Photographs of the race can be found here.

Results can be downloaded here.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is an awesome race; you either love, or hate it.  I was hating it a bit at times this past weekend though, but all in all, I came home loving it. 

I've done every L2L since 2006, except for last year, which clashed with the U2 concert in Cape Town, so I was incredibly excited to be heading back to Gansbaai this past weekend. 

Friday night was the usual braai pack, followed by a lack of sleep.  Heavy rain makes a lot of noise when sleeping in a tent.  We discovered that my tent has a very flat roof which gathers water, so evey half hour I sat up to push it off us.  The next morning, though, we found that we were better off than many of our tented neighbours who had been soaked overnight.

Day 1 - Gansbaai to L'Agulhas

Neither Mike nor myself have done a huge amount of training recently, so were unsure of our abilities.  Then again, we were both riding our new 29ers - so new bike syndrome and all...

The race started in it's usual no-frills manner and we all zoomed off.  By the beach at Uilenkraalsmond I had seen two ladies ahead of me, so resigned myself to maintain 3rd place at least.  Some guys pulled away from me on the beach, so I hit the newly tarred road on my own, chasing them down.

I eventually caught the group, and then one by one I dropped them.  That felt good!  By the time I got to the nature reserve, I had a few people around me, all ready to battle it out along the sandy jeep track.  But there wasn't much of a battle to be had as the rain had compacted the sand quite nicely.  Or maybe it was the 29er gliding over the sand?

On the beach I started to catch, and drop, a few more blokes who'd gone out too hard to begin with and were losing steam.  Pristine beach with... let me count... about 30 bike tracks perhaps?  It really is great to be towards the front of a race, where the route hasn't been churned up yet. Just wait for the return trip, though.

The beach was also somewhat easier than in previous years, and I raced along it, being careful not to get my new bike too close to the water.  Motoring my way down the last gravel road, I came across the finish line in 3rd place. 

3hrs43!  By golly there had definitely been a tailwind.  This race is defined by the condition of the sand and the direction of the wind, both of which generate much post-ride conversation.

Cape Agulhas

Camping, was as usual, at the L'Agulhas camp resort area.  Unfortunately due to the windy conditions and the patches of rain, there wasn't quite the post-ride vibe that one usually gets as we mostly retreated to our tents. 

The race is organised by the Lions of Gansbaai.  It is one of their annual fundraising events and done so out of their own time and effort.  The massage ladies spend all afternoon working on tired legs, for a donation that is given to a charity.  So it was with much disgust, that Mike and I discovered that the guy from Hermanus Cycles who was washing bikes, was doing so for R100 per bike!  Or R50 if you washed it yourself.  All proceeds for his back pocket.  It later came out that he spent about 9hrs washing 72 bikes, and then proceeded to fix numerous bikes for free, which he felt was his charitable deed.

Mike put it this way: imagine charging a crowd of people R100 for bread & jam, and then giving a handful of folks caviar for lunch for free.  Where the guys getting the caviar are the ones driving the luxury cars anyway (or R60,000 bikes, in thise case).

Sadly, there were 72 people who didn't mind getting ripped off.
Next year I think we'll arrive with our own hose, bucket, sponge and soap.  And a jar for donations.

Another sour point that Mike encountered, was a bit of shortcutting by other riders.  He had been riding with a bunch, but had been dropped as his chain had come off.  He fought to catch and overtake them on the sand, but found that as he left the beach, they crossed his path just ahead having left the beach early and taken a shortcut.  One can imagine that a first timer to this event may get lost due to lack of signage, but these guys are veteran L2L riders.  Just bad sportsmanship.

Day 2 - L'Agulhas back to Gansbaai

Waking up on Sunday we realised that the wind debate had been somewhat accurate: it was still a Westerly, and it was picking up.  A day for riding in bunches. 

I managed to stick with the front group up the gravel road,  but as we got onto the beach the whole bunch scattered.  For a while I was playing with Lee-Ann and Des, taking turns in leading the ladies' race which was good fun.

As we hit the smoother beach, I made a few bad decisions and the two ladies pulled away from me.  Along the sandy jeep track I again made a few bad decisions: do you stay on the track and wait for harder bits, or move off to the edge?  How long do you persevere?  Some guys came past me and I struggled to catch up, knowing that as we got to gravel again, I'd be looking to work together with them.

Right before the end of the jeep track, my front wheel got stuck in some deep sand and I fell into the sidebank - as I looked up laughing at myself, 5 guys came past - too fast to catch straight away.  So onto the gravel, and I was alone. 

On Friday I'd said to Mike that if it was a windy day, it would become a mind game for me.  Just get into gear, find a comfortable position, and pedal.  Which is what I did.  I had to.

When I'm really focused, it seems I have one expression, and apparently I had that on my face all day.  On the road to Elim I saw 3 guys a distance ahead.  Eventually one dropped off and I remember thinking "aha, I'll pass him soon enough".  And I did.  Every solo person I saw ahead, I slowly but surely overtook. It became a game, a way to focus on a target and blank out the discomfort of my seat and the agony of the headwind.  Which gusted up to at least 40km/h at times.

You end up fighting the wind more than anything else.  And swearing at it too!

It's a somewhat flat route back, so there was little respite as even on the small descents you had to pedal hard, and the small inclines even that bit harder.  Passing guys in the last 15kms, they had no chance of keeping up with me.  I approached them, nodded, and continued.  Zoned out completely.  There was defintely no way I was going to stop to chat! 

It's the hardest I've ridden in a long time, and it felt fantastic.  And even more so when I got to the finish, riding hard until the last metre I collapsed in a heap on the lawn, with organisers running after me with coke and my medal.  5hr30.  And then I heard that the two ladies in front, had ridden together all day, and had just finished about 4 minutes ahead of me.  Pat on the back, thanks!! :)

Final results are still to be published, but it seems I came about 32nd out of 270 overall.  Mike came 17th.  Both of us super chuffed with our rides,considering our relative lack of training, ready to take on the Garden Route in 2 weeks time.

29ers

Maybe it was our new 29ers, though, that gave us extra oomph.  We both felt that the bigger wheels made a big difference for this race.  They sailed over the gravel roads much easier and on the sand there was little need to deflate tyres.  A lot of 26er owners were saying that they struggled to keep up with the 29ers on the flatter, faster sections.

It's a race that suits the bigger wheels as there is very little technical riding.  Which is why it also suits me - I will happily ride long gravel roads when given the opportunity.

So it will be very interesting to see how our new steeds hold up against the smaller wheels at the Garden Route 300.  With lots of single track, like Harkerville, and about 2000m climb each day it's going to be a very different story!