Category: specialized
Sani2C Mountain bike race. (read: Sani to sea)
My bags are packed and I’m ready to go… my last day in Stellenbosch for 2009. Scary thought. I’m leaving for Durban in the morning for the start of the Sani2C mountain bike race.Its probably the most stage race I have done in South Africa. I did the Cape Epic in 2005 and 2006 with my mate Barry Pauw and I did the 2007 Sani2C with Down Hill ace Greg Minnaar.
Specialized tire testing camp in Stellenbosch
Burry Stander doing rolling resistance testing on the rollers. He rode at 25km/h and at 35km/h with about 20 different tires and measured the wattage needed to hold those speeds for each tire. On the right (reading the power tap numbers) is Benno Willeit, our Specialized mechanic, and on the left is Tire Specialist Frank Stacey.
Riding with Christoph Sauser and Conrad Stoltz…
It was “Make a wish” for 16 year old mountain biker Justin Pictor from Stellenbosch South Africa. Fresh off a great 3rd in the under 17 race at South African Mountainbike Nationals last week, it was good to catch up with Justin again.
A year ago I rode with him and some friends. His ability and enthusiasm for mountain biking was fun to watch. I raised his saddle by a massive 3cm, helped with a technical, nutrition and racing tips. He trained really well, right through the holidays, and all around he has improved tremendously in just 1 year. Its fun to watch the kids improve in leaps and bounds, because once you get to the top level, (and has been there for a while) improvement is few and far between.
Christoph Sauser, (Susi) 3x Mountain bike World Champion, Justin Pictor & myself getting ready to ride fine Jonkershoek single track.
York Timbers Sabie Experience mountain bike race. 2008
I just got back on the farm after riding 3 of the 4 days of Sabie Experience. Sabie is only 80km from our farm and when my good friend (and Specialized Factory team damager) Bobby Behan said we were invited to ride, we couldnt say no. Despite still being in the midst of “ice cream and beer season”.
Turns out were were guests of Ian van der Walt and his newly formed DCM racing team. What a fun group of characters. After 3 days of hanging with these guys my voice box hurt more than my legs. Not they they are slow – its just that the amount and intensity of chatting, cajoling and prank playing was significant.
