Saturday, 25th Oct 2008 Telkom Satellite Road Race 110km:
Bendikt's Race Report:
Unfortunately we were running a bit late for start of the race as we had to
pick up my girl friends sister. I hate it if I have to rush before the start.
Finally I made in time and the race start hectic right from the beginning. The first
10km were more or less downhill and until we passed Hartesbeerport Dam nothing
happened. After about 20/30km a group broke away and the main bunch started
chasing. We worked nicely together and the average speed was quite high
(43km/h) even we had slight headwind. As we reached the climb of the day (Heekport) I
could already feel my legs and then it happened (of course) our bunch got
split up into pieces. I managed to stay in the 3rd bunch and finally finished about
3 mins behind the winners. Overall it was a hard race and again I have realized that I have to train more hills.
Joaquin: No hice la carrera del sabado, solo la del domingo
Sunday, 26th Oct 2008 Telkom Satellite MTB Race 57km:
Benedikt:
Same location as Saturday but this time we arrived in time and had plenty of
time to get all our stuff ready. At the start line I met my "Epic
Amigo"Joaquin and we were ready to race. I could feel my legs from the race on Saturday but
I felt ok. The race started with a neutral zone - well we all know what neutral
zone means ... - so we had a quite fast start and after we hit the dirt
section and the first climb I realized that my legs were not ready to race at all but
I managed to stay in the top 20 on the uphill. Unfortunately I wasn't riding my
MTB so many times as my Road Bike and on the downhill some of the guys and
even the leading elite ladies overtook me again. I could chase only some of them
but due to the rain during the night and wrong tyre the single track was slippery
and one section quite muddy. Well and there it happened ... too fast at the
last turn and I was off my bike in the muddddddddd. Not only my bike was covered in
mud also myself needed some time of cleaning to get the wheel turning again.
Luckily I just I didn't get injured and could continue chasing some riders
ahead of me. On the last 15km my legs were getting really tired now and I could
manage to finish 34th overall and was quite happy after a hard weekend. Lesson learnt
after this weekend: Train more on my beautiful MTB!
Bendikt's Race Report:
Unfortunately we were running a bit late for start of the race as we had to
pick up my girl friends sister. I hate it if I have to rush before the start.
Finally I made in time and the race start hectic right from the beginning. The first
10km were more or less downhill and until we passed Hartesbeerport Dam nothing
happened. After about 20/30km a group broke away and the main bunch started
chasing. We worked nicely together and the average speed was quite high
(43km/h) even we had slight headwind. As we reached the climb of the day (Heekport) I
could already feel my legs and then it happened (of course) our bunch got
split up into pieces. I managed to stay in the 3rd bunch and finally finished about
3 mins behind the winners. Overall it was a hard race and again I have realized that I have to train more hills.
Joaquin: No hice la carrera del sabado, solo la del domingo
Sunday, 26th Oct 2008 Telkom Satellite MTB Race 57km:
Benedikt:
Same location as Saturday but this time we arrived in time and had plenty of
time to get all our stuff ready. At the start line I met my "Epic
Amigo"Joaquin and we were ready to race. I could feel my legs from the race on Saturday but
I felt ok. The race started with a neutral zone - well we all know what neutral
zone means ... - so we had a quite fast start and after we hit the dirt
section and the first climb I realized that my legs were not ready to race at all but
I managed to stay in the top 20 on the uphill. Unfortunately I wasn't riding my
MTB so many times as my Road Bike and on the downhill some of the guys and
even the leading elite ladies overtook me again. I could chase only some of them
but due to the rain during the night and wrong tyre the single track was slippery
and one section quite muddy. Well and there it happened ... too fast at the
last turn and I was off my bike in the muddddddddd. Not only my bike was covered in
mud also myself needed some time of cleaning to get the wheel turning again.
Luckily I just I didn't get injured and could continue chasing some riders
ahead of me. On the last 15km my legs were getting really tired now and I could
manage to finish 34th overall and was quite happy after a hard weekend. Lesson learnt
after this weekend: Train more on my beautiful MTB!
Joaquin:
El domingo iba con ganas y con la bici nueva, estoy probando una bici con solo suspesion delantera, y no sabia como iba a responder la bici y mi cuerpo.
Como dice Benedikt el comienzo fue en asfalto y los pros empezaron a tirar del grupo muy fuerte, consegui estar con ellos durante los primeros km hasta que entramos en terreno de tierra. Ahi durante los primeros 10 km pense que me la suspension estaba rota ya que todo mi cuerpo estaba sufriendo. Al final me di cuenta que alguien habia puesto la suspension en duro (ese alguien podria haber sido yo?) y lo cambie y ahi es cuando empezo mi carrera, desafortunadamente perdi al grupo de adelante y me pase el resto de la carrera por mi cuenta.
El terreno fue muy chulo, bastante trialero en algunas secciones, descensos de infarto medio tecnicos y alguna escalada muy tecnica donde solo los mas fuertes podian hacerlo subido en la bici.
Me senti mas o menos fuerte, excepto cuando lo de la suspension, durante toda la carrera aunque no pude adelantar a Benedikt. Al final llegue unos 30 minutos detras de los ganadores.
como dice Beni, tenemos que entrenar en la mtb mas ya que de momento no la estamos casi tocando, excepto en carreras.
saludos
