The drive up to Mpumalanga this past weekend had me reminiscing once again. I can’t believe it has been almost 8 years since I last raced in the region, as a junior in the SA National XCO Cup in Sabie.

 

This time however we would be bound for Mankele, just outside Nelspruit for the Isuzu 3 Towers mountain bike stage race, aka crash course in learning to ride fat knobblied wheels again with the Bridge Cape Pioneer Trek now just around the corner!

 

The race derives its name from the fact that we would be ascending to a different tower, perched on top of a rather large mountain each day. But, what goes up must come down and thus we were rewarded with some fantastic downhills and kilometres of awesome single track!

Hitting the trails!

Image Credit: Mankele Mountain Biking

A bit more dirty than after the usual skinny wheel action.

I had once again joined the Fedgroup Itec stable for the weekend. Neil unfortunately was on his way home early, having come down with the flu so Konny, the Swiss import, fresh off the steel bird would be joining Brandon to head up the men’s team while Bridgette and I joined forces to be representing as the mixed team.

 

Brandon and Konny absolutely dominated the first two days of the race, winning both of the stages as well as the King of the Mountains they came into the final day with a handy 6 minute lead. The Privaateer team of James Reid and Brendan Davids stepped it up to win the final stage and secure 2^nd overall on the GC with Brandon and Konny finishing the 3^rd day in 3^rd place to also win the race overall.

 

In the mixed race, Bridge and I faced stiff competition in the mighty mixed RECM pairing of Erik and Arianne Kleinhans. They managed to win the first two stages convincingly but we put up a good fight on the 3^rd day even moving into the race lead. It was not to be though unfortunately with RECM storming by us in the final 10km to secure the stage and overall win. Bridge rallied the last downhill to try and peg them back but we were to finish second again, this time less than two minutes off the stage win and securing us 2^nd on the GC.

 

It was not all over yet with stage 4 being the 8 hour car drive home which we nailed yesterday afternoon! At least it means that I can sip on a coffee at home this morning as opposed to the ‘other’ stage 4 which would result in me nursing a hangover perhaps…

 

All in all it was a great weekend in the Louwveld. Thanks to the Fedgroup Itec Team for having me once again. I’ll have to make sure I don’t take another 8 years to get up to the area for a race again!

Sharing the podium with the Kleinhanse.

I know I rambled on about the training in Joburg in my last post but it has really helped me put things in perspective.

 

I have over my cycling life lived in some awesome towns and cities in terms of the training they have been able to offer me. Don’t get me wrong that’s not all they had going for them, but yesterday while riding up to Nottingham road with Brandon I just realised, “Sh!t this is awesome!”.

 

The ride got me feeling nostalgic and I remembered the days as a junior when our rides in the holidays up to Notties and back would be our ‘long’ days, it was a good 4-4.5hour ride for us, it seemed to have a more sort of epic feel to it back then.

 

From Leuven in Belgium to Stellenbosch and Cape Town, to Greenville in the USA and back to Hilton where I am now, and where it all essentially started, all these places have had some great training routes and I appreciate them now more than I used to.

 

Another important thing about training routes is coffee shops… Recovery spins sometimes need a bit of extra motivation and yesterday we frequented a coffee shop I haven’t been to before, Babz, and had the most amazing chocolate brownie… I am considering riding all the way back up there today for another one…

 

I can’t slate the Cradle in entirety, although draining, it did provide me with a good safe spot to log in some miles over the last month and I’m grateful for that. I had a constantly stressing Mom in Hilton and girlfriend in Cape Town who I had to regularly re-assure that I was fine!

 

That’s all for now folks. I have a mountain bike waiting to be picked up, and I am more excited than I thought I would be to hit the dirt! Thanks to Brandon for lending me his sweet Scott machine! I need to hit those Hilton trails and salvage whatever technical skills I may have left in preparation for my first mountain bike race since November last year… This should be interesting.

 

Who knows, maybe a season on the road will slide things on the mountain bike more into perspective for me.

 

With my stint in Joburg drawing to a close, thankfully because I think laps of the cradle are driving me crazy! Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to train in a relatively safe environment with a big bike lane it just feels like I’m doing hundreds of laps going nowhere! Cape Town and the sea can’t come soon enough! On a side note you won’t ever hear me describe Cape Town’s riding as ‘nice’….

But first I have been offered the opportunity to venture back onto the dirt for a mountain bike race I’ve never done before, the Isuzu 3 Towers! I’ll be joining the Fedgroup Itec Connect stable again for this one and will be teaming up with Bridgette Stewart. AKA: Greg’s sister, Brandon’s wife… , I hear she loves being referred to in this context and now you can call Bridgette, Chris’s riding partner 😉

In all seriousness Bridgette was a Downhill SA Champ in her day and after a season of just racing skinny wheels I hope I don’t keep her waiting for too long on the other side of each single track section! It will be my first race in the mixed category and I’m looking forward to it.

Meanwhile back in the big smoke I have two races left, the first being the Campus to Campus Classic this coming weekend and next weekend the Go West Classic. Rumour has it that the 144km route is a tough one, should make for interesting racing!

On the other side of the Atlantic, Kriek is having swimming lessons as Boulder floods! Word on the street is that he tied arm bands to his bike; he should be strong in the river crossings in the Bridge Cape Pioneer Trek! At least I’ll have some practice on the fat wheels before we line up in the Karoo.

Until next week then, hopefully I’m still sane!
Ciao

Sounds kinda weird doesn’t it? Well it happened! I headed back down to KZN over the weekend to take part in the first round of the Engen Series held in a considerably warmer Durban. It also afforded me the opportunity to go home for two days and see my sister whom I haven’t seen since I left to the States in February.

As the Engen series only allows teams to enter 6 riders, Bonitas already had a full squad and Brandon Stewart of the Fedgroup Itec team threw me a bone and invited me to join the dirt boys on the tar for the weekend.

The mountain biker-roadies.

Image Credit: Bridgette Stewart

The race was short, only 90km but was fast as it covered that in 2hours. The route had a couple of rolling bumps which made the racing hard at points but not hard enough for any serious splits. Things got a bit sketchy a few times though with a car stopped in the middle of a circle as we approached it at 60+ kph… Additionally, having the short route fun riders on the same route as us especially in the last 20km, isn’t fair on them or us.

Sitting on Kevin’s wheel at 65kph we narrowly, and I mean very narrowly missed a lady on her mountain bike doing about 15kph. That would have potentially been a season ending crash. Another fun rider in the last corner with 200 to go also meant an end to having a go at the sprint for me.

Anyway we all managed to get out safely, really the main prize on the day, I wasn’t in a skin donating or equipment wrecking mood.

Big thanks to Fedgroup-Itec Connect for having me down on the weekend. Shot Brandon, Neil and Kev! Also big thanks to our superb back up crew Bridgette and Gary, although we didn’t keep them busy, they found other ways to entertain herself…

In other news, I have an exciting end of season project in the works. A return to the dirt with my fellow ‘South African racing in the USA’, Christiaan Kriek (guess you could call him my friend too), as we take on the Bridge Cape Pioneer Trek, a race which I have many fond memories of from last year. Guess we’ll need to get some mountain bikes and get working on those technical skills to take on the Karoo rocks! More news on this project soon.

*Apologies for the delayed blog, I actually typed this up on Tuesday and completely forgot to post it!

After a great 6 months in the States it was time for Ash and I to come home. Although I have done a good amount of racing this year thus far I didn’t feel as though I was ready to end the season just yet. After chatting to Barry Austin he invited me to join the Bonitas Pro Cycling team as a guest rider for the month of September.

I headed back to Pietermaritzburg and spent a great couple of days on the farm with the family. As the Mountainbike World Champs were in town I managed to catch a few of the events going on and also with friends who were there to race. Sadly I missed the ‘big’ races as it was time for me to get my game face on once again. With that I packed my first car which my parents now keep at home, Witblitz, and headed north to the City of Gold.

Road tripping in Witblitz!

#selfie

My first outing for the Bonitas team would be the Dome2Dome National Classic. After meeting the boys on the morning we were off to a very cold start, 2 degrees centigrade on the start line type of cold start. I have gone from racing twilight crits in the evening darkness, to SA road races starting in the morning darkness. I kept myself busy for the first few minutes of the race by shivering until I could actually concentrate on what was going on. Soon thereafter a move of about 10 guys slipped off the front with Clint, HB and Willie from the team represented.

The race seemed to settle somewhat until we hit the cradle with some crosswinds the action heated up again. Our job was to cover the dangerous protagonists, eventually a few small groups of riders which had gone off the front seemed to join and another group of 10 slipped off towards the front split with James representing the team.

Ultimately the two front groups joined and this was where the race winner would be decided on the day. Being back in the peloton I was effectively out of the real race on the day where we managed to get two guys onto the podium, with Willie taking second and James fifth, unfortunately the win eluded the team on the day.

It looks like I’ll be heading down to the coast this weekend to take part in the first round of the Engen Dynamic Series in Durban.

Until next week then, over and out!

Moving up to Pretoria and taking over this business!

Cullinen, the diamond town.

 Mid ride refuel.

Hey Folks

 

Check out this pretty cool new concept that a team mate of mine on the Stan’s team has developed. Paincave gives you a great indoor trainer workout and puts the fun back into those boring slogs on the trainer, plus it makes you strong! Check out there site by clicking on the logo on your right! I know there has been snow in Cape Town recently and its freezing up here in Joburg!

 

 

PAINCAVE is where grueling workouts, intended to make you a better athlete, take place. PAINCAVE is the most dynamic approach to fitness training available anywhere.

 

PAINCAVE episodes provide 30 to 60 minutes of interactive cycling training using footage from the greatest bike races in the world. The episodes are HD quality and are available to members on the media device of their choosing.

 

PAINCAVE is “Life’s Change Agent.” Every person that participates in a sport or wants to improve his or her life can benefit from PAINCAVE programming. PAINCAVE goes beyond runners and bikers – golfers, skiers, tennis players, soccer players, any sport, any athlete and anyone trying to improve their fitness level and/or quality of life can improve through PAINCAVE.

 

PAINCAVE forms a community where members can interact with other members, cycling coaches, the PAINCAVE ALL- STARS, and other contributors.

 

When the weather turns are you ready to ride your indoor trainer with purpose? PAINCAVE is the web-based, streaming training videos you have been looking for. We have licensed footage from some amazing professional races and developed workouts around the tempo and terrain of the race. It is so simple to use, just set up your bike and trainer, log on to www.paincave.com, select your video and train. It works on any internet-ready device with a broad-band connection… even your smart phone.

 

Not ready to commit? Try it out for free! Just register and give our free episode a spin. If you like it you can subscribe for unlimited access on a monthly or yearly basis.

I would loved to have written this blog on how I managed to win my last race in the USA, a sort of fairy tale ending to winning my first one, but it was not to be.

 

The next round in the SRS series saw us heading north-west of Greenville to Knoxville. I was privileged to be wearing the Pez Cycling News Sprinters Jersey on the weekend.

 

Pre race with Ash.

Start of the criterium.

 

Saturday saw us tackle a tough crit circuit with a climb tipping the scales at a gradient of 10%, just long enough to make it hurt. The team was active in covering and launching moves off the front. Some 25 minutes into the 75 minute race I attacked at the crest of the climb and got a gap off the front. I spent the next 3 laps solo hoping someone would bridge across to me, but it was not to be and I was sucked back into the field.

 

With a dangerous move off the front nearing the finale, the boys got on the front and ramped up the pace. The break was shut down but two other riders snuck away and managed to stay away which meant going into the sprint we were fighting for 3^rd. I got pushed out on the last corner and had to slam on brakes to avoid a meeting with the kerb, a half salvaged sprint netted 8^th place. It was enough to keep the sprinters jersey on the day.

Going solo kinda hurts.

Kept the sprinters jersey.

 

The next morning we lined up for a seriously fun 145km circuit race. The 9 mile circuit was compromised of mostly: narrow, twisty and undulating country roads.

 

Dilly got himself solo off the front in the first lap and spent the next 6 killing it all alone. It provided us with a great position as we could just sit on any moves going off the front. The counters came late on with DZ representing in a strong move of 4 which would eventually see him going to the line with Winston David and taking 2^nd on the day.

 

The Doctor and I got into the chase move of 11 riders. With most of the bigger teams represented up front the chase wasn’t fully committed and we wouldn’t see the front four again. J.Lo and I covered the attacks in the finale of which none succeeded, so I had the privilege of the Doctor leading it out for me.

 

All was looking good until we hit the last corner with 250m to go and with a guy coming around the outside and cutting the corner sharply it saw 3 of us go down. It was a disappointing end to my US campaign but good to hear that DZ had secured a very solid 2^nd.

 

All in all it was a great last weekend spent with the No Tubes boys. Thanks guys for an awesome year, it was fantastic getting to know you all.

 

Arriving home on Sunday evening was also the start of our last two days in Greenville. It was a chaotic time of packing up, cleaning up and saying good bye to so many people who had become such good friends. Greenville was an awesome place to live and train and I really hope that we will be able to come back next year, you never know, it would be a fairy tale of some sorts.

 

Pre race spin with the boys.

Criterium.

 Last ride on the Future Champ with Ash.

 All Racing Images Credit: Ash Smit

 

 

Criteriums, or rather crits can be funny things. One week you’re flying around a course effortlessly and the next you’re hanging on for dear life.

 

As most of my regular readers would know by now, a crit is a bicycle race held for typically 60-90 minutes, on a 1-2km circuit, usually in the downtown area of a city in the USA where you race around the circuit doing laps. These races make up the bulk of the American Cycling Calendar and if you want to succeed in the States on a bicycle, best you learn how to ride a crit.

 

A few weeks ago after the French Broad Classic Criterium, I was in love with crits all over again. A 5^th place on the night along with a 2^nd in the mid race prime had earned me the Pez Cycling Sprinters Kersey in the SRS series.

 

Fast forward a few days and we are at the Crossroads Classic. A 6 day omnium, with 5 crits and 1 road race. I really suffered through the first crit and managed to finish in the front group but down in 24^th place.

 

Onto the next race and I was eager to make amends. However the race had another idea for me and along with ¾ of the rest of the field we were out of the race less than 30 minutes in. The circuit (650m in length), was perhaps too small for an 80 strong field. I have no room to complain though; it was the same for everyone.

 

The third evening of Crossroads took us to the Salisbury Downtown Crit. Again after the previous evening’s disappointment I was keen to make amends. I had a better race but was not where I wanted to be yet and finished towards the back end of the front group.

Start of the Downtown Statesville Crit.

Image Credit: Charlotte Sport Cycling

 

The fourth crit took us to downtown Statesville for an ‘L’ shaped 6 corner, 1km circuit. It was a fast and flowing course which saw us average over 45km/h! I was riding and positioning better and took 16^th on the night, a step in the right direction, not quite a step onto the podium though.

 

I have learnt over the past few months there are so many factors that affect bike racing and especially crit racing. Your start, your positioning, your legs (duh), your mental state, your preparation going into the race etc. etc. I could go on and on. Ultimately at the end of the day, control what you can, and don’t worry about what you can’t.

 

Although I titled this blog, “My love-hate relationship” with crit racing, on reflection I wouldn’t say it actually ever gets to hate. Some races go so well I think ‘Ah I’m going to become a crit dog!’ and some not so well, it’s not so much the hate but rather the disappointment.

 

I have one more crit left to race in the States and I am looking forward to it. I have got to end things on the right note! Here’s to floating around that course effortlessly.

 

*crit dog – American slang for a bike racer who just races crits.

Check out my latest press release on Cycle Nation:

http://www.cyclenation.co.za/index.php/road/road-news/news/item/10433-the-going-is-good-for-wolhuter-in-us

 

Off to North Carolina for the Crossroads Classic this afternoon, a 6 day omnium with 5 criteriums and 1 road race. Check out the event website if you’re interested:

 

http://www.crossroadscyclingclassic.com/

I finally managed to win another leader’s jersey! I’ve only had one other in my cycling career, the leader’s jersey from the Magalies Adventure Mountainbike Stage Race back home, so it was cool to get another one in my closest.

Over the past weekend, the team raced the French Broad Classic in Asheville which also doubled up as the next stop in the SRS series. I decided to register for the omnium, and as I explained last week this involved me doing the Mercx style TT on the Friday.

Considering it was my first TT in a good few years it went off pretty well. I was a bit disappointed that I had to take off my bad ass helmet cover that I had created the evening before! It was a work of art!

Getting ready to start my TT.

Image Credit: French Broad Cycling Classic

Badass homemade aero helmet cover.

With the helmet cover disappointment behind me we lined up for the 100k road race the next morning. Although 100km may not sound too far we would be taking in close to 2000m of ascent on the day and this would make the course selective, perfect!

The attacks came thick and fast early on and I made sure to cover anything that looked dangerous. Nothing seemed to stick as some guys had interests in the omnium for the weekend; along with SRS overall points to think about, it meant that the absolute right combination had to go off the front for anything to stay.

Eventually a soft move went clear some 50km in and we were represented by Dilly and Chase. Chase managed to hang on to the tail end of the surviving members of the break to take 9^th in the day in a tough finishing course with two big climbs nearing the finish.

In the main peloton, matters heated up and boys were getting popped like popcorn. A small group of just over 10 riders went over the first major climb and swelled as guys re-joined on the decent. With Brian in the KOM jersey and Junior Mint in the Leader’s jersey I had to try and set them up as best as possible going into the final climb which was also where the finish line was. What a better way to do it than launching a number of attacks off the front forcing the opposition to chase me down? The flip side of this was that when we hit the final climb I was toasted and limped home.

Having a dig off the front.

Image Credit: Ash Smit

Chase celebrating his top 10, who knows what he will do when he wins a race?!

The last day of the omnium was a fast technical 7 corner crit with a 180 degree turn into the finishing straight. There would be more than 100 riders on the course and thus hanging out at the front of the race was critical.

I had a surprise in store on the day as Ash borrowed a car from good friends of ours Clive and Cris and drove up to watch the race with her sister who has been out visiting. It was awesome to have my super supporter/photographer/soigneur girlfriend there!

With J.Lo still wearing the sprinters jersey and the mid race points prime approaching I had a dig to take the points away from the other guys and got 2^nd with Winston down the road. It looked as though for a second we may be able to get a group going through the gaps created by the sprint but we were pulled back  a short while after.

With the high speed it didn’t look as if a move would go clear, so I started to position myself for the run in to the finale. Without even knowing it I was wrong, two guys had indeed managed to sneak off the front and as we kicked around the 180 degree corner into the finish this confused me slightly to see them just ahead of us. Anyway, Chase did a great job of dropping me off into the final corner and I managed to get 3^rd in the bunch kick and 5^th on the day and with that I had netted a chunk of points to move into the PEZ Cycling News sprinters jersey for the SRS series, gotta keep it in the team!

All in all it was a great weekend of hard racing and one that I really enjoyed. Really wish there were more road races, with more selective courses.

At least J.Lo and I can hit the town wearing the same jerseys now… #badass

Image Credit: Ash Smit

Railing the 180 degree corner.

Image Credit: Chris Constantin

 The crit.

Image Credit: Ash Smit