fotografic

Copa2012

2011-12-15T10:28:00.000-08:00

The Copa2012 Calendar has been unveiled finally, just in time for the summer break.

2012
Race 1 - 19th February - Corrida Imran Akuji - 70km +/-. From Maputo to Boane
This race will commemorate Imran and pass by the spot where he was killed
Race 2 - 17th March - ITT (Individual Time Trial) Goba - 10.2km A tough climbing time trial starting just out of Goba town and climbing up to Goba Fronteira, with sections nudging 9% and overall a 450m climb
Race 3 - 18th March - Volta a Goba - 66km. Starts in Pequenhos Libombos to Goba town and back on the old road. A tough jutting climb just 7km from the finish will separate the men from the boys.
Race 4 - 8th April - Hell of the South Classic/ Rei do Sul - 117km - Race traditionally held on Easter Sunday, a southern counterpart to the Hell of the North, Paris Roubaix. Some question the appeal of this race, which pits riders against a pot-holed road between Boane and Moamba, and indeed the rider with the best wheels and technique generally wins. Lady luck needs to be on your side as well.
Race 5 - 26th March - ITT Namaacha - 16.6km and 490m of climbing. Time trial starting from Mandevo to the entrance of Namaacha Town. Last year the long-standing record was smashed. Anyone game to do better than the 37:36 record now held by Miguel Teixeira?
Race 6 - 27th March - Classica de Namaacha - 130km. Race starts in Pequenhos Libombos towards Goba on the old road, then back towards Namaacha on the main highway. First KOM will be at the top of Namaacha town. The race then continues around the Canada Dry road with another KOM at the highest point of the race. A final KOM on pedreira hill just before the barragem turn-off. This classica has a few route changes and so there is no course record.
Race 7 - 3rd June - Classica de Goba - 112km - Pequenhos Libombos start but towards Boane, then up Pedreira hill and on the new road towards Goba, up to Goba Fronteira and then back down on the same road, up Pedreira Hill and then the Barragem turn-off. First KOM will be Pedreira Hill, 2nd KOM is Goba Fronteira climb, third KOM is Pedreira Hill return. Intermediate sprint will be at the Goba/Namaacha intersection, about 30km into the ride.
3 DAY TOUR OF MAPUTO:
Race 8 - 23rd June - Desafio da Pedreira - 80km - Start in Matola petrol station towards Boane, up over Pedreira hill, down the bottom, then back up and towards Boane, then the Mozal loop with a sprint finish just in front of Shoprite Matola. KOM points to be finalised, but probably Boane town, Pedreira hill going up, and then pedreira hill coming back.
Race 9 - ITT Costa do Sol - 23km - Time trial starts at Costa do Sol bridge, to Mugabe Roundabout and back along Marginal to Costa start. Fairly flat but with a rough section after Southern Sun. This will pit the Triathletes against the roadies. Wind will play a part, so beware the disk wheel
Race 10 - Volta a Cidade - +/- 70km - Route is still being designed but will be a circuit race around Maputo city with some climbs. Not a criterium mind you, so there will be a possibility for escapes and some artful dodging... More details to be announced. As with all circuit races and criteriums, there will only be Sprint points on offer, with 3 intermediate sprints and a final finish sprint.
Race 11 - 8th July - Team Time Trial Baracchi - +/- 75km - This race emulates the famous Italian race of the same name that pitted two-man teams against each other. Coppi was a famous winner, as was Merckx. Will you and your partner be the next winners? Start will be at the Sasol Petrol station on the EN4 just outside of Matola, out towards Moamba and back. No place to hide in this race, and again, wind will be a factor. Will the triathletes prove their worth, or will the roadies be triumphant?
Race 12 - 29th July - Classica Dois Picos / Twin Peaks - 170km - The piece de resistance of the Copa Ciclimso. The longest race. The most climbing. Longer and tougher than the Jock Cycle Classic in nearby Barberton, where they even had to chop the race into three to make it appealing. None of that here in Mozambique. Might be lucky there will be a waterpoint... But other than that pain and lots of KOMs. First KOM at the Namaacha Climb. Second on the Canada Dry Loop in Namaacha. Third KOM in Goba. Don't bother showing up unless your're a serious cyclist.
Race 13 - 5th August - Elimination Criterium - 44km - Back on the flats for a crit with a difference. After the first 5 laps, the last placed rider in each lap will be eliminated. 3 intermediate sprint points on laps 5, 10 and 15. Final lap also carries sprint points. Make sure you can accelerate fast!
Race 14 - Subida Monte Ponduine - 83km - Many of you may not know but Maputo Province has a highest mountain, and it is called Ponduine. The "peak" stands on the edge of 3 borders. That's the tourist info. For riders what's more important is the final 20% gradient they will have to face to get up there. Put your compact crank and mtb cassette on to make it up this monster. Race starts in Pequenhos Libombos, up to Namaacha, around Canada Dry and up Mt Ponduine for a mountain-top finish. KOM1 is at Namaacha, while KOM2 is at the top of Mt. Pondiune. A car will take you back to the start.. as you won't be able to ride back
Race 15 - Classica EN1 - 160km - Marracuene start to Palmeira and back, with a final kick up 5km from the finish. Rather boring race that may get substituted by a Classica da Cidade circuit race if we can get permission to paralyse Maputo for a day. Details will follow.
Race 16 - Critérium de Maputo - 44km - Facim circuit race, and last Copa Race. An excuse for a party afterwards, but the tough sprints will keep the riders alert. Sprints on every 5 laps. Green jersey hopefuls, this is your last chance!

RACE start times are all 7:30am. Punctuality is the name of the game in 2012, and anyone getting there late will either be penalised or will simply have missed the boat and can rather go do a training ride or something.. Also, the best 12 results will count towards General Copa Classification, so you needn't worry about missing a race or two, as you can still be in the competition. Each race carries a max 15 points for the winner, and first 10 riders get points on a sliding scale. Riders from 11th place onwards who finish the race get half a point. Riders who start but don't finish for whatever reason get a quarter point as consolation.

We have the following categories in the Copa Ciclismo 2012:
Yellow Jersey for Overall winner
Green Jersey for Points Winner (sprints)
Polka-dot Jersey for King of the Mountains
White Jersey for U23 Rider. Let's hope we have more than one rider next year..
Red Jersey for Most Aggressive Rider. This isn't for the guy who throws bidon's and knocks other riders over..
Black Jersey for the rider in last place with the most number of completed races. A time cuttoff will apply though of 30% of the winners time.. so you can't just come and ride around for hours doing training.. You have to race for it. Trick here is not too fast and not too slow.

Also age-group winners will also get trophies - Juniors (16-18), Seniors (19-29), Sub-Vets (30-39), Veterans (40-49) and Masters (50+)

We are working to get the idea of teams off the ground. If this happens next year, then there will also be a team classification prize. Teams will be limited to 4 riders for the 2012 season.

The idea of the game is participation, competing, finishing races and above all having good fun.
We look forward to seeing you at the next Copa2012!

Last Copa Ciclismo Race for 2011 - Criterium de Maputo

2011-12-11T08:02:00.000-08:00

And so we have come to the end of another Copa Ciclismo. It's been a roller-coaster ride this year, with so many things happening in cycling - some of them good and unfortunately some of them also bad. We lost two old-time cyclists - Imran to a car accident at the start of this year's Copa and more recently Rui, who succumbed to an illness. They were both cornerstones of our Copa Ciclismo and we hope they can be proud of this year's events.

On the upside we had an increace in attendance in this year's copa, with the most races staged in it's history - 23 events, not counting the national events. We had a successful Africa Games, with the first ever National team taking part and laying the groundwork for future successes. The Club attended the first-ever UCI World Cycle Tour event in South Africa, hoping to qualify for next year's final in PMZ. We had a successful prelude to the Tri-Nation's cup in October together with the Luso Africa Cycle Club and the Swaziland Cycling Association, with a circuit race in Maputo on the same course as today's race. The Club and National team riders took part in a very successful Goba Siteki race, where most of the podium spots and trophies were taken by our Club. We've seen an increase in cyclists, as well as some old names come back with a vengenace - Joao Rodrigues - no-one was expecting your second place at today's race! The strongest segment however seems to be the Veterans, and although this club racing may stroke their egos it's time to think about the next generation of cycling, and hence today's event, which was the Maputo Criterium, for men, women AND children. Thanks to the tireless work of the Mozambican Cycling Federation we were able to obtain full road closure from the Maputo City Council, which meant we could stage this event and be confident that the little ones would be able to enjoy themselves without having to worry about cars. We had the continued support of Southern Sun, who put up the prizes for the men and women's podiums. Agua de Montemor made sure we were hydrated after a tough but short race, and with the temperatures climbing steadily, it was a welcome refreshment. Many other sponsors have helped in making this year's Copa a success - Ara Sul, Kioske Digital, CDM, Vodacom, Nova Vida. We hope to count on many more in the future, and Panda Sports have already come on board and will be supplying the winner's jerseys for the 2012 edition.
For the kids the Club members pitched in to get some cycling gear and other prizes for the participants. CDM, via their Grolsch Ambassador Simon Wright had some prizes for some of the more unusual categories that don't generally get mentioned at cycle races, but are just as important as the usual 1-2-3. We need to remember that we do this for fun (especially me, seeing as I haven't seen a podium spot in quite a while :-))

So, here goes the photo essay for today's race. Enjoy.

Impressive - the start line.

Ready...

Steady..

Go!

First neutral lap.. Some of the instructions however were lost in translation. Anyone have a Swedish phrasebook?

Kinha taking the first sprint point. But would he last at this pace..?

What lap is this?!?!

Mathieu taking the second sprint followed by some tough competition

Lars taking the third sprint of the day. Look at the gap!

Make way for the ladies coming through - Liliana taking the fifth lap

Patrick taking the race in his normal understated style

Joao Rodrigues hanging onto second with a desparate Lars pushing right to the line for third. Bruno in his first race showing comes in an incredible 4th place! Watch out for the new blood..

Vicente and Mathieu, 5th and 6th. Look, there's a UFO!

No.. it's just Betinho trying to fly. 7th place

Ooops, my shoelaces are undone. 8th place.

Grichon showing how it's done in style..

..and double hip-replacement Ian, showing how bionic men do it

KIDS RACES - 8 to 13 years old

Um.. wait, these are the ladies. What are they doing here?!?!

KIDS RACES - 4 to 7 years old

Ahem.. what's this Triathlete doing in the kiddy race?!

KIDS RACES - 2 to 3 years old

PRIZE-GIVING

Best-dressed male cyclist with best-dressed female cyclist. Will they still be dressed after all the beers?

And the cyclist with the longest hair prize goes to.... a man! Well done Assane

Messias,the backbone of our race organisation

The cyclist with the most spare parts replaced. Good on you Ian.. we expect to see you at more Copa races in 2012!

Results:
Mens:
1st - Patrick Verissimo - 1:14:32
2nd - Joao Rodrigues - 1 second
3rd - Lars Noren - s.t.

Best sprinter: Lars Noren with 16 points! He's also our oldest cyclist.. Goes to show

Ladies:
1st April Kelley
2nd Joanna Knuepple
3rd Liliana Sultane

Kids 2-3 years old
1st Alex
2nd Mei
3rd Charlotte

Kids 4-7 years old
1st Federico
2nd Riade
3rd Yanick

Kids 8-13 years old
1st Belton
2nd Xiwewa
3rd Mario

94.7 done and dusted - now it's time for the ARGUS

2011-11-25T04:52:00.000-08:00

Another 94.7 race is finally over.. This was the 15^th edition of the Cycle Challenge, everyone’s race as they like to call it. Although not every race in the world can boast a commentator like Phil Ligget, the “Voice of Cycling”. But above all it is a litmus test for cyclists all over South Africa and surrounds to battle it out against other cyclists. The Clube de Ciclismo de Moçambique was present again this year, although with a slightly reduced complement. Here are their results:

Patrick Verissimo	97.4	2:43:31	D
Mario Traversi	97.4	2:53:56	A
Carlos Sales	97.4	3:03:27	K
Francisco Nobrega	97.4	3:04:16	E
Simon Wright	97.4	3:34:45	E

The “numbers” don’t tell the full story though. For that one must dig a bit deeper. Group D was a massive group with 500 odd cyclists, containing Patrick, a few Swazi riders, and a lot of South African riders bent on carnage. Patrick managed a fantastic 2:43, just 2 minutes behind the leaders of his group, and the best time of any Moz Club cyclist this year, and probably 3^rd or 4^th time overall Club time through the ages.. Mario (that’s me) on the other hand started in the altogether more rarefied “A” group (13^th start group of the day…) with some seriously competitive cyclists who tore the peloton apart in their attempts at a best time. He (I) managed a “disappointing” sub 3, just a minute over last year’s time, so no personal best improvement, and the group position was nothing to write home about either. It was only the finish line coming when it did that avoided me coming in with Patrick’s D group, because B and C had already thundered past! Carlos on the other hand managed to get into group K, and through the “traffic” of slower riders coming off the front groups managed just over 3 hours, but more importantly came in 10^th out of his whole group, and shaved off 20 minutes off his previous PB (personal best for those in the know..) so a big round of applause for his effort. Chico also missed on breaking the sub 3 barrier, but also put in a personal best time, beating his previous time by one and a half minutes, and that is considering that his previous best was done on the 3km shorter course. Simon finished a little bit over his personal best time, so still has a target for next year. Let’s hope his road bike sees some more riding action this year.

The next cycling appointment is the Cape Argus on the 11^th of March, just 16 weeks away. For any of you who have any doubts, the Argus is the world’s largest cycle race, and perhaps also one of the most beautiful. I know that many who didn’t take part in the 94.7 this year are “saving” their legs for the Argus, so we should see a massive number of riders from the club taking part. Our Swazi brethren are organising a Coach option, and have extended an invitation to us to go down with them, so we might even try and field a super-group once down there. There is also talk of doing a “double”. But most importantly we’ve seen a shift in power amongst the Club riders, and some challenges being laid down ahead of next year’s Argus. For starters there is the Sub-3 prize, which I believe has not been done by any Clube Ciclismo riders, although if I may have wronged any of my readers then please send appropriate Racetec results or copy of your timing certificate, to set the record straight. And then there will be the title of fastest club cyclists. This is no Copa Cicilsmo event. This is no 94.7. This race is the BIG one, and to be considered a racer of renown, you need to complete it and do well. So get out there during the holiday season and start laying down those base miles, because it’s going to be a long 110km race in March…

Long Tom Pass

2011-11-14T02:42:00.000-08:00

The "start" of the climb. To reach here we'd already done 55km, most of them uphill

"Long Tom" Cannon, a Boer gun used against the British. We thought we'd arrived, but were still far from the summit! Good place to fill water bottles though

After many tortuous switchbacks and some steep climbs the road opened out onto a mountain-top plateau.. We'd finally arrived. Note Carlos holding on to the sign so as not to collapse!

..and me leaning on the pole so I don't fall flat on my face!

Cycling in Africa can be a bit of hit and miss. As in you almost get hit, or just miss getting hit by a passing truck or car. Or hooted at for no reason. However, even so, there are some fantastic roads to cycle on, and many of them conveniently located close to Maputo, Mozambique, where I live.

On the 10th of November 2011, Carlos Sales and I set about taming one of South Africa's highest roads, the Long Tom Pass. This road connects Sabie with Lydenburg, and before the existance of the N4 highway, was possibly one of the main roads to reach the rich goldfields of Pilgrim's Rest. The aptly named "Lowveld" region is peppered with mountains and mountainpasses, though none as high or as long as Long Tom Pass. However, it didn't quite start out like that.. Our expedition was supposed to be a gentle ride from Nelspruit to Maputo, 209km away, on a generally downward slope from 650m down to sea level. However we decided, almost last minute, that this rather long but boring straight road would not do, and so turned our attention to Long Tom. Then, as if we weren't already looking for trouble, we decided to attempt our ascent not, like any normal soul would, from either Lydenburg or Sabie, the two towns on either end of the road, but from the rather further placed town of Nelspruit.

Our climb would start from 650m on sea level and finish at 2150m. In between lots of rolling terrain and some demoralising switchbacks, a fantastic day for driving, but not for cycling with temperatures in the high 30's (celsius..). To call it a tough climb is not to understand the point. It wasn't tough. It was impossible. It was unrellenting. It was wondrously beautiful, but at the same time as dangerous as a sharp knife. The steep ascents would have to be decended carefully, the chasms below separated by a thin steel barrier.. It was two cyclists against the elements (heat), against a mountain, against what is humanly possible. After 150km though we'd tamed the beast, had a new appreciation for Long Tom, and made it back safe and sound. Our bodies were sore and tested, but we still managed a wry grin. Because of course we're not satisfied.. We've done it once, we'll have to do it again!

R.I.P. - Rui Ferreira - 1956-2011

2011-10-26T04:20:00.000-07:00

On the 25ht of October our friend Rui Justiniano Ferreira Bessa (or just Rui) and long-standing cyclist of the Clube de Ciclismo de Moçambique, passed away in Lisbon while undergoing treatment for an illness. His departure is our loss, as he was an active cyclist, and his ascerbic wit kept everyone on their toes. Lately he'd been off the bike more and more due to a back pain, but still showed up whenever he could to the training sessions around Mozal or along the 25th of September. He leaves behind a daughter, Irina, and his mother, both of whom live in Portugal, as well as other relatives. His body will be cremated and some of his ashes will later be brought to Mozambique.

A Church service is scheduled for next week WEDNESDAY 2nd of November at 18:00 at the São António do Polana Church (lemon squeezer).

No dia 25 de Outubro o nosso amigo Rui Rui Justiniano Ferreira Bessa (ou simplesmente Rui) e ciclista de longa data do Clube de Ciclismo de Moçambique faleceu em Lisboa, enquanto recebia tratamentos para uma doença. A sua ida é a nossa perda, enquanto era um ciclista activo, e o seu sentido de humor particular mantinha-nos em cuidado. Ultimamente tinha estado sempre menos na "bike" a causa de dores de costa, mas aparecia sempre que podia e fazia junto a nos os treinos á volta de Mozal ou na 25 de Setembro. Deixa uma filha, Irina, e a própria maie que moram em Portugal, alem de outros familiares. O corpo dele será cremado e algumas das cinzas mais tarde chegarão em Moçambique.

Uma cerimónia religiosa está agendada para próxima semana QUARTA FEIRA dia 2 de Novembro as 18:00 horas na igreja de São António de Polana.

Hell's Gate - Classica de Goba

2011-10-24T03:31:00.000-07:00

Sunday 23rd of October.
Second last Copa Ciclismo Race
Classica de Goba
A climb into hell...

Today's race happened just as Mozambique finally decided to announce that summer had started, and we had 42 degrees of hot unrelenting heat coupled with a blistering wind. Add to this our most amazing turnout yet, with a huge Swazi presence. Thanks guys for making it, although as we'll find out, they may not have quite liked this race as much as they had hoped.

Their stars Thulani and Fana couldn't make the race, which meant that the Mozambique boys took top honours.. However before we even discuss results we have to report that sadly one of their number over-exerted himself on the Goba climb and was whisked away to a first-aid clinic. I got confirmation this morning that the rider in question is ok, and another rider that didn't show up at the finish line was find resting under a tree.

On top of this our (very recent) resident Triathlete cyclist, Mike, didn't take the turn-off to Goba town and ended up adding an extra 30 or so km to his ride.. However he finished the ride which means that the prize for the last cyclist to complete the race, which had gone to William Kelly, should actually have gone to him! No worries Mike, the prize, which was Breakfast for Two at the Southern Sun Hotel is on me. We hope to see you back at one of our races.. hopefully better organised that this.

The massive heat-wave coupled with the no-show of the support vehicle, meant that our resources were too stretched to give everyone the proper support that we've grown used to in the past.. lessons for the future, and a hopefully more professionally organised Copa Ciclismo 2012.

More than the organisational issues mentioned, I feel like it's a case of one step forward and two steps back, and I believe that we've done some damage both to the reputation of the Copa Ciclismo as well as in the alienation of certain cyclists.. I think people have come to expect a certain standard, or certainly a certain behaviour in the organisation of these events.. But the fact that cyclists were left out on the road after we'd finished, or that a rider with a problem didn't have ALL the riders stop and offer assistance means that some of us have begun to lose a sense of comraderie and fellowship, and mutual assistance, that should be a primal basis of our sport. To win, or get good results is great. But we cycle for fun, friendship and being together.. Today's race showed some serious cracks in our ability to host events with a large number of participants and was, I believe, a bit of a disaster, although certainly some bad luck and the elements played their part.

However the real issue isn't the organisational deficiencies - we've always had these, as these are amateur events organised by a few volunteers, sometimes even just a driver and a spectator taking pictures to work out the finishing order and times! But for this breakdown in mutual assistance. We seriously need to think about where we are going, what are the important parts of these races and how they fit into our lives, and whether we need to re-think our motivations. We are not racing the Tour de France. Being the second last race of the Copa calendar means that a certain competitive element exists, and we can accept this.. However this CANNOT come at the expense of safety or especially basic common decency... We are risking the soul of our sport for a few cheap medals and a name in some blog.. and in that spirit the results will NOT be shown here.

Again to the Swazis a big thanks for making it, and we'll really make an effort to welcome them back next year. To the club cyclists.. I hope we can bring back the fun into our cycling.

Domingo 23 de Outubro
A penúltima corrida da Copa
Classica da Goba
Uma subida até o inferno...

A corrida de hoje aconteceu no mesmo dia em que o verão Moçambicano decidiu iniciar, e tivemos 42 graus de calor infernal e um vento maluco. Adicionamos a isto o facto de que tivemos o maior número de ciclistas até hoje numa corrida copa, com uma grande afluencia de ciclistas Swazi. Obrigado a eles para terem aderido, mas como vamos ler em adiante, não devem ter gostado tanto quanto esperavam.

As estrelas deles, Thulani e Fana nao conseguiram vir á corrida, que deixou os lugares do pódio nas maos do clube Moçambicano.. Mas antes de discutir os resultados lamentavelmente relatar que um dos Swazis tive um problema na subida de Goba e foi levado até um posto médico. Recebi confirmação hoje que o ciclista ja está bem melhor e outro que nào apareceu na meta foi encontrado onte por baixo duma arvore a recuperar.

Além disto o nosso (muito recente) residente triatlista Mike nao virou na vila de Goba e adicionou mais 30 ou mais km á sua corrida... Mas acabou a corrida e quer dizer que o prémio para o último ciclistas a completar a prova, que tinha sido entregue á William Kelly, devia ser entregue ao Mike (que fez quase 5 horas)! Não ha problemas Mike, o prémio que era um pequenho almoço no Southern Sun de maputo fica a minha custa. Esperamos ver-te de volta ás corridas... e esperamos melhor organizada de que esta.

O calor terrível, acuplado com a falta da viatura de suporte criou uma situação em que os recursos da próva não chegaram a dar apoio apropriado, apoixo que ja tinhaos acostumado a receber... Liçoes para o futuro, que vão ajudar em que a Copa Ciclismo 2012 seja mais profissionalmente organisada.

Mas além das questoes organizacionais aludidas, sinto que fizemos um passo a frente e dois a traz, e que temos feito algum danno á reputação da Copa Ciclismo e afastamos até alguns ciclistas... Penso que os ciclistas ja requerem algum standard, ou pelomenos uma certa postura na organização destes eventos.. Mas o facto que algus ciclistas ficaram esquecidos no percurso, ou que um ciclista com um problema não tive o apoio de TODOS os ciclistas que passaram por ele quer dizer que començamos a perder um sentido de camaradismo e amizade, de ajuda mutua, que devia ser a base do nosso desporto. Ganhar e ter bons resultados é fantastico. Mas pedalamos para o gozo do desporto, amizade e esarmos juntos... A corrida de hoje mostrou os limites da nossa organização de gerir eventos com tantos participantes e na minha menera de ver foi um pequenho desastre (e incluo-me nessa organização), mas é tambem verdade que o hazar e o mau tempo contribuiram para esta situação..

Mas o factor chave não são as falhas organizaçionais - estes sempre tivemos, contando que são eventos amadoriais com apenas voluntários a gerir as corridas, e as vezes apenas um motorista e um spectador a triar fotografias para marcar os tempos! Mas por causa da falta de assistencia mutua. Temos que pensar seriamente de onde estamos a ir, o que é importante nas corridas e como se enquadram nas nossas vidas, e se temos que repensar as nossas motivaçoes. Não estamos a competir no Tour de France! Sendo que essa corrida era a penultima da Copa é claro que havia de existir um certo espirito competitivo, e podemos aceitar isto... Mas isto não pode vir á custa da segurança, e especialmente da decência comun... Estamos a arriscar a alma do nosso desporto para algumas medalhas de latão e um nome num blogue.. e nesta forma de pensar, os resultados não serão publicados aqui.

Aos Swazis, tenho que dizer um grande obrigado para terem aparecido, e penso que a organização da copa vai fazer um esforço para acolhe-lôs duma forma melhor para o ano. Aos ciclistas do Clube.. espero que podemos re-introduzir o elemento de gozo no nosso ciclismo.

MT

NB - The expression Hell's Gate came to me courtesy of Menzi Tsela, member of the Swaziland Cycling Association and who took part in this sunday's ride. I think it summarises the race perfectly!

Classica de Namaacha II - 80km

2011-10-17T07:43:00.001-07:00

The Classica de Namaacha II race took place this last Sunday 16th October, starting in Pequenhos Libombos dam, up to Namaacha, and then back over the dam, finishing at the road boom gate. The 80km were tough, made even tougher by the 16km of climbing up to Namaacha and the 30km/hour head-wind on the way back. The course record of 2 hours 32 minutes and 45 seconds set by Tim Fair in 2007 remains intact, although Miguel Duarte's valiant attempt at breaking the record fell short by only 7 seconds... Sounds like that Yossou Ndour song may become his theme song! :-). All 12 starters finished the race, quite incredible considering the tough race conditions.

Anyway, here are some race pics to liven up your day.

Race photos by Miguel Duarte's sisters husband's brother..

PREPARATIONS

OUR SPONSORS (MRO / NOVA VIDA & ARA SUL)

FIRST K.O.M.

SECOND K.O.M.

RACE FINISH

POST-RACE ANALYSIS

NEXT RACE 23rd OCTOBER - CLASSICA DE GOBA - 80KM AND 36KM OPTIONS

Tour of Maputo - Stage 3 - Critérium dos Campeões

2011-10-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

October 2nd was the third and final stage of the Tour of Maputo. The race coincided with the annual visit of the Joburg Cycling Club "Luso Africa", and their desire to revive an old criterium race together with our own race calendar meant the stage was set for an exciting combination. Add to that the fact that the large haul of trophies at the Goba-Siteki race the day before in Swaziland by the Maputo Cycling Club meant that the Swazis wanted some payback, as well as joining in on the fun.

Would Zeca be able to upstage Miguel in the criterium race and take 26 seconds and jump into the lead of the Tour? Would Calvin from Swaziland have fixed his chain in time to make a difference in the bunch sprint. Would Kinha, Mathieu, Patrick, or Mario take the 3rd spot on the podium, seeing as they were separated by mere seconds? Would Thulani manage to make it back-to-back victories? Would Simon lead the race for the first lap? Would the visiting tourists from Joburg be more serious than we've so far given them credit for!? Well, what I can say is that we saw a lot more cyclists popping out of the woodwork than we've come to expect at the Copa races, and we can only hope that this is the beginning of a real cycling revival!

Photos by Albena Todorova and Mario Traversi

Simon thinking of all the beer he should be making (or is that drinking?!)

Isaac "Biopace" Cossa, hand mended after a fall on one of the corners

Chico being paced by one of the young guns

1st place (on the right) Calvin Benelte of Luso Africa Cycling crossing the line, on a lone breakaway

3rd place finisher Kallen Williams with Miguel Duarte taking 4th place

5th and 6th place finishers coming up to the line

Thulani 7th, Mathieu 8th, Kinha 9th and Lars (62 years old) coming in 10th

Patrick taking 13th with Calvin from Swaziland in 14th place

Zeca in 15th, Grichone in 16th and Carlos in 18th spot

Carlos satisfied.. "I beat Mario!"

UCI pre-race safety check for the Juniors race. "Are wooden bikes allowed?!?"

Yanick, it's a bit early to celebrate!

Federico in a sprint to the line, showing good form and asking "Papá, do Cervelo's come in extra-small???"

Alex makes it to the line - note parent in background training to be a triathlete

Post-race recovery food

Our visiting Swaz's, from left - Menzi, Thulani, Calvin and William

Cervelo Fan Club

Adão, Imran's father, handing out Tour of Maputo medal to Sergio Grichone (7th place)

Lars, 6th place, on the podium (again?!?!) - Where is WADA when you need it

Patrick, 5th place, on the podium (again!). Hmm.. what's this Alps Tour stuff and can I get it in a bottle?

Mathieu in 4th place overall, and just 2 seconds behind Kinha!

"Zeca" da Cunha in 2nd place, and 2nd podium in two days

And the winner is... Miguel! Tour of Maputo Podium

More medals?! Carlos Sales, second visit to the podium in two days.

Jeanne, next time we want iPhones as prizes!

Ricky "long time no see" Pinho - Welcome back!

Malaia, our timekeeper, taking "time off" for once

Joao Rodrigues getting his medal

Ricky, the longest comeback story of the year

There were some complaints about lack of helmet, but the impact absorption capabilities of dreads is widely documented in Science Journals...

Betinho with a smile a mile wide

Sono un'italiano!

Yanick getting his medal - following in daddy's footsteps?

Alex getting his medal - is there chocolate in there?!

Podium of the juniors race

Seeing as I'm having trouble getting on the podium, I'm sending the kids up there instead

Blog author in dashing pose - picture by wife

Disclaimer - The race results are not final because someone forgot to bring a stopwatch, the timekeeper was in the race and, well, it was all quite a lot of fun and everyone got caught up in the excitement anyway. No, no, I'm just joking! The official results will be released soon by the race organisers. We hope that this memorial ride/race for Imran Akuji becomes an annual event, and that our cycling club and the Federation can grow from this. A big thank-you to Luso Africa Cycling Club for coming down and co-organising the event together with the Federação Moçambicana de Ciclismo. Their support with waterpoints, post-race snacks, prizes, commemorative medals and welcoming the younger generation of cyclists made the event fun for all the family.

Goba-Siteki road race - Swaziland - 60km

2011-10-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

It's October and it's that time of the year, when we hop across the border and tango with the Swazi Cyclists. October 1st, Older People's day, was caracterised by clouds and cool weather, perfect for cycling. Maputo sent a strong contingent of riders to fight for medals and trophies, and the Club did not disappoint. Top marks to our Swazi brethren who organised and excellent event, with many improvements on last year's event. Zoe, thanks for making us feel so welcome!

Photos by Paula Nobrega

The race start.. at 8am on the dot!

Checkpoint charlie

Maputo Club after the ride

Patrick getting his 3rd place trophy

The podium - Thulani 1st, Zeca 2nd and Patrick 3rd

Tour of Maputo - Stage 1 - Road race 66km

2011-09-26T08:59:00.000-07:00

Photo by Kinha - from left - Betinho (representing Zeca 2nd), Miguel 1st, Mario 3rd & Danilo presenting prizes

The first day of the Tour of Maputo was characterised by a lot of wind, lots of attacks, and thankfully all the cyclists completing the race. We had just one flat tyre, but Lars was lucky that the support vehicle was behind the peloton in that exact instant, and he was able to re-join. And with just one race support vehicle (supplied by Nova Vida/ Werner) and one time-keeper (Malaia) we were able give support to all the cyclists, keep score at the various KOM points, and get everyone safe and sound to the finish line.
The race was won by Miguel Duarte, in a time of 2 hrs 7 minutes and 54 seconds, followed a few seconds later by Alvaro "Zeca" da Cunha and finally Mario Traversi (yours truly) with the majority of the peloton a few seconds behind. The race started fairly sedated, with a neutralized section until the end of the traffic bumps, after which Miguel and Betinho launched into a sprint that stretched out the peloton until the start of the climb, where the pace cooled down until almost to the top when Zeca launched into an attack, closely followed by Miguel, who eventually took the KOM points. The rest of the peloton reached the top in one's and two's and started coagulating back into a bunch on the way down, and by the time the Goba turn-off was reached about half had rejoined. On the Goba road section there were a few attempts at escape, but the strong wind nullified any attempts, and the group stayed together, later joined by Joao, Chico and Betinho, who worked well together. The riders took turns on the front, with Miguel, Zeca, Patrick and Mathieu contributing the most.
At the Goba town turn-off Kinha launched a strong attack, again followed by Patrick and Mathieu the peleton was strung out but still intact. Now with the wind in the peloton's favour, the attacks came thick and fast, with João and Grichone also adding to the fray. Zeca meanwhile hung back and watched the action. After the railway crossing Grichone put in another strong attack, but then Kinha set a very high tempo that stretched out the peloton once again, and delivered Miguel to the foot of the climb, where he was shadowed closely by Mathieu and Mario, Patrick and Zeca. Miguel manages to open a gap, while Mathieu and Mario work to catch him, but then sudden;y Zeca comes thundering past and overtakes them. The finish line is fast approaching, and the 6km from the end of the climb come quickly, with Miguel crossing, closely followed by the rest of the peloton. The big victory though was Danilo Correia's participation and completion of the race, as was the fact that Lars Noren finished 6th and is 62 years old! And finally the fact that ALL the starters finished the race, which due to the wind was quite difficult.

O primeiro dia do Tour de Maputo caraterizou-se por muito vento, muitos ataques, e felizmente todos os ciclistas que començaram a prova acabaram. Tivemos um furo apenas, do Lars, mas sorte que o carro de apoio estava mesmo ao lado do pelotao quando aconteceu. Mesmo com um carro (Nova Vida, do Werner) e so e um marcador dos tempos (Malaia) conseguimos dar apoio a todos, marcar os pontos, e chegarem todos sá e salvos na meta.
A corrida foi ganha pelo Miguel Duarte, em 2:07:54, seguido a poucos segundos pelo Alvaro "Zeca" Da Cunha e enfin o "chato Italiano que não larga o osso" Mário Traversi. Alguns metros atraz, com a maior parte do pelotao segiundo todos divididos por meros segundos. A corrida arrancou calmamente até o fim das lombas, onde o Miguel e Betinho lançaram um sprint que esticou o pelotao, até o començo da subida, onde o ritmo abrandou até quase o top da montanha onde Zeca lançou um ataque, seguido por Miguel. O resto do pelotao chegou aos rastos devido ao forte rimto, mas na descida començaram a recomporse num pelotao, e 7 ciclistas conseguiram juntarse antes da ponte e da viragem para Goba. No troço de Goba houve umas tentativas frustradas de fuga, mas com o forte vento contra todos ficaram anulados, e o pelotao mantive um passo alegre mas nao muito acelerado, com turnos a frente de Miguel, Alvaro, Patrick e Mathieu. Na viragem para Goba o Kinha lançou um ritmo forte, e segido por Patrick e Mathieu, esticaram o pelotao. Pouco antes da viragem o Mario deu uns sprints, seguid por Mathieu. Mas o pelotao ficou agarrado, e ja com vento a favor os ataques intensificaram, com José e Grichone tambem a lançar bombas e a obrigar os outros a responderem. O Zeca calminho ficou a traz a controlar de longe o pelotao. Apos a linha ferrea Grichone lança mais uns ataques, mas é Kinha que mete a bicicleta num ritmo de sprint longo, e mantem até o principio da subida, onde Miguel levanta aos poucos o ritmo, seguido por Mathieu, Mario, Patrick e Zeca. No ponto do rei de Montanha o Miguel abre o sprint dele, seguido da dupla Mathieu/Mario e a traz Patrick e Zeca. A dupla na perseguição de Miguel nao se apercebam do Zeca que ultrapassa-os e vai na busca do Miguel. O fim, com todos os concorrentes divididos por escassos segundos, foi ecitante. Mas a grande vitória foi ver Danilo Correia participar e acabar a prova! Outro parabéns é para Lars Noren, novo ciclista do Clube, que com os seus 62 anos consegiu manter-se com o pelotao mesmo depois der furado e consegiu sexto lugar. E mais uma vez a todos (desta vez foram Todos!) os ciclistas que concluiram a prova, que com o vento forte, nao foi nada fácil.

Tour of Maputo - Stage 2 - Time Trial 20km

2011-09-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

O pódio - esquerda - Zeca (segundo), Miguel (primeiro), Kinha (terceiro) com os prémios Vodacom

Aqui os resultados da corrida de ciclismo de hoje, ganha pelo Miguel Duarte
1o Miguel Duarte
2o Alvaro "Zeca" da Cunha
3o António "Kinha" Fonseca
4o Vicente Mafumo

Os primeiros 4 lugares da corrida de hoje são da seleção dos Jogos Africanos (Kinha foi selecionado mas não pude participar). A corrida foi um contra relógio com saida na ponte do Costa do Sol até a rotunda da Ex-Facim e volta - aproximadamente 21 km. Á média do ganhador foi de 38.34km/hora

Na Geral do Tour de Maputo, que lembramos é um Tour em trés etapas das quais foram até agora disputadas duas, o Miguel Duarte mantem o seu primeiro lugar, seguido por Alvaro "Zeca" da Cunha a 25 segundos e "Kinha" Fonseca a 2:24. Interessante a luta pelo 3o lugar, sendo que Kinha, Mathieu, Patrick, Mario e Lars ficam separados por poucos segundos. Estes 5 ciclistas terão a última etapa do próximo domingo que vai decidir a sorte deles.

Um lembrete que a ultima etapa do Tour de Maputo terá lugar no domingo 2 de Outubro as 8 horas na volta da Ex-Facim (Av.25 Setembro - Av. 10 de Novembro) e sera uma corrida de 20 voltas (40km). Essa corrida de tipo critérium vai dar a possibilidade dos espectadores de ver toda a acção da corrida. No mesmo dia terão lugar corridas mais curtas para amadores e ciclistas júniores.

Esse tour é organizado pela Clube de Ciclismo de Moçambique e pela Federação Moçambicana de Ciclismo.

Here are the results from today's race, won by Miguel Duarte.
1st Miguel Duarte
2nd Alvaro da Cunha
3rd Kinha Fonseca
4th Vicente Mafumo

The top 4 spots of todays race went to the cyclists who were selected to take part in the African Games (even though Kinha was unable to actually take part). The race was a time trial from the Costa do Sol bridge to the Ex-Facim roundabout and back - approximately 21km. The winner's average speed was 38.34km/hour

In the general classification for the Tour of Maputo, which we remind everyone is a 3 stage Tour of which so far two stages have been raced, Miguel Duarte keeps his top spot, followed by Alvaro "Zeca" da Cunha at 25 seconds behind and "Kinha" Fonseca at 2:24 behind. What is interesting is the fight for 3rd place, with 5 cyclists, Kinha, Patrick, Mathieu, Mario and Lars, placed within seconds of each other. These 5 cyclists will have the last stage on next sunday 2nd of October to decide their fate.

A reminder that the last stage of the Tour of Maputo will take place at 8am on the Ex-Facim circuit (Av. 25 Setembro - Av.10 de Novembro) and will be a 20 lap (40km) race. This critérium will allow spectators to view all the race action. On the same day there will be shorter races staged on the same course for amateur and junior cyclists.

This tour is organised by the Cycle Clube of Mozambique and the Mozambican Cycling Federation.

									Km	66	Start		km	Km	20
Resultados do Tour de Maputo 24-26 Setembro e 2 Outubro										2:07:54				0:32:52		2:40:46
Lugar	Nome	ano	Tot Pos	Pos1	Pos2	Tot P.Bon	P.BON1	P.BON2	P.BON3	Etapa 1	Finish	RM1	RM2	Etapa 2		T Cumul
1	Miguel Duarte		10	5	5	2	1	1.0		2:07:54				0:32:52		2:40:46
2	Alvaro da Cunha		8	4	4	1.6	0.8	0.8		2:08:00				0:33:11		2:41:11
3	Kinha Fonseca		3.0		3	1		0.6		2:08:20				0:34:50		2:43:10
4	Mathieu Destrooper		3	2	1	0.6	0.4	0.2		2:08:06				0:35:06		2:43:12
5	Patrick Verissimo		2	1	1	0.4	0.2	0.2		2:08:10				0:35:06		2:43:16
6	Mario Traversi		3	3		0.6	0.6			2:08:05				0:35:22		2:43:27
7	Lars Noren		0.0			0				2:08:11				0:37:02		2:45:13
8	Sergio Grichone		0.0			0				2:08:15				0:38:51		2:47:06
9	Betinho Cuambe		0.0			0				2:13:22				0:35:39		2:49:01
10	Joao Rodrigues		0.0			0				2:08:16				0:41:39		2:49:55
11	Eugenio		0.0			0				2:53:20				0:41:14		3:34:34
12	Vicente Mafumo		2.0		2.0	0		0.4						0:34:52
13	Edelson		0.0			0								0:38:45
14	Anselmo Cani		0.0			0								0:40:58
15	Claude		0.0			0								0:44:05
16	Marques Cossa		0.0			0								0:48:00
17	Tim Doyle		0.0			0				2:55:29
18	Chico Nobrega		0.0			0				2:16:32
19	Danilo Correia		0.0			0				2:28:10
20	Braga Junior		0.0			0				2:44:50
			0.0			0

Calendário Copa 2012

2011-09-20T02:56:00.000-07:00

Aqui a proposta do calendário da Copa Ciclismo 2012. A Copa é composta for 15 corridas. Tambem ha duas corridas para apurar o campeão nacional, e uma corrida provincial. Essas corridas não fazem parte da Copa. Esta é uma proposta de datas e foi desenhado para evitar conflitos com corridas na RSA e Swazilandia. Se tem comentários ou sugestoes por favor adicionam as mesmas no fundo da página. Obrigado.

Here is the proposed Copa Race Calendar for 2012. The Copa is made up of 15 races. There are also 2 races for the National championship, as well as a provincial one. These races are not part of the copa ciclismo. This is a proposal and has been designed to avoid date conflicts with races in SA and Swaziland. If you have any comments or suggestions please add them at the bottom of the page. Thanks.

CALENDÁRIO COPA CICLISMO 2012

Nr Data Corrida Tipo Distancia

A - 22-Jan-12 Nacional - TT CRONO - 30km

B - 23-Jan-12 Nacional EN4 - PLANO (flat) - 150km

1 - 19-Mar-12 Volta Goba - COLINAS (hills)- 66km

2 - 26-Mar-12 Time trial equipa - PLANO - 50km

3 - 9-Apr-12 Classica Rei do Sul - PLANO - 117km

4 - 23-Apr-12 Volta Goba II - COLINAS - 101km

5 - 14-May-12 Classica Namaacha - MONTANHA (Mountain) - 104km

6 - 4-Jun-12 Classica Goba - MONTANHA - 105km

7 - 24-Jun-12 Desafio da Pedreira - COLINAS - 80km

8 - 25-Jun-12 TT 26km - CRONO - 23km

9 - 26-Jun-12 Volta a cidade - CRITERIUM - 66km

10 - 9-Jul-12 Classica Twin Peaks - MONTANHA - 170km

11 - 20-Aug-12 Subida a Mt Ponduine - MONTANHA - 83km

12 - 27-Aug-12 Critérium eliminatória - CRITERIUM - 44km

13 - 24-Sep-12 Classica EN1 - PLANO - 160km

14 - 1-Oct-12 TT Namaacha - CRONO - 26.6km

15 - 8-Oct-12 Critérium de Maputo - CRITERIUM - 40km

C - 11-Nov-12 Provincial MOZAL X6 - COLINAS - 124km

NOVA COPA 2012

2011-09-20T02:50:00.001-07:00

Nova Copa 2012

No início do ano, houve um consenso geral em adotar um novo e mais simples sistema de pontos para a Copa, e essa mudança se daria a partir de 2012. Este novo sistema visa simplificar o ranking de ciclistas para torná-lo mais fácil de gerir, transparente e aberto a todos, enquanto o sistema do Imran que vinhamos usando ha uns anos tornava-se difícil para gerir e defacto so ha uma pessoa que sabe fazer os calculos. O sistema proposto é tao simples que qualquer um dos ciclistas pode, sabendo os resultados da corrida, fazer as somatórias e saber a classificação geral, e vai permitir a todos a verificarem os calcúlos e se sentirem confortáveis com os resultados.

As principais mudanças são:

* um sistema de ponto reto

* reduzido número de corridas

* máximo de 10 eventos a contar para a classificação geral

* novas rotas para apimentar o evento

* uma melhor organização de corridas

* registro de Federação

* prêmios

Abaixo estão as explicações sobre cada mudança.

NOVA ESTRUTURA DE PONTOS – vai ser adotado um novo sistema que basea o ranking apenas em posição de chegada, e não tempos. A ideia do Imran era tornar a nossa Copa uma especie de Tour de France, com cada corrida uma etapa, e o melhor tempo decidindo a classificação. Era (e é) um sistema complicado mas com uma lógica e estrutura bem pensada, mas na prática so ele (e agora so eu) sabia gerir os pontos.

A grande maioria dos ciclistas pediram para que o sistema fosse mais claro e ao alcance deles, e portanto o novo sistema adota um híbrido de pontuação estilo Formula1 com a Escala UCI de pontos. O novo sistema contará pontos para os primeiros 10 finalistas, independentemente do tempo. Corridas serão classificados, mas usando um sistema de 3 níveis - Normal (15 pontos), Difícil (20 pontos) e Muito Difícil (25 pontos - apenas uma corrida, a Twin Peaks). Isto significa que a maioria das corridas é dividido entre as Normal e Difícil. Muitas pessoas têm perguntado por um sistema de pontos simplificado sem classificação para a dificuldade de corrida, mas este apresenta um problema - se dois ciclistas ganharem igual número de corridas, como é que vamos descobrir quem é o vencedor? Dando igual numero de pontos para todas as corridas significa tirar o incentivo de participar nas corridas mais difíceis. Se damos mais pontos então o incentivo de participar (e acabar) é maior.

Pontos de Sprint e Rei da Montanha permanecem os mesmos. O calendário de corridas indicará no início do ano, os pontos disponíveis para cada corrida em cada classificação. Se as corridas são substituídos por força maior, o novo curso deve ser semelhante à corrida substituída.

NÚMERO REDUZIDO DE CORRIDAS - Outra mudança importante é o número total de eventos Copa. No calendário 2011 tinhamos 23 corridas da Copa. Em 2012 são agendadas 15. Isso porque muitos ciclistas não participavam em todos os eventos, por causa de alguns entraram em choque com corridas na Suazilândia e África do Sul, ou porque não havia tempo de ir a todas. á media da participação em 2010 foi de 10 ciclistas por cada prova. Em 2011 isto aumentou para 12, mas tamos longe de termos pelotoes bem grandes. Tendo menos corridas podemos concentrar-nos tambem em publicitar os eventos, para termos mais participaçao nacional e estrangeira, com ciclistas da Swazilandia e RSA tambem a participar.

Também o grande número de corridas significa que organizacionalmente é difícil melhorar a sua qualidade, tendo pouco tempo para preparar entre as corridas. 2011 foi um ano especial para a Copa, como foi uma preparação para a selecção nacional para os Jogos da África. A partir de 2012 a equipe nacional irá utilizar uma mistura de corridas da Copa e eventos no exterior para treinar e competir, por isso não há necessidade de aumentar o numero de eventos Copa para eles. A Copa irá retornar a um número mais gerivel de corridas, assegurando que eles sejam devidamente organizadas e com menos corridas se espera que mais ciclistas vão participar.

NÚMERO MÁXIMO DE RESULTADOS - A Copa 2012 foi reduzida para 15 eventos, com a proposta em que um máximo de 10 eventos sejam contabilizados para a classificação geral. Os ciclistas poderão ausentar-se de 5 corridas, mas enquanto eles fazem os restantes 10, ainda estão com uma chance de competir na Copa. A Copa Ciclismo sempre foi uma copa amadora, para as pessoas que trabalham e pedalam porque gostam de ciclismo. Portanto, devemos aceitar a realidade de que nem todos vão participar em todas as corridas. Portanto, os 10 MELHORES resultados contam, e dessa forma ainda ha incentivo de fazer mais que 10. A seleção dos 10 melhores resultados será baseada primeiro no melhor lugar obtido, segundo por pontos Rei da Montanha (KOM) e finalmente por pontos de Sprint. Esta selecçao nao é feita pelo ciclista mas pelos resultados, para evitar que haja uma incerteza em quais corridas foram escolhidas.

As datas das corridas da Copa foram escolhidas para não chocar com outras corridas de estrada na RSA e Suazilândia. No entanto, quando há um conflito grave com uma corrida que não era conhecida anteriormente, uma maioria clara de Ciclistas da Copa pode optar por alterar uma data da corrida, mas isso deve ser feito pelo menos 3 semanas de antecedência. O elemento de participação dos ciclistas na organização da Copa é importante.

MELHOR ORGANIZAÇÃO DE PROVAS - Os ciclistas querem corridas bem organizadas, em estradas seguras com interação mínima com o tráfego. As novas corridas da Copa tem objectivo de fazer isso. Números serão atribuidos aos ciclistas. Mais corridas terão lugar em Maputo onde teremos mais apoio da polícia. Veículos de suporte estarão disponíveis para a corrida. Eventos Pós-corrida para toda a família tambem vão ser organizados. Mais patrocinadores apoiarão as nossas corridas com prêmios e dinheiro. As corridas vão ter cobertura dos médias. Mais ciclistas vão participar nos eventos, tornando-os mais desafiadores e gratificante para todos

ROTAS NOVAS - Várias novas rotas foram escolhidas em 2012 para fazer que as corridas sejam mais desafiadoras e interessantes. Sempre que possível nós eliminamos corridas repetidas, tendo apenas o 5 corridas Classicas, que são Goba, Namaacha, o Rei do Sul, EN1 e Dois Picos. Estes são os cinco grandes. No entanto, os percursos para essas corridas vao ser mais difíceis, com Classica de Namaacha e Twin Peaks adicionando uma volta de Namaacha. Adicionamos uma nova corrida chamada Subida a Mt. Ponduine, que é uma corrida que acaba no topo de Namaacha (estaçao TDM) numa subida de 17% de ascendencia. Queremos que estas corridas sejam referências para a nossa Copa, assim como as grandes corridas em SA e em outros lugares na África. Corridas contra-relógio foram reduzidas para apenas 3, com o Contra-Relógio de equipa que volta á copa, uma CR de Montanha e uma contra-relógio plano. Tendo apenas uma corrida por rota fará que haja uma única chance de fazê-la, e a esperança é que a participação irá aumentar.

ADESÃO Á FEDERAÇÃO - No início de 2011, a FMC, Federação Moçambicana de Ciclismo foi criada. Esta entidade tem como objetivo promover o ciclismo em todas suas formas, bem como defender os direitos dos ciclistas. Precisamos dar a este corpo o nosso apoio, tornando-nós membros. Os benefícios da associação vai incluir a participação na Copa Ciclismo. Não-membros ainda poderão participar e ganhar corridas individuais, mas eles não serão incluídos no ranking para a Copa.

PRÊMIOS

Os seguintes prémios serão atribuídos no final da Copa, a seguir o último evento:

Camisola amarela ao líder da classificação geral

Camisola de bolinhas para o rei das montanhas

Camisola verde para o melhor sprinter

Camisola Branca para pontos combinados (como na Vuelta) combinando pontos chegada, KOM e sprint.

Camisola Vermelha para o ciclista mais agressivo. No final de cada corrida um ciclista será determinada o mais agressivo. O ciclista, com mais corridas agressivas vai ter esta camisa

Camisola Preta para último ciclista na Copa (como o Giro d'Italia). Devem ter concluído pelo menos 10 corridas.

Vencedores de cada grupo, cada faixa etária vai ter um troféu (U16, U23, sub-veterano, veterano, mestre, senhoras).

ESTA É APENAS UMA PROPOSTA BASEADA NAS CONVERSAS TIDAS EM MARÇO E ABRIL - POR FAVOR ADICIONAM OS VOSSOS COMENTÁRIOS PARA PUDERMOS FINALIZAR ESSAS MUDANÇAS ATÉ DIA 15 DE NOVEMBRO, DE FORMA QUE COMENÇAMOS COM UN NOVO REGULAMENTO EM 2012

NOVA COPA 2012 - NEW COPA 2012

2011-09-20T02:43:00.000-07:00

New Copa 2012

At the beginning of the year there was a general consensus to adopt a new and simpler Copa Points System, and this change would take place from 2012. This new system seeks to simplify the ranking of cyclists to make it easier to manage, transparent and open to all, as the system that Imran developed and was in force for the last few years is quite complicated and difficult to manage and only him (and now me) are capable of updating it. The proposed system has been designed to be easy for any and all cyclists to understand, and if you have the day's results, it will be in everyone's power to work out the standings. The major changes are:

* straight point system

* reduced number of races

* maximum of 10 events counting for overall standings

* new race routes to spice up the event

* better organisation of races

* Federation registration

* prizes

Below are explanations on each change.

NEW POINTS STRUCTURE - a new simplified point structure has been adopted, based on finishing order and no longer on time. That system was found to be too complicated to understand, difficult to manage, with only a few people able to work out the various calculations. The new system adopts a hybrid of Formula1 style and UCI Points Scale. The new system will give points to the first 10 finishers regardless of time. Races will be graded, but using a simple 3-tier system of Normal (15 points), Hard (20 points) and extra-Hard (25 points – just 1 race – Twin Peaks). This means that the majority of races is split between Normal and Hard races. Many people have asked for a simplified points system with no grading for race difficulty, but this presents a problem – if two racers win equal number of races, how do we work out who is the winner? And simplifying the races too much would meant taking away the incentive to take part in the harder races, where more points are available. Sprint and King of the Mountain points remain the same. The race calendar will indicate at the beginning of the year the available points for each race in each classification. If races are substituted for force majeure, the new course should be similar to the replaced race.

REDUCED NUMBER OF RACES Another important change is the total number of Copa events. In 2011 we had 23 events. In 2012 we have reduced this to 15 events, due to the fact that many cyclists can’t participate at all the events, as some of the events clashed with races in nearby Swaziland or South Africa, or because of lack of time. We had an average of 10 cyclists per event in 2010, and this increased to 12 in 2011, so we're still far off from having large pelotons. Having fewer races means we have more time to publicise the events, and get more participation, both local and foreign, with the possiblitiy of more Swazis and South Africans taking part.

Also the large number of races means that organisationally it is difficult to improve their quality, having little time to prepare between races. 2011 was a special year for the Copa, as it was a preparation for the National team for the Africa Games. From 2012 the National team will use a mixture of Copa races and overseas events to train and compete in, so there is no need to extend the Copa for them. The Copa will return to a more manageable number of races, ensuring that they are properly organised, and with a focus on fewer races hopefully more cyclists will take part.

MAXIMUM NUMBER OF RESULTS The 2012 Copa has been reduced to 15 events, of which a maximum of 10 events will be counted towards the general classification. The maximum number of results will allow cyclists to miss up to 5 races, but as long as they do the remaining 10, they are still in the running. The Copa Ciclismo has always been an amateur race, for people who work for a living and cycle because they enjoy cycling. Therefore we must accept the reality that not all of us will be able to take part in every race. However, the BEST 10 results will count, so therefore there is still an incentive to do all 15 races, if one is able to. The selection of the top 10 results will be based on finishing spot, secondarily by KOM and lastly by sprint points.

Copa race dates have been chosen not to clash with other road races in SA and Swaziland. However where there is a major clash with a race that was not known previously, then a clear majority of Copa Cyclists can elect to change a race date, but this must be done at least 2 weeks in advance. The element of participation in the Copa is important.

BETTER ORGANISATION OF RACES – Cyclists want well-organised races, on secure roads with minimum interaction with traffic. The new copa races aim to offer that. Race numbers will be issued to all competing cyclists. As more races will take place in Maputo we will have more police support. More back-up vehicles will be made available to the race. Post-race events for the whole family will be organised. More sponsors will support our races with prizes and cash for organising the races. Events will have more media coverage. More cyclists will take part in the events, making them more challenging and satisfying.

NEW ROUTES - Several new courses have been chosen for 2012 to make the races both more challenging and interesting. Where possible we’ve eliminated repeated races, having just the 5 Classica races, which remain Goba, Namaacha, Hell of the South, EN1 and Twin Peaks. These are the Big Five. However the courses for these races will be tougher, with Classica de Namaacha and Twin Peaks adding the Namaacha loop. Also a new race called Subida a Mt. Ponduine is added, which is a mountain-top race finish incorporating a 17% final climb. We want these races to be references for our Copa, just as tough as races in SA and elsewhere in Africa. Time trial races have been reduced to just 3, with a team time trial event back in the calendar, one Mountain Time trial and a flat time trial. Having just one race per route will make it your only chance to do it, and hopefully attendance will increase.

FEDERATION MEMBERSHIP At the beginning of 2011 the FMC, Mozambique Cycling Federation was formed. This body aims to promote cycling in all its forms, as well as defend cyclist rights. We need to give this body our support by becoming members. Membership benefits will include participation in the Copa Ciclismo. Non-members will still be able to race and win individual copa events, but they won’t be included in the ranking for the cup.

PRIZES

The following prizes will be awarded at the end of the last event:

Yellow jersey for overall classification leader

Polka-dot jersey for king of the mountains

Green jersey for best sprinter

White jersey for combined points jersey (i.e. like the Vuelta) combining finishing, KOM and sprint points

Red jersey for most aggressive rider. At the end of each race a rider will be determined the most aggressive. The rider with the most race nominations will get this jersey

Black jersey for last rider in Copa (like the Giro d’Italia). Must have completed at least 10 races.

Furthermore age group winners will get a trophy (U16, U23, Sub-vet, vet, master, ladies).

THE ABOVE IS JUST A PROPOSAL, BASED ON MEETINGS IN MARCH AND APRIL. PLEASE POST YOUR COMMENTS ON THE NEW COPA, SO WE CAN FINALISE THESE CHANGES BY THE 15th OF NOVEMBER, AND CAN START WITH A CLEAN SLATE IN 2012!

The weekend...

2011-09-18T23:46:00.000-07:00

... was quite busy. Major group ride on Saturday to wish Gustavo goodbye as he is leaving us in a few days to go study in Portugal. Well, that's what he says anyway... Almost all the Club and Federation members met at FACIM and pedalled out on the EN4 with some turning back to do 60km and the hard-core group completing 100km with a nice stiff breeze on the way back. A surprise visit was Danilo, FMC president, as well as Ricky Trinidade who is slowly getting back into training. Those who didn't make the ride met us for a coffee at the Nautilus cafe along 25th of September, Imran's favourite haunt.. Here are some pictures of the event:

Photos by MJT

The 60km crowd

Photo by Abub Ibraimo

The "Vet" squad

Photos by Braga Junior "BTJ

Eddy Merckx??? No.. just me in Cannibal clothing

Our "Brazuca" rider, Braga

Sunday was a ride out to Goba fronteira via the Barragem "old" road. Nice and calm with almost no cars, but again a nice stiff breeze on the way back. We had seven riders out there, testing their legs on the hills, and I am sad to report that Patrick "Indurain" Verissimo has now completed his body and bike upgrade and is now a force to be reckoned with on the climb. Will this translate to some race victories in the future? Only time will tell.. Moz team members Miguel Duarte and Zeca Alvez were also in attendance, as well as Carlos, Lars, Joao and your blog author.

On another note...
Picked up an interesting article on Betinho Bikes written by two visiting Capetonian cyclists, Stan & Nic, and their impossibly adventurous odyssey to find some decent used bikes in Maputo. ome nice pictures as well in the article and definately worth the read.

Bicycle Portraits

Photos by Stan Engelbrecht & Nic Brobler

On other news, a gentle reminder that the Tour of Maputo races are happening this coming weekend.

Stage 1 - Volta a Goba - starts at Barragem, over the dam wall and up pedreira hill (1st KOM point) and continuing along the Namaacha road until the Goba turnoff, then left to Goba town and onto the old road to the Barragem (make sure to turn left after about 5km out of Goba), then on the long straight until the Extramac climb (2nd KOM point) and a little later the finish - Total 66km. The course is really just hilly, with the climbs being just short and steep.

Stage 2 - FACIM Critérium - 20 laps of the FACIM circuit, for a total of 40km. Sprint points on lap 5, 10, 15 and the final lap.

Stage 3 - Time trial from Costa do sol restaurant to FACIM and back to Costa do Sol - 20km. Cyclists will leave 1 minute apart.

The cyclists with the overall lowest time will be declared the winner and gets the coveted Tour de Maputo trophy. Winners of each stage will receive prizes sponsored by Vodacom. Support vehicle is sponsored by Werner Schoefmann of Nova Vida.

Morning cycle ride

2011-09-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

Preparation for the 94.7 has begun in ernest, and I counted 9 cyclists in our group, and another two we crossed along the way. May not sound like much. In fact in Portugal I'd see as many GROUPS in 5 minutes as I did the whole morning in Maputo. However for our reality it was good to see all the usuals out and about preparing themselves for the upcomming races. And what a busy few months ahead:
September 24-25-26 - Tour of Maputo 3 stage race
October 1st Goba Siteki race in Swaziland
October 2nd - Copa dos Campeoes - 20 lap crit around Ex-Facim
October 16th - Amashova in Durban
October 29-30 - Muzundusi Challenge TT and road race
November 10th - Criterium da cidade - last Copa race
November 20th - 94.7, the last race of the season

and a few more I've missed..

So get out there and get training!

All Africa Games - Road Races

2011-09-13T06:25:00.000-07:00

Sunday 11th of September saw the last day of the cycle races that are part of the Africa Games. The ladies race was scheduled for 8am, and the men at 10. Due to some small delays the ladies started later and as a consequence the race was reduced from 5 laps to 4. The field was quite small with only 12 starters. The race was won by Lynette Burger who nevertheless set a hard pace together with her team-mate Lise Olivier.

Winner of the ladies race, Lynnete Burger with Danilo Correia, FMC president and race organiser

The men's race also started a little late, with a minute of silence in rememberance of Imran Akuji, the Copa Ciclismo organiser and interim FMC president who was killed earlier this year while cycling. With 86 starters, it was quite a large field, and right from the start the tempo was fierce as the South Africans, together with Mauritians on the front pulling hard, causing immediate damage to the back of the peloton. By the second lap the peloton had split into 3 bunches with quite a few stragglers tailing behind. Mozambique's chances were dashed though as Miguel, who while in a breakaway from the lead group flatted halfway through the second lap, and no support vehicle to change his wheel. He had to eventually stop and wait, and two minutes later Gustavo, his team-mate, came along in the second peloton and gave him his wheel and in turn waited by the roadside for the neutral service vehicle to arrive. The rest of the team were stuck in the 3rd bunch, all fighting valiantly to hang on. After two laps the lead group backed off the pace and kept a steady rythmn until around the 8th lap when again a flurry of attacks decimated the field until the 10th lap where they managed to shake off the remaining teams, Algeria, Angola and Rwanda, and made a full lap on their own and finally to the finish line taking all four top spots. As for our boys, once they were lapped by the leading bunch they were eliminated and pulled off the road, cruel fate for cyclists who gave their all and didn't give up. Miguel was the last to go, with just two laps to go. In all only 31 cyclists finished the race, all others being eliminated by the speed of the leading peloton, which averaged 40km/hr. Five countries were completely eliminated; DRC, Gambia, Ghana, Mozambique and Uganda. The following is the top place achieved by country:

South Africa - 1st place
Algeria - 5th place
Mauritius - 6th place
Angola - 8th place
Rwanda - 9th place
Cote d'Ivoire - 10th place
Ethiopia 11th place
Senegal - 14th place
Cameroon - 16th place
Zimbabwe - 19th place
Kenya - 21st place
Nigeria - 31st place

Some notes about the race strategy - In the pre-race briefing I told our Moz team to stick to Nolan Hoffman's coat tails.. Well, actually I might have mentioned his wheel. Easier said than done! As he had worked a lot in the Team time trial, burying himself in the flat part of the race to achieve a high average, I expected the team to work for him in the road race, and the others would primarly launch attacks to weaken the other teams and let him, a sprinter, take the line. Darren Lill powered up the Viaduto climb on almost every lap, decimating the field behind, and along Av. Eduardo Mondlane Jansie and Thomspon did more damage, to ensure that by the final lap it was just the four of them. Had the other teams co-operated more they might have held back the SA team, and considering how many french-speaking teams there were in the top 10, it is strange that this didn't happen. However it is also a testament to the teamwork displayed by the South Africans that they managed to pull off such a crushing victory. Any attempt to reach their level will require much training as well as an acute sense of race tactics and a clearly defined strategy. Unfortunately there was only one tactic discussed with the riders prior to the start - act defensively, stick to jersey 77, and stay out of the wind. No discussion was made if plan A didn't work, and with our disaster in terms of flats with both our leading riders delayed, there simply was no backup plan. The Mozambique team will have to experience many races in the African environment before they can think of becoming competitive.

It is however a testament to our little team, conjured up on the back of a napkin, with limited resouces and time for training, that they did as well as they did. They completed the Individual and Team time trials and did not place last, and we had riders in the two lead bunches who worked together and displayed great team spirit. But to win a race you need legs, intelligence and dose of good luck. We were sorely lacking in the latter with 3 flats in 2 races, all of them critical. However the guys didn't pull out but kept going as hard as they could until they were told to pull off by the race marshal. A bitter pill to swallow after such a tough race. The experience was invaluable, and will be a great building block for future races. Mozambican cycling will also be boosted by the race coverage and the intimate contact with Maputans, as the race snaked it's way through the city (and paralysing much of it on Thursday and Friday! :-( )
We can only hope that future generations of Mozambican cyclists will cast back their memories to when the African Games races were held in their city, and how it was the impulse that brought them to cycling.

Race briefing with mechanics

A few pre-race interviews

A minute of silence for Imran Akuji

Viaduto pain - Betinho, Vicente and Zeca battling to catch up

The break from the lead peloton

Miguel after his flat

More viaduto pain

Race "water" point

Gustavo's work done, he can have a beer now

Clube de Ciclismo members & future cyclists supporting the race

Lead peloton on lap 8

Lynnette Burger, winner of the ladies race, handing water to Jansie

Start of the last lap, SA boys on thier own

CAC president sounding the bell for the last lap

Nolan takes the win, his team coming up behind

The battlers for the minor placings

SA team at the finish

Gustavo after kissing the pavement

Messias, his last chance of standing on the podium

Thanks for reading

Leo...what?!

2011-09-13T05:22:00.000-07:00

Some of you have no doubt heard about the merger (and acquisition) of Radio-Shack with Leopard-Trek. As cycling has little to talk about, now that the vuelta is over, there is endless speculation about who is going where, who is going no-where, and how many new contracts have to be signed (link here).. ad nauseum.

So instead I'd like to concentrate on the name for this new outfit. For a while there were quite a few names being bandied around.. Leo-Shack, Radio-Leopard.. Snow Leopard, until Apple stepped in and threatened a trademark infringement suit. Well, to make it easy on our tongue, unlike the really annoying LeOOHHHpard, how about we just call them SHREK. Much shorter than their proposed name Radio Shack-Nissan-Trek. And much more evocative of the wonderful mix this team will be, with 2 Schleck brothers, a Bruneel, Cancellara, a sprig of onions and a dash of epo ....ooops, I meant salt. No, really, I did mean salt.

Good luck to the new team, and may they have better luck than their progenitors.

All Africa Games - Team Time Trial event - 26.4km

2011-09-09T06:37:00.000-07:00

Today was the second road event, the men's team time trail. 16 teams participated. Below some pictures as well as the results:

Rank	Country	Time	Gap	KM/Hr
1	RSA	0:35:14		44.96
2	MAURITIUS	0:37:06	0:01:52	42.70
3	ALGERIA	0:37:53	0:02:39	41.81
4	ETHIOPIA	0:38:14	0:03:00	41.43
5	RWANDA	0:38:33	0:03:19	41.09
6	CAMEROON	0:38:47	0:03:33	40.84
7	COTE D'IVOIRE	0:38:51	0:03:37	40.77
8	KENYA	0:39:44	0:04:30	39.87
9	ANGOLA	0:40:04	0:04:50	39.53
10	NIGERIA	0:40:19	0:05:05	39.29
11	ZIMBABWE	0:41:37	0:06:23	38.06
12	GHANA	0:42:51	0:07:37	36.97
13	MOZAMBIQUE	0:43:46	0:08:32	36.19
14	UGANDA	0:43:54	0:08:40	36.08
15	SENEGAL	0:44:03	0:08:49	35.96
16	DR CONGO	0:45:10	0:09:56	35.07

The Mozambique Team time trial was composed of Joao Cuambe, Vicente Mafumo, Mussa Carimo and Gustavo da Silva. The boys worked well and kept a steady rythmn swapping their front rider. On the second loop they caught a Ghanian cyclist who had fallen behind, but behind a strong Zimbabwean team took them on the Kaunda descent where we also lost Betinho, who had given his all. Considering the strong wind which didn't help matters, the average speed was quite good, although we'll have to keep on working on the time trialling skills for the future.

Medal presentation - RSA 1st, Mauritius 2nd and Algeria 3rd

Mozambique Team with trainer, D.S. and support staff

South African Team in action

Algeria coming through fast

Mauritius - lead man is pulling with all his strength

Mozambique team at the bottom of Kaunda, preparing for the sweeping curve

J.P. Van Zyl, UCI Technical Director and Moz Champion Miguel Duarte

Danilo Correia, FMC President, trying out the Team's CTK bikes

Carlos Sales checking out the competition - The SA boys after their 35 minutes of riding had some spare time so "cooled" down on the rollers.

Blog author with Darren Lill, SA Champion, with opposing views on hairstyles

Sunday is the Road race - 8am for ladies and 10am for men. It will be a tough course of 11 laps for a total of 146km. Come out and support the riders and enjoy a circuit road race in the centre of Maputo! We'll need volunteers stationed at strategic spots to offer water and spare wheels in case of flats. Thanks for reading the blog and I hope you enjoyed it.

Mozambique National Cycling Team

2011-09-06T00:52:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone, here is the long-awaited photo of the Mozambique cycling team that will be taking part in the All Africa Games Xth edition Maputo 2011.

Photo by Abub Ibraimo

The team is composed of (from left to right):

Gustavo da Silva - U23 champion in 2010- and two wins in the Copa Ciclismo 2011 as well as coming second in the first ever Mozambique National Road Championship in February of this year . He started cycling competitively last year and has managed to establish himself as a strong climber. After the games he's off to Portugal to start his University studies, and we hope, continuing to cycle as well.

Alvaro (Zeca) Alves da Cunha - Twice Copa Ciclismo winner (2006 & 7), with 11 individual race wins, including the latest Corrida da Cidade race, which was 6 loops of the Africa Games race course. He has been living in the UK for the past few years where he's been training for these upcomming games.

Mussa Rashid - Cyclist from northern Mozambique, where he works as a teacher. Came 2nd and 3rd in the last two copa races, showing strength as a breakaway artist. Also came 3rd in the National time trial championship in February of this year.

Miguel Teixeira - Current Mozambican Road Champion, which he won in February of this year when they were staged for the first time. 13 copa wins to his tally, as well as and coming 2nd overall in the Copa Ciclismo in 2010. Came 4th in his age group category at the Gran Fondo Eddy Merckx in Portugal this year, where he's been training for the last 6 months for the African Games.

Joao António (Betinho) Cuambe - Owner of the Betinho Bikes shop in Maputo, he's won 9 Copa Ciclismo races over the years and is an accomplished climber as well as criterium racer.

Vicente Mafumo - Bicycle mecchanic working at Santa Marta in Maputo, he's taken part in 41 copa races, having won one of them. Also a breakaway artist, his shiny new shoes and bike should give him the edge in the upcomming races.

The team will be taking part in the following races at the Africa Games:

Individual time trail (8th September) 26.4km
Miguel Teixeira
Alvaro Alves da Cunha

Team time trial (9th September) 40km
Gustavo da Silva
Mussa Rashid
Betinho Cuambe
Vicente Mafumo

Road race (11th September) 146km
All riders

Team equipment:
CKT bikes, 258 and 268 models with CKT components
Team uniforms and gloves produced by PANDA South Africa
Shoes by SIDI
Helmets by RUDY

We wish the team all the best in the upcoming races, that they play fair, show good sportsmanship and above all fight all the way to the finish line for the best possible result. We are the underdogs in these games, and with countries like Eritrea, South Africa, Morocco, Namibia and Zimbabwe, it is going to be tough.

However the beauty of cycling is that the strongest doesn't necessarily win, because it's not just about being the "strongest". Legs, mind and luck will all be ingredients that will determine the winners of the races.

For our team to have made it thus far, and be on the startline with their new bikes and kit and fighting spirit, wanting to give the Mozambican public a show they won't forget, that is already a victory for our team and for our cycling. We hope that the legacy of these games will be a renewed interest in cycling, that will stimulate more people to take up the sport and maintain the long history which only lately has seen a resurgance after years of neglect during the civil war years.

Vuna Maningue! Pedal Lots!

Copa Ciclismo - Corrida da Cidade 14th August

2011-08-29T23:55:00.001-07:00

Photo essay by Abub Ibraimo with commentary by Mario Traversi

The Corrida da Cidade is the 16th race in the Copa Ciclismo calendar. For the event we chose the route of the upcoming African Games road race with a few less laps.. Quite a strong turnout for the race, with most members of the National Cycling Squad as well as club members and enthusiasts doing either the 3 laps or 7 lap race.

Riders with race organisers and Police escort

Joao Paulo da Glória and Tim Doyle discussing race strategy

Abilio think's Abub's shoes look funny. Betinho is feeling the cold. Unknown MTBer thinks our lycra pants all look funny

Mark Peletier and Tim Doyle discussing race strategy. "Should we attack on the descent or on the climb?!"

Messias Langa with his Bianchi

Your author showing off his teeth, and trying to scare the opposition

Paulo de Almeida looking serious on the bike

Tim Doyle looking for someone to discuss race strategy with

Rui Ferreira flanked by the unlikely Da Silva brothers, Gustavo & Guilherme

Gustavo practicing his Giro d'Italia pose

Mussa Rashid, our Beira cyclists down in Maputo getting ready for the Africa Games

The Peloton at the start.. note the palm trees swaying in the wind.. it's going to be a tough race!

Guilherme off the front on the first climb of the day, leading the race.

The peloton riding one neutralised circuit to get a feel for the course. Messias up front showing how it's done.

Betinho is happy about something.. So am I. Maybe one of us broke wind? Check out Messias and Abilio's faces.

Top of the viaduto climb, all together. Each successive loop would see a few cyclists come off the back.

Along Av.Edoardo Mondlane. Police support kept intersections clear for the cyclists.

Peloton along the Marginal. A stiff breeze meant we all stuck together. Vicente and Abilio pushing up front.

Mussa on the finishing straight along Av.10 Novembro on one of the last laps

Vicente leading the charge along Mondlane, with Mario in the background steadily falling back

Betinho taking the victory with a one-handed salute. Should work on that a bit for the more usual 2 arm salute.

The Podium - 1st place Betinho Cuambe (centre), 2nd place Mussa Rashid (left), 3rd place Arone Jaulane (right)

Vuelta a España - Stage 6 controversy

2011-08-26T04:54:00.000-07:00

Hello all,
Time for another grand tour, and some controversy. Unless you are american or live on mars you probably know that the Vuelta is now on, the three week cycle race around Spain. Well, stage 3 of this race was quite a cracker with a very interesting finish. On the descent of the only major climb of the day, 10km from the finish, the Liquigas Team managed to break away from the peloton with 4 riders and won the stage. Great news for them, right?!

WRONG!

So what's wrong? Well, for starters Nibali, the team captain came 4th. Chavanel, the red jersey wearer.. is still in red. And Sagan is not Nibali's best friend any more. Sagan won the stage and is Liquigas-Cannondale's strongest sprinter. But why did it go wrong. Well, if you open any cycling blog, they will explain that Sagan took the stage, but really had to because Movistar's Pablo Lastras was in the break and gunning for the win. So why did Nibali not come 3rd? I can understand Sagan taking the win. I can understand Lastras taking second. So why did Valerio Agnoli take 3rd? Mystery of mysteries..

So what is my take on the whole issue? Nibali was the weakest rider of the breakaway and was already showing signs of fatigue in the final km's of the race. He couldn't sprint for the win because Lastras would have beaten him to it. So why didn't the Liquigas riders not try to isolate Lastras in the run-in to the line. I mean, they had FOUR riders there! One could have gone a bit earlier, taken Lastras and then stopped, letting the train behind attack from the other side. If Lastras went with them, the other side would attack, and hopefully he'd be too tired to do the final sprint to the line and Nibali could have taken the win, the time bonus and the red jersey..

In the end it was Nibali's own fault - he didn't have the kick for the final attack (possibly having used his energies on the downhill attack which broke him away from the peloton) and he didn't use his team-mates to wear down Lastras.. Thy concentrated on opening up the gap with the peloton (17 seconds.. but they had at least 10 just from the downhill charge) instead of worrying about the 20 second time bonus for 1st place (or 12 for 2nd place, or 8 for 3rd place)..

Nibali is still "green" and needs to think more instead of just being a good descender.

My Tour de France

2011-07-08T05:23:00.000-07:00

Hello all,
So, it's July in France, and it's 12 degrees. It's July in Maputo and its 12 degrees. See a problem here? Well, only really if you're a cyclist. The poor sods at the Tour (that I should be so lucky to be a poor sod) are battling wind and rain and cold. Whereas us in Mozabique contend only with the cold because.. it's sunny so no rain.

So.. going back to the TDF.. This is probably the first tour that I am watching assiduously from start to finish, more even than the Giro (thanks in part to SuperSports' idiotic programing of the Giro, or lack of!). It is a tremendous learning experience, and if I can blot out Phil and Paul's voice, I can actually concentrate on watching the cyclists, how they pedal, and seeing how the race unfolds. Poor Phil and Paul, they're not really to blame.. I mean they cater to the 200 odd million people who watch the program, most of whom haven't even used a bike, so their commentary is simplistic and half the time a tourist guide to France. There are a few gems amongst the broken glass that is their monologue.. so I still listen to the droning voices. And in reality, the do a pretty good job on the background of the riders, which saves me doing a Google search..

But back to the ACTUAL Tour de France.. The racing. Well, so far it's been bloody fantastic. I think that every stage has left me satisfied.

Philip Gilbert's win on stage 1 was a wondrous thing on that uphill finish. His drought of tour stage wins was broken, and has created another cycling legend.
Stage 2 vidicated the Cervelo bike I bought, giving Garmin-Cervelo the win and Thor Hushovd the yellow jersey. Thor, probably my favourite cyclist, is riding as he should have in Paris-Roubaix, and showing that notwithstanding his diminishing sprinting speed, he's still a great all-round cyclist.
Stage 3 - Tyler Farrar from Garmin Cervelo brings a second victory to the US squad, their second in their history! And on the 4th of July (a first, an American winning on that day in the TDF). AND he got led out by the Yellow Jersey, Thor Hushovd.. AND it's his first tdf stage victory. How much perfect can you get than that? Well, that's about it for perfection, because Cavendish who was stuck in the back and had to go around traffic wasn't far from taking his victory, and when Tyler stood up to give his victory salute his handlebars almost made him swerve. Methinks Tyler you need to practice your victory salute. Nice that you thought about Weylands.. although this tribute story is getting a bit long, and I'm pretty sure you did it for yourself.. BUT lets leave asside these petty niggles and celebrate an (almost) perfect moment. Hat's off to you Thor for being the team player that Cervelo tought you to be. And Tyler.. watch out for the Manx Missile..
Stage 4 brought another surprise, an uphill fight to the line between Cadel Evans and Alberto Contador, won by the former by a distance of.. well not more than the space between each word in this blog post. Utterly thrilling stuff. And Cadel, the eternal second, deserved a stage win under his belt. The agony of last year's tour must be a very distant memory, replaced by this stage win and the tantalising possibility of wearing Yellow again, 1 second behind Thor.
Stage 5 - Hmm.. I've lost track of who won! Short term memory.. Argh.. Ah, yes Mark Cavendish won this one. However his team, HTC, is in total disarray, and one wonders if he's better off on his own. Would certainly save a bit of money, of which HTC apparently needs because.. it won't be HTC next year according to reports. Still, the Manx Missile proved why he is the fastest sprinter in the world. In an uphill finish, coming from way behind, after having to dodge traffic and do without his usual nice computerised leadout, he managed to get to the line first. Gilbert tried and tried but was second, which all things considered is not bad at all. Green jersey contender.. definately.
Stage 6 - Edvald Bossen Hagen showed the world that Norway has more than one cyclist. Pretty impressive mangling of cranks as all the sprinters and sprinter/climbers were there (except Cavendish.. was he off sipping some tea?) pounding like spastic monkeys on their pedals.. Thor was there as well, in 3rd place, and really showing off that he deserves to wear Yellow another day, and not just that. He's obviously chasing a stage victory, and so he should.. but, can it be to dream the impossible dream, that he keep up with the climbers on the mountains and somehow finish the tour in Yellow?! Well, its madness of course.. It's the first week, Contador is still firing on 3 cylinders, and the real Tour has yet to start. But can it be that opportunistic and brave Thor manage to somehow make it work?! Well... we shall see.. we shall see.
Stage 7 - It's on as I type, so let me get on home to see how the boys are doing.. Prediction? Manx Missile, with Thor somewhere in top 20. Ok, stage is done and dusted... a few days have passed, and I have a few more race results. Yes, the Manx Missile won stage 7, with Thor in the top 10. Greipel was there on the line with Cav, so he musn't start counting too many chickens. Petacchi was also there, and by the skin of the squashed fly on his wheel he edged just past Greipel. Thor 10th?! Pretty impressive.. Perhaps the Yellow suits him afterall!
Stage 8 - Hmm.. this was another tough stage, with a breakaway off the front for most of the race. Vinokurov attached on the last climb and hunted down the breakaways, gobbling them up one by one until only Rui Costa remained in front of him, 20 seconds away. But Vino just couldn't bridge to him and he was engulfed by the pack came thundering up the tarmac. So close.. and yet so far. Rui Costa though conserved his distance and crossed the line a scant 10 seconds before everyone else, amazed that his breakaway (a few km's from the start of the 208km stage) managed to survive... Sometimes fortune favours the bold. Pity about Vino, who showed real penache in attacking and almost making it first to the line.. An era will pass when he leaves the peloton..
Stage 9 - Well, finally a stage that has shaken things up completely. A few cat 3 and cat 4 climbs, so nothing serious, but enough to mess with the peloton. A break of 3 riders makes a run for it a quarter of the way through the stage, joined by another two a bit later, making for a 5 man super-break. They gobbled up all the mountain points and sprints (Hoogerland hoovering the KOM's) and were keeping their distance from the peloton who had suffered a nasty crash on a descent, putting Vino out of the race with a fractured pelvis, when the breakaway had their own run-in with lady (bad) luck.. A car swereved into Flecha who then took out Hoogerland behind him who then did a sommersault worthly of an acrobat, and landed into a barbed wire fence. Cassar, Voeckler and Sanches somehow managed to ride through the carnage. Voeckler was actually bumped by Flecha as he fell but managed to stay up.. They slowed a bit, but when they saw there would be no quick return of their fellow breakaway artists, they pressed on, barely 37km to go and with a Peloton smelling blood and Cervelo firing on all cylinders. However with desultory help from Omega (they just wanted the sprint points for Gilbert, who then promptly disappeared from the front) Garmin was not putting their whole heart into the chase and when it was too late to make a difference they pulled off the front, letting BMC (Cadel is nr 2 still with just 1 second difference) do the rest of the work. Meanwhile Voeckler was doing the lion's share of the pulls on the front, pedalling like a madman, while Cassar had trouble keeping the wheel and Sanches simply biding his time till the finish line. The uphill finish saw a bit of cat and mouse but in the end the fresher legs of Sanches meant he could comfortably control Voecker's attack and power up to the finish. Stage win to him. Voeckler gets arguably the bigger prize, a Yellow jersey and a 4 minute lead over 3rd placed Cadel. The remnants of the peloton fragmented on the way up the climb, with Thor merely a cyclotouriste on his last day in yellow, while Gilbert sprinted for 4th with Cadel close by. A horrible stage if you ask me with all the crashes, big names out of the tour, and a really unlucky breakaway (normally the safest place to be to avoid bunch crashes!). Still exciting stuff and a general re-ordering of the results. Cadel is the best placed contender, with Andy Schleck close by. Rest day on monday, and a well-deserved one.

Classica de Goba Copa Cycle race - 105km

2011-06-06T06:10:00.001-07:00

The Classica de Goba cycle race took place on the 29th of May and we had a large field considering the the long race, including 7 Swazi cyclists. Race started at 8am and after warming up the short but steep Boane Hill the pelotong snaked it's way through the quarries and up Pedreira Hill where right away the Swazi cyclists put on the pressure. Not to be outdone the likes of Betinho and Gustavo went after them and controlled the head of the race. On the fast descent to the Goba turn-off a small break of Swazis went ahead, controlled again by Betinho, while the peloton slowly ate into their lead. At the turn a strongish cross-wind made the riding difficult and after a few km another break developed with Thulani, Gustavo and Mario taking turns and opening a gap. However the chasing bunch was not amused and put on some after-burners to reel in the break. Then with a few kms to the Goba climb Thulani and Kinha broke away and maintained a gap all the way to the climb, notwithstanding a valiant but futile attempt by yours truly to bring them back. With no support from the other riders I had to sit up and wait for the gruelling wall that would hit us just after the bridge to Goba. There the climbers showed their legs with everyone powering up the steep section and maintaining into the first bend. A persuit group formed with Matt, Gustavo and Betinho, with Carlos, Mario and Patrick struggling to keep contact and Swazi cyclists Fana and William slowly moving up the field. Meanwhile up ahead Thulani had managed to drop a struggling Kinha who regrouped with the persuit group, now down to Matt and Gustavo. Betinho alas had fired his shots too early and struggled while everyone passed him up the hill. The climb was hard on everyone but eventually Thulani summited first, then the trio of chasers, and finally the reargard action of Carlos, Mario and William who they caught up on the last turn. Mario managed to open a gap in the last 500m and headed down at speed, closely followed by Carlos and then William. The latter two manage to pass yours truly in the steep downhill turns and a support vehicle inappropriately parked in a corner made matters worse, but a pack of goats further down slowed the due enough that Mario could catch them at the bottom of the climb on Goba bridge, just before the first of many rolling hills. By then they could still see the chasing trio of Matt/Kinha/Gustavo whereas Thulani was further up ahead, opening up the lead he'd gained on the climb and subsequent descent. Meanwhile group 3 was joined first by Fana and then by Patrick, who managed to time-trial along the rolling hills to catch the Mario/William group while Carlos instead fell back, his downhill exertions having taken their toll.
The groups basically stayed the same till the finishing line, the only difference being the time gaps that were quite considerable, 4 minutes between group 1 and 2 and 12 minutes between groups 1 and 3! Thulani won by a comfortable margin, the chasing pack hampered by lack of water making up the rest of the podium:

1st Thulani Gule 3:15

2nd Kinha Fonseca 3:20

3rd Gustavo Da Silva s.t

4th Matt Singleton s.t.

5th Mario Traversi 3:28

6th Fana Mentani s.t

7th William Kelly 3:30

8th Patrick Verissimo s.t

9th Carlos Sales 3:31

10th Chico Nobrega 3:45

Swazi article on the event is available here

Cyclists warming up before the start

Group photo of visitors and residents

Enlarged podium (5 medals)

Yours truly getting his medal

Saturday cycle races - MTC & Petromoc

2011-05-28T03:18:00.000-07:00

Saturday 28th of May saw The Ministry of Transport & Communications (MTC) as well as Petromoc each organising a short cycle race.

The 8km MCT race, which started at 8am from Shoprite Maputo and finished at FACIM ended with the following results:

1st Gustavo da Silva
2nd Antonio "Kinha" Fonseca
3rd Joao Antonio "Betinho" Cuambe

Petromoc's 14km race started at 10:15 at the OMM square and was two laps of the Lenine / Mao Tse Tung / Nyerere / Kaunda roads, and saw the following finish in a hotly contented sprint:

1st Joao Antonio "Betinho" Cuambe
2nd Gustavo da Silva
3rd Joao Rodrigues

It is good to see these initiatives promoting cycling within Maputo. The races had good TV coverage, police escort as well as ambulance on stand-by. We thank the organisers and sponsors for organising and hope to see more of these events in the future

Cape Argus certificate!

2011-05-27T10:29:00.001-07:00

It's finally arrived. I have proof.. I missed a sub-3 hour Argus by TWO EFFING minutes..
Well, it was still an absolutely fantastic race, and if I can improve my downhill speed it can blow a blizzard but I'll still make it in under 3 hours.. That is if I don't have a flat.. Those I can't handle. Anyway, here's the certificate in all it's (momentary) glory..

Mafutseni Dups Road Race in Swaziland - Race report

2011-05-27T04:31:00.000-07:00

The Mozambique Cycle Club was invited to participate in the Mafutseni Dups race in nearby Swaziland on the 21st of May. The race comprised three distances - 80km, 50km and 20km.

We met up the morning of he race at 5am at the Ronil petrol station in Maputo. Our team comprised Eugénio, Kinha, Carlos, Patrick, Vicente, Yazid and Mario (yours truly), with Messias, Antoninho and Marques along in a support capacity. We set off, made quick time to and through the border, and just as well as the indications of the starting point for the race were a tad off.. by 40km in fact! However we quickly reached Mafutseni and were met with a warm welcome by the Swazi cyclists. Little did they know that we were there to take some of their medals.. or at least try!

The main race started at 8am and had a strong police presence as well as race marshals, first aid and was littered with waterpoints along the way. The Mozambique team kept a strong pace right from the start, which caused a few grumbles in the peloton as some were having trouble keeping up along the "flat" route, which comprised of several hills strung together for the first 20km or so. Once at the top we were down to a third of the starters, but the pace didn't relent as now the Swazi's kept the pace high on the front.
A few km's before the turning point Carlos drifted off the front, while the Swazi's took a breather and the rest of the Moz team found itself on the front. An attempt was made to get a breakaway with the whole team, but some miss-communication meant that the group was eventually caught before the turn.
At the 40km turning point one of the Swazi cyclists, Fana, managed to slip off the front which meant that the Mozambique club had to do the chasing and the majority of the Swazis sat in the back. Vincente was keeping a stong pace until his rear derailleur packed up, putting him out of contention. Carlos then took up the batton trying to close the gap to the lone cyclist but with no help from the Swazi's and with everyone tired it was a doomed effort. At around the 50km mark the peloton split as Kinha, Thulani and another Swazi kept a strong pace uphill, while the rest were getting out of breath. However after a breather a chase group formed with Patrick, Mario working well in co-ordinated pulls, with Calvin in tow. At around the 70km mark, just as the Kinha group was catching Fana they were caught by the chasers, with Calvin finally putting in a few pulls to close the last 500m gap. The final 5km to the finish were uneventful with everyone looking around and no-one wanting to commit to any attacks, knowing that the uphill finish would play havoc with the legs. In the end a simultaneous attack by Kinha on the left and Mario on the right annulled themselves as Thulani and Calvin took the centre with the latter's strong sprinter's legs carrying him to the finish line with a nice 10m gap from Thulani, closely followed by Kinha and Mario, and finally Patrick.

Cameraderie between Swazi and Mozambican cyclists - Thulani & Eugénio

Carlos eyeing the race start

The start - Good police escort ensured a trouble-free and safe race

In the 20km race Yazid Imran put in a sterling performance to win top honours

The Mozambique Club puts on the pressure right from the start - Patrick powering forwards

Mozambique Club again on the front - race record was broken mostly due to the high pace we kept

However the Swazi's weren't about to be outdone on their own turf!

Carlos about to launch his solo attack just before the 40km turning point

40km turning point - Mario closely followed by eventual race winner, Calvin Lowe

Moz Club in a paceline, chasing the breakaway

Vincente is out! His race has been derailed

Calvin at the finish line, having just broken away from the pack

Kinha & Mario at the finish, battling for 3rd place

Menzi congratulating the Mozambican Club

Prizegiving!

Kinha 3rd overall in the 80km race

Yazid, 1st overall in the 20km race

Mario, 1st in the Veterans Category and 4th overall in the 80km

Patrick, 2nd Veteran and 5th overall 80km race

Classica de Namaacha cancelled!

2011-05-16T03:57:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. I was hoping to be able to share a fantastic result at the latest copa race, the Classica de Namaacha, a 145km race climbing up to Namaacha and finishing at Shoprite Matola. The race started well enough with about 14 entrants and more or less on-time at 7:10. However descending to the Matola River and past the Police check-point the fog got so bad that visibility was down to 10-15 metres. To make matters worse two riders (including yours truly..) went down on a patch of oil in the road. The race organisers decided to call it a day, in view of the fact that besides the fog we'd be battling the oncomming traffic for the better part of the race, due to the religious ceremony that had finished that morning in Namaacha itself. Close to 2000 cars and countless walkers had made the pilgramage to Namaacha the previous friday and saturday and would be returning..
So we opted for a reverse Mozal loop where we simulated a sprint and then headed out towards Moamba and back.

The good news is that we have 10 entrants for the Swaziland Dups Mafutseni race which will take place next Saturday. This race will be the first event of the Tri-nations cup, which will be disputed between Mozambique, Swaziland and (maybe) South Africa.

As for the Classica.. all is not lost - we'll most likely substitute it in the coming weeks so as not to lose this iconic race.

Cheers, and until the next post.

PL Training ride

2011-05-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, 7th of May, an intrepid trio braved the cool Maputo Autumn for a "quick" ride out to the district of Namaacha. Not the climb mind you. That we'll tackle this weekend at the Classica da Namaacha race. No this would be a pleasant training ride to keep the muscles supple in preparation for our race. And who was this intrepid trio? Mathieu Destrooper, a Belgian cyclist who has recently embarked on his Mozambican adventure; Patrick Verissimo, our up and coming vet climber; yours truly, Maputo resident for almost 18 years (and counting).. We met at the designated spot in front of FACIM in downtown Maputo at 6:30 (ish..) hoping for some other cyclists who seem to talk more about cycling than actually training. When they didn't appear we set off at a leisurely pace down the glass-strewn 25th of September. Must have been quite a party the night before.. Out to Matola and the pace gathered speed as we descended down to Matola bridge on the wet road from the rain the night before. Fortunately no big puddles on the Boane road and the sun slowly warmed the road up and everything turned dry. Arriving into Boane we stopped off at our usual Galp Petrol station for a quick expresso, no pun intended, and then set off to conquer pedreira hill, which would be the steepest climb of the day.
The pace was high from the start and we suffered along the final uphill section... at least 2 of us did. Mathieu seemed like he was cycling down a hill. Once to the top we descended down the other side and then back up again, training for the KOM sprint spot.
Then on to the Pequenhos Libombos loop, over the dam wall and past the Libombos resort village. It was a glorious day, fresh but with few clouds and the gentle slanting sun that warms but doesn't over-heat. With the cold southerly wind it made a nice combination.
Once through the Libombos peritimetre gate we set a fast paceline hitting over forty km's per hour right up to the railway crossing. Then over the damaged bridge, open only to pedestrian traffic and back up to Boane and a little refreshment at the Galp station. We'd pushed hard and long, but all still felt strong. After that it was another strong paceline through to Belhorizonte and up Matola Hill, which after 100km proved a bit of a killer. There we separated as Patrick and Mathieu went for some extra Mozal loops and I headed home to a nice breakfast. All in all an energetic training ride that was a bit of fun as well. A perfect cycling outing. Looking forward to the race though. Cycling is a drug!

Panorama Tour - 23 hours and counting...

2011-04-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

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..

Copa Ciclismo Race - Volta a Goba 3 - 135km

2011-04-21T22:27:00.000-07:00

Volta a Goba 3 - 135km. This race is undulating with a few sharp but short climbs along the way to spice up the race. The back road behind the Barragem with it's undulations softens up the peloton before reaching the Goba turn-off and the real up-and-down starts. This year's race was quite different to last year where Mario Sauder, our then resident triathlete, broke from the peloton and did more than half of the race on his own to solo to victory in 4:20. This year's pace was quite a lot higher thanks to the visiting Swazi's (Thulani, Carlos and William) and their penchant for attacking hills. Thulani in particular kept the pace high whenever it faltered, which brought us a winning time of 4:0:4:30. Thanks Thulani! But final honours wouldn't go to him though. The final sprint was contended between Mario Traversi (your's truly) and Miguel Teixeira in a weaving battle over the two lanes of the EN4 (traffic very kindly didn't run us over and kept behind us all the way to the finish). Miguel did all in his power to shake off the older italian cyclist but to no avail and with a hundred metres to go it was a sprint finish. Some confusion about the finish line (there were no cones as someone forgot them) was an unwelcome consequence of our informal race organisation, something that we hope to improve in the future. Miguel managed to pip Mario just cm's from the supposed finish line and take another victory. As the Copa Ciclismo classification stands, it's a two horse race for the moment.

Below a photo essay by Guilherme Da Silva, our photographer for the day. If he doesn't take better pictures next time, I may have to give up cycling and go back to my first passion, photography!

Enjoy.

Start line - 7:02 am

Mario with Mathieu, our latest cycling addition

Support vehicles kept us fed and watered throughout the race

Guess who's in front!?

On the final stretch, getting ready for the sprint

Where's the finish?!

Thulani Gule, who pushed most of the way

Group photo with organisers

Copa Ciclismo - Rei do Sul Road Race

2011-04-03T23:54:00.000-07:00

REI DO SUL / HELL OF THE SOUTH ROAD RACE - 110Km

Waiting for the start..

Carlos has escaped, Patrick gives chase stretching the peloton

Radio Marconi & and the potholes start picking off riders

Just 3 on the front, but Gustavo is catching up

Kinha and Carlos catch the front group, while Gustavo falls behind

The sprint for the line!

The Podium: Left Miguel (2nd), Centre Mario (1st) right Patrick (3rd)

I am happy to report that I have won the Hell of the South Copa Race! The race was quite hard and unexpectedly quite a large field turned up for the race, as it is known as one of the hardest races in the Mozambican calendar. There is some discussion on whether or not Dois Picos/Twin Peaks is harder, which with it's extra distance (tot 150km) and Namaacha and Goba climbs makes it a tough one, but I contend that the Hell of the South is much harder (maybe because I won?!) because the terrain is so unusual and difficult.

As it was the race started with Carlos immediately escaping an the peloton warming up and then through a succession of efforts by Patrick, Matt and Kinha, chased him back by Boane. The climb into town ejected a few riders out the back although the bulk of the peloton stuck together until the start of the Boane - Moamba pothole section, which took many casualties (Matt Singleton was the first to go) in terms of blown tyres and the fast pace whittled the field down even more. A succession of attacks by Gustavo, Carlos and Mario kept the pace high but the potholes were the main event. By the last climb on that section the group was down to 7 cyclists, but the fast descent took out 3 rider's wheels and Patrick and Miguel were off on a break while in the rear Mario chased hard, with Vicente on his heels until he too flatted. Gustavo was also chasing. Miguel flatted but was lucky that his support vehicle was on-hand to swap his wheel and he managed to rejoin the front with ease.

It was a group of 3 that made the turn-off onto the EN4 where Patrick started pushing into the wind. However when it came to take turns the pace died as neither Miguel nor Mario were willing to use themselves up just yet, with another 50km or so to go. Eventually Gustavo bridged to the slowing group and then Kinha and Carlos, who had flatted almost at the same time, were able to rejoin and with this new blood the pace picked up as Kinha tried to shake off some of the cyclists in this group. Eventually Gustavo detached but all the others gritted teeth and held on. Miguel tried a few attacks in concert with Kinha but they came to naught as the headwind was just enough to take the edge off the attacks and give the advantage to the following cyclists.

It was going to be decided with a sprint.

And what a sprint it was - Kinha kept the pace strong leading to Shoprite until Carlos exploded on the left with 400m and opened a gap. Kinha followed with Mario, then Miguel and Patrick on his wheel. Once Carlos was caught Mario pounced with 200 metres to go and only Miguel could hold his wheel, but do no more as Mario (yes, yours truly!) crossed the line in 3:25:12 by a bike-length.

Some finishers managed to get 2 flats, so tough were the pothole section! Three cyclists in the final sprint, Kinha and Carlos and Miguel each had one flat. Most agressive riders for the race have to be Carlos and Kinha who both kept the pace high with constant attacks. Momentous stuff, and we were all glad to finish such a tough race.

Rei do Sul / Hell of the South finishers:
1st.......Mario Traversi...........3:25:12
2nd.....Miguel Teixeira..........3:25:13
3rd......Patrick Verissimo........3:25:15
4th......Kinha Fonseca............3:25:17
5th......Carlos Sales................3:25:20
6th......Gustavo Da Silva.........3:37:20
7th......Vicente Mafumo..........3:50:53
8th......João Rodrigues..........4:01:02
9th......Matthew Singleton.....4:09:36
10th....Abilio Matusse............4:09:37

Here is a link to the race route, although there was a slight change this year with the exclusion of the Mozal loop and the finish was moved forward from the Sasol petrol station to the Matola Shoprite.

Next race is Volta a Goba on the 17th of April, 135km from Matola to the base of the Goba climb and then back to Boane, around Mozal with a finish in front of Shoprite. Registration is at 6:20 and the race starts at 6:40. Last year the race was won by Mario Sauder in a time of 4:20:38 with a solo effort half-way through the race. How will this year's event unfold?!

Photos care of Abub Ibraimo - Thanks!!

Cape Argus reuslts - Moz cyclists

2011-03-28T00:39:00.000-07:00

Hello all,
Here are the rather delayed results for the cyclists from Mozambique that took part in the Cape Argus Cycle Race 2011 on the 13th of March:

1 Mario Traversi.......... 3:02:00....... 1139/28907
2 Ian Campbell..............3:14:59.........2582/28907
3 Iulian Circo................ 3:19:04........ 3159/28907
4 Matt Singleton.......... 3:19:19......... 3207/28907
5 Simon Wright............ 3:24:38........ 4038/28907
6 Francisco Nobrega.... 3:25:34........ 4199/28907
7 Andre Ittmann.......... 3:28:36........ 4667/28907
8 Anton Calitz............... 3:28:37........ 4668/28907
9 Theron Theunissen.. 3:36:44........ 5985/28907
10 Cymon Charnley..... 3:44:52........ 7405/28907

If you know of other Moz cyclists who took part that are not included above please send me their results to mario traversi at hotmail dot com so I can add them.

Please note that though finishing times are available on the Racetec website, they are still finalising results, so overall positions may change slightly until final results are published.

There was a marked improvement in the finishing times of most of the cyclists.. was that improved fitness or the lack of wind :-) ???

Cape Argus 2011

2011-03-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

In a word.. What an experience! Ok, that's 3 words. Let's try again. Monumental! I think that characterises this, the world's largest timed event. In cycling terms it is absolutely massive, with thirty five thousand cyclists converging onto the course from all corners of the Cape, South Africa and the whole world (with 2500 foreign entries, though Lance Armstrong & Matt Damon didn't show up again this year). This would be my second attempt, and I was left awe-struck by the first.. Would this time be the same? Let's find out.

FRIDAY - The trip to Cape Town was easy enough, with a direct flight from Maputo taking a mere two and a half hours.. (about the time of the winner of last year's edition). The plane was full of Maputo cyclists and their bike-bags, which caused some confusion at the SAA desk for the payment of the bike surcharge (note - other oversize items such as surfboards and golf-clubs DON'T PAY, but bikes do. Why?!). After arriving, and having to run around to collect our bikes, we checked into our respective digs (for me it was the Backpacker's place, Big Blue, a bit grungy but conveniently located 2 minutes walk from the finish!) and then went to collect our race packs at the Convention Centre, to avoid the Saturday pandemonium. Solomon's weren't in attendance unfortunately, but there was a lot to see there, between bikes and kit and spares and wildly improbable accessories that only rich cyclists seem to spawn.

A big blue view

SATURDAY - Today was warm-up day and Matt Singleton and I trundled past Camps bay and the long lazy ascent of back of Suikerbossie, where we bumped into Team Bonitas (ex Medscheme) and tagged along for a while as they effortlessy climbed to the top. However we slowed our pace, not wanting to burn ourselves out and once at the top, turned back for a quick exhilirating descent into Camps bay and then back to Cape Town proper.

Pit stop near Camps Bay

That night we went for the traditional pasta carbo-load in a aptly called Mario's Restaurant (est. 1971, a year after I was born). Unfortunately service that night was pretty dreadful as the two shaved head 'service ambassadors' seemed more intent on doing pirouettes than serving us. When food did finally find it's way to our table, an hour and a quarter after we'd arrived, it was Fantastic.. So my suggestion, take a crossword puzzle, because though the pasta is quite good, they're just s l o o o o o o o w .... And don't go there the night before a cycle race!

SUNDAY - It's dark outside still. Five am and my alarm goes off, pulling me away from my slumber. My bike, bottles and kit had been prepped the night before so all I had to do was make coffee and eat some food and.. ahem... hope nature would take it's course, before I set out to reach my starting gate. I dreaded the thought of having to use a porta-loo for more than a pee.. as the images of the wind blowing portaloos over at the 2009 Argus were still fresh in my mind.. Well, nature did tortuously take it's course, but I felt all the better for it and was out the door smack on 6am and hurrying off to my date with destiny.

How do I push through this bunch?

I reached the start about 10 minutes later and already the pen was half-full, but you can only be an optimist in these scenarios and at every shot of the gun releasing a group ahead of us, and as our group moved to the next pen, I stole a few places until I was finally on the front line.

Ready..?

Steady..

Ok, time for one last photo..

Dawn and my start fast approaching

Dawn was breaking just as the pistol went off for group D and away we went at an unbelievable speed. I hadn't reached the first curve 100m away that already 30 riders were ahead of me in a mad sprint to get in front. It was absolutely mind-boggling.. Thankfully there was minimal wind to hamper our efforts and the peloton gathered shape and speed up the highway.

What followed is a bit mind-blowing and mind-numbing at the same time. I have few words that can describe hurlting along at an average speed of 36km/hr.. That's average, so on the flats we were close to 50 and the descents were upwards of 70km/hr.. I had hardly enough time to warm my muscles that the peloton was taking a fast descent after Hospital Bend and leaving me behind! Quick! I had to get back up there.. I had to bridge across... Not easy when everyone else is pushing 50 (km's, not years..). But at the next climb the peloton slowed and I managed to catch the tail-end just in time for the Boyes Drive ascent.. and again I got dropped. My legs, normally used to a gentle warmup were not accustomed to this full-gas speed of this South African peloton. Still I maintained contact and on the undulating section at the top of Boyes I slowly moved up the field and back with the group. Then through Simonstown and another uphill, but this time I was prepared and kept pace. My Caracol training sessions were paying off finally. Then I lost my bearings completely as we turned inland and ever-upwards, and the serious climbers were putting on the pressure. Once done ascending we crossed the Cape peninsula an a seriously fast section. At one stage someone called out "Tandem!" and I thought they were moving out of the way to be courteous, but No! It was to catch his slipstream! Ever-faster on this flat slightly downward stretch.. Amazing speed. We're 50km into the race and I still haven't touched my water bottle. No, it wasn't that I didn't want to drink. It's just that I couldn't reach down and grab the bottle for the frenetic pace we were doing!

Saltwater is behind us and now we're on the slow grind up Chapman's Peak Drive. This is a beautiful road to drive up and cycle if you have time to smell the roses and look out to sea, but today was serious business and the cyclists weren't taking any prisoners! It was push and shove all the way up, no by your leave, excuse me sir or madam etc.. I felt like I was in the midst of wild animals racing for the last morcel of food on earth, or a wildebeast migration. It was mindboggling.. So was Chappies, as the sea mist came over and cooled us, and we were enveloped in a sea of fog.

With Chappies completed came the fast descent down to Hout Bay and I'm afraid to say that my descending skills weren't up to scratch as I was being passed at breakneck speed by all the tortured riders that I'd effortlessly passed on the way up. Then a short flat section at a fast pace into Hout Bay and onto the last serious climb of the day, Suikerbossie. Something to do with sugar, but the taste in my mouth was bitter as I scaled it's flank, huffing and puffing but powering up the hill.. My turn for revenge as I passed the pesky riders who'd uncerimoniously sliced past me on the downhill. See if you can hold my wheel now.. At the top I was on 2:38. If I wanted to crack 3 hours I needed to gain a minute.. Now the descent.. not my favourite..

The descent was fast but flowing as the road was wider compared to Chappies and this meant that I could take a more comfortable line around the bends.. and after the really fast riders filed past I finally managed to hold onto a group of descenders and more or less made my way down in one piece. On the undulating section into Camps Bay I frogleaped small groups of cyclists, the ejected entrails of the groups ahead, their legs tired and heads heavy.. I had no time to lose with them. I had to move forward. I had to catch the peloton. Climbing up to Bantry Bay I spied a group ahead.. If only I could bridge to them. They're climbing. They'll slow. I can catch them. But they didn't slow! Those who still had legs were going full-gas, using up every last ounce of energy. Only 7 km to go, the aura of a sub-3 hour awaiting them. No, they were steaming ahead. I'd have to will my body over to them, teleport somehow. I pushed and I stomped and got out of the saddle.. and suddenly I was back on a wheel.. I could rest, for a second.. and then power on to the front of the group. Down and around the round-about. We're on the final stretch, but the finish is still 3 km away, and suddenly a Tandem appears. "Catch that tandem!" I hear and then in disbelief realise it was I who yelled out. Was I too turning into a cannibal? No matter, no time to think, just react. Myself and another cyclist caught the wheel and struggled to keep up. Our speed was nearing 50km. The wind was blowing into us, not hard, but enough to blunt our efforts. 2 km. We're pushing hard. The Tandem cyclists are nearing the end of their rope, yet they push on. I struggle to keep up. 1 km. A final bend. The finish line ahead. I can't stop myself.. I pull out from the slip-stream and start sprinting to the line. My lungs are burning, my legs are jelly, but somehow I pass the cyclist in front of me, pass the tandem. I'm at warp 5. I'm flying.. the finish line is there. I taste it. YES!!! I've finished..

Time on the watch 3:02. I've missed my target by 2 minutes and 1 second. Yet, I am strangely elated. It felt like I've just been swimming with sharks. My adrenaline is pumping. But I've made it through the other side. I will be back again next year. You know what they say, 3rd time lucky. Although in a race like this there is no such thing as luck.

A beer with the other Clube Ciclismo members after the race at the Ferryman's - Waterfront.
Sorry though, no Laurentina on the menu.

Copa Ciclismo 2011 Results - Race 2

2011-03-09T00:07:00.000-08:00

Here are the cumulative results of the Copa Ciclismo, including the latest two races.

Nr Name Nac. KOM SP Rec Pos TT Road Total

Miguel Texeira MOZ 5 5 10 103.94 103.00 206.94
Mario Traversi ITA 3 5 92.35 101.37 193.72
Antonio Fonseca MOZ 2 4 89.87 101.37 191.24
Vicente Mafumo MOZ 1 1 88.64 100.96 189.60
Patrick Verissimo GER 87.37 100.94 188.31
Abilio Matusse MOZ 80.21 100.89 181.10
Carlos Sales POR 3 78.90 101.58 180.48
Jan de Jong NED 4 0.00 101.79 101.79
Sergio Grichone MOZ 0.00 100.95 100.95
Cymon Charney RSA 0.00 100.94 100.94
Betinho Cuambe MOZ 0.00 100.93 100.93
Kallie Calitz RSA 0.00 100.92 100.92
Theron Theunissen RSA 0.00 100.92 100.92
Andre Ittmann RSA 0.00 100.91 100.91
Simon Wright GBR 0.00 100.90 100.90
Rui Ferreira POR 0.00 100.88 100.88
Gustavo da Silva MOZ 4 4 93.77 0.00 93.77
Imran Akuji MOZ 86.78 0.00 86.78
Yazid Imran MOZ 60.68 0.00 60.68
Tim Doyle USA 0.00 0.00 0.00
Liliana Sultane MOZ 0.00 0.00 0.00
Abub Ibraino MOZ 0.00 0.00 0.00
Joao Rodrigues MOZ 0.00 0.00 0.00

Apologies for the above format - my blog program is not co-operating, but I hope to have this fixed shortly.

The copa is made up of time trial events and road races, each with it's own point system, the total of the two giving the general classification leader board. Additionally there are points for king of the mountain (KOM or RM), sprints (also known as hotspots in SA), points for records broken and finishing position points. The Copa Ciclismo committee will shortly announce the classifications of the Copa Ciclismo, but most probably they will be the following:
1) Overall GC winner - person with highest total points - award will be a yellow jersey
2) King of the Mountain - person with highest KOM/RM points - polka dot jersey
3) Sprint - person with highest SP points - green jersey
4) Overall classification - person with most podium points - white jersey

As there is only one U23 cyclist there will be no Young Rider jersey.

Currently we have Miguel Teixeira who is leading the overall GC with 206.94 points, the king of the mountain with 5 points and the overall jersey with 10 points. No sprint points have been as yet awarded although this will change in the coming races.