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
