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

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

BOOM - 2012 XCO Season Opener

Last weekend I made the trip up to Pretoria (around a 6 our drive) to participate in the first round of the new XCOSA series. This series has a massive prize poole which attracted most of the country's prominent XCO racers, such as Burry Stander, Philip Buys and James Reid, to name but a few. Although the course was not very technical, it would prove to be the perfect season opener to the MTB front. The course was really spectator friendly, looping back and forth past the Start/Finish area to allow people to see the raw speed of XCO racing. Flat, fast and absolutely flat out, it was gonna be one awesome show.

Friday was a fairly chilled day. After arriving at around 10am, I met up with my coach and mentor, Burry Stander, for a couple laps around the high speed track. Its always super awesome to ride with Burry, theres always good advice or something new you can learn or pick up when riding with one of the worlds top mountain bike racers. Line choice, tyre choice, suspension pressures... the list can go on and on, its a major honor to be able to ride with someone so knowledgeable about the training, racing and recovery aspect of the sport!

Saturday morning dawned, with the Pro's and U23 field setting off at 12pm, I was able to have a super lazy morning. Eventually I rolled into the event along with my dad, got set up in the feed zone, hit a warm up and then... Race time. The start shoot was extremely loose gravel, which meant I had to get out front to try and avoid any trouble if there was shuffling for positions.

The count down started... My arms twitched as the former U23 World Champion Shifted on his bike as the time ticked ever closer to the gun... The gun cracked, and soon after, I found myself pinning it at the front as we charged towards the first corner. We made it around the sketchy first corner and hit a small climb up towards the first single track. I lead the group over the short spike and into the first single track. A group of 4 of us had managed to get clear already and we were now charging down the fast paced single track that brought us back towards the spectators. Unfortunately around the halfway mark of the first lap I dropped my chain and lost touch of the lead group. Ate getting it back on I was able to time trial myself back onto the tail of the group which was now being driven by James Reid (u23 rider-Team 360-Life), only to have it drop off yet again. This time it was a little bit more serious, the chain was wedged between the bottom-bracket and small chain ring. I stopped to fix it but lost valuable time and was now passed by Andrew Warr and Louis Knipe, leaving me in 6th place, around 30 seconds off the back of 4th and 5th place. And so began my game of "yo-yo," I was able to close the gap to Louis pretty fast, but then began chasing after Andrew Warr who was now in 3rd. In the midst of racing and chasing back, I hadn't even noticed that James Reid had had a puncture and was now back in 6th. After chasing back for a lap and a half I, I managed to ride myself back into 3rd Overall. But, yup, you guessed it, I dropped my chain... AGAIN... Louis caught back up to me, which meant I had to fix the chain and chase back to him. Over the final 3 laps, this is what would happen - Catch Louis, attack, get a gap, drop my chain, stop and fix it and then I would then chase down the 20-35second gap again... this went on and on, but I didn't let it bother me, I made the best of the opportunity and just got on with the task at hand. The last lap came around, fortunately this time I had managed to catch Louis before heading through onto the next lap. I immediately launched an attack and could see he was tiring, but Louis, being the power house that he is, would grind out a massive gear down a long flat piece of single track at the back and reel me in. I made two more attacks before getting a small gap, when again, my chain dropped... Louis came blazing past me as I stopped to fix the problem, but having lost 20seconds to him with less than a quarter of the lap to go it was going to be tough to get him back. I charged as hard as I could over the final sections of the track, but simply ran out of time. I crossed the line in 4th Overall and 1st U23, just over 3minutes behind Burry and Philip, and around 10seconds off Louis. Andrew Warr came in 5th with James Reid coming in strong at 6th!

So, a SUPER hard fought battle, but one that I am extremely ecstatic about! Im extremely happy with where my form is, going into next weekends big event, Round #1 of the SA XCO National MTB Series. Its my last race in Sunny South Africa before heading back State Side where I'll be racing the Mellow Johnny's Pro XCT #1! EXCITING TIMES!

A huge thanks once again to Burry Stander for all his help and input, Charles Stander for his advice and my dad for taking me all over the country side!

Until next time

Cheers

Skinny Wheel Action - State Championships 2012

The 2012 season has begun, and man did it kick off with a bang. The first race of the season was the 2012 Kwa-Zulu Natal State Road Championships. Although it was State Championships all the big names in South African cycling had decided to make an appearance, especially from the mountain biking front. With names like Burry Stander, Kevin Evans, Davids George, Rourke Croeser and James Reid, the racing was never going to be easy.

At 8:00 sharp we rolled out into the super slick conditions... 9 laps of a fast, wet, 15km loop lay ahead of us. It wasn't long until the first couple of attacks went off the front, but they were all very short lived and brought back before any real gaps formed. It wasn't until the fourth lap that a major break got away. Myles van Musschenbroek and Aston Davies managed to open a gap to around 2minutes on the main group, with Burry and the rest of the big names sitting safely in the bunch, biding their time. I began to get a little anxious as both of the riders sitting in the break were both in the u23 category, thus meaning they were my competition for the State Title.

After around a lap and a half the main bunch began to get organized, and within another lap, the gap had been closed. Lap 6 put me in a spot of bother... I missed a feed when going through the tech/feed zone and I soon felt myself on the verge of bonking. It couldn't have come at a worse time... The group had now upped the pace drastically and as we made our way up the grueling 15minute climb I found myself in a very, VERY dangerous position, AT THE BACK... THE VERY BACK, and I was holding on for dear life. The group had been absolutely shelled, and was now only around 15 strong as we approached the final 3 laps. I eventually got my much needed feed, and almost instantly felt 100% better. Then came the major move of the race. With 2 laps to go, Burry (Specialized Factory) and Kevin (360-Life) attacked and no one could follow. Kevin's team mates, Davids George and James Reid then attacked and managed to get a gap on what was left of the main group. I was left to try and chase down the move. Over the final lap I closed the gap to James and Dave very slightly, but they simply proved to be too strong in the end. So with 400m to go the group had now been shelled down to 4... I attacked as hard as possible over the top of the final climb and time trialled to 5th Overall (2nd KZN Resident) and 1st u23, narrowly edging out Rourke Croeser!

A big thanks to Brandon Stewart and Clint Olsen for the use of their awesome Easton EC90 Aero Wheels, To Craig Paul for keeping my bike in check and to the entire Cyclelab PMB Team for being my back up and support!!

B

my best friend, Adriaan, making sure I get my feed.