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!