Well what a weekend!!
Yesterday was the 2011 KZN Time Trial Championships, put together by Mr. Price cycling club, at the Toyota Test Track. Being my first open road time trial, I was rather nervous, not exactly knowing what to expect out on the course. Not having a proper TT bike, I borrowed a Time Trial helmet from Team Jeep Boss man Clint Mork, a set of dep section wheels from Craig Paul, as well as a set of clip on tri bars, from Darren Goddard, to allow for me to get as aero dynamic as possible on a standard road bike. I only received the bars one or two days before the TT so it didnt leave me much time to try and get used to the low position. All this "aero" equipment made me feel like some sort of space ranger, with a long thin helmet, a skin suit, booties and just about everything else borrowed to make the day possible.
Juniors were to do a 40km TT, along with the Elites and U23's. We were off first and I was the 5th rider to go. I took off in a hard sprint to get myself up to speed quickly before settling down into a nice hard tempo. I soon found myself in a really comfy position and was able to get into a really good rhythm. I began to real in the juniors who had started before me (each going off at 1 minute intervals), which then lead me to be the first person leading the road in my category.
With us doing loops on the 4.5km point-to-point track, we were able to gauge if we were opening up a gap or losing time to our competitors, which definitely helped to motivate the morale into digging deeper and deeper with each lap! The heat began to take its toll on some of the riders, as I began to see more and more riders pulling out short of the gruelling 9 laps that were at task.
Around the 20km mark I took a slight dip in my power, but soon regained it and was able to push on home for the win, and my first title of the year under the belt it feels good to be the KZN Road Time Trial Champ for 2011 as a mountain biker.
Hats off to Burry who honestly destroyed everything in his path... Classy ride!
Then today was the 120km road race which ended up being a swimming race!! The rain poured and poured but it didnt scare off any of the top contenders!
A Very early,05:30 start greeted our half awaken bodies, which were abruptly thrown into the hurt locker! My legs felt surprisingly good after the previous days time trial, with me sitting very comfortable in the front of the bunch. Burry then came to the front and put on a really strong pull, which definitely lead to the bunch peeling away from the back. I sat on his wheel as we crested the top of the first climb,still feeling pretty good, but that was about as good as my day was going to get... about 2km's down the road I felt the dreaded 'knocking' of a rim bouncing on the tar... yes, I had punctured. Unfortunately for me the vehicle which had my spare wheel did not see me and continued to meander into the distance. So I sat and watched as the convoy of cyclists and team vehicles drove past. Then one Richard Starr came to my rescue, giving me his sons spare wheel to get back to the vehicle which had my spare wheel. Murphy's law, as I began to real in the gap to the bunch there was his son, Murray Starr, who had crashed and punctured. Much to my 'amusement' I gave him his spare wheel I had borrowed back and waited for the back up vehicle who had got news of my misfortune. As the back up bakkie arrived, the driver frantically rushed over to me with a wheel, and innocently gave me a similar wheel with the incorrect gearing ie. elite gearing (juniors have restricted gearing). I got going, only noticing this problem a little down the road. Fortunately for me James Reid had ALSO punctured his rear wheel a little further down the road, so I stopped and I was then able to give him the wheel I was currently using, as he may ride the elite gearing as an U23 rider. I then got my correct wheel from the bakkie and was now at least 8 or so minutes down from the main bunch, where I had started my day. Now around the 20km mark, James and I began our attempted chase back to the group. We worked really well together and began to real in riders who had dropped off from the main pack. We then made contact with a small group of 8 or 9 riders, where we picked up Kyle Dorkin. Kyle managed to latch on as we continued our chase, but at the 80km mark we were still around 2minutes down on the next bunch and reports coming in that the lead bunch was by now truly away with little hope of catching. Having been chasing flat out the entire day my legs began to feel the effects of the TT the day before. However, I kept pushing as hard as possible until I reached the final 8km, where I low and behold I punctured again, and was forced to ride the remaining 8km of the race on a flat rear wheel, because not finishing the race was definitely not on the agenda.
James had managed break away from me with 40km to go and rode really strong to catch up to the bunch we had been trying to reach all day. a really good ride despite his terrible luck! Good on you man!!
So in a nut shell, It was a weekend of tremendous highs and probably my lowest of lows on a day with more challenges that I have ever had to endure which really tested my ability to keep things together. Well done to all the MTB riders on the great results this weekend.
So there is now a small change in my plans in preparation for Continental Champs as I head to Port Elizabeth for the SA Time Trial Champs in two weeks time.
In conclusion, a huge thank you to Clint Morck, Johann Wykerd, Darren Goddard and Craig Paul without whose help with equipment , this past weekend would not have been possible. Thanks Guys.
