Thats a bit better.... Bushman's MTB in Escourt

Well this last week went well from the training and racing side. I've been putting in some quality training and my body seems to be responding well. Yesterday (Saturday) I did a 2 hour ride with good friend Luke Roberts from my house to the World Cup course, and then switched bikes and went out for a couple of laps of the World Cup course. Well one thing led to another and I ended up doing around 5 laps and spending the better part of 5 hours on the bike that day. The course is looking super challenging, but I've decided that it's now a favourite...  I suppose that anything that is a bit smoother than that George course is cool! There are a fair number of brutal climbs, and nut much time for recovery. I also got to see Greg Minaar in action which was spectacular. That red Santa-Cruz is poetry in motion!

Then on Sunday I race the Bushman's MTB race in Escourt at the stunning venue of Wagendrift Dam. The settings were perfect, a bit on the hotter side temperature wise, but otherwise very sweet for racing. My legs were a bit sore from the previous day, but not too bad. On the menu was a long 55km super classic, a good training ride for the next few weeks of brutal racing. The pace was decent out of the start, but as soon as we hit the first climb things started ironing out. Pete Smith and Craig Paul (Jeep) took off, with Brendon Davids, Andrew Hill and I chasing hard. The legs were still warming up, and by the start of the second climb it got better. I went hard and only Andrew Hill managed to follow. We worked together for 15km or so, and then were joined by Shaun Peschl. The pace was good over the main KOM, and we were making inroads to the lead the two Jeep guys had.

Then disaster struck, as my rear wheel punctured. I stopped to bomb it, but it would not seal properly. I was now back in 5th place, and riding a flattish tyre. I then stopped a second time with a second bomb and it seemed to seal. Brendon Davids (Jeep) managed to catchup and we worked together for the remainder of the race. We managed to catch Shaun and I took 4th on the line, winning the Junior category. I was happy with the result, considering the quantity of training this last week.

I'm already getting nervous for the World Cup in 3 weeks time. The track is awesome!

Till next week

A Quick Pic from the weekend...

SA Nationals - George

Well the National championships have come and gone for another year and I must say that I am disappointed with the outcome.  Last week I was in a bit of trouble with doing a bit too much training, but that turned out all right. I tapered correctly and arrived in George feeling strong after the long 12 hour drive. We went down as a Life in Motion team and enjoyed a good few laughs along the way. On Friday we went to check out the track and it was very different to anything I'd ever raced on. The course was extremely tough and physically taxing, not only on the legs, but on the entire body. Very bumpy and with a few drops thrown in for fun. 

The pace off the start was extremely fast. As I was seeded first, I had a good line (or so I thought) on the left hand side. I decided to ease the pace in the beginning to compensate for the extra lap that we had to do. This was a terrible mistake I never quite recovered from, although I did learn from. I was fourth into the first piece singletrack, and the two leaders had darted away. I needed to get past Adriaan Louw to chase them down, and when his gears jumped midway through the first lap, I darted off and ran past, only to get knocked down by him coming past again. We both fell, and about 5 guys went past. Then, on the last stretch of gravel road before the start/finish, I tried to overtake again, only to be brought down hard by some guy who was not paying attention. I hit the deck for the second time in the first lap and this time the bike was a bit messed. I rode into the start/finish with bent handlebars and stopped to adjust a few things. Now I was about 12th or so, way back. I must admit that I felt like giving up right there and then. It was clear that things were not going my way. 

But I needed to points, so I clawed slowly back, chasing and passing guys constantly. Little things started to irritate me, like not drinking consistently after concentrating too hard in the beginning, and a quick release popping loose twice. At the end of the six laps, I felt really strong, and actually wanted a few more laps to make up some more places. I ended up 5th, and quite happy with what I salvaged out of a terrible first lap. I learnt heap loads, and things that will only make me faster in time. 

My teammate Travis Walker had a solid ride, finishing 6th, just behind me. Huge thanks to Johann Wykerd for an awesome weekend and to the entire Life in Motion team for an unforgettable experience. 

This week I am doing some local races, getting ready for the nationals and then worlds in 'maritzburg in the holidays. On a brighter note, two weeks left of school and then the World Cup is on us! Till then...

One step forwards... two steps back

Everybody has bad days. Some people have bad weeks. This last week was terrible. Everything just went wrong. While trying to put in some hard training for George this weekend, I made the mistake of training too hard. I got a couple of good training sessions in, but too many of them. Then I started to fall behind at school, resulting in later nights and less time to recover. This weekend was the third in the Provincial series and a good tester before SA Champs. I had big expectations, but ended up way behind what I was aiming for. I was looking for a dice with teammate and friend Travis Walker but it didn't happen. 

The location was Uvongo, just outside Port Shepstone. The course was on a nut/banana/sugar cane farm and it was a really bumpy track. They decided to group us with the Elites for the start, and that promised for some really competitive racing. Due to the distance of the track from home, I was unable to ride the course beforehand, a really stupid idea. So we took off on our first race lap, and Travis hit the front, full systems going... I clung on, but the pace was too hot and I realised that the previous week was taking its toll on me. Towards the end of the first lap, in a muddy section, Travis ground it out while I spun in the mud. Wrong tyres for the conditions, and I had to hop off and run. From then I really didn't feel good and so I decided to go on cruise control for the rest of the race. I ended up doing 6 laps instead of 5, and felt better towards the end. All credit to Travis for riding an awesome race. 

Well, I hope that things come right before this weekend, the big one... SA champs in George! Remember if you're not feeling it after training too hard, take a break! It's all rest and recovery for this coming weekend but I hope it's not too late... till then,

Ciao

Testing in Stellenbosch and IDT... a lot of IDT...

Hey there! Sorry for the lack of updates, life has been quited busy recently. My school opened it's new sports hall, and decided to have an event officially open it, originally named the '24 hours of sport'. Yup, you guessed it, there was continuous sport for 24 hours. I had (stupidly) signed up for an attempt at the most distance in one hour, and then a crack at how far I could ride in 12 hours, even though I knew that I would never make it. I'm an optimistic guy, so I had a bash. In one hour I managed 49km at about an average of 97%HR! It was sheer hell, and I think it'll be a very long time before I try something like that again. Then there was an hour break before the long stuff started. I got going slowly and managed 175.7km in about 6 hours. I was incredibly bored and tired so I decided to call it a day and went to sleep. Total days riding was around 7 hours and over 200km. 

Then this last weekend when I was supposed to be racing a provincial at Cascades (the venue of the World Cup), I was instead invited and flown down to Stellenbosch for the National High Performance camp that was being held there for junior riders. On Friday, I got very sick with some sort of blood virus that seemed to attack the joints. It was nasty and the worst part was that nobody knew what it was! Feeling weak and shaky, I got onto the plane and made it down to Stellenbosh with my road bike, having been told that most of the good mountain bike routes had burnt down in wildfires a week before. 

The camp's purpose was to establish some sort of baseline testing for a new generation of Junior cyclist that would hopefully raise the standards to make SA more competitive on a global level. We did all sorts of tests, ranging from flexibility to vision etc. I was a bit mystified as to why they did not do VO2 max testing individually as they had the facilities and the time. We attended lectures about nutrition and psychology and a whole lot of other stuff. It was very useful knowledge, and all in all it was a good camp. 

This weekend I am putting in big, hard miles for Nationals in 2 weeks times. Next weekend is a provincial again (I desperately need to rescue my provincial campaign, 3rd then DNE!) Till then...