I knew it was going to be a hard one having done it last year. Some hectic mountains on the 55km marathon surrounding Lourensford Wine Estate awaiting to be climbing in full force! 

Immediately after we arrived i got on the rollers for some warm up and off to the start line it was. Was good seeing some big names on the line including Conrad Stoltz, current Xterra world champ.

The start was fast and took us straight up a hill going through some vineyards, the pace was hot and I stayed up there until the top then settled into my own pace. To my surprise up until then I was in front of Conrad...

I quickly got my legs going and picked up the pace starting to reel in some riders and before halfway I was sitting in 5th overall. Going up the big climb, Oliver Munnik hooked onto my wheel and we powered our way to the top. Then the hill got a bit too long for my liking and I dropped a bit, luckily for me 200m ahead was the final waterpoint with some black magic(Coke) awaiting to get poured down my throat. 

I sat up a bit down the long downhill trying to catch my breath again and right at the end I got surprised with another rider sprinting pass giving me 8th spot overall.

The 29er rolled like a machine today, happy with my result!

Next race: SA XCO National Pretoria in 2 weeks time. Gonna be a cracker!

Keep the wheels spinning!

RF