First Super Classic win!

This past weekend was the Safire Baynesfield Super classic, the 8th race of the series. All the usual top KZN performers were present,which would definitely make for some interesting racing.

I was unable to warm up properly due to the pretty cold conditions and the traffic on the roads, so I did my best to try and warm up the engine. I got to the start line with 15 minutes to go to try get a good position on the line.

Off the start there were a few small attacks which were quickly reeled back as soon as we hit the open dirt roads. Things began to get a tad hairy as the pace began to increase. Two riders touched wheels and went down not more than 10cm next to me, and took down a couple of other riders in the process. Craig was one of them, but fortunately he stayed positive and was able to catch back up to the lead group.

Now there were 4 Jeep riders (CRaig, Willi, Ryan and I) Andrew Hill and Andrew Warr. We hit the first climb, and the lack of a warm up definitely made me see stars... I got dropped very quickly, but managed to time trial myself back into the group, only to get dropped again as I made contact with the group. Ryan fell off the group with me, leaving Craig and the two Andrew's up front. We crested the climb, and I decided to try bridge the gap on the descent. Ryan had a mechanical, which left me to soldier on alone. After taking HUGE chances on the grassy descents I finally made contact with the lead group.

The pace slowed dramatically after I made contact, which gave me some time to recover. Then came the longest climb of the day. Both Andrew's upped the pace as we hit the first slopes of the mountain. Craig eventually dropped off the back slightly, which left myself, Andrew Hill and Andrew Warr in front. I put in an attack to try split it up more, but I couldn't shake them. We peaked the climb and hit the long single track descent. Andrew Warr hit the trail first, followed by myself and then Andrew Hill. We managed to drop Andrew Hill in the twisty single track, only to be joined by Craig, who is a single track guru.

Andrew, Craig and I now had a very comfortable gap over the 4th place rider, which we almost lost after getting lost for a few minutes. We now entered the final single track, which was a very energy sapping one. It was flat and twisty, which demanded a lot of accelerating out of corners, which definitely tired the legs out. We eventually reached the end of it, and turned onto a long straight road which lead up to the finish. Craig pulled off the front almost instantly, leaving Andrew Warr in the front, with me on his wheel. I sat until we had around 500m to go. I pulled out and attacked really hard, catching them off guard. I crossed the line 1second ahead, with Craig Paul in 2nd and Andrew Warr in 3rd.

I was insanely stoked to have clinched my first overall win in a Super Classic. It also gave me a really good indicator of where my form is for the South African Championships in 2 weeks time!

A huge thanks to Saffire Insurance for a really awesome event.