Totalsports Challenge MTB

My first race for the season of 2011 was the Totalsports Challenge in Kleinmond on saturday.

The TSC is a multisport event that combines an open sea swim, surfski, roadbike, running, K1 paddling, mountainbiking and a beach run to form a monster endurance event. It can be done in a team or as individual. At the same time there is a Terra Firma event that combines the cycling and running events.

I did the Mountainbiking for the Sportsmans Warehouse team. Every year we enter a team from the office just because we can't let Totalsports have all the fun.

While I only did the MTB event, Tiaan, Bernice, Nadia and Adam entered for the Terra Firma event in the solo category. Crazy kids.

To start the racing year of right I hosted a little braai at the house on friday evening. It was our first get together of the year and the first time that our crowd saw each other since halfway through december, so the kuier was good and the gees was high.

I still believe that sleep the night before isn't as important as two nights before, but getting up after 4hrs of sleep always sucks.

With the bakkie packed and the music puming I drove past the turn-off for the Highlands road and knew I was ready for this climb. Last year I did this event on my dad's MTB (I cracked mine a week before) on less than ideal training in some serious heat. This year I rolled in with a awesome mountainbike with better legs and more training in the heat of the day. I was ready and amped to go.

The bad thing about relay events like this is that its hard to judge the time I needed to be ready, and so once again I arrived there lank early.

Eventually after a couple of hours it was my turn. When Edgar our K1 paddler handed the band over to me the red mist descended over my eyes and all hell broke loose in my body. I missioned off and my heartrate went through the roof. I was racing again and loved it! It was only after 15mins that my body settled into a rhythm and my heart rate settled to about 186bpm. The first half of the ride is climbing, and for the first time in a long while I felt strong the whole way and I kept the hammer down until I reached the top of the climbs and I was surprised to find myself cranking in the big ring on the flat sections on top of the mountain. This felt awesome.

Last year on the descent I had a pinchflat puncture, and I really didn't want this to happen again. Luckily I'm riding tubeless now, but I also felt smooth going down the rocky descents, the new fork is definately proving its value.

After a couple of very fast and rocky descents interspersed with flat roads I reached the last hill. By now my body was screaming at me to take it easy and my calves were cramping, so I sat down in my saddle and left the heroics till later. This climb did hurt. A lot. But after going over the summit I saw the see, and Kleinmond and knew that I was almost home. This was when all sense went flying out the door and I put the bike into the big ring and cranked it home. At this stage I my heart was beating at 200bpm but I knew I was almost home and just pushed into the pain threshold and kept it there. After zooming down the mountain and over some cool walking bridges I pulled into the finish area and handed the baton over to James our beach runner. The next 10mins is a bit of a blur. I remember taking off my helmet and gloves and smashing a cold Coke but not much else. I was dizzy and wanted to puke. I was very happy though as I cut 16mins of my time from last year and had an awesome race. I was very happy. I joined Shiela and Tiaan (who was already finished by now-what a man!) for a swim in the lagoon. While cooling down in the lagoon I realised the MTB by itself isn't the hardest race, but if combined with one of the other legs or even more with all of them it becomes a monster, and I salute these athletes. Well done guys and girls, you're legends.

Every year this event is great fun, and I have to thank James Willis who organised it for us, and also Ryan, Heini, Richard, Jacques and Edgar for taking part.

I can't wait to do it again, next year I want to get in below 1hr 15mins, and I can't wait to ride the 24hr of Oak Valley race. Things are looking good.

Happy trails everyone.

Philip