Mari Rabie

 Some photographs from the CEDERBERG ESCAPE taken by Sportsgraf.

Only one week after my first Mountain bike Stage Race I find myself heading
to yet another mountain bike race. The Buffet Olives Classic was held on the picturesque olive growing estate, nestled against the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountain range, just outside Paarl.

Johnny, Erik Kleinhans(2nd Cederberg Escape) and Janine Smolders all joined in for a fun morning on the bikes.  The boys raced the Bonnivale Bonanza the previous day, Erik finishing first just ahead of Johnny and Janine and I both did long training rides with our respective Double Century Teams, resulting in all of us being a bit on the tired side.

If I multiply the number of times I have been on my mountain bike this year by three, I will still be able to count it on my fingers and toes.
This fact did not stop me from entering the Cederberg-Escape, a three day Stage race and my second mountain bike race ever.
Training for this event was non existent, although the Wednesday before the race I went riding with my good friend, Johnny Kritzinger and after he had to wait at least 5min for me
at the bottom of an easy peasy single track, he gave me a concerned look, saying"I hope you weren't planing on winning a stage this weekend".
Of course not, I just wanted to have fun, try to stay on my bike and not be beaten be my dad.

Stage 1 - 89km , Friday 24 October

Day 1 arrived.  We stayed in the beautiful Mount Ceder resort, but the luxury of staying in a nice cottage with a  jacuzzi instead of the race tent accommodation, came at a price...
a 35min drive and a 10min walk to race start each morning.  I did not exactly wake up at 5am full of excitement for the day ahead, but after a cup of coffee and a good old rusk I was ready, or already as I could be.  At 7am I was on the start line, with a camelback full of toys and gadgets my sister gave me, including an extra seat post clamp, isolation tape,chain links, chain lube,extra brake pads, etc etc etc. Not that I knew how to use any of it, but apparently men are more willing to stop and help if you are crying with the right tools in your hands that what they would be if you were just crying. 

I was lucky enough to spend the last week of my holiday in paradise again...Seychelles.
It was awesome and just reassured me that it is still my ultimate holiday destination and I'll keep going back.
Family went sailing on Letitia 2(named after my 85 going on 21 grandmother).
We arrived in the Seychelles on 8am Tuesday morning, having left a cold and rainy South Africa at 1am.
Our destination on Day 1 is always the same: Leave the main island of Mahe as soon as possible and do the 3-4hour crossing over to
Anse Lazio,Praslin. If you imagine the most idyllic perfect beach in the World, it is probably Anse Lazio.
The water was crystal blue, warm and full of fish life, we spent ages in the water until it became shark feeding time.

 Dad's White Marlin