World Cup

The weekend before the first World Cup to be held in Pietermaritzburg, SA, we had the 4th leg of the SA XC series on the WC course. Mannie and I had been tyre testing and settled with the super fast 310 Flyweight. Unfortunately the tyre on the rear came off in round two and I had to run for 2km to tech zone for a wheel change. I still managed to finish the race, which was sort of a mini world cup as a lot of the euros and americans were there too to test the track.

 

The fact of finishing the race with mechanical and not too great legs after epic uped my motivation quite extensively. I absolutely enjoyed training during the week and loved riding my bike. Unfortunately Mannie had crashed while training 2 days prior, so I was the only namibian in the elite field to show form. Mannie was in super form so I needed to come up with the goods. But I also wanted to.

 

Starting in 149th place is never an easy fate, as congesstion in the first lap holds you back quite a lot to finish high up. Somehow I still managed to pass a whole number of riders. Shows you if you want to there is a way. I was feeling super and it was showing with thte lap times. lap 2 was the 45th fastest of the lap...and on lap 3 my chain broke. My heart sunk. Well it took a while to fit it. After I got going again my 4th lap was the 36th fastest. But I had lost too much time fixing the chain that at the end of lap 5 I was pulled off.. lapped they said...next time.

 

CAPE EPIC

Round Up

After having to drive 30km or more to the accomodation after each stage Mannie and I decided to stay in the tents for the rest of the Epic and experience the race like 80% of the rest of the field.

 

Epic is a monster...I once again experienced it first hand, sucking mannie's wheel most of the 8 days. The legs didn't fine quite the way I was hoping they would but coming 7th overall concidering isn't all that bad. We would have liked to compete more for the African leader's jersey, but not this time.

 

Prologue

Going into the prologue course I found it hard to judge in what condition I was compared to the rest, with the whole European winter thing and my motivation.
I felt mentally strong and really looked forward to the stage. It was mannie though pulling on the front most the way. This time trial thing really gets to me I think due to over eagerness. We still had a reasonably good prologue finishing 8th, some 2 minutes and 40 seconds down on Burry and Christof.

We also finished ahead of some euros which I am happy about, although this prologue wasn't what the epic is about really and most of those riders are long distance riders.
A good turnout of spectators made it easier up the steep parts of the lap and I think there were some spectacular shots taken with the many photographers on the route.

Tomorrow we start with the real racing. From Gordon’s Bay we ride 120km to Villiersdorp, hope to let you guys hear something from me then.

 

SA champs and series #3

 

George was the host town for this year’s SA XC champs and the turnout was therefore much better than last year’s leg in george, which was one after the cape epic. This year it is one week before the Epic so it is a good test before the race.
Being an open race we Namibians were welcome to race and there were a few of us. Juniors, women and mannie and I.

I had a good start forcing myself not to be the first into the singletrack as I have the habit of overdoing it in the first trail when in front. So the race went on but I didn’t have the usual legs and also felt a bit under pressure by other riders and mental stuff. After lap 4 I was ready to sit up and just ride casually. I was now in 6th place. Then I just got so angry with myself and decided to switch off all thoughts and just go. It worked out super and managed to catch and pass everyone but burry, who by this time was out of sight, naturally. So in the end super happy to be able to do something like that. The course was also really hard as it was extremely bumpy and 90% single trail. Mannie came in just a minute behind in 5th overall, 2nd elite. So our form is pretty equal going into the Epic. Then again that long stuff is where mannie thrives so it will still be a back wheel in front of me quite a lot I think.

 

 

 

HELLO AGAIN

 

Hello Guys and Girls. It has been too long now. My old pc gave me too many problems while uploading site changes. But how I got myself a new one and things can go smoothly again.
Racing has been going good and now it is the last stretch towards Epic. After haven ridden the Giro del Capo last week and spending that time with team Namibia in a house, I just need to get my focus back a bit for the SA MTB Champs this weekend and then the epic next weekend.
Mannie and I had a relatively good team race test event at the Sani2C, where we finished 2 overall. Both of us also had good results at Giro, mannie more so that I as he is just the more aggressive rider in a bunch and rides in the front and me being a bit scared sitting towards the back where there is a bit more space, hehe.
Currently I am in Stellenbosch where it is quite warm at around 37 degrees. Hopefully the fires in Jonkershoek will die soon so we can ride in the ashes.

 

 

Mankele XC #2

15.02

Haven't written a race report for this race yet, so here goes.

I was really motivated for this race

 

Barberton

02.02

Hi everyone. It has been a while since I have updated. But now that the season has started again I hope to keep you up to date on the latest happenings in my cycling life.

Last weekend was the first race of my season and what a start! Barberton was altered a bit and with a brand new route came a brand new distance, not just for the race but for south african racing. 120km and 3000hm was definitely going to be tough, especially so early in the season. I decided to ride with heartrate the first 70km as not too blow and have to force to stop riding. It all worked out, though I was battling the last 30km. half way through the race I was joined by new team mate and epic partner mannie and together we rode the second 60km, good start to our epic preparation. I finish a disappointing 13th, with names ahead of me I have never even heard about. That will soon change though!

 

Mannie and I are currently in Hazyview where we are staying at the Kruger Park Lodge, courtesy of our team mate Renato. Thanks to him we can feel like home for 2 weeks of intense hill training and good mtbiking in the sabie valley. Next weekend we are racing a XC in Mankele, the second of the season.

 

On our rest day last friday we went for a drive in the Kruger Park and saw lots of elephants and just had a good day off.

 

Yesterday we went on the sabie classic route and it was quite an adventure. It had rained 100mm the night before and the were fallen trees, land slides, forest roads that turned into rivers, knee deep mudd we had to cross and a river that we couldn't cross and had to take detour. If the sabie classic route stays unchanged, it's gonna be tougher than barberton.