Grahamstown cyclists Walter Eksteen and Jonathan Spengler were part of a four-man team that completed the recent Trans Baviaans 24-hour mountain bike race.
Grahamstown cyclists Walter Eksteen and Jonathan Spengler were part of a four-man team that completed the recent Trans Baviaans 24-hour mountain bike race.
Organisers call the event “the toughest single stage mountain bike event in the world”. The event, which was held on 18 August this year, takes cyclists through exquisite mountain ranges, right into the heart of the magnificent Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area, all in a team format.
The Trans Baviaans 24-hour route starts in Willowmore and then follows a farm road through Poortjies to link up with the Baviaanskloof turn-off. The route then ascends to the top of the spectacular Nuwekloofpas. For the next 80km the route drops down into the Baviaanskloof, passing through a number of farms such as Rietrivier and the Baviaanskloof Police Station at Studtis, after which it enters the Baviaanskloof wilderness area under the control of Eastern Cape Parks Board.
This long descent ends at Geelhoutbos a distance of about 110km into the race. From here the route becomes more strenuous, narrower and more difficult to negotiate, reaching a high point at Bergplaas, about 147km into the race. It drops suddenly into the Cambria Valley, past some citrus farms and the Komdomo campsite on the banks of the Groot River.
Cyclists then follow the road to Patensie and turn off to Humansdorp on an undulating gravel road to cross the Humansdorp-Patensie tar road. The route then follows a farm road to Jeffreys Bay, where it finishes at the Jeffreys Bay Primary School – 230km later. The total accumulated climbs for this route is 2 540m.
Eksteen and Spengler, together with Eksteen's brother Brink and Werner Knoetze from Port Elizabeth, who competed as team Race of Faith, completed the race in 15 hours 51 minutes and 26 seconds.
