MTN Series #1
It was the first MTN Series Event for the 2010 racing season and the race organisers weren’t scared to start the series off throwing the most demanding one first onto the calendar. After this one its downhill to the finish The Ultra Marathon was 137km long and the ladies also had to compete in this extreme event.
One’s first race (or maybe just mine) is pretty nerve wrecking, wondering whether you have trained hard enough, is you’re form good enough compared to your rivals, did I pack everything etc.
We flew to George on Friday which also turned out to be a rather hectic day. Our flight to George was heavily delayed. As a result we only arrived in Oudtshooring at 21:00, still having to build our bikes, eat, unpack and repack for our race the following day.
The event started at Chandelier Game & Ostrich farm just outside Oudtshooring taking riders southwards to the finishing venue at Pine Creek Resort in Great Brak.
Standing on the start line Saturday morning was a great feeling. It’s a new season with so much still laying a head and this event was the start of it all…
Unfortunately my first event came to a finish a whole 30km from the finish line. I struggled with my gears throughout the race not knowing what was causing the problem or how to fix it.
Around 85km I was left without gears and had to continue in a fix gear. Luckily my team manager (John Robertson) was standing at around 106km and advised me to rather call it a day than struggling on towards the finish line.
Yolande Speedy (MTN) just again showed why she is the best in the country finishing in 1st place and 19th overall, with Ischen Stopforth (Team Bizhub) in 2nd and Hanlie Booyend (Jeep) in 3rd.
This coming weekend the team will be competing in THE FAST ONE (Road Race). It will be our first race together, with the team present in full.
Straight after the event we will depart to Clarens for the team’s training camp.
The camp is mainly to build good team spirit and will also include activities such as ‘hard training’, Specialized bike setups and planning for the year ahead.
