Junior road racing in SA

[Ryno.]

as a fellow Junior I Totally agree with you Dylan , the only opportunity we as juniors have to compete against each other in our own tour is the youth festivals but due to poor marketing there isn't enough competitors although there is a huge interest for similar races.

 

Thanks to Spur and Anatomic the High School MTB series has been quite successful and is a great development opportunity By creating regular races that is inexpensive to enter . If we can have the same opportunity for road cycling the future of the sport would be bright.

[MrDLR]

This past weekend was the rand water race for victory this time we raced with the 50+ and u/16 bunch. There were two of the aerocare riders there so I knew there would be good competition. The race started with a atack from George Farria I tried to cross to him but I was chased down. A little while later Eckard binding atacked and I managed to cross to him with Michael Pretorius 6km into the race and we were away. Luckily we worked well together but I was outnumbered and knew I had to get rid of one of them to have a better chance to win. Fortunately and unfortunately Michael had problems with his gears which helped me but I would have wanted get rid of him in another way not with a machanical. So it left me and Eckard alone for the last 30kms home. I knew I had to try something as Eckard is a good sprinter so with 5kms to go I tried to break away but my legs weren't responding so it ended in a sprint which Eckard managed to take so I ended up second in the juniors.

Time 2:42:18

Avg speed 38.9km/h

Avg power 226

Normalized power 254

['Dale]

This past weekend was the rand water race for victory this time we raced with the 50+ and u/16 bunch. There were two of the aerocare riders there so I knew there would be good competition. The race started with a atack from George Farria I tried to cross to him but I was chased down. A little while later Eckard binding atacked and I managed to cross to him with Michael Pretorius 6km into the race and we were away. Luckily we worked well together but I was outnumbered and knew I had to get rid of one of them to have a better chance to win. Fortunately and unfortunately Michael had problems with his gears which helped me but I would have wanted get rid of him in another way not with a machanical. So it left me and Eckard alone for the last 30kms home. I knew I had to try something as Eckard is a good sprinter so with 5kms to go I tried to break away but my legs weren't responding so it ended in a sprint which Eckard managed to take so I ended up second in the juniors.

Time 2:42:18

Avg speed 38.9km/h

Avg power 226

Normalized power 254

Awesome reporting, man

Can you also include total ascent so I can get more perspective

[pe3nguin]

Probably my favourite thread on the Hub at the moment. Fascinating stuff.

[MrDLR]

Thanks a lot. 'Dale My Garmin shows a ascent of 778m

[Raff]

Hi MrDLR I just wanted to ask you if all those teams allow u/16's in it and how would you get into one of those teams as i am a u/16 myself and I have been doing well in league races and ppa races especially now that i am in the B group.

[Raff]

Hi MrDLR I just wanted to ask you if all those teams allow u/16's in it and how would you get into one of those teams as i am a u/16 myself and I have been doing well in league races and ppa races especially now that i am in the B group.

[MrDLR]

Hi Raff currently the Roadcover academy is the only team that really has u/16 riders. We work on a club structure so if you want to join you can. Otherwise I would suggest talking to the leadout management to organize something as you'll get more support from them at the local races.

[MrDLR]

Hi everyone this coming week 6-8 Oct the Bloemfontein youth festival (previously known as the eric van ente and held in Gariep) will be taking place. It use to be one of SA's premier events on the junior calendar with categories from u/10 to juniours taking part. The program includes a road race at Groot vlei just outside bloemfonteinon the 6th, team time trial at arcadia winkel 7th, long crit at brandkop race track also on the 7th and short crit at tempe military base on the 8th. If you are in the area please come and support us as some of today's top elite riders have participated here in the past including Gustav Bason, Morné van Nieker, Nicholas Dlamini and Jevandre Paulse so you'll be witnessing the future of South African racing

[Chane]

Good luck to all the Gauteng-North cyclists!

 

Today is road race day @ Bloem Youth Festival!

 

Enjoy! 

 

Tuesday from 09:00 on De Wetsdorp road:

-      Road races Junior men (90km), Junior ladies and u/16 boys (70km) and u/16 girls + u/14 boys (50km)

Tuesday from 14:00 at Brandkop:

-      Road races for u/14 girls + u/12 boys (22km), u/12 girls + u/10 boys (18km) and u/10 girls (14km)

[rpedro]

Good luck to all the WP and Kinetic Cycling Club riders !!!

[MrDLR]

Sorry about the lack of information but the organization there was a bit lacking. There was some good competition from the WP and Free state riders. The road race was an out and back route with A LOT of large potholes and drags. The race started fast with atacks from all the teams at about 5 kms a break of 2 riders from WP and Free State got away. As I wasn't feeling good and was working for our teams two sprinters John Vlok and Maurice Moller i chased them. When I caught them it was on a drag so I decided to keep a good tempo to the top. As we reached the top Louis Visser atacked and I decided to bridge over to them and so the break started. After about 30km my two teammates crossed over to me so it was up to me again to try and control the race. After the turn around point the atacks started up again. I was constantly closing down atacks and at the 60km mark my legs gave in. My teammates got 5th and 7th as a break got away towards the end so all in all it was a good day of team work. Unfortunately my power meter gave a bit of trouble so I don't have so much data. I'll post it at the end of my reports

[MrDLR]

Day two was the team time trial and criterium heats that took place at tempe instead of the usual venue at brandkop. Our team felt confident before the team time trial as we have had good results on this route in the past although the conditions were a bit different than the usual with a cross head wind coming in instead of on the out bound leg. We tried to build the speed going out and we managed to keep it at about 45-48km/h going out after the turn around it got really hard and we had to work very hard to keep the pace up as it drags on the way back and with the head wind we struggle but managed to keep the speed at about 40km/h. We finished in a time of 41:53 and beat the next team by 1:10. Next up was the crit heats we had a really good showing with everyone of our riders racing positively and managed to qualify our whole team.

[Butterbean]

Absolutely love this thread. Keep it up and well done on the racing!!!!

[MrDLR]

Day three was the crit finals at tempe it started well with the u/10 boys and girls up to u/12 boys and u/14 girls but during their race things got crazy as there were a few tanks and other military vehicles on the route that were doing training as the organiser forgot to ask the one battalion if they could hold a race there and they couldn't stop the training of drivers and patrol drills. So, midway through, everybody had to pack up and move to Brandkop. As I still wasn't feeling 100% with the dry air and heat I decided to rather play mechanic for the day and it's a good thing I did as there were a lot of punctures and even one rider who had breathing problems almost like asthma at the far side of the track. Our team raced well but again a break got away so John sprinted to 3rd after doing a lot of hard work. All in all it was a fun few days on and of the bike with a great group of people and also thanks to the Gauteng managers and parents that worked hard to keep everything thing organized and positive despite a lot of mistakes by the organiser

[MrDLR]

So yesterday was the 947 and this will be the last race report of the year. The juniors started with the elites and it was a tough day out as everyone was gunning for it. The race started out hard with a lot of attacks. The pace settled down a bit until we had done about 15km where a group of elites got away. I decided to try and bridge to them as there were constantly small groups trying to cross I have to admit it was one of the hardest things I have ever done going from just hanging on to the bunch to sprinting to get on to faster groups. I managed to catch the break and I thought we were away but unfortunately the bunch caught us and I knew the attacks were going to start again but luckily I think everyone was feeling like I was and there weren't any major attacks until quite a bit later. The bunch stayed together up to about 65km where the bunch split. I thought there were still juniors in the front bunch so I chased with a few elites and juniors and we managed to catch them at about 80km where the bunch split and I was on the wrong side AGAIN. It was very hard through Steyn city and I must say the circles and bumps keep you focused. Unfortunately my power meter packed up again and I'm a bit upset as it would have been very good data.the basic data is

Time2:17:02

Distance 93,2km

Avg speed 40.8km/h

Ascent 1454m

 

So the prep for next year starts now and I'm feeling positive.

 

I just want to thank you all for all the support and positive feedback back. I'll try to update this as much as possible between cycling and school next year. All suggestions about how I can improve this and ideas about how to conect more with a wider support base for all the juniors will be greatly appreciated.