![\"PE](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-2-0-84631800-1441614878.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nLeaving our overnight camp we hit open district and forestry roads making good time over the first 30-40 kilometres. On the route we had four long climbs today, but all at a mostly comfortable gradient. The standout section for me was from Bloukrans as we took the closed tar road down into the valley and up out of it. Sure it\u2019s a mountain bike race, but right then the smooth tarmac was of no concern. The sights encountered as we wound down into the valley were magnificent. The broken, narrow road took us through what felt like an abandoned paradise. Do yourself a favour: jump on a bike, any bike, and take a ride through Bloukrans and Natures Valley. It\u2019s a special place that I\u2019ve not visited for too many years. Be warned though, the thrilling descent into either valley only means the same amount of climbing awaits to get out.<\/p>\n
<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAfter Nature\u2019s Valley we linked up with a section of the Otter Trail through Salt River valley. Some compulsory portages took us down to the river where a supposed knee-high crossing turned into swimming \/ momentary disappearing acts for some taking the deep line across. On the other side of the river we were warned of a 1km hike out of the valley. It was brutal. Tired legs, arms, backs on the steep inline meant a slow trudge up the steps. When the gradient eased off we hopped back on our bikes following the the gently winding single track through the beautiful indigenous forest. I had to keep reminding myself of the surroundings. We were both tired by this stage and keen to get home.<\/p>\n Out of the forest we hit some district and tar roads for a final “team time trial” along the flattish stretches to the finish at Plett Angling Club.<\/p>\n Some tough riding though beautiful parts of our country in some pretty unthinkable conditions. All round a great four days on a bike.<\/p>\n Yesterday [Day 3] while on the bike I really started to wonder why I spend so much time riding bikes, and why I put myself through such tough events. I mean, I’m not even very good at it. I pushed through a tough day though and today I felt like a human again. That was a good feeling. I think part of the problem is thinking too highly of myself. We were invited by Isuzu Trucks to come and ride the event, write some reports, and shoot some videos. ‘No problem’, I thought, I’m a machine.<\/p>\n Alas<\/p>\n Just finishing an event like this is a full-time mission. Your body is worked all day on the bike. Fast or slow, you get worked. Then you come across the finish line and need to sort out your bike, your box, your tent. You also need to take a shower, drink about five litres of anything you can find, figure out where lunch is served, clean off your shoes and glasses etc etc etc. Then you MUST take your recovery seriously. Try to get your legs up, lie down for a bit, drink another 3 litres of something, stay in the shade. On days like stage one you have to then fetch your bike and try make it ridable again. After that crazy muddy stage my brakes were squealing worse than the crowd on a downhill world cup track. Luckily they had the brake pads I needed and I could replace them myself. Mechanicals happen and they obviously have to be sorted before you can rest.<\/p>\n Today’s stage was hard, more mentally than physically. You know the adventure is almost over and you start thinking about the finish line before you’re even half way. The Garden Route, and Tsitsikamma especially, is a crazy cool part of the world. Big rivers, stunning mountain passes, it’s all good. Because of the rainfall they’ve had the route had to be detoured slightly, sending us on quite a lot of tar road, including some beautiful passes which had us cruising downhill, sweeping around bends, in the thick of the jungle, then climbing for hours to get out on the other side. Then we went onto a hiking trail which does not usually allow cycling. It was pretty hectic going and compulsory portages were enforced. It would be interesting to see how much of that trail the top guys could ride.<\/p>\n We had a straight-forward day with no issues. The same can’t be said for Reuben Van Niekerk, part of team Driepoot, who was also riding for Isuzu Trucks. He had a mechanical that makes me want to soil my pants! He crashed after his stem snapped in half like a twig! If that had happened at high-speed on a descent I don’t even want to think about it. From now on I’m going to buy the thickest and heaviest stems I can find. Ruben is a real trooper though. He had roasties all over, his elbow was strapped up but still oozing quite a lot, but he was smiling. I can just imagine the person who had to sit next to him on the plane, trying to avoid all that liquid goodness.<\/p>\n Anyway, after the descent, the river crossing, and a hella long climb out on a trail that included quite a lot of pushing we were back onto more normal terrain. We rolled past a team of ballies and one of them asks, “how far to the finish?”. I check my watch and tell him it’s another fifteen k’s. “You’re joking!”. I could hear it in that answer he was about to be a mushroom of note. I was even chuckling, thinking about it as Matt and I took turns on the front to combat a slight headwind. I was shocked and horrified when, almost ten k’s later, those same ballies caught us and briefly passed us. What a comeback. Don’t worry though, we attacked them on a long tar stretch before the final descent, and never saw them again. Mwa ha ha.<\/p>\n After four days of riding I hope I am stronger, lighter and ultimately faster. I definitely gained valuable riding experience, especially how to handle mud (just follow Matt’s lines). The best part of it all is the memories. If you get an opportunity to spend four days on your bike in the mountains you have to take it. It was especially good to be a part of team bikehub.co.za. Matt and I were a killer team. A special shout out to SJ at Revolution bike shop and the Pyga guys for hooking me a bike when I found out mine was broke, that green machine dominated! Rookie review on the Pyga OneTen29 still to come. For now, I start to focus on the next challenge, which is trying to wash all my riding kit. Seriously, those things are mif!<\/p>\n The fourth and final day of the 2015 Isuzu Trucks PE Plett mountain bike race took us on a 90km trip from Tsitsikamma Falls to Plettenberg Bay. Once again the flooding meant we were required to take a few detours, substituting dirt for tar. Even with the changes today\u2019s route was pretty spectacular in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47096,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3548,3475],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-19347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-isuzu-trucks","tag-isuzu-trucks-pe-plett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19347"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=19347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>Heading into the Bloukrans valley<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>Crossing the Salt River<\/span><\/p>\nRay’s take on Day 4<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Ray riding up the MANY steps out of the Salt River valley<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/a>Reuben shared this pic of his stem with us. Ouch!<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/a>On the finish line. 2015 Isuzu Trucks PE Plett – Tick<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>Homeward bound after a tough 4 days on a bike. Thanks Isuzu Trucks!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"