MTN National XC Cup #4-Cascades

Well this past weekend must've been one of the best weekends for me to date.

Cascades hosted the 4th round of the national cup series, and it was a huge turn out with most of the pro international riders racing in the elites. It was basically a mini world cup (WC), and it surely made for some insane racing!

But before the long awaited pro/elite race, were all the other age groups, including mine. With a much earlier start than the usual 13:30p.m, meant I had to get up way earlier than usual. But at least it meant we wouldn't be racing in the heat of the day.

The whistle was blown at 09:30 sharp, and right out the blocks the pace was relentless. Arno du Toit, Current S.A. champ, set the early pace up the first climb, with Michael Hughes closely behind. I managed to bridge the gap to Arno as we hit the very first technical climb of the course. I shifted gears and managed to ride around Arno and claim the lead, with Luke Roberts and Arno in tow. By the time we had covered the first 2km of the course, the gap to the chasing bunch was 10sec. and growing.

I slowed going through one feed zone to try force someone to come to the front but it didn't work. I decided then that I'd have to work off the front and try break up our small break away. Upon peaking the toughest and most demanding climb of the course we had managed to drop Arno and stretch the gap over the main field even more. By the end of the first lap, Luke and I had opened the gap to 51sec over Arno.

After settling down into a comfortable pace in the 2nd lap,Luke was still able to maintain the pace, this fuelled my decision to gradually up the tempo over the remaining two laps. During the 3rd lap I decided put in a surge on one of the climbs. This finally lead to the string snapping and I was able to break away. The last lap was the lap where I really had to make it count. I pushed really hard and managed to stretch the gap over Luke to claim my first National Series win of the season.

I really need to give a big thanks to Allegra, my coach,thanks for every thing , I really appreciate it!

The results of the youth men were :

1st - Brendon Davids (Team Jeep S.A) 01:13:37
2nd - Luke Roberts (Maverick) 01:14:59
3rd - Arno du Toit (Mr Price/Scott) 01:19:27

Pro's at Cascades

Well having the world cup only 2 weeks away is super exciting, and the last two days I've seen and met some of the best the world has to offer.

Yesteray, I met up with Jose' Hermida, of the Merida team. This guy is one of the jokers and funny guys of the world circuit, but at the same time one of the best riders.

Today I met up with former Elite Womens World Champ, Irina Kalentieva, of Russia.
I've seen others, including guys like Nathan Renney from the DH.

Tomorrow is again going to be really exciting as Adrenalin Cycles in Howick are hosting guys like Sam Hill and Steve Peat for a autograph session. It's gonna be really cool

Anyway I must be off

Later

Momentum Health-KZN XC Cup #4-Cascades

Well, this weekend just past saw the 4th round of the Momentum Health Provincial xc cup series. The race was held on the new World Cup course, and boy did it make for some awesome racing.

My batch was off at around 09:30, and the pace was pretty slow off the start line. I sat second wheel until the first steep kick into the single track and that's where I began to pick up the pace a little. By the time we reached the top of the first section, I had managed to open a very small gap. Then I decided to push it really hard coming back down through the twisty single track and managed to maintain the gap.

During this attack, Luke Roberts (Maverick) unfortunately became the victim of a terminal mechanical with his bike and was forced to pull out. At this stage I was unaware that Luke was out and decided to keep the pace pretty stiff to see if the guys would respond especially on the toughest part of the course, and by the end of the first lap I had a gap of about 40sec and was aware that I had broken eye contact with the chasing group.

Still not aware of Luke's misfortune I tried to keep a steady pace on the second and third lap and was pleasantly surprized to learn that I was steadily opening the gap.

Going into the last lap I had a gap just over 4min, and really wanted to double it and try and set my fastest lap of the day and in order to do so I really had to push hard.Luckily I made no silly mistakes as I had done in some of my previous races and when I crossed the finish line I had managed to open the gap to around 7min over second place.

rock garden

It was really a good race. It was hard but it was good and the win was an awesome confidence booster with the S.A XC Cup National coming up this weekend.

Thanks to Kim for putting together an insane course!and a big thank you to the Maverick Cycles for hosting such an awesome event.

My team mates Craig Paul had a super race, wrapping up the elite men's race ahead of the Aussie, Andrew Blair, and Candice Neetling won the Elite ladies comfortably.Well done guys.

This next week is gonna be really chilled, Rourke Croeser is spending some time here with me at my house for a couple of days ,so that he can get to know the course a little better and I will also be using the opportunity to learn from him while also using the chance to do some checking out the course and finalising those lines before the weekend's race.

Until next time
Ciao

Wagendrift Dam-Estcourt Super Classic 22 March 2009

Hey guys

Well, this weekend was the Wagendrift/Bushmans series Super Classic held just outside Estcourt, on the Wagendrift Nature Reserve.

After a interesting morning, with me having left my kit bag at home, we eventually pulled into the race venue.

The facilities there were really awesome, especially being situated around the dam! The hills in the area were looking pretty big and bumpy and everyone knew it was going to be hot since we were racing in the bushveld and we were only starting at 09:00.


checking the bikes

We started at 09:00 sharp and the first minor attack went in the first 20m or so, but it was soon closed down until we turned off the tar road. As we turned off the tar and onto the really rocky climb Craig Paul and Pete Smith (team mates) just rode off the front of the bunch while everyone on hard tails, myself included were being bounced around. I managed to close the gap slightly, but the pace was just too hot. I dropped off and soon began dropping positions.

My legs eventually came right after some really tough climbs in the first 10km. I slowly began to make my way back up the field and soon caught Travis Walker (Life in Motion) who's hands were cramping in the bumpy jeep track. I soon had James Reid (Life in Motion) back in my sights and pushed really hard to close the gap. He had suffered from a puncture, and this helped me to catch up.

We then hit the longest climb of the day which made its way up a mountain pass. James and I began to really work well together and the gap between us, and 4th overall, Shaun Peschl, began to close quickly. With 12km to go we were only a couple of seconds back on him. Eventually we caught him with 5km or so to go. Unfortunately, going past the last water table I got caught up behind back markers and James and Shaun got away and with only 1km to go it seemed impossible to catch them again as the pace had really picked up.






I eventually settled for 6th overall, and 1st youth(u16). Hats off to James who rode a fantastic race to claim 1st junior and 4th overall. Pete and Craig brought it home for Team Jeep SA with a 1,2 overall.

The route was tough, but I had a great race and was very happy with my result.

Well, this weekend coming is the PMB XC on the WC track, and the weekend after it's the 4th leg of the MTN National MTB series also on the Cascades WC course.

Until next time
ciao

2009 MTN SA Championship- George

Hey guys,

well since the last post a lot has happened. On Friday I hit the course for the final practise and realised what punishment the race was going to be on the body. The bumps were really bad and the course was becoming more and more rutted. I did 2 very chilled laps finalising lines and then did a quick lap just to wake up the legs for Saturday.

Saturday came and I was able to lie in as the race was only at 12:30! Myself and my dad took a slow drive across to Saasveld to catch the tail end of the elite women's race, with Yolande Speedy taking the honours.

On the start the guys all sat anxiously, nervously waiting for the start of the next 90minutes of punishment... luckily I was seeded 2nd and had an awesome line to the first corner, but the pace off the start was relentless and I sat back and dropped to 4th. Into the first corner I made up a position and was desperately trying to pass 2nd. eventually I made the pass and the pursuit to catch, leader, Arno du Toit, began. After the first lap he had close on a 1min.gap on us but I managed to bridge the gap by the end of the second lap. After catching him I sat his wheel for the next couple of laps. But on the 4th lap my lower back began to cramp extremely badly and was forced to let up the pace. His gap began to stretch and going into the final lap he had a comfortable gap, I decided I had to hang it out and go as hard as I could in the final lap, but it wasn't enough and I had to settle for 2nd.






After the race Rourke Croeser (junior Champ) and I took a chilled ride back into George, recapping on the race.

On Sunday, Craig, Roan and I rode from Witfontein (DH Venue) and rode up the Montague pass, which was an awesome experience. After reaching the top, we found a really cool single track, but un fortunately after riding down part of it we realised that it was an almost vertical climb back up the other side... so we turned around and took a chilled ride back down the twisty pass.



All in all it was a super awesome week, A HUGE thanks to my coach, Allegra, with out her help this all would not have been possible.




Now I've got one or two local races and then it's the next SA XC Cup!

Until then

Just Chilling Down in George

Well the past couple of days have been super chilled. Have done some very chilled ridding on the course, checking out the different lines and stuff.

Yesterday Rourke and myself did a very chilled ride on the 5.5km course, and man is it SUPER bumpy, to say the least. Theres a two drop offs, one being quite gnarly, but other than that the course is really awesome!

We'll head out tommorrow for final practice, and then it's race day on Saterday! It's gonna be interesting!

UNtil then
later