The 2010 Roof of Africa started as usual with the round the houses, all tar race through the streets of Maseru. I started in the 7th race and soon found that my gearing was way to low to finish strong, that combined with the fact that holding a two strokes throttle wide open and revving its nuts off for 10km was not something that came naturally to me.
Immediately following that we rode to the outskirts of town to start the 115km time trial. This was more the kind of riding I prefer with a flowing, fast technical course where I overtook aprox 35 riders on the loop and had a good smooth quick ride.
'Round the houses' in downtown Maseru
The rain came down in buckets on Thurs night delaying the start of race section 2 on Friday by half an hour while organizers found ways around flooded rivers. So off we set into muddy mountains to do a 220km race day where everything you rode on was like glass. I started to get a good rhythm going early on and was making up good places in the challenging conditions. Then my luck turned, first about 10 km after the first refuel my gear lever fell off and was lost, so a replacement was put on which lost me about five places and 10 minutes.
Got to attack those concrete pipes!
Then a few km's later going up a very steep muddy rocky pass called "Two Tits" I got to aprox 25 riders waiting in a bottle neck and as I was moving up in the que to get over, my chain came off...CRAP ! I lost allot of time here as there is one riding line on a 30 degree rock strewn slope, so I had to move the bike off the path into the bushes on the side and try and work on it.
Got it sorted and rode on, a hour or so later I hooked up with my teammate Pieter and we started to get a good rhythm going and cracked on a good pace for about 20km or so until I hit my gear lever on a rock and sheered the splined shifter shaft clean off...not good !
Igor and teammate Pieter du Plessis
Fortunately the bike was stuck in first gear so I could get out of the mountains and onto a lowland road to get back to the next service point where I had to take a time-bar. This essentially took me out of the medal standings but I could still restart the next day and go for a finish. Which I did, but on my off-road racing bike a KTM 450 four stroke... which is like taking a naval gun to a knife fight, shit that is allot of bike for that kind of riding. So Friday evening was spent changing all the necessary kit and plastics over from one bike to the other, much to the amazement of some of my fellow competitors in the camp site, a few of which got told simply to "piss off". Riding two bikes in the Roof is not legal but I wont tell if you don't.
'Two Tits' Pass
Saturday started well with the days riding being a little more intense than Fridays with allot of steep passes and wet off-camber rock faces thrown in for happiness. An hour or so into the ride and the bikes battery went flat, which wouldn't have been such a problem except for the fact the the motor is a tad worn so the lack of compression on the hot start makes it impossible to kick. So the entire time I was faced with the reality that I could very well be stuck in the hills with a bike that wouldn't go anywhere.
Finished!
Every time I stalled or crashed (which was allot) I had to get locals or fellow riders to hold the bike upright while I stood up on the foot pegs and kicked it with a full stroke, pain in the butt! Lucky I found help when I needed it. Apart from that the day went well with the course taking us over some mind blowing and breath robbing obstacles, and I made it to the bronze finish in the early afternoon....result!
This years event was far more enjoyable for me than last, due mostly to a better thought out route and the fact that I was a little more comfortable with my machinery. Thanks to my sponsors "Enduroworld", and my brother Nic who seconded me on the weekend... oh, and to all the poor buggers that helped me up passes and to start me bike.
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