outsurance race

nearing the end of the week it had been rainy and wet but cleared up nicely on saturday and sunday.

i arrived at inanda dam early and chilled till the start of the race. it was getting really hot and looked to be a tough day.

we set off slowly with a 2km or so neutral zone which is an awesome feature as it allows our legs to warm up nicely.

we turned off the tar road onto the dirt road and the racing began. after the 1st climb of the day myself and myles van musschenbroek, a good mate of mine, had a good lead on the bunch and kept the pace high.

i managed to open up a slight gap on one of the single track sections and kept it for a while, myles later caught me. a river crossing was awaiting us and as soon as i dismounted i attacked and ran full pace through the river and up the very steep incline on the other side.

the race was a fast course but had a little too much tar road and the single track near the end was really bumpy on a hardtail.

i finished 1st with a time of 1hr 45m.

1st luke roberts, 2nd aston davies, 3rd myles van musschenbroek


after the race i had an interview with phil liggett !
it was just so amazing to be talking to the voice of cycling.

racing 94.7 with u12 gears. . .

Hey guys,

i have just got back from the gruelling six or so hour drive back down to durbs. we arrived at the expo midday on saturday with Joahnn Wykerd and Adriaan Louw to go and register and check out the expo. the expo was awesome and really jam packed with people. i was fairly nervous for the race as we had traveled so far just for a road race.



the weather was looking good on the morning with an expected rain forecast, it turned out to be a cloudless day with temperatures nearing the 40 degree mark. i warmed up with an hour to go as we had to be in our start pens 30mins before the start. we had our gears checked and we set off on our journey at 6:25 sharp.

i obviously was not accustomed to jhb road racing and the attacks came quick and hard with no time to recover between the blows.

i seemed to spinning more than my competitors but i quickly got over it and carried on wit the race. with about 60km on the clock i found myself in a break away of 5. we worked hard and managed to fend of the prowling bunch behind us.

it came down to the last short climb of the day with a technical finish and an uphill sprint which was set to be exciting. i attacked with 200m or so to the summit of the climb and managed to get a substantial gap when it flattened out on top. we swung a sharp left and then a technical right at the bottom carrying loads of speed. i attacked the final corner aggressively and used the whole road to my advantage. now in the lead with james fourie breathing down my neck, i pushed the pain to the back of my mind and continued to spin up the hill while he slowly closed the gap i had timed my break precisely and won the 94.7 cycle challenge.



oh and by the way, the reason why i was spinning so wildy was because i had to have a whole drive train replacement on friday. i had ordered junior gears as this was my last race of the season, i would adjust my limit screws so that my smallest two gears would be blocked out. i did not check the cassette and assumed it was correct. it had actually been an u16 cassette which i had now changed into an u12 cassette with my smallest tooth being an 18t!



i effectively raced the 94.7 on u12 gears (52/18 )

Keep the rubber planted. . .

Luke

last 2 weeks

these last two weeks have been really hectic and intense for me. i have finished base and i am in my second week of the build phase. i have been really busy with school with exams starting on the 11 november. there havent been any races of interest for the last few weeks.

this weekend is the hilton 50 miler, i am most probably going to race so i hope it is going to be good one.

i am trying to get into a habit of updating my blog every week so hang in there . . .

keep those tires planted