Sunday 1 April 2012

Stage 6 and we have a good day out


Those chips taste great after another big day on the bike
We awoke to a bright cool crisp morning, much better than yesterday’s downpour and cold weather. The stage today was shorter than previous stages, but with all the climbing, no less a challenge. Buzz and I were looking for a good stage, one without mechanicals.


The gun went off and the pace at the start was the hottest we have had yet. Buzz and I got a good start and our roadie background has allowed us to get a good position early in each stage. We hit the first of 3 big climbs and I knew I was going to hurt today. Buzz was riding strongly, however my legs were not with me. There is nothing worse than being in a race and you know you are going to suffer from the get-go! I was feeling ok, however I know the week has caught up with me. This was going to be one tough stage for me.

We were climbing for the first hour and a half. I was just focused on the wheel in front of me with tunnel vision. Every muscle in my body was screaming at me to stop. There is no choice but to suck it up and keep going.

Look for the profile in your next magazine!
The Shopping Centre at one end of Grabouw
The ride was in the mountains surrounding Grabouw, a strange town of contrasts. At one end of town are the blacks where you wouldn’t want to stop too long at a stop sign. Up on the hill is the whites end of town where there is a new shopping centre. It shows the different spectrums of lifestyle in South Africa.

And another at the other end of Grabouw
Even though I was in the hurt locker, Buzz and I were making good time. We hit the last foodstation in 72nd position on the stage. Buzz and I had a quick team meeting on the bikes, while we were screaming down the hill towards the feedstation and decided not to stop. There was only 25k to go after the last foodstop and it was predominately downhill. We hit the last 25k flat out with Buzz pulling some huge turns and me hanging in behind for grim death! We had about 10k of single trail and we were moving along quickly and picked up some other teams. The end result was we came in at 67th position for the stage and it was our best finish so far in the race. We were pretty pleased with the result and we have moved back into the top 100 on the GC.

Team KMD male model "Buzzolini" getting set up for
his shoot with Oakley
Where we have stayed the last 2 nights....very comfortable
When we finished, Buzz and I were hooking into some chips, when Buzz first of all got asked by the Oakley (sunglasses) photographer to pose for some photos….without his shirt on. He didn’t need to be asked twice. As soon as that was over, the RedBull team asked him if they could take some photos as well!! It must be that strong chin that apealled to them!!!!

My teammate getting some local souvenir
Tough in the tent village, and those mountans are
what we climbed up, along and back down again today
Tomorrow is the last stage. A 64k last stage, the shortest stage, but one we have been warned not to take too lightly. It will be great to finish this great event. I am exhausted and every part of my body hurts.
This is why we didnt stay in the tent village. Not the contrast
with our digs!

1 comment:

  1. I wonder if those photos are going to be published or they're for the photographers private collection?
    Well done. One more day!
    Cheers barge

    ReplyDelete