Di Carolin and Robbie Powell rode the spectacular iSimangaliso MTB stage race for Full Sus. Follow her on Twitter: @di_carolin, read her reports from Stage 1 & 2 here, or visit www.isimangaliso-mtb.co.za to find out more about the race.
Stage 3
Last night was spent in a tent and at breakfast this morning when they asked for a show of hands for who slept well, there was a smattering of hands and then when we were asked who didn’t sleep well… Just about everyone! Including myself. So it was with great yawns that we stood on the start line at 7 am. Stage 3 was 95kms long and I was a little scared as I had only just managed the previous day.
But as luck would have it my legs felt good and the trails were awesome. Lots more singletrack and loads of game made for a fantastic day’s racing. Not long after we started, there was a massive thunder storm as our group snaked along the water’s edge singletrack under the trees. Big, warm, rain drops hit us as we rode along rather enjoying it all. The pace was hot and we flew along chattering away. Then we hit the flat lands and the mud which rather alarmingly stuck like glue to our tyres, changed our bikes to fat bikes in no time and added a few kilograms to their weight. On we plodded on, heads down until we reached the water point stocked full of delicious cake, potatoes, brownies and sandwiches. The people assisting us at the water point were great too! Our bottles were cleaned and the mud got scrapped off our tyres.
We dashed just as the second mixed team arrived. A while later I was motoring along the singletrack at the front of the group when the guys started shouting that Robbie had crashed. Apparently it was a spectacular wipe-out and will no doubt be spoken of for some time.
Soon after we hit a district road and the pace hotted up again to 44km per hour! We were flying. It was just to much for my injured partner. He had landed with his back on a tree stump and was in serious pain. So we dropped off the group and took a slightly more sane pace for the final 20km of the day. This gave us the opportunity to spot zebra and giraffe. Now I was happy. I’d seen my giraffe! They’re such beautiful creatures.
The scenery in the iSimangaliso MTB really was incredible. Lots of thorn trees, heaps of Ellie poo, red soil and big, black, broody clouds in the sky.
It was just the two of us by that stage and finally we hit the tar road that was to take us to the finish and I turned up the gas. Robbie could smell the beer and I couldn’t wait for a hot shower to get the mud and dust off. Before we knew it the finish was upon us and as a cold bottle of water was put into our hands the guys all gathered round to ask how Robbie was. What a great bunch of people. This was what doing these events is all about. The camaraderie!
Stage 4 is the climbing stage and apparently I’ll love it as it’s nice and technical. Can’t wait!
Stage 4
We started super early in morning from Mkhuze Game Reserve for the final stage. As in 6.30am early! the stage distance was 55kms and after a long stretch of tar and a bit of gravel we turned off into the hills and the first real climbing of the event began. A series of shortish, but pretty steep climbs interspersed with shorter down hill sections followed. Everyone had day 4 legs and it was slow progress. There were lots of kids and villagers cheering us on as we rode past their houses though which helped keep the motivation levels high.
At last it was time to go down and oh boy was it worth the slog. Nice technical singletrack and the super fast flowing trails that went on for ages rewarded us for all the climbing earlier. It really was pretty special. We chased along, doing our best to stay ahead of the mixed team lying in second, with some of the same guys we’d ridden with the past few days. As usual it was a lot of fun and made for great racing. The route had been diverted due to rain the night before so we soon found ourselves on the tar road back to the camp where we had started.
We heard later that not far from the point where we joined the tar road a pride of lions had been resting under the thorn trees. I’m pleased we didn’t know that at the time though!
We got showered and packed up and had some lunch. Then there was a quick prize giving and we all made the great trek home.
Being able to ride in the bush was a wonderful experience not to be forgotten.
Thanks to the organisers, fellow riders and also to Robbie for being a great partner and such a good sport.
A summary of the whole event will be in Octobers issue of Full Sus.
To view all the photos from the iSimangaliso MTB like their Facebook page by clicking here.
