Day 1:
The Panorama Tour 2010 for the Mr Price Team started with an early wake up on Friday (just after 3am) to meet at Werner's place for the long drive to White River. Leaving just after 5am we finally arrived at our accommodation at about 2:23pm and then straight off to register and grocery shopping.
In all the training we jokingly referred to raining for the neutral zone as this is always one of the hardest sections. While there is some sort of seeding system in place, the lead car typically heads of at such a pace that only the strongest teams survive the neutral zone in the lead group and this year it was to prove true to form on day 1. The seeding system was supposed to put all riders in the same category together in the start pens, but some teams managed to get themselves re-seeded so while Blom and I started with the majority of the groups in "C" batch, the favorites in the Mixed section (Greame Crionje and Cherise Taylor) managed to move up to "A" batch. Although the race is supposed to be a mass start with the seeding just determining how close you are to the front, by the time we moved out of the start pens onto the main road, the leaders must have been almost 500m ahead and despite sprinting as fast as possible, we never managed to catch up to the lead group before the end of the neutral zone and as a result were only ever going to be racing for second.
The first stage is about 115km and there is almost no flat road. With well over 2000m of climbing it was really tough. The first half of the stage has a number of small but nasty climbs as you head towards Hazyview and then left towards Sabie where the fun really starts with a 12km climb to the top of Spitzkop. Although we did not know it at the time, heading towards Sabie we were in the group with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Mixed teams and I jokingly told Blom that we would attack the group (about 30 riders) as we reached Sabie and started the climb. I was feeling really strong on the day so true to my word,as we reached the left turn I grabbed hold of Blom and we attacked - quickly opening up a gap of about 100m before one of the stronger male teams rode across to us. Just as they reached us and I thought we would work together, they pulled off to the side of the road to fill their water bottles at the water point. We were not going to hang around and wait so we pressed on - all the time conscious that were were pulling out a bit more distance on the chasing group.
Finally we had some good fortune as we started catching some of the teams who had dropped off the lead group and just near the top of the climb the team who had stopped for water also joined us. Now with a really strong group of about 10 riders we rode really hard for the last 30 or so km back to White River, and despite dropping off this group on the final kick up to the finish we still managed to finish almost 5 minutes ahead of the next Mixed Team who had been with us at the start of the Climb out of Sabie. Our time for the stage was about 3hrs 45mins, well behind the leaders (Greame and Cherise) but they did have the advantage of being able to ride comfortably with the leading group without having to put in the effort themselves.
The other Riders from Mr Price also put in strong performances with Werner and Emile 4th in the 30-39's despite Emile crashing, Gwyn and Iven 5th in the 40-49 ad Derek and Flip 4th in the 50+. Sandra and Marina finished in the top 10 in the Ladies section.
Day 2 is a bit easier and with a bit of a buffer over the 3rd place team and no chance of catching the leaders (unless they have a serious problem) we looked forward to recovering a bit before the challeng of Stage 3 with 2 major climbs over another 115km or so with again more than 2000m of climbing.....
Day 2:
Probably the easiest stage of the Tour but still over 1100m of climbing in 80km and most of this climbing is in the final 30km.
Fortunately Blom and I were in the top 50 overall after day 1 so we were "seeded" and able to start at the front of the field for day 2. After a short "neutral zone" there was a nasty couple of km at full pace which split the bunch and unfortunately we were the last team dropped from the lead group as the pace was incredibly hard. We were however fortunate to end up riding with quite a big bunch which also included the 3rd placed mixed team so we were not too concerned.
After a tricky first 20km we hit the fast flat section down to Nelspruit, and were fortunate to have a strong tandem in the group as we really flew with little or no effort. From Nelspruit we took the left turn taking us towards the airport road After another few km we were really surprised to see the lead group just ahead and they seemed to be riding really easy. as it turned out there were a few riders away but it was nice to have actually caught the lead group.
This situation was sure to change and did as we took the left turn back towards White River past the airport. What goes down must come back up.... Blom and I rode relatively hard at the start of the hill and managed to get in a group ahead of the 3rd placed team. We worked hard to stay in this group and at the end of the day were rewarded with another 2nd place, gaining another 4 mins on the team in 3rd, but Graeme Cronje and Cherise Taylor were just in a different class finishing a few minutes ahead of us to extend their overall lead.
Day 3:
Another really tough day including 2 major climbs each about 8-10km long. The weather at the start did not look promising - light rain and heavy skies overhead. The start followed the same route as day 2 and once again the group split just after the neutral zone but we worked hard to get us back to the leading bunch. As the climbing began in earnest once again we were dropped off this group and riding with the 3rd placed mixed team. Riding up the first big climb of the day we made a point of sticking near the front of the group, and this paid off as we were fortunate enough to be caught by a strong tandem (I think they had punctured earlier) in the last few meters of the climb giving us an opportunity for a fast descent into Sabie. Looking around we were pleased to see that we were now the only mixed team in the group.
From Sabie we turned l,eft and began the grueling climb up Long Tom pass. In a way it was a blessing that we rode into the mist as it made it impossible to see how much further we still had to climb. Near the Turn back towards Nelspruit we had another bit of good luck as we caught another Tandem. With almost 30km of downhill from this point it was the best news ever. At stages we were going so fast the group nearly split up on the downhill. At this pace we were constantly catching teams who had fallen off the pace of the leading group. To our absolute surprise one of the last groups contained Graeme and Cherise as well as Werner. An even bigger surprise was that Werner was riding Emile's bike!!! (Emile had a problem with his wheel so they had swapped bikes with Emile riding on ahead on Werner's bike while Werner waited for a spare wheel).
The final 10km proved just too tough for us to be able to stay with Graeme and Cherise and contend for the Stage win, but all the good fortune (and tactics) of staying with the Tandems paid off as we were now almost 30 mins ahead of 3rd (and a long 19mins off 1st) going into the final day's 24km time trial.
Day 4:
Nice to have a bit of extra sleep as the TT start list was reverse order on overall classification and we were now 33rd overall. With the time gaps between us and our closest competition the TT was merely academic in terms of the overall position. With sore legs from 3 days of hard racing and little motivation for being able to improve on our overall position we decided that we would push hard but not as Iven might put it "Super-Hard".
The 24km route for the TT was not flat and at the end of the day our 47:21 time was only good enough for 3rd on the day, but there were no changes in the overall positions. Having been on the podium every day and finishing off 2nd overall meant a really successful tour and a lot of trophies for Blom and myself.
A couple of special thanks.
Firstly to my partner - Blom, you were amazing. Sorry for abusing your body like that! Secondly to all the other Mr Price teammates for making this such an enjoyable weekend. Well done to Iven and Gwyn for your 3rd Place overall in the 40-49 category - an excellent result. Finally thanks to Taryn for all your support and giving up your long weekend to be babysitter for the mini-Moolmans.
Mark
The Panorama Tour 2010 for the Mr Price Team started with an early wake up on Friday (just after 3am) to meet at Werner's place for the long drive to White River. Leaving just after 5am we finally arrived at our accommodation at about 2:23pm and then straight off to register and grocery shopping.
In all the training we jokingly referred to raining for the neutral zone as this is always one of the hardest sections. While there is some sort of seeding system in place, the lead car typically heads of at such a pace that only the strongest teams survive the neutral zone in the lead group and this year it was to prove true to form on day 1. The seeding system was supposed to put all riders in the same category together in the start pens, but some teams managed to get themselves re-seeded so while Blom and I started with the majority of the groups in "C" batch, the favorites in the Mixed section (Greame Crionje and Cherise Taylor) managed to move up to "A" batch. Although the race is supposed to be a mass start with the seeding just determining how close you are to the front, by the time we moved out of the start pens onto the main road, the leaders must have been almost 500m ahead and despite sprinting as fast as possible, we never managed to catch up to the lead group before the end of the neutral zone and as a result were only ever going to be racing for second.
The first stage is about 115km and there is almost no flat road. With well over 2000m of climbing it was really tough. The first half of the stage has a number of small but nasty climbs as you head towards Hazyview and then left towards Sabie where the fun really starts with a 12km climb to the top of Spitzkop. Although we did not know it at the time, heading towards Sabie we were in the group with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Mixed teams and I jokingly told Blom that we would attack the group (about 30 riders) as we reached Sabie and started the climb. I was feeling really strong on the day so true to my word,as we reached the left turn I grabbed hold of Blom and we attacked - quickly opening up a gap of about 100m before one of the stronger male teams rode across to us. Just as they reached us and I thought we would work together, they pulled off to the side of the road to fill their water bottles at the water point. We were not going to hang around and wait so we pressed on - all the time conscious that were were pulling out a bit more distance on the chasing group.
Finally we had some good fortune as we started catching some of the teams who had dropped off the lead group and just near the top of the climb the team who had stopped for water also joined us. Now with a really strong group of about 10 riders we rode really hard for the last 30 or so km back to White River, and despite dropping off this group on the final kick up to the finish we still managed to finish almost 5 minutes ahead of the next Mixed Team who had been with us at the start of the Climb out of Sabie. Our time for the stage was about 3hrs 45mins, well behind the leaders (Greame and Cherise) but they did have the advantage of being able to ride comfortably with the leading group without having to put in the effort themselves.
The other Riders from Mr Price also put in strong performances with Werner and Emile 4th in the 30-39's despite Emile crashing, Gwyn and Iven 5th in the 40-49 ad Derek and Flip 4th in the 50+. Sandra and Marina finished in the top 10 in the Ladies section.
Day 2 is a bit easier and with a bit of a buffer over the 3rd place team and no chance of catching the leaders (unless they have a serious problem) we looked forward to recovering a bit before the challeng of Stage 3 with 2 major climbs over another 115km or so with again more than 2000m of climbing.....
Day 2:
Probably the easiest stage of the Tour but still over 1100m of climbing in 80km and most of this climbing is in the final 30km.
Fortunately Blom and I were in the top 50 overall after day 1 so we were "seeded" and able to start at the front of the field for day 2. After a short "neutral zone" there was a nasty couple of km at full pace which split the bunch and unfortunately we were the last team dropped from the lead group as the pace was incredibly hard. We were however fortunate to end up riding with quite a big bunch which also included the 3rd placed mixed team so we were not too concerned.
After a tricky first 20km we hit the fast flat section down to Nelspruit, and were fortunate to have a strong tandem in the group as we really flew with little or no effort. From Nelspruit we took the left turn taking us towards the airport road After another few km we were really surprised to see the lead group just ahead and they seemed to be riding really easy. as it turned out there were a few riders away but it was nice to have actually caught the lead group.
This situation was sure to change and did as we took the left turn back towards White River past the airport. What goes down must come back up.... Blom and I rode relatively hard at the start of the hill and managed to get in a group ahead of the 3rd placed team. We worked hard to stay in this group and at the end of the day were rewarded with another 2nd place, gaining another 4 mins on the team in 3rd, but Graeme Cronje and Cherise Taylor were just in a different class finishing a few minutes ahead of us to extend their overall lead.
Day 3:
Another really tough day including 2 major climbs each about 8-10km long. The weather at the start did not look promising - light rain and heavy skies overhead. The start followed the same route as day 2 and once again the group split just after the neutral zone but we worked hard to get us back to the leading bunch. As the climbing began in earnest once again we were dropped off this group and riding with the 3rd placed mixed team. Riding up the first big climb of the day we made a point of sticking near the front of the group, and this paid off as we were fortunate enough to be caught by a strong tandem (I think they had punctured earlier) in the last few meters of the climb giving us an opportunity for a fast descent into Sabie. Looking around we were pleased to see that we were now the only mixed team in the group.
From Sabie we turned l,eft and began the grueling climb up Long Tom pass. In a way it was a blessing that we rode into the mist as it made it impossible to see how much further we still had to climb. Near the Turn back towards Nelspruit we had another bit of good luck as we caught another Tandem. With almost 30km of downhill from this point it was the best news ever. At stages we were going so fast the group nearly split up on the downhill. At this pace we were constantly catching teams who had fallen off the pace of the leading group. To our absolute surprise one of the last groups contained Graeme and Cherise as well as Werner. An even bigger surprise was that Werner was riding Emile's bike!!! (Emile had a problem with his wheel so they had swapped bikes with Emile riding on ahead on Werner's bike while Werner waited for a spare wheel).
The final 10km proved just too tough for us to be able to stay with Graeme and Cherise and contend for the Stage win, but all the good fortune (and tactics) of staying with the Tandems paid off as we were now almost 30 mins ahead of 3rd (and a long 19mins off 1st) going into the final day's 24km time trial.
Day 4:
Nice to have a bit of extra sleep as the TT start list was reverse order on overall classification and we were now 33rd overall. With the time gaps between us and our closest competition the TT was merely academic in terms of the overall position. With sore legs from 3 days of hard racing and little motivation for being able to improve on our overall position we decided that we would push hard but not as Iven might put it "Super-Hard".
The 24km route for the TT was not flat and at the end of the day our 47:21 time was only good enough for 3rd on the day, but there were no changes in the overall positions. Having been on the podium every day and finishing off 2nd overall meant a really successful tour and a lot of trophies for Blom and myself.A couple of special thanks.
Firstly to my partner - Blom, you were amazing. Sorry for abusing your body like that! Secondly to all the other Mr Price teammates for making this such an enjoyable weekend. Well done to Iven and Gwyn for your 3rd Place overall in the 40-49 category - an excellent result. Finally thanks to Taryn for all your support and giving up your long weekend to be babysitter for the mini-Moolmans.
Mark
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