BrendonDavids.com

Catching Up

2012-01-15T11:23:00.002+02:00

Hey guys

Just a quick post to let everyone know whats been going on over the last couple of weeks. To be honest, nothing much has happened, besides the fact that I'm training my butt off!!

After some awesome time with the family down in the Cape, as well as some great rides to end off my base, I made plans to spend some time with world class athlete, my mentor and all round nice guy, Burry Stander. Before I even got to his house, I knew the days that lay ahead were gonna hurt, really, really badly. Needless to say, day one was, in his words, "af kak."

4:50am, yes, thats the time we were up and at it to simply try and beat the suffocating heat so familiar to the South Coast. Hill repeats with the former U23 World XCO Champion was definitely a very, VERY tough task.

So, after being buried somewhere on the top ridge of Mushroom Hill, I thought my day was done... Little did I know. After a really chilled out afternoon, I decided to brave a gym session with Burry, his fiance, Cherise Taylor, and Candice Neethling. I guess all I can say about that gym session is that I was buried for a second time that day. I think it must've been quite amusing to Burry to see me shaking and shuddering at trying to do some f the exercises he was breezing through! That evening we hit up a really nice restaurant for dinner, before turning it in for an early night.

Day two was far more chilled but it still had its fair amount of thrills. A 5hour road ride along the coastal roads seemed to be easy enough. It all went off fairly smoothly, until I somehow shredded my road tyre. Not a problem, we made a plan, and used up some of our EnergyBar wrappers to act as gators to prevent the tube from being exposed. This worked really good until I clipped a road side 'Cat Eye' and flatted my tyre again, with only 10km or so to go, and so began my trek back to Burry's house. Luckily for me, Candice flatted a couple hundred meters up the road, pinched her spare tube and was too, left stranded on the road side. Plan B - Hitch Hike! We stood at the road side like two goons with our hands out, trying to catch the attention the motorists, who all seemed to be far to busy to help us out. Eventually, a farmer in a minute little hatchback picked us up. We piled our bikes into the trunk, I sat on the back seat and held the bikes for dear life, as they hung out the rear door as he sped us towards our destination! Thankfully the bikes stayed intact and were unharmed by the time we got to Burry's house. After a loooooong day out we all just hung around the pool, watched a bit of TV, had an awesome lunch (prepared by Cherise) before I packed up the car and headed back to Pietermaritzburg.

A huge thanks to Burry and Cherise for all their advice and hospitality. It really made the stay that much better!

2012 - LETS GO

2012-01-01T21:15:00.005+02:00

Let me start off by saying HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Wishing yo all a phenomenal year ahead!!

2011 has come and gone... What a year it was for me. I found myself racing all over the globe against the Worlds top athletes, I was selected to represent my country on a couple of occasions and I managed to wrap up the African Continental Championships. However, the Highlight of my year came in around June/July, where I was approached by one of my childhood "dream teams," Sho-Air/Specialized Factory Racing. As you know I have signed a three year contract and will be racing mainly in America for the first year and hopefully onto Europe and the full world-cup circuit in the years to come.

This past season wouldn't have been made possible if it weren't for some very special people who helped me make my dreams a reality. Firstly my parents sacrificed a lot to get me where I am today, without their help, guidance and support, the simple fact of the matter is, I would not be racing a bicycle. Then my ever supportive brother, who always encourages me to follow my dreams and make my own tracks in the sands of time. Kyle, you're the best!

Burry Stander has also been hugely instrumental in helping me achieve what I have over this past season. Being one of the Worlds best riders, Burry has been able to give extremely knowledgeable advice. A huge thank you needs to go out to him for all the help he has given me!

The folks from Team Jeep South African were and still are a very influential part of my life. Team owner, Max Cluer, taught me everything I needed to know, in order to achieve my dreams of being a professional athlete, from an extremely young age. Co-Owner of the team, Clint Morck, IS ALWAYS behind me whatever I do, and even though I no longer race in the colours of Team Jeep South Africa, he is still willing to drop everything to help me out! He's taken the roll as my 2nd father.

The folks from Ellsworth USA helped me out tremendously upon my first trip to the USA, which made my life far easier, and made the adjustment to the States extremely easy. Then comes a very special family, a family that have unofficially adopted me when I'm in America, The Williams'. They're my family away from home, and they treat me as one of their own, they even support me at races as if I was one of their sons!!! You guys rock!

Team Sho-Air/Specialized helped me out greatly at the end of this season. Two days after signing the contract with the team, all team equipment, clothing, bike etc. arrived at my accommodation, on the opposite side of the American continent!! They then flew me back out to the States after the World Championships in Switzerland, where I met up with my best bud/room mate, Johnny Muller (Marketing for Team Sho-Air), my Team Manager, Ty Kady, My Team Owner and MAJOR car enthusiast, R. Scott Tedro, as well as my new team mate, Pua Mata (ultra endurance super star). Scott has put me up in an amazing house along with Johnny and his girlfriend, for the past 3 months, which will continue to be my base for the 2012 season.

While in the States I met some pretty spectacular people, and got to ride with some of the fastest people on two wheels, with names like Todd Wells, Brian Lopes, Sam Schultz, Ben Bostrom, Sid Taberlay, Ned Overend.... sheesh, the list could just go on and on... So I'm guessing you can gather I'm SUPER excited for this coming season!!!!!

The 2011 season was definitely one to remember, in my books it was a good season, but there is a lot of room for improvement. I have had a drastic re look at my training for the upcoming season, have modified it, with the guidance of my mentor/coach, Burry Stander, and I am confident in the way things are building up for my first Pro XCT (formerly known as the NORBA series), in mid March. Having had international exposure over the last year, I am more motivated than ever and I'm itching to get back over to the US to sink my teeth in my first season as a Professional Mountain biker. There's no doubt in my mind that its going to be tough, REALLY tough, but it's gonna be one amazing experience. 2012 is here, it's time to take charge.

Until next time guys

Stay safe and keep it rubber side down.

homeward bound - One Crazy Adventure

2011-12-16T22:14:00.008+02:00

Hey guys n gals

By the time you're reading this I'll be back home in SA. So here's a short story of my CRAZY trip home...

OK, so... the gnarly trip home started off with a super late fight out of LAX on Tuesday night. $400 later in over sized luggage, and some rather sneaky maneuvers to get my brothers Christmas present on board as hand luggage, my trip soon began to commence. The 5 hour flight to JFK International was pretty lame. Mainly due to the fact that there was a 5 year old kid throwing a tantrum for around 4hrs of the entire 5hr flight to New York.

Upon touch down in New York city, I found myself lumbering around the confusing airport, only to be told by a intensely rude and obnoxious women that I had to catch a train, out side of the airport, in order to get to the right terminal. So I meandered my way in the general direction of where I was told to go, found a train and hopped onto it. Well, from the lack of sleep, partnered up with the bad mood that I was now in, I ended up hopping onto a train that lead in the complete opposite direction. Eventually, after an hour or so of jumping from one train to another, I ventured into the right terminal. I then got checked in with South African Airways (SAA), which went off without a hitch.

It had to be smooth sailing from there, right? Oh, How wrong I was! I thought that the direct flight back home to SA would be straight forward, and that I'd sleep the majority of the flight. hmmm, another small child saw the end of my beloved sleep after only an hour in the sky. The little person whaled and squawked continuously for a couple of hours, resulting in me losing more and more sleep. After the entire 16hour flight from JFK to OR Tambo International in Johannesburg, I had only managed to get 5 hours of sleep. But, I was home, so that kinda lifted my spirits. All I had to do was catch the next flight to Durban which was in 2hrs time. Sounds easy enough. right?

In between waiting at passport control, the airport losing my bike and me having to wait for them to find it, those two hour simply flew by. As I got to the check in, with two ridiculously big bike bags, a massive luggage bag and my two carry on bags, Philemon, of SAA Domestic Flights simply said, "you have missed your flight, go buy a new one." I stormed off to get another ticket but refused to pay, after a further two more hours, I was eventually reimbursed with a ticket to Durban.

At least I'm home now. I'm super jet lagged, but its good to be back home with the family. I'm here until mid February, so I'll be home to get in some good training before jetting back over the states to tackle the 2012 Pro XCT series in the States. I'm also hoping to meet up with Burry for a couple rides while I'm back here to get some advice and pointers going forward!

Its been really awesome to catch up with my family and friends. Its been a long time since I was able to sit down and actually speak to them. I've got to make the most of the short period that Im going to be in the country!!

Sweet ride with some of the boys from Team Jeep South Africa.

I'll keep you all updated

Until next time

Quick update

2011-11-28T21:06:00.015+02:00

Hey guys, I'm trying to keep up with the blogging with a post every two weeks or so... so here it is.

A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks, starting off with my first ever ultra endurance race, 12hours of Temecula. I made a last second decision to team up with my American brother, Casey Williams. With us sharing the 12 hours load, I thought it'd be an awesome idea to use the 6hours on the bike as a good base ride, little did I know I was going to be going flat out for at least 3 of those hours.

So about the race itself... the weather was perfect.... temporarily. It had rained all night, but the dry soil had soaked it up really well and had left the track in pristine riding condition. The first couple of laps were ridiculously fun, even though we were racing flat out I couldn't wipe the smile off my face at the end of every lap. My 3rd lap of the 11mile loop went onto be the fastest lap of the day, around 4 minutes faster than the next person. The fast paced laps were short lived, as I made my way out onto my 4th lap (the 8th lap for our team) the weather made a turn for the worse. The rain came down in buckets, leaving the course in an absolute shambles. It became an absolute mud bath, forcing many of the people to actually pull out. Casey and I continued to persevere through the snotty conditions until the race was prematurely called after the completion of my 5th lap (the teams 10th lap). We ended up taking the win overall and the win in the 2 man team category, being a lap ahead of the next 2 man team.

The following week Myself, Team mate Pua Mata and Ty made a trip across to the beautiful Catalina island for a photo shoot with Mountain Bike Action for the Catalina Gran Fondo event, which is going to be taking place next year. My mind was blown by the awesomeness of this place. Everyone drives golf carts, the water is crystal clear to the point that the water is turquoise. The streets are filled with fantastic coffee shops and restaurants and the riding is pretty sick!! Its definitely going to be an event to remember, with some of the most amazing views, fantastic riding, and come on.... who doesn't want to ride on the Catalina Island with your buddies and end off the day with a drink on the beach?? Get onto the US Cup website and mark this event on the calendar. A huge thanks to the team for taking me over to such a picturesque getaway spot!

The view from the beaches of Catalina

Last week I had a nice easy rest week, which presented the perfect opportunity for me to go back up to Big Bear and hang out with the Williams family for Thanksgiving. After hearing of thanksgiving for so many years back home in South Africa, it ended up being a serious eye opener. I always knew that a lot of food was eaten on thanksgiving, but seriously.... A TON of food is eaten on thanksgiving. I was out eaten by Casey's 50kg, 14 year old brother!! I tried my best to shovel in as much food as the rest of the family, but it only resulted in me passing out next to the toasty fire in a food coma, while being spread out like a star fish. It was a pretty awesome experience though, and I'm stoked to have spent it with a family that is so close to me! I owe a huge thanks to the entire family especially Kim and Casey. Kim is always willing to help me and always allows me to head up to Big Bear whenever I want to! She always looks out for me, keeps me healthy and always looks out for my best interests. Casey, who is basically my brother has been driving me around, he's taken me from Big Bear to Santa Monica, from LA to Ventura, to his Cyclocross races, a massive thanks to him for carting me around. Thanks a million broseph!

Sunset in Santa Monica

This past weekend, Casey and I got to do a mega ride up in Ventura with up and coming super star Kendall Ryan, former World Road TT champion, Olympic Silver medalist, and 6 time National Champion, Mari Holden, as well as former professional base ball player Barry Bonds. Needless to say, the ride was awesome, Barry had us in fits of laughter the entire time! Casey then went onto race the Cyclocross State championships, and got 2nd in both the Junior men and the u23 men... after 5h10min on the bike the previous day!

There's only two weeks left for me here in the States until I go home for a month and a half. I can't believe that the past 3 months have flown by so quickly. A lot has happened, a lot has changed, BRING ON 2012!!

Until next time

Day2Remember: Mike Nosco Memorial Ride

2011-11-05T21:32:00.008+02:00

Two days ago I was very humbled and honored to have been able to take part in an extremely moving event. The 3rd annual Mike Nosco Memorial Ride took place in Ventura, just north of LA.

Mike Nosco was in the Navy for 20 years, he was part of a very elite unit called the HCS-5 (Helicopter Combat Support). He also worked at a Biotech company called Amgen for 10 years. Unfortunately Mike was tragically killed in a car crash on November 3, 2004. His brother, Jack, started the Mike Nosco memorial ride 3 years ago, and the event has grown massively in that short time. The ride has attracted many of the USA's best professional cyclists, with names such as Lance Armstrong, Chris Horner, Dave Zabriskie, Neil Shirley and Andy Hampsten. This year was no different, Lance Armstrong made an attendance to the VIP dinner, Dave Z and Neil Shirley as well as Ned Overend (mountain bike legend) all came out to ride the brutal 80mile route on Thursday.

So the route that we were going to be meandering on was pretty insane, probably the most hilly route Ive ever seen, with a total ascent of around 3500m-4000m!! The fact that there were a couple former World and National Champions as well as current super stars like DZ, and past super stars like Neil Shirley, I knew this wouldn't be any walk in the park. The pace was fairly mellow for the first 20 miles of the ride until we hit the first and most brutal f all the climbs, Deer Creek. I launch one of the first attacks at the bottom of the grueling climb, but was pretty soon outdone by Neil Shirley. He came blazing past me, and brought along Ned Overend and another recently retired professional road racer. I managed to ride myself back onto Neil's wheel, and so began a long, intense day in the saddle. The lead group got smaller and smaller as the miles ticked away.

Every mountain pass we went up was brutal, but we were rewarded with the most amazing decents, some being 15-20km long at times! As we began to make our way up the last major climb, Latigo Canyon,, which was at the 100km mark, all seemed to have come back down to a humanly pace.... that was short lived. About 5kms up the climb Neil laid down the law once again. I felt good and went with, along with Ned Overend, Thurlow Rodgers (former world road race champion) and one or two others. But the heat, and distance we had covered, as well as the intensity at which we'd be riding began to take its toll on me as we approached the final 1,5miles of the climb. I hung onto the wheels for dear life, pushing myself deep into the hurt box, but I managed to hold on over the top before stopping at a feed station. Then came a super gnarly descent, probably my favorite of the entire ride, long swooping corner, fast twisty chicanes, tight switch backs, banked corners... it was insane. I had a couple hairy situations where the rear wheel completely locked up, but fortunately I managed to keep things rubber side down!

After the tricky mountain pass, came a long section of rolling climbs and descents. The front group had regrouped and was now 12strong as we began to hit the cross winds. The pace got upped drastically as we edged closer and closer to the end of the ride, with a couple riders trying their luck at getting off the front. One thing was for sure though, the group was getting blown apart by the crazy accelerations. By the time we rolled back into the car park where the ride had started, the group had been strung out into 7 or 8 riders, I was just glad to be one of those 7 or 8. Man, that was a tough day, the pace was relentless up front, but what was truly amazing was the fact that 500odd cyclists took the time out from their week to come down and support an amazing cause as well as remember the life of Mike Nosco. This year the ride was also in memory for Ronette Espinoza, who tragically lost her battle with cancer.

If anyone would like to make a donation to this amazing cause just follow the link here http://www.mikenosco.com/sponsors/

A huge thanks to Team Sho-Air/Specialized for an amazing couple days and for taking both the Sprinter and RV to the event, and a major shout out to Ben Bostrom and Nikki for hosting myself, Johnny and Ty while we were there. They have an amazing house overlooking Malibu, its simply mind blowing. THANKS GUYS!

Images courtesy of Veloimage

The amazing view from the Bostroms. Excuse the bar across the screen, I was too mesmerised by the sunset to even move.

Good times up in Big Bear

2011-11-01T21:08:00.007+02:00

Hey guys

First off, I apologise for not having updated my blog sooner. I got a little side tracked but all is on track now.

So for the past couple of weeks I've been up in Big Bear with good friends Casey and Cameron Williams, along with their awesome family. Its been an absolute blast from the second I walked into the house, the Williams family are always super welcoming and loving, which really helps me to feel at home.

Ok, so around 2 weeks or so ago, I made the trip up from LA with Cameron and his mom, Kim, after he had competed in a Cyclo Cross race very close to where I live. I managed to make it up to the small town nestled in the mountains just in time to spend the final couple of days of 'Fall break' with Casey and Cameron before they had to head back to school the following week. We clocked some pretty big hours for that week, with Casey showing me around all his Base Training areas. Basically theres only 3 roads that lead out of Big Bear, but, those 3 roads are probably have some of the most mind glowingly awesome road riding I have ever done. For 2 weeks I've been riding those roads, alternating different routes, sometimes combining two of them to get in a massive ride. However, one of those rides stood out from the rest. Last week I had a super long ride, and decided to combining the two most scenic routes in order to get the right amount of time in with out getting super bored from looking at the same thing the entire ride. So I took off into the day, and after a couple hours, I found myself climbing into the clouds. After nearly 2 full hours of climbing I finally popped out the top of the white fluffy cotton to an amazing image. The road i was one could be seen in the distance, which meant I still had more climbing, but what really struck me was the white ocean that lay beneath me in the valleys. Without seeming too cliche, the only words I can actually use are, breath taking, literally.... The clouds moved like waves, pulsating through the valleys and crashing into the cliff faces. I can tell you how the cold wind was nipping at my skin, or how the clouds engulfed me us I made my way up to the summit of the pass, but the truth is, to actually have experienced something so amazingly beautiful, was simply surreal. People driving in cars were stopping to take pictures, little kids pointed out the windows in search of some mystical creature. Man o' man was it SIIIICK!!!

So now that I've shared the highlight of all the awesome times I've had here in Big Bear, I think I should let you all know that I went to the High School here in Big Bear for a week, which was surprisingly cool. It was really weird at first, with everyone looking at me like a new kid, but it then turned into people saying, "dude, its that kid from Africa." I met a bunch of really cool kids at the school and made some awesome new friends. Pretty much for the last 5 or 6 days I've been coming to school, then hit a ride and then when it gets cold enough, around 8or 9 at night, we make snow in Casey's back yard. Also, in my time away from LA I haven't been in Big Bear the entire time. This past weekend Casey, Cameron and I made a trip down to San Diego for a CX (Cyclo Cross) race. I didn't compete but watched from the stationary trainer, and then headed out on the roads with the boys once their race was over.

The weather is starting to get a little colder now in Big Bear which presented the perfect opportunity to test out the new gear sponsor's, Jakroo, wind/winter jacket. I can honestly say that its super toasty. In the cold 10*C winds I was working up a sweat. Super impressed with both the quality and performance of the garment!

Unfortunately all good things do come to an end, and I will be heading back down the hill tomorrow morning. On Thursday is the Mike Nosco memorial ride, which I've heard is BRUTAL!!! Super amped to see what its all about, and to meet up with Scott, Ty, Johnny and the rest of the team in Ventura. A huge thanks needs to go out to the Williams family for hosting me and being like a family to me. I love you guys and appreciate everything you guys do for me!!!

Until next time

The road leading up above the clouds

Managed to snap this shot with my iPhone last week

Settling In and some Fun in the Sun

2011-10-07T01:11:00.009+02:00

Well in the past 2 weeks since my previous post I've settled into my new house and have got back into the routine of training. Now comes the long base hours on the road, in preparation for the 2012 season.

Although winter's right around the corner here in the States, I'm fortunate enough to be staying just outside of LA, meaning that the winter is pretty mild, which makes for perfect riding! The days are getting shorter but it gets super hot. Which brings me onto the topic of the final round of the US Cup Series which was held around an hour out of Orange County.

So last Saturday night before the series finale of the US Cup, Johnny Muller his girlfriend, Mari, and I went out to an awesome italian restaurant in Laguna Beach. Laguna is a really beautiful place, boardwalks on the beach, all shops within walking distance, almost like Stellenbosch, but with the benefit of the ocean right there at your door step.

Being in full swing of my base training, I decided to just go out and have some fun out there. With this race doubling up as both the series final and State Championship race, a couple of local pro's came out to take on the heat and battle it out to see who would be victorious at the end of the day. Among the favorites was team mate Ben Bostrom and the always fast, Sid Taberlay. As the day progressed it got hotter and hotter, and by the time it was my race, the heat was literally hair singeing.

Before I knew it we were lined unready to tackle 3x10mile loops of fun. This was pretty much the closest I was going to be to the front of the race the whole day. Right from the gun I had an absolute blast. The course was filled with some really cool flowing and fast single track that always kept a smile on my face. Half-way through lap 2 I met up with Johnny Muller on the side lines, stop for a chat, looked at some photos he'd taken and carried on with the ride. The heat was unreal, people were suffering from dehydration and cramping before the completion of one lap. Most even pulled out due to the raw heat out on course. Meanwhile, up front, Team Mate and super bike legend, Ben Bostrom, was killing it and eventually brought home the win ahead of Dana Webber and Sid Taberlay. I ended up coming in around 30minutes after them.

A huge thanks to Sho-Air and US Cup for putting on such a good event. It was really top class. A big thanks to Ty Kady aka HB.

This weekend is Spooky Cross, a cycle cross event sponsored by Sho-Air. I'm lucky enough to be helping out with Todd Wells which should be a really cool experience. Spooky Cross is a really big event so all the top pros like Ryan Trebon and Adam Craig should make an appearance too. I then head up to Big Bear for a week or two wear I'll do some altitude training and hang out with my very close friends, the Williams'.

Until Next time

Saturday sunset at Laguna Beach.

Striking a pose for Johnny.

One of the awesome shots Johnny captured at the gnarliest section of the track.

photo courtesy of Kathy Burcham.

Back State Side

2011-09-23T22:24:00.006+02:00

Hey guys

Been quite a long time since I did my last blog post. Its been a crazy past few weeks. In the two weeks that I've been back here in the US I've driven the entire length of the State of California and into Bend, Oregon. I've moved into a new house with Johnny Muller, have done some amazing riding, have done 200kph in around 5seconds, in a Custom Dodge Viper, whew... its been crazy!!!!

A lot has happened but I'll just give you a little taste of some of the things. So I landed here 2 weeks ago, 2 days later I was in the Sho-Air Sprinter van, heading up the freeway towards Oregon for the 2012 US National Marathon Championships. I made the trip up with Team Mechanic, Paul, and Ollie, a Cat1 35-39 racer. Ollie is the Chief mechanic for the Graves Yamaha Super bike team, and has worked with the likes of Ben and Eric Bostrom. We had a real fun trip up to the beautiful town of Bend, where we met up with Team Manager, Ty Kady, His wife, Davy, and Pro/Elite Womens Rider, Pua Mata. So, the days that followed were filled with awesome riding, some of the most fun single track I've ever ridden. Just miles and miles of mind blowing, flowing single track. I dont think there was a time where there wasnt a smile on my face. Ty and I blasted down the trails, railing the berms, gapping the jumps and hammering the fast flowing sections, and the great thing was, we got to do it over and over again, the trails just didnt seem to end. Saturday dawned, and it was time for the citizens, ie. Ty, Pua and Ollie to get down to racing. Things went off without a hitch, Pua won the womens race convincingly, Ty destroyed the Cat1 30-34 Mens race and Ollie managed to pull off a 4th in the Cat1 35-39 mens. What is super cool is the fact that Ty has won 3 national titles in the year alone in all XC mountain bike disciplines- Short Track, Cross Country and Marathon!!! Pretty impressive stuff!!

Unfortunately Sunday meant we had to leave and say good bye to Bend and also meant that I had another epic drive back down to LA. But I'm here now, having an awesome time and I'm surrounded by awesome people! The climate in LA is perfect for riding. its warm all the time and winter only kicks in very late in the year.

I'm now in a house, that team owner, Scott Tedro provided, with Marketing Guru, John Muller and his girlfriend. They're an awesome couple and are really helping me get from place to place and to where I need to be. The riding here is really awesome. I've just started to ride again after having taken some time off the bike after World Championships, and I'm really loving it. Scott has helped out a lot and has provided me with the tools I need to get the job done. His love for the sport is remarkable and is aways willing to give a lending hand. Ty and Scott have also taken me on some pretty sweet riding over the past couple of days. Ty has also been running around, helped me sort out my bank account a gym membership etc etc. The bottom line is the people down here at Sho-Air International are an awesome, select bunch of professionals. I'd just like to thank Scott, Ty and John for all the help and all the work that they have, and continue to do.

Bonvoyage

2011-09-08T15:22:00.006+02:00

Well last night was a very big surprise. Team Jeep South Africa, its associates, team members and friends threw a surprise farewell for me.

I just want to thank each and every single person that made the evening possible. Every single one of you have had an influence on my life and have helped me strive to make my dreams become a reality. You provided me with the tools to become an athlete I am today, and the athlete that I strive to be in the future!

I thank you all for your support, love and commitment to me while in Team Jeep! You guys are truly an inspiration.

Much appreciated

Brendon

World Champs 2011 - The Race

2011-09-07T15:05:00.011+02:00

World Champs is done and dusted, and man... what an experience. To be nestled in the Mountains, on the border of France and Switzerland, racing the most technical and steep XCO track in the world was really awesome!

The flight to Switzerland was really awesome and went off without a hitch. As we approached our landing, we were greeted by the beautiful turquoise water of Lake Geneva. Apon landing bikes were collected, vans were fetched, and the road trip to the picturesque town of Champery began. As we got deeper and deeper into the mountains we could see why Champery was one of the most feared technical tracks on the World Circuit. The mountains were steep. Very Steep.

So we settled in and went for a spin the next day to check out the track. It had rained VERY slightly the night before. I arrived at the track and to my horror, the track was like an ice rink. That combined with the steepness and the amount of roots that spread across the entire track, definitely made me a little hesitant to try any of the major technical sections until my tyres had been changed. I rode what I could, but felt super uncomfortable. Luckily Burry Stander was kind enough to do a couple of laps the next day and show me a heap of lines that would definitely help out with passing and staying smooth in the race. Dylan van der Merwe (Burry's mechanic) and Burry hooked me up with some awesome tyres, a saddle, spare wheels and parts and some Rotor Rings to give me the best possible advantage for the race.

With the bike now set up properly my confidence grew vastly. I managed to hit everything, felt fast and felt smooth. My head was right and now all I could do was wait until race day to let it all hang out. The days leading up to the race became more and more chilled out, to such an extent that we left the opening ceremony half way through in order to stay off our legs. Line' Griffiths ensured that all our legs were in tip top order, even if it did mean sending us through the roof with pain on a frequent occasion.

So the night before the race the house is dead quiet, before being awoken by the sound of thunder slamming into the Champery mountains. A heavy thunderstorm had hit and had settled in for the entire night. Race day dawned through a sheet of thick white mist seeping through the streets and alley's of the town of Champery. Surprisingly, I wasn't phased by the bad weather. I felt I had done everything right. I had the best equipment, the best support base. It was now up to me. I took a light spin in the morning to loosen up the legs, finished the ride off, chilled, chilled, chilled and chilled some more until race time.

After arriving at the race village, the 2 hours until my race just seem to dissolve. Before I knew it I was standing on the 3rd row of 106 junior men all wanting to be at the front of the race, battling it out for the Rainbow Jersey. "15 seconds to go..." the gun went. Gert Heyns, who was directly in front of me, unfortunately slipped his pedal, which catapulted me back to around 50th place. Now racing mid pack, I had to stay calm on the start loop and try real back the deficit at every opportunity I could. By the end of the 8 minute start loop I found myself in 37th. I managed to work myself into 30th by the half way point of the 1st full lap, but unfortunately broke my rear shifter in a crash. I got moving, still retaining a top 40 position and rode to the tech zone around 2-3minutes away. I got to the tech zone, but we were unable to fix the problem with the shifter, having lost valuable time and now outside the top 40, it was time to put all the set backs aside and just get on with racing. I began to reel in the positions, and by the end of the 2nd lap was up to 33rd and had managed to catch up with compatriot, Gert Heyns. Lap 3 came around and I had managed to move up into the top 30 and was now sitting around 26th or so. There was now a big group of riders a minute ahead of me. Knowing I stood a chance of a top 10, I went for it. I pulled myself to 15th and had the next 5 positions withing reach. So, as most teen aged boys are, I got greedy, plain and simple. I wanted that top 10. Up 'the BIG climb' I just went to far into the red. I pulled myself onto the back of the bunch of 5, but didn't even realise I had brought along the bunch I was previously in. Being in the "red" I couldn't respond to the attacks that came at the top of the climb. All I could do was hope that the Epic 29er would pull me back on the last and most technical section of the lap. I came back into contact with the group on the descent, but the group was now really stung out and as we exited the last single track, onto the finish strip, I could see I had lost my chance of the top 10 that I had been so close to only a few minutes before. I crossed the line in 23rd, a result that I'm decently happy with, but a result that could've been better had I raced smarter on the final climb. But after the race, I had some very wise words from Burry Stander and his dad, Charles. "It's the only way you will learn. By making stupid mistakes like that, it will teach you to race smart in the future." So I didn't come away from the race entirely empty handed. I at least know now that I have the ability to do it!

(sitting 15th, the dude in the background-lap 4)

A huge thanks to the following people for everything at the World Champs event.

Team Sho-Air/Specialized Factory Racing, for the providing me with the absolute best equipment to get the job done! The Epic 29er S-Works was definitely the bike to be on!

Burry Stander, Dylan van der Merwe, Benno Willeit, and Bobby Behan for all the help leading up to the race, as well as all the help at the race.

Bryan Strauss, Line' Griffiths and Morne' Odendaal for coordinating the RSA team and making sure everything ran smoothly.

Charles Stander, Mandy Stander and Cherise Taylor for being an amazing support crew and for going absolutely "BOSSIES" during my race!

And to everyone that was back home who supported me! My family and friends! you guys rock!

World Champs 2011 - Post Race

2011-09-07T14:40:00.005+02:00

Ok so after the race, was the turn of the Pro/Elite men and u23 men!

Racing was good from all of the Saffas. Burry had a stormer of a race from a terrible start, to just outside the top 5 before crashing and snapping his handlebars. Phil Buys, was having a really good race but had 2 punctures which lead to him being lapped due to his major loss of time mending the tyres.

James and Rourke had really good races in the u23 Category, both just missed out on a top 30 position.

After the racing it was time to go exploring. I met up with Casey Williams from the USA, we jumped on our bikes and just went riding. We found ourselves approaching the border of France and Switzerland before turning down a single track that lead us back towards Champery. We then came across some of the steepest trails I have ever ridden or attempted to ride. Many of the place we were forced to walk. And then to top it off, we were told by the Downhillers that their track was WAAAYYYY more steep than what we had just ridden!!

(the epic sitting pretty in Europe)

Lock n Load

2011-08-22T21:14:00.004+02:00

Man, sorry for the late post guys!! We've been without electricity for 2 days and it only just came on! So I'll try get in a quick blog post!

Last week was my final grueling week of training, and to end the tough block off I decided to hit up another big local race (Harburg Tour de Krantz) to get some race intensity in. This is one of the toughest local races on the calender and is always well attended. With the likes of Itech Connect/Momsen pro rider Brandon Stewart and Andrew Hill (TIB Insurance) the racing was going to be hard and fast. Just what I had gone to look for.

08:30 sharp the racing started, and unlike previous years, the racing seemed to be pretty slow off the blocks. This was pretty short lived, Brandon put a major surge in as we entered the first single-track, splitting the field to pieces. I found myself clinging onto his wheel as we began to hit some of the more serious climbs. Eventually Brandon managed to ride myself and Andrew off his wheel before the summit of the first really tough climb.

After we summited the climb I pushed the pace to see if I could shake Andrew before trying to close the gap to Brandon. It worked. A section with a series of short, sharp climbs allowed me to get away from Andrew and at the same time, inched me closer and closer to Brandon's wheel.

I managed to hold the gap at around 45seconds to Brandon for the majority of the race. The sight of the Film crew in the helicopter always meant that I could judge how far ahead Brandon was for the entire race. On the longer, more open climbs Brandon would stretch the gap out, making me work super hard on the Short, Punchy climbs (like that of XCO) to try and bring the time difference down a notch. As we made our way through the final feed point I received news that Brandon was now 1minute ahead. I pushed on, trying to make up time wherever possible. I eventually had to settle for 2nd Overall (pro) and 1st Junior (u18) around 90seconds back on Brandon. Andrew Hill rounded off the podium a further 4minutes back. Big ups to Brandon, he is coming onto some amazing form and I wish him the best of luck for the up and coming Ultra Marathons!

I'm super happy with where the form is and how it is coming along. with only 9days to my world Championship race I definitely have a very positive frame of mind. I just have to keep my head clean and ignore any distractions that may present themselves. I leave South Africa with the South African XCO and DHI team on Friday and should arrive on Saturday afternoon! Which leaves plenty of time to check out the course and get dialed in. I also hope to meet up with my Mentor, Burry Stander, to get the "low down" on the course.

Pheww! Exciting times!!

Stay tuned

Brendon

Focus, Focus, Focus

2011-08-16T18:20:00.003+02:00

Hey Guys

with little over a week until my trip to Switzerland, my excitement, as you can imagine, is at an all time high. Training is going really well and I'm now in my last really tough week. I guess all that's left is to stay safe until the race, keep eating right, stay healthy and stay focused on my goal. I will be racing my last race in SA this coming weekend, using it as a "Race Simulation" for World Champs.

I managed to find this really cool preview of both the XCO and DHI events that are going to be held at Champery. Awesome to see my mentor, Burry Stander, dominating the mens XCO race in the clip. click the link below

World Champs Preview

Enjoy
B

World Champs Prep

2011-08-10T12:43:00.008+02:00

So I've been back in the country for 2 weeks now, and as you all know World Champs is only a few weeks away.

These past two weeks have been THE toughest weeks of training I've had in my entire career. Many people don't see the sort of training and dedication that goes into being a professional cyclist. Nutrition is closely monitored, Training, on the bike, often takes up half your day. Recovery is also a crucial roll in getting in quality training. The better you recover, the better you can train the next day, which results in a better outcome when it comes to a race. Mental strength is another key roll of pushing yourself to the next level, pushing through the surface of the pain barrier, teaching your mind to tell the body to keep going. This past weekend I proved to myself that I could do all of these despite a long tough week out on the roads.

The Eston Illovo Race is the largest one day event in the world. A highly prestigious race that attracts many of South Africa's best Professional Mountain Bikers. Riders like Burry Stander, Max Knox, Marc Bassingthwaite, James Reid, Brandon Stewart.... then list of these animals goes on and on.. and on.

Being my first race in the colours of new sponsor Sho-Air/Specialized Factory I really wanted to have a good result, but was totally unsure of how my legs would hold up after the hard weeks training. So, I adopted the approach of, "Go until you blow!" With a junior XCO race only lasting between 1h15-1h30, it was my goal to stay with the big boys until then, anything longer than that was a bonus!

With the first KOM of the 60km race only 2.5km into the race, the heat got turned on really early. The attacks leading up to the final sprint were furious, but I managed to cross the top right on the wheel of Burry Stander, around 5th or 6th. A ferocious counter attack came from Max Knox directly after the summit. Burry seemed to cruise across the gap along with Brandon Stewart. I bit the bullet and pushed to get to the 3 man break. I latched on but pretty soon the race resumed with around 10 riders. To my surprise top riders like Marc Bassi and Mannie Heymans were off the back, but there wasn't time to worry about what was going down behind us. The group hit the next tough climb around 10km in. The bunch split up, with me being ridden off the back. Somehow I managed to ride myself back across the gap, back onto the wheels of the now 8 man strong lead group. This happened one or two more times, but both times I was still able to push the pain away, grit my teeth and, well, GO!

Then came one of the most deciding climbs of the race. Around 25km into the race Max Knox attacked hard. All of us followed, but were soon ridden off by the like of Burry, Brandon and Max. James Reid and Phil Buys were just behind with myself, Marc Bassi and Andrew Warr right on their tails.

I managed to drop Marc and Andrew and began to try and close the gap up to James and Phil, who had now lost a little time on the 2 leaders, Brandon and Burry (Max suffered a puncture). Max managed to close back up to me, and to my surprise I was able to climb with him until he suffered another mechanical. Andrew Warr had also worked his way back, along with Andrew Hill. Unfortunately at around 50km my legs, well, EXPLODED! Andrew Warr managed to get away leaving Hill with me. This is where I had my realization. I just kept pushing on. As hard as it was, I just kept on going as hard as possible. Eventually around 5km later I had managed to shake Hill and was now closing on Warr. I eventually came in 6th Pro/Overall and 1st Junior/u18.

I'm totally ecstatic to have been able to battle it out with the top pro's for some of the race. The race also showed me where my weaknesses are and how I can improve on them. The new bike, a Specialized S-Works Epic 29er, was an absolute dream! Falling more and more inlove with this machine every time I ride it! Big thanks to Sho-Air and Specialized for hooking me up!!

A huge congrats to Brandon Stewart for bringing home the win, to Burry Stander for sprinting home in 3rd after snapping the one side of his bars completely off in a crash around 5km out and most of all to the organisers for putting on another fantastic event!

Until next time
B

Junior mens podium

long hours on the roads in prep for worlds!

Its good to be home

2011-07-31T16:41:00.010+02:00

Hey guys,

Well, now that I'm back in RSA, final preparation is WELL underway! Its my last couple of super intense weeks before heading over to Switzerland for the UCI World Championships!

Oh, and incase you havent heard, I'm now under the colours of US based team Sho-Air/Specialized Racing. The guys from the team have been really awesome, with only 2 days left in the States, they were able to get me the Specialized Epic S-Works 29er, along with a bunch of kit, bottles, apparel etc!! A huge thanks to Scott Tedro, Ty Kady and Johnny Muller. Johnny is the brains behind the amazing remodel of my blog!! looking really cool!!

I also need to thank my previous sponsors, Team Jeep South Africa and Ellsworth Bicycles. They were both willing to release me from contract to join the new team. Jeep has been alongside me for the past 5 years, and I always had amazing support from them, to Max, Clint, Bex, Bron and Sarah for your amazing support and loyalty to me as an athlete, I thank you! I really appreciate the endless hours that you put into the team! It did not go unnoticed. To Johann Wykerd (Ellsworth Importer) I thank you for the opportunity to ride such an amazing brand. The Ellsworth stood strong the entire season, never letting me down. I still believe that the Ellsworth is an awesome piece of racing equipment.

I will be leaving for the USA almost directly after returning from Switzerland on the 6th of September. I will be heading out to Las Vegas for the 2012 Interbike convention, where our new pro team will be officially announced. I'll then stay over there until december, where I will return to RSA to complete the remainder of my Base Training, enjoy some family time over Christmas and my Birthday, and then head back over early February where I will start my 3 year contract with the amazing setup that Sho-Air/Specialized have.

Check out a couple of photos Darren Goddard got during a photoshoot in the new kit.

Windham World Cup, New York Trip, and some catching up!

2011-07-17T23:33:00.003+02:00

Hey guys

Man, I apologise for such a late update on the Windham World Cup. But as I'm sure you all heard, it didn't go off smoothly to say the least.

Everything started off extremely well! Windham had an awesome course, beautiful scenery, good riding and of course, I was reunited with some South African friends! It was amazing being able to spend time with familiar faces and our time together soon became even better when none other than Mr. Casey Williams joined the crew!

Practice on the wet course went off pretty unhitched. It wasn't until Thursday (2days before the race) that things took a turn for the worse. While doing a fast lap of the course I came into one of the rock gardens, only to see that some oblivious spectators were standing in the line. In an attempt to miss the spectators I tried to move across the rooted/rocked out section, into another line, but in the process I slipped on a root which sent me straight to the ground. I fell so fast there wasn't even time to put my hands out nor time to try to tuck 'n roll. My face met the floor with a loud thud, followed by immense pain. Before I even knew what had happened I found myself sitting in a pool of blood. My nose had broken and I had a couple gnarly lacerations on my cheek and nose too. I dont know what I was thinking but out of nowhere I decided to put my nose back in place, which was shortly followed by a loud "click" and a heap load more pain.

So we made a trip to the doctor, where my obvious broken nose was x-rayed. The images were pretty crazy. The left part of my nose, where the cheek and nose meet, looked as though someone had taken a hammer to a windscreen of a car. I was also suffering from some intense pain in my right hand, which the doctor diagnosed as a mild dislocated "pinky" finger. So with a little 'pop', and a little 'click' i was ready to try take on the remainder of the day before my early morning appointment for a check up. Friday morning came, and the doctors room was where we were headed. Dr. Schneider walked in and pushed on my nose a couple times, I thought he was seeing if it hurt for me, then, out of the blue, he pushed hard and my nose made a super gnarly crack. He had pushed my nose back into place as it was still slightly skewed from the previous day. So again, I was sent on my way. A chilled couple of laps were done on Friday, before kicking the feet up for the day.

Race day was upon us. Saturday, 5pm, was when I had to put my set-backs behind me and give it everything. I lined up 3rd in a small, but super fast junior field. The 8 fastest Juniors in the world were on the front row, which meant a podium spot was going to be a very hard fought result! The gun went, pandemonium broke loose, the group of 30 juniors dived into the first corner. I got pushed wide after a good start and came out of the start loop around 15th. The long climb began to split the field up which left some really big gaps for me to close down as I began to work my way back up. At the top of the climb I had moved into 4th, but 2 riders up front were starting to open up a small gap. We hit the first single track but the gap to the first 2 riders kept opening. As we approached a double track section I made a pass on the rider ahead in an attempt to try close the gap by myself. Unfortunately after making the pass I was rammed from behind, causing my hanger and derailleur to twist. I stopped to try and fix the problem, but could only get the derailleur to work in 3 gears. I managed to time trial my way back up to the leaders, which were now all together, before the end of the first lap. Lap 2 is where my day really started. As we wound our way up to the top of the course, the group whittled down to 3, but I really began to hurt as we approached the steepest climb of the lap. I was forced to jump off and run. I began to drop positions rapidly, but I tried to stay positive and make up time on the technical sections I was able to ride. Unfortunately the race got worse with every lap. I was forced to run almost all the climbs as I was simply too tired to push the gears that were usable on my bike. In the end I was nearly an entire lap behind the leader. A very disappointing result, but a valuable learning curve.

Sunday then came round, which turned out to be one of the most memorable days of my entire life. Caitlin de Wet, Casey and Kim Williams, Alexis Ryan, Rachel Campbell and I made a trip down to New York City. WOW, what a city. It was really cool to be inside one of the busiest cities in the world, to feel so small and insignificant amongst the hustle and bustle of "The Big Apple" was just mind blowing.

We tried to cram as much of the major attractions into our day. Visiting the Statue of Liberty, Battery Park, Wall Street, Ground Zero and a number of the memorials, The Empire State Building, Central Park and Times Square!!! To see so much of such a crazy city was incredible. The Empire State Building had to be one of the highlights of my NY trip. To get to look out over the entire city, to have a ride on the Sky Ride ( an IMAX roller coaster)and to just be around good people is a memory that could never be replaced. Central Park was the host of one of my best memories of my ENTIRE US trip. We all hired beach cruiser bicycles, which had anywhere between 2 and 6 working gears, and decided to go 'cruise around Central Park. Well.... Casey and I soon went of the tarmac and were bunny hopping over logs and rocks, finding drop offs and messing around.... until..... a mildly serious man on a TT bike came blazing past. This was too good to be true, an opportunity to race on cruisers! we left the others in our wake and rode onto the wheel of the TT rider. A rather nasty climb came around which was where Casey and I tried to make our move, which ended up lasting a whole 30 seconds or so.

Now with fond memories from NY, I've just got to Missoula, Montana. Last weekend I gave my support to Casey and the kids from EXPO racing at the US national championships. This coming weekend is my last race in the states and final round of the Pro XCT National series. Then its back to SA, before jetting off to Switzerland for World Championships!

Until next time
ciao

4th of July in Albany

a rather excited Casey

Subaru Cup - Wisconsin

2011-07-02T14:29:00.000+02:00

Hey Guys

Wow, times been flying since I've been here in Milwaukee. I've been running around this entire week tryna sort out a new race wheel which I destroyed on Friday last week while doing a practice lap of the course.

After stressing like a mad man, the Subaru Trek Team came to the rescue with one of Emily Batty's spare race wheels. The guys were super helpful and very accommodating. A huge thanks needs to go out to them for helping me out, without you guys I wouldnt have been able to race at all on the weekend. They slotted the wheel in and I was back onto the track to get some more practice.

I felt pretty tired on the bike after a super tough weeks training, but felt like I had the course dialed in. I made my way back across to the Team EXPO camp site. Before continuing I need to give a huge shout out to Gus, Papa Ted, Riley and all the other people helped me out with accommodation and shuttling. I really appreciate the help you guys did for me, you really made the stay in Wisconsin an awesome one.

so, most of Friday afternoon consisted of me running around after a wheel, but once the riding was out of the way I spent the entire afternoon lounging around in the campsite with good friend and fellow Junior competitor, Casey Williams. By the next morning I was pretty well rested and super amped to hit the race with everything I had. Being a Pro XCT (NORBA) I was not allowed to race up in the Pro/Elite Category, which meant my race was around 11:00 (Pro Cat 1).

The field was pretty big, around 100-120 riders in total. I stood on the start line, literally shaking in my socks, waiting for the siren to sound the start of my 4 lap race. I managed to make a good leap to the front, from there I decided to hammer as hard as I could at the front of the pack. The tactics seemed to work, I'd opened a good 5 second gap over the front runners before we hit the hardest and longest climb of the track. By the end of the first lap, Casey Williams and I came through together, around 30 seconds ahead of the field.

I made my move on one of the steeper climbs on lap 2, opening the gap up to around 1min over the next lap as I headed into lap 3. Over lap 3 I managed to stretch the gap out to around 1:45 and felt really strong heading into the last lap. The last lap began to get really tricky. The lines had changed drastically, switch back corners on the climbs were getting super loose, and the fact that there were 100's of Cat1 men and women back markers ahead made racing really tricky. Many of the people would not give way in the single track, mainly due to the fact that they thought I was a late charging back marker trying to make unnecessary passes. This didnt help the fact that a hard charging Casey was coming through the now "alert" field. My lead began to whittle down fast and before I knew it he was on the same switch back climb as me, just one contour below.

I made one last, super big push up the final technical climb to try open a small buffer before hitting the single track to the finish line. Fortunately it worked out, I crossed the line around 25 seconds ahead of Casey.

Results Pro Cat 1 (overall)
1. Brendon Davids
2. Casey Williams (+0.26)
3. Max Houtzager (+1.30)
4. Payson Mcelveen (+2.40)
5. Jake Richards (+4.00)

Then came the Short track on Sunday. A discipline that I have never raced in. Our starting call up was based on the results from the previous day-meaning I was the first seeded rider, and would have first pick at the start line.

The short 900m track was open, and fast. Meaning one thing.... HARD racing! The gun went for the start, I slipped a pedal, nearly went over the bars, dropped to the tail end of the field, and caused a huge crash in the process. I managed to get going and had to claw my way through the field. I rode on the absolute limit for 3 full before eventually meeting the back of the lead group of 4. Casey was laying down the law and making us all bleed to hang with him. Around the half way mark (8minutes in) I went to the front and went as hard as I could. I managed to whittle the pack down to 3, with Casey a little off the back. One of the Cat1 u23's then made a major attack, which no one wanted to bridge, I saw it as a window of opportunity and went for it. I bridged the gap and as soon as I caught him I countered, catching him by surprise.

I managed to hold my lead for the final two laps, crossing the line 5 seconds ahead of Josh Johnson (Pro Cat1 u23) and around 25seconds ahead of the next junior.

A huge thank you needs to go out to the following people for helping out and for making my stay in Wisconsin so awesome! Gus, Christie and Pappa Ted ( Expo Racing ) for hosting me before and during the race as well as the endless help my entire stay. Subaru Trek Factory Team for the spare race wheel that they gave me for the racing. Without them the race would have been impossible to do! Riley Kopesky and his family for hosting me the week after the race! They Really made my stay super comfy and stress free! Johann Wykerd for helping me out with a hub, even though I'm on the other side of the world!! I really appreciate the help from each and every single one of you!

Now I'm in Windham, NY. The course is really cool. Super tough, but fun!!! Will get some images up ASAP!

B

Big Bear Kenda Cup #7

2011-06-25T02:29:00.002+02:00

Hey Guys

sorry its taken so long to get this post up.... there's very little internet here at Mt. Morris in Wisconsin.

I'll just do a super quick post before heading off to bed before tomorrows race!

My stay was absolutely amazing. The people that hosted me were all so amazing!! They truely made my experience an extremely memorable one! I met some amazing people while there, and made some awesome friends. A huge thanks needs to go to both the Romero family and the Williams family!! You Guys all rock!!

Now onto the race.... wow, was it tough.. The build up to the race was perfect, although I'm training for World Championships later this year. Race day came around, and even with the tough weeks training my legs still felt really up to the challenge. My lungs were slightly more used to the altitude.

Unfortunately I was plagued with 2 punctures and a super gnarly bee sting inside my mouth during the race. I dropped from the lead bunch to around 9th. After being pushed to the absolute limit of what would be a "bad race" , I managed to get my head around the technicalities and faught back to a 4th in the Pro/Elite men.

I'm now prepping for tomorrows UCI Cat 1 XCO here in Mt Morris! Junior XCO start at 11:00, and I will then be racing Pro STXC (short Track) at 14:00 on Sunday. (all US Time - 6hrs behind)

Will get photos up of my travels ASAP!

Go fast, Take Chances! (Paul Romero)

Some Images from Big Bear

2011-06-13T22:10:00.004+02:00

Hey Guys

So I thought I'd do something constructive with my rest day... check out some of the amazing sights from INSIDE the village of Big Bear Lake!

the best coffee in town :D

the ski resorts.... amazing riding around the area

local biker stop over

ladies and gentle men, I give you, MR. Paul Romero

some of the crazy cool scenery just over the mountain!!

Some More Pictures

2011-06-09T17:47:00.004+02:00

Hey guys

Here's a few more pictures I've taken and found over the past few days!
note. the guy on the left was not in our race

one of the greatest days on a bike... EVER. Best trails, best scenery

2011 Santa Ynez Pro XCT - Race #1 - USA

2011-06-06T20:27:00.003+02:00

So this weekend was my first race in the States... in a small town that goes by the name of Santa Ynes-Los Olivios.

Early Saturday morning I left my accommodation in San Diego, and made the 5hr trip up to Santa Ynez with Alex Estrada, World Cycles, and his girlfriend. We arrived at the track, got registered and headed straight out onto the course for some practice. The course seemed like it was going to be a really long, yet super fun course. The loop was around 10miles, and with me racing as a Pro, I would be doing 3 laps.

After just one lap we packed up and made our way across to our over night accommodation, JUST before the heavens opened. The rain set in heavily for the night and didnt let up until just before the race.

It was cold, windy and pretty miserable at the venue, but that didnt stop the spectators and competitors from flooding into the race village to watch the racing unfold. Fortunately for the Pro's, the course had been cut from a 10 mile lap, to a 6,5mile lap, due to the "SUPER Mud" that had formed in places. At 9 sharp we took our places on the start, and man, were there some rather big names amongst the Pro's. Sid Taberlay (5 x Australian national Champ) and Zach Valdez were a couple of the names that would be vying for top honours. I kinda kept a clear head and ust stayed focused on getting the best result possible.

I managed to get what I would classify as, the BEST start I have ever had, managing to get into the lead. With a clear track ahead of me I wound it up. Taking full advantage of the clear track in front of me. I managed, Surprisingly, to put a 10-20second gap between myself and Sid over the first lap, with Zach around 10-15 seconds down on him. With the back markers now scattered all over the track, the gap stayed pretty much the same over the 2nd lap. The rain eventually let up, which actually made riding conditions way, WAY worse! The mud had turned into a clay-ish mud, known as "Peanut Butter Mud" which stuck to everything, making riding almost impossible. The mud had become so bad that I was forced to walk, not run, with my bike. Even on the downhill's it was almost impossible to pedal. Sid caught up and rode clean past me, leaving me absolutely gob-smacked. He literally rode away through the mud. Possibly the only one who could ride most of the last lap. After walking around 5 of the 6,5 mile course I came home 3rd in the Pro/ Elite category. A little disappointing, nut a really good indicator of where my form is at the moment.

A really awesome experience, a huge thanks needs to go out to Mike Mulder for hosting me the whole of last week. A huge thanks to everyone at Ellsworth for all the help and welcoming hand. To Alex for the lift to Santa Ynez and to all the support back home in SA!! You guys rock!

I'm now in Big Bear, an amazing little city that touches the sky. I'm staying with the AWESOME Romero family (Paul, Karen and Jordan). The riding here is SUPER awesome! I'll be posting up some pics of the race tomorrow, I'm off to hit the hay, got a heavy day at the Bonelli Pro XCT Course.

Keep it real
B

USA - Some Pics of Everything

2011-06-04T00:12:00.028+02:00

My seat for 16... LONG hours

Train shuttle to the different terminals at Atlanta Int - Sorry for the blury image

Waiting outside San Diego Int

Too big to even fit in the camera

Some Images of inside Mike's house

Mike's Garage

Really cool neighbourhood

Mike's sweet toy in the garage

view from my room

a couple images of Mike Moulders place (my accommodation for the past week)

awesome ride, a view of Tony Ellsworth's "castle"... my destination after 2h30

a view from the "castle"

a couple of the frames in the Ellsworth Castle

some more scenery

if you think the cars are big.... check out the bike rack

sucks I cant eat any of this.... apparently its the best ice cream around!!

New 2012 Fox RP23

The craziest truck I've seen while over here

Thanks to Loaded for the new product!! Super Stoked to be riding under Their wing! waiting for a green stem to match the green rocker.

some brand marketing

2011-06-01T20:24:00.005+02:00

Hey guys! My first post from sunny San Diego!!

Check out the awesome pics of my car that just got branded!!

A Very Special Thank you

2011-05-29T17:55:00.003+02:00

With my trip to the US just hours away, I feel that a huge thanks needs to go out to a number of people who have helped make it possible!

Johann Wykerd for all his time, effort, advice and input over the years

Allegra Wykerd for all the many hours of her own time ensuring that I would eventually be prepared to follow my dreams

Burry Stander for all his support, advice and encouragement

Team Jeep South Africa for their backing over the last 4 seasons

Max Cluer who pulled some interesting strings and ensuring we were always tops.

Clint Morck who never fails to amaze, working tirelessly behind the scenes

Bronwen Blunden who is such an inspiration and a lady who can get things done

Bex van der Linde for all her support

The guys from 32GI

Craig Wright who has become a source of backup and incredible support. Thanks for the spare wheels

Craig Paul who has been a fantastic mentor and friend since joining Team Jeep

Caitlin de Wet and her family for their help while in Windham

Dellah Paul who helped navigate many a mine field and was always happy to give advice

Lynn Vogel for arranging air fares that I do not think will ever be matched

My aunt- Lynne Davids without who's assistance this trip would not have been possible

Clint Olsen and the Cyclelab team for the awesome tyres

Mike for the super sharp ForEx rates

Tony Ellsworth and his entire team at Ellsworth Handcrafted Bicycles Inc who will be taking care of me while I am in California and in Idaho at the US Nationals.

To all those in the States, including:
Summer
Chiapin
Bryan
Gus
Riley
Joey
Alex
These people who I have yet to physically meet have accepted me with open arms and will ensure that this trip will be one that will remain in my memory for many many years to come.

All the above mentioned names have had a major influence on my trip in one way or another, but the people I owe the greatest thank you to, are my family... My mom, dad and brother. Having their full support makes chasing my dreams far easier and their support through thick and thin has been nothing short of amazing.

I thank everyone mentioned above as well as everyone who supports me out there at the races! If it weren't for you, my next post wouldn't be coming from the US!!

KZN XCO Cup #2

2011-05-19T18:01:00.002+02:00

Hey guys, sorry for such a late post on the past weekends race! I've been running around trying to finalize everything before heading over to the States.

On Sunday was the 2nd round of the KZN XCO series and was heald at the Roy Hesketh race track. The track was relatively short and fast, around an eleven minute lap, but super fun!

The new batch format meant that both Youth, Juniors and Elites could all race together, making racing a lot more intense, a lot more tricky and much, much more interesting. "A" batch lined up at around 8:00 and to my surprise, was rather large. A couple of the usual favourites were there, James Reid, Travis Walker, Paddy Belton, racing would be tough.

The whistle went, with a lightning fast start from Travis the racing soon took flight. James and I managed to snake our way through the bunch from around 4th and 5th. James and I sat at the front of the lead bunch for the first lap and then managed to put a hard surge in creating a gap on the rest of the riders.

From lap 2 James and I rode at a really high tempo, just hard enough to maintain the 1minute gap that had opened up between us and 3rd. The laps flew by and before we knew it we were racing into lap 5. We began to race a little harder, pushing it to try and find fault or weakness in each other. This went on until lap 9, the final lap. We tried our luck at dropping one another, but to no avail. A sprint finish it would be. With us entering the last few hundred meters James tried to create a gap once again. Luckily I managed to cover the attack and sat on hit wheel as we entered the last piece of single track. As we dropped off the single track onto the short piece of tar towards the finish, the sprint opened up. James and I kicked at the exact same time, I managed to pick up some speed, but ran out of runway. James pipped me to the line in a very hard fought sprint! Top notch riding by him!

Thanks to Nick Floros for putting together such an awesome race!

Now my final prep for the USA is underway, I'm busy running around trying to organize my visa and flights before the planned departure date of the 29th.

Until next time
B

Back on Track - PE National 2011

2011-05-12T16:29:00.000+02:00

Hey guys! sorry for such a delay in my posting! Went through a bit of a lull, got REALLY lazy, but everything is back on track, I'm more motivated than ever before, and I'm amped on life at the moment!

Not much has actually taken place these past few weeks, just one or two small classics, but the main event was definitely the PE National one week ago. After not having a National in PE for over 4 years, it was really great to be back and racing in the city for the second time this season. The new XCO track was a HUGE improvement on the one before, with it being one of my favourite courses of the season to date.

The course was definitely a true XCO one. Short, sharp, technical climbs. Fast, rocky and technical descents, good overtaking spots and of course, FLAT OUT all the time. I got my first ride in on the course on Thursday afternoon, and was quite frankly, blown away by the amazing track! Friday morning saw me at the track rather early in order to get my practice over and done with as well as to check any new lines which may have formed. Once satisfied it was time to chill hard with good friend and TJSA Team Mate-Trav Walker.

Race day..... I'd managed to fix a small problem which I had encountered during practice, with the tremendous help of Craig Wright. The weather took a turn in my favour, the heavens opened just before the start of our race, which would definitely make for an interesting race.

From the whistle I had a pretty crappy start to say the least. I was down in around 8th but managed to work my way to fourth as we entered the first single track. As we hit the first hard climb the bunch split up drastically, with only a few Juniors managing to make the gap. Arno du Toit, Gert Heyns, myself and Luke Roberts were now in the lead group. The bunch stayed really knit together until we crested a climb around halfway into the track. Luke went to the front while we steamed along the road leading to the fast switch back single track. I left my move pretty late, but managed to enter the single track in 2nd. Luke and I managed to open up a small gap over the remainder of the track, having around 20sec. on Gert as we entered the 2nd lap. We continued to push the pace, which in turn increased the time gap to 3rd. The muddy/gritty conditions began to take its toll on the bikes, with me losing all but 3 gears around 1,5km from the end of the 2nd lap. i began to struggle on the gradual uphill to the start/finish, and could only watch as Luke began to open a gap on me. I was forced to run 2 of the 3 steep climbs, which again meant I was conceeding time to the lead. On lap 4 I managed to force the shifter to give me 2 more gears, enabling to ride the climbs once again. Luke's bike had also begun to suffer, with his fork beginning to seize I was able to slightly close the gap, but the gap that he'd opened was just too big leaving me to settle for 2nd at the end of the day, a little over a minute behind.

thanks to Marc Sing Key for the image

A huge thank you needs to go out to Ellsworth Bikes for my amazing Truth SST.2 . Everytime I ride that bike it just feels better and better!

Congrats to the organisers on an unreal XC track! Really top notch! Now comes the final preparation before I head over to the States on a 2 month racing campaign internationally, where I'll be doing a number of the Pro XCT races, National Championships as well as the Windham World Cup!

Until next time
Ciao
B

UCI MTB World Cup - Pietermaritzburg

2011-04-26T15:02:00.003+02:00

Hey guys, this past weekend was a rather disappointing one from my side, with the my race not going too smoothly!

The hype leading up to the World cup was absolutely crazy! The Elite men and U23 racing was insane. It was unbelievable to watch the titans of our sport battle it out to see who would reign supreme at the end of the day. The South African riders put up a really good fight! Burry Stander did SUPER well to hold onto 11th after two HUGE crashes, one of which damaged his bike. Rourke Croeser rode really well to come from the back of the U23 field to finish 13th! A really classy ride by both riders!

Then on Sunday morning, it was the Juniors turn to take on the reconditioned XC course at Cascades. At 9:30 sharp we took our places on the start line. I had the privilege of being the number one ranked Junior, which allowed me to pick any start line I wanted. The gun went off, and the 250m dash down the start shoot began. I had a super bad start, dropping down to 8th, I kept calm and made my chase back on the long steep climb that lead us up into the hills of Cascades. I hit the front and went hard to try split the bunch up. A group of four or so riders made the break with me as we hit the first fast piece of singlet track. Andri Freschnecht made his move on one of the short steep climbs. I managed to latch on and this is where the racing began to take place. Heading onto the 2nd lap the bunch was very closely knit between the 4 riders, with Andri just off the front. We hit one of the open roads which allowed me to close back up to Andri before disaster struck me in one of the sections to follow. My pedal smacked a low lying stump, flicking me backwards down the single track. The shock of the crash took me a long time to shake off, and left me feeling dazed and slightly deflated. I tried hard to bounce back, but only managed to find my legs on the last lap, which had allowed 6more riders to pass me, leaving me in 8th. I chased hard, but unfortunately the last lap came to quickly. I had only managed to work my way back up to 6th.
Congrats to Andri on his win, a very well deserved result!

A very disappointing result for me, but its all part of the sport that I'm involved with. All in all it was one AMAZING experience! Huge thanks needs to go out to Max Cluer for the awesome job done in organising such a great event!

2011-04-18T19:47:00.000+02:00

Hey guys! check out this fun video with some of the guys from the team! www.youtube.com

Mud Bath - Cascades National XCO Cup #1

2011-04-17T18:50:00.005+02:00

With the weather taking a turn for the worse after the Karkloof Weekend, it meant only one thing for the National Super Series that was coming up.... MUD!

The rain rolled in around Wednesday and poured on and off for the next couple of days. This made practice really tricky as we needed to brave the conditions in order to ride the rock gardens, but at the same time we didn't want to damage or hurt ourselves in a crash that could occur in the slick conditions. Practice went off really well, with no major crashes or incidents. I was feeling really confident on the new Ellsworth, despite the horrendous conditions. The Truth SST.2 handled the conditions unbelievably and had really left a good impression on me leading up to the race.

Race day dawned, and yet more and more rain fell. With an 11am start, my morning was rather chilled. I arrived at the venue and was greeted by a sight of absolute carnage! The riders were absolutely covered in mud, bikes were trashed and spectators resembled drowned rats more than human beings. The parts of the track that I could see from the car park looked like a war zone. The thought that sprung to mind was, "This is gonna be tough... very tough"

By being seeded on the front row it meant that I had a really clean line straight into the first climb, which was right after the start. Right from the gun I went hard to get into the first single track in a good position. Behind me there was utter chaos. Arno du Toit and I were the only two riders who managed to ride up the first climb, everyone else was forced to unclip and start running. The front end of the field was soon whittled down to 4 riders, Gert Heyns, Arno du Toit, Luke Roberts and myself.

The conditions were terrible, with many parts of the course being unrideable. I put in a really hard effort on the longest climb of the course, which lead to the bunch whittling down to Gert and I with Luke a few seconds back. Gert and I managed to put a gap between us and the chasers and began to battle it out for the lead. Unfortunately I took an extremely heavy crash in the biggest rock garden of the course, leaving Gert to ride away into the distance. I remounted and began my pursuit back to Gert. With some bruised confidence, I chickened out of the bull runs on the last lap, which allowed Gert to open up an even bigger gap. In the end I managed to roll in for 2nd, around 2minutes down on Gert.

Congrats to Gert on his result! A very well earned win!

A huge thanks to Ellsworth for such an awesome machine! With each ride the bike feels better and better! Another big thanks needs to go out to new sponsor, Powasol! Their cleaning products and chain lubes were UNBELIEVABLE in the conditions I was faced with on the weekend! Thanks Guys!

Now comes a very easy week in prep for my big one! The 2011 Pietermaritzburg MTB World Cup!

Ellsworth USA - Truth SST.2 - Race Machine

2011-04-02T10:08:00.007+02:00

Hey Guys

check out some pics of the new race machine!! Huge thanks to Tony Ellsworth (Ellsworth Bikes USA) for this amazing product!! Head to W Squared cycles and speak to Johann or Allegra Wykerd (Ellsworth SA) to find out more on this awesome machine

Huge thanks to Andre (Rush Sports) and E.Thirteen for this Super Light Chain Device!

Tune Prince and Princess hubs, on Stans Podium MMX hoops, ensures that I'm on one of the lightest wheelsets on the market! get down to W Squared Cycling to check out these products!

Another big shout out to Craig Paul for the hard work that he's put into my bike! Johann and Allegra Wykerd have also worked tierlessly to get my bike ready before the National and World Cup later this month! Thank you!

2011-03-22T17:08:00.002+02:00

Been helping Ryan Ellis out with some Promo filming for the Maritzburg World Cup!

Check it out www.youtube.com

Tyre Shredding Madness - SA XCM Championships

2011-03-20T18:58:00.003+02:00

Hey Guys, today was the 2011 South African National XCM (marathon and half-marathon) championships, held at Inanda Dam just outside of Hillcrest. With a name like "The Valley of a Thousand Hills," racing was never going to be easy, especially with a title up for grabs in the Junior/Half Marathon Category.

Having ridden the 90 odd kilometer loop with Burry on Thursday, I felt pretty familiar with the area and felt ready for anything and everything that could possibly be thrown at me. After a pretty brisk warm up, the juniors took to the start line to attack the roads that lead skyward in every direction.

We rolled off the line and onto the long winding road that lead out of the Inanda dam resort at 8am sharp. As we made our turn onto the gravel road around 1km from the start, it was clear that the boys were going to go all out! We hit the first climb and Luke Roberts made his presence known, as he split the bunch into one long line, which slowly broke into a small elite group of 4 or 5 riders up front. We approached one of the steeper climbs of the day - my opportunity presented itself... I put in a hard pull up front and managed to break the group up a little more. Only one rider (Raymond Oosterlaak) was willing to respond and so began our break away. We worked well as we approached the summit, and had managed to open a good gap over the group of chasers. I managed to push myself little harder over the top of the climb, leaving my compatriot behind. From there on I managed to hit the route hard, slightly increasing my lead to round 1minute. Unfortunately I made a stupid mistake by trying to go around a river crossing,which ended up costing me my lead and allowing Luke Roberts to catch back up to me.

Now together,the tactical racing began. Luke would surge to try break the gap, then I would surge to try and counter, a tactical game of cat and mouse. Eventually we found ourselves entering a super fast section a single track where disaster struck. A very dangerous section popped out of nowhere, and to put things into simple perspective, I utterly destroyed my front tyre. A huge hole, the size of my finger had been sliced into my side wall which inevitably forced me to stop, leaving Luke to open a gap. I had to shove two rubber plugs into my side wall to simply try an fix the problem. It was a shocking attempt at a fix, as the air was slowly leaking, but I felt it was enough to last to the finish. Now by this time I had lost my 2nd position and was about to lose my 3rd, By keeping calm and staying unphased I mounted my bike and began my attempt to try reclaim the lead which was now around 2minutes ahead of me.

I soon found myself back on the wheel of Dylan Hattingh (now 2nd) and almost instantly set my sights on clawing my way back to the lead. At the 15km to go mark I got news that I was only 1minute down and could now see Luke ahead of me. With around 5 or 6km to go he was only 35seconds up on me, but now I was also fighting a tyre that was furociously wanting to roll off the rim. With 3km to go the traffic between the 20km back markers became mayhem. I tried to ride around an overenthusiastic back marker, who completely misunderstood my plead for "TRACK, COMMING on your right!" which lead to me rolling my tyre completely off my rim and I subsequently hit the deck,hard. I stumbled to my feet to see a very sad and miserable looking race machine lying in a heap. I straddled the bike once more and went as fast as humanly possible, bearing in mind that riding with a tyre that continuosly rolls both on and off the rim, is like riding on an ice rink, with a few million marbles chucked on for good measure. With only 200-300 meters to go, Dylan Hattingh came blaring passed me leaving me to cross the line in 3rd, 2minutes down on Luke.

A very disappointing day in the office. A much better performance from the previous week, at least I now have my geometery dialled. Time to start preparring for the World Cup in PMB... get down to Pietermaritzburg for this world class event to watch the besthat both South Africa and the World have to offer!!!

SA XCO Championships 2011

2011-03-18T14:46:00.006+02:00

OK this must've been one of the more disappointing races in my cycling career, hard due to the fact that the problems that occurred were out of my control. My preparation for the SA Championships went EXTREMELY well! At the High Performance Camp the previous week I had been able to see that my form was definitely good going into the race.

The week leading up to the race was a fairly chilled one, mainly trying to get used to the geometry of the 26inch bike again - unfortunately I am no longer on the Ellsworth Enlightenment29, but am awaiting my brand new Ellsworth Truth Race Machine!. The course slightly resembled a very short half marathon route... fast open dirt roads, with only two or three hundred meters of single track, and A LOT of climbing. Being out in the open, the course would definitely get hot during the course of the day, which would make for some interesting racing.

Race day eventually greeted us with some sunshine and good news, the chief comm. of the event had granted my new African Continental Champion kit legal to race in! Everything leading up to my race went off perfectly - my nutrition, my training.... everything.

At 12:15, during the heat of the day, the juniors began to line up. The race started off a little slower than usual. Maybe this was because of the mountain of a climb that we were about to throw ourselves into! After topping the climb, the race had completely blown apart with Arno du Toit, Gert Heyns, Luke Roberts and myself making the break. We then hit the second climb of the course, where Luke launched his attack. Gert and Arno sat up and decided to let Luke go, seeing an opportunity I rode across to Luke's wheel as we meandered our way to the top of the course, Gert managed to bridge the gap before the top, which now left 3 of us up front. The group stayed like this until half way through the third lap, when disaster struck, for me... having not being used to the geometry of the 26-inch bike, my back had begun to cramp, which meant I had to push harder just to maintain the same speed... As a result I slowly lost touch of Luke and Gert as they just began to ride away from. Things went from bad to worse as I cant even remember losing my third position to Dylan Hatting... Still thinking I was third I went into cruise control just to try and limit my losses and hopefully recover to try make some sort of come back. Unfortunately that didn't happen and upon crossing the finish line after lap five, I was told I was now in forth, which seriously erked me! Feeling very disappointed in myself as well as feeling I had let down the people who were supporting me, I decided to head on back to my accommodation in Table View, to look back on what had caused the problem during the race, before heading out to dinner with some friends in Stellenbosch.

Definitely a very upsetting race, but all very good experience. A HUGE thanks needs to go out to Craig and Cameron Wright for the use of their awesome race wheels! you guys are life savers!! This weekend is the SA Marathon and Junior/Half Marathon championships, I'm firing on all cylinders and raring to go! Wait for the post to see how it goes!!

until next time
B

Thanks to Mark Austin Photography for the awesome pics!

Living the Dream....

2011-03-18T14:09:00.007+02:00

This is where I truely managed to get a feel of the life as a professional Athlete. Although training was harder than ever, it was just amazing to be exploring new roads and training grounds in the process.

Like I said...After the HP camp I pretty much carried on with my major prep for the South African Championships which were fast approaching, only 2 weeks away. I had taken over the house of good friend James Reid, along with his girlfriend Candice Neethling.

The week of training in Cape Town went fairly well... we had a few very scenic rides around what is currently the Argus route, on some of the most amazing roads I've ever ridden. The passes and roads that we found ourselves on would fool you into believing you were riding right through a little village in the middle of Italy.

Having never been able to stay in Cape Town long enough to actually see any of the major attractions, I jumped at the opportunity to explore the different markets, beaches and scenery that surround the city.

The time at James' place was always very chilled, never feeling stressed out or unwelcome. The hospitality of James' parents was unbelievable. To put up with one cyclist is ridiculous, but to put up with three??!!!! A massive thank you to Steve and Janet for an awesome stay as well as James' older brother, Luke for putting us up in his room.

(good ride up chappies with the boys, and girl, after the HP camp)

(one of my all time favourite rides-Red Hill, 6 switch backs leading up, and out of Simonstown)

2011 CSA High Performance Camp - SISSA

2011-03-03T16:35:00.001+02:00

Ok guys, its been AGES since the last post! Sorry for the lack of communication over the past few weeks. A lot has happened since the last post, beginning with the CSA High Performance Camp at SISSA in Cape Town.

Many of the young up and coming cyclist in the SA MTB fraternity have one goal in mind, to be on the front line of the world circuit, the High Performance Program is one of the tools to help us attain our goal.

Cycling South Africa (CSA) flew us down to the Cape to undergo some of the brutal tests to see if we had made any progress, according to data, since the last HP Camp during 2010. After a late flight, a group of 10 or so off us were whisked away to the awesome Strand Tower Hotel, which was to be our accommodation for the next 3 days. After a massive buffet dinner we headed upstairs to catch some shut eye.

Day 1 of the camp greeted us witha VO2max test, a test that is done on a CompuTrainer (indoor trainer with a power meter). Every minute the resistance on the rear wheel increases and continues to do so until one of the two scenarios happens: 1. You throw up, or 2. Utter exhaustion (fainting).This test analyses both our power to weight ratio, our VO2 max and Lactate Threshold. These tests help us to configure a training program as it indicates our different power and heart rate zones. These tests were then followed by medicals, blood tests and one or two lectures on Psychology.

Day 2- The day that everybody feared, the day of pain, lots and lots of pain, the day of the feared 40km Time Trial, in which you go so hard that your stomach turns, your glutes cramp, your head throbs, every single ounce of energy you have goes into mashing your pedals for around an hour. Now going for a hard ride on the road for 40km doesn't seem like a very tormenting thing, but the fact was this, we weren't going to be on the road. We were going to be on a CompuTrainer, in a lab, staring at Computers telling you if you're going fast or looking for parking, HUGE industrial sized jet powered fans spit the wind at you to try and keep you cool. The course programmed into the Trainer is the flattest road imaginable - for 40km.... BUT the worst thing of this test, is the simple fact that you don't move an inch, you don't go forward, theres nothing to make you feel as if you're moving, the only drive to go faster, is the fact that all this torture would be over, sooner, if you go harder.

None of the above mentioned things were made any lighter after witnessing downhiller, and good friend, Tim Bentley, launching himself towards a basin after his TT... Tim managed to get a time of 01h08min... for an XC rider any time near one hour is a really good time, so for a DH boykie to get a time like that you can only imagine the pain he must've suffered through.

Then it was my turn... with a previous time of 1h02min and Phil Buys having just set a time of 58minutes, the pressure was on to try and get under an hour. I got mounted with the strategy of bettering my previous time... and so began my TT. I started easier than normal but decided to watch my speed instead of my avg wattage. If I wanted to go under the 60min mark I had to average a speed just greater than 40km/h. I managed to do so for the entire TT, with an average speed of 40.2km/h and one shattered body!The day then gradually tapered down until we found ourselves back at the hotel.

Day 3- probably one of the most underestimated days of the Camp. What lay ahead was a morning of max power tests = 5x30second sprints at a maximal effort... from a stand still, and to top it off... up the Rhodes Memorial Climb. These intervals were nothing short of brutal, and definitely contested the TT in terms of difficulty.

So was the end of the HP Camp, a very tough three days in the saddle, but all in all a very good experience. I do however feel that the tests were not spaced out enough, however, it was a very well run and a very professional camp. A big thank you needs to go to CSA and all the people down at SISSA who made everything was possible as well as for making all the equipment available to the HP Squad!!

Twitter

2011-02-21T12:53:00.002+02:00

Hey guys

If you guys are keen to see what I'm up to be sure to follow me on twitter!! It's a great way to inform people of what you're doing, at the very moment you're doing it! Its INSTANT!!

Follow me by just clicking on this link. Register with twitter and click on follow :) Its that easy!

@brendondavids

Happy tweeting
B

UPDATE

2011-02-19T18:38:00.002+02:00

Hey guys

Busy doing some work on a new website! watch this space!

Keep it rubber side down!
B

Cycho Media

2011-02-18T10:02:00.006+02:00

Thanks to Cycho media

Photo Shoot with Cycho Media

2011-02-18T09:58:00.003+02:00

Hey guys!

Had a quick photo shoot with Darren Goddard from Cycho Media! Have a look at some of the shots!

Check out www.cychomedia.blogspot.com !

Ciao
B

Mountain Biker Write Up

2011-02-16T08:10:00.007+02:00

Hey guys...

Got a really good write up in the Mountain Biker Mag.

Go check it out on www.mountainbiker.co.za

B

Goose Bumps - African Continental Championships 2011

2011-02-15T06:57:00.013+02:00

Hey Guys! so sorry for such a late post! I've been gallivanting all over the countryside to eventually find myself back home in PMB!

This weekend marked one of the single most important race wins in my cycling career to date. The African continental Championships.

The build up the race was very different to normal, hard due to the fact that I hadn't ridden a mountain bike in nearly a month! With only 5days to go before the race, I received my 2011 race machine - The blisteringly fast Ellsworth Enlightenment 29er.

The very rocky, tight and technical course seemed that it may suit a traditional 26" full suss more as there was a lot of stop-go single track in the beginning. So after checking out the course, I swung my leg over the saddle and decided to hit the freshly cut course on my big wheeled machine. The first thing that came to mind when I hit the track was, " WOW!! this thing is FAST!!" I simply couldn't believe the speed at which this thing rolled over some of the obstacles on the route. It still felt very awkward to be riding single track, as I had become used to the SUPER low position of a TT bike over the past few weeks. But with a few days still to go I was confident that I would still be able to get my technical skills close to what they would need to be to get a good result.

The week flew by and with each day my confidence on the new 'beast' grew more. Friday dawned and of course the traditional Official Practise took place. I was honoured to be able to ride with SA Super Star Burry Stander and a Specialized team mate. Burry discussed how to ride the course ie. where to push hard, where to drink, where to ride smoothly and keep the heart rate down as well as one or two really cool lines.

Then came race day, and before I had even arrived at the course there was some pressure which had been dumped onto my shoulders. Micaela Jonnson and Hannlie Booyens of Team Jeep South Africa had both one their races, which definitely made my hunger for the win a bit stronger!

My race was off at 10:30 with pre race favourite Luke Roberts leading the way into the first single track with myself and Gert Heyns on his tail. Luke and I jumped off and ran through the heavily deteriorated 'up-down section of the first single track. Some how we managed to get a descent gap over the rest of the field, and so began our battle for the lead. Towards the end of our 2nd lap I dropped my chain, which then mangled itself between the big chain ring and the crank arm. I stopped to try and get it out, losing around a minute or so and inevitably dropping to 3rd. After sorting out the problem my chase back to Gert (now 2nd) began. The 29er dominated the fast swooping single track towards the end of the lap and I soon found myself on Gert's wheel. Unfortunately Luke suffered a mechanical too, which allowed us to close up to him. All 3 of us crossed the line pretty close together as we went onto our 3rd lap. Gert pushed really hard into the first single track, which lead to us opening a gap up on Luke. Luke then suffered a puncture which opened the gap further.

Gert and I battled it out over the 3rd and 4th lap before heading into our 5th and final one. Going through the first single track for the last time I decided to run as it was a lot easier than riding and would allow for my heart rate to stay lower before we attacked the main climb of the lap, Gert however chose to ride what he could. As soon as we powered up to the 1st tech zone of the lap I surged past Gert and managed to get a good gap going into the long single track climb. I maintained my gap up the climb and rode the long technical descent back down to the 2nd tech zone as hard as possible to try and give myself a comfortable cushion before entering the final single track.This plan worked and entering the final section of the day I was able to prevent any mistakes by riding smoothly until crossing the line.

A HUUUUGE thanks needs to go to Ellsworth! I definitely feel that I've been equipped with the best possible machine to take on the task of the 2011 season!

Thanks also needs to go to Malan Wykerd for the servicing and maintenance of my bike while I was down in the Cape. Burry Stander, for taking the time to ride with me and help me out with strategy, lines etc. Willie Brink, for the accommodation and for driving me everywhere while I was down there. Thanks guys!!

Junior Podium

Elite winner Burry Stander and I

SA TT Championships

2011-02-05T20:20:00.002+02:00

Ok guys, so sorry for the hectic late blog post... I'm currently down in Stellenbosch and have been trying to find an internet cafe for the last couple of days. So I've finally found one, so now... the blogging commenses.

So... at sparrows fart on Tuesday morning, my dad and I left PMB to make the long drive down to Port Elizabeth for the South African TT Championships. After a really good bonding experience with the old man we arrived in PE at around 12:00, making our way straight to the awesome accommodation the Bronwen Blunden so kindly helped organise for us- being literally a 2 minute drive away from the start of the TT and registartion, it was the perfect place for the occasion.

After a quick spin around the TT route, I could feel that my legs were feeling really good for the TT that was 2 days away, although I was slightly nervous to see how my body would hold up to the awkward geometry of the bike, as I had only had 4 days to try and get used to it
Wednesday was possibly the most chilled day of my life. My day consisted of one very light ride and driving the TT route a couple of times, which was then followed by some hardcore chilling.

Thursday dawned, game face on, and ready to race. My sights were set on one thing and one ting only-the green and gold stripes of the Sout African Champions Jersey!I did everything perfectly, down to the finest detail. The only thing that wasnt in my favour was the intense wind that was pumping... but I managed to keep a positive mind set. I was the 6th rider off, with each person being set off at 1 minute intervals. I sat perched in the starting pen, waiting for the count down to end so i could get onto the road.

I rolled out onto the tarmac and got staright into the most aerodynamic position possible. After around 2km I had already caught and passed the first person in front of me, and now set my sight on the next person. I began to catch up most of the riders who had started in front of me, each time telling myself that I could close the gap to the next person if I push harder - and it worked! 15km out was the turn around point, as I made the turn it literally felt as though I was riding straight into a wall. The head wind was so intense that it felt like I was barely moving. It took me a while but I eventually managed to find my rhythm again and set my sites and the fourth rider I wanted to catch. Coming into the final 4km's I turned myself inside-out. I managed to tear passed him and tried to block up the pain swelling from my back and butt! The pain was the most intense thing I've ever experienced... although I had ridden the TT bike a lot over the past 4 or so days, racing it was a COMPLETELY different story!!! Despite this, I pushed it to the back of my mind and crossed the line in 5th. It was a disappointing result at the time, but in the end I gave it everything. I missed 4th position by 4 seconds, 3rd postion by 20seconds and 2nd postion by 34secs. James Fourie completely destroyed the junior field! over 1:30 ahead of 2nd place. Hats off to him for such a classy ride!

I'd also like to thank everybody for the time and effort they put into me to try and insure the best possible result for me! From my very awesome parents, my manager, Max cluer, Bronwen Blunden, Dan Hugo, Dylan van der Merwe, Clint Morck, Craig Paul.... EVERYONE!!! You guys rock!

Time to go hit the trails! I'll keep you all posted:)

Peace
B

Need to give thanks

2011-01-31T20:24:00.003+02:00

A huge thanks needs to go out to a number of people for helping me out in getting me ready for the South African TT championships!

Firstly- Dan Hugo for the amazing TT bike he gave me to give me the best possible equipment to help get me to my goal. The Specialized Transition S-Works is one serious machine and I am really grateful to have this in my arsenal.

Max Cluer and Bronwen Blunden for all the organisation and help with accommodation and the shipping of the bicycle from the Cape to Pietermaritzburg. You guys are stars

Clint Morck- always helping me out with the best equipment to help me get the results. Clint organised me an awesome set of wheels, a TT helmet as well as a skinsuit! thanks Clint!

Craig Paul- for servicing my bike and getting it into to tip top running order, increasing the reliability of an already amazing product. Craig is always willing to help me and it really means a lot that he helps fix my bike long after his work hours! Thanks Craig!

Adrenaline Cycles, WSquared Cycles, Cycle Lab PMB and Concept Cyclery (Burry Stander)- each and everyone of these shops went out of their way to help me out to ensure that my bike was legal to race and to ensure that nothing would hamper me from achieving a good result.

I cannot thank each and everyone of you enough! I really appreciate all the hard work and effort you have put into backing me, now its all up to me!

THANK YOU!!!!!
B

2011 KZN TT Title and a day full of nasty surprises

2011-01-23T19:50:00.008+02:00

Well what a weekend!!

Yesterday was the 2011 KZN Time Trial Championships, put together by Mr. Price cycling club, at the Toyota Test Track. Being my first open road time trial, I was rather nervous, not exactly knowing what to expect out on the course. Not having a proper TT bike, I borrowed a Time Trial helmet from Team Jeep Boss man Clint Mork, a set of dep section wheels from Craig Paul, as well as a set of clip on tri bars, from Darren Goddard, to allow for me to get as aero dynamic as possible on a standard road bike. I only received the bars one or two days before the TT so it didnt leave me much time to try and get used to the low position. All this "aero" equipment made me feel like some sort of space ranger, with a long thin helmet, a skin suit, booties and just about everything else borrowed to make the day possible.

Juniors were to do a 40km TT, along with the Elites and U23's. We were off first and I was the 5th rider to go. I took off in a hard sprint to get myself up to speed quickly before settling down into a nice hard tempo. I soon found myself in a really comfy position and was able to get into a really good rhythm. I began to real in the juniors who had started before me (each going off at 1 minute intervals), which then lead me to be the first person leading the road in my category.

With us doing loops on the 4.5km point-to-point track, we were able to gauge if we were opening up a gap or losing time to our competitors, which definitely helped to motivate the morale into digging deeper and deeper with each lap! The heat began to take its toll on some of the riders, as I began to see more and more riders pulling out short of the gruelling 9 laps that were at task.

Around the 20km mark I took a slight dip in my power, but soon regained it and was able to push on home for the win, and my first title of the year under the belt it feels good to be the KZN Road Time Trial Champ for 2011 as a mountain biker.

Hats off to Burry who honestly destroyed everything in his path... Classy ride!

Then today was the 120km road race which ended up being a swimming race!! The rain poured and poured but it didnt scare off any of the top contenders!

A Very early,05:30 start greeted our half awaken bodies, which were abruptly thrown into the hurt locker! My legs felt surprisingly good after the previous days time trial, with me sitting very comfortable in the front of the bunch. Burry then came to the front and put on a really strong pull, which definitely lead to the bunch peeling away from the back. I sat on his wheel as we crested the top of the first climb,still feeling pretty good, but that was about as good as my day was going to get... about 2km's down the road I felt the dreaded 'knocking' of a rim bouncing on the tar... yes, I had punctured. Unfortunately for me the vehicle which had my spare wheel did not see me and continued to meander into the distance. So I sat and watched as the convoy of cyclists and team vehicles drove past. Then one Richard Starr came to my rescue, giving me his sons spare wheel to get back to the vehicle which had my spare wheel. Murphy's law, as I began to real in the gap to the bunch there was his son, Murray Starr, who had crashed and punctured. Much to my 'amusement' I gave him his spare wheel I had borrowed back and waited for the back up vehicle who had got news of my misfortune. As the back up bakkie arrived, the driver frantically rushed over to me with a wheel, and innocently gave me a similar wheel with the incorrect gearing ie. elite gearing (juniors have restricted gearing). I got going, only noticing this problem a little down the road. Fortunately for me James Reid had ALSO punctured his rear wheel a little further down the road, so I stopped and I was then able to give him the wheel I was currently using, as he may ride the elite gearing as an U23 rider. I then got my correct wheel from the bakkie and was now at least 8 or so minutes down from the main bunch, where I had started my day. Now around the 20km mark, James and I began our attempted chase back to the group. We worked really well together and began to real in riders who had dropped off from the main pack. We then made contact with a small group of 8 or 9 riders, where we picked up Kyle Dorkin. Kyle managed to latch on as we continued our chase, but at the 80km mark we were still around 2minutes down on the next bunch and reports coming in that the lead bunch was by now truly away with little hope of catching. Having been chasing flat out the entire day my legs began to feel the effects of the TT the day before. However, I kept pushing as hard as possible until I reached the final 8km, where I low and behold I punctured again, and was forced to ride the remaining 8km of the race on a flat rear wheel, because not finishing the race was definitely not on the agenda.

James had managed break away from me with 40km to go and rode really strong to catch up to the bunch we had been trying to reach all day. a really good ride despite his terrible luck! Good on you man!!

So in a nut shell, It was a weekend of tremendous highs and probably my lowest of lows on a day with more challenges that I have ever had to endure which really tested my ability to keep things together. Well done to all the MTB riders on the great results this weekend.

So there is now a small change in my plans in preparation for Continental Champs as I head to Port Elizabeth for the SA Time Trial Champs in two weeks time.

In conclusion, a huge thank you to Clint Morck, Johann Wykerd, Darren Goddard and Craig Paul without whose help with equipment , this past weekend would not have been possible. Thanks Guys.

Photies-December

2011-01-11T10:04:00.006+02:00

the view from inside the car.. long, wet, windy roads lay ahead

Ellsworth USA - The Beast is here!!

2011-01-07T08:45:00.004+02:00

Hey Guys!!!

Check it out! My new machine from Ellsworth USA landed a couple of days ago and is now built up!

I'm just waiting on a few things. ie. ZTR Race 29er Rims w/ Dt Swiss 190s hubs : KCNC Ti Pro Lite Seatpost : AX Lightness Endurance saddle : Crank Brother Eggbeater 11's : Sram XX cranks and Stans/No tubes The Raven Tyres

All the above metioned products including my Ellsworth Enlightenment 29 frame are available and stocked by WSquared Cycling in Hilton!

I'd just like to say thanks to Tony Ellsworth and the guys over in the US for making this amazing frame available to me!

Catching up and slacking off

2011-01-07T08:37:00.002+02:00

Wow guys! I must appologies for the lack of communication over the past month or so! I've been so out of touch!!!

First off... Compliments of the season to all my readers! I hope you guys have an amazing year ahead!
I've was down in the Western Cape for almost the entire holiday with my family and girlfriend. It was awesome to get away from all the hustle and bustle, and to just let my head run free... O! and of course, WORK ON A TAN!!

The riding in the Cape was surprisingly awesome! Its the first year I've done my base training down there, and the roads are really sweet, not to mention the fantastic mountain biking areas like Montagu Pass or Saasveld XC course.

Now that I'm back in circulation, as well as in the new year, I will be takaing my blog a lot more seriously and will be posting regularly! So keep your eye on this space people!!

God bless
B

HP Urban Rage - Thrills and spills

2010-12-13T12:01:00.002+02:00

Wow, what a fun filled and exciting weekend! It was the 3rd Urban Rage held at Ushaka Marine World in Durban on the 11th and 12 December and this event always promises to dish up some excitement.
I went down on Saturday morning to take part in the 4hour team enduro event with fellow team members Ryan Ellis, Ryan Redman and new team member, Evan van der Spuy. This turned out to be a great day with the most amazing vibe amongst the competitors. Everyone helping one another and a great social event where we could let our hair down while enjoying our riding at the same time.To our surprise we were first overall with the Maverick Team, lead by Mike Bradley in second and then our very own senior citizen members of Team Jeep lead my Clint Morck in third. Well done Ballies.
Sunday, dawned bright and early and we were already on the road to Durban at 05h45. Today would be very different, as this is the event that brings out the best riders and some nice prize money up for grabs, but it would turn out to be a day of thrills and spills for the majority of riders.
The day began with the first individual qualifier, where two riders would start together and the times would determine your seeding in your second and final qualifying run. Thereafter your second qualifying run would determine the top 10 men and top 5 ladies that would go into final, where we would all be sweating more than just blood.
The first qualifier saw a number of competitors crashing, which obviously effected their times. Luke Roberts fell twice, I connected some scaffolding resulting in me facing the opposite direction and Arno du Toit unfortunately took a huge crash carrying too much speed over an obstacle and breaking his collar bone/shoulder blade in the process. This was really unfortunate as he would have brought a nice mix to the competition. “ Sterkte boet”. We hope you get well soon.
Craig Paul and I then did the 2 man team event in an effort to double check some lines and then it was time for our second attempt to make the top 10.
This run went off a lot better, but James Reid took a tumble and withdrew - I am sure he would have been in the top 10. The top 10 men and top 5 ladies were announced and I had just made it in spot number 10. Going into the final, I was going to have to pull out all the stops.
As the last qualifying male, I would have the honour of running first directly after the females. What a race the ladies had, with Candice Neetling destroying her competition to take her third consecutive win. Well done Candy, you are a machine.
I set off and pushed as hard as possible. I really felt good and I was really enjoying the course. What are the odds that both myself and team mate Ryan Ellis would find ourselves in a heap in exactly that same spot at the bottom of the stairs leading down into the aquarium? . I managed to get up again and pressed on. I really felt good, but only managed to make it into 8th spot. Ryan Ellis and young Alan Hatherley also took tumbles but were also able to recover. However the star of the show must without a doubt be Phillip Buys. This guy is unbelievable. After crashing his brains out on the last metal bridge crossing on the far side of the canal, he ploughed into the shade cloth and still had to repair his chain before he could ride any further and he still posted the fastest time of the day. Respect Mr Buys. Respect.
A huge thank you must go out to Max Cluer and his army of helpers as well as all the associated sponsors for putting this event together. You guys all did an awesome job and I am really looking forward to the 2011 event.
Now I am eager to get to the Cape where I am going to enjoy a nice holiday with my family and some friends. It is long overdue and I am going to make the most of it.
Catch you later

Ellsworth USA - 2011

2010-12-05T07:20:00.003+02:00

For the past couple of weeks, I have had some really exciting news building up regarding sponsorship deals for the coming year. I've finally been allowed to let the cat outta the bag, so...... In 2011 I will remain with Team Jeep South Africa, but will also be representing my new co sponsor .... Ellsworth bikes.

I have been fortunate enough to have been offered to ride from Ellsworth Bikes in the USA. I will be riding the Ellsworth carbon Enlightenment 29er which is the hard tail configuration in the mtb range while riding the Ellsworth Coercion carbon road bike on the road.
Ellsworth Bikes are renowned for their quality hand built frames that are built by craftsmen to the highest standard. These two babies should start arriving soon and I am really excited about getting them sorted in preparation for the 2011 season.

I will be racing on a full time basis in 2011 and am really excited about the prospects of possibly racing in Europe, while still meeting my commitments here at home and maybe even getting to the States where I could hopefully get some decent results for Ellsworth on their home soil and demonstrate what an awesome product Ellsworth really is.

Well despite the rest and base training preparation since Hill 2 Hill, the last competitive event for me is coming up on the weekend in the form of Urban Rage in Durban. Bring the family down and come and enjoy the racing and Ushaka Marine World at the same time.

Time to Give Thanks

2010-11-26T12:51:00.003+02:00

Ok, so with only urban Rage left on the calender, I think its due time for me to give thanks to EVERYONE who has helped me and stood by me throughout the year!

Team Jeep South Africa (including Clint Morck and Bex van de Linde for there support and advise) and all associated sponsors- John Dory's, ER24, Tropitone, Varsity College and Stedone Hazycrest Projects. These guys are the back bone of my team, and without them the team would simply not be able to survive.

Max Cluer- Team manager/owner, for his guidance, support and understanding, as well as all the hours that he puts into the team behind the scenes. This guy is a machine and an energy bunny of note.

Craig Paul- a Guru with a spanner, always making sure that my bike is running smoothly and a very big role model, training partner and mentor to me! I could not have asked for a better team captain.

Johann Wykerd and W Squared- for his selfless commitment to so many people and for all the help in so many ways. Always giving advise, being a mentor and being a close friend. A huge Thank you Johann for ensuring that I was able to ride a Merida 96 carbon for 2010. You and Allegra are an inspiration to so many and I applaud you for it.

HUGE thanks needs to, without a doubt go out to an EXTREMELY special lady. My Coach, Allegra Wykerd, has stood by me for many years, despite the circumstances and always ensured that I was as well prepared as possible.

Grant Dinkel- Adrenaline Cycles. On a few occasions, Grant opened his shop doors well after 8pm to help me out when I had discovered a problem that needed sorting before a race, and was always willing to squeeze me in on short notice! What he does for the youngsters in the sport is also amazing. Keep up the good work.

The Steyn family in Pretoria for putting us up with accommodation on two separate occasions and especially Nettie for running me to and from Fountains in preparation for SA Champs. "Julle is die beste"

Grant Walliser for assisting me with Nokian Tyres. They are a fantastic product and really contributed to my results. Thank you once again.

Then lastly, my parents and brother. They have to be THE most supportive family in the entire cycling world. Always attending EVERY SINGLE RACE that I do. They drive to opposite sides of the country while I fly, just to show their support. These people are the reason I'm able to race!

Thank you to everyone for your support this year.It has been your support that has enabled me to race and I thank you for it.

Here's looking forward to the 2011 Season, which should be a real humdinger.

Momentum health - 94.7

2010-11-22T16:06:00.002+02:00

Wow!! what a HECTIC weekend! in between all my matric exams, I had a little time to 'quickly' shoot up to Jo'burg for the 94.7 road race.

We left at sparrows fart, around 3am on Saturday morning, in order to miss the rush of the JHB traffic. After arriving we settled in with our other family members before hitting the road again to go and get registered.

MAN!!! the expo was SUPER cool! I could've honestly spent a couple of days in there. There was everything from cycling caps to the new 4.7kg Cervelo R5 road bike! There were some really impressive stalls which housed some of the most unbelievable bikes ever! ASG had the Pinarello Dogma and Emotion cycling had the new Volcans and Cervelo's. Unfortunately I had to be dragged away from this paradise to go get some rest before the next day.

I hit the hay early that night, trying to maximize my chances of catching up on some sleep... BUT my 6am start meant I was up and at it at 4:00 the next morning! That's one thing about road races, they are HECTICALLY early! I was a little uncertain of how my legs would be from my past couple of weeks of base training, but my coach certainly knows what she is doing and I was very pleasantly surprised.

At 6am we were off and fortunately it was a nice slow start to the race which allowed for my legs to warm up and by the time we hit the first climb I was firing on all cylinders. The attacks came pretty frequently, but i managed to stay safe in the lead bunch which was able to drive off the front. However at the 2nd climb I could feel things weren't feeling so hot, so I sat up slightly and decided to chase back on the descent towards Ponty tower. I made contacted with the group again and then managed to settle in nicely, before putting in a move on the tight windy streets in central Jo'burg, with the likes of Brad Mitchell and James Fourie. I realised it wasn't going to be a very successful break so the pace eased up again. Then disaster struck at around the 50km mark... my front gear shifter snapped off completely. ( The shifter on the opposite side broke in exactly the same way a month earlier while racing the Midmar Notts).Luckily it was stuck in big ring on the front, so i could keep up with the relentless attacks that were about to come.

The bunch continued to get smaller and smaller as we approached the the final 20kms, and was now just 15 strong, testosterone pumped riders. Luke Roberts went on the attack, and managed to get a sizable gap over the bunch and with no one wanting to chase down and the gap began to grow. The ASG junior team then took matters into their own hands and quickly ground out the gap that had been form, and soon we had Luke back in our sights.

But then the most difficult part of the race came at around 85km in the form of a MOOSE of a climb that looked like a vertical wall. We hit it = the explosion of my legs... not being able to gear down ensured that the gear I had to push made my pace really slow. I just had to watch as the other Juniors dropped to the small front ring and danced up the cliff face. After I eventually hurled myself up and over the climb I rode a steady pace back to the finish, coming home around 15th just behind Luke who had run out of steam with his huge effort earlier, riding up front on his own for quite some time. A very disappointing result especially with my legs feeling so good on the day, but a brilliant indicator that my legs are feeling good for Urban Rage!!!

A huge thanks to Linda Roberts and Charles Roberts for helping me out with an error that was made with my seeding and for sorting it out for me as I only realized the organizers mistake when I was on the other side of JHB when I opened my goody bag.

The organisation and scale of this event was a real eye opener and a good indication of what can be achieved when those involved in organizing an event know what needs to be done and it is done well.We were already on our way home and some riders were only starting two hours later and I was really happy that I was done because it was really staring to get hot.Some riders that were riding for charity dressed up in cow outfits including udders did the route twice.Respect Brothers and sisters. RESPECT!!!!

A great experience and I will definitely be back again next year. One more exam and I can start focusing on the task ahead in 2011.

skinny wheel racing part 3 -Road Rash and an Ass Grating

2010-10-17T17:16:00.006+02:00

Ok... so the Shova didn't exactly plan out how I hoped it would...

Being off the bike for close on a month, with the odd race thrown in, I was pretty nervous to see what the countries top roadies had to throw at me. Surprisingly I felt pretty strong, and definitely felt that I could make it to the bunch sprint at the soccer stadium in Durbs.

The race started off fantastically. I managed to secure myself in the bunch and pretty soon I found myself contending with the top guns... and I felt GREAT!!! We peaked over the notorious Fox Hill, which winds its way out of Maritzburg, which lead to the attacks coming hard and fast. I was able to react, and soon found myself with a very small select group of riders. As we turned onto the Eston road which makes its way towards Camperdown the race took a completely different direction. We had a full on block head wind. That meant only one thing.... GUTTER = NO SLIP STREAMING... thats where things stopped going my way! The group swung across the road to prevent us being able to slip stream the person in front of us. I found myself sitting in 2nd, so I still had a small amount of the slip from the rider in front of me, then.... the next thing I knew I was grating my butt away on the tarmac at 60kph. The tar that was on the yellow line dropped away to the side which forced me onto some dodgy gravel. I managed to get back onto the 'good stuff,' but was then clipped by a rider passing me. I came down with the most disgusting sound of grinding carbon and aluminium in the process of being mangled, not to mention the smell of my what must have been my skin being peeled off and left on teh road surface. After sliding for what seemed forever I eventually came to a halt. My bibs were shredded, my glove of my left hand, disintegrated, my shoes were ground down to a fine carbon dust, my handle bars and pedals had been mangled by the rough surface. The bodily injuries were quite painful. My left cheek of my butt was virtually non existent, despite me flashing it to everybody from here on as there were no bibs to cover up any longer. My elbow had taken the full brunt of the initial crash, and my fore arm had lost half the skin, which, by the way was still sizzling in the road.

I jumped up to try and limit my losses, I fixed my chain and began the most intense chase of my life. It doesn't happen often, but I literally pushed myself to the point where I could taste blood. I eventually made contact with the bunch when we got to the bridge crossing the N3 at Camperdown. But I was definitely feeling the effects of the chase. As we approached the last major climb of the race the attacks came like no tomorrow, I simply couldn't react. I had to sit back and try keep my cool. Luckily the gap didn't grow too drastically and I managed to make contact with the rear of the group, with the help of some reckless descending down into Botha's Hill. But again, the attacks came which equalled the end of my day, and my chances of a good result went down the tube.

From there I decided to just make the remainder of my race a good start into my base training, so I just chilled for the final 20km or so. It was really a bummer not to get the result I was hoping for... but hey... thats racing and that's the way the cookie crumbled at the end of the day. I ended the day with a really good lunch and a fruit smoothie before heading back up the hill to Maritzburg.

A huge thanks must go out to Clint and Ollie Olsen for arranging a new shifter in time to replace the one that snapped the previous week at Midmar / Notts. You guys were fantastic and thanks for all the encouragement and advice.

Now comes my base, starting on Tuesday and hopefully a good result at the 94.7 is possible!

Wish me luck
peace\

making the junction to the bunch after my crash

Skinny Wheel Action - Round 2

2010-10-12T15:49:00.003+02:00

So this weekend, after 3 weeks completely off the bike (apart from high performance testing)since racing the Hill 2 Hill, I decided to try and mix it up with the boys who race the skinny wheeled, light weight things they call road bikes. With the Amashova only one week away, I thought it'd be a really good opportunity to race the Midmar-Notts to test the waters and see how the legs would react.

We were up at sparrows fart to get to the typical early morning start of all road races. We arrived and went straight to register and get my bike rolled in (to have the gearing checked-Juniors race with lighter gear ratios than that of elites and older). Then came the warm up... with the cold morning conditions it was pretty hard to try and get warmed up, so I made the best of what I had and rode around in a big circle. Then came race time, at least it was delayed by around 20 or so minutes, which meant the start was at around 07:30, still a tad earlier than most mountain bike races.

The juniors started with the elites and under 23 riders, which meant only one thing... the racing was going to be hard and fast. With names like Chris Jennings, Dave Leiman,Andrew Warr and Myles van Musschenbroek things were not going to be easy. As we left the dam the pace stayed pretty moderate, with no one getting away from the bunch. By the time we got to the main climb of the race, the bunch was still very much intact. A few of the top riders came to the front and blew the bunch to pieces. At the steepest part of the climb I saw a chance to try and make a break, so I took the leap and made my move... I managed to get a good gap and felt like I was super humanly strong, until I sat down to get into a rhythm... that when the wheels fell off. The remainder of the bunch caught and blew me out the back, along with another rider. Fortunately I recovered really quickly and managed to time trial my way onto the bunch again.

The lead bunch was now around 15 strong, and we were now on the long gradual climb which winds its way all the way to Nottingham Road (25-30km long). The bunch continued to whittled down and only a few of the top riders were left with the ever increasing pace, riders were being dropped off the back all the time. Myles, a fellow junior rider, put in a really big effort at Michaelhouse and managed to get a gap of around 10 seconds on the bunch. Dave Leiman bridged the gap, which definitely made the bunch react with a chase. The gap slowly began to come down, and eventually the junction was made, almost instantly a counter attack went off the side with Dave Leiman. Chris Jennings, Mike Aidey and I went with. In the pandemonium I heard the most diabolical sound come from behind me... I looked back and saw a rider hit the deck hard. Unfortunately it was Myles who'd made a small mistake which lead him to practice some high speed bush diving.

The bunch was now down to 7, with me being the only junior present, so things were definitely looking very good.
Then to my amazement, with about 47km to go, my rear shifter snapped clean off which meant I only had one gear to push to the finish. I tried to dig deep, but I couldn't hold onto the disgustingly hard pace that Chris was now setting on the rough road just outside Notties heading towards the N3 and I was spat out the back of the bunch now only 4 riders strong.

And so began my 47 odd kilometer time trial back to the Midmar dam.

Luckily I managed to catch one of the other riders who had lost contact of the lead group as well. We began to really work well together, with me pushing on the flats and downhills, and him helping me on the up's. Eventually we arrived back at Midmar, with cramp nipping at my heels. I'd managed to make up a place crossing the line in 6th place from the elite starting batch and was the 1st junior home about four and a half minutes ahead of the next junior, a result I was really stoked with.

Now comes Amashova and then I will be back on the bike to start my base training in preparation for the 2011 season !!!

2010 CSA High Performance Camp - Umhlanga- Two Days of PAIN

2010-10-03T11:58:00.003+02:00

Wow what an amazing weekend! MTBSA as well as CSA (Cycling South Africa) put together an awesome High performance camp for the top Juniors and Elite athletes of South Africa, and was held at the AWESOME Umhlanga Medical Center near Gateway.

Needless to say, the two days were single handedly the most disgustingly hard days I've ever had on a bike. This was of course due to the fact that we had a 40km TT on the Computrainer as well as a VO2 Max test and Spin scan test. The 40km TT was definitely the hardest, each athlete was continuously trying to better the previous athletes time over the 40km distance. The VO2 testing was a different kind of disgusting all together, with the power gradually increasing on the Computrainer, the thought in the back of all our minds was, "O BOY!!!!" Unfortunately the computer which was monitoring my test switched off near the end, so I was unable to get a perfectly accurate result.

But nevertheless this specific HP camp was by far the most well organised and professional camp I have been on to date. The hotel we stayed in was absolutely fantastic, the food was spectacular and the level professionalism was at the highest level. With people such as Jeroen Swart, Tim Goodenough, Johann Wykerd and the entire team it definitely made the Camp very worth while and extremely thorough.

A huge thanks needs to go out to CSA, MTBSA, Johann Wykerd and Jeroen Swart and his team! Without you guys it wouldn't be possible to run such a tight shift program!

VO2 Max Test = Death

Sunday Tribune-Jeep Hill 2 Hill

2010-09-20T16:17:00.005+02:00

This weekend was the prestigious one day event, Hill 2 Hill. Every year this race seems to get tougher and tougher, maybe due to the fact that the level of competition is getting better all the time! Being the poster boy for the event, I really felt I needed to get a really good result.

Unfortunately the Juniors were unable to race the full 110km distance, so we had to settle for the blistering 45km route from Cato Ridge to Hillcrest.

A top class field was present on the start line. Riders like james Reid, Luke Roberts, Ryan Ellis and Travis Walker were definitely not going to make a good result easy to come by. From the start it was James who came to the front. I followed his wheel with the rest of the group in tow. Up the first steep climb, it was clear that it was going to be a battle amongst the Junior riders for the top 5 positions. James and Luke set the pace for the next couple of kilometers over the super tough, undulating terrain, with Ryan and I in 3rd and 4th. Travis had dropped of the back slightly and was down in 5th. Unfortunately for Ryan he punctured, which saw the end of his race. This left the three of us up front as we approached the first long climb. James attacked and managed to get a good gap, leaving Luke and I to do the chasing. I saw this as a good opportunity to try and get a gap over Luke, so I made a small attack to see how he would react. He managed to close it down, so I decided to do a long, hard surge. He dropped of just enough to give me a comfortable gap on the flat sections which we were approaching.

James managed to open his gap on the flat sections, which forced me to ride on the absolute limit on every downhill, and push as hard as possible on every up hill. By the time we reached the hardest part o the race, a long, disgustingly lung busting open road climb from the bottom of Keyridge (Arc), James had already managed to open a gap of around 2min. I took on a new bottle at the water table, and began the long hard slog up the climb. With only 10km to go I knew I had to turn myself inside out. I crested the final part of the climb and was feeling surprisingly good. At this stage I had around a minutes gap over Luke.

The toughest part of the race was now over and was pretty much plain sailing home, with only one or two nasty vertical kicks. I eventually crossed the line in 2nd overall and 2nd Junior.

A HUGE thanks needs to go out to the Title sponsors - Sunday Tribune and Jeep for an awesome event. Nick Floris did a fantastic job on the new course! WELL DONE!!

Now its time for some rest and relaxation! I'm completely off the bike for the next 3 or so weeks, so I wont be doing 50Miler or the Michaelhouse Super Classic! My next big race will probably be Urban Rage!!! Cant wait! :)

2 Days 2 Provinces 2 Races

2010-08-29T20:23:00.004+02:00

WOW man was this a tough weekend!! Two very tough days out on the bike, both mentally and physically straining.

Early Friday morning I made my way up to Pretoria with my dad leaving at 04h00 to get registered and prepared for the MTN National Marathon in Cullinan on Saturday, around 40min drive outside the city. The small community originally formed around the diamond mining industry looked to be a spectacular host, with a very old world feel to the race village filled with antique shops and places to eat!

Saturday morning dawned, and a crisp, early morning saw us arrive at the foot of the mines for the start of our race. After the Riders in both the Ultra Marathon and the Standard Marathon were long gone, it was time for our race and we were scheduled to start at around 08h30.

With race favourite James Reid overseas, the race seemed open to anyone. Ryan Ellis and I sat back for the first few kilometers to see how the race would plan out. After a few attacks from the other riders and then Ryan made his move. I sat back and let the other riders do the chasing, and once they had tired I began to bridge across to Ryan. Upon catching up we hit a thick sandy section which lead to my first disaster of the day. While powering out of the sand my front derailleur slipped sideways and made it impossible for me to pedal. I stopped to correct the problem, but was unable to fix it with my bare hands. Fortunately after around a minute or so a trailing 75km rider was able to loan me his multi tool. Once the problem was sorted I got on with the race, but by now I was well out of the top 10. I managed to catch the lead group once again and shortly after, made my attempt to close the gap to Ryan once more. Another rider was able to follow me and we began to close on Ryan ever so slowly. Unfortunately the derailleur slipped again with around 8km to go. This time I had to use every muscle in my body to try force it back into place as I didn't have the multi tool any longer. Luckily I hadn't tightened it properly and was able to move it after a couple of tries. This put me out of contention for any top placings, and was well out of the top 10 again.

Approaching the final 2km's I began to reel in the riders that had passed me. Passing 7 riders was only good enough to get me up to 6th overall. A disappointing result but a good learning curve! Well done to Ryan on his win!! Then it was time to pack up and start heading home so that I could repair my bike in preparation for the Howick Highlander in the morning.

Today was the Howick Highlander, and after the disappointing result of yesterday I had decided to give it a bashat the last minute. We had arrived back in Maritzburg at about 17h00 and the bike had been cleaned and then my Team mate Craig Paul checked the bike over.
Racing on back to back days is never easy, but I thought it would be a good idea to test the legs out to see how they'd cope.

We arrived at the race bright and early as I still had to enter and the usual the usual top guns started making their appearance soon after. Craig Paul and Andrew Warr looked to be the firm favourites, and would definitely make racing hard. We were off at 08h30 and up the first climb Andrew upped the pace, only to be countered by Craig.... ON A DOWNHILL!!!! Luckily I saw it coming and jumped on quickly. A small group of 4 formed with Craig, Andrew ,Tyrone White and myself. My legs were definitely squealing in agony from the previous days travelling and racing. On the climbs I would get dropped but some how managed to turn myself inside out on the flats to get back. But to no avail. The 3 rode off into the distance, and so the solo chase began. I time trialled for the remainder of the race, and came within 5 or so seconds of Tyrone on a few occassions, but in the final 2 or so kilometers I blew my legs off at the hips. It honestly felt like my muscle had been vapourised and replaced with jelly.

Luckily I had a big enough gap to seal 4th overall and 1st junior, as the other young guns also had the hammer down and were racing on fresh legs. Craig rode brilliantly and won it in a sprint to the line with Andrew!

The organisers of both these races did a fantastic job! Now its time to prepare for Hill2Hill. My final major race of the season.

Until then
B

Engen Dynamic Road Race

2010-08-23T12:59:00.004+02:00

This weekend it was time to swap the wide nobly tyres and suspension, for some skinny slick tyres and rigid frames for the 2010 Engen Dynamic Cycle Challenge in Durban.

Man is road different from Mountain Biking in quite a few ways, firstly the start time is WAY earlier! Our race started at 06:03 and covered a distance of 113km in a big loop from Durban to Pinetown, then out towards the old Airport (The Bluff area) and back towards Durban.

The Moses Mabhida Stadium Played host to the race village and start finish straights, and really lived up to my expectations as an amazing venue! The Stadium was simply staggering in real life!But this amazing work of art had to wait until after the race.

After a good warm up we Craig Paul, Ryan Ellis and Myself took our places amongst the Pro/ Elite riders. The Pro Teams such as Team MTN Energade, Medscheme and House of Paint were in full abundance! The first few Kilometers were very nerve wrecking, due to a couple of VERY inexperienced riders taking chances in the big bunch. We then hit the main climb of the day, the M19, a beast of a climb that went basically from the beaches of Durban to Pinetown. Ryan and I went to the front of the bunch to try form a small break, but the more experienced Elite riders countered the attack as soon as the gap was closed. This put me into the hurt box BIG TIME but I managed to hold onto the bunch until we crested the climb. On the descent I simply couldn't hang onto the bunch, as I was grossly not used to the Junior Gear Ratios that I had to race. I spun out and soon found myself in no mans land, with one other junior sitting snugly in the elite group.

After a solo effort for around 15km I was caught by the main bunch where a few top elite riders as well as Ryan and the other Juniors were sitting. I jumped into the group and started working ferociously with the guys. We began to claw the gap back and were sitting around 40 seconds off the Elite group up front. Unfortunately we were sent down the wrong road, and lost about 3 minutes of time on the other group according to the Medscheme team manager.

After turning around we began to slowly claw our way back up to the front group. at the Half way mark they were out of sight, but we were still closing up to them. The big group that we were in began to get tired, and only a few of us were able to ride up front. Most of the other juniors chose not to come through to the front. I was one of the few who chose to work with the other elites, along with Ryan and Aston Davies and it was a great experience.

With 2 kms to go we caught the group with the leading junior, but I was quite frankly shattered! My legs were cramping in the quads and hammys, but I decided to follow the attacks of the more 'fresh' juniors. Myles van Muschenbroek made the move along with Rhyno Beukes. I bridged the gap, and managed to form a gap over the other Juniors. I tried to attack with 150m to go but my legs simply had nothing to give. I crossed the line as the 3rd junior home, with only 200 hundredths of a second separating the top 3 juniors.

I must say it was amazing to learn from the pro/elite riders such as Jean Spies (Toyota Cycle lab) and Clint Olsen (Team NRC/Burg Wheelers). A huge thanks needs to go out to them for their support and encouragement!

Well done to Craig for winning the bunch sprint. Unfortunately he missed the winning break! Ryan suffered severe cramp very near to the finish, but he rode and awesome race, contributing hugely to the bunch and helping us to close back up to the lead group.

We were all done by 09h30 and settled in for a nice NINO's brunch and coffee before going up the arch of the stadium. What an experience.

Now it's off to Cullinan this weekend before getting a shot at another road race.

Harburg - Tour de Krantz

2010-08-09T12:25:00.005+02:00

This past weekend was the SUPER FAST, Harburg - Tour de Krantz.

What an awesome venue to have a Super Classic! Everything about the morning was absolutely perfect. The sun was shinning and the the air was warm.

All the top contenders had pitched for the race, guys like Brandon Stewart, Craig Paul, Andrew Hill and David Leiman were some of the big names. The racing was definitely not going to be easy!

After a really sweet warm up, we made our way to the line for our 08:30 start time. Surprisingly the first attack didn't come from joker, Jedson 'Jedi' Tooms. It came from Brandon Stewart almost instantly. I managed to jump onto his wheel, along with Craig Paul, Andrew Hill and Shaun Peschl. We then hit the first short steep climb, and I put in a little move to try and increase the gap over the main bunch. It worked and we were soon out of sight from the main bunch.

Now the punishment began, we hit the first climb of the day. Brandon and Andrew made the move and I managed to bridge across as we went over the top along with team mate Craig Paul. It was now 4 of us up front, with Shaun Peschl left to try chase back on his own. The pace was now really hot, and I found myself hurting just to sit with the guys... Up the next big climb Andrew and Brandon got away once again. Craig dropped off, which now left me alone... I chased really hard on the flats, and miraculously managed to close down the gap that had opened.

Brandon again put in very powerful surge, and left Andrew and I looking for parking. Andrew and I then began to work really well together, and kept the gap to Brandon down to a minimum.

Approaching the final 8km's, I realized things were going to be very tight between Andrew and I. With 5km to go, we hit the final climb of the day, and I made the first move to try and get rid of Andrew. But it turned out to be a major flop! He countered as soon as I eased the pace, and all I could do was watch for the first 20 or so seconds. After a really quick recovery, I gave it everything to try and claw my way back onto his wheel, but it was just not enough, and ended up 3rd overall, just over 1 minute behind Brandon Stewart, and 8 seconds behind Andrew Hill! Well done to Craig who managed to bring home a fourth overall, after a heavy week of training!

Congratulations to the hosts of the race, who really put on a fantastic event!

Nokian Tyres

2010-08-06T15:46:00.004+02:00

Hey guys, take a good look at the rubber I've been raving about! The Nokian NBX Lite (XC/Marathon Series) is an AMAZING tyre!
WSquared Cycling and Adrenaline Cycles are stockists!
So get your hands on some now!!

Eston Illovo MTB Marathon

2010-08-02T17:51:00.005+02:00

WOW what an action packed weekend!!! BMX Supercross World Championships and Eston all within a short drive from my house! If you missed either of these events, you missed out on one EPIC weekend!!

Well done to all the South Africans at the Supercross, you guys definitely did us all proud!!

Sunday morning saw me at my first Marathon race ever held in the Eston Mid Illovo area. The Youth and Junior age categories were given the green light to take part in the 60km race as up until now we have only been able to do the 40km and 45km races.
There was a big field of some really big names that would be contending the podium. Names like Brandon Stewart, Ben Melt Swanepoel,Marc Bassingthwaite, Renier Bellingham,Craig Paul, Andrew Mclean, Francois Theron and David George to name a few.

Straight off the start it was Brandon who made the pace heat up. We hit the KOM, which was around 2 or so km into the race. The race split up a little, but sewed back up on the descent. The bunch was now really big, taking up the entire width of the road, and went a couple of rows back!

We entered the first single track together, but as we hit the first major climb, I quickly found myself leaving the back door! I hit cruise control for a short while, and then began my chase... miraculously I managed to close down the gap to the group, and had enough time to recover before hitting the biggest climb of the day.

A small group with James reid, Brandon Stewart, Ben Melt, Marc Bassi and Andrew Warr went off the front. This left Craig Paul, Myself, Andrew Mclean, Renier Bellingham, and a few others tustling for the top 10. Craig and I managed to get away and now sat in 6th and 7th with Dave George just ahead. Andrew Mclean made the junction to us on one of the long steep sections of the climb.

We began to work really well together, and managed to keep the lead group within a minute of us. I felt really good, but it didn't last for very long... with around 10km to go, I began to cramp, for the first time ever! I tried to push through it, but couldn't hold the wheel of the two in front of me.

I backed off and tried to bring home a top 10... With 3 or so km to go, Trav Walker and Andrew Hill caught me... I latched onto them, and held on for dear life, I tried to contest the sprint but my legs seized with cramp with less than 500m to go. I brought it home in 11th overall, just 5 secs behind Trav and Andrew and finished 3rd Junior.

I'm ecstatic with my first marathon result! Well done to Ben Melt on a very classy win!

I also want to thank all the people involved in organizing the race. What a fantastic job done by all.

Now the calendar starts getting busy with the longer races since the XC season is over and I will be racing at Harburg this coming Saturday. Looking forward to it.

MIND BLOWING

2010-07-23T06:34:00.002+02:00

Hey Guys

I've been trying out the new Nokian NBX Lite 2.0 Tyre. All i can say is... WOW!!! its a lighter version off my previous Nokian NBT tyre. The new tyres are around 500g a tyre and are fully tubeless! They're probably the best handling tyre I've ridden to dat, its got low rolling resistance, and doesnt lose any grip when pushing through corners!

I seriously recommend these tyres! Go check them out! Stocked at W Squared Cycling up in Hilton!!

Ciao
B

POSTER BOY!!

2010-07-19T18:53:00.003+02:00

Hey Guys! Just made my second event poster of the year! check it out!!!

South African XCO Championships - Pretoria

2010-07-19T08:42:00.004+02:00

Hey guys, this past Saturday was the South African Championships held at the Fountains Valley, on the outskirts of Pretoria.

I went a week early and stayed with some close family friends in Pretoria not to far from the event. The Steyn's were really welcoming and very helpful the entire week, taking me backwards and forwards to the track. A massive thanks needs to go out to them for their hospitality.

After a good week of prep race day dawned. I felt really good, and was super amped to hit the track. The early morning chill was still lingering in the air as we arrived at the venue. We got there just in time to catch the final few minutes of the womens racing! Well done to Candice Neethling, Mariske Strauss and Yolande Speedy for winning their races.

With around half an hour or so to go, I set up my station on the trainer, and began to warm up the legs. I warmed up until the absolute last minute before we were called up onto the start grid. The junior field was really big, and went 5 rows deep. Fortunately I was seeded on the font row and had a prime line into the first corner. Out the start blocks Arno du Toit lunged out front. I dived in for the 3rd wheel and had a really good position going into the first single track.

Arno began to open the gap almost instantly. I tried my best to get past the rider between Arno and myself, but unfortunately he would not let me through and this enabled Arno to destroy the race up front. We entered the toughest section of the race, and riders began to make mistakes. I made the most of the opportunity and began to try and close the gap back down to Arno. Going onto the 2nd lap I moved over and took on some fluids in the feed zone allowing James Reid and Ruan du Toit to come through to share the work load. Unfortunately Ruan then began to suffer stomach cramps, which then allowed the gap to open between James and I. I eventually got passed him, along with Travis Walker and Gert Heyns in tow.

We stayed like this until lap 4 where I made a couple of mistakes which allowed Trav and Gert to get through and Trav put down the hammer and slowly but surely started to get away. I chased hard over the final two laps but couldn't close back up to the top 3. I was really stoked with my form and my ride, even though I didn't end up on the podium as I had planned to do.

The biggest bummer of the day is the fact that my spare wheels went missing from the event , so if anybody has loaded them up by mistake or saw somebody take them from the KZN gazebo, please deop me an e mail. They are ZTR Olympic rims with American classic hubs, red KCNC skewers, Sram XX cluster and brand new Nokian NBT tyres.

Well the XC season is now over together with the long school holidays and it is back to school tomorrow. Once again a huge thank you to Sias and Nettie Steyn for all the help. I was also fortunate enough to spend quite a bit of time with the guys from MTN and particularly Paul Cordes who showed me some neat lines during practice. It was also great to get to know, Adrian, Justice, Yolande,Paul and Mariske a bit better. You guys rock.

I will now be turning my attention to the Classics and Marathon races as well as a few road events in preparation for the 2011 season.

Till later

First Super Classic win!

2010-07-06T17:47:00.004+02:00

This past weekend was the Safire Baynesfield Super classic, the 8th race of the series. All the usual top KZN performers were present,which would definitely make for some interesting racing.

I was unable to warm up properly due to the pretty cold conditions and the traffic on the roads, so I did my best to try and warm up the engine. I got to the start line with 15 minutes to go to try get a good position on the line.

Off the start there were a few small attacks which were quickly reeled back as soon as we hit the open dirt roads. Things began to get a tad hairy as the pace began to increase. Two riders touched wheels and went down not more than 10cm next to me, and took down a couple of other riders in the process. Craig was one of them, but fortunately he stayed positive and was able to catch back up to the lead group.

Now there were 4 Jeep riders (CRaig, Willi, Ryan and I) Andrew Hill and Andrew Warr. We hit the first climb, and the lack of a warm up definitely made me see stars... I got dropped very quickly, but managed to time trial myself back into the group, only to get dropped again as I made contact with the group. Ryan fell off the group with me, leaving Craig and the two Andrew's up front. We crested the climb, and I decided to try bridge the gap on the descent. Ryan had a mechanical, which left me to soldier on alone. After taking HUGE chances on the grassy descents I finally made contact with the lead group.

The pace slowed dramatically after I made contact, which gave me some time to recover. Then came the longest climb of the day. Both Andrew's upped the pace as we hit the first slopes of the mountain. Craig eventually dropped off the back slightly, which left myself, Andrew Hill and Andrew Warr in front. I put in an attack to try split it up more, but I couldn't shake them. We peaked the climb and hit the long single track descent. Andrew Warr hit the trail first, followed by myself and then Andrew Hill. We managed to drop Andrew Hill in the twisty single track, only to be joined by Craig, who is a single track guru.

Andrew, Craig and I now had a very comfortable gap over the 4th place rider, which we almost lost after getting lost for a few minutes. We now entered the final single track, which was a very energy sapping one. It was flat and twisty, which demanded a lot of accelerating out of corners, which definitely tired the legs out. We eventually reached the end of it, and turned onto a long straight road which lead up to the finish. Craig pulled off the front almost instantly, leaving Andrew Warr in the front, with me on his wheel. I sat until we had around 500m to go. I pulled out and attacked really hard, catching them off guard. I crossed the line 1second ahead, with Craig Paul in 2nd and Andrew Warr in 3rd.

I was insanely stoked to have clinched my first overall win in a Super Classic. It also gave me a really good indicator of where my form is for the South African Championships in 2 weeks time!

A huge thanks to Saffire Insurance for a really awesome event.

NEW TYRES

2010-06-23T17:07:00.003+02:00

Hey Guys,

Just received a new set of Nokian tyres to test out. They look super awesome, if the other Nokian tyres are anything to go by, these ones are gonna be phenominal! I'm really keen try them out and hit the trails!

Thanks to the guys at Nokian for swinging them my way!!! If you guys are interested in them, there are a few dealers in KZN, one of which is WSQUARED Cycling in Hilton!

B

Training Camp and Sardine Super Classic

2010-06-21T09:59:00.003+02:00

Hey guys

On Wednesday I made my way down to Clear Water trails with Johann Wykerd as well as my best friend and a couple of other people who are coached by Johann. We arrived at the trail centre and accommodation after a quick two or so hour trip, and straight away we were keen to hit the trails.

After getting a little settled, we suited up and 11 or so of us took to the 'Super 8' track, which was around 500m long. Here the guys were shown different techniques when entering corners, as well as how to approach, enter, and exit a berm. We then had a fun elimination race, which definitely got the blood pumping.

We hit the Beaver Creek coffee shop that afternoon, and we definitely abused the system of bottomless coffee! I think I ended up drinking a total of 8 cups, and each cup was a different coffee! It was truly epic!and I would recommend anyone in the area or visiting the area to stop here. It is definitely worth the stop.

That night myself and good friend, Adriaan Davel had to braai some chicken, it was a really chilled atmosphere and everyone generally had an awesome time.

Thursday:
This was probably one of the most difficult days of training I had ever experienced. Johann told all of us to pick a gear which we felt we could ride the whole day, we had to take in account for up hills to make sure the gear would not be too hard, and on the downhills we had to make sure the gear wasn't too easy. We then proceeded to ride for close to 3 hours, and up two monster climbs, which really put me in the hurt box!I also took a HUGE bail when one of the younger riders pulled in front of me, in an attempt to avoid colliding with him I swerved and found myself going off a vertical drop. I could only wait for the impact. I landed pretty heavily on my left hip and shoulder, but fortunately I was able to continue to ride.

By the time we reached camp, I was utterly shattered, but had had one of the best rides of my life, having ridden what must surely be rated as the sweetest trails in the country!

Friday:
Saw Luke Roberts joining us. We had an awesome 3hr ride planned for across the valley in the Transkei. Myself, Candice Neethling, Lee Penderis and Adriaan decided to ride down to the point where we were going to meet up with the rest of the crew, just to try get in some extra time. Unfortunately about 5km in my front derailleur slipped and left me unable to pedal. I told the others to continue on. I then ran around 5 or so km in total and jumped in the bike at every downhill to try and get to the crew as fast as possible.

I eventually reached Johann and the others and he was able to help me, as I need a 'torx' tool for the bolt on my derailleur. The ride then went very smoothly. We did some heavy exploring in the Transkei, finding some awesome unridden foot paths. We eventually got back to where the car was and some of us elected to ride back to the trail centre. Again disaster struck, we were on a descent when my chain dropped off the front chain ring. This some how bent the chain and snapped my derailleur at the back. We were far from the camp site and the only thing I could do was push my bike up every hill. Luckily Lee was carrying a phone, and Johann came to my rescue with the Landrover.

When we got home we quickly made a plan to get the Rear mech working for the next days ride. A huge thanks needs to go out to Johann for that.

Saturday:
We went across the valley again to try and find the single track that rode along the cliff face, which we were able to spot from the camp site. Eventually we found it, and MAN was it so worth the wait! Towards the end of the long flowing single track, came some insane switch backs, chicanes, and awesome rock gardens, much to mine and Luke's liking. We were in absolute heaven.

It was such an awesome ride to end of the week of hard training!

That night saw Luke and Lee have a WRC (world rally championship) death match on the PSP to see who would sleep in our log cabin, and who would sleep in the tent. In the end Luke was the winner, and Lee had to settle for sleeping under some canvas.

Sunday:
This was race day. The Sardine Super Classic had arrived and I knew my legs were going to be hurting after such a heavy weeks training. There were a lot of big names, such as Burry Stander, Ben Melt Swanepoel, Craig Paul, Trav Walker, Luke Roberts, Arno du Toit and Andrew Warr.

Out the blocks I managed to feel pretty good and soon found myself with Burry, Craig and Arno. We rode up front for a while, until Trav bridged the gap and brought luke along with him. I felt fine until around the 15km mark. All of a sudden my legs completely gave way, and began to feel very sluggish. I then began to take things easy and to see how the race would unfold, and to take the race as a hard training ride. Melt then came past me at a rapid rate of knotts. The gap to the others began to grow and by the half way mark they were around 3 minutes ahead of me.

With around 13km to go I decided to push as hard as possible to see if I could make a dent in the gap that had been opened. I pushed super hard down the very technical descent towards the pont. By the finish I had managed to come within a minute of the guys in front of me.

It was really an honour to race against the guys like Burry and Ben Melt, having finished second to Burry at the same race a year ago, but then I did not have a hectic week of riding in the legs !

A huge thanks needs to go out to Jono Downham for fitting my derailleur and my chain on the morning of the race! Thanks dude!! Also a huge thanks to Jono's crew for putting together such a great event. Nothing ever seems to be too much for these guys. Well done!!

Another big thanks to Johann and Allegra(my coach) Wykerd! as well as Willie Pelser for all their help throughout the week! It was fantastic spending this time with you and learning the valuable lessons to tried to teach us. Much appreciated! Still cannot get used to washing tuna dishes though.

Till next time

MTN National XCO4 - Mankele

2010-06-14T19:40:00.002+02:00

Hey guys, this past weekend was the 4th and final round of the national series before the once off, South African Championship. It was held at Mankele Bike park, just outside of Nelspruit, so we packed up after school broke up on Wednesday and hit the road at 1am on Thursday morning in an effort to get the 7 hour trip behind us as early as possible.

The course at Mankele was definitely to my liking and turned out to be beautiful on the full suss! as my WSquared Merida 96 Carbon was working a real treat. My new Nokian Tyres were also hooking up really good and I felt super confident for the race which lay ahead, and I definitely felt the strongest I've been all year.

Saturday dawned, and after a good nights rest I crawled over to the start/finish area after lying in a bit, to support Candice Neethling and Mariske Strauss in the ladies race, which was very close at the time. I lounged around for a couple of hours, keeping myself highly motivated at all times while focusing on the task ahead later on in the day.

12h05 arrived and it was time to line up. I had a front row seeding, and a perfect line into the first corner. The whistle blew, and we all jolted for position immediately. Out of the first corner it was James Reid, Arno du Toit, Luke Roberts and myself up front. We then had an extremely long straight ahead of us, and this allowed the bunch to close the small gap that had formed. At the end of the straight was a single track that peeled off to the left and this definitely made for some interesting tactics and some pretty sketchy entries, as everyone jostled for position. I entered around 3rd position, exactly as planned in my pre race strategy and heard a huge crash behind me. Not thinking anything of it the racing continued, however the crash had turned out to be a huge crash involving Micheal Hughes, who walked away from the most insane accident scene imaginable, but was unfortunately unable to continue with his race.

James made his break up the first climb, and Gert Heyns and I countered. My tactics were going according to plan as Travis Walker was spat out the back of the pack on the first climb after setting the pace in the first single track. We then hit a long power climb and I soon found myself just off the back of James Reid and was now lying second. I pushed super hard down the next section to open a gap on the guys behind me and to possibly close up on James. After lap 1, I was around 20sec down on James, but was comfortably sitting ahead of 3rd and 4th positions. I held the gap to James at around the same mark until reaching the longest down hill section of the course, and possibly the fastest. As I stood to increase my speed, my gears jumped and this sent me into a 90 degree angle tail spin in the down stroke of my pedalling motion at around 45km/h and all I could do was close my eyes... I hit the deck really hard, but fortunately no damage was done to my bike. I got up and eased off a little to try recover. I soon found Luke Roberts and Gert Heyns on my tail. I jumped onto their wheels and let them tow for the duration of lap 2 and most of lap 3 as I was hoping they could pull me back to James while I tried to regain my rhythm again.

Lap 4 came, I pushed hard down the most technical section of the course, and cut the corner at the bottom a bit fine. A low hanging tree connected my hip, and sent me hurtling off a 2m high bridge. This time it was a big deal. I hit the floor so hard that my bomb (co2 Cartridge)in my shirt pocket burst upon impact, and left my rear wheel with a puncture. I rode the last 2km with a flat rear tyre, and watched my hopes of a podium finish vanish into the distance. I got to the Tech zone upon entering my final lap. I changed my rear wheel in record time and set off to salvage what I could on the final lap. I came in very disappointed, only ending up in 12th position. Definitely not a good day in the office, but a very good opportunity to learn from mistakes while also learning how to cope under extreme pressure, as we are all very competitive and despite being good mates off the track non of us are prepared to give an inch when we are racing against each other.

It was a major disappointment, but its now behind me. Now I've got my sights set for 6 weeks time, for one race. The South African Championships!

Sunday was a really chilled day as I supported my younger brother Kyle at the downhill event and despite him crashing in both his runs he still managed a 4th place overall. Then it was time to kick back and relax with some friends for the remainder of the day before heading back home to Maritzburg this morning.

Mtunzini Super Classic

2010-05-31T17:23:00.003+02:00

This past weekend was the Mtunzini Super Classic held around the small town of Mtunzini near Richards bay.

The race was slightly longer than what I normally race, being about 10km longer than the normal 45km super classic races, but from my experience from the previous years, I knew it would be fast and flat the whole way, and was preparing for a super fast pace.

We were the first batch off at 09h00 and the start the pace was very chilled with a few minor attacks going off the front, which were closed down fairly easily. After 5km or so, Andrew Warr came to the front and laid down the law. I followed and soon found myself in a break going over the top of a short steep climb. We began to work well together, but were soon joined by powerhouse, Shaun Peschl. We were now a group of three as we settled into a fast rhythum and began to open up a big gap on the chasing bunch.

At around the half way mark the marshall on duty at the intersection directed us down the wrong route and we lost a huge amount of time as we covered about 2km before we turned around and rode back to where we had gone wrong, Fortunately only one rider had managed to pass us , but we soon caught and dropped him after a couple of gruelling km.

At around the 35km mark we hit the biggest climb of the day and this is where Andrew and I made our move. We managed to open up a good gap on Shaun and were now making head way to the finish. Unfortunately the last water table was ready for us when we came through and we were unable to get some refreshments and as Murphy would have it I finished off the last of my juice about 15km out from the finish.

At 50km I knew I was in big trouble, I blew to pieces and decided to do damage control to the finish. In the process I lost 2 places and had to settle for a 4th overall some 3 minutes behind Andrew, but still managed to be the first Junior in. A very different race and a very different approach by organizers but a good effort by those involved.

Now back to the books in an effort to get these matric exams behind me together with some final preparations for the Nelspruit National (SA XCO4)which will take place on 12 June.

Ciao
B

MTN SA XCO3 - George

2010-05-18T17:10:00.004+02:00

Hey guys

This past weekend was quite a disappointing race for me, but I managed to get a good result. The 3rd round of the MTN national XCO series took place on the beautiful campus of Saasveld just outside George.

With the race being so close to George, I decided to go down on the Monday straight after Karkloof to spend time with my family who live there. I met up with the young, up and coming, U23/Pro Elite lady, Mariske Strauss (MTN - Energade) throughout the week, and managed to get in some good laps of the new XCO course.

I took the week pretty easy to try and rest my leg which was still injured. I saw the physio right after my ride on Tuesday, and it re-strapped for the weekends racing. My leg was feeling pretty good, and I was hoping it would hold up for the entire race on Saturday. I met up with Kevin Evans and the MTN - Energade riders on the Thursday, which was a really cool experience!

Before I knew it, race day was there, and I felt super confident for the race that lay ahead. We made our way across to the race and I hopped onto the stationary trainer almost straight away. I had a really good warm up before heading to the start line. There was a really big field of juniors, fortunately my good result in PMB had moved me onto the front row of the start.

off the line Arno du Toit took off super hard. I followed his wheel with Team mate Ryan Ellis on my wheel. Unfortunately James Reid (Mr Price) snapped his chain off the start. We soon caught the Elite bunch as they came through to start their 2nd lap. This caused havoc with our race and let Arno get away in the traffic. I made a few costly mistakes and lost one or two positions, but was still with the lead bunch of 5. We eventually reeled Arno in and stayed together for the next few laps. The bunch began to split up on the 3rd and 4th lap with Travis dropping off. On the 4th lap I was sitting on the back of the bunch now, and stood up in a funny position on one of the climbs, sending my leg into spasm again. I rode through it but it happened again on one of the longer climbs, and I was forced to run it. This meant I lost touch of the lead group and dropped from the lead bunch to 5th. I tried to ride 'damage control' to the finish, but soon noticed I was losing huge amounts of ground. Going into the last lap (lap 6) my leg began to feel much better, I kicked down and rode as hard as I could. I began to reel in the time gaps. I caught and passed 4th and began to reel in the lead bunch. I then caught Ryan, who then snapped his chain. I was now riding out of pure determination, I ran into some hectic traffic near the end of the lap, but by the time I had passed them, it was too late. I brought it home in 3rd wih Luke Roberts in first, and Arno du Toit in Second.

I was quite disappointed, as it was the 2nd race that had been affected by my injury! But all in all, despite the mishap, I had a good race. Now time for some rest, and to sort my leg out for sure! Then Mankele! hopefully I'll bring home the gold!

Sunday morning dawned and Mariske Strauss and I decided to head up the Montagu Pass, which was ridden in the Cape Epic a few years back. It was a really awesome ride, with magnificent views, it was a real eye opener to see such beauty.

A HUGE thanks needs to go out to Allegra Wykerd, my coach, for all the hard work that she puts into my training program, and for lending me her bike bag, Johann Wykerd for packing my bike like an absolute machine! and of course Team Jeep South Africa, my sponsor, for all the backing and for the AWESOME Jeep Grand Cherokee which they gave us for the entire time we were down in George! You guys all rock!!!!

Ciao
B

Karkloof Classic 2010

2010-05-09T19:41:00.002+02:00

Hey guys...

WOW what a weekend at the Karkloof MTB festival! Night Race, XC, Sprint Shoot Out and Marathon!!! Such an awesome event!

Unfortunately I couldn't participate in all the events, as I am still nurturing my injured leg. I sat out everything except the 40km race, which took place today. But there was absolutely NO WAY i would miss out on seeing the top guns battle it out in the Sprint! It was really awesome to watch Burry Stander fight his way from the back of the field to win by half a lap!

Sunday morning dawned and we made our way to the Prestigious Polo Grounds that play hot to the Karkloof Classic every year. Our race was off at 09:00 sharp, this year, without a neutral zone. The pace was hot from the start, with James Reid making it hard where ever possible. I put in one acceleration to try split up the main field, and to my surprise it worked. 6 of us got away, and hit the first main climb of the day. The pace stayed relatively the same, but a few furious surges were thrown in the mix. About 10km or so into the race, my leg began to twitch, but didn't think much of it as it went away. I pushed on. The race pushed down and whittled down to 4 of us, James, Trav, Ryan and I. We hit the second, and hardest climb of the day, and James rode all out. The break was covered really quickly and didn't split the bunch up.

The race pushed on, as the race got more fierce, and the attacks became more frequent, I could feel my leg wasn't going to hold up. It was James who attacked again, I tried to come around the back of the pack, but my leg went into spasm. I slowed to see if it would let up but it just got worse. I dropped off the bunch like I was standing still and soon found myself in no mans land.

I eventually got to a water table and stopped, Luke Roberts caught and passed me, and by now I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get to the finish inside the top 10. Luckily I had managed to open a big gap early on in the race, so I had a comfortable cussion to get to the finish. I rode super easy to the finish, so as to not do any major damage before George next weekend. I managed to bring it home in 5th overall and 5th junior.

Well done to Ryan who got a 3rd, and Craig who got an 11th in the marathon after puncturing 20km in! HUGE thanks to Jeep for the awesome vehicles we were able to make use of, and to Tropitone for the sun block! To the organisers, an awesome event as always!

Pics from the weekend

2010-05-07T09:10:00.002+02:00

thanks to Charles Roberts for the Pics

Check em out

2010-05-05T21:22:00.000+02:00

Hey guys,

Been testing some new tyres which I got given to try out by Wsquared. The Nokian NBT tyres are really awesome. They're made from an organic rubber, which allows the compound to be softer. They're proper tubeless tyres and are really light. Go ask for the Nokian NBT tyres at Wsquared! They're really awesome!

Ciao
B

KZN XCO Championships - Cascades

2010-05-03T20:06:00.003+02:00

Hey guys!

This past weekend was the KZN XC champs at Cascades, where the MTN National XC/DH was held a couple of weeks ago. It followed pretty much the exact same course, but unfortunately all the bull runs were kept out.

Well to be honest I had a very disappointing race. Off the start I made my break and went as hard as possible to get a gap on the rest of the bunch. ( I raced up in the U/23 category) I had managed to open up a very comfortable lead over the competition after the first lap, and kept the hammer down to see how far I could stretch the gap.

I held the pace as high as possible at all times, and going into the 4th of 8 laps I began to lap the back markers of the bunch. Unfortunately, while trying to push the limit further and further each lap, I made a crucial mistake on the exit of an EXTREMELY fast single track. On the exit of the single track was a dirt road, with a very fast left turn. I launched out the single track, and with the extra speed I was unable to hold my line through the corner. Before I knew it my front wheel was about to clip a stump on the edge of the road. Next thing I was upside down and planted on my head on the side of the road. I tried to get my bearings straight, and noticed some major discomfort in my left quad. I didn't think much of it at first, perhaps only an insane lame leg. But after trying to push through it, I soon found out that I was in serious trouble. I couldn't even turn the pedals, or walk up the slightest incline. I made the call to pull out, before causing major damage to myself.

So in the end I saw my 6 minute lead vanish out of no where. This week is going to be all about trying to get the leg sorted for Karkloof Classic! Off to the physio on Wednesday to get it scoped out properly.

Till next time
B

XCM #4 Clarens and Cumberland

2010-04-19T17:40:00.003+02:00

hey guys, this past weekend was a pretty busy one for me. Drove up to Clarens on Friday, raced there Saturday, drove back that afternoon, and then went to Cumberland on Sunday!!!

Ryan, Craig, Hilton Frost and I, left Craig's place early on Friday morning, and drove up to Clarens in the awesome 3l Jeep Grand Cherokee! After what felt like a really quick trip, we were in Clarens. We eventually found our accommodation after driving the town flat! We suited up and hit a quick spin on the bikes, just to wake the legs up. Unfortunately, we got caught in the rain as we left the house, but it ended up being a pretty sweet ride.

Saturday dawned and one of the hardest days ever lay ahead of me. After a very good warm up we took our places on the line. All the big names were there, James Reid, Trav Walker, Ryan Ellis, Arno du Toit and a few others. Off the start we went fairly slow. James came to the front and the pace immediately increased. As we hit the first decent, I jumped onto James' wheel and followed him. Unfortunately, at the bottom was a very fast right corner. My front wheel hit James' rear wheel as he changed lines on the entrance, and all I could do, was tuck and roll..... I hit the deck super hard and slid along the road. I lay there until the entire bunch had ridden past. I jumped up and scoped out the damage. My pants were torn and I had a roastie on my hip, knee, and arm. I pushed the bike around the corner before trying to get going... Unfortunately, my chain was jammed and had dropped off the front chain ring. After sorting that out the toughest race ever, began. I began to Time Trial, flat-out, for the next 50km, slowly reeling in some positions. I eventually worked my way up to 3rd position, but threw it away when crossing a slick rock single track. I dropped back down to around 9th overall, and the hard work became even harder. With 2km or so to go, I caught the bunch of 5 riders that were ahead of me. I caught them by surprise and manage to drop them as I attacked. I ended up bringing the race home in 5th overall, and 5th Junior... Possibly the hardest day in the saddle ever! Well done to Ryan on a 2nd overall and 2nd Junior. Craig got 11th in the Ultra, after suffering mechanical.

Cumberland was the following morning, and followed a route very similar to that of previous years. I put in the first attack along with Dave Leiman (Thule). Andrew Hill bridged his gap, and this soon became the leading group. I had limited power most of the race, so I decided to try make my breaks in the technical sections. It worked a couple of times, but the gaps that I opened were soon closed down by the others. Approaching the final couple of kilometers I made a small mistake. Dave took this opportunity by the horns, and put in a furious attack! I couldn't react to the acceleration and soon found myself in 3rd overall... I pushed really hard down the technical sections near the end to try and close the gap that had been opened. In the end I had to settle for 3rd overall, and 1st Junior, around 1 minute behind David and Andrew.

All in all a really good weekend of racing!

Until next time
B

MTN SA XCO2 Cascades

2010-04-13T18:33:00.005+02:00

Hey guys

Well this weekend was definitely a very big one for me. After having such a terrible first national, I had to try get myself back in contention for the championship at this round of the XCO National. I also decided to dedicate my race to my very good friend Adam Reyneke, who was a truly inspirational athlete, and awesome friend. He was tragically killed when struck by a car, while preparing for Junior tour.

Cascades in PMB played host to this round of the series, and man, Nick Floros put on an AWESOME course! Really one of the best courses I've ever ridden! A lot better than the WC track, mainly because of the more technical single track.

I slept in a little later than usual as the course is barely a 5minute ride away from my house, and my start was only at 12:15. I suited up around 10 o'clock and made my way down to the course by half past. I arrived to catch the tail end of the women's racing. The event looked really Professional, the feed zone was packed with Gazebo's, and really did look like it was straight out of Europe.

Our age group was bigger than normal, with 24 riders on the line. I was placed on the 2nd row, which wasn't a good thing as the first single track was just 200m from the start. All the big names were there, James Reid, Trav Walker, Luke Roberts, Arno du Toit and Ryan Ellis. From the gun Arno attacked really hard and took James with him. I avoided a few very close calls to get myself into the top 8 going into the first single track. As soon as we hit the first climb I reeled in 3 more positions and found myself a couple of meters off the leaders. I put the hammer down in the next single track and closed the gap. We then hit the longest climb on the course and I managed to get myself into the lead bunch of three. Going into the second lap a bunch of three had formed at the front, James Reid, Luke Roberts, and myself, with Trav walker 30 or so seconds down. However, Luke and I lost touch of James when he put in an unbelievable surge on one of the open roads. I waited until the entrance of the main climb before making a move on Luke. As I entered the single track I manage to catch Luke by surprise and got a slight gap on Luke. I began to try and close down on James which by this stage had a good 40+ seconds. I hit the technical sections as hard as I could but could only close it to around 20-30seconds. I held it there until the 4th lap but his endurance began to take hold and opened the Gap to just over a minute by the end of the last lap. Trav Walker had put in an insane last 2 laps and had passed me and managed to finish just 15 seconds down on James. Luke brought it home in 4th position, around 1 min 36 sec behind me.

All in all it was an insanely close race. Craig had a good race bringing it home in 8th Pro Elite. Ryan suffered a few mechanical but had a good race, performance wise

the black arm band was worn in memory of Adam.
R.I.P. Adam Reyneke

Big Shout Out

2010-03-29T18:43:00.002+02:00

Hey Guys, just wanna give a huge shout out to two bike shops!

WSquared - Gordon Wilson - Managed to organise a rear swing arm for my mtb within the blink of an eye, after finding out that my frame had cracked. Really impressive to see how quickly and efficiently they were able to get the swing arm. He also made a fork available for me to use after discovering my fork was cracked on the steerer tube! Thanks Guys

Adrenaline Cycles - Grant Dinkel - Made a spare fork available to me after we found out that my fork on my mtb was cracked on the steerer tube! Grant always goes out of his way to help out any customer! Thanks Guys!

B

Jowetts Super Classic

2010-03-29T18:00:00.002+02:00

This weekend was the Jowetts super classic, which was held at the Cedara Agricultural College just outside Hilton. The course is renowned for the amazing single track that it follows in the hills of Hilton.

The start was slightly earlier than normal, around 08:30. We rode in a neutral zone for the first kilometer or two, the lead vehicle peeled off the front and the race took off! I tested the legs on the fist climb and put in a small attack to see how they were feeling. I opened a gap but knew it was far to early in the race to go on a solo break. I backed off an the main lead group caught up. But before we even hit the first single track I heard a loud "hiss" sound, and soon felt metal bouncing on the tar. I quickly stopped and bombed it. I didn't lose much time, but it was enough for me to lose touch of the lead group.

I raced hard and started to real back the riders one by one, but then disaster struck again, while pushing hard through one of the long grass sections, my rear derailleur got jammed up with grass. With the applied force of the pedaling, it caused my chain to snap. Fortunately it snapped just behind the 'quick-link.' I broke the chain and undid the quick-link and put the whole thing back together. I had lost a heck of a lot of time, and was now down in the 20's. I fought hard and managed to close up to 9 or so before catching James Reid and Trav Walker, who had both stopped due to mechanicals. I stopped helped James out with his mangled chain and waited while Trav took a natural break. We took off together, but at a very chilled pace. James had really hurt his nose and face in a heavy crash, and he soon backed off. Trav and I caught up to another group of 3 riders. We went past and started closing in on 8th position (team mate Matt Goetsch). After catching him, Trav soon dropped off, leaving myself to chase down the next guy in front of me which was Dave Leiman. With 5 or so km to go I caught Dave, and managed to bring Matt and youth rider, Evan van der Spuy with me. 2km from the finish I bit the bullet and opened the taps to get away and managed to put a gap between myself and the other riders.

Performance wise, it was definitely one of my best races so far. The race was super hard, and was a really good opportunity to get to test the legs before the national.

Bushmans Classic - Estcourt

2010-03-22T17:27:00.003+02:00

This weekend was the Bushman's classic, held at the WagenDrift Dam. The early start meant we'd be racing in some cooler conditions, and that we'd definitely beat the heat! There were some big names like Trav Walker, Andrew Warr, Carl Calvarley and Andrew Hill.

After a very brisk warm up we hit it to the start line. A brief riders briefing took place and then we set off on the brutal 50km course. For a change the start wasn't to quick but as soon as our tyres touched the dirt it was game on. Carl took to the front and drove hard. I managed to follow his wheel and by the time we hit the first single track we had a decent gap over Travis and Andrew Hill. Unfortunately some ignorant lead motorbikes went into the single track ahead of us and cost us our gap.

Trav and Andrew H caught us and we rode together for most of the race. At around the 20km mark I could see Andrew was hurting a bit so I made my move up a long rocky climb. Trav followed and we opened up a gap. We hit a single track section an my bike began to make a very heavy knocking sound with every pedal stroke. We hit another dirt road and the pace slowed which allowed Carl and Andrew to catch back up. We hit the next climb and the pace heated up. The knocking got louder and louder and I began to worry that it might be causing damage. I decided to bite the bullet and carry on racing. Trav put in ferocious attack and Carl followed... after 5 or so seconds a decided to go and managed to drop Carl after catching him and slowly began to close in on Trav. We got to the bottom of a very long single track and had opened up a good gap on Carl and Andrew. The knocking had now become very bad, I pulled to the side of the track, letting Trav passed, and began to make an attempt at fixing the problem. After knocking the cranks with my hand it went away slightly but, it had allowed Carl and Andrew to really close the gap. I got on and before I knew it, they were on my wheel. Carl put in an attack and Andrew was able to follow, I chased but the knocking got worse still. I stopped and hit the cranks again to try and get the knocking to stop. I jumped back on and chased as hard as I could on the following 5 km district road. With only 5 or so km left I hit a mighty mushroom cloud, and quite frankly blew. I did damage control to the finish and managed to hold onto 4th overall and 2nd Junior.

It was a super tough race, but really good prep for the National XC coming up !

Until Next time
B

Momentum health XC Provincial #3- Uvongo

2010-03-15T20:00:00.002+02:00

Hey guys! wow its been a while since I updated my blog! Not a lot has happened over the past 2 weeks or so. No racing besides this past weekend.

We travelled down to the South Coast on Friday afternoon to get booked into our accommodation in Uvongo itself. We chose to make a weekend of the race, just to give us a mini 'holiday'. After a chilled Friday evening, we made our way to the course the following morning.

I did a couple of laps around the short, fast course and then decided to hit the road and chillax the rest of the afternoon. My brother and his mate arrived later in the afternoon and we all decided to go cliff jumping into the lagoon just down the road. Well all I can say was it was an extremely exhilarating experience!!! :)

After a good, stress relieving afternoon, we all settled in to enjoy the light afternoon drizzle that pulled in while we sat around a braai. A few good laughs were had, which really helped towards the 'chill factor'

Sunday dawned, and with a 12:30 start time, I was fortunate enough to watch a bit of the Argus! I lounged around until it was time to suit up, and then made made my way across to the venue, which was only a 5 minute ride away from our house. I arrived an registered to race up a category in the u23's. What lay ahead of us was 10 laps of flat out racing, on a tight twisty, bumpy and rough course!

After a nice chilled warm up around field, we lined up on the start. with a minute or so to go the field became quite anxious. At the sound of the whistle Andrew Warr took to the front, with Carl Calvarley and myself in tow. As we entered the first single track Andrew made a mistake, which in the end cost him the race. He burped his back wheels and ended up damaging his tyre. Carl and I took to the front and pushed the pace really hard. I tried to get rid of him a couple of times but just couldn't manage to as he'd close the gap down on the flat sections. After two laps of an intense pace I began to hurt, at this time Carl pushed past me and began to open a gap. I chased for the remainder of the race (8laps or so) with him opening around 10 or so seconds each lap. On lap #10 however, I managed to get a burst out of nowhere, but I was only able to take 10 out of his 2minute lead.

All in all it was a FANTASTIC weekend! The racing was great, the weekend was amazing and it definitely gave me a break from school and work. Well done to team mates Eszter and Ryan on there awesome results! A huge thanks to the Bundu bashers club for putting on such a fantastic event!

until next time

B

SA Marathon Championships-Sabie

2010-03-01T19:11:00.002+02:00

On Friday the Jeep team piled into the Jeep Patriot, along with Candice Neethling, and began the long trip up to Sabie for the SA Marathon Champs.

After a really long trip we arrived in the tiny town and went straight to the venue to register, and hit a ride to wake up the legs for the following days racing. After the quick spin we headed out to Hazyview, where we stayed at Pete's aunt and uncles farm. It was really cool of them to let us stay in their house while they were away, and even better... they gave us some awesome food :) After supper we all had an early night after the really long day of travelling.

Saturday Morning dawned and the weather looked fantastic for racing. We packed our bikes onto the Jeep and headed straight to the venue. As we arrived Craig an Pete went straight out for their warm up. Ryan, Candy and I all chilled at the jeep and pumped up some tunes to try get psyched.

After a VERY thorough warm up we all made our way to the start for our 45 odd km race that lay ahead. All the big names were up from KZN and the other provinces, like James Reid, Trav Walker, Adam Reyneke and Arno du Toit. James was decorated in the new leaders jersey and his presence was definitely known amongst the riders. Straight out of the starting blocks it was James who made the first move which began to string out the bunch straight away. We hit the first climb and the pace got even hotter. James managed to get away, with Trav Walker bridging across the gap. They began to open a gap really rapidly. My legs were absolutely screaming, and was really putting in a effort just to stay with the chase bunch. I dug super deep and went to the front to see if I could try and get rid of some of the guys in the bunch. Fortunately it worked and the bunch whittled down to 3 of us, being Adam Reyneke and Xander Botha.

We began to work really well together and as we hit the biggest climb of the day Adam dropped off, but the gap had closed to James and Trav. It was just under a minute as we hit the climb. I eventually managed to ride Xander off of my wheel and chased as hard as possible to catch James and Trav. It didn't seem to be working, but near the top I saw a red shirt in the distance... I thought it was the camera crew but soon realized it was James and Trav. They were around 30-40 seconds ahead but I was now absolutely red lining. I managed to close a very slight amount before the top of the climb, but they were just much too strong... As soon as the descending started, the gap stayed pretty much the same, but once on the flats and undulations they left me for parking, and rapidly opened a big lead. I rode out of my skin, and tried everything to at least make a dent in the lead that they'd made but in the end they were MACHINE!

I settled for 3rd overall and 3rd Junior, and man was I super stoked with the result. James took the win, with Trav a minute or so behind, and myself or so minutes down. Craig and Ryan had a bummer, with both of them pulling out. Ryan Had a huge crash and Craig just didn't have the legs, and decided o rest up for Sani2C. Pete had a scorcher and finished an awesome 7th overall in the ultra! and Candy got 1st juior lady and first lady overall in the half marathon!

Thanks to Pete's relatives for the awesome accommodation and to TJSA for the Jeep! it was really an awesome experience.

Now its time to hit some speed work and get ready for the national in April

Bishopstowe XC Prov # 2

2010-02-22T18:27:00.002+02:00

Well this weekend was the 2nd round of the KZN XC Provincial series, and man oh man was it super hot! We raced at Bishopstowe, just a few kilometers outside PMB. For once I was able to sleep in and pull myself out of bed a lot later than usual.

I arrived at the race at around 9 o'clock and managed to watch the elite womens race plan out in front of us. Eszter Cluer won elite women and young Candice Neethling came 2nd (even though being a junior). The racing was really quick,and due to the really short course the number of laps were increased. With my race only being at 12:30 I chilled as much as possible, and tried to get amped for the difficult race that lay ahead.

I would be racing up an age category in the u/23's and Elite men. What lay ahead was 9 laps of brutal punishment! Straight from the gun Rourke Croeser came to the front with myself in tow. We made our way down to the bottom of the course but soon found myself dropping back some positions. By the end of the first lap I found myself trailing in 6th but I just tried to remain focussed and keep a consistent pace. As we approached the 4th lap I started to real in the bunch of 4 riders just up the road. The gap was getting smaller, but very slightly every lap. A huge effort on the 6th lap saw me smashing into solid concrete barrier of pain on the 7th. To my surprise I still managed to close up to Andrew Warr. I managed to get a second wind half way through the 8th lap. As I went onto the last lap I dug deep and managed to bring the time gaps back down. I was pleased to hang onto a 5th overall and 2nd u/23. The course was extremely short, but still had a good variety of single track, descents, climbs and district roads. Ryan had an awesome race and wrapped up the Juniors race. So all in all we had an awesome weekend

Next weekend we're heading up to Sabie for the SA Marathon Championship! Hopefully we have a good one!

Thanks to Darren Goddard for the pictures

Until next time
B

Hard Weekend! Blythedale MTB Classic

2010-02-15T19:27:00.004+02:00

Hey guys!

Man was this weekend tough! I was down in Port Shepstone from Friday and man did I have some tough training while I was down there! Saturday morning I was up at sparrows and took to the road to attack the 'Two Gorges' route, I lung busting route that makes its way through, yes you guessed it... two gorges! and then a 40 minute time trial at the end! Then that evening it was Candice Neethling's 18th Birthday party... meaning a late night.

After a really awesome night and a couple hours of sleep I loaded the car and left the Neethlings' house at 5am to make the trip to the Blythedale Coastal Resort MTB classic. We arrived at the race at around 7 and suited up straight away and went for a thorough warm up. I settled on the start line with Craig, Pete and Ryan! Straight from the start one of the riders tried to split up the field but this was soon countered when Craig came through and started to put down the hammer on on of the short climbs! I responded really well and managed to jump ship and follow his wheel, along with Andew Warr. The pace got harder and pretty soon we had a comfortable gap over the chasing bunch behind. Unfortunately Craig's legs started to hurt of his race the day before, which left Andrew and I up front. Andrew began to attack frequently and I was determined to stay in contact with him. He managed to get a gap a couple of times, but surprisingly I managed to close them down. At about the 25km mark I began to feel the previous days training. I pushed to stay with Andrew, but when he upped the pace again I just couldn't follow his wheel. I rode the final 10km a a solo time trial and managed to hold off the hard chasing pack of Craig, Pete and Sean Merridew. Andrew finished 2 or so minutes ahead. Craig had a awesome sprint for 4th against Sean, which gave Jeep and awesome 2nd, 3rd and 4th overall.

Well done Max for such an awesome event and a huge thanks to Blythedale Resort, Ewan and the team for putting together an amazing course! It was awesome to see new event sponsor Vitamin Water handing out some thirst quenching beverages at the finish-what an awesome product, go out and try some!

Until next time
B

Rietvlei National XCO #1

2010-02-08T12:06:00.004+02:00

Hey guys

This past weekend was the first round of the National XC Cup series. We piled into our car early on Friday Morning and drove up to Rietvlei to check out the course. After about 4 hours or so we reached our destination.

Craig, Ryan and I hit the track, and man was the course cool! Super rocky, Steep Climbs and tight twisting single track! It was definitely one of my favourite course that I've ridden! We left after a couple laps and I went to stay with my aunt in Bedfordview. It was really cool to catch up with my family again, and after a good nights sleep we headed out to the track the next day.

I arrived to see the end of the women's race, with our team mate Eszter Cluer bringing home 2nd overall! I hooked my bike up to the stationary trainer and hooked a really good warm up. After 45minutes or so I headed to the start and settled on the front row. I felt really confident on the new bike, even though it was only my 3rd time on my new bike! off the start I found myself in the front but soon was overtaken by Arno du Toit. We entered the first single track and I was now 4th, just behind James Reid. We hit the first climb and Luke Roberts made his move. There was now 5 of us away but then disaster struck! I burped my tyre on a rock and all the air had come out, ironically at the same place as Ruan du Toit had just punctured. I stopped and bombed my tyre and got going again. I slowly began to work my way up the field, but as I reached the half way point of the track a burped my tyre again. I stopped and did the entire procedure again. I got going and pushed super hard to close up the positions. But unfortunately disaster struck every lap in the exact same spot, except for the 4th lap. On the 4th lap I managed not to burp my tyre and began to claw through the field and took back 5 or so positions. I felt confident that my bad luck was over and was now determined to keep closing up the positions. I came into one of the technical sections and heard the dreaded sound of metal hitting the ground yet again!!!! I ran to the nearest tech' zone where I pumped my tyre. with only a few kilometers to go I took it easy and tried to salvage what was left of my race.

It was definitely the worst race I've had so far, but I made a choice to use new tyres, and obviously it was the wrong decision. I've taken it as a valuable learning experience and hopefully I've learnt from such mistakes.

Thanks to Andrew Warr for the concern and encouragement he gave towards me on the last lap, it really helped me pull through! Well done to Craig and Ryan on their awesome results, and to Max Cluer for giving the much appreciated support!

Peace out
B

My new Steed and Barberton Pics

2010-02-01T18:19:00.007+02:00

Hey guys! Its here! My new steed is awesome! Thanks to the boys at WSquared for hooking me up with such a sweet setup! Johann Wykerd has really gone out of his way to help me out and I'd really like to give a huge thank you to him!

Chilled Ride with the boys

The Awesome Patriot

Craig and Ry having a chuckle

Barberton XCM #2

2010-01-31T18:36:00.003+02:00

Hey guys!

Well yesterday was the Barberton National XCM (marathon). Ryan and I entered the half marathon. With Team mates Craig and Pete hooking the Ultra Marathon.

We were up really early in the morning as the other guys had to get ready for their race at 07:00. We took a drive across from our accommodation and made our way toward the start.

After a good thorough warm up with Ryan we took our place on the front row of the grid with fell Natalians, James Reid (Mr Price/Specialized) and Trav Walker (DCM). The nerves kicked in with a few minutes to go and I became really keen to scope out the form of the national competition. We began our ride slowly but a few hundred meters down the road James attacked. I managed to get onto his wheel, with Ryan following close behind. We went through the town really hard and by the time we reached the main climb (11km long) I knew I had to back off. Travis bridged the gap, and I fell off the lead pack and rode on my ace.

I chased hard to close the gap and eventually after 8km of climbing I reentered the bunch,as I made contact I went really hard around the side to see if any of the riders would drop off. I held the pace for a while but soon slowed to let the others come through. James and Trav came through extremely fast and I found myself off the back again with only 2km left of the climb. Ryan soon dropped off and I managed to catch and drop him. At that point shear determination took over and I started to reel in the gap very slowly. By the time I reached the peak of the climb James and Trav were only 62seconds ahead, but had managed to increase the gap on the descent while I was climbing the final few meters of the climb. I pushed myself to the absolute limit on the descent, scaring myself to death on some of the loose rocky switch backs. By the time I had reached the bottom I had closed it back down to 60 or so seconds. The gap sat between 1 and 2 minutes for most of the race, but as I got nearer to the 40km mark my back went into an immense pain. This was caused by my frame being too small. I tried to push through the pain, and was nearly forced to pull out at the final water point, but I received news that I had a good gap over 4th place so I just chilled the last two or so kilometers. I crossed the line in 3rd overall and a few minutes down on James and Trav. Ryan brought home a 4th. KZN had a fantastic day, with the top 4 positions going to us.

The race was super hard but it was good to race and see how the national competition's form is as well as the way that they race. I am totally over the moon with my result. Well done to James for the win!

Craig and Pete had a good race. Pete brought home 11th, Craig 12th and Carl Calvarley was 14th. Well done guys!

The trip back this morning was awesome! It was great to get to know Carl a bit better It was a totally amazing experience! Thanks to Jeep for lending us the vehicle, which just made the experience all that more unforgettable!

This weekend is the first national! I absolutely cant wait! New course, new venue... should make for some interesting racing

Until next time
B

Team Jeep Road Trip - Barberton

2010-01-29T18:28:00.003+02:00

Hey guys!

Well I'm busy blogging from the dining room at our accommodation here in Barberton! Our epic adventure started off at 5 this morning and went pretty well. We had a good time coming up, which always makes the trip fly by. I managed to learn some new stuff on my awesome new HP Probook 4510s Laptop, man what an awesome piece of machinery! I'd really like to give a huge shout out to the guys from HP, they really helped out with an amazing deal!

The trip was done in comfort too! We traveled in style in a Limited Edition Jeep Patriot, with 3 bikes on the roof, 2 on the back, a boot filled to the roof and 5 athletes in the front of the car. SUPER SPACEY!!!

Tomorrow Ryan Ellis and I are hitting the half marathon, Craig, Pete and Carl are gonna tackle the 120km ultra marathon. Hopefully all the fun we had on the way up pays off and bring home some good results!

Will keep you guys updated!

B

Check it out

2010-01-27T21:20:00.002+02:00

Hey guys!

Check out the culprit for one of my punctures this past weekend

Shout Out - 2010 Racing Machine

2010-01-26T19:21:00.007+02:00

Hey Guys

I just want to say a HUGE thank you to Johann Wykerd, from WSquared Cycling in Hilton. He's really helped me out with an amazing deal on a bike for this season, and I really appreciate it!

You guys should really go check out his shop, they stock an awesome range of bikes and accessories!

Pictures will follow of the new Merida 96 XX ! :)

New Shirts

2010-01-26T19:18:00.003+02:00

Howdie Howdie Howdie!

Check out the new podium shirts

The Ball is Rolling

2010-01-26T18:39:00.005+02:00

Hey Guys,

Wow, it's been a while since I've updated my blog! Just to let you know that this past weekend was the first Provincial XC of the year and was held at Stainbank Nature Reserve.

Unfortunately, the course was a lot less technical from previous years, but the number of laps was increased. I made the decision to race up an age category, meaning, I'd be racing U23 instead of Junior. I knew there was a mountain of a task ahead of me, but at the same time, would help benefit my riding by racing against the elite athletes.

Our race started very late in the day, so I chilled around the feed zone and technical area to watch some of the youngsters battle it out. After some good racing throughout the day, it was time to suit up and hit a spin to warm up the legs. The humidity and heat was really unbearable, so the officials decided to reduce the number of laps from 8 to 7. I lined up on the start line and managed to get a good position on the front row of the start line. My nerves began to kick in as I sat amongst some of the countries best elites, but I tried to remain calm and relaxed for the pain that lay ahead. Straight out of the gates, Rourke Croeser went hard and I managed to jump onto his wheel. Roan Exelby and Dave Leiman were close in tow as we hit the fast open grass sections. I held onto Rourke for as long as possible and we managed to open up a small gap on the other riders. By the time we hit the big climb of the race, Rourke had opened a gap and left me in no mans land... I dropped back to the chase bunch with Roan, Andrew Warr and Dave. We rode hard to try close the gap for a while but Rorke was just too strong. As the race went on Roan and I dropped off the chase bunch and then on the fifth lap disaster stuck. I flatted my rear tyre and the valve came loose after I bombed the tyre. I tightened it as much as possible and had to wait for another rider to give me a bomb. After waiting, James Reid popped around the corner and came to the rescue. I bombed the tyre and rode to the finish. I put my spare wheel in, just in case the valve came loose again. I pushed super hard to try make up the positions I had lost and started to real in some of the riders that had past me. But disaster struck again on the last lap, I burped my rear wheel and was without a bomb. I decided to ride the final KIlometer or so on my flat wheel.

IN the end, I was a little dissappointed, but it was a very valuable learning experience. I was stoked that I still managed to pull off a 2nd in the U23 Category. It was insanely difficult racing, but hopefully it'll pay off when the time comes for nationals!

2009 S-Works Frame For Sale!!!

2010-01-04T16:33:00.003+02:00

Hey Guys

I'm selling my race frame from this past season!

It's a 2009 Specialized S-works Carbon HT (19inch)
it includes
Specialized 'Brain' Fork,
S-Works Carbon Seat post
It's still in amazing condition!

R18000-00 ONCO

If you guys are interested drop me an email on davids.brendon@gmail.com

ciao
B

Info

2009-12-25T14:57:00.003+02:00

Hey guys

Have got a new email address! If you guys want to feel free to email me on davids.brendon@gmail.com

Ciao

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T08:23:00.002+02:00

Hey Alles!!!

Just wanting to wish everybody a merry Christmas, and a fantastic day with their families!! Don't forget the true meaning of Chritmas guys!!
Have an awesome new year and thanks for all your support in 2009!

See you next year for an awesome season!

Stay Safe
B

Year End

2009-12-13T20:08:00.004+02:00

Now that we're at the end of the season it's time to kick back and chillax!!!

A huge thanks needs to go out to :-

Max Cluer - Max Cluer Sports Marketing
For everything he does for team Jeep SA, and all the effort he puts in at events eg Hill2Hill

Clint Morck - Team Manager
For pulling out the stops with getting kit produced, bikes ordered, you name it!!!

Grant Dinkel - Adrenaline Cycles
For always putting the customer before himself, many a night Grant had his shop open at 9pm helping us out with our bikes!

Craig Paul - Team Mate
For always helping me out and giving some awesome advise! A really great mentore

Allegra Wykerd - Coach
Without the help of this wonderful lady I would not be where I am today! She has helped me out with mental prep as well as my training programs etc!!! Johann, her husband has also helped immensely!

Thanks sooo much!!!! YOU GUYS ROCK

2009 HP Urban Rage- Presented by Jeep

2009-12-13T18:28:00.010+02:00

Hey guys,

Can't believe that it's been a year since the first Urban Rage already!!

This year it was slightly different though, the course was shorter, with more obstacles and quite a bit more technical. The course was a mere 2km but was really energy sapping, and the miserable weather made it far more worse, as the obstacles began to get more and more slippery.

My first individual qualifying run of the day was fairly chilled as I was very unsure of the obstacles on the course. However, at the end of the lap I was quite confident on what would be needed to make the final of the Super Cats at the end of the day.

I then teamed up with my team manager, Clinton Morck, for the 2 man team event as good, fun, and layed back ride. I opted to go out first and do the first lap, while Clint would do the second and we would complete the course on the third lap together, as a team. I went out pretty hard on my first lap, just to see how the obstacles would be if it began to rain. After Clint's lap we went out on a reasonably chilled lap which allowed me to scope the lines even more, and it was great fun to do something like this with "the boss!"

It was then quite a long wait until our second qualifier so I took a nice long warm up on my road bike, while munching down on some sandwiches and pastas .I went to the start ramp and set my sights on making the final... I pushed super hard for most of the lap but backed off near the end as it got more technical, as I want to risk not making the top 10 for the final that was approaching. Afterwards I was super nervous as we awaited the news of our times as I thought I had perhaps slackened off a little too much towards the end...

The tension became quite intense, but then I received news that I'd qualified 9th!.
The top 10 men and top 5 ladies were then walked through the aquarium, which would be the last 1km or so of the final... And boy would it be tricky... it had super steep stair cases and polished concrete floors, but looked like it would be one heck of a race and a huge amount of fun!

I then went into full race mode trying to focus on getting a top 5 result or higher. I tried to get into the zone with just 15 or so minutes before the start of my race. I sat on the start ramp spinning my legs and then got called up to the gate... I chose my gate line and waited for the count down... As the gates dropped I sprinted as hard as possible down the ramp and attacked the first obstacle. I pushed as hard as I could, and was using up all the energy I had saved up from the previous rounds. I put in peddle strokes at every possible place on the course and pumped through a lot of the obstacles. I kept my lines into the corners as tight as possible trying to make sure that I took the shortest distance to each obstacle and corner. I sprinted down an alley way and sped into a 90 degree corner, but as I was exiting the corner I hit a lamp post and got myself horribly concussed and disorientated... I Stumbled to my feet, not knowing what happened looking past my bike a few times before I realised it was just ahead of me. I got onto my bike and pushed on towards the finish, as this was after all the final
From the entrance of Ushaka I cannot remember how I got to the finish. I can't even remember riding down the steps into the aquarium.... But after crossing the line I heard that I had still managed to some how get 7th overall... I was super surprised with the result!!!

Congrats to Craig Paul who managed to get 2nd overall just behind Phillip Buys, as well as Luke Roberts who managed to wrap up an awesome 3rd! To Max Cluer and his team!!! A fantastic day was had by all!!!

The Jeep Team

Clint Morck and I

SUSPI High Performance Camp-Stellenbosch

2009-12-11T15:19:00.002+02:00

Hey Guys

I was fortunate enough to be invited by Cycling South Africa (CSA) to attend a high performance program over a period of a week in Stellenbosch at the Sports Performance Institute, for some testing and a whole lot of other activities which included core training, biodex, jump testing(power),ice baths(not so nice), massaging,muscle activation (probably the most painful experience EVER).

We arrived at Huis Neethling, which was to be our home for the next 7 days on Wednesday afternoon 2nd December after being collected from the airport in Cape Town by a kamakazi driver of note, who somehow managed to get us to from the airport to Stellies in one piece.
After settling in I went for a fairly chilled ride around Stellenbosch and Jonkershoek to kill some time before all the athletes that were invited got together in the evening and Luke and I found quite a cool climb called Helshoogte that was just outside of Stellies.

Over the next couple of days we went for some tests and we were also shownsome gym techniques and core exercises, and between all this Luke Roberts and I tried to slot in our propper training programs wherever we could.

The weekend was ours to kill and we made the most of it to explore the area as much as possible. One one occassion we hit an awesome group ride to Gordons Bay and back to Stellies via the back roads. Unfortunately I picked up a puncture 15km from home, but thats all part of the experience I guess.
Then came Sunday, and I was privilaged to ride what is probably one of the best road rides I've done to date. We left Huis Neethling at 8:00 and made our way towards Gordons Bay again, but this time with only about 8 or so guys. We entered Strand and went straight towards an awesome looking mountain pass in the distance. We arrived at the pass and it was totally spectacular, it was so awesome we actually did the 4-5km climb twice and each time the ride up resulted in a race between all of us.

After a good days ride with some awesome new friends we had made while at the camp, Luke and I decided to go to a Hair Salon and get mullets. Crazy I know, but again... all part of the experience :)

After a totally magical weekend we were back at the institute for some tests on monday morning. Fortunately we had a lot of free time between the tests so we were able to fit our rides in a lot more easily than the previous week, but before we knew it, the week was over and it was time to come home.
It was really awesome to meet some new people, and make new friends. We had and insane time wondering through stellies to go and supplies and food with our mates which just added to the wicked atmosphere. This is a week that I will cherish for a long long time.

A big thank you to CSA for the opportunity to go down to SUSPI for the testing!It was an awesome experience.

This and that :) Quick Update

2009-11-30T19:44:00.005+02:00

Hey Guys

Since the last update quite a few things have happened. I got invited to attend a High Performance Camp (HPC) down by the Stellenbosch University Sport Center from the 2Nov-9Nov. Should be really cool!

Then this weekend was the Karkloof Trail Blazer, possibly the BEST course I have EVER ridden! I pitched at the race hoping to do a chilled race but was then told by my coach to race. Off the start it was all very chilled and it was then I decided to ride at the pace of the person going the fastest on the day. After the exit to the polo fields, I followed the wheel of Jedson Tooms and had a tail of 4or so riders behind me.

Entering the first bit of single track he pushed hard and I just followed his wheel and opened up a gap on 3 of the 4 riders behind. I continued to ride at his pace and soon the other rider dropped off. At about the 15km mark I put in a few hard surges just to test the waters. I began riding next to him and made conversation a few times, usually about the absolutely mind boggling single track we'd just gone through! At around the 34km mark we hit the main climb of the day and I saw he was tiring. I rode at a comfortable pace, but made sure I had a consistent cadence the entire time. By the time I reached the top of the climb I entered the single track with a really good gap, and continued to ride at the same pace until the end. I got to the finish in 1st overall, with a gap of around a minute to 2nd place.

This race was one of the most amazing courses I've ever ridden, there was so much effort put into it and it really payed off. Single track had huge built up burms, jumps, amazing rock gardens... YOH words cant describe it! Welldone to Andrew Nicholson and his team! good job guys!!!

KZN MTB Awards Evening

Well this year it was a very classy event :) Jackets and ties, which definitely made the event feel very important. It was held at the Tala Game reserve restaurant, which looked absolutely spectacular!

The evening was very well set out, and the food served was great! I was fortunate to achieve the KZN Most Improved Super Classic Rider, XC Youth Champion, Super Classic Youth Champ and achieved my KZN Colours.

It was really cool to have high class athletes like Greg Minnaar present which also added to the high!

Powerade Triple Challenge "dry run"

2009-11-01T16:32:00.002+02:00

Yesterday morning I was fortunate enough to be invited to join Max Cluer on a dry run of the Powerade Triple Challenge, as I had to get a long slow ride in.I was accompanied by Ryan Ellis and many other people who will be participating in the event.

Ryan and I were allocated to be the 'mechanics' and were to help with any technical issues that any of the people suffered from (Strict instructions from El captain).

It was quite the busy day as we helped with punctures, broken chains, buckled rims and techniques while riding. But in the broad spectrum it was a super fun day and I can honestly say that every person that joined us had an absolute blast!

Till next time
B

BrendonDavids.com

Catching Up

2012 - LETS GO

homeward bound - One Crazy Adventure

Quick update

Day2Remember: Mike Nosco Memorial Ride

Good times up in Big Bear

Settling In and some Fun in the Sun

Back State Side

Bonvoyage

World Champs 2011 - The Race

World Champs 2011 - Post Race

Lock n Load

Focus, Focus, Focus

World Champs Prep

Its good to be home

Windham World Cup, New York Trip, and some catching up!

Subaru Cup - Wisconsin

Big Bear Kenda Cup #7

Some Images from Big Bear

Some More Pictures

2011 Santa Ynez Pro XCT - Race #1 - USA

USA - Some Pics of Everything

some brand marketing

A Very Special Thank you

KZN XCO Cup #2

Back on Track - PE National 2011

UCI MTB World Cup - Pietermaritzburg

Mud Bath - Cascades National XCO Cup #1

Ellsworth USA - Truth SST.2 - Race Machine

Tyre Shredding Madness - SA XCM Championships

SA XCO Championships 2011

Living the Dream....

2011 CSA High Performance Camp - SISSA

Twitter

*UPDATE*

Cycho Media

Photo Shoot with Cycho Media

Mountain Biker Write Up

Goose Bumps - African Continental Championships 2011

SA TT Championships

Need to give thanks

2011 KZN TT Title and a day full of nasty surprises

Photies-December

Ellsworth USA - The Beast is here!!

Catching up and slacking off

HP Urban Rage - Thrills and spills

Ellsworth USA - 2011

Time to Give Thanks

Momentum health - 94.7

skinny wheel racing part 3 -Road Rash and an Ass Grating

Skinny Wheel Action - Round 2

2010 CSA High Performance Camp - Umhlanga- Two Days of PAIN

Sunday Tribune-Jeep Hill 2 Hill

2 Days 2 Provinces 2 Races

Engen Dynamic Road Race

Harburg - Tour de Krantz

Nokian Tyres

Eston Illovo MTB Marathon

MIND BLOWING

POSTER BOY!!

South African XCO Championships - Pretoria

First Super Classic win!

NEW TYRES

Training Camp and Sardine Super Classic

MTN National XCO4 - Mankele

Mtunzini Super Classic

MTN SA XCO3 - George

Karkloof Classic 2010

Pics from the weekend

Check em out

KZN XCO Championships - Cascades

XCM #4 Clarens and Cumberland

MTN SA XCO2 Cascades

Big Shout Out

Jowetts Super Classic

Bushmans Classic - Estcourt

Momentum health XC Provincial #3- Uvongo

SA Marathon Championships-Sabie

Bishopstowe XC Prov # 2

UPDATE