Muddy hell - Babba's Lodge - 20 Feb 2011

As part of our preparation for the Argus MTB on 6 March 2011 I rode the first race of the Big 5 Bio Anabolics MTB Super Series at Babas Lodge on Sunday. By this time Adel was already in Poland on business and I took on the challenge by myself. This was only the second race ever that I would ride solo, so I was ready to give the legs a thorough test just a week after I got back onto the bike after an annoying and untimely summer cold. Coming in in the top 30% of the field wasn’t a terrible result but I was still fairly disappointed with the time. Under the circumstances though, I couldn’t realistically have asked for better.

The morning started with a message from our good mate, Ernst, saying that he doesn’t feel well and will not be riding. Now, we all know this tactic and use it incessantly. Let’s face it, when that alarm sounds on a Sunday morning the motivation levels are not at their peak and the “just one more” phrase, so effortlessly spoken the night before, now rings in your head like the unrelenting siren of an ice cream truck. It’s then when your phone is only an arm’s length away and another few hours of a sleep a mere wiggle of your thumb. Off course, you’re hoping that the sentiment is shared by the rest of the group and that the replies confirm your fate of another couple of hours in your sheeted nirvana. Unfortunately for Ernst this was not the case as my reply was only “I’m still riding. Get well soon” read “You’re missing out. Stop being a girl”. Ten minutes later Ernst had miraculously recovered and was again ready to make some chain rings howl!

Ernst, miraculously cured!

Just after 6h30 Ernst, Gerald and I hit the road en route to our first MTB race of the year. Babba's Lodge is situated about 30 minutes north of Pretoria in Bultfontein and hosts a mountain bike series with monthly races. We’ve been doing these races for the last two years and are always keen to do another one. These races are not overly technical and consist mainly of flowing Jeep track in the lush bushveld with some sandy patches here and there. With no major climbs or obstacles the race provides more experienced MTB’ers the opportunity to really put the hammer down whilst novices are eased into the potentially cruel world of mountain biking. It’s only later that we found out that the flowing jeep track wouldn’t be as flowing as we expected.

With the sun already giving us a glimpse of things to come at this early hour of the morning I was hit by a blinding realisation, (which is the worst kind of realisation to get behind the wheel...) I forgot my water bottles at home. This was the first reminder that I’d be rolling solo as Adel would’ve remembered it. Luckily Gerald had one extra bottle and with one water point en route I would at least survive. We were also surprised by the vast number of riders that were there for the race. After a 20 minute wait at number collection we were finally ready to roll! Well, almost... a pep talk as helpful as a doughnut hole by the organisers and another 20 minute wait later we were off.

The view from our starting point to the front of the field. There were even more riders behind us.

The excitement didn’t last too long as we hit some congestion 200 meters in at the first water crossing costing us a minute or two. This and a dropped chain later in the race being the only real delays I experienced. From here on I piled on the pace and got the big chainring to put some back into it. The first 13kms flew by as I pushed hard, however, I was a little concerned as I spiked my heart rate early in the race hoping to recover later on but at this stage had not yet stopped pushing. My heart rate was soaring but the legs still felt good so I kept on pushing. If I were to bonk 20kms in because I kept running at 95% of my max heart rate at least I would know how long I could sustain such a high heart rate. I’ve learned over time that my heart runs quite high and have even had my doctor perform an EKG to test my heart. It seems as if my heart just likes pumping... :-)

Me! Ready to roll!

I later stuck with a group of four riders which helped to keep the pace fast but consistent but lost them at the first water point as I had to stop to refuel and they carried on. Up to this point I was flying but this is where my race was turned on it’s head. The middle part of the race is the more difficult part where you encounter a less smooth road surface and a gradual drag to the top of the hill. This section of about 8 kms (give or take a few) usually brings the average speed down and, even though it is not a real climb, can really hurt the legs due to the constant drag, especially if you were giving it everything in the first part of the race. Today, however, things were different...

The summer of 2010/2011 has been characterised by one thing, and one thing only; rain... Lots and lots of rain. Traffic reports were littered with flood warnings and accidents caused by wet conditions. Yet, you somehow forget about these things when you’re on your bike in the bushveld on a sunny day leaving you completely unprepared for what was about to follow. I expected it to be wet but I was not prepared for the marshland that was about to devour my legs. My dilemma was not just the mud, it was that the mud was ankle deep and in some sections almost knee deep. It was also not just muddy in the dips but also on the uphill sections. To top it all off I was riding on race orientated tires which are not just thinner, but also has considerably less tread than normal MTB tires. Therefore, traction and control was a major issue for me and had me pushing my bike in sections where I needed to be riding. As luck would have it this was also my first race with my new Sidi MTB shoes leaving me cringing every time I had to set a foot in the mud. But I’m not complaining, that’s all part and parcel of mountain biking.

Gerald showing off his muddy legs after the race.

The muddy sections really hurt my time and brought my average speed down considerably. My heart rate was still sky high as the middle section of the race had no place for recovery, where it was dry I went as fast as I could to lift my average speed and where it was muddy I got through it as fast as I could. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that I was going fast I sure did put in a lot of effort! I had 10 kms to go and wasn’t going to stop pushing now, especially after what I just went through. I needed to salvage whatever hopes of a good time I had left by pushing onto the finishing line.

The end of the muddy section ended with a one of the more technical rocky hills that we’ve gotten to know over the years as the end of the long drag. We usually headed straight over this hill but for this race the route was changed and we veered off to the left into a long, fast and flowing singletrack that took us to the edge of the reserve. After the singletrack we got back onto the smooth jeep track and I pushed on back to the tar road, by now knowing that my time that I had hoped for was out of reach. I don’t look at my timer during the course of a race ever, but I just knew, I could feel the damage that muddy sections had done. Just before the end of the race, with about 2 kms to go, there is a 1.5 km tar section. When you hit the tar you know the race is done and dusted. My legs were feeling it and I had just enough left to grab onto another rider’s wheel and sit in his slipstream to the end of the race. I finished the 35km race in a time of 1 hour 51 minutes, more than 10 minutes slower than what I had hoped for but a good effort none the less due to the muddy conditions. Ernst, came in 6 minutes before me and Gerald finished with a time of 2:27 after suffering 3 punctures.

My average heart rate for the entire race was 185 beats per minute which is sky high, but it was encouraging to see that I could sustain such a high heart rate for almost two hours. My heart peaked at 199, which is also a few beats per minute higher than usual. Seeing that I just came off of a bout of flu this was expected. Fitness is measured through recovery which is something I just didn’t do throughout the race. You need to allow yourself to recover by getting into a comfortable constant pace but if you are getting out of the saddle after every turn and constantly pushing harder you are not allowing your heart to recover. Therefore, I am not too fazed by the high heart rate as it correlates to the way that I raced and all the other factors that played a part in how the race panned out for me. Ultimately, this was just a training ride for the Argus.

We ended the day’s events with a braai and a swim at Gerald’s place after which a Sunday afternoon nap was in order. I just can’t help but be grateful for another awesome day out riding my bike with good friends, even though I really missed the other half of the formidable Team DnA. Next week Tuesday we’re departing for our annual trip to Cape Town to compete in the Pick n Pay Argus MTB Challenge that will once again see Team DnA killing it on the slopes of the Simonsberg. What an awesome day we had in preparation for the big one! Thank you to the organisers and everyone that played a role in once again making this a great event!


Hou by die Blou,
DnA