XC Provincial #2 Cascades

Hello again!

Just a low down from the last up date, on Friday I managed to get a good rest day in - Finally!:) On Saturday, Trav Walker and Myself went for a medium paced 3,5 hour ride at Cascades, and man were the conditions super slick! It was barely ride able... we dropped our tyre pressure down to around 19psi and managed to ride the whole course.
Unfortunately, the weather man got it a little wrong for Sundays conditions, so the wet practise was worthless.

ON Sunday I slept in a bit longer than usually as the venue was only around 500m from my house. I got ready and took a nice chilled ride down to Cascades to check out the conditions of the course while the younger age groups were racing.

The course was super wet from the rain on Saturday night, but it was drying super fast. By the time I was on the start the course looked really sweet.



Off the start I tried to create a gap, but my legs had no response so I sat up and rode comfortably until Luke Roberts came to the front and began to work. up the first tough climb we broke away and opened a good gap to third place. We continued riding hard over the next 4 laps, trying to ride each other off. I was able to get small gaps in the single track, but my legs couldn't maintain the pace on the open sections, they were just too tired. On the last lap he managed to ride off the front and had a 40sec. gap after the first 1.5km loop. I decided to ride as hard as I could until I blew. Fortunately I didn't blow, but I only closed the gap down to 17sec. by the finish.

The race was really intense, the hard week really took it's toll, but hats off to Luke! Well done on an awesome result, and a great race!

To Kim Phillips, thanks for the awesome course, and all the hard work and effort put into the race. The single track was really fast and flowing with some gnarly sections.

The Next race is down at the South Coast,and then it's off to the all important Big one S.A Champs!

Until then
Ciao

Trainings Going Well

Hey guys!

well this weeks training has been the hardest training I've ever done!, by friday I would've done close on 14 hours of intervals. Then on Saturday I've got a 3,5hour ride and then Sunday is the XC provincial at Cascades. It's going to be a tough one, I have absolutely no idea how my legs will feel... but I guess we'll have to wait and see!

See ya guys there!
Ciao

S.A XC Cup #2- Mankele Bike Park- Nelspruit

Howdy!!

Well guys, I only got back this afternoon from the National up at Nelspruit... It was quite the eventful weekend, with XC, 4X, and DH racing spread out over the weekend.

My dad, brother, myself and a fellow cyclist (Hilton Frost) left Maritzburg on Wednesday night and travelled through pouring rain nearly the entire way to Nelspruit. We arrived at our accommodation and the rain hadn't let up.

I sat and waited anxiously on Thursday for it to stop long enough for me to go ride. Eventually it stopped and we dashed for Mankele Bike Park. Rourke and I only went and did 1 lap as the course was unbelievably muddy.

On Friday the rain finally stopped, but we waited for the course to dry slightly as there would've been no point in practicing a wet course if the race was going to be dry. At around 11 Craig, Burry and I hit the course to do a quick lap and the course had dried really fast, there were only a couple of really slick sections. Rourke was eventually able to join me on his new bike and we went out to do a lap.The course in the heat was going to be really hot 'cause the two main climbs were in the complete open sun. After a good practice we left and went to chill back at the accommodation.

Race day was upon us and the nerves started to kick in, I managed to sleep in a little longer as my race only started at 13:00 and was the last race to go. I pitched up at Mankelle at around 10:30 just in time to catch Candice's finish, un surprisingly she had an awesome race ending up 2nd in junior women.

The temp was really hot and humid, and decided to go chill in one of the air conditioned log cabins. I chilled literally until I had to go warm up. Rourke and I left to go warm up on the tar road, and after receiving some really good advice I felt ready for the race.

On the start line i was getting my mind ready for the race that lay ahead and fortunately my good result from Cape Town had seeded me second onto the first row. with the first elites coming through onto their second lap, our whistle went. I went hard just up to the first corner. As we entered the first single track I slacked off slightly and recovered until we exited onto the steep rocky climb. As we exited the single track and hit the first kick of the climb I rode really hard but the bunch stayed with me... I sat back and dropped to around 3rd or 4th, and waited until the second kick to the peak of the climb. As we hit it I put in a big effort and rode off the front with Arno and Gert, Arno counter attacked a little bit further on so Gert and I worked together on the first lap. Going onto the second lap Arno had a 40sec. gap and I knew I had to close it down. We hit the first climb again, and I managed to just ride away from Gert. I continued to push really hard through this lap and closed the gap to around 25 or so seconds. Going into the third lap I still felt strong so I continued riding at the same pace and the gap stayed pretty much the same. On the last lap I went as hard as I could to close the gap, and was feeling much better than the last lap. However on the last lap, I came into one of the really technical sections of the course, and had been shouting track the entire single track, for a slower rider to move out the way. As I came up to the Bull/Chicken run split i decided to take the chicken run to over take him, it worked but at the Bull run/Chicken run regroup the rider rode straight into me, causing me to bail off a bridge. With me off the bridge and my bike caught up in orange bunting tape a lost a heck of a lot of time. I managed to get going again, but couldn't regain my rhythm and was overtaken by Gert. I pushed on and managed to hang onto 3rd overall.



I was pretty bummed at the time, but at least it didn't really affect my seeding for the BIG one in George... SA CHAMPS.

The Racing was really tough but the course was the best I've ridden this year, the climbs hurt but the single track was super shweet!

That night the four cross racing was on and was cleaned up Travis Browning, with my good friend, Ryan Stevens (on a street BMX), coming in 3rd overall in the final.

All in all the weekend was absolutely awesome, the band was good, racing was fun, dh and 4X were really intense and it just made the weekend one to remember.

Until next time
later

mud, sweat and a whole lot more!

Well yesterday, I raced in the first Momentum Health KZN XC Provincial of 2009. It was really good to see that the XC Series had piked up a good sponsor for the season. Surprisingly there was a phenomenal amount of entries for the days racing.

The weather had been playing havoc with the course as it would be hot one minute and the next thing we knew the clouds were rolling in and rain began to pour from the sky making the course extremely muddy.

We arrived at the course fairly early on Sunday (06:00), as my mom had to help with registration. The overnight rain had really made the course a lot more different from the day before, but I still felt really confident for the race that lay ahead. The mud in the feed zone area was really bad, so my dad and I went to check out and claim the perfect spot before anyone else. With the new system of racing in your age group, I would be starting at 09:30 instead of 10:30 and would only be doing 4 laps, instead of 5...

On the start line I tried to keep a clear head and just remain focused on the gruelling race that lay ahead. The start was really fast and furious, and the pace was set by Michael Hughes on the first climb. I made a powerful surge about 1km into the race and managed to open up a 40 sec. gap on the first lap. I continued to push a hard on the second lap, this opened the gap to 3:30mins. I road really hard and continued stretching the gap each lap, and only managed to make a small mistake on lap 3, I ended up taking the win with just over 6 minutes ahead.

The course was really hard and took it's toll on all of the riders, the long 900m climb made for some good break aways. The single track was absolutely mind blowing. There was some very slick muddy section's which would've made for some entertaining falls (myself included). The course in general was really hard, but extremely well prepared. Well done to the organisers who made it all possible.

In the elite race Roan Exelby placed 1st with Rourke Croeser (a junior who rode in elite) place second, ahead of Andrew Warr.

Results: Youth Men:

1st Brendon Davids (Jeep S.A.) 01:31:19
2nd Luke Roberts (maverick) 01:37:59
3rd Michael Hughes(maverick) 01:47:28