Attakwas 2017
SAS still has no intention of giving me an actual useful seeding so again I lined up in Group D, at least this time I made sure I arrived at the start early so I did not have to work my way through the rest of the group in the first 30 kilometers, saving a lot of energy that would be sorely needed later on.
As described in the 2016 blog entry the race can be divided in 3 parts. On the first & easy 45kms my time was more or less on par with last year, I passed a number of familiar faces on-route as this is a must-do "training ride" for many Cape Epic participants so just about everyone make the trip to Oudtshoorn for this.
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| This is still the easy bit |
I wasted as little time as possible at waterpoint 2 (at the end of the first 45 km) then it was onwards over the rugged Attakwas kloof. The temperatures were slightly more forgiving than in 2016 and I took it as easy as possible over the steep climbs and technical descents. I reached the Spur Burger point in just under 4 hours, 6 minutes faster than in 2016 and very much on course for that Sub-7 goal..
The Atta-veterans say the burger at the Spur stop is a good barometer for how your race is going to go over the last 50 km, If you can keep that Burger down you are "a-ok" but if you can't, you burnt too many matches over the Attakwas-kloof and are in deep trouble. The half-portion chicken burger stayed down and I was feeling strong!
Not sure if it are the steep gradients of the area or just lazy road builders but the district roads that follow after the Spur waterpoint are always a shock to the system. The combination of heat, head winds and steep climbs make these roads as big a challenge as the rugged Attakwas-kloof crossing. I passed a number of cramping and struggling cyclists but the kilometers steadily ticked over on my way to that sub-7 goal, biggest regret being not being able to find a group to share the workload into the head wind.
I passed the 105km in just over 6 hours (average speed of 17km/h) meaning I had just less than an hour to do the last 15km and still feeling ok. At this stage I was fairly confident of finishing under 7 hours. 2 long steep climbs remained but the rest was relatively flat (but with some head winds to work against)
The first climb I geared down to granny and carefully made my way up past walking cyclists. As
usual the climb were really steep so that even in granny, you had to work hard to make progress. The road curved around a big hill, and as I came round the curve I thought I conquered the climb, only to see the climb snaking further up ahead in the distance and just there the cramps jumped me. I jogged & walked the rest of the climb knowing the sub-7 is now going to be tougher to achieve. I took the risk of running out of water by completely skipping the last waterpoint to make up some time and rode down the other side of the valley in haste...
10km to go, 33 minutes remaining so an average speed of 18.8 was now required... Still do-able if I can manage the last climb without walking... Ok that plan only lasted a quarter of the climb before the cramps kicked in again and forced me to do a 2km walk up the rest of the hill while watching my sub-7 disappearing along with the riders passing me..
When I crested there was 7km left with 17 minutes to go so an average speed of 23km per hour was now required. On a normal training ride that would be do-able on a flat road but into a head wind with 113 hard kilometers in the legs I knew that was a challenge now beyond me.
The clock ticked 7h00 as I made the descent down to the finish at Pine Creek and I rolled over the line in 7h 1m 55seconds, disappointment as I took 15 minutes of my previous time but fell just short of my goal.
So despite my best efforts the sub-7 eluded me, again. What an amazingly beautiful and tough ride in equal measures. Will I get another bite at the sub-7 cherry? Who knows, but first there are other races & goals to conquer.
Not sure if it are the steep gradients of the area or just lazy road builders but the district roads that follow after the Spur waterpoint are always a shock to the system. The combination of heat, head winds and steep climbs make these roads as big a challenge as the rugged Attakwas-kloof crossing. I passed a number of cramping and struggling cyclists but the kilometers steadily ticked over on my way to that sub-7 goal, biggest regret being not being able to find a group to share the workload into the head wind.
I passed the 105km in just over 6 hours (average speed of 17km/h) meaning I had just less than an hour to do the last 15km and still feeling ok. At this stage I was fairly confident of finishing under 7 hours. 2 long steep climbs remained but the rest was relatively flat (but with some head winds to work against)
The first climb I geared down to granny and carefully made my way up past walking cyclists. As
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| These forests bring back memories of Sani2c! |
10km to go, 33 minutes remaining so an average speed of 18.8 was now required... Still do-able if I can manage the last climb without walking... Ok that plan only lasted a quarter of the climb before the cramps kicked in again and forced me to do a 2km walk up the rest of the hill while watching my sub-7 disappearing along with the riders passing me..
When I crested there was 7km left with 17 minutes to go so an average speed of 23km per hour was now required. On a normal training ride that would be do-able on a flat road but into a head wind with 113 hard kilometers in the legs I knew that was a challenge now beyond me.
The clock ticked 7h00 as I made the descent down to the finish at Pine Creek and I rolled over the line in 7h 1m 55seconds, disappointment as I took 15 minutes of my previous time but fell just short of my goal.
So despite my best efforts the sub-7 eluded me, again. What an amazingly beautiful and tough ride in equal measures. Will I get another bite at the sub-7 cherry? Who knows, but first there are other races & goals to conquer.
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