The event took place on Sunday at Helderfontein Estate in Lonehill, Midrand.
After Saturday’s brilliant sunshine, the skies were dark and threatening as we rode casually to the start for a warm up.
On arrival I was quite surprised by the amount of people who turned up for the event. On second thought, I shouldn’t really be that surprised as spring has finally arrived and everyone is keen to get outside and ride their bikes again.
The 45km route was laid out mainly in and around the equestrian estates. This gave casual riders the opportunity to gaze around at the elegant horses and their neat training facilities while enjoying a leisurely bike ride.
If you were racing though, it was a completely different experience.
As soon as the gun went off riders were sprinting to be first into the single track. I can’t really remember when exactly that first piece ended because it felt like we were sprinting the whole way to the finish.
A Shorter course didn’t mean the racing was going to be easier, it only meant that you will be going at your limit for the entire course. With the winning time less than 2hours you don’t have to preserve energy for the final kilometres, which is vital in the longer races.
The course was fairly flat and very fast. It consisted mainly of district roads and single track. With mountain biking growing so rapidly in South Africa you can find loads of single track almost everywhere. In this case even in the middle of Johannesburg!
This time the line up for team Bizhub included myself, Liani Morkel and our Team Manager, John Robertson.
I felt good on the day and managed to finish the event in 1st place. It was my first race after the winter and I am happy to start my 2nd half of the season with a victory. Liani Morkel has been struggling with flu and therefore wasn’t able to perform to her full potential and had to settle for a brave 12th place.
This coming weekend the team will participate in the Nissan Down and Dirty in Pretoria.
Hope to see you there!
