Spur Schools XC Race #7

My Saturday morning was well spent with my nose in some of my school books, studying for the upcoming exams on Wednesday, which is really close... My reward for that studying session would be a race in the afternoon at the famous Cascades MTB Park. I read about the Spur School series in an email from KZN MTB during the week and decided that I will go and do the race to get my mind off of the work for a bit. 

Cascades was packed, full of children from the age of 8years old up to 18 ready to race and have fun on their bicycles. My race started at 3PM which was a very cool because i haven't done a race in the afternoon in a long time. As u18's we did 7 laps of a reasonably smooth track with single track and an uphill. Because i havent done one of these fast short race in a long time it was going to be hard and very fast, indeed it was with Carlo Marzoppi storming off of the front and riding away from us all. He is participating in the world championships in 6 days and his form is in very good shape so he destroid us at the back. I was in about 3 place throughout the first lap but dropped back into 6th on my second lap so that i could just breath and recover alittle bit again. I pushed myself at a consistant pase and got back into 4th position where i stayed for most of the race and finished in that position also. 

It was one of the cleanest races that i've done in a long time with the riders having so much respect for each other and racing clean. The main reason for this is the school system that teaches the children to respect each other and the manners is absolutely great. It was also very nice to be able to race at the World Champs venue and to get a feel for some of the tracks that the best in the world will be racing on. 

Thank you to Spur, Mongoose and all the organizers for such a cool event and one that i think all school learners should do. 

Also to Lavinia Van Wyk for feeding me in the tech zone and to all the soectators for support and the photographers for the photos. 

Jaco Pelser

Thanks to QuickPix for this photo 

Riding up some of the switch backs. Thanks to Boogs Photography for these photos.

My BMC fourstroke.

Tour de Kranz

The race with the most spectacular views of them all! This one was even more beautiful because of rain that came down the day before the race and made the skies and air crystal clear. I was a very cold morning at about 8degrees celsius and for my friend from Mauritius, it was something completely different. In Mauritius it is very flat and doesn't get as cold as it gets in SA, so it was very hard for her. The altitude also was a bit different to her and often that is one of the big problems when doing bike race in an unfamiliar destination. 

Although the rain might have cleared the air, it didn't make the roads and some single track to nice to ride. I knew how this race was in the wet because of the previous year where i broke my hanger in the wet but still enjoyed the rest of my race. I didn't do to much of a warm up before my race, because i knew how quickly i would cool down in the start shoot where we normally stand for 15minutes. The signature of this race is the downhill start and 2 sharp left turns where the faster guys normally get a big lead quite quickly. I went down with a bit of caution and got stuck behind some riders in the mud, but luckily the first piece of single track was a double track and i could pas the riders who weren't so good on the uphills. My body was a bit cold and it only woke up at 14km's to go where i was already far behind the top 10 but riding with a very good friend, Callan Deacon. We settled into a very nice pace together and enjoy the most spectacular views ever. I even stopped at the water tables where the friendly ladies really motivated us to carry on to the finish. 

I still don't know where I finished overall, but to me that didn't matter in the end yesterday. I wanted to have fun and enjoy the wonderful scenery before the tough school trials start and i get ready to finish my final year of school. 

I also realized why i enjoy riding my road bicycle a lot more than the mtb, simply because i can ride it the whole time and don't have to get off and walk the tracks where it is to muddy. 

Thanks to all involved and the race organizers. Also to my French friend from Mauritius for completing that tough ride and still being positive.

Jaco Pelser

A week filled with excitement

Firstly it started on Wednesday evening at track racing in Pietermaritzburg where we almost had just Velo Life riders there and also Luke Roberts from BMC South Africa joining in on the action. It is so nice riding and racing with all these people on the track because it really helps you train a bit harder and become a bit faster.

Then on Thursday i picked up my French friend from Mauritius in Westville, we then came back to Hilton where we went for a nice little road ride into Howick and looked at the Howick Falls. She surprised me because of the weather outside where it was starting to rain. She didn't really mind and off we went onto our road bicycles. It was very cold but enjoyable. That evening we went to Coffee With Jesus at Velo life and had a great evening with friends and family like James Reid and Candice Neethling. 

On the Friday we walked the World Champs XCO coarse and had a lovely lunch at Coffeeberry with Velo Life and BMC. Kim my friend then decided that she wanted to stay another night so that she could also do the Tour De Kranz MTB race. 

It was a great week filled with laughter and learning some french. 

Tomorrow is the race day and i'm excited for it. 

Thank you

Jaco Pelser

Illovo Eston MTB Race

Quite an early start compared to the previous weekend. The race started at 8AM, but with the Eston race there is always a long que for parking which can make it a bit harder to get everything done in time. Nevertheless, we were on time and ready.

I didn't know how my body would feel on the day because of very late nights in the past week doing school work but I decided to go and have fun on my bicycle.
My start went alright but with the King Of The Mountain being almost 3km's into the race it was a very fast pace up front. I fell back quite a few places but managed to settle into a nice pace with fellow BMC rider, Bianca Haw. I tried to ride a bit harder and away from her and managed to do so for only a short while were i caught up to Eszter from VELO Life-Bergamont. In the last 3km's Bianca caught me and beat me on the home straight where she had a sprint finish with Kendall Ryan(Jeep).

I learnt that the body really can't perform when it is tired. The scenery and course was absolutely amazing and really a great ride. With me not feeling hundreds, I managed to finish 2nd in the Juniors. I don't know how but i am happy and also for Alan Hatherly(BMC-SA) who won the juniors and whose form is cleary coming on superbly for the XCO World Championships later in August.

Thank you to everyone for the support and also VELO Life.

 

Jaco Pelser