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!!!