Stage racing is undoubtedly SA’s most popular mountain biking discipline; this was certainly the case at this year’s edition of the extremely popular Subaru Sani2C. The lengthy waiting list makes the extent of the popularity even more evident and those who have entries continue to come back year after year for fear of losing them.

Sani 2011 didn’t at one stage fall from the position of being one of the most popular stage races in SA. This year, the event was shifted to May to avoid what will be remembered the year MUD in 2010. Over the days prior to the race everyone from the race organisers to the participants were watching the weather, and ultimately the weather played its part. The wet lube and mud tires were put away and for most of the cyclists a big smile was brought out to welcome the fair weather prediction.

Day 1

Day one started at Underberg Primary School and followed the undulating district roads until the Oaks dual (single) track. Not only did you have options for lunch but your choice of single track was also an option! Here was where the race splits as riders jostled for positions into the tight turn. The group had split and we found ourselves in the chasing group of 5 teams. The overnight dew had made some of the single track particularly glassy but this didn’t deter us from enjoying the outstanding route which seemed to flow seamlessly for ages. We found ourselves at the back of group when an attack went off the front. We didn’t respond and settled for 10th place going in the final climb up to the overnight finish at Mackenzie Club. We knew we had to conserve as the next day would be the toughest of all three days.
Totals for day one: Time: 2:56:00, Distance: 85km 10th place

Day 2

Day two starts at Mackenzie Club near Ixopo and finishes at Jollivett Farm outside Highflats. The route this year followed the proffered dry route into the Umko valley down an amazing series of single track sections. The 2ml of overnight rain had settled most of the dust in the up reaches of the route. This made for some slippery and tacky sections along the way down to the river. This made for a very interesting tactical race where our group of 8 teams stayed together until 40km in. The racing began on a steep district road climb out of the Umko valley and as the track entered the single track the group split. We new the day would be long and we consolidated our position with the Garmin Addias team and the cycle lab duo of Shan Wilson and Andrew Mclean. The non-compulsory stop at Mo Lister’s Watervale Farm deep in the valley Thornveld was where we refueled with bottles and lubed out chain before our climb out into the plantations above Highflats. We had managed to hold an 8th position up until the last water table of the day when my tire beading burped off the rim and wouldn’t seal. After 3bombs, 1sleant bomb and one holy tube we arrived at the tech zone. By this stage we had lost 12min of time and 5 positions. We chased hard but could only recover 2places. Finishing 13th in a time of 3:22:34, Distance: 97.87km.

Day 3

Day 3 is always the fastest of all 3days with a road race type style race into the finish at Scottburgh High School. The biggest advantage to the day is to get a good start in the starting shoot and position yourself as not to get caught behind unskilled roadies in the first single track 5km up the road. The pace was frantic with one small error costing you the race and overall time. Our team pushed hard to maintain contact with the top 8 teams and successfully linked onto a very fast group consisting of, GT MR Price, Cycle lab and MTN qubeka.

This group pulled extremely hard and we managed to pull onto the back of the leaders going through Vernon Crooks nature reserve. The pace settled and regrouped before the hearbreak 1 and heartbreak 2. We split off the back of the top 3teams on heartbreak 2 and worked hard to race to the finish with GT MR Price and MTN qubeka. Coming onto the beach we were sitting 5th team behind the MTN team and stuck until the final climb of the day. Here we attacked and pulled a small lead over the MTN qubeka duo to cross the finish line in 4th place overall.
Time 2:23:00 distance of 80km. 4th place

Team TIB insurance: Overall 9th

Article by Andrew Hill,
TIB Sponsored Cyclist