Simone van Aardt is riding the RECM Knysna 200 for Full Sus, with her mother Lolita, here’s her report on Stage 1. Follow her on Twitter for updates from the race: @simonevaardt.
#RECMknysna200 Stage 1: Knysna Elephant Park to Thesen Harbour Town
The stage’s start was, surprisingly, not that cold and I decided to ditch the leg warmers. There was a strong field of riders including Candice Neetling, Carmen Buchacher, Katja Steenkamp and Theresa Ralph, who were all, luckily for us, not competing in our category.
Photo by Julie Ann Hoffman.
The ride started with a neutral zone, which gave us just enough time to warm-up our legs before we hit the first uphill. It was very muddy and my mom’s tyres just did not want to grip. Once up the climb we past a farm and then went into the indigenous forest for the Petrus-se-Brand climb. This is when I realised that my mom’s legs had still not woken-up. And our roles kind of switched, it’s usually my mom who is pushing me and pulling me, but as she isn’t on form like she usually is as she has just recovered from a recent injury. So I had to do some work – she ended up holding onto my pocket on the climbs and sucking my wheel on flats and descents. Real teamwork…
We then headed back into the indigenous forest and hit the “secret” singletrack, which was the most amazing singletrack ever. I felt so privileged to ride in this (approximately) 10km section of trail as we were told that this is opened for races only. At the second water point our chains and derailleurs got a much needed rinse and were re-lubed and we were on our way again. At the race briefing the previous night Pax, the race organiser, told us that after this water point we should expect a climb – which he described as a “gentle slope”. This climb was, however, anything but gentle. Luckily though, after that the stage was pretty much and flats decent, with the most fun Enduro section in between, as we raced to the finish.
Photo by: Julie Ann Hoffman.
We, unexpectedly, managed to cross the finish line in first place for the ladies teams. I then caught a shuttle back to the start to fetch our car and came back to for lunch, which was a build your our own burger affair.
Stage 1 of the RECM Knysna 200 must’ve been one of the most beautiful routes I have ever ridden and cannot wait to see what Stage 2 holds in store.
