After reading Oupa’s report and seeing that he had to write one because he incurred penalties on the ride ,I felt compelled to also write one as I also failed badly at the 2009 Induna .
I think it would only be appropriate to start with the excuses . Well I only got one , I am unfit !!!! Trying to do the 75km Induna is not a very bright idea but I knew this even before I entered the race , but I just had to see the new single tracks and quad track they talked about so much . The only way to see them was to cycle to them . Me , Kevin , Thug and his son only arrived at the camping site at about 16:00 after we had to make a few stops . But we where still the first these and secured a nice spot for all the campers . The last to arrive was QT, Daleen and Clint at about 23:00 , by this time most of the camp was already sleeping . Next morning was the normal coffee , up-and-go and rusks before we left for the start at 7:30 . There was no real rush to get to the start and we did end up somewhere not to far from the back as per usual . The start was more or less on time and we slowly moved out towards the tar road to go and seek out the first big hill we could find . This hill came within the first kilometer , a bit early as I was not warmed up yet and still had some beers from the night before working its way up . The rest of the 75km D&D crowd pulled away from me on the uphill but I caught them again going downhill . The first 45km looked more or less the same as previous years and there were no real surprises . Nice single track with no congestion . Apparently we should find the photographers of this event as they took some nice photos of Hardy not making it up the slippery rock !! After crossing the swinging bridge at the 45/75 split I stopped for a smoke break and a bit to eat . Hardy , QT and Stealth caught up and we had a nice picnic at the water point . What came next is really still a bit painful for me , but those who have done the 75km before will know that it is not for the faint hearted . We actually all agreed after the race that there are more climbs this year than previous years . Anyway I still managed to slowly crawl up the first hill but after this thing started to come apart . Every little hill became an Everest and walking also became order of the day . And it’s at time like these that you really appreciate the friends that you have made over many years , and new ones as well !!! Hardy , QT and Stealth pushed and pulled me all over the place . Stealth actually pulled me up the one hill almost to the top and I had to let go because I could not hold on anymore . They fed me Gummy Berry juice and hydration concoctions , anything just to get and keep me going . The downhill sections were just awesome, not just normal smooth downhills but also no Monster type downhills . You had to be awake all the time to stay out of the erosion ruts and the odd rock lying around . To give you an idea just how fast these downhill’s was , I recorded 67kph at 64.3km mark and then hit 62 at the 68.8 mark . After one of these nosehair-curling downhill’s I slowed down at the next turn to check what happened to QT and the rest and there on my back wheel sat QT , all smiles !! The single track through the banana plantation was very interesting with huge bananas hanging from the trees knocking you all over the place . The quad trail was also very entertaining with fast sharp turns and overhanging branches that almost saw me hanging from a tree at one point . Ran into a family on their quads and they pulled over when I came flying past cheering as I went past . After many, many hours the 2km to go sign came up . Hell the end of the race was in sight , but not before another uphill , just to remind you that this is not a bowls event . I got a time of 06:38 on my GPS . Unfortunately we can not claim the last place as I got word that two more people crossed the finish line in the 07:30 mark . Once again the event , camping , people and weather did not let us down and a great time was had by most . ------------------------------------------- South Africas premier free email service - www.webmail.co.za ------------------------------------------------------------------ For super low premiums, click here http://home.webmail.co.za/dd.pwm --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DarkAndDirty" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/DarkAndDirty?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
