Stage 1: 115km
Neither my team mate nor I have ever done the Panorama Tour before so not checking out the start, not warming up and not taking it easy in the first few kilometres would have been ill advised. Consider us ill advised.
The stage started with a neutral zone of 3 kilometres. I've always found races that start with a neutral zone to suit me down to the ground in that it gives me a chance to get settled in the bunch and to get my legs turning before the racing starts. So the organisers said "GO" and we off at great speed to get to the front of the bunch. After flying down the initial downhill I looked up and saw that the road flips up into something quite vertical. In fact, I considered for a moment that this was not an actual road that anyone would actually be able to drive up. With a car. Never mind on a bicycle. And this is where I realised that this was going to be a painful weekend. We decided to settle down into something more resembling "ons eie pas" and see how things went as the legs warmed up which turned out to be a wise idea as we passed more and more teams who had blown out the back of the front bunches.
As we went along though, my "eie pas" started to slow a bit and my team mate would push me to the top of the hill, we would descend at speeds surely approaching terminal velocity and then the process would repeat itself. Around the 50 kilometre mark we were caught by quite a large bunch containing some of South Africa's top cyclists from the MTN Cycling Team who had partnered with non-pros for the race. It's always fun being able to ride with the pros, especially when they are taking it easy and riding a nice even pace and we stuck in this bunch and had a great time until the start of the climb up Spitskop where we were able to ride just a bit faster than the bunch and went off the front on our own. And the cycle started again; push to top of hill, descend, repeat.
After a glorious descent down the other side of Spitskop we only had a few more undulations and then we were back in White River and at the finish. What a day in the saddle. I have never climbed around 2200 meters in one ride before in my life and my legs hated me.
Stage 2: 80km
The second stage was relatively flat (for a broad definition of flat) and being quite a bit shorter than the previous day I mistakenly took this to be a rest day. Another mass start and another neutral zone did little in the way of helping and despite being quite strong for the first 5 kilometres, I realised that this was going to be a really tough day for me. No matter what I did I just couldn't get my legs warmed up and literally just hung on my team mate's wheel. Small bunches would come past and I would sprint with everything I had to try and latch on and just not be able to bridge the gap which as any cyclist will know is truly one of the worst feelings in the world because you know that a) you've used up energy that you couldn't afford to use and b) the next time you try and hook on to a passing bunch its going to hurt that much more.
Eventually around 25 kilometres a great bunch of 4 teams came past at a nice steady pace and I managed to get myself onto a wheel. I couldn't really contribute but my team mate was feeling strong and took her turn up front and the rest of the guys in the bunch would pass me to take up the slack when they realised I was doing everything I could just to hang on.
As we came into Nelspruit we nearly missed the turn-off as the marshal didn't give us any clear indication of whether we were going straight or left. Left it was and we all showed some neat skills to make the left turn. Ironically at the next left turn the marshal there didn't seem to mind which way we went either and my team mate who was working up front at the time went straight while the rest of us all scrambled around the corner at the last minute. Having heard us shout, my team mate immediately swung left and I dropped off the bunch to wait for her and I thought that the rest of the teams would carry on without us and this is where I saw the spirit of the Panorama Tour - one of the guys called to the front for everyone to wait and once my team mate had caught up again, the bunch regrouped and off we went together. Not something you often get to experience in a race. Not too long afterwards we caught up with quite a big bunch, once again containing the guys from the MTN Cycling Team. It was a great big bunch with lots of people chatting and laughing and somewhere around the 45 kilometre mark I felt that now my legs had finally warmed up.
Towards the end of the stage the road started rolling up and down again and the big bunch pretty much split up according to everyone's climbing ability. I tried hard to be able to keep up with my team mate but eventually my legs caved and we started our by-now familiar cycle of push and descend. The last 5 kilometres really tested my sense of humour and I put in a huge effort to be friendly when the TV cameras were on us. Note to self: check whether the approaching motorbike has a passenger carrying a camera before you blow your nose. Just when I was convinced that I would never smile (or walk) again we saw Casterbridge and the finish at the top of the hill which was a lovely surprise.
Stage 3: 113km
In the first 65 kilometres of this stage, we would be going up Spitskop and Long Tom Pass so everyone knew that it was going to be a hard day in the saddle. The previous evening my team mate said that for this stage we shouldn't start too hard and should try and settle into a comfortable bunch in the earlier kilometres rather than try and chase the front bunches and waste our energy. The stage went out the same way as the previous day and we rode comfortably and found ourselves in a bunch with teams that we had noticed would catch us on the previous stages. We rode along with this bunch and picked up lone teams and smaller bunches until we yet again were in a great big bunch with the guys from MTN.
Towards the top of Spitskop I was starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel and just couldn't keep up with the big bunch and while they were never far ahead of us I couldn't find the legs to catch up. The descent was insane especially as there were trucks having to gear down and go slowly amidst cyclists gearing up to go as fast as possible. We hooked onto a tandem at some point and carried on with them to Long Tom Pass.
What can I say about Long Tom? Apart from "it's a killer" I have no words. None. It takes a lot for me to be speechless. My team mate literally dragged me all the way to the top for us to be able to stay in contact with the tandem which proved to be a great help for the rest of the stage. I was finished though. It took everything I had just to stay on the tandem's wheel and every now and then my team mate would give me a shove so I could rest my legs a bit.
At about 10 kilometres to go we were faced with the climb past Heidel Eggs. It didn't look that steep on the race profile but it was in a word, horrific. The tandem couldn't benefit from any slipstream that we made on our single bikes and we huffed and puffed ahead on our own and somehow made it to the top of the hill and over the next few smaller bumps to the finish.
My team mate earned her weight in gold during this stage and if she hadn't pushed, pulled, shoved or dragged me the way she had I would surely still be out there on my bike.
Stage 4: 25km Time Trial
I was fortunately not naive about the amount of suffering that goes into a time trial and had ridden from where we were staying to the start to make sure I was well warmed up and hopefully would not need to be pushed for this very short stage. We set off from Casterbridge and wound our way through the suburbs of White River until we ended up on the last few kilometres of stage 2.
The effort I put in for this stage was nothing short of prize-winning and eventhough it was for short bursts, I could take my turn in front and (finally) do a bit of work for my team mate. I panted and wheezed my way up the hills in the last few kilometres to the tune of my team mate telling me to relax and not to panic and finally we saw the finish in sight and used up the last bit of what we had to get to the top of the hill as fast as we could (well the last bit of what I had at least).
FINISHED! It took us around 52 minutes to complete the time trial which I was really chuffed with and our total time for the tour was just over 12 hours putting us in 8th place in the women's category.
Things that I just have to mention:
1. The person you ride with makes the world of difference. Despite my team mate being much stronger than me and having to do tonnes more work than she would have had to do with a stronger partner, she not once made me feel bad about not being able to ride faster and when we passed a lone cyclist on the 2nd stage who said "my team sucks" I was so grateful to have been riding with my friend who only said words of encouragement.
2. Taking a "team manager" along makes life so much easier. A good mutual friend came along for the tour and was there at the start and end of each stage (and at various spots during the stages to take photos where she would cheer us on). She helped us with our bikes and kit back at the accommodation and brought us food and coffee when we'd showered and collapsed on our beds. It was like having our own personal guardian angel.
3. No matter how awesome you think you are, you're not. Getting dropped on climb after climb was at the same time very humbling and a great reality check for me and really highlighted loads of room for improvement for me. Room for improvement will be addressed next week.
4. Twisted spokes are not the end of the world and will hold up on descents at breakneck speed. I don't recommend this though and my wheels are going in to the bike shop to be pampered ASAP.
5. Always start standing in a lighter gear than you normally would because chances are you're more tired than you think and the hill will probably get steeper just up ahead.
6. A Nutella sandwich is great food to take along for the ride but a ham and cheese sandwich is truly awesome. Gels are overrated.
7. It would have been great to be able to be up in front with the strongest teams but where I was able to ride was where I got to experience the great atmosphere and camaraderie of the tour.
8. Always carry your asthma pump.
9. Always move to the small chain ring early enough that you do not drop your chain. Also, actually remember that you have a small chain ring because it makes climbs that much easier.
10. A compact crank is a necessity.
11. And finally ... sometimes you're the pigeon and sometimes you're the statue.
