Cape Argus Cycle Tour

Unbelievable! Racing bikes in gale force winds is not for the faint hearted!

After all the negative publicity that Andrew (Mclean) had to endure in the week leading up to the race, we were all highly motivated for this race! On Saturday I took a ride out to the new Boyes Drive section of the route to have a look at the hills on it. Not too bad, but definitely a chance to soften up competitors legs during the race.

Weather forecast was predicting a strong South Easter though, which would mean a block headwind until the turn at Smitswinkel. Depending on the strength of the wind, there would be no point in trying to break things up until Smitswinkel.

Well, the wind was gale force! I was staying in a B&B in Newlands, and it is a 10km flat ride to the start - nice warmup, except it took me 13minutes pedalling easy! The wind propelled me at around 50km/h all the way to the start line.

Usually the city bowl is sheltered from the wind, but it was chaos at the start line. It was so strong that my bike lifted off the ground when I was standing holding it. The porta-loos became flying missiles with a deadly payload!

So, no point in doing anything until Smitswinkel then!

Heading out at the start, the entire front of the bunch got blown over in the wind! this meant that by the time I got to the highway, I was a good few hundred metres behind the front guys! No problem though, with such a strong headwind, they came to a virtual standstill and we crawled up to the hospital.

Edinburgh drive was also fairly slow, and the bunch crawled out along the Blue Route. At least the wind direction was not swirling, which made staying on the bike a bit easier. It was a fight though to stay in the first 10 to 15 though, as the front guys slowed, riders kept coming round the sides.

As expected, things stayed together until Smitswinkel. My strategy was to attack up Smitswinkel and open a gap. Andrew would then come across and we would use the strong tailwind to open up a gap on the bunch.

The tactic worked to perfection, except it wasn't me that attacked, it was Gary Marescia. Going up Smitswinkel, I was nicely place on 3rd or 4th wheel when Gary attacked hard. Unfortunately the guys in front of me could not go with, leaving me boxed in a bit. Andrew then attacked and nobody could respond to him either. Leaving us to make a steady pace up the climb and see if anybody tried to bridge, taking us with. Myself and Issy Zimmerman, along with another rider, made it to the top together and the rest of the bunch was shattered. With the strength of the tailwind, there was no way a single rider would be able to pull back Andrew and Gary, so a small chase group formed and we just sat in.

About 10km later, Gary popped and came back to the bunch, leaving a 40km solo TT for Andrew. Something which he did comfortably, given the terrain and the strong tailwind.

That left us in the position of just sitting in, and trying to get away up Suikerbossie. However, with the ladies race being part of our race, tactics became a bit messy on Suikerbossie and the bunch stayed together of the sprint at the finish. Even though I had been sitting in most of the race, I was pretty flat at the end and did not have great sprinting legs! Pity, as I would have liked to try get a podium in this race!

Overall Normalised Power for the race was 310w and finishing time was 3h06, almost 20min slower than previous years.

Harmony Randfontein

Well, I was supposed to be riding Sani2C, but my partner, Ian, was seriously ill before the race and it would not have been adviseable for him to ride it in the wet conditions. So, no Sani2C this year, but from the reports, it is a race that everybody should do at least once in their lifetime.

With the last minute change of plans, I entered the Harmony Randfontein race. A 100km race in the Randfontein/Magaliesburg area. Not any serious climbs, but the the return route can be very hard depending on race conditions.

Given the small field, myself and Colin Germs (my teammate) decided to race in the Elite category to get some good training for the Argus this weekend. The only major team present was Konica-Minolta, along with some good riders from Queens. The juniors were included in the bunch as well, so things got pretty hairy sometimes with all the kamakazi pilots in the bunch.

With a pretty much downhill out leg, a small break was allowed to go, and soon built up quite a bit gap - around 3 minutes. Konica was well represented in the break, with 3 riders, but for some reason decided to let 2 of them come back to the bunch.

The bunch moved along at a comfortable pace, until Konica then decided to bring back the other 2 riders. The paced picked up, but was still fairly comfortable.

The fun starts in this race on the way out of Magaliesburg. A short sharp climb, and then another, provides an opportunity to split the bunch up a bit. So, when the hill came I made sure I was well positioned for the inevitable change in pace. The pressure came on and I just kept my position in around 4th or 5th place, making sure I wouldn't get any dead wheels.

When we got to the top, I had a quick look around to see who had made the selection and we were down to about 7 riders. Myself, Jock Green, a Queens rider, and 4 Konica riders. I was very surprised that so few had been able to hold on, but there you have it.

The second bump out of Magaliesburg was no problem, but then came the long drag up to Tarlton. Konica started attacking. I covered a few of the moves, but started to struggle a bit, while Jock Green (Garmin) was doing his best to cover everything. Eventually, two of the riders got away. I just stuck to a steady rhythm, knowing the pace would have to slow and I could get myself back on.

The chasing bunch did slow, and the riders left in the bunch took stock of the situation. Two Konica riders down the road was not a good situation, but we were outnumbered. Then, some other riders that had been dropped re-attached - including James Louter (another Vet that had decided to race down). Given the pace we had been going from Magaliesburg, it was an amazing effort for these guys to get back on.

After a bit of a breather, the chase began in earnest, with Jock keeping things together and coordinating things. Unfortunately I hit a pothole and had another pinch flat, second in two races! So that was my race over.

BUT, I was very happy with my form, and making a small split with the Elite guys.

My thoughts go out to Neil Frazer who was badly injured in a motor car accident comping home from Sani2C - you are in my thoughts all the time!