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

 

Lynford Classic - On the UP

Hey guys

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until Next time
BDiz

Long Overdue Update

Hey guys

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

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

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

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

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

Until Next time

B

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.

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