Fun in the Dark - Energizer Night Race

After taking my time I’ve finally pulled finger and pushed out this blog of this years Energizer Night Race. After having missed the past 3 years of this fantastic event, I decided that myself and Kendall had to make it to this one before she left for the States. We zooted up to Johannesburg along with the Travis Walker and Paddy Belton fromTeam Jeep South Africa.

Upon arrival, I noticed that the scale of the Night Race had been lifted considerably from the previous year. Lazer shoes, music performers, fire breathers, drum corpse, you name it, it was there. Eventually we were able to pull ourselves away from the mesmerizing entertainment to get in a quick spin on the first 8km of the 20km loop. The race would consist of two laps of the simple, but fun 20km course, meaning one lap for each of the partners. Racing the mixed category, we decided it would be best to send me off first in order to give Kendall the best opportunity at holding off any other teams, leaving her with a relatively clear route.

As soon as the light seeped away into the horizon, the race begun. After a good start, I managed to get a jump on two of the favourite teams for the overall victory. James Reid and Phil Buys had teamed up against Trav Walker and Patrick Belton, two ferociously fast teams. Things looked good until my gears jumped which resulted in me nutting myself on the stem and almost wiping out the thousands of other riders that were in tow. I managed to recover fairly quickly and regained a good position in the lead group of 3. I sat comfortably behind Patrick and James before follow and countering an attack by Patrick, not reading the situation properly, I opted to sit up and let things come back together… This proved to be a very stupid mistake on my part. Less than 100m down the road, my lights came loose. I tried to follow the wheels of the other two, but it proved to be too difficult. I stopped to tighten the two lights, losing precious time and almost dropping a position to Fritz Pienaar. Once the lights were tight and in place, I put the hammer down and as Patrick would say, “went full retard.” I took a couple really risky decisions, but soon found myself a second or two behind the lead group after one of the single track sections. Then disaster struck for Paddy. He bit the dust, letting James pull a sizeable gap into the next section.I managed to squeeze by Pat and start to chase down James who had now opened up a gap to about 30-35seconds. Single track started to get interesting with Patrick behind me, his light over powered mine, creating a shadow of my figure right in the line of where I needed to see in order to ride the single track. After a while we managed to figure out a reasonably good method and began to claw our way back to James. We came into the finish area with James a mere 10seconds ahead of us. This sent Kendall out in 2nd/3rd overall with Travis Walker.

Then came the long wait to see whether Kendall, a first time night rider, could hold off the competition. Well, she did, and in grand style too. Not only did she hold onto our mixed category lead, but she held onto our 3rd Overall position, only a few minutes behind Travis and Philip Buys.

A massive thanks to all involved for such a fantastic event! Max Cluer always has his events dialled and this one was no different.

Now come some heavy prep for the 2013 season. I have some awesome news in the pipeline which will be announced in the next few days or so.

Until then,

B

 

ROAD TRIP - Lord of the Chain Rings

Well its been a looooong time since I did a blog post, I kinda felt a little burnt out on it, but I've come around and have an exciting adventure to share with you all.

To get you all on track, Im going to run you through what has happened the last couple weeks since my last post. I've done a few long rides to kick off the base season, and was invited to the annual Lord of the Chain Rings stage race, which is nestled in the mountains of the Eastern Cape, in a picturesque little town called Hogsback. After hearing only good things about this event I decided to take the opportunity and teamed up with Team Jeep South Africa athlete, Travis Walker.  This was a VERY last minute decision, so far so that we only decided that we were racing together the night before we left. I was originally meant to ride with Patrick "Patrice" Belton, but due to his age, I had to do some shuffling around with some partners. We were left with a slight problem though... Kendall was left without a partner now for the mixed race. With T-Minus 12hours until we embarked on our trip, Mark Malherbe (Coffeeberry Momsen) came to the rescue.

Tuesday morning we were up before sparrows fart, packing the car, loading the bikes and getting a few odds 'n ends together. We picked up Mark and hit the road at around 6 hoping to get to Hogsback by around 3:30 - 4:00. This plan went horribly wrong, it seemed that our Garmin had the sole purpose of taking us on GNARLY dirt roads to get to Hogsback. Just before reaching Mthatha, the Garmin had us turn off onto another road, thinking it was a truck route we decided to take it but it eventually lead us onto a dirt road. Being in the spirit of "The Road Trip" we decided to press on with our adventure. The road began getting worse and worse, eventually becoming some serious 4x4 territory. The Jeep got us through the other side unscathed, but needles to say, there were some times we thought we were going to be camping somewhere in the country side of the Eastern Cape. We finally reached our destination, the quaint little town of Hogsback, after about 12hours of being cooped up in the Jeep. We nestled into the local backbacker for the night, before moving into the amazing accommodation supplied by the organizers at the Arminel Hotel & Guest Lodge.

Stage 1:
After an awesome day of relaxation at the Guest Lodge, day 3 of our trip dawned. Ahead of us lay a 61km stage, with 1450m of vertical ascent. We were all a little worried of the main climb of the day, Mitchell's Pass, nicknamed Mitchell's Arse (Mark Malherbe), was a BEAST of a climb, with gradients touching 40% in places. It was a 7.5km relentless drag which would be baking in the sun.

We rolled out at 7:30 with a short neutral zone to keep things under control before turning off the main road. Immediatley a small group of 3 teams managed to separate from the field as we began to roll towards the first piece of single track.  After studying the route, the night before,  I realized that the single track would be a good place to make our first move. We hit the single track relatively fast and popped out the other side with a massive gap to the next two teams.We decided to take full advantage of the gap, riding hard for short periods of time to continually open the gap. Eventually we had opened our gap up to around 2-3minutes before making our initial descent down Mitchell's Pass. We took the descent down the rutted pass pretty cautiously and once we hit the bottom, decided to take the 20km loop easy before wacking the climb back out the valley at a decent clip. Long story short, we took it a little too easily. Once we started the climb back out the valley we heard that our gap was now around the one minute mark. We kept things cool though, and road at a steady tempo up the climb, by the time we reached the top of the gruelling stretch of "Mitchell's Arse" we had managed to open the gap up to four minutes. After cresting the summit we began to take turns pulling each other, and before we knew it, we were rolling in for stage number one, with a gap of 4:32 over the second team.

So we pulled on the yellow jersey that night at prize giving, and called it a night.

Stage 1 - Coming into take the win

Stage 2:
This is the day Trav and I decided to make our own. With a massive 15km climb that ended around 14km from the finish, we knew that is where we would be able to make or break the race. Being the longest of the 3 stages, we felt a little nervous, but felt confident that things would play out well for us.

The neutral zone lead us towards the first short climb, around 3km in. Immediately a small attack came from the right, but didnt last very long. With a tricky single track section approaching I decided to put in a short surge to test the legs of the other teams, it seemed to work, I opened up a small gap but allowed for it to get chased down before putting in a real attack. Travis and I positioned ourselves at the front of the pack and put a small attack in right before the single track. Seeing as how we managed to open up a gap in the single track the day before, we decided to do the same, only this time we would ride at a lower tempo, to allow us to keep fresh while the other teams were chasing back. From then on we made the decision  to push harder on the descents, open up a gap, cruise on the flats, recover while the others were chasing, then hammer once we saw they were struggling to bring the gap any closer. This worked. Very well. By the second water table (40km) the gap had opened to five minutes. Thats where the BIG climb started. We took a little time to get into the climb, but we then started to climb at a really good pace. We took a slight wrong turn, but after a minute or two, the locals got us back on track. We continued to make our way up the snaking switch back climb, that lead us out of the valley and back into the clouded pine forest. We made a short stop at the third feed-zone, but soon got under way. We motored up the last little stretch of the climb, crested it and sprinted toward the finish line which was now only around 10km away. The last 10km blew by us and we crossed the line for our second stage win. Now came the wait to see how far behind the second team was. Fortunately for us we had managed to take the win by around 25minutes, giving us the overall lead to us by around 29minutes.

Going into stage three, Trav and I felt pleased to have a comfortable lead over second, but we both knew in the back of our heads, that anything could happen in the third and final stage. To quote Travis, "You can never have too much time in stage racing."

Stage 2 - Neutral Zone

Stage 2  - The start of the BIG Climb

Stage 3:
Donning the yellow jersey for the 2nd day in a row, Travis and I felt quietly confident that we could retain it until the end, although both feeling a little uneasy for some unknown reason. Although the stage was meant to be easy

"Oom" Charles Stander and partner, Nikki Smith, lead us out in the neutral zone. Once the lead vehicle pulled off, the racing commenced, furiously. Patrick Belton, Team Jeep South Africa, kicked hard out the feed zone. Having not raced the previous days 77km stage, he was able to set a blisteringly fast pace. Travis and I managed to close the gap to him at around the 5km mark and we were now opening up a sizable gap to the group that had formed behind us.  At around the 10km mark we came to a section where course markers lead in two different directions. We opted to follow the markers in which the camera man and spectators were filming and encouraging us to go on. Things then went horribly wrong from there, and 8km later we were back at the finish line.Yup, two spectators had told us to go on the finishing route instead of the main loop of the day. This was exactly what we DID NOT need to happen. After standing around for 10minutes or so we were told to back track the route and get on with our racing.  So, needless to say, we raced. HARD.  At water table one we got news that we were close on 50minutes behind the leader. There were times in that stage where both Trav and I went into some pretty dark places. I would offer Trav a push and about 45minutes later Trav would be offering me a push. We dug really deep, and by water point three (40km) we were around 20minutes behind the leaders with only 21km to go.  But after having raced the previous two days our leg were stating to feel a little flat. Patrick managed to get away from us after I dropped my bottle, and needless to say, we didn't see him again. We then began to climb the final major pass of the climb, and Trav began to go into the hurt locker. I gave him a little push and he soon found his legs again, but then came my turn. My fork went completely solid on "The Rocky Descent," as it had now become known, which sent my hands and biceps into absolute agony. Upon reaching the bottom I was forced to stop for a minute or two as I bundle up into a ball of pain on the side of the road. We eventually got going and started to close into the finish, to both of our delight. After 76km, an extra sixteen more kilometers then we were meant to do, we crossed the line in 7th for the day, 13minutes behind the eventual winners of stage 3.

Thankfully we had won the Lord of the Chainrings. After a hard fought day in the saddle we had managed to win the overall race by just under an hour over second place. It turned out that they had also gone wrong at the same place we had gone wrong.

The weekend also brought another medal into our household. My girlfriend, Kendall Ryan, teamed up with good friend, Mark Malherbe, for the mixed category, and after winning day one of the race and gaining the overall lead, they suffered terrible mechanicals on the second and third stage. With a snapped derailleur cable on stage two and a pretzelled rear disk rotor on day three, the soldiered through to finish second to Hanlie Kotze and her partner!

A huge thanks to all involved who made our trip to this race possible. To Max Cluer for pulling some strings, to Jeep South Africa for the awesome Jeep Cherokee, to Travis Walker who was an unbelievable team mate and friend, both on and off the bike and  to Andrew Hugo and his entire team for the amazing organization and coordination of the event. It was an absolutely brilliant experience!

Stay tuned for some videos of our trip!!

Until then B

Stage win #2

Overall Gold medal

Catching Up from the homeland

Life in my homeland of South Africa has been pretty awesome since I arrived back in September. The racing scene has been relatively quiet. The trip back to South Africa has really allowed me to chill out a little bit and hit the reset button after long time away from home, racing across the U.S of A as I made my first real dig at becoming a professional mountain bike racer. Being back at home has really let me relax a little and have some fun. Don't get me wrong, I loved racing overseas, and my ass is absolutely itching to get back, but coming home and hanging out with family and friends. Thats priceless.

I am fortunate enough to also be spending my holiday back in RSA with my girlfriend, Kendall Ryan. Yes, she's a California girl. Its been rather funny watching her do backflips at the very sight of a monkey or any other wild life that occasionally passes by us.  Ive also managed to ween her off of her skinny wheeled race bike, and I've got her shredding on the dirt! Yup, she's quickly becoming beast on the mountain bike, always wanting to take the route with the MOST singe track/trails.

We've also been able to participate in one or two races since Ive been here. The last of which was the Kwambo Lion Classic in Zululand.  After waking up at sparrows fart last Sunday morning, we made the three hour trip to Kwambonambi, a VERY small town on the North Coast of South Africa. Part of the MiWay Big 5 mountain bike series, the race was really well attended, with the three series contenders  showing up to do battle. Still a little groggy from the trip, I zombied around the registration area, walking from table to table mindlessly. Before I knew it I was on the start line ready to go. A blazing fast 50km lay ahead of us, little did I know how muddy it was going to be. 

Around 10km into the race I put in a small effort to test the waters and somehow found myself opening up a gap on one of the short steep climbs. From this position I was able to ride my own race and pick out the most accessible lines through the deep mud, that covered 60-70% of the race route. I rode at a steady tempo for the next 15-20km, managing to open the gap up to around a minute. As I approached the 35km mark, I decided to give it the absolute beans and try open up a bigger gap. The tactic definitely worked, I soon got word that I had opened my gap up to well over the two minute mark, and I was now in the final 8km of the race. I went into TT mode, I came in hot to a fork in the road, where a marshall stood with his back to me. Assuming that I was meant to carry on going straight, and bypass the swamp of thick, stinky peanut butter goop that went to my left, I put my head down and kept charging. At the last second the marshall yelled to me to make the turn, I mad a quick decision to turn left which resulted in me getting horribly cross-rutted, and sent me down like a home-sick mole. I came down hard on my left shoulder and leg,  a sharp pain radiated from my just next to my shin bone. The adrenaline took over and I found myself lurching out the mud like some form of swamp monkey. I flung myself back onto the bike and carried on pushing through. Unfortunately, my leg was in excruciating pain, and I was forced to soft pedal the final few kilometers in. To top it all off, I got caught by two of the series contenders with around 600m to go. Although a little flustered, I though that I might be able to out wit them coming into the finish, as I had ridden it a couple times before the race. We came into the final 300m, one corner left, a tight ninety degree left and a short 50m burst to the line. I swung out really wide before the turn, after the other two got the jump on me.  But the speed I was carrying when we hit the final straight allowed me to close the gap that they had on me. Sean Merridew and I crossed the line together, with Guylin van den Burg in 3rd. The win ended up going to Sean by the narrowest of margins. That was definitely the closest finish I've had in a VERY long time.

Kendall managed to destroy in the women's race. She won convincingly by over 5 minutes.

Since then things have been pretty mellow I'm about to take a short break before starting my prep for the 2013 season. A huge thanks needs to go out to Bobby Behan and the guys here at Specialized South Africa, for hooking me up with an awesome 2013 Specialized SL4. Took it for a spin and it is by far the best road bike I've had the opportunity to ride! Im excited to get in many happy miles as the base "season" approaches.

Until next time

B

Lynford Classic - On the UP

Hey guys

Good news!! After nearly two weeks of being man down with illness, I finally managed to shake the bug and recover enough to give the Clover Lynford Classic a bash. Although I hadn't had much riding in the previous week due to the heavy rains that lasted an entire 4 days, I was still amped to throw my leg over the Spesh Stumpjumper S-Works and brave the muddy conditions.

Up bright and earlier on Sunday morning, myself and the family made the trip down to the race, in the small town of Ixopo, just outside of Pietermariztburg. The Lynford classic has been one of the longest standing events in the province of KZN. With its massive backing from Clover as well as being one of the most well organized classics in KZN, the turnout is good year after year, and it was no different this time round, even after all the rain that occurred in the weeks leading up to it. With only 200 pre-entries, it looked like it was going to be a poor turn out, but the beautiful weather the day of the race made everyone come out of the woodwork.

With a 9am start, it allowed us to get to the race a little later than the previous week.  There an icy chill that hung in the air from the cold weather that had swept through area weeks before. One thing was definitely evident about the race that lay ahead, there was going to be mud, and lots of it. Even the car park was caked up with thick sludge that had began to harden. Perfect racing conditions in my eyes.

So we rolled out of the race venue at 9am sharp. Carl Calvarley, Roan Exelby and Craig Stone were to name but a few of the racers vying for the top spot at the race. From the get go, Carl attacked hard, about two kilometers into the race we hit the first climb. I countered Carl's attack and managed to open up a gap. From there on out I didn't look back and remained focused on riding my own race and protecting my equipment through the mud. After the first 28km loop I had managed to open up a gap of two minutes. As I went into the second loop of 15km's I eased up the pace a little as the mud became extremely bad. This allowed Carl to close up the gap to around 45seconds. I managed to see the gap between us where the course double-backed on its self. Still feeling fresh, with only seven kilometers to go, I hit the final climb. A steep brute that wound its way back around the mountain, back with in sight of the race venue. I hit the climb hard and pushed the pace until I reached the summit. A short two kilometer descent to the finish lead me to the overall win, just over 2min30s ahead of second place, Carl Calvarley.

I'm still pretty happy with how the race went after being extremely ill earlier in the week before the race. I'm finally healthy and I'm starting to feel stronger, day by day. This weekend is inaugural Jeep Hill2Hill Marathon, stretching from Hilton and ending in Hillcrest. This is one of the biggest events on the calender and I'm hoping to have a good "Maiden" marathon. Yes, its the first time that I'm going to be participating in the marathon event at Hill2Hill. Needless to say, I'm a little nervous, but I'll take it one pedal stroke at a time.

Wishing everyone out there this weekend and awesome ride. Have fun and be safe!

Until Next time
BDiz

Long Overdue Update

Hey guys

Sorry for the extremely long overdue post. After Wisconsin I was on my feet running around before heading back to South Africa.

The race in Wisconsin was very disappointing. I suffered major mechanicals from the start loop. My chain kept dropping off the big ring, down in between my bottom bracket (BB) and small chain ring. This resulted in my cranks locking up and me having to stop to try and pry the chain out of the gap. A suffered from this reoccurring problem, lap after lap, and eventually went down hard as a result of it. I popped my left shoulder, but determined to make it through the race I soldiered on, before it happened again with one lap to go. I ended up getting pulled off as a result of the 80% rule. Very disappointing to have trained so hard and to have a horrible day out due to mechanicals. The short track went better, although I was caught in a crash on the start line. I ran in 7/8th for the majority of the race before fading a little to finish just outside the top 10.  Still a result I was fairly happy with!

Then it was onward to Cali. After rushing around a couple days I was able to squeeze in an awesome little coffee stop with Steve Blick, Oakley Boss Man. Its always great to spend time with Blick and I appreciate him taking the time out of his busy schedule to hang out and talk with me.

Now came the crappy part of the last two weeks. 5am wake up call to make it to the airport before heading back to sunny SA. I arrived at the airport at around 7am, with a flight that was supposedly leaving around 9:45. To my disgust I found out that the flight had been cancelled weeks before, I had not been notified by anyone about the change of flights, which was now at 16:30. I no longer had my US phone, so I couldn't contact anyone about my dilemma, thus began my wait at LAX. I eventually boarded my plane to Dubai, slept some of the way, tried counting all the little lights that lit up the sealing to give the inside of the plane a "starry night" effect. Made it to Dubai, had a nine hour lay over before flying to Johnannesburg, then got to Johannesburg and had a further six hour delay, before flying to Durban. So to sum it up, my trip consisted of around 55hours of absolute hell. To top things off, I ended up becoming horribly sick after all the traveling. My system had taken an absolute beating and had succumb to a nasty cough that seemed to be worsening each day. I tried riding one of the days I returned, but it seemed to make things worse. So I took a rest in an attempt to be ready for the Stihl Umko Challenge that was just around the corner.

I felt I had recovered enough for the race, but once that had started, I realized that although I was recovered enough to do the race, I had been off my bike for over a week. I seemed to not have any power and felt pretty flat throughout the race. So to sum up the race... I started relatively well... I felt good but as soon as the pace was lifted I couldn't respond. I was able to get myself into third overall and was able to ride just hard enough to retain that position. I ended up taking a few more days off the bike and feel a lot better. Ive picked up my training again and hopefully I'll be back in top form for next weeks Hill2Hill.

Until Next time

B

Its GO TIME!!

Wow, how amazing was the XCO racing at Olympics?? Please tell me you watched it!!!

This year South Africa sent 3 riders, one female and two male riders, and needless to say all three of them did the country extremely proud. Burry Stander i think has to get the most aggresive rider award!! after watching the highlights of the race, I got chills seeing him bury himself into the ground to catch back up to the leader and in the end only missing a medal by a mere 4 seconds. Philip Buys and Candice Neethling went to their first ever Olympics and both rode their socks off!! Although I was extremely disappointed that it wasn't a fellow South African taking the win in the mens race, I was somewhat relieved that one of my idols, Jaroslav Kulhavy, of the Czech Republic took down Nino Schurter in a sprint for Gold!!!! What was also impressive was the fact that Specialized had 3 factory rider in the top 10, with Todd Wells brining it home in 10th!

So as Im sure you can all imagine, Im extremely excited, motivated and ready going into this weekends Pro XCT finals at Mt. Morris, Wisconsin. Its a course I absolutely love and one that suites my strengths. I managed to take the win last year in the junior race in both the XCO and the short track, I plan on having a good trip there this time around too.  After a rather sluggish race at Colorado my coach, Jim Lehman and I had a look to analyze and improve on the motor I had built up from the marathon racing. He adjusted the program and ramped up the speed work, which has definitely left me feeling a lot more confident going into the UCI Category 1 race. This however, does not mean the racing is gonna be any slower. Olympian, Todd Wells is going to be there and possibly Sam Schultz. Not to mention the other fast kids  such as Russel Finsterwald, Howard Grotts and Jack Haig. Theres definitely going to be a major battle.

Then Im off to South Africa on Wednesday, with my girlfriend, Kendall for a couple months. Im excited to catch up with my family and friends, its been far too long. Unfortunately I wasn't selected for world championships, so I've turned my attention to some big race back home before taking a little break and possibly coming back over the pond for cyclocross season.

So just  short post to let out some of my excitement. I'll definitely be hitting up a post on the Wisconsin course as well as how the race played out.

Until then, guys

B

Burry leading the charge!

JAROOO!!!

Catching Up

Hey guys

Just a really short and sweet update. Nothing much has happened since my last blog post. Ive spent a lot of time up in Ventura and Big Bear as I prepare for the final round of the Pro XCT series later this month. Im pretty excited about it, as it is my favorite race on the North American calendar. Hopefully I'll get to see some of you at Mt. Morris, Wisc. The crowds last year were INSANE and definitely made the racing super fun!!

Im currently still up in Big Bear, getting in some altitude training on both the road and mountain bikes. It always blows my mind how much fun the trails are up here, one thing that definitely hurts every time is the altitude. Fortunately I've acclimatized now, so the riding is far more enjoyable than cruising around with your lungs fighting for oxygen.

Also, I wanted to notify you guys about my Facebook, Athlete page. I'll be posting regular, SHORT updates on what is  going on in my day-to-day life, whilst doing race reports and longer posts on my website, here. So, if you haven't given my page a like, click on this link, Brendon Davids - Athlete , and give it a like.

Other than that, not much else has happened. Ive just been training my ass off, and loving every second of it.

Until next time
Stay safe,
B

Back on Track

Over the past few weeks, as you all know, I have been on the road with the team, with the last stop being in Missoula, MT. Home to recently crowned US National XCO Champion and Olympian, Sam Schultz.

The Missoula Pro XCT is renowned for its technical climbing and defending as well as the famous "A-Line" drop. Being one of my favorite courses on the circuit I was super amped on the race that lay ahead. The punchy, steep climbs are very well suited to my riding style on the mountain bike and the technical descents, again, play into my hands extremely well.

The week leading up to the race was perfect. I felt extremely dialed in on the course, although lacking a bit of the explosive power needed for the course, I felt fairly confident going into the weekend. Jordi, Specialized Factory, insured that my bike was absolutely perfect for the race. The rest was left up to me, and me alone.  Race day rolled around, and with the extremely late start around 6pm, it meant I was going to be getting in a lot of "chill time." It definitely provide some sort of new challenge for me. To remain focussed and concentrated on doing absolutely everything to ensure you do not waste any ounce of energy throughout the heat of the day was tough, but I felt I managed to do it well.

The race eventually rolled around, after what seemed like an eternity. There was just one thing that seemed to be bothering me. Having raced so many of the longer, marathon style races, I could definitely feel I was lacking a little of the "snap" I usually had. But, I was quietly confident in my descending and endurance to hold myself in a good position through the end. 

The whistle went, and we sped into the first climb. Somehow I found myself surfing through the bunch with ease, and soon was alongside Todd Wells, JHK, Sam Schultz, Russel Finsterwald and Howard Grotts as we punched our way up the mountain side. A dropped train, due to a bad shift, dropped me down the group a little, but was still inside the top 10. From there, things got very, very difficult for me.    I simply did not have the power to close the gaps back down, I made the only smart decision possible and that was to keep calm and try force mistakes from other rides on the descent back down the mountain each lap. It ended up working. Almost every lap I would make a pass on the descent, only to lose it on the climb, but by staying calm and loose, I was also making up ground of riders further ahead of me too.  On the final lap I was able to force a mistake from Ryan Woodall, and moved into a top 10 position. I ended up crossing the line for my second top 10 finish in a Cat 1. UCI Pro XCT race this season. Although the race was VERY far from good in my books, it was awesome to get a good result after not feeling that great on the bike during the race. A huge thank you needs to go out to Team Sho-Air for helping me get across the country and ensuring that I have a good support structure at the races. Another BIG thanks to Specialized bikes for the flawless machines I am lucky enough to race on! 

Now its a big build up to the final round of the Pro XCT series, at my personal favorite race course, Mt Morris, Wisconsin. I have very fond memories from my success there last year and hope to repeat it. For now though, its train, train, train back here in Cali. 

Until next time.

B

Hitting the drop in practice on Friday.

After two hours of sleep the night before, and a 4hour flight back to Cali. from Montana, I took part in the Pro Criterium in Domiguez Hills. I went on the attack from the word go, and didn't stop.

Road Trippin' and This&That

Well its been a while since I did my last blogpost. I apologize, as I'm sure you all know,  we've been on the road since Colorado Springs. So things have been really busy.

So, to pick up where I left off. We hit the road after an absolutely amazing stay in Park City, UT. and meandered our way to another mountain biking destination town, Sun Valley, Idaho. This picturesque little town, nestled in the mountains played host to both the 2011 and 2012 US National MTB Championships. As I'm sure, many of you are wondering why on earth I would be at the US national champs, since i couldn't race it, being South African. There were still other races that were part of the entire festival the the town of Sun Valley combines with the national champs. The Galena Grinder, the fourth stop of the Pro UET series, was one of the races that were part of the festival.

I was granted free reins for the Galena 50miler and decided to take the race by the horns. With me sitting in third in the series, and the #1 plate only a couple points away from my reach, a good result would leap frog me into the series lead with one round to go. The race went off perfectly. I managed to get a gap on the first climb, and never looked back. The only mishap I had was the need to go for a 'natural break' halfway into the first loop of the race. I ended up taking my first professional marathon win as well as the overall lead in the Pro UET series, ahead of Tinker Jaurez.

Brining it in for my first Pro UET win.

One thing I have to add to the topic of the Galena Grinder, is how well run and how perfectly manicured every detail of the race was. The course made great use of the mind-blowing trail network and balanced the race out with some brutal climbs only to be rewarded with some of the most amazing single track I've ever ridden. Well done to everyone who made such a big effort on this event!!!

Next up for me was the fat tire crit which was again, one of the many festivities put on at the Ride Sun Valley Bike Festival. After getting caught with my pants around my ankles last year, when most of the racers showed up with full road tires on their 29er race rigs, I decided I would do the same. So long story short, the organizers insisted that we race with 'fat tires' since it was a 'fat tire crit' right?? No problem, fortunately for me, team manager, Ty Kady, had thought ahead and brought along a set of super fast rolling Maxxis Maxlite tires.  We slapped them on and headed back to the start/finish area. As we arrived on the start line, to my surprise, there were some guys rolling up with road tires once again. I n act, there were only four of us with mountain bike tires on, Todd Wells, Tobin Ortenblad, Brady Kappius and I. So off the bat there were some very dangerous guys with skinny wheels, Carl Dekker and Brandon Gritters were to name a few. So from the get go, I tried attacking off the front to possibly get them while they were off guard, but I soon established that they had the same idea and within a couple of laps, the bunch had been whittled down to around 10 or so.  Then with around 10minutes (+2 laps) a dangerous attack came from Carl Dekker (Giant Factory Off-Road Racing). He opened up a huge gap on the hard chasing group, which now had been whittled down to 4. Todd and I took turns pulling at the front as hard as possible, but we simply couldn't close the gap. It had become a race for 2nd, and with two laps to go, I got in the perfect position to jump for the line. I came out of the final corner on the back of the group and began to wind up my sprint. Todd had managed to get the jump as we entered the corner, and was now barreling down the finish straight away. I began to come around the riders, but then Brandon Gritters started his sprint, punking all of us at the line.. Third went to Todd and I unfortunately came in 5th. Awesome thing was I got to race against one of the best World Cup XCO racers in the US, got to rub shoulders with him, attacked him, got attacked by him and was humbled by him. That to me was far more satisfying than the actual race.

Working with Todd to try bring back Carl.

I then took on the support roll at the US Nationals, helping out with feeds, moral support and some occasional heckling.

We're now in Missoula, MT. for the 4th stop of the Pro XCT series. Hopefully I can make up for the horrible race I had in Colorado Springs. The course is fun and technical. Should be fun.

Until then
 B

While in Park City I took the win at the Utah State Championship series, and took home a hefty check!

The good and the bad

Hey Guys

So over the last week and a half we've been on the road from California. We started our trip on Monday last week and made our way towards Colorado Springs, CO.  Johnny Muller, team mate , Cody Phillips and I took full advantage of the fairly early start and drove our way straight into Utah, and stopped at a rest stop on the top of some mountain road. We crashed there for the night, got up SUPER early the next morning and began driving. And driving. And Driving. John then decided do a lunch stop at the traditional, Subway. This then turned into an easy spin around the area, which then lead us to some swim bathing in the Colorado River.

So at this point, the trip had gone as follows. We had made unreal progress the first day, covering close on 800miles. Then the second day, well, that was a different story. Once we had made the lunch stop that was only meant to be around 15minutes, we started up with the other activities and ended up losing a couple of hours in travel time. We drove for barely a few hours after that and pull off at a nice little rest stop in the Colorado Mountains. Cody and I went walking around, bought a horribly cheap fishing rod, which in the end didn't end up working, Cody shaved his legs, which is the most rare occurrence on the planet and we actually got him to eat a salad, which is the second most rare occurrence on the planet. Jokes aside, we had a pretty chilled day, got to hang at the river and enjoy each others company.

Day 3 of the road trip came around, and we made a beeline straight for Colorado Springs. We arrived at the Ute Valley Park in the early afternoon and went straight out to check the course for the weekends Pro XCT race. Cody and I went out in search of the course, and after a few frustrating wrong turns, we eventually figured out the course and were on our way.  The course was fantastic. A true XCO course and one of the best I have ridden in the States. It was real technical and had some short punchy climbs, with the longest being around 90 seconds long. Needless to say, I was super stoked on the course, I felt it was pretty much taylor made for me and feeling some really good form coming along, I was super confident heading onto the course.

The more time I spent on the course, the better and smoother I began to feel. I was still stuck between racing the Stumpy or the Epic. The Epic would definitely save some energy and make me faster over the rough slough, but the hard tail would give me some extra snap up the short, punchy climbs. A tough decision, but after some laps on the hard tail, I felt a little beat up from the rough stuff, so I bit the bullet and went with the Epic.

Over the course of the next few days I dialed the course in on the Epic 29 and by the time the race rolled in I was confident in both my ability and equipment. As Im sure you've gathered from the title of this blog post, the race didn't end up going good. I had a call up around 20th, which had me on the third row. I managed to work my way up to sixth on the start loop, and sat nicely tucked in behind Adam Craig, Todd Wells, JHK, Sam Schultz and Finsty. I felt great as we hit the main climb of the day, and held my position through the rough technical single track that made its way to the second climb of the track. We hit the next climb and out of know where it felt as if I were riding in thick, goopy peanut butter. At first I couldn't figure out what was going wrong. At first I thought I had blown my rear shock as the rear end seemed to moving around way more than it should've. I then thought it was all in my head so I just tried riding through the race to try and salvage some points. After pulling back one or two riders on the last lap, I crossed the line in 25th overall. A VERY disappointing result. I couldn't figure out what had gone wrong, was it over training? was it malnutrition? I simply didn't know, and what frustrated me the most, was the fact that I had felt amazing all week leading up to the race. Then, team manager, Ty Kady, noticed something horribly wrong with the rear swing arm of my bike. A massive crack had formed and was flexing a considerably amount, which caused a major loss of power. Unfortunately, it could not change the result of the race, but the race is now in the past. Ive had to put the issue behind me and focus on the final two rounds of the Pro XCT series.

The great thing is, Specialized, being the company it is, replaced it right away and had a swing arm delivered here to Park City. It's really awesome to backed by such an awesome company and I really wanna give a mad shout out to both Specialized and my manager for being so on top of things!!

Sunday was the first ever XCO Eliminator here in the States, and I was excited to make up for the horrible day I had had before. Heat one I was up against the previous days winner and all round powerhouse, Ryan Trebon (Cannondale). I attacked real hard from the gun, but soon was caught by Ryan, who had brought along another rider. I sat up to relax, Ryan attacked, but I knew that there was still one more qualifying spot for the next round. As we approached the "Wall," which so happened to be an 18 percent grade climb for around 35m , I attacked the other rider hard and came in second behind Ryan, and ultimately rolled through into the semifinals.

Semifinals I was somehow up against Ryan again, as well as Rotem Ishay (Jamis Factory) and a rider from the Giant Factory Off-Road team. Off the line it was a major fight for Ryan's wheel. I managed to edge the Giant rider off the third wheel, which was Rotem, who sat right behind Ryan. Ryan attacked again at the exact same spot, but this time we were ready for it. We sat on his wheel as we descended to the foot of the "Wall" which ended onto the finish straight. Ryan kicked really hard, I followed his wheel and managed to get rid of Rotem. Ryan ended up crossing the line with me right behind him. Unfortunately this meant I wasn't in the final, but it did mean I would be fighting it out for the 5th spot.

The "Small" final was the race for 5th overall. It went pretty smooth and planned out perfectly, well almost. I attacked right where I had planned, opened up a gap and held it as we hit the finish straight, but somehow, mud had lodged in my cassette and caused my bottom three gears to jump horribly. I tried standing to sprint for the line, but was forced to sit down and try ride it out as best I could. Unfortunately, I got caught at the line. Although I just missed out and was seriously peeved about what had just happened, I was immensely happy with how good I felt, which definitely made me feel a little different about how the race went the day before.

Monday, lunch time, was spent with my coach, Jim Lehman. It was the first time Ive actually been able to spend some quality, one-on-one time with him. I need to thank him for taking time out of his schedule to go riding with me, and it was really awesome to talk and learn from him, as well as get to know him better.  We got talking about the future and what it may hold, and things look promising. Needless to say, Im excited! That afternoon we did a shop ride for an awesome new place called Cafe Velo. Its a totally rad store, and caters for anyone and everyone. As the name suggests, it has some really good coffee, great food and a really cool bike display. If you're in Colorado Springs be sure to check it out.

We're now in Park City, Utah, and as is tradition with the team road trip, it didn't go off entirely smoothly. While driving through Wyoming, the gale force winds caught the awning of the RV and ripped it open. We pulled over to get the awning rolled back up. Cody and I held onto the awning for dear life while Ty tried to roll it back up.  Well we're now set up here at the foot of the 2002 Winter Olympic mountain, and after having ridden some of the trails here, my mind has simply been blown. I'll definitely be posting pictures.

Until next time
B

Big Bear Pro UET 50

Hey guys

Im writing this post from our accommodation in Colorado Springs as I prepare for this coming weekends US National Pro XCT #3. A short note on the course, the track is awesome, really awesome. Its probably one of the best I've ridden so far, with a rad amount of technical riding.  Theres not as much climbing as I would like, but the amount of technical riding makes up for it. I love it!

So onto last weekend. Although Im not a marathon specialist, myself and the team opted to race the Pro UET in Big Bear last weekend for a number of reasons. 1. Was to help team mate, Eric Bostrom, try to retain his number one ranking in the Pro UET series. 2. To race at altitude before heading over to race my favored discipline of XCO in Colorado, and 3. With the 50miler fitting in perfectly in my new training regime, it would prove to be great conditioning for the up coming XCO races, allowing to build a "bigger engine" so to speak.

I went up to Big Bear right after the Sagebrush Pro UET in an attempt to get used to the high altitude. Needless to say, the training blocks/weeks leading up to Big Bear were absolutely brutal, a few of which were tipping over the 20hr range. The altitude definitely took its toll, but by the time the race rolled around I was confident that I was fully acclimated. The only thing I was unsure of was how I would hold up on tired legs.

Race day rolled around and we were greeted with a glorious day in Big Bear. The sun was out, not a breath of wind and clear blue skies. Team orders were the same as Sagebrush, protect Eric and try follow/pull him up to any attacks made by Tinker or any other championship contenders. Although the weather was absolutely perfect, there was still one thing that would work against the riders, the heat. By the time we started the race, the heat was already becoming a little uncomfortable, couple that with the thin air and the 50miles that still lay ahead, it was gonna be a tough day.

The start was pretty mellow as we rolled out of the parking lot area and cruised towards the first climb of the two lap 25mile course. As we hit the foot of the climb, a surge from Tinker and a younger rider went off the front. I help back, hesitant to see if Eric would be able to roll up to the front of the bunch so we could begin to reel the move back.  Unfortunately after a couple of minutes I had to make the decision to try reel back the gap by myself, I soon found out however, that it was gonna be a very long, tough day for me. My legs felt really heavy but fortunately I was able to hold a good consistent pace and was also able to rely on my technical skills to pull back the break.  Half way through the first 25mile loop, I had pulled back the 2minute gap the leaders had opened up, and managed to get by on one of the steep sections. I unfortunately made a silly mistake after getting my feed bag and dropped all my bottles. I stopped to pick them up, and in the process, dropped bag down to third. Not having much on the climbs, the two managed to open up another gap, I managed to stay calm and rode the gap back over the course of the 2nd lap. Tinker gapped his brake away companion early in the 2nd lap, I began to feel a little better and soon caught the rider in 2nd. I immediately attacked and started to bridge up to Tinker who was around 2minutes up the road. I caught him at the feed station with around 8miles to go, and so began a game of cat and mouse. I started to suffer a little with the distance, which allowed him to put his endurance to good use. He edged away as we approached the final descent into Big Bear, but the super rough, XCO type single track allowed me to eat away his gap at a rapid pace. I soon found myself in his dust and still closing the gap down.

Unfortunately, he managed to hold me off by around 30seconds by the time we reached the finish line. A little unhappy with my result, but still confident after having had such a gnarly training block, i was able to leave the race pretty psyched about the upcoming pro XCT. Pua once again destroyed the women's overall and finished in the top 10 of the men.

Now we're on towards Colorado Springs, where I hope to have a repeat of Texas.

Until then,

B

Sagbrush safari and some general catching up

So a week or so ago I had to man up and do the Sagebrush 50miler Pro UET in order to help team mate, Eric Bostrom, to get a good result and hopefully stay in contention for the overall title. The task seemed daunting. Two laps of a really tough 25mile loop which would end up totaling code on 8000feet.

Sunday came around, and to our surprise race favorite, Tinker Jaurez (Cannondale Factory) was not on the start line. Unfortunately he had suffered from a crash the day before an had broken a rib. Although the news wasn't good, it presented the perfect opportunity to get Eric the win and put some points between the other riders in the hunt for the number one plate.  

By the time we rolled off the start line, the temperature had started rise. This played perfectly into our tactics as we eased our way into the first climb of the day, a steep two mile pavement climb into the first single track. I did a couple of hard surges to split up the field, as well as force Eric's main rivals into the red zone early on in the race. The plan worked perfectly. Eric sat in and waited for the pace to ease up, the other riders followed my wheel and soon fell off the pace, once that happened I eased up just enough to allow Eric back onto my wheel. From there on I paced Eric for the rest of the race, making sure that he felt good and protecting him from mechanics at all times. On the final lap Eric started to lock up a little with cramp, but he soldiered through like a true champion, and some how we managed to keep opening up a gap over the chase group. We ended up crossing the line together, giving Eric the win and the overall lead in the Pro UET Series. With me finishing 2nd, it put some points between himself and the other riders in the chase for the title. So all in all it was a PERFECT weekend. A huge thanks to the team, and to Ty as well as John for all the help over the weekend.

After the race down in Sand Diego, Ty sent me up to Big Bear to stay with my "USA Family" the Williams' to get in some altitude training. The stay here so far has been nothing short of awesome. I've had perfect weather to train in, apart from two days of snow, but other than that its been awesome. This weekend is the 3rd round of the Pro UET series up here in Big Bear, so hopefully we can keep the ball rolling after the awesome success of the last race.

Other than that not much else has happened. Colorado Pro XCT is just around the corner, and preparation is going extremely well, so needless to say, Im excited.

Stay tuned for updates over the coming weeks.

Regards

B

Full Speed Ahead

Hey guys,

Just a quick update to let you all know that Im back on the bike, and have been training  since mid-last week. My knee is holding up really good so far, and it doesn't seem to be causing me any pain. I'd like to thank Dr. Terry Weyman of CSI (Chiropractic Sports Institute) For the rehab done to my knee as well as the frequent readjustments to my body. He has a tip-top facility with a highly impressive Hyperbaric chamber... an injured athletes best friend.  If you're ever in the LA area, head up to Thousand Oaks and have a check up, its worth it, trust me.

Onto racing....This weekend will be my first weekend back racing. I'll be a wingman for Eric Bostrom at the Sage Brush Pro UET 50miler. He is currently fighting it out for the top spot in the series, so I'll be there to help him through the day and to try help him get the very best result possible.

Then I'll head up to Big Bear for some altitude training before my next major race, Ute Valley Pro XCT, Colorado. This will be the major deciding race whether I will be racing in Montana and Wisconsin for the final rounds of the Pro XCT series before flying home on the 22nd August.

There will be some smaller "Conditioning" races, along with some Marathons, to help keep the racing edge in-between the Pro XCT's.  I will also be going to Sun Valley, Idaho. To have some team bonding at the US National Championships, as well as race the Fat-Tyre Crit in downtown Sun Valley. Ive got a score to settle with that race.

Other than that there isn't much news. I'll keep you all updated on how things are going. Keep an eye out for the race report on Sage Brush. Its gonna be tough, my first marathon, should be interesting.

Until next time,
B

update

Hey guys

Just wanted to keep you all in the loop. Unfortunately I had a small spill over the weekend and sliced my knee down to the tendon. Although the laceration required stitches, I am fortunate enough that the tendon did not receive any damage.

I'll be doing some rehab off the bike for 10 or so days with some time in the hyperbaric chamber as well as some laser therapy at Dr. Terry Weyman, from Chiropractic Sports Institute.

Although the time off the bike is driving me crazy, i think it was definitely a blessing in disguise. Heading into the next round of the Pro XCT series (6 weeks away) I feel more motivated than ever!

I'll keep you all updated on how I progress with the knee!

Regards

B

Reasses and Reload

Hey guys

Last weekend was my first ever Sea Otter Classic, and as Im sure you can imagine, I was unbelievably excited to race against some of the Worlds best mountain bike racers.

Team mate, Pua Mata and I made the trip up to Monterey on the Wednesday before our first race (Friday).  Before I knew it, we were rolling into the world famous Laguna Seca raceway, a race track that I've heard of since I was two bricks and a stone high. I'd watched races of my now teammate, Ben Bostrom, when he raced World Superbikes on the Ducati team. It was a truly spine tingling feeling as we rolled into the pit area.

The immense size of this event was flabbergasting! Venders were crowded by people trying to see the latest and greatest products that were on display by the various bike manufactures, eyewear and clothing companies. It was awesome to bump into long time friend, former manager and fellow South African, Max Cluer, in amidst the hustle and bustle that is the Sea Otter Classic. I also got to meet up with Burry for a few minutes after his long haul direct from Europe.

Over the course of the next couple of days, I got some preriding in on the 20mile, single loop XCO track, then Friday rolled around, Short Track race day. The short track course was, well, short... around 650-700m long, with on short kicker climb, and NO room for overtaking. Oh, and man was it super bumpy!! Never mind that, I was fairly confident as we lined up. I had a second row start and the inside line to the first corner. Off the start I had good positioning, but as we approached the first, off camber corner, the rider to my inside cut down onto the main line viciously, causing my to unclip and stumble onto the first climb. I dismounted an ran up the short kick, but had lost a great deal of time on the leaders. From there I went as hard as possible for more then half the race, but once I realized I was out of contention I eased up and held my position to the end, not risking anymore aggressive passes.

Saturday was the Pro Mens XCO race. A single loop of 20miles, with 3500ft of climbing. With a field of some of the world's best xc riders, such as Burry Stander, Todd Wells, Geoff Kabush, Sid Taberlay, Sam Schultz, JHK to name but a few, the racing was gonna be fast and furious! Positioning onto the dirt was going to be very crucial after completing the long tarmac start loop.Fortunately I hit the dirt in 3rd, right on the wheel of Sid and Burry. The pace soon got hot, leaving the main group of riders shattered and strung. I was lucky to be sitting in the lead group of around 15 or so. We sped into a climb, appropriately named "The Wall", the group became extremely strung out with a couple of riders getting a gap over us. Max Plaxton, Geoff, Sam, Sid, Burry and Todd were now slightly off the front. I was now in the second group of 6 or so riders along with JHK, Derek Zandstra and Spencer Paxston. Disaster then struck. In amongst the thick dust, few  miles down the road, a rock flew up from the front of the pack and smashed into my front disc brake, bending it pretty badly. At first I thought it had merely hit a spoke or two, but soon it seemed as though I could barely hang onto the group. I stopped to loosen the actual caliper in order to give me a little less resistance until I could get to the tech zone, around 4 miles away. But even with the loose caliper, the brake was rubbing terribly and I began loosing positions FAST! When I finally rolled into the tech. zone I think I was very nearly in last place. Johnny Muller helped change my wheel and I was off. For the final half of the race I buried myself deep into the pain cave, but just couldn't bring myself back into the race, ending up in a lowly 49th.

I learned some valuable lessons at Sea Otter, although not a great weekend on my side, I feel I didn't come away from the race entirely empty handed. Definitely hard lessons learned.

Until next time
B

Bits and Pieces

Hey Guys

After the past couple weeks I was fortunate enough to spend some time with my brother, Kyle, who was flown out by Team Sho-Air to come and visit and see what my new avenue in life is all about.

Needless to say, there wasn't a moment we weren't laughing... From the second we picked him up from the airport I couldn't stop smiling or laughing... Over the course of his three week stay we tried to jam in as much as possible to try and make his stay a memorable one. I even got him to do a lap of the absolutely BRUTAL, Fontana City National race course, and if I'm not mistaken, I believe he said, " Dude, I now have mad respect for you cross country guys!" To be completely honest, I didn't think he'd make one lap of the track, partly because he was on a large, 16kg, 29er. I have to give him mad props for grinding a lap out with Team Sho-Air manager, Ty Kady, and I.

Then came our visits (two of them) up to Ventura for a change of scenery and of course, the all important introduction to my girlfriend, Kendall. While up in Ventura we managed to borrow a bike from the Ryan family, which enabled Kyle to get in some good riding. I have to again give him mad props for sticking out a couple 4-5hr rides along the coast to Santa Barbara, not bad for a downhiller!

road tripping to Ventura with Kendall

Kyle soldiered through a 4,5hr ride to Santa Barbara.

The second of our two visits to Ventura was definitely an exciting one. Over the Easter weekend, Kendall's mom, Mary, picked us up from our house in Santa Ana, drove up to Ventura, picked up Kendall and her two siblings, Alexis and Morgan, and made a beeline to Magic Mountain/6 flags to give Kyle a taste of some real roller coasters! The look on his face during the first ride was priceless. His face turned white and his eyes seemed to pop out of his head, he even let out a little whimper as we made the first drop. His state of terror soon turned into one of pure and utter enjoyment and by the end of the first ride he couldn't wait to get onto the next. Unfortunately due to the park being extremely busy we had to wait close on an hour to get onto each ride, but to be able to spend time with my brother was well worth it.

I am extremely thankful to Team Sho-Air Owner, Scott Tedro, and team manager, Ty, for making my brothers trip possible. The time with him was absolutely priceless and definitely gave me that much more motivation as the run into Sea Otter Classic is approaching. Another huge thanks needs to go out to the Ryan family, who put up the Davids' shenanigans for close on two weeks of his 3 week stay. And how could I forget, Johnny and Mari, my amazing room mates, thanks for everything while my brother was here, it really meant a lot!

Now with only 2 days till we embark on our trip to Sea Otter, I can't even begin to describe my excitement. My coach/mentor Burry Stander will be out there racing and my former team manager, and big brother figure, Max Cluer will be doing the honors of commentating. Its gonna be one awesome event, I can't wait to see some familiar faces!

I'll keep you posted over the next couple of days!

Regards

B

Fontana City National

Hi guys, firstly I apologise for not having done my blog post sooner! Things have been insanely hectic these past couple of weeks.

Since the Bonelli Pro XCT a couple weeks ago, I took an easy "recovery" week and went straight into my preparation for the upcoming Sea Otter Classic. In the midst of my hard block of training, the annual Fontana City National XCO was run.

With my brother having just arrived from South Africa to visit, I was keen to put on a good show. But racing on tired legs meant that the racing was just going to be that much more difficult. Sunday came around, warm and sunny, it seemed that it would be the perfect day for some racing. That was until the clouds rolled in, the wind picked up and the rain began to pelt down. The early races managed to make the most of the beautiful early morning weather, but by the time the Pro Men's field was lining up later in the afternoon, the temperature dropped and the rain started to spit.

I made my move off the start, and attacked the first of four brutal laps as hard as I could. On a course with 700-800ft of steep, technical climbing as well as tons of technical descending, I felt that riding the climbs hard would allow me to get a gap before we hit the descents. So the plan was to attack hard, and that's exactly what I did. By the end of the first major climb I had managed to open a gap of around 20seconds and decided to change my tactics up little. I would now be riding the climbs as hard as possible and reserving myself on the descents, keeping myself safe and out of trouble. As I approached the end of the first lap I lost control through a very fast sandy descent and went down like a home-sick mole. Dazed, confused and winded, I tried jumping back to my feet to remount my bike, but fell over gain, I guess I hit my head REALLY hard. Second place rider, Drew Edsall (Kenda/Felt Racing team) came by and thankfully stopped to make sure I was ok, I had fortunately regained some composure and decided to try carry on with the racing.

Going into lap 2 my head still felt a little dizzy, but that aside, I decided to get on with the task at hand. I attacked Drew on the same climb as I had the previous lap and managed to open up another gap. By the end of lap 2 I had a 40seconds gap, and continued to push the pace as I went into the penultimate lap, however, the heavens opened and the rain began to beat down on the rocky terrain. I rode the lap smoothly and made sure not to throw it away as the technical granite sections began to get a little more slick. Although I had taken the third lap a little more cautiously I had managed to extend my lead over the minute mark. I was now heading out into the final lap, and to my surprise, the course was surprisingly grippy. The only mishap was a couple of back markers in the latter stage of the lap which resulted in a couple of awkward/hairy situations while trying to make a pass, but everything went off perfectly and without a hitch. I crossed the line with the win, around 1min40 up on Drew. What made this win so much more special is the fact that it is my first Professional win... A HUGE thank to both Specialized and the entire Sho-Air team, my bike was absolutely awesome and the set up and backing from the team was insane! My brother did an amazing job feeding and supporting and I know that my parents were routing for me all the way back in South Africa! Thanks to everyone for all the insane support, it really means the world to me.

Now comes the final prep for Sea Otter... THE BIG ONE!