Pick & Pay 94.7 Cycle Challenge

As Marco said at the end of the race, "Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat are destined not to win this race!". We have had second place in the last 3 years running, but this time around we didn't even manage to get onto the podium, missing it by one place.

Congratulations to Mark Davel from Mr. Price KZN for taking the victory, and Moolman Welgemoed from Daikin taking second, Jac-Louis van Wyk taking third.

Changes to the route this year made it very hard to split the bunch up. With none of the hills being long enough to snap the elastic.

The pace started slowly, with a few very minor attacks along the M1. The first major move was made by Craig Harvey (Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat) who spotted a smooth section of tar along the flyover and shot off the front of the bunch, with a Toyota SuperCycling rider in tow. The gap opened up nicely, and heading into the CBD they were out of sight. The pace picked up through the CBD, but on exiting the buildings onto the Mandela Bridge, a strong headwind was encountered and Craig came back to the bunch.

I then tried to get away on the last hill before the Zoo Lake descent. Again, a nice gap opened, but nobody came with me, and the bunch caught me easily on the descent into a headwind.

The pace was quite high, but few attacks came all the way into Randburg. When on the last climb into Randburg, Marco van Biljoen and Werner Moolman tried to split the bunch up. Once again, the hill was too short and the bunch stretched out, but the elastic did not snap. Through Bryanston and coming down Douglas Road, the pace was high. We tried a few moves, but few people were willing to commit everything to the move with the Witkoppen climb coming.

Once again, Werner Moolman set the pace up Witkoppen, the bunch stretched but did not snap, so heading on to the highway it was still 40 or 50 strong.

Plenty of attacks along the highway, but still, nobody could get away. The last chance would be the drag near Diepsloot up into Bluehills. The main rivals all took turns attacking and counter attacking. Two riders did manage to get away, but I did not see who they were.

Last opportunity to do anything came on Heartbreak Hill. At this point I suddenly saw riders that I didn't even know were in the race appear out of nowhere. Obviously sitting in and hoping to be opportunists at the finish. With Werner the only person in the bunch prepared to bring the two man break back, I put in a last big effort to close the gap coming up to Crowthorn, hoping that this could create the opportunity for one of my teammates to launch off the front and get away.

The effort cost me, and I nearly went out the back on the descent past Kyalami. Marco was well placed at the front of the bunch, and with an uphill finish I thought he had a good chance for a result. Mark Davel went early (I thought too early at the time), opened a gap and managed to hold it all the way to the line. Moolman Welgemoed could not close him in time so had to settle for second.

So, that's the end of the season and my last race with Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat. It didn't work out the way we wanted, but that's racing!

94.7 Time of the Year

Well, the final race of the calender year has arrived along with some really bad weather!

Last weekend was supposed to be the final warmup race for me. The Bakwena SuperClassic which is a flat, out-and-back race. I was not feeling great heading out to the race, had a bit of an upper respiratory infection and has also suffered from a serious saddle sore last week. I headed out to the race and on the way there the weather was terrible. At the start line the weather looked okay, but anything could happen in the 50km the race would go to the turn point. The first time in my life I've got to a start and not started, I decided not to risk it and jeopardise the 94.7.

Overall, the second half of this year has not been a very happy period for me. With my Mom passing away a few months ago, and the associated loss of training, as well as work issues that have intruded, I have been on the back foot the whole season. The financial market crash that has been experienced globally also set back some business initiatives, so all-in-all things just haven't come together.

This week the weather has also been really bad, so final tuning on the training has been difficult, but this affects everybody so no point in getting too hung up about it.

So, here we are, last race of the season and it will be the last race with my current team, Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat. I move up an age category next year, and will be racing for Toyota SuperCycling 40+ team, supporting Andrew Mclean and Graeme Cronje. I'm looking forward to it, it should be good fun. I'll also be trying my hand at the MTB discipline, given that I will be coaching the DCM Chrome MTB team, I should at least get to know MTB better than I currently do!

The Bulk Pack Meat team will continue, and will be centered around Marco van Biljoen and Craig Harvey. They have recruited a new rider Jason du Preez who is just entering the Vets category. They are a strong team and I'm sure they will continue to enjoy the success that they have in the past. Good luck guys!! And thank you for all the great fun racing over the last 2 years.

Telkom Satellite Challenge

The weather for the Satellite Challenge this year was somewhat better than last year, and the size of the VA bunch was impressive. There are less road races on the calender this year, so clearly there were a lot of people wanting to test out their form before 94.7.

A number of strong teams were present, Toyota Cyclelab, Dimension Data, MTN/Club 100, Harmony, Garmin-DCM (better known for their MTB exploits, but very accomplished road riders nonetheless), MR. Price KZN, Metal Used Spares, to name a few.

From an Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat perspective, the team had Marco van Biljoen, Craig Harvey, and Bruce Diesel. The Hekpoort climb comes towards the end of the race, so Marco was definitely one of the race favourites.

Disaster struck early in the race with Marco puncturing. Craig stopped to help bring him back to the bunch, which he managed to achieve even though the first half of this race is very fast. Numerous attempts were made to get away, so tha pace was fast throughout the race. With Marco and Craig chasing back, I had to cover a lot of moves and was a bit isolated.

Finally, a good move went away just passed Bekker Skool. It was quite surprising because it was quite a soft move. Suddenly there were about 8 of us away from the main bunch. This group included both the Labuschagne brothers, Danie Marais (Toyota Cyclelab), Shaun Mackenzie (Garmin-DCM), Donovan Jackson (MTN/Club 100), Stefano Madies (Dimension Data) and myself. We had a gap of about 20seconds at the start of the Hekpoort climb.

Johan started the climb hard, and opened a gap on the rest of the group. Having spent a lot of the race chasing breaks I tried to ride a comfortable rhythm so I didn't try to get across to Johan. Soon David joined him, and Shaun Mackenzie, Donovan Jackson and myself were the only riders left chasing them. At the top of the climb David and Johan must have had about a 30sec gap on us, which we started trying to close - a tall order given that the pair of them were so strong and would work well together.

Donovan Jackson pulled up with cramp, so the chase was then left to Shaun and myself. We weren't closing the gap on David and Johan, so thoughts now shifted to staying away from the chasing bunch (being driven by MTN/Club 100) and try to get third place. Unfortunately Shaun hit the wall and I was left alone with about 2 km to go. The bunch caught me just before the top of the last climb. I tried one last attack but didn't have the legs to make it stick, so ended up rolling in at 10th place!

Even though the result wasn't great, I was very happy with my overall ride. I was involved in a lot of the racing and did well over the climb.

Some race stats:
Time: 2h36
Normalised Power: 327w
AP on Hekpoort Climb 383w for 9min.

Crater Cruise - 101km

This was the worst I've felt on a bike after 'bonking' riding the Double Century a few years ago! This race has always been known as a 'roadie' friendly mountainbike race, so I thought it would be no problem!

The race started very fast. I managed to get to the front of the bunch and felt comfortable. I kept an eye on David and Johan Labuschagne, who I race against a lot on the road. I felt if I could just follow their lead, I would be fine - since they are very experienced mountain bike riders as well.

The first jeep track section cause the bunch to split up, with the main contenders going away. I was in the second bunch, with some good riders and feeling comfortable. A new section has been added to the race, a climb with a lot of loose rocks. Going up the climb I was not able to keep up with the group that I was in, and by the time I was at the top, I was pretty much alone.

I chased hard on the flat roads after the climb, hoping I'd be able to get back on to the group that I had lost. At the halfway mark, I stopped to fill my water bottle, and a group came past me. I got onto that group, hoping that I'd be able to stay with them to the finish. At about 40km to go the wheels started coming off!! In the next section of singletrack I just could not stay with the group, my back and my wrists were getting so tired that I was having difficulty going fast over the technical sections. Once again I got isolated was all alone after a section of singletrack that went along the side of the Vaal River. The ride would have been really enjoyable had I not been so tired.

The roads back to Parys were horrific. They were seriously corrugated, and I was really struggling. I just could not get comfortable and tried to stay on the wheel of every group or rider that came past me. I was losing plenty time and all I could think about was the finish!

With about 15km to go, the race goes onto a tarred section of road, and I was hoping that it would be tarred back to Parys. The route soon turned off the tarred road and although the terrain was flat, there were a lot of rocks and rough sections. One thing I have learned is that speed is your friend over rough terrain, but I was too tired to maintain momentum. I slowed down completely and the last 10km were sheer hell!

I finally got into the finish in a shade over 4 hours, feeling very sorry for myself. I was very surprised to see from the results that I had finished 34th overall, out of a field of 600. I thought I was the last man when I was coming to the finish.

Power stats show just how much my power dropped off through the race!

First MTB Race - Bekker Bundu Bash

I have been asked to coach the DCM Chome MountainBike team, so I decided I had better do some races to get a better feel for what this sport entails. I had been thinking about doing some mountainbiking for a while now, so this was the perfect reason to go out and do it.


The team arranged a bike for me, and I have a disc version of the powertap, so I was really looking forward to seeing the data that comes from this type of racing.


The race was 60km, which much of the race on dirt roads. Perfect introduction to offroad racing for a roadie like me.


The first 20km were predominantly single-track with some very rocky climbs and descents. Riding in the middle of some experienced offroad riders, I could not believe how fast we were going through this terrain, I was just hanging on and concentrating on the guy in front of me.


Most of the race was sand roads, so I was able to really push it.


Overall, it was great fun. MTB races have a very festive atmosphere and a great vibe. I'm looking forward to doing more of these events.


Power stats are very interesting. RPE is definitely a lot higher vs. power output. I found that my back and arms were feeling really tired towards the end of the race, and that was limiting me more than my legs.

Powerade Dome2Dome - SuperSeries

This was the final event in the SuperSeries calender. Overall I think the series has been successful, based on the snall resources used to put it together, and the positive responses received from the riders!

Dome2Dome is one of the more challenging events on the S.A. calender, it it was a fitting finale to the SuperSeries. The race is 116km long, over undulating terrain through the Cradle of Humankind area.

The VS category was well supported, with at least 60 riders present in the start pen. Most of the big names and teams were there, including Andrew Mclean, David & Johan Labuschagne, Graeme Cronje, Colin Germs (Toyota SuperCycling), Stefano Madies, Gary & Mark Beneke, Jackie van Eeden, Martin Saunders, Graham Parker (Dimension Data), Donovan Jackson & Jeffrey Kriel (MTN/Club 100), Philip Fourie (Team Computer-Smits), Jock Green and myself (Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat), Werner Moolman (Mr. Price KZN) and Donovan van Gelder (Greenoffice/Cybercoach). Some of the guys that don't have big teams have been in the mix as well - Francois Ebersohn (Velo Cycling Club) and Rynard van Hoven (Select Cycling Club). Hopefully with some of the proposed rule changes next year, some of the guys that have had to ride alone will be able to ride for teams during the SuperSeries.

The first part of the race had the Labuschagne brothers taking turns to try to get away, something had to be watched as they are both strong. Dimension Data also attacked plenty. The first opportunity to really split the bunch up came on the Kromdraai Road, leading up to the Cradle Restaurant. Jock Green attacked early, and Andrew Mclean countered as well. This was the first selection point of the day, and about 25 riders made the split. Including Anriette Schoeman as the only lady. This put her in a very strong position for the win, as it would require significant collaboration between the MTN Ladies team and the Toyota SuperCycling Ladies team to get back to the lead bunch. This didn't happen, so Anriette just had to stay in the bunch and would take the win.

The next split point in the race came on the Hekpoort Road, heading up towards Maropeng. Once again, Jock went hard and only about 8 riders were able to stay with him. This group was a little too big so not all of the riders would commit themselves. The pace slowed a bit heading towards the Tarlton Road, and the lead group came back together.

The Tarlton road has a long drag, which gave Jock the opportunity to attack again, this time going with a smaller bunch. At some point, the Dimension Data also went away for quite a long period of time, but everything came back together at the bottom of Sterkfontein Hill.

Another attack came on the climb up Hendrik Potgieter, but the long descent brought things back together. The telling move of the day came a short while later, heading up to the Kloofzicht Circle. Again, Jock and Andrew went away. This was less that 20km from the finish, so there was little chance the bunch would bring them back.

Over the last 20km, riders that still had a bit of strength left rode off the front to secure minor positions. The bunch slowly disintegrated, and I decided to put in one last effort to get away and get 8th place.

Hats off to Anriette Schoeman, for mixing it with the men. She must be feeling good going into Worlds next week.

I personally had a really difficult time. I couldn't make a number of the splits and had to work hard to get back into the bunch on a number of occasions. My CTL still hasn't reached my mid-winter levels, so I have plenty of work to do!

It was a pity that the MTN Ladies Team and Toyota SuperCycling Ladies couldn't combine to chase Anriette. I was hoping that this race would be at a very high intensity for Lynette and Yolandi going to Worlds - it would be good preparation.

Power levels weren't bad, but still about 20w off my peak of last year!

The speed of the VS group was very high, not much slower than the UCI Elite category. Vets racing is very competitive!

Meyerton Cycle Challenge

No major races this weekend, so I headed to Meyerton for one of their 'Mass Start' events. All licensed riders start together and it is usually a fast and furious affair.
One of the primary goals for the race today was to give Lynette Burger an opportunity to race at the speed and intensity she will be encountering at World Champs. I was keen to see how she would go.
None of the big pro teams were present, but some of the U23 guys were there - notably CycleLab Academy. Plenty of other riders from teams like Liqui-Moly, Club 100 etc. Some of the Wadeville Steel vets were there as well.
The wind was blowing really hard and conditions were not very pleasant, just what is needed to prepare for Dome2Dome next weekend.
The start was fast, with CycleLab putting in all the major attacks. I tried to go in a move early, but the Lab rider with me did not want to contribute for some reason. Finally one of the Lab riders got away and built a reasonable gap. More attacks followed until 3 riders went across to him. I couldn't really see what was happening, but eventually there were only 2 Lab riders off the front, and the gap was around 1min.
With the main goal of the race being training - I did a lot of work on the front, along with Wadeville Steel, a Liqui-Moly rider, Donovan Jackson from Club100, and every now and then one of the other riders in the bunch.
By the time we reached the turnaround point, the group had been reduced to about 12 to 15 riders, including 2 Lab riders. The out leg of the race had a wind from behind, so at the turnaround, the wind come from the front and I thought that the Lab riders in the break were going to struggle to stay away.
We continued rolling through, with Lynette doing plenty work. The gap stayed fairly constant with nobody committing 100% to the chase given that the 2 Lab riders in the chase group were sitting in comfortably. With no team in the chase, nobody wanted to do all the work for the other individual riders.
About 10km out, Lynette attacked and went with one of the Lab riders. Surprisingly, he did not want to contribute to the move so it broke down quite quickly.
From my side I just kept pushing hard to try bring the break back. Eventually one of the riders in the break popped, but the other rider managed to hold off the bunch and take a well deserved win!
Looking at the power numbers, I was very satisfied. I doubt whether I would have had the motivation to ride for 2 hours at an IF of 0.93 had I gone training on my own. I'm still about 20w off where I'd like to be, but a normalised power of 316w for 2 hours was not too bad.
Well done to Lynette, she stayed in the front bunch the whole way, and did her fair share of work on the front as well! Great preparation for Worlds!

Worlds 2008 Road Race

Congratulations to Lynette and Yolandi

For being selected to represent SA at the World Road Race championships!

Lizanne Naude just missed out, but I'm sure she'll be there next year!!

Threshold Test

Based on my power output during the Crit on Sunday, I decided to go out today and do a proper threshold test. I had estimated my FTP to be 320, but the results of the crit indicated that it was probably underestimated.

Today's TT proved that. 340w NP for just under 50min puts my FTP at 335w-340w. Still plenty of work to do though!

Zoo Lake Criterium

This race was resurrected last year, and it looks like it will become a very popular event. The field in the Vet’s 30-39 category was very strong, and included the Labuschagne brothers (Toyota Cyclelab), Jaco Ferreira (Team Computer-Smith), Werner Moolman (Mr. Price KZN), Stefano Madies, Graham Parker, and Martin Saunders (Dimension Data), Doug Ryder, Charles Pritchard, Stephen Courtney (plus many more from MTN/Club 100), Harmony also had a strong team there.
The format of this race is 30min plus one lap, with the laps being about 4km long around Zoo Lake. The start/finish is on a short climb and is where most of the attacking happens, making for great spectator value. Today there was a strong tailwind up the start/finish climb, after which the riders turned into a full head-wind. This meant that the chances of a break getting away were quite slim. Any advantage gained up the climb was hard to keep into the headwind.
Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat only had Craig Harvey and myself. With Craig being in good form, we decided to try to go with any moves and see if we could get away with the right combination.
The race started very hard, as usual, with various attempts to get away. The Labuschagne brothers (David & Johan) took turns trying to get away in the first few laps. As the race wore on, Jaco Ferreira tried a couple of times to get away as well, with Craig Harvey marking him closely. Coming past the start/finish for the last lap, I jumped across to Werner Moolman, but neither of us had the legs to stay away into the wind.
The bunch stayed together for the final sprint which was taken by Jaco Ferreira. Neither Craig nor I are accomplished sprinters, so Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat had to settle for bunch finishes.
Not a result to write home about, but a good fast race none the less.

From a power perspective, I was very happy with my performance. I had estimated my FTP to have dropped due to the last 6 weeks of missed training - so I had it pegged at 320w based on a 52min L4 workout I did earlier this week - averaging 321w for 52min and not feeling like I could have gone much harder. So 368w NP for 37min was a good performance. I will go out and do another TT effort this weeks and see how I go.

EPR Race

Even though the weather was fine, the turnout in the VA group was quite disappointing. This race is a fairly flat race, which is usually characterised by plenty of wind. This year was no exception and the conditions became overcast and windy as the race went on.
Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat were well represented with Craig Harvey, Marco van Biljoen, Bruce Diesel, and Hadley McCormick present. Jock Green was racing in the Elite group. Being in Randfontein, this is one of the home races of the Harmony Cycling Team, so they were also well represented. Apart from that, there were a few other riders present, Hannes Wessels (Team Computer-Smith) and Donovan Jackson (MTN/Club 100).
The race got off to quite a fast start. Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat were clearly expected to make the moves, and we decided not to disappoint. Marco van Biljoen made the first move, which was brought back by the fresh legs in the bunch. When the bunch came back together, Bruce Diesel counter attacked and opened a fair sized gap along with Donovan Jackson and one of the Harmony riders. With a nice sized gap, Marco van Biljoen, Craig Harvey and Hannes Wessels tried to come across into what would have been a good move. The bunch was able to close the move again. Absolute Systems/Baulk Pack Meat continued attacking until Craig Harvey went away alone. The bunch did not respond, so Marco van Biljoen jumped across with one of the Harmony riders on his wheel. The bunch was now softened up from all the attacks, and with Absolute Systems and Harmony in the break, there were no teams to coordinate a chase.
With at least 70km to go, the gap opened up very quickly and by the time the bunch got to Magaliesburg the gap was already 2 minutes.
Coming out of Magaliesburg there was a strong crosswind on a long drag. Perfect conditions for a gutter, so Bruce Diesel put the bunch into the gutter and by the time the bunch got to the top of the drag only 6 riders were left – including 2 Harmony riders, Hannes Wessels, and Bruce Diesel.
The Harmony rider in the break had been dropped, after not wanting to contribute too much to the break. So Craig Harvey and Marco van Biljoen were away on their own and Harmony were now the only team in the chase. With the break now up to 3 and a half minutes, they must have decided to race for third place and not push the pace too hard. After a number of attempts to gutter the remaining riders (unfortunately up against the white line which is a dangerous tactic), Harmony started attacking the rest of the group with about 20km to go. Eventually Hennie Serfontein (Harmony) got away and opened a 20second gap. The remaining riders did not have the legs to bring him back and he managed to stay away and take third place.
So, Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat took first and second (Craig Harvey and Marco van Biljoen) in a time of 2h34, almost 10 minutes ahead of the third placed rider – Hennie Serfontein (Harmony).

Race Report: Yolandi du Toit - La Grande Boucle Feminine Internationale

Yolandi started training with me about 2 months before the tour. At the time she was still recovering from injuring her knee in the Epic. With her racing commitments (both on-road and off-road) we were not able to go through a periodised training program to build up to this tour.
Looking at the power data from the tour, she has done really well. We do not have power data for the first two stages, which had plenty of cobble sections and we did not want to risk the powertap wheels. Although Stage 3 was tempo intensity for her, the first two stages took a lot out of her and she was physically very tired at the end of the stage.
It rained during Stage 4, which reduced the intensity and was more endurance pace. Stage 5 was an Individual Time Trial, and Yolandi had a good ride. After 3 days of hard racing she still managed 65 minutes at 5 watts above her estimated functional threshold power. Unfortunately she punctured a few kilometres before the finish and rode the end of the TT on a flat front tyre.
Although she felt good in the TT, she paid for it in Stage 6, having a tough day. The main problem seems to be muscle glycogen depletion i.e. she did not manage to get enough carbohydrates back into her system after the timetrial. She was able to ride at tempo intensity, but not any higher – which is indicative of depleted muscle glycogen.
As is often the case, Yolandi had a good day after effectively ‘bonking’ the day before. In the last stage Yolandi got into the break and rode positively, finishing the stage in 18th place.
Given the disrupted preparation, this was a really good performance and with another 2 tours next month, this will provide her with a solid base.

Tough First 2 Days at GBFI for Yolandi

The opening 2 days of the Grande Boucle Feminine Internationale have been very tough.

Stage 1 was over a lot of the difficult cobble sections in Flanders. Yolandi's bike had been set up incorrectly and her saddle was too high, hopefully no damage but she did say that her knees and hamstrings were very sore. She did manage to win the jersey for "Most Elegant Rider" - don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing!

Stage 2 she broke her seatpost and had to ride one of the spare bikes for part of the stage, until the team got her bike sorted out.

I'm not sure if she will get a chance to update her blog: http://yolandidutoit.blogspot.com/

Catch up with the action at: http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2008/jun08/lgbf08/default

Race Report: Midvaal Vets Tour Stage 4

Well, the GC was looking very interesting this morning! I was lying in 5th place, less than 2 seconds off 3rd place!

The final stage was a kermesse, 4 laps of 5km each. I always thought a kermesse was much shorter laps but anyway!

The first and second laps had hotspots at the start/finish line, which was at the top of a nice incline. I decided I would try to get a good warmup and was feeling very motivated to try jump into 3rd place. I felt quite good riding on the rollers and my hopes were high.

My plan was to try to get away early and win one of the primes, then try to protect my position on GC. The pace started out really hard and any thoughts of getting away were quickly dashed. The bunch was strung out in one long line.

Coming up to the first prime, I felt as if I had no gas in the tank. I could not match the accelerations and watched in dismay as the front guys left me for dead. Stefano Madies (who was only a couple seconds behind me) took the prime. The group came together again as the pace slowed after the prime, but for me the plan had fallen apart. All that was left for me was to stay in the top 6 and be in the prize money.

Staying in the top 6 also proved to be impossible, but that was due to my own team mate moving up the GC by winning the second prime and coming second in the race - so no complaints there! Johan Labuschagne (CycleLab) rode away from the bunch and managed to stay away, taking a well deserved win! Jock Green took second place.

In 30 minutes the race was over and I must say, I was very disappointed in my own performance. Having said that though, the field at the tour was very strong this year, and I ended up just over 1 minute behind the winner, with a chance of a podium finish on the last day. I'm sure I would have taken that result at the start of the tour.

Power numbers for the 30 minutes: 355w normalised power. I don't think I could have gone any harder than that! Clearly I still have work to do!

The Tour this year was really well attended, and the field was really strong. Mr. Price KZN took a deserved victory and they rode as a team. Congrats to Werner Moolman for his victory, it was well earned and deserved. Craig Harvey pushed him all the way, and also took a well deserved second place. Jock Green took the points and polka dot jerseys so not a bad performance from him either.

From Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat perspective, obviously we would have liked to win the tour, but Craig Harvey took second, Jock Green took fourth (as well as the points and kom jerseys). We won 2 stages as well, so pretty successful tour for us.

Thanks to our sponsors: Absolute Systems, Bulk Pack Meat, Trek/Bontrager, Garmin, and our new sponsor Biogen.

Race Report: Midvaal Vets Tour Stage 3

Today the stage was 120km, out to Heidelberg, then down towards the Vaal Dam, and back to Daleside.



With Werner Moolman (Mr. Price KZN) still in yellow, the onus was on Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat and Cyclelab to try to do something about it. Our plan was to attack from very early, and hope that I could get into a good move with some strong riders. Out feeling was that with Craig being marked closely, and Marco & Jock not being allowed to get away either, I may have a chance of getting a good move going before Mr. Price decided that it would be dangerous.



Once again the route profile was pretty flat, with the one small climb coming just before Heidelberg. I went in a move right from the gun with Moolman Welgemoed and one of the Cyclelab Riders and we opened up a nice little gap. But with the peloton being fresh it did not last very long.



The attacks were coming regularly and the pressure was on. Then Marco van Biljoen punctured which was bad news for us. A good move went with Johan Labuschagne and Moolman Welgemoed and opened up a big gap. Then on the climb into Heidelberg, Jock and Craig put in a big attack and shattered the bunch. A lot of riders were in trouble and we had managed to isolate Werner.



With Johan and Moolman down the road, it looked like Jock and Craig would get across to them and the move would be very dangerous. The bunch was completely strung out, but a few big trucks came past and pulled the whole bunch back together. Some seriously dangerous riding was taking place, and I'll be surprised if some riders aren't disqualified.



As the bunch came back together I jumped hard and went across to Johan and Moolman. Later Jock came across to the break but the dynamics of the break got disrupted and the bunch soon caught us again.



Heading out towards the dam, another hill allowed a break to get away. The break contained strong riders, David Labuschagne, Jock Green, Donovan Jackson, Dave Garrett, Moolman Welgemoed to name a few. The break became threatening, so Mr. Price called their riders back and the chase was on. Riders began dropping out including David Labuschagne, so the pace must have been hot.



The break lasted about 50km, and the Mr. Price guys had to work like trojans to bring it back. As the break was coming back, the counter-attacks started and things got hot again. There are plenty of long drags and the pace was really stringing the bunch out. All the while I was trying to keep an eye on the riders near me on the GC, so i had to make sure I covered moves by Stefano Madies, James Lauter, and Glenn Campbell.



Plenty of attacks but none of them had the right mix, until Craig and Werner got away together. Clearly Mr. Price would not chase this, and we would not either. This left Cyclelab attacking continuously. I didn't want to let any of their riders go because it would cost me in the GC. So I had my hands full trying to cover every move that went.

Things stayed together, with 3 riders getting away just before the finish line.

Unfortunately, even though Craig won the stage, his time bonuses did not make up the gap with Werner so tomorrow we need to make some moves if we are going to win this tour. The Kermesse is 4 laps of 5km, so not much time to do anything.

Overall I averaged 305w Normalised Power for 3h05 at an average speed of 41.1km/h. The first hour was hard, I averaged 340w for the hour so I am very pleased that I still had reasonable legs towards the end of the stage.

Race Report: Midvaal Vets Tour Stage 2

Today was Stage 2 of the Vets Tour. 101km in length and was 3.5 laps of a circuit around Daleside. No major climbs, just a few drags, so unless the wind blows the bunch is going to stay together.

So far the Tour has been really well run, and really well attended. A lot of the top Vets in the country are here, with Mr. Price even importing a few riders (Dave Garrett and Donovan van Gelder - although Donovan I'm sure is just part of the extended family from KZN, one of the cuzzie's as they would probably say down there).

With Werner Moolman (Mr. Price KZN) in yellow, and being supported by a very solid team, it is up to the rest of us to make the racing - Cyclelab are pretty strong, and Club 100 also have some strong riders.

Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat are in a strong position though, we have 3 riders in the top 6, so this does give us options. I was about 0.4seconds behind Glenn Campbell, and with the time bonuses at the various hotspots and finish, I had my own race to think about as well.

Driving out to the start, the deep south was looking very cold! Fortunately with a 9:00am start, it had warmed up a bit. The team plan was to see if any of us could get into a good move and get ourselves into yellow, after that we would think about what the tactics need to be for the rest of the tour.

Johan and David Labuschagne went out very aggressively. None of the moves were sticking though and we all had our turn at trying to get away. Craig was having no joy with Werner watching his every move! The pace was pretty high, averaging over 40km/h but with no real climbs it was too easy to stay in the bunch. Mr. Price kept things together well, with Dave Garret, Justin Short, and Donovan van Gelder doing plenty work.

The race came down to a bunch sprint with Jock taking the win, James Lauter (spelling?) second and Dave Garret third. Jock also took the sprint prime and KOM prime, so he moves into the Green Jersey.

No major changes to the GC, but I don't have all the results at the moment.

I was feeling okay, not great though. Not having raced for a long time is showing. The power numbers were reasonable. 307w NP for the race (2h30) is hardish, but not too bad - felt harder but then being on antibiotics is not really helping.

Team gets new Garmin 705's

Wow, we have just received our new Garmin 705s. And even better news, Saris have announced that they will be providing Garmin Compatible Powertap hubs!! Double Cool!!

Race Report: Midvaal Vets Tour Prologue

Well, I woke up this morning with a severe sore throat. Last night I could feel I was not right, I had a fever and headache and the throat was scratchy.

I have been looking forward to this race for a long time. Having missed out on quite a few races lately I was keen to get back into racing. So, sore throat was not an option.

Went to the doc first thing. He checked it out and diagnosed a sinusitis. Prescribed some antibiotics.

The Prologue was 8km long, starting at the entrace of the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve and heading back towards Daleside. I was seeded 11th so my start time was 16:30.

This was the first time I was going to ride a Trek TTX so I was really looking forward to it. I had seen Andrew Mclean after his ride and he said the judges had told him he had ridden 8:11 for an 8km TT!! Holy Crap!! That is just under 60km/h.

The team rode out to the start together. The finish of the TT was close to the Boswell Wilkie Circus, so it was a nice warmup ride to the start. The Trek felt really good, best I have ever felt on a TT bike.

The ride went better than expected. I got to the start and started my powertap interval timer, then made the mistake of riding a slow loop waiting for my start. So, the CPU timer had started! Anyway, my target wattage for the ride was 370w. I felt this was a good target because I had averaged 368w for 20 minutes a few weeks back when I was doing my 20min threshold test. In the past I have not been able to match my road bike numbers on the TT bike, so I thought that if I could get 370 I'd be very happy.

I started out well. keeping the powermeter between 360 and 380. But by the halfway point I was really starting to feel it!! I found it very hard to keep the power levels up and started fading a bit. When I went over the line I was really hurting. I switched the CPU to time and say 10:14 - geesh, 2 minutes slower than Andrew over 8km, as Craig said, maybe we should take up golf!!

Anyway, at prize giving the results were given out and Andrew had done 9:11, not 8:11. The line judge must have made a small mistake. So, not as bad as I first thought, but I still thought I was about 1 minute slower, and I couldn't even blame the wind!

Times were pretty quick, Werner Moolman did 9:05 and Craig Harvey somewhere around 9:20.

Later when I got home and checked my powermeter data, I realised that my timer had started early and my time was 9:38 - okay, not so bad then!! Average speed was just a fraction over 50km/h.

Average power for the ride was disappointing - 344w. I really need to spend more time on a TT bike.

Grand Boucle Feminine International - Stage 1

Yolandi du Toit will be riding in the GBFI - the ladies version of the Tour de France for Lotto Belisol. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotto-Belisol_Ladiesteam

Here is stage 1. I will be posting the other stages as I map them out.

Yolandi du Toit - First Lady in Stonehaven on Vaal

Yolandi came in first in the 80km Stonehaven on Vaal race today.

Nice one!!

Getting to grips with RaceDay

I have been getting all my training data from the beginning of the year loaded into RaceDay. Now I will start regular testing so that the software can figure out my own personal training parameters i.e. how my body responds to training from a fitness and fatigue perspective.

RaceDay Performance Predictor (developed by Dr. Phil Skiba) is based on the same principles as WKO+ Performance Manager, except it helps you determine your own personal "decay" constants with respect to fitness and fatigue. It also will predict your performance based on your testing protocol.

What is really interesting is that it allows a short duration testing protocol - 2min TT. The idea being that the anaerobic contribution is relatively constant, and changes can be attributed to aerobic improvements.

I have decided to use a RAMP test on my computrainer (MAP test as specified by Ric Stern). The reason for this is that it removes the need to pace a TT (even a short one) properly. Basically I must ride to exhaustion.

Today I did my first test, and was quite disappointed at my result :-( My average power (AP) for the last minute of the test was 405w. I was aiming for 430w, based on a 1 hour TT I did on my computrainer a few weeks ago - in which I achieved 321w AP. My ftp should be between 72% and 77% of the last minute AP of the MAP test. In this case it is 79%. Strange, because I was quite fresh when I did the test.

Anyway, I need to test quite regularly so that the software can construct a valid model for me.

Kim Rose-Gershow Narrowly Beaten in Nationals Road Race

Just goes to show, you can be the strongest on the day, and not take the win! Kim rode an extremely aggressive race in the 35 to 39 age group at Nationals today. The race is an 18km circuit with a climb. She was able to open a gap on the climb but the wind did not work in her favour. After the climb there was a strong head-wind preventing her from staying away from the chasing bunch. She was beaten in the final sprint, paying for all the hard efforts during the race!

Unlucky Kim, but one thing is for sure, your rivals know they had a race today!

Andrew Mclean wins Nationals 40-44 TT

Andrew won the Men's Nationals TT (40-44) today. Riding the 20km course in 28:00.

Well done Andrew!

Kim Rose-Gershow - S.A. National 35-39 TT Champ!!

Today Kim won the National TT Title. Beating Lisa Vermaak by about 6 seconds. This is a brilliant results, having been narrowly beaten by Lisa in the Provincials TT last month.

The 20km race was held in East London. Kim finished the time-trial in 34m40 at a speed of 36km/h.

This was one of Kim's goals at the beginning of the year when we put together her training program, it's always nice when a plan works out.

Jock Green (Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat) Narrowly Misses out at Tour Durban

Jock was pipped at the finish line by Dave Garrett (Daiken/Gu).

Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat controlled the SuperSeries race for the whole day, with Marco van Biljoen doing the Lion's Share of the work. Jock felt he had won the race, but camera replay showing that Dave just beat him.

The guys are showing good form a week before Nationals, well done Dave!!

Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat are winning both the individual rider, and team classification for the SuperSeries.

Kim Rose-Gershow wins Tour Durban

Kim's form is really coming good now. She won the Elite Cat. in Tour Durban.

Well Done!!

Andrew Mclean & Graeme Cronje Dominate Panarama Tour

Andrew and Graeme not only won their age group, but the whole tour! The four stage tour in Mpumalanga is a two member team event and goes over most of the climbs in the area.

Looking at Andrews power numbers, he is right up there with some of the pro's racing in Europe. Not bad for a guy in his 40's!

Well Done Kim and Andrew!

Two people I've been helping out with Training with Power took Gold Medals today in Central Gauteng Provincial Championships!

Well done!!

Not A Week For Cycling

This week has not been about cycling. The real world intruded in a big way.

First off, the head cold that I had in the middle of last week and during the Maluti, hit me badly this week. On Tuesday I was feeling off colour, then on Wednesday I woke up with full blown bronchitis. At least I had the joy of watching my football team come from behind twice and book their place in the semi-finals of the Champions League (Liverpool 4 - 2 Arsenal). What a game, I nearly had heart-failure but the Reds came through. This goes a long way to avenge the defeat in 1989 when Arsenal took the league from Liverpool at Anfield with a 0-2 win, the second goal being pretty much the last kick of the game!!

So, 2 days in bed feeling like death warmed up!

Then on Friday morning we received the news we had been expecting, but still came as a big blow. Lella Cullingworth passed away on Friday morning after fighting breast cancer for more than a decade.

To say that Lella was a special person, would be to do her a disservice. Lella was truly a Saint! Every person she came into contact with, was touched by her. There was not a selfish bone in her body.

To focus on Lella though, is to tell only 50% of the story. Brendan, her husband, is just as special. Brendan and Lella changed the lives of so many people, myself and my family included.

Cancer may have taken her life, but it never took her spirit. Even in the face of impending death, she never became bitter. Her concern for those around her was always foremost in her mind. She passed away peacefully, but courageously and never let cancer change who she was.

So, Provincial Championships have been put on the backburner this year. But I'll be giving it a full go for Nationals. The memory of Lella does not make me think cycling is irrelevant, just the opposite. She taught us to embrace life and live it. Whatever you chose to do, do it with all your heart - give it all or nothing at all.

Race Report: Maluti Classic SuperSeries

First of all, condolences to the family of the rider that was tragically killed in this race. I don't know any of the details, just that a rider was killed during the race and that is tragic to say the least.

After an absence of a couple of years, this race has been revived and it is certainly a very nice race. 125km of rolling terrain makes for good, hard racing. The race has been included in the Vets and Ladies SuperSeries and has a good prize purse.

Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat are leading the Team Competition, with Jock Green (Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat) also leading the Men's Individual Competition, with Jaco Ferreira (Team Computer-Smith) just 5 points back.

Our goal for the race was to get Marco van Biljoen the win to bring him up in the standings, and ensure that Jock Green beat Jaco to extend his lead. With Jock and Jaco leading by such a great margin, it is a simple case for TCS to just watch Jock. Making Marco a threat in the series gives us a lot more attacking options going forward. With Andrew not being there, our only threat from a series perspective was Jaco.

Unfortunately, this event clashes with the Cape Epic, meaning that Toyota/SuperCycling and Andrew Mclean would not be present. However, Mr. Price Cycle Club were there in full force (as they always are), as well as Dimension Data. Team Computer-Smith also signalled their intent by having a strong contingent as well. Unfortunately, none of the MTN/Club 100 riders were present, which was a bit of a surprise.

Since Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat are leading both competitions, the onus is on the rest of the teams to attack us. This doesn't seem to be happening and the start of the race saw all the teams looking to us to make the racing. Our priority was to get Marco away in a break, hopefully with myself to support him, and hopefully force TCS into having to change from just watching Jock. With none of the teams showing any aggression, I decided to start attacking the bunch. TCS were marking us closely, and each time I went I had Philip Fourie with me. Dimension Data also sent Dave Mitchell down the road but none of the attacks got away. Then after quite a few attempts, a break got away at around 40km containing Jock, Marco, Jaco, Lee Muir (Mr. Price), Werner Moolman (Mr. Price), Flip Krugel (Mr. Price), Donovan van Gelder (Greenoffice/Cybercoach), and Gary Beneke (Dimension Data). I decided not to try get across and risk bring the bunch back to the break, as this break had the makeup to stay away for the race. Also, there were a number of top riders that had missed the break (particularly Dimension Data as Stefano Madies, Mark Beneke, Jackie van Eeden had all missed out).

Stefano Madies belatedly tried to get across, but had let too much of a gap open and was left in no-mans land for a long time.

With Jaco marking Jock, Marco had an opportunity to get away solo. Jock could play the policeman in the break and was able to remove some of the Mr. Price riders on Surrender Hill (they were the team with the most numbers and hence the biggest threat to this race). In the meantime, I also pushed quite hard on the climbs to reduce the size of the chasing bunch - with Jackie van Eeden being amongst the casualties. The chase bunch was down to about 12 riders by the time we reached Clarens, and we picked up Flip Krugel and Lee Muir with about 40km to go in the race.

On the road back from Clarens to Bethlehem, Mr. Price did all the work but there were still points to be had. I sat in and enjoyed the ride and waited for the final few kilometres. There is a small climb just before the finish which could present an opportunity to get away. Unfortunately, when we got to the climb, it was straight into a headwind which would make it difficult to ride away solo for the last 4km. I pushed the pace up the climb, but not enough to break it up. In the last couple of km's Philip Fourie (TCS) and Stefano Madies (Dimension Data) both put in attacks. This broke up the bunch and led to a fragmented group of riders going across the line. Stafano managing to take the spring, with Philip behind him and myself a bit further back.

In the meantime, Marco van Biljoen had managed to stay away for 60km and take the win, with Jock edging out Jaco in the sprint to take second.

So, overall, everything went very much according to plan. Marco has jumped up to 3rd place in the individual standings, and Jock has increased his lead over Jaco to 9 points.

Not a great way to start a new blog!

I decided I'd get my new blog up and running over the Easter weekend. I'm feeling the heat from a few people I know because of my lack of race reports and general poor communication.





Unfortunately, my first bit of news is not good. Yesterday I was out riding with Kim Rose at the Cradle of Humankind. She is just returning to the road after having a fall in a race a few weeks ago and some concussion. Anyway, I was on my way home when I had a head


on collision with a taxi. I was turning into a road where the traffic was backed up in the opposite direction. My attention was focused on the cars coming in from the left (a slip road) and when I looked in fornt of me a taxi was coming straight for me (he was coming up the wrong side of the road to skip the backed up traffic).









I hit the brakes hard and went straight into him! Connecting his windscreen with my shoulder. After a bit of an altercation in which the driver wanted to leave the scene and I conviscated his keys, we waited for the police to arrive. Fortunately I was not too badly injured, but the bike was a bit of a mess! I train on a Trek SSLx (the Discovery Team edition which is a limited edition bike and I'm very fond of it!!). Forks were pretty much snapped, and the front rim is dented - Bontrager Classics that are bullet-proof. I went to the hospital and got checked out - x-rays show no broken bones, but my shoulder and hip are quite painful. Lifting my arm gets to about horizontal then becomes painful.



I went through to the Trek agents and Gary had a good look at the bike. The frame is fine and they gave me a new set of forks. Rebuilt the bike last night and will go for an easy ride today, see how the body feels!