Yesterday
the Namibian team returned safely home after a long 24hours bus drive from
Pietermaritzburg to Windhoek. With us we brought three medals as well as unreplaceable
experience for all the young riders.
The African
Continental Road Championships had me participating in the Team Time Trial (TTT)
as well as the main event, the road race.
We departed
Windhoek on the morning of the 6th February with lots of drama as
two of the riders, Fifi and Costa Seibeb, decided not to accompany his fellow countrymen to the African Champs. The long drive through
day and night resulted in stiff legs and tyred minds which we were able to
refresh by an evening ride around the loop that would face us for the team time
trial on Monday.
Our elite
team, built up of Dan Craven, Heiko Redecker, Michael Pretorious and I, went into
the TTT very confident and in hope of receiving a medal at the end of the day.
We were left disappointed with a sixth place and not a lot to take from it. The
Junior men and Elite ladies though lifted the spirits with a bronze and silver
medal.
Over the
next five days I watched the others race and managed to soak in the beauty of
Pietermaritzburg hills with some good training rides.
With my
instructions in mind and goals set we started the 161km road race on Saturday the 14th. We had a team of 6 riders in a bunch of pro’s and probably the
most competitive peleton that the African champs have ever had. The race
consisted of four loops of 44km each with a total climbing of about 1900m.
Our teams aim was
to protect our Capitan, Dan Craven, by making sure that there was one of us in
every breakaway or attack. For two laps we managed to keep the
bunch together with no serious breakaways forming even though I suffered a puncture after lap one. Halfway through third
loop though, while I was already hanging on the back of the bunch like a
droplet on a leave, I was involved in crash. Unlike Heiko I luckily managed to
keep the rubber side down. I did lose touch of the bunch though and just didn’t
have the energy to fight back. After a while of pain and suffering trying to
catch up with the front guys I was mentally broken and decided to through in the towel and call it
a day.
I finished
my third loop and returned to our team bus only to find the other four riders
there as well. This meant that Dan was in the race alone battling it out
against the strongest riders in Africa. The whole team stood by the finish line eager
to see the sprint and how Dan would finish. The South Africans managed to get
three riders in a break. Once they finished we awaited Dan in the next bunch sprint. As they approached for the sprint Dan was forced off the road by
another rider and crash with 100m to the finish line. He ended up walking across the line
with a respectable 13th place.
Even though
we didn’t manage to get a medal in the road race I personally gained so much
experience of racing at a pro level it was a huge success for me.
These last view weeks of road racing have really been amazing. In the National Road Champs a week before our departure I managed to claim the U/23 Time trial and road title,
but now it’s back to the Mountain Bike in preparation for the National Marathon Champs on Sunday.
From my side, keep the
tyres turning and until next time
Martin
