Summer League 2010: Stellenbosch Preview
After another impressive victory by Russell de Jager of CycleLab at last week’s Rollercoaster, the Vets category in the Summer League looks to be a three-man race for the title. Currently Russell leads the pair of Guy Pike and Marius Nel from Daikin GU by 7 and 11 seconds respectively.
Summer League 2010: Rollercoaster
The third event in the Pro Classic Summer League saw the whole circus return to a start in the Southern Suburbs and a route around the Peninsula. This combination invariably means that the pure climbers will be licking their chops in anticipations while the sprinters and flat-course specialists groan in pain at what they are about to face!
Having missed last week’s event at Simonsvlei due to illness, I was chomping at the bit to get back to racing. The week leading up to the race had been particularly quiet regarding riding my bike due to work commitments and making sure that my son was at the right place at the right time for school commitments. I did manage an hour of fairly easy spinning on Saturday before the race as a leg-loosening exercise and happily felt pretty good.
Summer League 2010: Cape Cobra
Pre-season training had not been all that I had hoped for. Found a girlfriend, ate lots and drank more for two weeks solidly leading up to New Year. This was not wise behaviour as the summer league in general and the first event on the calendar, the Cape Cobra, in particular kept cropping up in conversations with cycling buddies. The cycling was a bit like trying to run in deep waters - slow progress. Trying to lose weight and keep power in the space of three weeks was mission impossible, but I had to try. I had a premonition about that first race. Pain and lots of it was the only prediction the crystal ball that I was gazing into offered.
Virgin Active Pro Classic Series: Final Event
Photo Credit: Ronelle Rust
The final event of the Virgin Active Pro Classic Series in Cape Town took place this past Saturday on the undulating 38km Paardeberg circuit. The Tour de Winelands that was supposed to have been the final event had been cancelled forcing the event organizers to find a suitable date and venue to complete the Spring League. They did well to arrange the event with the limited time available.
A not so nice surprise to most of the Vets teams racing was that the overall team had drastically changed in the official GC standings issued to all riders competing in the league two days prior to the race. Where Swift / Cozmetek had been sitting pretty at the top of the team sheet with a 4 second lead over Superwatt and Durbell in third place a further 4 seconds behind Superwatt, all of a sudden Daikin GU had leapfrogged everyone from 5th place and a 14 minute 45 second deficit into the lead! No official explanation was issued as to the change – poor state of affairs for an organizing body that is trying to gain credibility! Well, in my humble opinion that credibility has crumbled in the eyes of most of the teams!
A near Double Century of woes…
The 2009 edition of the Coronation Double Century in Swellendam was again a highly anticipated fixture on the local road racing calendar. An unrelenting distance of 205km lay in wait for the thousands of riders who had entered this very popular team event.
More so than any of the other local events on offer, the DC places a strong emphasis on team participation. Teams contain a maximum of twelve riders with the time of the sixth team member across the line counting as the team’s official finish time. In effect the race becomes a 205km team time trial!
A much-needed coffee ride
So after having endured a whole week of no riding due to the cold that I suffered after last Sunday’s race in the pouring rain I was eagerly looking forward to the weekend.
We had been promised some good weather for both Saturday and Sunday and I was keen to see how my body had responded to a whole 5 days off the bike! So I set off on Saturday morning in cloudy and cool conditions with a light wind blowing. There was no route plan as I left home other than to see how the body felt and to get in about a 2hr ride.
Tour de Vino pics from the Vets racing in the league
Photo Credit: Ronelle Rust
Virgin Active Pro Classic Series 2009: Tour de Vino
Photo Credit: Ronelle Rust
A race of missed opportunities is how this one will be remembered by the Superwatt team! The fifth and penultimate event in the Virgin Active Pro Classic Series started from the picturesque Franschoek in atrocious conditions.
It had been drizzling in Cape Town the whole night and on waking I found that it was more of the same. Driving to Franschoek is usually a pleasant experience when a day-trip to the wine farms in the area is on the cards, but this morning was anything but as the rain increased in intensity the closer we got.
DC Training Ride to Franschhoek
Sunday morning dawned with the wind trying its best to discourage me from joining my team-mates at Constantia Village at 6am for what promised to be a real test of endurance and friendship. Destination was the beautiful Franschhoek. Planned distance for the day: 170km.
I woke late and had to hustle to get to CV on time. As it was I was 10min late, but fortunately the gang had decided to wait a few minutes longer in the hope of catching any late comers. I joined Hoosain, Luke, Omar and Leon at the traffic lights and we began our long trek.
Virgin Active Pro Classic Series: Durbanville
The fourth event in the Virgin Active Pro Classic Series was the Durbanville ride starting at the High School and encompassing a distance of 94.5km. A 6:30am start meant waking up early enough to encounter the darkness outside and see a beautiful dawn breaking. Not that there was much time or inclination to do this as there was a race to get to!
If one was the type of person to believe in omens or portents then quite a few of us should have returned home before leaving the start line. Driving on the M5 to get to the N1 road works were taking place and anyone using the road was directed to detour via Berkley Rd. Although the signs we followed promised an option of Cape Town or N1 only the Cape Town option existed! So now I was town-bound and irritated. Managed to turn around by taking one of the off-ramps and encouraged the V6 to sing its sweet tune all the way to the Durban Rd turnoff. Brian Ireland managed to leave his cycling shoes at home and Billy Stelling punctured on the start line with 5min to go to the gun. Sanity prevailed and we were off with the strong winds behind us.
