The Fall of a Legend... My Hero. RIP Burry Stander

Burry Stander... A name synonymous with success, with pride, with South Africa and more recently, with heart break. Burry was and still is an international icon to millions around the globe.

Yesterday, Burry was struck my vehicle and pronounced dead. Its strange, even typing this does not feel real. Burry, to me seemed so invincible, untouchable, wonderful. Watching him race was always a highlight, no matter what happened out on track, he would always rise to the occasion, proving to all, a fan or not, that he could do whatever he set his mind to.

I was fortunate enough to spend some time with the legend. Burry helped mentor me, coach me. He gave a lending hand when I needed one and was ALWAYS willing to give me advice, and, as Im sure you could all imagine, his actions made fall in love with him as a fan. Not many people can say they had the privelege to ride with their all time hero, let alone spend some time in his home, or in the gym with him. Racing alongside him, or more likely, behind him, was always humbling.

To Burry, I pray that you rest in peace, and that you may guide and give a protecting hand to your beautiful wife, Cherise, and your entire family. I thank you for the short time I was able to spend with you, and I will cherish every memory.

Thank you, Burry.

Brendon

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

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!!!

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

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

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

Pro XCT 1 - Mellow Johnny's

The first round of the Pro XCT (formerly known as the NORBA series) was held down in Dripping Springs, TX. Pua Mata and myself made a somewhat eventful trip down to Texas on Monday, 27 Feb. To start things off, around 2hrs into the trip, the turbo on the Sprinter van blew. This resulted in us crawling down the freeway with Trucks rolling by us as if we were standing still. Then came the long wait once we had found a dealership to replace the part. 6hrs later we eventually rolled out of Redlands and began to make some serious progress on the road, but this too was short lived. Rain began to pelt down, then came some snow, then came wind storms, then came sand storms, then came sand storms with rain, it was absolutely crazy! After a brutal day on the road, we pulled into a hotel for the night, got some rest and hit the road first thing the next morning. The next day and a half of driving went by pretty smoothly and we eventually rolled into our accommodation in Dripping Springs.

Over the course of the next few days I put some time in on the new S-Works Epic 29 from Specialized. A few slight changes to the 2012 line up means the bike is lighter and stiffer, trust Specialized to better an already amazing bicycle!

The Epic rolled over the super technical terrain with ease, which left me in a really positive and quietly confident state of mind as race day was fast approaching. With Friday being the final day of practice before Saturday afternoons Pro Mens event, it would be my final opportunity to dial in the rocky, technical terrain. I burnt a couple laps out early on in the day before heading back to our house to kick my feet up for the remainder of the day. Dinner time rolled around, which presented a pretty surreal situation. Ben and Eric Bostrom (Team Sho-Air team mates), two motorcycle legends that both my brother and I had spoken about when we were kids, made the entire team a delicious pasta dinner. I also got to hang out and hear some of the stories from the Boz Bros early days of racing.

A good nights rest and a late sleep in left me feeling super rested going into race day. With close on 80 riders I was a little nervous to see where I'd actually be called up. Ty, Team Sho-Air manager, soon learnt that I was seeded 41st, which put me on the 5th or 6th row, and with a course as tight and twisty as this, my work was definitely going to be cut out for me. Another huge factor that was looming in the air, was the fact that this race was going to be an Olympic Qualifying event for both the Americans and Canadians, meaning all the top guns would be here. Max Plaxton, Todd Wells, Geoff Kabush, Jeremiah Bishop, Sam Schultz, JHK, Spenser Paxson, you name them, the best riders in North America were there!

The start was mayhem and utter carnage. We sprinted our way towards the first single track, which was only a few hundred meters down the road, causing massive bottle- necking, allowing the riders at the front of the pack to get away and put in an almost impossible gap to close back down. I was able to work my way up into 25th after the start loop, and so my battle to get to the front end of the race began. By the end of the 1st lap I had moved up to 18th and I was still reeling in riders. I made passes wherever possible, sometimes aggressive, sometimes upsetting the applecart in the process, but it was the only efficient way of me working my way up through the field. By the third lap I was up to 12th with a group of 7 ahead of me.I made a push to get onto the group, when I eventually latched onto the group, I was surprised to see the likes of JHK and Spenser Paxson as well as Ryan Woodall and Russel Fintsterwald all in the group. I then got news that Sam Schultz and Jeremiah Bishop were a couple seconds up ahead of the road. JHK launched an attack shortly after I caught onto the group, leaving the rest of us to battle it out in the dust. Going into the final lap I was sitting around 8th, but a hard charging Adam Craig put me into 9th shortly after. Then came a series of attacks from myself and Spenser Paxson (Jamis Factory), this catapulted us off the front of the group and resulted in us battling it out as we were approaching the finish line at a rapid rate of knots. Spenser managed to open a gap in the final single track after I made a silly mistake, but I was able to recover and regained contact as we popped onto the finishing straight. He started his sprint early, I countered and began to reel him in and started to come around him, but I simply had left it too late. I ended up 10th Pro and 1st u23 after one of the hardest and most epic days on my bike ever! one major confidence booster for me was the fact that every rider that finished ahead of me is an Olympic hopeful for 2012, so Im insanely happy with my ride.

Tucked in behind a Kenda/Felt rider, B.Boz on my wheel. (right side)

Spenser Paxson and I battling it out.

charging on the last lap.

A huge thanks needs to go out to everyone from Team Sho-Air/Specialized. Ty Kady had the tech/feed zone dialed, Johnny Muller was the best supporter out of anyone, hands down! Ben and Eric Bostrom taught me a lot, and who better to take lesson from!!?? Pua rode an amazing race, going from 16th to 3rd in the Pro Women's race. I have no doubt he would have won had she started in the front...

Stay tuned for the Bonelli Pro XCT post coming shortly!

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.

Scorcher - SA National XCO Series Opener

Hey Guys

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