I came into this weekend’s race not really knowing what to expect from my body. After the Route 69 Mountain bike experience I thought I had rested up enough but it looks like I overcooked the training a bit last week. I started Tour de Boland on Tuesday and unfortunately went down in a crash not 5km from the start but the legs were terrible. After consulting with my coach Ian we decided it would be in my best interest to pull out of the tour, rest up as much as possible and give SA XCO Championships bash.

Over the past few years I have focused more on marathon racing but after Africa champs I started to enjoy XC racing again and I think I’ll give it more of a go this year.

Image Compliments of Hanno Lategaan.

 

Come race day Christiaan and I rode to the start. We did a bit of a detour to get a nice long warm up in. As we arrived at the venue, Delvera Farm, the usual nerves started but I felt focused as we lined up to go. Specialized star, Burry Stander, was the favourite for the race once again.

The course was not very technical for a national champ’s course but what it lacked for in terms of technical riding it made up for in terms of toughness. Steep vine yard climbs brought the total ascent up to 177metres per lap of which we would do 7.

The racing was hot off the line and I settled into a pace I felt sustainable with Petrus Malherbe. After shuffling positions on the first lap I settled into my own race in about 12^th position. I managed to keep it quite consistent throughout, except for one or two little spills. The single track although not too technical was fun but the climbs became tougher as the race went on especially in the afternoon heat. Hometown support was cool and it was nice to have friends and my sister along to shout and cheer.

Image compliments of Cherie Vale Photography.

 

I was happy with how I rode and managed to move up to 10^th place in the elite men category and 8^th South African by the end. That would mean some nice UCI points in the bag and hopefully a little shift up in the world rankings.

Off to Durban next weekend for the SA Marathon champs which will be taking place at Inanada dam.

Thanks to Cherie Vale and Hanno Lategaan for the photos, much appreciated!

So last weekend’s race wasn’t one for the books, however this weekend, things are looking on the up! 

Although I am not used to riding in Gauteng we have ridden some superb trails, and I will definitely be paying Van Gaalens Cheese Farm a visit again.

Yesterday the Route 69 Mountain Bike Experience started off with an 80km stage with some 1100m of ascent.

The distances of each stage, not too long but countless kilometres of single track and rough terrain make up for it. 

After an hour of racing my partner Sean Williams and I found ourselves at the front of the race with one of the solo riders, Shaun Leech (Honda/GT).

Not long after that… Sean suffered his first puncture of the day, we managed to plug it and get going again fairly quickly but that was not the end of it. Four punctures later, two tubes (including a 26” tube being stretched onto a 29” wheel), ten bombs and countless plugs we saw ourselves finish the day a good 19 minutes off the first team. 

This morning we had our work cut out for us and Sean and I started racing from the gun. We were the only team in the front group with Shaun Leech, Henry Uys (Northcliff Cycles), Delanie Impey (Toyota/Cycle lab) and a Dutch rider whose name I didn’t get. We covered the first 23km in 55minutes which included a fair amount of single track, not bad going on mountain bikes!
At the base of the first climb the single riders hit it hard, while Sean and I backed off a bit; A steep, rocky technical climb brought us to the top of the first mountain. 

Not more than 10kilometres later we caught the first two from the lead group who were now blowing and subsequently dropped them. The plan was not to chase Delanie and Shaun as they were not competing in the same category as us, but we did as they turned around after bad route marking. We found the track and continued on with them until they left us on the climbs towards the finish. 

We pushed all the way to the line to take the stage in the team category some 14minutes after the next team. Feels great to win again! 

Tomorrow we need to ride hard again to take back another 5 minutes to be in contention to win the team race overall.

My ten day trip up to the Highveld started off with a trek in a south western direction off to the little dorpie of Clarens. The town has become a tourist hot spot over the last few years but for us was the host of the MTN National Ultra Marathon. This was to be the 3rd race in the series and my second after missing Barbeton.

“Team Car!”

 

The rain bucketed down the day before the race but after riding parts of the start and finish it appeared as though the area drained quickly so I didn’t worry too much.

Come race morning we started in overcast cool conditions and all seemed to be fine until about 15km when we started hitting the mud. Although I was in the first group of riders going over these sections the mud was beautifully churned up already! Not more than 5km later the chain suck started. This was the end of the day for me at the front end of the race.

The Start

Photo Credit: Zoon Cronje

 

I clicked into survival mode and decided to take the shorter 80km route home as opposed to the planned 113km. Unfortunately; the mud destroyed my drive train. I did however manage to enjoy some sections of the course such as the slick rock riding.

All in all it wasn’t a day to remember but I guess you have to take the good with the bad and I live to fight another day.

This weekend is the Route 69 Mountain Bike Experience which I will be doing with Sean Williams one of my main sponsors.

I had the privilege of representing my country this past weekend. Something I did not thing I would be able to say just yet in my cycling career but obviously a long term goal for me. Albeit it was for the Invitational team (sort of the B team) I was very proud, excited and nervous to be able represent South Africa last weekend at the African XCO (cross country Olympic) Championships at Jonkershoek just outside my hometown Stellenbosch.

Powering past the feed zone(trying to at least)

Image compliments Chloe Clegg

 

I only found out on Friday afternoon I would be racing the next day(bit of a communication mix up) and had to leave a 2 day shoot I was on to be there. A big thanks to Sandy for sorting this out, this race was something I could simply not pass up on. A rushed Friday evening and Saturday morning was spent getting the bike ready, sorting out my bottles (filled with PVM) and organising support crew for the feed and tech zones(thanks Jess and Tim).

Negotiating the rocky single track.

Image compliments Chloe Clegg

 

The race finally came around at 2pm on Saturday afternoon, as expected it was hot and the heat was on from the gun. The course had changed completely from when I had ridden it earlier in the week and was significantly more rocky and had more running sections than before, except if you were Burry Stander that is. I felt good on the climbs but struggled technically making silly stupid mistakes I would never usually make. This frustrated me more every time I faltered and ended up losing me more and more time. Need to keep my head in the future and settle into my own rhythm.

One of the bigger rocks on the technical descent.

Image compliments Cherie Vale.

 

Unfortunately I was lapped by none other than Mr Stander but 17^th position was something I was fairly satisfied with and if my understanding of the UCI rules is correct I should now have enough points in the bag to compete in the Pietermaritzburg round of the XCO World Cup Series in April. Although the past few years I have focussed my attention on marathon racing I enjoyed the cross country race and will look to do a few more this year.

I was off to Francehoek past weekend for the Francehoek Lions/Porcupine Ridge mountain bike race, ok so it wasn’t really a duathlon but stay tuned! A fairly short 48km event presented itself but it would be tough no doubt with two very rough, rocky and fairly long climbs in the way. I decided to ride to the start and back home again after to get in some miles for the upcoming ultra marathons. I had had a good week of training leading up to the event and I was keen to test my legs although I knew in the back of my mind I couldn’t expect the fireworks, yet…

A select group of 7 of us got away within a few km’s of the start, Adriaan Louw (Contego/Giant/Sludge), Shan Wilson and Timo Cooper(Anderson Transport) were a few of the guys making up the selection. Shan was the first to exit the group after going through a donga at some speed his front wheel somehow hooked in and his frame cracked in half near the headset! Better get a Cube next time hey Shan 😉

Apparently there is a Cable Tie shortage in the Cape. 

 

We hit the first major climb 15km’s in, it was one I recognised from previous races and knew what a beast it could be. I tapped off a bit maintaining a pace that I knew I could maintain to the top, it wasn’t enough to stay up front.

The next 20 or so km’s saw us winding through vineyards and orchards on the outskirts of Francehoek. It was pretty flat and this suited me better and I pushed hard to make up lost time.

The last major climb of the day was a tough 6km; it reminded me of the Attakwas somewhat. Just over half way up I could hear someone behind me around a hairpin bend and this sent me to kick down a gear and push to the top. I went pretty hard on the technical downhill too and opened the gap up on Petrus Malherbe.

A few kilometres of undulating dirt roads took us to the finish. After taking one too many risks and I burped my rear tyre on one of the concrete pipes. I tried to bomb it but this was to no avail. I looked at my bike computer thought it was only 1.5km to the finish so though I could try run it in and hold my position. What I thought was a pretty impressive 4mins a km in cycling shoes with a bike J running eventually got slower and slower until I was walking… 1.5km’s had turned into four and it was a lost cause. In hindsight had I known it was 4km to the finish a tube would have been quicker but hey you know what they say about hindsight?

The race was good training nonetheless and I’ve put in another good few days this week. Next week it’s up to Joburg for 10 days for the MTN Clarens National Ultra Marathon and then the 3 day Route 69 Mountain bike stage race.

After having my wisdom teeth out last week it was a frustrating and sore few days of not being able to ride. This coupled with a disappointing Attakwas (the stomach bug) was not how I envisioned the start to my 2011 season.

I eventually managed to get back onto the trainer first and then onto the road. No mountain biking just yet.

Skinny wheel racing it was to be and I joined up with my Cycle Lab Toyota Team for the 3rd race in the pro Classis Series. Paarl would be the start finish venue for the Boukaert Soenen race over 126km. The elite team would be 3 members strong represented by Ryan Binedale, Matt Wentworth and I.

The race kicked off to a usual fast start with numerous attacks going off the front but the bunch was not letting anything go. Ryan and I represented the team in these moves with Matt saving his legs for later on.

Ultimately near half through the race would be the deciding point with the Botmaskop Climb just out of Riebecks Kasteel. The bunch did split here with a much smaller group forming on the other side. Unfortunately we lost Ryan on the climb and Matt was forced to withdraw due to injury problems.

Fourth from left.

Photo Credit: Ronel Rust – Torque Pics

Heading back in the direction of Paarl there were many moves going off the front until a group of 6 went away and built a lead of up to a minute at one stage. Most of the big teams were represented so were not interested in bringing it back. I decided to help a few of the individual riders and smaller teams in pacing on the front in order to try and bring it back.

A lot off aggressive riding on the Paardeberg circuit almost saw the bunch split again until shortly thereafter everything came together again in anticipation of the finish. Heading into the last ten kilometres a big attack by Darren Lill (DCM) saw a group of 5 riders go clear including Carl Pasio (RSA Web), Alistair Davies (Daiken) and two other riders. The pace was very high in this last part as we covered the remaining 10km’s in 11 minutes. The breakaway just managed to stay away with only 50m in the end with Darren Lill once again taking the win.

I finished safely in the bunch not taking any chances mixing it up in the sprint as I knew if something happened and I bumped my mouth there could potentially be another visit to the hospital and more days off the bike.

The Attakwas National Ultra marathon is supposedly, the toughest one day mountain bike race in South Africa over a very rough, rocky 135km and 2900m of ascent.

The race can be split into 3 sections. The first 30km of jeep track and dirt roads, the next 40km of riding through the Attakwas Kloof; this is the roughest section of the race and the final 50km with a lot of climbing which really tests you this far into the event.

I went into the race knowing I would not be near my best as I had picked a stomach bug two days before and had not fully recovered yet. Anyway I decided to give it a bash.

The race started off at a steady pace with a big bunch remaining intact. The first hard accelerations proved too much for me and I could feel the power lacking as I tried to push it a bit, I backed off and rode my own race.

Photo Credit: Photo Dynamix 

I started to feel better in the kloof and started to pick up a couple of positions but was still fairly far off the pace as we started to exit the kloof, and then KABOOM I blew! Worst of all was that I had no reserves and thus was stuck in reverse.

A long arduous push took me to the finish, well off the pace but somewhere in the top 50. No fireworks.

I then travelled up country to join family for a 4 day trip into the Kruger Park where we would be doing one of the bush hikes along the Wolhuter Trail; named after my great grandfather Harry Wolhuter. Harry was a ranger in the Kruger Park and killed a Lion with only a knife as it attacked him and his horse. You can read the full story here.

Old Elly Bull

 

Lion skin from the Lion that Harry Wolhuter killed along with the knife he used.

 

A big thank you to the Kleinhans’s and Dawie van Rensburg for having me to stay in George.

Next up for me is the Cape Town Pro Classic Road League next weekend where I will return to racing with my Toyota/Cycle Lab road team.

Till then Ciao

The Tour de Lesotho didn’t quite work out as planned but it was an adventure nonetheless. Washed away roads halted our adventure but we still got in some good training and got to experience the country in a great way.

Day 1

Christiaan and I departed unsupported from the Lions River Polo Club. Our destination, Sani Pass Backpackers, some 103km and 2600m of vertical ascent stood in our way. We carried back packs filled with what we would need for the evening as the backup car would only meet us the next day. Mixed weather conditions followed us for most of the day with rain plaguing us for a good part of it.

 

Michelin Man Look 

Five and a half hours later we arrived at the backpackers. It was a bit disappointing that the coffee shop was closed and there was nowhere else to get food which was closely available with Underberg being 15km away.

Day 2

Two big obstacles stood in our way on the second morning of our epic journey. The day would see us travel some 75km to Molumong Backpackers lodge which lay deep in the Lesotho Mountains. But first we would have to climb the beast of Sani Pass and then a few kilometres later the Black Mountain pass, which I stand to be corrected but think it is the highest mountain pass in Southern Africa at just over 3200m above sea level. In total this provided us with a total of 2200m of ascent for the day. I had ridden up Sani Pass a few years ago and knew how hard it would be, the hairpins to the top were torturous but reaching the top was awesome. A chicken burger and coke was on the cards at Sani Top Chalets, the highest pub in Africa. We also tried a Maluti beer which was quite pleasant.

South African Border Post 

Black Mountain was next up; the view from the top was amazing. Lesotho; the mountain kingdom… now we know why! Green mountains extended as far as the eye could see with rivers running in the v’s of the valleys below. 20km of awesome sweeping descent greeted us on the other side. It now felt as though we were really in Lesotho. Our overnight stay was at Molumong Lodge which was a lot more comfortable than the previous night’s accommodation. It was great to also have our back up crew of Mike, Murray and Lauren there too; they would also be fly fishing along the way.

Molumong Lodge 

 

Day 3

We were now truly into Lesotho. In addition to the classified mountain passes there were many more climbs of up to 5 km in length which proved to be testing. Menomeng pass which cumulated at just over 3000m above sea level met us early in the day. The rivers had risen over night with the many rain showers, and fishing was not on the cards due to the fast flowing dirty brown water. Unfortunately 55km into our trip that day we met an impassable obstacle. 20km from Mashai Lodge where we were to spend the night the bridge had completely washed away and now 30m of fast flowing rapids stood in between us and the road on the other side. We discussed and consulted maps to try and determine as to what we would do next. We eventually decided on back tracking in the car and staying at Sani Top Chalets that night, this was some 100km away and would take at least 3hours to get there with the conditions of the roads. All was going fine until we reached the foot of Black Mountain where one of the smaller subsidiary rivers had washed the away the road as well.

The bridge that was not there

 

Christiaan and I considered taking back packs and riding to Sani Top as we could cross the river on bikes. We decided on staying together and to try going back to Mokhotlong, fill up with petrol and look for accommodation. Whilst we got petrol the accommodation didn’t capture us and we back tracked a further 15km back to Molumong Lodge where we stayed the night again. After a long day a braai went down well that evening.

Day 4

An awesome sunrise greeted us on our 2^nd unplanned morning at Molumong Lodge. Our plan for the day was to ride back to Sani Top Chalets but first we would have to deal with the issue of the washed away road. Christiaan and I set off first and the car met us at the point where the road had washed away. Our new strategy was to cross the river in a different point where the water was a bit shallower. We used rocks to build the level of the river bed up a bit and then Mike would try drive across. After about an hour of this we decided that it was worth a try. After carefully lining up the car Mike went for it, carefully through, he made it! We walked across with the bikes after and we then each set off for Sani Top.

Mike crossing the river.

Once we reached our destination we decided we would continue and ride on to Underberg and stay at Laurens house for the evening. We arrived some 5 and a half hours later and nearly 100km’s.

 

Parts of Sani Pass washed away.

The trip was a great adventure and we got in some good hours at high altitude. It was however very disappointing not being able to do what we had planned but there isn’t much that we could do about it. Maybe next year?

More photos from the trip can be viewed here

Last two weeks wrap up

Once again a busy last two weeks it has been. Going back to Cape Town last week I didn’t take my lap top with me and hence the lack of blogging as I wanted to put up a few more shots from the kids camp. So here they are now.

Talking of which the last two days were a resounding success. I enjoyed working with each and every one of the Kids. They were well mannered and seemed to love it soaking up every bit of information as we went.

 

 The 2^nd day of the camp saw us riding into Hilton College. Our mid morning stop welcomed us with snacks and drinks compliments of Ducle Cafe once again. Next up I taught the kids how to change a puncture using the tyre levers that each of them received in their pack from Cycle Lab. Hopefully they won’t need to be doing much puncture changing in the future with Sludge in their tyres. After munching a few PVM energy bars we set off home to end the day.

The 3^rd and final day of the camp took a different feel to the other two. After arriving I took the kids for a walk on the farm pointing out a few landmarks as they would be doing an orienteering race around the farm. After the kids had lubed up their chains with Squirt, Leonard took them on a short ride while I hid the flags and clippers. The kids went off in pairs finding the flags with clippers all over the farm whilst following their clue cards. Along the way they had to answer questions about things they had learnt over the last few days and shoot katteys (a group favourite).

A short prize giving wrapped up the camp. Thanks to the kids for coming, being sports, enthusiastic and well mannered. I would love to work with kids again and am definitely looking to do another camp next year, possibly two with another for younger children.

A big thank you to my sponsors particularly: Dulce Cafe, Sludge, Squirt, PVM and Cycle Lab for supporting the camp. Thanks also to my girlfriend Mel, mom Linda and Mel’s brother Leonard for their help through the camp.

 

It was then off to Cape Town to do the Leeuwenboschfontein race with sponsor Sean Williams. A disappointing day 1 saw us skip the next two days of the race where we opted to instead explore trails in Montague on our bikes.

Besides that its back to routine or riding and gym. An awesome Christmas with family and friends has come to an end and I now look forward to our training camp up into Lesotho next week, more info to follow soon.