The second day of the Cape to Cape - forest singletrack, limestone rocks and more sand.
We started towards the back of the 6th group, I think there was one other group behind us. First up was a longish steady climb on tarmac then fire trail. Again, being road riders we passed a lot of people going uphill. Annie's legs were working better today so I had to work to stay with her.
Then we reached the first singletrack section, Sam Hill Downhill. This was a bit hairy and being the first section of technical track of the day I was taking it easy. A few guys behind me weren't too impressed with this and they were yelling to let them past. This is all very well and good but it's hard to let guys pass when you're going downhill on technical singletrack with no places to pull off.
After the brief section of singletrack we were back on roads with some more climbing. We tried to take it easy and let some of the boys with big egos pass us.
We then rode back into the singletrack and soon came to a quite long climb that had a long line of people walking. It was perfectly rideable but there were guys on handcycles tackling the climb and they are a bit slower uphill. Annie and I managed to ride at walking pace all the way to the top of the climb, which was an excellent test of our bike handling skills. Got quite a bit of kudos from our fellow riders too :)
The next 15km or so was lovely flowing singletrack interspersed with connecting tracks. There were a few little jumps that I may have even got some air on, or at least gone over at speed without freaking out! The uphills were rideable and the downhills were fun without being too technical. Plus we'd found ourselves in a good zone without too many other riders. One fun section, called The Tunnel, had lots of low hanging branches and forest close on either side, with a few twists and turns. It was fun and a little bit technical without being too hairy.
The track then headed west again out to the coast. And you know what that means - more sand. By this stage my confidence had improved and after all the riding on sand yesterday I decided that sand is my friend. Plus I was determined to stay on the bike and ride as much as I could. I did pretty well, staying on the bike and weaving around the guys who were walking. There were just a couple of sections of deep sand a few metres long that I had to walk through.
Then we came into the limestone rocks, first uphill then downhill. I discovered the benefits of full suspension over the rocks, helped tremendously to even out the ride and let the bike do more of the work.
After the sand and limestone sections there was another long steady hill climb along the coast. Great views. And I had time to appreciate the view as my riding partner was hampered by stomach cramps, she eventually figured out it was something in her drink.
The last 15-20km were relatively straightforward, mostly fire trail and non technical singletrack, and the climbs were not too steep. There was a fun short section of singletrack with some "whoopdies" (not sure if this is the correct technical term - where the trail goes up and down like a BMX track). These usually freak me out but today I was brave enough to tackle them.
Then we got to ride through some more farmland on the edges of the vineyards. Quite fun pushing up the hills and flying downhill. Then back onto fire trails and bitumen before the turnoff to Xanadu winery and the finish line.
Today we rode 57km. Our average speed was around 13kph and it took a little over 4 hours. Could have been faster had we not been held back by stomach cramps, but this event for me is not about racing so I wasn't concerned about the time. Just about enjoying the ride and riding with friends.
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