 minutes or so) for a sandwich (cheese and pickle) after 5 laps, and then after about 8 laps I bumped into Declan, who was having a chat at one of the water stations out on the course (there were two, staffed by eternally helpful, friendly and happy marshalls). I pushed on, aiming for another longer break at 10 laps, which duly arrived and gave me a chance to have a sit-down for a while with another sandwich (also cheese and pickle), an ice tea and some more water/energy drink.

The 10 laps had taken around 4 hours of ride time (probably more like 4 and a half hours total time), which seemed fairly reasonable – and left me on-track for around 20 laps in total for the day, which seemed like a decent day out for my first full day on the new bike, so I was feeling fairly relaxed, not yet suffering from any major injuries or fatigue, and generally pretty happy with everything.

Revitalised (and re-sun-creamed), I gave the next segment a decent slug and stayed out til lap 15 (bumping into Declan again just after the end of my 12th lap, again at a rest stop), when I again gave myself a nice little break with more sandwiches (switched to peanut butter and jam) and more ice tea (the Bos Tea cans were a great addition for this race – very refreshing – especially Berry flavour – extremely refreshing).

It was only at this point that I realised there was a results board up on one of the doors of the lodge, which I wandered over and glanced at – to discover that I was in 3rd place in the men’s solo competition. Surprised (also to find out that the 2nd place rider was on the same number of laps as me – or at least he was at the point the results had been posted, which was a lap ago), I had a little extra burst of energy, and headed back out contemplating the idea of a podium finish.

The next couple of laps were faster, but it was also starting to heat up, so the longer early sections of the course where I’d been putting in some grunt earlier in the day I was now more inclined to stand up and push for saddle relief, and cruise where possible. The climbs were still going pretty smoothly (really impressed with the new bike – will summarise below), and mercifully I seemed to be (slightly) improving on the downhill handling, and the hand-cramps from gripping the bars too tightly were subsiding.

I pulled in for a last break after 18 laps, and had another quick look at the results board – with a slightly more scrutinous eye this time. It turned out that sadly, due to my prolonged (albeit relaxing, and probably necessary) 20 minute rest break after 15 laps, I was now 20 minutes or so behind the 2nd placed rider, although I still seemed to be on the same number of laps. With a little more cynicism than the previous interrogation of the results board, this time I looked at the 4th placed rider, and the relief of discovering he was 2 laps behind was palpable. I figured at that point that I probably wouldn’t catch number 2, but equally if I could knock off a last couple of laps (to hit my target of 20), I should also be able to hold of number 4. There was about an hour and a half left at this point, so although I had time for 3 more (and in my head I figured I could probably do 3 more if necessary), I was already preparing myself for 20 being just about enough for one day.

So back out onto the course for a slightly more sedate 19th lap, and after swinging onto the first of the uphill slogs and watching a gang of impala come charging across the trail about 20metres ahead of me, and inwardly congratulating myself for not being knocked off or suffering from any punctured lungs, I pottered up onto the interim flat section (before the next climb). At this point, the course goes along the road for a couple of hundred metres, before cutting the corner (flat dirt trail heading towards the entrance gate), re-crosses the road, turns sharp left and follows the boundary fence along and up to the high-point of the course.

I crossed the road heading for the sharp left turn along the boundary fence, and, still in self-congratulatory mood for having avoided any collision with the bounding impala, made the left turn along the boundary fence. In contented mood (knowing I had one and a half laps left before a well-earned break), I noticed that some small birds on the ground just outside on the other side of the fence were making a lot of noise, and seemed very agitated. Puzzled (and slightly curious), I was looking glancing in their direction when movement ahead of me brought my attention back to the trail, only to see a long grey snake making its way across the path about 2 metres ahead of me. Its tail was still the other side of the fence, and its head was already in the undergrowth to the left of the trail, and it wasn’t exactly moving in a hurry.

I am utterly terrified of snakes. There was a point in my life when someone would only have to show me a picture of a snake in a book and I’d be reduced to a gibbering mess. I used to check under my bed for pythons (when living in rurual Devon in the UK). Since moving to South Africa, I’d not yet seen a snake (although, in that bizarre human way of wanting to scare myself, had learnt a lot about the snakes there are here, so as to be prepared). I’d actually mentioned recently that I’d quite like to see a snake since we hadn’t done yet, and since I figured I’d be ok. I had been deluding myself, it turns out. I have no pride in saying I pretty much screamed, did some high-pitched swearing, debated (in the split second I had to react) whether it would be best to try to a) bunny hop the snake, b) stop in front of the snake or c) just ride straight over it, and decided that, a) could result in me falling off which wouldn’t be a great idea next to a snake, b) would leave me close to a snake which I was terrified of, so c) was the only real option left – queue more swearing, and the biggest blast of pace I’d probably put in since the very first lap. There was a bump as my first wheel went over, a swish as the snake swung its head round to see what it was that had just gone over it, then another bump as my back wheel went over, and then I confess I put the hammer down and got as far away as possible as quickly as possible, without looking back. I flew up the next ascent (to the high-point), and my heart-rate only recovered somewhere on the subsequent downhill.

Safe to say, riding over big grey snakes is not something you usually have to contend with as an obstacle in Europe either.

Finishing lap 19, the thought did cross my mind that perhaps that was a good point at which to stop, but there was still an hour of the race to go, so I thought I’d remain true to my original goal, and headed out for the 20th time, again cruising the first flattish section, pushing up the first climb, taking a very close look at the undergrowth around the point of my snake experience (my imagination had painted pictures of either a flat snake still being there, or worse a flat angry snake waiting in the undergrowth to take its revenge, or worse still, a flat angry snake and his big brother and possibly parents all waiting for snake A to identify the rider who’d been insensitive enough to ride over him to all take their revenge). Such is my irrational fear (and misunderstanding of the realities of wildlife).

Anyhow, it was with great relief that I found no snakes this time round, made the final descents pretty comfortably, swung round the lakes for final time and climbed back to the finish line, where I quickly checked the results board to confirm I’d hung onto 3rd, then collapsed in a heap.

A great day out, a fun (and challenging) course, a fantastic atmosphere, excellent facilities, and a fun after-race dinner/results/prize-giving (including a range of tequila shot fines/rewards for all sorts of people and their different activities during the day). Sadly no prize for 3rd place, but to be honest a podium finish was more than I’d expected when I set off in the morning, so it was a very gratifying day all-round. Tan-lines below also something to be proud of.

A quick word on the new bike – fantastic. Having had time to think about it, given the extent of riding (160km) and the overall pace, and bumpiness of the terrain, the Trek handled superbly, and was surprisingly comfortable for a hardtail. It’s light enough to practically fly uphill, and the 29″ wheels seemed (how much of this was in my head I won’t know) to make the smooth stuff a lot faster for a lot less effort, and also swallowed a lot of the otherwise more intimidating bumps with ease. Some slight niggles with the gear lever set-up (mashed my thumbs a bit), but otherwise very pleased indeed, and massively looking forward to next weekend’s 3-day test.

And lastly – for entertainment value only, on Sunday morning (after going out for dinner with friends upon my return on Saturday evening, and only managing to get to bed at midnight), Jess was heading off to a Pilates session at the gym at 8:30, which, in my slightly fatigued state at 8:15am, suddenly seemed like a really good idea (a stretch-down after Saturday’s exertions). This being my first Pilates session ever (although I have many male friends who’ve fallen into the same trap), I figured it would be a tough, but valuable, hour of stretching and hopefully recovering. I was (obviously) very very wrong, and emerged from the gym (almost) more broken from an hour of Pilates than I had been after 8 and a half hours of mountain biking the previous day. I’m sure I should do more of it for general flexibility, but given how much the whole thing hurt (and how hideously bad at it I was), it may take some time for me to pluck up the courage to attend another session.

Saturday’s Strava report is here.

Next weekend – Wine2Whales, a 3-day MTB race in the Cape. Absolutely can’t wait.