Junior road racing in SA

[Wez-O]

Nice MrDLR, all the best with the new season.

 

By the way, One of the big Vets teams will not only be entering a womans team next year, but also a junior team. Good to see attention being given to both groups of the sport.

[MrDLR]

Thanks yes it is good that some of the smaller racing categories are getting more teams which leads to better racing and faster improvements for everyone

[Wez-O]

Thanks yes it is good that some of the smaller racing categories are getting more teams which leads to better racing and faster improvements for everyone

Absolutely 

[Cargyrl]

Nice MrDLR, all the best with the new season.

 

By the way, One of the big Vets teams will not only be entering a womans team next year, but also a junior team. Good to see attention being given to both groups of the sport.

I think the ladies racing, all ages, is going to get interesting in the next couple of years. Next year is going to be fun watching SA's as well as Gauteng Champs. 

 

Hoping to be able to watch all of this in comfort as a team manager in a team car, or in the commissaire's car ... happy days. 

 

PS - anybody looking for a licensed team manager ... I am one, I would like to support a ladies racing team in Gauteng. Have extensive experience in Track and Road Racing, nationally and internationally on the track. 

[MrDLR]

Hi everyone hope everyone enjoyed the holiday. There are some races down here in PE with three crits a track day and a short road race(72km). So if you are around PE and you don't know what to do you can come and ride. The crits start at 17:00 at koega. There is more information on east cape cyclings website

[MrDLR]

Hi all my first major race of the season was a chaotic one. The fast one. The morning started like any other race morning but would soon change when my mother came back from the team managers meeting she told us that we were starting with the elites 15 minutes earlier, not a major problem apart from the fact that the juniors with out TM's didn't know. Some juniors started with the elites including me but 10km out we were called out of the bunch and told to wait for the other juniors. So we ended up standing next to the road for about 15min. Once we were all together they restarted the race. About 30km in to the race my teammate Eckard and I got in to a break with 3 other riders we were eventually pulled back after about 10km by the new vwe junior team that only had one rider in the break. Our team then decided to try and keep the bunch together for a sprint. In the final stretch we fell apart a bit and because of a miscommunication and misjudgement of the finishing strait Eckard whent a bit to early but all in all it was a good day as it was the first time that most of us rode together as a team.

 

The race's stats are

Distance 95.5km

Time 2:27:40 (excluding the stop)

Avg speed 38.78km/h

Normalized power 254

Avg cadence 95

Ascent 662m

[MrDLR]

Hi all I hope everyone that rode the berge en dale yesterday had a good race. the berge and dale is always a hard race and the extra distance only made it tougher. the juniors started with the elites and actually stayed with them  . I made sure I started close to the front as I learned my lesson last year that if you start even in the middle you'll miss the split. Eckard Binding(my team mate), Jason Oosthuizen, Michael Pretorius and I managed to make the front split with the elites but missed the break. we managed to stay with them and I even did a bit of chasing when a small split started forming on one of the down hills, even thou I spun like crazy, and later on when the attacks started up again at about 70km I managed to put in a small attack. I manage to stick till about 98km in where the hills got a bit tough. fortunately Michael also dropped just after me and I managed to catch him but as is my luck just as I caught him and got back in contention for a podium finish I got a puncture on almost exactly 100km and that meant I would have to settle for 4th junior and 30th overall. My team mate Eckard managed second while Jason Oostuizen won. After the main race we took part in the Protouch crit it was actually very nice but unfortunetly I started at the back just to play it safe as I didn't want to take to many chances before SA's. but as I rode I started to feel better through the corners but it was to late and I got pulled off when I was lapped by the leaders. The next race for me will be the SA's tt in Wartburg on Thursday

 

my stats for the race time 2:38:49

                           distance 107km

                        avg speed 40.56km/h

            normalized power 265 watts

                    avg cadence 94

                              ascent 1233m

[Frosty]

Hi all my first major race of the season was a chaotic one. The fast one. The morning started like any other race morning but would soon change when my mother came back from the team managers meeting she told us that we were starting with the elites 15 minutes earlier, not a major problem apart from the fact that the juniors with out TM's didn't know. Some juniors started with the elites including me but 10km out we were called out of the bunch and told to wait for the other juniors. So we ended up standing next to the road for about 15min. Once we were all together they restarted the race.

 

cut, cut, cut.

It's a pity your race had to be stopped and disrupted.

 

After seeing the Juniors race with the Elites at the 947, and your PM to me earlier this year, it's disappointing (but not surprising) to see the mess-up at the start despite having received assurance that the juniors would be racing most races with the Elites. I guess the lack of communication is one reason.

 

On the entry for the Carnival City Macsteel National Classic, it shows that Juniors are riding 103km, but they are riding the 120km and start with the Elites. It hasn't changed as entries opened before the request came through. I will ensure each Junior receives confirmation of the change.

 

Good luck with your season, looking forward to seeing the younger generation represent us on the World stage in the years to come.

[MrDLR]

Thanks Gerald it's people like you that help us develop faster and get further faster.

['Dale]

Awesome updates, man

Very cool reading ????

['Dale]

What's your weight, if you can disclose, to really appreciate your performance levels?

[MrDLR]

Thanks Dale about 67kg at the moment

[TALUS]

This is a cool read.

['Dale]

Thanks Dale about 67kg at the moment

Thanx

Those are good numbers then

 

All the best!!!

[Rocket-Boy]

Off topic but on topic, I met a youngster from Barbados a few years ago in an online game and have kept in contact since then. He has just turned pro and is cycling the EU circuit.

Its mental the kind of power some of the youngsters can put out!! he sent me some stats and its pretty much on par with what some of the tour pro's are doing.

 

It seems if you ever want to get a serious career going then you need to head to the EU asap and get racing on that side.

[MrDLR]

You are right the standard of junior racing in Europe is a lot higher than in sa. Thankfully I'm lucky enough that my parents are capable of sending me to Europe and I plan on going there for as long as I can, I'll just have to see how long I can afford to miss school.