Amanzimtoti cyclist to pedal in virtual Tour Durban

Bryan Cusack is one of the top cyclists who will contest this weekend’s Virtual aQuellé Tour Durban. “I will ride indoors on a Smart Wahoo trainer. It adjusts for the virtual terrain that you’re riding, measures your power and streams it online into the virtual race in real time.”

The Athlone Park speedster has entered as a single rider as part of the WoodShack team. “Although I’m riding as a single rider, our team has three members entered – Lauren Symonds, a very talented Toti cyclist, Martin Atterbury, a two-time SA champion, and myself.

We haven’t trained specifically for the Tour Durban, but we’ve been training online and we’ve been racing the online virtual KZN Series, which was organised by KZN Cycling and Sean Lucien. It has really helped to keep everyone race fit.”

During lockdown he has mainly ridden online on the virtual Zwift platform, where riders from all over the world and SA have been riding and racing together. “I actually managed to do more riding than usual (during lockdown), as there was little else to do most of the time. I managed to do an Everesting (8 848m of climbing in 24 hours), a 400km ride in aid of the CHOC Foundation and rode 100km just about every day.”

READ ALSO: Amanzimtoti cyclist claims double victory in epic Cape races

Bryan achieved the (nearly) impossible earlier this year – winning the gruelling Bestmed Tour of Good Hope near Paarl in the Cape Winelands and then going on to claim victory with ex-Toti resident Brendan Anderson at the Cape Argus two days later on a tandem.

Part of his prize was the chance to compete in Italy in May, but unfortunately the global pandemic put a spoke in the wheels. “It was a pretty dismal outcome, but absolutely understandable. There’ll always be another chance to compete in Italy.”

The virtual race will be run in pretty much the same as in real life, with winners across every category, and cycling fans can stream it live. The mass virtual aQuellé MTB ride starts at 8am on Saturday, 25 July, with the mass 45km and 90km virtual road races at 8am on Sunday, 26 July. Catch all the action of both days on the Tour Durban Facebook page or the website.

“Most of the online races are streamed live now, either on Facebook or YouTube. It’s great how people have come together to get everything sorted.”

READ ALSO: Amanzimtoti swimmer splashes into SA squad

Bryan modestly conceded he may not be one of the favourites, even after his success at the Cape Argus, but he’s won at the Tour Durban four times and has vowed to not give away the win without a fight.

“Lockdown has certainly put the brakes on everything, but I’ve stayed race fit and I’m ready to pick it back up again out on the road as soon as possible. I would’ve gone into my Winter break from June anyway, so it hasn’t had a huge impact on me.

This year if we get going again, my main aim is to defend our Amashova win. I will probably go to Worlds again in 2022 and try to win a title. That’s my long term goal. Between now and then, I’ll just try to race as often as possible and enjoy it.”

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