It's been a good few tough weeks since my last update. All I have been doing is building up for World Championships in 2 weeks time, but in the process I made the trip up to Harrismith for the annual Dirty Harry which was a SA Marathon Cup race, and also the championship. I decided to travel up on the morning of the race, as it is only about 2 and a half hours away. Candice Neethling (DCM Chrome) and Michael Hughes made the trip up with us, and we had an amusing road trip. Since the junior distance is limited to 45km, the race was likely to be fast and hard...
There was a long neutral zone to begin with, allowing ample time for the legs to warm up. I stayed near the front, and as soon as the cars moved, Arno du Toit (teammate on Mr Price/Scott) and I made the pace hard to get rid of as many as possible. Attacking at every slight rise, we succeeded in getting the group down to 4 as we hit the main climb of the day, which was also the KOM. We sat on the pace of Ruan du Toit (Cycle for Diabetes, and no relation to Arno) and then about 300m in, I attacked and gapped both of them. Passing back markers in large herds, I put my head down and did some hard work. It worked!
As I approached the top of the climb (it was about 4km) nearly everyone was walking. I dodged and weaved my way through them and did not look back once. Towards half way I realised that I need to be careful to preserve my lead and not to puncture. I rode hard to the finish, just over 2mins ahead of teammate Arno du Toit. I was a super quick race, and afterwards me and a few friends did another lap of the course for training.
All in all it was a good experience, but I guess I'm frustrated that they do not let juniors ride the 75km as that is true marathon racing. Really good and positive for world champs. This weekend I'm off to Cowan House for some single track heaven, join us, its an awesome route!
Till next time!
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