Namaqua Quest 2016

A race very different to the usual Sani2C and Wines2Whales, on a terrain different to the rocky cape trails & mountains I'm used to. The Namaqua Quest 3 day stage race hosted at Jakkalswater near Nababeep (close to Springbok for those who have never heard of the place called Nababeep).

On Wednesday 30 August I made the 560km trip up from Durbanville to Nababeep, weather was cloudy & windy - far from ideal if you planned to see the famous spring flowers on your way north. Flowers were few and far in between but the trip went smoothly and I reached Jakkalswater late afternoon.

Encounterd some Minions at Klawer on the way to Nababeep

First impression of the Jakkalswater race village? A confusing chaotic mix of groups of tents, cars and farm buildings with no discernible planned layout. But once you found your spot in the chaos the camp had a lekker vibe. The goodie bag was good for a budget race with the tin cup, bottle of sherry and the bright orange t-shirt the highlights for me. Once the sun set it quickly became cold in the little nylon tent so the sherry came in quite handy!

Curious for me, seemingly there were more participants from Gauteng than the Western Cape despite Gauteng being more than double the distance from Springbok than Cape Town (less mtb'ing options in Gauteng maybe?).  There were also more women participants than men (54% woman - same percentage the ANC got in the recent municipal elections but that might just be a coincidence)

Day 1 - Schaaprivier Canyon

Day 1, woke up with a bit of a headache from the previous night's sherry, it was still freezing cold and cloudy overhead - in other words just your typical 1 September spring day! I was hoping the sun would soon come out and only had some arm warmers to keep the worst cold out. Most of those around me had less faith in the sun's imminent appearance and opted for full jackets and leg warmers.

Ready to go!

The first few kilometers were a neutral zone on tar through the town of Nababeep, then we were on to the dirt road north to the curiously named town of Bulletrap (so small it barely registers on Google). We had the wind at our backs, terrain was mostly slightly downhill and the pace was ferocious. Approaching age 40 I'm becoming more like a diesel engine with legs that are slow to warm up and soon a number of riders were disappearing ahead of me in the distance.

Soon we encountered the unique feature of this race (nope - not flowers), sand. Not the unridable sand you encounter on beaches and riverbeds, but fairly compact for the most part with loose sections here and there which took a combination of speed & skill & luck to conquer safely. Over the next 3 days all of us became experts in sand riding, for some of us it took a few tumbles to get there.

Day 2 - This gentleman demonstrating the result of misjudging a sandy section

After about 30km the route turned south, the wind that was at our backs was now a headwind and the long downhills made way for rolling hills, seems the fast start caught up with a few riders as one-by-one I was slowly hauling in the riders that raced ahead of me at the start, the first few greeted me quite friendly, then next few grunted and after that my greetings were flatly ignored by each rider I passed.

Suddenly the route descended into the Schaaprivier canyon, the fast rocky steep descent catching me by surprise. At the bottom the sun came out and the day quickly warmed up. Shortly after the 3rd waterpoint we started climbing out of the valley, a long gradual climb in which the sand worked the legs, I passed my last 2 unfriendly riders for the day as we ascended the valley.

The little valley spit us out on a gravel road just above Nababeep, I saw a few riders about 500 meters ahead of me. Over the last 8km I gave chase as best I could, completely ignoring conventional wisdom to save some energy for the other 2 days.

Finally, a few 100 meters before the finish line I caught up with them but just did not have the energy left to pass them and they rolled over the line ahead of me.

To my surprise, as we crossed the finish line the announcer named me the 14th rider across the line and the 2nd placed senior rider! First race I did where the vets and masters are generally faster than the senior riders!

Exploring Nababeep

Nababeep

That afternoon I had some time to kill so I explored the curious little town of Nababeep. Sociated in a Wild West like region, Nababeep's sole reason for existence is the copper mine dominating the town, unfortunately the fall in the copper price in the early 2000's forced the mine to close down. Luckily the town is close enough to the main town of Namakwaland, Springbok for people to live in Nababeep and commute for work. Some enterprising businesses have also sprung up in the remains of the mine buildings, from a workshop doing contracts for other mines to a small mechanic business building up Volkswagen Beetles. Somehow the people of the mine are hanging on.

Abandoned mine building

The Glory Hole

Mordor

The mine itself is an interesting visit, for some reason no effort was made to rehabilitate the mining area and with a lot of buildings still intact, the area is fenced but there are no serious attempt to control access to the mining area.

There are some interesting features to be seen at the mine. A mini "Kimberley big hole" with a dam of green water (from the copper) and a big cave entrance vulgarly called the glory holy - apparently  was one of the entrances to the mine until an explosion that killed some miners closed it down

There is also an impressive chimney on a hillside to which one can drive, the tunnel where the copper smelter was can also still be seen.

The desolate area reminds one of Mordor from lord of the rings, would not have been surprised to see a few trolls emerging from the smelter tunnel!

Day 2 - Goegap Nature Reserve

Another cold night & cold morning and just after 6h30 a queue of cars with bike racks left Jakkalsfontein for the townhall of the little settlement of Fonteintjie, right next to Goegap Nature Reserve. Trying to avoid the slow start of Day 1 I made sure I was near the front of the field at the start chute. Off we went through a sandy field and onto the tar road that leads into the Goegap Nature Reserve. Soon about 7 racing snakes broke off the front and I was in the chasing group of about another 7 riders.

Yep, that's me!

About 10 kilometers into the race we turned off the dirtroad onto the dirtroads of the nature reserve. I pulled ahead of our little group as the climbs started. On Day 1 I enjoyed starting a bit slower then catching the other tiring riders from behind, today the situation was reversed as I was near the front  now being chased by other riders. I found that I was unable to completely drop the chasers just behind me, but on the flipside they were also not gaining on me.

Like the day before the flowers stayed away but the nature reserve showed off in other ways, beautiful rock formations and springbok and other antelope running through the field.

Locals showing off..

After about 35 kilometers we encountered the big climb of the day, alternating between rocky and sandy bits it was quite challenging, and I managed to open up a bit of a gap between me and the riders behind me allowing me to take the subsequent downhill more carefully.

Now the route was mostly fast and downhill and one had to concentrate as the rocky downhills can be quite treacherous. At about 50 kilometers we encountered the last long downhill for the day, I was averaging a nice 20km/h and I knew the last 15km's would be fairly flat so I expected to finish in about 40 minutes in just over 3 hours hopefully in another top 20 position and maybe podium again in my category.

These were the thoughts that were going through my mind as my chain suddenly dropped, I tried to peddle it back onto the chainring but only succeeded in completely bending and stretching the chain into an unmovable position. Not too worried, I broke the chain to release the tension but suddenly for the first time in my life I struggled to re-link the chain!

With the combination of adrenaline and lack of mechanical skills, I never realised that if you break your chain yourself, you have to remove 2 links before you can use your chain link, for the life of me I couldn't figure out why my chain link was not fitting. Eventually after about an hour of walking (a shout out to all the riders passing me shouting "Are you OK?!" and then racing away before you can answer them...) interchanged by friendly samaritans offering chain links that also didn't fit (for the same reason mine wasn't fitting) a mechanical competent rider needing a rest finally figured out what I was doing wrong and fixed my chain for me (I still own Andrew a beer one day if I find him & recognise him).

Slowly I got going again, podium finishes dreams shattered but relieved that I did not have to walk

the last 10 kilometers! But the day was not quite done with me, the route planners thought it wise to take the route along a sandy river bed and soon I was walking stretches in the sand even though my bike was fixed, why they did not take us back to the venue via the perfectly good tar road we started on I would not know. Even though tar is not mtb'ing it certainly beats walking in sandy river beds.

So after about 4h45 minutes I slowly made my way back to the finish venue. The best thing I can say about Day 2 is that I knew know more about fixing chains then I did the day before.

Day 3 - The Copper Trail

Today we headed north towards Nababeep in a supposed neutral zone, at the race briefing on the start line we were warned about the big jeep track climb 5km into the race and to make sure you are in a good position when you get there.

Seems my fellow riders took this advice fairly serious as the riding in the "neutral zone" was extremely aggressive, people passing on the right side of the road in the face of oncoming traffic, trying to squeeze into the front of the group & sudden braking and just general erratic riding. I had no wish to start off this stage by being involved in a group crash so I backed off away from the aggressors.

Saw on the pictures afterwards there are ruins..

Just beyond Nababeep the racing started in earnest, and the race was on to the big climb. Turns out the majority of riders at the front showed far more ability to get to the big climb quickly than actually climbing quickly and ended up just blocking riders who could actually climb.

After some careful maneuvering I managed to pass most of them on the climb and then we dropped down in a valley north of Nababeep. We rode on the remnants of the old railway that linked the copper mines with the harbor of Port Nolloth. There were a few interesting old ruins which I saw on the photos afterwards as at the time I didn't notice anything as I tried to hang onto the wheels of the riders in front of me.

The route was flat and the pace fast, I was passed by a few riders as my legs were just not up to the pace that morning, luckily the big climbing of the day was done but we also had to battle a headwind. We crossed the N7 riding in the direction of the little mining town of Concordia.

Usually this area is known for it's flowers in spring, but again, only little patches of flowers were to be seen. About 25km into the race my legs came back, and again, like on Day 1 I started to catch a few riders one-by-one. At least today all of them were friendly. The route turned south and after about 36km we crossed the N7 again and headed back to Jakkalswater

The last 14km flew by, again we traversed remnants of the old copper railway, over some odd golf

Nababeep Golf Course

course with no grass and lots of sand, down to the finish line at Jakkalswater. I finished 16th overall and the 3rd senior, my misadventures on the previous day though meant that I was nowhere near contention for the senior podium - I wonder what the prize was that I missed out on? Maybe a nice bottle of Namaqua wine!

Despite a few shortcomings the Namaqua Quest is a race with potential to be a big fixture on the cycling calender and it is clear the organisors are quick learners. A few days after the race they announced that more toilets will be built before next year, singletrack was being added to the routes and the day 2 route was adjusted to cut out the sandy river bed. Do this race while it is still cheap!