CTCT 2017 -The puppet that never got the chance to grow into a real live boy
2015 Argus was halved due to raging fires and everyone got sub-3's
2016 Argus, now the Cape Town Cycle Tour (CTCT) I fell ill the night before the race and could not ride.
2017 CTCT was now supposed to be my first attempt at a proper sub-3 in 4 years.
After the Attakwas early in January I managed to keep on training and keep doing races, my seeding looked good after the Stellenbosch Cycle Tour so everything was falling in place for a proper sub-3 assault.
Then in the lead-up to the big day things started going wrong...
First there were reports of fires in Hout Bay
Then rumours started spreading about social unrest along the route at Masiphumelele near Kommetjie.
Then the night before the race organisers sent us the following text message:
Things weren't looking good but the Sunday morning I arrived in Cape Town ready to handle whatever the conditions, fires and protesters throw at me.
Initially the wind didn't seem so bad but once we were standing in the starting chutes the full extent of the gusts became quickly obvious. The wind would be blowing but suddenly you will hear a low grumbling sound like a big truck approaching the starting chutes, then the palm trees ahead of you start violently shaking and the next moment the wind start shaking you around and you have to crouch down not to blow over.
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| Cyclists blown around after the race was cancelled |
Then as we moved towards the start the news started spreading that the route has been shortened to 76km due to the unrest in Masiphumelele. It barely registered to me that a sub-3 would wait for next year as I was far more concerned about how I was going to stay on my bike the next few minutes. The first 10km of the CTCT is hair raising at the best of times with lots of testosterone, too large groups, too narrow roads, close calls, the smell of burnt rubber from panicky braking, no need to add stormy winds into the mix to make things more dangerous.
The first group off at 6h15 didn't do much to settle my nerves as the wind caused a crash within the first few meters under the civic centre. The organisers decided it was safer for us cyclists to walk the wind funnel underneath the civic centre, a few brave souls thought to disobey but the wind literally blew them to a standstill so soon everyone was walking the first 200 meters underneath the civic centre.
After the civic centre everyone got on their bikes carefully and made their way into the headwind. Unexpectedly the wind actually made the ride safer, everyone was exceptionally nervous & careful and the pace was slow.
As we descended down to Constantia after the Edinburgh climb the wind abated and everybody started too relax, but then the end of the M3 near Tokai a large crowd of cyclists were waiting for us. At first I thought there was a crash but as we were all stopped the message got round that the race was now cancelled.
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| This is it chaps... |
A surreal ending to a surreal day, there was almost no wind in Tokai but apparently things were still chaotic at the start and there were dangerous winds on Chapmans Peak, so after standing around for a few minutes everybody started making their way back to the starting line. By the time we got there the crowds have cleared out and the civic centre surrounds were deserted.
So, 2017 CTCT, the 3rd fail in a row, will I get another shot at a sub-3 in 2018 - who knows?
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| Only thing left to do after the race was cancelled - a sad selfie |
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