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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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