Sasol Cross Off Road Triathlon Roodeplaat Dam

The 2nd leg of the Sasol Cross Off Road Series took place at Roodeplaat dam. I was feeling quite confident after the previous weeks of racing and was hoping that I can keep my early season form.

I did my usual pre race routine: register, rack and warm up. It was a very hot and sunny day – nothing compared to the 1st leg when it was pouring down the whole day.

When the gun went … it was off to race mode immediately. I followed the previous race strategy and hammer the swim, survive on the bike and hammer the run again. The plan worked with step 1 - the swim. I had a good swim and was out of the water and T1 like a rocket.

But then – just when step 2 (survival on the bike) was about to kick in, the problems started. From the start, I realised something was not well with my shoes or pedals or both. I was cycling well on the flat smooth road but when I hit the off road section, my feet where suddenly dislodging from the pedals. At first I didn’t realise what the problem was. Why aren’t my shoes staying clipped into my pedals? As I looked down I saw that I’m not using my mtb shoes. I brought a pair of old road shoes that looks very similar to my mtb shoes. This was a “rookie” error and I paid for it. Every bump on the surface resulted in my feet flying off the pedals.

I wanted to stop after the first lap on the bike and call it a day, but as I carried on I realised there was some hope – about 5km of the 10km lap was smooth gravel road so I could make up some time there if I went flat out. I decided to go for it. My plan kind of worked until about 500m from the finish of the bike length. I took a corner to fast and my front wheel slipped and down I went. I wanted to stay down for a while, but I saw the camera man close by - so I jumped up and carried on.

I saw the first athletes in the race were just heading out of T2 when I got in and then I knew it was race on again. I pushed hard during the early parts of the run to catch them. When I passed Nico at about 1km, I saw that he also came off this bike. I managed to get a small gap on him and slowly but surely it started to grow till it was about 1 min.

I was happy with the win, but realised afterwards that you should always concentrate when packing your bags for your race.

Until next time

Cheers
Rudolf

Central Gauteng Triathlon (Duathlon)

It was time for my province, Central Gauteng’s Triathlon Championship. Two days before the race, the message was conveyed that the water quality wasn’t good enough and the organisers and referees decided to change this to a standard Duathlon.

This was my worst nightmare! I don’t like duathlon, but have to do this to be selected for the SA Triathlon Championships. In all the talks before the race, most of athletes said that they prefer a triathlon. We all knew that the strong runners will have a definite advantage and the strong swimmers … well… tough luck for them.

The race started like a normal road race - 300 athletes in a Germiston street on a Sunday morning , with the bikes in transition waiting … it was quite something different. The first 400m was easy and some of the athletes started joking around, but then it got serious and off we went for a hard day’s racing. The first 10km run wasn’t too bad and I felt good.

After the run it was the bike leg, but it was non drafting, so it was every man for himself. From the moment I got onto the bike till I got off, I felt AWESOME! It was really like I was one with my bike, I rode hard, but didn’t get tired, I enjoyed the bike so much on the day. I have to say … I was kind of sad to get off the bike. I wanted to cycle a little more – just like a kid in an arcade, going just 5 more minutes, please mom and dad.

But I had to get off and do the final 5km run leg. For the first part of the run, my legs felt like jelly. But I settled into a good rhythm after a while. It was a good day at the office for me. A bit of sweet and sour but the race was still fun. My form kept improving and I’m feeling positive for this year.

Cheers
Rudolf