Great to hear that there were fewer crashes this year, although the one by the finish line looked very sore 😬. My "race" didn't go according to plan as the plan was never to take pulls at the front but try and hold on until Suikerbossie. I arrived a bit "late" to the 1B starting chute (15min before gun fires), and took my place at the back row.
Long story short, I couldn't move up when the gun went and on Hospital Bend I got caught behind a split and I knew that it going to be a tough day. Ended rotating pulls with a few people until we got to Edinburgh where I drove the pace and by the time we got to the top of the climb there were only three of us remaining. M3 downhill was hard stayed at the front rotating with the other two until we got caught by 1C train which we hopped on and it carried us until Smits where the group swelled again and I got spat out the back (again), and we formed a 2nd group which took us all the way to Chappies and again we split, and by the time we descended there were groups of twos, threes, and fours that formed and disintegrated along the rest of the route. Crossed the finish line in 3:14, my first Sub-4 after 3 previous tries, happy with how it all turned out although Sub-3 would've been nice.
Lesson learnt: I need to train more, increase FTP and learn to surge and hold an Anaerobic effort so that I'm not caught behind splits again. The vibe was great along the route, grateful to be able to participate in such a great event.
