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this weekend saw me racing my mtb for the first time this year at a brand new event on the calendar.the series named xcosa is just that,a series focusing on the development of cross-country mountain biking.a discipline which lacks attention in south-africa.

the course was set in the picturesque fountains valley which borders on the groenkloof nature reserve.its a venue ive raced at for years and one which i always thoroughly enjoy.

as it is a development series the aim is to build fun courses and encourage newcomers to the sport.this meant the course on saturday was flat,fast and the racing super close.hometown favourite phillip buys was in great form and i knew with that type of track it was going to be hard to drop the team contego rider.at the start of the race it was brendon davids(sho-air specialized)who set the pace until james reid (team 360) put the hammer down.it wasnt long before only james,phillip and i remained at the front.at the end of the second lap i had a loose piece of mud fling up under my eyewear and hit me in the eye,worst still was that i was in the middle of negotiating a slippery corner and went completely of course.after composing myself i chased back and as i latched onto james' wheel the flying youngster unfortunately suffered a cut tyre.this meant that for the remainder of the race it would be me vs phill and man did i try everything to drop the local man.the climbs were just not long enough for me to get any sizeable gap and at the end it was quite tactical.i knew going into the last singletrack was vital and put in a big effort on the last rise to do so.i managed to win but only just.im excited to see other younger riders working so hard at xc and hungry to up the level of racing.

this week is a busy one for me training wise and ill get to do some work on the world cup course in pmb mid weak.it will be good preperation to fine tune my form over the next month.

till next week

cheers

burry