MTN MiWay National #6 - Clarens

Well these last few weeks have been a good time for me, both physically and mentally. After Worlds in Australia, I took a two week break as I was tired and too busy catching up with school after missing a bit. The as a first ride back, Luke Roberts (Maverick) and I attempted the Jeep Tribune Hill2hill as a long base training ride.

Hill2Hill
With skies that were clear and winds at our backs, we set off on our epic adventure. Our designated finishing time had to be over 5 hours but with the complication of starting in A batch, things tended to get a bit carried away. We flew down into 'maritzburg right up there with the leaders, but decided to rather opt for the visual story of the race, slipping further and further back and the pace hotted up. For the next four and a bit hours we enjoyed a chilled training ride, helping those who were struggling and suffering. We finished a shade under 5 hours, but it was worth it. For those of you who are thinking about doing it next year, it's not that bad!

Lake Eland Super Classic
Then shortly after the hill2hill, it was school holidays and Brendon Davids and I headed down the south coast for the Lake Eland Super Classic. As he decided to ride slowly, I decided to race but having been off any intensity for the last few weeks, I wasn't expecting fireworks. The race was super hard, with Craig Paul, Andrew Hill and Rourke Croeser all turning out for a tough day's racing. I started hard, and by half way I was still in there near the lead group of four. Then the lack of training hit me and I clung on for 5th overall in one of the most scenic but yet incredibly tough classic races of the year.

MTN MiWay National #6 - Clarens
Then this last Friday I headed up to Clarens for the 6th round of the MTN National Marathon series. As I had only two weeks of decent training, I again wasn't expecting any awesome results, but decided to race using my head and make the most of it. All the usual culprits were there, Ryan Ellis (House of Paint), Arno du Toit (Mr Price/Scott) and Shaun Craig Silver (ADT) and it looked set for a good day's racing. The pace was chilled for about 30 seconds until Arno and I decided to light it up. We shot away on the rather large tar climb in the beginning to tear things up, and got more than we bargained for. We created a gap in the wind, and other riders then had to use more energy than expected to bridge the gap. We hit some long farm roads, and a lead group or Arno and myself (both Mr Price/Scott) and Ryan Ellis had formed. The chasers were isolated in the wind, as we were working well together. Since there were two of us on one team against one, I decided to play it to my advantage...

Arno would shoot off the front and I would sit in Ryan's slip until he caught him as I wasn't going to work to catch a teammate. Then I would be nicely rested and I would shoot off the front to give Ryan even more to deal with, while Arno could take a break. He held up admirably, but in the end they both fell off I was left to finish it all off with a good 2 minute gap. I was super stoked, and lucky at the same time. Well done to Candice Neethling (DCM) for wrapping up the girls race in fine style. The area was scenic, but I felt the organisers could have made much more use of the enormous mountains in area.

Till next time, keep turning those pedals yourself!
J