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i strongly welcomed my first easy week in awhile this week after good blocks of training and racing.cherise and i chilled out in cape town for the week and stayed at the classy breakwater protea hotel right at the heart of the amous v&a waterfront.on wendnesday i even had my first non painfull massage at a spa.

on friday we hung out with the folks at oakley and then headed to stellenbosch for bobby behans wedding to christine markgraaf.bobby is a close firiend and heads up specialized in sa.the ceremony was at a beautiful church in kerk straat and the reception followed at the spectacular val de vie estate complete with excebition polo match.also a first for me.

this was where the week got a bit higher paced.we got to bed at 12pm on friday night and i caught a flight at 7am on saturday to fly back to durban.the reason was to race at the kzn momentum xco race at cascades in pietermaritzburg that kicked off at 12 30.the course is the same one we will race at the opening of the world cup series this weekend so a good ride was vital.

i had a bad start which was dissapointing but felt great once i found my legs.i caught up to the leader after 2 laps chasing back from being a minute down at one stage.nino schurter and i rode off the front and as he had swisspower team mate florian vogel chasing it was up to me to set a pace.i was content as i knew the race was ultimately one where i just wanted to test my shape.it came down to the last climb of the race hwere nini got a small gap on me and i finished 6 seconds down on the swiss.i was very happy with how i rode and hope to go one better next weekend.

on sunday it was cherises turn down in the cape.she kicked off her argus at 6 25 so i was pretty much glued to the tv early on a sunday.their race came down to a carzy bunch sprint in which half the leaders went down.she was also one of the unlucky ones and had a bad crash.she is fortunately okay and back home,at the physio as i write this.thanks to all for the well wishes she received!

this week is the big one.the first round of the mtb world cup and the reason for all the hard work.

i hope i have some good news next week!

cheers