Endurance newbie Cindy Theunissen said a record-breaking ride had been the last thing on her mind when she started the 1000 Miler alongside friend Sarah van Heerden last week.
“We ride together a lot at home and I’ve joined her on a few other normal stage races,” said Theunissen, after completing the 1 600km race between Johannesburg and Cape Town.
“When she said she needed someone to ride with her, I joined her in absolute blind faith.”
With just one 600km endurance event (the Durban Dash in May) to draw experience from, Theunissen said even her family had been taking bets as to how far she’d get.
Cindy Theunissen (left) and Sarah van Heerden broke the 1000 Miler record when they finished in 5 days, 11 hours and 52 minutes. Photo: Supplied
“I certainly hadn’t trained adequately for something like this,” said the 45-year-old, who added she’d often felt much older during the five days of riding.
However, perseverance and invaluable advice from race organiser Andy Masters saw the pair finishing joint first and lowering the record of six days and 14 hours to five days, 11 hours and 52 minutes.
“Andy had seen what we could do at the Durban Dash and he gave us advice on where we should stay and how far we should go. He broke it down into manageable portions.”
She said his advice had proved priceless as they often experienced technical issues that saw them riding blind.
“We only ever had one Garmin working at any given time, if any. Our lights were going out and our phones always seemed to be dead, so, from that perspective, other riders were much more organised than us.”
Theunissen said they knew their only chance was to ride faster and farther than anybody else during the day to give themselves enough time to prepare for the following day’s challenges.
The plus side was that by riding hard for 12 to 13 hours a day, they often got more sleep than the competition. Despite getting quality rest, she admitted the pain was hard to handle.
“I was seriously hurting as I’d never done those sorts of miles before but I don’t think Sarah felt as bad.”
She commended her partner, claiming she could never have completed the ordeal without her.
“When everything was hurting she never took any of that seriously.
“Having someone who wasn’t mollycoddling me and making me feel like I couldn’t do it made me realise that that was what endurance racing is all about.”
The clean air, scenery and “perfection of absolutely everything” acted as a sort of balm for the Hillcrest resident as she kept plugging away.
Theunissen said it had been a life-changing experience.
“Nothing has changed my life like these five and a half days have and the bug has definitely bitten.”
Van Heerden, who has done the 12 Comrades, four Cape Epics and the Munga, said her experience had helped her judge the pair’s limits.
“One should never compete against someone else. I feel that can be a huge mistake as that is when you do not ride your own race and go outside your particular comfort zone.”
Having conquered the five days, Van Heerden said she believed it could be done in even less time.
“With the right planning and less sleep you could definitely go under five days and closer to four and a half.”
