The Panorama is set to start in less than 24 hours from now. For those of you who don't know about the race, it's the only road cycling stage race for teams of two, much like the Epic. Four days, four stages, 350 odd kms, 5500m of climbing. Not your average race. I am partnered with Carlos Sales and we are TEAM LAURENTINA! We aim to do better than last year, where we clocked about 14 and a half hours and came 178 out of 220 teams. I am pretty sure we can do better than that. Our aim is to come in under 11 hours, hopefully even under 10 which would put us in the top 10 vets. A mighty lofty goal, but you have to shoot high in cycling, as it's an all or nothing sport.
Stage 1 is the longest with the most climbing - 115km and 2200m of uphill. This day will set the tone for the rest of the tour. If we can leave in one of the first groups and stay with the peloton then we can hope to finish well. Our Swazi loop training will most suredly help with this stage
Stage 2 is 80km with 1200m of climbing and for the first half is fairly flat, which will mean a very fast race. If we don't latch onto the peloton right away, our chances are gone. The last half is a set uf mean uphills all the way to the finish line. Tough stage.. Will bring out the aero wheels for this one!
Stage 3 - 113km and 2100m of climbing and there will be a KOM point for the vets as well. By know we should be into our rythmn. However climbing to Spitzkop and then halfway up LongTom pass will really take it out of us.. We'll aim to survive this day really, although last year, barring the flat tyres we had (3 on one stage!) we didn't do too badly. By now the muscles are actually getting used to the climbing..
Stage 4 - 24km time trial with just under 500m of climbing. An undulating time trial!? This is the last tough day, and if 24km sounds short, keep in mind we've already done 300km and 5000m of climbing. It will be difficult to get a rythmn over the ups and downs, but if we do and use our relative strengths, me on the ups and Carlos on the flats and downs, then we could clock a much better time than our 53 minutes last year. We're hoping for under 43 minutes.. Will be tough, but our bid for top ten Vets will be won or lost on this last stage.. Definately will be warming up for this stage!
So there you have it. If you want more info on the panorama, or see how we're doing, then visit:
Panorama site
Daily results page
Over and out.. I'll try and keep you informed as we do the race with posts, but my tired legs and limited internet access may be an impediment..
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