So the second half of the season got under way this past weekend (10th August 2009) with the 110km Carousel Classic situated between Bela-Bela and Pretoria. The start/finish was at the Carousel Casino and Entertainment world which is famous for hosting a number of world title boxing events, but we weren’t there to box, although sometimes in cycling boxing within the peloton is a common thing.
I was the only one representing Bulk Pack Trek on the day with Craig Harvey picking up a bug the night before, Marco van Biljoen was over seas, Mark Ramos and Ilidio Pinto had other commitments. With me being the only one, I had to change things a bit on the day, sit in the back seat and watch the racing unfold and hook a wheel if a move looked threatening.
The VA’s started at 07h05, five minutes behind the juniors and with the route being so flat, it was a given that they were going to get caught considering the restricted gears they ride. With no real climbs except for at the half way mark, 55km’s, it was going to be a tough ask to get away and stay away. The first half of the race was somewhat sedate with the only real attack coming from Hannes Botha from team Computer-Smith, this at about 6km’s in to the race, Hannes leapt off the front and soon built up a healthy lead of about 35-40 secs. With a slight head wind going out it was going to be a tough ask to stay away but TCS were well represented (Philip Fourie, Danie Mare, Sheldon Bole) and maybe looking to force the others to chase down and hit again but nothing came of it and Hannes was reeled in at about the 25km mark.
Approaching half-way, the chaps were getting anxious and I had a feeling that if things were going to happen it was going to be here. With a slight bump followed by a 7km drag and a short sharp kick before the turn-around, I decided to head up the front and pick the pace up a bit and soften the legs of the wheel suckers and then hit slightly harder on the kick. At 6.5% average for 1km just before the turn around we averaged 25kph up the kick and this proved enough to kill off the rest. We had a select group of riders off the front (Arnin Venter, David Labuschagne, Gary Rabie, Hannes Botha, Jacques Fullard, Jacques Maritz, Phillip Fourie, Riaan Kok, myself and a few others) and started working well to get away from any chasers. We caught the juniors at the 75km mark, their race was neutralized and we were allowed to get on with our own. Out of the lead group Jacques Maritz (Black Rock) was very aggressive and attacked the lead group constantly. Soon his hard efforts paid off and with 30km’s to go he attacked and took David Labuschagne (C-Lab) with. This was the decisive break of the day and they stayed away to the end and put 1m42sec in to the rest of the chasers.
All in all it was a pretty boring race for me. I’m happy with my result considering the amount of training I did the previous week (560km’s). Having a BIG week before a race is not the cleverest of things but then again the Carousel is also not such an important race for me. I’m hoping the chaps from Bulk Pack Trek can soon join me; the racing should really be a lot more heated and interesting.
Vets 30+ Results:
1. Jacques Maritz (Black Rock)
2. David Labuschagne (C-Lab)
3. Jaques Fullard (Black Rock)
4. Jeffrey Kriel (Club 100)
5. Jason du Preez (Bulk Pack Trek)
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