Bad Day, Great Result!

Yesterday was the Macsteel Carnival Classic. A flat 100km race out in the East Rand, starting at Carnival City, heading out to Heidelberg and back.

Once again, not a race that suits the Toyota SuperCycling 40+ team, but that doesn't mean we don't want to win it!

After missing out last week, having been the main aggressors in the race, we were determined to not lose out again this time. So we decided we would change tactics, and try get away right from the start. I would try to get away, failing that one of the other team mates would break. With everyone watching Andrew Mclean, there was a fair chance that they would let the break go.

My bad luck started right at the beginning of the race. My front derailleur was broken. I had had problems with it last week, but I thought it was sorted out. Riding to the start, the derailleur came lose completely and could not be tightened. Thinking that I would not be able to race, I decided to put the bike in the car, and get to the start and see if I could follow the bunch in case one of the team members needed help on the road - we did not have a backup car on the day.

When I got to the start, the guys pointed out to me that a front derailleur was not really required for this race, good point, so I quickly removed the derailleur, put the chain on the big ring, and rolled up to the start, with 2 minutes to go before the gun.

From the gun we started attacking. Mark Thijs and I took turns in attacking, whilst Boss Logistics were putting in plenty of attacks as well. It soon became apparent that I was being marked and nobody would cooperate with me in establishing a break.

Mark Thijs, however, managed to get a good move going, along with Anton Oberholzer, a Boss Logistics rider and one other. This was the point in the race that my second piece of bad luck occurred - I hit a cateye and had a pinch flat. With no backup car, and the speed of the race, I was out of the race! Fortunately one of the Germiston Wheelers support guys stopped and helped me get sorted out. I rode a few km's, thinking I would ride the course as a training ride, but then realised that I had no spares if I had another problem - so I turned around and headed back to the start.

Turns out, Mark's move was the telling move of the day! He managed to stay away to the finish and take the win - nice one Mark!!

What made the win even better was that Mark is due to start chemotherapy for a tumour in the bladder, so to get a win in the last race is really cool!

The bunch expected Andrew to make the moves, and when he just sat in, they had no answer. Maybe the other teams should start making more of the racing.