Man is road different from Mountain Biking in quite a few ways, firstly the start time is WAY earlier! Our race started at 06:03 and covered a distance of 113km in a big loop from Durban to Pinetown, then out towards the old Airport (The Bluff area) and back towards Durban.
The Moses Mabhida Stadium Played host to the race village and start finish straights, and really lived up to my expectations as an amazing venue! The Stadium was simply staggering in real life!But this amazing work of art had to wait until after the race.
After a good warm up we Craig Paul, Ryan Ellis and Myself took our places amongst the Pro/ Elite riders. The Pro Teams such as Team MTN Energade, Medscheme and House of Paint were in full abundance! The first few Kilometers were very nerve wrecking, due to a couple of VERY inexperienced riders taking chances in the big bunch. We then hit the main climb of the day, the M19, a beast of a climb that went basically from the beaches of Durban to Pinetown. Ryan and I went to the front of the bunch to try form a small break, but the more experienced Elite riders countered the attack as soon as the gap was closed. This put me into the hurt box BIG TIME but I managed to hold onto the bunch until we crested the climb. On the descent I simply couldn't hang onto the bunch, as I was grossly not used to the Junior Gear Ratios that I had to race. I spun out and soon found myself in no mans land, with one other junior sitting snugly in the elite group.
After a solo effort for around 15km I was caught by the main bunch where a few top elite riders as well as Ryan and the other Juniors were sitting. I jumped into the group and started working ferociously with the guys. We began to claw the gap back and were sitting around 40 seconds off the Elite group up front. Unfortunately we were sent down the wrong road, and lost about 3 minutes of time on the other group according to the Medscheme team manager.
After turning around we began to slowly claw our way back up to the front group. at the Half way mark they were out of sight, but we were still closing up to them. The big group that we were in began to get tired, and only a few of us were able to ride up front. Most of the other juniors chose not to come through to the front. I was one of the few who chose to work with the other elites, along with Ryan and Aston Davies and it was a great experience.
With 2 kms to go we caught the group with the leading junior, but I was quite frankly shattered! My legs were cramping in the quads and hammys, but I decided to follow the attacks of the more 'fresh' juniors. Myles van Muschenbroek made the move along with Rhyno Beukes. I bridged the gap, and managed to form a gap over the other Juniors. I tried to attack with 150m to go but my legs simply had nothing to give. I crossed the line as the 3rd junior home, with only 200 hundredths of a second separating the top 3 juniors.
I must say it was amazing to learn from the pro/elite riders such as Jean Spies (Toyota Cycle lab) and Clint Olsen (Team NRC/Burg Wheelers). A huge thanks needs to go out to them for their support and encouragement!
Well done to Craig for winning the bunch sprint. Unfortunately he missed the winning break! Ryan suffered severe cramp very near to the finish, but he rode and awesome race, contributing hugely to the bunch and helping us to close back up to the lead group.
We were all done by 09h30 and settled in for a nice NINO's brunch and coffee before going up the arch of the stadium. What an experience.
Now it's off to Cullinan this weekend before getting a shot at another road race.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment