Race Report: Isuzu Trucks PE Plett Day 2

Today was the longest stage of the 2015 Isuzu Trucks PE Plett covering 97km from Gamtoos to the Soloko Game Reserve. After yesterdays mud fest we were warned to expect more of the sticky stuff. In the words of Mike Glover of Red Cherry Adventures “There’s no other way to say it, but that you’ll have about 5km of sh**.”

My take on Day 2:

My pre race training for the ride was nothing short of dismal. Post-Epic blues coupled with frantic work and general winter laziness have meant few miles were spent on a bike saddle before this race. Ray on the other hand has been riding up a storm. Mammoth indoor trainer sessions, base miles, intervals… all the good stuff.

Knowing the distance ahead today and the thought of more gear crunching, energy sapping mud meant I needed to go steady today. Not for any other reason than plain survival. I knew I had the distance in me (read: hoped that some Epic fitness was still lingering), but it was still going to be a long day.

The mud today was no where near as bad as I was expecting, but that’s not to say it wasn’t a comfy second on my list of “muddiest rides ever”. When you turn around to witness your partner hubs deep in a mud pit it’s usually pretty bad. With all the mud yesterday I was surprised how well my bike held up. Aside from some well worn, but still working brakes and one moment of chain suck it was all good. Today though, it was a battle against constant chain suck, always at the most inopportune moment.

It was generally a good, but tough day on the bike. I survived. If the amount of (one way) conversation is anything to go by Ray had a super-chilled ride. So thanks to him for being patient!

As with our levels of chatter today I’ll keep my words to a minimum and let Ray to more of the talking to run you through the stage.

An idea of the profile we faced today

Rays take on Day 2:

I reckon a lot of guys at races go as hard as they can but talk it down. “No we were just taking it easy, I’m using this race for base training” Whatever, whatever. Having said that, today Matt and I really went out easy, no jokes. I’ve never spoken so much in my life. Usually at a race if I speak at all it is all business; “passing right”, “coke and water”, “watch that buffalo!”, that kind of thing. Today we were discussing life and work and bikes, it was great. Once we had determined that we were taking it easy we were not inclined to increase the pace at all. At first it was brilliant.

The route today had crazy wet sections, but the majority was dry and open, and the sun was out so much that we are both a bit red. The scenery was the highlight of the day for sure. I firmly believe this is the best country in the world and mountain bike races generally target the nicest parts of it.

Today we went through some killer mountains. The parts that were wet were next-level wet. Matt seems to have improved his mud-interpretation skills (see yesterdays post) but I have not. I picked a number of bad lines that saw my front wheel more than half-submerged, literally above the axle, in mud. It stops you dead in your tracks. More often than not Matt surged past me on a better line. He also knows how to pedal through almost waist-deep rivers better than me too.

This kind of terrain is hard on the rider, but absolute hell for the bike. You don’t need any better test for a drivetrain than what we’ve done. A few days before the race I had one broken mountain bike and a big problem. Or not. One call to SJ at Revolution Bike Shop and I was sorted. He arranged a demo Pyga OneTen29 for me lickety-split and I was even more amped for the Isuzu Trucks PE Plett than before.

Back to the point, Matt and I both have 2×10 drivetrains on our bikes, but this new Pyga I was gifted had a 1×11 SRAM setup. Personally I’ve never seen the real benefit of 1×11. Obviously it’s a great drivetrain, but is it worth the extra bucks? For a small weight saving I didn’t think so.

However, today and yesterday I realised that muddy conditions are where it stands out significantly. I had zero chain suck, and zero shifting issues, in the worst possible conditions for shifters. Matt on the other hand can’t say the same.

One of the highlights for me was cycling down a river. It also doubles as a road. Geologically speaking I’m not sure which came first, the road or the rivers, but today it was definitely both. It was quite a novel experience which I enjoyed quite a bit.

The thing is, even though we were “taking it easy”, the stage was 97 kms long and had a LOT of climbing. It was a tough stage for sure, by anyones standards. Whether you ride it slow or ride at max race pace you still have to ride 97kms, and towards the end of the stage our legs were pretty stuffed. It might even be worse, because you are just out there for longer. The level of suffering at each particular moment is less, but you suffer for longer and it all evens out in the end. I can’t remember a time when I was that excited to see a water point, and towards the end Matt was scanning around each corner looking for branding flags and kept saying, “it must be close now”. The race posters read Isuzu Trucks PE Plett “The Tough One”. Now I get it.

Our camp for the night at Soloko Game Reserve