Michael Chumbley is targeting victory in the gruelling 299km Waterberg Traverse, which starts at Klein Kariba in Bela Bela, Limpopo, tomorrow.
Last year Conraadt van den Heever won the race – which comprises 3 270 metres of climbing and has a 24-hour cut-off time – in 14:22:20. Chumbley came home second a mere two minutes later.
Van den Heever is not set to take part this time round and Chumbley hopes to take the top spot. “My goal is to move one step higher this weekend and I feel I am on track to do so,” Chumbley told In the Bunch.
Michael Chumbley (left) is targeting victory in the gruelling 299km Waterberg Traverse, which starts and finishes at Klein Kariba in Bela Bela. Photo: Oakpics
After having competed in the 361km 36One MTB Challenge near the end of April Chumbley was forced to take some time off to recuperate.
“It took me a while to recover from that [the 36One],” he said. “But the last two weeks I have felt good.
“My training has been on track and I have done some decent mileage.” However, he said he did have one concern going into tomorrow’s race.
“There is a bit of niggle in my chest. I have been coughing quite a bit, so I hope I’m not coming down with anything.”
Chumbley, 40, will be be keeping an eye out for two possible contenders for places on the podium. He expects the field to comprise approximately 30 solo riders.
“There are two riders who will probably give me a hard time and they are Dewald Lötter and Arnold Webb.
“I rode against Arnold at 36One and he beat me, so I am hoping to turn things around this weekend.
“There are some other good endurance riders but they are all taking part in the team challenges and essentially that rules them out.”
The lesson Chumbley learnt from last year’s race was not to go too hard from the outset.
“It will be important to sort of ride for the second half of the race rather,” he said. “The pace was really hot from the get-go in Brits last year.
“It was hard to keep up with the pace in the first two to three hours and that may have caught up with me towards the end.
“I was in the lead from about the third checkpoint and then Conraadt caught me with about 40km left and that is when my wheels fell off.
“I want to head into tomorrow’s race with a slower pace in the beginning and ride into the race.”
He especially wants to pace himself properly before the second half of the route, which he described as being “very hilly”.
“At about 150km we hit Bakker’s Pass, which is a big climb – 400 metres of elevation over just 5km. That is pretty steep.
“By that point I am hoping I feel good after having paced myself and looked after my nutrition. I would then like to turn it up a bit.”
