After the past couple weeks I was fortunate enough to spend some time with my brother, Kyle, who was flown out by Team Sho-Air to come and visit and see what my new avenue in life is all about.

Needless to say, there wasn't a moment we weren't laughing... From the second we picked him up from the airport I couldn't stop smiling or laughing... Over the course of his three week stay we tried to jam in as much as possible to try and make his stay a memorable one. I even got him to do a lap of the absolutely BRUTAL, Fontana City National race course, and if I'm not mistaken, I believe he said, " Dude, I now have mad respect for you cross country guys!" To be completely honest, I didn't think he'd make one lap of the track, partly because he was on a large, 16kg, 29er. I have to give him mad props for grinding a lap out with Team Sho-Air manager, Ty Kady, and I.

Then came our visits (two of them) up to Ventura for achange of scenery and of course, the all important introduction to my girlfriend, Kendall. While up in Ventura we managed to borrow a bike from the Ryan family, which enabled Kyle to get in some good riding. I have to againgive him mad props for sticking out a couple 4-5hr rides along the coast toSanta Barbara, not bad for a downhiller!

The second of our two visits to Ventura was definitely an exciting one. Over the Easter weekend, Kendall's mom, Mary, picked us up from our house in Santa Ana, drove up to Ventura, picked up Kendall and her two siblings, Alexis and Morgan, and made a beeline to Magic Mountain/6 flags to give Kyle a taste of some real roller coasters! The look on his face during the first ride was priceless. His face turned white and his eyes seemed to pop out of his head, he even let out a little whimper as we made the first drop. His state of terror soon turned into one of pure and utter enjoyment and by the end of the first ride he couldn't wait to get onto the next. Unfortunately due to the park being extremely busy we had to wait close on an hour to get onto each ride, but to be able to spend time with my brother was well worth it.

I am extremely thankful to Team Sho-Air Owner, Scott Tedro, and team manager, Ty, for making my brothers trip possible. The time with him was absolutely priceless and definitely gave me that much more motivation as the run into Sea Otter Classic is approaching. Another huge thanks needs to go out to the Ryan family, who put up the Davids' shenanigans for close on twoweeks of his 3 week stay. And how could I forget, Johnny and Mari, my amazing room mates, thanks for everything while my brother was here, it really meant a lot!

Now with only 2 days till we embark on our trip to SeaOtter, I can't even begin to describe my excitement. My coach/mentor Burry Stander will be out there racing and my former team manager, and big brother figure, Max Cluer will be doing the honors of commentating. Its gonna be one awesome event, I can't wait to see some familiar faces!

I'll keep you posted over the next couple of days!

Regards

B

The first round of the Pro XCT (formerly known as the NORBA series) was held down in Dripping Springs, TX. Pua Mata and myself made a somewhat eventful trip down to Texas on Monday, 27 Feb. To start things off, around 2hrs into the trip, the turbo on the Sprinter van blew. This resulted in us crawling down the freeway with Trucks rolling by us as if we were standing still. Then came the long wait once we had found a dealership to replace the part. 6hrs later we eventually rolled out ofRedlands and began to make some serious progress on the road, but this too was short lived. Rain began to pelt down, then came some snow, then came wind storms, then came sand storms, then came sand storms with rain, it was absolutely crazy! After a brutal day on the road, we pulled into a hotel for the night, got some rest and hit the road first thing the next morning. The next day and a half of driving went by pretty smoothly and we eventually rolled into our accommodation in Dripping Springs.

Over the course of the next few days I put some time in on the new S-Works Epic 29 from Specialized. A few slight changes to the 2012 line up means the bike is lighter and stiffer, trust Specialized to better an already amazing bicycle!

The Epic rolled over the super technical terrain with ease, which left me in a really positive and quietly confident state of mind as race day was fast approaching. With Friday being the final day of practice before Saturday afternoons Pro Mens event, it would be my final opportunity to dial in the rocky, technical terrain. I burnt a couple laps out early on in the day before heading back to our house to kick my feet up for the remainder of the day. Dinner time rolled around, which presented a pretty surreal situation. Ben and Eric Bostrom (Team Sho-Air team mates), two motorcycle legends that both my brother and I had spoken about when we were kids, made the entire team a delicious pasta dinner. I also got to hang out and hear some of the stories from the Boz Bros early days of racing.

A good nights rest and a late sleep in left me feeling super rested going into race day. With close on 80 riders I was a little nervous to see where I'd actually be called up. Ty, Team Sho-Air manager, soon learnt that I was seeded 41st, which put me on the 5th or 6th row, and with a course as tight and twisty as this, my work was definitely going to be cut out for me. Another huge factor that was looming in the air, was the fact that this race was going to be an Olympic Qualifying event for both the Americans and Canadians, meaning all the top guns would be here. Max Plaxton, Todd Wells, Geoff Kabush, Jeremiah Bishop, Sam Schultz, JHK, Spenser Paxson, you name them, the best riders in North America were there!

The start was mayhem and utter carnage. We sprinted our way towards the first single track, which was only a few hundred meters down the road, causing massive bottle- necking, allowing the riders at the front of the pack to get away and put in an almost impossible gap to close back down. I was able to work my way up into 25th after the start loop, and so my battle to get to the front end of the race began. By the end of the 1st lap I had moved up to 18th and I was still reeling in riders. I made passes wherever possible, sometimes aggressive, sometimes upsetting the applecart in the process, but it was the only efficient way of me working my way up through the field. By the third lap I was up to 12th with a group of 7 ahead of me.I made a push to get onto the group, when I eventually latched onto the group, I was surprised to see the likes of JHK and Spenser Paxson as well as Ryan Woodall and Russel Fintsterwald all in the group. I then got news that Sam Schultz and Jeremiah Bishop were a couple seconds up ahead of the road. JHK launched an attack shortly after I caught onto the group, leaving the rest of us to battle it out in the dust. Going into the final lap I was sitting around 8th, but a hard charging Adam Craig put me into 9th shortly after. Then came a series of attacks from myself and Spenser Paxson (Jamis Factory), this catapulted us off the front of the group and resulted in us battling it out as we were approaching the finish line at a rapid rate of knots. Spenser managed to open a gap in the final single track after I made a silly mistake, but I was able to recover and regained contact as we popped onto the finishing straight. He started his sprint early, I countered and began to reel him in and started to come around him, but I simply had left it too late. I ended up 10th Pro and 1st u23 after one of the hardest and most epic days on my bike ever! one major confidence booster for me was the fact that every rider that finished ahead of me is an Olympic hopeful for 2012, so Im insanely happy with my ride.

A huge thanks needs to go out to everyone from Team Sho-Air/Specialized. Ty Kady had the tech/feed zone dialed, Johnny Muller was the best supporter out of anyone, hands down! Ben and Eric Bostrom taught me a lot, and who better to take lesson from!!?? Pua rode an amazing race, going from 16th to 3rd in the Pro Women's race. I have no doubt she would have won had she started in the front...

Stay tuned for the Bonelli Pro XCT post coming shortly!

B

Woah, sorry for such a late post... things have been INSANELY hectic nice leaving South Africa a couple days ago!! Ive definitely hit the ground running here, new bikes, team photo shoots, new kit, team meetings and training have all been hectic. But I'm loving every second of it.

But lets get this post rolling.... Last weekend was the first round of our South African National XCO Series, which was held in Durbanville, just outside Cape Town. The course was an absolutely spectacular one, with more than 90% of the track visible from the Chris Willemse Cycles Store. The course was definitely one of the best I've ridden in South Africa in recent years, with a really good mix of climbing, descending , rocks, sand, drops and most of all, the most spectator friendly course I had ever ridden in South Africa.

Practice on Thursday and Friday went really well. The Epic29 was simply amazing over all aspects of the course, which left me extremely confident for the big race the next day. After my ride on Friday, I was fortunate enough to get a massage from one of the best in the business, Line Griffiths. Needless to say, she put me through the roof, but at the same time ironed out any bumps and niggles she could find, to ensure that I was 100% ready for the next days assault.

Saturday came around. With a 12pm start time, I had the entire morning to lay around, stay off my feet, and most importantly get even more focuses at the task at hand. We made our way to the track a little earlier than usual as I had to get my glutes taped/wrapped by Line' (the previous day she had picked up that I had sustain a slight injury from a big crash a couple days earlier) Line' worked her magic, leaving me feeling fresh and ready to hammer the 7 lap suffer fest that was fast approaching.

All the big names had come out to play, and to make the racing a little more interesting, the u23 category had been thrown in with the Pro/Elite Category. With a very short start loop and the u23's seeded at the very back a good start was going to be an absolutely crucial part of the entire out come of any ones race. At 12 pm sharp, with nerves running high, muscles twitching and heavy breathing, the start gun cracked. I had a terrible started as the door was closed on me around the first corner, leaving me nowhere to go but backwards. I managed to kick hard down the next straight away and was able to close back up to the front end of the field, before getting caught up in a crash. After hastily remounting my steed I was again held up by a crash ahead of me. After exiting the first single track I was around 18th Overall. As we hit the first climb of the lap I was able to kick hard once again, riding myself into the top 10 as we approached the first long single track section. Now in a relatively decent position, I was able to take a little time to recover before hitting the next climb. Burry and Phillip had already isolated themselves off the front of the race. A smaller group which both James Reid and Rourke Croeser (both u23)were in, had also formed around 10 seconds ahead of my group. Over the course of the remainder of lap 1, I fought hard to break through and break free of the large chase group that I was in. Going into lap 2, Louis Bresler, Renay Goustra and I managed to get away, and began to close down the gap to the next group.

I eventually managed to put a gap between myself and Louis, with Renay, who had bridged up to the next rider, James Reid, only a few seconds ahead. The roar of the spectators was rally insane, it honestly felt like a mini word cup with people lining the sides of almost the entire track! With two laps to go out of the 7 lap race, I dug deep down into the pain cave to try pull myself closer and closer to James, who was sitting 2nd in the u23 Category. The gap, to my surprise actually started to come down with around 20-30seconds between the two of us heading into the final lap. The last lap was going to be a make or break lap, with the traffic of lapped riders and the course now being super torn up, it could force a mistake from the best of riders. I got through traffic fairly easily and kept charging wherever and whenever possible, but unfortunately I crossed the line around 30seconds down on James, narrowly missing a top 5 Overall.

So I brought home a 3rd in the U23 Category, with Rourke taking the win and James coming in 2nd. I'm happy with where my form is at for this time of year, theres some room for improvement, but I have never felt better. Mellow Johnny's is only a couple weeks away, and BOY am I excited! Its gonna be my first time racing in the Pro Category at a Pro XCT, so Im not entirely sure of what to expect! Stay tuned to see how it goes!

A massive thanks to Clive Broekhuizen for hosting us at his house in Melkbosstrand, it was truly awesome to hang out and get to know his family.

Until Next time

B

The 2012 season has begun, and man did it kick off with a bang. The first race of the season was the 2012 Kwa-Zulu Natal State Road Championships. Although it was State Championships all the big names in South African cycling had decided to make an appearance, especially from the mountain biking front. With names like Burry Stander, Kevin Evans, Davids George, Rourke Croeser and James Reid, the racing was never going to be easy.

At 8:00 sharp we rolled out into the super slick conditions... 9 laps of a fast, wet, 15km loop lay ahead of us. It wasn't long until the first couple of attacks went off the front, but they were all very short lived and brought back before any real gaps formed. It wasn't until the fourth lap that a major break got away. Myles van Musschenbroek and Aston Davies managed to open a gap to around 2minutes on the main group, with Burry and the rest of the big names sitting safely in the bunch, biding their time. I began to get a little anxious as both of the riders sitting in the break were both in the u23 category, thus meaning they were my competition for the State Title.

After around a lap and a half the main bunch began to get organized, and within another lap, the gap had been closed. Lap 6 put me in a spot of bother... I missed a feed when going through the tech/feed zone and I soon felt myself on the verge of bonking. It couldn't have come at a worse time... The group had now upped the pace drastically and as we made our way up the grueling 15minute climb I found myself in a very, VERY dangerous position, AT THE BACK... THE VERY BACK, and I was holding on for dear life. The group had been absolutely shelled, and was now only around 15 strong as we approached the final 3 laps. I eventually got my much needed feed, and almost instantly felt 100% better. Then came the major move of the race. With 2 laps to go, Burry (Specialized Factory) and Kevin (360-Life) attacked and no one could follow. Kevin's team mates, Davids George and James Reid then attacked and managed to get a gap on what was left of the main group. I was left to try and chase down the move. Over the final lap I closed the gap to James and Dave very slightly, but they simply proved to be too strong in the end. So with 400m to go the group had now been shelled down to 4... I attacked as hard as possible over the top of the final climb and time trialled to 5th Overall (2nd KZN Resident) and 1st u23, narrowly edging out Rourke Croeser!

A big thanks to Brandon Stewart and Clint Olsen for the use of their awesome Easton EC90 Aero Wheels, To Craig Paul for keeping my bike in check and to the entire Cyclelab PMB Team for being my back up and support!!

Hey guys

Just a quick post to let everyone know whats been going on over the last couple of weeks. To be honest, nothing much has happened, besides the fact that I'm training my butt off!!

After some awesome time with the family down in the Cape, as well as some great rides to end off my base, I made plans to spend some time with world class athlete, my mentor and all round nice guy, Burry Stander. Before I even got to his house, I knew the days that lay ahead were gonna hurt, really, really badly. Needless to say, day one was, in his words, "af kak."
4:50am, yes, thats the time we were up and at it to simply try and beat the suffocating heat so familiar to the South Coast. Hill repeats with the former U23 World XCO Champion was definitely a very, VERY tough task.

So, after being buried somewhere on the top ridge of Mushroom Hill, I thought my day was done... Little did I know. After a really chilled out afternoon, I decided to brave a gym session with Burry, his fiance, Cherise Taylor, and Candice Neethling. I guess all I can say about that gym session is that I was buried for a second time that day. I think it must've been quite amusing to Burry to see me shaking and shuddering at trying to do some f the exercises he was breezing through! That evening we hit up a really nice restaurant for dinner, before turning it in for an early night.

Day two was far more chilled but it still had its fair amount of thrills. A 5hour road ride along the coastal roads seemed to be easy enough. It all went off fairly smoothly, until I somehow shredded my road tyre. Not a problem, we made a plan, and used up some of our EnergyBar wrappers to act as gators to prevent the tube from being exposed. This worked really good until I clipped a road side 'Cat Eye' and flatted my tyre again, with only 10km or so to go, and so began my trek back to Burry's house. Luckily for me, Candice flatted a couple hundred meters up the road, pinched her spare tube and was too, left stranded on the road side. Plan B - Hitch Hike! We stood at the road side like two goons with our hands out, trying to catch the attention the motorists, who all seemed to be far to busy to help us out. Eventually, a farmer in a minute little hatchback picked us up. We piled our bikes into the trunk, I sat on the back seat and held the bikes for dear life, as they hung out the rear door as he sped us towards our destination! Thankfully the bikes stayed intact and were unharmed by the time we got to Burry's house. After a loooooong day out we all just hung around the pool, watched a bit of TV, had an awesome lunch (prepared by Cherise) before I packed up the car and headed back to Pietermaritzburg.

A huge thanks to Burry and Cherise for all their advice and hospitality. It really made the stay that much better!