Karoo2Coast 2018



My biggest fan at the finish
Some people are under the impression a Sub-4 Karoo2Coast is equivalent to a Sub-3 Argus. After my second failed attempt at a Sub-4 K2C I can now confirm that it is not equivalent, it's indeed much harder!

Karoo2Coast often falls on the weekend of my wedding anniversary so all else being equal it is not a race I will get to do often. Special permission was required to make an attempt this year, luckily our anniversary also happens to fall near a public holiday so this year K2C fell on a long weekend which allowed for a short anniversary weekend away and K2C double feature.

The Saturday we stayed over near the cute town of De Rust, did the touristy activities with the kids and had an anniversary pizza dinner in town and then it was an early night to be ready for Karoo2Coast the next morning.


To be fair the winter school holidays + cold weather + flue wreaked havoc on my training schedule and I was never quite fit enough for a realistic Sub-4 attempt. But I reckoned if I could avoid all the bad luck I had on my previous attempt at least I had a fighting chance to get a bit closer to a Sub-4.
View from our little house at De Rust

Like the previous attempt I started at the back of A bunch, at least the Wapad was recently graded so there were far less walkers up the jeep track climb. After the ou Wapad the kilometers flied by quickly and after an hour I was almost 20km into the race and on target for a Sub-4.
Going down Prince Alfred Pass
Then a 15km downhill down Prince Alfred's pass followed which is always fun (and slightly dangerous) but once you hit the river at the bottom the fun & games are mostly over. Thereafter it is just rolling hills for the rest of race.

I still felt strong climbing out of the valley but at the top I heard a fellow rider commenting to a buddy: "So are we still on track for a Sub-5?" Looking at the time splits I realised we are indeed easily going to beat a Sub-5 but the Sub-4 target was slowly slipping away.

Was at this point that the head wind was starting to become a factor, unfortunately there weren't really groups forming and everybody was doing the climbs at their own pace. At around 60km a nice little group formed around a strong oke on a gravel bike and for about 15km we rode together at a fast pace.

What do you mean another climb ahead?


With about 20km's left I might have still been marginally in the hunt for a Sub-4 but it is also around here the lack of winter training finally overruled the adrenaline and the wheels came off. People whom I passed with ease earlier the race was now passing me again and even on downhills I couldn't hold on to the small groups passing me.

10km before the finish only the infamous Simola climb, a long downhill and the ride next to the lagoon were still ahead of me. I recovered a little up Simola climb and even passed a few riders on my way to the finish. Finish time of 4h21, not bad but not nowhere near a Sub-4. I still have to crack that code, I am really not quite sure if a Sub-4 will ever be within my ability. Still K2C is a beautiful event with a nice vibe and great scenery, one day I will be back!



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