The pact that Siemon Joubert and his grandfather Johan Nicol of Wilderness had made ten years earlier came to fruition on Saturday (18/11/17) when they stood together on the line for the annual To Hell and Back mountain bike race. A field of 330 determined riders had gathered to tackle the torturous 60km route down to Gamkaskloof on day one and back on the next. In the wings Siemon had his dad Anton and uncle Pieter, in the background he had concerned and worried mother Ellen and sister Klara; the Hell had often dealt cruel blows.
With the grace of a Klipspringer Siemon
flew up the mountain and stayed with the leading riders until just 20km from
the finish where the Man with the Hammer sprang from hiding and dealt him a
multiple puncture, known among mountain bikers as a Snakebite. Unable to fix this by himself, he was
gallantly walking back when wingman Anton arrived with the necessary equipment,
skill and experience to soon have him back on his bike, now in hot pursuit of
Oupa Joe who had slipped past while father and son were working.
“Heartbreak hill was tough” Oupa Joe
lamented upon his exhausted arrival at the finish. “I could feel Siemon breathing down my
neck”. He had apparently forgotten about
the “I will wait for you” part in the original agreement.
The ascent of Elands Pass would be the
first challenging task on day two. Five km straight up on cold legs was not
going to be easy; the rough and rocky surface would add to the difficulty. In their favour, the team now had the
advantage of starting in the front group, having finished in the top half on
day one. Oupa Joe was further helped by
the fact that blue numbers (10 Hells completed) could stand on the start line,
ahead of everyone else.
This time Siemon, together with his uncle
Pieter, chose to do their bat impersonation and flew out of the Hell never to
be seen again by the rest of their team.
In a final effort to close the gap near to the top of the climb, Anton
applied just too much pressure and snapped his chain, allowing Oupa Joe to
prove the wisdom of always carrying a smart link with you when sons in law are
around.
From there, all went well. Everyone
finished in the first half of the field, Siemon (16) first among the Junior Men
and Oupa Joe (70) first in the AM class where he was the only competitor. Bookends.
“Such a tough but rewarding experience”
Siemon said, “especially knowing that this was my first but Oupa Joe’s last race in a career that had
begun in Pretoria in November 1962, spanning exactly 55 years. When I think about this point in Oupa’s
life, Ash Wednesday by TS Elliot comes
to mind.”
I no longer strive to strive towards such
things
(Why should the aged eagle stretch its wings?)
Why should I mourn
The vanished power of the usual reign?
Because these wings are no longer wings to
fly
But merely fans to beat the air
The air which is now thoroughly small and dry
Smaller and dryer than the will
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still.
——————-
Ek het my eerste wedren gery op 24 November
1962 en hoop om my laaste een te ry op 19 November 2017, dis 55 jaar.
Daai eerste een was ‘n 10-myl tydtoets op
die Sterpad (nou Zambezi rylaan). Daar was tien van ons en ek het as eerste
junior geëindig. Ek was vyftien. My pa was by, hy was 75.
Die laaste een sal wees dag 2 van To Hell
and Back, dis 57km uit Gamkakloof terug tot by De Hoek aan die ander kant van
die Swartbergpas. Ek sal sewentig wees en hoop om as eerste great grandmaster
te eindig.
