MrDLR

Just a warning everyone there is a tree in the the just before satellite road hartbeeshoek turn off R563 so be careful as ther are other people standing there

Thanks Dale I only have two road races left as a junior, now it's all about preparing for next year and racing u/23. I'm thinking of starting a new thread for that but ideally I want to keep this going and developing into a more informative thread but there has to be other juniors that contributed here to keep it relevant.

My first race of the new season that I was actually healthy for was the satellite classic. As always the first +-70km were very fast, the first hour was just under a 45km/h average.the high speeds and relatively large bunch with a lot of riders from other African countries that were all unknown to us created a nervous bunch with numerous close calls but it kept everyone awake. After about 60km I decided to start following attacks as there was a chance that the bunch might let a small group of the front with a small gap especially if all the big teams were present there. Unfortunately the break got away when I decided that I should just stay in the bunch. Once we hit hekpoort it got hard as expected, I manged to hang on till just before the 1km to the kom bord. After I got dropped I decided to just stick to my own rhythm. I managed to get into a small group with two Holland riders two Angolan's and two other riders from teams that I cannot remember. I managed to get second junior behind an Angolan Bruno and 34th overall Ryan Harris was 3rd. Time: 2:38:55 Distance:104km Avg speed:41.62km/h Normalized power:259watts Avg cadence:84 with a Max of 166 Ascent:1049m

The day has finally arrived to leave for Switzerland most of the prep is finished all that is left to do now is getting use to the track there and doing a bit of polishing on our team pursuit. I am looking forward to the racing there and also riding on a wood track for the first time. Our TP is on the 20th and my points race on the 22nd. It's going to be interesting to race there and also to watch the other races and learn from some of the best junior riders and teams in the world. There is an event schedule on the uci web page for more info.

I would have liked to be there but unfortunately it is a bit close to worlds but I'll definitely try and be at the next one

For u/16 the best gears is a 52 front chainring and a 16 cog the smallest at the back. 53 tooth chainrings aren't allowed until u/23

Last weekend was the selection races down in KZN and it was a weekend of hard racing unfortunately I don't have a lot of data as my Garmin decided to give problems but I have got a replacement do hopefully it'll be better in future. The crit started very hard and I got dropped but managed to keep just behind the bunch. In the TT I ended 5th 16 seconds of the winner and only about 0.15 seconds behind 4th rider. The last race was the road race that was changed to a 2 hours plus a lap format. The racing was hard as everyone still wanted to prove themselves and the torrential rain didn't help and caused a few crashes including a close call when Ryan Harris slid out in front of me on one corner and I managed to just miss his hand. I chased a few breaks and once I started to feel better I put in a few attacks and got away in 3 breaks including one good break where Jason oosthuizen crossed over to me after a while Devin short also crossed but didn't work a lot and the bunch eventually caught us at which point I chased one more break by Louis visser after that I was finished do I thought I would try to lead out my teammate Enno swanepoel but once the attacks started again I couldn't respond so I just tried to keep a steady pace till the Finnish. Tomorrow the team that will be sent over to Europe should be announced.

I have to agree that he must do what he likes the most and technically you are only allowed to receive prize money form junior up(so 17-18) although u/16's do get prize money at some of the races and it is sometimes quite good eg. 94.7 where 1st u/16 got about R2500 when I was u/16 2 years ago. Most races are about R500 for first. BUT money must NOT be the priority positive racing in any race is always more rewarding in the long run then any other prize.

The polokwane mayoral race also started out very fast, I felt a lot better than at emperors and mixed it up with the elites trying to go with a few breaks but unfortunately missed the main break of the day. Like at emperors when the break went the pace settled down but was still fast with telkom chasing. After about an hours racing team dark horse also started chasing which made for a fast but mostly steady pace. With about 10kms to go as we were about to catch the break I was unfortunately dead wheeled and couldn't close the gap back to the bunch. Just to give you an idea about how fast the racing towards the end of a race is I tried to keep my speed at +-40km/h and I still lost 4 minutes in the last 10km so there is still a lot of work for me to do. I manged to Finnish 14th overall and the first junior. Time:2:06 Distance:93.3km Avg speed:44.3km/h Normalized power:253 Avg cadence:99 Elevation gain:629m I had an camera on my bike on Sunday so I'll see if I can post some footage on the weekend.

Thanks Sydd I will be going to the selection races. The last two weeks saw some very fast racing at emperors palace and the polokwane mayoral race. First up was the emperors palace classic the race started out very fast with quite a few attacks but nothing getting away. After about 40 min of racing a small break got away and the pace settled abit. The break was caught and the speed started to pick up as we neared the finish I tried to move to the front but lost a bit of position through the last few turns. The finishing straight was very hard and I could only try to hold my position in the bunch. Time:2:08 Distance: 96,7km Avg speed:45.3km/h Normalized power:243 Avg cadence: 98 Elevation gain:604m

Sorry for the lack of reporting, I have been busy preparing for the track SA's which finished today. The SA's went quite well for me and I managed to win the points race, the rest of the racing was nice hard racing and the overall standard has went up which is always good. The best news for me was that I have been chosen as part of the SA team to go to the junior world track Championships which will be held from 20-24 jully in Switzerland. I just want to thank you all for the support. Next up for me is emperors palace and then the mayoral race in polokwane before my full on preparation starts. For a full list of all the riders that were selected and all the results of the SA champs can be found on the CSA website under the track cycling section

This is a great initiative and I hope it goes well let me know if there is anything I can help with. I have a few ideas of how to increase participation but it will take some time.

It was crazy in the elites but i managed to stay upright. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet spoke but I think we were close to each other as I was lucky and just managed to get around on the left. I stuck with the bunch up to chappies but started to far back and could move up I even rode in a small group with one of team savages riders. I hope everyone that crashed heals up soon.

I'm not exactly sure but my mom went to a development meeting today and I asked her if she can get more information about the HP structure. I fall under gauteng north.

Hi Gerald yes I raced yesterday but unfortunately got caught out on the wrong side of a split. Thanks Andy I'll look in to it and there are quite a few other riders that can use a bit more support from csa especially with the current exchange rate it makes it a lot more expensive to go to Europe with out support.