Race Report: Engen Dynamic Cycle Challenge

This weekend was yet another good one for the Team MTN Qhubeka Ladies making it three wins in a row for our team.

We headed to Durban for the Engen Dynamic Cycle Challenge.  As team we have been racing really well since returning from some European racing a few months ago and we were excited to continue our good performances of the past few weeks. 

This has been the first time that many of us had raced this race but we were quietly confident in our ability as a team to do well.  In my opinion this route is the best on the South African calendar with its perfect mix of longer climbs, power climbs, wide open flat roads and a bit of wind.  I think we all really enjoyed this race.

Our plan was to get a couple of our non-climbers up the road before the big climb that started at around the 10km mark.  We were then hoping to get at least one of our climbers over to the leading group on the climb. 

Early in the race we started to put pressure on the other riders by launching a few attacks.  An-Li Pretorius put in a good hard effort on the bottom of the climb with Cherise Taylor, Team USN, closely behind.  An-Li almost took a wrong turn and lost a bit of momentum as a result.  At that time Cherise had a little bit of a gap on the field.  I jumped across to her.  Knowing that I could probably not outsprint Cherise I sat on her wheel for about 1km before attacking her.  I did not expect to be able to get away but racing my strengths I was hoping to put her under some pressure up the climb at least.  When I looked back I actually had a good gap and I just kept going.  With almost 90km still left in the race I knew it was going to be a long day.  Knowing that I had four teammates behind me that could step up at any time if something were to go wrong gave me all the confidence I needed to put in a 120% effort up front. 

I finished the 97km race in a time of 2:51:32.  From what I hear my teammates raced the perfect race behind me with Jeaun-Mari Breytenbach taking the bunch sprint and finishing 2^nd in a time of 2:56:53, An-Li Pretorius 3^rd and Charlotte van der Merwe 5^th.  Cherise Taylor finished the race in 4^th place.

On days like this I really cannot go without my SRM powermeter.  Having a way of pacing your effort over 90km really makes the job at hand just that much easier.  With the help of our team coach, Dr Carol Austin, we have made significant improvements as a team and as individuals in such a short time.  It gives me great confidence knowing that I follow the best possible training program.  We get better and better with every race we do and I cannot wait to see what the rest of the season has in store for us.

Watch our team grow:

October

Engen Dynamic Cycle Challenge – 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd

September

Rand Water Race for Victory – 1^st and 2^nd

MTN Zoo Lake Criterium – 1^st and 2^nd

D2D Cycle Race – 2^nd and 3^rd

August

Randfontein EPR Cycle Challenge – 3^rd

Clover Lowveld Cycle Tour – 1^st

July

Bio-Anabolic Jock Cycle Classique – 1^st and 2^nd