After a rather muddy start to the 2015 Old Mutual joBerg2c, Alistair Schorn got into the swing of things on day two and met some of the interesting characters who come from all corners of the globe to experience this great South African ride. Follow his journey on Confessions of a Weekend Warrior on In the Bunch.
Although a few spots of overnight rain gave us visions of another day of mud wrestling, day two dawned pretty mild and sunny. The early morning cloud cover meant that the temperatures were a lot higher than last year, particularly along the Wilge River.
Alistair Schorn talks about the 800 VIPs that he met on the second day of the 2015 Old Mutual joBerg2c.
The course proved to be a lot drier than on day one, but we soon discovered that today would be about battling another enemy. For long sections, particularly on the second half of the course, we found ourselves heading straight into the teeth of the wind.
Also, the rolling nature of the terrain meant that there were very few places where one didn’t have to pedal – whoever said the Free State is flat clearly never rode joBerg2c.
Finally, though, the last few kilometres into Reitz gave us a taste of things to come, in the form of a great singletrack descent, before the last bit of a grind through the Wolf Sanctuary into the finish.
One of the things that struck me about the first two days of joBerg2c is the number of international riders who have made their way here to ride the event. In the past two days I’ve come across Americans, Brazilians, Aussies, Kiwis, Germans, Finns and Kenyans.
A special mention here must go to Douglas and John, the Kenyan tandem team. For those people who don’t know, Douglas was blinded in the Nairobi bombings.
We’re all finding out how tough joBerg2c is when you can see what’s coming your way, so I can only imagine how tough it is when you can’t. He truly is an inspiration to us all.
Read previous Confessions of a Weekend Warrior
Read next Confessions of a Weekend Warrior
