DH on YOTV

A few months ago we did some filming at Giba gorge for YoTv. They doing a series called "spot check" which shows viewers differant types of sports around SA. The final edit was aired recently so check it out on youtube......http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6jC6956Cak

Some of the music has been edited out due to copyright reasons, but still a sweet vid!

Ride safe,
TB

MTN national DH series #3

On Thursday 13th May I road tripped down to George in the Maverick Bus with a few friends to take part in the third round of the national series. I forgot how far George really is, took us 15 hours but we eventually got there! I stayed with Hayds relatives, they have a really nice house close to the track so we were comfortable for the weekend, no roughing it at all! We were super excited to walk the track on Friday and get some riding done. The course exceeded our expectations in a good way, the top section was the same as it has been for the last four years, really rough and rocky but very good flow. The middle had a bit more pedalling this year through a flatter pine section. After a long sprint straight it lead into the steepest part of the track known as “the shoot”, a very rocky technical section of track where you had to hang in there coz the arm pump had kicked in at this point. The final section of the track was my favourite, the burms were hard pack and huge with really constant arcs that you could just rail and carry loads of speed. There were two doubles that lead into the final 3 switch back burms then a pedal to the finish line.

My first run went well, didn’t make many mistakes but thinking of it now definitely too conservative at the top. I finished that run with an average time of 3:26, that placed me 8th overall and 6 elite. Gaza always has the best vibe at a DH race, if you need any motivating or race advice he’s the guy to chat too, so that’s exactly what I did. After another prep talk from Oliver Munnik, reminding me of the three P’s in downhill…PEDAL PEDAL PEDAL…So with that in mind I started the second run smooth and focused on letting the bike role and putting power stroke downs rather than just pedalling wildly between technical sections. I made one big mistake in the rock shoot section, came in Hot and saw I was getting a bit loose so jumped on the brakes hard before exiting into the next burm which scrubbed off a lot of momentum. I recovered and tried to pin the rest of the track. My goal was to knock 4 seconds off my time, I managed to knock off three, which I was still happy with. That placed me 5th elite and 7th overall. I’m happy coz that’s two nationals on the podium, so now I want to get a little higher up!

Overall results for the race were:

1) Johann Potgieter 3:12
2) Jonty Neethling 3: 15
3) Chris Nixon 3: 20
4) Tim Bently 3: 20
5) Wesley Augustyn 3:20
6) Hayden Brown 3: 21
7) Travis Browning 3: 23
8) Tiaan Odendaal 3:23
9) Gary Barnard 3: 25
10) Jaco Veldsman 3: 26

What an awesome weekend we had in George, that is definitely one of my favourite tracks in SA. I think Hayds and I smashed out 8 runs on Saturday and still could have done more if we had the time. Good friends made the weekend even better, we got to see some of Georges local disco turf…saw some strange people, but made for an entertaining evening. The Joburg boys were on form and tearing up that dance floor!

Looking forward to the next DH race at Giba.

Ride safe,

TB

Mr price Karkloof classic

The Sunday following the sprint shoot out was the main event for the weekend, the Mr price karkloof classic. I rode the 40km race, and from the reports I heard from the guys who rode the 75k, I made the right choice! Again the weapon of choice was my Ndiza, I’m just loving riding that bike at the moment, single chain ring in the front is the way forward, no chance of being lazy on the climbs coz if you don’t get out the saddle and pedal you come to a stop. I started in batch F which was about 500 riders from the front so there was a lot of work to do. Hayds and I set off at 9:30 and worked our way to the front of our batch, then a few km’s from the start I hit a square edged rock with my back wheel which flatted it instantly. Luckily I had a tube and pump so a few minutes later and after watching the whole batch pass us, we set off again. We pushed it hard most of the ride, we found the climbs were the best place to pass people as they were comfortable in granny gear spinning up the hills and we were pushing it to the max with our single chain rings. The single track was awesome, although we got held up most of the way, Hytlon Turvey had done a super job in preparing the track. It was fast and flowing, you could see it had been designed by someone who knows how to ride a bike! The course was really challenging from start to finish, the organizers did such a good job to make it a success. The marking was perfect and the water tables were exactly where we needed them. Hayds and I finished with a time of 2hours 24 minutes. We could have done a lot better if it wasn’t for my blow out and a few other stops along the way. We placed 74th and 75th overall, which I was happy about considering the batch we started in. Next time I wanna be in the front to get a clean run into those forest sections and awesome single track! Travis Walker won with a time of 1hour 39 minutes, thats crazy fast!

Ride safe,TB

RED sprint shoot out

On Saturday 8th of May I headed out to Karkloof to take part in the sprint shoot out sponsored by RED and Mr price. The format was a timed qualifying lap around the course, then top 12 elite times would go through to the final where everyone would race together for top honours and take home the prize money. The track was pretty short, around 300metres or so. It had loads of metal scaffolding obstacles thrown in to make it interesting and a few tight turns. I rode my Ndiza for the qualifying lap, it suited the course well because of the buck jumps, felt really comfortable on it. The course was a lot more tiring than I thought, it was basically a flat out sprint from beginning to end, I did two qualifying runs and ended up 8th so I was happy to have my place in the final. For the mains Andre hooked me up with a Zula marathon bike, which I was really stoked to ride, was way lighter and accelerated a lot faster than the Ndiza! We started in two rows of six, the racing snakes were in front and I was representing for the DH boys in the back row. As the final started the pace was super hot, I knew straight away this was gonna hurt. I fought my way from the back after a bad start and banging bars with James Reid. Passed two more guys so I was sitting in 9th and tried to hang onto Travis Walker for 8th, but after the 6th lap of sprinting (there was still 4 more to go) I started seeing stars and knew I wasn’t going to make it. So I pulled out along with Roan and had a long sit down at the finish until I could breath properly. I have loads of respect for those XC guys, Burry cleaned up and took the win, he was pinned!

Thanks to Andre for the Zula, didn’t really wanna give it back, that was loads of fun to ride! And to Mr price for putting on an awesome event. And of course all my friends and family for the amazing support, wish I could have made it past lap 6!

Congrats to the Morewood/Adrenaline cycles team, they all took part in the event and looked factory on there pimped out rides and awesome kit.

Ride safe,
TB

KZN cross country champs

On Sunday 2nd May I decided to enter the KZN cross country champs at Cascades in PMB. Wasn’t really sure what too expect, first reason being I was riding my Morewood Ndiza ST, which is a 14kg 4X race bike, secondly I entered under23 men which was a highly competitive category, thirdly I hadn’t done a lap race in around 3 years or so and finally we had to do 8 laps of a course I had never seen before. So Hayds and I started the race aiming to finish at least four of the laps before getting pulled off coz we were expecting the racing snakes to pass us soon after that. First lap went well, used it as a sighting lap to see what we were in for. Second lap I left Hayds behind and tried to push it hard focusing on keeping it consistent in the next few laps. I got to lap 4 and still hadn’t been passed by the front runners so I was stoked I reached one of my goals. I was surprised that I managed to pass a few guys in my age group, evan got to shout track on some uphill single track to a guy that had calves bigger than my thighs. Lap six was really tough for me, my back and wrists were hurting big time and I was just starting to cramp. My dad told me that the race organisers had shortened the event from 8 laps to 7 as I started the sixth lap. The mind is a powerful and amazing thing, as soon as I heard this I pushed through the hurt and managed to pass a few more dudes. So I finished my seven laps placing me in 3rd position for the under23 men. Was a big surprise but well worth the 150 minutes of pain. Looking forward to doing some more XC races in the future, next one being the Karkloof classic and sprint shoot out.

Ride safe,
TB

Greg Minnaar/Mongoose DH series #5

The fifth round of the GregMinnaar/Mongoose DH series was held on the 25th April on the top half of the new course. The track had been compacted and rutted out from the national 2 weeks before so conditions were prime and all the riders were loving one of our best DH courses in pmb. After the two table tops on the flat N3 pedalling section the track turned right down an access road, it was really fast and twisty, very retro but loads of fun. My first run was way too conservative, was clean but just way too slow. Finished that run in 6th overall so was a bit of a wake up call for me. Went back to the drawing board and planned my next run in the start gate. Second run was way better, carried speed well and forced myself off the brakes in the final fire road section which payed off. Went four seconds faster too place me 3rd overall.

Results for the day were:
1) Tim Bently
2) Hayds Brown
3) Travis Browning
4) Kelvin Purchase
5) Simon Dinkelmann

Been training hard and looking forward to the next DH!

Ride safe,
TB