Grace2Grace ****Blog Post No 100****

How fitting is it that this is my 100th blog post and it will be about the experience I shared with (amongst others) the guy who introduced me to mountain biking a few years ago - Melt Loubser and this was to be my first race with him.

Melt before the race

Melt and me were fortunate enough to be invited to the Brait Grace2Grace mountain bike race, situated at the Mount Grace Hotel in Magaliesberg outside Johannesburg, by our long time legal guru PJ Hope. This is a team of 2 race over 48kms in the Magaliesberg mountain. PJ and me were one team and Melt and Nigel the other.

Reb Hot Chilli Peppers team 1 (PJ and me)

The race started out pretty early at 07:00 (I was up at 04:00 to get there on time) and the weather was really windy - but at least there was no rain. PJ bolted out the blocks and we spent the first few kms chasing him. Nigel felt the pace really early as this was his first mountain bike race - but he was lucky to have Melt as his partner as he is a veteran mountain biker (7 Sani2Cs and 3 ABSA Cape Epics etc etc) and he pulled/pushed him most of the 48km route. The route was fantastic, not too technical and had lots of hills to keep the heart pumping - notably the long climb out the valley. The 4 of us rode together and had good fun along the way - Naaige was a good sport and really gave his all.

Pushing or being Pulled that is the question we all ask?

 We finished together as a team in a time of 03:22 (750m ascent). Afterwards there was a feast of note - so much complimentary food and drink, we replaced all the calories burnt in the morning ride.  Thanks to PJ from Reed Hope Phillips Attorneys for this wonderful experience it really was memorable.

The TEAM at the end

 Below is a short video from my headcam during the race - you will see proof of Melt pushing me off the track in response me chirping him...