The
Bryton Big 5 mtb series #1
This
weekend saw the first race of the Bryton Big 5 series take place at
the 4 Star Askari Game Lodge close to Magaliesburg. What a cool venue
for a race, in a lodge where there is Rhino and Buffalo as well as a
Lion encampment, that we rode through … The Lions are in quarantine
while a dam is being built in the encampment Cant say I wasn't
slightly nervous about the idea of riding where Rhino and Buffalo
roam free but the organisers had planned the mtb route in such a way
that we wouldn't be riding where the Rhinos and buffalo were. But
still got to see some other game such Bucks, Zebras and Warthog.
So
onto the race and with the form of late I was confident in a good
result again, all I needed to do was stay close to the front and keep
out of trouble. We rolled out of the start with a 5km neutral zone
section and my legs were feeling really good, I mean really good,
like there's no chain its so easy to pedal. The neutral vehicle
pulled over after 5km and the race was on, I was in 2nd
position and happy to let the guy in front of me set the pace. MY
idea was to size up the guys around me and take my opportunities when
they came.
As
luck would have it I had 2 Go Pro cameras attached to the bike today
to try get some good race footage, unfortunately about 15 Min into
the race the front mounted camera broke off, so I slam on brakes and
run back to try and find the camera. Spot it lying in the grass, put
in my pocket while running back to my bike and then set off in
pursuit of the 3 riders in the front of the race.
There
was a nice climb coming up and I that's where I was planning on
testing the front guys, now I was hoping to catch up to the front
group of 3 before the top of the climb. Quickly settled into a nice
quick steady tempo and as we hit the base of the climb I managed to
catch and pass 2 of the 3 riders that were out in front, one rider
left to catch and he had distanced himself while I was in pursuit of
them. The climb was getting real now as the gradients touched 15% and
I was closing on the lone leader, We crested the top together and I
immediately went around him so I could set the pace and try recover
from the effort. I had gone quite hard to get back to the front and
took it easy on the descent that followed to catch my breath.
As
soon as we hit the next little climb I hammered on the pedals, I
wanted to get some distance between myself as soon as I could. I
looked back and saw I had a gap so it was head down and full gas, but
the legs were still a bit jelly after the effort to catch up, I could
see Dale about 100m behind me so I kept a steady pace so that when
the next climb came I could put in a proper effort and get some real
distance on him. The plan worked and by the time I got to the halfway
mark (25km) , Dale was nowhere to be seen, so I just settled into a
high tempo and kept hammering on the pedals.
Legs
were feeling awesome and once again the bike was running smooth and
flawless, a comfortable win which makes it 3 wins in 3 starts. The
last 4 weeks have been really good and form has come at the right
time, hopefully I can hold onto this form for another week and go for
a good result at my second ultra marathon of the year at MTN
Rooiberg.
Just
wanna extend a big thank you to my sponsors @Ballisticbike,
@ghostbikessa, @usnsa. It makes racing a bit easier to have the
backing of awesome sponsors. And lastly I'd like to thank my wife to
be for allowing me to race next weekend with only a week to the
wedding.
The
winter seems to have arrived here so its gonna be time to bring out
the winter kit so I can stay on track.
Check
out some race data on the link attached.
No comments:
Post a Comment