Morning Killarney Race Report #6 from Scratch + 1 perspective.. It’s Wednesday. It’s Killarney. And the Social Media at our local Cycling Club, The Outriders, was inundated with messages spurring everyone to come and enjoy some hard training. This Wednesday was a little bit different, in that it was a little bit harder.. In fact: week after week the sun has been setting later, so we’re now getting close to racing the full hour + 1 lap, normally around 46 km. The very first Wednesday Killarney session 6 weeks ago was only 23 km.. So it’s longer, but what made last night particularly interesting was the fact that The Cape Doctor is now out of hibernation and it was particularly evident on Race Night. Wednesday Killarney Racing is normally synonymous with high winds. This is great news for the strong riders, as there’s very little place to hide. The wind definitely separates the men from the boys. The normal Outrider Gang turned up and lined up at the start. We decided to start in Scratch + 1 again. Our aim once again was to try and stay away from The Elites as long as possible. Our very own South African Time Trial specialist, Frans Cronjé, was allowed to head off on his own again. We called him “The Rabbit”, as we’d be trying to chase him down.. Our Scratch + 1 bunch started with a bang again. Checking my Heart Rate, it jumped up from 60 to around 150 in about 3 seconds!, and remained there for the remainder of the race. There were a few surges from the front, but generally we rode together with the stronger riders trying to do their turn in the front. With the imminent arrival of the Scratch / Elite peloton, the pace slowed down a bit and everyone tried to get one last gulp of energy drink. At around 30 minutes the Scratch bunch blasted past and most of moved towards the back to see how far we’ll be able to hang on. The quality of the Elites were particularly impressive. Each corner seemed to be a sprint, so it felt like there was about 4 x sprints per lap. After about a dozen of these sprints, Robin Harris (the only Cycles Direct rider left over) and I decided that we’d save a bit of energy for this weekend’s race – we slowed down and joined in the 2nd chasing group again. The only Outrider left was Angelo, and he was still going strong in the Elite bunch. There was around 4 laps left to the finish, and we did some pace work within the 2nd group. The ladies were still holding, showing us boys that they’ve got the talent, stamina and strength to mix it with all the testosterone flying about! Sara Muhl, Bianca Holtzkampf-Mayer (City Cycling Club) and Lolita van Aardt (The Outriders) did amazingly well and finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. Well done girls!, I was honestly impressed with your performance. The rest of our bunch went for the final sprint with Mario and Lance from The Outriders leading out down the back straight, with Douglas, CWC and Cycles Direct guys joining in the mix. But by the time we finished though, the Elites were already having Cokes and exchanging smiles, and we found out afterwards that there was a mini-breakaway with Raymond Cox taking the win, Kyle Donachie racing for 2nd and Christiaan Kriek came in 3rd. The race for the points jersey (currently with Alex Heward – 5th on the night), is definitely hotting up! Well done to our very own Angelo that finished around 12th on a tough night of racing. Stats: · Scratch + 1: Distance 41 km, Avg 39.1 kmph, HR Avg 156 Max 172 · Scratch: Distance 43 km, Avg 43.1 kmph. Cadence 83, HR Avg 174 Max 185 (Rudie Kellerman, 9th) Thanks to our normal supporters, and for Bernie Viljoen taking the photos. Midge / Sharon for organising as usual. And a big thank you to all the riders. The atmosphere is electric, there were a few riders farming (going off-road), but all-in-all I’m very impressed with the courtesy between riders. Rgds, Denny
