Bakwena Race Report

[1hill@aTime]

so i got to the start with a few minutes to spare, then the race started, wow 1st time racing in A group, the pace was right up, up until the turn around we were, well i was on 46ave, the turn around brought along the wind, what a bugger that was, still managing a 2h26 am very happy bout that.

 

Nice meeting a few hubbers, Zaskar on the road, and The Thug and Daemon at the finish line, well done to all, and the guys that came down, hope you recover quickly for next weekends race.

 

does anyone know which channel the race will be shown on?

[Frosty]

Well done 1H - some hard work at the front paid off.

[Zaskar]

Yeah well done guys!! In the last few km i kept seeing your Germiston Wheelers shirts on the front setting the pace, when it seemed that no-one else was willing to do anything about it!

 

Nice riding with again frosty, and meeting you 1 hill! see you guys next weekend then!

[_Daemon_]

Nice meeting you 1hill, missed you somehow in the A bunch.

Managed a 4th place in A bunch myself, quite chuffed, best A finish for me so far.

 

 

 

[Thug]

Nice meeting you 1hill, also met and chatted with Waterbottle in the bunch. 

[BrokeSpoke]

Nice meeting you 1hill' date=' missed you somehow in the A bunch.
Managed a 4th place in A bunch myself, quite chuffed, best A finish for me so far.


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Please let me know what kit you where wearing?. Yours is a marked wheel at the next race. I seemed to be picking every dead wheel in the sprint, and ended up watching from the back!!

[scotty]

Enjoyed the ride, but sure had to work on it. Starting in B group and  going out my legs were a bit stiff but i manged to stick with a small bunch and after a while my legs felt good, did a lot of work at the front when the 1st bunch from C caught us, stayed with them a while but they dropped me just before the half way turn, started another bunch of about 7 but dropped them shortly after the turn into the wind and solo'd for a while before a big bunch of mix B's and C's about 40 strong caught me. I stayed snuggled in the middle of this bunch till the end. About 1km from the end it was a mad dash for position 999 and the predictable happened with a huge crash in front, resulting in half the bunch going down. Manged to avoid it and crossed in 2h52 (pretty poor time when my half way split was 1h10. I was expecting about 2.45)

[1hill@aTime]

Thanx guys, well done frosty, pity i couldnt go for the mad dash for the 20th place, but there was way to much congestion at the line, managed a 30th overall, not to bad, for 1st A group ride.

[frankiefiggs]

Were there any big accidents on the race yesterday? Remember last year there were a few!

[Man with no name]

TCS decided to have a go at the tandem race and we managed to get FIVE bikes to the start - kakaa and spinnekop, Christie and myself, shammy and nochain Piet Laubscher and partner and Chilli Pepper and Beee. Getting to the start I was stunned to see almost 100 tandems!!! This was gonna be a fast race!

 

At the start kakaa and Spinnekop decided to stretch the legs a bit and tore about 20 tandems off the front. Christie and myself sat at the back for a km or two to get a feel of what this bunch wanted to do. At this stage Christie looked back and told me the second bunch was coming back fast and we decided to move to the front to lift the pace a bit, since a 40 bike tandem bunch was not something we had in mind for the day.

 

So getting to the front, we lifted the pace.... for ourselves. Looking back no one responded and we were on our own. We decided to keep the pace steady and take the pressure off kakaa and spinnekop and shammy and nochain. Back in the bunch kakaa/spinnekop played the waiting game to perfection and our gap increased to about 1 minute and about 800 meters.

 

Looking back I could see the bunch react and a small group crossing over. kakaa/spinnekop dragged three others with (Michael Thomson & partner, one other? and Renato Albrecht and partner). Now we were 5 and the pacing really started. We increased the gap to 3 minutes at the turning point and then the fun started as the wind was now head-on.

 

20 ks out kakaa/spinnekop went hard and only took the Thomson tandem with them - we tried to bridge but were cooked. Christie told me to hammer but I felt like one of those plastic Bob the Builder hammers that you buy in Toys R us.... With our mates out in front, we decided to follow the wheels and see how the end played out.

 

Meanwhile out at the front, kakaa/spinnekop realised that Thomson is a formidable track sprinter and being from a well known cycling family, they realised that the meat tenderiser had to come out. Two, three, four attacks... nothing.... and then the elastic snapped. kakaa/spinnekop rode away with about a minute to spare to take the win - lekker okes and well deserved!! Time in the end 2:18

 

Christie and myself got fourth on the line in 2:21, but it seems there was a problem with the third placed tandem (no chip/ no number?) and the organisers awarded the third to us. I mentioned this to them, but they reckoned their results were accurate.

 

Looking at the results I see the first five tandems were DQ'ed. We have reported this to CC and will see what come from it. Long story short, a hard and honest ride and reading the other threads, seems like the best place to get some hard miles in before the big one. See u in the VAs on Sunday, looks like there is lots of fighting talk going on already

 

Chilli and Bee winning the Ladies cat!! Humble apologies for this glaring omission

Man with no name2007-11-12 01:49:47

[amateur]

Hey 5 TCS tandems to the start, don't forget Chilli and Beee

 

Well done girls for winning the ladies tandem cat!!!!

[Chilli Pepper]

Thanks MWNN...  and Beee and me rode for what team?

Thank you, thank you, thank you...  feel the love!

[Chilli Pepper]

Thank you Amateur!  You're the best!

[Man with no name]

Thanks MWNN...  and Beee and me rode for what team?

Thank you' date=' thank you, thank you...  feel the love!

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 MWNN retires into obscurity......

[Team SL]

The winning tandem

 

 

 

Team SL2007-11-12 01:51:24

[Chilli Pepper]

We had a really bad start - got late to the start (our own fault) and ended up at the back of the bunch.  When the front tandems attacked from the word go, we were left looking at them while the people in front of us were still sorting out their cleats, koekies en tee etc... 

 

Worked hard to catch up to a decent bunch, but got dropped again just before the turn - were averaging about 48km/h at that time, then hit the wind...  solo'd for about 20k's before catching up with a Cyclelab lady rider and three other tandems along the way, then could pick up some speed again.  We were second at this stage, then unfortunately/fortunately the Taylor ladies tandem had bad luck with a wheel and we passed them.  (Sorry girls, we had our turn with the Lost City - it sucks I know!)

 

A small VB bunch made some space for us and allowed us to finish with them.  Thank you Dawie Malan, Karel, Joss and others.

 

Finished very happy, but very, very tired!  That tandem sure is heavy going up against the wind!!