Home at last..

Just got it, always great to be home, albeit for two days! Thought I'd leave a great pic of the Alps in the header, thanks to Jo and Tajana. days of good riding here with some cross sessions, then we head off to defend SA's Marathon Title, bring it on... Ciao.

Transalp update..

It's a pity for those who don't know, Dave landed up getting a virus and pulled out of the race on the sixth day. I continued on my own and used it as some good hard final preperation for SA Marathon Champs in Harrysmith next month. It should be perfect training with similar altitude adaptions and loads of technical trails. Other than that the event was brilliant with some of the most beautiful mountain passes you'll ever see. Loads of great scenery and catching up with the Euro vibe.
We staying in Riva Del Garda till Tuesday when we travelling home. Shew it will be fantastic to see the family again, missing them all now!
See ya soon, Ciao.

Transalp here we come...

Team MTN/Energade Transalp Challenge

Stage 1: Mittenwald - Reith im Alpbachtal
Stage 2: Reith im Alpbachtal - Mayrhofen
Stage 3: Mayrhofen - Brixen
Stage 4: Brixen - St. Christina
Stage 5: St. Christina - Sarnthein
Stage 6: Sarnthein - Kaltern
Stage 7: Kaltern - Andalo
Stage 8: Andalo - Riva del Garda 73,00 km -
88,17 km -
94,83 km -
83,52 km -
82,20 km -
77,40 km -
73,63 km -
60,71 km - 1976 hm
3384 hm
2127 hm
3665 hm
3297 hm
3173 hm
3041 hm
1454 hm

So Dave George and I will leave tomorrow evening for the Transalp Challenge, starting in Germany and finishing 8 stages later in Italy. This will be my fifth Transalp Challenge and the first for Dave. Dave however is no stranger to the Alps and big mountains, having completed a couple Tours of Spain, he’ll be right at home there.
As you can see from the stages above, there will be no shortage of climbing in this years edition. The race traverses the Alps, starting in Germany, through Austria and ending in Italy. The scenery is breath taking and the trails incredible. Both of us are ready and on form to challenge for a podium position. We’ve had a couple of Epics between the two of us now, and this race will just be another one for us to gain more experience in our quest to become the best stage racing paired team in the world. The competition this year also goes a little deeper than in the past, so we expecting a tough race and hard duel for a podium place, especially in the mountains where a bad climb can cost you dearly. The obvious favorites will be the Bulls Team of Karl Platt and Stefan Sham who are currently ranked as the top paired team in the world, another great opportunity for us to race the best.
We’ll be acclimatizing in the German town of Mittenwald where the tour starts and have a few days to get into the mountains. For anyone wishing to follow our progress through the event, can follow us on www.twitter.com/kevinevansracin as I’ll be doing my updates during the tour through here.
Hope to have a great report for you after the race.
Kevin Evans

Ronnie "The Don"

We love ya Ron, always with us x x

Knysna Oyster Festival MTB Race

Having missed my “home” town event last year, I was eager to get stuck in this year, especially as it is one of favorite races on the circuit. Between Dave and I, we had won it over the previous two years and were keen to keep the title in the camp. However, competition would be tough this year and most of the big teams would have riders down for the race.
It was the usual fresh start, temperatures very low but clear skies would ensure near perfect conditions. The race follows the normal route, and very quickly the race splits up, if not on the Simola climb, then the steeper Gouna. This year was no different and after Gouna, the big start bunch was reduced to seven riders. Dave and myself for MTN/Energade, Burry Stander (Specialized), Jaco Venter (DCM), John-Lee Augustyn (Barloworld), Phillip Buys (Garmin) and Rene Goustra (GT). Unfortunately for Rene, his race ended at the start of “Petrus se Brand”, the fairly technical forest section in the middle of the race. I managed to put a hard effort in to win the “King of the mountain” competition, albeit perhaps to my detriment. The rest of us then dueled it out, with different riders taking hard turns on the front and keeping the pace very fast. The route was in great condition and being fairly dry, would make for some record fast times. John-Lee was the next rider to come off the bunch as he found running in his road shoes a little difficult, after having to dismount on a steep climb up a fire break. As we went into the final 15km of the race, Burry was setting a hard tempo, and I had a small go on one of the drags. We managed to shake Phillip off here, but unfortunately Dave was taking strain after a week on anti-biotics.
5km to go and Burry and I got a five second gap on Venter through the final technical descent. I told Burry to roll through with me because Venter would have a good sprint, and we managed to hold him off, although I committed a little harder I feel in the final 3km and ultimately paid the price for that. Around the final corner, I had the lead but Burry had that little bit extra in the tank to come around my outside and steal the win.
That would make it four times I’ve been beaten on the line in my home town race.
Otherwise it was some good race preparation for Dave and I before we depart for our assault on the Transalp Challenge in Europe.
Race reports might be few and far between over this period, however you can follow me on twitter if you want to keep up to speed.

Provisional results:
1st Burry Stander
2nd Kevin Evans
3rd Jaco Venter
4th Phillip Buys
5th Dave George

Race tomorrow..

Yip, it's the Knysna Oyster Festival tomorrow already. Gotta love racing at home, no travelling, less stress and a fantastic route. The whole team arrived last night, staying down the road at the Harkrville Lodge. We'll be doing a team ride this morning to loosen up, then I'll finish up with bike admin to make sure everything is set. Tikki going to mechanic for the team this weekend, should be interesting for him. Then Saturday after the race, Dave and I are presenting the Tour De France Prologue at The Knysna Hollow. Can't believe it's that time already! Race reports will follow Sunday, ciao.