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| Getting of The Roof in one piece is the main aim of 380 bikers. |
WHILE the Yellow Brick app allows fans to track riders competing in
the weekend’s Roof of Africa, the app that riders are most using is AccuWeather,
with the big question on all lips: “Will it rain, or not?”
Over 380 bikers have entered this year’s Roof of Africa, with
racing having started today on what organisers say is a “shorter and more
compact route”, but with higher levels of extreme riding for all
classes.
classes.
Officially the riders compete until Sunday for a purse of R180 000,
but everyone knows it’s finishing that earns you the real bragging rights. In
fact, just being a Roof spectator will earn you a free beer in even the toughest
bikers’ bar, for the Roof is one race where spectator assistance is not just
allowed, but encouraged — as long as it’s not planned.
“The course is so tough that if riders didn’t receive help from
bystanders, even fewer would finish,” says race organiser Peter Luck, who has
been involved with the race since 1977.
ONLY THE FITTEST SURVIVE
Former winner Chris Birch said riders don’t have
to be the greatest in the world to finish, but they do have to be “really fit to
do it at any pace”.
The route comprises sand and “rock tracks with hard surfaces”,
which may sound like tautology, but is not.
British campaigner Ben Hemingway explains: “There’s a carpet of
grass, but underneath it feels like iron. It’s a different sort of ground to
Europe, which is softer and more forgiving. This gives your hands and your body
a pounding. It’s punishing.”
Riders will climb to nearly 3 000 metres before plunging down
valleys, where several rivers will have to be crossed. The names of the
sections, like Mr Moleko’s Pass, Thabang’s Road to Hell, Impossible and Downtown
x2, give a hint at the new level of difficulty which riders will face. As
always, the Roof riders have to go slower through villages. “We try to avoid
villages as much as possible, and we warn the locals not to bring their cattle
out. In fact, we work with the local farmers on how to best route the race
around their villages,” said Luck on the Roof’s website.
Lights are optional but recommended, especially for those who get
lost, a nightmare that haunts even the front riders.
Trail tyres may not be used, but any type of motocycle is welcome,
and this year will see Christini racing their 2x2 bikes for the first time in
the Roof.
The conditions favour light two-stroke machines. Past winners rode
on 250 cc or 300 cc bikes. Bikes are divided into three classes: gold, silver
and bronze, depending on the degree of difficulty of the route they follow.
RIDERS TO WATCH
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| Wade Young |
All eyes will be on KZN rider Wade Young, who
became the youngest rider to win the Roof in 2012, narrowly lost to Britain’s
Graham Jarvis in 2013, and last year took the title again, beating Jarvis by
almost six minutes. Brett Swanepoel and Altus de Wet followed home, and De Wet,
who wore the number 2 plate in 2013, is chomping at the bit for a podium this
year.
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| Altus de Wet carrying the nr 2 plate, can he make it nr 1? |
The start and finish for all bikes is at Ha Patrick, which has easy
access and a spectacular finish line. Using the tracking system, now in its
second year, fans and crews alike can follow the bikers using the Yellow Brick
app.
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| Kirsten Landman |
Among the female riders, Kirsten Landman is hoping that this year
will be just as good as 2014, when she finished a strong 23rd in Silver Class on
her first Roof.
“Roof of Africa 2014 was by far the hardest thing I have ever done.
There were many times when I doubted my abilities, when I wanted to throw in the
towel and give up, but I made a promise to myself that I was not going to quit
and that giving up was not an option. Thank goodness I have really long arms
because I had to really dig deep to push through and cross that finish line,”
she posted afterwards on her website.
