update

Hey guys

Just wanted to keep you all in the loop. Unfortunately I had a small spill over the weekend and sliced my knee down to the tendon. Although the laceration required stitches, I am fortunate enough that the tendon did not receive any damage.

I'll be doing some rehab off the bike for 10 or so days with some time in the hyperbaric chamber as well as some laser therapy at Dr. Terry Weyman, from Chiropractic Sports Institute.

Although the time off the bike is driving me crazy, i think it was definitely a blessing in disguise. Heading into the next round of the Pro XCT series (6 weeks away) I feel more motivated than ever!

I'll keep you all updated on how I progress with the knee!

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

Bits and Pieces

Hey Guys

After the past couple weeks I was fortunate enough to spend some time with my brother, Kyle, who was flown out by Team Sho-Air to come and visit and see what my new avenue in life is all about.

Needless to say, there wasn't a moment we weren't laughing... From the second we picked him up from the airport I couldn't stop smiling or laughing... Over the course of his three week stay we tried to jam in as much as possible to try and make his stay a memorable one. I even got him to do a lap of the absolutely BRUTAL, Fontana City National race course, and if I'm not mistaken, I believe he said, " Dude, I now have mad respect for you cross country guys!" To be completely honest, I didn't think he'd make one lap of the track, partly because he was on a large, 16kg, 29er. I have to give him mad props for grinding a lap out with Team Sho-Air manager, Ty Kady, and I.

Then came our visits (two of them) up to Ventura for a change of scenery and of course, the all important introduction to my girlfriend, Kendall. While up in Ventura we managed to borrow a bike from the Ryan family, which enabled Kyle to get in some good riding. I have to again give him mad props for sticking out a couple 4-5hr rides along the coast to Santa Barbara, not bad for a downhiller!

road tripping to Ventura with Kendall

Kyle soldiered through a 4,5hr ride to Santa Barbara.

The second of our two visits to Ventura was definitely an exciting one. Over the Easter weekend, Kendall's mom, Mary, picked us up from our house in Santa Ana, drove up to Ventura, picked up Kendall and her two siblings, Alexis and Morgan, and made a beeline to Magic Mountain/6 flags to give Kyle a taste of some real roller coasters! The look on his face during the first ride was priceless. His face turned white and his eyes seemed to pop out of his head, he even let out a little whimper as we made the first drop. His state of terror soon turned into one of pure and utter enjoyment and by the end of the first ride he couldn't wait to get onto the next. Unfortunately due to the park being extremely busy we had to wait close on an hour to get onto each ride, but to be able to spend time with my brother was well worth it.

I am extremely thankful to Team Sho-Air Owner, Scott Tedro, and team manager, Ty, for making my brothers trip possible. The time with him was absolutely priceless and definitely gave me that much more motivation as the run into Sea Otter Classic is approaching. Another huge thanks needs to go out to the Ryan family, who put up the Davids' shenanigans for close on two weeks of his 3 week stay. And how could I forget, Johnny and Mari, my amazing room mates, thanks for everything while my brother was here, it really meant a lot!

Now with only 2 days till we embark on our trip to Sea Otter, I can't even begin to describe my excitement. My coach/mentor Burry Stander will be out there racing and my former team manager, and big brother figure, Max Cluer will be doing the honors of commentating. Its gonna be one awesome event, I can't wait to see some familiar faces!

I'll keep you posted over the next couple of days!

Regards

B

Fontana City National

Hi guys, firstly I apologise for not having done my blog post sooner! Things have been insanely hectic these past couple of weeks.

Since the Bonelli Pro XCT a couple weeks ago, I took an easy "recovery" week and went straight into my preparation for the upcoming Sea Otter Classic. In the midst of my hard block of training, the annual Fontana City National XCO was run.

With my brother having just arrived from South Africa to visit, I was keen to put on a good show. But racing on tired legs meant that the racing was just going to be that much more difficult. Sunday came around, warm and sunny, it seemed that it would be the perfect day for some racing. That was until the clouds rolled in, the wind picked up and the rain began to pelt down. The early races managed to make the most of the beautiful early morning weather, but by the time the Pro Men's field was lining up later in the afternoon, the temperature dropped and the rain started to spit.

I made my move off the start, and attacked the first of four brutal laps as hard as I could. On a course with 700-800ft of steep, technical climbing as well as tons of technical descending, I felt that riding the climbs hard would allow me to get a gap before we hit the descents. So the plan was to attack hard, and that's exactly what I did. By the end of the first major climb I had managed to open a gap of around 20seconds and decided to change my tactics up little. I would now be riding the climbs as hard as possible and reserving myself on the descents, keeping myself safe and out of trouble. As I approached the end of the first lap I lost control through a very fast sandy descent and went down like a home-sick mole. Dazed, confused and winded, I tried jumping back to my feet to remount my bike, but fell over gain, I guess I hit my head REALLY hard. Second place rider, Drew Edsall (Kenda/Felt Racing team) came by and thankfully stopped to make sure I was ok, I had fortunately regained some composure and decided to try carry on with the racing.

Going into lap 2 my head still felt a little dizzy, but that aside, I decided to get on with the task at hand. I attacked Drew on the same climb as I had the previous lap and managed to open up another gap. By the end of lap 2 I had a 40seconds gap, and continued to push the pace as I went into the penultimate lap, however, the heavens opened and the rain began to beat down on the rocky terrain. I rode the lap smoothly and made sure not to throw it away as the technical granite sections began to get a little more slick. Although I had taken the third lap a little more cautiously I had managed to extend my lead over the minute mark. I was now heading out into the final lap, and to my surprise, the course was surprisingly grippy. The only mishap was a couple of back markers in the latter stage of the lap which resulted in a couple of awkward/hairy situations while trying to make a pass, but everything went off perfectly and without a hitch. I crossed the line with the win, around 1min40 up on Drew. What made this win so much more special is the fact that it is my first Professional win... A HUGE thank to both Specialized and the entire Sho-Air team, my bike was absolutely awesome and the set up and backing from the team was insane! My brother did an amazing job feeding and supporting and I know that my parents were routing for me all the way back in South Africa! Thanks to everyone for all the insane support, it really means the world to me.

Now comes the final prep for Sea Otter... THE BIG ONE!

Rough n tumble, Bonelli Park Pro XCT

Well, this weekend was rather interesting to say the least!

Having just come off a good ride in Texas, I was itching to get out to Bonelli for the 2nd round of the Pro XCT series! I took delivery of my new Specialized S-Works Stumpjumper 29er HT earlier in the week. The new hard tail race machine is unbelievably light, at just 8.1kg's, its the lightest thing I've ever ridden, and with Bonelli being a hard tail course, I couldn't wait to go tear it up on the new steed.

Saturday rolled around, and with the event being o close to my house I took a mellow drive down to the track and was greeted with an awesome surprise, the team bus and pop-up tents were all out and on display, with all the race bikes ready and lined up outside the bus.

Many of the top Pro's vying for Olympic spots had left for the RSA World Cup, which left n open door for me to try and get a good position and possibly go top 5 at the end of the day.HAving gained some good UCI points at the previous race down in Texas, and now holding the #10 Pro Plate, I would have a second row start, far better than my 5th/6th row start at the previous round.

The race got off to a really good start. I managed to barge my way through the guys ahead of me, and into 4th position by the end of the start loop. As we hit the first steep climb of the lap, I managed to ride myself into 2nd as we fast approached the most technical part of the track. Towards the end of the first lap, things took a turn for the worse. My front derailleur slipped, causing my chain to drop and get caught in-between the BB(bottom Bracket) and the small chainring. I sprung off my bike to try and rectify the problem as quickly as possible, but by the time I had got the chain unjammed, and had run the longest climb of the track, I found myself down in 17th, close on 2 minutes down on the leaders. My chase back was going to be hard.

It took me half a lap to regain focus, and to begin my charge. By the end of lap three I was back in the top 10, passing Russel Finsterwald who was currently 8th. I eventually rode myself back into the lead group of 5 with 3 laps to go, but things soon began to go pear shaped. The loose track, combined by the thick dust made the going pretty treacherous, and ultimately lead to me going down hard, twice, with one of the crashes leaving me with a blown up front tyre. I hit the CO2 cartridge and began my charge back with only one lap left to go, but I simply blew myself to pieces trying to regain the leaders once again. A very disappointing race in the end as I rolled in 16th.

Day two was to see the Pro men do the short track event (STXC). Still a little bitter about the previous days race, I was angry and motivated to try and better the previous day's result. Unfortunately things didn't go my way once again. On lap one I put in a surge and managed to put in a sizable gap almost instantly, but being so early in the race I decided to sit up and bide my time until 2 or 3 laps to go. I sat close to the front to monitor any movements that were going down and it seemed like everything was going to stay really close together. With 4 to go I tried to power up the only climb in the race, but my cranks almost seemed to be spinning inside my frame, sitting me out the back of the whittled down lead group. I regained to ninth, and had to fight my way through to get onto the front once again. By that time, Russel Finsterwald had made a gutsy attack, and no one had decided to chase. I put my head down and gave chase. The gap started to come down, but every time I hit the climb the exact same thing would happen. The final lap came around, knowing something was wrong on the bike, I decided to attack before the climb to minimize any positions being lost. I managed to get a small gap going into the climb, but it simply wasn't enough, guys came blazing past me as if i was looking for parking. In a last ditch attempt to get on the podium I tried to carry speed down the descent, and around the outside of the fastest corner of the course. I began to make up a couple positions with only a few corners to go, until disaster struck. I hit a small drainage ditch or gofer hole, which completely snapped my left crank arm off the bicycle, nearly sending me into a cartwheel frenzy. Somehow I managed to keep it rubber side down. I ended up walking the bike to the finish line, I little shocked and a little disappointed at the same time. I was just happy to have not gone down in what could've been a horrific crash.

I huge thanks to everyone who was supporting and helping out at the race. Ty Kady and R. Scott Tedro were once again flawless in the feed zone. Johnny Muller was running around in the dust taking photos, Jordi Cortes was always willing to lend a helping hand and my girlfriend, Kendall, went absolutely crazy with the supporting. Thanks guys!

Even though I finished outside the results, I came away with a good idea on where my form is, especially as I begin my prep for Sea Otter and the Colorado Springs Pro XCT. My brother has also just arrived in the States, so I look forward to getting to catch up and hang out with him!!

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