Trans-Augrabies 2019

The Trans-Augrabies is a 3-day stage race hosted annually at the Augrabies National Park at the start of the winter school holidays. A big positive of this timeslot & venue is that it gives participants the opportunity to take along their family for the experience, staying in the park (or nearby) while you are out riding

Working long hours to meet deadlines in the lead-up to the event was not ideal and meant we only managed to leave Cape Town late morning the day before the race, arriving at Augrabies after a long drive just before sunset. I rushed to the race briefing and then fumbled to pitch our tent in the darkness.

During the night the temperatures dropped drastically and we woke up early Saturday morning with the temperature at 0 degrees! After the long working hours, long drive, pitching the tent at night and freezing temperatures I was sorely tempted to stay in bed and skip Day 1!

Day 1 - Riemvasmaak

Start of Day 1

But I got up and saturday morning we were set off at 8h00 onto the park gravel roads in a westerly direction, and to make the freezing temperatures worse we crossed 3 shallow rivers in the first few kilometers to make sure your feet are wet as well as freezing but mercifully temperatures rose quickly as the sun rose.

We were a field of about 100 riders, no pro's showed up for the event and after about 5 kilometers I found myself among the race leaders. We were a small group of about 8 riders drafting each other along the park's gravel roads. Initially I found the pace quite manageable and even had some visions of repeating my Lormar podium "heroics" but it wasn't long before reality kicked in.

At 15 kilometers we turned off the park road onto a jeep track downhill down to the Orange River leaving the park. The descent was fast on sandy terrain with big rocks strewn all around, the first 5 cyclists got away from me on the descent. As we reached the Orange river we rode on flat district roads among vineyards & orchards. We crossed the river on the Vredesvallei tar road, passed a small village and then rode into a beautiful moon landscape surrounded by desert & mountains of Riemvasmaak.

Bravely pushing my bike down the singletrack

About 40km into the race we reached our first singletrack of the race, a technical downhill down a koppie and with some sketchy drop-offs down boulders and 90 degree turns without I quickly lost faith in the trail builders ability to keep us safe... Got of to push my bike at a particular dodgy looking drop-off and suddenly I was passed by a slew of riders who clearly had more faith in their technical abilities on these trails than me!

For the rest of the day we were interchanging fast district roads with gnarly jeeptrack/singletrack on the moon landscape. I managed to catch a few of the riders who passed me and as we returned to the park with a nasty little climb via the road we left I found myself in 7th place which is where I finished for the day after 80km.

A little braai after Day 1

Day 2 - Augrabies Park

I thought Day 2 might be a bit easier for me than day 1 being also 80km but sticking within the boundaries of the park with none of the slightly dodgy singletrack that seemed to suit others better than me.

Again we set of from the camp in a westerly direction on the reserve dirt roads, I was again in the leading bunch but today the pace was faster and I was just hanging on with less confidence than yesterday waiting for the inevitable drop.

About 20km in I dropped my chain on the corrugated roads and the leaders were off without me, few minutes later I burped my front wheel on a rock on a fast descent and just as the day before suddenly a group of riders appeared out of nowhere while I was fixing my puncture and suddenly I was mid-bunch.

Fixed the tire and was off again but like Austin Powers I just lost my mojo, couldn't really settle into a rhythm on the rocky jeep track and & sand. But slowly I started feeling better and eventually started gaining on the riders that passed me earlier, but just as I reached a group of them, one of them pointed out my tire was flat again and so my 3rd stop followed. So for the second time that day a whole lot of the same people passed me again.

We continued on the rough jeep track for the next few kilometers, I caught a few riders that passed me while fixing the puncture but only after 45km did things really improve, we were back on the park gravel roads, I could relax about my tires and I started catching more riders. I passed a number of riders but just as I started congratulating myself on my superior district road riding skills a bunch of 3 riders that I passed earlier worked together, hauled me in and came racing past me with 10km to go.

Descending the moon rock

I managed to stick with them, got away briefly on a steep climb only to be hauled in again, got away again briefly while climbing up the moon-rock only for one to haul me in again on a sandbank after the moon-rock. 9th overall on Day 2, I guess not too bad end for an overall disappointing day.

Day 3 - Khamkirri

Day 3 has a tricky start, crossing the Orange river on a series of low level bridges and a "canvas" singletrack making the sand rideable. To avoid bottlenecks at the river crossing organisers decided to let riders start individually in 15 second intervals. So off I went, the 7th rider to start, handled the first few obstacles on the river crossing fine but then fell on a slippery rock and suddenly 2 of the group of 3 riders that hauled me in the previous day near the end passed me again. I managed to get up and cross the Orange river without further incident.

We were now on flat district roads & farmlands east of the park. I managed to haul in my 2 companions of the day before, turned up the pace dto drop them but they stuck like lice quite determined to stay with me. After a while I gave up and resigned myself to the fact that they will keep me company for the rest of the stage.

Crossing the river the 1st time

We rode mostly district roads and jeep tracks but every now and then a short piece of singletrack built by a local farmer would pop up and was quite fun to negotiate. About 30km in we had our only proper climb of the day on some 4x4 jeeptrack called the Khamkiri Eco Trail and for the first time in 2 days I managed to open up a gap between myself & my now regular companions.

The rest of the route was mostly sandy downhill of flat jeeptracks and I rode as fast as I could, hoping to stay ahead of them for once. We traversed a nature reserve and after 50km we were back on the district roads that took us out of the park. I sneaked a quick look behind me and there were no-one, seemed I finally made a break-away from my 2 companions

Now for the road back to the river and then crossing the river from the other side with no one in sight. As I crossed the tricky river sections I relaxed a bit knowing the finish was just ahead but son of a gun... I suddenly heard cheers behind me and out of nowhere one of my companions appeared behind me catching up fast. But there was no way I was getting caught again right at the end and I finished with a sprint just ahead with Mr Companion breathing down my neck.

So after a long day I finished in the same 7th position, exactly the same position I started in. I guess a bit disappointing that I didn't caught anyone on the day but still it was a lot of fun riding in this area. Officially according to the race organiser's eccentric handicap system based on age & sex I finished in 13th position, with a few older riders bumped ahead of me based on a handicap.

My finishers medal with a father's day buscuit

Overall an excellently organised race, with unique landscapes & terrain to ride in and a fun atmosphere. I can certainly recommend this race and hope it continues to grow in future.