52 AMB
KILIMANJAROTAKING TO THE TRAILS
Day 1 dawned a little nervously with anticipation
of the climb up to the first helipad on Kilimanjaro
on everyone’s mind with no certainty as to how the
altitude would impact us. After another stunning
breakfast we relocated by bus to Kilimanjaro’s
Londorosi Gate, the bikes transported by trailer.
That was all but one bike. Anka Martin’s bike had
not made the connecting flight from Istanbul and
so was being collected from the airport by one of
Ashanti Tours team (who supported us throughout
the race) and ferried as quickly as is possible in
Africa to the gates with the hope it would arrive
in time for her to start the race. A spare bike had
been sourced if not but as we all know that is just
not the same. At 8:10 with race starting at 8:30
the Landrover came racing in. Anka, Katie Holden,
Nola and myself took control and with Le Mans
precision had the handlebars, brakes, shifter,
dropper, chain and wheels on in under 15mins, so
everyone had at least 2 minutes to line up under
the start banner!
In front from the beginning was Tinker (David
Juarez) from the USA. I have to confess that while
a number of the Americans were whispering
“that’s Tinker’ we were oblivious to what that
meant. By the end of 4 days, we had corrected
that hole in our knowledge as we watched this
man’s astounding, yet understated ability on a
mountain bike. Always tracking him like a hawk
was fellow American Trevor DeRuise.
We settled in to the third group on the trail. A
group made up of most of the pairs - one mixed,
the two women’s pairs and one of the mens. I
think we were all just excited to get underway
with plenty of whooping and chatter as we started.
For Nola and I, it was the first time pairs racing.
We had discussed at length how best to ride
together when we have such opposing strengths.
Hers being technique and skill mine being pure
strength which we knew on Kilimanjaro could
mean her being overextended if I set the pace. It
turned out three of the pairs, the other women’s
team and the mens, were in a similar situation
so periodically the front riders from each team
stopped and ‘shot the shit’ until our partner
caught up.
As Nola hit the top, we rolled on across the
Shira Plateau towards the helipad. This section is
a false flat where the altitude makes it like cycling
in soup with barely any ability to get speed. Nola
and I leapfrogged our way across the plateau.
I simply had to ride a little faster then her to
get any form of roll so every kilometre I would
stop and let her get ahead on me. Tough as this
was, as you looked to your left and saw the full
height of Kilimanjaro revealed from behind early
morning mist you just had to pinch yourself as
to where you were. Along this section, we caught
the leading male pair of Roger Brown and Robert
Carylon as a faulty gear shifter had Robert riding
a singlespeed. Soon after Tinker raced past us
on his return journey, 10mins later came Trevor.
A gap he closed on the descent and they came in
within minutes of each other with Tim Elldebeck
rolling over the line to complete the Solo Men’s
podium. The two Tanzanian riders, Masolwa