Enduro racing: Great off season XTERRA training!

We started in groups of 4. I’m on the red and black Honda. (Yes, the guy in the back!) The guy next to me on the far right, Willie “die Lem” (The Blade) won, and I finished 2nd. The guy on his back wheel crashed about half way through while in 2nd. He had a 2 inch thorn in the back of his hand- not sure if that’s CAUSED the crash or if it was BECAUSE of the crash.

I did my 1st Enduro dirt bike race today. Wow, what an experience! I grew op riding dirt bikes on our farm, but when I turned 16, and became really serious about triathlon, I sold the bike. (Also needed the money to buy a “faster” bicycle.) So the last 18 years I told myself “the day I retire from triathlon racing, I’ll buy a dirt bike again. But last year, after winning Xterra World champs, I thought: “Screw it, I cant wait anymore! You only live once.” I bought the perfect bike: a 2005 Honda CRF 450 X. The previous owner rode it a few times, crashed really hard, got scared and became a motivated seller….So last summer I putzed around on the bike, riding up the mountain behind our farm near Lydenburg, South Africa for high altitude long runs, retraced part of the Toyota 400 Rally route near our farm, and played a bit on our hide away dirt road.I never thought I’d enter a race. This week a friend told me about a little Enduro one valley over from ours. 4 laps of 20km- nothing too hairy and not too many flash riders.

It was refreshing being a rookie again. I got to feel what those people new to XTERRA feel like- when they nervously ask me those “stupid” questions, about socks or no socks, what to eat, what tire pressure etc. At Enduro racing, I am a rookie and it feels great! Sure, I pay full price and ride stock equipment, but I have absolutely no pressure to win! In XTERRA, for me, not winning is failure. Talk about pressure. Today I fully expected to get lapped. As long as I didn’t get hurt or get run over being lapped, I was cool.

Race morning I was woken by excited nerves, and fumbled around wondering what to wear, how to get the bike on and off the bakkie (truck), will I need to refuel, will I get hungry, (Amber says I was born hungry) how will I know I’m about to be overtaken/ lapped (cant see behind you) what if I need to pee?! I tried to set the bike up from what I could learn from the manual and asking people who looked fast.

There were 12 or so 2 wheel bikes and about 20 quad bikes. We set off in groups of 4. I chose what looked like the slowest group (turned out to be the fastest) and took off conservatively- figuring its called an “Enduro” for good reason- getting to the 1st corner 1st sounded very intimidating.

My mountain biking skills must have paid off, because, to my surprise, I kept up with what I though was the mid packers fairly comfortably, overtaking riders through corners and the more technical parts. Apparently this course had nothing “Hairy”- but the organizer did caution us to be especially cautious near the edge of the cliffs. “If you fall off there, we wont come looking for you till Monday morning. Thats because you’ll fall ’till Sunday afternoon.” It was a Saturday race…

The guys around me would go like crazy on the straights, and then slam on the brakes and diddle through the corners or over the rocks, and then kill it on the next straight. Pedaling your bicycle really makes you appreciate speed and teaches you not to wast it once you have it. I must have been more fluid (or something) because I know I didnt use nearly all 50 horses this 115kg bike packs. Next thing I was having a ding dong “battle” for 2nd. Unfortunately it ended up with the other guy taking a tumble and a 2 inch Sickle thorn along the top of his hand.

No, I didnt need to refuel (or pee!) , I didn’t get lapped, and if you go at a good clip you wont have to deal with those big quads, but next time I’ll certainly wont wear velcro knee brace straps over naked skin.

My dad was my pit crew and camera man. Berhard, how KIEF aaare those wheels?! Shot bru. Sorry, I wasnt man enough to run the 48 tooth sprocket.

Fortunately it wasn’t a huge race- it was my 1st race, I felt like a complete rookie and I was nervous about lots of riders on the track- especially quad bikes which are hard to overtake. I was overtaken by one, and the rocks flying at my face was the size of my face! Fortunately he got hung up in a bush through the twisty section and I didn’t have to fight to pass him.

Ready for lift off. With all that protective gear and the harsh African sun, anything slower than half open throttle in 3rd gear is boiling hot, and I drank a lot more water during the 2hr race than I would in a 2hr triathlon. (By the size of the shadows, you’ll realize how close the the sun this place is)

Injury wont be cool, (and I’ll get “IT” from all sides- my coach Libby,  my parents the works) so apart from not riding like I stole it, I also went for just about every piece of protection I could get. Thanks to my sponsors, you’ll see some handy cross overs from mountain biking:

Specialized Fortress downhill gloves- pic below. The carbon knuckles comes in handy when you clip a thorny branch at 60km/h

I also wore:

Specialized Kanu downhill elbow pads.

Specialized cycling shorts.

Oakley MX SX Pro Goggles

Balega socks

Fox helmet

Fox Boots

Fox pants

Fox shirt

Fox Air Vent chest protector

Leatt neck brace. Very important. This world famous neck brace was developed by a South African doctor, and basically prevents whiplash in all directions, compression fractures of the neck and the infamous helmet hitting collarbone fractures. It looks bulky, but I hardly even notice I’m wearing it.

EVS Web knee braces. They cost almost as much as the bike, but my (Ironman/moto cross) mate Berner (Calves of Steel) Cullin in Port Elizabeth told me these are a must. They prevent ACL tears and twisted knees which normal knee pads dont do. Knee pads just keeps rocks out of your patella. At $300 each, these puppies are still a lot cheaper than a CAT scan and re constructive surgery.

Boots get really hot and sweaty- they are waterproof and eventually create their own little climate in there- Stuffitts keeps mine smelling nice and the cedar chips draw the moisture out of the material- they ensure your shoes are nice and dry long before the blisters on your hands stop throbbing.

This little trick I brought over from triathlon – tape your Clif Shot gel to your handlebar. Grab, eat, stash the wrapper in your pants, and drink water from Camelback to wash it down with. It also adds special gel protection to the handlebar protection.

This game is A LOT more smiley at the finish than your average triathlon…