TransCape MTB Stage Race – Day 6

Mountain-biking days do not come much better than #Stage6 at the annual #TransCapeMTB Stage Race from Knysna to Franschhoek. Imagine pedalling up #Bakenskop with the sunrise at your back, missioning up the side-winding #singletrack with the village of #Greyton still slumbering way below.

Even better, once you plateau just beyond the summit fence stile, you realise the local Winelands #TrailFairies have been hard at work creating brand new routes. Instead of your normal left-hander loop, you split right into #Enduro Heaven, with just on 5kays of fresh track crackalacking along the steep edges of the grassland slopes.

It’s gritty and rambunctious and if you don’t focus, chances are it may savage you like a rabid pit bull, but it is utterly rideable and oh-so-sublime. Sure, the camber is edgy in places, and the wrong line will see you on a an off-piste trajectory to a spectacular face-plant, but it is mountain biking after all, so what did you expect?

What follows is the stuff of legends … trip through the Water Point at Genadendal; up the cadence through the farm lands; and slay some serious gradient dragons (up to 24 Degrees, I believe!) up the dastardly Rusty Gate climb. It will never be easy, but it will be the kind of cranking day you will remember for ever.

Teams #EllsworthASGRacing and #SPARladies are still ruling the roost … For full results, check out www.transcapemtb.co.za or www.spectrumsport.co.za

PS: All photos on the PENTAX SOUTH AFRICA #Kseries cameras. As today was shot mostly off the bike along the morning stage, I only took the #PentaxK70, and I’m blown away by how it handled the shifting morning light, mist, shadows and contrast, especially when the contrast gets seriously stark. Brett Skolmen, can’t wait to see how the new #PentaxKP will improve on this!

Click here to view the pics

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