It was very nice to get the opportunity to ride the Wines 2 Whales, it is an awesome event and very well organised! So when Phelia asked me in May already if I wanted to race with her I could not say no! We were the Wines 2 Whales ladies team and we raced in the Sub vets category.
Stage 1. Lourensford to Oak Valley, 71km 1650 meters of climbing
I was a bit nervous since I had heard a bit too much about how technical and hard the race was going to be, more that then how I would feel. We started and I saw that Phelia was right on my wheel, but then when I looked again she was not there any more, I stopped and someone told me she had a puncture! Within the first kilometre! I went back and she had gotten some help to fix it so we were soon on the bike again. We rode steady and before the first water point we caught two other ladies teams, we road on and off with them for a long time. 3 teams were already ahead.
The route was absolutely amazing! Lots and lots of single tracks and some were quite technical but I never had any problems so it felt good! The views we got were fantastic! I had so much fun on the bike, it was nice to do a race without dying!
We finished 5th overall in the ladies and 3rd in the Sub vets category.
Stage 2 Oak Valley to Oak Valley, 63 km 1075 meters climbing
Todays route was amazing! Nice flowing single tracks and short hills. We did not have any mechanicals so we had a nice steady ride. Phelia felt a lot better today and we were laying 4th through the whole race, and 3rd sub vet. But we did find out after that a team from another start group had a minute faster time so we got 5th on the day.
I was a little worried for the “poffadder” they had warned us a lot for it but it really was not that badJ Phelia, who had ridden it once before, went in front and it was nice to follow her wheel. It was also great to race on the trails that we often do with iRideAfricaon our tours, you can always go a bit faster when you know the route.
The race village at Oak Valley was really nice, we were spoiled with lots of treats from the sponsors Fair cape, Rehidrate and Spur. It got a bit cold during the nights but I still slept better then ever in the tent. It was nice to have both days at the same venue so we did not need to pack the bags in the morning.
Stage 3 Oak Valley to Onrus. 75km 1150 meters of climbing
Today we had decided to give it all since it was the last day. Phelia rode very well today and we did push harder then the previous days. It was once again a day with a fantastic course and lots of fun single tracks! We ended up riding a lot with the first Vets team and we all came together to the second water point but we got going before them. When we had 5km to go we saw them just behind us, I put the hammer down and Phelia did a good job keeping up. We managed to keep them behind and finished 4th overall on the day and in the GC. And we kept our 3rd place in the Sub vets.
It has been 3 fantastic days, it is always fun to be at these events, it is a great atmosphere and you always meet so many nice people. This is definitely a race that I would like to do again! Well done Hanlie and Yolande on winning the ladies race!