“It’s just a social team bru….” That’s what my good mate Carl said when convincing me to ride for the RSA Web “Fun” team for the Coronation Double Century this last weekend. This didn’t look to be the case as we sat around the table on Friday evening discussing feeding strategies, calculating required average speeds and being told every guy in the team had ridden a sub 3 hour Argus.
Compliments of RSA Web we stayed in an awesome house on the Breede River surrounded by mountains where it felt as if we were miles away from any form of civilisation. The area looked good for mountain biking and it would be cool to visit it again.
Come Saturday morning we had left things a touch late and which resulted in a full on sprint just to get behind the chalk on time. But we were there and ready to rock n roll!
Last minute rush to get ready
The team
The DC is a unique race in that it is a 12 man team time trial over some 202km, not your normal weekend event.
We set off all looking very pro in our matching red RSA Web kit and tackled the tough course. The 202km loop starts in Swellendam before tackling the Tradouw and Op de Tradouw passes fairly on. The Tradouw pass must be one of the most beautiful passes in South Africa! Our first feed was at 80km in and here we replenished bottles and food before heading on to Montague and then Ashton.
Rob putting the hurt down as we pass another team.
Navigating the traffic through Ashton
Leaving the Robertson circle I lost a bottle as it popped out crossing a railway line. It was a tough 50km in the rising heat until our next feed and I couldn’t risk leaving it there, so I went back for it but in turn faced a tough time trial to get back to the team. It was worth it though; ice cold PVM Octane, Citrus flavour! This section of the race also presented us with a bit of a headwind, not exceptionally strong but enough to make you hurt a bit.
Our final feed brought us into the last section of the race and the dreaded 3 rollers along the road into Swellendam, although at this stage they felt like category 1 mountain passes!
The guys kept it together and pushed through the pain valiantly to cross the line in just over 6hrs and 15 minutes. So much for a social team right? All in all it was a great day out!
I really enjoyed the whole weekend and would like to thank RSA Web for having me, especially to Rob and Mark. It was the most fun DC I have ever done. Also thanks to Michael for supplying us with a few bottles of red from Audacia wines, they went down well on Saturday evening.
All images compliments Elizna Wiese
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