The Argus Jitter

I had a horrific sleep in Three Anchor Bay (about 2km from the start) the night before the race. It was hot and humid, so covered flesh wasn't an option. Flesh eating mozzies feasted on me, so much so it felt like I'd been jogging through ankle deep nettles. At different times in the night I turned on the lamp and waited for these monsters. These are also not regular mozzies. Most mozzies languish on your skin and are easy to squish. These guys were small and stealthy. Turn on a light and they disappear. Move, just a slight shift, and they're gone. Even so, I persisted and managed to assassinate 5. Yet more remained to pester me throughout the sweaty wee hours.


But let's get on to the race itself.

The Cape Times today reports about 65 crashes and just 3 serious injuries in yesterday's race. I was in group E. I'm guessing 61 of those crashes were in our group; the guys got spooked quickly and often. The first bodies and bicycles to use the tar road as an urban tanning pad happened before Hospital Bend, but they kept up the "WHOOOOAH" alerts at regular intervals right up until the finish line. Ja, a guy decided to get off his bike and sit in the road with about 300m to go.

So I did a 3:05:50. I'm happy with the effort I put in. Heart rate averaged a high 158, and after Suikerbossie my muscles were on the edge of cramping. I climbed happily and steadily. My biggest booboo was arriving latish and so slotting into the back of E. Thus when the first guys decided to lounge on the tar, I found myself in the second bunch. I made a break and caught them as we entered Muizenberg, but was caught napping at Smitswinkel. As I summit ted the front bunch had drifted on ahead and I'd assumed we'd stick together.

First 39km in 1hour. Halfway at 1h28min. I was tired when I arrived at the bottom of Chapman's peak, at about 2:10. I ate and hydrated very well, which was important after Carnival City, and in the heat. Suikerbossie was hot, and I started easy, getting into a rhythm. Got stronger and faster near the top, pushing my heart rate to it's maximum (171). The temperature of Suikerbossie was pretty hot, 28 C for us at around 9:45am.

Alex did a 2:46 and came 10th in the vets, Helmut who lost a minute to me last year came in 2:53 (wow), and my brother did what I could not, he slipped in just under 3 hours (2:59).
In the Standard Bank Hospitality tent afterwards we heard some horrific stories. One guy hit a small child at full tilt, someone else smashed into a pram that wondered into the road. Someone else had derailleur problems and had to have it sawed off and 'MacGuyvered' to get going again. A lot of people in different groups said that there were a lot of riders who wanted to know what it felt like to put their bumps on the tar beach. I'm guessing it wasn't much fun.

I'm happy with how I rode given my fitness; I improved over 2 minutes on 2007's time. But I feel a bit disappointed in the sense that I want to be riding better and performing better; riding with better riders. This means I need to do more races in Joburg and solve the Saturday ride dilemma. I don't think I rode on a single Saturday. Alex does MTB that day and I haven't demonstrated initiative to go and ride somewhere else. So need to make a plan there. But I am motivated and keen to shatter 3:05 next year - jitters or not.