Another fantastic day as far as the route is concerned. Definately a place I'd like to come and ride again. Luckily thanks to my sportstrack unit I should be able to find the trails.
The stage was only 62km so we got to start 1hr30 later than usual at 08h30. There was a nice relaxed atmosphere at the start and the announcer made quite a big deal of the fact that there were 8 teams from Upington. Mark was singled out for special mention since it was his birthday and he was finishing his 5th Epic.
The relaxed atmosphere evaporated just as soon as we hit the first climb of the day. The bunches were quite big and no doubt the riders fatigue soon had tempers on the edge. This is not unusual on the last day of the epic. But usually it stays with the guys just verbally abusing each other (or their moms -"jou ma se .....")! Not sure what the cause was but yesterday 2 guys took it up to the next level and had each other in a classic head lock. Fortunately the terrain didn't make it possible for these 2 gems to fully explore their new relationship, eventhough the rest of the bunch strongly encouraged them to do so.
Had another giggle at the only water table of the day. Danny (I'm not sure what is surname is) who is obviously a professional speaker/MC/DJ entertains the riders and spectators at the refreshments stations. The guys has a razer sharp wit and he loves taking the piss out of the "celebrity" teams in the race. Tiaan Strauss often suffered at the sharp end of his tongue. Yesterday he got hold of Dieter Voight (current Mr South Africa) and told everyone what a magnificent performance Dieter had put in to win his Mr SA title, "narrowly beating Nantie Hayward and Jannie de Beer to the title".
We often make big plans during the week as to how we plan to celebrate finishing the race. And with the race finishing on Mark's birthday it was going to be a double celebration. I was in bed by 10!
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