Last weekend we drove through to Thaba Trails, Jhb, for the
first leg of the Gauteng XCO Provincial series. It was great to see the a[s]g MTB
Academy gang not only participating in all age groups, but also dominating most
of them.
For myself the race went pretty well. Lungs felt a bit rusty
after a much needed rest week, but I managed to stay off the front with Dylan
Rebello finishing 2nd and Nic Popich in 3rd.
So with confidence running high it was time to stuff some
Ftech lycra in a bag and head up to Dullstroom for the first MTN National
Marathon of the season.
I’ve never been in the area of Dullstroom so I had no idea
what to expect from the race. Never the less after applying a few layers of Squirt lube, I was standing in the
start chute feeling rather confident. The start was quite slow at first. I
figured everyone was scared to make the first move due to the altitude being a
bit more than what most people are used to. Sitting in the bunch not even 5kms
in, we hit the first of many mud puddles and most of it went straight onto my
new Rudy Agon’s lenses. This made me upset and I decided to leave the party.
I
noticed that no one could really respond and as I looked back a while later only
Stuart Marais (Kargo) had managed to get off the front of the chasing group.
Realizing that it would take a massive effort for a solo
rider to stay off the front with a group like that hunting you down, I
tapped of slightly giving Stuart a chance to get back on my wheel. For the next
few miles we rode together nicely, keeping the pace high without making
mistakes in the technical muddy sections. Off course the Conti X King on the
front is always super in these conditions.
About 25km in, I noticed Stuart started losing a bit of
punch as we had to work our way around the back markers of the ultra. While
battling to stay upright as we were climbing up a mushy messy mountain road, I
noticed that I was all by myself and decided to put my head down and go for it.
All or nothing, I thought to myself. In the end it took some
very big “vasbyt” and a few High5 gels to keep it going, but I managed to cross
the line and claim my first National Marathon win.
Well done to Jan Withaar and Stuart Marais finishing 2nd and 3rd. Also to all the other Academy members with some great results all round.
This weekend the 2nd leg of the USN Cup is being held at Modderfontein and I'm looking forward to another good battle.
Cheers
Adt
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