For the average mountain biker fixing a puncture is simply a matter of ‘doing what comes naturally’, while a road cyclist who punctures only has to raise a hand to ask for help. Nine times out of ten, a team car will pull up alongside the cyclist within a few seconds and a mechanic will jump out to fix the puncture.
In view of this, funny things can happen when a road cyclist decides to get ‘down and dirty’ by participating in a mountain bike race and then punctures during the race.
Cherise Taylor (Nashua), the South African road champion, can vouch for this after this past weekend’s Karkloof marathon in KwaZulu-Natal.
Her race began quite comfortably. She actually surprised everybody when, after the first few kilometers, she became involved in, and survived, a tactical battle with Carla Rowley and Karien van Jaarsveld (Nashua) for the third place.
Yolandé Speedy and Mariska Strauss (both MTN-Energade) continued their dominance in local mountain bike races by not wasting any time to ride away from everybody else.
In what certainly was a first for Taylor, she managed to open a slight gap during one of the technical sections to progress to the third place. But this small victory quickly turned into a comedy of errors the moment she punctured.
“Luckily another rider stopped to try and help me. At first we tried to plug the puncture but we did not succeed. The problem was that the guy who tried to help me, was also a roadie. Next we tried to ‘CO2 bomb’ it but we were unable to open the ‘CO2 bomb’. I then borrowed a ‘CO2 bomb’ from another rider, but still my problems continued.
“The ‘CO2 bomb’ got stuck because it froze onto the valve. We, mostly roadies, then had to wait for it to melt down. It was quite funny because my helpers and I all ended up sitting on the ground, trying to fix the puncture. Eventually we succeeded.”
But this was not the end of her problems. Just when Taylor managed to get into a nice rhythm again, she punctured for a second time and was again brought to a halt. She again had to beg other riders to lend her a tube.
Burry Stander (Specialized/MR Price), Taylor’s biggest fan for the past few years, was apparently quite excited afterwards when he was told about Taylor’s puncturing problems.
He reasoned that the only way to puncture during a race, is to ride really fast. This means that, by puncturing, Taylor has proven that she is actually becoming a true mountain biker.
Taylor was also all smiles about her racing experience afterwards.
“I really enjoyed myself out there. I could ride most of the technical sections without once taking a tumble. My biggest scare occurred while I was racing just behind Carla (Rowley). I was so busy watching her wheel that I did not really look where we were going.
“The next moment I found myself on the ‘Super Tube’. It is a section of the route where you first race down a steep descent on a very slippery road. Immediately afterwards you are faced with an extremely tough climb. I was racing downwards before I realized what was happening. When I looked up and saw the climb ahead of me, I got such a fright that I pulled my breaks. This turned out to be a big mistake because at that stage I was halfway up, but pulling the breaks made me slide down all the way to the bottom.”
According to Taylor it will still take some time before she wins a major mountain bike race.
“In my eyes Yolandé and Mariska are, at the moment, super human beings when it comes to mountain biking. I cannot see myself beating them in the foreseeable future, but after Karkloof I know that a podium finish in a mountain bike race is not an unrealistic goal.
Taylor flies to Italy on Monday where she will compete in the Italian version of the Argus Tour.
Van Jaarsveld finished 4th in the cross-country race which took place the day before the marathon.
She admits that, with hindsight, it might have been a mistake to race the cross-country and marathon in two consecutive days.
“I definitely did not have the best pair of legs during the marathon. But I am not complaining, because being able to compete in the Karkloof was certainly one of my best cycling experiences ever.
“There is only one word that can describe the single-track sections at Karkloof and that is the word ‘amazing’. It is like riding a never ending super tube.
“One of the sections of the cross-country track is called the ‘Soul Fly’. It is very descriptive because when you are riding it, it really feels as if your soul is flying into a fantasy world - something like a TV game.”
In view of this, funny things can happen when a road cyclist decides to get ‘down and dirty’ by participating in a mountain bike race and then punctures during the race.
Cherise Taylor (Nashua), the South African road champion, can vouch for this after this past weekend’s Karkloof marathon in KwaZulu-Natal.
Her race began quite comfortably. She actually surprised everybody when, after the first few kilometers, she became involved in, and survived, a tactical battle with Carla Rowley and Karien van Jaarsveld (Nashua) for the third place.
Yolandé Speedy and Mariska Strauss (both MTN-Energade) continued their dominance in local mountain bike races by not wasting any time to ride away from everybody else.
In what certainly was a first for Taylor, she managed to open a slight gap during one of the technical sections to progress to the third place. But this small victory quickly turned into a comedy of errors the moment she punctured.
“Luckily another rider stopped to try and help me. At first we tried to plug the puncture but we did not succeed. The problem was that the guy who tried to help me, was also a roadie. Next we tried to ‘CO2 bomb’ it but we were unable to open the ‘CO2 bomb’. I then borrowed a ‘CO2 bomb’ from another rider, but still my problems continued.
“The ‘CO2 bomb’ got stuck because it froze onto the valve. We, mostly roadies, then had to wait for it to melt down. It was quite funny because my helpers and I all ended up sitting on the ground, trying to fix the puncture. Eventually we succeeded.”
But this was not the end of her problems. Just when Taylor managed to get into a nice rhythm again, she punctured for a second time and was again brought to a halt. She again had to beg other riders to lend her a tube.
Burry Stander (Specialized/MR Price), Taylor’s biggest fan for the past few years, was apparently quite excited afterwards when he was told about Taylor’s puncturing problems.
He reasoned that the only way to puncture during a race, is to ride really fast. This means that, by puncturing, Taylor has proven that she is actually becoming a true mountain biker.
Taylor was also all smiles about her racing experience afterwards.
“I really enjoyed myself out there. I could ride most of the technical sections without once taking a tumble. My biggest scare occurred while I was racing just behind Carla (Rowley). I was so busy watching her wheel that I did not really look where we were going.
“The next moment I found myself on the ‘Super Tube’. It is a section of the route where you first race down a steep descent on a very slippery road. Immediately afterwards you are faced with an extremely tough climb. I was racing downwards before I realized what was happening. When I looked up and saw the climb ahead of me, I got such a fright that I pulled my breaks. This turned out to be a big mistake because at that stage I was halfway up, but pulling the breaks made me slide down all the way to the bottom.”
According to Taylor it will still take some time before she wins a major mountain bike race.
“In my eyes Yolandé and Mariska are, at the moment, super human beings when it comes to mountain biking. I cannot see myself beating them in the foreseeable future, but after Karkloof I know that a podium finish in a mountain bike race is not an unrealistic goal.
Taylor flies to Italy on Monday where she will compete in the Italian version of the Argus Tour.
Van Jaarsveld finished 4th in the cross-country race which took place the day before the marathon.
She admits that, with hindsight, it might have been a mistake to race the cross-country and marathon in two consecutive days.
“I definitely did not have the best pair of legs during the marathon. But I am not complaining, because being able to compete in the Karkloof was certainly one of my best cycling experiences ever.
“There is only one word that can describe the single-track sections at Karkloof and that is the word ‘amazing’. It is like riding a never ending super tube.
“One of the sections of the cross-country track is called the ‘Soul Fly’. It is very descriptive because when you are riding it, it really feels as if your soul is flying into a fantasy world - something like a TV game.”
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