After the Cape Pioneer Trek (CPT) I decided to take part in the last two Spring Classic road league races. I thought these would be good to keep the racing in my legs until the Wines 2 Whales 3-day mountain biking stage race.
My body was rather broken and tied after the CPT so I took it easy the following week. However, this was still not enough and I quickly realized two things as I started the Durbanville league race. This also happened to be my first road race and in that case the first time back on my road bike for quite a few months!
1. My body had still not recovered properly after finishing the CPT one week ago. I was therefore feeling very tied and sluggish. I found myself hanging on for dear life towards the back of the group from the start. Fortunately I was able to hang on and warm up a little and get into the race better.
2. One needs speed for the road! And the CPT wouldn’t have done me any good in this regard!
It didn’t even turn out to be a fast race with an average speed of just over 39km/hr over the 90km. This obviously worked in my favor this time round and I was able to hang on until the end and finish with the front bunch.
The following week was the last race of the year and I could tell that I was starting to feel better and more recovered two weeks down the line of finishing the CPT. Thank goodness because this was a much faster race! This time I even tried to attack the bunch and get ahead up the road. I got a chance to do so, however, I didn’t have anyone else come with me and was left alone. Therefore I didn’t last too long ahead before the bunch swallowed me up again. The bunch kept a high pace for most of the way and no body was able to get away on a break. I had a much better race than the previous week and felt more involved with the actual racing. We covered the 85km route in 2hr1min, with an average speed of just over 42km/hr. That’s quite a big difference compared to the 5 or 6 hour days of the CPT!
Next up, the Contego Wines 2 Whales 3-day mountain biking stage race before a little time out to get married and recuperate before starting with some base miles for next year.
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