The ride from Pietermaritzburg to Two Springs had taken me more than two hours longer than I had hoped—it had taken me just over 24 hours. That's what happens when you haven't trained for an event and you come into it with a hard head and a marshmallow body. 230 km with 6700 metres of vertical ascent is hard enough when you're in race shape. Dragging my floppy body over that distance was hard work.
Adding to my problems was the old pair of shoes I'd dragged out from the dark recesses of my cupboard. They were a pair of used a few RASA's ago. By the time I'd got to Allendale I knew why they had been put into retirement. The cleat plates were digging into my feet through paper thin inner soles. Removing the inner soles I added a dozen layers of duct tape in an attempt to give them more padding and ease the discomfort I had in my feet. By the time I got to Centocow I knew the damage had already been done—my feet were already bruised. The duct tape helped, but my feet ached.
The food on offer at Two Springs was more than adequate and I filled my belly. I also decided it would be a good place to charge my phone while I had a quick nap. I set an alarm for 45 minutes and lay on the carpet next to the phone as I was worried that I might not hear the alarm if I was further away. I woke up with 25 minutes remaining on the countdown timer. The 20 minute nap was sufficient to get me through to Masakala.
Race tip: I have long since stopped using time of day as an alarm setting as it's too easy to get the time wrong when you have a foggy head and numb fingers. I use a countdown timer, typically 90 mins which I preset. It takes a lot less cerebral horsepower to figure out. In this case I had set the countdown to 45 mins.
Normally I am very efficient at getting through support stations. Typically I'd only be in a support station for 15-20 minutes. In this race I was anything but efficient. I'd spent 40 minutes at Allendale and lingered for 45 minutes each at Centocow and Ntsikeni. Two Springs obviously agreed with me because even though I only had a 20 minute nap I was there for 2 hours.
I rolled out of Two Springs and had an enjoyable ride down to the Mzimvimvubu river where the route crosses into the Eastern Cape. After crossing the river I spent 20 minutes stomping up the climb that takes you into the the first villages of the area formerly known as the Transkei. Weaving through the various villages I turned off at the Lameka Primary School and headed into the wattle forests and along a route that would have me crossing the Little Mzimvubu river and heading to an area called Snakefield. Once at Snakefield there is a short stretch of district road before heading back onto single track to skirt around the village of Shenxa. What follows is 11km of hard riding that's tempered by the amazing untamed countryside.
The temperature had risen into the mid twenties and I found the going challenging. The 11km took me a pedestrian 1 hour 20 mins to cover. The next 14 relatively easy kilometres took me just as long as I was starting to nod off and my feet ached whether I was walking or cycling. I looked forward to getting to Masakala just so I could get off my feet. Just after 3pm, inside Masakala the first order of business wasn't food but rather to get my shoes off and find a bed.
Rather than charge off to the next support station I decided that I'd wait for my riding buddies to arrive and then I'd take my next action cue from them. As they were many hours back I set my alarm for 90 minutes and closed my eyes.
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