The Toyota SuperCycling 40+ team decided to race down an age category, with the 30+ vets. This would be a faster and more aggressive bunch. The 30+ cateogory was very strong, with Bulk Pack Trek, Toyota SuperCycling 30+, Focus, Club 100, TCS, and some new teams on the block that made for aggressive racing.
This is not really my kind of race, but it is very good training. In these races concentration levels have to be high to stay in the front of the bunch. This race started aggressively, with the Labuschagne Brothers (Toyota SuperCycling 30+) making numberous attempts to get away. This situation always causes a bit of a dillema because technically they are not the same team as us, but we are from the same club and wear identical kit. So, from the bunch's perspective, we are seen as one group, but tactically on the road that might not always be the case. This can result in a few choice words being spoken when an alliance between another team and the 30+ team is broken by the 40+ team. Anyway, we're all amateurs so let's not take these things too seriously!
The wind was playing a role in preventing the breaks from getting away, and things stayed together until the one small bump in the race. At this point Jason du Preez (Bulk Pack Trek) was off the front and David Labuschagne used his MTB skills to good effect when he attacked from the dirt pavement. David got across to Jason, and went past him. Jacques Fullard (Focus) then attacked on the right, taking Craig Harvey (Bulk Pack Trek) with him. They bridged across to David and the group quickly started working together. This was a good move, but a bad situation for the 40+ team. The three riders were strong enough to stay away, but chasing them would not have been seen in a good light.
The break hovered at the 45sec mark for the next 30km at least. The speed made it difficult for them to really get away. The Focus team did everything to disrupt the chase but the gap stayed constant. Two teams that I don't know (one with Mr Video on their kit, and the other with VWE on their kit), did the bulk of the chasing, with Club 100 chipping in every now and then.
When the break finally came back, the attacks resumed. This was the stage of the race where I felt I would have to be in a move if I was to get a result from the race. Leaving it up to a bunch sprint was not in my favour. The racing was very fast, so getting a break off the front was almost impossible.
Then, the short distance (fun rider) race and our race merged, and chaos ensued. I'm not sure why race organisers insist on doing this, but it is incredibly dangerous. There were certainly crashes in our bunch. It became almost impossible to see what was going on in our race with so many riders all over the road. A few attempts were made to slip quietly off the front, but the speed of the bunch ensured these would not be successful.
Our strategy was to try get into a break, failing that, Colin Germs would try his hand in the bunch sprint. Coming in to the finish line, he was well positioned in the train, but ended up being taken off the wheel by David L as both tried to stay in the pace line. In the end both lost out, but I don't think either would have been able to match Jacques Fullard when he kicked. Jacques too a well timed win.
Overall the race was fairly comfortable as reflected in the power stats:
Duration: 02:15:13
Work: 2156 kJ
TSS: 178.1 (intensity factor 0.889)
Norm Power: 316
VI: 1.19
Distance: 98.257 km
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1083 266 watts
Speed: 7.2 68.5 43.5 kph
No comments:
Post a Comment