Rooiberg- 4 June 2009

Rooiberg is a small town in the Waterberg area near Bela Bela (Warmbaths as we know it). All around a great experience being out of the city and having 2 days on the bike in the real bush veld. Day 1 was 75km and day 2 85km. The ride was interesting, testing and so much fun!

Interesting. These days you choose your equipment based on the ride- very rocky, your dual-suspension, and tires with more or less grip depending on whether it is rocky or muddy or sandy, etcetera. Well, the Rooiberg had something of everything! Quite challenging to make decisions on equipment… There were steep climbs, and even steeper descends- steep and rocky. Then in between the climbs was lots of loose sand. Another interesting part is that the veld caught fire about midway though day 1. Now rumor has it, that a cyclist paddle scraped a rock, which made a spark and set the entire veld alight. I arrived at the scene quite early and managed to pass through the catastrophe fire. Shortly after that, most cyclists were re-routed and got some form of distance discount.

Testing. Day 1 was shorter than day 2, which could be a psychological disadvantage if you think the worst is still to come, but to be honest day 1 had all the possible curve balls. There was 1450km of vertical climb on day 1, other to that 53km of purpose built single track. This tested mental and physical ability. I got a puncture on day 1, plugged bombed and took off but had to wait for some time on single track which had very little passing opportunity. Day 2 was slightly more relaxed with 1292m of vertical climb and way more jeep track. The first climb, with 7 switch backs came as soon as in 5km of start, now with tired legs from yesterday, it was testing…

Then fun. As mentioned, day 1 had 53km of single-track. Yes, as much as it takes a lot of concentration, you eventually get into a rhythm and it almost starts to feel like snow boarding (without snow). Day 2 gave you the opportunity to look up and admire the beautiful surrounds of the Waterberg mountains and the bush veld. Apparently there are hippos, crocodiles and rhino but fortunately I did not come across any of them.

All together, a great weekend race and I came 4^th in my category. Learnings from this race, you want to push hard to get a good position in the beginning, especially where there is single track involved where you can only ride in single file!