Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 77, December 2015 | Page 50

Team Phakisa attacks one of
the hills in the KZN Midlands

E

xternally, I looked around and smiled
at the 50-odd other cyclists.
Internally, I wondered about my
general sanity.

I was sitting on the top tube of my road bike
(something I hardly do as I see myself as a
mountain biker) in Villiers.
And I contemplated the 500-odd kilometres
of ELB Extreme Road Challenge that lay
before me.
My teammates, who I’d met that morning
for the first time, all looked and acted the
part. Firstly, our team leader Ralph Granig,
a tall, thin, experienced cyclist who seemed
confident enough to take on the world.
And then we had Leon Kemp. His Movistar
Catlike helmet and luminous orange shoes
certainly showed he understood the cycling
lore of being visible to all. I would later
discover that not only had he done the
ELB Extreme Road Challenge before, but
he also possessed the ability to climb like a
“homesick angel”.

And then, of course, there was me – an
almost-average mountain biker who is
completely freaked out about the width
of a road bike’s tyres but crazy enough to
attempt a 500-kilometre ride across the
country.

of this “dorpie’s” main street until we turned
right onto decent tar.
Our relief was short lived. The first of what
seemed like a million hills then started to
tell our muscles that we’d only covered a
miniscule amount of that first stage’s 140odd kilometres, with plenty of climbing to be
done.

So that was us then …
And as we patiently waited for a latearriving team to get their ducks in a row,
we watched as the wind picked up and
blew the start “bridge”-thingy over. ELB
Engineering engineers and event organisers
scrambled after the infernal metal structure,
we did the only thing that made sense to us
at the time – shouting useful suggestions like
“Grab it!” and “Chase it!”
A short while after that, it all came together
perhaps too quickly and we were away. A
left turn into what is probably Villiers’ main
street and out we headed, our “pizza-slicer”
wheels carving through the gravel surface

After a shade over 1300 metres of climbing,
we entered the town of Bethlehem and
stopped at the Engen Garage – the official
end of that stage and start of the next stage
– where we were briefed on that night’s
sleeping arrangements. We found out then
that the winning team’s average speed for
that stage was in the 38km/h region. If they
kept that up, it would be easy for them to
beat the 2014 champions, the runners.
But no one told us that “our” allocated B&B
was at the top of probably the steepest but
thankfully relatively short hill of the day.

Robert Eichhorn was probably the most
“outspoken” member of our team. Always
quick with a chirp or comment, he was
probably our unofficial “spokesperson” and
perhaps our number one strategist with
his classic “let’s smash it from the bell”comment.
But our “secret weapon” was definitely
Terence Parkin. Olympic silver medallist
(200 metre breaststroke at the 2000 Sydney
Olympics) and countless gold, silver and
bronze medals at various other “high profile”
swimming events across the globe, Terence
is certainly no stranger to strenuous sporting
events. And, as we discovered, he also
revealed himself to be an outstanding,
although somewhat crazy, cyclist.

6

ISSUE 15 DECEMBER 2015 / www.moderncyclist.co.za

Each of the eight teams of runners had at least one
runner out on the road at any time. Change overs were
worked out according to different team tactics