Progress at last!! The ladies started on their own again this weekend, so I was given the opportunity to see what I could do amongst my peers (as opposed to just hanging onto the Vets). I was confident I'd last at least the first half hour, matching what I'd done the last time I rode with Ladies only. Beyond that I couldn't be sure, and with the thought of the climb over Helshoogte midway, I just had to get out there and pedal. The first half of the race consists pretty much of rollers, which I'm generally not great at, but I've obviously improved, as I managed to hang on all the way to the bottom of Helshoogte. An entire hour!! A couple of times I nearly dropped off the back going up some of the bigger rollers, but managed to latch myself on the back again. My team had all sorts of tactics planned in order to get Tamlyn across the finish line in the top 3, to keep her overall 2nd position. I knew this would mainly come into play on Helshoogte, and I'm sure the other girls were also looking to the big climb as the point to make a break. So as we got to the bottom I wasn't surprised that the pace picked up and I was being left behind. Congratulating myself on having held on for so long, I accepted my lot, got into gear and pedalled my way up, unaware another girl had dropped off behind me. On the way downhill, towards Boschendal, Christie managed to catch up with me and we started to work together. As we headed in the direction of Franschhoek the wind got stronger and we were both grateful not to be alone. At one rail crossing a bottle bounced off Christie's bike and she went back to fetch it. I slowed down so that she could catch up with me again - there was little point in us both battling the wind alone (I've done my fair share of that recently) and I figured I'd take advantage of the opportunity to work with someone. With 15kms to go, we spotted another Club100 rider ahead of us and soon Nicola was riding with us. She'd been dropped further up Helshoogte and had ridden the last 20kms alone, trying to catch up. I was now well excited that for once I wasn't going to finish by myself. I was contemplating asking one of them to let me cross the line before them, just so that I could say I didn't come last in all this season's races! As it turned out, though, Christie fell behind on a small rise, just 3kms to the finish line. Nicola loves a good sprint at the end, so I knew there was no chance of me trying to pip her to the finish. I cruised in just a few seconds behind her, with Christie just under a minute after me. Later I discovered we were only 6 minutes behind all the other girls, who had a mad sprint at the end - all 8 crossing the line within 11 seconds of each other. And Tamlyn had come second!! The tactics had worked and we had a team mate on the podium for the day, and for the season. Excellent work!! All in all a good day for the Club100 Ladies. Now we look towards the Double Century on the 22nd November...