Hey guys
Good news!! After nearly two weeks of being man down with illness, I finally managed to shake the bug and recover enough to give the Clover Lynford Classic a bash. Although I hadn't had much riding in the previous week due to the heavy rains that lasted an entire 4 days, I was still amped to throw my leg over the Spesh Stumpjumper S-Works and brave the muddy conditions.
Up bright and earlier on Sunday morning, myself and the family made the trip down to the race, in the small town of Ixopo, just outside of Pietermariztburg. The Lynford classic has been one of the longest standing events in the province of KZN. With its massive backing from Clover as well as being one of the most well organized classics in KZN, the turnout is good year after year, and it was no different this time round, even after all the rain that occurred in the weeks leading up to it. With only 200 pre-entries, it looked like it was going to be a poor turn out, but the beautiful weather the day of the race made everyone come out of the woodwork.
With a 9am start, it allowed us to get to the race a little later than the previous week. There an icy chill that hung in the air from the cold weather that had swept through area weeks before. One thing was definitely evident about the race that lay ahead, there was going to be mud, and lots of it. Even the car park was caked up with thick sludge that had began to harden. Perfect racing conditions in my eyes.
So we rolled out of the race venue at 9am sharp. Carl Calvarley, Roan Exelby and Craig Stone were to name but a few of the racers vying for the top spot at the race. From the get go, Carl attacked hard, about two kilometers into the race we hit the first climb. I countered Carl's attack and managed to open up a gap. From there on out I didn't look back and remained focused on riding my own race and protecting my equipment through the mud. After the first 28km loop I had managed to open up a gap of two minutes. As I went into the second loop of 15km's I eased up the pace a little as the mud became extremely bad. This allowed Carl to close up the gap to around 45seconds. I managed to see the gap between us where the course double-backed on its self. Still feeling fresh, with only seven kilometers to go, I hit the final climb. A steep brute that wound its way back around the mountain, back with in sight of the race venue. I hit the climb hard and pushed the pace until I reached the summit. A short two kilometer descent to the finish lead me to the overall win, just over 2min30s ahead of second place, Carl Calvarley.
I'm still pretty happy with how the race went after being extremely ill earlier in the week before the race. I'm finally healthy and I'm starting to feel stronger, day by day. This weekend is inaugural Jeep Hill2Hill Marathon, stretching from Hilton and ending in Hillcrest. This is one of the biggest events on the calender and I'm hoping to have a good "Maiden" marathon. Yes, its the first time that I'm going to be participating in the marathon event at Hill2Hill. Needless to say, I'm a little nervous, but I'll take it one pedal stroke at a time.
Wishing everyone out there this weekend and awesome ride. Have fun and be safe!
Until Next time
BDiz
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