On day six of the 2015 Old Mutual joBerg2c, Alistair Schorn passed through the Dragon’s Teeth as he and 800 mountain bikers said goodbye to the Drakensberg and turned towards the coast. Here he shares the agony and the ecstasy of those mountain highs. For more episodes, follow his Confessions of a Weekend Warrior on In the Bunch.
Traditionally, day six of the Old Mutual joBerg2c is the last of three big climbing days in the Drakensberg, before the start of the sani2c stages that are so familiar to many of us. And so it was once more . . .
At the start at Clifton Prep, the mist returned with a vengeance; so much so that we couldn’t actually see what awaited us. The decision on the part of the race commissaires to neutralise the race until the mist lifted proved to be a very wise one, as we felt our way out of town for the first 10 or so kilometres.
Once the racing started, we were faced with another 15km on the tar, and even though this proved a lot easier than what was to come later in the day, the climbing soon started and pretty much didn’t stop.
Alistair Schorn passed through the Dragon’s Teeth on day six of the 2015 Old Mutual joBerg2c.
Today was a day on which the majority of the field spent many hours each locked in his or her own private purgatory, leaning over the handlebars, staring at the GPS screen and willing the waterpoints to arrive. The fact that each of these was located at the top of a major climb meant that they were even more appreciated than usual.
After the second waterpoint, we were faced with plenty of up and down district and forestry roads, as well as a few hairy, badly eroded plantation sections and some more nasty climbs.
Eventually though, we saw the welcome sight of the oak avenue with its multi-coloured autumn leaves, which, for those who have done the race before, is a signal that you’re almost home.
One thing that I’m rediscovering on my joBerg2c journey is that mountain biking is an extremely humbling sport in a number of ways.
The first is the fact that we are incredibly privileged to ride in the places that we do – through private farms, commercial plantations and nature reserves – and to see the amazing sights that we get to see.
Even though today was a tough day, the views from the tops of some of the hills were absolutely incredible, and we know that we’re part of a very select group of people who get to see these.
The second way in which mountain biking can be humbling is that the slightest bit of misfortune – whether it be a puncture, mechanical, crash, illness or something else unforeseen – can put one a long way down the field, or even out of the race, in a very short space of time.
So those of us who do make it through should remain very grateful for our ability to do so, even when we’re having a hard day or things aren’t going according to plan. Just to illustrate the point, today we saw Douglas and John from Kenya (for the second time) walking their bike the last few kilometres into the finish.
On a personal note, I also have to say that I’m very appreciative of the help and support that I get from my wonderful wife at every race village; so much so that I think, just like in the overseas professional teams, she deserves to be promoted from directeur sportif to general manager of Team Panda-monium.
Tomorrow the fun starts (or so they say).
Read previous Confessions of a Weekend Warrior
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