Ride Mauritius

Nine months ago I booked my family tickets to Mauritius. The small island paradise situated over 4000km to the North-East of Cape Town had been teasing with my imagination for the greater part of 2014. As the time drew nearer, I was already wading through crystal blue warm waters, watching elegant fishing boats sail crisply across the straight blue horizon...ah yes - a real beach holiday. NOT a cycling holiday. No bikes would be coming with. Locked snugly away in the garage (and in my study) the bikes would also be getting a 12 day break from the cold morning grinds. And they had seen some pretty low temperatures this winter!

I was intrigued by the old steel bikes throughout the island.

As someone who loves riding bicycles, the temptation to cover a few kilometres across a foreign country on a bicycle is strong. Too strong to ignore in fact. Bicycles have a strange way of calling a cyclist. Its a subtle reminder that they exist. You tear your eyes away from yet another beautiful palm tree lined beach when you sense the quiet rolling of bike tyres along the island road. A local on his old, heavy steel framed bike pushes down on the pedals...you immediately notice that the seat is set too low; you wonder how he balances with the basket suspended off the one handlebar; never mind being completely unphased as a Mauritian bus whooshes past him at high speed with just a few centimetres to spare....But you start seeing bicycles. Everywhere. Within a day or two you are able to summarise and identify the important role of cycling in the communities.

A Phoenix crank. I simply had to get my hands one!

I managed to hook up with a few expat locals whilst I was on the island. I got the distinct impression that they were able to go for a ride anytime they wished. Nothing quite like managing other peoples money from an island paradise.... But it has been my experience that the global cycling community is more than happy to invite another cyclist into their fold without prejudice. The love of cycling is an amazingly effective unifying tool...if you ride a bike, it dont matter about creed, race, social standing, or home address. (Oops - starts to sound like a religion now! Although I wouldn't be far wrong.)

A common sight on the island - a local transports a local crop with the use of his pedal-motorbike

I was fortunate to enter the Deutsche Bank Mauritius Cycle Tour whilst I was there. In fairness, I had no idea that this race was going to be held at the time we were there. The expat locals mentioned it on an earlier ride and before I had completely made up my mind that I would ride, my new best friends informed me that:

They had an entry for me;
They had a bike for me;
They had a helmet and bottles for me; and
They had a lift to the start for me (100km away).

No brainer - I was going to be riding!

So after an early start and being ferryed to the start by one of the expats drivers, I was handed a 29er dual-sus Specialised Epic MTB 10 minutes before the start. A quick seat adjustment at the start and I was off with A bunch.

The start of the Mauritius Cycle Tour 2014

The Mauritius cycle Tour is not a small affair. Its the islands premier road race and starts in the South, races 100km up the East coast, and finishes in the North of the island. You literally vertically cross the entire country of Mauritius. About 700 riders participated, including a few big guns from South Africa and a competent local contingent.

The route of the race: South to North (100km)

Because I was on an MTB, I immediately sought out the other MTB category racers. I found two Frenchman up ahead on their MTB's, hoped that they were the leading MTB racers, and the 3 of us formed a small peloton with some roadies until the end. This was my first race on foreign soil, so I have a few observations:

I will now never need to race a Tour de France - all the locals speak French so it was marvellous hearing the locals yell "alles alles!" as you screamed through the small villages;
South African races are VERY well organised;
You need to keep your wits about you as dogs, small kids, road-wide busses; Hindu processions; other sugarcane laden bicycle commuters; and motorcycles all went about their daily business as your raced through the island. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything!
Mauritius has no steep climbs on the main road. The King of the Hill was competed on a 70m climb.

I was admittedly parched at the 90km mark. I had lost a bottle; the Mauritian humidity and morning heat were slowly getting to me; and the young, slim, athletic, fast, clearly near-professional Frenchman made a dash with 1km to go. I was happy to stick with the other Frenchman and we both crossed over together for a 2nd/3rd finish in the MTB category on 2:37...a good time on a MTB! The winners in the lead peloton on their road bikes crossed 18 minutes ahead of us.

After the race I needed to cool off, so it was off the first beach at the finish line with my family...

What has this taught me? Its simple: the call of the bicycle is too great to ignore, no matter where I am in the world. And the power of the bicycle will always mean that you will find a small cycling community if you look, no matter where in the world you are. And you will be welcomed. Oops - starting to sound like a religion again...

A standard Mauritian sunset...lovely place with friendly people!