In the Bunch

Cycling news, results, events, photos, reviews & forum

  • Home
  • News
    • Road
    • Mountain bike
    • Track
    • International
    • Features
    • Triathlon
    • Race reports
    • Blogs
    • Reviews
    • Sponsored content
  • Results
  • Photos
  • Events
    • Categories
    • Locations
    • Add your Race
  • Find
    • MTB Trails
    • Cycle Shops
    • Add listing
  • Forum
    • View forum
    • Register
    • Login
  • Store
    • View products
    • Basket
    • My account
    • Size chart
  • Contact
    • About

First SA rider home Heinrich Visser recounts gruelling The Munga

December 4, 2018, 2:22 pm By In the Bunch Staff reporter

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • WhatsApp

Heinrich Visser said he was “super stoked” with his result at The Munga ultra-endurance mountain-bike race at the weekend. He was the first South African to complete the 1 075km trek and finished second overall.

Visser, who won the race two years ago, completed the race in two days, three hours and three minutes and lost out to Dutchman Ramses Bekkenk by over an hour.

Heinrich Visser said he was "super stoked" with his result at The Munga ultra-endurance mountain-bike race at the weekend. Photo: Facebook/Elza Visser

Heinrich Visser said he was “super stoked” with his result at The Munga ultra-endurance mountain-bike race at the weekend. Photo: Facebook/Elza Visser

The Cape Town local said he had no specific goal in mind going into the event, with his main aim being “just to finish”.

“In a race like this it’s difficult to have any specific plans. It’s such a long way that things and conditions change all the time,” Visser told In the Bunch today.

“I just took it as it came, and as the race went on and developed I figured I was in with a shot,” he said, adding that he was especially happy with the result considering what he described as a “quality field” this year.

He said his legs did not feel particularly strong at the start of the race, until “fireworks flew” and a break suddenly formed comprising him, Bekkenk, Kevin Benkenstein and a couple of others.

“I was sitting in the second group with Marco Martins, Chris van Zyl and two others and the pace was hard. When the pace picked up it was furious.

“We were all giving chase and we eventually caught up, but by then Ramses was gone.

“Eventually it was only Marco and me after Britstown [approximately a third of the way in] after we corrected a wrong turn early. It was only the two of us for a while.”

He said Martins “pushed quite hard” but struggled to keep up due to a stomach bug.

“We were both on our own from Loxton and we kept pushing on. When we got to Fraserburg, the next water point, I was told he had started to get sick after eating something.

“That’s when I knew things weren’t looking too good for him and just before Sutherland I was told he was under observation by the medics.

“I just pushed on and by that point I wasn’t really looking ahead of me [towards Bekkenk], I was more looking at what was happening behind me.”

Visser said in hindsight he did not think he could have caught Bekkenk as by then he was “pretty broken”.

“I just decided to maintain my position and I’m sure everyone, after riding at that pace, was beginning to feel it.

“I think Ramses was also taking some strain,” he said, adding that he had no sleep throughout the race.

“Strangely enough, I never felt like I really needed to lie down. I was never really sleepy tired.

“But when I left the Tankwa Padstal my vision was completely blurry and weird.”

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Ramses Bekkenk The Munga winner

    Ramses Bekkenk breaks The Munga record by eight hours
  • Mountain bikers at the start of The Munga

    The Munga live tracking: Day two leaderboard
  • A rider moving through an arid area during The Munga yesterday. Photo: Erik Vermeulen

    The Munga results: Ramses Bekkenk thrashes race record
  • Munga

    The Munga: Heinrich Visser wins

SPONSORED CONTENT

Kim le Court, Lynette Burger, Carla Oberholzer and Heidi Dalton of Demacon MaxWax

Team Demacon MaxWax announces new co-sponsors

Mountain bikers pushing their bikes during last year's X-Berg Challenge

Go where few have gone in the Drakensberg’s X-Berg Challenge

CTCT & SPCA

CT Cycle Tour entries: Join #TEAMSPCA to ride for the animals

Luck shoes

Coming soon: Top quality Luck shoes heading to SA

Receive daily WhatsApp news updates
Sign up for news & special offers

LATEST REVIEW

  • Review: Westfalia bike rack

Recent forum topics

  • Heartbreak for Team Vandergroup
  • Daryl Impey: the silent assassin
  • Watch: Motorist makes U-turn and charges cyclists
  • PE Cycling Club – 139 not out
  • Being colourful means being visible on the bicycle
  • Great Graffiti Walls of Jozi e-bike ride

Filed Under: Mountain bike Tagged With: Heinrich Visser, News, The Munga

Sponsored content

Team Demacon MaxWax announces new co-sponsors

Go where few have gone in the Drakensberg’s X-Berg Challenge

CT Cycle Tour entries: Join #TEAMSPCA to ride for the animals

Coming soon: Top quality Luck shoes heading to SA

947 Cycle Challenge: Get JC Nel’s six-week training programme

Latest review

Review: Westfalia bike rack

Recent forum topics

  • Heartbreak for Team Vandergroup
  • Daryl Impey: the silent assassin
  • Watch: Motorist makes U-turn and charges cyclists
  • PE Cycling Club – 139 not out
  • Being colourful means being visible on the bicycle

Upcoming Events

  • In the Bunch show
  • Tour of Oman
  • Knysna Bull (Knysna 200)
  • Volta ao Algarve
  • Cyprus Sunshine Cup #1 Afxentia
  • Berge & Dale
  • Big Five MTB Challenge
  • Herald Cycle Tour - Team Challenge
  • Ride The Karoo
  • Sabie Classic
  • Ysterberg Tibani MTB Challenge
  • Absolute Hilton Challenge
  • Flight Centre Foundation MTB Challenge
  • Herald Cycle Tour - Road Race
  • Tour de PPA
  • Tour du Rwanda
News
Results
Events
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
About
Advertising enquiries
Contact newsroom

Sign up for our newsletter and become part of our bunch!

Tweets by In_the_Bunch

Copyright © 2010 - 2019 · Developed and managed by Full Stop Communications

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.