Clássica de Namaacha

Namaacha done and dusted, so to speak.  Well, actually there was very little dust, thanks to the rain the whole week, which cleared the air.  And although we had as usual many predictions of rain on race day, thankfully there was none.  We assembled as usual at the Galp Petrol Station in Boane, with some riders arriving just before the start time, as well as the support vehicle,  which waited till 6:20 for riders who needed a lift but in the end didn't show.. 

The race started at 7:20.. a 20 minute delay, something we definately need to improve on.  The Peloton set off at a sedate pace which quickened slightly on the Pedreira hill.  On the way down Artur put the hammer down, killing any hopes of anyone dropped on the hill from rejoining the group.  On the flats Miguel took up the pacemaking, keeping a steady but manageable pace into a slight headwind, with Niall and Artur doing some pacemaking as well.  Once the climb started at Mandevo Miguel went back to the front, where he stayed till the end of the race.  The Peloton lined out and broke apart on the first section, with first Mario, then Nial and then Ricky dropping back to their own pace, and only Artur and Grichone managing to hold Miguel’s wheel. But they in turn lost his wheel further up the climb.  Miguel reached the summit with a 5 minute advantage over the chasers, with Artur and Grichone next, then Mario and Ricky, with Niall, Emil and Cesar following on their own.   On the descent Artur and Grichone were descending in hot pursuit, followed two minutes later by the next group, Mario and Ricky, also trying to catch the front groups on the descent.  However one of the little bumps proved too much for Mario and he detached from Ricky who then went on his own on the descent.   Meanwhile Niall, just behind was trying to come back to their wheel but the fast descent kept the groups apart.  

On the flats Miguel powered on, putting yet more time into his pursuers before crossing the line in the same record time as the 2012 edition.  Artur and Grichone worked together and crossed the line in joint second place.  Behind Mario finally managed to catch Ricky on the pedreira hill descent and they came into the finishing stretch side by side, but Ricky had the stronger legs in the sprint. 

Here's a link to a video by Miguel showing the race start.

Race results:

1^st Miguel Duarte 2:45:46

2^nd ArturSimoes & Sergio Grichone +10:31

4^th Ricardo Trinidade +14:32

5^th Mario Traversi +14:36

6^th Niall Tierney +24:10

7^th Emil Levendoglou +30:54

8^th Cesar Rosário +40:00

Thanks again to our support vehicle sponsored by MRO driven by Januario, who made sure our riders on the road were safe, and acted as broom-wagon as well as water point at the top of Namaacha.  Thanks also to the other vehicles that showed up at the race and gave support as well. And lastly thanks to Miguel Duarte who ensured rider times were recorded at the finish line. 

The complexities of a group ride

The art of the group ride is a complicated and unfathamoable process of riding in a bunch with like-minded cyclists, teetering on the edge of competition with 'town-line sprints', hilltop climbs as well as a social aspect to riding, all much akin to a pack of wolves out on the hunt.  In countries where cycling has a strong following, it is easy, nay necessary, to be part of a pack.  Within the pack one becomes part of a group, a whole stronger than the individual parts. Cycling-tips in Oz has a piece here on the whole group-think concept in cycling (and what happens when you leave the pack).

Obviously within the pack there will be a pecking order, determined in a most animalistic and in some ways almost democratic fashion, by the strongest rider that can demand the respect of the other riders.  There is a combination of age and ability at work here, so it pays to be a fit 40-something rider if you aspire to that spot.  There will be a climb along the route, or a sprint line, and every time riders will give it their all to beat the others.  This "top-dog" type of arrangement lends heavily from, you guessed it, wolf-packs.

So, in theory the idea of the training ride is, actually to be a wolf in lycra clothing and.. train.  But to train to do what?!  Therein lies the rub.  With competing wolf-packs, these will inevitably encroach on each other's territories and there will be a fight.  No barred teeth and bites, but probing attacks and sprints.  The weaker group is forced to yield the road and make space for the stronger pack in future.  Training is akin to competing, just in an unstructured way.  The wolf-pack learns to work together as a whole.  Individual strengths and weaknesses are known within the group, and the strongest sprinter in the group will lead out when another group approaches..

And even if you don't encounter another wolf-pack, don't be fooled by your team-mates who proclaim "It's only a recovery ride" as sure enough there will be a slight rise in the road, or a nice straight stretch, or a prominent sign along the road, and then all bets are off.  Your only possibility of surviving in these situations is to attack first! In fact, the phrase 'recovery ride' actually means let's go slow until one of us feels strong enough to put a knife in the other.

In Mozambique, where riders can be counted basically on my appendages (I won't say which), we don't really have enough of them to form more than one or two packs.  Therofore the competition turns inwards, and when there is little prey around, tendencies turn cannibalistic.  It is no accident that cycling's greatest hero, Eddy Merckx, was in fact called "The Cannibal".  He would eat other riders for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and offer a few scraps to his own pack on occasion, once he'd feasted to his limit.  Cycling is as close a sport to our animalistic forefathers hunting mammoth that it's a surprise cycling is even allowed these days!  Even the peloton chasing down the lone breakaway artist conjure up scenes of wolves running down their prey..

So, back to Mozambique. What to do on a training ride, which quickly turns into a battle for survival.
Do you
a) try to become the leader of the pack
b) hang on for dear life, show minimal submission but also a deserving place in the pack's pecking order
c) leave the pack to create your own pack?

This is all very complicated, because to add to this confusion you have races (which take on the more common thread of what some might actually call a training ride) which need to be won.  Races like training rides? Training like races?!  Sounds all very complicated and confused.  Not so. Once you get on a racing bike, it's to race. The only reason you don't race is if you're preparing to race. You race when you train, you race when you race.  And above all, you train to race when you're on your own.  That is unless you're a flower-power child with delusions of one-world and peace among all men (and women.. especially women. It's nice to be at peace with them).. But even that can change in the blink of an eye.

So what am I trying to say with this piece on training that is turning out to be a jumble of clichês and desktop psycology?  Well, that there is no such thing as a "training" ride.  All rides are done to prove a point, and if you actually do need to train, then do it away from the prying eyes of your competitors, and even further away from your "pack-mates" who you must pummel into submission at the next group ride.  But remember, it's just a recovery ride.. :-)


Wolfpack image from
A-Team vs. Wolfpack – You Make the Call… | Mudflatsmudflats.wordpress.com -

A turnaround at CDM?

A turnaround at CDM?

CDM (Cervejas De Moçambique, owned by SAB) came under fire last year for some pretty racy advertising.  It wasn’t so much the amount of flesh on show in their adverts (there was none!) but the overtly sexual nature of their Laurentina Preta brand, comparing the beer to a ‘black nymph’.  The adverts drew harsh criticism from Women’s groups and were taken down, to be replaced by in your face provocations from CDM.  Someone however must have gotten their knuckles rapped inside CDM because the new adverts coming out of there are on a completely different track, and we applaud them for that.

The first advert I’d like to draw your attention to came out in @Verdade weekly free newspaper and on billboards around town.  They tout the revolutionary new bottle shape (I find it ugly, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder).  CDM however thinks this is hot shit!  The advert is almost like an iPad advert, with arrows showing the various improvements in the product.  However the MOST IMPORTANT PART of the advert is stuck somewhere in the bottom of the page, almost an orphan of the whole marketing effort.  It seems to have sneaked onto the page somehow..  And what is it?  The fact that the new glass bottles, which have been infesting landfill and sidewalks everywhere in Maputo, are now RETURNABLE!  Hurray for CDM. FINALLY they have seen the light, that their product was chocking up the streets of Maputo, thrown out whilly nilly from fast cars as they’re driving down the marginal, soon to be broken glass causing havoc for the Maputo cyclists.  In terms of social responsibility CDM is finally returning to pre-private investment measures.  That’s right, we ONLY had returnable bottles since AT LEAST 1992 (the year I came to town).  Finally private enterprise has matched what the colonial managers and then the socialist managers after them had been doing all along, albeit due to economic pressures and shortages of material.

But before we continue, another look at their ‘fantastic’ advertisement below..

Different on the outside but same taste on the inside – so far so good.  Good packaging always helps sell product, and if the product itself is fine then no need to fiddle with it (New Coke, are you listening?!).

TALL(er) (first bullet point) – Well, here the importance of being a tall beer bottle escapes me. Does it need to be taller than the competition?! Or did they make it specifically tall enough so it wouldn’t fit standing up in my fridge.. Yes, you guessed it, CDM assumes we have their tall fridges in our homes, and not bog-standard ones with pretty standard heights.  So guess what, I now keep less beer in my fridge.. and probably drink less of it as well.  Hooorayy for progress and taller bottles!

(More) MODERN – Ahem.. glass bottle modern?! Actually this bottle resembles the faux old Klein Constantia sweet wine that they made in commemoration of those old bottles Napoleon used to drink… oh, about 200 years ago.  As for glass, that was around in Roman times, around 2000 years ago (although the Chinese discovered it much later, one of the reasons their society stagnated, before becoming the powerhouse it is today).  So the modern bit fails to find traction.  But I digress…

(More) PRACTICAL – Well, that bump at the end I guess means I can slam the bottle on the counter that much harder without fear of breaking the bottle in my hand.  Or perhaps it’s to allow for a better grip, so it doesn’t slip through my drunken fingers and smash on the pavement like so many other bottles.. Dunno really, you’ll just have to ask CDM what they’re on about here.

Still, all in all a descent advertisement and a welcome change to the polarising adverts of yesteryear.

The next advert I’d like to discuss is CDM’s 80^th anniversary of the Laurentina Brand.  Yep, that’s right.. In 1932 this beer brand was born, and became known as LM’s beer of choice.  Countless SA students on their gap year who travelled through Mozambique can attest to the restorative properties of Mozambique Beer.  CdM has decided to embrace the heritage and tradition of its brand.  Too bad it sold off the iconic brewery building in central Maputo.. But I guess that was economics, and for them brewing 2M and Laurentina side by side makes perfect business sense, even if it does dilute the individuality of the two brands. However are we going to get the wild swings in alcohol content that was the prerogative of Laurentina beer?  Or the shortage in labels that meant you never knew what you were drinking.  The caps were gerenic ones made by Crown Cork, so it really was a case of blind luck.  But those days can now be remembered in a nostalgic setting, at the Scala Theatre.  Good on you CDM.  Keep it up.  Getting better, and one day you may actually get it right… Till then we’ll keep on drinking 2m.