RE:CM Knysna 200

Kevin Evans

RE:CM Knysna 200, 3days, 200km

The Garden Route was host to the RE:CM Knysna 200 mountain bike race which took place over the past three days in Knysna.

As I’ve just come off a three-week break, I thought this would be great event to start the training off and get back into the swing of things.

Plus, the day3 start, was literally 200meters away from home in Harkerville, needless to say I could not miss it!

Kari rode it last year and it sounded like fun, so with no ambitions other than having fun on the mountain bike, I set off to ride the event with Sandi Bryan, our team chef for the Epic.

The routes over the three days used my entire favorite and most used training grounds for basically my whole career, so it was a privilege to ride these routes as part of an event.

The finish for each day would be at Tappas on Thesen Island in Knysna, and this included a fantastic spread for lunch and dinner for the riders after each day.

Each day had a different start venue, from the Elephant Park halfway between Plettenberg Bay and Knysna, to Millwood’s old gold mines and finally Harkerville for its well-known trails.

Sandi and I basically just did enough to conquer the route in good time, but enjoy the race and scenery that surrounded us. It was a completely different experience obviously to what I’m used to, and I was the brunt of many jokes as weekend warriors were able to ride with me, and past me! Needless to say, I have no idea what transpired at the head of the race, but I had a great time and Sandi and I had our own race within the race trying to compete against the infamous ‘Hops” brothers from Plett who are my golfing partners amongst friends. This friendly rivalry made for some interesting ‘racing’ and tactics, but also ensured some hard ‘pushing’ and strength work on my behalf.

Thanks to Patrick and Louise for having us at their event, one that I’ll be sure to try not miss in the future. It was mountain biking as I know it and took me back to my roots of where I fell in love with this great sport.

Next race proper for me will be The Nedbank Tour de Plett, followed by the Knysna Oyster Festival. What a fantastic couple weeks of racing and training coming up for me at home!

Till then,

Cheers,