by Firoz Limalia
I’ve always enjoyed a challenge. Early this year, my roadie friend said I should do the Munga. He did it last year November after buying his mountain bike in August. Finished with 4 hours to spare. The Munga, the toughest race in the world. Traversing 1074km from Bloemfontein to Wellington in the heat of summer. The race has a 120-hour time limit with 5 race villages and 10 waterpoints. I entered in June and had my special edition DOC shirts made. Joined a few of the mini Mungas out at the cradle and rode with many great endurance riders. I love endurance riding so I was in my element. As the start got closer, the news started filtering that I’m doing the race. Looks of disbelief and support.
I got a lift with Tiaan to the start. It all started getting real on arrival. The start chute was ready, bikes and gear were prepped and the conversations centred around the race. I was monitoring the weather and started having doubts about riding in the heat. At race briefing, we got our tracking devices, a small medkit and a whole lot of encouragement. My bike was ready (usually weighing 11kg) but with all gear for the race it weighed in at 21kg. It was overkill but I had everything I needed. It was going to be painful to climb with the extra weight.
At 11h30am we all lined up, with Bruno being our master photographer. The nerves had started to kick in now. At 12 we head off. It’s 35 degrees! I consciously decided I will not race to the front, I’ll do my own thing and not even look for a wheel to slipstream. Tiaan however decided otherwise and I passed him after 10km – he was already suffering from the fast start. Tiaan always taunted me that this roadie can beat mountain bikers. He was racing me. Within 20km of dirt roads, we hit our first indication of what the terrain will be like. Deep, soft sand, stopped dead and nearly fell over. I rode in the bush instead of the sand and left my competition behind. Because of the heat, the body is trying hard to cool down, so heart rates are high. It is so hot, that when the wind hits your face, you can feel the burn. I handled my drinking well always having 3 litres of liquids with me. By the first water point at 60km, riders were already blown, at least those who thought they could challenge the Pros. I refilled and carried on. The Munga is all about district road, jeep track and some tar. But you must have mountain bike skills as you constantly looking for the smooth lines. The corrugations can be horrendous.
I eventually get to Van der Kloof dam race village at midnight. It’s been slow going with the heat and wind. I meet Bruno at the bike mechanics and he sorts out my lube. I have a meal & plenty of fluids, recharge watch and continue. By the way, I’m carrying 3 GPS devices. All of them have the map if needed as the route is a GPS-only route. Going off course incurs big penalties. My Garmin on my bike and a loan Wahoo. I decided I’m going to ride all the way to Britstown at 403km. It’s hotter and windier. Slow going. Speeds are down and the wind is pumping. I’m behind target due to the weather conditions. I take a shower, eat and a short nap at Britstown. The Karoo Hotel is nice. Decided to ride late afternoon.
Now it’s the leg to Loxton, 192km with 2 water points in between. In general, we are riding in a south-west direction and the wind is coming from the west. So it’s constant head and crosswinds. Slow going but through the night. This is where the race changed fundamentally. I make a right turn off a jeep track onto a district road. Stopped dead by high winds. Get off and bike nearly blows away. Stood there for maybe 10 minutes to let the wind die down a bit. It did slightly. This wind from the west will remain until the end of the race.
I think it was 36 hours without proper sleep and your mind starts playing games. Lights don’t stand still, they move on their own in the distance. You don’t see other riders for hours on end. It gets lonely and very quiet. Only the wind talks. Arrived in the early hours of the morning at Waterpoint 6. During this leg, there was a flat 25 km district road. Riding into the headwind. Took me 2h30 to get through it. I didn’t want to have a lie down on the road as there were scorpions everywhere. I did see 1 rider sleeping but he did not care about scorpions. I decided there is no value in riding further and decided to try and sleep. But hell, some guys can snore. They put us up in a large room with about 10 mattresses on the floor. Some guys don’t saw wood, they have a chainsaw in their nose. I got no sleep at all. At 7, I decided to carry on. The high winds bring in clouds. I can see rain in the distance, even got a few drops of very rare Karoo rain. Some places have not seen decent rain in 7 years.
The winds drive us back all the time. Eventually, a rider joins me and we ride together for a while. The Munga has rules about drafting, don’t. If you go for top 10 you may not draft at all after waterpoint 1. Drafting is for sissies. Pierre has done 5 Cape Epics and 1 Munga. He says the Munga is the toughest. We get to Loxton race village. They have nice food, massages and places to shower and sleep. I decide to shower and sleep for an hour as Tiaan is on my tail. After sleeping, I go back to eat some more. More riders come in. Some guys look like they’ve been in a war. At this stage, about 30 riders have abandoned already. I took a video of the race village banner been pummeled. The lady at the village checks the wind report, it’s 60km/hr.
I push on in the wind and aim to stop in Fraserburg. Once again speeds are low and the wind makes it difficult to hold 15km/hr. Instead of 4 hours, the stretch takes 6 hours. Now there’s something called sleep deprivation. Out in the dark, you start to see things, lights bouncing around, lights pop in and out of the horizon. I even saw a spaceship near Fraserburg. I shone my headlight at it but it doesn’t reflect. After a few more looks I realized it’s the moon surrounded by clouds. At Fraserburg I found an open Café and got a few things to eat. Jacket and leg warmers and off we go, the stretch to Sutherland is long and slow, eventually arriving around midday. Shower, eat, nap & go. This turns out to be a long arduous trek out of Sutherland. Constant uphill. Within 10km, I ascend 500m. But the view was epic at the top of Ouberg. The descent was amazing at first, but then it got tiring, rocky and slippery pressing brakes hard. I stopped halfway down to give the hands a rest. At the bottom, it was a long hot trek to the Karoo padstal. They had nice meat to eat, which I couldn’t eat, so grabbed some Coke, banana bread and fruits and pushed on. Now it’s getting dark. The jeep track is rough and unmanicured. Eventually, I hit a point where it’s only climbing for 10km. The Dagbreeker climb appears in the dark. I don’t think even the Pros ride it. Loose rock and you get to 40% in places. A long walk to the top.
The dirt roads are corrugated with lots of parts with loose sand. On several occasions, I nearly crashed due to the sand. Sometimes it was better to ride the corrugations than ride the sand. There are gates between farms, you stop, open roll through and you must close them. My 21kg bike wants to fall all the time. Such a mission. Next time I’ll pack lighter and smarter. There are some gnarly descents and corners. Eventually, I’m on district road again to Tankwa padstal. Somewhere in the distance, I see bouncing lights, must be hallucinating again. It comes and goes. A while later it appears again. Standing still a few hundred metres up the road. It’s Wayne. He was chasing 2 guys, lost them, then his Garmin crashed so no map. He has been going up and down roads for 3 hours looking for riders. That is why I have backup devices. He didn’t. We ride together aiming for Tankwa. The wind is getting stronger and stronger. Turn on the road to Padstal and we are nearly stopped by wind gusts. Wayne elects to sleep a few hours. A few other guys and I decide to push on. It’s very slow again to Ceres. The road is long, corrugated and sandy. The kilometres do not get eaten up, they trundle along. More farm roads and then we hit tar after a massive climb. The tar is fast and furious. I race along at 60km in places but it doesn’t last. Eventually, turn off onto farm roads near Ceres. Race village 5 I get nice food, some good conversation and I’m off again on the last leg. It’s all tar to the end. That’s a bit of a relief.
The climb is never-ending, Bainskloof just didn’t end. A big surprise awaited me. A car sneaked up behind me, I gave him right of way. He pulled up next to me. It’s Frans Labuschagne, a DOC rider who relocated to Worcester, who just happened to be my 2019 Trans Baviaans teammate. He drove out here to find me. It felt good talking to him. Threw some numbers at him, he took many photos and videos which he posted on Facebook. Thanks, Frans for the company. When I started the climb I was 30th, but 4 riders passed me on the climb. The descent into Doolhof Wine Estate was gnarly and dangerous. The hands are sore from holding the grips for 1076km. I put on triathlon clip-on bars to break the sequence. They help a lot with the hands and getting more speed. I rolled into the finish line with my wife and family waiting for me. Alex gives me the 34th place medal. It’s the hardest fought medal I’ve got. The race is tough, it can break you, it will hurt your body. All contact points are sore. But at that moment I didn’t care. At no point in this race did I think of stopping or bailing. The race did not break me physically. Mentally it’s a challenge. You cannot plan for conditions, so I just rode within myself the entire time. It would appear that on average this race was about 18 hours slower than last year for amateur riders due to the conditions. Of the 152 entrants, only 82 finished. It was that hard. Tiaan finished in 40th place. He had to fight giving up monsters to get to the end.
It’s right here I have to thank people. My wife, she may have had less sleep than me. After all, what is this guy doing in the middle of nowhere riding a bike?
To the DOC Mountain biker group. The best bunch of people on and off a bike. I got hundreds of messages of support. Thank you all.
I’ve penned this race again for 2021 if anybody else wants to join.
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