RR of the Tankwa XC Challenge - Buff's version

[Buff]

I’m sitting behind my dining room table typing this up and it dawned on me that I’m still on a racing pluck, I hope it lets me down gently  :

What a total bloody awesome weekend of bike riding presented by the Western Cape Offroad Club (WCOC) in the deep Tankwa. It lived up to everything I expected and then some.

So let’s backtrack a week and a bit… it’s Friday morning and my regular racing buds are all way doing other things and I figure I’d better take a mechanic with to assist me. One email to Dux and it was game on, he and his daughter needed a long weekend break and they’d love to join me.

Then Sunday after our regular Quarry ride we’re quenching our thirst at the Barrel Pub and I mention to Muzz that there’s this awesome XC type event coming up and he should join me. Low and behold, later the day I get a whatsapp “I’m in”. Happy days, a small team has formed.

So during the week the KTM 690 had new set of Dunlop D908 Dessert Rally rubber fitted at Droomers Yamaha (a tire decision that would come back and haunt me) and was dropped off at Dux at Motoworx to race prep i.e. remove all the road worthy stuff that could break.
After frantic 4 days of getting stuff together we hit the road to the Tankwa bang on time Friday morning, destination Race Control, 190km’s other side of Ceres in the middle of nowhere. We needed to be there any time before 1pm as I had to register and race the 32km Time Trail later that afternoon.

 

[Buff]

So why race a stock 690 in a XC event when most of the other competitors are on plastics?  :eek7: Well mostly because this event was initially marketed as a GPS rally rather than a marked XC event and after missing the WC Baja I had my heart set on doing a navigation type event on my 690. When the club decided to change the event to cater for a wider audience and reduce vegetation damage I just figured, what the hell, stick with the big thumper. As a precautionary measure I took my WR250 up with us and figured that if the TT was too hectic on the 690, then I’d swop to the WR250 for the 2 long stages as the TT only counted towards grid positions the following day  :ricky:

After setting up our camp sight under the shade of a few acacia thorn trees it dawned on me that tubed tires were probably not the wisest choice for this race. I was running TUbeliss up front but tube at the rear and after a slight misunderstanding with the guy who fitted the new tires, the rear got a standard tube instead of the ultra-heavy duty I requested. The new tires were also has hard as rock, even when entirely deflated I could still not push in the thread with my thumb. Not ideal for rocky, technical climbs with a 690’s torque. I dropped the pressure to 0.7 bar to try get some flex in the sidewall for the rocky climbs and Dux assured me that if I puncture the tire will still get me back to DSP as its sidewall will be able to take the pounding. I tend to overthink things… a lot.

Setting up camp:

 

[Buff]

3pm rolled around and it was TT time. Only around 10 riders decided to give it a bash. I figured it would give me the advantage of knowing at least 32km of the next day’s stage as well as giving me the chance to see if I could handle the 690 in this terrain. The flag dropped and I was away, straight into a shale riverbed and then out along some flowing farm tracks with some lekka contour jumps then into more riverbeds. Who would think there could be so many damn riverbeds in the Karoo? The only time I encountered difficultly was exiting a riverbed to my left up a fairly steep step-up then up a rocky climb with no run up and very little traction. I managed to drop the bike twice here after using too much throttle and having it step out on me but eventually made it up and back to pits unscathed and smiling.

Beside the falling mishap, I really enjoyed the TT route and figured that if the rest of the race route was similar then I’d have no problem finishing it on the 690. This assumption would prove to bite me in the ass.

We finished off our race prep for Saturday morning with a lekka braai with the most amazing braai packs supplied by our gracious hosts and a downed a few B&Cs for the nerves.

Muzzy enjoying a B&C  :thumleft:

 

[Buff]

Race day dawned after a very uncomfortable night of tossing & turning in the back of my bakkie. It was one of those nights where I just couldn’t get comfortable on the thin mattress and when I did dose off I was jumping huge gullies on a fat racing pig. I was looking forward to see the sunrise.

I woke to find a very green looking Fuzzy Muzzy wondering around the camp site. He had been up since early puking his lungs out and he was not looking good. My missus had packed in a medical kit for me as my kid had the same thing in the week so I popped Muzz some tablets and Dux prepped us a coffee and some bacon sarmies.

The start was 20km’s away and we’d do A loop consisting of a 55km racing stage that ended back at the camp site where you had a compulsory 30min decontrol to do running repairs or sit and chill before heading out on B loop which was around 110km’s with one refuel point 55km’s into the B loop. During a chat with Dux the previous evening I mentioned that the 690 is too powerful on the slow speed rocking climbs and rocky riverbed sections and he suggested I dial the mapping of the bike down. So just before the stage started he turned my mapping to Map2, believed to be the Standard setting as opposed to the Aggressive setting. I took the bike for a quick burn down the dirt road and in all honesty, it never felt any less potent, if anything it felt stronger. Anyway, my mechanic knows his KTM’s and so I hit the line.

I watched David Thomas and 6 or 7 riders ahead of me blast away and almost wet my pants  . They were on the gas, absolutely flat-taps. Then the flag dropped for me and the Akro pipe on the big 690 roared to life. The Dunlops hooked up and we were suddenly hurtling down the 2 spoor track, chasing dust clouds in the distance. I honestly can’t remember much about this loop but I know I really enjoyed it. It had a lot more open flowing tracks to the TT route and I was able to give the 690 some gas. I was however struggling with major arm pump from gripping on too tight over the rocky sections and I had to eat my words, as I had told Muzzy the previous day that if you get arm pump in the first 10km’s then you’re riding too hard and you’ll blow up later in the day. I tried backing off a notch but the thought of being caught and eating dust lingered. Then disaster, about 30km’s into the stage I hit a lurker with the rear tire and I knew straight away that I’d punctured. There was nothing to do but keep it open and hope the tire held out. I still had a 17km flat out section of gravel road ahead of me where I was hoping to make up time on the other bikes but anything over 130km/h had the bike headshaking like crazy. The last few kilos were interesting with the rear trying to overtake the front at every opportunity and exiting the corners I could feel the rim spinning inside the tire.

When you enter DSP they place a sticker on your handlebar giving you your time of departure, mine was 9:41:00. I had 30min to get the tire changed and back into the game. I came into the pits to find my mechanic relaxing in a camp chair  8) I’d love to say he sprang into life and changed my tire as fast of an F1 pit crew but the reality was a little different  :imaposer:

We’d forgotten a bike stand so I had to go bum one quickly, then my mechanic forgot his tire levers in CT so we scrounged around for levers (only to find mine in my small toolbox). Then he had the wrong ratchet for the wheel spanner socket… someone please remind me why I brought him with?  :lamer: Oh ja, because he’s my mate and he needed a break... and he a damn good mechanic, maybe just a tad forgetful 

During this time Muzzy had come into DSP and I remember thinking “Wow, impressive bud”. Thankfully he was looking a whole lot better, full of chirps and keen race. Once Dux had the tire off, the tube and rim tape simply disintegrated out of the tire, they were totally destroyed. Fortunately the tires sidewall was so damn hard that besides a little damage on the beading from spinning in the rim it held up pretty well. So now the tire had to come off the rim altogether and we substituted rim tape for a couple of layers of duct tape. Then the replacement tube I had brought with turned out to be a 17inch tube for my wife’s bike so we bummed Muzzy’s 18inch tube and Bob's your uncle, the wheel was back on the bike and we were ready to race. In the mad rush I nearly departed DSP without refueling the bike. On my way to the start I passed Muzz coming back for something he forgot so I ended up departing ahead of him on Loop B, 15mins over allotted 30min decontrol break.

 

[Buff]

The first part of Loop B was a repeat of the TT route so I knew what to expect. There was also a nasty little donga we had to cross and when I got there I found Riki, my Droomers Yamaha teammate struggling to get her bike out. She had flipped it twice already and was looking pretty helpless so I jumped off to assist by trying to ride her bike out. That proved a lot more difficult than I expected as once in the donga, the soft sand offered no traction to ride it out. Muzzy arrived during this time and offered some muscle to get the bike lined up (a gentlemanly act which allowed Riki to beat him by 2mins on day 1  : ) and I eventually managed to pop it out the donga, all the while wondering how the hell I’m going to get the 690 through there. Turned out all that was needed was a hefty dose of throttle and out she climbed, front wheel dancing in the air  :thumleft:

Now Muzzy was the carrot and I was chasing him down. The man had some pace going and I wasn’t closing him down nearly as quickly as I thought I would. I eventually caught him at the Clipper Card (you get a card to stamp at certain points on the route to make sure you don’t take shortcuts) and promptly dropped my bike in the sand  :-[ It was literally a 0km/h fall so I thought nothing of it and took off ahead of Muzzy while he was taking a breather. I however kept on missing gears and was struggle with my upshifts in particular so I had to stop again to inspect  :-\ Turns out the little spring that returns the tip of your shift lever to its original position had broken so the tip was moving around freely. Out came the cable ties to try solve the problem but alas, that never worked as there was no place for them to grip. While lying in the dust brainstorming my quandary, Muzzy passed me again. I eventually decided that I was wasting too much time and I’d just have to ride it as is. I took off again, into the riverbeds and chasing that red carrot  :ricky:

The course got progressive tougher and more technical as the stage got longer, with a lot of tight riverbed action and then 1st & 2nd gear stuff through small thorn trees. I really struggled here as the 690's gearing just wasn't suited to the slow stuff. 1st was too much and 2nd too little and I didn't want to slip the clutch all the time because everyone knows a 690's clutch is made of butter. I eventually found Muzzy resting under a tree. He & his Honda were overheating so after a quick pow-wow I departed on my way. I also managed to drop the bike exiting a riverbed and spent some time struggling to get it up a rocky ledge 
By the time I reached the 55km refuel the track had opened up a bit but my death grip from earlier was coming back to haunt me, My hands were cramping badly, as was my inner left thigh from bending my leg at an awkward angle to get my boot hooked into my gear lever for clean shifting  :'(

Dux was waiting for me for here with a fresh Camelback refuel, fuel top-up and some encouraging words. I popped 2 Rennies tablets for the cramps and set off again. The track really got interesting after this point as it headed higher up into the rocky mountain paths and it turned into a proper challenge on the big 690. It also felt as it the bike was getting stronger as I was getting weaker, the monster felt like it was on steroids and trying to rip my arms off. Eventually I was short shifting to try and save as much energy as possible.
I finally rolled into pits about 5hours after starting, well and truly buggered but with a huge smile on my face. I was super chuffed with myself for nursing my 690 through a course as technical as that but I’d had enough for one day.

Dux & Muzzy prepping the red carrot 

 

[Buff]

Muzzy pulled in a short while later looking even worse for wear than I was but he was on cloud nine with his ride and miraculous recovery from the pukes earlier. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to recover and offering Dux advice on how to race prep our bikes for the next day  : He did a neat little McGyver trick with silicone and duct tape to get my gear lever sorted and we spent ages getting my air filter replaced and sealed to avoid any dust ingress. In between my bike and Muzzy’s, he had a few other people asking for assistance but he dropped us all when a tall blonde walked over with a bleeding KTM250  It was like we never even existed, thanks buddy… if you want loyalty, buy a dog 

While chilling with a cold one I decided to investigate my 690’s mapping as I now seriously doubted that the mapping Dux had changed the bike to was less than the mapping I used on the TT. Low and behold, it turns out Map 2 is the Aggressive mapping and not the Standard mapping  So instead of tuning the bike down for me, he had tuned it up. A few expletives were uttered to Dux (mostly in Afrikaans because I can’t vloek lekka in Ingrish). He was made acutely aware of my displeasure of his mistake yet it never seemed to register as he was rolling on the thorny ground in fits of laughter with tears pouring from his eyes  :xxbah: Thanks to the crazy mofo my arms are now 2cm longer from holding on for dear life.

The evening was finished off with another lekka braai present by our hosts and we hit the sack as early as possible. That night there was no tossing and turning and no dreaming, I died.

The crazy mofo:

 

[Buff]

Sunday dawned and the body was feeling well and truly used but the spirit was willing and able. Muzzy tried some BS story about rather spending the day cruising around with Dux taking photos but he was fortunately only pulling the piss and geared up and on the line by 8am. The KTM had been mapped down to Standard again and we had good news that the racing stage had been shortened by 18km’s to exclude the mountain section… happy days, that’s where I had struggled most the previous day. Only 82km's of the best Tankwa paths lay ahead

The flag dropped and the big 690 idled to life, today was not a day to be ham fisted as my forearms were so buggered from the cramping on Stage 1 that I could barely grip the bars. It took around 20km’s of simple mistakes, close calls and general goon riding before my body warmed up and I hit the sweet spot. Suddenly it all came together and I was well and truly on it. The big thumper and I became one and we started to haul some serious ass. I was having such a jol out there that at times I found myself laughing in my helmet. The feeling can’t be described, it simply surreal. Suddenly you’re hitting apexes correctly, you’re drifting the bike out of corners while on the pegs, you’re missing lurkers and placing the front wheel wherever you want, you’re wheeling over culverts and jumping contours like an MX rider… fuktit boys, it’s an incredible feeling. And amazingly it never went away; I rode the rest of the stage without a care in the world and never dropped the bike once. By the time I hit the checkered flag I was ready to race some more, gone was the pain and suffering from the day before, it had been replaced by euphoria and adrenaline.

What an outstanding event, I honestly loved it all, even the hard parts because they made the finishers medal so much sweeter. To top it all, I was fortunate enough to be awarded a 3rd place trophy in the Rally Class and I got to share the podium with the talented David Thomas in 1st (who departs for Dakar in 2 months time) and also my other Droomers Yamaha teammate, Martin Lourens in 2nd place  ;D
I was also the only nutter to ride a 690 in the field, the rest were all on dedicated Rally 450's.

A big thank you to:
Clive and his team from WCOC (especially Anton) for laying out such an amazing track and camp.
The local farmers (Cornie and Braam & their families), for opening up their farms and welcoming us with opening arms & catering to our every need. The food was simply outstanding.
Muzzy and Dux for joining me on this crazy adventure. Without you two there we wouldn’t have had the jol we did.
Flatout for coming through to support us and give encouragement, it was great having you there  :thumleft:

If it can't be fixed with duct tape or a hammer then you have an electrical problem:

 

[Buff]

Clive, Myself & Muzzy enjoying a moment at prize giving  ;D

 

[Leon Pretorius]

Lekker RR - I got to do it next year!!!! In my backyard.......would be downright lazy not to..... :imaposer:

 

[Buff]

Lekker RR - I got to do it next year!!!! In my backyard.......would be downright lazy not to..... :imaposer:

Absolutely, and you'll know the terrain well  :thumleft:

 

[Leon Pretorius]

Lekker RR - I got to do it next year!!!! In my backyard.......would be downright lazy not to..... :imaposer:

Absolutely, and you'll know the terrain well  :thumleft:

Yehbo Buff - i am VERY acquainted with the thorn trees, uncomfortable to ride through the midst of them, and the taste of eating dirt when the lurker does not miss you on your chosen line !!!

 

[Buff]

Lekker RR - I got to do it next year!!!! In my backyard.......would be downright lazy not to..... :imaposer:

Absolutely, and you'll know the terrain well  :thumleft:

Yehbo Buff - i am VERY acquainted with the thorn trees, uncomfortable to ride through the midst of them, and the taste of eating dirt when the lurker does not miss you on your chosen line !!!

Yeah, I forgot to mention the damage those thorn trees inflict to your arms. When I got home my wife asked if I'd been in a knife fight as my battle jacket sleeves were covered in blood  :imaposer:

 

[Offroad2]

Great report Thanks Brett !!!

 

[Buff]

Pleasure Clive, judging by the feedback I've heard so far, this race is going to explode at the seams next year  :thumleft:

 

[LanC]

Excellent  O0

 

[Buff]

Got this really cool photo off FB last night that a guy by the name of Louis took of me during the event.

 

[Dux]

Nice and aggressive bud  :biggrin:

 

[Offroad2]

Pleasure Clive, judging by the feedback I've heard so far, this race is going to explode at the seams next year  :thumleft:

Yes going up tonight to do final clean up & sit down with Cornie for 2017 -  he too has an idea of what we are looking for.

 

[winters]

[size=10pt]Epic pic that!!![/size]

 

[Crossed-up]

Great stuff, Buff and co. Well done, indeed!