Lining up outside the Pietermaritzburg City Hall I was aware of the spasm in my lower back. I had hurt my back a few weeks earlier and had thought it had recovered. On the drive down the previous day the discomfort had returned.
6am rolled around and we ambled out of town. We were a group of 8 Race to Rhodes riders and Tim James who, having finished his up ride the day before, was turning around and heading back down the trail.
The bunch stuck together through Bizley and the sugarcane fields. Once on the Thornville tar road the lads got to business. It didn't take long for the others to get away. By the time we turned up into the plantations toward Minerva the only rider behind me was Tim on his single speed.
The pain in my lower back on the 14km climb up to the cellphone tower was agonising. Cresting the mountain and making my way down the switchbacks I scanned the roads below hoping to see other riders making their way into Byrne. There were none to be seen. That put me at least 6km adrift of the next slowest RTR rider in are start batch.
I didn't stop in at The Oaks in Byrne rather choosing to replenish my water supply at a village Jojo tank a few kilometres further on.
The short steep climbs before the drop into the Umkomaas valley were felt in my lower back. On the last climb I looked back and saw Axel and Guy. It was nice to know that I wasn't the lonely sweeper. They had stopped in at The Oaks. Guy, like me, was struggling with lower back pain. He didn't look comfortable. At least my discomfort eased once the road levelled out.
The ride down to the Umkomaas river was without incident and the recent clearing of some of the dense riverine bush meant I was across the river with nary a scratch—a far cry from previous experiences where blood sacrifices were demanded and taken by the river gods.
Once across the river the next task is to get up the Hela Hela Pass. It's 14km to the top rising 900m. While all of it can be ridden, there are a few sections that are best walked, particularly by race laden travellers. The dread of most riders is the onset of leg cramps. In 2 dozen trips up that pass I can count on one hand the number of times I haven't cramped. This time I had carried extra hydration and was determined to soft pedal as much as possible and walk a little more than usual. Once you start cramping you carry that forward for many hours afterwards which significantly impedes progress. Especially if you're intending on pushing through the first support station at Allendale.
Alas, it was not to be a cramp free ride. First one leg and then the other siezed up having me off the bike and walking every hill.
I limped into Allendale at 14h40 a full hour slower than I had hoped. The back spasms and generally lack of race fitness played a bigger role than the cramping as I usually cramp on the first day. The biggest surprise is that only Daniel and Carlo were ahead of me. They had already left. I knew Axel and Guy were behind me and I'd heard that Phillip had pulled up short at Byrne having not fully recovered from a recent bout of illness. Which left the question of, where were Pieter and Nic?"
Five minutes later Axel arrived sans Guy. Guy it seems, like me, had the double whammy of back spasms and legs cramps. Only his were much worse. He had already decided to hole up in Allendale overnight so had backed off to make a slower ride in.
Checking the tracking site (which is permitted in support stations) we were surprised to see that Pieter and Nic well well back. They eventually arrived and looked far from showroom condition. Nic had started the day with a long sleeved riding shirt. Arriving at Allendale he had on what looked like a wife-beater shirt with frayed edges at the shoulders. The sleeves of his shirt were completely gone. In their place his arms looked like someone had thrown a dozen angry cats at him. The scratches and blood evidence of a battle well fought. His presence at Allendale an indication that he might have won the battle in spite of his tattered and bloodied appearance.
Pieter popped through the door and it was apparent that he was the second member of the cat wrestling tag team. It seems that had messed up the navigation in the Umko valley and had dared to venture where no one should go. For 90 minutes they unnecessarily thrashed through unrelenting thorn bushes.
Pieter the cat wrestler
While Pieter and Nic licked their wounds I headed out with Centocow as my next objective. Axel followed soon afterwards and we joined up near Donnybrook and rode together to Centocow getting in shortly before 19h00. As expected Daniel and Carlo had already passed through. Axel had originally intended to stop at Centocow but feeling relatively fresh decided to move on to Ntsikeni with me. As we were readying ourselves to leave the cat wrestlers arrived. They too said they would be departing for Ntsikeni after a meal.
Axel and I rode out of Centocow and over the mountain to the Ngwangwane river. Crossing the river we saw lights in the forest. It was Carlo. Carlo had punctured earlier and had spent a frustrating hour wrestling with his tyre before being able to patch it sufficiently to keep moving. The three of us moved on together, eventually arriving at the lodge in Ntsikeni at 01h30.
I had messaged to race office earlier to let them know that I'd push on to Two Springs if I managed to get to Ntsikeni by 11pm. My travel time to Ntsikeni had slipped by a large margin but my resolve was intact. Even so, it took me almost an hour to get out the door. I saw the lights of the cat wrestlers approaching over the wetland so, just for fun I doused my bike lights and rode down the jeep track away from the lodge under the light of the full moon. It was 02h25.
The navigation went off without a hitch and I rolled into Two Spring at 06h10 - the perfect time for breakfast.
No comments:
Post a Comment