NEWS and RACES 2009

No world cup for mr-african It seems like lady luck is just not with me this year. After I had a couple of mechanical issues in the Cape Epic, and  braking my chain in last week’s national

I was motivated to put all of that behind me and tackle the best of the world at the opening round of the world cup cross country in Pietermaritzburg.
Practicing the course on Wednesday, I made a silly mistake on one of the “off camber” downhill sections, loosing grip on my front wheel and took a tumble.

Like usual my bike is fine but not my body. A badly damaged left wrist and stuffed ribs make it impossible to compete on this tough course. X-rays shows that nothing is broken but back home I will do another CT scan just to make sure of that and to see where the pain comes from.

What a disappointing finish to my 2 month road trip racing all over South Arica but now I can rest the body and then focus on the next couple of races here as well as in Europe.

SA Cup race #4 Cascades Marc and I made our way to Pietermaritzburg via Johannesburg on the Monday after the Cape Epic and what a surprise to see so many top European riders at the 4th leg of MTN cross country series. A lot of them came down earlier for next week’s world cup opener in Pietermaritzburg, a first for South Africa.
After racing the epic a week ago none of us knew what the legs will be like but one thing was sure the pace would be a lot quicker from the gun.
Having my normal slow start I made my way up the field and was riding in 20th position when I snapped my chain on the 3rd of seven laps. After a long wait I managed to repair it with help from my young team mate, Phillip Buys. I lost more than 3 minutes and a whole lot of places but felt confident to get back on the bike and make up some of the lost ground.
Lap by lap I passed riders but at the end started feeling the strain of, the Epic, the travelling as well as going a bit too hard after I repaired my chain and finished in 19th place overall.
I am feeling confident to have another good race on Saturday and then I am on my way back to Windhoek for a well deserved weeks rest.

7th @ the Cape Epic I must apologise that I did not update my Cape Epic site this year but due to the fact that Marc and I did the Cape Epic this year like more than 1000 other riders, camping in the tents, I did not have access to my computer for the whole week.

Just to round it off we finished the prologue in 8th place, dropped down to 10th after some mechanicals on stage 2 and 5 but then worked our way up to finish in 7th place overall.

Wonder where we would finish if the Epic was 2 weeks long.

2 days to go Just 2 days to go to the start of the 2009 Absa Cape Epic. Follow the link above right for my day 2 day coverage.

Cross Country #3 George The 3rd leg of the MTN cross country series held in George also doubled up as the South African Cross Country championships. Elite and U/23 men had to do 8 laps of brutal sometimes childish single track over roots and rutted underground.

This is one course where a lightweight full suspension bike would have been of and advantage and the overall winner, Burry Stander, made full use of his to win the pro elite race by more than 7 minutes from my Cape Epic partner, Marc Bass.

I had a terrible start and got stuck behind some slower riders on the first lap. I finished the first lap in 16th position and then slowly made my way to the front of the race. Lap by lap I passed struggling riders but could only make it up to 5th place overall just behind my young team mate Phillip Buys who finished 4th overall and 3rd U/23. Matthys Beukes finished 3rd overall and 2nd U/23 and Marc Bass was 2nd overall and 1st Elite rider.

So the final effort before the Epic is behind us and now we have to make sure we stay healthy for the start of the 6th Absa Cape Epic presented by adidas.

Giro Del Capo For the 18th year in a row I made my way to Cape Town beginning of March, to participate in the Giro Del Capo.  Looks like the recession took its toll on this event as well as no sponsorship for the event made it difficult for the organizers. After lots of discussion the event format changed from being a 5 day stage race to 4 individual one day races.  A little bit confusing but better than no racing at all.
The races stayed the same as what the Tour would have been, the only difference is that you could not et eliminated and if you did not feel like riding the second or third day you could sit a day out. To me this is final preparation for the Cape Epic and I made sure I covered every bit of it.
Day 2 was my best performance finishing 14th and on day 3 I helped our climber in the team Arno Viljoen to secure a top 10 finish on the 173km stage.
The Argus on Sunday also doubled up as our 4th day and with Gail force winds I did not look forward to it at all. After 70km I had enough of the big bunch and took it easy to the finish making sure I stayed on my bike. The Barloworld dominance of the previous 3 days was broken with a stage win by Arron Brown from team Medscheme.

Now there is one more cross country in George before the Cape Epic on the 21st March.

Subaru Sani2C So after one the best single day events in South Africa we were off to one of the best stage races in South Africa.

Just about all the top guys lined up for the 5th edition of the Subaru Sani2C and with all the rain the last couple of months we were in for rough ride. The early pace was set by Max Knox who is really flying at the moment. The first spilt in the front bunch happened after a high speed crash that left my team mate of 2008, Melt Swanepoel , with a cracked elbow. We waited for some riders to get back and then the fun started with the kilometres of single track this race offers.

After the first section there were 4 teams leading the race, Max and Brandon (DCM Chrome), Marc and I, Kevin and David (MTN) and Arno Viljoen and Rene Goustra (GT). I struggled a bit to follow the pace set by Max and Brandon and soon it was 2 teams, Garmin adidas and GT chasing DCM Chrome and MTN. We lost contact with the GT boys after a unfortunate crash by Marc and finished 4th on the first stage 4min down on the winners Max and Brandon who out sprinted the guys from MTN.

After more rain about that afternoon, a third of the single track on stage 2 had to be excluded but we there was still enough left to make this unforgettable. Once again there were 4 teams out in front, DCM Chrome, Marc and I Roan and David (Fullimput) and our team mates Francois and Phillip. Kevin and David lost some time on the technical sections but they manage to close the gap as we climbed out of the Umkomaas valley and entered the halfway stop over with a 1min lead on us and Fullimput. Brandon and Max dropped off the pace due to illness and eventually withdrew at the stop over.

After we had a compulsory 10min stop we were on our way again steadily closing the gap to Kevin and David and caught them on the base of the next big climb. We lost contact again but also manage to get rid of Fullimput and for the last 30km it was like riding a pursuit 1min behind MTN. Kevin and David won the stage and moved into the overall lead, we finished second and moved to 2nd overall with Fullimput 3rd and 3rd overall. Our youngsters finished in a strong 4th place.

The last day is short and fast but with some unexpected climbs hidden all over the route also not to easy. After the halfway mark there were 4 teams in the front again. MTN, Fullimput, GT and us.  After Arno and Rene lost lots of time on day 2 they were not a thread to the overall leaders and manage to get away from the rest of us as we were watching each other.  Down the last technical section we tried to escape from Kevin and David but they kept a cool head and closed us down climbing “heartbreak hill” the last climb of the 2009 Sani2C.
The stage was won by Arno and Rene, with Roan and Dave in 2nd and Marc and I rounding of the podium of the 3rd day. Kevin and David kept their overall lead; we stayed in 2nd with Roan and Dave in 3rd place. Our youngster, Francois and Phillip, again finished in 4th place and they also moved up into 4th place overall

Subaru Sabie Classic 100km 2100Hm This weekend’s Subaru Sabie Classic turned out to be a scorcher. Apart from the Lowveld heat some heated racing kicked up some dust from the starter’s gun. All the big teams were there and the main protagonists on the day were Garmin adidas, DCM Chrome and the Specialized pre race favorite Burry Stander.

The one hundred kilometer course and the pressing heat made going tough for the field. It was Stander and a number of DCM Chrome riders who broke clear early on and set a blistering pace. Stander and Max Knox from DCM Chrome took it down to the line and it was Knox who was triumphant in the end.

It was however Mannie Heymans from Garmin adidas who finished very strong in the searing heat that impressed the crowds. Brandon Stewart also from DCM came in fourth followed home by Heymans’ compatriot and Garmin adidas Marc Bassingthwaighte in fifth position. Bassingthwaighte commented after that he had some difficulty at the start of the race but settled in nicely after some time. He also commented that the course was extremely rough after the unrelenting rains over the past few weeks.

Mankele Cross Country After Marc and I had a good 2 weeks of training in the Lowveld, accommodation compliments from Renato, we made our way to the second leg of the South African Cross country Series race at Mankele near Nelspruit. Our preparation was not focused on this event, it was part of our preparation for the weeks to come. Missing the first race in Stellenbosch meant that we had no seeding and with about 6 km of single track a good start would have been crucial. Marc got a flyer and entered the first single-track in 8th position but I had a terrible start and got stuck in about 25th place. I slowly made up places but not the way I was hoping to and was actually struggling on the climbs, there where I normally accelerate. At the start of the 5th lap out of six I was in 11th place hoping to catch some of the fast starters but a nasty crash in the first set of single track stopped my progress and I lost all my rhythm and 3 places. The last lap I was just nursing a sore right side and finished in 14th place. For now the sun will shine on us for 10 days back home in Namibia before we travel down south again for the next couple of big races including Subaru Sabie Classic, Subaru Sani2C and the Giro Del Capo down in Cape Town.

Back in the officeSince the end of 2008 quite a few things happened. One of them being no updates to my site. After signing up with a new team and changes to my website, we're ready for 2009.