Info

Hey guys

Have got a new email address! If you guys want to feel free to email me on davids.brendon@gmail.com

Ciao

Merry Christmas

Hey Alles!!!

Just wanting to wish everybody a merry Christmas, and a fantastic day with their families!! Don't forget the true meaning of Chritmas guys!!
Have an awesome new year and thanks for all your support in 2009!

See you next year for an awesome season!

Stay Safe
B

Year End

Now that we're at the end of the season it's time to kick back and chillax!!!

A huge thanks needs to go out to :-

Max Cluer - Max Cluer Sports Marketing
For everything he does for team Jeep SA, and all the effort he puts in at events eg Hill2Hill

Clint Morck - Team Manager
For pulling out the stops with getting kit produced, bikes ordered, you name it!!!

Grant Dinkel - Adrenaline Cycles
For always putting the customer before himself, many a night Grant had his shop open at 9pm helping us out with our bikes!

Craig Paul - Team Mate
For always helping me out and giving some awesome advise! A really great mentore

Allegra Wykerd - Coach
Without the help of this wonderful lady I would not be where I am today! She has helped me out with mental prep as well as my training programs etc!!! Johann, her husband has also helped immensely!

Thanks sooo much!!!! YOU GUYS ROCK

2009 HP Urban Rage- Presented by Jeep

Hey guys,

Can't believe that it's been a year since the first Urban Rage already!!

This year it was slightly different though, the course was shorter, with more obstacles and quite a bit more technical. The course was a mere 2km but was really energy sapping, and the miserable weather made it far more worse, as the obstacles began to get more and more slippery.

My first individual qualifying run of the day was fairly chilled as I was very unsure of the obstacles on the course. However, at the end of the lap I was quite confident on what would be needed to make the final of the Super Cats at the end of the day.

I then teamed up with my team manager, Clinton Morck, for the 2 man team event as good, fun, and layed back ride. I opted to go out first and do the first lap, while Clint would do the second and we would complete the course on the third lap together, as a team. I went out pretty hard on my first lap, just to see how the obstacles would be if it began to rain. After Clint's lap we went out on a reasonably chilled lap which allowed me to scope the lines even more, and it was great fun to do something like this with "the boss!"

It was then quite a long wait until our second qualifier so I took a nice long warm up on my road bike, while munching down on some sandwiches and pastas .I went to the start ramp and set my sights on making the final... I pushed super hard for most of the lap but backed off near the end as it got more technical, as I want to risk not making the top 10 for the final that was approaching. Afterwards I was super nervous as we awaited the news of our times as I thought I had perhaps slackened off a little too much towards the end...

The tension became quite intense, but then I received news that I'd qualified 9th!.
The top 10 men and top 5 ladies were then walked through the aquarium, which would be the last 1km or so of the final... And boy would it be tricky... it had super steep stair cases and polished concrete floors, but looked like it would be one heck of a race and a huge amount of fun!

I then went into full race mode trying to focus on getting a top 5 result or higher. I tried to get into the zone with just 15 or so minutes before the start of my race. I sat on the start ramp spinning my legs and then got called up to the gate... I chose my gate line and waited for the count down... As the gates dropped I sprinted as hard as possible down the ramp and attacked the first obstacle. I pushed as hard as I could, and was using up all the energy I had saved up from the previous rounds. I put in peddle strokes at every possible place on the course and pumped through a lot of the obstacles. I kept my lines into the corners as tight as possible trying to make sure that I took the shortest distance to each obstacle and corner. I sprinted down an alley way and sped into a 90 degree corner, but as I was exiting the corner I hit a lamp post and got myself horribly concussed and disorientated... I Stumbled to my feet, not knowing what happened looking past my bike a few times before I realised it was just ahead of me. I got onto my bike and pushed on towards the finish, as this was after all the final
From the entrance of Ushaka I cannot remember how I got to the finish. I can't even remember riding down the steps into the aquarium.... But after crossing the line I heard that I had still managed to some how get 7th overall... I was super surprised with the result!!!

Congrats to Craig Paul who managed to get 2nd overall just behind Phillip Buys, as well as Luke Roberts who managed to wrap up an awesome 3rd! To Max Cluer and his team!!! A fantastic day was had by all!!!


The Jeep Team


Clint Morck and I

SUSPI High Performance Camp-Stellenbosch

Hey Guys

I was fortunate enough to be invited by Cycling South Africa (CSA) to attend a high performance program over a period of a week in Stellenbosch at the Sports Performance Institute, for some testing and a whole lot of other activities which included core training, biodex, jump testing(power),ice baths(not so nice), massaging,muscle activation (probably the most painful experience EVER).

We arrived at Huis Neethling, which was to be our home for the next 7 days on Wednesday afternoon 2nd December after being collected from the airport in Cape Town by a kamakazi driver of note, who somehow managed to get us to from the airport to Stellies in one piece.
After settling in I went for a fairly chilled ride around Stellenbosch and Jonkershoek to kill some time before all the athletes that were invited got together in the evening and Luke and I found quite a cool climb called Helshoogte that was just outside of Stellies.

Over the next couple of days we went for some tests and we were also shownsome gym techniques and core exercises, and between all this Luke Roberts and I tried to slot in our propper training programs wherever we could.

The weekend was ours to kill and we made the most of it to explore the area as much as possible. One one occassion we hit an awesome group ride to Gordons Bay and back to Stellies via the back roads. Unfortunately I picked up a puncture 15km from home, but thats all part of the experience I guess.
Then came Sunday, and I was privilaged to ride what is probably one of the best road rides I've done to date. We left Huis Neethling at 8:00 and made our way towards Gordons Bay again, but this time with only about 8 or so guys. We entered Strand and went straight towards an awesome looking mountain pass in the distance. We arrived at the pass and it was totally spectacular, it was so awesome we actually did the 4-5km climb twice and each time the ride up resulted in a race between all of us.

After a good days ride with some awesome new friends we had made while at the camp, Luke and I decided to go to a Hair Salon and get mullets. Crazy I know, but again... all part of the experience :)

After a totally magical weekend we were back at the institute for some tests on monday morning. Fortunately we had a lot of free time between the tests so we were able to fit our rides in a lot more easily than the previous week, but before we knew it, the week was over and it was time to come home.
It was really awesome to meet some new people, and make new friends. We had and insane time wondering through stellies to go and supplies and food with our mates which just added to the wicked atmosphere. This is a week that I will cherish for a long long time.

A big thank you to CSA for the opportunity to go down to SUSPI for the testing!It was an awesome experience.

This and that :) Quick Update

Hey Guys

Since the last update quite a few things have happened. I got invited to attend a High Performance Camp (HPC) down by the Stellenbosch University Sport Center from the 2Nov-9Nov. Should be really cool!

Then this weekend was the Karkloof Trail Blazer, possibly the BEST course I have EVER ridden! I pitched at the race hoping to do a chilled race but was then told by my coach to race. Off the start it was all very chilled and it was then I decided to ride at the pace of the person going the fastest on the day. After the exit to the polo fields, I followed the wheel of Jedson Tooms and had a tail of 4or so riders behind me.

Entering the first bit of single track he pushed hard and I just followed his wheel and opened up a gap on 3 of the 4 riders behind. I continued to ride at his pace and soon the other rider dropped off. At about the 15km mark I put in a few hard surges just to test the waters. I began riding next to him and made conversation a few times, usually about the absolutely mind boggling single track we'd just gone through! At around the 34km mark we hit the main climb of the day and I saw he was tiring. I rode at a comfortable pace, but made sure I had a consistent cadence the entire time. By the time I reached the top of the climb I entered the single track with a really good gap, and continued to ride at the same pace until the end. I got to the finish in 1st overall, with a gap of around a minute to 2nd place.

This race was one of the most amazing courses I've ever ridden, there was so much effort put into it and it really payed off. Single track had huge built up burms, jumps, amazing rock gardens... YOH words cant describe it! Welldone to Andrew Nicholson and his team! good job guys!!!





KZN MTB Awards Evening

Well this year it was a very classy event :) Jackets and ties, which definitely made the event feel very important. It was held at the Tala Game reserve restaurant, which looked absolutely spectacular!

The evening was very well set out, and the food served was great! I was fortunate to achieve the KZN Most Improved Super Classic Rider, XC Youth Champion, Super Classic Youth Champ and achieved my KZN Colours.

It was really cool to have high class athletes like Greg Minnaar present which also added to the high!

Powerade Triple Challenge "dry run"

Yesterday morning I was fortunate enough to be invited to join Max Cluer on a dry run of the Powerade Triple Challenge, as I had to get a long slow ride in.I was accompanied by Ryan Ellis and many other people who will be participating in the event.

Ryan and I were allocated to be the 'mechanics' and were to help with any technical issues that any of the people suffered from (Strict instructions from El captain).

It was quite the busy day as we helped with punctures, broken chains, buckled rims and techniques while riding. But in the broad spectrum it was a super fun day and I can honestly say that every person that joined us had an absolute blast!

Till next time
B

Full Steam Ahead

Hey Guys

We've been busy organising funds in order to travel overseas next year to race in a few international races, and the first generous offers have started to come through!

A HUGE thanks to Spike and Charles Holley for their generous contributions towards making this trip a reality.

Michaelhouse Classic

Hey guys

This weekend was the Michaelhouse Classic, held at the school and it made for the perfect venue. Having been in base training for the past month I was really unsure as to how my legs would be feeling as I only got the go ahead to give it a bash on Thurday, so I was not really geared to race, but it was actually awesome to get the bit between my teeth again.

I did my best to warm up my legs in the miserable conditions, and before I knew it, it was crunch time. On the start there were a couple of hard hitters like Andrew Hill & Craig Paul. As we left the school I put in a series of attacks to try and split up the field as much as possible. A group of 4 went off the front, including Craig, Andrew, Ian and myself.

About 7km in I came to the front at the entrance to one of the single tracks to try and thin the group out a bit more. I managed to get a small gap along with Andrew Hill, but then disaster struck. A stick had flung up into my derailleur and had shifted my chain into the hardest gear. I tried to pedal but the crank would not roll through. I stopped and worked the stick out as gently as possible and then had to try and bring the chain back up into the right gear. After losing a lot of time I jumped back on and found myself in 4th, as Craig and Ian had shot passed and were chasing down Andrew. I pushed super hard and eventually caught up to Craig who was sitting in third.

My legs at this stage were screaming due to the lack of power and the shock of pushing so hard shock to the system but I kept pushing as hard as possible and finally caught Ian at around the halfway mark. We worked together in order to try reel back Andrew but my legs started to pay the toll from the big effort I had put in earlier. I pushed through and tried to shake Ian at the crest of a few climbs but couldn't hold the gap.

With 10km to go I let Ian go, and tried to restore a little power in an attempt to maybe chase down near the end. 6km's to go and I was 1min 40sec down on Ian and decided I had to close that gap, I sacrificed myself and rode myself into the ground, but only managed to close the gap down to a minute by the finish.

I was SUPER stocked with the result as I've done absolutely no power training for the last month or so, so it was quite a shock to find myself 3rd overall. Well done to Kim Phillips on a very difficult but fantastic course!

Energizer Corporate Night relay

Hey alles!

This past weekend was the Energizer Night Relay held at Hilton College. This is definitely one of the highlights on the calender, as it brings a totally different dimension of racing to the scene.

The weather was really off the whole day on Friday, and really turned nasty in the afternoon right before the racing took place. The mist and the rain didn't let up, we all knew that racing was really going to be interesting in the conditions.I ended up teaming up with team mate Craig Paul, hoping to try and bring home a good result for Energizer, which is one of our sponsors.

With and hour or so to the start Craig rigged up my Dassie Blinder (A down Lighter) to my helmet, man was that thing bright. After our quick demonstrations of the Start and finish we were all ready to race. I was the first rider up for our team. I sat on the start line feeling fairly chilled. With 10 sec or so to the start I switched on the light and was ready to go. As we headed out the school I was back in 3rd or 4th position, but managed to hit the front before the end of the tar road. Unfortunately I made a small mistake and came down pretty hard while going through a fence. I managed to get myself up quickly and pushed to reopen the small gap I had opened.

Upon entering the first single track I had a good gap and rode as fast as possible in every technical section I could in order to open up the gap over the next rider. At around the half way mark I sat up and rode at any easy pace and just kept my gap over the next rider until I reached the transition area where I handed over the timing chip to Craig.

While he was out on his loop I did my best to stay warm, and before I knew it he was in and we were back out on the course. We eased into the 3rd and final lap and slowly upped the pace. We pushed hard in the single track once again to open up the gap on the other teams. Unfortunately the battery for my light started to die, this left me riding with minimal light so the pace dropped dramatically. However, the lead we had built up was enough to see us through to the finish.

It was super awesome to win a race that is sponsored by one of our co-sponsors which is associated with team Jeep! It was one of the few races we were actually able to give back to our sponsors and I definitely look forward to the event next year. Thanks to Energizer for supplying the free lights in the goodie bags and to the marshalls, as well as to jeep for the event t-shirts! Lastly a huge thank you must also go out to my team mate Craig Paul. It was the first time we had teamed up for an event and I certainly look forward to another opportunity in the future.

Lake Eland Classic and Getaway

Hey guys

Sorry its been a long time since I updated. Been away from home most of the holiday at my Girlfriends farm in Port Shepstone. It was really good to get away, It was super relaxing and as always had some AMAZING riding!

While down there I took part in the Lake Eland Super Classic, in Oribi Gorge. This was my first race I had taken part in as a training ride and must say it was very different riding so much slower than at race pace. The ride was very enjoyable, mainly because I actually got to take in most of the beautiful scenery around the area.

I rode most of the race with Candice Neethling and managed to help her with a couple technical issues she had with her bike. All in all it was great fun! Congrats to Craig who pulled of the win!

The rest of the weekend up to Thursday, I stayed at the Neethling's farm along with James Reid. Although the weather was pretty mizz we still rode some awesome rocky, super technical single track, and of course some really cool passes in and around the gorges. Unfortunately I snapped my derailleur while riding one of the paths out in the tribal area, which was really a bleak moment... lucky for me it was the last day, I don't think I could've handled not being able to go riding with the others...

It was so amazing spending time away and managed to get in some other form of riding in, it was really a relaxing and relieving experience, now I'm fully into base training in prep for next years season!

Don't forget.... Friday evening is the Energizer Night Relay, which is held at Hilton College. Craig and I will be teaming up, hoping for a good result. Come join in the fun and watch a different form of Racing!!!!

Ciao Ciao
B

Pics From H2H

Sunday Tribune Jeep Hill2Hill

This past weekend saw the 4th annual Hill2Hill mountain bike race. Weather leading up to the event was horrid, with rain persisting right up until the Friday morning. Saturday morning saw the sun which quickly dried up most of the course that we were to ride on.

We arrived at the half marathon start Bright and breezy with my batch starting at 6am. On the start I was extremely nervous as I was nurturing a knee injury that I picked up from a heavy fall at the Howick Highlander, which was a couple weeks back. With 2minutes to go until the start Rourke Croeser arrived on the start line. A couple of heavy hitters were definitely there, these included Rourke, Trav Walker & Ryan Ellis.



Straight out the blocks it was Travis who attacked. I gave chase and bridged the gap, this in turn pulled two other riders along with me. As we reached the turn around point of the start loop, it was Rourke, Trav, Ryan and I in a group. Rourke then came to the front and set the pace as we climbed back up towards the golf club.

Unfortunately about 5 or 6kms into the race we took a wrong turn and took a major detour losing all of our places. We eventually noticed the mistake and turned around. We then caught the current leader, Candice Neethling and sat up and chilled, about 12km in we were still all together, riding at only 50% of our heart rate with a few more additions to the bunch. We sat like this until about 15km into the race, suddenly all hell broke loose and the attacks started coming from the boys as we started to hit some major climbs. I dropped off along with Rourke near the top of the climb, but soon managed to close down the gap.



Entering on of the very technical single track sections I went to the front to try and split up the field. I pushed the pace really hard and rode on the limits when we reached the very rocky sections. It worked, I had managed to get a slight gap over Ryan and Rourke, with Trav closely behind me. But stupidly I over shot a corner and crashed heavily trying to correct the mistake. This allowed Ellis to rejoin the group. I pushed super hard to close down the gap that had opened and soon found myself back on their wheels. As we approached the half way point I attacked as we hit one of the climbs, a gap formed between myself and Ryan again with Trav still right behind me, but yet again the gap was closed.

We were now closing in on the climb up towards the Ark. I put in an attack going down one of the single track sections and managed to again get away with Trav. I pushed hard as soon as we hit the bottom of the Ark, but felt a very intense twitch on my right knee. I made the decision to then take it easy and not cause long term damage to my knee as next year is a very big year for me. I nurtured my knee home for 3rd and had conceded 4min to Trav and 3min to Ryan. It was a very disappointing end to the ride, especially after feeling so strong during the race.





Now its time for some good old R&R before the base miles start :) I'll be doing Lake Eland but very chilled, going to ride it as my first base ride...

Until next time
ciao

Howick Highlander

Hey All

This weekend was the Howick Highlander, and was definitely going to be a really tough race. After riding the course with Craig on Saturday morning, I went home got the bike prepped and ready for the next day.

Sunday morning dawned, and there were some big names that would be contending for top honours, Craig Paul, Roan Exelby, Pete Smith and Travis Walker. A long fairly dusty neutral zone lead us out of the start/finish area. As soon as we hit the district road, Jedson Tooms put in an attack which was short lived due to a snapped chain. The bunch began splitting up slightly as the pace became faster and faster on the undulating roads.

Craig put in a small attack on a really bumpy section, which left the rest of the bunch fighting for the minor places. Craig’s gap increased slightly all the time and by the time he reached the top of the biggest climb of the day, he had close on a minute off the bunch. The bunch was now pushing super hard to close down the gap, and I was soon found in no mans land, just off the back. I stayed as calm as possible, knowing I would close the gap in the super long single track section coming up. I managed to catch back up in one of the super technical single track sections. Unfortunately, being super eager to catch up to the next guys in front, I tried to pass by going around the rider by taking the more technical line. Around 50m or so later I found myself in a heap on the exit of the rock garden, with an intense pain coming from the inside of my right knee.

I got up, looked around for my watch which had been ripped of my arm and tried to piece my race back together. But from there the race just started going backwards, I dropped from my position and soon found Andrew Hill (6th) leaving me to frizzle up. I tried my absolute hardest to push through the pain and try find a good rhythm but as soon as I put any form of pressure on my knee it would feel as though someone was sliding a hot piece of metal under my skin. I eventually made it to a marshal, who notified the officials of my withdrawal, and took a chilled cruise back to the finish.

Congrats to Craig, who managed to pull off the win, with Pete claiming 3rd respectively.

Now to try and recover a bit and get back into the training…

Until next time
Ciao

Cowan House Super Classic

This weekend was the Cowan house super classic, possibly one of the greatest classics in the country due to the mind bogglingly awesome single track!

After arriving at the venue, it was clear that the racing was really going to be hard and fast! Burry Stander, Max Knox, Brandon Stewart, Craig Paul, to name a few, were some of the top riders who were really going to make life hard on the bike. Even the Junior categories were going to be hotly contested, with Rourke Croeser, James Reid and Travis Walker in attendance.

With half an hour or so before the start, I hopped onto the stationary trainer to heat up the legs. The weather was perfect for racing, Sunny, but not too hot which would make for awesome racing conditions.

Off the start, the usual Jedson Tooms, went balls to the wall, but was soon caught by the freight train as we exited the school grounds. After a few dodgy 90degree corners, I found myself in a group of around 7 or 8 riders. Some of the big favourites slipped away from the bunch with ease leaving us to fight out our own race. I caught Craig after he took a nasty tumble, with Trav, James and team mate Pete just in front of us.

We entered one of the super dusty single tracks, unfortunately, with me being on Craig's wheel it was like riding straight into a wall, in more ways then one. After taking a super fast left hander I heard a loud bang, felt my bike jerk under me and suddenly went head first into the base of a tree. I got up dazed and pretty confused, squinting through the dust to see what I had smacked, A ROCK... With the taste of blood in my mouth, a dead arm and glasses sitting awkwardly on my face, I bent my bars and try to get back into a rhythm. I had dropped a number of places but just tried to push on. Eventually 3 or 4km later, Dave leiman caught up to me and gave me a good tow, which helped tremendously.

We worked really well together, and were reeling in the time gaps quickly. Up the KOM we pushed super hard and slowly began catching up. Upon exiting one of the single track sections, we passed James Reid who had suffered from a puncture. I tossed him my bombs to try and help out, so that he could get back into the race and commenced with the task at hand. Dave and I now sat 7th and 8th overall, and were really trying to close the gap to Craig who was the next man up the road. But we both knew that that would be a tall order with Craig being a single track machine.

Dave and I rode hard to the finish with him crossing the line just in front of me. I ended up with a 8th overall and was 1st youth in. The race was an awesome experience, especially with such a highly pedigreed field. Thanks to the organisers who put together an absolutely mind blowing course!

This weekend is a free weekend, with a lot of mileage happening. Good luck to all the riders (junior and up), who are flying out to Australia on Monday to compete at the highest level possible! World Champs!

Until next time
Ciao

Some pics

Hey Guys

Some cool pics I haven't uploaded


Sardine Super Clssic


Eston


African Champs

Harburg Super Classic-Tough Luck

Hey guys, this weekend was probably one of the most frustrating days on my bike to date.

We arrived in the small town of Harburg for the Tour de Kranz early on Saturday morning. Despite the marathon champs happening on the same day, all the usual snakes were present, Craig Paul, Dave Leiman, Trav Walker and Andrew Hill. Straight out the start attacks came hard and fast, but they were countered very quickly and the racing resumed to normal.

As soon as we hit the first kick, Craig put down the hammer and split up the field. It caused a group of 6 of us to peel off the front. My legs were feeling a little dead and I could seriously feel the super hard week that I had had, but pretty soon it burnt off and I was rolling on at full speed.

After hitting the first climb, I dropped off slightly, but managed to close the gap back down. We rode on now only four of us up front. We hit one of the tougher climbs in the race and I was forced to drop off. I tried to limit my losses and got into a good rhythm and just pushed on. After cresting the climb I started to real in the gap again.

I pushed super hard to try close down the gap but unfortunately, while being caught up in the moment, I missed a turn and went down the wrong contour road. Luckily, I heard Carl Calvarley and Dave whistling. I turned round to notice that I had now lost two positions because of the silly mistake. Now being really frustrated I chased Carl and Dave really hard, but heard the dreaded sound of air being forced through rubber, before catching them. Now Nic Porteous had passed me and I was seriously frustrated. I got back onto my bike and tried to catch Nic, but punctured again on a rocky climb. I was now really irritated, I bombed it again, but was now out of CO2 canisters. Mike Smith had now caught me. I managed to put a small gap between Mike and I, but my tyre was losing air yet again.

Now sitting without anything to re-inflate my tyre, I rode until I got to a rode crossing where I could hopefully find a pump. By the time I had reached the road crossing, I was well outside the top 20. I found a pump and pumped the tyre up as best as I could. I got going and was now riding as hard as I could. I set a goal to try at least get back into the lead of my category and possibly the top 10. With Only 15km to go I knew it was really going to be a tall order, and knew I had to dig really deep.

I started catching the people one by one and soon was back in the lead of my category, and around 15th overall. The positions were coming down and was soon in 14th with 3km to go. A bunch of 4 were about 1km ahead, I set my sights on catching them and gave it my all, unfortunately, I ran out of time, coming in about 20sec down on the small bunch.

I was really bleak with my overall result, but performance wise I was really happy to have come off with a 13th overall and first in age, after 3 punctures. Well done to Craig who pulled off a good 3rd overall.

Next weekend is a really big one for me, especially for the sponsors, Cowan House Super Classic is always a must, so if you've got a bike in the garage, come on out to Cowan House for an awesome days ride!

Ciao

MUD MUD and more MUD!!!!

Hey guys, sorry about such a late post, my web page hasn't been working... irritating I know!

Well on Sunday was the Eston Illovo Marathon and Half Marathon. YOH!!! was it super muddy, Craig and I drove in and the fields were smothered in thick brown sludge and it was still trickling down. It soon dawned upon us that this was going to be a super SUPER muddy race. Surprisingly the terrible conditions didn't scare off that many people.

With 45min to go I hopped onto the stationary trainer. The weather was also freezing, so it was definitely a good plan for the trainer to come along :) After a really good long warm up we were called into the starting pens. Fortunately I was seeded in the 'A' batch so I was able to get a really good position on the front row.

Off the start things already became very clear how slippery the race was going to be, as even the lead bike crashed in the mud (yup camera man and all, with first 300m or so being thick sludge most of us took it very easy until the first climb. James Reid came to the front and set the pace with myself, Luke Roberts and Trav Walker all in tow. As we approached the KOM (king of the mountain) the pace heated up. Over the top Trav and James opened up a small gap, which I tried to close but couldn't get any grip with my tyres. I pushed super hard over the top and onto the flat section that followed to try reduce the gap. Unfortunately with them working together the gap slowly began to stretch.

In the attempt to close down the gap, I noticed Luke had dropped off, and this left me to chase down by myself. I got into a good rhythm and just kept pushing. The gap would open and stretch depending on the traffic, and I was hoping to close in the single track sections, and it worked to an extent, the gaps would get smaller but would open again as soon as we hit the road sections.

Approaching the 60/40 split, I was forced to run the majority of the climb. My gears were totally caked in mud, and my tyres were slick with nasty brown snot. Luckily I stopped at a water pumped and cleaned what I could out of my cassette (thanks to the guy that helped me).

Now came our long single track sections, and the gap started creeping down again, but not quite fast enough. The dodgy single track saw me buying a huge piece of Eston land, which saw me landing in a small ditch. I got up quickly and scrambled to my bike. Now in the last couple of kilometres I just rode as hard as I could in case a mechanical occurred with James or Trav.

I brought it home in 3rd (1st youth), just under 5min behind the two leaders, with Luke bringing in 4th. I was massively impressed with my race, as I'd been off my bike for 3 weeks and didn't exactly know the form I'd be in for such a big race.

But now its time to start cracking that whip again. Got some seriously tough training over the next couple of weeks. With Harburg Tour de Krantz this weekend, which should provide some fantastic racing.

till next time
ciao

Engen Dynamic Cycle Challenge

Hey Guys, haven't updated in a while. Not much racing apart from this weekend which was my first road race. Saturday I took a slow ride of the course just to check it out,and I knew that it was definitely not going to be a long race, but certainly intense!

The race was held in PMB this last weekend, and man o' man, are road races early! Even though we live in PMB we were still up at 5 am to leave and get to the start. although my race was only at around 08:00 we got there in time to see the pro's and Juniors head out on their 100km loop.

After a fairly intense warm up on the indoor trainer ( it was way too cold to try warm up on the tar) I made my way to the start. Dustin Kilpatrick, a good friend and one of the top u16 roadies in the country was present as well as Luke Roberts and Rhyno Beukes.

The start was really slow but as soon as we began to make our way up to the first major climb, Fox Hill, Luke and I came to the front to split up the race. A bunch of four of us rode most of Fox Hill until Dustin put in a hard attack. Rhyno dropped off and this left Luke, Dustin and I. We rode together until we crested Fox, now came a short flat section which had a sharp corner into a short steep climb. I pulled out to the back of the bunch to try launch an attack and see if I could create a gap on the guys. The guys stuck and the racing stayed unchanged. A couple of attacks followed but no one managed to break the gap. Eventually I timed one right and opened a pretty big gap, but after a couple minutes I realized it would be safer to tackle the next main climb in a bunch, so I eased up the pace.

Approaching Polly Shorts it became the calm before the storm, the chatting that had occurred on the previous climb was now gone. We hit the bottom of 'Pollies' pretty slow, but as soon as we hit the first harsh kick Luke jumped up onto his pedals, I stuck on and we managed to open up on Dustin. Luke eased up again for a slight moment but again accelerated near the top opening a gap of around 10sec. I chased hard going over the top and slowly reeled him in, unfortunately the lead car took us through the traffic but on the wrong road, this allowed me to close the gap straight away, this too allowed Dustin to catch us. Eventually we were back en route and were approaching the finish rapidly. With about 1km to go Dustin attacked and I lunged for his wheel. As soon as he began to slowly I gave everything. I opened up a gap of 2 or 3sec but misjudged the distance to the line. With about 150m to go the gap started closing, I slowly began to shut the door to try slow him down. I crossed the line a hair ahead of Luke, with Dustin bringing home 3rd. Unfortunately commisaires decided to penalise me one position as they saw the sprint as being dangerous.

I was thrilled to have finished where I did at my first race and a major thanks needs to go out to the people who made a huge effort to help me out, to Grant Dinkel (Adrenaline Cycles) who stayed open after hours to help with my set up and gearing on numerous occasions, Luke Dinkel who lent me a 52 chainring, and to Ollie and Clint Olsen who helped out with my restricted gearing, Thanks Guys!!!!

Now its an easy week before Eston, which should be a really exciting one.

keep it rubber side down
B

photos to follow

All Beat Up

Well this weekend was the African Continental Championship, which didn't exactly go according to plan.

After arriving at the Mankele Bike Park on Thursday morning, myself and Craig suited up and headed out onto the course. The course was very similar to the national held there earlier in the year, apart from the climb which had now been shortened. It was really technical and suited me down to a tee. After a good ride we retired to the lapa at Mankele to watch the final few km's of the Tour de France, and was later joined by a group of downhillers from PMB, which provided some good entertainment.

Friday morning came around, and man it was super cold! I lay in bed as long as possible and decided to suite up at around 9. I rode some really cool line sand practised a couple of sections just to get everything dialled before the big day. Luckily my ride was done nice and early and I was able to rest up for the rest of the day. In the afternoon I was joined by Craig and we had a couple games of slightly serious pool, and once again watched an exciting stage of TDF.

Race day dawned, and I was once again greated by an icey morning chill. I went out to try warm my legs up as much as possible and before I knew it, we were on the Start line. The turn out was not huge, but there were the usual SA riders as well as one or two foreigners. Straight out the blocks it was Arno du Toit, Luke Roberts and I who made a break. Up the first climb they made a small gap on me, and I was left to try find my legs. After the first lap the gap was a mere 20sec and I began to find my legs.

Going into the second lap, I began to feel better, but unfortunately, with the gap that had built up, it meant as soon as I hit the main climb, they were entering a long fast single track and the gap would begin to open. Despite knowing this I pushed hard all the time and rode on the absolute limit in the single track. Coming in from the lap the gap had stretched to between 30/40sec and I knew it was definitely make or break.

I gave it my all and slowly began to chew away at the gap. Coming into the most technical part of the course I had closed the gap down to around 5 or so seconds and could see them just a head. I pushed extremely hard to close the small gap that was left. The next thing I found my self heading straight for a huge rock. I smashed into the rock with my chest and arm. I felt an excruciating pain coming from my upper right chest. I had two deep cuts in my arm and I was unable to stand on my left foot. At this point adrenaline completely took over and I went into overdrive. I tried to locate my bike which had rolled down the mountain side. I jumped on and rode most of the final 2km with one arm to try and limit the bumping, and pain to my right side. I crossed the line in third and was immediately suspected of broken collarbone, broken ribs and cracked/sprained ankle as well as a pretty banged up arm.

I was whisked of to hospital and underwent x-rays. After the results came out we were told that I sustained Severe muscle and tissue trauma, which included some torn tissue in my chest as well as trauma to the inter costal muscles. I also suffered from a sprained ankle, and a deeply cut arm.

A huge thank you needs to be said to every one that helped me out after crossing the finish line. Especially Linda and Charles Roberts, Dellah Paul, Mike Bradley, the Medics, Carmen Neethling and my girlfriend Kirsten who really supported me through the whole thing. Congrats to Luke who pulled of a Awesome 2nd.

Craig managed an awesome 4th elite considering he's been off the bike after his incident with a car.Candy had a ding dong battle with Mariske Strauss, and ended up coming in 2nd just 5sec down.

This week is a chilled one, a sort of recovery week, I'll be taking it easy, and will be trying to recover from the set back


chillin with some of the funniest downhillers ever

Now on Twitter!

Hey guys

I'm now on twitter, just look me up
- Brendondavids

ALL ONE WORD:) follow my updates and training, as well as my prep leading up to Continental Champs this weekend.

This is definately crunch time! Its once off and I've gotta make it count. I'll keep you updated on everything for sure!

L8r

Some Free Time

Hey all!

Well the calender doesn't have any races for the next couple of weeks so I should be able to get in some really good miles.

This last weekend was the social ride at Bushview Bike Park near Camperdown. It was really cool to see WSquared and Adrenaline Cycles displaying and lending out demo bike for the afternoon. The afternoon was fulled with some activities which included the fast xc lap where I placed second, the most laps around the pump track and the biggest crash on the Dirt Jumps. It was major fun and awesome to just go out and have a chilled ride with some awesome mates.

After making plans with the mates we organised to go out for a 4hr mtb ride from my house on Sunday Morning. After leaving my house a tad past 7, James Reid (mr price scott) Luke Roberts (maverick) Travis Walker (DCM Chrome) and I ventured into the forest of Cascades and made our way up to Hilton. Once in Hilton, we cruised into Cowan House. We rode around in Cowan House and Cedara, trying to find every possible single track trail, and I think that some of the track we found really blew away James and Luke as they are rarely able to come and ride such awesome trails! After a really awesome and fun filled ride we headed to Coffeeberry Cafe to refuel before heading back to my house. The weekend was super fun and was great to have no pressure to race, and to just chill with friends who I usually compete against.

This weekend I'm off to Port Shepstone for Kirsten's Birthday, and hopefully I'll get to ride some of the mind blowing trails in the Lake Eland area.



Until Next time

B

Weekend at the Coast

This weekend we headed down to the coast for the Sardine Super Classic held in Port Edward. We made the trip down to the coast on Friday, after picking up my girlfriend, Kirsten, from school. After the long drive, we arrived at the accommodation at Leisure Bay in the late afternoon and settled in for the night.

On Saturday morning we were up pretty early to go down to the pont, where the race was to be held. I met up with a couple of guys that were going out to do a dry run of the course and to check that all the markings were up to scratch. I decided to go with them and we embarked on the tough 43km course, leaving the start area at 07h35. I must say a huge thanks to Andrew for guiding me through the course, he was a huge help! The ride included a stop at the coffee farm for cup of the strongest coffee I had ever tasted but it went down with the most amazing spinach muffin.

After the good 3 hour ride, I headed back to the accommodation and just chilled with a huge chicken salad and relaxed for the rest of the day. I then made my way back to registration at about 16h00 so that we could miss the rush on Sunday morning.

Race day dawned and I woke up to a pretty overcast sky, with quite the wind blowing. We arrived at the race and to my surprise it looked like there had been a slight down pour during the night. The wind began to get a little colder and it really looked like it was about to rain. It was really good to see Burry Stander there, but at the same time pretty intimidating, as we all knew then, that we were in for a tough days racing! I made the most of the time I could to get some tips and swap ideas with the master himself. Dave Leiman was also there and definetly one of the favourites I had to bare in mind, who could to take the top honours for the day.

On the start line, Go Boy productions had their crew grabbing interviews from main contenders for the days racing that lay ahead. With just a few minutes to go the helicopter took flight, and the race soon began. The first few hundred meters were nice and chilled, however, as we hit the long drag to the top of the tar road, David Leiman upped the pace considerably. I gave chase, but I suffered slightly. Burry then came past and bridged the gap fairly easily. I was now down in 5th or so. With the last 200m or so left of the climb I gave it everything, and soon found myself in 3rd overall going into the single track, right behind Dave and Burry.

Finding myself in this classy company so early was encouraging but I would really need to work hard if I had any intentions of staying with these guys. We pushed hard through the first couple of single tracks. Dave made a small mistake in one of the tight corners and Burry managed to get a small gap. Dave pushed it really hard up the next short little climb before we hit the district road. As soon as we hit the district road, I passed Dave and was now in second spot and was trying to close the gap to Burry. Unfortunately, Dave punctured on the road, and this left me to try keep the gap to Burry down to a minimum.

I pushed as hard as I could through the entire open first half of the race, and manage to keep the gap to Burry between 2min30sec to 3min until we reached the half way mark.
As soon as we hit the really bumpy "full sus" territory, Burry just opened the gap. I went to the absolute limits in the single track, but riding a hard tail certainly made it tricky in some sections. Approaching one of the sections, the wind had unfortunately blown one of our "black arrowed" signs in the wrong direction and it sent me up a small climb where I found myself riding against the flow of 20km riders. I immediately clicked that I had gone wrong and turned around quickly. Fortunately, I hadn't lost any positions and Burry was opening the gap all the time.

Coming into the finish it was a bit hairy in the single track, trying to dodge my way through 10km and 20km riders, But it went smoother than expected and I emerged through safely and grabbed my second 2nd overall super classic result this year finishing just under 6 and half minutes behind the Master himself,Burry Stander.

A huge congratulations needs to go out to Jono Downham and the boys and girls from the South Coast on an event that was well organised and a blast to race. Thanks to Jan Abbott of Clear Water Trails for allowing us to use his mind blowing single track!

Besides racing this awesome course it was also an absolute privilege to race against the best this country has ever had to offer and realize how high the bar has been set for those of us aspiring to be the best we can be in this great sport of mountain bike racing.



some pictures of the race

Howick Super Classic-7 June 2009

Hey Guys, well this past week was one of my favourite super classics. It was held at the Howick High School and went into all the forest just above, and behind the main town.

We arrived at the venue pretty early and MAN was it cold!!! Only a couple of degrees!! Pretty soon it started raining which made the cold a bit worse. Fortunately the rain would help settle the dusty course that lay ahead.

The Start started a little earlier,being at 08:30. After a good warm up we took our places on the line. The first two or so km's there was a neutral zone, as soon as the lead vehicle peeled off it was peddle to the metal. I put in a good attack and managed to split the field slightly, unfortunately as we hit the first downhill I sliced my back tyre and this forced my pace to slow slightly. After the tyre had sealed I began to charge hard again to close up the leaders.

Eventually I made contact with James Reid in one of the single track sections. Pretty soon it became a three way battle between Trav Walker (DCM Chrome) James Reid (Mr Price Scott) and myself. The pace was super fast, and it did force some mistakes in the single track from all of us. After the first big climb, we crossed the Currys Post road and entered a long flat single track. James got in first and immediately upped the pace, however, he came into one of the sandy corners with a bit too much hot sauce, and got a face full of sand. He got up quickly only to clip his peddle on a stump a little further on, this time hitting the deck really hard.

Eventually we hit the main climb of the race, about 25km in or so, and we were still all together. Unfortunately, after taking one of the turns too tightly, I punctured again, but this time I was left for dead. I bombed the tyre and got going as fast as I could, but with it being on open roads, Trav and James were able to work together and managed to open up a gap.

I pushed on as hard as possible, and by the time we reached the top of the big climb, they had opened near 2minutes on me. Going down the most technical single track of the day, I went absolutely to the limit, I could hear the gap was closing, as I could hear the rattling of their bikes in the corners below me. But as soon as they hit the open roads again, the gap just kept on stretching. By the end of the day I was 4minutes down, and in third overall.

I was pretty stoked with the result, despite having the problems, but I guess that's what comes with the sport of Mountain biking! I was still able to win my age group, and claim the third spot, so all in all, pretty good days racing.

This coming weekend is the Sardine Classic,one of the best races to go to if single track is your forte! See you there!

Ciao

some images from the weekend

Mtunzini Super Classic

Hey guys, sorry about updating the blog soooo late, have been super busy with school.

This past weekend was the Super Classic down at Mtunzini on the coast. We left early Sunday morning and arrived at the venue at around 07:30. This race being 50km was slightly longer than most of the races I have done this year, and I knew from the previous year, that it was not going to be very easy, mainly because of the very flat roads with no places to recover.

After a good breakfast, it was warm up time. A nice proper warm up got the legs ready for the long race ahead. On the start there were a couple of big names that would contend for overall honours, Dave Leiman,Shaun Peschl, Shan Wilson as well as James Reid.

The start was relatively chilled, but after the first little climb, Dave attacked and opened up a gap on the bunch. James Reid (Mr Price Scott) closed down the gap. The Bunch sat together for the next 5km or so, until we hit a really tough power climb. Dave once again attacked like a man possessed and opened a good gap on us. The energy sapping climb split up the race a chase bunch consisting of Shaun, James, Shan and myself formed.

As the race progressed, we slowly began to reel Leiman back in. As we approached the 25km mark He was within reach. As we caught we hit a very short yet steep climb, everyone pushed super hard, but Dave once again opened up a small gap with Shaun in tow. It was now up to James and I to closethe gap, as Shan would sit behind us. The gap stayed really consist ant. We raced super hard, and the pace just seemed to get quicker and quicker.

Unfortunately approaching the 40km mark James hit a stick, which in turn jumped up and ripped my brake hosing out the frame. I stopped abruptly to fix the problem. I straightened the hosing and popped it back into the housing brackets. I now had to race full tilt to close the gap on James and Shan. The chase through on the forest roads was super hard, as Both James and Shan Being good roadies, had a high tempo going. James tried to slow the pace as much as he could without losing time to the leaders. When I made contact with the I was seriously hurting. The brutal chase had drained my energy. We then hit the SSS climb which was unbelievably steep. I hung on as long as I could but James was just too strong.

With the final push to the finish I was right behind Shan. As we entered the final single track I got really caught up with some back markers and lost a lot of time. With a couple of km to go I pushed with all the energy I had left and managed to close the gap slightly on the guys. I ended up coming home with a 5th overall and 1st youth.


This next weekend is the Howick Super Classic, and is always a favourite of mine, So we'll see how it goes!

until next time
ciao

Thats a Wrap- SA National XC #5 Fountains,Pretoria

Hey Guys

Well Saturday was the end of the National XC Series. We Arrived at the track on Friday Morning and went straight on to check out the course. The course had changed a lot from the previous year. It was super tight in sections and the single track was really technical. It was a flat out powering course, with only one or two nasty short little climbs.

After practise we went straight to the accommodation and chilled. Back at accommodation I tried to stay as chilled as possible to get to the race well rested on Saturday Morning.

After a really good nights rest I felt good for the days race and slowly got ready for the race. With my race only being at 13:15 i took my time in getting ready. We pulled into the Fountains Nature reserve at around 11. We unpacked the car, set up our feeding zone and then began to get ready. The nerves really kicked in, as the reality of how much was riding on the race hit me.

I went for a warm up with 30min to go before the start, and started ride the course through my head. With 15min to go we got called onto the start shoot, luckily having had a good season I was called up 2nd and had the perfect line on the start.

As the whistle went,the pace was hot. It was a mad dash down to the first corner before hitting the single track. Arno (series Leader) was in the lead with myself sitting on his wheel. I sat his wheel through out the course. Luke Roberts made contact with us, and it soon became a major three way battle. The positions chopped and changed through the course of the 2nd and 3rd lap,however, as we caught a much slower rider, Arno managed to sneak past the rider, causing him to unclip and stop in front of us. This gave him a considerable lead and Luke and I were forced to chase down hard. We slowly began to eat away at the lead, but we were again slowed down by a slower rider that would not move. Arno jumped at the opportunity and really pushed the pace opening up a really big gap on us.

Going into lap 4 Luke opened up a gap of two or so bike lengths on me in the one single track, feeling very anxious I felt forced to push to close the gap. This proved to be costly, and caused a small slit in my tyre. I tried riding as much as I could, to try avoid stopping, but by the time I reached the first technical climb, my tyre was flat. I bombed it and pushed hard to close down the gap. But with only one lap left to go I had to settle for 3rd overall.

Unfortunately, the 3rd position didn't allow me to wrap up the championship, but I still managed to take 2nd overall for the season. Congrats to Luke who managed to get 3rd overall in the season. Arno rode an exceptional series this year, winning 4 out of the 5 races and placing 3rd at Cascades.

All that's left to do now is African-Continental Champs later on this year at Mankele in Nelspruit. This weekend is the Super Classic in mTunzini, we'll see how that one goes.

Until Then
Ciao

Breakfast at Villiers

Hey guys!

Just a quick update, we left for Pretoria for the last round of the National MTB series this morning. Boy is it freezing in this part of the world, it was only 3 degrees when we climbed out the car here in Villiers. We're sitting at the Wimpy for a quick breakfast before the final leg of the trip.

I'll keep you guys up to date with what the course is like.
Ciao
B

Karkloof MTB Festival- 2009

Well this years Karkloof festival has come and gone, with some pleasing results for Team Jeep SA. I sat out the night relay and the XC on Saturday, as I had already won the KZN Championship, and thought it'd be a good idea to try and save my legs.

Then came the u16 Red Sprint Shoot out on Saturday afternoon. The course was set over a very short grass track on the polo fields, and was littered with different obstacles. The qualifying went off pretty well, and I was tied for first after a decent run. Then came the final. The start was really hot from the word go with Jac-Johan Steyn leading it up front, but unfortunately, nearing the end of lap #1 0f 6, Jac made a crucial mistake and bought a big piece of some Karkloof Property.

I jumped on the anchors really hard to avoid the accident and this gave Arno du Toit a really good opportunity to pass on the right and take the early lead. He Managed to open a couple of bike lengths on me, and I was forced to chase him down. Eventually after two laps of brutal sprinting I latched onto him, and managed to catch him off guard going into one corner on lap 4. On lap 5 I decided to really push, and managed to open a very slight gap. I came onto the last bridge really hard and made a bad mistake, jumping to the bottom and nearly crashing in the process, this really scrubbed off all my speed and I was even more surprised to find out that they had made the race 5 laps and it was now a print to the finish. I got my speed up as quick as possible, and Arno and I crossed the line together, a photo finish with the chief commasaire deciding the final result as it was such a close call. The win went to Arno and I was placed second. With that result in the bag, we headed for home , to return the next morning for the 40km race.



We arrived real early at the polo fields on Sunday morning for the main events of the weekend, the Karkloof Classic 75km and 45km. The temp was only 4 degrees and I really felt sorry for the marathon riders leaving at 8:00am!

At around 8:45 we were eventually let onto our start after what seemed like a really long wait. The start this year seemed way slower than the years before, with all the top junior and youth riders being there, as we were just waiting to see who'd brake the ice. As soon as we hit the district road, Adriaan Louw (DCM Chrome) attacked and the bunch split up really quickly, with about eight of us in total giving chase.

The bunch reduced to about seven of us as we climbed the first climb on Renee Stubbs' farm and to tell the truth my legs were feeling the hurt after the sprint shoot out the previous afternoon. But I hung in and at the top of the long, sluggishly slow climb I came to the front and pushed hard in an effort to try split the teams that were with us. The pace was heating up all the time and the attacks showed no signs of stopping.
Luke Roberts (maverick) and I needed to separate the teams before they really began to work with each other to drop the us. Luke rode the climbs really hard but the guys kept clawing their way onto the back of him.
On the really rough technical stuff, I would manage to brake up the line of riders but the teams would work together and catch back up on the open sections again and the pace remained relentless the entire time.
Unfortunately Luke dropped off just after Half way, and I was left to fend for myself against the two teams of DCM Chrome and Mr Price Scott, each consisting of 2 very capable riders. I countered every surge and attack that came, but as I would catch one rider, the others would attack from behind. As we hit the King of the Mountain (KOM) I dropped off from the bunch. I rode comfortably at a pretty fast pace, just to try find my legs and hopefully claw my way back into the bunch again at a later stage. Luckily there was a really long single track after the KOM and I slowly closed the guys down. With 5km to go I was totally border line outta control through the single track. This section rade so well and I let it all hang out but 2km or so to go,I was caught behind back markers from the 20km going through a mud puddle. Adriaan(DCM) and Arno(Mr Price Scott) opened up a gap of about 40sec gap on me at this stage.

When I got the chance I got passed the slower riders and I pushed myself to the absolute braking point and managed to finish in 5th place just under 20 seconds behind Arno. Travis Walker (DCM Chrome)claimed the honours on the day ahead of James Reid (Mr Price Scott) with Adriaan, Arno and I rounding up the top 5.

The race was absolutely brutal from start to finish, and the pace was blistering. The racing was also really tight, and the high quality of racing was certainly seen by all.

Congrats to Andrew Nicholson and his team for putting such an awesome event together and a special thanks to Rene Stubbs,Bruce Mackenzie, Blake Makenzie, Guy Solomon and Sappi for allowing us to ride on there farms.

Maverick Super Classic - Cascades

Well today was the Maverick Super Classic, held at Cascades. I was pretty unsure of how the race would go today, as I did a pretty hard 4 hour ride yesterday down at the coast by doing the two gorges in the Lake Eland area down at Oribi Gorge to round off a week with some serious hours in the legs and as a result I was worried about having the legs to go the distance on the day.

Living about 1km from the venue I was able to sleep in, and only crawled out of bed at around 7am. At around 08:00 I took a chilled ride down to Cascades. I met up with good friend Trav Walker sporting his new colours of DCM Chrome, and we headed off for a good decent warm up before the 09:00 am start. There were one or two big names including Brandon Stewart and Craig Paul that were entered as well so I had to ensure the legs would be warm when the flag dropped.

At 9 sharp we were off and the pace was pretty quick and I tried to find a good rythm. But pretty soon Craig Paul ( Team Jeep)and Brandon Stewart came to the front and the pace really heated up. The bunch split up realy quickly and soon it was Craig, Brandon, Trav and I in the front.

Craig really pushed hard and it really made life on the bike hard as I had to dig deep to stay in touch. A couple of kilometers into the race I came to the front in one of the single tracks and pushed the pace as hard as I could to see if anyone in the group would drop off. Craig and Brandon stuck to me but we'd managed to get a small gap on Trav before the first major climb.
After the relatively short steep climb we'd opened up a bigger gap on Trav, but Brandon and Craig didn't let up the pace, it was relentless!!

The three of us hit the half way mark in 45 minutes flat and we were still all together, but pretty much as soon as we crested a steep sharp climb after the water point, Brandon launched his attack. At this point I was hurting and at first I had no legs to respond and neither did Craig, but it was a make or break situation and I decided to try push through the pain.

I slowly closed the gap and caught up to Brandon again after a really big effort. Brandon was now really on fire and I was struggling to stay with him and when we hit an open road, Brandon came into his own and just rode off the front. I gave chase and tried to catch up again but he was just far too strong.

I was hoping that Craig would come through again but had unfortunatly lost touch of us for a short while and then took a wrong turn and he got lost, so I was left to chase down Brandon by myself. We were now reaching the closing stages of the race and with Brandon having opened up just over a minute I had to crank it up a notch.

With 5km to go I hadn't closed the gap at all, but I kept pushing to open up the gap on 3rd as nI was unaware of who was behind me and how far behind they may be. I pushed down the technical single track and sprinted to the finish line, and crossed the line with just over a minute behind Brandon. I was super stoked with the result as I had improved my best result overall in a Super Classic to second place.

Congrats to Craig who worked his way back up to fourth position after taking his wrong turn. The organisers also deserve a shout out for an amazing coarse. It was a real mountain bikers event and despite not being the easiest race I thouroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Well done to all involved!

Results: Overall

1st- Brandon Stewart (DCM Chrome)
2nd- Brendon Davids (Team Jeep SA)
3rd- Travis Walker (DCM Chrome)
4th- Craig Paul (Team Jeep SA)
5th- David Louw

Getting there - Juicy Lucy Classic

Well, this past weekend was the 2nd annual Juicy Lucy Classic, situated in the Mid-Illovo area near Eston. I was in major doubt of getting a good result because of the really hard weeks training I'd done, with a 3 hour MTB ride the day before the race. The 3 hour training session I am referring to on Saturday was rather eventful as my dad joined me on a quad and we spent most of the morning together in the mountains. It was great, but a ride that I could also forget quite easily as I was shocked by an electric fence and spent at least a good 20 minutes of my morning climbing over barbed wire fences, but in the end it was all good.

On Sunday morning we woke up to what seemed to be a clear sky. We honestly thought the weather man had got it wrong, but the weather soon turned REALLY cold. We arrived at the venue and were told that heavy rain had come through there during the night. Luckily, the soil in the area was really coarse, so it would only be muddy in a couple areas and we would not have the dust of the previous week to contend with.

We headed up to get registration done, and man were we lucky to be there early! We were one of the very first to get registered and it soon became really crowded with some 800 competitors. It was so bad that our race was delayed by nearly an hour. This delay had most of us a bit worried as we had all eaten our breakfast in anticipation of a prompt start and we were concerned whether our reserves would go the distance with us expected to finish an hour later than planned. Our fears were compounded by the fact that if the previous years route was anything to go by, we were in for a hard day of racing.

We were eventually off at 09:55 after numerous warmup's and toilet dashes while waiting for the people to enter and as usual, Jedson Tooms attacked straight out the blocks and went all out for the first km or so. But the bunch soon closed him down and the racing began. As we hit the first climb the pace heated up. Craig Paul and Andrew Hill came to the front and really put down the hammer opening a small gap on us. I continued to ride out of my skin to try catch up and eventually I managed to close the gap. It was now Andrew, Craig and myself out in front, with Travis Walker and Andrew Warr about 40 seconds back.

We kept the pace really high for the first 10km with Craig doing most of the work. But as Craig made a slight mistake going into a corner I ended up finding myself on the front with craig and Andrew hot on my heels. I managed to hold the pace in front nicely until the 15km mark, when Andrew came to the front and began to open up a gap.

At the same time Travis Walker had also closed up the gap and had latched onto Craig and I. Unfortunately, Craig began suffering from stomach cramps, which was obviously affecting his ride, but he is super strong and hung in with us regardless until we reached the big climb of the day.

Now it was Trav and I trying to close the 2 min gap to Andrew which he had managed to open on us. The wind on the mountain was really cold and it was made worse with the thick mist and icy drizzle that we were now riding into. With 10km to go we had barely made and dent into the time gap. We really had to push it if we wanted to close the gap. With 5km left to the finish, Craig had put in a huge effort and rejoined Trav and I.

As Craig arrived the pace was upped nearly instantly, but with only 2km left we knew we wouldn't close down the gap, so it became a three way battle for 2nd overall.

Craig pushed the pace even harder and I really had to dig deep to try and stay with him, but the effort paid off as we managed to open a slight gap on Trav, but then disaster struck.

All three of us were sent back onto the 40km loop by the resident marshall, instead of being sent to the finish. We rode around mid-illovo for close on 5 minutes and realised we had been sent in the wrong direction. Between the three of us we decided to ride into the finish in the positions we held when we reached the final road crossing, and then rode back against the flow of the race and found our own way back to the finish. We had lost 3 positions, but the organisers decided to award us with 2nd, 3rd and 4th overall, as it was the Marshall's fault for sending us in the wrong direction.

I was super stoked with getting third overall, my best result at a classic. Congrats to the organisers, the course was brilliantly marked and awesome to race.

Hard luck to my good mate and fellow competitor, Jedson Tooms who took a crash of note on the day. Take it easy Jedi and we look forward to seeing you on the start line again soon.

Cumberland Super Classic

Well it's been a while since I updated my blog, and a lot has happened with the World Cup and the Cumberland Super Classic which was held this weekend.

Having had the 2008 Team Jeep experience at Cumberland,and having ridden some of the track, I was really looking forward to the race. With nearly 1400 entrants on the day, the start was delayed by 15min,as people were still flowing through the gates of the reserve at 08:50

After a really good warm up we took our places on the start line. The vibe was really chilled on the start, and I noticed that we had an international rider on the front row. Adam Craig, the American National champ,had decided to stay after the world cup for a couple of weeks before heading off to Europe to race the World Cup Circuit.

The field was off at 09:15 and for once it was really chilled for the first couple of kilometres. But as soon as we turned off the district road the pace really heated up. Craig Paul ( Team Jeep)came to the front and really layed down the gauntlet. I managed to latch onto Pete Smith also from Team Jeep, but was soon dropped as the pace really became relentless. I pushed really hard to close the gap on the first climb of the day, a 3km gravel road climb which peaked onto a flat district road.

I pushed the pace harder and eventually caught back up to Pete Smith, 200m from the top. We were now sitting in 3rd and 4th overall, with Andrew Hill(Subaru) just ahead of us. The gap eventually closed and Pete and I closed up to Andrew Hill.

Andrew and Pete really began to push the pace and I was forced to drop off. I rode comfortably for 2min or so and suddenly found some legs again, But then came the dreaded sound of air leaking out of rubber. I looked down and discovered I had nailed a thorn through my rear tyre. I stopped to bomb it and luckily it sealed straight away and I was off again. The puncture had cost me some valuable time and I knew I really had to push it to the max in an effort to catch the two other riders to get back into contention and achieving the goal I had set for myself for the day since I had put in a couple of hours training with Craig Paul the day before, so I really needed to ride tactically.
I slowly began to claw back some time on Pete and Andrew, but they were still 2minutes ahead of me according to the spectators that were along the route encouraging us. Adam Craig and Andrew Warr had narrowed the gap and had started closing down on me and they were soon hot on my heals. Adam had also punctured earlier in the race and was riding like a wild man! I tried to jump on his wheel when he passed me but I couldn't hold it for very long and realised very quickly why he is the American National Champ.

Unluckily for me disaster struck again. As I tried to get out of the saddle and push the tempo up a rocky climb about 10 kilo's out, my back wheel slipped on a rock and opened up the seal from the previous puncture. I was really frustrated but I knew I needed to keep my cool and try stay as calm as possible. Unfortunately having had the second puncture where I had, it was the fastest part of the course,which would allow any chasing riders to close the gap in a very short space of time. Suddenly I found my self fighting it out for 7th overall with only 5km to go. David Louw and Luke Roberts were riding well together again.

I opened up the sprint 3 or 4km out with Dave ahead and Luke in very hot pursuit but Unfortunately Luke overcooked it into one corner,going down and I seized the chance to break, but he was soon up and back in the chase.

I still now don't even know how we got through all the slower riders from the 20km route, it was some really dodgy stuff! with David Louw Luke and I charging through the wall of riders constantly shouting for track in an effort not to loose any momentum in getting to the finish.

I finished in 7th place overall overall, but was still the first youth in with Luke in hot pursuit.

Well done to Craig and Pete, who claimed 1st and 4th overall. You guys are machines!!!!


After a hard days racing