Wednesday 23 April 2014

Lesotho National - Afriski - Alan Hatherly

Packing and heading up to Lesotho, I was filled with excitement purely because I had never ridden in Lesotho on a bicycle before and I had no idea of what we were getting in to. The drive didn't feel like long, but the altitude slowly got more and more with every km that went by. Through Clarens and to the Lesotho border. At around 2000m there, it rose very quickly as we headed up a massive pass to get to Afriski, the venue of the 2nd National of the year as well as a UCI Junior World Cup. Just over 3000m, the air felt thin but okay, which was an illusion to me until I got on the bike and realized it was more than thin.

We had arrived on the Thursday and I was super excited to see what the course was about so I kitted up and put in 3 laps on the course. It seemed simple with little climbing, and few technical sections which in KZN would be a super fast race but in the conditions up there it was a totally different story.

Keeping the heart rate down was mission impossible even on the easiest gear, but riding at a tempo pace, the air didn't feel terrible so I saved what energy and oxygen I had left for Saturday, race day.
The downhill track was awesome with a massive bonus factor of there being a ski lift to get to the top. I HAD to try it out. You hook the T bar behind your seat and off you go, it was awesome!

Race day approached fast and luckily on the day the weather decided to treat us to at least around 16 degrees. Jackets were on as we all warmed up on the roads of Afriski, and after an easier warm up than normal for me due to the air, we lined up after the Elites had pulled away. The start was at the bottom of one of the 2 climbs of the route, so it was going to be a tough start.

We were off and I bolted for the front like I normally do in my starts and gave it full gas up the first climb and then onto the road that wound up to the first single track of the route. I had pulled a decent size gap but my arms felt very weak and once we hit the bottom of the single track I had realized that I over did it. I was in oxygen debt and it was a fight against oxygen for the rest of the race for me. As the race went by lap by lap I slowly picked up my lap times, but the gap I had lost was too much to close and I had to settle for 6th at the end. It was such a hard race, and I definitely learnt a hard lesson with altitude.



Well done to Marc and Julian on 1st and 2nd separated by a mere few cm's.

Next up for me is KZN Champs followed by Tour Durban, hope to see you there!

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