One thing I have been really enjoying since I got home is all the amazing single track and just riding in general we are so fortunate to have here in Howick. Sunday was an event I was definitely not going to miss as it was a ride on some incredible single track in the karkloof designed and maintained by Hylton Turvey and his crew. I started off in H batch so I knew there was gonna be a serious back log in the first few kms of single track. After one or two sniper lines and shifting out of granny gear i started passing riders and making my way through the pack. There were some serious climbs to get to the single track, and the mornings heat didnt make them any easier. But all in all totally worth the effort because the ride down had me in my element and just made me remember why i love my sport so much. It was a hard 45kms, I finished in 2 hours 48 minutes, placing me 55th out of 303 riders, and 15th in the senior men. I really enjoyed the ride and was happy with my result. I want to do more longer rides in the future and slowly improve the results as I get stronger.
Ride safe,
TB
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Greg Kaumpek memorial race - 7th November
After 3 plane trips, one missed flight, a bit of sightseeing in London and ALOT of walking I finally arrived in South Africa on Sunday the 31st November. I was extremely excited to see my family again, you really learn to appreciate how much they mean to you when your limited to a phone call once a week at the most. After a week of relaxing, catching up with friends and getting over some serious jet lag it was that time of the year again where Martin Fourie puts together a race to remember our good friend and fellow rider Greg Kaumpek who passed away in April 2004 on the way back from the George national. I chose to ride my Ndiza since I had heard the track was quite pedally at the top with a few jumps thrown in. Turned out to be a good choice and I was really enjoying being back on the bike since I hadn't ridden for about 2 months due to my rear shock blowing at one of the bike parks in Canada. I pedalled hard in the first run and finished second behind Tiaan with Kelvin in third. Second run was nice and fast in the top half, but near the bottom of the course I landed on a rock leaving me with a flat tyre and a slow pedal to the finish line. Luckily I had done enough to stay in second position for the day. Would have liked to have got my name back on the floating trophy for Greg, but Tiaan rode hard to earn it for this year.
Thanks to Martin and Brian for organising the race as well as the Kaumpek family for being there to share a few words about Greg and hand over the trophy. He will always be missed!
Ride safe,
TB
Thanks to Martin and Brian for organising the race as well as the Kaumpek family for being there to share a few words about Greg and hand over the trophy. He will always be missed!
Ride safe,
TB
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Something new...
Seeing as though I live at Moto-x track I have been riding alot of dirt bikes lately. I started off on a smaller DRZ125 and played around on the Peewee track, learnt a few things and got some lessons from Liam on how to corner and other techniques. Then upgraded to the 450....quite a big change! Been having loads of fun, I haven't ridden dirt bike since we owned a YZ250F, that was about 3 years ago so I still got alot to learn, but loving trying something new. The track isn't the easiest to learn on either, its really sandy and super rough with big braking bumps into the turns so i have been thrown in the deep end, but loving the challenge! Here some pics from last weeks session:
Thursday, September 9, 2010
World champs - Mont Sainte Anne
This past weekend was my Third World championship event, but first one being a spectator. My travels to Mont Sainte Anne, Quebec, started on Saturday morning where i caught the VIA trainway from Woodstock station. It was a 2 hour trip to Toronto where I had another 4 hours to wait before my flight from Toronto city airport to Quebec. I made my way through Toronto with my street map and had a look at all the buildings and other things that foreigners like me are amazed by. Found an Oakley shop in Queen street so had to buy some new shades! after alot of walking I caught the ferry across to the airport and departed for Quebec. The only unplanned part of my trip was how to get from Quebec city airport to Mont Sainte Anne which was about 40kms away. I soon found out that my initial plan of catching a bus wasn't going to work because they didn't operate on weekends. So the only other option was a taxi that cost me $110. I met the South African team at Chalet Montmerency, about 2km from the race village. Was awesome to see my buddies again, and meet a few new riders from the motherland. We watched the pump track world champs Saturday night, alot of the pro's had entered but the junior rider Mitch Rapelato ended up winning, he is really skilled on a bike, was awesome to watch.
I woke up Sunday real excited for the days racing, weather was overcast and raining lightly but not enough to dampen the mood of the event! I caught a Gondola up to the top of the mountain and walked down the course. It was amazing seeing a world class track like Mont Sainte Anne in real life, all those years seeing it on DVDs and reading about it. Finally I was there! The track was super rough and rutted out, the rain had made it real tacky. The riders said it wasn't so technical, just the speed you were travelling at and how long the track was made it real tough on the body. For race time i found a prime position in the finish area, in front of the Live TV screen, then to the left was the timing board so I could see the splits and final times. Our SA boys rode really well, evan though they may have not been pleased with their final results. Tim went over the bars in his run but still finished 8th in the juniors, he was definitely on a top 5 overall in his run before the crash. Unfortunately Sime had a big crash in practice that left him with a broken collar bone and fractured wrist. Andrew held the hot seat for at least ten riders until Danni Hart came down. Needles finished 11th for the day. Greg was down on Sam's split time, he looked like he was going to make a comeback until he hit a tree with his shoulder in a rock garden and stalled. He rode well to still end up on the podium finishing 3rd. He told us afterwards that the last few riders battled with the rain blocking their vision, and the track is so rough and steep that there weren't really any places to pull tear offs. Where Sam and Steve came down earlier so they
had better riding conditions. The crowd were going nuts to see Canadian Steve Smith on the podium, he really impressed me with his ride, definitely deserved the 2nd place.
Final results for the day were:
1) Sam Hill 4:37.93
2) Steve Smith + 2.63
3) Greg Minnaar + 3.00
4) Aarin Gwin + 4.08
5) Gee Atherton + 4.71
Couldn't believe it was all over. But what an experience, worth every bit of the effort to get there. All the riders let loose at the afterparty Sunday night. Greg said to us when he was leaving our chalet afterwards - " I'll see you guys at the afterparty. Well I won't see you...but I'll be there." And that's pretty much what happened haha, what a good night.
I left Quebec on Tuesday at 10:30am and arrived in Toronto at 12:30. My train was only at 5pm so I caught the subway from union station up to Don mills where Liam fetched me and I got to spend some quality time with my bud before I headed back to Woodstock. had such an amazing weekend, I will always have a passion for my sport that will never fade. The love of the sport keeps me motivated, and after this weekends racing I am evan more excited for next years season and especially the world cup in Pietermaritzburg.
Below are a few pics from Toronto, my travels and Quebec. Forgot my phone at the Chalet on Sunday so there are no pics from race day unfortunately.
Ride safe,
TB
I woke up Sunday real excited for the days racing, weather was overcast and raining lightly but not enough to dampen the mood of the event! I caught a Gondola up to the top of the mountain and walked down the course. It was amazing seeing a world class track like Mont Sainte Anne in real life, all those years seeing it on DVDs and reading about it. Finally I was there! The track was super rough and rutted out, the rain had made it real tacky. The riders said it wasn't so technical, just the speed you were travelling at and how long the track was made it real tough on the body. For race time i found a prime position in the finish area, in front of the Live TV screen, then to the left was the timing board so I could see the splits and final times. Our SA boys rode really well, evan though they may have not been pleased with their final results. Tim went over the bars in his run but still finished 8th in the juniors, he was definitely on a top 5 overall in his run before the crash. Unfortunately Sime had a big crash in practice that left him with a broken collar bone and fractured wrist. Andrew held the hot seat for at least ten riders until Danni Hart came down. Needles finished 11th for the day. Greg was down on Sam's split time, he looked like he was going to make a comeback until he hit a tree with his shoulder in a rock garden and stalled. He rode well to still end up on the podium finishing 3rd. He told us afterwards that the last few riders battled with the rain blocking their vision, and the track is so rough and steep that there weren't really any places to pull tear offs. Where Sam and Steve came down earlier so they
had better riding conditions. The crowd were going nuts to see Canadian Steve Smith on the podium, he really impressed me with his ride, definitely deserved the 2nd place.
Final results for the day were:
1) Sam Hill 4:37.93
2) Steve Smith + 2.63
3) Greg Minnaar + 3.00
4) Aarin Gwin + 4.08
5) Gee Atherton + 4.71
Couldn't believe it was all over. But what an experience, worth every bit of the effort to get there. All the riders let loose at the afterparty Sunday night. Greg said to us when he was leaving our chalet afterwards - " I'll see you guys at the afterparty. Well I won't see you...but I'll be there." And that's pretty much what happened haha, what a good night.
I left Quebec on Tuesday at 10:30am and arrived in Toronto at 12:30. My train was only at 5pm so I caught the subway from union station up to Don mills where Liam fetched me and I got to spend some quality time with my bud before I headed back to Woodstock. had such an amazing weekend, I will always have a passion for my sport that will never fade. The love of the sport keeps me motivated, and after this weekends racing I am evan more excited for next years season and especially the world cup in Pietermaritzburg.
Below are a few pics from Toronto, my travels and Quebec. Forgot my phone at the Chalet on Sunday so there are no pics from race day unfortunately.
Ride safe,
TB
Friday, September 3, 2010
World champs here I come....
So after alot of decision making, Internet surfing, google earth research, and different travel method options I have finally booked and payed for my flight to Quebec to watch the world champs. I catch a train from Woodstock early Saturday morning (about 30 minutes from where I live) to downtown Toronto where I have 4 hours to kill before I catch a ferry across to Toronto airport. I'm not flying from Toronto international, this is a smaller domestic airport on an island across from city. An hour and a half later I'll land in Quebec city which is about 50kms from Mt St Anne. Not sure how I'm getting to my destination from the airport just yet, gonna wing it and make something happen when I land. I fly back on Tuesday, leaves me a bit of time to tour Quebec and see another part of Canada. Really looking forward to supporting my SA buddies, and watching a world class event different to any other world cup race during the year! I'm gonna say the podium will look like this:
1) Greg Minnaar
2) Gee Atherton
3) Sam Blenkinsop
Proudly South African.
Will upload photos when I get back.
Ride safe,
TB
1) Greg Minnaar
2) Gee Atherton
3) Sam Blenkinsop
Proudly South African.
Will upload photos when I get back.
Ride safe,
TB
Friday, August 20, 2010
Ontario Cup series #6 Blue Mountain
On Sunday 15th August I drove up to Blue Mountain ski resort in Collingwood for the final round of the Ontario Downhill series. I was real excited for the event, really had no idea what to expect but was looking forward to racing under no pressure to perform and just enjoy the days riding. I left Courtland at 3:45AM, got an early start to get there on time for registration as it was a 4 hour drive. Following the GPS made it easy, and 300kms later I arrived at Blue, before anything had evan been set up so I walked around taking some photees that you will see below.
We started riding at 9:00AM, took the ski lift up and took the first run nice and easy. They had changed the course a bit compared to the track we rode last weekend, some tight turns and a new rock garden section were added. Overall it was an awesome track, had a good mix of technical sections with sweeping turns, and some flat out sections that got really rough and rutted out. The course wasn't too long, times were expected to be around 2 minute 30. Practice runs were going well, managed to get in about 6 runs before noon (ski lifts sure beat getting thrashed about on the back of a van for 30 minutes!) I was having loads of fun and just loving the new experience of riding in another country, meet some awesome people and rode with some fast guys that had been following the whole series. My last run down before the final I got around half way where there is a steep forest section that took a sharp turn left and flattened out. I hit it faster than my previous runs, the suspension compressed and I heard a loud pop, next thing my rebound was just way to fast so I immediately knew what happened. I pulled over to find my bike covered in shock oil and my low speed compression adjuster was missing. I walked back up the track following the oil trail and picking up shock shrapnel. Definitely not the way I planned my final practice run. I went to the bike shop at the bottom to see weather they could help, but no luck. Was very disappointed to miss the race, would have been interesting comparing times to the other riders. But it's one of those things you have no control over so just had to accept the situation.
I decided to leave straight away and drive through to Walton, so another 3 hour road trip later
and I was there to watch some moto. It wasn't a complete waste of a day, got some good riding in until my shock blew, got to see alot of Canda's country side on my road trip, watched some moto and hung around to see them get loose at the after party Sunday night. All in all a good days activities!
Have a look at some photees from Blue, an amazing little village set up for skiing in the Winter and mountain biking in the summer.
Ride safe, TB
We started riding at 9:00AM, took the ski lift up and took the first run nice and easy. They had changed the course a bit compared to the track we rode last weekend, some tight turns and a new rock garden section were added. Overall it was an awesome track, had a good mix of technical sections with sweeping turns, and some flat out sections that got really rough and rutted out. The course wasn't too long, times were expected to be around 2 minute 30. Practice runs were going well, managed to get in about 6 runs before noon (ski lifts sure beat getting thrashed about on the back of a van for 30 minutes!) I was having loads of fun and just loving the new experience of riding in another country, meet some awesome people and rode with some fast guys that had been following the whole series. My last run down before the final I got around half way where there is a steep forest section that took a sharp turn left and flattened out. I hit it faster than my previous runs, the suspension compressed and I heard a loud pop, next thing my rebound was just way to fast so I immediately knew what happened. I pulled over to find my bike covered in shock oil and my low speed compression adjuster was missing. I walked back up the track following the oil trail and picking up shock shrapnel. Definitely not the way I planned my final practice run. I went to the bike shop at the bottom to see weather they could help, but no luck. Was very disappointed to miss the race, would have been interesting comparing times to the other riders. But it's one of those things you have no control over so just had to accept the situation.
I decided to leave straight away and drive through to Walton, so another 3 hour road trip later
and I was there to watch some moto. It wasn't a complete waste of a day, got some good riding in until my shock blew, got to see alot of Canda's country side on my road trip, watched some moto and hung around to see them get loose at the after party Sunday night. All in all a good days activities!
Have a look at some photees from Blue, an amazing little village set up for skiing in the Winter and mountain biking in the summer.
Ride safe, TB
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