Momentum 94.7 - 19 November 2011 - by Mike Viljoen

Saturday 19 November saw the vets 30-34 racing team very happily leave the misty, rainy weather of kzn behind and make the trek to the sunny skies of guateng. Knowing that we were not going to have any back up vehicle, we decided to use the trailor as practice in changing tyres. True to form, we changed the shredded wheel better than any formula 1 garage would expect(half an hour) and continued on our way, safe in the knowledge that nothing would stop our success !




As tradition would have it a pre-race warm up was had, dinner served at Primi and race tactics discussed for the morning. Thankfully a sneaky back entrance just round the corner from the Town Lodge allowed a not too early wake up and warm up to the start at 05h40. By the time we arrived the main contenders were lining up including: Fego ; Cycle Nation; Computer Smith and MTN Club 100. Two main thoughts for the race were going on : MTN would want to keep it together for their sprinter James Louter who at this stage had good sprint legs. Cycle Nation would want to break it up for either the in form Julius Cobett or experienced craig Harvey. For us, we were outnumbered by all the teams so were hoping for a break to go and at least be represented.


The start was slow to say the least with the m1 not having an early break as per tradition except for a dab off the front from Fego rider David Imrie. This was left alone for most of the m1 but was slowly and easily dragged back . no real attempt was made after that - most knowing that the worst was still to come. Coming off the m1 , the early hills hit hard - shattering the bunch and allowing about 20 of us to get away . luckily MTN sprinter James Louter got caught by the big moves on these climbs and was left behind . unfortunately for us we lost Werner Venter aswell by trying to avoid a rider losing his chain ! Cycle Nation remained in tact with Fego losing Imrie aswell.


Going through the cbd was a semi relaxed affair with the only move going as we left the cbd from MTN rider Jeremy Martens. MTN soon realised that their tactics weren’t going to plan so spent most of their time on the front doing the work with Cycle Nation making the big attacks. It did become evident that TCS rider Jaco Fereira was turning out to be the one to watch as he sat quietly at the back of the bunch hardly breaking a sweat and using his team to perfection to bring moves back and hurt the bunch when required.


The second set of hills that followed were ridden at a fairly tough tempo with a few moves going off the front but not enough were represented so were dragged back. Once on the n14 , computersmith riders suddenly woke up and started attacking the bunch , knowing that the hardest part of the ride was about to hit us once we left the highway. Luckily the bunch was able to stay intact leaving the N14. Summit road was where it all went down with a massive attack coming from Jaco Fereira and Julius Cobbet which in the gutter wind was the decider. Going with was an MTN rider and later Craig Harvey aswell as Brand du Plessis from TCS. Unfortunately us and Fego missed this move and a flat out chase was on. This was the move of the day as Jaco and Julius attacked again and rode clear to the finish, leaving us all to fight for the minor placings.


Julius was able to out sprint Jaco for the win with the remainder of the final move coming in to complete the top 4. Andrew was able to take 10th , Emile 13th and Mike 15th. Not exactly what we wanted but a hard fought race non the less .