Thought I’d get a quick out a couple of words out with a news update for the last two weeks.

 

Last week I was very privileged to receive my new Black Spade Racing road machine. I had a custom spray job done and she’s looking very stealth. The Black Spade 60mm deep section wheels give the new beast the added bling factor. Besides their dashing looks, they’re amazing wheels!

I only picked up my bike Friday afternoon I took it for a quick spin, before I was to put her to her first real test the next morning, in the first Western Cape Spring League event. We would be racing on the renowned Paardeberg circuit.

 

Unfortunately the racing was very negative and with no real wind to speak of the circuit wasn’t hard enough to split up the field. When the racing did get hard, on the last climb, of the last circuit I was frustratingly not there… My seat clamp bolt wasn’t tightened properly and this resulted in my seat falling off. I made my way to the finish in my own time but not with the result I wanted.

 

Meanwhile Charlie had taken it upon himself to make it as hard as possible on the climb and in the process rode away from the peloton, to the front break of four riders, and eventually went on to win with Alastair Davies taking second.

 

This began a big 3 day block for me with Charles and I riding back to Cape Town afterwards.

 

Come Wednesday, I lined up for my first Killarney criterium of the season. I love racing Killarney every week and am glad summer is on its way. I had a decent race getting into a few moves but I wanted to have a bit of a crack at the sprint. This was when amateur hour started and I finished in 9^th place on the evening.

Image Credit: Ash Smit

 

I then rather excitedly packed my bags and got ready to fly into Durban the next morning. This weekend I am racing the MTN Ultra Hilton Marathon which is effectively my second home race. What makes it more exciting is that I can visit family again; I haven’t really seen my parents for the last 6 months. The race is literally on our door step with the King of the Mountains climb going past our drive way. Just hoping the rain stays away!

 

Till next week.

 

Ciao

The Potberg marathon is an event which I make an effort to attend every year. Riding in, and around, the De Hoop Nature reserve in spring is awesome. Riders are rewarded with some spectacular scenery and whale watching, for a very tough route.

Chatting to an old friend Erik, back from another successful overseas racing campaign.

Rolling off the start line.

Early into the race, a 5 man group formed at the sharp end, including myself, Gert Heyns (MTB Destination), Erik Kleinhans (Contego/28E/Giant), Andreas Studer (Daiken) and Marthinus Esmeyer. We rode in a Northerly direction around the Potberg Mountains, no one was really willing to show their cards so early on in the 75km marathon.

The group rolled together along the Breede River and onto the fast district roads, leaving the holiday retreat. The tail wind we had at this point made things particularly quick. As we turned off onto rougher and slower jeep track, Erik had to stop to attend to a puncture. I thought he would be able to make his way back to the sharp end but with numerous technical problems, that would be the end of his day on the front.

It was shortly after that, up a steep rough jeep track climb, that Heyns was the first to show one of his cards, a hard acceleration up this climb split the group. I rode back onto Gert’s wheel and we dislodged the other two.  Over the top I kept the gas on and pushed on the flatter sections. It wasn’t enough; Andreas rode back to us.

We combined well, but taking the wrong fork in the road – whilst following the lead motor bike – resulted in us having to back track our tyre marks, this allowed Esmeyer to re-join. I was happy to ride on the front here, keeping a steady tempo leading up to the first real challenge of the day; a long, gradually, ascending rough jeep track climb. I decided it was time to play my first hand and increased the tempo. Gert was able to match this and by the top of the climb we had a decent gap. We were rewarded with a fantastic view of the Ocean at the top of this climb, but had to put or racing faces back on shortly thereafter to tackle the technical descnt.

As we had now rounded the mountain – our friend the wind, had now become our foe – we trudged on into a block head wind. About 45km’s into the 75km route is where I unexpectedly played my next card and rode away solo into the lead of the race. I knew where I was, from previous years, and with the knowledge of what was to come, could gauge my effort accordingly. At one point I noticed Andres was closing the gap again so another surge on my side was needed to hold him at bay.

The last loop of the event is tough, and one needs to keep something extra in the tank for it. A steep and short concrete climb welcomes you into the loop, and then a relatively tame descent, before an arduous, terribly rough and rocky gradual climb. There is only really one way to ride this section and that’s to go as hard as you can in order to keep the momentum going as much as possible. Niel had also cut a new section of track in order to avoid the route backtracking on itself. This was tougher than I expected, I was looking forward the to district road which would take us home.

Taking a hard earned win.

Bietjie moeg.

I kept it going as best I could and in the end crossed the line in first, with a solid victory margin of 7minutes over Studer in second, with Heyns rounding out the podium.

After a tough race we could enjoy the rest of the weekend relaxing as we had booked into the De Hoop Nature reserve. The reserve has a fair amount of game and provides some awesome whale watching opportunities ,especially in the calving season. Thank you to the Smit’s for having me, and a lovely weekend, once again.

 

Discussing various aspects of the route.

All Images Credit: Ashleigh Smit

Warming up with Leonardo

And we’re off!

Dave G took overall honours on the day.

Cruising into the finish.

Rolling over the line in a disappointing 10th place.

Don’t worry Mom I’ve since had a haircut.

Images Credit: Ashleigh Smit

 

 

With my bike loaded, a coffee in hand and the sounds of U2 blasting over my car sound system, I was on my way to the Swartland Mountain Bike marathon, bright and early on Saturday morning. Although it was a great sunny day, there was still a lot of snow on the Swartland Mountains lining the N7, which meant temperatures remained on the chilly side.

 

I arrived at the Org de Rac wine estate and after quickly registering and suiting up I was on the start line, sans arm warmers…. Shivering… Hard core, or stupid? Anyway, we were on our way, and not long in Greig Knox (UCT-Private Client Holdings), Chris Botha (Cycle Lab) and I had managed to separate ourselves from the rest.

 

We rolled well together until we approached the infamous Koringberg for the first time. The first ascent up the mountain goes up loose along rocky jeep tracks. The climb kicks and then flattens out repeatedly to the summit. It was here that Grieg and I rode away from Chris. Towards the summit Greig managed to ride away from me and held about a 30 second gap.

 

The steep and fairly technical descent then awaited us. I could see Greig just ahead of me and took a few risks going down to try and close the gap. Unfortunately for Greig, he punctured near the bottom and I passed him and went into the lead.

 

I set about riding a good hard tempo but also without overcooking it, as there was still a good 50km’s of racing ahead. I half expected Greig to ride back to me, but he didn’t.

 

Koringberg presents itself for the second time at the latter stages of the race. The second ascent is somewhat shorter than the first but it’s much steeper, so knowing this I popped a PVM Octane Gel down my gullet to keep the energy levels up.

 

I managed to get up fine (ie. suffering like a dog). With my lead still intact, I approached the last very technical downhill, somewhat more cautiously as to not risk puncturing. The last 15km were tough! With a number of rolling hills, which are actually a bit more than what one would expect, with some kicking up some steep gradients sky ward.

 

I had done enough and come across the line first, after a tough sting in the tail. It felt great to win again, my first in a good few months! It was also my first win aboard my Black Spade Racing 29er hard tail, and in the colours of my new sponsors, Asrin. Thanks for the belief in me guys and let’s hope this is the first of many to come!

It was then back to Cape Town for Bono and I, to try and recover as much as possible for the next day’s race at Grabouw, the Oude Moelen Mountain Bike Classic. Blog to come soon!

 

 

Dear Ash

I am writing this letter as a friend, fan and ‘younger brother’. As you may know I didn’t make the South African Olympic Team this year, apparently you have to be one of the best riders in the country to go to the games which I am unfortunately not (yet).

I am however talking to the Olympic Committee about adding the “Track Stand at the Traffic Lights” discipline to the 2016 Games in Rio (I managed to beat Ollie at this activity during our ride to Olympia this morning)

I need a favour you see. The other evening I was watching a TV show on how they make the Olympic medals and they looked pretty cool, all shiny and sparkly. If it’s not too much bother please could you win one of those medals on Sunday afternoon? (Note: catch the race live on SS4 from 12:50-17:15) I would really appreciate it and by knowing you I think it would boost my social status.

On a more serious note all the best Ash! I am very proud of you for just being at the Olympics but knowing you, this is not enough and coming away with anything less than a medal I think you may feel slightly disappointed. Champion, (aka Carl, Ash’s husband and one of my best friends) has told me your form is great and you’re more focussed than ever. I really am excited to see what you can do. I believe you’re going to make it count and use the opportunity you’ve been given to the full.

Cheers

Chris

P.S. The gold medals are the shiniest.

They say everything happens for a reason and as most of my friends and family will tell you I am a firm believer in this.

My season this year took an unexpected turn just after the Cape Epic with the loss of my financial sponsor at the time. Any athlete will tell you what a blow this can be as you are now short of funding to travel and race and it leaves you in a bit of a predicament.

I have been very fortunate and privileged to have been recovered from this situation. The regular blog readers will have seen I have been riding in the Asrin Property Developers kit for the last two months and I am proud to announce that I have now signed with Asrin and will be joining there team for the rest of the year.

As mentioned Asrin is a property development company and some of their bigger projects include: Eden on the Bay, Millennium Business Park, The Pavilion Shopping Centre and Falcon Crest. Have a look at their website by clicking here or on their logo alongside to see their property portfolio.

I would like to extend a big thank you to Nizaam and Ishmail for taking me in under the Asrin banner and cannot begin to express my gratitude for this.

The team has an awesome dynamic going and I have really been enjoying this. Everyone gets on really well and this makes travelling together and the after race banter a pleasure.  I am really looking forward to spending the rest of the season with this awesome team.

The eagle eyes may have also noticed I’m on a new race machine be sure to check in next week for the announcement on this.