Sasol Cross Off Road Buffelspoort

Past Sunday was the first race of the new year for me … an off road triathlon. I was quite nervous (as I do not train much off road cycling), but also exited. I always like to ride mountain bike, but unfortunately I don’t have much time to do this. So normally – the only training I do on my mountain bike is during a race.

Early Sunday morning, a light drizzle started, which later turned into a more serious rain. This means the earth is soaked and all over was mud and more mud. I registered, racked my bike and did my usual warm up. I didn’t recognize a lot of the athletes, which means I didn’t know who the biggest competition was.

I went out hard in the swim to try and make a gap because of my questionable mountain bike skills. I knew I had to have as much time as possible as I always thought that some unknown athlete may (with mountain bike experience) may come from nowhere. After the swim, I managed a 50sec gap on Tyronne White. I had a quick transition and jumped on my bike and off I went to race my 20km bike stage. I thought I was making good time through the technical part of the race until Tyronne caught me at about 5km. I said to myself that I need to hold on to his wheel no matter what. I managed to do so until the last 3km of the ride, which was again very technical. He rode away from me as if I was looking for parking.

Eventually when I started the run, he had a one minute lead. Luckily for me his running skill wasn’t as good as his mountain bike skill, so I was able to catch him just after 2km on the run. When I caught him I gave a huge surge to pass him and hoped that he wouldn’t follow. My plan had worked and I was home free.

This was a very tough race but also one of the most fun (and muddiest) races that I had done. This year kicked off with a good start for me I hope I can continue with this form.

Thanks to everyone supporting and to Sasol for sponsoring this great series.

Rudolf