No place like home...but time to start packing for second half of the season again!

It was a busy schedule earlier this year and got to see a few more interesting places of which South Korea is one I might not be racing back to anytime soon!! Yes, the people are nice

but they are really not that big on English yet (just like the French) and the food choices made for entertainment every night at the dinner table.

Anyway,it's been a great three and a bit weeks back home catching up on admin, seeing friends and family again and even managing some quality rides through Cape Town amidst all the awesome Soccer World Cup fever. With one more semi final about to kick off and just the final left, I believe it has been a very positive event that has showcased what South Africa has to offer and killed off many of the stereotypes many people had. Looking forward to the positive spinoffs moving forward.

On Sunday I might just be stuck on a flight to Munich with a whole bunch of grumpy Germans...we'll see soon enough!

Cheers

--

Dylan van der Merwe

The 2010 ABSA Cape Epic presented by adidas has once again come and gone with Team Songo.info being able to reflect on 8 days worth of highs, lows and some mixed fortunes. The final stage was once again from Oak Valley to Lourensford wine estate in Somerset West covering the compulsory portage section of the historical Gantouw Pass.

With many teams still under pressure for a stage win it was once again a day of hard racing taking in the short and steep climbs of the Nuweberg and Grabouw region. Jose Hermida and Rudi van Houts of Merida emerged victors on the day with their first stage win for the race with Songo.info coming in second place ahead of Rabobank/Giant.

With the week that was Burryhad the following to say: “We’re very happy to finish second in this year’s race, but we still want to win,”… “Everything has to get together all eight days of the race, and it didn’t always work out for us. I’m really looking forward to a week’s rest and then to the rest of the season. This is excellent preparation for the World Cups. It gives you such depth – all riders suffer at some point – and in every race you suffer.”

According to Christoph this years race was a real rollercoaster, “The first two stages were tough and at one point we weren’t sure we’d be able to continue, then we were on a high, then I had a stomach bug and so on. At the beginning of today’s race I struggled a bit, but then my legs came back and I felt stronger. I’ll now rest for a week and then start with some short interval training. I’m looking forward to the season as we rode with some of the strongest riders in the world at this year’s event.”

Songo and Sipho capped off a great weeks riding with Sipho crossing the line in Lourensford as the youngest finisher of the 2010 race. This also served as a brilliant reflection of the progress the Songo.info program has managed to achieve in Kayamandi over the three years that it has been active. Check in again with us soon for a full account of Songo Fipaza and Sipho’s ABSA Cape Epic…

"For those of you following our story but can't be in the thick of the action of the ABSA Cape Epic, here

is what some of the team had to say with just one day left till stage 1 kicks off!

Burry Stander, "the route is becoming more world class standard every year. The competition is following,

as well as most of the world cup top 10 are racing this year it really is going to be intense out there!

He most definitely has a point as looking at this years start list there is an endless list of World Cup winners,

World Champions past and present and men who know what 8 days of hard riding is all about.

A veteran of 5 Cape Epics including one overall victory as well as 12 stage wins in total, Christoph Sauser is

no stranger to this event and will definitely be aiming for the top step of the podium come the end of stage 8.

Riding for the third consecutive year in the colours of Songo.info with he had thefollowing to say,

"I love to race the Cape-Epic! A win in a 8 day race worth so much then a single one, especially when it is so hyped up like the Epic. It creates stories, rivalries, friendship and glory! But all this is topped, since I started the Songo.info charity with a friend together 3 years ago"

"We do not only race for our sponsors, fans and ourself any more! It is awesome to see the progress of the Kayamandi township kids on and off they're Specialized bikes. I am always so proud of them, when I see them riding the bikes around, or hearing how well they are doing at the races!"

Next time we will hear from Claire Rushworth, the team siougneur as to what it takes behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly as as well as checking in with head mechanic, Benno Williet and seeing what he has up his sleeve in keeping the teams two S-Works Epics in raceready condition over 8 days.

This past week Christoph Sauser and Burry Stander took part in the 4 day Giro del Capo road stage race in and around their training base in Stellenbosch in preparation for next weeks ABSA Cape Epic.

Day 1 was known for it's crosswind section that would eventually split up the peloton as it had done in years before. Burry was up front and managed to make the front group of 18 riders. Going into the final climb 15km from the finish he tried to shake things up but was not able to and managed3rd in the sprint.

Day 2 was the stage that he had his sights on for a victory before the event had started. It was a 3 lap circuit with a short but viscious 2km climb just before the finish. On lap 1 a split of 15 riders went clear with Burry And Christoph up front. Coming into the final ascent Christoph dispalyed some fine teamwork by attacking and dragging all the favourites with him,Burry then launched his race winning move by only taking 2 riders with him and winning the sprint as well as taking the leaders pink jersey.

The queen stage of the race was a long onewith 2 climbs that would break things up. An early break had gone up the road and at one stage Burry was outof the virtual lead. With some hard work by Specialized riders Craig Paul and Ben-Melt Swanepoel and a little help from the other teams the gap was closed just as the final climb began. Once again Christoph showed some fine form in closing down any attacks and putting in a couple of strong efforts himself. Cresting the climb mostof the lead group were together and would have to fightit out on the sprint. Burry went on to place second, missing the win by about 3 millimetres!

With a 14 second lead over 3 time Giro del Capo winner David George we knew the 5.5km uphill ITT was going to be a challenge, but Burry was confident that he was in with a chance. With no radio feedback on opposition Burry gave it his all to managea well fought 3rd place in the stage and 3rd overall for the tour. 

"After two days of racing in the Giro del Capo in the Western Cape of South Africa, our very own Burry Stander of Team Specialized has donned the leaders pink jersey. Day one saw him make the decisive split for the day when the peloton hit the first crosswind section. Ending the sprint in 3rd and finding himself 10 bonus seconds behind, the team knew day 2 was one to be capitalized on.

The bunch was nervous as breakaway after breakaway failed in the first few kilometres, riders all hoping to geta gap before the first of 3 ascents of the short but steep Vissershok climb. Burry Stander and Christoph Sauser were showing superb form by making the front selection of 15 who would stay away till the finish. Thomas Zhand was the first to make a move at the base of the climb but he was closely followed by Sauser who proceeded to completely break up the remaining riders. Nearing the top Burry Stander of Specialized put in a big effort and only 3 could follow on the slight downhill to the finish with Stander capping it off with a fine sprint to take the win and leaders jersey.

Once again the kids in Kayamandi of Songo.info have been busy and making their presence felt

at numerous events around the Western Cape. Summer has treated us well and meant plenty of

hours of good training on the BMX track as well as carving up Stellenbosch's singletrack on their

Specialized Rockhoppers.

Some of the boys ventured into new territory while racing the Cape 99'er which was over 100km's,

as well as sending twenty of our athletes to the South African Xterra Championships where they

competed in teams. Come join us at http://songo.info to see how Specialized is a part of changing

lives in the township of Kayamandi. You will have access to race reports, photos and profiling of

our riders involved in the project.

"This past week has rounded off an exciting year for everybody at Songo.info as the boys and girls finished off their racing campaign for 2009 with another BMX Heritage Cup at the Velokhaya oval on Wednesday and last weekends hosting of the Dutch Olympic BMX Team for a session of fun at the Kayamandi track. Christoph Sauser is back in town to begin preparation for his 2010 season and some of that will definitely be trail time with Songo.info

Join us at http://songo.info to see exactly what the kids got up to with their Dutch counterparts and how Specialized and Songo.info are going to make 2010 one to remember."

"The season has nearly come to an end for the Factory Team, but things are steadily picking up

more and more momentum in Kayamandi as the Songo.info team prepare for the what looks to be

a great summer of racing and training. The BMX track has survived a very wet winter and the kids

are out riding 5 days a week in preparation for their next event in 2 weeks time.

This past weekend saw the Songo team hosting its first BMX League event at their home track

and what a success it was. With over 60 riders in attendance there was plenty of action from hard

racing to big crashes as well as combatting the local South Easter wind and heat. Go to songo.info to check out the full report and photos. "

"We knew Burry had something good figured out when we heard he was flying striaght back to

South Africa and connecting later in the week to Zurich, two flights, one time zone change!

Canberra to Sydney then Singapore with 2 hour layover then Frankfurt with 3 hours there and on to Zurich completed with a three hour drive to Champery.

All in a days work I guess but my journey for the day did not quite end there. Trying to buy some lunch in Champery proved more difficult than I had thought once I fugured that my wallet was no longer in my pocket, some frantic searching later I came across the till slip from a gas station just outside of Zurich where I had bought some water...nice! Some 'phone calls in French' assistance from the receptionist at the hotel we confirmed that it was indeed a good 150km away and into the new Specialized Factory racing van I got. i couldn't quite figure Sandy's GPS straight away so did a wrong turn and got to see some of Luasanne and then eventually made it onto the right highway. Got to within a 5km radius of the gas station and got seriously lost. Eventually found a police station and was escorted to the station by the off duty officers...unfortunately no sirens and lights for added effect!

Champery is incredibly beautiful and once Todd had decided he would be racing his Epic on the weekend I took his 29er out and hit the nearest trails. The only problem being that the roads here either go up or down at serious gradients, never the less been getting some great rides in and now sitting waiting for Benno and Burry to arrive. It's then back to the usual and we will be setting up the expo and getting the team ready to end the season on a good note. There is already much talk about the afterparty in Schladming...mmm!

Well, just ticked off my first trip down under to World Champs, Was a really good one!

Nearly didn't make it there after South Africa Airways decided to cancel my first flight from

Cape Town to Joburg but somehow they found an alternative flight with minutes to spare and

even less time to make the international to Sydney...well being last in the check in queue had

its perks, a seat change to emergency exit window with nobody sitting next to me was pure bliss (i'm not business class material just yet) for those 11 hours.

Was picked up by Burry's old man and luckily a quick drive to the hotel and got settled in. Got my own room which was cool but it had to be shared with 6 bikes and a box or two, anyway, better than listening to Sandy's snoring :) We did most of our work from the hotels parking area which was real nice as there wasn't much driving involved and had a Whole Foods just round the corner which served up some good coffee while still adjusting to the 10 hour time zone change.

Am sure you have read all the race reports but super stoked for my countryman taking the U/23 Gold, the pressure was on as firm favourite and he delivered the goods. Funny to note his wry smile the next day when comparing his lap splits with the elites, all he said was: "can't wait to play with the big boys again in Champery!"

Race days can be long and hard and this was no exception with everything having to be boxed to fly out with us the next morning and then having Qantas Airways rape us with overweight excess charge was insane!

Here in Champery after a monster travel session but more next time...

Ciao

"So Canada's jet lag eventually went away but now trying to recover from two 20 hour bus rides in the last 4 days.

Went up from Cape Town to our neighbouring country of Namibia for a good friends wedding and the cheapest option

to cover those 1200 miles was by the bus...not ideal with a Australian flight coming up in a couple of days but hey,

real glad I made the trip up and got to spend an awesome day on my girlfriends hunting farm out in the 'African Bush' as

all the tourists would call it.

Got a crazy busy week ahead with a 7 week travel block coming up from Sunday, plenty of shopping to do, packing and

spending some time with the Songo.info boys in Kayamandi. The rain seems to have disappeared for the while so looking

forward to ripping it up on the BMX track with them. they've been pretty active on the mountain bike side of things with some

big racing in the last 2 weeks and the next round of the high school league this Saturday.

Going to be a bit of a bad time to be away as I'm looking for a new apartment for next year, when I touch down on the

15 October most of the good stuff will be taken for next year.Will have to work all my connections as staying on my

brothers floor as I am now ain't going to work for 2010.

Anyway, should be a great week and seem to recall now that Bobby has been hinting for a while that his Stumpjumper gets

a proper cleaning...mmm!

--

Dylan van der Merwe

So the trip to Canada would be my first one venturing out of any time zone greater than 2 hours of what I was used to, I thought it wouldn't be such a problem but after two days of staring at the ceiling for most of the night I "woke up" with a pretty bad head cold. No such thing as calling in sick though and after numerous trips to the drug store by Clare for all of my "meds" I had rightfully earned my nickname for the trip...Pharmacy!

Was great to catchup with the team after the mid season break but as always the muddy conditions were keeping us busy and getting those Epics back into showroom condition is always the cool challenge for the day! I can recall standing in the shops complaining to myself at having to spend so much money on some proper rainproof gear but after the first race in Mount St Anne my only regret was that I hadn't splashed out even more...it would really come in handy in Bromont! (I had been warned it's never pretty there and man did it rain!!)

The best part of the trip was to be there when Lene crossed the line to take her first World cup race, we had all been waiting in anticipation and knew it was just a matter of time before she pulled it off but to watch her dominate like she did in the second half of the race was impressive and watch her knock back most of the champagne from the stage even more so!!

The highlight of the trip though was hitting the go-kart track in Bromont with Benno, Burry, Todd and Rafa....it must be described as one of the best forms of organised chaos or fun you can have!! Well it's 2:45am my time, still got to pack for my trip away with my old man tomorrow and i'm hungry...must still be on Canada time!

"I still remember the phone call from Bobby the team manager very clearly, 'Dylan how would you like to join the team for the World Cups to Offenburg and Houffalize as a team mechanic' my immediate answer was a distinct yes and what was to be just a few World Cups is turning out to be the full season with Specialized Factory Racing.

I write now having just returned homefrom Europe and it's been an awesome ride so far...one doesn't become part of a team in one day so getting to know the riders and team staff over the last 2 weeks has been an interesting but fun experience. Madrid in 3 weeks time will no doubt lead to plenty more laughs being shared around the dinner table where the local speciality from the nearest brewery will inevitably be sampled.

The S-works Epic is indeed a masterpiece and getting a more indepth knowledge from Benno and Sandy has been challenging at times but so rewarding when you step back and know that you have played a small roll in giving the riders the best bike in the world on the start line. The work and race ethic that the riders aspire to makes the long hours of polishing and perfection such a pleasurable experience though...

Having a fellow South African Burry Stander on the team is cool and communicating in our local lingo often has some of the other team members left with big frowns and wondering if we're speaking of bike setup or gossiping about them.

Enjoying some down time now before the trip back to Europe next week for round #4 in Madrid...we'll speak again"