THERE was much excitement within Toti’s cycling ranks on Saturday morning as homegrown cyclist, Ryan Felgate finished in seventh position in the Cape Town Cycle Tour, previously the Cape Argus.
He was the lead out for Tyler Day who came in second position.
Ryan finished one place behind Mark Cavendish. This is a feather in the cap of Amanzimtoti Cycling Club, as this is where Ryan learned his skills as a young boy.
“We had just finished quite a tough Boland five-stage tour totalling 467km from Monday to Friday, 2 to 6 March, when we heard that due to the fires in the Cape, the Argus on Sunday, 8 March was to be shortened to 47km. We knew that this would actually make the race harder and speeds higher. It was a huge privilege that Mark Cavendish and his lead-out man, Mark Renshaw, both from team Etixx-Quick-Step, were coming to do the race, as well as Team Drapac, the MTN feeder team, Team Bonitas, Team Abantu and other international riders.
The day before the race we looked over the course, particularly the finish and realised that it was a fairly technical finish, and in order to win the sprint, you would have to be through the last turning circle first. Unfortunately all the teams had realised the same thing, so on the day, everyone was sprinting to do just that. It was decided among our team that Tyler Day, our on-form sprinter at the moment, would go for the win, I would be his lead-out, and we’d both ‘hide’ in the peloton while the other three members of our team would do the work at the front during the race.
All worked according to plan with speeds on the day reaching 75km/hr. Coming up towards the last turning circle, I started sprinting with Tyler on my wheel. I managed to be second rider through the circle, sprinted as long and hard as I could, then pulled aside to let Tyler start his sprint. Unfortunately, on the day, Nolan Hoffman of Team Abantu was the strongest. He won, with Tyler coming second, Brenton Jones from Australia third, Mark Renshaw fourth, Nino Shurter fifth, Mark Cavendish sixth and myself seventh.”
AMANZIMTOTI Cycling Club’s Mambas MTB section riders enjoyed another fantastic Bushlife Adventures outride on Sunday, 7 March.
‘Follow the man in red’ was the motto of this ride.
Mountain bikers got to ride in places they would never normally venture. They saw sheer beauty and suffered a little to see it. The route went via Umdoni Golf Course. The nature trail around there is absolutely magnificent. There was a compulsory viewing of the Otter Trail. The Emerald City has nothing on the emerald colour in nature – brilliant green, lush vegetation is a pleasure to look at.
The group split up into a few groups after that, some going home on the dirt road, while others did some serious bundu bashing and hectic navigating on footpaths in the hills behind Sezela and Pennington. Well done to the new riders taking up the challenging distance. It never gets easier unfortunately
The 20km riders also had a special treat as they got to do the night ride route during the day. This is normally closed off to riders, so it was good for the riders to be able to navigate it in daylight. A few decided to observe the track up close on the outride. Hannes Beneke, Warren Egan and Caryn Harvey learnt to fall gracefully.
Toti Mambas now has a strong D group up and running which is being led by Tony Rahme. This is a great opportunity for beginner riders to jump on the band wagon and learn the ropes. The C group has now moved up a peg and are attacking the big hills of the Illovo outback. There is also a large group riding on the road early on the weekday mornings.
Toti Cycling Club will hold another children’s ride at Lords and Legends track on Sunday, 22 March. Check out the Facebook page for more details on this.
Where has your bike taken you lately? For more info on the cycling club, visit www.amanzimtoticycle.co.za
