Ultra vs Marathon.  110km vs 75km.  If there's a long route option, why on earth would you do the shorter?

This is what bugged me when I wanted to enter this particular race.  I then got quite upset when I discovered that the racing women compete in the Marathon distance, (men race the Ultra) and that the entry system didn't allow the option for women to enter the longer distance.  After a few Tweets and Facebook messages, I was told that they weren't trying to stop ladies from entering the long course, but that they'd never had anyone want to!

Ha!  I've done Attakwas (135km), I've done Amarider 100 Miler (160km), I've done Epic (lots of km).  I can do a measly 110km!!  So I entered the 110km, changing my gender to male in order to do so.

I then went and rode the Tru-Cape Mtb Funride, and realised I'm not as fit as I'd like to think I am.  The thought of being the only girl riding, and possibly the last rider... Eish, that could be embarassing.

After having "burnt my sports bra", I was looking for a good reason to downgrade, and found one: the 110km was exactly the same as the 75km until the last few kays, then it would bypass the start/finish line and repeat the first 30-odd km of the race.

No one likes laps.  Especially when the Cape Epic spent 3 long days in the Tulbagh valley - surely they could make a 110km route without having to repeat?!

So I downgraded as registration and started with the ladies racing - all 15 of us.  It was a tough race.  And lonely.  The ladies group split up quite quickly, so I spent the bulk of the morning in my own, quiet little world.  I overtook the odd 110km rider, with the top guys in the 75km race - who started 30mins after us - eventually coming past after 2hours.

The route itself was interesting enough with a decent mix of climbing, singletrack and jeep track.  Although I did find the middle section, bumping over grassy track, quite boring and energy-sapping.

By the time my Polar reached 75km, I was ready to get off my bike, glad for not having to still do another 30km.  But the finishe line was not in sight.  76km, 77, 78.  Turn left, turn right.  Over that hill? No.  Behind those trees? No.  Where the hell was the finish line??

Eventually at 83km I came across the finish line, in a bit of a mood due to the extra distance, but glad to be off the bike.

The whole event seemed to be poorly attended.  With all the hype around the race and the fact that it's part of the National MTN/Nissan series, I thought there would be more people.  There were only 75 finishers in the Ultra distance and 96 in the Marathon.  And many DNF's.  Not sure if they were also non-starters.

The finish line was a bit dismal and very little food was on offer.  The saving grace was that there was a bike wash and warm showers. 

Not sure if I'd do another of this series in a rush.  Although apparently I won a prize!! First non-UCI Sub-Vet. Fancy that :)