My Sub-3 Argus - Part 2 - The pieces fall into place, with seconds to spare...

April 03, 2014

In the week leading up to the Argus the weather predictions were ominous, a stormy south-western of up to 60km/h were predicted, meaning especially the first half of the race, usually the fastest half would be tough as the groups would be riding into the wind. As the big day got closer the weather predictions only got worse and I quietly decided to drop this Sub-3 madness and just go out and enjoy the day.

Dewald & I at the start in Group B

True to the weather predictions, the Sunday morning was gusty with a stong south-western wind. After observing the chaotic riding and numerous crashes in 2013 I decided to just stick to the back, keep out of trouble and once we get to Simonstown start working my way to the front-half of the group to be in the mix when the inevitable break-away on the Smitswinkel climb happens. Just worrying about surviving have one benefit, Sub-3 was completely forgotten and this took a lot of pressure off the ride.

The organisers in their (lack of) wisdom decided that Group C start only 1 minute behind Group B, meaning in practice that the first riders of C set off about 30 seconds after the last B riders. With a big carrot just 30 seconds ahead of the the chasing C-riders, they were always going to chase down B, so within 5km's into the race I found myself in the middle of a massive combined Group B&C bombing down the dangerous Paradise Road descent into Newlands.

Somehow, despite all the swerving and breaking around me, I managed to stay out of trouble and once we passed Kalk Bay, the road widened and with most of the riders sticking as far right as possible in the group to stay out of the wind, it was possible to work my way forward in the by sticking to the left of the group (at the expense of fighting a bit harder against the wind).

Feeling the pain up Smitswinkel

By the time we hit the Smitswinkel climb I was in the front third of the group and now my time suffering in the league paid off because the group did split as I predicted, but I managed to keep up with front riders as we crested the Smitswinkel climb.

As we crested I checked my watch for the first time, and saw that due to the wind we were about 10 minutes behind the "official Sub-3 time-splits", however we now had the south-westerly wind pumping at our backs so making up the lost minutes seemed doable. We were chasing northwards at speeds of up to 50km/h on the bumpy, twisty, narrow and sometimes slippery southern cape peninsula roads past Scarborough. I'm not the bravest rider in these type of conditions so I fell a bit behind the leaders in the group. However when we turned right again into the wind at Kommetjie the pace slowed down , I was part of a small group and were in touching distance behind the leading B-bunch. We managed to caught up with the lead group well before Chapmans Peak and I was able to sit up and save some strength for the big climbs to come.

Chapmans Peak Climb? What climb?

The climb up Chappies was smooth sailing and I again crested with the main group, maybe it went a bit too well because when we decended on the Hout Bay side I took the downhill fairly easy to stay out of trouble in the windy conditions, so when we hit Hout Bay I was again a few seconds behind the front group, only this time there was no little group to help me and I didn't quite have the legs to catch them on my own.

Group B climbing up Chappies

The last big climb up Suikerbossie went ok, however I still couldn't catch the main group just ahead of me and as I descended on the other side I saw them gliding away into the distance. Looking on my Garmin I saw a Sub-3 was still a possibility but I needed to be in a group to maintain a 37km/h average speed!

Smiling up Suikerbossie but feeling a bit alone

For a minute or 2 things looked somewhat desperate, but just before Llandudno I was caught by a small group of about 5 riders and we started working together to maintain a decent speed. As we raced through Bantry Bay one rider in particular started shouting encouragement to the rest of us, urging us to keep our speed up for the last few kilometers. I was doing my share upfront and as we rushed through Sea Point we caught another small group who was just slowing down as we caught them, and dragged them along as well for the final push.

With about 200 meters to go I saw I was going to make the Sub-3 and eased out of the inevitable final sprint, riding over the timing mats near the back of the group with seconds to spare and only realising afterwards we were the last riders on the day to make the Sub-3!

It's Official!

On the day the wind really played with us, pushed us back in the first half but helped us the second half. Not worrying about a Sub-3 for the first half took some pressure off and helped avoiding some silly mistakes. My achievement didn't even have time to sink in as I had to rush to the start again for the second lap, this lap was done as slowly as possible and with as many stops as possible. It also included my first Argus puncture and my first Argus crash & fall (luckily in slow motion).