Neville Cragg

I have toyed with the idea of buying an Italian thoroughbred for some time now. Every time the moment comes that I have sold my latest bike, I start shopping for a boutique branded machine to race, there have been plenty on the list including Time VXRS, Look 695, Willier Cento Uno, De Rosa King3 RS the new Supersix Evo Ultimate of course the Specialized Tarmac Sl4 … but one bike caught my eye at its launch and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect this time around.

I remember the first glimpse of the Bianchi Oltre stirring my emotions, I loved its lines, its aggression and the way it all integrated. I watched videos on the history and dramatics of the Italians and the brand pillars of Italy. I watched again. I read reviews, I spoke to anyone and everyone that had ridden one for a first hand account but I didn’t really need more convincing, I knew I wanted one… but wait there is more…for my patience I was rewarded with the release of the Nero Limited Edition. Ahh yes…I had to have it.

I placed the order and waited impatiently, luckily I had some weekday racing to keep me occupied, but once the box stood in front of me I couldn’t wait any longer, I tore it open to reveal one of the best looking frames I have ever seen. I was like a little boy on Christmas morning. i took the rest of the day off work and hurried home to begin building.

I weighed all the parts meticulously first and documented them, the claimed weight for my 57cm was correct to the gram. The Limited Matt Black paint helping attain a 100g weight loss over the standard model. The finishing kit all beautifully crafted and anodised in matching Celeste by Carbon Ti.

The build went without a hitch and I had her up and running in no time, I fitted my race rig and went for a 5km shakedown test. My legs were horribly sore after the mornings training session so I couldn’t get a good power transfer feeling but the handling was razor sharp. I made some fine adjustments to the shifting and parked it for the night. I stopped at the pharmacy on my way home and even the people queue at the teller couldn’t help remarking on how beautiful my bike was.

On Saturday morning I went out for a light spin, into a serious headwind at first, but once I had turned and started back with the wind, my enjoyment lept up 1000%. It was smooth and fast and silently deadly, It responded to every effort and turned like a knife. My biggest fear was under-steer, but that was quickly put to rest and I zig-zagged in delight. I went up a size, the Specialized’s I have always ridden were 54′s but this was a 56, effectively 12mm longer on top so I ran a shorter stem by 10mm and also benefited by having the steeper head-tube angle to quicken the steering on this model over it’s 55cm counterpart. My homework was spot on, and it fitted like a glove. I effected some more front derailer fettling as I neared home as I had some rub on the blades under full gas. Once that was fully sorted I cruised back home.

Bianchi Oltre in Training Mode

On Sunday it made it’s debut at the Medallion Tour De Stellenbosch amid lots of ooh’s and aaah’s it was definitely a head turner. Performance on the day was spot on, it felt perfect in every way and the climbing ability was well shown as I went over strong in the second bunch, not quite ready to hang with the climbers.

Race Mode

It’s sure footed in descent, stiff at the BB and still a pleasure to ride. It really goes “Beyond” what you can expect from your bike. Bianchi is doing it all right. I absolutely love it.

We headed back out to the flatter rolling hills of Paarl for the 123km race. We were greeted by fine and war weather, which became very hot later on as we got back into Paarl. We only needed to control the race and keep it together for a sprint, it didn’t quite turn out like that.

As the neutral zone ended Steven Hayes was away, the long leadup to the climb at 45km served as a deterrent to the chase group and he was allowed a long leash, soon enough he was joined by our own Robbie Rodriquez, and the pair of them worked together to gain a gap of over 2 minutes by the climb.

Robbie and Steve hold the break over the climb

Back in the bunch things were tactical as riders played chess and conserved energy for the climb, I tried a few moves, to get Rob up the road but the pack would allow no more room and everything was closed down.

Along the leadup to the climb after the Hermon turn off, we faced a headwind. No-one wanted to be on the front, so we ambled along at a measly 25kmph. This suited the break and allowed them to still climb at a slower tempo to go over with the leaders. I placed myself up front with Warren and paced out the climbs lower slopes, this way we could control the pace. Anderson lept at the first sign of gradient and it was time to hit the hard yards up the climb. The pace was hard but not impossible to keep up, I wavered on the back of the faster guys but eventually got dropped and ended up in no man’s land following as fast as I could go. I made it back to Warren just nearing the top of the climb and we were off about 80m. Together we worked to get back to the lead group, the pace was high and we both took big turns to close them down.

The chase took longer than I would have liked and I was burning matches in getting back. Eventually though we closed in by the left hand turn for home, but it was no easier as more attacks came straight away. It was hang on or ride home alone, so I gritted my teeth and set my legs alight again to hold on. Once the pace eased I sat in and recovered as much as I could. A few kilometers ticked by and then it was time for more games, riders took turns attacking the bunch, including me, toying off the front and getting chased. after a few moves Robbie struck again, this time with Marius Nel, a good TT rider too and the pair worked away quite quickly. We had full confidence in Robbie and let him go, Anderson did too as this move suited them well. Some chasing ensued but more time gains went the way of the break.

I realised the break would dent our GC chances, and set about chasing ourselves, we rested Clive and he held out to wait for the sprint. Several other guys joined in and the pace was very hard over the final 30km, some heavy rollers and attacking made it a crazy hard pace to hang on. The break stayed, we could see them but they weren’t coming back to our tired legs.

The last flurry of a chase was on the downhill slopes toward Paarl main road, but again our efforts were in vain as we couldn’t close and turned our attentions to the sprint for the final podium place. I was fading fast and waited a long time before attempting a leadout. With 2km to go I took Clive to the fore and couldn’t stay there, and falling behind just before the right turn to begin the sprint.

I was off the back, but tucked in as aero as I could to recover and make back some meters, the plan worked and I closed in on the bend and was travelling faster than the bunch too! I rolled around the right and kicked into a sprint into open space. Clive meanwhile had gone way up the left and we almost merged at the front as I came around. With Clive needing the points I backed off a touch to allow him the podium, but MC came around us both to take the 3rd place. Clive ended 4th with me 5th.

The Bunch Sprint Head On

The team competition went brilliantly for Aurecon as Robbie took the win and maximum points and another 2 in the top 5 placings, not exactly the plan but we’ll take it gladly!

This is not my favourite race on the calendar, and for good reason. It’s a very hilly race with little time for recuperation and usually means a lot of time spent chasing, and then going backwards on the climbs again. It’s a climbers race and for me to have any chance at all I’d have to wear them down on any flats and then still spend a lot of time in the red on the hills, it’s a tough task.

Thankfully the wind was up again and in my favour. The start from Reddam House was easy paced and we all got up onto Boyes drive without a hitch, I placed myself well on the longer slope to go over in good contact and I started hitting as we crested. I accelerated on the descent and had a few chasers. The twisty roads and sharp corners suit me and I had a small gap going down to the main road. I didn’t force the pace and the group came back together.

Up black hill 1 the prevailing NW wind was a headwind, and this was good news for me as it held up the climbers and I could sit in and go over without too much trouble. On the way down I hit again, opening a small gap and taking more meters through the 90 degree turn at the traffic lights. A few riders had come with me and we drove a small break for a km or two while the rest played catchup. The headwind was still in effect so I didn’t waste too much energy here, but kept the pressure on if they went to sleep. Slangkop was coming up and the bunch caught their breath.

Up Slangkop around Kommetjie lighthouse the headwind turned and the climbers piled on the pressure. The bunch drew out and a long line of riders filtered up and over. I managed to stay in contact going over in the tail and set about moving up the bunch on the rough and chattery shallow descent into Witsand. I had made my way to the front by the intersection and hit immediately taking Warren away with me. We drove off the front and didn’t allow any rest to the others either. As we toyed off the front, I was fishing for any other riders to join us and work away, but the chase was on and the whole bunch came after us. I sat up.

Perfectly timed, Steve and Robby hit immediately, the bunch had just heaved a sigh of relief and they came flying past me and Warren over 10kmph faster than us. The split opened and they rode hard to keep going away. Warren and I slowed the pace and waited for the other teams to take up the responsibility of bringing them back.

Eventually Cape Storm tried in ones and two’s and Anderson lent a hand. This was ideal as they could take all the wind for the rest of us in the long uphill drag to Smitswinkel. The rest of Team Aurecon sat in, while the work got done. Eventually chasing turned to attacking and the break was brought back under the extra pace injections of the constant darting off the front. Once Steve and Robby were back in the fray I began attacking again myself, going just before the crest with Pieter Calitz. We descended with speed, in gusting winds that now turned into tail winds, again I wasn’t going flat out, but testing the waters. We regrouped, Warren hit, I went with him but the speeds were too high to get away. So we cruised along until the next rise in the road at the Black Marlin. Marius Nel jumped away and rode away solo as no-one put in a chase. I rested as I knew I would need to work hard to get Clive into the brutal navy climb in a good place.

The elbow rubbing started at the Simonstown golf course. Anderson took control and I laid in wait, Clive was already on my wheel, Steve was also well placed behind him making room. The pace from Anderson slowed as we entered Simonstown central and I took over the pace making so we didn’t get swallowed up again. On the far end of town the battle reheated and we rode in a parallel pace line tot he climb’s base. It was quite a distance far a leadout and I was happy to have Steven lend a hand with the pace making. Clive was doing a great job of holding my wheel and I took him to the inside curb as we entered the pothole strewn road. I made sure he knew the right line and sent him on his way.

I went backwards through the group and Steve dropped a chain. I rode as hard as I could with the legs I had left to try get into some sort of bunch for black hill. I went over the broken concreted climb on my own, but Steve was just ahead with another rider, and a small group ahead of them. I chased, and tucked in tight as I could to catch by aerodynamics rather than using up more energy. I managed to get back to Steve by the main road and turned left onto Black Hill 2 to begin the climb together.

The Black Hill 2 Chase

We worked well together and Steve was out climbing me so he took the larger share of the work. We had four team mates up ahead in the main pack as the front split on the navy climb had merged. Over the top I was back in my element and lead the charge downhill and by the time we were through Sunvalley we were back in contact with the front guys and in time to rest into the headwind towards Noordhoek. The bunch was only 30 guys strong by now and I was hanging on for dear life, with two climbs to come I was not looking forward to the next section of tarmac either.

I started the ascent of Silvermine road that links into Ou Kaapse weg in contact for the most of it, but the steeper last section was the deal breaker as the climbers launched their end-game. I faded back and gritted my teeth for the final 3km of Ou Kaapse weg to the hill top finish. Anderson had two riders in contention with JP and John climbing well, Clive was on the gas too and gave chase, but Raynard Tissink had snuck away and was being closed down by John, who caught him in the end for the Win, followed closely by JP and then Clive.  I crawled home in pieces in 18th, disappointed that I couldn’t climb better but happy considering the shape I am in.

Me, Steve and Clive

This new race on the calendar was quite exciting, a new course and route and some decent distance to race was looking good. The weather was absolutely perfect and The team was feeling good.

The first 15km were to serve as a warm up until we hit the Hels Hoogte climb, but as I cruised along the smooth tarmac I was feeling good and had a dig, I opened a gap and was chased down, I went again and held it longer trying to make sure I was warm before the climb. Surprisingly a group of about 8 of went clear and as I looked back I realised we were being allowed some freedom.

The break on Hels

The break included all the main teams and we set about growing the gap before the climb. We had around 2 minutes at the base and set about the climb, the riders setting a steady hard pace that was just about my limit. Slowly riders couldn’t hold on and one by one they fell back off the break leaving only four of us to descend and head to Paarl.

Driving the Break

We had some decent flat fire power in myself and Luke again, Neil Swarts and Andy. We rolled through and worked well and held our advantage all the way through Paarl and over past the Fairview wine farm, onto the R44 and outwards Wellington. We turned left onto Voor Paardeberg road and through the rollers there. Thats where we had our first casualty, Andy got dropped and we were down to three by Grand Prix hill.

At the crest of the hill Luke popped a spoke in his rear wheel and we slowed to see if he’d fix or be relieved it if it rectified itself. It didn’t and he’d have to stop. We looked back and our break had withered down to just a few seconds. Luke stopped to repair and rejoined the chasing bunch, neil and I pressed on to the top of the last roller and eased up as we got swallowed.

The catch was not a full peloton, and we pressed on to keep the secondary break the same size of around 30 guys. I sat in a bit and rested, chatted to my team mates in the pack and decided on a new course of action. We turned left onto the R304 and into a head wind that hit slightly from the left. A few breaks went and came back, then team Aurecon put everyone in the gutter. Jacques and I took a few hard long pulls in the gutter and shelled a couple of riders, but the main contenders remained.

it was then back to back attacking, my legs were recovering fast and I launched attack after attack, I forced a lot of riders to close gaps and got them to burn matches, but I was burning mine too and I attacked maybe three times too many. John Wakefield countered and Neil Swarts went on his wheel. Our team now had to chase and the guys were already tired and still trying to protect Clive.

For the final 5km  We couldn’t close John’s perfectly timed move and even though I buried myself to get within 5 seconds for points it wasn’t enough. I dropped Clive off at the base of the uphill sprint way too early, but he was strong enough to hold onto a long sprint for third place.

A small mistake cost us the race but our team had done well and salvaged a podium. I was pleased with my legs on the day, but disappointed in my lack of patience. Another lesson learned.

After taking some time off the bike and getting some windy base miles in the legs over the Christmas holidays, the day dawned for the first race of the season only two weeks after the Christmas pies had run out. Needless to say I was not in the shape of my life and was still struggling with anaesthetic after-effects from my operation in early December.

I jumped into the start pen in A group sporting my new Aurecon colours. Thankfully the wind was up in full force and this helped me tremendously as the climbing goats would get held up on the two major obstacles of the day.

As expected the assault on Ou Kaapse Weg was limited by the wind and i made it over the climb in touch with the leaders for the first time in my life, I showed my appreciation by attacking on the descent but it was playful and wasted as I’d never get away there. Through to Ocean view drive it was plain sailing with the wind and again a side wind didn’t hurt over the hump to Witsand where again we turned into the teeth of the wind. I held back and sat in all the way up to Red Hill triangle, again the wind holding up the climbers from laying down too much pain, then it was a fast frenzy of chase and attack up the final slopes of Smitswinkel.

about 2km from the summit a small group went clear and hovered 50m off the front, I could see the gap was not being closed as the chase group tired, shortly before the crest I launched to cross over the gap taking Luke with me. On the fast descent we didn’t take long to get in touch, and immediately began to work the break clear. I could see by the calibre of riders present that this was going to be the move of the day.

We rode homeward at upwards of 60kmh ave and pressed a 2 minute gap, then the infighting began. Alister Davies attacked up the rise to the golf course at Simonstown, I took up the chase and close him down, then Luke and Neil attacked together and stayed clear right until Sunny Cove.

The infighting had slowed us down and John Wakefield and James Tennant gassed it to close on us alone by the time we exited Fish Hoek. I was hoping for a head start up Boyes Drive but I couldn’t get away, and the steep 15% gradient sent me out the back and the rest of the break into pieces as well. I rode at my own pace and hoped to pick up some riders that had dug too deep.

I caught 4 riders at the Westlake turn, unfortunately Clive who had crashed earlier, Luke and Neil. Craig Boyes crashed as we turned and I swerved to avoid him. We needed to maintain our gap on the chasing bunch and worked together for the final 5km. Luke got up to sprint and I jumped after him, I rounded him with 100m to go and stayed clear to finish 9th.

Overall I was happy to have made the move and finished strong so early in the season, hopefully more to come.

Having won my age category at the Msundusi World masters qualifier the pressure was on for me to perform in my own back yard. I wanted to prove to myself that it wasn’t a fluke and importantly to go to SA Champs as the champion from the Cape.

I hadn’t yet aquired a full spec TT bike and resorted to converting my Venge again for the job. The course was out on the Paardeberg road that has hardly any flat parts at all. The rolling hills made choosing the Venge a little easier and I had a known setup to work with. I fitted Swift’s 90mm Hemoglobin wheels which took a little getting used to on my warm up, but luckily my start time caught a break in the terribly weather.

Converted Venge with 90mm Tubbies

The weather was dramatic with gusting winds and not very much assistance. It was a headwind out and a sidewind home! I set off at a steady tempo, nicely downhill to start so I didn’t fill up with lactic acid. I had a good rhythm and caught my 1 minute man in under 3km, and caught two more before the turn around at 15km. After that it was all mental as I had no marker to chase, and had a big gap behind me. Steven was driving backup for me on the day and he kept me motivated throughout with shouting and hooting from the car.

The last quarter was mostly uphill, I had to keep turning a big gear and keep momentum up but save something for the final uphill drag to the line. I rode a very calculated race and finished on empty, I had no more left in the tank.

I waited impatiently for the results but after chatting to my main rivals and getting their times I was confident. Finally the announcement came, I had won and by about 1 minute over 30km. I was elated and relived at the same time and an now looking forward to putting the blue and white stripes on my new skinsuit

After parading around with the youngsters, students and Pro’s for a year with team RSAWEB, the new year meant new challenges and also a new team.

I signed for team Aurecon for 2012 and look forward to some excellent racing and hopefully some good results. I’m back to racing in the Subvet 30 plus age cat. Hopefully I can use my racing and experience over the last year to good effect to provide the team with some results.

It’s going to be a jam packed season with 7 race strong road league starting in January, interspersed with local classics and then onto SA TT Champs and SA Road Champs in March. Straight off the plane and into the fire for the Cape Epic 2012. Later in the year the main event, the Worlds Masters TT and having just made the cut, the road race as well!

Here’s to an excellent year ahead

Team Aurecon's new colours

We decided to drive up to to Bloemfontein, not because we loved each others constant company, but because flights were ridiculously expensive to the lush brown capital of SA. We split the trip into two parts to minimise fatigue and stayed overnight in Beaufort West. The three of us, Ed, Jos and then drove the remainder of the way through to Bloem the next day. We arrived around lunch time and set off to find out hotel and get sorted for a training ride around town. The Hotel was in the …um…business end of town, and we kept our stay there to a minimum, although the rooms were perfectly fine. After our ride we set about a wild goose chase for some Future life cereal for Ed and Carl, while I played taxi. Once we decided bloem had never heard of such a thing nor staying open beyond 5pm on the weekend that thousands of hungry cyclists turn up we headed home for a shower and change and then out to dinner. I wont elaborate again but see below to see who came to the rescue.

The start was very early, 5:30 am and we could ride to the start area from our hotel to warm up, for got up at 4 so had plenty of time to doodle around once we got there. The weather was great and I expected a fairly uneventful day as it was pretty flat aside form the two back to back 14% grades that would attempt to kill me later.

From the gun the race was very fast, averaging well over 40kmph we cruised along mostly in the gutter at the will of MTN who clearly had early flights home. The constant gutter split the field and saw us all in the tail end… we moved through to the front and gave chase. i tried to keep my work to a minimum but eventually had to lend a hand in the pacemaking. We caught.

We sat in for a while until the next fast gutter and managed to get split off again as dead wheels ahead couldn’t hold the pace, this time a much longer chase was needed and when we got back there was a break away from the lead group and they had all sat up. We chased with some other teams but in the end we couldn’t do it all and sat up and let someone else do the work for a change. The gap grew.

The kays has ticked along very fast and now the bunch was easing up in anticipation of the double climbs at 75km, I rolled to near the front and hammered it as we hit the climb but my legs had nothing, I just went backwards. Edward gave me a shove or three and tired himself out in the process, I went over in touch but the second roller did more damage and the field had been shattered. The 3 man breakaway was now joined by 2 more as they caught up over the climbs and a group of 20 or so gave chase. It was Carl’s turn now to pull me over and we went over with the team cars and tail of the pack in sight. We hammered it so hard for ages and were closing the gap between us, but we could only manage so long. We caught and passed riders as they fell off the lead pack, now still in the gutter. Jos was up ahead after making the split. Carl and I couldn’t get back in. The pack turned into the final stretch and we were into a headwind.  We relented and slowed to a manageable pace to finish.

In the End Jos got 18th place in a tough bunch sprint, and I was still the 1st SV 30+ man home but they didn’t cater for my category here. It was great hard and fast racing and all adds to the teams experience. Learning each course through the year will bring better results each time we revisit.

Ok I’m a bit behind on my blog right now, but it’s been flat out racing for the last two months, so it’s time for a bit of catchup.

This is a little back to front time wise but it actually works out perfectly, you’ll see why in a bit…

The team and I drove up to Bloem for OFM weekend, we scampered around town at dinner time and hoped to find a good pasta. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast on the drive and were now beside ourselves. We cruised into the Bloem waterfront, spotted Primi Piatti, and strolled in. It was packed to the rafters (understandably) and we decided to check out the competition nearby to get something sooner. This was perhaps the single biggest mistake of the whole weekend!

We sat down at another restaurant nearby, they advised they were kinda full but could have food out after a short wait. We waited, this was 7:20pm. After getting a round of waters, and an hour later there was still no food. We resorted to eating the biscotti off their closed coffee bar to satisfy the pangs and kept waiting… at just before 9pm we got a little upset, asked if our food was nearly done, but the disappearing waiter kept coming back empty handed – we couldn’t wait anymore (and they were running out of biscotti) so we left money on the table for the water and ninja bombed.

We climbed the stairs straight into Primi Piatti and sat right down at 9pm. Our friendly waitress advised they were close to shutting the kitchen but they could still help us if we ordered quick. We ordered four Recco Con Pollo’s in a heartbeat and got drinks in the short wait. The service was seriously fast and we were elbow deep in fettucini not even 10 minutes later. We realised soon we were going to hit rock bottom on the porcelain and ordered a large pizza to share in between mouthfuls. Another record delivery later and the twirling forks were exchanged for a hands on attack, as slice by slice disappeared.  Meanwhile the bill arrived and we could hightail it out of there to get some sleep before the 4am wake up.

In by 9pm, two main courses done and bill paid and in the car park by 9:30 – Now that was something to behold. Primi Piatti you rocked our worlds.

So… this leads to my next announcement (after realising we couldn’t race without them) that Team RSAWEB will be fuelled up by Primi Piatti for all races from now on, and we’ll never have to endure a culinary nightmare again. Not to mention those morning Primi breakfast rides and cups of coffee, I cant wait to get training!

And just so you know (because I didn’t know either until now) they have a great carbo loading menu and a sweet loyalty program for frequent flyers (that’s the elbows up at the table kind) check the menu out below and visit their website to find out about the Primi Loyalty Card

Winning becomes a habit, and the harder I ride the luckier I get!

I’d been off the bike for the whole week, after cramping in the Msundusi Road Race and pedalling through them, my legs were damaged, my tendons were inflamed and swollen and I couldn’t walk without pain. Monday was bad, Tuesday was worse but thankfully Wednesday brought some respite, I could walk more freely and I felt I could ride the crit without too much hassle. My Aim was to spin out my legs to loosen them up for the weekend.

It was windy, so I planned to hide in the pack and roll around doing as little as possible. Lap one put an end to that when a huge wind split opened up only half way around the track, I looked ahead and saw only top contenders in the race, not very good news and the flailing dudes on the front of my group weren’t bringing it any closer! I had to get across or it was game over.  I went…hard!

Into the wind my flat road TT style was closing the gap, with the wind I wasn’t making much inroads, but I could maintain what I’d brought back. It took a lap of effort to get across, dragging two Daikin riders with me but I made it, and without the main bunch. I had now joined the breakaway and it already contained my team mate Jos. We helped each other and worked the break into a sustainable gap, then the infighting started. Gutters and attacks came at will as the guys tried to shake each other down, the bunch of 11 was thinning lap after lap.

I would open gaps into the wind and made riders chase me down to tire them out, and the same came from other riders all round the course. In the final three laps I made a break and caused a major split and when David Garrett and Darren Lill joined forces to give chase, they broke away from the rest. I rode solo for a lap while they worked their way back to me. David rested behind Darren in the closing stages and I eased up on the pedals before they rejoined me to take a breather, it was now a three way dice. As I suspected DG attacked soon after closing me down. I jumped immediately not allowing a gap to open, Darren didn’t follow.

It was down to David and I with 1 lap to go. There was still a 6 man chasing bunch so we couldn’t ease up and start attacking each other just yet. We worked together somewhat until the final bend where David sat on my wheel and wouldn’t roll through. I knew he would and I kept the pace high so he couldn’t get a big leap if he jumped me. I rolled up to a place I was happy to open up the sprint. I knew I had a bigger kick, it was just a question of how much was left in the tank. I got it all right and DG followed and held my wheel but couldn’t come around once out of the slip, I held the power to the line and crossed with half a bike length. 2nd win for me in the series and I am now 2nd on the points ladder. Happy days!

Sprint Finish