I’m sitting at a table overlooking the ocean. The smell of pizza delicious in the air. A half drained Windhoek draught in front of me. The happy burble of full restaurant all around. This one filled with Mountain Bikers filling themselves. This is why we cycle – guilt free, indulgent eating! That and of course, top class events like the Sani2C. With perfect weather, fantastic organization and a great partner it’s just an amazing experience. What a privilege. 

Larri and I did a good job out there today. We finished a fast and furious 80km stage is just 3h13m – thanks to some hard work into the wind and a generally downhill route. Which resulted in a 9th place on the day! Every day we improved our GC standing (all teams) finishing 183rd, 136th and 107th over the three days.  And we moved up to 10th in the Mixed category overall. Top 10 in her first stage race? Well done Larri!

Off the 700 odd starting teams, 663 completed the race. Of the 664, 99 were in our Mixed category. More interesting, we would have finished 6th in the Master Men  (50+) category. For which, dare I suggest, we could have entered. 

Top 10 finisher at Scottburgh
 
The story of the day was the Elite Men’s race. Not so much for the actual racing but, in my opinion anyway, for the spectacular head-over-wheels by Konny Looser of second placed team EAI Wheeler. 

The Sani is famous for is floating bridges used to cross fans, rivers and – at the finish – the lagoon. The bridge is probably 400m long, 900mm wide and not all that stable. To make it more interesting the last 100m narrows down to around 600mm. Which is fine if you see it coming. If not – disaster. 

Of course the race leaders are chafing hard – even here where overtaking is impossible – and right on each other’s wheel. Konny didn’t see the narrowing coming. Splash! Came in for a bit of stick as he eventually crossed the line!

Not Konny, but you get the idea!  

The cool thing about the floating bridge is that the drama keeps the watching crowds very actively engaged. It not the same watching riders cover the last 100m to the line – there is real drama for the fans. Larri and I sat watching for around 45 minutes  and saw what must have been between 12 and 15 riders splashing in with most doing a marvelous “head-over-wheels”.

The last day’s scenery rounds off the journey through the sugar cane fields and fast flowing riding. 

Sweet treats 

Approaching the coast 

What a wonderful opportunity to exist for a few days in a bubble so unrelated to our day to day lives. To selfishly focus on just one thing – riding your bike. #GottaRide.