NAMIB GRENS

One can select the day, the time, the venue and the duration of an event. But one can not select the weather.
The Namibgrens Marathon sponsored by NAMIBGRENS, iDREAM, NETFIN, KIA MOTORS and organized by Rock & Rut Mountain Bike Club was one of those events. Already on the Thursday before the race the weather was predicted to be cold. That is was going to be windy …? I did not hear of any such predictions. Laying out the course on Friday gave indications that the wind was still going to howl!
Encouraging was the fact that the comfortable camp sites were well booked. Saturday morning the cold according to the limited instruments available, we read the temp well below 0 degrees. The wind was not howling yet. The early morning arrivers indicated that the temp at Rehoboth was at -8 degrees when they drove through the town. The nearer they got to Namibgrens the temp seemed to warm a little. This meant that the cold was still coming!
As always race briefings are held for he announcer!  Four kilos into the race I saw the first fall. Vera was tailing Johan Liebenberg when they were surprised by a donga. Fortunately no injuries. Those those were still cold after six kilos had warmed up after the first stiff climb. The rough surface of the red route road took its toll early in the race. Rolf was the victim of a leaking tire that would not seal. Jens Unterlechner was the Good Samaritan with a tube. A ‘snake bite’ in a tube is bad news! No matter how much sealant is in! After one passed the fourth highest mountain in Namibia came the climb that Willem Heyman did not like at all! I can imagine that the women team of Stephanie, Lidia, Elanor and Teresa had so much to say. They are an inspiration on such a trip. The endless climb that followed led the riders through stunning hills and onto a super hard surface where riding was at race pace. What a pleasure. I heard that Ricardo went to the landing strip looking for a lift from the airplanes that were flying around! Heiko Redecker was spotted fixing a tube and then there was a report that this tube was still laying there which confused some riders. This was picked up by the sweep vehicle of Tewis. All were to follow the yellow arrows and the 70 kilometer riders had to follow the red arrows for the extra loop and there after the yellow arrows again..Bruce you should have just gone a little further. Almost everybody followed the red arrows. When they got back to the yellow arrows a certain bunch got lost! After they had done a small additional loop back to the camp, and the resulted confusion was sorted the riders were set off in the right direction. For all the riders there was a portage section. They had to collect a yellow sticker at Klipspringer View Point. And a BAR-ONE. Uh! Did I enjoy that chocolate! The one yellow dot entitled you to a finisher medal for the 27km entry. I was told by Frank Snyman that he did not like sand. He got to hug it once or twice!  The trail back to camp passed many small dams which was really great. However, once back at camp this was not enough. The gold dot for the 70 kilometer qualification medal was still missing. Those that were previously lost, that thought they were finished and could be rounded up, were sent on their last loop. After a fantastic high speed, down hill race, along the main access road, came yet another heart thumping climb! A downhill speed recorded by Otto Alfeld on the main road was 84 km per hour! Tony Bass got a rear wheel flat while racing down this particular hill! After the second mean climb of the day came a rather difficult and uncomfortable section. The speed bumps controlled the down hill speed on race day, but not the following day. Sebastian Janke was thrown off his bike the next day! With 650 mm of rain during the rainy season one part of the road was again portage for a very short section. Thereafter it was a winding and very technical cycling track back to camp.
I can say that the wind help me climb the long endless climbs! The times the wind came from the front did not really hamper my cycling! This was encountered along that uncomfortable and difficult section anyway. Yes, It was cold, but how hot would it not have been had it been otherwise?
All in All a great Ride that needs small tuning!
After the exciting win of the Springboks the steaks were well prepared by iDream.