Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Cape Pioneer Trek

When I saw the images of the route on the CPT website , it was too much to resist. Sure, according to traditional periodisation and old school training regimen, you should be resting at this time of year... but this year has been a bit different for me. And sometimes you just have to follow your heart ! Besides - we do it for the love of biking man ! Who can resist riding in such splendour !??

I rode with Donovan "Powerhouse" Jackson. If you were born anytime in the 70's or earlier, you will recall a clothing brand with a Gym addict, musclebound Bulldog cartoon character as its logo. The brand was "Powerhouse", and that's clearly the image that comes to mind when you see his riding style. He just doesn't let go. Vasbyt, tenacity... call it what you will - this guy just has it in abundance!

The stages were typically 100km long with 2000m of climbing. It was incredible terrain - really rough in parts but totally worth the effort it takes to get up into those fold mountains. "Dankie Katot!"


We had a good battle with the "Memory Foundation" team of Pro's Johnny Kritzinger and Erik Kleynhans... they took the first couple of stages but we managed to counter them with 2 stage wins (after many hard attacks).

Christoph Sauser and Bobby Behan of Specialized added some real colour and humour to the event - they sure know how to party too!

I hope to be back next year... any mtber who has travelled through the spectacular Cape mountain ranges and gone "I wonder if there are any trails up there... ?" has to do this race. Katot Meyer is clearly a sadist, but he took us into some untouched majestic country that few people have ever been privileged to enjoy (!?). Make no mistake, this race was physically very demanding and we took 28.5hours to complete the event's 6 stages but this is an event that will really blow your mind!

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