 JHH Racing through the woods on Stage 7 of joBerg2c 2017 Full of good intentions, the idea was for me to ’start’ blogging consistently during 2018. However, l’ve been somewhat preoccupied with my recovery. This has given me time to reflect on 2017, refocus my ambitions for 2018, and consider what I actually want to achieve in cycling while working on improving my work / life balance. To recap, 2017 was a come-back year, after my head-on cycling crash in in 2016. The early part of the year was dominated by getting fit and training for JoBerg2c, the goal Jenn and me had set ourselves while I was in hospital. Apparently, after coming out of my maxillofacial surgery I was ebullient about future adventures. JoBerg2c was an amazing adventure, made even more special by sharing it with Jenn and riding together as a team. Jenn has written about it eloquently, and has a unique perspective on the journey back to racing fitness (see April 2017 entries). My abiding memories from JoBerg2c are of:
I loved racing it on a hard-tail too; my 1x Rocky Mountain Vertex 29er was very efficient, but if pushed I would probably recommend a short-travel FS bike for maximum fun and managing fatigue over the 9 days.  JoBerg2c Day 7 Start Line - Still smiling! The early season training and racing in South Africa, combined with the advice from my Coach, Szymon, meant that I started the 2017 Qatar cycling season in great form. Given the climate here, racing starts late September and generally concludes in April before it gets too unbearably hot and sticky. For 2017, the Qatar Cycling Federation has really stepped up, organizing Road / TT and MTB races, with national and team league points up for grabs across all disciplines. The Road Races are currently sponsored by Royal Air Maroc and the first road race of the season was the Dukhan North and South Circuit on 17 November 2017.  Dukhan North and South Circuit Road Race - me on the far left! This 66.2km course with a few punchy hills is my favourite place to road ride here. What I don’t enjoy as much after my accident, is large group riding, particularly with people I don’t normally ride with. With 45 starters, the ‘B’ grade race felt pretty busy and a bit dangerous, which meant the first lap was a challenge for me mentally. Despite a few testing attacks on the rolling hills, the peloton stayed resolutely together until the long stretch into the wind that leads back to the finish line and start of the last lap. I was towards the end of the pack when the hammer went down, and I had to fight extremely hard to get back to the leading group, meaning that my HR was really on the limit as we entered Dukhan for the final time. Fortunately, I survived as this proved to be the decisive move in the race whittling down the contenders to about 20 riders with a healthy 30-sec gap, which was to remain until the end. Up the ‘long’ climb from the Woqod, and into the last 5km I worked hard to concentrate on my positioning so that I could respond to any attacks and the inevitable sprint for the line. As expected, the pace really picked up after the last roundabout but I managed to avoid my normal poor positioning and the bungee effect. At what must of been about 1km out, the group neatly split either side of the road. Everyone was pushing the biggest gear possible, and it seemed like there was a total synchronicity to our cadence and sound as we headed for the line. I chose the left side of the road with some of the Pinoy Roadies and another Tawaf rider. I was feeling strong, so after a few moments decided to make the jump and see what damage I could do on the way to line. Never have I worked so hard on a bike. My heart was pounding in my chest and I was gasping for air, but I could hear the frenzied sound of riders racing to catch me. During what must have been a moment of clarity, I decided that I was going to force my body to make another kick, up the small incline, and take this all the way to the line. A few moments later, having not died of a heart attack, I looked up and noticed that there was no-one in front of me. I looked around and my closest competitors were all just behind, free-wheeling after crossing the line. At that point there was a dawning realisation that I had actually won my first ever road race at the age of 47 years and 11 months - there’s life in the old body yet!  My first road race win with Julie Melville, winner of women's A However, my faith in my immortality and ability to cheat the ageing process was to be firmly disavowed little more than a month later! (To be continued...)
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