Dirtopia Welvanpas Enduro: The Bad Luck Club

Last week flew by so quickly: Hanco was sick as a dog due to a tummy bug and I spent almost every minute working on my thesis and marking tests. We didn't get to ride much and when Arina posted on Facebook that the Welvanpas Enduro might be cancelled, we were secretly holding thumbs...

But alas, the show must go on. When we heard that the event was still on, we manned up and tried to take it in our stride. We had already organised accommodation for the weekend and slowly but surely we started getting excited about spending some time on our big bikes on trails we hadn't ridden in a while.

Day 1: 

We left Stellenbosch early on Saturday morning, being almost the first to arrive at the event venue. The Dirtopia crew were still setting up and we tried to keep warm while we waited for things to get started. The entrants arrived in drips and draps and there were so many new faces, including about 9 female entrants! Many of these were local riders, and they knew the trails extremely well.

The first day's stages went by very quickly and we were left a bit disapointed. It felt as if we could've managed the trails better if we had brought our 100mm travel hardtails as that would've been the best weapon for the job. The busy week had drained our energy and our big bikes felt heavy and we struggled to keep up on the super pedally stages. The many uphill sections included in the special stages did not really help at all. Hanco had an incident where he followed the wrong arrows and ended up almost missing a tag point. There were also not enough arrows showing riders where to go during the liason stages and wild guesses either pointed you in the right direction or had you riding in circles for a while.

Hanco and I both had our fair share of crashes and mishaps in the first few stages and by the third stage we were just focussing on finishing the race. I did however enjoy all the singletrack that formed part of the liaison stages and made a mental note that we should come to Welvanpas in the near future for a relaxed trail ride.

With all the crashes, almost getting lost and passing riders on the special stages, we really hoped for a better ride the next day. We were also looking forward to riding with our friend, Wes, who were joining only for the last day.

Day 2:

We left the farm we were staying on a bit late on Sunday morning and we arrived just in time for the day's start. Meurant warned us that we would begin the day with a climb of about 6 km. We had previously done this climb so we knew what we were in for, but we weren't aware of the bad luck we would encounter along the way...

We had just crossed over the Bain's Kloof Pass when Hanco got his first puncture. He quickly fixed it and after about what felt like 40 minutes we reached the top of the climb and the first tag point. The first stage of the day was the complete opposite of the previous day's stages: long, flowing and most importantly: descending! I was having fun, but somehow Hanco managed to take a wrong turn in this stage and ended up having to turn around. Obviously after the puncture in the beginning, this was not the best start to the day.

The next liason stage was another big climb with a water point halfway in. We were taking it slowly and trying to conserve our energy for the next stage.

Almost three quarters of the way up, Hanco had his second puncture... By now we had already used our spare tube and I decided to pedal on in the hope of meeting someone along the way who could help us out while Hanco started pushing his bike up. After about 30 minutes of cycling on my own, Herman passed me and gave me a tube to give to Hanco. Thanks Herman! I decided to wait for Hanco at that point and when he passed me, he quickly fixed his puncture and we were off again to the second last stage of the day. The single track leading to the second stage was very rough and rocky at patches and in contrast to the previous day, we were feeling grateful for the suspension on our big bikes. Except for the slippery cement block near the start of the next stage, I really enjoyed it. It was descending and rocky and not too pedally.

Luckily the third stage was only a quick pedal away. This stage was also a lot of fun. Sandy, rocky, flowy and fast! I waited for Hanco at the tagpoint at the finish and got worried when he didn't arrive in a few minutes. Bad luck struck him again and he punctured halfway down the stage. By this time he was so gatvol that he was ready to give up and end the day. We decided that he would wait for a shuttle to pick him up while Wes and I continued to the last stage.

The last liaison  was about 5 kms longer than we expected. By the time we reached the startpoint again we were ready to hop onto the shuttle that was promised for the last stage. We were quickly informed that the shuttle was nonexistant and that everybody and just pedalled up. It took a bit of convincing form my side to get Wes to join me for the last stretch, but soon we were on our way with the last tagpoint on the horizon.

With a few off camber turns and switchbacks along with a number of berms, the last stage was a lot of fun. On my run down, I was so happy to see Hanco making his way up towards the start of the stage. That meant that he managed to fix his last puncture and was ready for some more enduro action.

I waited for him at the tag point at the end of the stage. As if his luck wasn't bad enough already, he met up with another rider on the trail (not an entrant to the event) who refused to let him pass, just greeting him with a "Hello!" when Hanco shouted "rider!" and "track please". This slowed him down a lot and also broke the last of his spirits.

Reaching the coffee shop where the prize giving took place, we just wanted to get home, get cleaned up, eat something and then sleep!!! This was exactly what we did.

Even though the enduro discipline still needs some fine tuning in South Africa, we are really grateful for Meurant for hosting these events and continuing to make it better and better for the riders. Thanks for a fun event! We'll be seeing everyone again at the next one!

Everyone who lent us tubes can collect it there ;)