Trans Baviaans 2015

Since inception the Trans Baviaans used the slogan "The longest single stage MTB event in the world!". But then the Trans Karoo (240km) and 36One (361km!)  joined the cycling calender and the organisers Ecobound were forced to come up with a less measurable but equally impressive catch phrase - so they settled on

"The toughest single stage MTB event in the world!".

I am not convinced that claim is 100% true, but it is as far as I know the most popular long distance mtb event on the calendar with people from all over the country flocking to Willowmore to do the annual 230km ride to Jeffreys through the beautiful Baviaanskloof.

This year it was my turn to give this ride a go and I teamed up with my old W2W-partner, Dewald for the 2015 event.

However, my post-Sani winter training program would qualify for a thesis on how not to prepare for an ultra distance cycling event, as I stumbled from one mishap to the next, with rain, flu, cold, holidays, darkness & work  all conspiring to keep me off the bike. Then the last few weeks when the well prepared riders were tapering, I was piling on the kilometers in a desperate bid to make up lost fitness.

My teammate Dewald, not only a talented cyclist also prepared properly and probably would have finished in 10 hours on a good day. I on the other hand were better prepared for a social pace and was happy to spend 14 hours on the bike if necessary. So we compromised and aimed for 12 hours, about halfway between a social and a racing snake pace.

The odd town of Willowmore

On Friday, Dewald & I + my parents as backup team made the long drive to the small town of Willowmore, which was swamped by excited & nervous cyclists when we got there. We quickly registered and then made our way to the even smaller town of Steytlerville as every bed in a 80km radius around Willowmore was already taken.

Preparing for the big day ahead

After an uneventful night we made the return trip to Willowmore on Saturday morning. The race starts quite late so it is a relaxed preparation in the streets of Willowmore with the 100's of other riders and then at 10h00 all 1215 of us were off in one big batch from the front of the town hall.

Still smiling

The first 100km up to checkpoint 2 is easy going, a few easy climbs at the start and then the entrance into the Baviaanskloof was flat & fast with a nice tailwind to push us along. Most of the time I was sitting in Dewald's slip to conserve energy, but a bit worryingly my heart rate was close to 90% of max and I vaguely recalled reading somewhere that running a heart rate that high early into a ultra distance event is not a good idea.

We skipped the first checkpoint at 50km. By now the valley got narrower and the mountains higher but the road was still wide & downhill and the pace was fast & furious. About 70km into the race we caught up with a big group and I incorrectly assumed that riding with the group would ease up the effort a bit. It was still fast going and I was a bit nervous  riding in big groups at 30km/h+  after my Karoo2Coast experience, but we reached Checkpoint 2 at Geelhoutbos without incident.

At Geelhoutbos we refilled the bottles and immediately afterwards the climbing started, the big group of which we were part were now scattered with everyone climbing at their own pace. The first big climb of the day was called Baviaans Back. I was still feeling strong at this stage and could almost keep up with Dewald up the long climb.

It was a quick descent on the other side down to Checkpoint 3 where we again filled water bottles and the toughest section of the day started with a long water crossing. At this point I was starting to take strain and with every climb I would make Dewald wait a bit longer at the top.

Look at the pretty mountains!

After about 5h30m we reached the big climb of the day called MAC (Mother of All Climbs), by now I was paying the price of the high pace earlier the day but luckily MAC is not that steep and I settled into a steady pace, even managing to pass a few riders among the way and not get passed by too many others. Once you "crest" the steep part of MAC you still have to negotiate a flattish uphill for a few kilo's more until you get to the Bergplaas checkpoint. And it is here, about 500m before Bergplaas with the checkpoint in sight  where my exertions of earlier the day finally caught up with me.

Once second I was day dreaming about all the refreshments up ahead the next I was flat on my back, dizzy and vicious cramps jumping through my legs. I remember thinking, "Less than 100km to go with more than 17 hours to do it but I can't move 1 meter!". After about 10 minutes my head cleared and the cramps subsided, I slowly spinned to the Bergplaas turn-off, only for the 2nd coming of the cramps, this time even worse. I stood helplessly next to the road in pain looking enviously at all the people pedalling so effortlessly past me. Eventually the cramps subsided again and I walked the last few meters to the checkpoint. Lots of soup & bread & Energade later, life returned to my legs. I knew it was now mostly downhill to the next checkpoint and decided that if I can make it to there, our support team can take me to Jeffreys & we can all cheer Dewald together when he finishes.

So after about 50 minutes after the first cramp, we finally left Bergplaas and made our way down Combrink's pass. The majority of Trans Baviaans riders have to negotiate this treacherous descent at night, but luckily for us it was still daylight. After the descent I started to feel stronger although not quite prepared to test the strength of my legs on the short climbs, preferring to gear down to granny to avoid another potential ambush from the cramps. Darkness crept up on us and by the time we reached Checkpoint 5 at Komdomo it was pitch dark in the Baviaans valley.

Tired riders arriving at Komdomo

Komdomo had a church bazaar atmosphere with braais, tents, food stalls, music pumping & lots of people on white plastic chairs. Our support team had a bit of a mission getting into Komdomo as it is the first checkpoint where supporters could meet up with the riders so just about every support vehicle is waiting there for their riders to come in. With a bit of luck our support found us just as we came in and it was nice seeing familiar faces in the dark. At this stage we were just behind the 100th team and still in the running for a Sub-12 time.

By now my strength had returned which was a good thing because shortly after the checkpoint the climbing starts again. I somehow imagined Jeffreys to be below Baviaanskloof, but this appropriately called "Neverender" makes you climb for another hour before you can start thinking about descending down to the sea. Luckily it is not steep and the cramps stayed away and eventually we were descending down to Suurbron, the last checkpoint of the day.

By now we were not really in contention for a Top 100 position nor a Sub-12 position anymore but we knew the worst was over and now it was only an easy 20km stretch to Jeffreys & a Spur burger ahead. For the most part it was easy going but once you get into Jeffreys there is one final stretch of unnecessary neverending single track next to the railway tracks taking you to the finish at the mall. After 12 hours and 225km in the saddle, bumping around on bad singletrack is just not fun.

Relieved to be finished!

Finally, after 12h14m and in 116th position, we reached the finish line, our support team and a well deserved Spur Burger. My cramping earlier the day cost us a Sub-12 finish but given how bad I felt at Bergplaas it's a minor miracle I was able to finish!

I now understand why Trans Baviaans is such a popular race, beautiful scenery, great vibe, some tough sections but interspersed by easier sections which make the race doable for the average (not quite fit enough) rider. I will definitely be back for more, hopefully better prepared next time.


Next up, another Ecobound event - my second stab at the Hell & Back!