Blog

The Attakwas Extreme 2022 by Team Imbuko {type} DEV

The Attakwas Extreme is indeed one of the more extreme races on the calendar, defining itself as South Africa’s hardest one day race and it lives up to its name, every year without fail. With the timing of the event usually around mid-January, the weather is a huge factor with it either raining, or temperatures soaring. This year the temperature gage nearly broke with temperatures touching 47 degrees Celsius on the day (Some back markers hit 51 Degrees).

With temperatures such as these as well as the race happening just as most athletes have come out of their base periods, pacing becomes a crucial part of the eventual success of the event. The race is long and if you get caught up in “racing” at the start you are going to pay for it later on in the event.

Having a reliable Power meter such as the Power2max that are accurate to within 1% that does not “drift” irrespective of the temperature you are riding in, is vital to ensure a proper pacing strategy is maintained. In a race such as Attakwas, riders should look at maintaining an Intensity Factor of around 0.85 – 0.9 for the first hour of the race. Anything more will result in blowing a gasket later on in the day. 

 The guys from Team Imbuko{type}DEV managed to pace themselves well throughout the race with Wessel managing to cross the line in 4^th place, Marco 8^th after a bent brake rotor lost him some valuable time, Pieter 9^th and Franco a respectable 16^th. Awesome results all round from the guys!

Franco van Zyl, rider for Imbuko {type} DEV

Franco had this to say about the event:

“The first race of the season and it was a brutal one. This was definitely the hardest ride I have ever done with the scorching temperatures on the day, but with my power2max power meter I managed to pace myself to the finish.

The Attakwas is a long race and with the temperatures, you need to manage your intensity perfectly to finish it well. The power2max power meter gave accurate numbers throughout the whole race, even when the temperatures were well into their high 40’s. Although any attempt at pushing out decent power in the later parts of the event were a challenge as I was suffering with extreme dehydration, I ensured that I kept an output that I knew I would be able to maintain to the end.

Thanks to power2max for the power meters that helped me through this brutal, warm race.”

 Franko's power stats from the Attakwas Race: 

Pieter du Toit, rider for Imbuko {type} DEV

Pieter had this to say about the event;

"If you had to ask, most of the riders this year they will tell you that the 2022 Attakwas was by far the hottest ( and hardest ) race that they’ve done. Along with the scorching heat I have to admit that I did suffer that day. Luckily I know what lead to most of the troubles and it can easily be fixed, however, on that day there were no chances to address.

Besides my not-the-best result, I am still happy with how I stuck it out and managed to fight until the end.

As a brief race report, I realised that after the first 20km that it was going to be a tough day and told myself to tap off a bit. I had to spare the energy that I had to finish this iconic race. To do that I had to monitor my power constantly to make sure I paced myself.

I have to say, I was very impressed at how the Power2Max worked so sufficiently and exact in the extreme heat and odd water-crossings. Since the first ride I was also happily surprised by the instant no-lag power reading and how effortless it was to setup, as well as it’s strong Bluetooth connection.

All that said, I’m so excited to have P2M onboard this year and I am looking forward to setting new personal records in the power department with too."