Coronation Double Century

The Coronation Double Century has become a 'must do' event in the South Africa racing calender. It is a 203km Team Time Trial held down in the Robertson/Swellendam area of the Western Cape.

Winning this event has become a major matter of pride for the big teams based in the Western Cape, and each year these teams look to invite some guest riders from up country to bolster their squads.

I was honoured to be invited to ride as part of the Anderson Transport squad, one of the race favourites along with Daikin Gu, last year's winners. These two teams are big rivals on the Western Cape racing scene, and they both pull out all the stops when it comes to the Double Century.

Sitting at dinner the night before the race, I was impressed with the squad, which included Darren Lill, Andrew Mclean, Shan Wilson, Heimer Anderson, Brandon Stewart, Johnny Kritzinger, Jacques Roussouw, Jamie Ball, Robert Quinn, Martin Wesemann, and Travis Allen.

Brandon Stewart commented that if he was a betting man, his money would be on us for sure!

The afternoon before the race, we went for a short ride so that Andrew and Darren could sort out some of the techniques required in a team time-trial and do some fine-tuning with regards to rotation order etc. Both of them are experienced pro's and had plenty of helpful information.

Initially, our start time was 7:29 - one minute before Daikin Gu. This got changed and we ended up starting 4 minutes in front of them, which was a much better situation.

The team started out nice and solidly, with everyone taking even, steady pulls on the front and keeping things nice and smooth. Up the climb (Tradouws Pass), Darren Lill kept a steady tempo, and we made it over the first obstacle with the whole team in tact.

The next sector after the climb was very fast, with a strong tail-wind. This was dangerous as it meant all the riders in the pace line had to be putting in a big effort, as there was little drafting benefit.

Next up was 'Op de Tradouws' which looks tame on the course profile, but just seems to carry on forever! This was where we lost our first rider, Shan Wilson. The first feed zone was at the top of 'Op de Tradouws' but we had elected to skip that and head for Montagu. We probably misjudged the heat a bit, and I was out of fluid with 25km to go to Montagu. News filtered through that we were 1m05 up on Daikin, and they were down to 7 riders. We were feeling confident!

The feed stop in Montague went wothout any problems, and soon we were heading out on the flat section towards Robertson. We had just lost another rider, Jacques Russouw, one of the strong men on the team! He was having saddle problems. I started to develop 'hot foot', and felt a burning sensation in the middle of my foot. Soon after that, I lost feeling in both my feet! I suddenly had no power and when my turn on the front came, I couldn't come through. I dropped to the back of the pace line, told Andrew that I had no sensation in my legs, and could not even hold on to the back of the team! I dropped off about 15km for Robertson, and about 120km into the race. Looking back after the race, I think I made a big mistake wearing black shoe covers. My feet heated up so much in my shoes that it seems that it affected my circulation. That is the only explanation that I can find because it happened very suddenly, and I was feeling quite good physically.

By now I was also suffering from the heat, so I had to take a 10 minute detour into Robertson to find some more water.

After stopping for some water, I was feeling okay again and got going to Bonnievale, hoping to catch the support car and get a ride home!

Unfortunately for me, I took too long to get to the third feed stop and the support car had had to go - so I was going to have to ride back alone. I tagged along with one of the tandem teams and finally linked up with Jacques Roussouw and we limped back to the finish. Every few kilometers I had to unclip and wriggle my feet around to get feeling back into them!

I eventually managed to limp in just under 6 hours.

In the meantime, the business end of the race had unfolded. For us, the last 30km was where the race would be won or lost. The team had heard that Daikin were down to 6 riders, so they were really cutting it fine. Andrew and Darren made the decision to ease off the pace a bit after the third stop, as they were concerned that they wouldn't have spare riders coming into the last few rolling hills.

In the end, Daikin pushed us all the way, and we managed to take the win by a mere 28sec over 205km - unbelievable!!

Ride data can be seen here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/19479177

Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge

For Joburg based cyclists, this is the main event of the cycling calender. Second in size only to the Pick 'n Pay Argus. Although our team is split over two age categories for this race, we chose to race in the 40-44 (VC) category in order to race together.
The route has changed a bit this year, and is a bit longer. Now the route travels on the M1 all the way around the city, and heads back via Joe Slovo Dr. past Ponte flats. Here the route travels over 2 short sharp climbs, first over the ridge at Ponte, then again up Carse 'O Gowry past the Johannesburg College of Education.
With the team riding for me, we had chosen this point in the race to try to force the selection. Andrew and Issy strung out the bunch on the first climb and it was important to go into the corner at teh bottom of the second climb close to the front as it was fast and sloped the wrong way. Keeping the pace high after the first climb, we hit the corner very fast with me on Andrew's wheel in third place. Then it was flat out up the short 800m (8%-9%) climb. Only 5 riders were left at the top, Andrew Mclean, myself, Deon Coetzee, and 2 Germiston Wheelers riders (Tinus Scheepers and Gerald Latre).
The split had happened, but now it was going to be hard to hold it because the next 10km or so were flat to downhill, and the gap would be small.
We lost both the Germiston Wheelers riders travelling along Jan Smuts, then finally Deon popped off coming into Randburg.
Andrew was driving the pace really hard, and I was struggling to recover! Although I had managed to force the split, I was not feeling great.
The gap was still dangerously small heading up Witkoppen road and though Kya Sands, and had dropped to 1min when we turned onto the N14 highway. If the gap came down further, I was going to have to drop off and let Andrew go alone. I managed to get some food in, but the highway section of the race was one of the hardest times I've ever had on a bike - the power was just not there.
Andrew is an old pro, and realised that the chasing bunch was able to see us because of our support vehicle. He told the vehicle to drop back a bit so that we were not so visible in amongst all the stragglers from previous groups. Fortunately for me, the pressure on the bunch finally told, and the riders in the chase lost their cohesion. Coming off the highway, the gap had grown to 3min but I was really taking a lot of strain.
I started to feel a bit better after Diepsloot, but had no gas in the tank when I tried to come through and pace. The last few hills were very painful, but coming over the crest at Crowthorne I could see the finish line and could not believe that I had managed to hang in (at various times Andrew had been screaming, supporting, urging me to keep going).
Over the last bump and into the finish, I have seldom been so happy to see a finish line. Taking the win, I have to say that without Andrew I would not have made it. Performance wise, I was not great, but am so glad that I managed to hang in. Was rewarded with a hand shake from the great Phil Ligget after the race as well!!
Special mention to Mark Thijs (our team mate that is currently fighting bladder cancer) who rode the race on a chopper style bicycle dressed in a cow suit in aid of the Choc Charity. At the start of the race he had already raised R84000. We had agreed the day before the race that we would donate any prize money to his initiative as well, so I'm really happy that we are able to add nearly R4000 to his fund raising. Well done Mark, we are so proud of you!
Next week is the Double Century. I will be riding with Shan Wilson and the Anderson Transport team. After that, I'll probably have to have a bit of time off the bike to have a growth behind my eye removed.

Thanks to John Thompson, Neil Frazer and Deon Cilliers for supporting us in the race. Thanks to Deon for the pictures.

Details of the race can be seen here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18820317

OFM Classic

This race is billed as the biggest race in central South Africa. Central South Africa being Bloemfontein of course.
Although Bloemfontein is reasonably flat, this course has enough bumps and wind to make racing very interesting. A few years back Bloemfontein hosted a very successful S.A. Champs.
This year, the course had been re-arranged a bit. Usually the race heads out on a very flat section to the airport, then comes back through the suburbs and over some short sharp hills. This year, we hit the hills first, and the airport loop came right at the end of the race.
The goal this year was for the team to work for Issy Zimmerman (a.k.a. the Jerusalem Jet) as it has been his ambition to win this race for a number of years. Something to do with impressing the inlaws after the young Jewish man made off with the plattelandse meisie!
With the bumps coming early in the race, and the team feeling confident that if we caused the split we would have the legs to stay away for the rest of the race - the first 15km of the race was going to be very aggressive.
Kevin Prinsloo was assigned first watch - and needed to be in any moves that tried to get away in the first few kilometres. Then Andrew and I would go hard over the first two bumps and put the bunch on the back foot. The pace would be high for the next few kilometers then Andrew would attack a couple of times leading up to the last hill. As the bunch came back together, I would counter with Issy on my wheel. Andrew would then bridge to us, and we would be away.
Things went exactly to plan, and the only other rider that was able to come with was Deon Coetzee (current S.A. Champ riding for Tony Impey Cycles).
Deon immediately began working with us even though he was outnumbered and the time gap quickly got to 45sec.
We soon past the Elite Ladies and headed out on the N1 into a strong headwind. 10km later, the gap was up to 2m30sec and a small chase bunch containing Anton Duvenhage (Boss Logistics), Shane Brown (DiData), Kevin Prinsloo (Cyclelab Toyota), Samuel de Swardt (Cyclelab club rider), Jorge Faria (V&A), Mark Linington (Club 100) and a couple of Germiston Wheelers riders (Andy Irvine and Tinus Scheepers) was trying to bring us back.
A short loop through farmland north of Bloemfontein and we were heading back towards Bloem now with a strong tailwind and some long drags. This was the second point in the race where we could cause splits. Coming back onto the highway, Andrew attacked with Issy but Deon was able to get onto Issy's wheel. Deon saw that I had been gapped and countered, pacing hard on the highway trying to remove me. Andrew and Issy weren't going to help him, so the next few kilometres were spent with me trying to get back into the group, and Deon trying to drop me. Eventually he slowed, and as I came back on to the group, I attacked him and forced him to pace again. I opened a nice gap and put the pressure on. Then, as the gap started to close, Andrew and Issy attacked Deon again. I jumped onto Issy's wheel, but Deon was not too far behind and I realised that I was giving him the chance to hang on. I sat up and let the gap open. This was the last straw for Deon, and the elastic finally broke. Andrew and Issy were away.
The gap quickly opened to over 1 minute, at which point I started pacing with Deon again, wanting to get to the finish as third place was still up for grabs and the chase group was 2m30 behind us.
Deon and I maintained a steady pace to the finish, with Deon taking third place.
Then, a very unfortunate incident happened as the chase group came to the finish. Samuel de Swardt participated in the sprint (for 5th place) though he had not contributed much to the chase. This upset some of the other riders, Shane Brown and Jorge Faria, and resulted in Samuel being physically pushed into the curb and crashed.
I can understand the guys being angry when this happened, but physically crashing the guy off his bike is just unacceptable. The incident was reported to the commaissaires and hopefully some action will be taken.

GPS data from the race and power data can be seen here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/17717655

Telkom Satellite Challenge

Even though maby road races have declining numbers, this race is still growing. This is despite the fact that the last 20km are some of the toughest to be found in Gauteng racing. The continued growth can only be due to the fact that the race is such a well organised one.

The only negative from the race was news of a bad crash apparently in A bunch. From what I heard, there was a fall within the bunch, and a rider swerved to avoid and went onto the wrong side of the road, colliding with a car. I don't know who the rider was, but hoping that he is okay!

The main obstacle in this race is Hekpoort, a climb that starts at about 20km to go, and is just over 3 km long at around 7% gradient. This is long enough that there can be no hiding, and close enough to the finish that if you can get away here, you have a real chance of getting to the finish and winning.

Our plan was for me to get away in a break and make it to Hekpoort with a bit of a gap on the bunch. My race would start at Hekpoort and I planned to try to get away from the break up Hekpoort. Andrew would attack the main bunch at Hekpoort and depending on the time gap, bridge across to me and we'd go for the finish. If I could stay away then all would be good anyway.

Well, that plan didn't happen. I was being well marked and DiData were making all the attacks, trying to force us into a long chase. The pattern repeated a number of times. Didata would attack, if I responded there would be plenty of guys on my wheel, and it would all come back together. So, change in tactic was required. A move went off the front, and I said to Kevin Prinsloo that he should go for it. He went and the bunch let it go a bit. The break got to 4 strong, but did not seem to gel well so it came back after 5km or so.

Approaching the dam, an attack went off, I responded with Danie Marais. As I got across, the break sat up, so I counter attacked and now had a nice gap on the bunch. Two more riders came across, Mervyn Scorgie and one other. This forced a big chase for a few km's as DiData did not have representation. It all came back together going over the dam, and Jackie van Eeden (DiData) attacked. The bunch was already strung out, and a small group responded to Jackie's attack. Andrew was amongst this group, and going up a short drag, he saw that the bunch had broken up. He accelerated away and joined Jackie. Too late for everybody else and they were away. For us this was perfect, as we know Jackie would not be able to hold onto Andrew up Hekpoort, and Andrew was more that capable of staying away to the finish.

Disappointingly, the bunch threw in the towel without a fight. Shane Brown (DiData) did his best to get a chase going, sensing that unless they brought Andrew back immediately, the race would be over. A little while later, Boss Logistics (without Anton Duvenhage), started chasing for a bit, but nobody coordinated anything. I really don't understand this, because there were enough teams to put together a proper chase - DiData, V&A, Boss Logistics, and some strong individuals like Danie Marais, Deon Coetzee, etc. Andrew would have had to do all the work, and Jackie would have been able to just sit in. A 50km TT prior to Hekpoort would have taken some of the sting out of Andrew and who knows?? Seems like the guys are happy to race for second place.

Various people came and went off the front, and after about 20km DiData started chasing a bit more. I was waiting for Hekpoort. I was not feeling good at all, having had some oral surgery this week, I was very flat. Hekpoort duly arrived, and I just set a really hard pace. Gary Beneke and Shane Brown come with, but the rest of the bunch quickly disappeared. Shane eventually popped close to the top, but Gary stayed with. At the top, Gary looked to see if Shane would re-join, but I decided to keep the pace going and prevent that from happening. Gary saw that Shane was not going to re-join us, and started sharing the effort to get to the finish line. At this point we thought we were racing for third place, because we had not picked up Jackie at all.

There is one last opportunity to make a move. A short sharp climb just before the finish line. Getting over the top with a gap would enable me to get into the finish straight in front. There is a short descent and a 90deg left hander into the finish - coming about 100m later. It is important to get into the turn first. I attacked Gary but did not have enough of a kick to shake him. He countered and I got caught out in the wrong gear.

In the meantime, Andrew had solo'd to the finish 6 minutes ahead of us! Catching and overtaking the VA bunch in the process. We also found out that we were racing for second as Jackie had cramped and was still somewhere out on the course.

So, a well deserved win for Andrew, Gary taking second and I got third.

Power numbers for the day were better than I expected - averaging 354w NP for the race. But I was not feeling sharp at all.

Just heard that the rider involved in the accident is Anton Pretorius, and Cyclelab Pretoria member. He is in a critical condition in Sunninghill hospital. Thoughts go out to his wife Roanne and family!!

Amashova

The Amashova is the cycling equivalent of the legendary Comrades Marathon. But although the two races share much of the same route, I would far rather do this on a bike than in running shoes!

Although this event has been running since the mid-90's, for some reason this year the organisation was absolute chaos! First indications that things were going to be a bit different was the start order. Junior ladies categories were starting off before the Vet's categories, and with the weather conditions the way they were, along with some of the very serious descents on this route, it is a wonder that there weren't any serious accidents en route!

My race entry had been lost in the works somewhere, and I was told that the licensed categories were absolutely full, no more entrants allowed. Fortunately some intervention from Dave Bellairs got our team sorted out, but I was not surprised to see riders lining up next to me with boiled potatoes in a little bag on their cross bar, and rearview mirrors! Fun riders (i.e. riders on hybrid bikes and flowers in their hair) were lining up in the ladies elite start pen!

Forunately, the main selection point in this race comes in the first 15km or so, so we wouldn't have a mixed ability group for very long. I have absolutely nothing against people that take their riding a lot less seriously than I do, but this situation was plain dangerous!

Anyway, having a look around the start pen, there were definitely a few guys who we would have to keep an eye on. Our plan was to try to get away (Andrew and myself), right from the first climb. The second selection point (Inchanga) comes about halfway through the race, with plenty downhill after that, so we decided that getting away early would cause a lot of indecision in the bunch as to chasing hard. Guys would be reluctant to go too hard so early in the race and risk not having legs for the windy sections approaching the finish.

Andrew had been feeling very tired the whole week, and I had not been too sharp either. We also had Colin Germs from the team, and a welcome guest appearance from Gary Marescia (Cyclelab Cape Town). Jorge Faria (V&A), Martin Saunders (DiData) and Garth Schonewolf (Bring It On) were two of the danger men present.

On the first slope of Fox, Andrew surged, and a few riders followed and the bunch got strung out. Things came together, and Andrew went again. This time, Garth Schonewolf, Martin Saunders and another Bring It On rider went with. The bunch did not react, so as soon as the gap got to about 30m, I jumped across and nobody came with - perfect.

We went really hard up the rest of Fox, with Andrew doing most of the work. Martin popped off quite quickly, but Garth and his team-mate were hanging in there. Sensing this was the move, Andrew tried to force the Bring It On guys to come through, but he was putting on a lot of pressure. At the top of Fox, Garth started to come through but his teammate was not. Andrew surged and I let the gap open. Garth jumped across but his teammate stayed. I let the gap open again, then went hard, getting rid of him.

The gap was now just under 1 minute, and the three of us started working hard to open it up. Next came Inchanga. Andrew drove the first half of the climb, then I took over for the second. Andrew dropped back to see how Garth was doing, and decided the time had come to attack him. So, on the next climb, just before Botha's Hill, Andrew jumped clear and Garth stayed with me. Once the gap was a reasonable size, I attacked Garth and bridged across to Andrew. Not an easy feat because the road was windy and Andrew did not see I was coming across initially, so he kept his head down and was going hard.

Now it was just the two of us, and the gap was up to about 2 minutes. No holding back, we went as hard as we could. Coming on to the M13, we got a time check that the gap was now 3:40, so we just needed to keep a good solid rhythm and baring any mechanical problems, we could do it.

On a couple of the rolling hills, I was struggling to hold Andrew's wheel he was going so well. No problems for the rest of the race, and we came across the finish about 7min ahead of the bunch. Andrew taking first place, and I took second. Gary Marescia took third place to round out the podium for Cyclelab.

Power-wise, this was my best ever race effort. We finished the race in 2h31, at a speed of 42km/h, and Normalised Power of 354w. Peak 60min NP was 377w.

Ride Magazine Crater Cruise - 101km MTB

This is one of the biggest MountainBike races in the country, and attracts plenty of roadies as well. It is relatively non-technical and fast - with much of the race on open sand roads.

This being the case, it is actually a very tough race. Long sections of corrugated dirt roads are incredibly draining, and the last 10km just seem to be 10km too far!

I did this race last year, and spent the following 3 days recovering! Having done the Epic this year, I was hoping that I would handle it a bit better. I hadn't ridden the mountainbike for a couple of months, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.

The start is a bit chaotic, with a long neutral zone. Everybody wants to be near the front when the sand roads start, so there is plenty of nervous braking and tyre touches going on. A short section of Jeep Track comes quite early in the race, which tends to break up the big bunch a bit. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a collision as the bunch hit the bottleneck and I got a bit delayed. Coming out of the Jeep Track section, I was in a small group not far from the leading bunch. We hit the first small climb at about 20km and the front bunch shattered. Things were getting a bit easier now, as the number of riders thinned out. The lead bunch was a lot smaller, and my chase group was about 8 riders at about 300m from the front bunch. It stayed this way for the nect 10km, until we hit the KOM climb. Right after this climb we turned off the road onto some narrow farm roads and Jeep Track and could no longer see the front guys.

The main climb comes at about 45km and is quite technical. Very steep and lots of loose rocks - not something I am very good at. I managed to stay with most of the guys in the chase group, but had a mechanical on the way down. My rear derailleur cable popped out of the frame cable guide and I had no rear gears. I had to stop and get it sorted out - losing touch with a lot of the guys in the chase group.

Fortunately, about 5km further there was a neutralised feed zone which a lot of riders stopped at. I was able to catch onto a group coming out of the feed zone. Now the tough part of the race began. A long section of single track (actually a quad bike course) along the river is very tough. Lots of short twists and turns, with plenty of humps which drain all momentum.

After the singletrack, there was planty of rocky dirt roads and undulating terrain, before finally popping out on the sand roads back to Parys. These roads are badly corrugated and the choice is between riding in soft sand on the sides, or corrugations in the middle.

A short section of tar precedes the last 10km of predominantly single track. At this point I was riding with a few of the DCM Chrome guys - Brandon Stewart having suffered a puncture and now just wanting to get home! I was actually feeling quite good, but we took a wrong turn, and ended up in the middle of a large field not sure which way to go. We could see some riders in the distance riding along the fence, so we headed that way over the veld, losing a couple more minutes.

By now I was really tired. The wind had picked up and I found myself alone, just trying to get to the finish. The last few km are all single track, but I was too tired to enjoy it. Finishing in 4h02 according to my Garmin. Would have been a good result had I brought my timing chip along.

BestMed Campus 2 Campus

I have never raced the Campus 2 Campus, so I was quite excited about this race. Even though I had a function the night before and only got home at 12:30am!

The race starts at the Vaal Triangle Technicon campus, heads out west, goes over Ertjiesberg, and the returns. So, it is predominantly flat, with the short sharp Ertjiesberg at about halfway. I was hoping for the wind, which could have a significant impact on this course, but it was not to be.

Getting to bed late the night before meant that I spent what little time I did have, tossing and turning and worrying that I would not hear my alarm. I had Issy's race numbers with me, so I was concerned that I would oversleep and he would drive al the way to the race and not be able to race!

Anyway, all was well, and I did not oversleep, but didn't feel on top of the world when I headed out at 5:00am.

The Vets 40+ category had a strong field, with Dimension Data, Boss Logistics, V&A all present and accounted for. Notable absentees were Anton Duvenhage and Andrew Mclean, but the field was certainly strong enough that this would not be an easy race.

We were missing Andrew Mclean, Kevin Prinsloo and Mark Thijs, but welcomed back Colin Germs and had unexpected support from Jurie Krige as well.

Once again, we had to make sure we had representation in every break, because we did not have enough riders to bring back a break containing guys like Jorge Faria, Gary Beneke and Martin Saunders. All went according to plan, with Issy getting into a 5 man break, containing Jorge Faria as well as one of the Dimension Data riders.

For a long time the break had only about a 40sec gap, and Dimension Data made a number of attempts to attack and get a rider across. I needed to make sure Gary or Martin didn't get across and that would be the end of the race for me. Fortunately I was able to respond to all their moves, and almost got across myself when I counter attacked Gary. After this, the race settled down and the gap grew to about 1m30sec.

My plan was to try to get away on my own over Ertjiesberg, and bridge to the break. This would take Gary and Martin out of the race. I attacked on the climb, and only one of the DiData riders responded. He dropped before the top and I was away on my own, with about a 1min gap to the break. Gary kept his team together up the climb, conserving resources for the chase on the other side. The descent had a bit of a headwind, and after 10 minutes I realised that the bunch was catching me faster than I was catching the break. I sat up and allowed the bunch to catch me, hoping that the chase would end and give the break (with Issy) a better chance of staying away. I bought the ticket, but didn't win the lottery.

Gary kept the chase going, putting pressure on the break, and soon we caught the VA bunch. Unfortunately, the VA bunch also influenced the break and soon everything was back together and the race was now maybe 15 riders strong.

A few half-hearted attempts to get away were made. Martin Saunders was always willing to have a dip, and a chirp as well! But it all looked like it would end in a bunch sprint.

Coming into Vanderbijlpark, plenty of attacks and counter attacks. The finish was a downhill tailwind, so I decided to go early and see if I could make it to the line. Looking at my power meter data, I clearly went too early (376m) and the sprint was quick. Reaching just under 70km/h! 4 riders came over me at the line, with Gary taking the win.

MTN Zoo Lake Crit 40+

The MTN Zoo Lake Crit is one of the very few crits we race, which is such a shame, because it is a spectator friendly form of road racing, and it's really intense as well.



We checked out the course the day before the race. This year the route would be raced in reverse. This meant that there was a shorter descent, and a longer drag. We were concerned that the speed of the drag would make it hard for anyone to get away, but fortunately on race day there was a nice tail-wind up the drag, taking away the draft benefit and forcing everyone to work hard.



The vets 40+ race was 25 minutes plus one lap. The plan was to make it as hard as possible right from the gun. Then, towards the end of the drag, attack when everyone was really hanging on. We knew that if we could get Andrew away, even with one or two other riders, he was more than capable of staying away to win.



The first lap started hard, with Kevin and Issy setting a hard pace. At the planned spot, I attacked and opend a gap and went really hard. The next section of the route had a headwind, but once I had a gap, the others would be forced to close it into a strong wind. Eventually, the gap got closed, but a lot of damage had been done. We applied the same recipe on the second lap, and this was enough to launch Andrew with one of the DiData riders. This was perfect for us, because it meant that DiData (one of the strongest teams in the field) would not contribute to closing Andrew down initially. A small chase group also formed, containing Issy Zimmerman, Bruce Reyneke, Jorge Faria, Gary Beneke and one or two other riders. I was in the main group.



After an easier lap, I saw that the chase group was only about 30sec in front of the main group, and nobody in the main group was keen to drive the pace. So, on Lap 4, I attacked the main group again, and got away on my own. I bridged to the chase group quickly. With no single team dominant in the chase group, there would always be some tactical games being played. So, I waited for one lap then attacked again, getting away with Gary Beneke. I wasn't confident that I would beat Gary in a sprint, but odds of getting a result were much better if I got away with him to the finish. By this time Andrew was 1 minute down the road, and had dropped the DiData rider so we had the win in the bag. Gary and I stayed away to the finish. With Gary taking second and myself third.

Tour de Maurice - Stage 6

Beau Plan to L'Aventure du Sucre (99.5km)

Stage 6 was a flat stage, and would not have an impact on the GC as long as we kept out of trouble.  With plenty of rain falling that was not as easy as it seemed.  After many attacks at the start of the stage, things settled down for a while, and Standard Bank controlled the race.  I punctured and while trying to get back into the bunch after a wheel change, I hit a pothole and punctured again!  So, after a second wheel change, I finally managed to get back into the bunch to find that a break had gone containing 3 riders, of which one was Philip Fourie (TCS).

So, once again I just settled into a position close to the front and stayed out of trouble.  The last 10km Standard Bank started to really push the pace, wanting a stage win for their sprinters.  The break was caught close to the finish, and after a furious last 10km or so, the race was over and Andrew had managed to keep his third place on the GC.

Tour de Maurice - Stage 5

Rose Hill Plaza to L’Aventure du Sucre (114.4km)

Stage 5 was the second of the climbing stages, with Eau Bouillie (4.5km @ 6%) coming close to the finish.

The goal of this stage was to get Andrew to the climb with no problems.  Once again, we needed to make sure we got into any moves that went, so that we did not have to expend a lot of effort chasing a break.  Unfortunately, things did not go quite according to plan.  After a number of early attacks, the Yellow Jersey (Sylvain Georges) punctured.  The bunch sat up to wait for him, but after a few moments, riders started going off the front.  In the ensuing confusion, a break formed, and we weren’t represented.  Fortunately though, Standard Bank was not represented either, and they combined with DSTV (actually the second Standard Bank team), and controlled the front.

The stage was very comfortable, while everyone waited for the big climb of the day.  My main responsibility was to stay close to the front and out of trouble.  Leading up to the climb, Standard Bank upped the tempo and started putting pressure on.  At this point I was not feeling great and I was getting a bit concerned.  Fortunately though, when we hit the climb I did better than I expected and had good power.  Not enough to stay with the front guys, but better than expected.  On this climb, Sylvain George showed his class and rode away from the rest of the contenders.  The only survivor of the break, David Kinjah, stayed away over the climb and went on to claim a good solo stage win.  Unfortunately on the descent, Andrew misjudged a corner and had a minor crash.  This lost him a bit of time and enabled Yannick Lincoln to get enough time on him to take second place on the General Classification.

Tour de Maurice - Stage 4

Municipalité de Port-Louis to L’Aventure du Sucre (110.8km)

 

Originally when we looked at the route map, we thought that the stage would start up the main road between Port Louis and Grand Baie.  This road is a slight drag, very exposed, with a strong cross-wind (coming from behind).  Perfect gutter conditions, so the plan was to go to the front right at the start and see if we could split up the bunch.  Later in the stage, there was a 14km section that would also be very hard, so this stage was going to be tough.

Unfortunately, the route turned off the main road, and went along a narrow road, through plenty of towns.  Not good for a sustained gutter strategy, but we went ahead and strung the bunch out anyway.  After a lot of pressure, Philip Fourie (TCS) went off the front and got a small gap.  Next, Melt Swanepoel attacked, and I went with.  At this point, Standard Bank (holding the leaders jersey), was content to let it go and we quickly got the gap up to a minute.

The three of us were working well together, when Melt unfortunately punctured.  At this point, we had just over a 1 minute break.  Philip and I slowed for a while, but we were not sure if Melt had received assistance and the team car indicated that the gap was starting to close.  After about 5km, we made the decision to go again and unfortunately Melt was not able to get across to us.

The long, slow, uphill section of the course started, and I felt that if we could get over the top, we would have a chance of making it to the finish – about 15km descent.  Close to the top, Philip popped off and I was left alone to see if I could try to solo to the finish.  I took the 2 KOM primes, but was caught with about 8km to go to the finish.

From a GC perspective, nothing changed, but my break allowed the team and Andrew to have an easy day, so job done!  I was also awarded the jersey for the Most Aggressive rider for the day.

Tour de Maurice - Stage 3

Stage 3: Pailles to Médine (83.3km)

Stage 3 was a climbing stage, going over Chamarel (3.2km @8.5%).  This was where the major contenders would become apparent, even though the climb was too far from the finish to be decisive.

With only Andrew high up on the GC, the team plan was to make sure that we had representation in every move that went before the climb.  Racing was again very fast with the wind being a big factor.  Having ridden the climb a couple of days before, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to match the front guys, so my plan was to just ride steady just above threshold.  When the climb came, the bunch disintegrated and it was clear who the main guys in the race were.  A small group containing Andrew Mclean, Sylvain Georges, Yannick Lincoln, David Kinjah, Melt Swanepoel went over first, with riders like Jaco Ferreira, Michael van Staden, Thomas Desvaux going over in ones and twos.  I just kept it steady, knowing there would be about 30km to the finish.

I went over the top with Philip Fourie (TCS) and had a hairy descent.  My brake blocks were grabbing and locking up my back wheel.  At the bottom of the descent, another Mauritian rider from Fit For Life joined us, and we started the lonely timetrial to the finish.

Once again, Andrew Mclean more than held his own, taking third on the stage, and lying second on GC.

 

Tour de Maurice - Stage 2

Stage 2: Ruisseau Créole to Médine Time Trial (14.2km)

Stage 2 took place in the afternoon of the first day of racing.  A 14.2km timetrial, which was fairly flat, but with the same finishing drag as stage 1.  The wind was blowing really hard and across, making equipment choices a hot topic of debate.

I had hoped to be closer to the top of the GC when the timetrial started, and with a good TT, was hoping to be in the top 10 of the race.  Our slip up in stage 1 had put paid to that ambition, but I still wanted to give it my best shot, having gone through the hassle of bringing a TT bike and disc wheels etc with me.

I had Ben Melt Swanepoel as my minute man.  With him not having a TT bike, I had a chance of catching him, and keeping the motivation levels high!  I felt really good at the start of the TT, and by the halfway mark was closing on Melt.  The second half of the TT was uphill and a strong cross-wind, which made it a bit tougher on the TT bike.  I had chosen not to use the disc wheel and was riding my HED Stinger 50’s.  I wasn’t able to catch Melt, but had a good showing anyway.  Taking 9^th for the stage.  Mark Thijs (Toyota Cyclelab) had a great ride, taking 8^th, but most amazing was Andrew.  He took second behind Sylvain Georges by 18sec.

Tour de Maurice - Stage 1

Stage 1: Curepipe to Jonction Bol (Flic en Flac) 86.4km

 

Stage 1 started at the Municipal Buildings in Curepipe with a lot of fanfare.  13 teams were taking part, meaning that there were about 80 riders in total. Being a flat stage, the wind was going to be a major factor (35km/h SE), and with plenty of fresh legs and adrenaline around, it would be pretty dangerous as well.  Unfortunately I only remembered to switch on my Garmin about 10km into the race, so I just added the missing section into the route above.

The day before the race started, we went and had a look at Chamarel (the big climb on Stage 3), and also took a look at the section of Stage 1 past Le Morne, a long drag which could have an impact on the stage.  Our plan for the stage was to try to have representation in every break, and try to keep together for the last 10km of the stage.  The last 5km had a big gutter section, then a short tailwind climb, at which point we planned to launch Andrew Mclean.

As I expected, the race started very fast!  The first 10km were along the main highway between Port Louis and the airport, and the attacks were coming very quickly.  Staying close to the front of the bunch is very important in such windy conditions, and just trying to switch on my Garmin saw me move right to the back.  We turned off the highway, and headed down some narrow roads through the cane fields and small towns.  It took me a good few kilometres to fight my way back to the front.  Just in time to see an attack move off the front containing Jaco Ferreira (TCS), and Yannick Lincoln (FTS), and a Standard Bank rider.  Two of the danger men in the tour.  The gap opened up quite quickly, and was bad for us!  Andrew decided that it needed to be brought back.  With no help from any of the other teams, we chased hard and caused plenty of damage behind us.  We hit the start of the drag past Le Morne with the gap closing, and Andrew attacked hard and bridged across, taking about 20 riders with him.  Unfortunately, none of our team were able to hold on to Andrew, and we all got dropped.  This put paid to our plan for the last 10km, but at least Andrew was with the main contenders and we had brought the break back.

The last 20km was just about getting to the finish in one piece.  Meanwhile Andrew took third in the stage, with Sylvain Georges riding away from the group at the finish and holding a gap of 16sec.

 

Rebel TT Series (Event 1)

Yesterday was the first of a three race TT series organised by Triathlete Magazine. Billed as a "triathlete vs. road racer" event, I think it is fair to say that road racers won this one convincingly!

The route was a flat 28km loop starting at Boswell Wilkie Circus, a venue which hosts a number of events including the Midvaal Vet's Tour. The major variable at this location is the wind, which was a steady breeze (10kph Northerly).
For me, this was a great opportunity to try out new equipment that I plan on using in the Tour de Mauritius. I will be riding a HED disc/trispoke combination, and an SRM wireless powermeter instead of the powertap of the past. I've opted for the SRM in order to give me more wheel flexibility, and have spent the last couple of weeks making sure I know the quirks of the device and ensuring I get good data from it. One the SRM website, there is a warning that the solid TT chainrings can affect the slope calibration of the device, so I checked that out and everything was fine.
The TT bike (Trek TTX) still has a few missing pieces from the puzzle - the FSA Vision TT bars are very heavy, and the Race seat post is also very heavy, but those will be correctly after other higher priority items have been sorted out!
The turnout was a bit disappointing to say the least. Even though the organisers had provided the same prize purse for male and female, no female elite riders bothered to attend. I find this a bit strange, because competive road TT's are few and far between in this country, and it is an important discipline to be good at! This on a weekend when no other major races are happening as well!
For me, the ride went very well. The wheels felt very quick - having gone to the effort of putting the best TT tyres I could get on. I completed the 28.4km course in 38m50s at a speed of 43.9km/h and average power of 345w. This is only 5w below my current threshold, which means I am no sacrificing much power in the TT position!
This time was fifth fastest on the day, but since I had entered in the Vet's category, I won the Vet's prize and not the open men's fifth prize. Anyway, I was happy with my performance, being 1:21 down to the winner - Andrew Mclean - who is also a Vet, but had entered the Elite category.
The next event in the series is out at the Cradle of Humankind, on the same course that we do a weekly training TT on - looking forward to it!

Photos curtesy of http://www.kingofbling.co.za

Cansa Lost City

After a break from racing through winter, the Cansa Lost City was my first race for the new season. Training through winter has gone well, and I have been focusing purely on improving Functional Threshold Power (FTP), with a lot of L4 work being done on the computrainer (up to 4 sessions a week of 60min L4). Apart from a bit of a setback with the usual seasonal cold/flu, I have managed to remain relatively healthy through a very cold winter. The only other complication through winter was a persistent saddle sore that is a minor aggrevation.

This race was also a chance to try out my new bike. A Cervelo S3 with SRAM Red groupset and HED 50 tubbie wheels. On the power meter side of things, I'm also testing out an SRM Pro Wireless which allows me to switch wheels in a race without losing data, and I can use it on my TT bike with various wheel options as well. Over winter I have been testing out various CPU/Powermeter combinations, and at times have had a wireless powertap, wireless SRM, powertap cpu, PCVI, Garmin 705, and iBike Aero all on my training bike simultaneously. All of these bits of technology take a bit of getting used to, so it was fun getting them all to work together and produce accurate and consistent data. I have also changed my position on the bike slightly, trying to get a bit lower on the bike and reduce my aerodynamic drag. At 77kg and 191cm tall, I need to try to do everything I can to be more efficient on the bike.

So, it was up at 3:30am to drive through to Sun City where the race was being held. With a 7:13 start time, and a 2 hour drive, it was an early start! My team-mate Kevin, collected Colin and I from my house and off we went. On arrival, the temperature was 2deg Celsius, so much discussion followed on what to wear in the race. I use a BodyScience long sleeve compression top, with provides nice thermal control as well, along with long fingered gloves and a lightweight gillet.

We also received come black armbands, with RIP Billy Haasbroek on them. Billy rode for the Boss Logistics Team (a major rival!) and was tragically shot and killed during the week! So, the race was neutralised for the first 5km and Boss Logistics rode on the front of the peloton in memory of Billy.

For us, this race was preparation for a 5 day stage race we will be competing in Mauritius in a few weeks time. Some of my team-mates had ridden to Sun City the day before, and I hadn't done any tapering for the race, so legs weren't very fresh! Being a flat, fast race, it would be easy to sit in the bunch without expending too much energy. But for me, there is no point in getting up at 3:30am, driving 2 hours, only to sit in the bunch and have an easy race. So, while the result was maybe of secondary importance, I really wanted to get some good racing into the legs.

Tactics were to make sure that the team was represented in every move. So, after the 5km neutral zone, racing began in earnest. Most of the main teams were present - Toyota SuperCycling (ourselves), V&A, Boss Logistics, Club 100, Genair, Dimension Data, and some strong individual riders. We also have the Toyota Cyclelab Pro Ladies team racing against the men.

A couple of early moves eventually led to Ettiene Knipe going away. I decided to jump across, along with Ashleigh Moolman and a rider from Dimension Data. It was early in the race and it looked like the bunch was not going to respond. Unfortunately, none of the other riders in the move really wanted to contribute to the move and after a few kilometers, it came back together. This would be the pattern for most of the race, attacks would be made, but few riders wanted to commit to the move.

A small gutter opportunity presented itself, but it was not enough to split the field. Then, with about 30km to go, a series of drags allowed us to put the pressure on. The field split a number of times, but the drags were too short to make the split decisive. We decided that there was little chance in winning the race against the sprinters that were still present, but we wold make them earn the win! We each took turns in attacking and counter attacking, and the pace was really high in the last 20km of the race.

Coming into the last 5km, we managed to get Kevin off the front and open a gap of around 100m, but he was eventually reeled in. Andrew had a go in the last few kilomteres, but was brought back. I counter attacked, but also didn't manage to get away. It is not easy riding off the front of a bunch averaging over 50km/h.

Anton Duvenhage (Boss Logistics) took a well deserved victory. He had worked like a trojan to keep the race together, and must have been super-motivated after what had happened to Billy during the week. So, a fitting victory for him, and well deserved.

I'm sure the memory of Billy will forever be with the Vet's racing category, the Boss Logistics team will ensure that!

I has happy with my performance. I had a normalised power of 327w for 2h30, with plenty of matched burnt along the way!

Thanks to Michelle Cound for the photograph.

2009 Midvaal Nashua Mobile Vet's Tour

This was my last race before taking a bit of a breather.  I have been training hard and racing since the beginning of December last year, and have been feeling a bit tired over the last month or so.  Physically I have been okay, but mentally it has been a bit tough.  So, now I'll take it a bit easier, do some nice coffee shop rides and just relax a bit.  The 40+ Cyclelab team decided to race in the 30+ category. 

Stage 1: 8km Prologue

The prologue course was a fast 8km route with a gradual 1% descent.  I was hoping to do really well because it really suited me.  The course was part of the same course that was used in the Provincials TT, and over this section of the course I had managed to match Andrew Mclean's time over this part. From a team perspective it was also important that we had as many riders close to the top of GC as possible.  Only having Andrew at the top of the GC made the tactics for other teams a lot easier, as they would only have one rider in our team to worry about.

Overall I was reasonably happy with my TT, not ecstatic.  I did the 8km route in 9m52, and ended up 26sec off the winner Graeme Cronje.  Andrew Mclean took second at 3 seconds down.  As a team we were happy with the result, because it meant we did not have to defend the yellow jersey for the whole tour.

 

Stage 2: 120km

Stage 2 was the longest stage of the tour.  The route had changed a bit from the previous year, and we would no longer be riding over the rolling hills close to Heidelberg.  The course was very flat, but in this part of the world, the wind can have a major impact on the racing.  My job for the day was to mark Graeme Cronje, and I had to make sure that if he went in a move, I went with.  The rest of the team had to cover any dangerous moves.  If all stayed together, Andrew Mclean would make his move in the last 30km of the race when there would be a lot of opportunity to gutter any followers.  I would have to help Andrew establish a break if the race was still together with 30km to go.

Quite early in the race, about 20km in, a big move went.  This break contained Johan Labuschagne and Martin Atterbury (Cyclelab 30+), Andreas Studer (Daikin Gu), Jorge Faria (Wadeville), Marco Swart and Jeffrey Kriel (MTN/Club 100).  Johan and Martin drove the pace really hard, and the first casualty was Marco Swart, then later Martin Atterbury popped.  Unfortunately, Johan burnt all his matches and also got dropped with the time gap quite big, about 4min if I remember correctly.  Although Johan is riding in a different team, he is also from the Cyclelab club, and this was his category, so we had not tried to close the gap and damage his tour chances.  Now we had a problem because the time gap was large and Daikin Gu were a strong team.  Andrew called us to the front and we started the chase with about 25km left to go.  With the wind conditions the way they were, the bunch was soon shredded and the only survivors were Andrew Mclean and myself (Cyclelab 40+), Graeme Cronje, David Garrett and Moolman Welgemoed (Daikin Gu), and Donovan Jackson (MTN/Club 100).  Daikin Gu and Club 100 had riders down the road, so they did not need to contribute to the chase.  So, it was left to Andrew, myself, and Graeme Cronje.  About 2km's from the finish, I eventually popped off as Andrew put in a huge final effort.  In the meantime, Andreas Studer (Daikin Gu) and got away from Jorge Faria and Jeffrey Kriel and ridden himself into the yellow jersey, with a time gap of around 1 min.

 

Stage 3: Criterium (8 laps x 5km)

Stage 3 was an 8 lap criterium.  Each lap was 5km, with a short climb (1km) up to the start finish line.  My job for the day was to try to get away and see if I could stay away long enough to do some damage and let Andrew counter later.  Andrew would try to win the stage, and at least move from 3rd to 2nd in GC, since he was only 3 seconds behind Graeme.  The race started, and Daikin put their whole team on the front and set a very fast pace.  With the pace so high, it was very difficult to get off the front, particularly with Moolman Welgemoed being so quick, he could close down attacks very quickly.  In all, I tried to get away 4 times, but Daikin Gu kept the race under complete control and I had not success at all.

Andrew did manage to get enough bonus seconds from the sprint prime and the finish to move ahead of Graeme Cronje by 1 second, but did no real damage to Andreas in yellow.

Stage 4: 101km Lap Race (John Boscoe Circuit)

Stage 4 would be 3 laps of the same circuit used for CGC Provincials.  Again, this is a fairly flat circuit, that can be very tough in the right wind conditions, which we fortunately had!

Tactics for the day were simple.  Attack early, and keep attacking until we could get Andrew away in a break.  No problem if yellow went with him because it would isolate Andreas from his teammates.  We were not confident, as we did not think we would be able to ride 1 minute into Daikin Gu.  But, we decided to race for first place, and not settle for second.

Once again Daikin Gu went to the front and set a fast pace.  After a few kilometres, we turned into a good gutter wind, and started attacking.  In my opinion, Daikin Gu made a mistake in closing down all the attacks, because they put in a lot of big efforts.  Heading up a long drag with a strong crosswind, the bunch was splitting up fast.  Eventually I could not sustain the pace, but the damage had been done and Andrew went away with Andreas Studer, Craig Harvey and Gary Rabie (Bulk Pack Meat/Trek), and Graeme Cronje.  This was exactly what we wanted - to isolate yellow.  Andreas must have been feeling confident, because he took the sprint prime.  Andrew and Graeme immediately attacked him after the prime and opened a gap on him and Craig Harvey.  Craig's teammate was with Andrew and Graeme, so there was no need for Craig to close the gap, leaving Andreas trying to close it down in a strong tailwind.  So, after 20km into the stage Andrew was away with Graeme and Gary Rabie.  The gap quickly opened to about 1m30s, but then the chase started with Club 100 and Werner Moolman (Mr. Price) also helping.  For us it was very much a free ride and finally the boot was on the other foot.

For the next lap the gap stayed at just over 1min, but Daikin Gu were putting in a huge effort.  Then on the second lap, Daikin forced the bunch into the gutter and soon the race was down to about 10 riders in the chase group.  In doing so, they lost a number of allies so it may not have been the best option with still half the race to go.

The pace slowed a bit and the group grew again, with Club 100 and Mr. Price once again helping with the chase.  On the last lap, we started to attack Daikin again, mainly to disrupt their chase efforts.  Then with about 10km left to go the gap had been reduced to 35seconds and things were getting very tight.  Fortunately for us, the Daikin guys had put everything into the chase, and suddenly the wheels came off and the chase ran out of steam.  Coming over the finish line, we were given provisional times, and Andrew had won the stage by 1m02s, which, along with time bonuses, would give him overall victory in the tour. An unbelievable ride!!

 

Overall results can be found at http://www.circus.co.za/results.htm

My power stats for the race can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/lsqz3a

 

Overall, the best Vet's tour I've taken part in.  Thanks to the organisers and officials, as well as to sponsors like Nashua Mobile for making it happen!

A Deeper Look into my Nationals TT

I'm not a person that goes on about 'could have, should have, would have', what's done is done and I always try to look forward. This does not mean, however, that there are no lessons to be learnt from the past, one should try not to repeat the same mistake twice. As they say, experience is the ability to recognise a mistake when you make it again.

Alex Simmons is an Australian cycling coach who is a regular and respected contributor on various forums and mailing lists that discuss training with power (check out his blog at http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com/). He has developed a tool and methodology for designing an optimal pacing strategy for a given TT course. I asked him to have a look at the data from my Nationals TT for 2 reasons. Firstly to see how well I paced the course, and secondly to try to assess the impact that my rubbing brake block had on my overall time. His analysis makes use of a technique for estimating CdA and Crr called Virtual Elevation (see http://tinyurl.com/kpeyx6).

Based on the profile of the course, an isopower (constant power) pacing strategy may not be optimal. He uses the Normalised Power algorithm as well to figure out how hard the rider should go on the climbs, and how much to back off on the descents. The following graph shows the optimal pacing strategy for the Nationals TT course, and my power output overlaid.

Interesting to see the correlation, even though I didn't pre-prepare my pacing strategy. I'm really pleased with my physical performance, there is not much more I could have done from a pacing perspective, as shown in the following table which ranks my performance against various benchmarks.

The really interesting part of the analysis comes from the figure Alex had to use for my Crr (coefficient of rolling resistance). In order to get the virtual elevation model to balance (i.e start elevation and end elevation to match up), he had to use a Crr value of 0.018. A more typical value of 0.005 would have resulted in a time improvement of 4m20s.

Hopefully I don't need to point out the moral of this particular story!

Thanks to Alex for doing the analysis for me, I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad!

Nationals 2009 Road Race (40-44). More Furstration!

Before getting into a race report, I'd just like to comment on some of the events leading up to the race which were disappointing to say the least.

The team I race for is Cyclelab SuperCycling - Powered by Toyota. Which represents the largest cycling club in the country. The club was founded by Andrew Mclean, who is a world class cyclist that at the age of 45 can more than hold his own in Elite categories. A few years ago, he attended Worlds, and did not win his age category. So, the next day he rode in a younger category and won it! He is a high profile person, and does a lot of media work.  Being a high profile person, he is subject to the tall poppy syndrome and can be the target of abuse at times.

At Nationals, that abuse spilled over into obsession, which was totally uncalled for and leaves a bad taste.  Nationals this year was held in Oudtshoorn, a small town in the Klein Karoo about 70km from George. For most of the participants, this meant a significant journey, and a number of days away from home if you wanted to compete in both the timetrial and the road race. For amateur riders, this is a significant commitment. Andrew requested, and was granted, permission from Cycling South Africa to compete in his own age group (45-49) and the younger age group (40-44) in which most of his team compete. He also rode in the timetrial in the 45-49 age group. He had to pay entry fees for both events.
The 45-49 age group race was on Saturday afternoon, and the 40-44 age group race was on Sunday morning, less than 18 hours later. On the Friday, we were informed that a formal complaint had been lodged against him racing two races. Officials from CSA met on Friday night, and ruled that Andrew must chose which category he wanted to race in, but he could not race in both. After trying unsuccessfully to get an earlier flight back home, Andrew decided to race in the younger age category, with the rest of the team.  On Saturday night, we were told that some of the riders were organising a signed petition to try to prevent Andrew from racing on Sunday morning, and when we got to the start one of the officials told us that he had overheard threats being made. One of the 45-49 riders, Jorge Faria, made a public speech at the start line, saying that Andrew was violating the rules as he had ridden the 45-49 timetrial, so he could not take part in the 40-44 road race, even though the officials had made a ruling on the issue. Why he was wearing his riding kit, as well as his numbers I don't know!

Andrew asked for a show of hands from those riders that felt he should not be riding. Quite a few people raised their hands, so he withdrew from the race. I was shocked and amazed at the behaviour of the riders. This is amateur sport, which is more about participation than winning.  Anyway, the race started with a long neutral zone. Apparently the officials tried to contact Andrew to persuade him to race, but he had already left the start area. About 10km into the race, Andre Morse (Club 100) attacked off the front. First bit of bad luck, my teammate Issy Zimmerman punctured and was not able to use the wheels in the neutral support vehicle because they were Shimano.  A short while later, Morse was joined by Daniel Schmeisser (Cycles Direct) and they opened a nice gap. The course is a 54km loop, with a long climb split into 3 sections. Riding the course the day before, it was clear that if the wind was blowing, the course would be very tough. The first part of the climb saw the bunch staying together, but things started to happen on the second part. Danie Marais (Mr. Price) went hard, with about 6 or 7 riders on his wheel. About 2/3 of the way up the climb, he started to slow, and Graeme Cronje (Ocean Basket) kicked on. The bunch was in pieces down the short descent, then Graeme kicked again on the third part of the climb. He opened up a gap which I was not able to close, and when I turned around, I only had Gary Marescia (Cyclelab/SuperCycling/Toyota) with me. He was already deep in the red, so also wasn't able to close the gap to Graeme. The gap of a few seconds stayed that way for a while, then Graeme started to open it up and bridge across to the two riders already up the road. At this point I was on my own, and knowing that Graeme was in good form, decided to sit up and let the small bunch behind me catch up to me.

The chase group formed (about 10 riders) with John o' Connor & Guy Pike (Daikin Gu) and Robbie Setton (Velo Atlantico) doing a lot of work to try to bring the break back. Looking at my power stats, I did a peak 1min of 660w when trying to catch Graeme initially. I needed to recover a bit, so I tried to hide in the group until we finished the first lap.  The gap opened to nearly 2 minutes, and was becoming concerning. We needed to chase, but with the wind now having picked up, the climb was going to be hard. Fortunately, as we hit the climb we found that the break had lost one of it's riders. After the first part of the climb, Andre Morse came back. A bit further, Daniel Schmiesser was also dropped by Graeme, so he was now alone. But with 30km left to go, I thought he would be capable of staying away unless a proper chase happened. A few minor attacks on the second part of the climb came, but nothing serious.  I decided that I had to commit and had nothing to lose. Robbie Setton (Velo Atlantico) and I drove the pace really hard. I had a duel purpose, firstly to try to get rid of some of the riders who were sitting in and not getting involved in the chase, and secondly to catch Graeme. I was feeling really good, and we were able to drive it really hard.

We caught Graeme with about 15km to go, and kept the pace as high as possible. Looking at the riders still in the bunch, I felt that Deon Coetzee (Tony Impey Cycles) was probably the biggest threat in a sprint. I planned to get his wheel in the final corner with 200m to go for the line. Unfortunately, more bad luck! With about 3km to go I punctured and that was the end of my race! I was feeling really good as well!

 

Deon went on to take the win from Mark Linnington (Club 100) and John o' Connor (Daikin/Gu).  Congrats Deon!!

Power stats for the race can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/mu7t5v

S.A. Nationals TimeTrial - 40-44 age group

Personal bests don't count for much when you make stupid mistakes! These are my best ever power numbers on the TT bike! 30w average better than my Provincials race in which I got silver.

The problem was that I had a front brake block rubbing and didn't realise it! After 4km into the TT I was caught already! I could not understand what was going on - I thought that the guy that caught me must be incredibly strong if he caught me within 4km and I was averaging better than 360w.

I ended up 21st overall (out of 23) with a 360w average!

Central Gauteng Provincial Championships - Road Race

Yesterday was the Central Gauteng Provincials Road Race, also held in the deep South near Daleside (I keep expecting to see guys with white hoods and burning crosses!).

The 30km lap circuit (John Boscoe) is a lot harder than it looks, especially when the wind is pumping, which was what we were hoping for.

A short discussion with the officials before the race was held, in which the gutter section was discussed and they agreed to provide a lead car to ensure the safety of the bunch. The team tactics were to hit it hard right from lap one - and that's exactly what we did.

A short section of a couple of km's with a tailwind from the start, then we turned right into a perfect gutter - a 45degree tailwind from the left. Andrew hit the front, leaving space for myself and Issy, and went hard! Within about 2km the bunch was completely shattered. I took a turn at the front, then peeled off and nearly got caught out because I thought there were a few riders behind me and there weren't! Next thing I was fighting to close a 10m gap with Andrew Mclean driving the pace. He saw what had happened and sat up to let me get back on. The start group of probably 50 riders was suddenly down to 6. With 120km of racing left, there was no point in trying to get the group any smaller. So, Andrew, Issy, myself, a Panda rider, Deon Coetzee, and a Boss Logistics rider started working together.

By now we had turned into a long drag section, with a strong crosswind coming from the front. First off the back was the Boss Logistics rider. This was going to be interesting, because now Boss Logistics and Club 100 did not have riders in the break - would they chase?

The gap on the first lap was around 45sec, so the pace was kept up. Unfortunately my powertap CPU shot off my handlebars towards the end of the first lap, so no data for the rest of the race. Up to that point though I was averaging 345w so the going was pretty hard.

The gap slowly grew during the second lap, getting to about 1:10 by the end of the second lap. The conditions meant that there was no point on the circuit that could be used to recover. The uphill drag had a strong crosswind from the front, and the downhill section had a direct tailwind. Pushing the pace on the downhill and flat meant that there was very little shelter.

At the start of the third lap, Andrew an I rode away from the group. Not an attack, but it seemed like a couple of the guys just blew simultaneously. Andrew sat up a bit to see if he could pace Issy back into the break, but Issy wasn't able to get across.

Now it was just Andrew and myself, with a gap of under 2 minutes. Not safe by any means, so Andrew went hard up the drag! Within about 5km the time gap jumped to 2:30 so clearly the fight had gone out of the chase group. Now all that was left was pain and hoping that no punctures or mechanicals would happen. Andrew was pacing the headwind sections, and I did my bit on the flats and downhills. By the last lap the gap was up to 4:30!

Andrew was more than happy to let me take the win - he has plenty medals and gets a lot of pleasure out of team-mates winning, thanks mate!

Official time was 2h52, but looking at Andrew's powertap data, I have it at 2h59, just a shade over 40km/h in tough conditions. 23min faster than the 30+ age group, the slackers!

Thanks to Ali, Carri-Ann, and Den (+ boys) for supporting us. And thanks to Michelle Cound for the pictures!

Edit: I have removed references to a rider that would prefer not to be named, apologies if I caused any offence.

Central Gauteng Provincial Championships - TT

The provincial timetrial for Central Gauteng was held this last weekend on Saturday morning down in Daleside. I'm not sure why this location was chosen, since it falls within Southern Gauteng, which is a different cycling union.

Anyway, the course was an out-and-back course which turned out to be 20km, having been specified as a 30km TT. This is the same thing that happened a couple of years back, so it didn't come as a surprise.

The profile is quite flat, with an uphill out bound leg and a downhill return. Wind conditions meant that the out leg would also be predominantly into a headwind/crosswind, and the return would have the wind behind us.

I was hoping to have my SRM available for my TT bike, but it is not back from being serviced yet. That, along with getting some changes to the TT bike means that I had only managed to get onto the bike for one computrainer session, and one road session - not nearly enough.

Turns out that with the wind the way that it was, my Bontrager Aeolus 5.0 wheels with my powertap were fine for the conditions, so nothing lost.

I did manage to break the cardinal rule of TT - start on time! Our start times were brought forward 20min on the day, which disrupted my warmup plans quite a bit. Anyway, I went to the start ramp in time, and was told there were a few riders ahead of me still. So I quickly went to the toilet and to sort out my Garmin 705 pairing with my race wheels. Returned to the start and was waiting patiently went I was informed that my start time had gone 20sec ago!

Cursing myself, I hit the road quickly! The best thing about riding a TT with a power meter is controlling the adrenaline at the start and keeping a lid on the power! I focused on staying aerobic and got into a rhythm. Feeling a lot better on the bike than my previous ride.

I haven't done a test on the TT bike, so I was not sure what numbers I could sustain for 30min. I do know that I am not able to match my road bike numbers when in full TT position, so I started out at around 340w (I had done 370w for 38min in the Panarama TT a few weeks back on my road bike).

Then I started having problems with my Garmin CPU - which came lose and kept rotating on the bars! So I ended up fiddling with that a bit - not good when trying to keep a good position and go as fast as you can!

At the turnaround point I was feeling pretty good, and decided with a downhill tail wind I was going to really nail it. Taking a few seconds recovery every now and then would not impact my speed much. I managed to produce 13w more on the return leg.

Stats for the ride can be viewed here: http://tinyurl.com/r4dlmh

It is interesting to note that I did the same time in the return leg as Andrew Mclean (overall winner), showing the advantage a bigger rider has in a downhill tailwind situation.

This was good enough to get me second place in the race - with some confusion over the results as I was initially told I was third, but found out I was second at medal presentation! My official time also didn't quite match my powertap times so who knows??