After PE to Plett which ended last Tuesday, we stayed 2 days in Port Elizabeth to visit a friend and to relax and recover. On Thursday we went to Herold, where we would stay for 3 nights until Karoo2Coast. Herold was an interesting place, we have been there before when the Cape Pioneer came there for one night, but all we saw of Herold was a field, no houses, but it was not much more in Herold. There was a school, a church, a hospital (smaller than our apartment) and a little shop that was very cute and looked like it was from the 50s. ”Over the mountain Guest farm” where we stayed was the old police station and jail dated from 1847, which was when they built the Montague pass.
The first afternoon we rode up the pass, there is a great view from up there and a nice pass to ride, even though my legs hurt just from thinking of the times we have raced up that pass!
Herold is right at the foot of the mountain and it gets very cold there, as usual, there is no heating in the houses so when it was zero degree and freezing outside it felt like it was zero degree inside too, it was difficult to get out of bed!
On Sunday morning we packed up and drove to Uniondale and the start of Karoo2Coast, the temperature rose from 0 in Herold to 5 in Uniondale but at 8.00 when we started it felt warmer and we could leave the arm warmers in the car. The race begins with a rocky uphill for a few kilometers, I stayed with Robyn but lost her close to the top. I put the hammer down on the downhill and managed to catch her after a while. We were sitting in a good bunch of guys and since this is a bit of a road race it was difficult for anyone to get away. It goes up or down the whole time so my only chance to get away would be on the long 10km downhill after about 25km. I pushed hard down and got a gap of maybe a minute, but Robyn caught me again on the next long climb up to the Queen of the Mountain, which I managed to take! We were together until the last climb where she put in a real roadie attack, I was not prepared for it and my legs could not respond, I did not give up and tried my best but I could no catch her. I was still happy with my second place about a minute behind Robyn.
Robyn is very strong at the moment, and I felt stronger then at PE to Plett so i hope my form is on its way. We look forward to racing together again in Pioneer in about 3 weeks time, we will have some stiff competition from international teams there.
Craig also did very well at the race and finished 13th overall and first Vet! Well done honey!
Craig and I drove home on Sunday night and it was nice to sleep in our own bed after a 10-day trip where we moved around and slept in 6 different places!
Now it will be a few weeks of training before the Pioneer!
On top of Montague pass
Our house in Herold
The local shop!
Morning frost
Kind and Queen of the mountain
Podium with me, Robyn and Cherise