DC Pic - Team Ngubane

 

The Double Century

Yip, it’s the end of the year and that means it was Double Century time again.  The race this year followed the same route as last year except that it started and finished in Swellendam rather than Montague.  The effect of this is that the 2 big climbs came between km’s 40 and 60 rather than 140 and 160.

 

This year I rode for Team Ngubane.  A team I have been riding for, for the Spring League as well.  We were one of the last teams to start and got underway only at 6:58am.  In a way it was nice because we didn’t have to wake up so early, but we also knew that the wind was going to get worse later.

 

For those that don’t know about the DC, it is effectively a 202km time trail.  You can start with up to 12 riders and it is the time of the 6^th rider that counts.

We started with a full compliment this year, which always makes things a little easier.  In my first DC we started with only 6, so had no luxury of dropping anyone.

 

Gert, Willies dad wasn’t feeling too great and unfortunately had to pack it in early.  His strength on the flats would have been valuable later on.

 

In total we dropped 3 riders on route and had to stop to fix 2 punctures.  The 2 unplanned stops ended up ruining our chance of breaking the 6 hour barrier.  We eventually did it in 6:03!!

 

The team (including backup crew) was great.  Everybody did as much as they could and when a breather was needed another team member just rolled through to take the front.

 

Team Ngubane will definitely be back next year, and the goal of breaking 6 hours next time will be replaced by trying to crack the top 5.