Now many of you might not be aware of the procedure at worlds but here is a short description.
Anybody is allowed to race as long as your bike has wheels, one gear and can go forward when propelled, if it goes backwards we either have a problem or you are seriously talented.
As with many other world championship races there are rules, however this race is unique seeing as the rules are that lycra is frowned upon, and a costume is recommended. And the biggest most important rule is if you don’t want a tattoo DON’T WIN!
My costume was quite a purple affair, in the shape of a turtle shell and a chest plate that created a perfect 6 pack.(no guys not beer), the other south Africans decided to go a little bit more out there and ordered Morphsuits, Grant usher was the Leopard, Grant Walliser (AKA Delilah) was the checkerboard, Graham Rogoff The Big green Monster, and Andrew Broom was a Zebra with an Afro, We also had Matthew de Jongh in the guise of a Springbok with his second world War fighter pilot’s helmet, and then we had a few surgeons (names that I cannot remember) and we had two Pretoria boys, Louw the shark (sorry about the lions beating you guys) and Rob the Springbok.
All of the boys were in top class shape to show the rest of the world what we were there to do, be it beer drinking or riding our bikes.
At 13h30 we were all instructed to go to the marquee in the middle of Kilfinane where Race briefing would be, and in typical SS style we were there in our droves all 600 odd of us. We were then marched onto the open road where Garth Weinberg the defending Champion would lead us to the trail, a good 10km from town.
The ride to the trail was a chilled affair with myself and Dejay Birtch from Niner bikes playing around in the crowd, riding up the sides and racing to the front only to realise that the front of the pack was still quite far ahead. We eventually made it up to the front where the one and Only Grant Usher was sitting in prime position behind Garth, looking focussed and ready to pounce on all the competition.
With there being 600 odd riders behind us we waited quite a while at the start for the whole group to get to the trail, we all had to go put our bikes on the main fire road above the start area upside down on the floor, while walking down to the start Garth, Usher and myself scouted out the quickest route up to our bikes, and decided that the quickest route would be 10 paces from the start line turn right and do a bit of hectic trail running through the bushes. All three of us got a good gap on the group with my sprinting ability showing up and surprising even myself, on getting up to the fire road I noticed that a bunch of leprechauns got hold of the majority of the bikes and rearranged them, buggers had swapped my bike to the other side of the road, but with me being in such a flat panic I ran halfway back into the melee of riders and eventually lost about 100 places (from being the first up onto the fire road) Thanks to Ciara, I found my bike and eventually got going, passing my fair share of riders an also being passed by a few guys with superior climbing skills to myself(or just an easier gear) once in the single track there was little or no space for passing and so I used this opportunity to compose myself and relax and find my flow, I am no slouch in the technical stuff when it comes down to races in SA but I found myself railing around corners at speeds that were scarier than I ever could imagine. Throw in a few bridges and we have potential crashes, well potential turned into definite with Grant W, Broomie and myself all taking a dive on the same bridge. After composing myself from that I continued to ride like the devil was on my tail, it turned out to be some guy dressed like Zorro.
After the first bit of single track I decided I needed to move up a few places so put a big effort in to cross over to a smaller but faster group ahead, however once I caught them it turned out that their legs were fading after a long chase up a hill so I went past them with ease. Enter second piece of single track and I find myself in a bunch of equally talented riders who matched each others moves with the efficiency of a flowing stream of water, but that was short lived when all of a sudden one guy lost his nerve and crashed into a tree, I really hope he is ok because that didn’t look pretty.
With my hopes of winning the tattoo down the drain my game plan switched to having the time of my life while riding as fast as I possibly could, a few sketchy moments passed and I found myself doing a nose wheelie down a hill, thank goodness I controlled it and made it look like I do that all the time.
I eventually crossed the line in 4th place according to the organiser (they only count the first three over the line the rest of us were all 4th NO JOKES!) ok so in reality I was probably in the top 40 but that is never going to be known for sure. Grant usher on the other hand was either 5th or 6th he had a top class ride with the front guys and I am really hoping that he gets the tattoo on his third attempt next year in SA, Grant W and Broomie came in just before me and rode extremely well considering they both had hangovers that would make most Irish pub crawlers jealous. Matthew de Jongh came in 4th place as well and Graham Rogoff rode a dream ride to finish off in 4th... a special mention must go to Dejay from Niner bikes who couldn’t find his bike so grabbed another Niner that looked like it was the right size and rode it the whole race, but finding that his brakes were the wrong way round on the first bridge and landing on his Face he also finished in a solid 4th place.
As far as races go I haven’t had so much fun on a trail in a long time and I definitely will not be missing a SSWC ever again. There are so many memories that I will cherish from these past few days, from hearing that south Africa will host the worlds next year to Charlie the bike monger handing out the most awesome stickers and Dejay skidding down the main road in kilfinane and going all squiggly, showing his amazing bike skills off.
Now as most of you know the SSWC is most known for their beer drinking antics, however this year there was no beer drinking during the race, it was quite unfortunate because the trails on the Ballyhoura Mountain are a national monument of sorts and drinking of Alcohol is strictly forbidden in these parts, taking the lack of drinking into account the race was an evenly matched affair where the riders were strung out according to their riding ability not their drinking ability.
So many people will say that this race was rigged and all I can say is that even if it was, the winner sure had to be able to ride his bike freaking fast, Niall Davies was that Guy who was the fastest on the day and Heather Holmes was that Lady, Both worthy winners and really amazing people at that.
To Garth Weinberg the 2010 World champ I cannot say anything except it is an Honour and a privilege to have been able to ride with you. Niall, Heather, Garth and All of the other Non South Africans at SSWC 2011, Thank you for the experience and the opportunity.
Grant Usher, our very own SS Legend, The passion, the focus and that awesome ability to make friends with absolutely everybody sure shows that you are a man of Class and I am glad to have been part of the team this year thank you for being our fearless leader and an awesome friend!
To All the Saffa’s at SSWC2011 a few of us were missing, but will not be missing it next year. The guys that were there, what a ride and what an experience I am sure you all will agree!! Thanks for adding to the memories.
In Closing Let‘s make the South African version of the SSWC a world class African adventure with nobody leaving SA without saying it was the BEST EVER!!!
