Day 9 - Into Scottburgh......it is all over!

After spending most the afternoon sleeping after popping an overdose of Imodium and the prescribed Paracetemol, I was feeling a bit better but still struggling to eat much at dinner.

I woke up feeling very much below average. One of the hardest things about the stage races is eating enough volume of calories (primarily carbohydrates of course) to replenish what you are burning each day. Once you get a running stomach, it is impossible and that really does take its toll. I popped 3 Imodium and 2 paracetamol about an hour before the start and tucked a heap of toilet paper into my shirt pocket just in case.....I am a city boy and using leaves in the sugarcane fields was not an appealing option.

The plan was to keep my heart rate below 155 bpm at all times which is what we did, but what had not been factored in was that the mechanics who were supposed to have fixed my gears did not do it so I had another day of stopping repeatedly to fix the chain etc which was very frustrating. At one point I looked down at my gears momentarily to see what was happening but we were near a corner and my front wheel slid out and I went down, cutting up my knee and shin and the left side of my hip. There may have been a few words used which I would not want my kids to hear!!

We arrived at Scottburgh to be met by Lisa and Keith, Minters sister and brother-in-law. We grabbed our luggage, had a quick clean up and jumped into the car as they are off for a well deserved holiday and I needed to head to the airport for the flight back to Joburg.

So....what am I feeling after my first stage race? It is tough, very tough but great fun, a fantastic bonding experience, and a sense of achievement. The downside is that a lot of your overall results depends on luck (avoiding punctures) which is similar in any mountain bike race, but when you have 2 bikes and 9 days, the odds increase. It also depends on other people doing what they should....the team of mechanics we used, were sub-par at best and did not maintain the bikes of fix things they should have. This is very frustrating when you have trained so hard and raced so hard.

I would recommend it anyone who is interested in the personal journey and wants to see parts of a country that they would not otherwise. A great experience!!