Panorama Tour

The Panorama Tour has been and gone, but I can still feel the pain in my legs.  The 4 day road cycle Tour tackling 350km and almost 6000m of climbing was a hell of a ride.  This is my 3rd tour, and so far I've had the best weather ever.  I managed to improve my overall position in the Veteran category (40-49 year old cyclists) compared to previous editions, although overall time was down a bit.  I have to put this down to a lack of form compared to last year, although the final time trial was slightly faster, which means that by the end of the tour I was starting to feel stronger.   The Panorama is a nice preparation for our winter cycling season, with the majority of our races happening between now and August.  So Copa2012, here I come.  More importantly this tour kickstarted my return to form campaign.  My races so far this year have been less than spectacular with two 4th places and some huffing and puffing behind the bunch.   If my legs are really back on track, then I can train seriously for events like the Jock and Twin Peaks, as well as Mafutseni, Goba-Siteki and the Circuito dos Campeoes race against the Luso-Africa club at the end of September.  Oh, and let's not forget the TRAC-sponsored race at the end of this month.. So all in all it looks positive for this year.

Getting back to the Panorama Tour I have to thank my parter in the venture, my team-mate in the Monte Ponduine Team, Patrick Verissimo, who did quite a lot of work in getting me over some of those tough climbs.  We had our challenges, with fast racing, Tandems, long and fast descents, and agressive Vet riders who weren't out to loose!  We did our best and most importantly enjoyed what we were doing.  I personally finally enjoyed some exhilirating downhill rides, still not my forte and which compensated for my less than brilliant climbing legs.  We had some extreeeeeemely fast sessions on the flats, as well as some nice conversations with fellow riders on the slower uphill sessions..  Comraderie with other like-minded riders is an important part of what makes this event a success.  
Congrats to the lead ladies who we ended up riding with on Stages 1 and 3, as well as having them chasing us down in the final time trial.  To the organisers of the Panorama Bravó for the medal which is something I can finally take home and proudly show off!!! The key-chain of previous years is finally gone. 

So that's 3 Panorama's down.. and only 2 to go in order to join the Clube Classique and get my coveted white jersey.. Let's see if I make it for another 2 editions of this really cool and fun (but tough!) race.

Cheers and until the next race update.