uban rage

hey all,

this last saturday was sure to be exciting and full of exciting events as it was time to race through a specially built technical course around the waterways near ushaka in the city of durban.

the weather was gloomy with rain forecasted for the day but that didn't get my hopes down.

i registered with my good mate, michael hughes, and chilled out until it was time for the walk through. it looked awesome and was sure to be demanding on the body.

i was seeded in the second batch of the day against gary flint. it was starting to drizzle ever so lightly on the start ramp as we waited to start. the gate dropped and we sprinted off like race horses determined to win! little did we know that the course was going to play rough. the first obstacle was a bridge over water with a 1m high roller and then two huge berms. gary was first onto it and both of were going way too fast! gary went straight over bars and landed on his head and shoulder with his bike bouncing violently into the air. as i was close behind him i flew into the air and went straight over the bars as well with my bike landing in the water. i had to dive in to save it which was pretty cool though. this was my most hectic crash ever and i'm sure it looked great.

i was given the opportunity to go again at the end which i thank max cluer for. i took it chilled and was a little scared but went any way.

the team event which i entered with michael was going well and we were doing well until my pedal unscrewed itself and fell off. we missed out on 3rd place by 20 seconds but hey? that's racing.

i made it into the 2nd round, the top 100 lying 14th overall. i was stoked with that result and set off on my lap determined to make the top 10. i took the risks i needed and managed to secure 7th overall. i was in the super cats final! i was beyond stoked.

for the final the course was now longer and harder. we raced through the aquarium at ushaka marine world. the course was difficult but i enjoyed it thoroughly. i was off 4th and went balls to wall giving it my all. i pieced together all the mistakes i had made earlier that day and had a near perfect run. the finish line was when you rode into the water, obviously the quickest way was to ride straight in.

i had set the fastest time of the day and held it all the way up until craig paul pipped my time by one second to take over the hot seat which i had held for quite a while. phillip buys then beat that time by a further 5 seconds which was incredible. i was so excited with my result as 3rd overall!

1st place: phillip buys
2nd place: craig paul
3rd place: luke roberts

until next time

keep the rubber planted

csa cyling camp in stellies

hey everyone.

on the 2nd of december myself and brendon davids left for stellenbosch. i was pretty excited as what exactly we were going to be doing. that night we all had a meeting, about 28 of us, to discuss our individual programs.

we all had unique time slots and activities through out the day starting and 9 and ending at 6. we only had about 5 sessions each day so we had plenty of spare time.
it was difficult to find time to ride as we all had different sessions.

i would be here forever if i told you exactly what we did but they included things such as: body composition, flexibility and power; Vision; Core; Gym; ice baths; Massage; Spinscan; Nutrition; Biodex; Psychology; Shopping (how to read the labels in a store) and Muscle Activation.

the testing, i found was not really suited to us(juniors) as we know have to improve in many places, it is more suited to an elite athlete who is at the pinnacle of their training and cant do anything else to get better. it was a unique experience and i will definitely be going back, only because i had such a jol and made so many new friends.

the riding there is utterly unbelievable, on the sunday a group of us, about 10 riders, rode out to gordons bay to climb this 4km long mountain, which really hurt after racing it twice at full race pace! but ay. . . if it doesn't kill you it only makes you stronger.

until next time.

keep the rubber planted