2008 National Road Selection

So based on my road performances throughout the year, and a successful Ireland and Britain, I have been selected for the National Road Team, to race the World Championships in Varesse, Italy. This will be a first for me and I’m really excited that I’ve been given the opportunity to compete in another World Championships this year.
This should be exciting but also rather tough, racing over 260km against the fastest riders in the world! So needless to say I was only home for 4days after the last trip, and now I’m off again. Didn’t get too much time in on the bike at home, rather caught up on my parenting skills which evidently need some work!
So off to Italy tonight, hopefully we will have some affordable internet there and I can keep you updated. Till then, hasta la pasta.

Tour of Britain

Yes, this update is about a week behind, but for those who haven't seen any results, Team MTN put in a really good performance at the Tour of Great Britain. Up against quite a few of the biggest Pro-Tour Teams in the world, we managed to finish 7th in the team competiton, only a few seconds behind Barloworld. DG was top on GC in 15th, I managed 19th after loosing some time in the final few kilometeres of the second day which proved to be the decisive stage for the GC contenders. Other than that all I can say is wow, we averaged an unbelievable 43km/hr for the 1100km we raced all around the country! To be mixing it with the best in the world was a fantastic experience and one where I gained a serious amount of "road knowledge", to be put to futher use still this season. (checknext update)

Tour of Ireland

Hi there, well bouncing around from hotel to hotel after racing 200km stages and still trying to find time to log onto the net is almost impossible. At the moment we in Britain waiting for the Tour of Britain which starts on Sunday. This week we've had time to use the net, but dam it's expensive this side! Will try give a comprehensive update on Ireland later today, possibly with some pics. The team had a super tour and racing with the "big boys" was fun. DG was second in the mountains comp, while I managed to sneak a 10th on GC. Not bad for the MTB rider gone "roadie".
Till later.

Ruby Ruby Ruby

Well nothing I've seen in my life came close to watching the birth of my daughter Ruby, on 22 August at 08:00. All I can see is it was an emotional and incredible moment in my life that will stay close to me forever. Mwah to my wife Kari and to the start of an amazing chapter in our lives!

No rest just yet!

So life goes on and the training continues. I'm busy preparing for the two tours the MTN road team will compete in at the end of the month. The team will race in the Tour of Ireland followed by the Tour of Britain. The events are UCI 2.1's and will feature some of the top Protour teams. So I will have to work on my speed and endurance and try and carry my form over to these two events. It's an awesome chance for me to get some valuable "Tour" expeirence as I try further my road career. If the team can do well at these, it may open the doors for some more invitations next year.
All the while my wife is into her last 10days of the pregnancy and looking swell, I mean well! Ruby will be a new challenge in our lives that we are really looking forward to! Anyway, got to go train again, till later, Hasta la pasta!

SA Marathon champs, Stellenbosch

Defending a title is always going to be tough, and especially on your third attempt, the pressure seems to add up as do the expectations. However with a strong mind,good team and good preparation, one can overcome this to produce the result you want.
As it had not stopped raining in the Cape almost the whole winter, the course was always going to be really wet, muddy and slippery. Most of my preparation went into the equipment for the bike, as Tyronne replaced basically my whole drivetrain before the race. I stuck to my trusted Conti Mountain King’s though and they handled the mud really well.
So the race saw two and a half thousand riders starting and I was quick to start setting the tempo on the first climb. As the first 11km went straight up, I tried to force the split early on and put everyone else on the back foot. Just before the king of the mountain, I saw Mannie was on his own riding across to me. I eased up slightly for him and once he joined me, the race was almost done and dusted bar any mishaps or mechanicals. Mannie and I drove it really hard, he was pacing the flats and downs, myself pacing the climbs. Mannie putting in some final Olympic prep was looking great and a big help on the day. There were some very interesting twists and turns to the course, with some fun singletrack and various “road” crossings. Even though the distance was short for a “true’ marathon, the route still had over 1500metres of climbing in it, tough by anyone’s standards.
On the final climb with about 8km to go, I rode a very hard tempo, and with Mannie nursing a slight flu, he dropped off and I was free to ride solo to the finish.
Melt at this stage had caught and past Mannie taking second place, third then going to Mannie. Another 1,2,3 for our team, and the SA title stays in the team camp for another year, job well done.

Illovo Eston

After 2 days of travelling what felt like around the country, Mannie, Melt and I arrived at the Illovo Eston Mountain bike race. The event in the past was a drifter race, this year however it was not but this did nothing to detract from the three thousand riders that lined up on Sunday for the various distances. Our MTN team dominated with a first,second,third, riding a big gap into the rest of the field. Now I'm home, doing some last preperations to try and defend my marathon title this coming Saturday. I've prepared harder than ever and the raw data from Activeworx with the SRM powermeters is looking more than on track. The legs are feeling good and based on this weekends race, should be enough. Just need a small bit of luck too!