this weekend i did a small road toutr up in mpumalanga.it was a great weekend of training and some fun racing.on saturday morning we did a 22km loop that comprised the infamous gods window pass.we kicked off at 8am and had to complete 5 laps.with only two major teams present and around 2000m of total ascent it was a very open race.by the end of the first lap i made a group of 9 riders that slipped off the front off the peleton.we worked well together and quickly grew the gap to a solid margin.on the third lap of 5 team mtn started to shake things up with ian mcleod and jay thompson attacking repeatedly.on the last section of the climb it was myslef and jay who got away from the rest of the group.the gap quickly grew and with two other mtn riders chasing, jay was not allowed to work with me under team orders.the last lap and a half i just found a steady tempo and held it there.the gap to the chasers grew to over two minutes and i managed to finish second,around 15 seconds behind thompson after he attacked me in the last few kilometers.
in the afternoon we raced up the kowyns pass in a 8.5km hillclimb time trial.i was off second last and soon managed to catch the two riders that started off in front of me.i could feel the effort from the morning stage still in my legs but found a comfortable rythm.the pass climbs up 600m vertically so it was always going to hurt.by halfway i had pulled 7 seconds on thompson but in the last few kilometers with no one to chase ahead of me i lost focus and slwed somewhat.in the end i ended up losing by two seconds in a time of 21min 52 seconds.
on sunday it was a shorter stage at only 70km but with the last 36km being almost entirely uphill it was going tpo be tough.the first half went real quick as was expected and i had to fend off a few attacks by the mtn team.at the bottom of long tom pass they drove a steady tempo and as we sprinted for the king prime at 34km only 6 riders remained at the
front.as the grade got slightly steeper i jumped multiple times to see if the remaining riders would crack.on the last few kilometers of the climb we were down to four and i was suffering alitte into the block headwind with my slightly undergeared 23 rear cassette.the stage ended in a 3 way sprint with me agin ending up second in a mtn sandwich.
the race was perfect prep for the upcoming races and buld up to the next world cup at the end of july.this week ill be doing a training camp with my dad's junior team before heading to knysna oyster festival.
cheers
burry
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