2011 Epic experience

Team USN comprised of myself and Sally Bigham as we set out to ride the ABSA Cape Epic. The Epic battle began a few days ago with a prologue in Tokai. How much fun can one have on bike? Beautiful singletrack, and sitting close on Sally's wheel- she is technically gifted. We were fast, but lost about 3 minutes- 2 minutes because my chain got jammed and another 1 minute because I flew over the handlebars. I do believe that we are favoured in the universe because the battle could have ended right there after just 25km's. Always a front brake involved, and on such a steep drop I was going one way only, and that was down. With my rubber bones in tact we finished second on the prologue and the first 2 stages, closely behind the Colnago team.

Stages 1 to 3 were challenging days. The days were long, technical and temperatures high. The best part of the day was finishing on the podium and being invited into the ABSA winners lounge. Here you got to sit down, water buckets with sponges, hand held showers and recovery drinks awaited. Stage 3 was one of the hardest rides I have ever done. Sand, stone and plenty of bike wrestling made this stage a very rewarding one to win.

Stage 3 gave us confidence as we were surprised the night before to be handed the brown leaders at prize giving. "Team USN inherited the race lead after Stage 2 when early leaders, Schneitter and Lechner were handed a one-hour penalty for infringing the race’s ‘outside assistance’ rule." This was a surprise, as our initial strategy was to ride consistently and conservatively over all 8 days. We had to stay really focused now as we were now being chased and not chasing.

All of the racing excitement is really hard to tone down in an event like the Epic. I have heard that recovery is the most important part of a stage race, and being it was critical to stay focused each and every day for the next day's race. There are so many variable and if your eye is off the mark for one moment everything can change. So this meant waking up before 5 am to eat, warm up, race, having a shower after the race, getting a massage, getting back to the guest house, eat pasta, prepare bottles, bikes and race food, try and relax, sometimes do a recovery spin, get to prize giving, eat more, get home, sleep- force yourself...

Support on at the Epic is key. John Hooper looked after our massages. After the 4th day, the massage turned into a mere stroke but it helped a lot. Jake came for support and cooked me pasta for the first time :-) Amongst other things of course. Bike mechanic is critical, Dave Paddfield (Sally's man) serviced our bikes every day. The bikes take such a beating and they need constant attention. Dave was a dream. Although he made us carry more spares, heavier tyres and extra sealant... This was well worth it because with our technical abilities, we would have been far worse off had we taken risks.

On equipment, we both used SRAM xx. Light but it served us well. We were both on Continental UST's and these proved to be bomb proof. Spokeworks built me some ZTR podiums which were great. Sally is hard core she rode a Canon hardtail! I went for comfort with my Cannondale Scalpel full suspension- the bike is light so it was nice to have the suspension on the really rocky bits.

That was that, months of preparation and Epic build up. My coach Dr Carol Austin has taken a few athletes through this proces. Her experience in managing expectations and prescribing a goal focused training program was key.

In a nut shell, it was about training for long hours, racing hard, nutrition, recovery and support. On nutrition USN served me well. Epic pro is a great drink with right amount of carbohydrates, protein and electrolytes. I had 2-3 servings during each stage and another for recovery. Of all the products available this specific one made my Epic experience a lot easier.

Small team, big heart and even bigger ambitions

The Nashua team might be one of the smaller professional women’s cycling teams, but their results during the past few weeks show that bigger does not necessarily mean better.

The Nashua girls have proven that they are not just there to make up numbers in the peloton. They are racing to win.

Just during the past two weeks Cherise Taylor won the mixed category of the Panorama Tour with Graeme Cronjé; Milandi Cronje and Sarah Chemaly won the women’s category of the Panorama Tour in which Jeaun-Mari Breytenbach and Eugenie Gouws finished 2nd overall.

Actually, the Nashua riders dominated the tour with their three teams by winning a total of eight stages.

The past weekend Karien van Jaarsveld finished 2nd in the Tour Durban.

Nashua can also boast with four SA road champions. Taylor is the elite champion, Gouws the junior champion and Monique Gerber the u.16 champion, while Heidi Dalton is the u.16 time trial champion. Moreover, Chemaly won the SA Junior Tour for girls.

All of this happened in just four months.

Chances are excellent that there will be a Nashua rider on the winner’s podium during the prize-giving ceremony at the forthcoming Karkloof Mountain Bike Marathon on Sunday, 9 May.

In the last three MTN marathons Van Jaarsveld finished 2nd twice and Taylor was in the 4th position.

Van Jaarsveld cannot wait to get dirty at Karkloof, but Taylor is not quite sure that she will enjoy it.

“I will be honest. I really did not enjoy racing at Clarens. It is, therefore, important to prove to myself at Karkloof that mountain biking can actually be an enjoyable sport,” the SA road champion said.

Reverting back to the Panorama Tour, it is interesting to note that a bathroom scale has probably, albeit indirectly, played a role in Milandi Cronjé becoming a winner on her bike. Earlier this year she also won the Cormorant race.

The 21-year old Cronjé said that she only started to cycle two years ago. One of the reasons for taking up cycling was that she did not appreciate the numbers she saw when she got onto her bathroom scale.

“I realized that I had to do something if I wanted the scale to show me smaller numbers. It seemed logical to start cycling because my boyfriend was also a keen cyclist. At first I did not even have a bicycle of my own, so I had to borrow my brother’s.

“Cycling is definitely addictive. The moment I started to master the various cycling techniques and began to understand what the racing tactics were all about, I could not wait to test myself against the other riders. It is exciting to watch yourself getting stronger with every race but, if I am honest with myself, it will still take a while before I will be able to consider myself a really good cyclist.”

Cronjé describes herself as an all-rounder.

“I can climb with the best and I am also a capable sprinter, but I don’t think I will ever be the best sprinter or climber. My best chance to win races will be in a breakaway by a small group.”

If there is one race that Cronje would love to win, it is the OFM Classic because she is a born and bred Bloemfontein girl.

She also looks forward to the Amashovashova because she reckons that there will be a good chance that a small group of riders will manage to get away in a break and stay in front.

Van Jaarsveld nearly misses the win at Tour Durban

Karien van Jaarsveld (Nashua) produces a surprise every time she gets on her bicycle.

She did it again this past weekend when she finished 2nd in the women’s race of the Tour Durban. Marissa van der Merwe (MTN-Energade) was the winner, with Robyn de Groot (MTN-Energade) finishing 3rd.

What is amazing about the 28-year-old Van Jaarsveld’s performance, is that this is only her first year of professional racing and it was only the 2nd time that she represented Nashua in a road race.

Listening to Van Jaarsveld talking about Sunday’s race, it sounds as if she might have surprised even herself.

The deciding moment of the race occurred after about 20 kilometers of racing when Van der Merwe decided to launch an attack.

The moment Van der Merwe managed to open a gap, Van Jaarsveld decided by herself: ‘No, you are not getting away’.

After a hard chase, she caught up with Van der Merwe and the two of them worked well together to obtain a lead of about 55 seconds.

Van Jaarsveld admits that she did not expect at any stage that they would stay in front for 85 kilometers.

“There was a time when Marissa contemplated to sit up and let the bunch catch up with us. I persuaded her to keep going and from then on we managed to keep increasing our lead. At the turn-about we had a gap of about five minutes.

“It was reassuring for both of us to know that, if we should make a mess of things, it would not be the end of the world. We had team-mates back in the peloton who could finish what we had started.

“Unfortunately I messed up my sprint because I was in a too heavy gear when Marissa accelerated. But, luckily, it was not the end of the world. It is exciting for me to notice that I improve with every race.

“At the moment I am just so hungry to race. I actually wish I could race again today.”

According to Van Jaarsveld the fact that she also competes in mountain bike marathons definitely helped her during Sunday’s race.

“During a mountain bike race you learn to push yourself through the pain barrier and this enables you to race for a few hours at a fast pace.”

Judging by Van Jaarsveld’s performances so far this year, it would not be wrong to give her the nickname of ‘Silver Maiden of SA women’s cycling’.

Van Jaarsveld finished 2nd in both the MTN Barberton Mountain Bike Marathon and the MTN SA Marathon Championship in Sabie.

She is quite confident that she will take the step upwards on the winner’s podium before the end of the year.

“I know I can win. It is just a matter of biding my time and making the most of my opportunities.”

The Karkloof experience for Nashua Ladies

For the average mountain biker fixing a puncture is simply a matter of ‘doing what comes naturally’, while a road cyclist who punctures only has to raise a hand to ask for help. Nine times out of ten, a team car will pull up alongside the cyclist within a few seconds and a mechanic will jump out to fix the puncture.

In view of this, funny things can happen when a road cyclist decides to get ‘down and dirty’ by participating in a mountain bike race and then punctures during the race.

Cherise Taylor (Nashua), the South African road champion, can vouch for this after this past weekend’s Karkloof marathon in KwaZulu-Natal.

Her race began quite comfortably. She actually surprised everybody when, after the first few kilometers, she became involved in, and survived, a tactical battle with Carla Rowley and Karien van Jaarsveld (Nashua) for the third place.

Yolandé Speedy and Mariska Strauss (both MTN-Energade) continued their dominance in local mountain bike races by not wasting any time to ride away from everybody else.

In what certainly was a first for Taylor, she managed to open a slight gap during one of the technical sections to progress to the third place. But this small victory quickly turned into a comedy of errors the moment she punctured.

“Luckily another rider stopped to try and help me. At first we tried to plug the puncture but we did not succeed. The problem was that the guy who tried to help me, was also a roadie. Next we tried to ‘CO2 bomb’ it but we were unable to open the ‘CO2 bomb’. I then borrowed a ‘CO2 bomb’ from another rider, but still my problems continued.

“The ‘CO2 bomb’ got stuck because it froze onto the valve. We, mostly roadies, then had to wait for it to melt down. It was quite funny because my helpers and I all ended up sitting on the ground, trying to fix the puncture. Eventually we succeeded.”

But this was not the end of her problems. Just when Taylor managed to get into a nice rhythm again, she punctured for a second time and was again brought to a halt. She again had to beg other riders to lend her a tube.

Burry Stander (Specialized/MR Price), Taylor’s biggest fan for the past few years, was apparently quite excited afterwards when he was told about Taylor’s puncturing problems.

He reasoned that the only way to puncture during a race, is to ride really fast. This means that, by puncturing, Taylor has proven that she is actually becoming a true mountain biker.

Taylor was also all smiles about her racing experience afterwards.

“I really enjoyed myself out there. I could ride most of the technical sections without once taking a tumble. My biggest scare occurred while I was racing just behind Carla (Rowley). I was so busy watching her wheel that I did not really look where we were going.

“The next moment I found myself on the ‘Super Tube’. It is a section of the route where you first race down a steep descent on a very slippery road. Immediately afterwards you are faced with an extremely tough climb. I was racing downwards before I realized what was happening. When I looked up and saw the climb ahead of me, I got such a fright that I pulled my breaks. This turned out to be a big mistake because at that stage I was halfway up, but pulling the breaks made me slide down all the way to the bottom.”

According to Taylor it will still take some time before she wins a major mountain bike race.

“In my eyes Yolandé and Mariska are, at the moment, super human beings when it comes to mountain biking. I cannot see myself beating them in the foreseeable future, but after Karkloof I know that a podium finish in a mountain bike race is not an unrealistic goal.

Taylor flies to Italy on Monday where she will compete in the Italian version of the Argus Tour.

Van Jaarsveld finished 4th in the cross-country race which took place the day before the marathon.

She admits that, with hindsight, it might have been a mistake to race the cross-country and marathon in two consecutive days.

“I definitely did not have the best pair of legs during the marathon. But I am not complaining, because being able to compete in the Karkloof was certainly one of my best cycling experiences ever.

“There is only one word that can describe the single-track sections at Karkloof and that is the word ‘amazing’. It is like riding a never ending super tube.

“One of the sections of the cross-country track is called the ‘Soul Fly’. It is very descriptive because when you are riding it, it really feels as if your soul is flying into a fantasy world - something like a TV game.”

Argus 2010

This year Argus was a particularly special one. Be it that we are rubbing shoulders with the likes of Lance Armstrong, or the general excitement with the upcoming soccer world cup, or that we are just blessed to have the most spectacular coastal race in the world, it was just special. Windy, as you may expect it to be in the Mother city, but that did not stop the 35 000 keen cyclist from being part of something big. Something like a world championship or a tour de France.. It is certainly a highlight for any cycling enthusiast.

The ladies race was about survival of the fittest! Starting in a pack of about 200 cyclists along with the vet men, which include great riders like Andrew Mclean, it was holding on for dear life. Great international riders like Fabiana Lupevini from Italy was also in the starting ladies group. The first challenger of the race was the climb at Smits se winkel. A long drag, which gradually sifted the bunch. The second was Chapmans peak, the climb as much as the dangerous descend and then finally Suikerbossie. With the original ladies bunch down to about 15 riders, the final kilometers to Greenpoint was about getting into position for the line. A tough task with most men holding the same objectives and the road starting to be filled with slower riders. The sprint to the finish line came a little bit too early for me with my first sighting of the powerade banners. Alas, when i saw there is still 150m to the line after the banners! By then most girls kicked up the gears and sprinted for the line. Congratulations to Anriette Schoeman who won the battle. The results were as follows:

Elite Ladies

1. Anriette Schoeman (3.06.11)
2. Robyn de Groot
3. Catherine Williamson
4. Cherise Taylor
5. Jo van der Winkel
6. Jennie Stenerhag
7. Marissa van der Merwe
8. Chrissie Viljoen
9. Mariske Strauss
10. Fabiana Lupevini

Sabie XCM 3 SA champs

The beautiful Sabie hosted the spectacular 2010 SA championships. With nature doing its best to try and accommodate, the weather also came to the party. Well, sort of, it had rained prior to the event but race day was perfect. So nature and beauty aside, there was some serious racing to attend to.

The ladies 70km started with the 110km men, with the first serious climb staring just 3km into the race. This does not give you a lot of time to warm up but the ladies where in the mood to race. At the foot of the climb Carla Rowley described Yolande Speedy's last look to the rest of the field as " come on, you are not going to let me go now already?", but she did and she stayed in the lead to win the SA gold medal. Congrats Yolande, it is encouraging to see you still push hard when you are not being chased.

The rest of the race proceeded where Samantha Oosthuizen crested before Carla, followed by Mariska Strauss. The pace was quite fast and following a conservative approach the race only changed after half way. Carla had a 2 minute lead on the rest of the field by then, but my first objective was to gain some time on the second major climb.

This steep one changed the profile dramatically. I managed to move up two positions and only had Carla ahead of me. Riding at my own pace I then chased to the finish and catching up to Carla about 5km from the finish. By this stage there were plenty of fun riders on the course, and at this point I must apologise to the riders if we passed unexpectedly. Sorry riders!

I rode with Carla till the last moments, and had to kick up a little sprint to get the silver medal. What a race. It felt good.

The results:

1. Yolande Speedy (MTN/Energade)

2. Karien van Jaarsveld (NATRO)

3. Carla Rowley

4. Mariska Strauss (MTN/Energade)

5. Samantha Oosthuizen

Clarens National marathon series

The Clarens leg of the MTN national series was a beautiful ride. The ride went through the golden gate national park, where there a couple of mountains to climb...

The ladies race started with the 100km men, apparently there has been a few issues with drafting and we where separated from the men. After the 2km neutral zone, everyone blasted off. Jolandie du Toit and Samantha Oosthuisen got away in front. I was planning a conservative first half and felt strong to put in a solid second half. My only dilemna came when I was directed on the wrong route at a water point in the mountains! I did a repeat of the worst possible part of the course- the part where you could not ride your bike.. This extra part took its toll physically and mentally. When you are tired and seeing the same thing twice, it kind of haunts you. Like am I having visions? Don't look at the light...

I still managed a 3rd position on the podium, after Jolandie won and Samantha came second. Well done ladies!