Having finally moved away form the terrible southern suburb races, the Spring League headed out towards Paarl, for a relatively flat and fast tour of the platteland (and of course Helshoogte). Bonte and Yolanda won't necessarily agree with that route description, and will tell you it was a hilly course with plenty of undulation. It seems to be a matter of perspective.
Anway, enough bickering about the route. I had had a tough training ride the day before, and so had Craig, and we were both quite content to chill in the bunch until Helshoogte. Yet again, I got stuck in between the main bunch and the chase bunch, but was still quite happy with how I climbed. The race came back together with about 15km to, and I decided to stay out of trouble at the back, and let the fearless guys fight it out in the sprint. With about 5kms to go MC went down hard, which made me drop even further off the back - I will save the pain and suffering for the Epic. After a very argy bargy sprint finish, I caught up with Christian, my old team mate, who mumbled to me something about the fact that he thinks he won the race.
To put this race into perspective - for the last 4 years, him and I have studied the run up to the finish line, and marked exactly where one should make their move for the sprint. Christian has always believed that he could win this ride. And he did. Well done.
Have a look at that smile:
Anway, enough bickering about the route. I had had a tough training ride the day before, and so had Craig, and we were both quite content to chill in the bunch until Helshoogte. Yet again, I got stuck in between the main bunch and the chase bunch, but was still quite happy with how I climbed. The race came back together with about 15km to, and I decided to stay out of trouble at the back, and let the fearless guys fight it out in the sprint. With about 5kms to go MC went down hard, which made me drop even further off the back - I will save the pain and suffering for the Epic. After a very argy bargy sprint finish, I caught up with Christian, my old team mate, who mumbled to me something about the fact that he thinks he won the race.
To put this race into perspective - for the last 4 years, him and I have studied the run up to the finish line, and marked exactly where one should make their move for the sprint. Christian has always believed that he could win this ride. And he did. Well done.
Have a look at that smile: