Hey all,
So after a pretty disappointing weekend at Karoo to Coast the previous weekend, the final weekend of my planned season of racing finally rolled around. The Spur Lourensford Classic, and the De Grendel mountain bike challenge.
The previous year I managed to win both these races back to back on the same weekend, so I was dead eager to do it again. The only thing that stood in my way was a little guy called Darren Lill, the current SA road champ! Lucky for me I knew the route. The first hour of the race basically went uphill to show us breathtaking views of Somerset West. It was up that climb that Darren showed just what fine form he is in and rode away from me. The rest of the course was rather brutal with some hard climbs and really technical riding. It was at a race here earlier this year that a stick ripped my derailer clean off my frame, and I had to stop about four times again to take one out before it could do any damage! By the end I had managed to limit the the time loss to 4 minutes over a very bumpy 57km of racing, so I wasn’t too disappointed especially with my lacking form. The singletrack at the end was a awesome treat, a good sign of things to come for those lucky enough to ride Wine to Whales.
After an afternoon of laying on the couch and napping, the alarm set off again at 5am to wake me for the second day of racing in the weekend, this time at De Grendel wine farm in Milnerton. The weather on this day was a tad nasty, with an icy cold South Easter blowing a gale. Lucky for us the racing was hot! The main feature of the race is the 1km climb up to the mast on top of Durnabville hill, which must be the steepest gravel climb out there. The race pace was quite sedated for the first 15km, as everyone knew what was to come. it was cool having team mate Geddan Ruddock there to throw off some attacks to confuse the bunch. As we hit the climb I took control of the race, heading to the front and making it hurt. The climb is so impossibly steep that it is almost impossible to race up there, so one has to basically focus of maintaining traction. By the top I had a decent little gap, with Dominic Calitz again chasing me. What happened next was an exact copy of the previous year. As we headed down the other side and into the single track of Magic forest, Dominic used his knowledge of the home ground to make up the gap. We rode together in the front for a few km, discussing life and all, before I bid him farewell and rode away from him back over the hill and soloed to the finish to take my 3rd straight win at De Grendel in as many years, whoop whoop!
So that marks the end of my planned racing season. I have decided to take off a little earlier and longer in order to get the best recovery possible in order for next year’s season. It doesn’t mean that I will have nothing to do though, I have lots of things planned to keep me busy! I’ll keep you posted.
Keep earning those wings!
