Mountain2mountain
(25thJuly)

This road race was held in Tzaneen (Limpopo Province), a beautiful part of our country with its hills and green forests. The weather forecast for Tzaneen predicted very cold conditions over the weekend. Unfortunately it turned out to be correct!

On Saturday morning it was really freezing outside. Luckily we stayed less than 1km away from the start. This meant we could leave our warm hotel rooms fully dressed for the race, skipping the usual routine of getting race ready next to the team car in the cold.

My start group consisted of only 4 Cycle Lab girls and me starting at 6:45am.
The first 11km were the deciding factor of the event. Starting on a downhill and then reaching the bottom of the first and only major climb after just 2 km.
Agatha Mountain is a 9km climb and it was here where Ashleigh Moolman showed off her talent climbing away from the group.

I had to dig deep to stay with the other 3 Cycle Lab girls (Lynette Burger, Joanna van der Winkel and Lizanne Naude) on the climb. The cold weather conditions caused my legs to feel heavy and slow.

At the top Joanna vd Winkel, Lizanne Naude and I opened a small gap on Lynette. Lynette showed that she was determined to get a good result. She quickly caught back up as her team mates waited for her over the top of the climb. She attacked immediately after getting back on. I responded and as I reached her with the 2 Cycle lab girls on my wheel, she forced an echelon.

The next few kilometres were gradually downhill and Lynette tried several times to get away. I followed so that at times we opened a gap on the other two, but they managed to get back every time.

Next, we reached a T-junction where I was the first to turn left. Lynette attacked again with her 2 team mates sitting on her wheel. I tried to respond but I had nothing left after following all the earlier attacks.

My race was over and I continued riding on my own with only the wind and the occasional ‘funrider’ as a companion. It was a long, hard day in the saddle for a 5th place result.

The Mountain2Mountain is a very well organised event. Each rider received a big bag of oranges plus a goody ‘box’ with his/her race number filled with orange juice, nougat, cherry tomatoes, onions and some other local delicacies.
The 107km event had countdown markers every 10km, with 8 water points spread over the racing distance. At the finish venue there was plenty of food stalls and prize winners received their cash prizes, trophies and some more local treats.

This event is definitely worth adding on your race program for the future.