Argus: A Hard Day

While South Africa were playing their 4th cricket match, I said: "If they win this, I have to go under 3 hours." They didn't win. Nevertheless, I was aiming for a decent time.

We got up at about 4:30am, and were on the road at about 5:10am, heading towards wind and cloud and thedark bulk of Table Mountain.
It was chilly, so I pulled on a long white sleeve top. Over that I jad a sleeveless Ironman speedsuit. I caught a glimpse of myself in a Kalk Bay window and I thought I was seeing a large seal basking on the saddle of a red bicycle.

I took a big gamble going into this race. Because I had no tubby (spare tyre in case of a puncture - the expo weren't selling any), I decided to take off the brass 16g CO2 rockets, two of them, to make my ride as light as possible. I also decided to toss my first water bottle at Kommetjie, so I'd be climbing Chapman's and beyond even lighter.

Mica gave me the Winning Time sensor at the start. I'd neglected to buy one at the expo, and I gace R100 to Deon, who'd paid for it. Then I mingled with M group. Spoke to a guy who was doing his 21st Argus, and when it started raining, someone else moaned that he'd wished he'd stayed in bed and watched the Formula 1. I suggested the rain would just be in dribs and drabs, but a lady on the back end of a tandem insisted that there was rain in Constantia and Wynberg. It was a slightly gloomy start as drizzle got heavier, and chilled already cold cyclists even more.

At 07:50, on schedule, M got moving. The roads were slick. The climbs beyond Hospital Bend really hurt, and I got a glimpse of last year. If you start a race pushing your limits, you know the big climbs at the end are going to hurt even more.
But I could feel on the Blue Route, as the Zipps kicked in, that I wasn't suffering nearly as much as the previous year, and my heart rate was in a healthy range. But a saved myself, knowing pain was waiting for me close to halfway, at Smitswinkel (around the corner from Cape Point).

A bunch from M soon formed, consisting of a tandem, a Caltex rider, a guy wearing long black leg warmers and a blue top, a mountain biker on a yellow bike, and one or two other guys. We sucked up some hopeful riders in L, but eventually moved as far up as H and I.
When we cruised into Simonstown, we were a huge bunch (a few M guys with a lot of L's hanging on), and approaching the other half of L. Here the road narrowed, and someone had parked a car on the road. It seemed like sheer luck that we got through that bottleneck in one piece. Remember, the roads were wet, full of potholes and puddles, and the fast M guys were trying to sneak through on the right side, hopping over ditches and holes. I tried a few stunts too, picking up speed and then having to slow down in a hurry in the wet - a recipe for a tyre to lock, and then a fall. But I managed to get through. In fact, I went right to the front of this superbunch, at Miller's Point, anticipating the long climb, and wanting to minimise its impact. Now, no one wanted to work, or face the stiff breeze pushing at us in the front.

After a few hills the real climbing began, and as it did, I switched over to the small chainring. My chain fell completely off! Horror. I suddenly slowed down, and as I was about to stop and dismount, I tried using the gear lever to put it on a big gear - and it slipped back on. I lost some momentum but not nearly as much as I would have if I'd gotten off my bike. Now I climbed back to some of the stronger guys on M. Smitswinkel took forever, but I reminded myself that the conditions last year, with powerful gusts blasting us to a virtual standstill - compared to that, this was easy. We finally got over the top to the sounds of a minstrel playing a trumpet. Quite a nice touch.

Now the wind was at our backs, and I picked off all the guys that had passed me from the top of Smitswinkel to Noordhoek. I also caught and passed the black Cannondale for the third or fourth time. I'd see them again on Suikerbossie.

Going through Noordhoek and Kommetjie, there was plenty of braaivleis smoke and locals shouting. I tossed my water bottle, and I'm sure someone on the sidewalk picked it up.
I spent very little time checking the scenery on this ride. I had a little look at Scarborough, and going up Chapman's, but no look down into Hout Bay, or Llandudno, or Clifton. Quite sad really.
I seemed to be the one setting the pace right through to Chapman's, riding second or third from the front, and then taking the lead until reaching another pack. Chapman's proved to be hard, but I just tried to settle down and get through it. My buddy, the Caltex guy, was around me, and another Ironman guy with Zipps emerged at the same time. The top of Chapman's took a long long time to reach. I was going on my easiest gears, and struggling to turn the pedals around.

Down Chapman's was awesome, and since the road was a little drier, I took a lot more chances. On the little hill before Suikerbossie I gave the Caltex guy a little push, and then quickly swallowed a Gu, heading towards Suikerbossie. My legs were fine, as long as they weren't climbing.
After the race I heard that a 60 year old man had had a heart attack at the top of Suikerbossie, and died. I'm not surprised. The black tandem caught me, and the Caltex guy jumped on behind them. I had a touch of cramp...felt a pull in my calf near the top of Suikerbossie, and so had to ride a little easier to get rid of it. I think I passed Caltex again because at the summit he passed me, flicking my back with his fingers to say, "Come with us."

It took the entire downhill, from Suikerbossie to Bakoven, to reach that group. That's a long chase, most of it tucking down, and by the end of it my arms and fingers, and back, was aching. I was able to catch a few stragglers that were falling off, rest a little, and then jump onto the next straggler. I was riding at my limit through Camps Bay, and somehow hung on on the uphill into Clifton. From Suikerbossie to the end was really riding at my limit.
Now, in Greenpoint, with 2km to go, I was riding side by side with Caltex. I was starting to feel dizzy and seeing spots - there just wasn't time to eat since Suikerbossie. I pushed far into the red, approaching the finish line with Caltex just ahead of me. With two or 3 metres to go he relaxed and I inched my wheel just ahead of his. We gave each other a little nod afterwards.

Distance: 109km (with plenty of hills)
Time: 3:18
Average Speed: 33.03km/h (last year 29.7km/h)
Average Heart rate: 159 (last year 157) (possible 161 since I left my monitor on for 3 minutes after finishing. (Max: 171)
Improvement on last year: 28 minutes

Met a school buddy after the race, Hugo van Zyl, and went to have tea at his house in Green Point. At that stage the Australian cricket team were posting a score of over 400...
Fransa was in Camps Bay and I only saw them about 4 hours after I finished the race, at about 3pm, which, of course, was quite annoying as I'd left my change of clothes and something to eat with them.

I went on my own to Theo's and had a burger there, and then watched the sea for a bit at Seapoint, before meeting the others in front of MacDonalds. I was pretty much comatose for the test of the day.

I wonder what bunch I'll start in next year. Maybe E. Starting in M this year made a big difference to KK last year, because the road is less cluttered with slow coaches that you have to dodge or wait behind. Next year ought to be even better.