Brutal Bike Race in Benin

Last weekend I got invited to participate in a local race from Ouidah to Cotonou along the Route de Peche which is a sand road parallel to the beach. The race was for Velos Tous Terrains, that is Mountain Bikes. 

I was told to meet at the stadium in Cotonou at midday and there would be transport. I got there to find a eclectic group of bikes and riders. I was one of only two "Yovos" (white people), the other being a Frenchman who spoke no English. Transport consisted of a bus onto which bikes were piled onto the roof in one enormous pile. I took a look at this and thought my brake rotors were bound to get bent however Lionel who I knew from an earlier ride arranged for our bikes to go in the back of one of three MTN pick-ups. 

Meeting up at the Stadium in Cotonou

A very wide range of bikes

Bike transport consisted of piling as many as possible on the top of the bus

I managed to slip mine into the MTN pick-up

Sign on was a general melee around a couple of girls besides the bus. No race fee or licence required, just name, age, nationality and phone number. I saw riders from Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, France (5), South Africa (1) and Australia - me. Most were about 20ish with some in their 30s, plus some teenagers. I was the oldest I saw at sign on by many years!

Sign on - name, age, nationality and phone number

Once we got to Ouidah there was about an hour of waiting around, taking photos, more sign ons and hydrating. A couple of teams showed up with matching kit and looking pretty serious. There were also a few more Yovos - a South African from MTN who were sponsoring the race and two French couples - all on good quality 29er MTBs. The African guys were on a huge variety of bikes - hard tails, duel-lies and no suspension -  mostly older 26 inch MTB with rim brakes and one on a 26 inch single speed with skinny tyres.

Preparing for the start in Ouidah

Me with Lionel

At 3 pm we set off through Ouidah following one of the MTN vehicles on a neutralised 5 km section. We then stopped for photos before the Grand Depart. The pace was manic from the start. I managed to hang with the front 10 or so guys for the first 5 km and then the gaps started opening, especially when we hit areas of deeper sand. It was also 37 degrees at the start dropping to 32 degrees at the finish. I was wearing a camelpak with 2 x 2 litre bladders plus two bidons on the bike, all of which I would finish before the end. One guy flipped off in front of me at about 30 kph when he hit some deep sand. He caught me about 5 km later which was a great effort. A few of us were in groups of 2 or 3 but most of us ended up solo for much of the race. Picking the hardest packed sand was crucial. Missing it was energy sapping. And the soft sand got deeper and more frequent the closer we got to Cotonou. Also the closer to Cotonou we got the more traffic we encountered, either coming towards us forcing us off the hard pack into the soft sand or honking their horns behind us until we moved to the soft sand to let them pass.

The Grand Depart, and bottom right I am sitting on in about 8th.

Bottom left - just catching this guy.

The best sight all day - the finish

Post finish melee

My brain hurts

Check out this bike - single speed with skinny tyres

This is the dude who rode the single speed - chapeau!

Me and some of the finishers

I finished in about 15th place out of about 60. I know I wasn't in the top 10 as they were on the podium. I was the first Australian however I wasn't the first Yovo. Hanno from South Africa came in 8th and my Beninese friend Lionel came in 9th. I am sure I was first in veterans but I was probably the only veteran too. I took a few screen shots of my Garmin numbers. Not the greatest ever but I am only riding about 80 km per week at the moment on weekends. My heart rate monitor has been on the fritz for a year or so now so I did not have it on. It would have made interesting reading because I felt like I was "in the red zone" a lot. Overall the conditions were pretty brutal. Not my preferred race format but a great experience.