The Cape Cobra on Sunday was Team Contego/Giant's Philip Buys' first road ever, but most definitely not his last. The mountain biker had a blast on the thin wheels of his Giant road bike. The whole team participated in the race that finished on top of Ou Kaapse weg. The team's Arian Kleinhans finished third in the women's race even after a bad fall! Philip finished in the top 10.
Here is an extract from his blog after the race:
My first road race went pretty well...I didn’t crash... I did have a quick crash course in road racing from my more experienced team mates on the way to the start. I just have to learn to ride smarter...,but no worries..,I had nothing to lose and it was great training. Recorded a new max power and new max heart rate! Saweet!
I must say that the first 10km was pretty nerve wrecking for me. I tried to stay on the outsides of the bunch..otherwise if I got boxed in I was ready to bunny hop over anyone crashing in front of me!
On the second climb I managed to move right to the front of the race and all in perfect timing. SA road champ Darren Lill launched his first attack. I knew if he made a move I had to respond, so I chased after him and soon I was part of a 16 man break...full Bonitas team present.
Up the steep concrete climb at Simons Town (excuse if I get some names wrong...still learning my way around the mountain- at some stage I had no idea where we were) a spoke in my rear wheel snapped and caused havoc. I had to stop and just give it a twist around the next spoke. At this time the racing was hot on fire.., fortunately managed to ride back to the chasing bunch! Hard effort. Oh, at this time two Bonitas riders had a gap of about 2min.
Hard chasing from here on and a few efforts from my side. It was a hill top finish up Ou Kaapse weg. You push yourself over the limit in these road races...I really enjoyed the race!
For more on Philip's blog visit www.philbuys.com
