My racing year started at the Western Cape Champs which were held at Wellington, a town only about 40 minutes drive from where I live, which made it easy and not so costly to attend. JC and Elbie drove me through and one of my best friends, Annare, also took the drive through from Stellenbosch. It was also so great to have my employer and good friends, Jacobeth and Keith join us as they stay in Wellington. They had last seen me cycle about six or seven years ago, if not longer, and as my current employers who are so supportive of my cycling and give me time off to focus on my cycling when I need to, I was thrilled to have them there. Also racing that day was Jaedan Gouws (a T2 cyclist) who I have I been mentoring for a few months. Jaedan had made a name for himself in the past few years as a junior and I have been guiding him through the transition from juniors to seniors. Today was his first race as a senior.
Although I was regarding this as a training race for the upcoming and all important South African champs which would follow in just two weeks, I felt quite well prepared. I had been following the training program that my friend and coach, Carol Cooke, had set out for me during December and the injuries I had in October and November were a thing of the past. My mother had also spent a lot of time with me in Stellenbosch in December which meant that for the first time in a few years I had been able to get in proper road training in the vital weeks before the domestic racing season began.
As I have said I regarded this race as a training race for SA champs but I was also aware that this was my first race at in SA as a Paralympian. Talking about firsts, this was also the first time I had my very own set of rollers at a race and it really was assuring that I could warm up properly without having to find a section of road to warm up on. (In Tokyo I used someone else’s rollers.) As we rolled up to the start, Elbie stayed with me for as long as I needed her to take any stuff from me before going back to the car with JC and Annare and following behind me to ensure my safety on the open road. Jacobeth and Keith jumped into their car and would stop along the route and jump out to cheer me as I came by before getting back into the car and driving passed me only to repeat the effort again and again. This is something they had done years ago and I enjoyed it again.
I guess it was in the first 1/3 of the race when the extra straps that helped to keep my feet strapped to the pedal fell off and my right foot uncleated from the pedal and I had to slow down to try and get it back in. It took me a few minutes to get it back in and get back up to speed. The course was one I had raced two years ago and thus I had an idea of what it was like. The first half mostly slightly downhill and at the halfway mark we would turn around and start the ascent back to the start. Based on my past performances we all know that I am not as comfortable going downhill as I am on the uphills so I knew the first half of the race would be my challenge. So one can imagine my shock when I glanced down at my Garmin to see that my average was above 22km/h – An average that I am not sure if I had ever attained before, except maybe in the Netherlands where the route was flat. I now had the challenge of trying to keep that average as high as possible as I turned around and headed towards the slight hills that I had just sped down.
The second half of the race was a challenge. Not only was I watching my average speed tick down as I climbed up but the weather was starting to heat up (later that day the temperatures would reach around 45 degrees in the area)! Trying to finish the race before my average speed dipped too low was a good challenge and very motivating as I wasn’t really racing against anyone because I was the only female paracyclist racing, so having my average speed challenge me was great. My previous best average speed at a race in the Netherlands was 19.8 so when my average was hitting around 20km/h I was really hoping the finish line came very quickly. I did not want to lose a PB so close to the end! Finally I saw the line and gave it all I had left for the last few hundred meters. As I stopped after the line I was trying to catch my breath but all I could do was stare down at my odometer. Even as my friends gathered around me I could not catch my breath quick enough. Finally with my head looking up to the sky I let out a shout (not quite that loud due to my lack of breath). I had crossed over the 20km/h average mark – a mark I had been chasing for about 5 years. My new PB was an average of 20.1km/h!
After I had got back to the parking area and we met up with Jaedan and his parents and had a good conversation about cycling, we decided to go and have breakfast together while we waited for the prize giving. Jacobeth and Keith decided to join us but unfortunately Annare had to head home. The rest of the morning was super hot but such a delightful morning of friendship and celebration of life and community.
I had two weeks to fine tune things before the big qualification race for selection to the team that would go to the World Cups and World Champs.