When Stillwater Sports sent Seamus Allardice the invite for a weekend in the Arabella Hotel and Spa with a couple of days of mountain biking thrown in (the Cell C Arabella Challenge was really the main event) he jumped at the chance to join them.
Heading out to Kleinmond on Friday afternoon for the Cell C Arabella Challenge things didn’t look promising for a weekend on the bike and the much vaunted pool party. It was bucketing down as we left Stellenbosch and the weather kept getting worse as we drove through Somerset West and over Sir Lowry’s Pass. Storm water drains were overflowing into the streets and manhole covers were being popped up by the water pressure. But the howling wind was playing its part too and the weather forecast turned out to be correct – the rain blew over in the early hours of Saturday morning and the sun rose for Stage 1 on a drying Arabella Hotel and Spa.
As it turned out the torrential rain was not only much needed for the chronically low Western Cape dams but also for the sandy tracks and trails which route director Lance Stevenson has picked for the two day stage race.
Lining up in B Batch I was happy to note a bunch of familiar faces, mainly in the form of super fit, fast and highly competitive female riders; Amy Burton and Robyn Williams. Also in the start chute was the Bike Hub’s Matt Eagar. Matt was bike testing and was already worried about the usual issue with test bikes… the tyres. With a few chirps from Paul Valstar we were off and heading out of the hotel’s grounds onto the main tar road away from Kleinmond. The pace was hot from the off, and soon after turning onto the climb up Highlands Road I realised that there was no way I’d be able to match Matt, Amy and Robyn’s pace. So I slowed up a bit and took some photos. The route then turned off Highlands Road onto a jeep track and from there on there was hardly an easy stretch of riding. The views more than made up for the tough climbs and alternating, rocky/sandy/lose gravely jeep tracks. Initially the route offered views over the stunning Overberg Coastline before turning inland and boasting views over the Elgin Valley. Somewhere around the 25km mark I found Matt on the side of the track with his test bike upside down. He’d punctured as he’d predicted. So I gave him a bomb, a show of inter-publication cooperation which was fortuitously captured by Newsport Media’s camera crew. Another fairly strenuous climb to water point two followed before we descended along a pretty treacherous 4×4 route into the Overberg on our way to the finish at Wildekrans Wine Estate. The descent was punctuated by steep drainage bumps which offered lots of opportunities to take to the air – but the landings weren’t always the safest and though I made it down without incident some riders weren’t as fortunate with Nico Pfitzenmaier a high profile victim (also in front of the camera crew).
The final few kays were on Wildekrans’ singletracks and provided a taste of what lay ahead on Stage 2. Reaching the finish I grabbed my bag from the bag drop, put on a t-shirt and set my sights on the Wildekrans Tasting Room. Suitably equipped with a bottle of their amazing Cab Franc/Merlot blend I heard Paul announce that Nicola Collins (Stillwater’s ex-trail running event manager and my neighbour) had just crossed the line so I went to greet her with a glass of wine. After shuttling back to Arabella we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon around, but definitely not in, the pool. A band and then a DJ kept the pool party going despite the lack of people swimming, but the deck chairs and the milky winter sunshine combined for a perfect afternoon anyway.
Climbing into the busses to be shuttled back to Wildekrans for the start of Stage 2 I was happy to agree to a revised start time and taking a chilled ride with songo.info’s Kathy Crabbe rather than re-joining B Batch. The trails in the early part of Stage 2 were fantastic, with a few technical features thrown in occasionally for good measure. The moment of the ride came for me as we neared water point two. Kathy and I were chatting away with her leading along a twisty bit of singletrack when I clipped my pedal on a tree stump and did a spectacular OTB. Landing smack on my chest I fortunately missed another stump with my head. But the lady riding behind us saw the entire incident and it must have looked pretty dramatic as she shouted at Kathy as she rode past, without so much as slowing… “Check his neck, phone the medics”. Fortunately that wasn’t necessary and we made it to the finish without further incident.
All-in-all the Arabella Challenge was a fantastic weekend away, the hotel is spectacular and Stillwater Sports really went out of their way to ensure that everyone, regardless if they were staying in the hotel or not, could enjoy the superb facilities to their utmost. The race routes were tough but fun and despite the non-pool party friendly weather the vibe was unbeatable.
