Wow, what a learning experience that was!! I'm not used to cycling in a team, and having managed to join only 2 of the training rides, it was still quite foreign to me when DC Day arrived. It made the ride quite frustrating at times, but I'll be much better prepared for next year, now that I know what the DC is all about. Having mentally prepared myself for an 8hr30 ride, I was a bit disappointed when we rolled in over the finish line in 9hr50. It had been a long day. But we had managed to reach our other, more important, goal: crossing that line with all 11 of us together. Along the way we had lost one of our teammates who had bonked about half way, but due to the puncture breaks in the second half, he had made up the gap and rejoined us with 15Km to go! 205Km is a long way to go, and if you get dropped it's a very lonely ride, so one tends to keep teams together as much as possible. This means you spend time waiting for the team to regroup after hitting the hills at your own pace, or having to slow down in order to keep group formation together. Being one of the stronger riders in the team it made it rather frustrating, especially being asked to slow down, on a downhill. Chatting to some of the guys from other teams, it seems quite the norm that the stronger riders get frustrated at having to slow down, while I'm sure the slower riders were quietly cursing the pacesetters. Such is life I guess when you gather 11 very different people together. Luckily enough we all kept our sense of humour throughout the day (or just kept quiet), and there were no arguments or flaring tempers. Gilly, our amazing team leader, had put a few people in place early in the day and from then on it was happy riding. The route is fantastic. Such fabulous scenery, just reinforcing why I live in this country. From Montague to Swellendam the roads roll over small hills and valleys, nothing major. Good for the first 100km as a 'warm up' before hitting Tradouws Pass. It wasn't as bad as I'd feared, but having gone at what for me was a chilled pace, my legs were still good to go by the time we hit the bottom of the pass. At 160km you have to climb "Op Die Tradouw". Steeper and nastier than the pass, mainly because as you turn a corner, thinking it's the top, you see the next bend snaking up the hill. After that it's almost all downhill back to Montague with some fantastic sections where you just let go of the brakes and fly down the road. There were definitely some high maximum speeds being reached there! The one thing I was fascinated by was the seconding. Each team has to have their own seconds, who meet you at various points along the route. Getting there ahead of you, all the cooler boxes are taken out of the car and neatly lined up along the side of the road, ready for you dismount, fill up with food and water and zoom off again as quickly as possible. It all happened so smoothly, I was very impressed. Kudo's to our seconders who did such a fabulous job of lifting our spirits and making sure we didn't dawdle at the stops. Hopefully next year we'll get to train together as a team a bit more before DC Day. I'm going to be much better prepared mentally, and if all goes well, I'll feel as though I've done a race, rather than a long training ride, which unfortunately, this did feel a bit like. I also need to improve on my team work skills before next year as well I think... The rest of the weekend itself was a blast. Upon arrival in Montague on Friday night we were served a braai dinner, with SO much food prepared. Breakfast had also been arranged, and staying in the hostel made life so much easier compared to camping. Especially when your team is starting at 5:35... I was there as part of Celtics, who had entered 4 teams this year. We were therefore a large bunch of people, and on Saturday night had booked a restaurant for dinner. Cleverly they put us in a room away from the regular diners, as there was much post-race antics and noise - good times had by all!!! As I am about to join the Celtics Club, it was great getting to meet so many members. It was also very inspiring to be surrounded by such passionate sportsmen and women. Being a running club, it strikes one as odd that there are so many cyclists amongst them, but then cross training is a fabulous thing. A lot the younger members are triathletes, many of whom are training for IronMan. Scarily enough I think I'm heading in that direction too... March 2008 perhaps? Many thanks to Gilly and Arnold for such fabulous organisation. It was a great weekend and I'll definitely be back next year for my second DC. Results on the PPA website. The PPA Double Century - one of the biggest events on the Road Cycling calendar. 205km starting in Montague and heading East to Swellendam, over the Tradouws Pass to Barrydale and back along the R62. Teams of 6-12 leave every couple of minutes and head out for a long day in the saddle. Inky has joined the Celtics team with the aim of finishing all together in 8hr30... Where: Montague, 2hrs drive from Cape Town When: 25 November Who: Inky Why: It's a long way, but someone's gotta do it! More information can be found on the PPA website.