Still in bulking phase (exam time, getting fat and unfit) I decided to take a break from the studies and let loose some stress by racing my favourite of the Nissan Trailseeker series… Van Gaalens!
The evening before was one of very little sleep; I was too excited, and on top of that, Pretoria experienced an intimidating thunderstorm. I wasn’t very keen on racing in mud but nevertheless, being mountain bikers, we went. On arriving there, there was no sign of the previous evening’s rain at all!
Summer is definitely approaching! There were excited vibes on the start line as we awaited the Van Gaalens challenge. By 8:30 all chaps on the start line had been complaining about the heat. We were in for a HOT race but without a doubt I knew it was going to be great fun!
The start of the race wasn’t extremely hard. I missed Dylan there. He usually gives races a proper start that causes the field to get split up very quickly. Someone had to do it so I took the opportunity. My team mate Jacques was up in front with me and together we dished out some pain on the flats leading up to the biggest climb for our race!
7km done and we hit “The Climb”. It started off with a steep cement jeep track followed by loose rocks zig-zagging upward. We were a group of chaps attacking it all at once and slowly, slowly… one by one… our legs got devoured. I had to dig deep to shake the USN rider of my wheel. Halfway up I got a burst of energy, most probably from the High5 Energy gel I took during the start of the race. That and having my double chain ring XTR did the trick, the Badger bit! I was in the lead and just had to keep it!
With having a lead… comes great responsibility… and concentration… and stress… and, and, and! I was worried. I had the lead but would I be able to keep it? I wasn’t feeling very strong at the time and I’ve only been relying on Saturday racing to keep fit for the last month and a half. Sadly I doubted myself. I just kept pushing as hard as possible to hopefully enlarge the gap as big as possible in case I were to “hit the wall” somewhere near the end and finish just in time!
Mistakes… I started making costly mistakes! With the worry and exerting myself I stopped concentrating. Overshooting corners, choosing ridicules lines, wasting time and energy I could use later on. I had to snap out of it, so I did.
On the flat farm roads I could feel the sun’s heat baking me from all directions. At that moment I took back my words not wanting any rain! I just sat tucked, battling the wind and put down the pedal as hard as possible. After passing the Epic Sports water point with their ballistic shouts, in last 10km of the race I FINALLY started to enjoy myself. Single track all the way to the finish! Forget concentration, have fun but at least be responsible (ha-ha). Just go with the flow! The Krrrrrr sound of my DT Swiss freewheel got me super excited!
It was like a never ending story being on my Pinarello. Although I prayed for “Cement hill” to end I wished that the river track I was on would never end! “We” were in our element. To our dismay the race ended … but in joy we ended the half marathon first overall and as the 1stjunior. My team mate Jacques came in a few minutes after me and got onto the podium with a well deserved 3rd overall and as 2nd junior.
It was a very successful weekend for the a[s]g MTB Academy! Podiums in EVERY race. The guys and girls did exceptionally well. Big thanks to the Epic Sports crew for the cheers, halfway tech support and bike wash and to the Academy as well! I’m Looking forward to the Spur/Anatomic schools finals this coming weekend. Going to be some tough racing.
Nicholas Popich
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