After a frustrating 3 months sidelined by injury I was itching to get going again.... amazing how you forget about the tough parts! It was off to Ladismith to take part in the well-known Seweweekspoort race - the verdict? Crumbs, it's a fast ride...



Pics in the gallery!

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It's unbelievably frustrating being held back by an injury whilst those around you are merrily going on rides and running on the mountain and just generally doing the things you miss most. With any luck, after an intense 3 months of rehab in the gym, I'll be bouncing back bigger, better and stronger than ever before - right? Wrong.

Without a doubt, Seweweekspoort was the worst race I've ever had, personally. It was nothing to do with the route - it's a great, hard, fast ride. But the problem was I just couldn't ride: there was no strength and after the 50km mark, bugger-all gas in the tank. That'll teach me for being so cocky as to think I was in good shape...

Still, it was great fun to be roadtripping again... despite the roadworks. We took the more scenic route, going via Tradouw's Pass and good ol' Ronnie's Sex Shop: great sunset, great vibes - it's all worth the effort! Arriving in Ladismith, we completed registration at the high school and then true to form, Nick managed to track down the nearest bar (the great big "Kroeg" signs everywhere were a helpful hint). After some chilling we headed out to the local backpackers to grab a beer and some chitchat with some mates. It never ceases to amaze me how some people can knock back vast quantities of booze the night before a race (they certainly were reeking of fumes at the start the next morning!) and then quite merrily hop onto their bikes.... nutters.




While the race itself finishes at the Ladismith High School, it starts about 25km away at Amalienstein, a fruit farm. Some people opted to cycle there as a "warm up" while the rest of us were bundled into the back of flatbed trucks for the slow, FREEZING cold, early morning trip. It was bloody cold at that hour of the day and it was only once the sun rose above the valley walls that any sort of warmth could be felt! Next time I think I'll opt to ride there, thank you very much!

In all, it's a relatively flat race (by mountain bike standards) but it's a damn fast one... going through the pass you only climb a total of 500m over the 18-odd kilometres before doing a loop around a small peak and then coming back down. After that it's a long series of ups and downs along the base of the mountain range back to Ladismith.

Riding down the pass, people were going hard and fast and it made for a rather unique mountain bike experience - group riding. It's rare to find terrain where it's possible to ride in a group and I've never been in that situation before but it's great to find yourself spinning along at speeds well over 30km an hour. Well, all was hunky-dory until two buggers decided to make a breakaway... and that was me finished! Lesson learned...



The speed of the race is reflected by the winning times - 2 hours 27 minutes for 78km of dirt road riding is NUTS! But other than that, it's a fairly "easy" race and is perfect for someone looking to do their first long mountain bike ride. Will I be back again? I reckon so... it's a good, hard sprint and it's possible to hit some insane speeds coming back down the pass!

Prize giving was entertaining, to say the least - this being in the Klein Karoo region, they're big on their ostrich. Anyway, some poor bugger had to wear this ostrich suit in the blazing heat as some sort of promotion. The kids LOVED it and took great delight in tormenting the poor chap non-stop (and that included trying to look up the suit to see who was in there). #23 on my list of jobs to avoid!



Where? Ladismith, out near Swellendam (NO, not Ladysmith in Natal!)
How much? Camping was R50 in the school grounds and race entry was something like R110, including a t-shirt.
Go again? Yeah, it's good riding, particularly if you're training

For more details visit: http://gardenroute.org/7weekspoort/
Results can be found here: http://gardenroute.org/7weekspoort/results/index.shtml

If you'd like to make any donations to Nick's "Buy-Me-A-Spare-Chain fund," give us a shout - he managed to break his chain, AGAIN! That's 3 this year...

ps. Forgive the relative lack of pictures: my camera's given up the ghost and there's no ways in hell I'm taking my new baby out on a race!

pps. Yep - this report's almost two months late... bite me.