|
It has
taken me 3 years to make it back to the Subaru Sabie
Classic, and the trip was totally worth it!
My epic
partner and I were fortunate enough to get a Subaru Forester
for the trip to Sabie as we would be having a small training
camp around the weekend. Let me just reiterate, that this is
a mountain biker’s vehicle. We piled all the bikes and
equipment in the back and cruised to Sabie in absolute
comfort.
The weather
on Friday was good and as we finished our eight and a half
hour ride it did rain on us a bit, but nothing serious.
Things were looking promising. At the pasta evening on
Friday night, there was talk of the route shortening because
of a big mud hole 6km into the race, but this rumor was
squashed at the race briefing, entertainingly delivered as
always by Brett Coates. The full race was on!
Having not
done the ride in a while it was all pretty new to me and I
must say that I really enjoyed the course. Out on the tar
road, the pace was slow enough for wannabe’s like me to
get a sniff at the pros, and I must say it was fun to be up
front, albeit for a small time, because once we hit the
dirt, well they hit the gas!
The first
climb is really awesome. It was quite slippery and I saw a
few riders slipping out and having to re-mount. My Larrsen
TT once again out done themselves considering the
conditions, but then again the handling of the Raleigh RDS
is so good you could probably ride on slicks and be ok! The
first climb sorted the field out nicely and I found myself
somewhat isolated, between the race snakes and the back
medium pacers. At the top of the climb I rider swooshed past
me on the downhill like I was looking for parking, I tried
to hold the wheel for a while, but Yolande Speedy is no
slouch on a downhill, and I had to let her go on to win the
ladies race.
I was
conserving energy the whole way for the Mamba switchback
horror, and I must admit that my total lack of a sense of
direction caused me to “miss” it! it just looked so
different to previous years when I had ridden that I
didn’t even realize that we were on it.
On to the
Hartebeesvlakte, a totally new section for me which I really
enjoyed. The hills are so green at the moment it felt like
we were in the highlands of Scotland. The clouds were
starting to look ominous at this point, and I was keen to
get to the finish. Just after the second last water point
(which was professionally run and provided everything one
needed) at the top of the hill, I was shocked to see the
20km to go sign, it would all be over so fast.
The last
20km should not be sniffed at. It is not all downhill and
can be very complicated to negotiate with the myriad of 40km
riders trying to make it to the end.
Oh and the
rain. Not just a drizzle, no. RAIN. On the undulating forest
section it was raining like the end of times! I couldn’t
see more than five meters ahead of me and had to decide
whether is was better off trying to see through my muddy
glasses or taking them off and facing the old mud in the
eye! Half way down I opted for mud in the eye. Weaving
through the 40km riders and in a virtual river, my equipment
was once again tested to the max, so much so that at the
bottom of the hill (where it was perfectly sunny!) I had
worn out my back brake pads, so it looked like I was really
in a hurry to get to the end, so sorry to those I flew past,
but I really couldn’t stop!
The finish
displayed 67km and I was a little disappointed that it
wasn’t the full distance, but the route was absolutely
brilliant.
Big thanks
the Brett Coates, Dennis Lawrie and Subaru South Africa,
this is still one of the premier events in the country.
Overall Men
1st
– Mannie Heymans (Raleigh)
2nd
– Ben Melt Swanepoel (Mazda Merida)
3rd
– Marc Bassingthwaithe (GT)
Overall
Ladies
1st
– Yolande Speedy (IMC)
2nd
– Yolande Devilliers (Scott)
3rd
– Christie Pienaar (Fritz Pienaar)
|
