Junior road racing in SA

[MrDLR]

Hi everyone I'm a junior cyclist with theofficeguru academy. I have been involved in competitive racing for about 4 years and have been struck by the lack of cover in all aspects of the media of junior road racing which is why I have decided to take it in to my own hands to start getting more interest and hopefully more support going for the juniors.( and what better place than a cycling forum)

 

I'll be posting race reports and other info that will hopefully get people interested and get more riders into the sport. just a quick run down of the current major junior teams( I have the best insight in to  theofficeguru academy as I ride for them) 

 

•  theofficeguru academy (the biggest team in numbers currently run on a club basis it's run alongside the Roadcover pro team (but it is starting to get more support thanks to new sponsors although the club element is still there) based in Gauteng)
• LEADout academy (a strong team run along side the lights by linea team based in Cape Town)
• Aerocare Courant cycling team (another strong team this time from Bloemfontein)

feel free to ask any questions regarding racing and development and I'll try to answer them as best I can.

[MrDLR]

So for my first race report the Johan museeuw classic one of the Belgium interclubs which consisted of 12 laps of 9.7km . yesterday I lined up with 163 of the best junior riders. this was my third interclub and the firs one I have managed to finish. the race started fast with us averaging about 44kph in the first hour with restricted gears but on the third lap a break managed to go clear with one of my teammates hear. I managed to put in a few attacks to try and cross but I couldn't keep the speed past a few hundred meters, in the bunch sprint I got boxed in and almost crashed in the second last corner but managed to stay upright. In the end I finished 83rd from 116 finishers. some stats time 2:41:48

                                                                        average speed 42.53kmph

                                                                        average power 229

                                                                        normalized power 259

[MrDLR]

So today was the Suncity cycle race as the season opener for many riders it's always a good test to see where your form is and as my first race back in SA I was looking forward to it. The juniors raced with the elites which for me is good as it's more of a challenge compared to 10 juniors. The racing started fast with a break managing to get clear but they were soon caught and the racing slowed a bit. In the last 30km the racing really started with speeds of up to 70km/h the last 15km were very hard with the high speed and jockeying for position. I managed to to get into a good position before the last rolers but unfortunately got caught in the wind towards the end. The race was won by Ryan Gibbons and the first junior Eckard Binding while I managed to finish 3rd junior and 21st overall.

The stats of the race.

Time-2:34:28

Avg speed-42.94km/h

Avg power-205

Normalized power-248

[Spoke101]

Nice work keep it up!!!   What is your weight by the way?

[Butterbean]

I hunk it's ridiculous that juniors are able to ave such high race ave speeds. Wow.

 

Nice insight dude. Keep the reports coming!

['Dale]

Sweet stuff

Bring it on

[MrDLR]

I will try to update this as much as possible.I weigh about 66kg at the moment. The speed is high compared to when the juniors ride alone in Sa but in Europe that is what you have to be able to do to compete.

[Hennie VR]

Awesome result at Suncity well done    Don't know what is restricted about your gear ratios if you can avg that speed! 

 

Out of curiosity. Can you perhaps tell me what your avg cadence was for Lost City?

[.Heinz]

I will try to update this as much as possible.I weigh about 66kg at the moment. The speed is high compared to when the juniors ride alone in Sa but in Europe that is what you have to be able to do to compete.

66Kg with which hight..??

[HBO]

Thanks for the updates and I do hope that you succeed in your quest for more exposure.

 

It is a pity that there isn't more support for the juniors. Doesn't Cycle Lab also have a junior team.

 

I do think it's cool to get the international exposure at such a young age.

 

If I may ask, how old are you? You've got some seriaas times there.

 

All of the best with your career.

[MrDLR]

Thanks for all the positive responses. Unfortunately cyclelab doesn't have a junior team and it's quite frustrating having everyone talk about development but not doing anything. I'm lucky that my parents are very supportive of my dreams and are willing to sacrifice a lot of time and money to help develop the sport. I'm about 1.84m at the moment and I'm 17

[MrDLR]

Avg cadence at lost city was 92 with a max of 150. We are restricted to a 52x14 so up to about 55-60km/h it's not that bad if you have the legspeed but after 60km/h you can't peddle for more than a couple of seconds.

[Jerry Lewis]

Great to see a junior take matters into his own hands and report on junior races.The truth be known CSA really have no interest in developing juniors in this country and unless you patents with deep pockets that can send you to Europe to race you not going to improve just racing at home.There needs to be a National Junior Series in SA where juniors just race against juniors on a regular basis. It's a bit unfair to judge juniors who race as part of bigger teams and are at times assisted by their more senior team mates.I know that in joburg juniors often race against junior but this does not happen in the other provinces where some juniors race as Cat 1 riders and others in lesser categories. The CSA road director needs a cannon up his behind to start developing young riders.

[Jerry Lewis]

Great to see a junior take matters into his own hands and report on junior races.The truth be known CSA really have no interest in developing juniors in this country and unless you patents with deep pockets that can send you to Europe to race you not going to improve just racing at home.There needs to be a National Junior Series in SA where juniors just race against juniors on a regular basis. It's a bit unfair to judge juniors who race as part of bigger teams and are at times assisted by their more senior team mates.I know that in joburg juniors often race against junior but this does not happen in the other provinces where some juniors race as Cat 1 riders and others in lesser categories. The CSA road director needs a cannon up his behind to start developing young riders.

[MrDLR]

Thanks 7734gerald you're right that we need a junior league structure that encourages participation and it's something that might be in the works if we can get the support and numbers as even at the biggest races we maybe get 40 riders so in the beginning there won't be a big return to potential sponsors and currently there aren't really people that organise events for just the love of cycling, but if we maybe get schools involved and start a road schools league it can work.

[MrDLR]

So this past weekend was the wilro and I have to say it was one of the worst days I've had in a while I felt a bit of even before the racing began. The race started quite hard with a lot of attacks by Europecar and Abantu with a break almost constantly being away or lots of attacks trying to form a new break. I managed to hang on for 70km and then cracked properly in the last 20km but still managed to hang onto my first place in the juniors

the stats of the race

Time 3:00:42

Avg speed 37.76km/h

Avg power 217

Normalized power 249