Specialized Factory rider Burry Stander and I was lucky enough to get an entry into the 3 day Sani2C MTB race. (The race has a 3 year waiting list)

Burry used this race as training for the Cape Epic next month, where he will race for nothing but 1st with World Champ Christoph Sauser, before they tackle the UCI World cup series, where Burry finished 5th and Christoph 2nd last year .

I used this race as base training for my upcoming XTERRA triathlon season which kicks off May 1 in Las Vegas. Fresh out of the off season, I lacked the miles but didnt lack the off season weight. (about 5kg of it) A deadly combination considering I was trying to hang onto a little kid they call “Dart”!

Typically the 1st hour or so of a stage (stages were between 75 and 100km) would be open dirt road and it would basically be a road race. Sprinting up the climbs and soft pedalling the rest. Or thats what it felt like for my diesel engine. I saw heart rates I havent seen in 10 years!

Next thing there was a buzz of wheels overlapping and riders went down in front of me. No time to brake I swerved into the steep camber of the side of the road and barely recovered a 2 wheel slide. About 5 riders were down, including Burry, who was holding his “bad knee.” Ben Melt looked really hurt and later had his elbow wired together. (in a hospital) With great effort Burry and I paced back to the lead pack. I had to do all the down hill pacing as he only had a 40×11 top gear. (I had 44×11) As we caught the pack they took off like mad on a long climb and thats where I blew my gasket.

Eventually delicious single track started, and crossing a large dam on floating pallets was great fun too. We came in 7th, and was treated like royalty at the Specialized support tent. They took our haggard, muddy bikes off us and make them brand new again. In fact, any rider on a Specialized bike got the same treatment! Quite a perk considering the abuse bikes take on this kind of racing.

The afternoon was spent watching Off Road to Athens, eating, waiting for a shipment of fresh legs and watching the rain pour down. Oh yes, and eating!

It rained so much that afternoon, I thought the tent was going to float away. I said “I wish I has some Specialized Sauserwinds.” (smooth rolling mud/all round tire) I found it funny that Burry likes slick tires in the mud: “Ek laaik nogal die Specialized Fast Track SLK in die modder” he said. (he likes the Fast Trak SLK in the mud) The SLK stands for Super Low Knob. To me that translates to “Slippery Like Krazy” in mud. Amazingly he makes it work. On dry singletrack I can keep up with him, but when it gets really slippery, he magically slips out of sight.

Stage 2 was 100km with magical single track and life time memory views of the Umkumaas valley. Despite losing about 800m in altitude, there is 3000m of vert gain. The slippery conditions were all fun and games till we hit the bottom part of Nicks Pass, where the mud was just insane. Your tires turned to fat sausages, when you turned you went straight, when you went straight, you turned, and braking actually made you go faster! In fact, it was lot of fun. After that there were about 5 river crossings, about thigh deep, (waist deep for Burry!) where you could submerge your bike and wash off some mud. One guy washed away his Garmin GPS…

At the 50k point there was a 10 minute compulsory stop, supposedly for the heat, but since we started at the ridiculous hour of 5.30am, had been riding in mud and fording raging rivers, we were not hot. Washed bikes, lubed chains (Squirt lube- or White Gold) and filled bottles. (I really got to test the new Gu2O) The Nandos burgers werent even ready yet, but thats a good thing, because the climbing was about to really start and Burry was out the start gate like, well, a dart. On the climbs he made me feel like I was in reverse, but on the flats we rolled nicely, and I had to pull on the open down hills. Supposedly due to my superior gearing and wattage, but I suspect it has something to do with my 25kg superior backside!

The training from Day 1 must have helped, because I felt fitter already! This is one of the the most fun (technical) and scenic stage races you can do. The riding was so idyllic, I lost track of our progress, because, just when I thought we only had 10 minutes to go, the 10km to go sign came up. I was already on the ropes, as I had been out of water for 10km and had burned through the big hand full of Gu Roctane gels I stuffed in my pocket at 3.30 that morning. (or maybe I should have had the Nandos Burger!) The last 10km was mostly uphill and very bumpy/sandy/everything a bonked rider doesnt need. Burry was hovering 50m up the road like a lure, as we were catching a fast fading Team Jeep.

Then the ants started crawling over my scalp. (ie seemingly life threatening bonk/sugar low) I lost all self respect and started yelling “Burry!” “Burry!” This time I wasnt going to ride over to him, he had to wait for me. “You need chain lube?” he asked when I caught up. If I had a few more whits about me, I would have punched him, but instead I said slowly and clearly: “EK-IS-HONGER”. I AM HUNGRY.

He gave me a gel and I emptied his water bottle and then continued to pedal squares all the way to the finish. Team Jeep completely out of sight… We finished 6th.

When I came out of my coma, we talked tires and Burry said something like: “You pedal through the rocks.” He said it like it was a bad thing, but I took it as a compliment. Thats where I win races. The 30km bike leg of XTERRA is a constant, time trail effort, as opposed to the sprints and accelerating of World Cup MTB racing. Thats why the World Cup guys like light, fast tires. They sprint off the start, up the short climbs and into single track. Once on single track, there is no overtaking (much) and you get to freewheel and recover. With XTERRA racing, I run the diesel engine at threshold everywhere on the course. As long as I have pedal clearance and have the rear wheel on the ground I want to be pedalling. Thats why we are developing the more robust casing Specialized Armadillo Elite tires I tested here.(and earlier at Tire testing) With the superiour suspension on my Specialized S-works Epic- why not?

Stage 3 was a bit like a road race, we averaged 30km/h, rode fun floating pallets again, and I do recall mumbling to Burry “if I see another hill, I’m going to cry” but we finally reached the ocean and finished with dirty smiles. After a half hearted wash of bike and me, (not together) I collapsed in the shade. Burry filled his bottles and rode the 70km home. In the rain…

End result 5th. Not bad. Thanks to Farmer Glen and Max from Sani2C. Also Rob, Stuart, Adrian and the rest of the Specialized crew.