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