“42x24 gearing is for sissies”
“The looks on our say it all I guess,” says Mark Blewett of the retro header image. ”Just sheer acceptance in knowing that another stage from hell is awaiting us.”
The setting is a bus shelter somewhere in England in May 1992. Blewett is sitting in the company of his fellow South African teammates listening incredulously to the stage briefing for that year’s Milk Race, then one of the most prestigious pro-am stage races on the international cycling calendar.
“You can see that we are also basking in the sun; I think that photograph was taken midway through the Milk Race and it was the first sunny day with no rain.
“Greg Von Holdt (on Blewett’s right) is sporting bandages after a massive crash a few days earlier. His expression pretty much sums up the mood in our camp at that stage. We were in a small coastal town and the neutral zone was barely a kilometre before heading straight up an out of category climb to start things off.
“By that stage we were engaged in a titanic battle with the only other African team – the Algerians – for the prize of staying ahead of the broomwagon!”
The difficulties and realities aside, Mark Blewett speaks fondly of his time racing in the United Kingdom’s national tour. Part of the first ever national cycling team fielded by South Africa after sporting isolation, the Capetonian was joined on this adventure by Greg Von Holdt, Marc Wilkinson, Jaco Kellerman, Anton Duvenhage and Stewart Goodman. These were the days of separate categories and racing for professionals and amateurs, were the latter classification could be compared to what is now known as under23 or Espoir racing.
Look closely at their racing jerseys and an interesting logo is prominent on the dated “national-esque” colour coding.
“South African Airways paid for the flights to get the team over to the UK,” explains Blewett who reveals that he was not part of the shaved legged travel group that caused somewhat of a stir once airborne.
“The story was that the team were given three airline seats per rider,” recalls Blewett with a chuckle going to add this luxury put at least a few noses out of joint.
“The flight was jam packed and the sight of the guys spread out across economy class with three seats each caused several temper tantrums among fellow passengers!”
“I had left South Africa a few months prior,” he continues “and was already racing in Great Britain for a few months before the Milk Race. I was based in a town called Doncaster with Gary Speight and Matt Illingworth, two Brits that had raced in South Africa that summer.
“Racing all of those city centre criteriums was a blessing for me; I was used to the intensity by the time the Milk Race came around whereas the other South African guys had a training camp and a few local races as preparation.”
The racing intensity was one thing but the South Africans were not exactly averse to stage racing. It is important note that the Rainbow Nation still had at least a half-dozen stage races at that time, including the Rapport Tour, effectively the country’s national tour.
“There was the Allied Tour in the Southern Cape, Hansom Tour in Mpumalanga as well as the Boland Bank Tour and Giro del Capo, in addition to the Rapport Tour,” says Blewett. “I rode my first tour at nineteen years of age – not exactly something you would see nowadays.”
Equipment was undergoing a revolution during an era where bigger gear ratios were de rigueur and riding styles followed suit.
“I was still racing with downtube gear shifters and was quite surprised to see the rest of my teammates arrive in England with the then-prototypical STI levers. It didn’t make too much of a difference though – the eventual winner, Conor Henry of Ireland, romped away on the climbs on an ordinary bike with the old gearing system while the rest of us were effectively pedalling in squares.”
And how did Team South Africa fair in this baptism by fire?
They all finished, which was important to them as a team. Blewett was the top-placed South African: “sixtieth or seventieth and about an hour behind the winner. The next SA rider was an hour-and-a-half behind me.
“It was hard but I have fond memories of that time. It was all one big adventure and racing in Europe that year set me up for a successful campaign in France in 1993.”
*Note: Header image courtesy of Mark Blewett and SwiftCarbon.
