When I woke up on Sunday morning, contrary to expectations, I felt good. My legs felt rested despite a slightly unorthodox 2hr + ride the previous morning. Better yet, despite a rabid dog barking like nuts twice at ungodly hours, I managed to get a half decent sleep (but only half).
I started eating and hydrating immediately, and arrived at the start at about 6:35am, 5 minutes after Alex's group - the VA's - had departed. My brother was in the same group. I immediately bumped into a chap I'd ridden with before, Ben. He said he had been racing a lot with my brother and finishing together.
I was in quite a good mood because I'd had to reset my gears (changing my normal wheels for Zipps) and as it turned right, the settings were perfect. We left at 06:50. It was warm enough to ride with no arm warmers, and no layer under the cycling shirt.
I had a decent ride out. I could see from my heart rate that it was very manageable. Just before Schoeman Park golf course there was a loud bang, someone's tyre had exploded. This often happens in the first 2-3 kilometres of a race.
I was well positioned and doing fine at the turnaround. Here we headed into a stiff wind, and the group changed from a bunch to two parallel lines. The speed also went down. I looked back at one point and realised I was right at the back. I thought that was fine, all I needed to do here was hide away from the wind. Unfortunately, because I was a tad sleepy and the pace made me complacent, I didn't pay attention to where everyone was. We were also reeling people in on one side, which gave the impression we were cruising forward nicely. Then I noticed my heart rate was quite low and had a look around the long line of riders. I saw a thick mob of riders a long way off! That was A-group! They were already about 300 metres from my position, and there were holes in front of small groups of riders that had already fallen off.
I immediately surged hard, closing the gap on the first 100 metres fairly quickly, dodging between riders for the next 100 metres. The last 100 metres was against a headwind with no other riders. I whizzed quite quickly passed the riders into this space, then struggled. My heart rate zoomed up to 168, and I was now just 10 metres behind the pack (but near my limit). Fortunately there was a slight rise in the road followed by a turn, which caused the pack to slow slightly. I joined the tail going into the turn, breathing very hard. It felt a lot like a Tuesday interval. In fact, I had pushed - by one beat - harder than my hardest interval (the last one) the previous week.
I gradually moved up through the pack so that by the railway bridge I was within the first third. I went over the bridge and around the circle neatly enough, noticing that I was strong on those little climbs in relation to the other guys. The next section of road was tricky, with a lot of cracks. I suppose a fair amount of traffic passed me here (the scene of a puncture for me the day before), because going up towards Oranje I was the last rider in the bunch, with another section breaking off behind me and falling away. Unexpectedly, the guys rode this section quite hard. (Alex told me his bunch slacked off here; the only section of the race where this was the case).
I went up passed Oranje (Harrismith Road) quite nicely, with good momentum, and immediately caught up and went by a lot of riders. Unfortunately, a small core group of about 20 were already over the top of Harrismith. I made a bit of leeway going down, and again preserved momentum nicely around the dangerous turn at the bottom. I think I could have raced harder at the bottom, but instead geared down and paced carefully up the climb. This was where I saw the core group go over the lip, and disappear. I needed to be much further forward before Oranje to stay in touch - a lesson I hope I will finally learn next year.
I guess I can console myself with the fact that my brother (pictured in pink above) also lost the VA's here, and got passed by the ladies.
One of the ladies from Cycle For Kids, who definitely isn't suffering from excess weight, also rode. I saw her at registration at Windmill Casino. I wonder what her time was.
See that speck down there? That's me just slightly behind these guys///
Here's me in Nowhereland. While I was working hard, my heart rate went only as high as it did during my earlier surge. The fact that I didn't even hit 170 here tells me I was being a bit lazy. Good news is the Standard Bank guy just ahead of me stayed in touch even though I went by him on the downhill. Him and me worked together until the finish, and I don't think, in the large group that eventually formed around us, I don't think anyone worked harder or longer than the two of us.
Once over the A bunch were still within sight about 300 metres ahead. The problem with surging now was Lucas Steyn. You might catch the bunch again, but you arrive at the third climb wasted. At this point I also picked up Ben (the guy I'd chatted to at the start). Now a group of about 5 us went up Lucas Steyn. This included a strong brunette who also worked a bit and stayed with us until the end.
Lucas Steyn was quite hard. At the top our little group seemed to have broken again - it was just the Standard Bank guy and the brunette. Ben was about 10 metres behind and I thought that was it for him.
I started to really work from this section onwards. It was amazing how quickly we went from three, to five, to about twenty. A blonde girl in an orange outfit joined us somewhere here, along with another Standard Bank rider who worked well, and an Afrikaans guy with white arm warmers and white shoe covers who climbed quite well. What was great was we maintained a good pace, and enough of us went to the front to work for it to still feel like a race. On the Kimberley Road we were so close to the A-bunch the white arm warmers guy reckoned he could catch them. The climb is deceptive for two reasons. It's longer than it looks, and the riders on it look like they're not far away. And it's quite a long climb usually with a nasty wind. The Standard Bank rider went quite hard here, but I stayed in touch, and close to Engen we finally caught Mr. Arm Bands. I went to the front again, and then tucked in for a fast descent.
It was quite funny when a really fat guy sped by me on the downhill. Here I noticed the group was quite big. 20-25. Still, it was basically three of us Standard Bank guys working, Mr Arm Band, the brunette (surprisingly) and that was about it. Every time I saw Ben I was surprised he was still there.
I needed a few sips to empty my first water bottle at this point. Once done I threw it away, not far from the crosses marking fatal accidents in the midsection of the highway.
I noticed Ben at the bottom of the descent, and partly it was seeing him, partly it was to preserve momentum, I went quite hard up this section. Ben seemed to intuit what I was doing because he hugged my wheel, I could see the yellow rim just behind mine.
I ended up staying in front for a long stretch here. As we approached the next climb I took a breather. Here I noticed the guy I'd ridden Sun City with (averaging 40km/h). He had a % on his number, and looked very red in the face, unless it was a suntan. Anyway, he passed the whole group, and Mr. Arm Band followed him. I thought this would be a brilliant trio to work with, and maybe we could get away from all the parasites. I did a short sprint to catch them, saying, "Remember me" as I pulled alongside. Don't think he did because he gave me a funny look. So maybe it wasn't him. I'm pretty sure it was. We worked nicely but I think everyone was marking me, and when I joined these two, the Standard Bank guys followed and everyone followed them.
We then crossed the bridge at Caltex, and now there were lots of slow riders to avoid. Some slow riders to jumping on the bandwagon with us. This isn't lekker because they sometimes grow egos and reckon they're strong enough to sit two riders from the front, but when it comes time to work they mess up your rhythm. So there was one spindly oke in green messing things up, but as the N1 tilted upwards the group lost about half of itself.
Again, on the descent before that very long climb (between the two Engens) I let gravity take me to the front. I pedalled a firm cadence and me and the other Standard Bank guy set the pace. Again, I noticed Ben was marking me like a blackboard. At one point Mr. Arm Bands went to the front and I thought he was going to put the hammer down, but the pace stayed firm, and then as it fizzled, I thought I'd give my heart rate a nice workout. Again, Ben made sure he was right behind me, and after a look back everyone seemed to be doing just fine in my slipstream. I let Standard Bank take a turn and then did one last hard push over the summit. On the other side the group had reduced to perhaps 8-10 riders.
This part was interesting, and for at least 3 kilometres I settled in right at the back and had something to eat and drink. At least 2 of the riders had latched on in this section. There was a fantastic section where I went to the front and was pedalling a nice cadence on my biggest gear. Once again, yellow rims on my heel. When I looked back, we had disconnected from the group who were quite a little way off. I said to Ben, "We're away." He immediately left me and found somewhere to hide in the bunch. Quite funny.
On the graph below you can see the blue line bouncing right through the graph
(under the 'g' in the word 'bouncing').
When we turned the headwind was really stiff. Here a VA guy, a really big guy, confidently went to the front. He did a pretty good job, with the Standard Bank guy and me taking turns also. The Standard Bank guy worked a lot this section, which I think cost him. Closer to Halden Road I went to the front, and after the first bridge, went quite hard up the slipway, turning first onto the road. I rode quite a long section in front here, and after a while we'd all joined together, with 6km to go. Then the group slowed and I shouted at them to keep the pace going, and so did Standard Bank 2. Now I started to notice who was in the group. The blonde wearing orange who never worked, Ben who worked only by mistake, the Standard Bank trio, Mr Arm Band, the big VA guy who had latched on, and the brunette. There was also another guy wearing orange and brown. 9 or 10 of us.
I got sort've boxed in here, and had to get around the blonde to get away. I managed to get to the outside with 2km to go. I didn't really break, I just picked up the pace, and then, as I hit the corners, realised I had better stay in front because from there on there are a lot of dangerous corners. So I started to pile on the power, and suddenly it was 600m to go, 400m, and then the last turn.
I was going too fast to turn around, so I put my head down. Low enough to see my rim and the yellow rim of Ben still on my heel. I thought, arrogantly as it turned out, that he wouldn't have enough gas. He stayed behind me for another 100 m while I went slowly harder (I was afraid to stand in case I got a cramp, and there was a slow rider crossing the line that somehow stopped me from getting up for a fullout sprint - 'cos then I'd have to dodge him).
Meanwhile Ben was slowly coming alongside, and I slowly went harder, and the line was slowly coming closer, so I went a little bit harder, and Ben was still slowly coming up beside me (I was watching the rim, not him). And then, with horror, putting the last pedal strokes of power in, he still edged up on me and so right on the line he got maybe 1 or two centimetres in front. I know, because as I say, I knew exactly where that yellow rim was.
So I was quite pissed that I didn't put in a more solid effort (a standing sprint, or just an all out effort). That said, I'm not sure how much coming 25th is worth, when you're hiding away the whole way. I came 26th, and it means something, but it means more that I worked helluva hard the whole way and left the whole bunch at the end, except for one wheel sucker.
Next year I might ride with VA. The lesson from this year: start the climb on Harrismith near the front. Oh and another thing: lose about 7kg. Here's a horrifying stat: I weigh 20 kg more than my brother. He did a 2:49, and Alex a 2:35 (7 minutes behind the professionals, which is mean).
All the results are here.
 clipped from www.winningtime.co.zaResults for: Nick van der Leek
 clipped from www.winningtime.co.zaResults for: Alex Otto
 clipped from www.winningtime.co.zaResults for: Casey van der Leek
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