At last week’s Killarney sufferfest (the weekly PPA Killarney Crit) I had the privilege of learning from a good friend of mine and ex road professional, Hasi. Hasi (Rene Haselbacher) was a professional for 13 years in the European peloton and spent the time plying his trade on teams such as Gerolsteiner and Astana. Hasi and I have done a number of mountain bike stage races over the last year together but on Wednesday I was fortunate enough to spend an hour ‘racing’ with him on the road.

The wind wasn’t as strong as previous weeks and this saw a larger group come into the finish. I found Hasi’s wheel with two laps to go and did my best to make sure I didn’t lose it. I came close on occasion and had to squeeze through a tight gap in the peloton here and there, but all went well.

Unfortunately I botched the sprint a bit after Hasi dropped me off in the pocket with about 800 metres to go. I went too early and couldn’t match the surge that came through to the line and came over in sixth place. I was buzzing with the excitement of following Hasi through the final and wasn’t too disappointed with the outcome of the day.

Killarny

Image Credit: Ash Smit

Image Credit: Capcha PhotographyImage Credit: Ash Smit

On Sunday morning I lined up for my last foray on South African tar. It was the final event in the Western Cape League, the Medallion Tour de Stellenbosch. I felt good going over the Helshoogte Pass and, venturing into a strong looking break of six riders, I sat in and tried to save my legs for the sprint. A one-kilometre drag followed by a false flat would bring the bunch to the line. I had a decent position coming into the line but lacked the punch needed for a result on the day and finally came over in around 10th position.

I am learning more with every sprint but still need to learn a fair deal before I can become consistently competitive. Nonetheless I am enjoying it and can see improvement each and every race. or at the least take something away from it that I have learnt.

Over the next few days I’m going to be packing up my bags and jumping on a plane bound for Greenville in the USA! My next post will come from the other side of the Atlantic so until then, ciao.

Helshoogte

Image Credit: Team Intellibus

I started my 2013 season with a delightful 4am wake up…Hopefully the races start at a more civilised hours in the States…

 

Let’s rewind a few days. Last Wednesday I went to my first Killarney ‘race’ of the year. For those that don’t know, Killarney is a Wednesday evening 1 hour criteriums ‘race’ on the Killarney race track in Cape Town.  It is a great training session and useful to work on some high end power and sprinting work. With the wind pumping the ‘bunch’ was whittled down to only 12 riders. I unfortunately saw my race come to an end with about 3 laps to go when one of my fellow competitors came straight across into my front wheel.

Crash and Burn

Image Credit: Team Intellibus

Come Sunday, I lined up in Durbanville with the sun just breaking through the horizon for the 110km Tour de PPA. Highlights included the ascent up the dreaded Vissershok climb and plenty of wind once again.

 

The Vissershok climb albeit short, kicks up to quite a steep gradient. I felt comfortable going up here and the bunch split up quite considerably with just 35 guys left in the front.

Cresting Vissershok

Image Credit: Team Intellibus

 

We went back through Durbanville before our tour through the Boland. The attacks came and went until a successful move of Raymond Cox and Chris Jooste managed to stay off the front. I didn’t think they would survive with another 60km to the finish and strong cross and head winds, but to our surprise they did and took first and second on the day.

 

The Maties boys tried to bring the break back and were later assisted by the Orbea team but were not successful. The wind in the meantime had helped splinter the bunch further until there was just 10 of us left coming into the finish.

 

I managed to judge my sprint well and came around Craig Symons and Oliver Stappleton Cotton to win the bunch sprint and take 3^rd on the day.

The Sprint.

Image Credit: Capcha Photography

The Podium

Image Credit: Nizaam Esa

 

One day when I’m big I wana be as bad ass as this guy…. I’ve done this on the bike before but this guy takes the cake for being bad ass!

With another week of training under the belt, I am one week closer to my departure for the USA! In 4 weeks to the day I will be landing In Greenville South Carolina to embark on a new adventure. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, here is the press release from last week.

 

It’s a very exciting time in my cycling career at the moment and I can’t wait to get to the States and experience all it has to offer. I will be joining the Stan’s No Tubes p/b Proferrin road cycling team for the year. We will be racing criteriums, road races and Tours all over the USA. It in itself is an awesome opportunity to see the country. Check out the team website here. For me personally it will be a new and exciting experience to essentially embark on a season where I will be racing fully on the road.

 

Some may say that I am shooting for the stars, but I’m going to the States with the goal of securing a contract on a professional team. Of course it won’t be easy but I’m sticking to my guns and believe I have what it takes to make it. I’ve put in some good base miles and now it is the time to build on that and take things up few notches. I’ll be looking to arrive on the other side of the Atlantic in decent form. In preparing for this I will be doing a couple of the Western Cape League road races before I go and spend some time at the Wednesday evening Killarny Crits, an old favourite of mine.

 

Undertaking such an adventure can be a daunting experience and I am lucky that I will have my girlfriend Ash joining me. It will be fantastic to share these experiences with someone and also to have the support base that Ash will be. I know too, that I will have friends and family back home that are just a phone call away.

 

The start of my journey in the States will see me arriving in Greenville and most likely be based there for the first two weeks. During this time we will have the team training camp where I will meet my fellow team mates, staff management as well as the team sponsors. From there it looks like we will be based in Florida for approximately 3 weeks for the opening races of the season. Ash will be coming across in the beginning of April and I am excited about having her join me!

 

That’s all for this week folks, till next time, ciao!

More than a month in fact. I must apologise for the lack of blogging. As my body went into holiday mode so did my mind and the lack of posts.

 

I have had a great December of logging in some good base miles in and around: Cape town, Francehoek, Hilton and the South Coast of KZN. I have especially enjoyed the social aspect of these rides catching up with old friends who I don’t see much during the busy racing year.

 

To ease back into the swing of things I’ve uploaded a couple of photos of what I have been up to on my bike over the last 6 weeks.

 

 

Rolling with the Power2Max power meter, it’s pretty bad ass!

Long day out and we needed some recovery food!

Mountainbike ride in Contermanskloof.

Mr Roberts making a mess.

Zami checking out the beast of a climb we just conquered.

Rolling the old 4 passes ride with Jos and Ed.

Ludi enjoying a hearty breakfast before a big day in the saddle.

Trying out Ludi’s retro machine!

Getting ready for a big day out with Mr Wilson.

Oribi Gorge with Johann, some steep climbs!

The Asrin crew rolling back into the Mother City after a morning mountain biking in Jonkershoek. Zami, on the left, bought some property.

After consuming countless calories and a few beers, it’s almost time to get back into the swing of things.

After a good 60+ racing days this year, I was in need of some proper down time. Following Wine2Whales, the bikes were put away and I found myself in the queue at KFC ordering a 6 piece chicken meal! I have been enjoying eating the food which I usually try avoid during the year!

It has been great to spend some time with friends and my girlfriend doing things ‘normal’ people would do like, having a lie in on a Saturday morning instead of waking up early to head out for a couple of hours.

Pink Drinks – It wasn’t mine I promise

Ash and I

Images Credit: Ashleigh Smit

Naughty food.

I have also dedicated my spare energy into trying to grow a mo. It’s really there people, not so visible with the lack of black facial hair. Check out my Movember page here and donate if you’re game! I’m low on the ranking peeps, need all the help I can get!

With my body and mind feeling recharged I’m raring to go and looking forward to starting up the engine again come Monday. I have some big goals next year and the preparation for these starts with a month of solid base training.

Till next time folks,

Ciao

The attempted mo.

After the way in which our Wine2Whales ended last week I was in absolutely no mood to blog about it.

 

The first day started off ok for us. Us being: Hasi and I, riding in the Asrin Colours for the 2012 Contego Wine 2 Whales powered by Maserati. It would be my first time riding the event as I would usually be deep in the books preparing for exams. It’s awesome of being done with studying!

 

I wasn’t climbing particularly well and with the first half of the first day containing more than a thousand metres of ascent this would be problematic. I also became acquainted with the dirt after a branch got stuck in my wheel and sipping on a bottle at the same time. Anyway we came around towards the end of the stage but it was too little too late and we finished in 8^th place on the day.

 Gamtoe Pass Portage

Image Credit: Peter Kirk

Start of stage 2.

Image Credit: Jetline Action Photo

Trying a move off the front on the second stage.

Image Credit: Jetline Action Photo

The second day promised to be more fun with a flatter route which would suite us better, and kilometers of awesome single track. Hasi and I found ourselves in the company of one of our countries leading pro roadies, Robbie Hunter. It was fantastic to ride with Mr Hunter. He would gracefully allow us to hit the trails first and then when he caught back up to us on the dirt roads, it would be like hooking onto the Hunter Express. Big power! He certainly showed why he is one of the leading sprinters/lead out man in the world. We cruised in, in 6^th place on the day. Somewhat better than the previous day but not really where we wanted to be.

 

The final day of racing provided the mountain bikers with many kilometres of single track again. There would be a sting in the tail towards the end of the stage and race with 3 cheeky climbs to finish things off. It was make or break time for Hasi and I! Our chance came some 20 kilometres into the stage, when after exiting a section of single track from the lead group we attacked. We managed to open up a gap through Botrivier and built it up to about two minutes. The adrenaline was pumping with the chopper following us from above and the possibility of a stage win opening up.

 

This is when disaster struck! While following the main dirt road which we were on, we approached a fork in the road. With the main road going left and a smaller less used road going right and no visibly recognisable marker board, we decided to go left. Unfortunately this turned out to be the wrong call.

 

It left a  bad taste in our mouth after proudly being told that morning that 3000 marker boards were used along the route. Additionally the lead motor bike was far too far ahead to be of any help to us.

 

Unfortunately that’s how it goes in mountain biking sometimes.

 

I must commend the organisers on other aspects of the event in which the attention to detail was great and made the event stand out in those terms from others. Small things like leaving a couple of Saturday papers on the tables in the dining hall for guys to read to even having the option of Seafood for dinner one evening!

 

With that a busy year of racing is now done and it’s time a couple of beers and KFC!

Awesome trails!

Image credit: Jetline Action Photo

Hasi and I off the front on the 3rd stage.

Image credit: Cherie Vale/Newsport Media

 

Two of the three Asrin teams.

From left to right: Nizaam, Ludi, Hasi and I.

Image Credit: Roger Tanner

 

 

 

 

Gangsta’s!

Rocking out the new lid.

Room service.

The Washing Line Bench.

Beer box – food tray, only in the Klein Karoo!

The camp spot in Prince Albert.

Our neighbours.

Morne the mechie – “En so werk dit!”

Hasi enjoying an afternoon coffee.

Afternoon social in the camper.

One of the Euro teams were particularly worried about the treacherous riding conditions in Africa so took a spare tyre along.

Gotta look good for your partner!

Hasi’s new state of the art pedals, now available at Game stores countrywide.

Gibson with the camper tyre after the boys experienced a blow out!

The boys at lunch.

Gerald de Cock needs a new bike!

Better get those climbing legs ready boys and girls!

After a week of racing on the fat wheels it was back to some skinny wheel action. This came in the form of the final Western Cape Spring League events. The first being the Durbanville road race on Saturday, and the second the Atlantis Kermesse on Sunday.

Image Credit – Ronelle Rust/Torquepics

With my bike lights on, I lined up bright and early in Durbanville for the road race. The route was mostly flat with a couple of rolling climbs, the most notable of these on the Paardeberg circuit. I decided to attack on this hill (note: more of a hill than a climb really) and got a bit of a gap (first time in my life? haha). This prompted a response from the bunch and after a hard effort we had 6 riders clear, including: Charles Keey (Blend), Kyle Donnachie and Dave Garrett (Focus), Stefan Ihlenfeldt(Bonitas), Jan De Beer(Maties) and I. The group was particularly strong so I thought we had a good chance of staying clear, but this move turned out to be to no avail and we were reeled in.

The finish went up about a 1km climb at 5-6% gradient, nothing too hectic but it did make it a bit harder. I was relatively well positioned and took 4^th place in the dash for the line with Stefan winning, Kyle 2^nd and Reniel Matthysen (Intellibus) in 3^rd.

We were fortunate to start at a more respectable hour on Sunday out in Atlantis. The event would involve racing 10 laps of an 8km circuit through an industrial area, not particularly scenic, but hey, we were here to race bikes.

There were two major breaks that stayed away for a couple of laps on the day. The first containing: Garret, Ed Greene (RSA Web) and van der Bank (Nu Water) went away early but was reeled in mid-way through the race. The second had young Chris Jooste (RSA Web) and Carstens (Nuwater) in the mix. I tried to bridge across to this move with Ed Green (RSA Web) and Boyd Roberts (Intellibus) with two laps to go, but the peloton was not having any of this, and closed us down.

 Image Credit: Robert Ward

It looked like we would be sprinting for 3^rd place until, with a rapid charge into the line, we caught the final escapees in the last 3km. I was again relatively well positioned and ran 3^rd in the dash for the cash. This time the line came too quickly though, as I perhaps started my sprint too late. Unfortunately the PPA finish line photographic equipment wasn’t entirely up to scratch and it was difficult to judge who had in fact taken 2^nd place, between Roberts and I. Well done to Kyle for taking it.

All in all, a good weekend of action on the skinny wheels.

All Images Credit: Robert Ward