homeward bound - One Crazy Adventure

Hey guys n gals

By the time you're reading this I'll be back home in SA. So here's a short story of my CRAZY trip home...

OK, so... the gnarly trip home started off with a super late fight out of LAX on Tuesday night. $400 later in over sized luggage, and some rather sneaky maneuvers to get my brothers Christmas present on board as hand luggage, my trip soon began to commence. The 5 hour flight to JFK International was pretty lame. Mainly due to the fact that there was a 5 year old kid throwing a tantrum for around 4hrs of the entire 5hr flight to New York.

Upon touch down in New York city, I found myself lumbering around the confusing airport, only to be told by a intensely rude and obnoxious women that I had to catch a train, out side of the airport, in order to get to the right terminal. So I meandered my way in the general direction of where I was told to go, found a train and hopped onto it. Well, from the lack of sleep, partnered up with the bad mood that I was now in, I ended up hopping onto a train that lead in the complete opposite direction. Eventually, after an hour or so of jumping from one train to another, I ventured into the right terminal. I then got checked in with South African Airways (SAA), which went off without a hitch.

It had to be smooth sailing from there, right? Oh, How wrong I was! I thought that the direct flight back home to SA would be straight forward, and that I'd sleep the majority of the flight. hmmm, another small child saw the end of my beloved sleep after only an hour in the sky. The little person whaled and squawked continuously for a couple of hours, resulting in me losing more and more sleep. After the entire 16hour flight from JFK to OR Tambo International in Johannesburg, I had only managed to get 5 hours of sleep. But, I was home, so that kinda lifted my spirits. All I had to do was catch the next flight to Durban which was in 2hrs time. Sounds easy enough. right?

In between waiting at passport control, the airport losing my bike and me having to wait for them to find it, those two hour simply flew by. As I got to the check in, with two ridiculously big bike bags, a massive luggage bag and my two carry on bags, Philemon, of SAA Domestic Flights simply said, "you have missed your flight, go buy a new one." I stormed off to get another ticket but refused to pay, after a further two more hours, I was eventually reimbursed with a ticket to Durban.

At least I'm home now. I'm super jet lagged, but its good to be back home with the family. I'm here until mid February, so I'll be home to get in some good training before jetting back over the states to tackle the 2012 Pro XCT series in the States. I'm also hoping to meet up with Burry for a couple rides while I'm back here to get some advice and pointers going forward!

Its been really awesome to catch up with my family and friends. Its been a long time since I was able to sit down and actually speak to them. I've got to make the most of the short period that Im going to be in the country!!

Sweet ride with some of the boys from Team Jeep South Africa.

I'll keep you all updated

Until next time

B

Quick update

Hey guys, I'm trying to keep up with the blogging with a post every two weeks or so... so here it is.

A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks, starting off with my first ever ultra endurance race, 12hours of Temecula. I made a last second decision to team up with my American brother, Casey Williams. With us sharing the 12 hours load, I thought it'd be an awesome idea to use the 6hours on the bike as a good base ride, little did I know I was going to be going flat out for at least 3 of those hours.

So about the race itself... the weather was perfect.... temporarily. It had rained all night, but the dry soil had soaked it up really well and had left the track in pristine riding condition. The first couple of laps were ridiculously fun, even though we were racing flat out I couldn't wipe the smile off my face at the end of every lap. My 3rd lap of the 11mile loop went onto be the fastest lap of the day, around 4 minutes faster than the next person. The fast paced laps were short lived, as I made my way out onto my 4th lap (the 8th lap for our team) the weather made a turn for the worse. The rain came down in buckets, leaving the course in an absolute shambles. It became an absolute mud bath, forcing many of the people to actually pull out. Casey and I continued to persevere through the snotty conditions until the race was prematurely called after the completion of my 5th lap (the teams 10th lap). We ended up taking the win overall and the win in the 2 man team category, being a lap ahead of the next 2 man team.

The following week Myself, Team mate Pua Mata and Ty made a trip across to the beautiful Catalina island for a photo shoot with Mountain Bike Action for the Catalina Gran Fondo event, which is going to be taking place next year. My mind was blown by the awesomeness of this place. Everyone drives golf carts, the water is crystal clear to the point that the water is turquoise. The streets are filled with fantastic coffee shops and restaurants and the riding is pretty sick!! Its definitely going to be an event to remember, with some of the most amazing views, fantastic riding, and come on.... who doesn't want to ride on the Catalina Island with your buddies and end off the day with a drink on the beach?? Get onto the US Cup website and mark this event on the calendar. A huge thanks to the team for taking me over to such a picturesque getaway spot!

The view from the beaches of Catalina

Last week I had a nice easy rest week, which presented the perfect opportunity for me to go back up to Big Bear and hang out with the Williams family for Thanksgiving. After hearing of thanksgiving for so many years back home in South Africa, it ended up being a serious eye opener. I always knew that a lot of food was eaten on thanksgiving, but seriously.... A TON of food is eaten on thanksgiving. I was out eaten by Casey's 50kg, 14 year old brother!! I tried my best to shovel in as much food as the rest of the family, but it only resulted in me passing out next to the toasty fire in a food coma, while being spread out like a star fish. It was a pretty awesome experience though, and I'm stoked to have spent it with a family that is so close to me! I owe a huge thanks to the entire family especially Kim and Casey. Kim is always willing to help me and always allows me to head up to Big Bear whenever I want to! She always looks out for me, keeps me healthy and always looks out for my best interests. Casey, who is basically my brother has been driving me around, he's taken me from Big Bear to Santa Monica, from LA to Ventura, to his Cyclocross races, a massive thanks to him for carting me around. Thanks a million broseph!

Sunset in Santa Monica

This past weekend, Casey and I got to do a mega ride up in Ventura with up and coming super star Kendall Ryan, former World Road TT champion, Olympic Silver medalist, and 6 time National Champion, Mari Holden, as well as former professional base ball player Barry Bonds. Needless to say, the ride was awesome, Barry had us in fits of laughter the entire time! Casey then went onto race the Cyclocross State championships, and got 2nd in both the Junior men and the u23 men... after 5h10min on the bike the previous day!

There's only two weeks left for me here in the States until I go home for a month and a half. I can't believe that the past 3 months have flown by so quickly. A lot has happened, a lot has changed, BRING ON 2012!!

Until next time

B

Day2Remember: Mike Nosco Memorial Ride

Two days ago I was very humbled and honored to have been able to take part in an extremely moving event. The 3rd annual Mike Nosco Memorial Ride took place in Ventura, just north of LA.

Mike Nosco was in the Navy for 20 years, he was part of a very elite unit called the HCS-5 (Helicopter Combat Support). He also worked at a Biotech company called Amgen for 10 years. Unfortunately Mike was tragically killed in a car crash on November 3, 2004. His brother, Jack, started the Mike Nosco memorial ride 3 years ago, and the event has grown massively in that short time. The ride has attracted many of the USA's best professional cyclists, with names such as Lance Armstrong, Chris Horner, Dave Zabriskie, Neil Shirley and Andy Hampsten. This year was no different, Lance Armstrong made an attendance to the VIP dinner, Dave Z and Neil Shirley as well as Ned Overend (mountain bike legend) all came out to ride the brutal 80mile route on Thursday.

So the route that we were going to be meandering on was pretty insane, probably the most hilly route Ive ever seen, with a total ascent of around 3500m-4000m!! The fact that there were a couple former World and National Champions as well as current super stars like DZ, and past super stars like Neil Shirley, I knew this wouldn't be any walk in the park. The pace was fairly mellow for the first 20 miles of the ride until we hit the first and most brutal f all the climbs, Deer Creek. I launch one of the first attacks at the bottom of the grueling climb, but was pretty soon outdone by Neil Shirley. He came blazing past me, and brought along Ned Overend and another recently retired professional road racer. I managed to ride myself back onto Neil's wheel, and so began a long, intense day in the saddle. The lead group got smaller and smaller as the miles ticked away.

Every mountain pass we went up was brutal, but we were rewarded with the most amazing decents, some being 15-20km long at times! As we began to make our way up the last major climb, Latigo Canyon,, which was at the 100km mark, all seemed to have come back down to a humanly pace.... that was short lived. About 5kms up the climb Neil laid down the law once again. I felt good and went with, along with Ned Overend, Thurlow Rodgers (former world road race champion) and one or two others. But the heat, and distance we had covered, as well as the intensity at which we'd be riding began to take its toll on me as we approached the final 1,5miles of the climb. I hung onto the wheels for dear life, pushing myself deep into the hurt box, but I managed to hold on over the top before stopping at a feed station. Then came a super gnarly descent, probably my favorite of the entire ride, long swooping corner, fast twisty chicanes, tight switch backs, banked corners... it was insane. I had a couple hairy situations where the rear wheel completely locked up, but fortunately I managed to keep things rubber side down!

After the tricky mountain pass, came a long section of rolling climbs and descents. The front group had regrouped and was now 12strong as we began to hit the cross winds. The pace got upped drastically as we edged closer and closer to the end of the ride, with a couple riders trying their luck at getting off the front. One thing was for sure though, the group was getting blown apart by the crazy accelerations. By the time we rolled back into the car park where the ride had started, the group had been strung out into 7 or 8 riders, I was just glad to be one of those 7 or 8. Man, that was a tough day, the pace was relentless up front, but what was truly amazing was the fact that 500odd cyclists took the time out from their week to come down and support an amazing cause as well as remember the life of Mike Nosco. This year the ride was also in memory for Ronette Espinoza, who tragically lost her battle with cancer.

If anyone would like to make a donation to this amazing cause just follow the link here http://www.mikenosco.com/sponsors/

A huge thanks to Team Sho-Air/Specialized for an amazing couple days and for taking both the Sprinter and RV to the event, and a major shout out to Ben Bostrom and Nikki for hosting myself, Johnny and Ty while we were there. They have an amazing house overlooking Malibu, its simply mind blowing. THANKS GUYS!

Images courtesy of Veloimage

The amazing view from the Bostroms. Excuse the bar across the screen, I was too mesmerised by the sunset to even move.

Good times up in Big Bear

Hey guys

First off, I apologise for not having updated my blog sooner. I got a little side tracked but all is on track now.

So for the past couple of weeks I've been up in Big Bear with good friends Casey and Cameron Williams, along with their awesome family. Its been an absolute blast from the second I walked into the house, the Williams family are always super welcoming and loving, which really helps me to feel at home.

Ok, so around 2 weeks or so ago, I made the trip up from LA with Cameron and his mom, Kim, after he had competed in a Cyclo Cross race very close to where I live. I managed to make it up to the small town nestled in the mountains just in time to spend the final couple of days of 'Fall break' with Casey and Cameron before they had to head back to school the following week. We clocked some pretty big hours for that week, with Casey showing me around all his Base Training areas. Basically theres only 3 roads that lead out of Big Bear, but, those 3 roads are probably have some of the most mind glowingly awesome road riding I have ever done. For 2 weeks I've been riding those roads, alternating different routes, sometimes combining two of them to get in a massive ride. However, one of those rides stood out from the rest. Last week I had a super long ride, and decided to combining the two most scenic routes in order to get the right amount of time in with out getting super bored from looking at the same thing the entire ride. So I took off into the day, and after a couple hours, I found myself climbing into the clouds. After nearly 2 full hours of climbing I finally popped out the top of the white fluffy cotton to an amazing image. The road i was one could be seen in the distance, which meant I still had more climbing, but what really struck me was the white ocean that lay beneath me in the valleys. Without seeming too cliche, the only words I can actually use are, breath taking, literally.... The clouds moved like waves, pulsating through the valleys and crashing into the cliff faces. I can tell you how the cold wind was nipping at my skin, or how the clouds engulfed me us I made my way up to the summit of the pass, but the truth is, to actually have experienced something so amazingly beautiful, was simply surreal. People driving in cars were stopping to take pictures, little kids pointed out the windows in search of some mystical creature. Man o' man was it SIIIICK!!!

So now that I've shared the highlight of all the awesome times I've had here in Big Bear, I think I should let you all know that I went to the High School here in Big Bear for a week, which was surprisingly cool. It was really weird at first, with everyone looking at me like a new kid, but it then turned into people saying, "dude, its that kid from Africa." I met a bunch of really cool kids at the school and made some awesome new friends. Pretty much for the last 5 or 6 days I've been coming to school, then hit a ride and then when it gets cold enough, around 8or 9 at night, we make snow in Casey's back yard. Also, in my time away from LA I haven't been in Big Bear the entire time. This past weekend Casey, Cameron and I made a trip down to San Diego for a CX (Cyclo Cross) race. I didn't compete but watched from the stationary trainer, and then headed out on the roads with the boys once their race was over.

The weather is starting to get a little colder now in Big Bear which presented the perfect opportunity to test out the new gear sponsor's, Jakroo, wind/winter jacket. I can honestly say that its super toasty. In the cold 10*C winds I was working up a sweat. Super impressed with both the quality and performance of the garment!

Unfortunately all good things do come to an end, and I will be heading back down the hill tomorrow morning. On Thursday is the Mike Nosco memorial ride, which I've heard is BRUTAL!!! Super amped to see what its all about, and to meet up with Scott, Ty, Johnny and the rest of the team in Ventura. A huge thanks needs to go out to the Williams family for hosting me and being like a family to me. I love you guys and appreciate everything you guys do for me!!!

Until next time

B

The road leading up above the clouds

Managed to snap this shot with my iPhone last week

Settling In and some Fun in the Sun

Well in the past 2 weeks since my previous post I've settled into my new house and have got back into the routine of training. Now comes the long base hours on the road, in preparation for the 2012 season.

Although winter's right around the corner here in the States, I'm fortunate enough to be staying just outside of LA, meaning that the winter is pretty mild, which makes for perfect riding! The days are getting shorter but it gets super hot. Which brings me onto the topic of the final round of the US Cup Series which was held around an hour out of Orange County.

So last Saturday night before the series finale of the US Cup, Johnny Muller his girlfriend, Mari, and I went out to an awesome italian restaurant in Laguna Beach. Laguna is a really beautiful place, boardwalks on the beach, all shops within walking distance, almost like Stellenbosch, but with the benefit of the ocean right there at your door step.

Being in full swing of my base training, I decided to just go out and have some fun out there. With this race doubling up as both the series final and State Championship race, a couple of local pro's came out to take on the heat and battle it out to see who would be victorious at the end of the day. Among the favorites was team mate Ben Bostrom and the always fast, Sid Taberlay. As the day progressed it got hotter and hotter, and by the time it was my race, the heat was literally hair singeing.

Before I knew it we were lined unready to tackle 3x10mile loops of fun. This was pretty much the closest I was going to be to the front of the race the whole day. Right from the gun I had an absolute blast. The course was filled with some really cool flowing and fast single track that always kept a smile on my face. Half-way through lap 2 I met up with Johnny Muller on the side lines, stop for a chat, looked at some photos he'd taken and carried on with the ride. The heat was unreal, people were suffering from dehydration and cramping before the completion of one lap. Most even pulled out due to the raw heat out on course. Meanwhile, up front, Team Mate and super bike legend, Ben Bostrom, was killing it and eventually brought home the win ahead of Dana Webber and Sid Taberlay. I ended up coming in around 30minutes after them.

A huge thanks to Sho-Air and US Cup for putting on such a good event. It was really top class. A big thanks to Ty Kady aka HB.

This weekend is Spooky Cross, a cycle cross event sponsored by Sho-Air. I'm lucky enough to be helping out with Todd Wells which should be a really cool experience. Spooky Cross is a really big event so all the top pros like Ryan Trebon and Adam Craig should make an appearance too. I then head up to Big Bear for a week or two wear I'll do some altitude training and hang out with my very close friends, the Williams'.

Until Next time

B

Saturday sunset at Laguna Beach.

Striking a pose for Johnny.

One of the awesome shots Johnny captured at the gnarliest section of the track.

photo courtesy of Kathy Burcham.

Back State Side

Hey guys

Been quite a long time since I did my last blog post. Its been a crazy past few weeks. In the two weeks that I've been back here in the US I've driven the entire length of the State of California and into Bend, Oregon. I've moved into a new house with Johnny Muller, have done some amazing riding, have done 200kph in around 5seconds, in a Custom Dodge Viper, whew... its been crazy!!!!

A lot has happened but I'll just give you a little taste of some of the things. So I landed here 2 weeks ago, 2 days later I was in the Sho-Air Sprinter van, heading up the freeway towards Oregon for the 2012 US National Marathon Championships. I made the trip up with Team Mechanic, Paul, and Ollie, a Cat1 35-39 racer. Ollie is the Chief mechanic for the Graves Yamaha Super bike team, and has worked with the likes of Ben and Eric Bostrom. We had a real fun trip up to the beautiful town of Bend, where we met up with Team Manager, Ty Kady, His wife, Davy, and Pro/Elite Womens Rider, Pua Mata. So, the days that followed were filled with awesome riding, some of the most fun single track I've ever ridden. Just miles and miles of mind blowing, flowing single track. I dont think there was a time where there wasnt a smile on my face. Ty and I blasted down the trails, railing the berms, gapping the jumps and hammering the fast flowing sections, and the great thing was, we got to do it over and over again, the trails just didnt seem to end. Saturday dawned, and it was time for the citizens, ie. Ty, Pua and Ollie to get down to racing. Things went off without a hitch, Pua won the womens race convincingly, Ty destroyed the Cat1 30-34 Mens race and Ollie managed to pull off a 4th in the Cat1 35-39 mens. What is super cool is the fact that Ty has won 3 national titles in the year alone in all XC mountain bike disciplines- Short Track, Cross Country and Marathon!!! Pretty impressive stuff!!

Unfortunately Sunday meant we had to leave and say good bye to Bend and also meant that I had another epic drive back down to LA. But I'm here now, having an awesome time and I'm surrounded by awesome people! The climate in LA is perfect for riding. its warm all the time and winter only kicks in very late in the year.

I'm now in a house, that team owner, Scott Tedro provided, with Marketing Guru, John Muller and his girlfriend. They're an awesome couple and are really helping me get from place to place and to where I need to be. The riding here is really awesome. I've just started to ride again after having taken some time off the bike after World Championships, and I'm really loving it. Scott has helped out a lot and has provided me with the tools I need to get the job done. His love for the sport is remarkable and is aways willing to give a lending hand. Ty and Scott have also taken me on some pretty sweet riding over the past couple of days. Ty has also been running around, helped me sort out my bank account a gym membership etc etc. The bottom line is the people down here at Sho-Air International are an awesome, select bunch of professionals. I'd just like to thank Scott, Ty and John for all the help and all the work that they have, and continue to do.

B

Bonvoyage

Well last night was a very big surprise. Team Jeep South Africa, its associates, team members and friends threw a surprise farewell for me.

I just want to thank each and every single person that made the evening possible. Every single one of you have had an influence on my life and have helped me strive to make my dreams become a reality. You provided me with the tools to become an athlete I am today, and the athlete that I strive to be in the future!

I thank you all for your support, love and commitment to me while in Team Jeep! You guys are truly an inspiration.

Much appreciated

Brendon

World Champs 2011 - The Race

World Champs is done and dusted, and man... what an experience. To be nestled in the Mountains, on the border of France and Switzerland, racing the most technical and steep XCO track in the world was really awesome!

The flight to Switzerland was really awesome and went off without a hitch. As we approached our landing, we were greeted by the beautiful turquoise water of Lake Geneva. Apon landing bikes were collected, vans were fetched, and the road trip to the picturesque town of Champery began. As we got deeper and deeper into the mountains we could see why Champery was one of the most feared technical tracks on the World Circuit. The mountains were steep. Very Steep.

So we settled in and went for a spin the next day to check out the track. It had rained VERY slightly the night before. I arrived at the track and to my horror, the track was like an ice rink. That combined with the steepness and the amount of roots that spread across the entire track, definitely made me a little hesitant to try any of the major technical sections until my tyres had been changed. I rode what I could, but felt super uncomfortable. Luckily Burry Stander was kind enough to do a couple of laps the next day and show me a heap of lines that would definitely help out with passing and staying smooth in the race. Dylan van der Merwe (Burry's mechanic) and Burry hooked me up with some awesome tyres, a saddle, spare wheels and parts and some Rotor Rings to give me the best possible advantage for the race.

With the bike now set up properly my confidence grew vastly. I managed to hit everything, felt fast and felt smooth. My head was right and now all I could do was wait until race day to let it all hang out. The days leading up to the race became more and more chilled out, to such an extent that we left the opening ceremony half way through in order to stay off our legs. Line' Griffiths ensured that all our legs were in tip top order, even if it did mean sending us through the roof with pain on a frequent occasion.

So the night before the race the house is dead quiet, before being awoken by the sound of thunder slamming into the Champery mountains. A heavy thunderstorm had hit and had settled in for the entire night. Race day dawned through a sheet of thick white mist seeping through the streets and alley's of the town of Champery. Surprisingly, I wasn't phased by the bad weather. I felt I had done everything right. I had the best equipment, the best support base. It was now up to me. I took a light spin in the morning to loosen up the legs, finished the ride off, chilled, chilled, chilled and chilled some more until race time.

After arriving at the race village, the 2 hours until my race just seem to dissolve. Before I knew it I was standing on the 3rd row of 106 junior men all wanting to be at the front of the race, battling it out for the Rainbow Jersey. "15 seconds to go..." the gun went. Gert Heyns, who was directly in front of me, unfortunately slipped his pedal, which catapulted me back to around 50th place. Now racing mid pack, I had to stay calm on the start loop and try real back the deficit at every opportunity I could. By the end of the 8 minute start loop I found myself in 37th. I managed to work myself into 30th by the half way point of the 1st full lap, but unfortunately broke my rear shifter in a crash. I got moving, still retaining a top 40 position and rode to the tech zone around 2-3minutes away. I got to the tech zone, but we were unable to fix the problem with the shifter, having lost valuable time and now outside the top 40, it was time to put all the set backs aside and just get on with racing. I began to reel in the positions, and by the end of the 2nd lap was up to 33rd and had managed to catch up with compatriot, Gert Heyns. Lap 3 came around and I had managed to move up into the top 30 and was now sitting around 26th or so. There was now a big group of riders a minute ahead of me. Knowing I stood a chance of a top 10, I went for it. I pulled myself to 15th and had the next 5 positions withing reach. So, as most teen aged boys are, I got greedy, plain and simple. I wanted that top 10. Up 'the BIG climb' I just went to far into the red. I pulled myself onto the back of the bunch of 5, but didn't even realise I had brought along the bunch I was previously in. Being in the "red" I couldn't respond to the attacks that came at the top of the climb. All I could do was hope that the Epic 29er would pull me back on the last and most technical section of the lap. I came back into contact with the group on the descent, but the group was now really stung out and as we exited the last single track, onto the finish strip, I could see I had lost my chance of the top 10 that I had been so close to only a few minutes before. I crossed the line in 23rd, a result that I'm decently happy with, but a result that could've been better had I raced smarter on the final climb. But after the race, I had some very wise words from Burry Stander and his dad, Charles. "It's the only way you will learn. By making stupid mistakes like that, it will teach you to race smart in the future." So I didn't come away from the race entirely empty handed. I at least know now that I have the ability to do it!

(sitting 15th, the dude in the background-lap 4)

A huge thanks to the following people for everything at the World Champs event.

Team Sho-Air/Specialized Factory Racing, for the providing me with the absolute best equipment to get the job done! The Epic 29er S-Works was definitely the bike to be on!

Burry Stander, Dylan van der Merwe, Benno Willeit, and Bobby Behan for all the help leading up to the race, as well as all the help at the race.

Bryan Strauss, Line' Griffiths and Morne' Odendaal for coordinating the RSA team and making sure everything ran smoothly.

Charles Stander, Mandy Stander and Cherise Taylor for being an amazing support crew and for going absolutely "BOSSIES" during my race!

And to everyone that was back home who supported me! My family and friends! you guys rock!

World Champs 2011 - Post Race

Ok so after the race, was the turn of the Pro/Elite men and u23 men!

Racing was good from all of the Saffas. Burry had a stormer of a race from a terrible start, to just outside the top 5 before crashing and snapping his handlebars. Phil Buys, was having a really good race but had 2 punctures which lead to him being lapped due to his major loss of time mending the tyres.

James and Rourke had really good races in the u23 Category, both just missed out on a top 30 position.

After the racing it was time to go exploring. I met up with Casey Williams from the USA, we jumped on our bikes and just went riding. We found ourselves approaching the border of France and Switzerland before turning down a single track that lead us back towards Champery. We then came across some of the steepest trails I have ever ridden or attempted to ride. Many of the place we were forced to walk. And then to top it off, we were told by the Downhillers that their track was WAAAYYYY more steep than what we had just ridden!!

(the epic sitting pretty in Europe)

Lock n Load

Man, sorry for the late post guys!! We've been without electricity for 2 days and it only just came on! So I'll try get in a quick blog post!

Last week was my final grueling week of training, and to end the tough block off I decided to hit up another big local race (Harburg Tour de Krantz) to get some race intensity in. This is one of the toughest local races on the calender and is always well attended. With the likes of Itech Connect/Momsen pro rider Brandon Stewart and Andrew Hill (TIB Insurance) the racing was going to be hard and fast. Just what I had gone to look for.

08:30 sharp the racing started, and unlike previous years, the racing seemed to be pretty slow off the blocks. This was pretty short lived, Brandon put a major surge in as we entered the first single-track, splitting the field to pieces. I found myself clinging onto his wheel as we began to hit some of the more serious climbs. Eventually Brandon managed to ride myself and Andrew off his wheel before the summit of the first really tough climb.

After we summited the climb I pushed the pace to see if I could shake Andrew before trying to close the gap to Brandon. It worked. A section with a series of short, sharp climbs allowed me to get away from Andrew and at the same time, inched me closer and closer to Brandon's wheel.

I managed to hold the gap at around 45seconds to Brandon for the majority of the race. The sight of the Film crew in the helicopter always meant that I could judge how far ahead Brandon was for the entire race. On the longer, more open climbs Brandon would stretch the gap out, making me work super hard on the Short, Punchy climbs (like that of XCO) to try and bring the time difference down a notch. As we made our way through the final feed point I received news that Brandon was now 1minute ahead. I pushed on, trying to make up time wherever possible. I eventually had to settle for 2nd Overall (pro) and 1st Junior (u18) around 90seconds back on Brandon. Andrew Hill rounded off the podium a further 4minutes back. Big ups to Brandon, he is coming onto some amazing form and I wish him the best of luck for the up and coming Ultra Marathons!

I'm super happy with where the form is and how it is coming along. with only 9days to my world Championship race I definitely have a very positive frame of mind. I just have to keep my head clean and ignore any distractions that may present themselves. I leave South Africa with the South African XCO and DHI team on Friday and should arrive on Saturday afternoon! Which leaves plenty of time to check out the course and get dialed in. I also hope to meet up with my Mentor, Burry Stander, to get the "low down" on the course.

Pheww! Exciting times!!

Stay tuned

Brendon

Focus, Focus, Focus

Hey Guys

with little over a week until my trip to Switzerland, my excitement, as you can imagine, is at an all time high. Training is going really well and I'm now in my last really tough week. I guess all that's left is to stay safe until the race, keep eating right, stay healthy and stay focused on my goal. I will be racing my last race in SA this coming weekend, using it as a "Race Simulation" for World Champs.

I managed to find this really cool preview of both the XCO and DHI events that are going to be held at Champery. Awesome to see my mentor, Burry Stander, dominating the mens XCO race in the clip. click the link below

World Champs Preview


Enjoy
B

World Champs Prep

So I've been back in the country for 2 weeks now, and as you all know World Champs is only a few weeks away.

These past two weeks have been THE toughest weeks of training I've had in my entire career. Many people don't see the sort of training and dedication that goes into being a professional cyclist. Nutrition is closely monitored, Training, on the bike, often takes up half your day. Recovery is also a crucial roll in getting in quality training. The better you recover, the better you can train the next day, which results in a better outcome when it comes to a race. Mental strength is another key roll of pushing yourself to the next level, pushing through the surface of the pain barrier, teaching your mind to tell the body to keep going. This past weekend I proved to myself that I could do all of these despite a long tough week out on the roads.

The Eston Illovo Race is the largest one day event in the world. A highly prestigious race that attracts many of South Africa's best Professional Mountain Bikers. Riders like Burry Stander, Max Knox, Marc Bassingthwaite, James Reid, Brandon Stewart.... then list of these animals goes on and on.. and on.

Being my first race in the colours of new sponsor Sho-Air/Specialized Factory I really wanted to have a good result, but was totally unsure of how my legs would hold up after the hard weeks training. So, I adopted the approach of, "Go until you blow!" With a junior XCO race only lasting between 1h15-1h30, it was my goal to stay with the big boys until then, anything longer than that was a bonus!

With the first KOM of the 60km race only 2.5km into the race, the heat got turned on really early. The attacks leading up to the final sprint were furious, but I managed to cross the top right on the wheel of Burry Stander, around 5th or 6th. A ferocious counter attack came from Max Knox directly after the summit. Burry seemed to cruise across the gap along with Brandon Stewart. I bit the bullet and pushed to get to the 3 man break. I latched on but pretty soon the race resumed with around 10 riders. To my surprise top riders like Marc Bassi and Mannie Heymans were off the back, but there wasn't time to worry about what was going down behind us. The group hit the next tough climb around 10km in. The bunch split up, with me being ridden off the back. Somehow I managed to ride myself back across the gap, back onto the wheels of the now 8 man strong lead group. This happened one or two more times, but both times I was still able to push the pain away, grit my teeth and, well, GO!

Then came one of the most deciding climbs of the race. Around 25km into the race Max Knox attacked hard. All of us followed, but were soon ridden off by the like of Burry, Brandon and Max. James Reid and Phil Buys were just behind with myself, Marc Bassi and Andrew Warr right on their tails.

I managed to drop Marc and Andrew and began to try and close the gap up to James and Phil, who had now lost a little time on the 2 leaders, Brandon and Burry (Max suffered a puncture). Max managed to close back up to me, and to my surprise I was able to climb with him until he suffered another mechanical. Andrew Warr had also worked his way back, along with Andrew Hill. Unfortunately at around 50km my legs, well, EXPLODED! Andrew Warr managed to get away leaving Hill with me. This is where I had my realization. I just kept pushing on. As hard as it was, I just kept on going as hard as possible. Eventually around 5km later I had managed to shake Hill and was now closing on Warr. I eventually came in 6th Pro/Overall and 1st Junior/u18.

I'm totally ecstatic to have been able to battle it out with the top pro's for some of the race. The race also showed me where my weaknesses are and how I can improve on them. The new bike, a Specialized S-Works Epic 29er, was an absolute dream! Falling more and more inlove with this machine every time I ride it! Big thanks to Sho-Air and Specialized for hooking me up!!

A huge congrats to Brandon Stewart for bringing home the win, to Burry Stander for sprinting home in 3rd after snapping the one side of his bars completely off in a crash around 5km out and most of all to the organisers for putting on another fantastic event!

Until next time
B

Junior mens podium

long hours on the roads in prep for worlds!

Its good to be home

Hey guys,

Well, now that I'm back in RSA, final preparation is WELL underway! Its my last couple of super intense weeks before heading over to Switzerland for the UCI World Championships!

Oh, and incase you havent heard, I'm now under the colours of US based team Sho-Air/Specialized Racing. The guys from the team have been really awesome, with only 2 days left in the States, they were able to get me the Specialized Epic S-Works 29er, along with a bunch of kit, bottles, apparel etc!! A huge thanks to Scott Tedro, Ty Kady and Johnny Muller. Johnny is the brains behind the amazing remodel of my blog!! looking really cool!!

I also need to thank my previous sponsors, Team Jeep South Africa and Ellsworth Bicycles. They were both willing to release me from contract to join the new team. Jeep has been alongside me for the past 5 years, and I always had amazing support from them, to Max, Clint, Bex, Bron and Sarah for your amazing support and loyalty to me as an athlete, I thank you! I really appreciate the endless hours that you put into the team! It did not go unnoticed. To Johann Wykerd (Ellsworth Importer) I thank you for the opportunity to ride such an amazing brand. The Ellsworth stood strong the entire season, never letting me down. I still believe that the Ellsworth is an awesome piece of racing equipment.

I will be leaving for the USA almost directly after returning from Switzerland on the 6th of September. I will be heading out to Las Vegas for the 2012 Interbike convention, where our new pro team will be officially announced. I'll then stay over there until december, where I will return to RSA to complete the remainder of my Base Training, enjoy some family time over Christmas and my Birthday, and then head back over early February where I will start my 3 year contract with the amazing setup that Sho-Air/Specialized have.

Check out a couple of photos Darren Goddard got during a photoshoot in the new kit.

Windham World Cup, New York Trip, and some catching up!

Hey guys

Man, I apologise for such a late update on the Windham World Cup. But as I'm sure you all heard, it didn't go off smoothly to say the least.

Everything started off extremely well! Windham had an awesome course, beautiful scenery, good riding and of course, I was reunited with some South African friends! It was amazing being able to spend time with familiar faces and our time together soon became even better when none other than Mr. Casey Williams joined the crew!

Practice on the wet course went off pretty unhitched. It wasn't until Thursday (2days before the race) that things took a turn for the worse. While doing a fast lap of the course I came into one of the rock gardens, only to see that some oblivious spectators were standing in the line. In an attempt to miss the spectators I tried to move across the rooted/rocked out section, into another line, but in the process I slipped on a root which sent me straight to the ground. I fell so fast there wasn't even time to put my hands out nor time to try to tuck 'n roll. My face met the floor with a loud thud, followed by immense pain. Before I even knew what had happened I found myself sitting in a pool of blood. My nose had broken and I had a couple gnarly lacerations on my cheek and nose too. I dont know what I was thinking but out of nowhere I decided to put my nose back in place, which was shortly followed by a loud "click" and a heap load more pain.

So we made a trip to the doctor, where my obvious broken nose was x-rayed. The images were pretty crazy. The left part of my nose, where the cheek and nose meet, looked as though someone had taken a hammer to a windscreen of a car. I was also suffering from some intense pain in my right hand, which the doctor diagnosed as a mild dislocated "pinky" finger. So with a little 'pop', and a little 'click' i was ready to try take on the remainder of the day before my early morning appointment for a check up. Friday morning came, and the doctors room was where we were headed. Dr. Schneider walked in and pushed on my nose a couple times, I thought he was seeing if it hurt for me, then, out of the blue, he pushed hard and my nose made a super gnarly crack. He had pushed my nose back into place as it was still slightly skewed from the previous day. So again, I was sent on my way. A chilled couple of laps were done on Friday, before kicking the feet up for the day.

Race day was upon us. Saturday, 5pm, was when I had to put my set-backs behind me and give it everything. I lined up 3rd in a small, but super fast junior field. The 8 fastest Juniors in the world were on the front row, which meant a podium spot was going to be a very hard fought result! The gun went, pandemonium broke loose, the group of 30 juniors dived into the first corner. I got pushed wide after a good start and came out of the start loop around 15th. The long climb began to split the field up which left some really big gaps for me to close down as I began to work my way back up. At the top of the climb I had moved into 4th, but 2 riders up front were starting to open up a small gap. We hit the first single track but the gap to the first 2 riders kept opening. As we approached a double track section I made a pass on the rider ahead in an attempt to try close the gap by myself. Unfortunately after making the pass I was rammed from behind, causing my hanger and derailleur to twist. I stopped to try and fix the problem, but could only get the derailleur to work in 3 gears. I managed to time trial my way back up to the leaders, which were now all together, before the end of the first lap. Lap 2 is where my day really started. As we wound our way up to the top of the course, the group whittled down to 3, but I really began to hurt as we approached the steepest climb of the lap. I was forced to jump off and run. I began to drop positions rapidly, but I tried to stay positive and make up time on the technical sections I was able to ride. Unfortunately the race got worse with every lap. I was forced to run almost all the climbs as I was simply too tired to push the gears that were usable on my bike. In the end I was nearly an entire lap behind the leader. A very disappointing result, but a valuable learning curve.

Sunday then came round, which turned out to be one of the most memorable days of my entire life. Caitlin de Wet, Casey and Kim Williams, Alexis Ryan, Rachel Campbell and I made a trip down to New York City. WOW, what a city. It was really cool to be inside one of the busiest cities in the world, to feel so small and insignificant amongst the hustle and bustle of "The Big Apple" was just mind blowing.

We tried to cram as much of the major attractions into our day. Visiting the Statue of Liberty, Battery Park, Wall Street, Ground Zero and a number of the memorials, The Empire State Building, Central Park and Times Square!!! To see so much of such a crazy city was incredible. The Empire State Building had to be one of the highlights of my NY trip. To get to look out over the entire city, to have a ride on the Sky Ride ( an IMAX roller coaster)and to just be around good people is a memory that could never be replaced. Central Park was the host of one of my best memories of my ENTIRE US trip. We all hired beach cruiser bicycles, which had anywhere between 2 and 6 working gears, and decided to go 'cruise around Central Park. Well.... Casey and I soon went of the tarmac and were bunny hopping over logs and rocks, finding drop offs and messing around.... until..... a mildly serious man on a TT bike came blazing past. This was too good to be true, an opportunity to race on cruisers! we left the others in our wake and rode onto the wheel of the TT rider. A rather nasty climb came around which was where Casey and I tried to make our move, which ended up lasting a whole 30 seconds or so.

Now with fond memories from NY, I've just got to Missoula, Montana. Last weekend I gave my support to Casey and the kids from EXPO racing at the US national championships. This coming weekend is my last race in the states and final round of the Pro XCT National series. Then its back to SA, before jetting off to Switzerland for World Championships!

Until next time
ciao

4th of July in Albany

a rather excited Casey

Subaru Cup - Wisconsin

Hey Guys

Wow, times been flying since I've been here in Milwaukee. I've been running around this entire week tryna sort out a new race wheel which I destroyed on Friday last week while doing a practice lap of the course.

After stressing like a mad man, the Subaru Trek Team came to the rescue with one of Emily Batty's spare race wheels. The guys were super helpful and very accommodating. A huge thanks needs to go out to them for helping me out, without you guys I wouldnt have been able to race at all on the weekend. They slotted the wheel in and I was back onto the track to get some more practice.

I felt pretty tired on the bike after a super tough weeks training, but felt like I had the course dialed in. I made my way back across to the Team EXPO camp site. Before continuing I need to give a huge shout out to Gus, Papa Ted, Riley and all the other people helped me out with accommodation and shuttling. I really appreciate the help you guys did for me, you really made the stay in Wisconsin an awesome one.

so, most of Friday afternoon consisted of me running around after a wheel, but once the riding was out of the way I spent the entire afternoon lounging around in the campsite with good friend and fellow Junior competitor, Casey Williams. By the next morning I was pretty well rested and super amped to hit the race with everything I had. Being a Pro XCT (NORBA) I was not allowed to race up in the Pro/Elite Category, which meant my race was around 11:00 (Pro Cat 1).

The field was pretty big, around 100-120 riders in total. I stood on the start line, literally shaking in my socks, waiting for the siren to sound the start of my 4 lap race. I managed to make a good leap to the front, from there I decided to hammer as hard as I could at the front of the pack. The tactics seemed to work, I'd opened a good 5 second gap over the front runners before we hit the hardest and longest climb of the track. By the end of the first lap, Casey Williams and I came through together, around 30 seconds ahead of the field.

I made my move on one of the steeper climbs on lap 2, opening the gap up to around 1min over the next lap as I headed into lap 3. Over lap 3 I managed to stretch the gap out to around 1:45 and felt really strong heading into the last lap. The last lap began to get really tricky. The lines had changed drastically, switch back corners on the climbs were getting super loose, and the fact that there were 100's of Cat1 men and women back markers ahead made racing really tricky. Many of the people would not give way in the single track, mainly due to the fact that they thought I was a late charging back marker trying to make unnecessary passes. This didnt help the fact that a hard charging Casey was coming through the now "alert" field. My lead began to whittle down fast and before I knew it he was on the same switch back climb as me, just one contour below.

I made one last, super big push up the final technical climb to try open a small buffer before hitting the single track to the finish line. Fortunately it worked out, I crossed the line around 25 seconds ahead of Casey.

Results Pro Cat 1 (overall)
1. Brendon Davids
2. Casey Williams (+0.26)
3. Max Houtzager (+1.30)
4. Payson Mcelveen (+2.40)
5. Jake Richards (+4.00)

Then came the Short track on Sunday. A discipline that I have never raced in. Our starting call up was based on the results from the previous day-meaning I was the first seeded rider, and would have first pick at the start line.

The short 900m track was open, and fast. Meaning one thing.... HARD racing! The gun went for the start, I slipped a pedal, nearly went over the bars, dropped to the tail end of the field, and caused a huge crash in the process. I managed to get going and had to claw my way through the field. I rode on the absolute limit for 3 full before eventually meeting the back of the lead group of 4. Casey was laying down the law and making us all bleed to hang with him. Around the half way mark (8minutes in) I went to the front and went as hard as I could. I managed to whittle the pack down to 3, with Casey a little off the back. One of the Cat1 u23's then made a major attack, which no one wanted to bridge, I saw it as a window of opportunity and went for it. I bridged the gap and as soon as I caught him I countered, catching him by surprise.

I managed to hold my lead for the final two laps, crossing the line 5 seconds ahead of Josh Johnson (Pro Cat1 u23) and around 25seconds ahead of the next junior.

A huge thank you needs to go out to the following people for helping out and for making my stay in Wisconsin so awesome! Gus, Christie and Pappa Ted ( Expo Racing ) for hosting me before and during the race as well as the endless help my entire stay. Subaru Trek Factory Team for the spare race wheel that they gave me for the racing. Without them the race would have been impossible to do! Riley Kopesky and his family for hosting me the week after the race! They Really made my stay super comfy and stress free! Johann Wykerd for helping me out with a hub, even though I'm on the other side of the world!! I really appreciate the help from each and every single one of you!

Now I'm in Windham, NY. The course is really cool. Super tough, but fun!!! Will get some images up ASAP!

B