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