A good field of riders is always assured on the start line at the Sabie Classic due to the mountain biking paradise the event takes place in. There was extra incentives for the top riders as it was the last race on the national circuit for a while and one in which valuable UCI points were up for grabs.
It was a solid 10 hour journey from when I left my front door back home to when I arrived in Sabie! After flying to Joberg then catching the Gautrain into Sandton (which was an experience in itself with a large bike bag, 29er wheel box, luggage bag and hand luggage backpack!) to pick up the Audi A4 to get me to Sabie. Worst of all I didn't have my number one supporter, my wife Jayde accompanying me on this trip. Never-the-less my bike and I arrived all fine!
The race was set over 110km and included just over 3000 meters of vertical climbing! With this in mind there was no wasting time as the race started we began climbing. The first major climb came at 11km of which we reached the summit at 1814m in altitude another 14km later. The pace was hard as always but I managed to hang in there. My Cannondale Flash 29er 2x10spd was going like a dream! About halfway up the climb I found myself in the front group of four riders consisting of Karl Platt (Bulls), Adrien Niyonshuti (MTN), Philip Buys (Garmin), and myself. I glanced back to notice that we had dropped the other riders. Although the pace was hard I managed to keep it up all the way to the top of the climb, however, I had to still keep in mind that my GPS was telling me that there was still another 80 odd kilometers to go.
I unfortunately struggled to stay in contact with the other riders on the way down the treacherous decent as I think my tire pressure was too hard and almost lost traction a couple of times. Therefore I had to take it a little easier to avoid going down which is not how I would have liked to end my race after traveling so far to get here! This cost me some time on the leaders, however, I managed to settle into a steady rhythm, which I told myself to keep at until the end of the first 75km loop and then give it everything I had on the last 35km loop.
The last 35km ended up being an exciting battle between Ben Melt Swanepoel, Marc Bassingthwaighte (Garmin), Thomas Zahnd (DCM) and myself as we diced each other’s fatigued bodies to the finish line. I ended up coming in just a few second behind them to take 9th position in a time of 5hrs08min.
1st: Karl Platt (Bulls)
2nd: Philip Buys (Garmin)
3rd: Adrien Niyonshuti (MTN)
Nice work!
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