Pro mountain biker Renay Groustra shares his experience at Die Burger Mountain bike race last weekend.
Die Burger MTB Challenge. Photo: www.chrishitchcock.co.za / PhotoSport
On Saturday, roughly 5000 Capetonians dragged themselves out of hibernation in the wee hours of the morning and descended on Stellenbosch all with the same item on the menu; Die Burger Mountain bike race.
Some had big burgers on the menu, some medium, and some small, all suiting different appetites and taste preferences, and judging by the smiles at the end of the event, they were high quality meals!
The 75km invitation riders were in for a combo meal, double beef patty with the works, large fries and a soda!
Over the years Meurant Botha and his AMA Rider team have put in huge amounts of work into the route and have produced something really challenging and enjoyable for the riders.
With there being something of a mid-season lull in the racing, there was a strong field lined up to start in drizzly and overcast conditions, all hungry to heat things up.
As always, the brutally steep climbs in the first 10km of the race up the sides of the Helshoogte mountains tore the field apart, which saw Darren Lill, Waylon Woolcock (Cannondale Blend), Johan Rabie(EAI), Matt Beers(Jeep), and myself separate ourselves from from a pack of hungry chasers.
With the routes constant undulation, direction changes, and challenging singltrack we managed to stay clear of the chase group all while negotiating some really slippery sections which laid claim to many riders’ hopes along the way. We worked well together as a group, and at times it didn’t even feel like we were racing we were having so much fun out on the route playing in the mud!
Read the full race report here.
