HP Urban Rage - Thrills and spills

Wow, what a fun filled and exciting weekend! It was the 3rd Urban Rage held at Ushaka Marine World in Durban on the 11th and 12 December and this event always promises to dish up some excitement.
I went down on Saturday morning to take part in the 4hour team enduro event with fellow team members Ryan Ellis, Ryan Redman and new team member, Evan van der Spuy. This turned out to be a great day with the most amazing vibe amongst the competitors. Everyone helping one another and a great social event where we could let our hair down while enjoying our riding at the same time.To our surprise we were first overall with the Maverick Team, lead by Mike Bradley in second and then our very own senior citizen members of Team Jeep lead my Clint Morck in third. Well done Ballies.
Sunday, dawned bright and early and we were already on the road to Durban at 05h45. Today would be very different, as this is the event that brings out the best riders and some nice prize money up for grabs, but it would turn out to be a day of thrills and spills for the majority of riders.
The day began with the first individual qualifier, where two riders would start together and the times would determine your seeding in your second and final qualifying run. Thereafter your second qualifying run would determine the top 10 men and top 5 ladies that would go into final, where we would all be sweating more than just blood.
The first qualifier saw a number of competitors crashing, which obviously effected their times. Luke Roberts fell twice, I connected some scaffolding resulting in me facing the opposite direction and Arno du Toit unfortunately took a huge crash carrying too much speed over an obstacle and breaking his collar bone/shoulder blade in the process. This was really unfortunate as he would have brought a nice mix to the competition. “ Sterkte boet”. We hope you get well soon.
Craig Paul and I then did the 2 man team event in an effort to double check some lines and then it was time for our second attempt to make the top 10.
This run went off a lot better, but James Reid took a tumble and withdrew - I am sure he would have been in the top 10. The top 10 men and top 5 ladies were announced and I had just made it in spot number 10. Going into the final, I was going to have to pull out all the stops.
As the last qualifying male, I would have the honour of running first directly after the females. What a race the ladies had, with Candice Neetling destroying her competition to take her third consecutive win. Well done Candy, you are a machine.
I set off and pushed as hard as possible. I really felt good and I was really enjoying the course. What are the odds that both myself and team mate Ryan Ellis would find ourselves in a heap in exactly that same spot at the bottom of the stairs leading down into the aquarium? . I managed to get up again and pressed on. I really felt good, but only managed to make it into 8th spot. Ryan Ellis and young Alan Hatherley also took tumbles but were also able to recover. However the star of the show must without a doubt be Phillip Buys. This guy is unbelievable. After crashing his brains out on the last metal bridge crossing on the far side of the canal, he ploughed into the shade cloth and still had to repair his chain before he could ride any further and he still posted the fastest time of the day. Respect Mr Buys. Respect.
A huge thank you must go out to Max Cluer and his army of helpers as well as all the associated sponsors for putting this event together. You guys all did an awesome job and I am really looking forward to the 2011 event.
Now I am eager to get to the Cape where I am going to enjoy a nice holiday with my family and some friends. It is long overdue and I am going to make the most of it.
Catch you later

Ellsworth USA - 2011

For the past couple of weeks, I have had some really exciting news building up regarding sponsorship deals for the coming year. I've finally been allowed to let the cat outta the bag, so...... In 2011 I will remain with Team Jeep South Africa, but will also be representing my new co sponsor .... Ellsworth bikes.

I have been fortunate enough to have been offered to ride from Ellsworth Bikes in the USA. I will be riding the Ellsworth carbon Enlightenment 29er which is the hard tail configuration in the mtb range while riding the Ellsworth Coercion carbon road bike on the road.
Ellsworth Bikes are renowned for their quality hand built frames that are built by craftsmen to the highest standard. These two babies should start arriving soon and I am really excited about getting them sorted in preparation for the 2011 season.

I will be racing on a full time basis in 2011 and am really excited about the prospects of possibly racing in Europe, while still meeting my commitments here at home and maybe even getting to the States where I could hopefully get some decent results for Ellsworth on their home soil and demonstrate what an awesome product Ellsworth really is.

Well despite the rest and base training preparation since Hill 2 Hill, the last competitive event for me is coming up on the weekend in the form of Urban Rage in Durban. Bring the family down and come and enjoy the racing and Ushaka Marine World at the same time.

Time to Give Thanks

Ok, so with only urban Rage left on the calender, I think its due time for me to give thanks to EVERYONE who has helped me and stood by me throughout the year!

Team Jeep South Africa (including Clint Morck and Bex van de Linde for there support and advise) and all associated sponsors- John Dory's, ER24, Tropitone, Varsity College and Stedone Hazycrest Projects. These guys are the back bone of my team, and without them the team would simply not be able to survive.

Max Cluer- Team manager/owner, for his guidance, support and understanding, as well as all the hours that he puts into the team behind the scenes. This guy is a machine and an energy bunny of note.

Craig Paul- a Guru with a spanner, always making sure that my bike is running smoothly and a very big role model, training partner and mentor to me! I could not have asked for a better team captain.

Johann Wykerd and W Squared- for his selfless commitment to so many people and for all the help in so many ways. Always giving advise, being a mentor and being a close friend. A huge Thank you Johann for ensuring that I was able to ride a Merida 96 carbon for 2010. You and Allegra are an inspiration to so many and I applaud you for it.

HUGE thanks needs to, without a doubt go out to an EXTREMELY special lady. My Coach, Allegra Wykerd, has stood by me for many years, despite the circumstances and always ensured that I was as well prepared as possible.

Grant Dinkel- Adrenaline Cycles. On a few occasions, Grant opened his shop doors well after 8pm to help me out when I had discovered a problem that needed sorting before a race, and was always willing to squeeze me in on short notice! What he does for the youngsters in the sport is also amazing. Keep up the good work.

The Steyn family in Pretoria for putting us up with accommodation on two separate occasions and especially Nettie for running me to and from Fountains in preparation for SA Champs. "Julle is die beste"

Grant Walliser for assisting me with Nokian Tyres. They are a fantastic product and really contributed to my results. Thank you once again.

Then lastly, my parents and brother. They have to be THE most supportive family in the entire cycling world. Always attending EVERY SINGLE RACE that I do. They drive to opposite sides of the country while I fly, just to show their support. These people are the reason I'm able to race!

Thank you to everyone for your support this year.It has been your support that has enabled me to race and I thank you for it.

Here's looking forward to the 2011 Season, which should be a real humdinger.

Momentum health - 94.7

Wow!! what a HECTIC weekend! in between all my matric exams, I had a little time to 'quickly' shoot up to Jo'burg for the 94.7 road race.

We left at sparrows fart, around 3am on Saturday morning, in order to miss the rush of the JHB traffic. After arriving we settled in with our other family members before hitting the road again to go and get registered.

MAN!!! the expo was SUPER cool! I could've honestly spent a couple of days in there. There was everything from cycling caps to the new 4.7kg Cervelo R5 road bike! There were some really impressive stalls which housed some of the most unbelievable bikes ever! ASG had the Pinarello Dogma and Emotion cycling had the new Volcans and Cervelo's. Unfortunately I had to be dragged away from this paradise to go get some rest before the next day.

I hit the hay early that night, trying to maximize my chances of catching up on some sleep... BUT my 6am start meant I was up and at it at 4:00 the next morning! That's one thing about road races, they are HECTICALLY early! I was a little uncertain of how my legs would be from my past couple of weeks of base training, but my coach certainly knows what she is doing and I was very pleasantly surprised.

At 6am we were off and fortunately it was a nice slow start to the race which allowed for my legs to warm up and by the time we hit the first climb I was firing on all cylinders. The attacks came pretty frequently, but i managed to stay safe in the lead bunch which was able to drive off the front. However at the 2nd climb I could feel things weren't feeling so hot, so I sat up slightly and decided to chase back on the descent towards Ponty tower. I made contacted with the group again and then managed to settle in nicely, before putting in a move on the tight windy streets in central Jo'burg, with the likes of Brad Mitchell and James Fourie. I realised it wasn't going to be a very successful break so the pace eased up again. Then disaster struck at around the 50km mark... my front gear shifter snapped off completely. ( The shifter on the opposite side broke in exactly the same way a month earlier while racing the Midmar Notts).Luckily it was stuck in big ring on the front, so i could keep up with the relentless attacks that were about to come.

The bunch continued to get smaller and smaller as we approached the the final 20kms, and was now just 15 strong, testosterone pumped riders. Luke Roberts went on the attack, and managed to get a sizable gap over the bunch and with no one wanting to chase down and the gap began to grow. The ASG junior team then took matters into their own hands and quickly ground out the gap that had been form, and soon we had Luke back in our sights.

But then the most difficult part of the race came at around 85km in the form of a MOOSE of a climb that looked like a vertical wall. We hit it = the explosion of my legs... not being able to gear down ensured that the gear I had to push made my pace really slow. I just had to watch as the other Juniors dropped to the small front ring and danced up the cliff face. After I eventually hurled myself up and over the climb I rode a steady pace back to the finish, coming home around 15th just behind Luke who had run out of steam with his huge effort earlier, riding up front on his own for quite some time. A very disappointing result especially with my legs feeling so good on the day, but a brilliant indicator that my legs are feeling good for Urban Rage!!!

A huge thanks to Linda Roberts and Charles Roberts for helping me out with an error that was made with my seeding and for sorting it out for me as I only realized the organizers mistake when I was on the other side of JHB when I opened my goody bag.

The organisation and scale of this event was a real eye opener and a good indication of what can be achieved when those involved in organizing an event know what needs to be done and it is done well.We were already on our way home and some riders were only starting two hours later and I was really happy that I was done because it was really staring to get hot.Some riders that were riding for charity dressed up in cow outfits including udders did the route twice.Respect Brothers and sisters. RESPECT!!!!

A great experience and I will definitely be back again next year. One more exam and I can start focusing on the task ahead in 2011.

skinny wheel racing part 3 -Road Rash and an Ass Grating

Ok... so the Shova didn't exactly plan out how I hoped it would...


Being off the bike for close on a month, with the odd race thrown in, I was pretty nervous to see what the countries top roadies had to throw at me. Surprisingly I felt pretty strong, and definitely felt that I could make it to the bunch sprint at the soccer stadium in Durbs.

The race started off fantastically. I managed to secure myself in the bunch and pretty soon I found myself contending with the top guns... and I felt GREAT!!! We peaked over the notorious Fox Hill, which winds its way out of Maritzburg, which lead to the attacks coming hard and fast. I was able to react, and soon found myself with a very small select group of riders. As we turned onto the Eston road which makes its way towards Camperdown the race took a completely different direction. We had a full on block head wind. That meant only one thing.... GUTTER = NO SLIP STREAMING... thats where things stopped going my way! The group swung across the road to prevent us being able to slip stream the person in front of us. I found myself sitting in 2nd, so I still had a small amount of the slip from the rider in front of me, then.... the next thing I knew I was grating my butt away on the tarmac at 60kph. The tar that was on the yellow line dropped away to the side which forced me onto some dodgy gravel. I managed to get back onto the 'good stuff,' but was then clipped by a rider passing me. I came down with the most disgusting sound of grinding carbon and aluminium in the process of being mangled, not to mention the smell of my what must have been my skin being peeled off and left on teh road surface. After sliding for what seemed forever I eventually came to a halt. My bibs were shredded, my glove of my left hand, disintegrated, my shoes were ground down to a fine carbon dust, my handle bars and pedals had been mangled by the rough surface. The bodily injuries were quite painful. My left cheek of my butt was virtually non existent, despite me flashing it to everybody from here on as there were no bibs to cover up any longer. My elbow had taken the full brunt of the initial crash, and my fore arm had lost half the skin, which, by the way was still sizzling in the road.

I jumped up to try and limit my losses, I fixed my chain and began the most intense chase of my life. It doesn't happen often, but I literally pushed myself to the point where I could taste blood. I eventually made contact with the bunch when we got to the bridge crossing the N3 at Camperdown. But I was definitely feeling the effects of the chase. As we approached the last major climb of the race the attacks came like no tomorrow, I simply couldn't react. I had to sit back and try keep my cool. Luckily the gap didn't grow too drastically and I managed to make contact with the rear of the group, with the help of some reckless descending down into Botha's Hill. But again, the attacks came which equalled the end of my day, and my chances of a good result went down the tube.

From there I decided to just make the remainder of my race a good start into my base training, so I just chilled for the final 20km or so. It was really a bummer not to get the result I was hoping for... but hey... thats racing and that's the way the cookie crumbled at the end of the day. I ended the day with a really good lunch and a fruit smoothie before heading back up the hill to Maritzburg.

A huge thanks must go out to Clint and Ollie Olsen for arranging a new shifter in time to replace the one that snapped the previous week at Midmar / Notts. You guys were fantastic and thanks for all the encouragement and advice.

Now comes my base, starting on Tuesday and hopefully a good result at the 94.7 is possible!

Wish me luck
peace\


making the junction to the bunch after my crash

Skinny Wheel Action - Round 2

So this weekend, after 3 weeks completely off the bike (apart from high performance testing)since racing the Hill 2 Hill, I decided to try and mix it up with the boys who race the skinny wheeled, light weight things they call road bikes. With the Amashova only one week away, I thought it'd be a really good opportunity to race the Midmar-Notts to test the waters and see how the legs would react.

We were up at sparrows fart to get to the typical early morning start of all road races. We arrived and went straight to register and get my bike rolled in (to have the gearing checked-Juniors race with lighter gear ratios than that of elites and older). Then came the warm up... with the cold morning conditions it was pretty hard to try and get warmed up, so I made the best of what I had and rode around in a big circle. Then came race time, at least it was delayed by around 20 or so minutes, which meant the start was at around 07:30, still a tad earlier than most mountain bike races.

The juniors started with the elites and under 23 riders, which meant only one thing... the racing was going to be hard and fast. With names like Chris Jennings, Dave Leiman,Andrew Warr and Myles van Musschenbroek things were not going to be easy. As we left the dam the pace stayed pretty moderate, with no one getting away from the bunch. By the time we got to the main climb of the race, the bunch was still very much intact. A few of the top riders came to the front and blew the bunch to pieces. At the steepest part of the climb I saw a chance to try and make a break, so I took the leap and made my move... I managed to get a good gap and felt like I was super humanly strong, until I sat down to get into a rhythm... that when the wheels fell off. The remainder of the bunch caught and blew me out the back, along with another rider. Fortunately I recovered really quickly and managed to time trial my way onto the bunch again.

The lead bunch was now around 15 strong, and we were now on the long gradual climb which winds its way all the way to Nottingham Road (25-30km long). The bunch continued to whittled down and only a few of the top riders were left with the ever increasing pace, riders were being dropped off the back all the time. Myles, a fellow junior rider, put in a really big effort at Michaelhouse and managed to get a gap of around 10 seconds on the bunch. Dave Leiman bridged the gap, which definitely made the bunch react with a chase. The gap slowly began to come down, and eventually the junction was made, almost instantly a counter attack went off the side with Dave Leiman. Chris Jennings, Mike Aidey and I went with. In the pandemonium I heard the most diabolical sound come from behind me... I looked back and saw a rider hit the deck hard. Unfortunately it was Myles who'd made a small mistake which lead him to practice some high speed bush diving.

The bunch was now down to 7, with me being the only junior present, so things were definitely looking very good.
Then to my amazement, with about 47km to go, my rear shifter snapped clean off which meant I only had one gear to push to the finish. I tried to dig deep, but I couldn't hold onto the disgustingly hard pace that Chris was now setting on the rough road just outside Notties heading towards the N3 and I was spat out the back of the bunch now only 4 riders strong.

And so began my 47 odd kilometer time trial back to the Midmar dam.

Luckily I managed to catch one of the other riders who had lost contact of the lead group as well. We began to really work well together, with me pushing on the flats and downhills, and him helping me on the up's. Eventually we arrived back at Midmar, with cramp nipping at my heels. I'd managed to make up a place crossing the line in 6th place from the elite starting batch and was the 1st junior home about four and a half minutes ahead of the next junior, a result I was really stoked with.

Now comes Amashova and then I will be back on the bike to start my base training in preparation for the 2011 season !!!

2010 CSA High Performance Camp - Umhlanga- Two Days of PAIN

Wow what an amazing weekend! MTBSA as well as CSA (Cycling South Africa) put together an awesome High performance camp for the top Juniors and Elite athletes of South Africa, and was held at the AWESOME Umhlanga Medical Center near Gateway.

Needless to say, the two days were single handedly the most disgustingly hard days I've ever had on a bike. This was of course due to the fact that we had a 40km TT on the Computrainer as well as a VO2 Max test and Spin scan test. The 40km TT was definitely the hardest, each athlete was continuously trying to better the previous athletes time over the 40km distance. The VO2 testing was a different kind of disgusting all together, with the power gradually increasing on the Computrainer, the thought in the back of all our minds was, "O BOY!!!!" Unfortunately the computer which was monitoring my test switched off near the end, so I was unable to get a perfectly accurate result.

But nevertheless this specific HP camp was by far the most well organised and professional camp I have been on to date. The hotel we stayed in was absolutely fantastic, the food was spectacular and the level professionalism was at the highest level. With people such as Jeroen Swart, Tim Goodenough, Johann Wykerd and the entire team it definitely made the Camp very worth while and extremely thorough.

A huge thanks needs to go out to CSA, MTBSA, Johann Wykerd and Jeroen Swart and his team! Without you guys it wouldn't be possible to run such a tight shift program!


VO2 Max Test = Death

Sunday Tribune-Jeep Hill 2 Hill

This weekend was the prestigious one day event, Hill 2 Hill. Every year this race seems to get tougher and tougher, maybe due to the fact that the level of competition is getting better all the time! Being the poster boy for the event, I really felt I needed to get a really good result.

Unfortunately the Juniors were unable to race the full 110km distance, so we had to settle for the blistering 45km route from Cato Ridge to Hillcrest.

A top class field was present on the start line. Riders like james Reid, Luke Roberts, Ryan Ellis and Travis Walker were definitely not going to make a good result easy to come by. From the start it was James who came to the front. I followed his wheel with the rest of the group in tow. Up the first steep climb, it was clear that it was going to be a battle amongst the Junior riders for the top 5 positions. James and Luke set the pace for the next couple of kilometers over the super tough, undulating terrain, with Ryan and I in 3rd and 4th. Travis had dropped of the back slightly and was down in 5th. Unfortunately for Ryan he punctured, which saw the end of his race. This left the three of us up front as we approached the first long climb. James attacked and managed to get a good gap, leaving Luke and I to do the chasing. I saw this as a good opportunity to try and get a gap over Luke, so I made a small attack to see how he would react. He managed to close it down, so I decided to do a long, hard surge. He dropped of just enough to give me a comfortable gap on the flat sections which we were approaching.

James managed to open his gap on the flat sections, which forced me to ride on the absolute limit on every downhill, and push as hard as possible on every up hill. By the time we reached the hardest part o the race, a long, disgustingly lung busting open road climb from the bottom of Keyridge (Arc), James had already managed to open a gap of around 2min. I took on a new bottle at the water table, and began the long hard slog up the climb. With only 10km to go I knew I had to turn myself inside out. I crested the final part of the climb and was feeling surprisingly good. At this stage I had around a minutes gap over Luke.

The toughest part of the race was now over and was pretty much plain sailing home, with only one or two nasty vertical kicks. I eventually crossed the line in 2nd overall and 2nd Junior.

A HUGE thanks needs to go out to the Title sponsors - Sunday Tribune and Jeep for an awesome event. Nick Floris did a fantastic job on the new course! WELL DONE!!

Now its time for some rest and relaxation! I'm completely off the bike for the next 3 or so weeks, so I wont be doing 50Miler or the Michaelhouse Super Classic! My next big race will probably be Urban Rage!!! Cant wait! :)

2 Days 2 Provinces 2 Races

WOW man was this a tough weekend!! Two very tough days out on the bike, both mentally and physically straining.

Early Friday morning I made my way up to Pretoria with my dad leaving at 04h00 to get registered and prepared for the MTN National Marathon in Cullinan on Saturday, around 40min drive outside the city. The small community originally formed around the diamond mining industry looked to be a spectacular host, with a very old world feel to the race village filled with antique shops and places to eat!

Saturday morning dawned, and a crisp, early morning saw us arrive at the foot of the mines for the start of our race. After the Riders in both the Ultra Marathon and the Standard Marathon were long gone, it was time for our race and we were scheduled to start at around 08h30.

With race favourite James Reid overseas, the race seemed open to anyone. Ryan Ellis and I sat back for the first few kilometers to see how the race would plan out. After a few attacks from the other riders and then Ryan made his move. I sat back and let the other riders do the chasing, and once they had tired I began to bridge across to Ryan. Upon catching up we hit a thick sandy section which lead to my first disaster of the day. While powering out of the sand my front derailleur slipped sideways and made it impossible for me to pedal. I stopped to correct the problem, but was unable to fix it with my bare hands. Fortunately after around a minute or so a trailing 75km rider was able to loan me his multi tool. Once the problem was sorted I got on with the race, but by now I was well out of the top 10. I managed to catch the lead group once again and shortly after, made my attempt to close the gap to Ryan once more. Another rider was able to follow me and we began to close on Ryan ever so slowly. Unfortunately the derailleur slipped again with around 8km to go. This time I had to use every muscle in my body to try force it back into place as I didn't have the multi tool any longer. Luckily I hadn't tightened it properly and was able to move it after a couple of tries. This put me out of contention for any top placings, and was well out of the top 10 again.

Approaching the final 2km's I began to reel in the riders that had passed me. Passing 7 riders was only good enough to get me up to 6th overall. A disappointing result but a good learning curve! Well done to Ryan on his win!! Then it was time to pack up and start heading home so that I could repair my bike in preparation for the Howick Highlander in the morning.





Today was the Howick Highlander, and after the disappointing result of yesterday I had decided to give it a bashat the last minute. We had arrived back in Maritzburg at about 17h00 and the bike had been cleaned and then my Team mate Craig Paul checked the bike over.
Racing on back to back days is never easy, but I thought it would be a good idea to test the legs out to see how they'd cope.

We arrived at the race bright and early as I still had to enter and the usual the usual top guns started making their appearance soon after. Craig Paul and Andrew Warr looked to be the firm favourites, and would definitely make racing hard. We were off at 08h30 and up the first climb Andrew upped the pace, only to be countered by Craig.... ON A DOWNHILL!!!! Luckily I saw it coming and jumped on quickly. A small group of 4 formed with Craig, Andrew ,Tyrone White and myself. My legs were definitely squealing in agony from the previous days travelling and racing. On the climbs I would get dropped but some how managed to turn myself inside out on the flats to get back. But to no avail. The 3 rode off into the distance, and so the solo chase began. I time trialled for the remainder of the race, and came within 5 or so seconds of Tyrone on a few occassions, but in the final 2 or so kilometers I blew my legs off at the hips. It honestly felt like my muscle had been vapourised and replaced with jelly.

Luckily I had a big enough gap to seal 4th overall and 1st junior, as the other young guns also had the hammer down and were racing on fresh legs. Craig rode brilliantly and won it in a sprint to the line with Andrew!





The organisers of both these races did a fantastic job! Now its time to prepare for Hill2Hill. My final major race of the season.

Until then
B

Engen Dynamic Road Race

This weekend it was time to swap the wide nobly tyres and suspension, for some skinny slick tyres and rigid frames for the 2010 Engen Dynamic Cycle Challenge in Durban.

Man is road different from Mountain Biking in quite a few ways, firstly the start time is WAY earlier! Our race started at 06:03 and covered a distance of 113km in a big loop from Durban to Pinetown, then out towards the old Airport (The Bluff area) and back towards Durban.

The Moses Mabhida Stadium Played host to the race village and start finish straights, and really lived up to my expectations as an amazing venue! The Stadium was simply staggering in real life!But this amazing work of art had to wait until after the race.

After a good warm up we Craig Paul, Ryan Ellis and Myself took our places amongst the Pro/ Elite riders. The Pro Teams such as Team MTN Energade, Medscheme and House of Paint were in full abundance! The first few Kilometers were very nerve wrecking, due to a couple of VERY inexperienced riders taking chances in the big bunch. We then hit the main climb of the day, the M19, a beast of a climb that went basically from the beaches of Durban to Pinetown. Ryan and I went to the front of the bunch to try form a small break, but the more experienced Elite riders countered the attack as soon as the gap was closed. This put me into the hurt box BIG TIME but I managed to hold onto the bunch until we crested the climb. On the descent I simply couldn't hang onto the bunch, as I was grossly not used to the Junior Gear Ratios that I had to race. I spun out and soon found myself in no mans land, with one other junior sitting snugly in the elite group.

After a solo effort for around 15km I was caught by the main bunch where a few top elite riders as well as Ryan and the other Juniors were sitting. I jumped into the group and started working ferociously with the guys. We began to claw the gap back and were sitting around 40 seconds off the Elite group up front. Unfortunately we were sent down the wrong road, and lost about 3 minutes of time on the other group according to the Medscheme team manager.

After turning around we began to slowly claw our way back up to the front group. at the Half way mark they were out of sight, but we were still closing up to them. The big group that we were in began to get tired, and only a few of us were able to ride up front. Most of the other juniors chose not to come through to the front. I was one of the few who chose to work with the other elites, along with Ryan and Aston Davies and it was a great experience.

With 2 kms to go we caught the group with the leading junior, but I was quite frankly shattered! My legs were cramping in the quads and hammys, but I decided to follow the attacks of the more 'fresh' juniors. Myles van Muschenbroek made the move along with Rhyno Beukes. I bridged the gap, and managed to form a gap over the other Juniors. I tried to attack with 150m to go but my legs simply had nothing to give. I crossed the line as the 3rd junior home, with only 200 hundredths of a second separating the top 3 juniors.

I must say it was amazing to learn from the pro/elite riders such as Jean Spies (Toyota Cycle lab) and Clint Olsen (Team NRC/Burg Wheelers). A huge thanks needs to go out to them for their support and encouragement!

Well done to Craig for winning the bunch sprint. Unfortunately he missed the winning break! Ryan suffered severe cramp very near to the finish, but he rode and awesome race, contributing hugely to the bunch and helping us to close back up to the lead group.

We were all done by 09h30 and settled in for a nice NINO's brunch and coffee before going up the arch of the stadium. What an experience.

Now it's off to Cullinan this weekend before getting a shot at another road race.

Harburg - Tour de Krantz

This past weekend was the SUPER FAST, Harburg - Tour de Krantz.

What an awesome venue to have a Super Classic! Everything about the morning was absolutely perfect. The sun was shinning and the the air was warm.

All the top contenders had pitched for the race, guys like Brandon Stewart, Craig Paul, Andrew Hill and David Leiman were some of the big names. The racing was definitely not going to be easy!

After a really sweet warm up, we made our way to the line for our 08:30 start time. Surprisingly the first attack didn't come from joker, Jedson 'Jedi' Tooms. It came from Brandon Stewart almost instantly. I managed to jump onto his wheel, along with Craig Paul, Andrew Hill and Shaun Peschl. We then hit the first short steep climb, and I put in a little move to try and increase the gap over the main bunch. It worked and we were soon out of sight from the main bunch.

Now the punishment began, we hit the first climb of the day. Brandon and Andrew made the move and I managed to bridge across as we went over the top along with team mate Craig Paul. It was now 4 of us up front, with Shaun Peschl left to try chase back on his own. The pace was now really hot, and I found myself hurting just to sit with the guys... Up the next big climb Andrew and Brandon got away once again. Craig dropped off, which now left me alone... I chased really hard on the flats, and miraculously managed to close down the gap that had opened.

Brandon again put in very powerful surge, and left Andrew and I looking for parking. Andrew and I then began to work really well together, and kept the gap to Brandon down to a minimum.

Approaching the final 8km's, I realized things were going to be very tight between Andrew and I. With 5km to go, we hit the final climb of the day, and I made the first move to try and get rid of Andrew. But it turned out to be a major flop! He countered as soon as I eased the pace, and all I could do was watch for the first 20 or so seconds. After a really quick recovery, I gave it everything to try and claw my way back onto his wheel, but it was just not enough, and ended up 3rd overall, just over 1 minute behind Brandon Stewart, and 8 seconds behind Andrew Hill! Well done to Craig who managed to bring home a fourth overall, after a heavy week of training!

Congratulations to the hosts of the race, who really put on a fantastic event!

Nokian Tyres

Hey guys, take a good look at the rubber I've been raving about! The Nokian NBX Lite (XC/Marathon Series) is an AMAZING tyre!
WSquared Cycling and Adrenaline Cycles are stockists!
So get your hands on some now!!

Eston Illovo MTB Marathon

WOW what an action packed weekend!!! BMX Supercross World Championships and Eston all within a short drive from my house! If you missed either of these events, you missed out on one EPIC weekend!!

Well done to all the South Africans at the Supercross, you guys definitely did us all proud!!

Sunday morning saw me at my first Marathon race ever held in the Eston Mid Illovo area. The Youth and Junior age categories were given the green light to take part in the 60km race as up until now we have only been able to do the 40km and 45km races.
There was a big field of some really big names that would be contending the podium. Names like Brandon Stewart, Ben Melt Swanepoel,Marc Bassingthwaite, Renier Bellingham,Craig Paul, Andrew Mclean, Francois Theron and David George to name a few.

Straight off the start it was Brandon who made the pace heat up. We hit the KOM, which was around 2 or so km into the race. The race split up a little, but sewed back up on the descent. The bunch was now really big, taking up the entire width of the road, and went a couple of rows back!

We entered the first single track together, but as we hit the first major climb, I quickly found myself leaving the back door! I hit cruise control for a short while, and then began my chase... miraculously I managed to close down the gap to the group, and had enough time to recover before hitting the biggest climb of the day.

A small group with James reid, Brandon Stewart, Ben Melt, Marc Bassi and Andrew Warr went off the front. This left Craig Paul, Myself, Andrew Mclean, Renier Bellingham, and a few others tustling for the top 10. Craig and I managed to get away and now sat in 6th and 7th with Dave George just ahead. Andrew Mclean made the junction to us on one of the long steep sections of the climb.

We began to work really well together, and managed to keep the lead group within a minute of us. I felt really good, but it didn't last for very long... with around 10km to go, I began to cramp, for the first time ever! I tried to push through it, but couldn't hold the wheel of the two in front of me.

I backed off and tried to bring home a top 10... With 3 or so km to go, Trav Walker and Andrew Hill caught me... I latched onto them, and held on for dear life, I tried to contest the sprint but my legs seized with cramp with less than 500m to go. I brought it home in 11th overall, just 5 secs behind Trav and Andrew and finished 3rd Junior.

I'm ecstatic with my first marathon result! Well done to Ben Melt on a very classy win!

I also want to thank all the people involved in organizing the race. What a fantastic job done by all.

Now the calendar starts getting busy with the longer races since the XC season is over and I will be racing at Harburg this coming Saturday. Looking forward to it.

MIND BLOWING

Hey Guys

I've been trying out the new Nokian NBX Lite 2.0 Tyre. All i can say is... WOW!!! its a lighter version off my previous Nokian NBT tyre. The new tyres are around 500g a tyre and are fully tubeless! They're probably the best handling tyre I've ridden to dat, its got low rolling resistance, and doesnt lose any grip when pushing through corners!

I seriously recommend these tyres! Go check them out! Stocked at W Squared Cycling up in Hilton!!

Ciao
B

POSTER BOY!!

Hey Guys! Just made my second event poster of the year! check it out!!!

South African XCO Championships - Pretoria

Hey guys, this past Saturday was the South African Championships held at the Fountains Valley, on the outskirts of Pretoria.

I went a week early and stayed with some close family friends in Pretoria not to far from the event. The Steyn's were really welcoming and very helpful the entire week, taking me backwards and forwards to the track. A massive thanks needs to go out to them for their hospitality.

After a good week of prep race day dawned. I felt really good, and was super amped to hit the track. The early morning chill was still lingering in the air as we arrived at the venue. We got there just in time to catch the final few minutes of the womens racing! Well done to Candice Neethling, Mariske Strauss and Yolande Speedy for winning their races.

With around half an hour or so to go, I set up my station on the trainer, and began to warm up the legs. I warmed up until the absolute last minute before we were called up onto the start grid. The junior field was really big, and went 5 rows deep. Fortunately I was seeded on the font row and had a prime line into the first corner. Out the start blocks Arno du Toit lunged out front. I dived in for the 3rd wheel and had a really good position going into the first single track.

Arno began to open the gap almost instantly. I tried my best to get past the rider between Arno and myself, but unfortunately he would not let me through and this enabled Arno to destroy the race up front. We entered the toughest section of the race, and riders began to make mistakes. I made the most of the opportunity and began to try and close the gap back down to Arno. Going onto the 2nd lap I moved over and took on some fluids in the feed zone allowing James Reid and Ruan du Toit to come through to share the work load. Unfortunately Ruan then began to suffer stomach cramps, which then allowed the gap to open between James and I. I eventually got passed him, along with Travis Walker and Gert Heyns in tow.

We stayed like this until lap 4 where I made a couple of mistakes which allowed Trav and Gert to get through and Trav put down the hammer and slowly but surely started to get away. I chased hard over the final two laps but couldn't close back up to the top 3. I was really stoked with my form and my ride, even though I didn't end up on the podium as I had planned to do.

The biggest bummer of the day is the fact that my spare wheels went missing from the event , so if anybody has loaded them up by mistake or saw somebody take them from the KZN gazebo, please deop me an e mail. They are ZTR Olympic rims with American classic hubs, red KCNC skewers, Sram XX cluster and brand new Nokian NBT tyres.

Well the XC season is now over together with the long school holidays and it is back to school tomorrow. Once again a huge thank you to Sias and Nettie Steyn for all the help. I was also fortunate enough to spend quite a bit of time with the guys from MTN and particularly Paul Cordes who showed me some neat lines during practice. It was also great to get to know, Adrian, Justice, Yolande,Paul and Mariske a bit better. You guys rock.

I will now be turning my attention to the Classics and Marathon races as well as a few road events in preparation for the 2011 season.

Till later

First Super Classic win!

This past weekend was the Safire Baynesfield Super classic, the 8th race of the series. All the usual top KZN performers were present,which would definitely make for some interesting racing.

I was unable to warm up properly due to the pretty cold conditions and the traffic on the roads, so I did my best to try and warm up the engine. I got to the start line with 15 minutes to go to try get a good position on the line.

Off the start there were a few small attacks which were quickly reeled back as soon as we hit the open dirt roads. Things began to get a tad hairy as the pace began to increase. Two riders touched wheels and went down not more than 10cm next to me, and took down a couple of other riders in the process. Craig was one of them, but fortunately he stayed positive and was able to catch back up to the lead group.

Now there were 4 Jeep riders (CRaig, Willi, Ryan and I) Andrew Hill and Andrew Warr. We hit the first climb, and the lack of a warm up definitely made me see stars... I got dropped very quickly, but managed to time trial myself back into the group, only to get dropped again as I made contact with the group. Ryan fell off the group with me, leaving Craig and the two Andrew's up front. We crested the climb, and I decided to try bridge the gap on the descent. Ryan had a mechanical, which left me to soldier on alone. After taking HUGE chances on the grassy descents I finally made contact with the lead group.

The pace slowed dramatically after I made contact, which gave me some time to recover. Then came the longest climb of the day. Both Andrew's upped the pace as we hit the first slopes of the mountain. Craig eventually dropped off the back slightly, which left myself, Andrew Hill and Andrew Warr in front. I put in an attack to try split it up more, but I couldn't shake them. We peaked the climb and hit the long single track descent. Andrew Warr hit the trail first, followed by myself and then Andrew Hill. We managed to drop Andrew Hill in the twisty single track, only to be joined by Craig, who is a single track guru.

Andrew, Craig and I now had a very comfortable gap over the 4th place rider, which we almost lost after getting lost for a few minutes. We now entered the final single track, which was a very energy sapping one. It was flat and twisty, which demanded a lot of accelerating out of corners, which definitely tired the legs out. We eventually reached the end of it, and turned onto a long straight road which lead up to the finish. Craig pulled off the front almost instantly, leaving Andrew Warr in the front, with me on his wheel. I sat until we had around 500m to go. I pulled out and attacked really hard, catching them off guard. I crossed the line 1second ahead, with Craig Paul in 2nd and Andrew Warr in 3rd.

I was insanely stoked to have clinched my first overall win in a Super Classic. It also gave me a really good indicator of where my form is for the South African Championships in 2 weeks time!

A huge thanks to Saffire Insurance for a really awesome event.

NEW TYRES

Hey Guys,

Just received a new set of Nokian tyres to test out. They look super awesome, if the other Nokian tyres are anything to go by, these ones are gonna be phenominal! I'm really keen try them out and hit the trails!

Thanks to the guys at Nokian for swinging them my way!!! If you guys are interested in them, there are a few dealers in KZN, one of which is WSQUARED Cycling in Hilton!

B

Training Camp and Sardine Super Classic

Hey guys

On Wednesday I made my way down to Clear Water trails with Johann Wykerd as well as my best friend and a couple of other people who are coached by Johann. We arrived at the trail centre and accommodation after a quick two or so hour trip, and straight away we were keen to hit the trails.

After getting a little settled, we suited up and 11 or so of us took to the 'Super 8' track, which was around 500m long. Here the guys were shown different techniques when entering corners, as well as how to approach, enter, and exit a berm. We then had a fun elimination race, which definitely got the blood pumping.

We hit the Beaver Creek coffee shop that afternoon, and we definitely abused the system of bottomless coffee! I think I ended up drinking a total of 8 cups, and each cup was a different coffee! It was truly epic!and I would recommend anyone in the area or visiting the area to stop here. It is definitely worth the stop.

That night myself and good friend, Adriaan Davel had to braai some chicken, it was a really chilled atmosphere and everyone generally had an awesome time.

Thursday:
This was probably one of the most difficult days of training I had ever experienced. Johann told all of us to pick a gear which we felt we could ride the whole day, we had to take in account for up hills to make sure the gear would not be too hard, and on the downhills we had to make sure the gear wasn't too easy. We then proceeded to ride for close to 3 hours, and up two monster climbs, which really put me in the hurt box!I also took a HUGE bail when one of the younger riders pulled in front of me, in an attempt to avoid colliding with him I swerved and found myself going off a vertical drop. I could only wait for the impact. I landed pretty heavily on my left hip and shoulder, but fortunately I was able to continue to ride.

By the time we reached camp, I was utterly shattered, but had had one of the best rides of my life, having ridden what must surely be rated as the sweetest trails in the country!

Friday:
Saw Luke Roberts joining us. We had an awesome 3hr ride planned for across the valley in the Transkei. Myself, Candice Neethling, Lee Penderis and Adriaan decided to ride down to the point where we were going to meet up with the rest of the crew, just to try get in some extra time. Unfortunately about 5km in my front derailleur slipped and left me unable to pedal. I told the others to continue on. I then ran around 5 or so km in total and jumped in the bike at every downhill to try and get to the crew as fast as possible.

I eventually reached Johann and the others and he was able to help me, as I need a 'torx' tool for the bolt on my derailleur. The ride then went very smoothly. We did some heavy exploring in the Transkei, finding some awesome unridden foot paths. We eventually got back to where the car was and some of us elected to ride back to the trail centre. Again disaster struck, we were on a descent when my chain dropped off the front chain ring. This some how bent the chain and snapped my derailleur at the back. We were far from the camp site and the only thing I could do was push my bike up every hill. Luckily Lee was carrying a phone, and Johann came to my rescue with the Landrover.

When we got home we quickly made a plan to get the Rear mech working for the next days ride. A huge thanks needs to go out to Johann for that.

Saturday:
We went across the valley again to try and find the single track that rode along the cliff face, which we were able to spot from the camp site. Eventually we found it, and MAN was it so worth the wait! Towards the end of the long flowing single track, came some insane switch backs, chicanes, and awesome rock gardens, much to mine and Luke's liking. We were in absolute heaven.

It was such an awesome ride to end of the week of hard training!

That night saw Luke and Lee have a WRC (world rally championship) death match on the PSP to see who would sleep in our log cabin, and who would sleep in the tent. In the end Luke was the winner, and Lee had to settle for sleeping under some canvas.

Sunday:
This was race day. The Sardine Super Classic had arrived and I knew my legs were going to be hurting after such a heavy weeks training. There were a lot of big names, such as Burry Stander, Ben Melt Swanepoel, Craig Paul, Trav Walker, Luke Roberts, Arno du Toit and Andrew Warr.

Out the blocks I managed to feel pretty good and soon found myself with Burry, Craig and Arno. We rode up front for a while, until Trav bridged the gap and brought luke along with him. I felt fine until around the 15km mark. All of a sudden my legs completely gave way, and began to feel very sluggish. I then began to take things easy and to see how the race would unfold, and to take the race as a hard training ride. Melt then came past me at a rapid rate of knotts. The gap to the others began to grow and by the half way mark they were around 3 minutes ahead of me.

With around 13km to go I decided to push as hard as possible to see if I could make a dent in the gap that had been opened. I pushed super hard down the very technical descent towards the pont. By the finish I had managed to come within a minute of the guys in front of me.

It was really an honour to race against the guys like Burry and Ben Melt, having finished second to Burry at the same race a year ago, but then I did not have a hectic week of riding in the legs !

A huge thanks needs to go out to Jono Downham for fitting my derailleur and my chain on the morning of the race! Thanks dude!! Also a huge thanks to Jono's crew for putting together such a great event. Nothing ever seems to be too much for these guys. Well done!!

Another big thanks to Johann and Allegra(my coach) Wykerd! as well as Willie Pelser for all their help throughout the week! It was fantastic spending this time with you and learning the valuable lessons to tried to teach us. Much appreciated! Still cannot get used to washing tuna dishes though.


Till next time

MTN National XCO4 - Mankele

Hey guys, this past weekend was the 4th and final round of the national series before the once off, South African Championship. It was held at Mankele Bike park, just outside of Nelspruit, so we packed up after school broke up on Wednesday and hit the road at 1am on Thursday morning in an effort to get the 7 hour trip behind us as early as possible.

The course at Mankele was definitely to my liking and turned out to be beautiful on the full suss! as my WSquared Merida 96 Carbon was working a real treat. My new Nokian Tyres were also hooking up really good and I felt super confident for the race which lay ahead, and I definitely felt the strongest I've been all year.

Saturday dawned, and after a good nights rest I crawled over to the start/finish area after lying in a bit, to support Candice Neethling and Mariske Strauss in the ladies race, which was very close at the time. I lounged around for a couple of hours, keeping myself highly motivated at all times while focusing on the task ahead later on in the day.

12h05 arrived and it was time to line up. I had a front row seeding, and a perfect line into the first corner. The whistle blew, and we all jolted for position immediately. Out of the first corner it was James Reid, Arno du Toit, Luke Roberts and myself up front. We then had an extremely long straight ahead of us, and this allowed the bunch to close the small gap that had formed. At the end of the straight was a single track that peeled off to the left and this definitely made for some interesting tactics and some pretty sketchy entries, as everyone jostled for position. I entered around 3rd position, exactly as planned in my pre race strategy and heard a huge crash behind me. Not thinking anything of it the racing continued, however the crash had turned out to be a huge crash involving Micheal Hughes, who walked away from the most insane accident scene imaginable, but was unfortunately unable to continue with his race.

James made his break up the first climb, and Gert Heyns and I countered. My tactics were going according to plan as Travis Walker was spat out the back of the pack on the first climb after setting the pace in the first single track. We then hit a long power climb and I soon found myself just off the back of James Reid and was now lying second. I pushed super hard down the next section to open a gap on the guys behind me and to possibly close up on James. After lap 1, I was around 20sec down on James, but was comfortably sitting ahead of 3rd and 4th positions. I held the gap to James at around the same mark until reaching the longest down hill section of the course, and possibly the fastest. As I stood to increase my speed, my gears jumped and this sent me into a 90 degree angle tail spin in the down stroke of my pedalling motion at around 45km/h and all I could do was close my eyes... I hit the deck really hard, but fortunately no damage was done to my bike. I got up and eased off a little to try recover. I soon found Luke Roberts and Gert Heyns on my tail. I jumped onto their wheels and let them tow for the duration of lap 2 and most of lap 3 as I was hoping they could pull me back to James while I tried to regain my rhythm again.

Lap 4 came, I pushed hard down the most technical section of the course, and cut the corner at the bottom a bit fine. A low hanging tree connected my hip, and sent me hurtling off a 2m high bridge. This time it was a big deal. I hit the floor so hard that my bomb (co2 Cartridge)in my shirt pocket burst upon impact, and left my rear wheel with a puncture. I rode the last 2km with a flat rear tyre, and watched my hopes of a podium finish vanish into the distance. I got to the Tech zone upon entering my final lap. I changed my rear wheel in record time and set off to salvage what I could on the final lap. I came in very disappointed, only ending up in 12th position. Definitely not a good day in the office, but a very good opportunity to learn from mistakes while also learning how to cope under extreme pressure, as we are all very competitive and despite being good mates off the track non of us are prepared to give an inch when we are racing against each other.

It was a major disappointment, but its now behind me. Now I've got my sights set for 6 weeks time, for one race. The South African Championships!

Sunday was a really chilled day as I supported my younger brother Kyle at the downhill event and despite him crashing in both his runs he still managed a 4th place overall. Then it was time to kick back and relax with some friends for the remainder of the day before heading back home to Maritzburg this morning.

Mtunzini Super Classic

This past weekend was the Mtunzini Super Classic held around the small town of Mtunzini near Richards bay.

The race was slightly longer than what I normally race, being about 10km longer than the normal 45km super classic races, but from my experience from the previous years, I knew it would be fast and flat the whole way, and was preparing for a super fast pace.

We were the first batch off at 09h00 and the start the pace was very chilled with a few minor attacks going off the front, which were closed down fairly easily. After 5km or so, Andrew Warr came to the front and laid down the law. I followed and soon found myself in a break going over the top of a short steep climb. We began to work well together, but were soon joined by powerhouse, Shaun Peschl. We were now a group of three as we settled into a fast rhythum and began to open up a big gap on the chasing bunch.

At around the half way mark the marshall on duty at the intersection directed us down the wrong route and we lost a huge amount of time as we covered about 2km before we turned around and rode back to where we had gone wrong, Fortunately only one rider had managed to pass us , but we soon caught and dropped him after a couple of gruelling km.

At around the 35km mark we hit the biggest climb of the day and this is where Andrew and I made our move. We managed to open up a good gap on Shaun and were now making head way to the finish. Unfortunately the last water table was ready for us when we came through and we were unable to get some refreshments and as Murphy would have it I finished off the last of my juice about 15km out from the finish.

At 50km I knew I was in big trouble, I blew to pieces and decided to do damage control to the finish. In the process I lost 2 places and had to settle for a 4th overall some 3 minutes behind Andrew, but still managed to be the first Junior in. A very different race and a very different approach by organizers but a good effort by those involved.

Now back to the books in an effort to get these matric exams behind me together with some final preparations for the Nelspruit National (SA XCO4)which will take place on 12 June.

Ciao
B

MTN SA XCO3 - George

Hey guys

This past weekend was quite a disappointing race for me, but I managed to get a good result. The 3rd round of the MTN national XCO series took place on the beautiful campus of Saasveld just outside George.

With the race being so close to George, I decided to go down on the Monday straight after Karkloof to spend time with my family who live there. I met up with the young, up and coming, U23/Pro Elite lady, Mariske Strauss (MTN - Energade) throughout the week, and managed to get in some good laps of the new XCO course.

I took the week pretty easy to try and rest my leg which was still injured. I saw the physio right after my ride on Tuesday, and it re-strapped for the weekends racing. My leg was feeling pretty good, and I was hoping it would hold up for the entire race on Saturday. I met up with Kevin Evans and the MTN - Energade riders on the Thursday, which was a really cool experience!

Before I knew it, race day was there, and I felt super confident for the race that lay ahead. We made our way across to the race and I hopped onto the stationary trainer almost straight away. I had a really good warm up before heading to the start line. There was a really big field of juniors, fortunately my good result in PMB had moved me onto the front row of the start.

off the line Arno du Toit took off super hard. I followed his wheel with Team mate Ryan Ellis on my wheel. Unfortunately James Reid (Mr Price) snapped his chain off the start. We soon caught the Elite bunch as they came through to start their 2nd lap. This caused havoc with our race and let Arno get away in the traffic. I made a few costly mistakes and lost one or two positions, but was still with the lead bunch of 5. We eventually reeled Arno in and stayed together for the next few laps. The bunch began to split up on the 3rd and 4th lap with Travis dropping off. On the 4th lap I was sitting on the back of the bunch now, and stood up in a funny position on one of the climbs, sending my leg into spasm again. I rode through it but it happened again on one of the longer climbs, and I was forced to run it. This meant I lost touch of the lead group and dropped from the lead bunch to 5th. I tried to ride 'damage control' to the finish, but soon noticed I was losing huge amounts of ground. Going into the last lap (lap 6) my leg began to feel much better, I kicked down and rode as hard as I could. I began to reel in the time gaps. I caught and passed 4th and began to reel in the lead bunch. I then caught Ryan, who then snapped his chain. I was now riding out of pure determination, I ran into some hectic traffic near the end of the lap, but by the time I had passed them, it was too late. I brought it home in 3rd wih Luke Roberts in first, and Arno du Toit in Second.

I was quite disappointed, as it was the 2nd race that had been affected by my injury! But all in all, despite the mishap, I had a good race. Now time for some rest, and to sort my leg out for sure! Then Mankele! hopefully I'll bring home the gold!

Sunday morning dawned and Mariske Strauss and I decided to head up the Montagu Pass, which was ridden in the Cape Epic a few years back. It was a really awesome ride, with magnificent views, it was a real eye opener to see such beauty.

A HUGE thanks needs to go out to Allegra Wykerd, my coach, for all the hard work that she puts into my training program, and for lending me her bike bag, Johann Wykerd for packing my bike like an absolute machine! and of course Team Jeep South Africa, my sponsor, for all the backing and for the AWESOME Jeep Grand Cherokee which they gave us for the entire time we were down in George! You guys all rock!!!!

Ciao
B

Karkloof Classic 2010

Hey guys...

WOW what a weekend at the Karkloof MTB festival! Night Race, XC, Sprint Shoot Out and Marathon!!! Such an awesome event!

Unfortunately I couldn't participate in all the events, as I am still nurturing my injured leg. I sat out everything except the 40km race, which took place today. But there was absolutely NO WAY i would miss out on seeing the top guns battle it out in the Sprint! It was really awesome to watch Burry Stander fight his way from the back of the field to win by half a lap!

Sunday morning dawned and we made our way to the Prestigious Polo Grounds that play hot to the Karkloof Classic every year. Our race was off at 09:00 sharp, this year, without a neutral zone. The pace was hot from the start, with James Reid making it hard where ever possible. I put in one acceleration to try split up the main field, and to my surprise it worked. 6 of us got away, and hit the first main climb of the day. The pace stayed relatively the same, but a few furious surges were thrown in the mix. About 10km or so into the race, my leg began to twitch, but didn't think much of it as it went away. I pushed on. The race pushed down and whittled down to 4 of us, James, Trav, Ryan and I. We hit the second, and hardest climb of the day, and James rode all out. The break was covered really quickly and didn't split the bunch up.

The race pushed on, as the race got more fierce, and the attacks became more frequent, I could feel my leg wasn't going to hold up. It was James who attacked again, I tried to come around the back of the pack, but my leg went into spasm. I slowed to see if it would let up but it just got worse. I dropped off the bunch like I was standing still and soon found myself in no mans land.

I eventually got to a water table and stopped, Luke Roberts caught and passed me, and by now I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get to the finish inside the top 10. Luckily I had managed to open a big gap early on in the race, so I had a comfortable cussion to get to the finish. I rode super easy to the finish, so as to not do any major damage before George next weekend. I managed to bring it home in 5th overall and 5th junior.

Well done to Ryan who got a 3rd, and Craig who got an 11th in the marathon after puncturing 20km in! HUGE thanks to Jeep for the awesome vehicles we were able to make use of, and to Tropitone for the sun block! To the organisers, an awesome event as always!

Pics from the weekend

thanks to Charles Roberts for the Pics

Check em out

Hey guys,

Been testing some new tyres which I got given to try out by Wsquared. The Nokian NBT tyres are really awesome. They're made from an organic rubber, which allows the compound to be softer. They're proper tubeless tyres and are really light. Go ask for the Nokian NBT tyres at Wsquared! They're really awesome!

Ciao
B

KZN XCO Championships - Cascades

Hey guys!

This past weekend was the KZN XC champs at Cascades, where the MTN National XC/DH was held a couple of weeks ago. It followed pretty much the exact same course, but unfortunately all the bull runs were kept out.

Well to be honest I had a very disappointing race. Off the start I made my break and went as hard as possible to get a gap on the rest of the bunch. ( I raced up in the U/23 category) I had managed to open up a very comfortable lead over the competition after the first lap, and kept the hammer down to see how far I could stretch the gap.

I held the pace as high as possible at all times, and going into the 4th of 8 laps I began to lap the back markers of the bunch. Unfortunately, while trying to push the limit further and further each lap, I made a crucial mistake on the exit of an EXTREMELY fast single track. On the exit of the single track was a dirt road, with a very fast left turn. I launched out the single track, and with the extra speed I was unable to hold my line through the corner. Before I knew it my front wheel was about to clip a stump on the edge of the road. Next thing I was upside down and planted on my head on the side of the road. I tried to get my bearings straight, and noticed some major discomfort in my left quad. I didn't think much of it at first, perhaps only an insane lame leg. But after trying to push through it, I soon found out that I was in serious trouble. I couldn't even turn the pedals, or walk up the slightest incline. I made the call to pull out, before causing major damage to myself.

So in the end I saw my 6 minute lead vanish out of no where. This week is going to be all about trying to get the leg sorted for Karkloof Classic! Off to the physio on Wednesday to get it scoped out properly.

Till next time
B

XCM #4 Clarens and Cumberland

hey guys, this past weekend was a pretty busy one for me. Drove up to Clarens on Friday, raced there Saturday, drove back that afternoon, and then went to Cumberland on Sunday!!!

Ryan, Craig, Hilton Frost and I, left Craig's place early on Friday morning, and drove up to Clarens in the awesome 3l Jeep Grand Cherokee! After what felt like a really quick trip, we were in Clarens. We eventually found our accommodation after driving the town flat! We suited up and hit a quick spin on the bikes, just to wake the legs up. Unfortunately, we got caught in the rain as we left the house, but it ended up being a pretty sweet ride.

Saturday dawned and one of the hardest days ever lay ahead of me. After a very good warm up we took our places on the line. All the big names were there, James Reid, Trav Walker, Ryan Ellis, Arno du Toit and a few others. Off the start we went fairly slow. James came to the front and the pace immediately increased. As we hit the first decent, I jumped onto James' wheel and followed him. Unfortunately, at the bottom was a very fast right corner. My front wheel hit James' rear wheel as he changed lines on the entrance, and all I could do, was tuck and roll..... I hit the deck super hard and slid along the road. I lay there until the entire bunch had ridden past. I jumped up and scoped out the damage. My pants were torn and I had a roastie on my hip, knee, and arm. I pushed the bike around the corner before trying to get going... Unfortunately, my chain was jammed and had dropped off the front chain ring. After sorting that out the toughest race ever, began. I began to Time Trial, flat-out, for the next 50km, slowly reeling in some positions. I eventually worked my way up to 3rd position, but threw it away when crossing a slick rock single track. I dropped back down to around 9th overall, and the hard work became even harder. With 2km or so to go, I caught the bunch of 5 riders that were ahead of me. I caught them by surprise and manage to drop them as I attacked. I ended up bringing the race home in 5th overall, and 5th Junior... Possibly the hardest day in the saddle ever! Well done to Ryan on a 2nd overall and 2nd Junior. Craig got 11th in the Ultra, after suffering mechanical.

Cumberland was the following morning, and followed a route very similar to that of previous years. I put in the first attack along with Dave Leiman (Thule). Andrew Hill bridged his gap, and this soon became the leading group. I had limited power most of the race, so I decided to try make my breaks in the technical sections. It worked a couple of times, but the gaps that I opened were soon closed down by the others. Approaching the final couple of kilometers I made a small mistake. Dave took this opportunity by the horns, and put in a furious attack! I couldn't react to the acceleration and soon found myself in 3rd overall... I pushed really hard down the technical sections near the end to try and close the gap that had been opened. In the end I had to settle for 3rd overall, and 1st Junior, around 1 minute behind David and Andrew.

All in all a really good weekend of racing!

Until next time
B

MTN SA XCO2 Cascades

Hey guys

Well this weekend was definitely a very big one for me. After having such a terrible first national, I had to try get myself back in contention for the championship at this round of the XCO National. I also decided to dedicate my race to my very good friend Adam Reyneke, who was a truly inspirational athlete, and awesome friend. He was tragically killed when struck by a car, while preparing for Junior tour.

Cascades in PMB played host to this round of the series, and man, Nick Floros put on an AWESOME course! Really one of the best courses I've ever ridden! A lot better than the WC track, mainly because of the more technical single track.

I slept in a little later than usual as the course is barely a 5minute ride away from my house, and my start was only at 12:15. I suited up around 10 o'clock and made my way down to the course by half past. I arrived to catch the tail end of the women's racing. The event looked really Professional, the feed zone was packed with Gazebo's, and really did look like it was straight out of Europe.

Our age group was bigger than normal, with 24 riders on the line. I was placed on the 2nd row, which wasn't a good thing as the first single track was just 200m from the start. All the big names were there, James Reid, Trav Walker, Luke Roberts, Arno du Toit and Ryan Ellis. From the gun Arno attacked really hard and took James with him. I avoided a few very close calls to get myself into the top 8 going into the first single track. As soon as we hit the first climb I reeled in 3 more positions and found myself a couple of meters off the leaders. I put the hammer down in the next single track and closed the gap. We then hit the longest climb on the course and I managed to get myself into the lead bunch of three. Going into the second lap a bunch of three had formed at the front, James Reid, Luke Roberts, and myself, with Trav walker 30 or so seconds down. However, Luke and I lost touch of James when he put in an unbelievable surge on one of the open roads. I waited until the entrance of the main climb before making a move on Luke. As I entered the single track I manage to catch Luke by surprise and got a slight gap on Luke. I began to try and close down on James which by this stage had a good 40+ seconds. I hit the technical sections as hard as I could but could only close it to around 20-30seconds. I held it there until the 4th lap but his endurance began to take hold and opened the Gap to just over a minute by the end of the last lap. Trav Walker had put in an insane last 2 laps and had passed me and managed to finish just 15 seconds down on James. Luke brought it home in 4th position, around 1 min 36 sec behind me.

All in all it was an insanely close race. Craig had a good race bringing it home in 8th Pro Elite. Ryan suffered a few mechanical but had a good race, performance wise




the black arm band was worn in memory of Adam.
R.I.P. Adam Reyneke

Big Shout Out

Hey Guys, just wanna give a huge shout out to two bike shops!

WSquared - Gordon Wilson - Managed to organise a rear swing arm for my mtb within the blink of an eye, after finding out that my frame had cracked. Really impressive to see how quickly and efficiently they were able to get the swing arm. He also made a fork available for me to use after discovering my fork was cracked on the steerer tube! Thanks Guys

Adrenaline Cycles - Grant Dinkel - Made a spare fork available to me after we found out that my fork on my mtb was cracked on the steerer tube! Grant always goes out of his way to help out any customer! Thanks Guys!

B

Jowetts Super Classic

This weekend was the Jowetts super classic, which was held at the Cedara Agricultural College just outside Hilton. The course is renowned for the amazing single track that it follows in the hills of Hilton.

The start was slightly earlier than normal, around 08:30. We rode in a neutral zone for the first kilometer or two, the lead vehicle peeled off the front and the race took off! I tested the legs on the fist climb and put in a small attack to see how they were feeling. I opened a gap but knew it was far to early in the race to go on a solo break. I backed off an the main lead group caught up. But before we even hit the first single track I heard a loud "hiss" sound, and soon felt metal bouncing on the tar. I quickly stopped and bombed it. I didn't lose much time, but it was enough for me to lose touch of the lead group.

I raced hard and started to real back the riders one by one, but then disaster struck again, while pushing hard through one of the long grass sections, my rear derailleur got jammed up with grass. With the applied force of the pedaling, it caused my chain to snap. Fortunately it snapped just behind the 'quick-link.' I broke the chain and undid the quick-link and put the whole thing back together. I had lost a heck of a lot of time, and was now down in the 20's. I fought hard and managed to close up to 9 or so before catching James Reid and Trav Walker, who had both stopped due to mechanicals. I stopped helped James out with his mangled chain and waited while Trav took a natural break. We took off together, but at a very chilled pace. James had really hurt his nose and face in a heavy crash, and he soon backed off. Trav and I caught up to another group of 3 riders. We went past and started closing in on 8th position (team mate Matt Goetsch). After catching him, Trav soon dropped off, leaving myself to chase down the next guy in front of me which was Dave Leiman. With 5 or so km to go I caught Dave, and managed to bring Matt and youth rider, Evan van der Spuy with me. 2km from the finish I bit the bullet and opened the taps to get away and managed to put a gap between myself and the other riders.

Performance wise, it was definitely one of my best races so far. The race was super hard, and was a really good opportunity to get to test the legs before the national.

Bushmans Classic - Estcourt

This weekend was the Bushman's classic, held at the WagenDrift Dam. The early start meant we'd be racing in some cooler conditions, and that we'd definitely beat the heat! There were some big names like Trav Walker, Andrew Warr, Carl Calvarley and Andrew Hill.

After a very brisk warm up we hit it to the start line. A brief riders briefing took place and then we set off on the brutal 50km course. For a change the start wasn't to quick but as soon as our tyres touched the dirt it was game on. Carl took to the front and drove hard. I managed to follow his wheel and by the time we hit the first single track we had a decent gap over Travis and Andrew Hill. Unfortunately some ignorant lead motorbikes went into the single track ahead of us and cost us our gap.

Trav and Andrew H caught us and we rode together for most of the race. At around the 20km mark I could see Andrew was hurting a bit so I made my move up a long rocky climb. Trav followed and we opened up a gap. We hit a single track section an my bike began to make a very heavy knocking sound with every pedal stroke. We hit another dirt road and the pace slowed which allowed Carl and Andrew to catch back up. We hit the next climb and the pace heated up. The knocking got louder and louder and I began to worry that it might be causing damage. I decided to bite the bullet and carry on racing. Trav put in ferocious attack and Carl followed... after 5 or so seconds a decided to go and managed to drop Carl after catching him and slowly began to close in on Trav. We got to the bottom of a very long single track and had opened up a good gap on Carl and Andrew. The knocking had now become very bad, I pulled to the side of the track, letting Trav passed, and began to make an attempt at fixing the problem. After knocking the cranks with my hand it went away slightly but, it had allowed Carl and Andrew to really close the gap. I got on and before I knew it, they were on my wheel. Carl put in an attack and Andrew was able to follow, I chased but the knocking got worse still. I stopped and hit the cranks again to try and get the knocking to stop. I jumped back on and chased as hard as I could on the following 5 km district road. With only 5 or so km left I hit a mighty mushroom cloud, and quite frankly blew. I did damage control to the finish and managed to hold onto 4th overall and 2nd Junior.

It was a super tough race, but really good prep for the National XC coming up !

Until Next time
B