01 December 2011 No better way to finish the season
Team bizhub finished their season on a successful note winning the overall ladies elite category in the Omnicane Southern Tropical MTB Challenge ...
The Best, The Worst and Everything In Between Lise OlivierThe Best
Me and Yolandi headed to Sani2C a couple of weeks ago for my second mountain bike
race. It was probably the most fun that I have had on a bike since starting to ride
about two years ago. My first mountain bike race was the MTN Attakwas and with the
memories of that race still lingering in my head I started Sani2C very nervous and
uneasy. It was a nice surprise to find that I could actually stay on my bike for
the most part apart from the soft fall in the very muddy singletracks every now
and again. Yolandi was a great riding partner. She took the lead through all of
the more technical sections and doing a lot of the pacing to ensure that we conserved
enough to get through the whole three days of racing. We finished second behind
the very experienced team of MTN on both stage one and two. With about 50km to go
on the third day Yolandi’s rear derailleur cage broke. We lost a lot of time but
still managed to finish in third place. It was a priviledge to get to experience
these few days of mountain biking.
The Worst
The Wednesday after Sani2C the team headed to Cape Town for the Argus. This was
my first trip to the Argus. Spending a few days with the team out and about Cape
Town was as much fun as usual. We got to ride the route on Thursday and it was beautiful.
The morning of the race the wind was blowing like nothing we see up here in Gauteng.
Being new to the sport of cycling riding in a big group like the 40+ men together
with the wind was a challenge on its own. Starting Chapmans Peak in the back part
of the group took its toll and I unfortunately missed the group. I gained a lot
of experience from this race and hopefully will be a little bit better prepared
next time around.
Everything In Between
The Argus was the last race with all our international teammates. Catherine, Jennifer
and Linn will all be heading home before their European season starts. I am going
to miss the fun times travelling around South Africa with them.
It has been a tough few months of racing and I am looking forward to some much needed
time off the bike this week. This weekend I will make the trip down to Natal for
the third time in three weeks. Me, Yolandi and Michelle will be racing the Jowetts
Super Classic Mountain Bike Race in Pietermaritzburg. I am leaving straight from
there for my two week training vacation in San Lameer.
The Worst