The weekends racing started at the AsG Night Rider series that was held at Rosemary Hill on Thursday night. The ASG PYcycling wasn't at full force but still managed some decent results as Jacques Pretorius came in 4th and myself right behind him in 5th. Nicholas Popich managed to pull off a win for us in the night runner series.
I was very exited for what laid ahead in Swaziland as it was the 10th annual Imvelo mountain bike challenge and it looked very promising. With a tough week of training behind me I knew it would be a tough one as the race consisted of 1600m of climbing over 64k's. With a field of over 150 riders that included some very enthusiastic riders and some big teams such as westvaal columbia, I knew that I had to play it smart and just try and hang on for as long as possible. It was also very nice to see so many locals participating and having fun.
The race started out very fast with a lot of single track in the first 15km. With a couple of surges from myself just to keep the pace high, the group thinned out as there was only a local Swazi rider, cycle lab rider (Andrew Stockwell) and myself heading into the first climb of the day. The pace picked up heavily as the climb got steeper and more rocky. With the grip of conti tires I could get over any obstacles and rough terrain and thanks to bat seal tire sealant I wasn't puncture friendly. With the Swazi local having got away after I took a little tumble in a technical section, I had to fight back as hard as I could before reaching KOM with only 9km away. With some unfortunate luck, the Swazi local took King of the Mountain but the sight of him only 30 seconds ahead of me kept me determined to cross the finis line in 1st.
Having passed the local with 30km to go I wasn't yet home free as the Westvaal Columbia rider was only a couple of seconds behind me. With a couple of high 5 iso-gels ad sipping on high5 2:1 I was confident about the end result, knowing that it'll give me the upper hand.Having pushed hard through all the fas flowing single tracks and steep climbs I managed to cross the finish line in 1st with only 6 seconds ahead of 2nd place.
I was overwhelmed with my first ever win in my mountain biking career! A couple of interviews after my race was all new to me as well as the top step on the podium. I was super happy to take my first ever win for ASG_PYcycling. And a big thanks to all the sponsors, especially ASG_PYCycling and my parents for all the support and for making it possible!
Till next time!
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