In the shadows of Killimanjaro - K2N Stage Race

Words: Catherine Ballantyne                                                           Photos: Josue Fernandez
 
We came to K2N expecting a mountain bike stage race, what we found was a unique “share around the table” experience. I will remember the big sky, great people, fantastic food and an experience like no other. That’s before I even start on the mountain biking or the environment.
 
The moment we arrived at Simba Farm Lodge we were greeted first by Jason Miller, the timing maestro and then Brett Harrison, the Event Director. Within minutes we were sitting around the open fire in the garden talking with people we had only just met about everything from international education standards to the challenges facing Tanzania with respect to agriculture. And it was only 6am in the morning. It quickly became obvious that the people who had been drawn to K2N were of like mind and the feel of this event was something special.

For those who don’t know, K2N is a four day mountain bike stage race from Kilimanjaro to Natron in north eastern Tanzania. It was started to help fund agriculture education programmes in the country. This year is the first time the race has been opened to public application and 19 people from across the globe converged on Simba Farm nestled into the foothills of Kilimanjaro. The food they served is a great example of farm to table cuisine they adapted well with both Nola and I being vegan and others being vegetarian. 
 
Registration was a relaxed affair with some serious undertones due to validation of insurance cover and understanding of risk while the smell of coffee emanated from our beautiful hand-stitched race bags. The event briefing was again sitting around the open fire, this time as the sun set. Brett reviewed the first day’s racing. Climb 1700m up the side of Kilimanjaro with a starting height of 2200m (i.e. start at the height of Kosciuszko and then climb it almost again), ride (or at times walk) 8km of singletrack at the top and then descend to the starting point. 

Taking 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 Bukulebe and Melkiad Mahendeka, rounded out the top five.

Brett appeared, having run the singletrack to check the markers. He said the first 4km was quite technical and we might need to hike-a-bike a little. Maybe it was the wind, maybe I misheard. Skipping the hot drinks at the helipad feedzone we headed straight into the singletrack that was far more taxing than we were expecting. The first kilometre we negotiated well by pedalling through the babyhead rocks but soon after we found ourselves in a rocky ascent that was probably beyond us. Certainly with 3 days of racing ahead and no hospital nearby we weren’t prepared to practice on the very technical terrain. It was at this point we caught up with Philip again while the singlespeed mens duo powered away.

At the top of the climb, with bike over the shoulder was Cathedral Junction. When not in cloud as it was when we reached it the view is apparently breathtaking – kind of like the climb. The magnitude of the drop below was impressive, enough to ensure you didn’t step too close. From here the singletrack was mostly rideable back to the main road. Nola took the lead and we bombed down the hill, taking care of the pea gravel, in 30 minutes. 

Each day our bikes were cleaned for us. On return the broken spoke that gave my bike the sound of spokey dokies on the descent was obvious. I had this sinking feeling as I realised the work needed to replace it. Tommy Clark, the event mechanic, came to my rescue. As long as I didn’t mind that spokey dokey sound he could remove it and keep me rolling for the rest of the race without much bother.

Finding the rhythm
 
As with any stage race the days developed this natural rhythm of ride, debrief, recover, brief, repeat. For me that it is the beauty of stage racing. It is a simple being that centres around riding in the outdoors. Briefing for Seven Sisters included instructions on what to do in case we meet elephants. First and foremost they have right of way, stop for them and wait no matter how long that takes. Second don’t make yourself look big or play too small. Easy really.
 
Come day 2, we took our leave of Simba Farm for an 80km leg and our first night under canvas. The start was just outside the farm gate with many from Simba waving us off. This day would turn out to be our favourite. At one stage as a hyena ran across our path we were just stopped in the middle of the Africian plains saying ‘Wow, oh wow!’ 

Tinker Juarez

Before we got to the plains though we headed out through the farm tracks. The same groups as the first day quickly formed and we descended onto a 15km singletrack that descended 800m. This was where we first watched the professional downhilling skills the other women’s pair of Anka and Katie as they overtook us and flawlessly accelerated away.
 
At the bottom was our first Maasai village, Anka, Katie and the men’s team of Grant Burden and Steve Cunliffe who were to become colloquially known as ‘the tourists’ stopped to soak up the environment as we rode on with the mixed pair of Hungarians Nora Nemeth and Tamas Polauf. Tamas had entered the race for his wife and racing partner as a birthday present and he had announced on day 1 it was Nora who was the mountain biker, not him. On day 4 their deft completion of the technical Bomba Traverse showed they were both very much mountain bikers.

From here it was hard to know where we should look – trail markings, avoid the acacia prickles or other obstacles in front of us or animal spotting. Never in my life did I expect to be riding amongst zebra, giraffe or antelope of all shapes and sizes.

Throughout the race the trails we were following was a disparate collection of singletrack, double track, roads and uncharted territory. We were issued with GPS files to use for navigation but we found that the course markings were more than enough to get us through. The event team worked hard to maintain these markings as it seems the Maasai had taken a shine to the ribbons they used and regulations meant the only alternative was dropping white, lime powder.
 
The First feed zone of stage 2 won top prize for K2N (as voted by Nola and I). The guy in charge had us trying everything from avocado to Pringles and wins the prize for most enthusiastic of all the stops. With smiles on our faces we pushed on enjoying passing more animals and Maasai villages where the sounds of happy children’s carefree playing rang out along the flat, solid road before turning left into a dry riverbed which had been broken up by safari Landrovers, the sand making going harder, best solved by finding motorbike tracks on which to ride.

My insight to racing at the pointy end came from a mid race photo Trevor took of giraffes. It seems with them both well off the front during the stage Tinker called a neutral stop so they could both enjoy the herd of giraffes they were riding through. While K2N is a race there is something about its amazing backdrop that means even the fastest can’t help but stop in wonder.
 
Our next camp was hosted by a Maasai village. In the afternoon, the head of the village invited us into his village to meet his family and get a small sense of the life they lead. 

Racing with your eyes wide open
 
The 75kms of day 3 started with 1.5km of sealed road. It was then onto 27km of fairly rutted road. Jumping off, there were often much smoother paths running beside the road just so long as you avoided the acacia prickles. The road ended in a steady climb to the top of a hill which was rewarded by the sweetest ever singletrack descent which we rode like there was a hospital around the corner. Amazing to think it is a naturally occuring track in the middle of nowhere as it rides like a highly groomed, tailored trail.
 
After a ride across a wide open plan and another feed zone we traversed a volcanic plateau dotted with Maasai villages. The other Australian racing, Ray Marcelo was super excited at the end of stage 3. He was lucky enough to be privy to the a group of Maasai women dancing as he rode by. 

 
The day’s racing ended with a series of rocky ravine crossings which for us included some hike-a-bike and Nola got attacked by a tree whose prickles grabbed her face and wouldn’t let go.
 
As we neared the camp for the night we were taken by what we thought were kites they had put up. Turned out, it was a tent and a tarp being picked up and thrown high in the air by a dust storm. The ravine crossings proved worthwhile, enabling us to camp high on the hills with 360 degree views of Africa below us as we lazed in the sun, debriefed, readied for the next day and drank the occasional Kilimanjaro beer.
 
The Bomba Traverse which dominated day 4 was always to be the most technical with primarily rocky singletrack. At only 45km it still took us over 5hrs to complete. On leaving camp we descended as a group down rocky terrain and then out onto a plain. Slowly Oldoinyo Lengai “Mountain of God” volcano revealed itself in front of us and remained a stunning vista throughout the day. 
 
On reaching Gelai Bomba Township were told to ask for Mama J’s Grocery. Grocery, in Tanzania means bar. The feed zone for this section had an open tab. Nola and I sailed on past but there were those who partook before descending the traverse.

The Bomba section is lava rock. At times very steep, sketchy, hard to read it in places where momentum is your friend. Used for centuries by pack donkeys and goat herders, K2N opened it up to mountain bikers. For us it was a combination of riding and walking. Both of us came away from the day with a little less skin but a sense of achievement and maybe some new skills too.
 
Our last campsite was at the Maji Moto hot springs on the shores of Lake Natron with the pink flamingo in the distance and the donkeys grazing beside us. The race finish culminated in debriefing with beers in the hot spring as the sun went down and then gathering around our final campfire for dinner and celebrating everyone’s achievement. 
 
The event team have worked hard to show riders the Tanzania they know by bike with many weekends spent recceing different parts of upper east Tanzania looking for the best ways to connect hidden gems your average tourist will never have they opportunity to see. As a rider from Australia it is worth being aware that in order for you to experience all that Tanzania has to offer and to get that unique experience that some of the terrain is tough, even brutal. It does not mean it is unrideable, the likes of Tinker, Trevor and Anka proved that it is. For us though at times it was either beyond our skill or the consequences of trying and failing were too high so there were times we walked, a lot. Don’t take your best carbon-soled shoes.

 
Our favourite parts were the descent on day 3 followed by the descent from Simba Farm. Most memorable experience was the Hyena running across our path. As with any travel leave your expectations at home. This is Africa, things are not the same as you would expect but hakuna matata – relax, no worries. What is for sure, this is an experience you will be talking about in your rocking chair with a smile on your face. 
 
To the team at Red Knot Racing and Ashanti Tours – Asante Sana (thank you very much) for the experience you create!

Find out about the K2N Mountain bike stage race HERE and check out the K2N 2020 trailer below!