Day 1 Me and Flash with our partners arrived at Underberg School just in time to catch the last few minutes of race briefing . Undeterred by the rain we got our boxes and goodie bags and settled down for a few cold beers . It was very cold outside and the very first item to make its way out of the crate was the S2C jacket . After chatting to a few regulars and scouting the competition we headed back to our lodge for a nice supper and another few cold ones .
None of us really thought of bringing stuff like arm warmers or warm jackets and panic was about to set in when we discovered that we also got a long sleeve cycling shirt in the goodie bag . So we go to the start looking like a 4 man team with our nice new shirts . But getting to the start we see that there are a lot of other team mates with the same shirts all around . Me and my partner got into our starting group 20 minutes before our start and made a tactical decision to start on the right hand side of the road . Hopefully this will help us get closer to the front as we head down the district road as we all know that slower riders always keep left . Needless to say it helped nothing and we had to push and bully our way to get closer to the front . After about 5km we did manage to get to the front and we knew that the 10 minutes lead that the next group had on us would be sufficient to ensure we got open single tracks most of the way . But they changed the route a bit and we had to go through what I think must be a cattle feeding area . The mud looked very much like cow dung and also tasted a bit like grass . A few people decided this was an ideal spot to hop of the bikes and stand in the mud having a nice chat . Needless to say it did cause some congestion but we spotted this in time and just went straight through the farms yard . Although the mud was deeper on the route we took we did not have to get our shoes dirty . It felt like it took forever to get to that first single track but once we hit it I knew the fun has started . Going right would give you a smooth track with not a lot of roots or rocks while the left side had all the stuff roadies hates . So I took the left . Saying that is was slippery would be an understatement . Keeping the front wheel from not loosing traction was the name of the game , the rear just had to follow . Lots of brave souls went down on this first part and part of the challenge was to get over them without falling off yourself . At the meeting point on the other side of the single track section it sounded like a hen party . If I could measure the excitement on a Richter scale I am sure it would have measured around 8 . When we got to the bridge I was surprised to see that there was nobody else on it . This meant a smooth fast crossing as the bridge was stable and not bouncing up and down as it normally does when there are a few cyclists on it . A few long steep climb eventually got us to the first water point . a Lady jumps at me grabs my cycling glasses and runs of into the crowd , at first I was shocked that such a thing can happen in such a crowded place but since I could not see through them anyway did not really care to much . After a quick rinse of the bike and oil on the chain we had a few doughnuts and flapjacks . At this point the little thieve returned with my clean glasses and handed them back to me . Lots of single track and mud later we filled up at the second water point and decided to make a run for home . It was getting colder and we wanted to get into our warm S2C jackets and have a nice meal . After about 5:11 we cruised over the finish line for day one . A quick shower , lunch and off to the pub I went . My partner felt like an afternoon nap so I got myself a nice spot on the veranda out of the rain sipping on a few cold ones . That evening at race briefing we got the terrible news that Nick’s pass will be closed because of the continues rain . There will also be no seeding the next day and it will be a mass start . I was very, very disappointed and started drinking again . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ South Africa's 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.
