This is a pic of the Legend Larry (LG) from Squirt Lube - Larry has done the race MANY times and been on support virtually every year that he hasn't raced. He did an amazing job of predicting what I needed to eat, charging my batteries, generally sorting everything out for me. Larry, you are a legend. Thanks to Squirt lube for all of their support - this race was an amazing experience - thanks Dewet! Thanks also to Ay-UP lighting systems who lent me some AMAZING lights for the race - Cheers mate!
Actually, 25 hours of Moab! I learned a new american word... BROOODALL! That about sums it up - a brutal course with insane weather.
I managed to sneak onto the podium - click here for images and a movie of the event. There was a really enthusiastic, eccentric cameraman from superhumanmag.com ... he asked some dirty questions and got some appropriate answers... kids block your ears!!
From the Gun, Tostado went out like a man possessed. I decided to stick with Tinker and Eatough - they have a better track record - thought that Josh (Tostado) was going out a little too crazy! The course was incredibly technical -
There were places that were severely technical at the start of the race... the track aged and deteriorated and by the time nightfall came, it was impossible to ride everything.
Enduren is the bomb! I couldn't imagine drinking sweet flavoured sports drinks for 24hours - my tongue would fall off! My bike ran like a dream, the only thing that we did was apply some squirt lube every 3 hours or so... everything came together, I was very fortunate. The lights worked amazingly well too - so with far from ideal race preparation, it all came together for me. Mostly due to the support of my family, friends and sponsors - without that network of helping hands, there is just no way that anyone can be competitive at an event like this.
At around 1am, my body was a wreck. If you watch the video on superhuman.com , you will get an idea of how harsh the course actually was - we just don't have trails like this open in South Africa - that I am aware of anyway - if there is anything comparable, let me know because this stuff was seriously challenging! Super fun to ride... when you are fresh and have the right setup!
10am rolled around, LG had a sweet cappuccino ready for me - perfect! ... only problem was that I needed to do 2 more laps, not 1 ! But at the time it was a very good idea - Ben(4th) was chasing me and I had to do a hot lap to keep him at bay and stop him from attacking (very slight possiblity but not impossible). Anyway, I came into the Start/Finish at 11h20. Rules state that the winner is the oke with that completes the most laps, if laps are equal then time counts. You are only allowed out to start a lap if you get through the Start/Finish in under 24hours. This meant that if I stopped at that point, Ben would have to be at least 40min behind me - so I had to soldier on... its seriously difficult after doing a "fast" lap (and 23+ hours of racing!!)
So I took it easy - the course was quietening down, every body part was aching - especially my recently fractured wrist which took a pounding on all of the harsh rocky decents. It was pretty tranquil - taking my time admiring the rock formations and appreciating the spectacular terrain - its easy to drift off and stop racing! On the last climb, about 4km from the finish, this guy starts charging up behind me - number 49 - is this Ben? I wasn't sure an wasn't about to stop and ask - game on! WhaBAM ! Hammer down, full on race effort... phew - 2km later, he is gone! Then literally 1km from the line, here comes #51. How many Solo riders were there again? Well, I wasn't about to take any chances - maybe it was this Ben guy - Whammy! Another sprint - full on interval all the way to the line to be greeted by Pete and LG with an ice cold beer. Pain over, job done. Bliss. Thanks okes!!
