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

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

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

State Side - My 2nd home

If you guys didn't know already, Im back in the States to begin my first full blown season as a Professional Mountainbiker. My first major race is on 3 March, down in Texas, The Mellow Johnny's Pro XCT. The week following that Im racing the 2nd round of the Pro XCT series here in California at Bonelli Park. So as you can tell, I'm have a pretty insanely crazy schedule at the moment.

Friday we're having our first team photo shoot of the year here in OC. Im pretty excited as we'll be getting some more new gear and I'll get to test out the new steed for the first time.Let me just start off by saying that it is one PRETTY bike! Im ecstatic to be on the S-Works Epic 29 again for 2012. Thanks to Specialized and Team Sho-Air for providing me with the best equipment for the task that lays ahead.

The new baby.

The new Jakroo Team kit is insane

So, after my last race in South Africa, the first round of our national series, I flew back to the States, and what a trip! SHEESH! A nine hour flight to Dubai went by pretty fast, but once I got onto the flight to the US... lets just say my entire mood took a turn for the worse. A very large man occupied about 98percent of my seat, this was fine because there was an empty seat to my right, but when I went onto move the arm rest so I could use the spare seat, the lady two chairs down from me (which actually turned out to be the enlarge man's wife) put her feet up onto the spare seat. So I sat in the most unbelievably awkward position for around 16hours. So my trip back here was a little bumpy, but since I've been back, life has been really good. It's been really awesome to catch up with my team managers, my room mates and friends. The training is also going super good, I got back yesterday from a couple days of hill training around my girlfriends home town of Ventura. The riding out there is absolutely unbelievable!

O well, just thought I'd hit up a post before heading out for my ride!

Catch ya later

B

Super stoked to be award my South African National Colours for representing South Africa at World Championships last year.

2012 - LETS GO

Let me start off by saying HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Wishing yo all a phenomenal year ahead!!

2011 has come and gone... What a year it was for me. I found myself racing all over the globe against the Worlds top athletes, I was selected to represent my country on a couple of occasions and I managed to wrap up the African Continental Championships. However, the Highlight of my year came in around June/July, where I was approached by one of my childhood "dream teams," Sho-Air/Specialized Factory Racing. As you know I have signed a three year contract and will be racing mainly in America for the first year and hopefully onto Europe and the full world-cup circuit in the years to come.

This past season wouldn't have been made possible if it weren't for some very special people who helped me make my dreams a reality. Firstly my parents sacrificed a lot to get me where I am today, without their help, guidance and support, the simple fact of the matter is, I would not be racing a bicycle. Then my ever supportive brother, who always encourages me to follow my dreams and make my own tracks in the sands of time. Kyle, you're the best!

Burry Stander has also been hugely instrumental in helping me achieve what I have over this past season. Being one of the Worlds best riders, Burry has been able to give extremely knowledgeable advice. A huge thank you needs to go out to him for all the help he has given me!

The folks from Team Jeep South African were and still are a very influential part of my life. Team owner, Max Cluer, taught me everything I needed to know, in order to achieve my dreams of being a professional athlete, from an extremely young age. Co-Owner of the team, Clint Morck, IS ALWAYS behind me whatever I do, and even though I no longer race in the colours of Team Jeep South Africa, he is still willing to drop everything to help me out! He's taken the roll as my 2nd father.

The folks from Ellsworth USA helped me out tremendously upon my first trip to the USA, which made my life far easier, and made the adjustment to the States extremely easy. Then comes a very special family, a family that have unofficially adopted me when I'm in America, The Williams'. They're my family away from home, and they treat me as one of their own, they even support me at races as if I was one of their sons!!! You guys rock!

Team Sho-Air/Specialized helped me out greatly at the end of this season. Two days after signing the contract with the team, all team equipment, clothing, bike etc. arrived at my accommodation, on the opposite side of the American continent!! They then flew me back out to the States after the World Championships in Switzerland, where I met up with my best bud/room mate, Johnny Muller (Marketing for Team Sho-Air), my Team Manager, Ty Kady, My Team Owner and MAJOR car enthusiast, R. Scott Tedro, as well as my new team mate, Pua Mata (ultra endurance super star). Scott has put me up in an amazing house along with Johnny and his girlfriend, for the past 3 months, which will continue to be my base for the 2012 season.

While in the States I met some pretty spectacular people, and got to ride with some of the fastest people on two wheels, with names like Todd Wells, Brian Lopes, Sam Schultz, Ben Bostrom, Sid Taberlay, Ned Overend.... sheesh, the list could just go on and on... So I'm guessing you can gather I'm SUPER excited for this coming season!!!!!

The 2011 season was definitely one to remember, in my books it was a good season, but there is a lot of room for improvement. I have had a drastic re look at my training for the upcoming season, have modified it, with the guidance of my mentor/coach, Burry Stander, and I am confident in the way things are building up for my first Pro XCT (formerly known as the NORBA series), in mid March. Having had international exposure over the last year, I am more motivated than ever and I'm itching to get back over to the US to sink my teeth in my first season as a Professional Mountain biker. There's no doubt in my mind that its going to be tough, REALLY tough, but it's gonna be one amazing experience. 2012 is here, it's time to take charge.

Until next time guys

Stay safe and keep it rubber side down.

B