The Sappi Scottburgh Classic

This past Saturday was the 3rd edition of the Sappi Scottburgh classic race which starts and finishes at Scottburgh beach, an amazing venue for a bike race and of cause the finish of the 2011 Joburg2c.

Over the years the course for this race has been getting better and better and this years race really showed that. We had the neutral zone as normal out on to the district road where the official start of the race took place, but we would finish across the beach.

Greg Knox and Bruce Hughes from UCT cycling team were both there and would be the competition for the day. The race started on a long straight district road before turning right and heading up the first big climb of the day only 1km into the race. Up the first climb Bruce put in a small attack and started to open a gap on the group, so i bridged the gad and the two of us pushed hard up the climb and manged to open a decent gap on the bunch. Over the top we continued to push hard and we increased our lead.
At the top of the next big climb was the first KOM which i wanted, so i rode easy and sat on Bruce's wheel till half way up the climb i put in an attack and rode away taking the KOM. After the KOM i kept the pace up and got away from Bruce, but he rode hard and quickly reeled me back in. I realised that i probably wouldn't be able to ride away from him and stay away so i eased up slightly and we rode together. At the second KOM hot spot i rode hard up the hill with Bruce on my wheel, but i was Bruce that took it in the end. Then we hit the awesome single track through the Sappi forests, which the course designer had really given us a treat by building berms on all the corners and adding in some nice technical sections. In the single track Bruce managed to get away a little and once out the trees i was forced to chase really hard to catch up again which i did.
In the last 10km we started riding into some of the 25km riders making it pretty interesting as Bruce and i raced each other and negotiated our way past them, as well as getting through some really muddy sections after the rains the night before. Then we hit the second last climb of the day and knowing we were close to home i decided to make my move and rode really hard up the climb opening up a gap on Bruce. I kept the pace high and on the last climb i put in more time between Bruce and i. All i needed to do then was hold that gap to the finish which i did and was the winner of the 2011 Sappi Scottburgh Classic.

It was really a great race and the organisers did an amazing job on hosting the event. One other awesome feature of this race was that it goes through croc world, so if you not racing up at the front you get a glance of the huge crocs bathing in the sunlight.

The race will be broadcast on SABC 2 on Pedal talk next Sunday, so check it out and put this on your calender for next year.

Once again thanks must go to Senqu Clothing for making my racing possible.

Also a big thanks to Powasol for the bike wash at the event! Nothing better than having your bike washed for you after a hard race.