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.