Bishopstowe XC Prov # 2

Well this weekend was the 2nd round of the KZN XC Provincial series, and man oh man was it super hot! We raced at Bishopstowe, just a few kilometers outside PMB. For once I was able to sleep in and pull myself out of bed a lot later than usual.

I arrived at the race at around 9 o'clock and managed to watch the elite womens race plan out in front of us. Eszter Cluer won elite women and young Candice Neethling came 2nd (even though being a junior). The racing was really quick,and due to the really short course the number of laps were increased. With my race only being at 12:30 I chilled as much as possible, and tried to get amped for the difficult race that lay ahead.

I would be racing up an age category in the u/23's and Elite men. What lay ahead was 9 laps of brutal punishment! Straight from the gun Rourke Croeser came to the front with myself in tow. We made our way down to the bottom of the course but soon found myself dropping back some positions. By the end of the first lap I found myself trailing in 6th but I just tried to remain focussed and keep a consistent pace. As we approached the 4th lap I started to real in the bunch of 4 riders just up the road. The gap was getting smaller, but very slightly every lap. A huge effort on the 6th lap saw me smashing into solid concrete barrier of pain on the 7th. To my surprise I still managed to close up to Andrew Warr. I managed to get a second wind half way through the 8th lap. As I went onto the last lap I dug deep and managed to bring the time gaps back down. I was pleased to hang onto a 5th overall and 2nd u/23. The course was extremely short, but still had a good variety of single track, descents, climbs and district roads. Ryan had an awesome race and wrapped up the Juniors race. So all in all we had an awesome weekend

Next weekend we're heading up to Sabie for the SA Marathon Championship! Hopefully we have a good one!







Thanks to Darren Goddard for the pictures


Until next time
B

Hard Weekend! Blythedale MTB Classic

Hey guys!

Man was this weekend tough! I was down in Port Shepstone from Friday and man did I have some tough training while I was down there! Saturday morning I was up at sparrows and took to the road to attack the 'Two Gorges' route, I lung busting route that makes its way through, yes you guessed it... two gorges! and then a 40 minute time trial at the end! Then that evening it was Candice Neethling's 18th Birthday party... meaning a late night.

After a really awesome night and a couple hours of sleep I loaded the car and left the Neethlings' house at 5am to make the trip to the Blythedale Coastal Resort MTB classic. We arrived at the race at around 7 and suited up straight away and went for a thorough warm up. I settled on the start line with Craig, Pete and Ryan! Straight from the start one of the riders tried to split up the field but this was soon countered when Craig came through and started to put down the hammer on on of the short climbs! I responded really well and managed to jump ship and follow his wheel, along with Andew Warr. The pace got harder and pretty soon we had a comfortable gap over the chasing bunch behind. Unfortunately Craig's legs started to hurt of his race the day before, which left Andrew and I up front. Andrew began to attack frequently and I was determined to stay in contact with him. He managed to get a gap a couple of times, but surprisingly I managed to close them down. At about the 25km mark I began to feel the previous days training. I pushed to stay with Andrew, but when he upped the pace again I just couldn't follow his wheel. I rode the final 10km a a solo time trial and managed to hold off the hard chasing pack of Craig, Pete and Sean Merridew. Andrew finished 2 or so minutes ahead. Craig had a awesome sprint for 4th against Sean, which gave Jeep and awesome 2nd, 3rd and 4th overall.



Well done Max for such an awesome event and a huge thanks to Blythedale Resort, Ewan and the team for putting together an amazing course! It was awesome to see new event sponsor Vitamin Water handing out some thirst quenching beverages at the finish-what an awesome product, go out and try some!



Until next time
B

Rietvlei National XCO #1

Hey guys

This past weekend was the first round of the National XC Cup series. We piled into our car early on Friday Morning and drove up to Rietvlei to check out the course. After about 4 hours or so we reached our destination.

Craig, Ryan and I hit the track, and man was the course cool! Super rocky, Steep Climbs and tight twisting single track! It was definitely one of my favourite course that I've ridden! We left after a couple laps and I went to stay with my aunt in Bedfordview. It was really cool to catch up with my family again, and after a good nights sleep we headed out to the track the next day.



I arrived to see the end of the women's race, with our team mate Eszter Cluer bringing home 2nd overall! I hooked my bike up to the stationary trainer and hooked a really good warm up. After 45minutes or so I headed to the start and settled on the front row. I felt really confident on the new bike, even though it was only my 3rd time on my new bike! off the start I found myself in the front but soon was overtaken by Arno du Toit. We entered the first single track and I was now 4th, just behind James Reid. We hit the first climb and Luke Roberts made his move. There was now 5 of us away but then disaster struck! I burped my tyre on a rock and all the air had come out, ironically at the same place as Ruan du Toit had just punctured. I stopped and bombed my tyre and got going again. I slowly began to work my way up the field, but as I reached the half way point of the track a burped my tyre again. I stopped and did the entire procedure again. I got going and pushed super hard to close up the positions. But unfortunately disaster struck every lap in the exact same spot, except for the 4th lap. On the 4th lap I managed not to burp my tyre and began to claw through the field and took back 5 or so positions. I felt confident that my bad luck was over and was now determined to keep closing up the positions. I came into one of the technical sections and heard the dreaded sound of metal hitting the ground yet again!!!! I ran to the nearest tech' zone where I pumped my tyre. with only a few kilometers to go I took it easy and tried to salvage what was left of my race.



It was definitely the worst race I've had so far, but I made a choice to use new tyres, and obviously it was the wrong decision. I've taken it as a valuable learning experience and hopefully I've learnt from such mistakes.

Thanks to Andrew Warr for the concern and encouragement he gave towards me on the last lap, it really helped me pull through! Well done to Craig and Ryan on their awesome results, and to Max Cluer for giving the much appreciated support!

Peace out
B

My new Steed and Barberton Pics

Hey guys! Its here! My new steed is awesome! Thanks to the boys at WSquared for hooking me up with such a sweet setup! Johann Wykerd has really gone out of his way to help me out and I'd really like to give a huge thank you to him!





Chilled Ride with the boys

The Awesome Patriot

Craig and Ry having a chuckle