This past Saturday marked the my first race of the season, The Attakwas Ultra Marathon.

For those of you who don’t know, the Attakwas marathon is regarded as one of the toughest one day events in South Africa, mostly due to the rugged terrain it traverses through the mountains, and the distance covered of 121km off road from Oudtshoorn to Groot Brak in Mossel Bay.

I was very excited at the start mainly due to the fact that I could test out my new Rocky Mountain Vertex 990 RSL, and also show off my new team colours of RSA Web.

The race this year got off to a slightly easier start due to that fact that the race is no longer on the SA National Marathon Series, but that didn’t mean it was low on competition. Still, this saw a select group of riders going off the front, with me comfortably in it. By now we were about a good 30km into the race, and with the Attakwas mountain range looming, things were about to hot up.

To my surprise I found myself off the front of the bunch after pulling a gap through technical part of the course, and decided to ride my own race from there, knowing well that the hardest part of the race was about to unfold. For the next 50km I set about hammering away on my new machine, and ended up building a substantial gap of about 3minutes at some stages while traversing the rocky, loose 4×4 trails in the mountains. There is something very special about being in that environment by yourself at the front of a race. I even claimed the King Of The Mountains Title as we hit the highest part of the race. Nice!

It was only after about 80km that my legs started to feel a bit tired, and I could feel my blood sugar begin to dip rapidly. The next 20km was pure torture as at first Matthys Beukes (MTB Destination), then Philip Buys(Contego), Neil McDonald(RECM) Charles Keey and Dave Morrisen(Blend Properties) passed me one by one as I watched them helplessly slip by. By the time my body got some nutrition I was down in 6th place and managed to hold that place until the end. Lesson learnt, EAT LOTS!

I was not too disappointed with the end result, as I think it is definitely promising for the next ultra marathon on the cards coming up in Barbeton at the end of the month. I didn’t walk away empty handed either. The King of the Mountain prize was a home entertainment system. Thanks guys!

Until next time,

Keep it upright!

Top 5 moments on the bike for 2011

So it’s that time of year again, where the new year is approaching faster than we want it to, and many of us take a moment to look back on the year that has been, both good or bad. This is a post dedicated to the good, in fact not just good, but awesome. These are my top 5 moments on the bike for 2011, in no particular order;

UCI Africa Continental Champs

In 2011 the UCI African Continental were held in Jonkershoek, Stellenbosch. The fact that I punctured twice and finished just outside the top 10 didn’t even matter. Racing for your country is one of the highest privileges in sport, and the fact that I had all my best friends and family out there to support me while I flew the flag in my home province made it even more special. It was also kind of neat to lead out Burry Stander and the rest of the field through the first lap on the new GT Zaskar 29er!

UCI World Cup #1 – Pietermaritzberg

Having the worlds best cross country riders assemble themselves in your home country for the opening round of the UCI World Cup series ranks highly in any riders books. Again it was such an amazing experience racing on a world class course against a world class field on your home turf. The most exciting part of the race by far was tackling the notorious rock garden. The experience was made even more nerve wrecking by the thousands of people standing there shouting for you and waiting for something interesting to happen. Luckily I made it down in one piece on all occasions, which cannot be said for many of my competitors!

Sani2C Day 2- Nick’s Pass

This top moment occurred on Day 2 of the Sani2C race. Those of you who have had the opportunity to ride this spectacular race with it’s breathtaking trails will know what I am talking about. The moment occurred when my team mate Oliver Munnik and I were sitting happily in the front bunch and had just starting the descent down Nick’s pass, about a good 45mins of pristine , smooth, flowing downhill singletrack. Oliver managed to cut his tyre which forced us to stop and plug it with a special tyre plug. It only took a few moments, but it meant that we had about a minute of time to catch up, and an open single track ahead of us to ride as fast as we dared! What unfolded next was madness. Oliver, being an ex downhiller lead the two man chase and for the next 10 minutes or so I hung on for dear life as we hit speeds in excess of 70km/h on a narrow piece of track, and hitting blind corners with much more speed than made sense. To make matters worse some of the corners had slimy mud on them which made for fun when both wheels started drifting around the corners. Needless to say I would not have gone down there at that speed by myself! Luckily we kept it upright and made it back to the front, with a smile from ear to ear that lasted about a week!

Whale watching off Chapmans Peak

This moment happened totally unexpectedly. I was cruising up Chapmans’s peak one day on a long ride with a friend of mine, Russel. We were pedaling up from the Noordhoek side at an easy pace when we noticed a pod of dolphins playing around in one of the coves. We paused to admire them for a moment, when we suddenly heard a big snort. To our surprise there was a massive whale chilling there as well. We must have watched for about 20 minutes in awe of this awesome creature floating about and blowing through his blow hole with such power as it echoed off the cliff faces. It was amazing how such a small thing can totally turn your day around. It just makes you marvel at God’s great creation.

UCI WC- Nova Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic

Last but not least is the World Cup race in Czech Republic. With a World Cup having never been held in Czech Republic before, I was totally blown away by course, and the crowd support, so much so that it has to be one of my top 5 moments on the bike this year. As a professional athlete, racing is so much better when the crowd really gets behind you and urges you on. Up this particular hill, the spectators were lined 3 deep and shouting so loud you could barely hear yourself think. I think this had something to do with the large amounts of beer they were consuming! Never the less, it was amazing and I can’t wait to go back there in 2012.

So there you have it. Those are just some of my favourite moments on the bike this year. Looking back I feel so blessed to have been able to be at all there events and places. Here’s to an awesome 2012, with some exciting news to announce next year.

Wishing you all a safe and happy new year.

Keep earning those wings!

Off Season Glory

So, it has been a good few weeks since my last post.

If you have been wondering what I have been up to, here is the answer; Not much. Not much riding that is. This year I have decided to try something different, and instead of the usual 2 week break, I am taking 6 weeks! Before you start saying that I am being lazy, let me just say that I have no just been vegetating on the couch. Instead of doing nothing, I have been doing some cross training in the form of trail running, and soon I plan on starting my gym prep which will include some swimming(never done before), and a heck of a lot of conditioning to the legs, and a lot of focus will be going into getting my upper body, and core specifically into fantastic shape.

But enough of that. This is some of the fun I have been having. Doing things that is usually not advisable during the season…

I got a free spare ticket from a friend of mine to go see Coldplay. All I had to do was buy the beer! So off I was with some of my best friends to see them live. What a show! It will be something that I will always remember. Great memories.

This past weekend Sarah was offered to use some time share at the last minute at the newly refurbished Beason Island resort in Plett. So it was a spur of the moment decision to make the trip up there for the weekend. What a great decision! We had a really relaxing time enjoying the facilities there, and were lucky enough to have the best weather there in weeks. A sign summer is on it’s way.

Another “little” project that is being worked on at the moment is my new website. It’s still in the process of being built, but do yourself a favour and check out the cover page and add your dot to the the rotating globe!

Visit it at http://www.tablemountainbiker.co.za/

I will keep you posted on any new news!

Keep earning those wings.

Renay

2 Podiums, one weekend.

Hey all,

So after a pretty disappointing weekend at Karoo to Coast the previous weekend, the final weekend of my planned season of racing finally rolled around. The Spur Lourensford Classic, and the De Grendel mountain bike challenge.

The previous year I managed to win both these races back to back on the same weekend, so I was dead eager to do it again. The only thing that stood in my way was a little guy called Darren Lill, the current SA road champ! Lucky for me I knew the route. The first hour of the race basically went uphill to show us breathtaking views of Somerset West. It was up that climb that Darren showed just what fine form he is in and rode away from me. The rest of the course was rather brutal with some hard climbs and really technical riding. It was at a race here earlier this year that a stick ripped my derailer clean off my frame, and I had to stop about four times again to take one out before it could do any damage! By the end I had managed to limit the the time loss to 4 minutes over a very bumpy 57km of racing, so I wasn’t too disappointed especially with my lacking form. The singletrack at the end was a awesome treat, a good sign of things to come for those lucky enough to ride Wine to Whales.

After an afternoon of laying on the couch and napping, the alarm set off again at 5am to wake me for the second day of racing in the weekend, this time at De Grendel wine farm in Milnerton. The weather on this day was a tad nasty, with an icy cold South Easter blowing a gale. Lucky for us the racing was hot! The main feature of the race is the 1km climb up to the mast on top of Durnabville hill, which must be the steepest gravel climb out there. The race pace was quite sedated for the first 15km, as everyone knew what was to come. it was cool having team mate Geddan Ruddock there to throw off some attacks to confuse the bunch. As we hit the climb I took control of the race, heading to the front and making it hurt. The climb is so impossibly steep that it is almost impossible to race up there, so one has to basically focus of maintaining traction. By the top I had a decent little gap, with Dominic Calitz again chasing me. What happened next was an exact copy of the previous year. As we headed down the other side and into the single track of Magic forest, Dominic used his knowledge of the home ground to make up the gap. We rode together in the front for a few km, discussing life and all, before I bid him farewell and rode away from him back over the hill and soloed to the finish to take my 3rd straight win at De Grendel in as many years, whoop whoop!

So that marks the end of my planned racing season. I have decided to take off a little earlier and longer in order to get the best recovery possible in order for next year’s season. It doesn’t mean that I will have nothing to do though, I have lots of things planned to keep me busy! I’ll keep you posted.

Keep earning those wings!

And that’s a wrap!

Hi all,

I am writing this from the comfort of my home back in Cape Town. The last post I wrote was of the WC final in Val di Sole, but I still had a further slightly less exciting 3 weeks in Europe. So let me fill you in…

The day after the WC final in Val di Sole I dashed over the mountains with the BMC team over to Switzerland where I took a quick train ride to meet up with an one of my an ex pat South African Johan Greeff who is now living in St Gallen with his Swiss wife Elvira. Johan used to be one of the top Elite riders in SA a few years back, so it was grat to have him show me his “home” trails. The week flew by and was ended off by the final round of the Swiss National Series in Basel, Switzerland. It also happened to be a UCI Cat one race, so there were a lot of top riders there to earn points including Julien Absalon, Lukas Fluckiger and Moritz Miltaz.

Unfortunately for me I found out that my body was still really tired from the last two World Cups as I started the second lap, and things didn’t go very well from there on. I had probably the best form I have had this year, but it was such a pity that I couldn’t use it. I finished the race but the result isn’t worth mentioning! It was good though to see another Saffa, Caitlen de Wet finishing off her European campaign with the race also.

The next day I was on my way yet again to Amsterdam. The point of this trip was not for racing, but rather to give the body a bit of a break from all the hard work and to meet some family as well as get to know the country my family comes from. Looking back at it now, the 12days all went very quickly, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time staying with family friends, as well as visiting my uncle and aunt in another region of Holland. In the last week I had the urge to pick up my bike again and did some touring of the area. All the flat riding got old quickly, and it was strange to note that I actually missed going uphill! I got to see some good sights both on and off the bike. Amsterdam also surprised me with what a diverse city it is. With the amount of English spoken on the streets yo wouldn’t think that you are in Holland.

Below are some of my favourite pics that I took. Right now I am busy doing some preparation for on of the last races in the season for me, Karoo to Coast. Slightly different, but lets see what I can do!

Keep earning those wings!

World Cup Finals, Val di Sole

Hi readers,

Sunday saw me compete in the final round of the World Cup mountain bike series, in Val di Sole, Italy which was the second race in Europe for me this year.

The entire week in Val di Sole we had to contend with 30degree plus temperatures, which made for warm training, and not very restful sleeping in our stuffy little room. Never the less I think I managed to recover nicely after the previous weekends World Cup race and when race day came around I was feeling in great shape.

Yet again, we had a hot and clear day for racing, and by the time 2pm came around the heat was blistering out there. Starting at the back is always tough as you have a whole field ahead of you to pass. I flew off the line in 101st position along with more than 130 other riders. There was a huge crash on the start line which I managed to avoid and with a good effort on the first lap I was sitting at least 40 places higher than from where I had started!

As I mentioned last week, the starts here are an all out sprint for the whole first lap, which I just about survived this time around. The heat though hit me like a sledge hammer on lap two and for the next two laps I found myself going backwards at a rather rapid rate. The thing with World Cup racing is to always hang on, and never to give up fighting. You never know what will happen.

I attacked lap 4(of 6) like it was my last, and to my surprise my body handled it pretty well, and even took back some lost places. I continued this pace on lap 5 also and managed to pull back a handful more places eventually moving up to 75th place before getting pulled by the 80% rule at just before starting lap 6.

The 80% rule if you don’t already know is designed to keep the lap clear for the leaders. If you are more than 80% of the lap behind the leaders at a certain point, then they pull you off. It sounds bad, but trust me, the speed the front guys go off at on a 5km lap and with all the congestion with other riders makes it a hard job not to get pulled!

Up in front Nino Shurter, Jaroslav Kulhavy and Vlorian Vogel basically set the pace for the whole race. In the end it came down to a sprint between Nino and Jaroslav, but the Czech rider is just unstoppable this year making it his 5th win this year out of 7 rounds.

This week I am in Switzerland visiting old SA friends in St Gallen. There is a race this Thursday evening in the streets of Bern, and then the Swiss Cup final in Basel on Sunday. It will make for a tough race in the 35degree heat that is here also!

Keep earning those wings!

Val di Sole, Italy

Hey all,

So so far Italy has been great. Today it was about 35degrees! The only way to avoid the heat is to stay indoors. The track in Val di Sole is anything but flat, and is quite a change from what I am used to. I think it suits me though.

Anyways I took some footage today of the track, enjoy!

Keep earning those wings.

Nova Mesto WC race

So, I arrived in Italy today after a few rough days of travelling from the Czech Republic. It was awesome to be greeted by 30degree temperatures! I got here by the generosity of the Belgium National team, especially the team manager. Thanks guys.

The last few days have given me some time to analyse the race and get perspective. So here it goes!

Starting from the back of a field of the 130 best riders in the world means only one thing; chaos. The start of a World Cup is basically an all out sprint for the first two laps, so after getting stuck behind a crash in the start loop I was fighting as hard as I could in one of the last few positions. One thing I have realised is that there is almost no way to prepare for a start of this pace other than to race the entire season in Europe!

So I managed to survive the first two laps without killing myself, and with team mate Ollie Munnik for company we started picking off the rides one by one. Now that the legs were opened up I started taking advantage of the awesome form Dr Jeroen Swart has helped me achieve over the last few weeks. The crowds in Nova Mesto must be the best I have ever experienced. There were many parts of the course that were lined 3 deep with spectators screaming for you as if you were the race leader. What a great feeling. If you want to see some great footage of the race visit http://www.freecaster.tv , they have the whole race live!

All this helped me get into a really great rhythm and felt in my element in the Czech Forests. I must have been in the low eighties on lap 5 when I had to stop and inflate my tyre which was losing pressure. In the end it was a useless exercise as I was pulled off by the 80% rule at the end of the lap. The short 4.3km course meant that only the top 50 riders or so would finish all 8 laps of the course.

Of course I was a bit disappointed to get lapped, but the longer course here in Val di Sole with longer climbs gives me hope for a great race here on Saturday. This is also the place where I had my best result at World Champs in 2008.
Look forward to hearing more from me this week.

Keep earning those wings!

Renay

Nova Mesto, Czech Republic

Hey all,

So I have been promising some video footage of the World Cup course in Nova Mesto na Morave. It rained last night so the roots were uber slippery! Tomorrow is the World Cup Elite men’s race. Legs are feeling great. Wish me luck!

Keep earning those wings!

World Cup kick off

Hey guys,

I arrived safe and sound in Nova Mesto na Morave on Tuesday at around supper time. The hotel we are staying in did not quite live up to the expectation of the photo’s that were on the website! It is a bit old and needs some renovating, but nothing I won’t survive. I was also greeted my my roomie for the next two weeks, Mariske Stauss. Great to have some Saffa company!

I awoke today to some rain, so had to wait a while before we could bet out on the course. When I did get out I was surprised to find what must be the best XC course I have ever ridden! It is the stuff I used to dream about riding in when I was a kid and an aspiring pro. It is set in beautiful Czech forests with tall trees and a thick layer of pine needles covering the ground. The single track is quite raw and rooty, and there are man made rock gardens strewn around the course. It is quite a short lap at around 4.3km, so it will make it difficult not to get lapped on Sunday!

I am looking forward to getting out on the course tomorrow. I will be taking my GoPro along so look out for some footage!

Keep earning those wings.