Wow!! what a HECTIC weekend! in between all my matric exams, I had a little time to 'quickly' shoot up to Jo'burg for the 94.7 road race.
We left at sparrows fart, around 3am on Saturday morning, in order to miss the rush of the JHB traffic. After arriving we settled in with our other family members before hitting the road again to go and get registered.
MAN!!! the expo was SUPER cool! I could've honestly spent a couple of days in there. There was everything from cycling caps to the new 4.7kg Cervelo R5 road bike! There were some really impressive stalls which housed some of the most unbelievable bikes ever! ASG had the Pinarello Dogma and Emotion cycling had the new Volcans and Cervelo's. Unfortunately I had to be dragged away from this paradise to go get some rest before the next day.
I hit the hay early that night, trying to maximize my chances of catching up on some sleep... BUT my 6am start meant I was up and at it at 4:00 the next morning! That's one thing about road races, they are HECTICALLY early! I was a little uncertain of how my legs would be from my past couple of weeks of base training, but my coach certainly knows what she is doing and I was very pleasantly surprised.
At 6am we were off and fortunately it was a nice slow start to the race which allowed for my legs to warm up and by the time we hit the first climb I was firing on all cylinders. The attacks came pretty frequently, but i managed to stay safe in the lead bunch which was able to drive off the front. However at the 2nd climb I could feel things weren't feeling so hot, so I sat up slightly and decided to chase back on the descent towards Ponty tower. I made contacted with the group again and then managed to settle in nicely, before putting in a move on the tight windy streets in central Jo'burg, with the likes of Brad Mitchell and James Fourie. I realised it wasn't going to be a very successful break so the pace eased up again. Then disaster struck at around the 50km mark... my front gear shifter snapped off completely. ( The shifter on the opposite side broke in exactly the same way a month earlier while racing the Midmar Notts).Luckily it was stuck in big ring on the front, so i could keep up with the relentless attacks that were about to come.
The bunch continued to get smaller and smaller as we approached the the final 20kms, and was now just 15 strong, testosterone pumped riders. Luke Roberts went on the attack, and managed to get a sizable gap over the bunch and with no one wanting to chase down and the gap began to grow. The ASG junior team then took matters into their own hands and quickly ground out the gap that had been form, and soon we had Luke back in our sights.
But then the most difficult part of the race came at around 85km in the form of a MOOSE of a climb that looked like a vertical wall. We hit it = the explosion of my legs... not being able to gear down ensured that the gear I had to push made my pace really slow. I just had to watch as the other Juniors dropped to the small front ring and danced up the cliff face. After I eventually hurled myself up and over the climb I rode a steady pace back to the finish, coming home around 15th just behind Luke who had run out of steam with his huge effort earlier, riding up front on his own for quite some time. A very disappointing result especially with my legs feeling so good on the day, but a brilliant indicator that my legs are feeling good for Urban Rage!!!
A huge thanks to Linda Roberts and Charles Roberts for helping me out with an error that was made with my seeding and for sorting it out for me as I only realized the organizers mistake when I was on the other side of JHB when I opened my goody bag.
The organisation and scale of this event was a real eye opener and a good indication of what can be achieved when those involved in organizing an event know what needs to be done and it is done well.We were already on our way home and some riders were only starting two hours later and I was really happy that I was done because it was really staring to get hot.Some riders that were riding for charity dressed up in cow outfits including udders did the route twice.Respect Brothers and sisters. RESPECT!!!!
A great experience and I will definitely be back again next year. One more exam and I can start focusing on the task ahead in 2011.
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