OX
Pack Dog
In 2002 , I entered this mammoth race , due to in experience and a lack of knowledge of the terrain I de hydrated coming down slide ur ass and actually parked my bike and slept under a tree for a few hours till I was able to carry on to the tar road and ride home.
In 2003 I approached the task differently, I trained for 4 months , in the gym every day , no drinking , riding as much as possible and I made it to the finish line. The distance of that year?s race was just short of 1000 kms.
Since then due to various reasons I hadn?t been able to compete. This year, about 5 weeks before the race I was granted leave to compete again. I stopped drinking immediately and hit the gym hard.
The day finally arrived to leave for the mountain kingdom and the trip down there was fairly uneventful.
We stopped in Clocolan to fill up the fuel drums spending about R1000 on fuel for the bike.
Documentation and scrutinizing was as usual a pain in the ass in the 38 degree heat , having to wait in que a for over an hour to get the bike checked. As usual they have 2 marshal?s to check over 300 bikes and quads. After all that we were on the way to Roma where we were staying for the weekend.
we unpacked the bike and waited for the rest of the guys to arrive.
My friend Jason has messed up his back the day be fore so need a little help from his good friend Mr Vol Taren.
That evening we all retired early in order to get a good spot at round the houses.
The concecutave number happened by chance!!!
Round the houses started for us (the open class ) at about 11h30 , so we had a long wait.
but finally it got under way and was fairly unevent full
so much can go wrong screaming down a tar road at max speed , so I just chilled out.
From there it was a 20 km ride on the tar to the beginning of the time trial .
The TT was a very fast , very dangerous affaire.
after the refuel at about the 40 km mark I had my clocks reset coming over a rise at high speed there was an irrigation ditch which I hit at full pace I was in the air doing a hand stand on my bike and just holding on for the best, luckily it all came right and I landed with a huge wobble. And slowed down for the rest of the route.
Below is the refuel on the TT
from the end of the TT we loaded the scooter and headed back to the house to prep the bike , change the rear tyre and get to bed early.
Early to bed for the 03h45 wake up time.
Friday say us arrive at the start/finish at about 5h30 , get the bikes into the " Impound " before 6 only to be told that the timing form the TT was a huge $%^& up and the start was to be delayed by 1 hour .
After starting very late the day finally set in. It was a very long day, the first major climb was called Stassens staircase, which was very congested, its amazing has many riders are very fast in the open stuff but cant do a simple technical climb !!!
After this was road section to the refuel at Malealea , from there a de control section to Ribineng before attacking the long slide section. From the bottom of this section to the bottom of baboons which was bout 5 hours riding there was not 1 marshal.
I got into the DSP just after 3 pm , very stuffed and hoping that the black neck section had been cut out , my prayers had been answered. From there it was about 60 kms to the end of the day. The last section is a real bastard considering you have been on the bike for 9 or so hrs.
So down AK and to the end just before sunset. Total time in saddle somewhere around 10 hours and kms about 270
Back to the house to recover and get to bed early.
The next morning was much better as the donkeys back had been broken , we knew the route was shorter and we started on time at 6 am.
The day went off fine as a lot of guys had fallen out and the race fever had subsided. We were also going to be in the DSP twice which is awesome , you get a few minutes to chill out and replenish liquid?s etc.
The black neck section is long and luckily the rain stayed away.
From the end of black neck it was back into the DSP then the last nasty bit back to the finish line.
A hug thanks must go to my main man Marnus , this guy followed me around for 4 days doing what ever I asked, making my Cytomax , carbshake , changing wheels , washing bikes , with out him I would certainly not been able to finish . Then to the guys that gave financial support , Trevor Frost, Richard Benningfield , thanks guys your help was really appriciated. My Mom Jenny and sister Lindy , sorry I arrived lated on Friday , I will try go faster next year. Thansk also to Jason Kozinsky , my best man , it was a pleasure riding some sections with you !!
In 2003 I approached the task differently, I trained for 4 months , in the gym every day , no drinking , riding as much as possible and I made it to the finish line. The distance of that year?s race was just short of 1000 kms.
Since then due to various reasons I hadn?t been able to compete. This year, about 5 weeks before the race I was granted leave to compete again. I stopped drinking immediately and hit the gym hard.
The day finally arrived to leave for the mountain kingdom and the trip down there was fairly uneventful.
We stopped in Clocolan to fill up the fuel drums spending about R1000 on fuel for the bike.
Documentation and scrutinizing was as usual a pain in the ass in the 38 degree heat , having to wait in que a for over an hour to get the bike checked. As usual they have 2 marshal?s to check over 300 bikes and quads. After all that we were on the way to Roma where we were staying for the weekend.
we unpacked the bike and waited for the rest of the guys to arrive.
My friend Jason has messed up his back the day be fore so need a little help from his good friend Mr Vol Taren.
That evening we all retired early in order to get a good spot at round the houses.
The concecutave number happened by chance!!!
Round the houses started for us (the open class ) at about 11h30 , so we had a long wait.
but finally it got under way and was fairly unevent full
so much can go wrong screaming down a tar road at max speed , so I just chilled out.
From there it was a 20 km ride on the tar to the beginning of the time trial .
The TT was a very fast , very dangerous affaire.
after the refuel at about the 40 km mark I had my clocks reset coming over a rise at high speed there was an irrigation ditch which I hit at full pace I was in the air doing a hand stand on my bike and just holding on for the best, luckily it all came right and I landed with a huge wobble. And slowed down for the rest of the route.
Below is the refuel on the TT
from the end of the TT we loaded the scooter and headed back to the house to prep the bike , change the rear tyre and get to bed early.
Early to bed for the 03h45 wake up time.
Friday say us arrive at the start/finish at about 5h30 , get the bikes into the " Impound " before 6 only to be told that the timing form the TT was a huge $%^& up and the start was to be delayed by 1 hour .
After starting very late the day finally set in. It was a very long day, the first major climb was called Stassens staircase, which was very congested, its amazing has many riders are very fast in the open stuff but cant do a simple technical climb !!!
After this was road section to the refuel at Malealea , from there a de control section to Ribineng before attacking the long slide section. From the bottom of this section to the bottom of baboons which was bout 5 hours riding there was not 1 marshal.
I got into the DSP just after 3 pm , very stuffed and hoping that the black neck section had been cut out , my prayers had been answered. From there it was about 60 kms to the end of the day. The last section is a real bastard considering you have been on the bike for 9 or so hrs.
So down AK and to the end just before sunset. Total time in saddle somewhere around 10 hours and kms about 270
Back to the house to recover and get to bed early.
The next morning was much better as the donkeys back had been broken , we knew the route was shorter and we started on time at 6 am.
The day went off fine as a lot of guys had fallen out and the race fever had subsided. We were also going to be in the DSP twice which is awesome , you get a few minutes to chill out and replenish liquid?s etc.
The black neck section is long and luckily the rain stayed away.
From the end of black neck it was back into the DSP then the last nasty bit back to the finish line.
A hug thanks must go to my main man Marnus , this guy followed me around for 4 days doing what ever I asked, making my Cytomax , carbshake , changing wheels , washing bikes , with out him I would certainly not been able to finish . Then to the guys that gave financial support , Trevor Frost, Richard Benningfield , thanks guys your help was really appriciated. My Mom Jenny and sister Lindy , sorry I arrived lated on Friday , I will try go faster next year. Thansk also to Jason Kozinsky , my best man , it was a pleasure riding some sections with you !!
