When I woke up without my alarm having gone off, I was quite surprised that it was the exact time for me to get up. I prepared my race drinks and ate a wholesome breakfast. It was the second time this year that I had a race close to home which meant that it was easier to prepare breakfast and I enjoyed taking my time to do it. What is also nice about racing in my valley is that my body is used to the temperature and that I know the forests in the area.
We headed off to Karkloof Falls, the venue of the race. By the time we got there, I immediately had to get onto my bike to warm up. The road was perfect and I could do all my little sprints. I saw
Alex Baker-(
Team OMC) and
Kyle Dorkin-(
Ellsworth-SA Team) and knew it was going to be a tough race out on the fantastic track set out by Nick Floros!
I got a second row start and was really happy with that. The whistle went and off we went! I caught up with Kyle, Alex and Richardt up the first hill. Going into the first section of single track I was lying 3rd with Richardt just behind me. I managed to stay there for half a lap before Richardt overtook me. Down the single track before the feed zone I passed Richardt. I went underneath the start finish banner in 2nd place, surprised that Kyle had stopped for a mechanical. However, it wasn't long before Kyle was ahead of us all again. Richardt, Patrick and I formed a chasing group on the 2nd lap, but halfway through things went bad. I went over the handlebar and Patrick and Richart passed me. Not long after this I had a massive crash about 700 metres further in some single track.
Unfortunately the race was over for me... If it wasn't for other riders, such as Evan van der Spuy, telling the medics that I had wiped out, I would probably not be writing this post. After some x-rays and bandages the results came, nothing broken! I was so happy and knew that it was by the grace of God that there were no broken bones- only some bruised ribs, a forearm with some deep cuts and a physically drained body.
It felt as if I had done a Cape Epic in one day (well, what I think it would feel like after 9 days), but in reality I had only done 1,5laps of a XC race.
A big thank you to the paramedics and my team for their support and helping me!
Till next time.
BMCkid
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