ITU Cape Town African Sprint Cup 2012

It was time to get all the rust out of the legs again and head down to Cape Town for the first big race of the year – the ITU Cape Town African Sprint race. It was a crazy good field that was entered for the event, with the likes of Tim Don, 2006 world champion, and Daniel Unger, 2007 world champion. That was just the start of it. It really was a really strong field. It was more like a world cup than an Africa cup.

After getting heat stroke at my first Xterra it took me quite a while to get back into things, but I was ready to get this big body of mine going again.

The race started at 7am at Big Bay, Blouberg. The water was a crazy cold 13 degrees! We ran into the freezing cold water of the Atlantic Ocean with our knees high and began hitting, pulling and knocking each other all in an effort to get onto a fast set of feet. I had a really good swim and was out the water in the top 10. I flew through transition and onto my beautifully fast Argon 18. Right at the beginning my mate from Denmark, Jens Toft, made a break and he stayed away for the whole 20km. I did my fair share of the work at the front of the pack.

Coming into T2 it is so important to be in front to be able to have a fast transition without having to fight around corners with another 20 guys and their bikes. So if there is no space then you need to make it. As you can see in the photo below I made space for myself between Gavin Noble and the corner. He got the fright of his life when this big bloke in black came flying past him, half in the bushes and cutting into his line. He shouted at me “What are you doing?!” So I replied “I’m passing you.” Not a happy Irish chappy.

The black arrow is pointing me out!

Out onto the run it was Jens, Richard, Tim and then me. I knew that I needed to pace myself as I was going out way too fast, but it was so hard and I ended up blowing big time and lots of guys passed me. But then towards the end I was catching guys again and I ended up 22nd in a world class field. It was the first race of the season so I am happy, but also not happy about my run. It is not that I need to work on my run, it is just that I paced myself extremely badly. Well I have learnt and next time it will be better.

It was also great to get to spend the weekend with Robs and celebrate being together for 4 years!

Thanks to all my sponsors who make it all happen for me. You guys are the best.

Stay safe, take chances and gooi hom in die groot blade!!!!

Just another day at the office

On Friday afternoon my head screams “It’s the weekend, baby!” and that means one thing for me – it is time to hit the trails in Groenkloof again. I am enjoying myself so much there and as I spend more and more time there I just keep on getting faster and faster. But don’t think that I don’t come off my bike sometimes, because I do. If you don’t take a spill every now and then you know that you aren’t pushing yourself hard enough. “If in doubt, flat out” – this saying really helps me a lot. Well it works about 90% of the time
I always take my camera with me when I head to Groenkloof as you never know what might be waiting for you around the next corner. I have so much fun there that I am going to try and put it into words and pictures so that you can get a small taste of what I get up to when I am flying through the trails.

The first thing waiting for me around the corner were my friendly zebras. They are not too worried about me as I cycle past them which is pretty cool as I can get very close to them.
As I continued I came across a bird that brings a lot of fun into my riding, the guineafool! I really enjoy chasing them in the single track. They are really dof and will just run forever in front of me in the single track, this helps improve my handling. One day I will jump off my bike and catch one!

By the time I went for my second lap it was getting really hot. The African sun can be mean sometimes, but it was also good to do some hot weather training.

The kameelperd (camel horse) is definitely the animal that makes my day. You can get really close to them and they don’t seem to take my notice of you at all. I was very nervous taking this photo because Flip Vorster, die volstrys, was not too far from here and if he sees me, oh boy! I need to ride like an oke gone bonkers.

This is dad with his new born. So cool to see that they are working on building the giraffe nation.

Now friends, let me introduce you to “die vinnigste frikkie in Groenkloof.” His name is Flip Vorster, die volstruis! I call him Flip Vorster because he always catches me off guard and then I need to hook it in the big blade and I am just shouting at him “Flippit Vorster gaan jag iemand anders!!!!” So that is where his name comes from.

How I got this photo is a miracle. He had just chased me and I had managed to get away from him, but I really wanted a photo of him, so I stalked him like a hungry Kalahari lion, then quickly stood up and took the photo. Then it was back to running away from Flip! Luckily I don’t only have two big toes, so I can get away on the rocks.

Just to show you how crazy it can get, this is what happened to my chain as I was coming down Route Canal, which is a very fast, rocky, downhill section. It can get very ugly if you don’t know what you are doing, but if you can master the one legged mampara then you can really fly down. You’re probably wondering what a one legged mampara is. Well, I will have to get someone to film me doing it so that you can fully understand.

Mountain bike riders don’t get tan lines like roadies do. They get dirt lines! Love it!

After riding mtb it is so important to clean your bike so that it is ready to rock and roll again the next day. I always say if you look after your bike, then it will look after you. A clean bike is a fast bike.

Some hot water and soap and it will be like new again!

While I am washing my mtb I do my fair share of gardening as well. My wit stinkhout boom is coming on nicely.

When you are done rinsing your bike just put it aside and let the African sun do what it does best – dry it for you.

I hope that I was fully able to convey just how awesome it is to go wild in Groenkloof.
Keep it real! Enjoy the dirt and gooi hom in die groot blade!
Keep on

Man down at my 1st Xterra “Buffelspoort”!

It was time to hit the dust and trails in my valley, the North West province, for my first Xterra at Buffelspoort dam. I have always wanted to try this off-road thing as I come from the plaas and all. I just love the African bush and I absolutely love riding off-road. I finally got myself a nice mountain bike, but have only been on it about 6 times so far, so I really need to spend some more time on it. Everytime I hit the trails in Groenkloof I have this massive smile on my face that not even hitting the dirt can remove. What makes it even more fun is chasing the guinea(fools) in the single track and getting close to the zebra and giraffe. It is in Groenkloof that I am reminded that God has blessed Africa. Where else in the world can you see black and white striped donkeys? What helps with my sprinting capacity is trying to get away from the ostrich with babies. I usually have to turn into the hiking trails and take big drops to get away from them. As you can see I am enjoying myself immensely in Groenkloof.

Okay, back to the race.

It was so awesome to finally race against the guy that I admire the most, Conrad “Caveman” Stoltz. The first time that I saw him racing was at Club Mykonos at the All Africa Champs in 2004. It was there that I saw what a crazy bike rider he is. I was inspired. So it was super cool to have him next to me at the swim start. I was slightly worried though, as I really didnt want to get in his way because that would be like swimming under a buffalo! “Groot Boer Seun Conrad” is probably the only oke in the world who makes an XXL 29er look small.

Xterra is different to ITU rules. With ITU the water needs to be under 20 degrees for it to be a wetsuit legal swim, but with Xterra the water needs to be above 25 degrees before wetsuits are not allowed. The water in the dam was so warm that all I needed was my body wash and I could’ve been at home in the bath!

It was pretty easy to swim away from the guys, but I knew that we would need a very big gap on them out the water. I was overheating like my 1400 VW Golf in the middle of the Karoo in the hot water!

The two Rebels (Pieter and me) led by about a minute out the water even though we didnt swim hard. 1min is just not enough when you have an 80kg buffalo cranking it in the big blade bearing down on you! It didn’t take long for the Caveman to catch us. We just heard “Hier kom ek!” In the blink of an eye he was there and then he was gone. It was amazing to see him flying past us.

On the bike I had nothing in my legs. Guys were just catching me and dropping me and there was nothing I could do about it. Within 5km I had drunk both of my 32GI bottles – I realised something was not right, but giving up is never an option!

Go over, go under, go through, but never give up. So I just tried to get as much stuff in me as possible, stopping at all the water points and I lost quite a bit of time.

Out on the run I was angry as I had really wanted to have a good race. I came off the bike in 15th place and for the first 2km of the run I went way too hard. I stopped at all the water points, as well as to stretch out some cramps. From about 2km into the second lap I don’t remember anything. Apparently on the home straight I was weaving from side to side and hitting the barriers.

I fell across the finish line. When I came to there were medics hovering over me, I was receiving oxygen. I had heat stroke. I have always wondered if I would ever hit my limit and now I can say that I have. I had run myself into 10th place with the third fastest run split of the day.

Despite the way I felt throughout the race I had a lot of fun and enjoyed myself tremendously. I will be back for some more off road racing soon! Praise God for such an awesome sport.

Well done to Conrad! What an inspiring multiple world champion! More champions need to be as humble and down to earth as this big guy. Also well done to Dan and Stuart who rounded out the top 3. Keep it up boys!

I am recovering well and will soon be back to full on training. Next up is the ITU Cape Town sprint event. Then I will be hitting the dirt again in Grabouw at Xterra SA Champs.

Till I blog again keep on