The highest level of cross country MTB racing in the world and it's held in our own back yard! Exiting stuff!!

I had a starting number of 79 in the field of more than 100 riders. With my current seeding it's always a frantic scramble for the first km of the race...sprint..dismount..run..mount..fall off the bike..fight..on the bike again and we're away!!

Throughout the race I managed to work my way up to 44th position by the second last lap. All my riding went smooth! Unfortunately on the last lap I was passed by a few riders and we had a sprint finish were I was the last rider in the bunch. Finished 51st...,this is my best result ever in a World Cup race..,but I wanted better!! Need to do more UCI races now to gain points to get a better seeding to have a smoother start! I'm sure by the end of this season I'll have a very decent start position.

The last race of the Momentum Health XCO series took place on the same track as the first race of the international UCI XC series at Cascades! I missed a few important training sessions the previous week due to a hard shot to the knee from a crash I had at Karkloof.

More than 70 riders lined up at the start of the pro-elite race! Allot of the worlds best using this race as preparation for the following weekend's WC. I was seeded 35th in this pedigree field. My start wasn’t too great...got caught up badly in the first bottleneck already! Now I know where not to start next week.

I could feel that I didn’t have such a huge kick in the first 2 laps...those missed intensity sessions...mmm. So I just played catch-up through the race and managed to finish 15th and 2nd South -African rider after Burry who finished second overall..,well done!!

I'd say super great job and thanks to Momentum Health and everyone else involved in presenting such a cool series that gave local talent the opportunity to gain some crucial UCI points! The future of XC racing in SA looks bright again and is rapidly on the rise! Cross Country mountain biking is tha bom!! :)

NOW....we'll stay in Maritzburg for the whole week and I'll spend some more time on the WC track and I will get my head in the game......and Line' will do my UNISA assignment that has to be in by Monday...... ;)                     

After Sabie we spent two busy days in Pretoria.., on the Monday I had a photo-shoot scheduled for Wahoo fitness www.wahoofitness.co.za and on the Tuesday Line' and I spent most of the day meeting with sponsors. Picked up our new adidas eyewear from Moscon optics..,support your vision...,also got tyres from Continental, more Evoc traveling gear (propper stuff!!) and I made the conversion to Bryton (GPS cycling computer), finaly time to get some real direction! I will post reviews on all the goodies later as I go along...  

Between all this I did spend some time on the TT bike...3 days was not enough though...it's a total different story taking that beast on a coffee ride and having to put down serious power for 50 minutes at SA champs! I was in pain after the race..,my muscles weren't use to working that hard in this TT position. I finished 14th...,I learned allot and will definitely try again next year and be better prepared! Big thanks to Dragon sports (Giant) for organizing the bike and thanks Chris Willemse Cycles for putting the puzzle together and for the fast wheel-set...and ASG for the sleek TT helmet!

After TT champs in Nelspruit it was a long drive down to Karkloof for the second race of the Momentum Health international XCO series! Racing in KZN and in the beautiful Karkloof valley is always special to me! I only managed to do 3 training laps on the track. Okay......something thats not funny anymore is me crashing like it's a habit at the moment. I crashed at both of the previous races.., and then AGAIN in training on the Karkloof track a day before the race! I think it was just me being overtired and not focusing 100%..clipped a tree-stump and went flying over the bars again....at the moment I think I cracked a rib...buutttt..my opinion counts for nothing ;) I like the idea of saying that, because I feel battered...and it sounds more hardcore..None of this is something that Line' and KT tape can't fix!           

A strong field in the race with a few international riders preparing for the WC. I started a bit to hard and had a slight gap on the rest going into the second lap, didn't like the fact that the French rider was leading this local race, but had to tap it down slightly. I got into a good rhythm by the 3rd lap and by this time James and I had broken away. I lost some time after inflating my rear wheel in the 4th lap and dropped down into 2nd. On the second last lap I had a gap on James again and managed to win the race!! Strong fight by James! Oh and the international riders on their 26” hard-tails did not stand a chance against my 29er Giant on this track! KZN cycling doing a great job for cross country racing! Thanks for all the support form friends, family and team! Much appreciated..although I don't always acknowledge it..busy times!

Now I'm back in Cape Town again for some recuperation, not for the Argus!! Then off to KZN again on Thursday for a week until The Rocky Roads UCI World Cup. My first big important race of the year! http://www.mtbworldcupsa.co.za/

Thanks Line' for all the support and putting up with me for the past time..,good news, another 2 weeks of serious racing ahead.., then I think it's time for a short holiday from racing... :)  Maybe a quick hunting trip...ek soek bos en plaas!!