.

mtn marathon tulbagh,110km,2400m asl

2012-02-20T00:24:00.000-08:00

after racing in the first round of the sa xco series i decided to stay in stellenbosch to do some solid training and race the second round of the national marathon series in the small town of tulbagh.the weeks training went great and i managed to put out some great numbers.i was realy tired mid week and in need of some serious recovery.our teams sougneur(physio) put me back together and my legs were feeling better on friday.unfortunately i had contracted a slight head cold so i was spending most of the day drowning myself with vit c supplements.as the race would start around 7am on saturday it meant a 4 am wake up so i tried to get to bed early but my sleep was interupted by drug free sport.the did a blood and urine test and as i had too much water during the day i needed to provide another sample.this meant i finaly got to bed at 11pm...

everything went smoothly on saturday with dylan(specialized mechanic) picking us up from the guest farm and making sure we got to tulbagh on time and ready to rock.the race kicked of pretty easy as we followed the epic route from last year.as we hit the first climb at around 10km in the pace heated up quickly.over the top of the climb it was max knox (decca-ghost) leading the race with myself and kevin evans(360-life) trailing a few seconds back.alittle further back david george,adrien niyonshuti and jaques rossouw also chasing hard and getting back to us.at around the 40km mark we all regrouped and the paced eased until 40km to go.kevin and i drilled it at this point and only jaques and david followed suit.as we hit the last climbs which i totaly underestimated,kevin upped the pace and i struggled alittle with cramp at first before finding my legs on the second climb of 4.soon it was just kevin and at the front and with 10km to go it was going to come down to a sprint.in the last few kms jaques was closing in.kevin lead out the sprint and i only just managed to come by him at the end and take the win.thanks to dylan for all the support out there.my bike worked awesome.

im now back at home and doing my last bit of tuning up for the season ahead.

ciao

burry

sa xco round 1,durbanville

2012-02-13T08:40:00.001-08:00

this weekend saw the running of the first round of sa's xc series down in the cape.the turnout was realy good and the racing super serious.as were in an olympic year there are alot of riders wanting to claim our second olympic spot and offcourse i want to prove that i deserve mine.philip buys was a tough competitor once again and as he had some good training on the course,alittle faster on the dh sections than me.i knew that the race was going to be tough towards the end and bided my time.i raced smart and made no mistakes.on the 4th lap out of 7 on the tough 4.6km track i attacked on the main climbing section.as philip seemed alittle spent by this stage i eased into a solid lead.i was super happy with my form as i had just recovered from a stomach bug that seems to be gripping the south coast.

ill remain in the cape this week as i prepare for the tulbagh mtn marathon over 110km.i do however also have some hard days of training,keeping the first world cup in mind.its only 1 month away!

till next week

ciao

burry

taking it easy

2012-02-06T21:44:00.001-08:00

after racing on pretoria last week i had an easier week of training with some long rides and an wesome restday on tuesday.awesome because i attended an audi high performance driving course at kyalami.its something ive wanted to do for somewhile and something that every driver on the roads should do.

later in the week i headed down to pmb for a recce of the world cup track.the course is totally different to last years event and will now include even more climbing.its going to hurt!!!

i noticed below average power when i was training the course and a stomach bug serfaced over the weekend,.this meant i spent some quality time resting and recovering.

last week was also a big one as i decided to open another Concept Cyclery bike store,this time right in Shelly Beach.We hope to kick off in a months time and will also roll out our mtb and road club across the South Coast!

till next week

keep safe out there

cheers

burry

round 1,xcosa series

2012-01-30T05:17:00.000-08:00

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

im back online

2012-01-23T05:59:00.000-08:00

its been awhile...

after last years season came to an end,cherise and i had a awesome time in mauritius before returning home and resuming training in december.its been great to work with our new coach jeroen swart aswell as getting in the gym with richard woolrich,something ive never realy done before.training went well and we had a blessded festive season with friends and family.this past weeknd we got back to racing...

kzn road championships

for the second year now, ive used kzn road champs as my season opener.its always nice to see what all the training over december amounts to in a race and i was quite happy to see how my form has come along.

this years race saw us tackle a loop on the m19 road that runs between westville and hillcrest.the road was fully closed for the race and the organisers did an awesome job in setting up a safe but challenging route.the elite men were up for 126km and with team 360 life up form cape town i knew it would be a hard tactical battle.

on race day the weather was pretty typical for that part of the world as it was rainy but still very hot and humid.the race started fast with the first attacks going on the first few laps.the pace remained pretty hard for the whole race but it all came down to the last two laps.i was waiting for 360 life to make the first move as they were represented by 3 riders and had the advantage.kevin evans made the move with around 20km to go and i reacted immediately and got on the wheel.we worked well together until 1 lap to go when david george and james reid also escaped from the bunch.this put kevin in a nice position as he was happy to sit on and wait for his team mates.i wasnt going to let that happen and just put my head down.i figured second was better than having to cover three guys on the last lap.i managed to open the gap enoug to be able to sit up and recover on the last climb.evans allowed me to recover alittle too much and as he kicked for the finish climb i still had enough to get back to his wheel and come around him at the line to take my second kzn title!

cherise had a stormin ride in the tt and won the ladies.she opted to race our cat on sunday to get some hard training in as she leaves for quatar pretty soon.

this weekend sees us racing up in the highveld.

till next week

cheers

burry

hil2hill

2011-09-19T00:20:00.000-07:00

the 2011 running of the 105km marathon running between hilton and hilcrest took place in very hot conditions over the weekend.although my training has started to slip alittle as we near the end of the season and i have a proper break.i still have good shape from the training i did for world champs and was eager to put it to good use.

my shop concept cyclery was also a sponsor of the event so it was an important weeknd for me all round.i travelled up n saturday to get my bike tuned at the shop and then on to pmb as the race was kicking off at a very early 6am on sunday morning.

the route was pretty similar as in the past but with alot of added singletrack.the first long descent from hilton to pmb is now all singletrack and alot of fun.from pmb there was some easy roads to get the avg speed up before the hard work starts around the halfway mark.

at the front of the race we were a group of around 8 for most of the day untill we hit the notorious batletts climb from with 30km remaining in the race.i knew this would be a realy decisive part in the race and stayed very attentive.brandon stewardt made the first move and then i sort off countered on top.only the 360-life guys stayed with us untill we reached the singletrack descent.on the steep rise as we entered the singletrack i made a move and got a small gap which i stretched from there on out.i had great legs for the last hour and just my head down to win in 3hrs 55min and 43 sec.its been a long time since ive raced for that amount off time and i defnitely relied on my usn bcaa vitargo heavily as it was super hot out.

this weekend ill be racing in hilton again.this time in the last round of the mtn series.i hear the 110km route is very tough so it should be a good one.

cheers

freeriding in zermatt

2011-09-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

after world champs i had the opportunity to ride in the swiss alps,in the small villag eof zermatt to be exact.upon arrival it was clear that the town was rather special.the only way to get there was by taxi or train as cars arent allowed,well no petrol ones.the town is littered with little electric boxes with wheels that zip up and down the narrow streets carrying everything from bulding supplies to tourists.the main attraction offcourse has to be the matterhorn peak that forms a magnificent backdrop.the surrounding mountains werent too shabby either and i was excited to get out there and ride!

i did however still have a very swollen and cut arm from the world champs and i had to nurse it through the trip which was a small hurdle in an otherwise perfect week.specialized braught a whole range of the new stumpjumper bikes and set us up in a super lux hotel.we were up early in the mornings to do some filming for the new bike and then spent most off the day at altitude ripping down all the technical tracks.

i even got in some pretty decent training which is good as i am racing the hill2hill this year and its coming up this weekend.on sunday gone past it was the lynford classic and i just made it home in time to take part.the course was quite hard but had alot of fun singletrack.the heat was quite a shock to my system as temps rose to 38c!

its great to see so many guys out riding on the tracks and roads.its a good sign for the summer ahead!

till next week,keep it safe out there!

cheers

burry

world champs 2011

2011-09-06T01:37:00.000-07:00

the world champs took place in the small alpine village of champery in switzerland over the weekend.its a venue that i have enjoyed in recent years and the track is awesome.

in the relay i had a great ride with team sa and i anchored us home with the fastest full lap of the course of the event.we ended up 11th,just 2 sec of 10th!this gave me great motivation for my race on saturday.

the weather looked grim as we took to the line on saturday afternoon and kicked off at 4 30pm.i had a bad start and found myself mid twenties after the start loop.i did however have great legs again and soon moved into 7th.there was a lead group of 6 that got away while i was stuck in the pack but as they were fading i was realing some of them in.at the end of the third lap it started to rain quite heavily.at first i wasnt affexcted on the technical stuff in the woods but as i crossed a bridge on an open section of the track i made a huge judgement error.i slid on the slippery wood and hit the metal side of the bridge realy hard.

i injured my arm quite badly and broke the cockpit in the process.my race was over...

its been a hard few days for me to get over the dissapointment.the whole season just didnt seem to go my way,however hard i tried.i learnt alot and im still motivated as ever.

pietermaritzurg wc is lest than 6 months away...

cheers

burry

world championships prep and bern night race

2011-08-30T00:14:00.000-07:00

bern night race and worlds prep.

for the last week and half weve been staying in champery,the venue for this years world championships.weve been staying together as a team and the accomodation very comfortable.after a good few days training,cherise joined me aswell.

on thursday we decided to do the swiss bike trophy in bern.the course was alot more technically and scarier than we thaught it would be.the race took place around the parliament building and comprised mostly urban features.add to this torentual rain and darkness at 8 15pm.

i took it easy at the start and rode mid pack for a few laps before finding a comfortable grip limit.i moved up all race and eventualy finished 3rd behind tomas litcher(felt/x-bionic) and florian volgel(scott-swisspower)

after the race we drove home and got to bed at around 2am.it was a good training ride and man the prize money at the race was good!

we got some brand new bikes for the world championships coming up this saturday and everyone on the team is super motivated.

till next week

cheers

burry

world cup finals,val de sol,italy

2011-08-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

for another weekend things didnt go my way.finally i felt strong all race long but unfortunately snapped my chain right off the startline and conceded 3min to fix it.i got going quite nicely and faught past as many riders as i could to finish 23 rd after rolling through the start finish 121st on the start lap.

the course in val de sol fortunately had alot of climbing and with some good shape and a superlight specialized stumpy 29er i managed to pass guys frequently througout the race.jaroslav proved too strong for the field once again onboard his epic and powered to his 5th race win of the season.

this week we head to champery in switzerland to do 2 weeks of prep for the world championships on the 4th of september.

ciao

burry

nove-mesto na morave,czech republic

2011-08-16T01:02:00.000-07:00

the brand new venue on this years world cup calendar welcomed us with some pretty awesome hospitality.the organisation was serious and so were the fans.not only where they there to get behind their local hero jaroslav but they were also super supportive of every rider out there.

the course was also a highlight.it was super rooty the whole way round with some steep climbs and big rocks thrown in for good measure.at only 4.2km and loads of turns it made for a great spectacle.

i had a pretty smooth trip over from sa and had a good week leading up to the race.i was onboard my trustee specialized epic 29er and i was feeling solid on the track.

we kicked of at 2pm on sunday with a very long start lap.i had a good pull and was sitting in around 5th-10th and moving up ahead of the first singletrack.unfortunately tow guys hit the deck right infront of me forcing me to stop and get passed by 10 riders.i didnt panic and was soon back into a good rythm.meanwhile jaroslav had already attacked off the front and was opening up a lead.

on the first full lap i pulled back some good places and got into a group that was fighting for 5th through 13th.on the second lap i got past these guys mid way through and feeling comfortable whilst moving cloaser towards the top 3.at the end of this lap however i made a slight mistake and ended up dropping my chain.it got alittle stuck and meant i was in 12th after i got it going again.i was still focussed and started moving up yet again until i got some bad signs midway through lap 3.my body started to shut down and there wasnt anything i could do.i limped home the rest of the race and just tried to stay as high up as i could eventualy ending in 19th.

ive been trying to figure out what happened and still have no clue.atleast i have a shot at redeeming myslef this weekend before we head to the world championships in two weeks time.

jara had the support and delivered on his 2012 epic 29er!

no 1 team !

pics courtesy of countryman garry perkin at www.flipper.co.za

as always a big thanks to team specialized and my other sponsors for the support!

ciao

burry

final prep

2011-08-08T00:36:00.000-07:00

final preperations.

the hard training continued this week with alot of focus on intensity.my big races start next weekend with a world cup in the czech rebublic.the weather has been a bit challenging still and i realy had to force the motivation some days.nevertheless im happy with the work ive done.

on sunday i headed to eston to do a smaller training race and get some suffering done as my legs were realy tired from the hard training.the race was only 60km long and very fast.the pace was realy good and our local sa pros are at a high level right now.we were a group of three heading to the finsh at 5km to go.i felt better and better as the race went on and was trying to break clear on the last 10km.at 5km to go however i struck something in some tall grass we were riding through and and went down fast.my handlebar stuck into the ground and snapped from the impact.i picked myself up and decided to just consolidate to the finsh and ended up 3rd.the victory was taken by brandon stewardt and phillip buys sprinted ahead of me for 2nd.

golfing on the south coast was pretty challenging too last week and i only got to play twice in some knarly wind to boot. ill now have to pack the clubs away with all the racing over the next month.

i have a good recovery week leading up to the world cup now and fly to europe on tuesday evening.

cheers

burry

training in the cold

2011-08-01T23:02:00.000-07:00

now i know the last week hasnt been cold and miserable at all,when it comes to european standards but it still wasnt exactly pleasant.i dont mind rain too much and i dont mind wind to bad either,but combine the two and id rather be in bed than out on my bike training.

as world championships is fast approaching i put my head down and got some great training done despite the climate.most days,once you get going its not too bad and over the weekend the weather improved.this week will have some more intense days for me followed by some major resting and hopefully a few rounds of golf.ill do the illovo eston mtb race this weekend as a warm up before heading to europe next week.

cheers

burry

getting back to work

2011-07-25T23:51:00.001-07:00

last week was a good one for me,training wise.the weather was awesome and my motivation got better as the week progressed.i feel like im now totally over the usa trip and my last couple of races.

on saturday i had a groupride at my shop.we bui;lt a new xc track in waterfall and will be using it for most of outrides.the course is a fun,twisty trail that runs continualy up and down a forested hillside.it is well suited to every skill level but has some optional sections for those wanting to push themselves alittle.for those wanting to check it out contact the shop concept cyclery at 031-762 1416.

the rest of the week was spent on the golf course.the courses around the south coast are perfect right now.the greens are rolling super quick and our fairways dont seem to die out in our moderate winter.we shall see what happens after the big rains this week.

this weekend i have more hard training to do before i get ready for my last big races of the year.ill do the illovo eston race as a warm up race next weekend before heading to europe.

cheers

burry

back

2011-07-18T23:13:00.000-07:00

that was one hell of a trip getting back to the rsa.my flight from atlanta to o.r tambo which is already 16hrs long got delayed on the runway for 4 hours after which we had to disembark and try again another 6 hours later.the saw mwe landing in jhb at 2 am on wednesday morning.luckily i had cherise waiting for me and i was in bed soon after.

on wednesday we decided to drive down to the south coast as i had just had enough of airportsand planes.it always makes one realize how incredibly lucky we are to live in such a picturesque country when you take a long drive.

ive been suffering from jetlag quite badly this week so im taking it easy on the training front for now.i did however make the trip to pmb to race the kzn champs.the course layout was realy cool.we rode most of the stuff from the world cup backwards,except for the rockgardens offcourse!i had a slow start but got firing about midway through the race.cherise raced her mtb for a change aswell.as we didnt pre ride the course she unknowingly launched a big drop and picked up a few bruises moments later...

i have another easy/transition week and then i get back into serious training for the last important races of the season.im hoping i can work on my golf game in the meantime.

cheers

burry

world cup round 5,windham ny

2011-07-11T05:23:00.000-07:00

windham again played host to our american round on the uci world cup tour.the venue was great as it was last year and coupled with great weather,4th of july celebrations and a good vibe in the team we, we had a great week.the course had the same layout as we raced on last year aswell.a 3km stretch of mostly uphill saw us ascend 200m per lap and then followed by a 2km downhill section that popped in and out of some technical,rough and slippery singletrack.

we kicked of at 2 30pm on saturday which meant on the first lap we felt allittle heat.i had a bad start as there was some confusion with the starters gun at the start.i rode most of the first climb in the 20s and making sure to not go too deep in the red.this payed off as i moved rapidly forward on lap 2 and by lap 3 i was up with the chase group fighting for second.jaroslav proved once again that he is the man of the moment and lead from the front for the entire race once again.

christoph and i fought out the other podium positions with nino schurter and marco fontana in the end.christoph attacked super hard on the last lap and i just could hold the wheels.i had to settle for 4th as he raced on for 3rd.

it was an incredible team for our team after all the hard work the mechanics and sougneurs put in.we once again won the team competition and leave north america with jara in 1st,me in 4th,suzi in 8thand todd in 16th on the world cup rankings.its now back home as i prepare for the last few world cups and the big one which is world champs in switzerland.

for pictures and videos of the race check out www.i-am-specialized.com

cheers

burry

world cup round 4,mont st anne

2011-07-05T05:27:00.000-07:00

since the long arduous travel to canada i spent most of the week recovering and getting familiar with the wet and technical course that we were to race on over the weekend.the weather all week was pretty gloom but it was fun riding on the course.the lap was similar to last year,it was just abit rougher and more slippery.

the sun came out and i was expecting the course dry up immensly for our race,in the woods however,it stayed supper boggy.i made a slight judgement error and went for our fastest,smoothest tire on the rear.

at the start i had great legs and lead up thefirst climb on the start loop.before we entered the first singletrack jaroslav,florian vogel and nino schurter snuck by me entering the woods.jaroslav killed the first section and soon had a gap on us as we rode into each other a few times.

i was feeling great on the climbs and pedalling sections,but somehow unbalanced and wobbling on the technical stuff.on the third lap i was riding up the first big climb in 5th and making up good time before sliding out and crashing on the beatrice drop.i slipped down to 7th and would have to make up lost time agian.i never quite found my rythm on the technical but climbed well to end up in 6th,its not what id hope for but promising coming into windham this weekend.

jaroslav smashed the field to win by close on 2min.definitely inspirational for me going into the rest of the season!

cheers

burry

back on the road...

2011-06-28T05:20:00.001-07:00

its only been two weeks since i arrives home from a month long european campaign and im already on the road again...after another good week at home with mild weather and good training i caught my best friends wedding on the weekend.i was honoured to be craig pauls best man as he wed meghan.his childhood sweetheart!

on sunday i caught a flight to the usa and then onwards to canada on monday.the total trip was 33 hours and i was pretty shattered as i arrived on monday night.atleast the team spirit was high as christoph and jaroslav went 1 and 2 at sundays world marathon championships in italy.well done boys!

thsi weekend is the 4th round of the uci world cup xc series and the reason for all our serious travel.my season has been improving all the time and im looking forward to some good suffering on saturday...

cheers

burry

sa xco finals,jhb

2011-06-20T02:21:00.000-07:00

this weekend saw the rounding up of the sa xco series that started back in february this year.it was a good way for me to stay racing sharp admist all the hard training ive been logging recently.

jhb greeted us with some cool weather on thursday evening and things didnt seem to hear up much over the weekend.i got to ride the course abit on friday afternoon and it was one with many turns.it wasnt the hardest track but with so many blind corners you realy had to know what was coming up.on one section we even had to dodge "cane-rat-like" creatures running all over the course.as the course wasnt the toughest i knew it would be close racing and with my tired legs,very testing.

on saturday we kicked of at 12 and i had a great start.it wasnt long before marc bassingthwaite set the tempo with garmin-addidas team-mate hot on his heels.on the first single track climb phillip snuck by marc and i had to watch as he slowly pulled away.after the first tight descent i got around marc and used my swork 29ers big wheels to roll up to phillip on a fast bumpy section.towards the end of the lap james reid (mr price-bmc) joined us for a brief period.phillip and i took turns in leading and on a flattish course i knew it was going to be hard to get away from the ever improving garmin rider.the altitude was hurting aswell so i decide to make a move around midway through the race once i had found some comfort in my pedal strokes.at the start of lap 4 i surged on the climb and with some good pressure i got a small gap on phillip.i had to push realy hard all the way around to make sure it stuck.once the elastic snapped on the 5th lap i could get back to enjoying some hard training on the twisty singeltracks.

the event was well run and id like to send a big thank you to wendell,usn and all the sponsors,spectators and riders for turning up and making the event possible.

after the race we headed home as i love sleeping in my own bed mid-season.we got to listen to the sharks winning and i got to rub it in my bulls-supporting fathers face.speaking of which,i hope all the dads out there had a great day,mine was looking for his golf ball most of the day!

ciao

burry

stairs of prague

2011-06-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/10110938667-cyklistika/21147129184-prazske-schody/last week i made my first trip to prague and i have to say it was very much worth it.its an amazing city and a the race course they set up for us was very cool.we raced down the stairs infront of the prague castle and then up the cobbled street through the old town.

the race kicked of realy fast on monday evening and it wasnt long before we were a group of 5 racing around the 3minute circuit.the race comprised 60minutes plus one lap of maimal effort.after half way it was down to myslef,jaroslav kulhavy and jan skarntzl.in the end it came down to a long sprint in which i just got the better of specialized team mate jarosav and czech specialized rider jan.

on thursday cherise and i got to check out prague properly and we were joined by dylan and peter our team mechanic and soigneur.we hit all the tourist sights and lunch at the hard rock cafe.it was a serously good day and a nice way to take a day off.

on friday we were back on the road and started our journey back to sa.first a 5hr drive to frankfurt and then an 11hour flight which was delayed by 2hrs.once back in sa,we boarded our last flight to durban and made it home by 3pm on sat.

on sunday we lined up at the sardine mtb classic in port edward.it was super muddy but the weather on the day was great.the only thing better was the course.awesome job done by the bundu bashers.everyone had a blast.i had fairly decent legs and managed a comfortable ride to take the win ahead of james reed(bmc) and andrew hill.

this week is a big training one for me.im also hoping to have some legs left for saturdays sa xco leg at rietvlei,jhb.

cheers for now

burry

swiss cup,granichen

2011-06-07T01:26:00.001-07:00

i decided to stay in europe after the world cups to race in the stairs of prague race coming up this week.as it was near the last world cup cherise and i made the trip to granishen in switzerland aswell.ive always heard great things about the swiss cup so i was excited to give one a go.

we stayed in a town called aarau and wow the riding around there was incredible.after a few days of cold and wet conditions the skies cleared up and our stay became even more comfortable.

the course in granichen was harder than i expected.definitely on a much higher level than our national cup series back home.it was 4.5km long with 170m altitude gain per lap.we had 9 laps on the cards so that meant alot of steep climbing and alot of good tecnical descending mostly characterized by tight turns,drops and roots.

we kicked off at 2pm on sunday and i got of to a great start,heading into the single trail first at the top of a long pavement climb.soon we were four riders at the front,florian vogel(scott),balz webber(bmc),mathias stirneman(thomus).i was happy to try and lead all the dh sections and vogel paced alot on the climbs with me.at the end of the second lap we dropped balz but i had a small problem with my saddle coming loose.it kept moving forwards and backwards.at the end of the second lap i stopped to tighten it somewhat in the tech zone.i dropped 30sec behind and had a hard chase for three laps which included a tumble whilst taking some risks on the descents.i got back with less than three laps to go and vogel started testing us on the steep ascents in his home town race.mathias cracked first while i held on alittle longer.with a lap and a half to go i couldnt follow florians pace and settled in to my own rythm.on the last lap i closed back up to him and started the last half lap just 8 sec down,before having more trouble with the seat sliding the whole way back.i settled for 2nd and was happy with another solid result in europe.thanks to all the organisers and fans of the swiss cup who were so helpfull over the weekend.

on monday cherise and i drove 750km to prague and upon arrival walked around for about 4hours.a realy interesting city on which ill elaborate more later.im realy looking forward to the stairs race on wednesday before flying home to do the sardine classic back home on sunday!

till next week...

burry

world cup 3,offenburg,germany

2011-05-30T01:07:00.000-07:00

photos courtesy of gary perkin, flipper.co.za
the third round of the world cup took place in germany this past weekend.the course is one of my favourites as i got my first top 10 ever here 3 years ago.the week started with a huge travel so that we could ride the olympic track so on tuesday i had a proper rest day.no training,lunch pool side and lots of sleep made sure i was energized for the rest of the weeks preperations.

the course was the same as in the last 5 years.it has numerous legendary sections like "the dual track" ."wolf drop and the "snake pit".these are all tied together by some tough climbs with loads of switch backs.in total the course was 6.4km long and we had 7 laps plus one start loop on the cards.

i started on the first row this week but had the last call as to where i wanted to start on it.this meant i had a garden to race through before getting onto any sort of racing line.my starts arent realy my strength and this didnt help.after the start loop i came through in about 20th position and had lots of work to do on the first lap.i was making good ground on the downhills aboard my new stumjumper 29er with on the fly brain fade adjust.a great feature on the long rough sections.as i came through the start/finish i was in 10th just 14 seconds off the lead group.i pushed hard and joined the group at the end of the 2nd lap and we were now 9 riders at the front.i went to the front and tried to set myown pace for a lap.this was good as it allowed me to recover from my bad start somewhat.this was short lived as absalon attacked on lap 3 and made the decisive move.in the end it was absalon setting the pace.jaroslav 30 sec behind with myself and maxime marotte fighting for third over the last two laps.on the last lap i had to concede and rode home in 4th.a good day for me and a big confidence builder.im getting back to full health and feel faster everyweek.

this week i head to zurich for a swisscup with cherise before tackling the stairs of prague next week.

cheers

burry

world cup round 2,slightly better

2011-05-24T01:52:00.000-07:00

the winning machine.well done jara!

specialized racing,winners of the team comp...again!

thats a good line-up!

dalby forrest,uk played host to the 2nd round of the uci mtb world cup this weekend.specialized racing was there in full force and after a smooth trip from sa on tuesday evening i met up with the team.

the weather was typically uk in that it was pretty freezing for a kzn boy.i also soon developed a head cold wich wasnt fun.luckily for me we got some great winter gear from specialized so was keeping warm during training.the team worked hard all week and our bikes were dialed on race day.i chose a 7.2kg specialized stumpjumper on renegade tread for the weekends battle and felt good on the track leading into the race.

on sunday we kicked off in what felt like gale force winds.team mate jaroslav kulhavy piloted his 29er s-works epic off the front off the lead group immidiately while the rest of team specialized were hanging around 10-15th.suzie ,todd and i soon moved up and found ourselves in the group fighting for third place.i was feeling pretty solid but felt i lacked max breathing capacity.on the courses many technical descent kulhavy kept stretching his gap while we kept fighting hard in the group.

on the last lap i started to feel the pace alittle and lost the group.i dug deep and manged to hold onto 7th.it wasnt a great day for me but it wasnt the worst.for our team however it was an awesome day!thanks goes to benno,dylan,peter,sandy,jhonny,claire and myron for supporting us althrough these tough weeks.the moral in the team is quite incredible and were all pumped for this weeks upcomin wc in offenberg,germany.

after the race,todd and i drove down to the olympic mtb course in essex.i wasnt expecting much from the videos i had seen before but was pleasantly surprised and with a bit more natural deterioration of the surface,its going to be a great olympic course.once we were done training we caught three trains to heathrow,a flight to frankfurt and then a 2hr train to offenburg before finaly ending the roadtrip at around 12pm.it was a day to remember...

cheers

burry

world cup round 1,pmb

2011-04-25T23:20:00.001-07:00

world cup round 1,pietermaritzburg

over the last few weeks,it seemed my whole life was geared towards this weekends world cup opener in pmb.its is the only home round of the series and i was eager to perform.preperation went realy well and i had recovered from epic.

the team arrived early this week and the vibe between the team with a few new additions was great.i did my normal pre world cup routine and had a good time hanging with my team mates.

the elite men kicked off at 2 30pm on saturday with a very strong field.the first round is important as it dictates the starting grid at round 2.i started on the second row and got off the line great.my 29er stumpy rolled straight past a few riders before the first turn and i was up into 4th early on.i stayed there for almost the entire first lap before sliding out on an easy corner just before starting lap 2.i was up quick and back with the leaders very soon.unfortunately i soon realized my deraileur was bent realy badly and i couldnt use my top three gears.i stopped and tried to bend it straight which helped alittle and i mostly had trouble with the top gear.this was an issue as i only run one ring on the front and this meant i had to run up the steepest climbs on every lap.i lost time from here on out and on the last lap was sitting comfortably in 9th.however a judgement error on the last tricky rock garden sent me flying over the handlebars.i eventualy limped home for 11th.

it definitely wasnt the race i was hoping for,i felt i had great legs and should have pulled of a good result,but thats mountain bike racing.i now have three weeks to prepare and re focus before round 2 in england.

thanks to the team and all the supporters out there!

ciao

burry

world cup round 1,pmb

2011-04-25T23:20:00.000-07:00

karkloof classic

2011-04-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

this weekend saw the running of the annual karkloof mtb classic.with some weary legs i decided to only race the xc race and thus kick my legs back into action without fatiguing them further. i had a great start and rode away with phillip buys at the end of the first lap.we stayed together for most of the very technical and challenging race.with two laps to go i got a small gap and held it to the finish.i was quite spent at the end and realy had to reach for some usn bottles after. this week ill try to recover and eat some more,my mouth is finally allowing me to do so.at the weekend our specialized team will race in the sa cup run on the same track as next weekends opening round of the world cup in pmb, hope to see you there cheers burry

absa cape epic 2011

2011-04-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

the biggest mountainbike stage race in the world takes place right here in south africa.the race kicked off in 2003 and in the last 8 years has caught peoples attention around the world. due to the fact that this race has become so big it has become a big goal for me to win the race.christoph sauser and i returned for our fourth try this year after we have been so close to winning it in the past before seccumbing to bad luck and incident. this year we were again in the coulours of songo.info and specialized bikes we got an added boost in a new sponser 36One Asset management,just days before the event.

prologue,tokai forrest,cape town 27km position 1st the race once again kicked of with a prologue on the mountain slopes of the tokai forrest in cape town.the course had some major climbing coupled with super fun and technical singletrack.we had a great day out and managed to secure the win and a time gap of 1min 40 going into the first long stage. stage 1 tulbagh-tulbagh 89km. the first stage may not have been the longest ever but wow was it hard.with steep technical xc type riding for the first 70km it was hard going .as the course suited us very well suzi and i pushed the pace for most of the day.on the last hard climb with 20km to go we rode away alone and held a minute lead to the swiss stockli team on the finish line.

stage 2 tulbagh-tulbagh 119km stage 2 started just a fraction slower as by now the legs were truly in recovery mode.once the sun came out and we hit the first climb with 1000m of vertical ascent we were back on the gas.at the top we were a big group with around 10 teams setting the pace.the day was charactarized by a bunch of short steep climbs from here on and it was on these that more and more teams fell off the pace.by the time we hit the last climb we again rode away.on the long tretcherous descent back to the lower valley we rode cautiously and got joined by two teams.merida biking and trek world racing joined us briefely before we attacked them again towards the end.we secured our 3rd stage win and alos stretched our lead.

stage 3 tulbagh-worcester 115km by far the hardest day in this years absa cape epic.altough we didnt have the biggest climbs to contend with we did have the roughest terrain.the specialized epic 29ers we were riding helped us tremendously on the stage and in the end rode away from the field with merida biking the only team to hang to the finish.we gifted them the stage win and consolidated our lead.

stage 4 time trial worcester-worcester 32km my favourite stage of the epic is the time trial and this year was no difference.i had great legs on the day and we managed to catch aal the teams starting ahead of us who were still in the fight for the overall.we secured our fourth stage with no mishaps and again stretched our lead.

stage 5 worcester-oak valley 145km so the longest stage this year turned out to be one of the easiest.for the first ime in this years epic we cruised along in a big bunch for the first 100km.the trek-milka team were off the front in a break away and at one stage the gap was up to 4min.however at the 100km mark we hit the notorious groenlandberg climb and the race exploded.first the bulls put the hammer down followed by the merida biking riders.christoph and i bided our time well and when the other riders slowed we hit the front.we got over the front with merida and then were joined on the long descent by trek-wc.we then attacked the rest with 5km to go and won our 5th stage.our total lead was now up to over 8min.

stage 6 oak valley-oak valley 127km stage 6 was the stage with the most climbing in this years race.with a total of 2700m.this meant a very hard day out and after 5hours of very hard racing we managed another 2nd place.world champion jose hermida and swiss tem mate ralph naef of multivan merida got a gap on us in the last 10km but we still managed to extend our overall lead to just under 11 minutes! the climbing was definitely worth all the climbing on day 6 and it was a day to remember.

stage 7 oak valley-lourensford 65km the final stage is usualy seen as a bit of a celeblatory ride to finish of the tour.however with 1800m of climbing suzi and i remained very focused.it was a good thing too as we had our first flat tire of the race very early on and had to chase back to the lead group for most of the days climbing.as we reached the group we realized that our main rivals,the merida biking team had attacked and were still 4min ahead.we set off after them again and managed to get them within sight with 20km to go.thats where we decided to relax and enjoy our achievement.cruising into lourensford and finally winning the epic was one of my career highlights.the south african support behind this race is tremendous and im very proud to have become the first south african to win. our specialized team crew worked realy hard this week and id like to say a big thanks to dylan van der merwe and pieter wehmeier.you guys carried us through!

cheerio

burry

sa marathon champs

2011-03-22T02:44:00.000-07:00

sa marathon championships,inanda dam kzn

racing an important race close to home is always great.this week i got to do just that as the 2011 sa marathon champs were held in the inanda valley and i only needed to spend one night away from my own bed.

on monday we did some important tire testing n stellenbosch before cherise and i may the big trek back home.flying the day after the cape argus is not the most pleasant thing ive ever done.we landed late on monday night but only received our bikes on wednesday.

i drove up to the valley on thursday to ride the course and after a long 6hours of riding we made our way around.the course was going to be tough ,but loads of fun.with loads of climbing and fast,flowing singletrack it was going to be a real mtbikers course.

the race kicked off quite steady on sunday with a few of the younger guys pushing the pace early on.the lead group formed after around ten kilometers with just 7 riders.it stayed similar until the halfway mark when the real singletrack sections started.the race the split for good and soon it was myslef,phillip buys and kevin evans at the front.with about 30km to go we dislodged phillip buys and the fight would remain between myself an kevin.i felt realy comfortable and had great legs on the day.my beefier specialized control renegade tires seemed to be rolling amazing aswell.

i was hoping to try and attack kevin near the end but it seemed the finish just came too quickly.i shifted my focus to winning in the sprint and after 3hrs 25min i managed do just that.it felt great to win my second sa title in alittle more than a week.

the cape epic starts this weekend and the form seems to be good.im realy looking forward to racing around the cape with team mate sauser.

cheers

burry

african champs,jonkershoek,stellenbosch

2011-02-14T01:08:00.000-08:00

african cross country championships

the past weekend saw africas best line up in jonkershoek,stellencosch in a fight to secure vital points for the london olympic games next year. for me it was important to secure maximum points as it will determine my starting point in that same race.

as i arrived in stellenbosch on thursday i got to meet up with some of the factory specialized crew for lunch before a much needed massage.in the afternoon dylan(mechanic) and i hit jonkershoek for some practice laps on the newly built circuit.i had received my new 29inch wheeled specialized epic and wow was it the perfect bike for this ultra rough track.the course was mostly uphill and rough for the first half and mostly downhill and rough for the rest.and i mean to say it was rough was an understatement!nevertheless i thaught the course was awesome and i looked forward to the race.

on friday anthony sinyard and i headed to the track for some laps.anthony is visiting in sa and doing some training before tackling the usa pro xct series this year and got to do the citizens race on sat ahead of the championships.also in the citizens race was merida pro ralph naef.

the pro men kicked of at 2pm and as it was last week,super hot!the pace was furious from the gun with renay groustra(gt-mr price) and phillip buys(garmin-addidas)sprinting up the road.i managed to tag on and get into the first singletrack in second.the pace dropped and i worked my way past renay in the first sandy/steep part.i pushed hard through the rocky singletrail to get a gap before the steepest climb.the course had gotten much rougher through the day racing and by the time we hit the climb it was almost unrideable.on the first lap i got up and solidified my gap.on the second lap the heat got to me alittle and i backed of alot.from lap 3 i was back on the gas and kept it smooth and steady to the end.i was having a great time on the epic 29er and letting it hang out in the turns.

after 1hr 42min i crossed the line and took my third african title.marc bassingthwaite(nam-garmin) took 2nd and phillip buys(rsa-garmin)3rd.thanks to everyone who came out and supported.we had some great riders and athletes supporting out there and the whole crew from www.songo.info.

on sunday i had a nice recovery ride with bobby(manager) the irishman and my dad in jonkershoek.we checked out some of the downhill before bobby dragged his stumpy over some rocks.the bike was fine,bobby was bruised...

im back in kzn for two weeks of hard eipc training right now,hope to see alot of people on the roads!

cheers

burry

sa road and time trial champs

2011-02-07T05:14:00.000-08:00

this week i got back to some real racing.cherise and i made the trip downto pe on monday with alot of luggage.its always hard to fly to an event like this as we had four bikes with us and loads of wheels,helmets etc.

on thursday the racing kicked off with the time trial and cherise had a cracker,winning the womans national title by 70 seconds over the 30km distance! i had a solid ride to place 5th,just 20seconds of the silver medal on a pan flat and windy course.

on saturday we took to a very hard road loop with 2 very steep 500m climbs.the loop was only 8.6 km long but had around 150m of verticle ascent per lap.the womans race was contested over ten laps and at the end it was cherise and team-mate merissa van der merwe against two girls from nashua-toyota.merissa won the title with cherise tacking the bronze medal for team usn.

our race kicked of at 1 30pm with the mercury hitting around 40c!after the first two laps it was obvious that the race was going to be one of attrition.the bunch witled down very quickly.after around 6 laps there were only about 40 guys left in the race and a break of 5 were up the road.as we approached lap 10 i was worried that the break was going to stay away and i made the racing hard on the climbs.it wasnt long before we had a select group going and the break came back with around 5 laps remaining.the real battle started with around 4 laps to go and i could feel the earlier efforts in my legs.the group split again and we were now 4 upfront.myself,christoff van heerden,darren lill and johan van zyl.we entered the last lap of 18 together and it was darren lill who made the first move.johan dropped first as christoff and i tried to respond.in the end darren got the best of us by 3 seconds and i managed to just edge out van heerden for the silver medal.

im realy happy with how my form is after just 6 weeks of training and i feel inspired for what lays ahead.i traveled back home on sunday and get to prepare my mtb for this weekends african continental champs in stellenbosch over the coming weekend.

cheers

burry

kzn road and tt champs

2011-01-24T22:23:00.000-08:00

this weekend was the first time i realy had to stretch my legs,i must say it felt great.training went well last week for most part and i was feeling good leading into the weekend.first up was the tt on saturday.we raced around the toyota test track close to eston for 40.5km.i started off realy fast and payed for it midway through before recovering and surging again near the end.my equipment worked great and ive realy been enjoying my tt sessions aboard the new specialized shiv 3.i finished the 40.5km in 52min 30 seconds giving me an average of 46.5kmh and my first tt win.

on sunday we arrived in eston with the rain pouring from the skies.with low moral i took to the start line for the 120km race.we were a good sized bunch with kzn's only pr team tasol/gt lining up with a full compliment of riders.in the first 30km there were loads of attacks as it kept pouring but everything seemed to stay together.i was determined to not let anything get away ans i was up for some good training so i made sure to set a high tempo at the front of the race.at around the 50km mark there was 2 riders off the front and with no one else willing to close the gap i drove hard on a long climb.by the top the group was split to just five and we soon joined the two up front.along umbumbulu road i gain forced the pace on a long climb and we entered the 10km van der merwes circuit with just four rider.myself,luke roberts,brandon stewardt and richard baxter entered the last 40km together and i could sense the fatigue in the group.as we hit the hard climb on the circuit i attacked and managed to open a gap on the other three.i slowly opened the gap until the elastic finally snapped and i got a good gap.i time trialed the last 35km to win my first kzn road champs.

thanks alot to westville cycling club for an awesome event!

ciao

burry

a new year...first blog

2011-01-10T22:42:00.000-08:00

man this site has been hurting,in a nutshell ive had an awesome off-season so far.i moved house,got my bike shop (concept cylery powered by burrystander)off the ground and training is going well.im now missing racing though and cant wait to get going with some road stuff soon.

happy new year to all,hope its a cracker for everybody

another solid week in the books...

rain,rain,rain and some more rain.my mtb got alittle dirty this week and i even had to sit out a few training sessions due to bad weather.rest is always good though and after some good rebuilding ive done some power workouts over the weekend.

this weekend sees the start of the racing calender in kzn.the first round of the lassen road series will kick off at van der merwes garage on sunday.also on the calendar is the kzn road and tt champs next week.for more info go to the kzn cycling website.

for the kzn tt champs ill be on a new shiv machine and also a new co-sponser from usn nutrition.the guys have realy come on board to support me this year.my specialized shiv 3 is currently stuck in customs but i hope it arrives soon as i have some work to do on it. big thanks to specialized for always hooking me up with the best gear.

thats all for this week.let hope the sunshine continues!

cheers

burry

2010-12-02T04:03:00.000-08:00

final event for 2010...

2010-11-22T06:07:00.000-08:00

the final event of the year took place in johannesburg on the weekend.the 94.7 cycle challenge that started in 1997 has grown to be the worlds 2nd biggest timed cycel race behind the cape argus.

for the last few years now a mtb race has been incorporated and has enjoyed alot of success.i always fit it in at the end of the year to give my sponsers one more good batch of publicity.this year i also tied it in with the launch of the first cycling concept store in south africa.concept cylery in melrose arch,a specialized concept store is the first of its kind in sa and ill soon be opening my own in waterfall,kzn.congrats to all involved,the store is spectacular!

joining me for the mtb race was cherise and specialized team mates dan hugo and conrad stoltz.conrad set a blistering pace from the gun but was soon slowed by a slow puncture.i dropped him my spares and tried to get a big lead as i knew the flat and fast nature would suit the powerful and inform "caveman"!around the halfway mark stoltz got back to me and i hung on for aslong as i could,in the end the 4times and current xterra champ powered away to take the win.i was happy with 2nd and look forward to gwetting fit again.cherise won and has shown awesome form over the last few weeks.

on sunday it was the big day for 24000 roadies as they took to streets of jhb.i followed the womans race as usual and witnessed cherise winning it for the first time.its a great way to end the season and payback usn who has realy backed her this year.

tommorow im back at home and will stay put until next year.cant wait!

cheers

burry

wines2whales

2010-11-15T23:44:00.001-08:00

another busy week in the books...after two days at home cherise and i headed down to cape town for the songo.info ride and dinner on wednesday nite.the event was a great success and thank you to all those who attended and showed their support.

on thursday i spent most of the day shooting in jonkershoek for the march issue of bicycling in which ill be the guest editor.gary flipper was behind the lens and did an awesome job as always.i also got to enjoy some singletrack which was in great shape.in the afternoon the songo.info group and i made our way to erinvale hotel in somerset west for the start of the wine2whales at lourensford.i was partnered up with johan roos and was looking forward to sseing the bunch from a difirent side.thanks to johan for putting up with me and supporting our cause.
the weekends riding was awesome and i got to enjoy all the cape epic routes without the pain.cherise and her usn team mate killed it in the womans section,winning overall.

on monday i met up with jeroen swart who put me through some paces.got some realy clear and helpfull feedback.im realy looking forward to working on my form for the upcoming season,but i have one more busy week and then a holiday one before i get going.

cheers

burry

a big week...off the bike

2010-11-08T10:55:00.000-08:00

this week i didnt get up to much riding but it was a very big week in my life.i did alot of work for my new concept cycling store in jhb which meant being stuck in traffic alot of the time.i did manage one or two very hot rides and a couple of runs.wow running hurts!
on friday we celebrated cherises 21st birthday with her family as we had to travel to bloemfontein for the ofm cycle classic on saturday which was realy on her birthday.i had a bit of a surprise up my sleeve and booked us into a serious hotel with all the romantic extras.i did all this as i proposed to cherise as we got there.to my excitement she said yes and is now my beatiful fiancee.
this week im back home for two days before heading to cape town for the wine2whales race.ill be riding in the colours of songo.info for another time this year.
ciao
burry

asishova

2010-10-25T11:14:00.000-07:00

after a fun weekends road riding it was time to get back onto the dirt.cherise and I did a couple of good training rides this week and got dirty on most occasions.unfortunatly i was struck down by a cold mid week and this not only made training hard but also slowed down my preperations for my new specialized concept store.

on saturday i felt a whole lot better and got my s-works 29er into race dress.cherise's bike also needed some love and i managed to get a spin in before we left to pmb. on the way there we stopped at the new store premises to do the final measuring,i think its going to look spectacular.i couldn't help checking out the pet store next door where i found the newest member of our familly,a boerboel who is now named "boet". it was perfect timing as we need a watch dog for our new house.

after some heavy rains we woke up to an overcast morning on sunday. the race kicked off pretty early and i was still strugeling to wake up on the start line around 8. i was pleased to see that cherise was prob gona be my bigest competition. it was an awesome day out with a great course good marking and awesome prize money. thanks to all involved. cherise did come in 2nd so i am going to have to start whatching my back.

i hope this week serves up some better weather and better health.

on a final note well done to fellow country man and specialized rider conrad (the cave man) stoltz for winning the xtera world championships for a record 4th time.

cheerio
burry

amashova-shova

2010-10-18T00:34:00.000-07:00

after a quick visit to jhb on my way back of france i got back home on wednesday.ive been pretty busy lately with setting up a specialized concept store in kzn.it is all starting to materialize and concept cyclery powered by burry stander will open its doors on dec 1st.

this weekend saw the running of the annual amashova cycle challenge.it kzn's biggest road race festival and is always a must do.on friday night i headed to moses mahbida sccer stadium for an indoor criterium.the race was super fun as we did 70 laps of a 700m odd technical circuit under the stadium.the racing was hard as we had sprint primes every 5laps which counted for points and the race would was to be decided on points only.i had some good sprints and ended in 3rd behind christoff van heerden(mtn) and arran brown(medscheme).well dont to the organizers for hosting the awesome event.

on sunday it was road race time.as always the route follows the legendary comrades marathon between pmb and durban.the race got off to a slow start and the real racing only started ant inchanga.i got involved in a few moves but they were all in vain as we knew 35km of downhill waited towards the end.the race came down to a bunch sprint and i managed a 5th place.well done to medscheme for their one-two.

this week ill have more relaxing time at home so i hope the weather is better and allows me to do some riding.on the weekend is the mtb version of the amashova.its the asishova and takes place at midmar dam in pmb.

cheers

burry

roc d'azur

2010-10-12T01:22:00.000-07:00

back to racing,even if it is considered holiday racing...after suffering badly in last years roc i wanted to realy prepare well for the event this year.unfortunately after world champs i just didnt have the time i needed.about a week ago i started doing some good rides and decided to focus on the event anyway.sometimes fresh legs go suprisingly well!

i got into nice on wednesday,met claire and lene and we were off to frejus.the town of frejus is alittle harbor town just about twenty km from st tropez.now ive lived on the coast my whole life and even so the beaches here are awesome.the weather unfortunately only played along for a few days before heavy winds came in and spoiled our party.

i did a few hard rides on the course to prepare and get used to my 29er again.the course was similar to last year,very rocky!i alos opted out of the marathon to save all my energy for the xc which is the main event on sunday.suz represented and got 2nd in a sprint.

it felt quite strange be nervous again on sunday morning.a serious field had turned up for the event and so did the spectators.the course was lined at the start and along most of the route aswell.speaking of starts,this course has my least favourite one of the year.we start on a 50m wide grass field for the first km and its absolute pain!!!the big wheels did make it somewhat easier over the bumpy tuffts tho

after just 10km we were a group of around 8 riders at the front and i managed to go with all the samll moves after that.it definitely wasnt a repeat of the suffer fest that was roc 2009.at around halfway we split into a group of five with marathon world champ alban lakata just howevering on and of the rear of the group.as we hit the beach florian vogel and i got a small gap on a chasing alban which wasnt long lived as the guy has imense power on the flat.it came down to a long power sprint in which alban got me by about half a wheel.with very little training over the last month i was stoked!!!

this week ill be back home and doing some road racing at the amashova crit and road race this weekend.

cheers

burry

enjoying spring at home

2010-10-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

man its been a long time since ive been home and had absolutely nothing to do!!!i was however carrying somke flu for most of this week wich was abit of a bummer.never the less i got to do all my favourite things.i drank huge loads of coffee,hung out friends,hit the beach,ran and even did some solid rides.

the coolest of these rides was on sunday.it was a pretty cool over cast day with minimal wind which made it perfect for some hard trail riding.i decided to ride the old hibiscus classic route which first took place in 1998 if i remember correctly.i was about 10 years old and it was our little clubs first attempt at putting on a race.on the morning of the inaugural event the rain came bucketing down and we figured it best to just cancel.little did we know that real mountainbikers dont cancel just because of alittle rain and the riders showed up in numbers at my parents farm.we had no choice but to forge ahead with myself and brother competing in the race aswell.it wasnt the norm for me to ride in wet conditions yet so i was suited to the max and even sported some tracksuit pants!

riding the route again after so many years ended up being such a cool experience and took me back to the days when the going in my opinion was realy hard!i couldnt think that a 10 year old could and would want to ride up and down some of those hills.the infamous "firebreak" section which was basically like a two wheeld version of russian roulette is now a sweet singletrack paradise due to some major quad bike excavating.i had loads of fun exploring those valleys and cant wait to spend more time out there in the summer!

tommorow(tuesday) i head out to my last event of the year.the roc d'azur festival in france.its a super cool race right on the beach,what more could i ask for?another higlight is the bmx supercross race race that takes place there aswell.acording to siphis nhlapos twitter its going to be the biggest supercross race ever.ill be in the stands cheering him on for sure!

also happening this weekend is the lake eland classic at oribi gorge.good luck to all the competitors.mind the elands!

cheers

burry

up in jhb

2010-09-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

i managed to put in a few good three hour rides at the start of this week and on wednesday said goodbye to cherise who flew to australia for the road world championships coming up next weekend.also on their trip is the commonwealth games in india which at this stage looks shaky.

i then booked into a hotel in sandton with oakley for the onesight clinic.onesight is an international organisation partnered with oakley to bring vision care to those in need around the world.i joined many of sa and the worlds top athletes to help out in the clinic for two days.

on thursday morning we headed into mamelodi(a township just outside pretoria)and arrived at a hospice hospital built by and amererican church.the rows of people were stagering and the enormity of the project was obvious.the goal was to provide 10 000 mamelodians with eye tests and then the appropriate spectacles aswell as a set of very fashionable oakley sunnies.

we got a crash course on every station inside the clinic and got to work.per day we had to try and move 1500 people through the building which meant that efficient flow was key.onesight has realy perfected the prosedure to such and extent that we were able to many many of the testing stations with no problem.by the end of the day i was rather tired.it is incredible that the volunteers there were up for 8days of the same.

after a great bon fire dinner among some wild cats in the bushveld i headed to oscar pistorius' house for a drink.the guy is truly and awesome athlete and an inspiring person.i was alo very impressed by is automobile collection including a prestine 67 mustang complete with chip fuse wheels!

on friday we hit the test stations again before heading into the township to do hospice visits.we got a taste of the many issues these hospice workers overcome to provide much needed care to those in need.it is realy awesome to see what a difference these people make and the passion with which they do their job.after we did some more work at the clinic before heading back to the lodge.we had another great dinner and even got to pose with a cheetah.

thanks to oakley sa and onesight for letting us help out,also thanks to davey weare for rooming with me over the few days.davey is a surfer from durban who has spent many years on the world tour.much respect.

this week i get back to training full on for a couple of days,or trying atleast.ive got a slight cold which im trying to shake which isnt ideal when you only have 8 days to get some form back.the event i need some of the form for is the roc d'azur bike festival in france coming up...

till next week...

burry

christophs diary from our trip to spain

2010-09-26T00:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/photos/freeriding-into-the-off-season

world travelling

2010-09-14T01:16:00.000-07:00

had a blast the last week after world champs.first i got to see specialized team mate sam hill win the world downhill champs and end off the world champs meeting.the party was also pretty good!

christoph,sam and i then all headed to montreal and spent a day checking out the city and doing some shopping before flying out at 5pm on tuesday afternoon.a 6hour trans-atlantic flight took us to zurich in switzerland where we took trains to christophs house in the swiss alps.we picked up some sweet specialized stumjumpers and spent the whole day on thursday freeriding.the downhills were incredible and sam couldnt get enough of all the steep climbing!haha

on friday we were back to flying,this time the destination was madrid,spain.we spent the weekend at specialized days.the event was organised by specialized spain and was basically a huge expo with us doing mtb and road group rides with the public.alberto contedor tagged along for the road ride aswell.the people of spain treated us so well.they are so psyched on racing and specialized there!on monday morning i flew home at 1 30am and am now looking forward to alittle rest and recovery before joining oakley and their programme called onesight to bring much needed spectacles to some disadvantaged communities in sa.

cheers

burry

bronzin it...

2010-09-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

it wasnt long ago that i stood next to the track in amzament staring at the pro riders flying by at the world champs...this years world championships has been a very exciting proposition for me ever since an after winning the u/23 world championships in canberra last year i set two optomistic goals for the 2010 season.i wanted to win a medal at both the marathon world championships and the xco world champs a month later.

last month i managed to achieve my first goal,however i knew i wasnt going to be as lucky at the xco champs with that sort of form.i went home,got re-focused and set about making it happen.after last weeks dissapointment in windham i knew i had some good shape and the motivation was sky high.

i have raced at mont st anne for a couple of years now and i think they did a great job of the course for this years worlds.the loop was shortened somewhat which meant we would do the two big climbs more often than before.the course also had the sweetest bridges ive ever ridden over.it was like a skatepark out there!

the specialized team did an awesome job again this week.our bikes had to be race ready not once,but twice this week as we had team realy on wednesday.i had a pretty solid lap in some traffic as sa had a third row call up.the rest of our sa team did a good job and we just missed the top 10 and ended 11th.

for bike setup this week i went for a single ring in the front.a 34tooth rotor ring mounted to a specialized carbon road spider did the job perfectly.i was again aboard my 2010 stumpjumper 29er.i ran a new prototype mud tire on the front dubbed "winston" by the team.on the rear i ha my fast rolling renegade setup.sram hooked us up with some new xx world cup edition black box brake last week which rounds of the package superbly.the bike weighed in at 8.2kg and handled the rough and technical track like a dream.

in the morning of the race it had rained quite heavily but it was drying out alittle whilst the women were fighting it out on the course.we started at 2pm and the clouds were threatening.i had a great jump of the line and got through the first turn in the lead.i held onto the the front until the first climb where i settled into the lead group before dropping into the first single track.we did two start laps which comprised the half of the full lap with the most climbing.after the two laps i was in third trailing by around 10 sec.i had settled into my own pace on a track that offered very little drafting.with riders positions swapping for most of the race i just tried to stay relaxed as i knew it was going to be very tough at the end.by midway through the full laps of which we did 6 i hit the front of the race again.on my heels tho was jose hermida from spain and jaroslav kulhavy from check republic.it was indeed a tough battle at the end in which i had to settle for second bronze medal of the year!it was an incredible feeling to end the season by achieving the goal i wanted most!

heres some pics from the race courtesy of gary perkin at http://www.flipper.co.za/. rights reserved.

the race got off to a flyer as always...

our soineur doing a great job as always.thanks claire!!!!

the most techincal section on course...

psyched to get third....

sharing the podium with czech specialized rider jarosalv and the king of spain "mr meximoustache" jose hermida!!!

thanks to everyone for the support,i look forward to some time off now before racing roc d'azur in october...

ciao

burry

world cup finals

2010-08-30T06:51:00.000-07:00

world cup finals,albany,new york

i had my best travel to the usa ever last week and a pretty smooth few days of practice leading up to the race.it was the last world cup of the season.a season in which i had a few up and downs and i was realy focused on a big result this weekend.

i got a new 29er hardtail bike on tuesday and it is awesome.the bike weighs only 8.3kg and rolls super fast.the geometry is also slightly different to the old one which meant i could drop my goofy looking 24 deg negative stem.an interresting fact is that suz ,todd and i all rode different model bikes on the weekend and we all loved them.

the hot weather turned up for our race that kicked off at 2 30pm on saturday.the suz ,todd and i all had good call ups.i had a great start and just followed wheels on the first lap while sitting in 5th.on the second lap i started moving up the group as it kept breaking up and coming together.at the front it was myself,nino shurter and florian vogel,both from the scott-swisspower team.on the 4th lap we descended realy slow down to start the 5th lap which saw a group of 3 riders rejoin.one was my team mate christoph.as that happened i suffered my second flat of the year.i had to stop to re-inflate the tire and try and get the sealant inside to work.it did after some time and i got back on the road in 8th.i had to stop once more for some air on the last lap and just maintained that position.suzie road well upfront attacking on the last climb,but was unable to shake the group.he ended up 4th and was right up there.

this week we head to world championships in mont st anne,canada.the form is good so im realy excited for it as the vorm seams good.

happy trails

burry

traveling...to the us an a....

2010-08-23T04:40:00.000-07:00

im back on the road this week.i had some good training days and rest early on in the week before embarking on my trip to the usa on saturday.usualy i fly through europe and spend alot of time sitting around due to layovers.this time round i made a direct flight from johannesburg to atlanta followed by a short hop to albany which is only an hours drive away from this weekends world cups site in windham.total travel time was cut from around 25 hours to 18hrs.thats pretty neat in my books.

windham seems to be a very small ski-town that only booms in the winter as i havent seen too many people and the town stretches for only about 1km.as is the norm for east coast towns its been raining since i got here but still warm due to the humidity.sandy and dylan our mechanics arrive today so ill be able to drive to the nearest grocery store which i hear is 12miles away...froot loops just aint going to cut it for breakfast,americans seem to like eating sweets early in the mornings?

im looking forward to the world cup this weekend.the form seems good and im highly motivated.its crazy how fast this season has gone this year.i cant believe its over in two weeks...

the site has been hurting for pics lately,i wonder if i can find some good stuff in the next few days?

ciao

burry

recharge

2010-08-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

after a successful weekend at world marathon champs and an exciting monday racing around the nurburgring in karl platts porche gt3 i headed home for 12 days of recharging.i got home pretty spent so it was quite easy for me to spend three days of the bike.i spent most of that tiem getting stuff at home sorted and house hunting.after loads of searching i found what i was looking for.i cant wait to move in!

heres what i found,i could get used to that view...

on saturday i caught the bundu bashers club ride which was loads of fun as always and spent some time at the shop after setting up my new specialized chainguide.im running it with a 40 tooth rotor ring on the front and so far its performed perfectly.

on sunday i got to race on of my favourites,the singletrack fest that is that is the cowan house classic in hilton.this year was realy tough though.loads of climbing and deep sand meant that the riders would have to earn their finish in the 40km event.i felt good after some good rest and managed to move clear of brandon stewardt(dcm) on the first long climb.i built up a good lead but had to stop to reinflate my rearwheel as i had a torn valve.i managed to catch up again and then stayed smooth all the way to the finish.craig paul finished in third.

this week ill do some proper training before heading off to the usa on saturday.im realy excited and the form seems to be good.

happy trails

burry

marathon world championships,st wendel,germany

2010-08-10T01:39:00.001-07:00

i was very nervous and excited going into my first marathon world championships this past weekend.there was a strong field lining up and i hadnt raced a 107km mtb race since the epic.my legs were good leading into the event and my stumpjumper 29er was super light at 8.4kg so i knew id have the speed.the course was realy fast so there was a big group for most of the first lap of 52km before the many attacks that followed.the pace never realy relaxed for the entire race.

on the second lap of two we starting realy driving the pace hard.suzi attacked numerous times but to no avail.we headed into the last 10km with a 10 man group.alaban lakata had re joined the group and with 3km he attacked with huge momentum.i tried going across the move but cramped halfway across.didnt make it and decided to hang onto the now down to small 6 man group.i timed my sprint for the line alittle late and didnt count on the unknown italian in the group being an ex road sprinter.i still got third and was very happy.after a mediocre middle part of my season this made up for it! thanks for all the support from my team and friends over the last few weeks,it realy does help the motivation.

im now on my way home for the last preperation before xc world cup finals and world championships.looking forward to some sunshine!

ciao

burry

another world champs comin up...

2010-08-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

this time around im trying my hand at the world marathon championships.ive raced the xc world championships since 2004 and in 2003 i raced the downhill wolrd champs.last year i gave the road world championships a go.maybe ill hit some cross next year?

benno gave my 29er some love and got it into its marathon atire and some new carbon wheels which saw the weight drop to just under 8.4kilograms.the course is quite fast with no major climbs or descents.it however is up and down and almost never straight or flat.it will be atough race for sure but the stumpy is the perfect tool.

this was the view from my hotel room in suziville.the guy has a good deal between this place and the bosch.

it wasn't long before we were back to this though.two days this week was spent on the road.the rest on watching mtv and riding alittle whilst trying not to eat the whole of germany.

we had alot of gear to cart between italy,switzerland and germany.good thing suzi loves vans.

cherise just left for france with the national team to prepare for commonwealth games.she is pretty pumped.i hope it goes well for her and the team.hats off to csa for making the right moves towards the games prep.

bobby is arriving tommorow to watch the worlds en route to an itu world cup next week.we dont see him that often as he now manages the mtn and tri scene between moving from sa to the us and a.as he is an ex triathlete he has shown some tendancy to be boased towards the triathlons.this means we have to give him alot of shit whenever we see him.speedos come up quite often...

i need to go work on some material before he arrives...

cheers

burry

race report

2010-08-02T01:23:00.000-07:00

world cup round 5,val di sol italy
val di sol was the venue for the 2008 world championships.it wa here that i first medaled at a world championship race getting the silver in the u/23 section.christoph won the elite men here and secured his first xc world champs jersey.
the course was similar to the past ,but had a few key changes mostly in the form of leg crushingly steep ascents.in the days leading up to the race i enjoyed riding the track and i was hoping for a big result.
we kicked of at our regular 2 30pm start time with temeratures soaring to as high as 33c on the track.i had a steady start coming round the first lap in around 7th just 4 sec off the lead group.i chased hard on the second lap to close to the leaders but caught them and hit the wall almost simultaneously.i started sliding back alitlle and was soon riding with jaroslav kulhavy for a couple of laps.with around two laps to go i had to let go and then it was my team mate christoph and german rider moritz milats who joined me for awhile before attacking me halfway round the penultimate climb.i was having a mediaocre day on a course where you were looking for your best.
i suffered on as best i could,in fact i dont think ive dug that deep in a couple of years!i came in ,in 10th 4min down which was satisfactory and i was pretty happy to make the pain stop.the bike worked great again this weekend.the boys at specialized are doing a stellar job at looking after us.
im looking forward to some better recovery this week.last week i did some mileage for marathon worlds coming up this sunday.maybe not the best thing to focus on between world cup races.
till next week
cheers
burrry

valley of the sun...

2010-07-29T06:03:00.000-07:00

val de sol has been pretty good this week.todd and i managed a good ride on tuesday and i somehow bonked after just 3hours.i was pretty dizzy comin off the passe tonale and had to stop for a coke.we rode this other pass that climbed over 1200m vertical and i didnt eat anything so it figures. almost at the top...climbed for another 5km from here....
my epic weighs in at 8.920kg with the set up for val di sol

the rest of the week has been spent sleeping,eating,riding the track which has way more climbing than it already had and sitting in the river.claire has been making the best lunches as always and the mechanics have got the bikes dialed.ill be on my epic again this week as the climbs are so steep ive been munchin the handlebars.my hands even get tired from pulling on the grips so hard.

we have had the worst service at the hotel tevini here in commezadura.the owner guy has been givin us shit about wearing hats inside and havin our emaculately cleaned bikes in our rooms.this morning he barged into our room with a drug tester.he didnt knock and when he came in he put on the lights and opened all the shutters whilst crapping himself because the bikes were in snuck into our room.it felt more like raid then a doping control.i had alittle bombshock going on and it wasnt even 7am yet.
dylan our mechanic gettin freaky to what is love...with us on the rollers without shirts it must have looked uber gay...

the rest of today has been spent hanging at the pits.it's raining so we all rode the trainers and made chit chat with everyone passing by.its pretty much a rest day so the rain is perfect.the course was super dry before so the rain might be good as long as it stops tommorow.

till race day...

ciao

burry

chamery wc

2010-07-27T00:29:00.000-07:00

on tuesday evening i rolled up to the jhb airport with an expired schengen visa,needless to say i didnt make it to europe on wednesday.instead i was camped outside the swiss embassy on a freezing morning by 8am.i had a stack of papers and letters as i needed a visa...fast! luckily for me they do express visas but even this procedure takes 5 days.i only had one day!i managed to wangle it somehow and flew out on thursday night.the trip actualy turned out fine,i got to do some easy road rides with a few intervals and hang out with cherise alittle longer.i got to zurich very early on friday and was met by the ever friendly benno willeit(manager) even though he had to get up at 4am and drive 3 hours to come and get me.

it rained most of the way to champery and when i wanted to take my new 2011 epic out for a burn it was bucketing down.i rode on the rollers for a few minutes until it subsided,fit a storm mud tire on the front and headed onto the most technical course we race all year.i worked my way around slowly but managed to ride most of the course.the specialized storm tire is incredible when the weather forces its use.the course didnt dry much on saturday and practice along with a few hundred other riders was pretty crazy.in the evening the organizers layed down some gravel as the course had become too unrideable.

perfect blue skies greeted us for our race on sunday.the course was still mucky but not nearly as bad as it had been.we were onto intermediate tires(fasttrack lk) and very excited to race.i had my best start of the year from the second row and along with florian vogel lead the first start lap.on the second lap we were joined by vogel's scott team mate nino schurter and julien absalon (orbea).after the first full lap the group satyed the same with riders just gapping off when making mistakes in the difficult conditions.on the second lap nino dropped off with just before the start finish.on the third lap i started lacking some consentration and had my first crash on the last downhill section.i got going pretty quick but the gap was afew seconds to the front.i chased back at the star of lap 4 but made some more mistakes shortly after and ended up crashing about 4 times!somehow i got it together over the last two laps and held on to finish in 6th place 1min 23 seconds down on winner florian vogel.it was a satisfying performance for me as my last two world cups havent gone my way at all.

this week we are racing in val de sol so yesterday was a long road trip.as if the drive wasnt long enough we extended our trip by getting rear-ended in suzi's ne multivan.after a lengthy visit to the carbinerri and a cheese and wine picnic outside,we made it to val di sol in one piece.

till next week...happy trails

burry

sa championships

2010-07-18T23:49:00.000-07:00

shew what a week its been!cherise and i drove to pretoria on monday with a brief stop at usn's warehouse in durban to stock up for the coming weeks.we got to our destination pretty late and by then it was realy cold.it was a rather unwelcomed surprise after enjoyin the warmth at home for the last few weeks.

we checked out the course on tuesday after it warmed up to a reasonable temp which was only around mid day.the combined cold with the thin air made going tough for the first few practice sessions.the course was pretty standard for a fountains course with loads of tecnical sections and not alot of ascent.i was on my 29er stumpy for most of the week and only tested the epic out once or twice.as the course was short,quite sandy with minimal climbing. the 29er felt good.it was a bit bumpy at the start of each lap but once in the wooded sand sections and tight turns the bike came alive.i was also on some beefier pedals this weekend.i usualy run with the eggbeater 11 pedal from crankbrothers but since they have an awesome new candy with loads of platform ive been swapping back and forth between training sessions.i finaly decided on the candy 11 as it has more power transfer and only a 40gr weight penalty over the eggbeaters.

on thursday we checked out "the big 5" at the barnyard theatre.it was a musical production featuring mj,rod stewardt,elton john,maddona and tina turner.it was a great show with a cool vibe.the singers played the roles perfectly so it was rather funny.

race day dawned pretty quick as the course was fun to ride and i was having a good time in pretoria.cherise had a good race on saturday morning ending up 3rd in u/23 and 5th overall in the womens race.our race started at 12 45 which suited me as i could use the hour ride to the track from cherises' house as a warm up without er... cooling down.the crownd that came out was the biggest ive seen at a sa xc for years.that got me psyced for sure.as the gun went phillip buys moved into the lead with his trademark kick off the line closely followed by matthys beaukes with me riding in third.after the first singletrack i moved past matthys as he slowed and i moved onto phillip's wheel.i stayed there as passing on this track was tough and settled in before making a move at the end of the first lap.i got a small gap and then set about keeping those big wheels turning.once i was off the front i could ride much smoother and limit the big accelerations which is realy the best way to ride a 29er.i felt strong all race and i sense that all the xc specific training paid off in the last laps as the course was very demanding on the upper body.

i took my 8th national title on the trot infront of many friends and family including my grandma who got to see me race for the first time ever.it was very special and i cant wait to rock the national jersey at next weekends world cup in switzerland

team mate todd wells did a stellar job in the us champs to win the xc title for the first time in his carreer which is about time as he is no spring chicken,ha!

cherises' aim has realy improved...

till next time...

burry

2010-07-12T23:40:00.000-07:00

conclusion to a great time at home...

the past few eeks have been incredible on the south coast.the weather is magnificent even though its the middel of winter and the soccer world cup vibe that swallowed the whole of sa was so intense.

last week was a realy hard week for me training wise,i had to start turning the screws to get my body in shape for the most important time of my season.i start of this weekend with the sa championships in pretoria and then i leave for europe to race two wolrd cups and the world marathon championships all on back to back weekends.

as a good leg opener i decided to race the toti 69'er road race in amanzimtoti.the club there does a great job at hosting the event and the route is a mostly coastal route that goes all the way down to pennington and back.i had some tired legs leading into the race but when the racing started felt pretty good and very excited.a group of 8 riders got away early with the house of paint pro team represented well with 4 riders.in the end it came down to a sprint which i managed to win ahead of dean edwards with some smart menouvring rather than all out power.

i write this as im already up in pta for the race this weekend.it is absolutely freezing.we definitely have it good on the coast!for all those close to pretoria on the weekend,stop in and check out the racing at the fountains nature reserve.

happy trails

burry

shaping up

2010-07-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

theres only one spot to get reception at the s/lesotho border post...

it feels like forever since i last borded a plane to europe and im not complaining.over the last few weeks ive done some of my best mid season training ever and after three hard weeks of long hours i even got to take alittle holiday.cherise and i joined some good friends for a stay in underberg last week.we left the bikes at home and decided to explore lesotho by 4x4 instead.the weather was great and we got to hike in the snow when we got to the top of black mountain.
this is the pub at the top of sani pass 2973m absl

this was cherises' first time in the white stuff

the pass was pretty icy

after returning on thursday ive been shaping up my form for the next few world cups coming up.this is the more painful part of training as i start pushing way above my lactic threshold.basically it means im doing efforts where i ride in the "burn" zone for most of the time.atleast i get to ride less and have more time to watch the tour de france which started on the weekend.the prologue was interesting with mr amstrong sending a strong message to contador.fabian cancellara did his normal thing and rode his specialized time trial bike straight to the top of the podium.i think we are set up for some awesome racing over the next three weeks.

this weekend ill take part in the toti 69er road race before heading to pta for the sa cross-country championships next weekend...

happy trails

burry