MTN Panarama Tour

Stage 1: White River - Sabie

The first stage of the Panarama Tour heads out from White River towards Hazeyview.  About 25km into the race there is a KOM prime, on a short sharp climb that can be decisive in the stage.  This prime was not for our category (Veterans), so the main focus was just to stay in touch with the front bunch.

After that, the race turns off the main road, and descends a narrow road with plenty of potholes!  This got quite hairy, and it was important to stay close to the front to make sure you could see what was coming.

The race then heads out to Kiepersol, and winds it's way through back roads until meeting up with the main road between Sabie and Hazeyview.  The bunch regrouped and things were comfortable heading towards Sabie.  The climb out of Sabie would be critical, so everybody was saving themselves.

Turning left out of Sabie, the race really started.  The bunch shattered, and I found myself a few seconds behind a small lead group of about 15 riders.  I was on the limit, so I didn't try to get back on, just kept a constant tempo and waited for the bunch to slow a bit.  At the top of the steepest section, the bunch did sit up a bit as riders looked to see if their partners had managed to make the split.  This gave me the chance to make contact again.

This was the first opportunity to see which teams had a combined strength to be dangerous in the race.  Andrew and I were the only Veterans to make the split.  The break group contained Dave Garrett & Moolman Welgemoed (Daiken Gu - one of the favourites for the overall win), Jaco Ferreira & Pieter Henning (TCS), Brand du Plessis & Alwyn Scheepers (TCS), Hanco Kachelhoffer & Mike Hewan (BH Medscheme), David and Johan Labuschagne (CycleLab Brothers), Alex Pavlov & Henry Uys (Northcliff Cycles), and Jade Muller & Conrad Viljoen (NMMU Mecer)

The route would comprise of rolling hills all the way back to White River.  A chase group had formed with Nic White and Jacques Fullard in it.  Blayne Wikner, Jacques partner, was up with us in the lead group.  A situation that could have caused them a major problem, as Jacques crossed the line just under two minutes behind Blayne, and nearly fell foul of the 2 min separation rule.

The group stayed together to the finish, with Daiken Gu taking the sprint at the finish.  Andrew and I came in 4th, but 1st overall in the Vets category.

Power stats for this stage can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/p75ey4

 

Stage 2: White River - Nelspruit

Stage 2 heads south from White River to Nelspruit.  We needed to be attentive early in the race because some of the descents would be very fast.  With the tandems in the bunch, it would be possible to get away with a tandem and open up a big gap on the bunch in the first part of the race.  Well, a tandem did get away, Jurie Krige and his son Adolph came flying past the bunch!  Aparently they hit speeds of over 105km/h on the descent and opened up a gap of over 3 minutes.  Fortunately for us, none of the half bike teams managed to get on their wheel!

The bunch arrived at the 60km mark pretty much intact, now the real racing would begin.  The road back up to White River is a set of short sharp rolling hills, and attacks started coming quickly.

For me, this was the worst stage!  I was really struggling with the constant accelerations, and then on the short descents, riders that had been dropped on the hills would come flooding back to the front of the bunch, and it became a constant battle to try to stay close to the front and not pick up dead wheels on the next climb.  I watched in amazement as Andrew maintained his position in the bunch while I wasted lots of energy trying to get up there!

I got dropped on the second last climb, and managed to re-join but only to be dropped again coming in to White River.  Andrew came back to pace me to the finish, but we lost about 25 seconds on the GC, but held our lead in the Vets category!  Brand du Plessis & Alwyn Scheepers (TCS) took the stage.

A very hard day for me, with the last 20km reing really tough.  Power stats can bee seen here: http://tinyurl.com/r9xy8b

Stage 3 - White River - Sabie (return via Long Tom Pass)

The third stage was the longest stage with two major climbs (Spitskop and Long Tom).  I wasn't feeling confident after losing some time on Stage 2.  Fortunately we had the Vets category to race for as well, so if things went wrong from a GC perspective, we could still win the Vets.

The race started on the road out towards Hazeyview.  We then turned left on one of the smaller roads and joined up with the main road to Sabie.  Quite a few attempts were being made to get off the front, but the main contenders were waiting for the first major split point - Spitskop.  This was also the KOM prime for the Vets, with a Nokia Cell Phone up for grabs, so we wanted to make sure of that as well.

At this point we were about 25seconds behind on GC, but had about 8 minutes on the next Vets team, Gary Marescia & Adrian Enthoven (Cyclelab SuperCycling Cape Town).

Spitskop duly arrived and a small group containing TCS and Daiken Gu went off the front.  We were in the chase group but a gap was opening up.  A number of times I had to rely on Andrew for a bit of a push up the climb to keep the speed up!  Once again, the main teams that made the split on the first day were there again.  We won the KOM prime and started the long descent into Sabie in a small chase group of about 10 riders.  Jaco Ferreira was having a tough time, having fallen on Day 2 and damaged a rib.

Surprisingly, the chase group did not gel very well and the chase was very haphazard.  Andrew was trying to get things going, and telling me to keep as much as possible in reserve for Long Tom.

We went through Sabie with the gap standing at over 1 minute!  The climb up Long Tom was hard, but he gradient is quite consistent so the speed did not vary much.  Once again, Andrew kept me from going over the limit with some help!  We reached the top and started the long descent.  Hanco Kachelhoffer started to drive the pace really hard and started eating away at time gap.  At some point the TCS guys suffered a puncture and the break slowed and was brought back in.  Now all that was left was a short steep climb about 5km from the finish!

When we hit the climb we pushed it really hard.  Fortunately my legs came to the party and I was able to push the pace with the front guys.  Unfortunately for TCS, their efforts in the break made them pay a heavy price and they got dropped on this climb, along with some of the other GC candidates - David and Johan lost out here as well.

With 5km to go, the hammer went down and Andrew drove the pace to the finish.  The group finished together with Daiken Gu, TCS (Jaco), Mecer NMMU, and ourselves all within 40sec of each other on GC - setting up the final stage TT very nicely.

Overall a very good day for us, with Andrew riding amazingly well!

Power stats for the stage can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/ogkab7

Stage 4 - White River TimeTrial

The first thing Andrew said to me when we crossed the line at the end of Stage 3 was "We can win this race!".  I think he felt that all along, but didn't want to put too much pressure on me.  The day Andrew stops being competitive, is the day they put him in a box!

So, on the afternoon of Stage 3, we took a drive on the TT route, and started planning our strategy.  The course was by no means flat, with some very fast sections, then it returned along the Stage 2 route.

The plan was to let Andrew pace on the uphill sections and the drags, and I would work on the flats and descents.  This would give Andrew the chance to recover, whilst keeping the speed at a max.

First thing in the morning, we rode the route to check it out properly and were feeling confident when we got to the start.  We were lying in 3rd place, and had 27sec to make up on the leaders.  Our main threat looked like it would be Dave Garrett and Moolman Welgemoed (Daiken Gu), with Jaco Ferreira feeling the effects of his crash.  The NMMU Mecer guys were a bit of an unknown as well.

Andrew has plenty experience in the TT department, so he set a solid constant tempo right from the start.  I felt comfortable, but needed to keep a lid on the enthusiasm so that I could go flat out in the uphill sections of the last 5km.  I paced the flat and the long descent, and we caught our minute men (Mecer NMMU) with abour 5km to go.  The last 5km had the potential to cost a lot of time, and I was glad I had kept something in reserve for this section.  We went as hard as we could go, and crossed the finish line in the fastest time of the day, 38:15.  We took the stage, and the overall tour win!

Power stats can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/pslg6o

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!

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.

Dischem Ride 4 Sight

The Dischem Ride 4 Sight is a 116km race starting in Boksburg and heading down to Heidelberg and back.  It is a pretty flat race, and wind conditions play an important role in determining race tactics.  Unfortunately, today there was virtually no wind, so tactics were hard to implement.

Checking out the weather forecast last night, the wind prediction was 0-3 knots westerly.  Completely the wrong wind for a gutter section up Karee Kloof.  So, the only alternative was to try to split the bunch on the two hills either side of Heidelberg.

Most of the teams were present today, Boss Logistics, Wadeville Steel, Club 100, General Airways, and a team that has Mr Video on the side of their kit and I never know their name.  Along with ourselves of course - Toyota SuperCycling 40+.

So, the plan was to try to keep a low profile until the hills, then try to do some damage.  There were a few minor attacks, but generally the bunch was watching us closely to see what our plans were.  Danie Marais (Mr. Price) put in plenty of attacks and at one point was away for quite a long time.

Then a good move got away, with Issy Zimmerman (Toyota SuperCycling), Jorge Faria (Wadeville Steel), and another rider that I didn't see.  They soon opened up a 45sec gap.

On the first climb, Danie Marais started hard, and when he started to slow, I went hard as well.  Unfortunately 2m28s at 508w was not enough because although the bunch split up a bit on the climb, it came back together on the other side.  No worries though, there was always the second climb coming out of Heidelberg.

Again, I went hard at the start, then Andrew came through and took a turn.  I went again but we were riding straight into a headwind, which is always a problem on a climb because it provides that extra bit of shelter to the riders behind.  Again, a few bike lengths at the top of the climb, but not enough to split the bunch, and launch across to Issy who was still away.

With the only two major obstacles out of the way, and the bunch very much together, everybody decided to try have a dip.  Racing got very aggressive but then died down as tired legs took over.

On the highway heading back to Boksburg, our team started taking turns in attacking to try soften the bunch up and eventually get one of us away.  This worked well, and Andrew made a good move with Danie Marais and Anton Duvenage (Boss Logistics) on his wheel.  Not ideal for us, given that Anton is a good sprinter, but still better than leaving it to a bunch sprint.

The chase was subdued, because of the alliance between Boss Logistics and Wadeville, so a few half hearted attempts to bring it back were made.  Coming in to the dogleg bend, I heard a huge crash behind me, and was later told that Andre Taylor (General Airways) went down hard (hope you are okay Andre).

Andrew was beaten in the sprint by Anton, with Danie taking third.

Overall a frustrating race - and power numbers show that midweek training rides are generally harder!