Hilton Dirt Fest (Hilton 50Miler)

Being a mechanic on the go..

Preperation for the Hilton Dirt Fest all started on Tuesday, but it came down to a nap on Saturday afternoon before I helped a friend(Catherine Colyn) build up her bike for the race. She flew down from Cape Town in the morning just to come and race the next day. Catherine is 15 years old and currently lying 2nd in the youth category for the Advendurance Half Marathon Series, so I had to build her bike and have everything at perfect angles and tight and not to tight. I was under a little bit of stress from this lady. We went out for dinner to a little restaurant in Pietermaritzburg for some pasta and a lots of water. The pasta was very nice and super filling, perfect for the next day. We had such a
kiff evening and we were really both looking
forward to the race.

Race day...excitment for some and stress for others. For me it was however very exciting and fantastic to be in my hometown. I have been batteling with my weight keeping it consistent and close to 60kg, but on the morning I weighed perfect weight, which boosted my mind! Registration went smooth and fast. I met up with Catherine and we went for our warm up ride, I showed her where some of the route went. As we got to the start line we could see a lot of our fellow compettitors lining up and getting ready. It was great seeing such a great turn out of people at the race and also having a sunny day.

30s...10s...go! The race started with a sharp left turn about 30meters from the start line. As soon as we were of the tarr and onto die dirt the racing started with an attack from Patrick Belton(Team Jeep) up a little climb to split up the huge bunch. I didnt respond and had to guys with me and we rode together and kept the front riders in our sight. The front group had 5 riders and at about 15kms into the race I broke away and tried to catch up to the front group. I only coaght up at 25kms and by then the group only had 4 riders, because one of the riders had a mechanical. Patrick and his team mate Werner van Heerden split the group with Lourens Luus up a little hill and dropped me and Dylan Rebello. I decided that I didn't ride myself into the top 5 for nothing... so I put the hammer down on my BMC Fourstroke and caught up to Werner who couldnt stay with the front 2 riders. I went into the last bit of single track infront of Werner and pulled a little gap. When i saw the tar road to the finish line I gave it all and to my suprise I finished 2nd overall in the 43km race. Lourens had just pulled out at the finish line, because he left the race for the Juniors and Youth Catergories. Dankie

I thank Lourens for being a great sportman and also to all my friends and Supporters.

training ride - a very long one

Its been a long while since I published a post... Things have really been busy, not only in my cycling, but school also! For example, last week I had 6 tests in a 5 days. I wrote a test everyday and on Thursday I wrote 2 tests. But I guess why school is there for us, to make it tough so that we can survive in life after school. Cycling is a very tough sport and to succeed in it you need to train really hard and give it your best(always).
School and cycling to me is almost based on the same principals... You need to study very hard and concentrate a lot too, time management is one of the key factors for us as cyclists still in school, because school starts at about 7:30 and finishes at 2:30 and then you have to still be on the bicycle for 3 hours or even more. In cycling you also need to train very hard and concentrate very hard. Riding technical rock gardens or roots for example has to be riden a lot and practised to perfect your line, and in the race you have to focus on hiting that line at the right angle and speed.

On Sunday 18 September I had a very long training ride to get some hours in the saddle. It was me, my dad, team mate Savanna Vosloo and my coach that started the ride together. I was very excited to ride my BMC Fourstroke for more than the usual hours and also being out there with my dad who has never riden that far in his life on a bicycle. I decided that I would ride with a camelback, so I loaded it up with tons of food. Jungle oats bars, energelies, bilton, vooma gels and even a nice sandwich with some peanutbutter. As we left the cycling shop I thought that I might need to use a jacket, but after 10minutes of riding it was super hot. The places we rode through were really beautiful. It was a real tough ride and the temperature also climbed very high.. The ride just made me realize how amazing MTBiking is and what you get out of it. After 6hrs and 39 minutes in the saddle I was really tired. I took an afternoon nap and felt like a human again.

At 6o'clock my family and i went to an evening service at church and it was such an amazing experience. Also the best way to end off my busy day.

Thats all for now
Jaco