@Sutty Yup, it might well be.

@Shonak That would be really strange. :

@Welker Well, he is quite good. Also, that's the one-hundreth post in the story!

I had no idea what to do. I was meant to sign the arrangements with Pinarello the next day, but I knew that I couldn't let an offer like that, even without knowing from who it came, slip through my fingers. I called them that day, saying that I was sick and couldn't come to sign it, so we'd have to do that the week after, when I knew from who the offer came. My heart was pounding like something else as I stepped in to the Café at 3:55 on Saturday. There was only one guy in the whole place. I took all my courage together, walked up to the table, and shook his hand.

“Jack O'Connor.�
“Martin Bridgeman. Team Barloworld.�

I know Pinarello were the first to offer, but if you get approached by a big Pro Continental Team from the region like Barloworld, there's only one thing you can do. I called the Pinarello guys, and a week later me and my parents went along to sign with Barloworld. I thought I knew everything they were offering me, but reading through the agreement, I saw a line that basically gave my life a new meaning, if you know what I mean. It said “... covers all travelling expenses, including to the 2008 Junior World Championships, held in Capetown between the 12th and the 20th of July.� After reading that, I trained every day, and one of the Specialists at Barloworld set up a training plan for me, to get me in top form for the U-16's Road Race, which was to be held on a hilly parcour around the city.

@All It seems like Pinarello would've been the more popular choice, but it all makes sense in the bigger picture.

@Welker Yup, that's what i think too.

@Shonak I wonder how long it'll take till you run out of nicknames.

@Sutty It does.

I trained as hard as I ever had, strictly following the training plan I had been given, and training on the hills and in the flats in turns. Then, six days before I was to fly out, and four days before the race was to start, I trained particularly hard in the cold and in awful rain, getting myself a heavy case of Bronchitis. I went to the chemist and got myself something against it, but it didn't help. Eventually, I went to the doctors, and got myself a stronger medicament, Ephedrine. Luckily, it worked, and I was ready to hit South Africa in style, being nearly a hundred percent better if I kept using it.

On the morning of the race, I knew this was my chance. To get another bit closer to getting a contract when I was older, but to make a name for myself, to go out and show the world who I was, what I was capable of. The course was flat, with a steep hill in the middle of every round, which lasted for about one kilometre, then continued with a false flat for another kilometre, then another short hill, and a descent. The finish line would be at the foot of the second hill, so we'd have to try to get or keep a good position on the hill, and then organise ourselves a little, and then start the sprint. With me I had two designated helpers, one great on the flat, the other great on the hill, but no lead-outs, so they'd take it in turns to protect me, and then one of them would bring me to the front during and after the last ascent.