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!