Roof of Africa 2012 - part 2

Friday night I slept like the dead, in spite of....' bastard fowl!'
I was bright and chipper at the start, right up until I asked a marshal my start position, only to be told I was listed as a DNF the day before and now had to start 135th or something.....REALLY !

The reality was that I should have started 51st, but due to a timing 'glitch', acknowledged by organizers, and was told at the time to come talk to them after the race....WTF ! Does not help me when I have to fight my way through all the slower riders I had already dealt with the day before up the side of a mountain.....I was pissed ! And even forgot to take my med's.

So it was on.... and I uncharacteristically whacked it from the word go, blitzing my way through slower riders sometimes 4 or 5 at a time, damn the ankle, I was charging!!

Where I encountered riders all switch-backing up a rocky step section, I would plant it straight up the face, where they were all hair-pinning around the end of a trench I would jump the thing, they would all meander thru a bushy stage on the path, I would bash and crash straight thru cross country, foliage caught up in bike and helmet flaying behind. Not pretty but I was getting the job done.

I had a good chuckle to myself on a good few occasions. The best was a horrible angled rock step at the top of a steep narrow off-camber pass called "music box". It was close to the first refuel so there were allot of spectators helping at the step as well as sitting across the valley watching. I saw the drama up ahead and dropped off the sheer rock-face left, down into the valley, over the stream and up the steep spectator littered climb on the other side, missing out all the tomfoolery. To the adulation of some on-lookers who gave thumbs up, and horror of others who gave looks of "hey you cant do that"....just did !

The day wore on with strength sapping sections coming and going and the only real lapse in concentration I suffered was when I lost the front wheel down a very steep, sandy, step off section and fell on my head then somersaulted over the edge down the side of the mountain with the bike landing on top of me...dumb-ass !

By lunch with only 30 km or so to go we knew I would not have a problem making the cut off so started riding a little slower, just getting it home. Then energy started to really fade a little in the early afternoon as I, in my usual haste forgot to eat at the last refuel....brilliant!

It worked on my mind for a while until I came across a mate and 'demanded' food. All he had was a rancid protein bar, good enough. Truth is it was like chewing on a big lump of window putty but it got me there I suppose.

The day and race finish was achieved with the hectically steep, rocky but spectator lined climb "bushman's pass" really took a big effort, but a awesome feeling having them all cheering and whistling you on.

Got home in 8 hours and 44 mins, even taking my support crew, brother Nic by surprise, he was still farting around down in the parking instead of being at the finish taking pics of my moment of glory..... NICHOLAS...!!??

Total race distance 400 km
Total time 18 hours and 35 mins
Position 53rd in Expert class
Silver medal

The Roof of Africa will always remain one of the toughest enduro races in the world, and its an awesome feeling to take on and master all the challenges it throws you. Or at least the experience of throwing yourself and bike at them.... with zest.

Thanks Nic, Enduroworld, Nomadik, ASAP Racing and School of hard rocks.
Bring on Roof 2013

Roof of Africa 2012 - part 1

A few weeks ago, my brother Igor competed in the 2012 Roof of Africa - one of the toughest enduros around. Here is his story...

Before I knew it the year had rolled around and it was already time to pack and head back to Lesotho to take on "The mother of hard enduro", THE ROOF OF AFRICA ...Crap, so soon!

As in years past I had no time ( or the will ) to put any serious training I mean why suffer all that time before the event and then go and do some more of it at the race, just do it once at the race and finished.

I had only done two races the whole year, the last being with brother Paul (*a forthcoming blog attraction*) a mere two weeks before, but fortunately my work with my club Enduroworld keeps me on the bike regularly.

The event traditionally kicks off on the Thursday morning with the 'round the houses' race. An all tar, 10 km race through the streets of Maseru town. A non seeding exhibition race, so the plan is always not to burn it and rather save the tyres and bike, but this is extremely difficult when there are a myriad bikes overtaking you left and right, so the result, a heavier throttle hand is employed somewhere early in the first lap, good to settle the nerves I suppose.

With the formalities out the way it was off to the hills for the time trial and down to business.
Time trial was 60km long and took a little over two hours. I am abit of a late starter and need a good hour of riding to get into a good rhythm, so half the time trial is over before I even get going, that's just how I roll. Nevertheless I had a clean run, kept it smooth and consistent with my navigation also being pretty much spot on.

Result 90th in a class of about 180 riders, mid-pack, all good.
On the way back to the lodge to take care of bike prep I noticed as I was cooling down my left ankle was getting increasingly more painful and swollen...problem!

It took a bit of a crush between a rock and the bike in the last race but was no more than a niggle for the last couple of weeks, so what is this all about ?

It got worse and worse as the night went on, this worked on my mind a lot, all this work and money and I cant even put my boot on to start the race....bollocks!


I proceeded to gulp down handfuls of pain killers and sleeping tabs, which just made things worse, it seemed they were battling each other all night, result: pain and sleeplessness ....the 'bastard fowl' that piped up at 1:30am( outside the front door it seemed) and continued until 'real' dawn at 4:30 helped nothing...Superb, exactly what you want before the big race.

So Thursday became Friday and I was not in a good mood, what with an ankle now the size of a grapefruit and a head full of pharmaceuticals.

Fortunately I could still get my boot on so I was racing, all be it with no movement in that foot, so gear change was going to be a challenge, false neutral being the gear I rode in most of the day...!

The day started slow and deliberate, just wanted to keep the wheels turning and on the right track. My reflexes were a little off due to the pain killers and anti-inflammatory so consistency was going to be the name of this game.

Every gear change was like I was being stabbed in the foot. In spite of this, by the second refuel I was still feeling strong and decided to start pushing a little.

The last stretch was a long one, way up in the highlands in the middle of literally, no where..... This works on peoples minds, most riders are not used to being out alone for very long periods in very testing, treacherous and unfamiliar territory. I am, to a degree and felt comfortable. So I used this to my advantage and gained a good 10 or 12 places. Just kept my pace up and did not stop to rest at the end of tiring sections, but rather kept moving. This also maintains a cooler body temp with air moving over you constantly ( temperatures were in mid 30s).

The section boasted the most difficult and feared section "Big dick pass", a rocky, tight switch back drop of about 300m off the side of a cliff. I tackled it without and problem and felt confident at the bottom and mowed down the last 20km home at a good clip.

Days time 7 hours and 30 mins

Roof of Africa Pics

Overall Winner of Roof of Africa 2011 - Graham Jarvis (GB)

Igor Baleta: ...

that was a true test of character and resolve. After 20 hours and 7 minutes of racing over two days, i just scraped in by under half an hour. And as if i needed more drama at the end of the last day, 12 hours in the saddle, the sun was setting, my fuel was on reserve, had no more drinking water then both my g.p.s's ran flat literaly half a km from the finish line and i ended up lost on the edge of a cliff across the valley from where i was suposed to be with hundreds of spectators cheering me on and trying to direct me in, talk about stress...!.Thanks ENDUROWORLD, NOMADIK, my brother Nic and all the spectators and competitors who helped out along the way.

A few pics from my brother Igor's Roof of Africa 2011 where Igor finished in the silver class...

2 bikes, 2 helmets, 2 pairs of boots... 2 of everything...

Day 1 is a time trial in the streets of Maseru . Brother Nic - photographer and crew extrodinaire looks on with camera slung over shoulder

The orange plastic barrier fence took a few casualties.

Look out for No. 275

Day 2 - First day of tough riding

Winner in 2010 and 2nd in 2011 - Chris Birch (NZ)

Igor and buddies

The Goon Squad.
Igor Baleta: Ja nee, these kerels were propper all weekend long. They had a big flatbed truck with couches, bar, braai sound system you name it on the back

Igor through an easy section

Igor Baleta: I waited all day at this crossing to get a pic of one of these humped zebras, but alas, no luck

Lesotho

Igor Baleta: Top of Bushmans, two days befor the race... Fire in the sky, was fire in the lungs a couple of days later...!!!

Local Hero, Jade Gudzeit (ZA) - 2nd in 2010, 3rd in 2011

Bushman's Pass - the Silver and Gold finish

Igor Baleta: Taking a moment at the finish of a weekend of almost 21 hours of riding....LOL, awesome what the human body can endure, if the race went on another day or two or five , most would have just delt with it. THATS ENDURO...!!! it rocks

Igor Baleta: LOL cant believe its actualy over, getting GPS confirmation...

Igor Baleta: ROOF OF AFRICA 2011...Well done Red Cherry Adventures, Mike ,Ian ,Seamus and all the rest of the crew, was an awesome event and a weekend i will remember for the rest of my days.

Big thanks to ENDUROWORLD, NOMADIK, my brother Nic and all the spectators and cometitors who helped push and pull me up those mountains. Training for 2012 starts today :-)

Well done Chiiiiieeeeeeef!!

Well Done Chief!

My brother Igor finished the Roof of Africa yesterday... 60th out of 100 in the Silver Class. 11 hours and 32 minutes for the stage on Saturday... it was worth it! Brilliant achievement!

Bloody well done chief!!

My Brother - The Winner!

A few weeks ago my brother Igor did the last of his 'training' events. He landed up winning his class! Well done Chief!

Here are a few pics...

Today he's travelling down to the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho with his trusty KTM steed to take on one of the toughest enduro events in the world: Roof of Africa Extreme Enduro.
Look out for No. 275...

Good luck Chief!

The Roof of Africa - from Igor

A few more pics and Igor's blow-by-blow account of the 2010 'Baboons' Roof of Africa:

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.