1st Place
These races are great for crosstraining and getting some intensity training - unfortunately you do need to do some running training if you don't want to have stiff legs for a week after the event !!
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Mugg n Bean 24 Hour
24hours
365.8km
6572m vertical ascent
14 hot cross buns
1/2 packet apples
1 bunch of bananas
3L Grape Juice
3L Enduren Sports Drink
6L Water
2 packets of biltong
8 honey and peanut butter sandwiches
5 baked potatoes
1 crazy cyclist
Is this a recipe for fun!?? Well it was. Painful, but worth it! Prime Circle, Spoon Feedas and some other supporting bands played at a live music concert whilst we rode through the night - well done to Richard Beswick on a great concept, maybe next year we can ride through/above the crowds !?? Or maybe do a compulsory crowd surf at 1am for a time bonus ?!?!
Nissan are giving me an X-Trail to use for a month - its going to be delivered shortly - thanks guys !!
This was perfect prep for the 24 Hours of Moab which is in a month's time. Its held in Moab, Utah which is just a 3 hour drive from where my daughter lives :-) Can't wait to get there and spend some time with Karlee !!
Click here for Maropeng race report.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Howick Highlander
2nd Overall, 1st SUB-VET !
Hey, at least I won something!! So grey hair has its benefits :-) The trails around Howick are slowly coming to life again - they are being cleared out again and opened up... it will be a while until the forests regrow after the big fire, but its something to look forward to !! Luckily it wasn't too hot, perfect end of winter weather here made for a nice turnout - nearly 900 riders :-)
The venue was a win - the Karkloof farmers market has great facilities, this race is going to grow BEEEEG! Well done to the 1st Howick Scouts (my old troop!) for a professionally run event!
Check out the Highlander website.
Hey, at least I won something!! So grey hair has its benefits :-) The trails around Howick are slowly coming to life again - they are being cleared out again and opened up... it will be a while until the forests regrow after the big fire, but its something to look forward to !! Luckily it wasn't too hot, perfect end of winter weather here made for a nice turnout - nearly 900 riders :-)
The venue was a win - the Karkloof farmers market has great facilities, this race is going to grow BEEEEG! Well done to the 1st Howick Scouts (my old troop!) for a professionally run event!
Check out the Highlander website.
Friday, July 18, 2008
TransAlp 2008
Good weather :-)
This shot is from 1/3 of the way up this climb ! EISH, but I can't believe!
Look closely... those are not ants!!
25th overall, 5th in the last stage :-)
What can I say - Europe is amazing - was great getting back into real racing in the alps. There is nothing like riding uphill for 2 hours solid and then decending for 40km - SICK !
Thanks to Shane, Syd, Braam, Brenda and everyone for making it all happen - respect.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Friday, June 06, 2008
Dusi Mfula 2008
Dave (aka Themba) is riding like a KING ! Check out the following video for a taste of what we can expect on SuperSport... click here
Day 1
Awesome track. This riding is unique to the Duzi Mfula - totally wild african track... footpaths, goat paths, chicken paths, Nguni paths, even snake paths! I am not kidding - check this photo that I took in the valley... with the camera on my phone - sorry for the bad quality!
No, those are not bonsai trees. Anyway, as I was saying, those snake tracks make a coulpe of nasty sharp turns. I think it was after a shebeen sometime past the Mfula store, we saw some guys in the bushes. They looked familiar... can't think why. 
Eish. Anyway, I digress. Somewhere in that vicinity, the snakes obviously get thirsty, causing them to drink copious amounts of brown amber. Their trails make some really severe bends as a result. Unfortunately, one of these took me unawares (the bend, not the beer) and I managed to do a Damm-eje to my wrist. Dave rode like a man posessed, I think he had seen one too many snakes in the Valley. We managed to pull a 7 min gap on 2nd place by the finish. "Muchle Impele, Themba!"
Day 2
Not too much action today. No big attacks - we rode off the front a couple of times but I had to pull the reins in and ride smart. The course prep was awesome, GI (the course designer) put in a lot of effort - nice one captain. Ja, so we rode into the finish with Spider Warr and Iain Don Wauchope - a furious sprint to the line got the better of us but hey... who is counting the seconds on GC anyway !!??
Now its time to put in some "high meters", as the austrians call them, in preparation for the Transalps. (we call them Mothers and GRANDmothers)
SALAKAHLE !
Day 1
Awesome track. This riding is unique to the Duzi Mfula - totally wild african track... footpaths, goat paths, chicken paths, Nguni paths, even snake paths! I am not kidding - check this photo that I took in the valley... with the camera on my phone - sorry for the bad quality!
No, those are not bonsai trees. Anyway, as I was saying, those snake tracks make a coulpe of nasty sharp turns. I think it was after a shebeen sometime past the Mfula store, we saw some guys in the bushes. They looked familiar... can't think why. 
Eish. Anyway, I digress. Somewhere in that vicinity, the snakes obviously get thirsty, causing them to drink copious amounts of brown amber. Their trails make some really severe bends as a result. Unfortunately, one of these took me unawares (the bend, not the beer) and I managed to do a Damm-eje to my wrist. Dave rode like a man posessed, I think he had seen one too many snakes in the Valley. We managed to pull a 7 min gap on 2nd place by the finish. "Muchle Impele, Themba!"Day 2
Not too much action today. No big attacks - we rode off the front a couple of times but I had to pull the reins in and ride smart. The course prep was awesome, GI (the course designer) put in a lot of effort - nice one captain. Ja, so we rode into the finish with Spider Warr and Iain Don Wauchope - a furious sprint to the line got the better of us but hey... who is counting the seconds on GC anyway !!??
Now its time to put in some "high meters", as the austrians call them, in preparation for the Transalps. (we call them Mothers and GRANDmothers)
SALAKAHLE !
Monday, May 12, 2008
Karkloof Festival 2008
Night Race
This one is always fun! The pace was fast and furious for the first lap (2 lap race). I got switched into a Mud hole 5k into the race and picked up some foliage, nearly taking Dave out in the process. I also did my bit to sweep the course for the riders behind me by carrying a pile of fern leaves hanging from my pedal for a few km!
Guys were all over the place - its easy to overcook the corners when you can't really see whats coming up! Equipment makes a world of difference - theres big advantage to having a good lighting system.
After lap 1, Dave and I came through the Start/Finish together just ahead of Oliver Munnik. Oli chased hard to catch us on the drag up to the first singletrac. Thats when my light mount broke. No worries, I switched on my 'backup' helmet light, but that lasted 5 min. Eish. So Oliver and Dave dropped me in the technical stuff. I brushed through a really soft looking bush ... it turned out to be a tree with a big hard sawn off branch in the middle of it. Ouch. At least the war wounds look cool.
Dave dropped Oli on the final climb, so it was a 3rd and 5th for Fullimput - not a bad start to the festival ! Nice one Themba! (that's dave's nickname... actually his second name).
Cross Country
I woke up on Saturday feeling drained and with flu symptoms and heavy gastro. So I put all the pressure onto Dave to fly the Fullimput banner! He played the wise option of tapping back on the XC, saving himself for the sprint shootout. Barry Hulett, the course designer did an amazing job - loads of flowing singletrac and enough technical stuff to take a couple of victims out there :) Nice one Baz. This is my favourite XC course in Natal, for sure! (I practiced it the week before the race).
Sprint Shootout
Its a tough game. Brandon got eliminated when he burped his rear tyre. Renay snapped his chain. The final was really exciting! Dave got switched into the side of the bridge, forcing him to stop which lost enough time to get him eliminated. Johan van Zyl flew the GT flag high to claim victory in the event - nice one MR.49% !!
75km Classic
The big one. Every year the course gets better. The locals put a helluva lot of effort into making it fun and challenging. This years course was even better than last and is undoubtably the finest marathon course on the South African circuit.
Mr 49% went out hard to claim the Hotspot, setting a hard pace for the rest of us! Mannie was on his wheel with a chase group of 6 of us. On Lebanon, Mr African (Heymans) put the hammer down showing his class to take the KOM and stay away till the line. I fell off the chase group, the pace was just too hot. Dave joined me. Riding the conservative race definitely paid off - I caught JP Pearton at the airstrip (about 25km from finish), Mark Bass 15km later and then Brandon about 3km from the line. Johan took a wrong turn, following the motorbike instead of the course markings which cost him 5th place. So its a 3rd place for XLB ! Super stoked to be on the podium at Karkloof again! Melt rode a solid race to come 2nd. Dave rode a solid race to come in 7th. Lekker.
This one is always fun! The pace was fast and furious for the first lap (2 lap race). I got switched into a Mud hole 5k into the race and picked up some foliage, nearly taking Dave out in the process. I also did my bit to sweep the course for the riders behind me by carrying a pile of fern leaves hanging from my pedal for a few km!
Guys were all over the place - its easy to overcook the corners when you can't really see whats coming up! Equipment makes a world of difference - theres big advantage to having a good lighting system.
After lap 1, Dave and I came through the Start/Finish together just ahead of Oliver Munnik. Oli chased hard to catch us on the drag up to the first singletrac. Thats when my light mount broke. No worries, I switched on my 'backup' helmet light, but that lasted 5 min. Eish. So Oliver and Dave dropped me in the technical stuff. I brushed through a really soft looking bush ... it turned out to be a tree with a big hard sawn off branch in the middle of it. Ouch. At least the war wounds look cool.
Dave dropped Oli on the final climb, so it was a 3rd and 5th for Fullimput - not a bad start to the festival ! Nice one Themba! (that's dave's nickname... actually his second name).
Cross Country
I woke up on Saturday feeling drained and with flu symptoms and heavy gastro. So I put all the pressure onto Dave to fly the Fullimput banner! He played the wise option of tapping back on the XC, saving himself for the sprint shootout. Barry Hulett, the course designer did an amazing job - loads of flowing singletrac and enough technical stuff to take a couple of victims out there :) Nice one Baz. This is my favourite XC course in Natal, for sure! (I practiced it the week before the race).
Sprint Shootout
Its a tough game. Brandon got eliminated when he burped his rear tyre. Renay snapped his chain. The final was really exciting! Dave got switched into the side of the bridge, forcing him to stop which lost enough time to get him eliminated. Johan van Zyl flew the GT flag high to claim victory in the event - nice one MR.49% !!
75km Classic
The big one. Every year the course gets better. The locals put a helluva lot of effort into making it fun and challenging. This years course was even better than last and is undoubtably the finest marathon course on the South African circuit.
Mr 49% went out hard to claim the Hotspot, setting a hard pace for the rest of us! Mannie was on his wheel with a chase group of 6 of us. On Lebanon, Mr African (Heymans) put the hammer down showing his class to take the KOM and stay away till the line. I fell off the chase group, the pace was just too hot. Dave joined me. Riding the conservative race definitely paid off - I caught JP Pearton at the airstrip (about 25km from finish), Mark Bass 15km later and then Brandon about 3km from the line. Johan took a wrong turn, following the motorbike instead of the course markings which cost him 5th place. So its a 3rd place for XLB ! Super stoked to be on the podium at Karkloof again! Melt rode a solid race to come 2nd. Dave rode a solid race to come in 7th. Lekker.
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