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.