Triathlon Coaching
To Hell and Back!
Wow - what a weekend! On Friday most of the Stellenbosch MTB crew headed for their annual pilgrimage and The Hell MTB Race. This was the one event I have been really excited about because everybody goes and the craic is non stop. It's basically the World Championships for the local group and one gain's valuable street cred should things go to plan!! More importantly the hanging around drinking beers and talking crap is what's it all about.
The Hell is a valley in the such a remote place. We drove the 400km to Oudstroom and then past Oudstroom to this very scenic area on Friday evening. The Hell started at 7am Saturday morning, like most mtb races over here .... Basically it's an out and back race. Starting with a 20km climb, then the road kind of undulates down for a further 30km, before hitting heartbreak hill, a 4-5km effort and then finally dropping down the loose gravel road into The Hell, which is bloody remote (62.5km total). We all camp there and the next day we race back!
I have surprised myself with my recently found legs. I finished top of the pile with the group and 10th overall! But more than that I had some of the best laughs ever, while camping under the stars!
Sitting around talking shite!
The Hell Group
The serious boys are starting to arrive into town. Frodeno, yes Olympic Champ Jan Frodeno is knocking around. We had a good laugh about old times at lunch yesterday. He is such a great guy. We reflected on the days when we had nothing and were just training hard and living the dream. Well Jan's dreams have come through and I am so so chuffed for the guy. Jan's a gent and has his two feet firmly on the ground, which is a great mark of a true champion. On Sunday I collect the one and old Tim Don in Cape Town airport, Dan Hugo is back, The Caveman (Stoltz) lands Nov 24th, Fraiser Cartmell arrives the end of the month I heard and the one and only Gav arrives at month end too. That's not all ..... I know Gomez and I am sure many more fast boys and girls will frequent this now infamous little town. Gav's going to have great company & I am looking forward to having him here.
In terms of camps the 18th and 19th of April next year looks like a good plan with one or two more in May. I will keep you posted on this plus the holiday.