Two Cyanosis teams lined up to start the 2nd Kinetic Full Moon race of 2011. The race started at 13h00 at Ribbokloof, about 50km from
Middleburg. Cyanosis First Ascent was made up of Nicholas Mulder, Nathan Thompson, Piers Pirow and Nicky Booyens. Nicholas and Nathan were three weeks away from the Adventure Racing World Champs in Tasmania. Cyanosis Salomon was composed of Alex Pope, Clinton Mackintosh, Ryno Griesel and Jane Swarbreck. The following is a leg by leg account of the race from each team.
Leg 1: 48km MTB
Cyanosis Salomon 1h47
We weren’t sure if this team was an exercise in youth development (Jane and I being looked after by Mac and Ryno) or a pensioner’s day out (Mac and Ryno being looked after by Jane and I). Either way, we were looking forward to testing the combination against some strong competition.
The first leg was made interesting by 3 route choices to CP2. The centre option was the shortest but depended on a good road next to the railway line. The longest option involved a tar road and a dog-leg back to the railway track. This was about 2.5km longer. My choice as we started the race was the central option, but I decided to take the risk on the longer option. I was hoping the railway track road would be bad enough to give our 4 person team time trial a significantly higher average speed. Our surface was faster but we did more climbing. We ended up losing 5-10 minutes despite riding at a very good tempo. Nic got me on that route choice. Our enthusiasm dropped when we saw tyre tracks ahead of us.
We had a very near miss on the tar road when an oncoming car overtook a truck without seeing us – scary moment! We took care to drink and eat properly in the heat. We held a good speed all the way to the transition and arrived with Cyanosis First Ascent already on the water.
Cyanosis First Ascent 1h38
This team was put together at the last moment, with Nathan and Nicholas inviting Piers and Nicky to join them. It had to be the most experienced team out there, with Oom Piers now having been racing for 11 years, with Nicky and Nicholas both having been around for 10 years. Nathan was the relative newbie in the team, with only 5 years under his belt.
With the race off to a good start, we tucked in behind the Salomon team en route to CP1. This served two purposes. Firstly we were able to shelter from the strong headwind (thanks guys!) and secondly we could wait and see what route choice they would make from CP1 to CP2. The Salomon team opted for the tar road route, whilst First Ascent went for the ‘middle’ option of a short tar section and a longer section next to the train tracks. I’d worked out that the ‘middle’ option was about 2.5km shorter than the tar option. However, the tar would have a higher cycling speed, so it was a close call as to which one would be fastest.
With the Salomon team heading one way, and us heading the other, we gunned it and went flat out to try and ensure that we got to the next CP first. Everything went according to plan, with us finding a good quality servitude track next to the railway as expected. We then went flat out along it, averaging just on 30km/hr for the entire leg to Middelburg Dam and getting onto the water before Cyanosis Salomon arrived in transition.
Leg 2: 8km paddle
Cyanosis Salomon 54 min
We had a slightly side-on tailwind. We could see the Cyanosis First Ascent ahead so we had a good carrot to keep the tempo up. Mac and Jane make a super paddling combination, so Ryno and I had our work cut out. It was hard keeping the barges going in a straight line, but we seemed to be catching Cyanosis First Ascent. We got close to the end of Middleburg Dam, with the N4 a few hundred meters away. There was a short muddy portage, a few hundred metres more of paddling, and then a portage to the Kinetic Truck. We closed the gap to about 1 min by the end. Good paddling from our team! And I was happy that Ryno and I could almost keep up with Mac and Jane.
Cyanosis First Ascent 56 min
Our transition had been a bit slow, so we only started the paddle with a 4 minute lead. Since this team combination had never raced together before, we didn’t get the correct paddling combinations right at the start. Halfway down the dam we decided to swap team mates between the boats to get a better balance of strengths. This took 30 seconds in mid-water, but probably helped us save 2 minutes on the second half of the paddle. The Salomon team were gaining steadily the whole way, so we kept pushing hard, also portaging across the mud and to the transition as quickly as possible. We were hoping to be the stronger team on the upcoming 8km run, so our focus was ensuring that we started this run with a slight time gap.
Leg 3: 8km run
Cyanosis Salomon 55 min
We set off close behind and again with a carrot to keep us moving. We weren’t moving as well as Cyanosis First Ascent and when I slowed us to a walk to spot the tree at the end of the forest, Cyanosis First Ascent seemed to already have a good lead. From there, I saw Nic go very straight over the hill. I tried to save a bit of climb and went further left. By now we had lost a few minutes. We headed into the google-earth cloud. I had it in my head that the fence would run perpendicular to the shore. So we’d run into the fence and I’d go left to find the crossing.
My assumption was bad – the fence in the cloud was parallel to the shore. So we overshot it and lost more time. We managed to lose a large 7 minutes to Cyanosis First Ascent.
Cyanosis First Ascent 48 min
The First Ascent team had a great leg here. We pushed the pace hard on the run and everyone coped with it well. We saw the gap grow on the chasing Salomon team most of the way and all I had to do was ensure that we hit all the check points spot on. As a result, we went tiger-line across the terrain, running as straight as possible and crossing the barb-wire fences as quickly as possible. We had a super-fast transition and were able to take a time split on the Salomon team as we cycled out, 9 minutes behind.
Leg 4: 50km MTB
Cyanosis Salomon 2h24
We had quite a slow transition compared to the others. Perhaps we faffed a bit filling bottles. We set off disappointed with our time loss so far. We rode well. Mac and Ryno did some good turns on the front. Jane was strong and steady. It got dark after about 30km, but with the open roads and good lights the dark didn’t slow us down much. The final hill came as we were all starting to get uncomfortable – so it was hard work. We lost 7 min, so Cyanosis First Ascent was cycling very well.
Cyanosis First Ascent 2h17
After leaving transition, we slowed down the pace a bit so that everyone could take a few gulps of food properly and let their stomachs settle. If we didn’t look after ourselves now, we’d have lost time later on in the leg. The navigation on this leg was fairly straight forward, but we kept up a constant tempo, trying to get as much of this leg done in the day light as possible before it got dark, and trying to stay ahead of a looming thunderstorm that was approaching from the south. In the end, we switched on our headlamps at the last CP on the cycle and did the final 5km uphill to the final transition under the threatening storm.
Leg 5 8km Hike
Cyanosis Salomon 1h58
We arrived at Ribbokloof and passed our kit check with no trouble. We thought we were in for a fast final run. But against the trend of the
race we faced some hills and slow going. The Google earth photo didn’t show the contours we had to cross. Early on we caught sight of Cyanosis First Ascent’s lights ahead which lifted us. After the dam wall, the navigation got a bit trickier. Compass bearings were very useful – we tiger-lined everything. We kept seeing lights ahead – not far ahead each time. This would give us the impression we were close behind, but then we’d have to drop into and climb out of a big valley. It turned out that the gap stayed very constant. The team was moving well with the end close and lights in the distance. We had the same time as Cyanosis First Ascent for the leg. I was happy to have matched Nic on a moderately technical nav leg. I’m starting to enjoy night-time AR navigation.
Cyanosis First Ascent 1h58
We were very slow in transition as we felt the pace of the earlier cycles. However, we knew we’d feel better on our feet and were looking
forward to a short quick trail run. That idea went by the wayside quickly!
The team got into a good rhythm early on once we realised that the final leg wasn’t a simple trail run. At certain stages we could see the headlamps of the chasing Salomon team, which had closed from 20 minutes before transition to about 10. We kept regular time checks on them and made sure the keep the gap at least 10 minutes. We were confident and knew we had enough left to maintain this gap… as long as we didn’t make any navigational mistakes. In the end we hit everything spot on and managed to get the gap back to 15 minutes by the finish line.
Finish
Cyanosis Salomon 8h16
In the end we were 16 min behind. A good chunk of that was due to my poor route choice on the 1st leg. There is room for navigator
improvement on all the legs though: I could set a more consistent pace and continue to take notes from Nic. Cyanosis First Ascent was strong competition that out-biked and out-ran us. Not by much though. And that is encouraging for me.
So, pensioner’s day out or baby-sitting? It is great to race with the massive experience of Mac and Ryno. Although we joke that they’re much older than Jane and I, they’re as strong as ever and with all that experience, they make it look easy. I think the young half of the team managed to hide the fact that we’ve done a fraction of the racing our team mates have done. All in all, a good team effort. We need to save some time on the navigation subtleties and get more speed on foot and bike.
Thanks to Stephan and Heidi for another good race. I love the idea of showing up with your bike and some gear and racing hard. There’s no admin. Thanks to the marshals and helpers. And well done to everyone who took part.
Cyanosis First Ascent 8h00
This was a beautiful race. The organisers, Stephan and Heidi suggested that the faster teams would find it too easy, but this was not the case. The competition between Cyanosis First Ascent and Cyanosis Salomon, as well as the other teams made this race a memorable one.
We were able to go flat out for most of the race, which was actually very enjoyable, testing team strategy and technique to the full and requiring a lot of tactical thinking. Many experienced racers will tell you that an AR team doesn’t go as fast as the slowest team member, but rather goes as fast as a supportive team will allow. This race was a superb example, with the team members supporting and looking out for each other in ways that made them faster than any individual athlete could have gone. This race was all about team work and we loved it for it.
Authors: Nicholas Mulder and Alex Pope | Team Cyanosis First Ascent and Team Cyanosis Salomon | Kinetic Full Moon AR, 15 October 2011