Nationals
We headed out to Nelspruit for the National Championships which was held from the 1st through the 4th of March. Our team had a training camp in Nelspruit a couple of weeks ago. We did a time trial simulation and trained on the route for the road race so we knew what to expect. Having been familiar with both routes gave us a bit of a competitive edge which is necessary in an event of this significance.
I went out to Nationals with the TT as my main focus mainly due to the rolling nature of the route as well as the fact that a TT usually is a race over which you personally have much control over the outcome. I spent a lot of time on the TT bike leading up to the event. Based on the race simulation that we did on the route during training camp our coach, Dr Carol Austin, was able to prescribe very specific intervals that imitated the surges due to the undulating nature of the route. I never felt more prepared for a race. On the day the sport of cycling proved yet again its uncontrollable nature even under the best of circumstances. The first part of the TT was going well until I started to feel some resistance coming from the back wheel. After the turnaround this worsened dramatically. I got off the bike twice to try and release the breaks thinking that it was causing the resistance but nothing was working. As it turned out the hub cap of the disk wheel came loose and forced the wheel to rest “comfortably” on the left break pad. Having worked so hard in preparation of this race there was obviously no words to describe my disappointment. The fact that we only get to race this discipline in South Africa once or maybe twice a year made the disappointment even worse to deal with.
Road Race
We were facing two laps of an undulating route with a total race distance of 110km. It was Karien van Jaarsveld, Charlotte van der Merwe, An-Li Pretorius and myself lining up for Team MTN Qhubeka. The day before the race we drove the route with manager, Carri-Ann Botha, once more to make sure that we knew the crucial parts of the race. The climb out of Nelspruit was surely going to be the deciding part of the race. This climb had three uphill sections. We expected Momentum Toyota to make the climbs as hard as possible by setting a steady tempo and by attacking and counter attacking. Knowing the route well we decided that I would attack on the last part of the three uphill sections. If you were not familiar with the route it would appear that the climbs were done but then it kicks up for about another 300m. The race went exactly as we thought it would and I was able to launch a counter attack at just this spot after an attack by one of the Momentum Toyota riders. At the time it was only Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and Joanna van de Winkel, both from Team Momentum Toyota that could respond. We quickly had a sizeable gap on what was left of the remaining bunch. After some deliberation we worked well together for the rest of the lap. Ashleigh thought that it might be too early in the race but I have been in long breakaways in the races leading up to the event and was confident that the move would succeed. I did not quite account for all the attacks that I would later be subjected to though. It was at the start of the second lap that the attacks from both Ashleigh and Joanna started coming. They did a good job of racing together attacking and counter attacking each other to make it difficult for me. Having done a lot of race specific intervals I was able to close all the attacks. With about 20km to go it became clear that the race would finish in a sprint. Joanna was leading it out for Ashleigh with me on her wheel and Ashleigh on my wheel. Not having much experience in the sprinting department I took the sprint a bit too early and Ashleigh came past me just before the finish. Although winning is always better I have to be happy with a second place after not being able to finish this race last year. Teammates An-Li Pretorius and Karien van Jaarsveld did not disappoint and finished 5th and 6th respectively.
Just like the terrain in Nelspruit Nationals surely had its ups and downs this year. I am now looking forward to the Argus in Cape Town this weekend.
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