RECM Knysna 200

Back in the good old days when the Cape Epic was still affordable, it started out in Knysna, traversed the South-western Cape to finish in Lourensford, Somerset West. Then it was decided that the Cape Epic entrants prefer to ride in circles and Knysna was dropped from the itinerary (the Epic now starts in Cape Town). Left out in the cold the people of Knysna decided to host their own stage races and thus the slightly easier Knysna 200 and the tougher Knysna 300 were born.

The Knysna 200's marketing philosophy is "want to enjoy all the benefits offered by stage racing, but don't want to die en route doing so?" and this fitted very well with my my idea of an easy finish to the autumn before a long winter break from cycling.


Day 1 - Knysna Elephant Park to Knysna. 75km 1,500m ascent - "Mud, oh glorious mud!"

The morning of the race I had my first look at the distance & route profile and suddenly realised that this is slightly tougher than marketing slogan had led me to believe and lining up at the start felt more than a little undercooked. There was no seeding so I just lined up roughly in the middle of the field and decided to take the first few kilometers easy and first make a proper assessment of the difficulty!

At 8h00 we were off and immediately there were mud, mud, mud everywhere. Every muddy section basically gave you 3 options, A) you can either ride through the pool murky water in the middle of the track and hope there are no hidden horrors. B) you can ride through the muck next to the pool, then you at least know how much mud will stick to your bike and sometimes you have option C) ride next to the road to avoid the mud & water and hope the grass/bushes is not just another camouflaged pool of mud.

Within a few kilometers my bike was noisily screeching mud with every pedal push but by some miracle the brakes and drivetrain were holding out. My initial assessment was that the "dangerous downhills" we were warned against in the pre-race briefing were quite within my limited abilities, the climbs were not that steep and as the field spreaded a bit (as well as the intervals between mud and more mud) by now I settled into a easy rhythm and and soon were passing a number of slower riders.

Working my way through the field.

After a few kilometers the serious climbing started and after the first waterpoint we crossed into beautiful indigenous forests for even more climbing, Enjoying the climbs I was steadily working my way through the field and all was going well except for an embarrassing slip & fall on a steep muddy downhill right in front of a girl that had the sense to take the save option of walking.



After about 55km most of the climbing were done and the stage finished with some fast downhills through pine plantations, concluding with a long downhill past the Concordia informal settlement into the Knysna Waterfront.

The mud and the climbs combined to make an unexpectedly tough day for the riders so I was very happy to finish among the first 50 riders (especially after my slow start) meaning I was seeded for the next day, avoiding the need to pitch up early to avoid being stuck behind backmarkers.

Day 2 - Rheenendal to Knysna, 69km 1,400m ascent - "The Alpine Stage"

Even though the second day were 8km shorter than the first, it had about the same amount of climbing the bulk of which were in the first 30km of the stage making it arguably a tougher stage.

The only climb I walked, promise!

Within a few 100 meters of the start the climbing started, the pro's quickly pulled away from the rest of us, I was riding some among the first 30 riders and my cold legs were complaining bitterly about not warming up and not having rested properly from the previous day. However after a few kilometers the legs warmed up and we were climbing forestry roads up in the mountains, long climbs interspersed with fast downhills through pine plantations.

There were a lot less mud than the day before and somewhere I passed the leading ladies and must have been in the top 20 riding strongly. Next up was the highlight of my race, an enduro section through indigenous Homtini forest. A fast easy downhill singeltrack with gradual turns awaited, meaning speeds of 40km/h + through the dense forest. Best way to describe it is a roller coaster ride!

We exited the forest close to where we started the morning and now we were on wide open gravel roads which I thought would suit the roadie inside me! I noticed that my one bottle cage was rattling, briefly considered just dropping the thing next to the road  but in the end decided to stop and tighten the bottle cage, what I did not notice was the big group of about 15 riders creeping up on me (including the leading ladies) and the few seconds I stopped I instantly dropped 15 places and suddenly had the near impossible task of catching the large group working together on the open roads!


I was joined by another rider and we worked well together, but we were not gaining on the bunch, I knew there was a last bit of technical downhill singletrack down Phantom pass onto the Knysna lakes and was hoping this would slow the group down a bit (Note - definition of optimism - me catching people on technical sections ), but alas, there was no catching them and I had to slog the section next to the N2 past the Knysna lakes onto the finish on my own.

Again I finished among the first 50 riders, I was a bit disappointed that I had nothing to show for my supposed roadie prowess except dropped places on open roads but all in all it was a magical day on the mtb!

Day 3 - Harkerville to Knysna, 60km, 900m ascent - "Fast and Furious"

Finally, a stage that in my opinion fitted in with the marketing philosphy of this race! Fast riding through forests and no major climbs. We started of at Harkerville, from the start the pace was fast & furious, there were only minor climbs but long fast downhills. The field spreaded quickly and soon I was riding with 3 teams which would for the most of the day the only riders I would see.

Rider(not me) showing  how to descent!

I was going as hard as I can to keep up with the other 3 teams when suddenly my chain dropped and I had to stop to get it back on, quickly got back onto my bike but now I was playing catch-up with those 3 teams riding a minute or so ahead of me, luckily nobody behind me caught up.

Finally managed to caught them in the indigenous Harkerville forests on a technical climb, only for my chain to drop off again at the next downhill, 3 days of mud was starting to take it's toll on my bike! Again managed to work my way within touching distance, only for my chain to drop off again at the next downhill...

Enduro finish - again not me..

All too quickly we were on to the last climb of the day and just as I was within reach of the 2 teams we reached the fast enduro section on top! I took the bumpy downhill a bit careful (not wanting to drop my chain of course...) and when we reached the bottom at the outskirts of Knysna my old adversaries were a minute or so ahead of me. Again my overhyped roadie skills disappointed as I lost time to them over the last few flat kilometers along the eastern side of Knysna lake.

I finished the stage in 2h48m and overall in 32nd place and 17th in my category, with which I was pretty happy.

Knysna is mtb heaven and I will definitely be back, next up is the Karoo2Coast in September, other than the Attakwas this is the only big one day mtb race in the Western Cape that I still haven't done.