Yes please

Race briefing

Where we slept

All done

And we are tired!

Nice cold water!

Race done. We collected about half the available points. We did not run at all. Good race. Nice distribution of points across the map. Lots of route choices even between points close together. Mike could not have done much more and i was quite happy to reach the finish.

Lunch!

41 points so far. But no more easy high score CPs left.

1 hour to go

William

The rain has stopped

William

Very far away from the start

Start

Capestorm Rogaine - Event Preview

Only three members of Lickety Split will be going through to this year’s Capestorm rogaine. Mike and William will join up as team Lickety Vets (as this is the first race William is doing as a Veteran). Adri will be joining us for the foot event.

Lickety Vets are doing both the 6hr foot on the Saturday and the 5hr MTB on the Sunday. Last time Mike and William did the Foot Rogaine we found a wonderful gorge to climb/crawl through and this time we won’t be doing anything different. Our goal will be to take a peaceful stroll through the environment looking for neat spots to have an adventure in. Adri who does not have a team for the event will be joining us just for fun.

We will be taking the MTB event on the Sunday a little more seriously, in other words we won’t purposefully get ourselves lost at a small mountain pool we happen to find along the way. Our goal is to cover between 50 and 70 kms (dependant on terrain), starting at the furtherest point we can find and working our way back as fast as possible.

The 24 Hour - Preview Ride

As a team Lickety Split would like to enter this year’s 24 hour MTB event – it is “good training” for next year’s Swazi X which is currently our major target event. After the disaster that we had at last year’s Maropeng race (horrible course, cheaters, wind, etc) we decided it would be a good idea to go and see what the terrain for this year’s event would be. Four of us went on a trip to Rietvlei farm and joined up with Wendal, the course designer, to see what the route was like.

First off let me state that I love long open dirt roads for riding, I am not a “fan” of single-track and technical riding. I do them (and would consider myself an average rider) because they form part of MTB events. The 24 hour at Northern Farm was to me the perfect 24 hour route – easy riding, non-technical etc.

Rietvlei is rather small, and a winding route has been graded out of the grass for the first few kilometres. This will be great for spectators to be able to see the riders for quite a while, but does give people that want to cheat an opportunity to do so. After the winding graded route, the trail enters the technical single track routes through the koppies and wooded copses of the farm. I feel that this section gives little opportunity to overtake, however many of my team members disagreed with me. Once through the single track sections the route comes down quickly off the high ground and winds through the woodlands before entering the flat section that will contain the start.

While the route is reasonably technical it can be tackled by anyone. The better riders will be challenged to keep a high pace going, while the beginner riders will find the route difficult but doable.

There is no way that I would want to tackle the route as a solo rider. But as part of a team I think the route will be great.

Our thanks to Wendel for allowing us entry early onto the property and showing us the route. We will be back to visit Rietvlei as a training venue.