Woah, sorry for such a late post... things have been INSANELY hectic nice leaving South Africa a couple days ago!! Ive definitely hit the ground running here, new bikes, team photo shoots, new kit, team meetings and training have all been hectic. But I'm loving every second of it.
But lets get this post rolling.... Last weekend was the first round of our South African National XCO Series, which was held in Durbanville, just outside Cape Town. The course was an absolutely spectacular one, with more than 90% of the track visible from the Chris Willemse Cycles Store. The course was definitely one of the best I've ridden in South Africa in recent years, with a really good mix of climbing, descending , rocks, sand, drops and most of all, the most spectator friendly course I had ever ridden in South Africa.
Practice on Thursday and Friday went really well. The Epic29 was simply amazing over all aspects of the course, which left me extremely confident for the big race the next day. After my ride on Friday, I was fortunate enough to get a massage from one of the best in the business, Line Griffiths. Needless to say, she put me through the roof, but at the same time ironed out any bumps and niggles she could find, to ensure that I was 100% ready for the next days assault.
Saturday came around. With a 12pm start time, I had the entire morning to lay around, stay off my feet, and most importantly get even more focuses at the task at hand. We made our way to the track a little earlier than usual as I had to get my glutes taped/wrapped by Line' (the previous day she had picked up that I had sustain a slight injury from a big crash a couple days earlier) Line' worked her magic, leaving me feeling fresh and ready to hammer the 7 lap suffer fest that was fast approaching.
All the big names had come out to play, and to make the racing a little more interesting, the u23 category had been thrown in with the Pro/Elite Category. With a very short start loop and the u23's seeded at the very back a good start was going to be an absolutely crucial part of the entire out come of any ones race. At 12 pm sharp, with nerves running high, muscles twitching and heavy breathing, the start gun cracked. I had a terrible started as the door was closed on me around the first corner, leaving me nowhere to go but backwards. I managed to kick hard down the next straight away and was able to close back up to the front end of the field, before getting caught up in a crash. After hastily remounting my steed I was again held up by a crash ahead of me. After exiting the first single track I was around 18th Overall. As we hit the first climb of the lap I was able to kick hard once again, riding myself into the top 10 as we approached the first long single track section. Now in a relatively decent position, I was able to take a little time to recover before hitting the next climb. Burry and Phillip had already isolated themselves off the front of the race. A smaller group which both James Reid and Rourke Croeser (both u23)were in, had also formed around 10 seconds ahead of my group. Over the course of the remainder of lap 1, I fought hard to break through and break free of the large chase group that I was in. Going into lap 2, Louis Bresler, Renay Goustra and I managed to get away, and began to close down the gap to the next group.
I eventually managed to put a gap between myself and Louis, with Renay, who had bridged up to the next rider, James Reid, only a few seconds ahead. The roar of the spectators was rally insane, it honestly felt like a mini word cup with people lining the sides of almost the entire track! With two laps to go out of the 7 lap race, I dug deep down into the pain cave to try pull myself closer and closer to James, who was sitting 2nd in the u23 Category. The gap, to my surprise actually started to come down with around 20-30seconds between the two of us heading into the final lap. The last lap was going to be a make or break lap, with the traffic of lapped riders and the course now being super torn up, it could force a mistake from the best of riders. I got through traffic fairly easily and kept charging wherever and whenever possible, but unfortunately I crossed the line around 30seconds down on James, narrowly missing a top 5 Overall.
So I brought home a 3rd in the U23 Category, with Rourke taking the win and James coming in 2nd. I'm happy with where my form is at for this time of year, theres some room for improvement, but I have never felt better. Mellow Johnny's is only a couple weeks away, and BOY am I excited! Its gonna be my first time racing in the Pro Category at a Pro XCT, so Im not entirely sure of what to expect! Stay tuned to see how it goes!
A massive thanks to Clive Broekhuizen for hosting us at his house in Melkbosstrand, it was truly awesome to hang out and get to know his family.
Until Next time
B
photo's courtesy of Ray Cox
photos courtesy of Ehlers Smit
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