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( Keanan Roodt (teammate) shown in picture receiving recognition on 10th). A tough race. UCI race which means UCI points are up for grabs and it tends to draw out a lot of strong competition.  I'm going refrain from giving too many details of the race because I was going so hard I don't feel like I was coherent enough to know what was going on. This was 100 km of racing, which is the same as the other start groups, with six 5 km loops around germiston lake.  From the gun the racing was intense and it was slightly downhill and tail wind and it seemed as though a break was trying to establish itself. It seems like we were no more than 10 km into the race when Bradley, my team mate had punctured and a break was up the road. Unsure of who was in the break, Keanan confirmed that this was something that needed chasing, we were not in it. And so that was the story of the race at least the first part of it: chasing the break down with not a lot of fire power. It may have been 60 km in or so before the break was finally caught.  Bradley recovered quick from the flat and was back up on the front and helping no more than 5 km after his puncture. Dylan Girdlestone Bradley Potgeiteir  and I basically single handedly brought back a group of 10 ish riders. SO hard! In the process, with advice from Bradley, the chasing peleton was reduced to about 10- gutters, the medium speed wind from the north pushing people into the gutter and left with no slip.  Once the break was caught, the third group, the main peleton was not far behind.  So there were some mild attacks but nothing I couldn't move back in place and still recover and keep up. I did launch a very pathetic solo attack at about 70 ish km in.  nobody wanted to go with me, and perhaps because the peleton was only 20 seconds behind then 20 ish man break/ first group.  The peleton attacked once they joined the break. my little solo thing where I was just out there dangling only lasted a few minutes and obviously wasn't going anywhere, I had no umph behind that and 60 km to go is a long way.  amongst those that attacked was Keanan, a team mate. so Bradley and I just sat back ( start the most enjoyable lazy part of the race) I was able to recover quite a bit sitting on wheels there, and the pace was a tad slower.  Eventually it seemed that perhaps getting free from this group would be a good idea and so Bradley suggested I give it a shot to bridge to the break. At first a few riders stuck, which wasn't great but I was fresh enough to just step on the gas a little harder and they were gone but a strong rider I believe by the name Dusty Day, was able to join me. but even with some help from him, I was caught between no mans land and not able to bridge. Not long after I saw Bradley again. I guess he went solo but then a couple guys were able to stick to his wheel.  A bit of a hard part of the race now, fatigue really setting in at 90 ish kms.  The rest of the storty was us 5 guys: me Bradley, Dusty Day( I think this is who he is), proud beginner/enzo rider Oupa, and another guy.  we just got into the last 6 laps and got tireder and tireder, or at least I did, and we just rolled turns quite smoothly which was manageable. We stood little chance of catching the leaders and we all knew it but we as a group seemed committed to finishing strong with some dignity.  I believe I got 26 out of 33 but I imagine there must have been at least 30 riders who arrived to the laps too late, after the leaders had a lap in and were therefore game over.  NP was 284, certainly didn't feel that low, but perhaps my fitness is not as sharp as I'd hope it is. The heart rate data 157 avg / 188 max shows 1) I went really really hard and 2) Thurs/ Friday both nearly entirely off left me in a very fresh state.  175 may be a typical max hr for a race. 182 perhaps highest on a vo2 max workout so 188 heart rate is perhaps just a few beats off what I like to call my max.  The race winner was Jayde Julius, Stephen Vanheerden 2nd, 3rd place was about a minute down.  Keanan landed 10th which was just steller and well raced. As far as a cycle power team member, I consider this very solid after last week's 3rd place at east rand classic.  Next race: tour of Limpopo mid May. ready or not here we come !  

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Orion Craigue

Cycle 100 challenge. a 10th place finish from cycle power in Keanan Roodt

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