Round #1 MTN national DH series

On the 5th February the KZN downhill troops travelled to Skeersport in the Magaliesberg, Northern Province for the first national of the year. We didn’t know what to expect as the venue was originally scheduled to be held at krugersdorp, but access to that venue was denied last minute by the landowner. This left François and his crew with three days to build a course from scratch on the side of a farmers mountain in the middle of nowhere (seriously, it was a long drive off the main road to get there!) After 6 ½ hours of driving we finally arrived at the track, it was extremely hot and dry but excitement was high to do some riding!

For the time the guys had to design and build the course, I thought they did an awesome job. It took a few runs to get used to but turned out to be loads of fun. The fast flowing first section was littered with rocks and sweeping turns that lead into a road gap and fast off camber section. The next forest section had a 180 degree corner that caught a lot of guys out, this was a real momentum killer so it took a bit of practice to get right. The next few turns you could either lose a lot of time or make it up as it was quite flat and rocky so if you got through smooth you were on a good run. From there you went down a fast straight with a few ski jumps into a blown out corner that lead into a slight uphill with a few rocks to manoeuvre around. The next section was a spectator hotspot, there were two consecutive rock drops that lead into a right hand rock turn, left hand dry and dusty turn, and then a sprint to the finish around a few more sweeping turns and ski jumps.

The KZN guys were there in full force, Team Maverick were rolling in style with a couch under their tent for the riders to chillax between runs. The Greg Minnaar team were relaxed as usual, fresh from a night of XBOX and ready to ride. If that were a national sport Dave “rico” Dinkelman would be team captain for sure. According to Greg team Fox/Morewood had moved the whole of Howick city hall to the track because of the size of our pits…but that’s how we role in Howick. People need to know this. There’s always such good camaraderie between the KZN downhillers on and off the track. I think that’s what attracts a lot of people to come back after their first event. Everyone is keen to get involved and help out where they can, just look at some of the parents who help make our local Downhill series such a huge success. As for the riders, there’s respect between everyone no matter what skill level or what bike you ride, we all there because we share the same passion for cycling and are just looking to have a good time on the bike. If someone needs help during practice there will always be guys willing to show the fastest line or show them down the track, really awesome to be part of such a great bunch of people.

Race day arrived and it was go time. All the riders would now see weather the time spent practicing and training was going to pay off, weather they would be disappointed, or stoked with the final result. The Sub junior boys kicked off the days racing, Chris Rigbey rode extremely well to finish 1st in his class, he has been getting faster every ride. Youth men were next down the hill, this class was littered with KZN riders. Tiaan Odendaal shocked a lot of guys, his first run was slow due to a crash in the end section of the track, next run he came freewheeling past us with a broken derailleur, this didn’t stop him from posting a time that would place him 10th overall and 1st youth men, he has upped the pace big time this year and shows loads of potential for the future. Pinner Kyle David’s finished 2nd to Tiaan, followed by “Cooba” Peaty Bently in 3rd. Shane Martin and Raymond Acutt did well for their first national and finished 4th and 5th respectively. Tim “Ginga” Bentley by far had the best ride of the day, he rode super smooth and consistent and showed what hard work, determination and training can do for your racing. He smashed the competition and finished 1st in the junior men and an impressive 2nd overall. Alasdair Fey has stepped it up a notch this year and had a good ride, he finished 2nd behind Tim. Simon “hovercraft” Dinkelman rounded off the KZN guys in the junior category finishing 3rd for the day. It’s really cool to see our elite ladies class getting bigger, Tayla “toto” Brown looked pro on her new bike and finished 2nd with Vicky Philips following closely behind to take 3rd. Greg “G-unit” Minnaar had two clean and fast runs as expected to finish 1st elite men, really awesome to see Greg coming back to his routes and riding some SA races. Coolest dude on the circuit Hayds Brown had an awesome ride as usual to finish 4th with Ex Moto-star Justin “guru” Cope finishing 7th. I finished 11th with Doug “big ring” Do Plessis in 15th. Mark “veld fire” malherba rode with an injured shoulder from the 2nd round of the GregMinnaar/Mongoose series, he finished 23rd closely followed by XBOX enthusiast Dave “rico” Dinkelman in 24th. There was some fierce compo in the Sub-vet class with Norman “thunder calves” Hatherly finishing 6th, Devlin Fogg in a close 7th, Conrad “C-rad” Davies in 12th and Mark “trout” Sydney bringing up the rear in 14th.

What an awesome weekend of riding we had, thanks to all the guys for making the effort to attend. We are hoping to see our regional races grow from strength to strength in the future, the next event is on the 28th February at Cascades so bring your friends. Thanks to Steph Davies for taking all the awesome photos, they can be seen on my blog, which is http://www.travisbrowning.blogspot.com/ or Stephs facebook page, here’s the link to that: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Falbum.php%3Faid%3D145788%26id%3D104470867534%26ref%3Dmf&h=4f8575e814d84d8da2feb7d80494f2b6... you can email her if you would like any of the photos, her address is stephanie@radiate.co.za... hope we got everyone!

Ride safe,
TB

Round #2 GregMinnaar/Mongoose DH series

On Sunday the 31st of January I had my first race back after a month and a half break from cycling due to my broken finger. I was a bit shakey the first couple of runs down the hill, when you haven’t ridden for a while it’s not as easy as climbing back on the bike and going fast straight away as I soon found out Sunday morning. The track at worlds view is awesome, very fast and has a lot of natural obstacles that make for a fun course. My first run was ok, a bit conservative but I was happy to get a solid time. My feet blew off the pedals when I landed from jump in the forest which killed my momentum a bit, so I was hoping to have a clean second run. Next run came and the same thing happened down the first straight before the main rock garden, I managed to keep it together and finish the run a second and a half faster. I was happy with the race, gonna take a bit more practice to get up to speed and some training to get some fitness back, but I’m more than willing to do the work.

Overall results for the day were:

1) Greg Minnaar 1.26.21

2) Tim Bentley 1.27.11

3) Tiaan Odendaal 1.30.69

4) Justin Cope 1.31.21

5) Travis Browning 1.32.08

Thanks to Brian and my dad for setting an amazing course, looking forward to riding there again! Thanks to Lloyd for the photo. See a write up on the event at http://www.nsrmtb.co.za/

Round 1 GregMinnaar/Mongoose Downhill series

A broken finger forced me to spectate at our first DH race of the season. The day started off really wet from 3 days of rain. Mud tires were essential for the parts of the track I saw and the feed back given by the riders. The track looked awesome, it was marked from top to bottom with tape and had been prepped really well, a big thanks to race organisers Brian Dinkelman, Morne odendaal and my dad Gary Browning. Unfortunately i witnessed a bad crash at the top of the track over the first rock garden. Young pinner Alan Haterly gapped the rocks and slipped out just afterwards, he went down landing on his shoulder first which broke his humorous and did some other damage I'm not to certain about. Wishing him a quick and trouble free recovery. I was blown away by the spectator and rider turn out for the first race. For the first time in our regional history the track was lined with loads of spectators cheering and supporting the guys. It was really cool to see so many new young faces on the bike, I hope these guys stick around and progress with the sport heading into the future. Racing was super fun to watch. Hayds was on top form knocking seconds off his last run time setting a fast pace for the riders after him. He finished third for the day. Greg was back on the bike for his first time after his injury so he was looking smooth and stylish as ever. He had two clean runs and finished second for the day. Timmi B was pinned as always sending that GT flying down the mountain and just kept it super smooth. He finished a well deserved first for the day. Thanks to the sponsors Greg Minnaar racing and Mongoose and all the spectators and riders that made the event such a success.

Next race is on the 31 January at worlds view, see you all there!

Click here for a full report and more photos...http://www.nsrmtb.co.za/kzn-regional-dh-series-round-1-race-report/

Ride safe,

TB

Broken bones...

For me 2009 wasn’t one of those years that you look back on and think, "wow I wish I could do it all over again." In March I had the biggest crash to date at our regional event on the world cup track. I ended up plowing into the floor head first at about 40kmh over a big gap jump. It left me with a concussion, broken humorous, cracked shoulder blade, and compressed vertebrae in my spine. After a long wait on the mountain I finally got into an ambulance and headed to medi-clinic. After being wrestled off the X-ray bed by only one employee I was taken into theatre where they operated on my arm putting A stainless steel plate with six screws holding the two bones together. I have never been so uncomfortable in my life, for the next few weeks I was walking hunched over and every muscle in my body was in pain. Sneezing was something I tried to avoid for obvious reasons.

Then in December I found myself heading to medi-clinic again after a crash on our pump track in Howick left me with a broken index finger at the joint. Two pins were inserted just above the knuckle which poked out the bandages like a TV antenna. So that was another forced break from cycling for me. I went back to the doc on the 21st January where he used the "grip and rip" technique to get the pins out. Another momento to go with the plate from my arm. I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike end of this month just in time for our second regional event. In our sport It’s so important to be on medical aid, breaking a bone is expensive nowadays.

Ride safe,
TB