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,
