Hilton Dirt Festival, Club 100 and a Special Birthday! by pc

Thaba show girl!

Club 100 Outride Rietvlei Zoo Farm

A couple weeks ago Yolande and I packed up the Volcans and headed down to Rietvlei Zoo farm to join up with the Club 100 mtb gang for a morning of fun. We have been wanting to join up for quite some time now as being on the sharp edge of our sport often neglects us from just getting out and enjoying what used to be considered the reason we love mtb’ing so much! So after a few e-mails and checking the race schedule we were off and looking forward to meeting some new people and riding a few new trails which is always exciting. We had a great morning out and were very surprised with the amount of club members on the day as well as everyone’s enthusiasm followed by eats and drinks afterwards. Also great job by the crew and expert trail builder (and guide) Wendel, a lot of effort has gone into Rietvlei Zoo farm as well as the new Thaba trails so if you have a chance to spend a few hours on the mtb be sure to go give these a try!

Pre-ride briefing

Kaitlyns (and dads) big day!

Last week included a day that I have been looking forward to for a very long time and that was my daughters 6^th Birthday! Nothing can really prepare you for being a father but once you’ve become one then all of a sudden your priorities change drastically. Things and feelings you never thought would happen to you become a reality and then you realize there could be nothing more special to you than your little girl and how you are going to try and shape the best future you can for her. What made this weekend so special is that this was going to be her first weekend back at home in over 3years (divorce) so I was super excited! Happy Birthday my girl!

Happy Birthday my girl!

MTN Hilton Dirt Festival 2011

Perfect weather greeted our team when we arrived in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday evening. Yolande and I took a short ride up the hill to help loosen our legs after a few hours in the Crafter. We had a good dinner from our host and into bed early. The next morning we went down to the world cup course at the Cascades where we did a couple easy laps on what is most definitely the best XC course in South Africa. After gaining some technical confidence and a quick visit to Coffeeberry’s it was feet up time, tactics talk and rest up for the big challenge – The Hilton Dirt Festival.

Great cycling hangout!

It was a perfect day for racing and although a very disappointing overall turnout there was no lack in depth in the main field. A change in the route the day before meant that we were in for a hill top finish and the KOM coming later in the race which suited our riders perfectly especially with overall titles in mind. The start was frantic and soon I found myself trailing the lead group slightly but surrounded by the riders I had hoped to run this race with. Up ahead I could see that AD had made the split with Jacques and Charles a bit in no mans land so it felt good that we had a few options covered.

Life inside the Crafter

I stuck with the always very calculated MisterAfrican and a couple of his team mates as well as Nico Bell feeling that we had the combination to ride a good pace to the finish and slowly real in victims of the fast start. Things went a bit astray when Nico and I got separated from Phillip through a series of single track and Manie sliding off the back but he made it back soon enough and our hunt was on.

In a race like this which was very bumpy and had a lot of climbs if you are able to keep a good pace all the way to the line then you are bound to have a decent result. I unfortunately lost contact with Manie just before the last portage section so road my pace up the last climb which didn’t make any difference in the result but just on the time split. However I was only just over 20min behind the eventual winner – the very talented Burry Stander. This result would have put me very high up the ranks last year and as it was it was a huge improvement for me but a tribute to how mountain biking has grown and the level of racing it put me in a 13^th position overall.

This was such a hard race on the body that the decision to ride the hard tail has to be questioned and with all the bumpy terrain it made the racing a lot harder however the hard tail at least helped on the two, long smooth climbs and most importantly the one up to the finish which ultimately put Adrien into a really good position which he finished off with an amazing 2^nd overall! I was also happy with the result considering two 2 doses of anti-biotics of late and the current lingering chest infection I was still able to offer a 100% effort.

Next up is the season finale in Parys where we obviously will be using quite a different tactic for the race with all to play for in both the series as well as in the KOM competition in both the mens and womens categories. Considering  this being such a challenging year our much smaller team has had it will be quite ironic as well as bring some just reward and recognition for all the efforts that everyone has put in be it in leadership, experience, tactics, talent or pure muscle this year and a show off just how tough this sport is. Even if not always strewn in weekly victories I feel proud that we have been able to pull through and ultimately compete and accomplish in and for the biggest rewards of the year!!!

See you all on the Crater Cruise “launch pad”

PC

Larry through the eye of a needle!

Recovery, a visitor to the pink room and the Nissan Down and Dirty Marathon

We arrived back late last Sunday after a long trip back from the Cape with our MTN-Qhubeka team mates. The race and travel took it out of me and it took most of the week to recover. A really good yet somewhat painful deep tissue massage on Tuesday and some easier riding helped though and by Friday I was starting to find my legs again just in time for the Nissan Down and Dirty marathon.

On Thursday we helped with another school’s MTB skills clinic this time for Sutherland High. It was great to offer some on the bike advice (I was still off my MTBike at the last one) and to see our junior up and coming talent; boys and girls in action!

Up and coming junior talent

Andrew Warr travelled up from KZN to and stayed with us Friday night. We offered him our best hospitality and put him up in the infamous pink room. Pink as it is very pink and made infamous by all the MTBikers we have had stay here ;)

The Pink room

I had a good warm up to the Nissan Down and Dirty race which started at Cornwall Estate, Andre; our Epic Sport team mechanic double checked my Volcan and I was off to the start

Once again I was unsure what the days racing would bring for me especially as the route offered very little climbing and consisted mainly of long, open gravel roads which doesn't really suit my strengths.

The start was flat out with the men and women starting together. I took the lead of the women's race down the first fast rocky downhill but was soon caught by Yolandi Du Toit up the next drag. I didn't realise it at the time but Theresa Ralph passed me shortly after that putting me in 3rd.

I pushed hard to try and close the gap that I knew Yolandi had on me but didn't seem to be making any ground. We had a very strong head wind for the first 40kms and with the no draughting rule there was no hiding!

I was very grateful when we turned back towards Irene and for the most part had a tail wind to help me home. I caught back to 2nd place and kept chasing hard through to the final 5kms where we met up with the 40km riders through a long technical single-track. This was quite frustrating as it formed a near impenetrable traffic jam and eventually I realised I would just have to be patient and slow right up till we reached the last open jeep track and climb where I could start overtaking. 

I crossed the line in 2nd about 5minutes back from Yolandi again happy with a solid race and result for my current fitness.

2nd at Nissan Down and Dirty

Thanks to MTN-Qhubeka for all the support, Andre @Epicsports for the race support and congrats to my MTN-Qhubeka team mates for a good team effort helping Jacques to get a podium finish!

Next race will be the MTN Hilton Marathon in 3 weeks time.

We’ll be travelling down the Wednesday before with the team to help and be involved in a Qhubeka Wildlands project; an experience I’m really looking forward to!

Congrats to all our South African MTBikers for their World Champ results in Champery, it was great to read the updates and Paul and I watched the live coverage of the Elite men’s XC and DH on Freecaster; really exciting racing that kept me on the edge of my seat!

Cheers for now

Yolande

Down and Dirty

Well it has been quite a week for us. It started with trying to recover from our monster Gravel Travel weekend and then get straight back into training. I went out and bashed out a session with the Velo guys which was nice but i haven't done for a while. Thankfully I started to feel a little better by Thursday and pretty good by the weekend which I was very thankful for. 

Skills at Fountains

This week we hosted another schools skills clinic but this time for Sutherlands High School. Some 15 kids attended and a few adults and enjoyed two hours of fun and hopefully informative riding with us around Fountains Valley. It was great to see their enthusiasm and talent and hopefully we will see some future champions coming out of these groups.

Hands on advice

Sunday was also a nice day with kids but this time with Kaitlyn and my little nephew Samuel. We went to the Pretoria show and got to enjoy some rides and watched a bit of horse jumping. The kids loved this even though it felt like a 3hr gym session followed by an hour on a merry-go-round.

Yolande holding onto her oats

Something I also found out last week that i have venis flebitis in my one arm which is basically a blockage in a vein in my arm. The scary thing about this is that a piece of vein has gone rock hard through my inner elbow so then ones mind starts to jump to conclusions. Luckily after a scan and check up from the very informative Dr P DeJager it turns out that all is okay and will just need time to disappear (6weeks). 

This week I will again be doing some field tests which is never exciting but now that I am healthy again and finished with the anti-biotic I am looking forward to some focused training before the next few big races.

Start of  Down and Dirty

However you probably want to hear some of my experience from the Nissan Down and Dirty marathon from last weekend. I had a 20min warm up spin from my house to Cornwall Hill and met the rest of the team there. Andre had everything set-up and attended to all the last min checks. It was chilly at the start but soon warmed up. The start was fast but I was feeling a lot better than last week so positioned myself on Jacques wheel as he was our go-to guy for the day. Race shattered up the first climb and soon there was a split of some 12 riders including Charles and Adrien. Up the long drag I looked back to see Jacques trailing a bit after having to stop and tighten his wheel. I dropped back then worked together with him to get back.

dirty face!

Charles and I spent a lot of time in the wind and Jacques was nicely tucked into the group and AD near us at the front. Through a fast rough corner a heard a "clicking" coming from the bike but then it went away...for awhile. The surges continued, we were racing gutters which was crazy for a mtb race and we had to ride smart because at speed the 26" bikes take a lot more effort to keep in there. We had almost made it to the turn point at 42km after which we had a shot at matching the big wheels on the final couple climbs but then my racing gremlins for 2011 continued. 

The noise I heard earlier was in fact a huge nail that went through the casing but fortunately had sealed till now. I must have hit on the top of the nail then it pushed straight through tearing the side wall. I fixed it with several plugs and a few bombs and then caught back to the third group. About 12km further tire went flat again and that was pretty much game over. 7 plugs and 4 bombs later I finished with a ride time of 2hrs21, good enough for a virtual top 10 even with all the last few km of single track stuck in the 40km traffic but is not much consolidation. So it was another frustrating race for me this season. Jacques brought it to the line with the RECM boys and finished 3rd which i was very pleased about and Adrien and Charles had another solid race. Yolande got herself a 2nd which was fantastic and I am soo happy to see her getting strong again. Advendurance put on a great race so a big hats off to them (2nd weekend running(-;) And like always a big thanks to Doug and MTN/Qhubeka for all of his support.

Thanks Z Cronje for the great pics!

This weekend also was the World Cup finals which was held in Champery, Switzerland. Yolande and i watched it on Freecaster TV which showed the XC and DH live. Our South African heros put up a great fight but it was not to be this year but they did a great job keeping us entertained. It is great to see the talent we have and just hope to see some of these athletes grow through the years and get to great places!

36inch monster!

One last bit of interest: check out this 36inch unicycle with an internal gear hub, hydraulic brakes, tri-bar and a bell!! Very cool!

Thanks for reading, PC

More Building and a Gravel Travel by ys

It’s been a really good month following Paul’s return from the UK where he took on the rider manager role supporting Adrien at the Olympic test event in London.

Leaders jerseys

He returned with a renewed sense of the technical skills real XC MTB courses require and we have since been spending a lot more time on the Volcans working on our efficiency and handling. As you would have seen in an earlier post he even got me to ride the GIGANTIC (ok slight exaggeration but that’s how it felt to me the first time!) gap jump at the MTN bike park, a momentous step forward for me. After the shaking subsided from my first successful attempt it suddenly became easy and made me realise even more how much of a head game these things are! I must say though that being able to ride over obstacles greatly improved my technical skills in that I’m able to see and take different lines riding a lot smoother at the same time..... Very grateful to Paul for helping me to overcome my initial fear!

Besides a bit of a set-back last week caused by a seasonal bug and a short course of antibiotics to rid it from my system my training has been going a lot better the last 3 weeks, I’ve felt a nice improvement in my endurance and strength and I’m finally able to join Paul for some of his longer rides albeit that I’m sitting wheel for the majority especially with the very windy conditions we have been experiencing the last few weeks! #freeridemuchappreciated!

These two factors mean that I'm starting to feel like a cyclist and more importantly a Mountain biker again and I was looking forward to travelling down to the Cape for MTN Gravel Travel, my first marathon race back.

Some handy work

In addition to the training and focus on race preparation Paul and I have been keeping up with our goal to complete some long term home improvements the latest project being the installation of 4 beautiful Oregon pine doors Paul had made into our passage way.

I “started” the project by dragging out the frames from the garage and dusting off the numerous cobwebs whilst Paul was away but it took a further 2 weeks to complete the project which involved; having the doors installed, applying Woodoc, taking the doors off and outside to prevent further Woodoc fume intoxication, sanding 1^st layer, removing splinters from hands and fingers, applying 2^nd coat of Woodoc whilst Paul expertly installed the locks and handles (tough and intricate work as they had to be fitted from scratch through the solid Oregon frame), reinstalling the doors and finally getting sandblasted glass cut and securing it into the frames.

Tough but satisfying work! Add to our passage 2 box canvas pictures I had printed and voila our passage had its long awaited face lift!

concocting big plans!

Back to the racing...

We left with the team from Epic Sports in the VW crafter on Thursday morning from Epic Sports for an Epic and painful (sit bone wise) 1 day journey to the Cape.

We arrived late that evening, awoke to steady rainfall which served well to make the race course surface optimal and started Friday slowly getting in as much recovery time as possible. I prepared for the next day’s racing with a good roller spin and later short ride to the race venue with PC to double check the Volcan’s were race ready.

Final touches for a faultless ride!

With not much intensity training and no racing in my legs I lined up at the start with no idea of how the race would pan out for me.

Queen of the Mountain was at 7.5km into the race and with a uphill start the pace was pretty intense. Sticking with the leading group of 3 ladies proved a bit too much for me and my legs forced me to drop back and recover. I found my rhythm, started feeling strong on the climbs, with my X-King, Race-King tire combination flowed smoothly through the single-track and started working my way through the ladies field. 

An hour and a half into the race I caught Ischen and after a bit of cat and mouse we could see Leana who was leading at that stage up the road. We were all together for a short stretch until I got a gap up one of the short, steep climbs. I stretched my lead to just over 2 minutes by tech point one but lacking the intensity of racing in my legs started to fade with around 15kms to go. Ischen caught me and pulled ahead on the next long drag, I kept a steady pace but could not respond. 

Great pics from the heli - Z Conje!

I finished in 2nd happy with my result and form at this stage of my recovery. I feel with a another month of good focused training and some quality MTB technical practice I’ll be getting back on track to my former self this time with 2 legs, happy days!!

Congrats to Ischen for a strong ride and deserved win and to my @TeamMTNQhubeka team mates for their fantastic results in the Ultra!

Thanks to all my sponsors @TeamMTNQhubeka, Andre- @EpicCycleShop for the great support and to Advendurance for a super MTB course and event!

Next week we race the Nissan Cornwall Hill marathon

Hope you enjoyed the post

Take care, Yolande

thanks Zoon Cronje for the pics

Gravel Travel and road trip'n with MTN/Qhubeka by pc

Race ready

Hi all, last weekend I headed down with the rest of my MTN/Qhubeka team mates to the 6th leg of the MTN National Ultra-Marathon series and here is some of our weekends story: Firstly as far as the course, marking and organizing went it was probably one of the nicest events we have been to this year so hats off to the organizers! Diemersfontien is such a great venue for an event and also holds great memories for Yolande and I as this was where we started our pursuit of the 2010 ABSA Cape Epic title which is all but a bit of history now!

I had got in a good week of training but was coming off a course of anti-biotics which I was using to shake a bug from the previous weeks cold snap. I was feeling better every day so could only hope for the best and focus hard on the task at hand. We traveled down on the Thursday before leaving Epic Sports in pta at 5:30 and arriving in Wellington just after 22:00 which was a mammoth drive before a race (my sit-bones are actually bruised!) which I haven't had to do in many a year.  Think we were all thankful for our new BlackBerry 9780 phones and MTN/Qhubeka contracts which get us busy during the drive as sing-a-longs seem to be something of the past!

Warming up the tires

Friday we woke up to some nice rain which worked well for race day making the surface perfect for traction and ensured almost no dust.Charles met up with us at the accommodation after spending a couple weeks at home in Cape Town giving us a full team for a change. I managed to get in a good roller-spin to stretch out my legs and Andre did the finishing touches on the Volcans. After reading the pre-race report which made the course sound as though we were in for a rocky rough ride I decided to race on the dual suspension which was ultimately a bad decision as most of the route although filled with patches of single track was quite smooth. On Saturday the start was slightly delayed while we waited for the helicopter and tv crew. This will probably be worth it due to the terrain and the footage they would have been able to get from the air.

Final podium

We started up the same climb as we did in the Epic last year but thankfully the pace was not too hectic for the first couple km. However KOM came at 7.5km where Adrien took the honors and from there it was race on. I lost contact from the front group on the climb but managed to get back up to them again on the technical bits. However the climbing out matched the downs and after a steady but frustrating ride I finished in 12th overall. The Team however did really well and our plan worked out for the most part. Jacques rode a smart race sitting in near the back of the bunch for the first half and then made his presence felt on the big climb of the day. Kevin Evans got a tiny lead on him up one of the last climbs and held it to the finish with Jacques finishing in a fantastic 2nd overall. Adrien and Charles had a solid race and rode well together both staying with each other till the finish ending up in 7th and 8th respectively.

CK KO'd!!

Yolande had a nice day and a great return to racing.The pace of the ladies was quick up the first climb and I think it took her a few km to burn off the cobwebs. After the queen of the mountain where she was around 6th she started reeling them in until she took the lead just before the halfway mark. She stayed in front for a while but Ishcen made a good come back and reclaimed the lead and line honors. Excellent return for Yolande and pretty much what I had expected and predicted at this stage of her recovery. I probably won't need to tell you what I predict for her for Hilton!! Now we are bundled in the Crafter for our day trip back to Gauteng.

Some extra delay!

 Next week we will have a full team racing in my back yard; Cornwall Hill for the next leg of the Nissan series.

Till then, all the best, PC 

thanks Zoon Cronje for the pics

Team life, kids and the Gautrain by pc

Fly Volcan Fly!

It is always great to be home after a week away, fantastic to catch up with family and friends and restore ones daily routine. I really enjoyed London this time round and I guess we were very lucky to have missed all the riots, I’m sure it will all be back to normal soon enough though.

My first few days back took some adjustment as the long summer days of the UK gave me a virtual “jet-lag” when coming back home to find sundown before 18:00. I spent some time filling out post event questionnaires as well as a couple press releases, reports and articles. It is great to see how people have been learning more about project Rwanda as well as Adrien and his story. I have also received a lot of feed back from people who have watched the trailer on www.risingfromashesthemovie.com and cannot wait to see it when it is released as well as the cycling community’s response to this inspiring story.

BMX course at the MTN Bike Park

It was also back to work when we arrived from the minute we climbed off the plane. Yolande and family met us at the airport for a quick hello coffee before we rushed home for a quick shower. We left home with just enough time to make a turn past Epic Sports Cycle Shop where we quickly repacked Adrien’s bike, swopped his race wheels and threw in a few spares as he had to leave for Rwanda the following day.  We then raced through to Activeworx in Johannesburg for a team and feedback meeting. After this it was all the way back to Pretoria East to drop Adrien off at home and finally to make it to my daughter Kaitlyn’s swim class in the nick of time!

Swim class

Trouble with going way is missing out on my time with Kaitlyn so when I am here and she gets to come and visit me I always ensure to make the most of the time I have with her! The best news I have is that after almost 4 years she will finally be spending weekends and sleeping over at home again starting from her birthday on the 16^th of September, I can’t wait!!

Training is back to normal and in my first few days back I did some field and power profile tests to see where I need to get to before the next set of races in about a months time. Inspired by the London XC I’ve been dragging Yolande to the bike park as well as on a few longer MTB rides which has been great. Yolande’s fitness is coming on well and she has slowly been finding her legs again. Today was fantastic as she busted out her “stripes” (I like to see it as a sign (-; ) It wont be long before she is back into racing and giving the girls stick at the front of the race!!

Feeling comfortable again in white

We also finally got to see the Gautrain in action from Pretoria to Johannesburg for the first time. Everyone has been waiting for this as it has promised to minimize traffic and be a cheaper option for everyday commutes. I think they have achieved that as we climbed on last Sunday together with hundreds of other joy riders to get our first feel of this first world development! The soccer world cup is now over a year gone but the country has benefited immensely from this event and this high speed train has to be one of the highlights!

Twisting me around her finger!

Well that is all for this week. I hope everyone is enjoying the good weather as we are! If you have a moment please remember to check out www.qhubeka.org or have a look at the link on the top right of our page, lets make cycling benefit even the most under privileged! Thanks very much.

Paul

London Wrap by pc

At the moment while sitting in the lobby of the hotel having one last coffee I thought you would be interested about the race yesterday.

The great thing about being a rider/manager is that I get to experience all the emotions of those two roles wrapped up into one. I had already pre-packed all the equipment the evening before and even though I felt really organized I still went and rechecked it all! I headed to the track with all the equipment and our new camera crew while Adrien rested up in the hotel for a bit until taking a warm up spin over to the venue.

everyone represented in the feed zone

I setup the indoor trainer and went and filled the bottles and put them in the ice bucket as today the sun had come out and was perfect for a hard day of racing. I spent some time watching the woman's race before returning to our pit area, setting up Adrien on the trainer and ran through the course with him one last time so I was convinced we were ready.

Film crew never missing a moment

The press were all over the place; pictures, videos, BBC radio and the PA system were all excited about Rwanda's first Olympic MTB'er. It was then go time and as the riders fed into the warm up area I dragged all the equipment down to the feed zone with the help of Greg one of the movie crew who I recruited as pack mule for the day!

All organised!

Each rider was then introduced to the crowd individually and brought up to the line. They gave the 15sec to go call and you could feel the tension. Being a racer it felt as though I was on that line with Adrien and when the gun went off the crowd erupted into cheers! The pace of the start loop was frantic as the front contenders tested each other heading up to the first climb.

Now as hard as you prepare for a race, as good as your equipment is when it comes down to race day there is such thing as needing some luck. Adrien unfortunately got caught behind a couple riders who bobbled and spun out on the first climb allowing for the other side of the pack to slide on past.

This put him off but was quickly back in the fight and powering it up all the climbs! There was so much support out on course and it brought chills as people were encouraging Adrien by name (I was even cheered as his support - quite humbling). From the feed zone I could see the action in four different places around the course. Adrien's lap times were consistent and he was slowly reeling in riders on the climbs and holding his own on the tricky downs. This was all going well but his biggest problem of the day was that of Julien Absalon who was out to make a statement. Julien was on fire and as he ripped into the field it became just a question of how many riders he would catch on the 80% rule.

Julien ripp'n the legs off the start loop!

Adrien was pulled after 5 of 7 laps and in 35th position which is his best finish in an international so far. Good effort from him and one could see his confidence improving every lap. I am sure that with a good plan Adrien's dreams of Olympics - not just being a participant but finishing will become a reality!

New Team Rwanda kit

After a cool down and hordes of interviews we headed back to the hotel feeling quite satisfied. It has been a great week here in the UK and we have learnt a lot, met some new fiends, learnt some new skills and now in a couple hours heading home.

Quick chat with BBC Radio!

See you in 2012 London and thanks for a great event!