Can I blog from my phone?

This is to test if I can blog directly from my phone?

Tour de Worcester

Tour de Worcester. – Neil Swarts

 

Day broke as the sun painted the snow capped mountains pink and red.  It looked like a beautiful day until we noticed the howling winds on the other side of the Du Toitskloof Tunnel... it was going to be a hard day in the saddle.

 

We set off at an easy pace with the guys catching up as this was the first league race of the season. 

 

After 4k’s things heated up as the first attacks went.  The pace was fiery through Rawsonville and the gutter started to take its toll on those legs that were not yet used to race pace.  Because of the wind and high speed, the bunch was stretched across the road from the left shoulder to the right and the race was stopped twice as we received a friendly but serious warning from the race commesaire.  After about 40k’s the leading bunch consisted of about 20 riders which included myself and Tredoux.  At 45k’s I was dropped by a hard attack from Tredoux (thanks team mate!!) 

 

Stu’s knee packed up as a result of new pedals he bought a week or so earlier and he waited for the women’s bunch (nice move).

 

The pace in the leading bunch was very fast with attacks going all the time which ended in a break staying away consisting of David Garrett and Garth Thomas.  Tredoux finished in the first bunch with a very credible 12^th place.

 

The chasing bunch of about 20 riders which included Ingram, André and me started to pick up some of the riders who found the pace in the first bunch too hard.  The stormy winds drained the impotence from the chasing bunch, but Ingram took a flyer with 3k’s to go and stayed away to finish 16^th.

 

Because of the chilly windy conditions we just waited for prize giving and then left for a Wimpy breakfast.

 

With lessons learnt and a good idea of our strengths and weaknesses, we are looking forward to the next league race in Durbanville.

 

Mossel Bay pic

 

Mossel Bay Race Report

 

The PPA league season is about  to begin and Team Cape Storm hopes to begin with a bang! 

 

In order to do some final preparation Team Cape Storm decided to head up the coast to Mossel Bay and take part in the Welstand vir 'n Leeftyd 100km race.

We unfortunately headed out of Cape Town one member short as Neil had picked up a bit of flu and decided against racing.

 

Anyway, the rest of us managed to sneak out of work early and after loading the trailer (thanks to Danny for leanding it to us) the 4 of us were on our way.  We were riding in style in Andre’s GTI and although Neil was missed I must admit it made sitting in the back seat more bearable.

We made good time and arrived in MB with enough time to unpack and go for a loosner before supper.  Our accomodation was at Tredoux’s parents house and thanks must be given to them for making us feel so at home.

 

The talk over supper was centered entirely around the following days race, the route and the unknown competition.  Tredoux’s dad has a wealth of cycling knowledge and shared some with us while at the dinner table.

 

The race the following day only started at 8:30 so it was nice to be able to prepare leasurely for a race for a change.  A short ride to the start and we were ready to go.  The race route was certainly not an easy one and made more difficult by it being unknown to us.  The first 30 km gradually climbed out of Mossel Bay and included one fairly lengthy climb.  It was on this climb that the race broke apart.  Tredoux put in a big attack and split the pack.  Unfortunately Ingram, Andre and myself got a bit caught out by our own teammate and failed to make the split.  The 3 of us however were not far behind and the front pack needed to work hard to keep away from us.  This meant that Tredoux could sit on the back get a fairly easy ride till the turn around point at which the local teams ganged up on him and kept giving him a dead wheel and a gap to close.

 

Andre and I managed eventually to haul in the lead group at the 75km mark.  This point however also coincided with the main climb of the day and we regrouped right at the base of Grootbrak.  Andre pulled an “Erik Dekker” move and shot straight through the bunch and attacked from the bottom of the climb.  Absolute classic move.

 

Tredoux followed the front pack and set about trying to chase down Tiaan Kannemeyer, who had made an early move.  By the top of the climb Tredoux was in the front group, Andre in the second and I was in no mans land.

 

In the final corner Tredoux had a close shave with a car thanks to a sleeping marshal which ended all chances of him claiming a podium position.  All in all it was good preparation for the upcoming season, and a good weekend away.

 

Final Results:

Tredoux           4^th

Andre              9^th

Stuart              12^th

Ingram            16^th

 

There was also a crit that followed far too shortly after the race!  The crit was held on a very short loop that had 2 very sharp hairpin bends in it.  Tredoux managed once again to pick up a 4^th and just miss the podium.

   

Check what happened to me this AM!

This is the result of Fuji Carbon vs a Landrover Discovery.

Luckily I am ok and the bike is insured.

Any Frame suggestions???

9-5 relay

 

Team Cape Storm managed to overcome numerous mechanicals (and hangovers) to get 3^rd in the 9-5 relay!

3 punctures and a broken chain lost us about half an hour in total.  It would have been less if Neil had remembered to bring his bomb that Andre gave him for his birthday!

 

It was some tough riding with each rider racing to the point of puking for +-30mins and then resting for 90.  Sounds easy when you see it like that!

 

The weather was ok, but our Aardvarks definitely helped protect us against the wind which started pumping in the afternoon.

 

Cape Storm at Dirtopia

Check this out.

 

http://www.capestorm.co.za/news/news_details.jsp?news_id=12603

 

Dirtopia Pic

 

Dirtopia and Team Cape Storm

This past long weekend (thanks Thabo!) was Dirtopia and the launch of Team Cape Storm.  The festival for 2008 returned to its roots and was once again held in Greyton.   This year things were a little different to previous years with a more relaxed program in terms of races, but don’t worry all the classics were still there, the ENDURO, the widowmaker hillclimb, the trophy race and of course night polo.

 

Day 1

Myra, Andre, Tamara and myself arrived on Thursday morning and quickly got our campsite in some sort of order.  Next on the agenda was to track down Pierre from Cape Storm and our new kit!!  It felt like Christmas had come early and there was a massive box of stuff for Andre and myself.  Most importantly Pierre had remembered to bring along my CS Firefly sleeping bag so no cold nights for me.  Once we were fully kitted up Andre and myself were on our bikes and headed off for lunch in Greyton.  Myra who unfortunately had picked up a bad case of flu caught a lift with Tamara.

After a slight altercation between Andre and a Greyton motorist (I thought only people from the city got road rage!) we found a spot to eat.  There must have only been about 10-15 of us in total but this coffee shop was totally unprepared for this group of mtb’ers.  After we had eaten all their food they actually had to close!

 

Once we had eaten all their food we saddled up for the 17km trek home.  I use the word trek because the burgers in our stomach made the ride home feel a lot longer than it actually was!

 

Next on the program was the night race (2 laps of 7km).  After a bit of humming and harring and checking to see if our lights had enough batteries we decided to join in the fun in the dark and ride the night race.  As with any mtb race it started at a pace.  My legs were actually feeling really good and started off really well until I decided to test out my helmet and go over my bars!  The fall was actually quite harmless but when I got up and tried to remount I fell into fynbos!  I got quite stuck and battled a bit to get out.  I managed to regain my position (4^th) and seeing as though Andre (3^rd) was now a fair distant ahead and 5^th place was quite far behind I decided not to take too many more chances.  In the end Andre managed to get Team Cape Storm’s first podium!

After a shower it was braai and beer time!

 

Oh I must tell you about the carbon Giant with Crossmax that I was riding!!  I had taking my bike (Raleigh) into Flandria to send for the fork to be serviced and it didn’t come back in time.  Leonardo however kindly let me his bike, hence the upgrade which made Andre very jealous!

 

  

Stu has a new toy!!

As of 2 weeks ago I have been the owner of a Power Tap power meter.  It is a really great toy that is going to get me from my current state of absolute unfitness to race ready form.

It in conjunction with my newly acquired coach are going to make my life hell!!  I see 4:30am intervals on the not too far horizon!  (What have I gotten myself into??!!??)

 

   

 

The software I am going to be using is Training Peaks.  SO for the next couple of months I will be monitoring my Normalised power, my PowerZone distribution and my TSS,TSB,ATL and CTL scores. 

Will it help, well time will tell but with the form I am in at the moment the only way is up.  6 months till Spring league!  I will keep you informed!

 

Just over 2 hours till the long Easter Weekend.  4 days to really get to know my PT.

Bloem

This weekend saw me heading up to Bloemfontein for Leila and Declan's wedding. During the weekend Myra and I managed to visit the now infamous Reitz res at the UFS!!







Take a look at the licence disc on the car I rented from Imperial!! It expired over a month before I rented it. Besides that the dashboard kept flashing at me to say that the car needed a service. Oh yeah I couldn't open the passenger door with the key seeing as though somebody before me tried to unsuccessfully use a screwdriver!!




I must say Bloem just doesn't want me to have an enjoyable trip. Besides the wedding which was great the rest wasn't worth writing about!

SA Taxi Story...Justice! - A must Read!!!

 

Old but still good

 

This morning, yours truly, decided to sneak in a pinch of top-secret and highly professional canoe training at Emmerentia dam, before the first farts of the sparrows could escape their imprisoning sphincters, and even before the glories-of-mornings of most non-gay South African men could rise to view the possible prospects of "before work" swims.
Yep, I was up and onto that little patch of water before sunrise, tearing around it at record-breaking pace, sneaking in a wee bit of pre-Duzi training in order to wrestle the crown away from the well slow and soft Martin Dreyer (present Duzi champion, for those of you not in the intellectual canoe mix) next time around.
Anyway, the details of my incredible canoe talent are not up for discussion here, but rather what happened on my drive home after the session, in rush hour traffic and, in particular, on Jan Smuts Avenue near to the Old Parktonian Sports Club around 8am.
I was happily chilling in my car, cruising along at about 60kph, in pretty much bumper-to-bumper traffic, with nobody going anywhere any faster; it was simply not an option.  Well, not an option for anyone with a brain, with an ounce of logic within their crania, with a drop of sense inside the membranes of their cerebral hemispheres. You'd think that a creature without a brain would equate to a fly or less, a category that includes mosquitoes, stones, anvils and......taxi drivers.
Yep, enter Sipho "I'm a d*ckhead without a brain cell" Ndlovo, driver of a Toyota Hi-Ace with 4 wheels, 1 brake pad, no lights, half a steering wheel, about 30 people inside and 3 masking-taped windows, standard issue for a South African taxi driver.
He had more than likely participated in the demonstration march last month with hundreds of other taxi driver idiots protesting about having had their 'vehicles' impounded for not being roadworthy.  The rocket-scientists couldn't understand what wasn't roadworthy about a taxi with a bobejaan spanner for a steering wheel, or one without brakes (they reckon a handbrake is just as good as the foot brake pedal).

Anyway, my mate Sipho decided things weren't flowing fast enough for him so started weaving in and out of the traffic, arm hanging out of his window like a baboon's tail hanging from its ring piece.
I heard this aeronautical engineer-like taxi driver coming from about 5 cars back, because everyone was hooting and slamming on brakes to avoid the accident that he was trying his damnest to cause.  After he narrowly missed the back of my canoe as he swerved in behind me I made a stubborn little vow that he definitely wouldn't be cutting in front of me like that, and so began the fun and games.

The bum-wart first tried the standard tactic of intimidation, just gradually cutting me off, in the typical "you'd better slow down and let me in, or I'll crash into you" method.
Well, I used the typical "F_ck you faeces-brain" tactic, with one hand on the hooter, the other pointing straight at him, with my foot firmly on the accelerator, until he backed down like Mike Catt had done in 1995 when Jonah Lomu ran straight over him.
This had a snowball effect, which had me chuckling the whole way back to my humble abode.  Syphilis-face then decided to put all his well acquired driving skill to the test and adopted the smartest technique of them all, the "Eish, I weel ovah-take on the wrong side" method, one that sadly has caused numerous accidents in the past, including the untimely death of one of our awesome mates a year ago.

This made old Maccatini madder than a spitting cobra with a red hot cactus lodged up its rectum.  No skin off the f_cking taxi drivers nose, he just accelerated more, and tried to cut in front of the double-cab in front of me, this after he had hooted at me and showed me a middle finger accompanied with a few swearwords, something that made me want to beat him harder than Campbell hit the gay boy who stabbed him repeatedly with a pen all those years ago!

Well, the fella in front of me had obviously also been observing the proceedings, and likewise refused to let Sipho D*ckdribble Ndhlovo in so the acceleration by the monkey continued, while he tried his hardest to outstare the double-cab driver.  Sadly for the nuclear physicist the emergency lane was shortly going to end, with a solid
stone pavement to mark its ending.

More sadly for him was the fact that he, and his 30-odd passengers were all trying their damnest to "intimidate by staring" myself and the double-cab man, instead of watching the road ahead something that most brain-owners do when driving.

I saw it coming, and was smiling my full-tusk smile even before they hit!!

Anal-bum-wart hit that pavement at about 70kph, 31 passengers bumped their heads on the roof of the Hi-Ace in poetic unison, adding an extra 31 dents to the already-f_cked minibus, and the two front wheels were ripped off the chassis as the bus slid to a delightful halt.

Thankfully no passengers were hurt, which made it the most fantastic thing to witness.  Sadly though, Sipho, arm still hanging out of the window, was also unscathed. However, his car was more f_cked than that prostitute at PE harbour named Deloris, and his mood was somewhat down-trodden.

I hooted and made sure he got the full-frontal of my biggest-ever super smile, as did the driver of the double-cab, and then to my absolute joy, looked in my mirror to see every driver behind me doing exactly the same!

The brain-cell-lacker had received his well-earned treatment!  I was happier than the Proteas when they beat the Aussies, or at least as happy!!

So folks, what a peachy morning it has been so far.  The sun is shining, it's Friday, I've done my training.  There will be a lot of thirst quenched this weekend, and Sipho, Faeces-face Ndlovo is one mini-bus short of a taxi!

Now that is justice....!

 

DC Pic - Team Ngubane

 

The Double Century

Yip, it’s the end of the year and that means it was Double Century time again.  The race this year followed the same route as last year except that it started and finished in Swellendam rather than Montague.  The effect of this is that the 2 big climbs came between km’s 40 and 60 rather than 140 and 160.

 

This year I rode for Team Ngubane.  A team I have been riding for, for the Spring League as well.  We were one of the last teams to start and got underway only at 6:58am.  In a way it was nice because we didn’t have to wake up so early, but we also knew that the wind was going to get worse later.

 

For those that don’t know about the DC, it is effectively a 202km time trail.  You can start with up to 12 riders and it is the time of the 6^th rider that counts.

We started with a full compliment this year, which always makes things a little easier.  In my first DC we started with only 6, so had no luxury of dropping anyone.

 

Gert, Willies dad wasn’t feeling too great and unfortunately had to pack it in early.  His strength on the flats would have been valuable later on.

 

In total we dropped 3 riders on route and had to stop to fix 2 punctures.  The 2 unplanned stops ended up ruining our chance of breaking the 6 hour barrier.  We eventually did it in 6:03!!

 

The team (including backup crew) was great.  Everybody did as much as they could and when a breather was needed another team member just rolled through to take the front.

 

Team Ngubane will definitely be back next year, and the goal of breaking 6 hours next time will be replaced by trying to crack the top 5.

Tour de Worcester

Here's a pic from the tour de Worcester that was held
on Saturday. The course was almost completely flat and there was very
little wind so it ended in a big bunch sprint. The only tricky section
was a 1.8km gravel section, which was really fun! This weekend coming I
am heading to Durbs for the Amashova. I am riding with the Pro's so it
is going to be a real tough one.

Selati

Neil, Pierre, and me

The last stretch (Solo)

So, writing a complete account of the Selati Tour has taken a lot longer than what it took to do the event, but eventually I am onto the final stage.

 

Waking up for the 7^th day was made slightly harder due to the late night thanks to the rugby.  As I write this the Boks are in the Semi final about to take on Argentina.  Lets hope they play the same way they did against the poms!

 

Ok back to the race… The day was off to a disappointing start with Neil having to abandon so close to the finish, but with an entire racing season ahead it was the wise move not to risk it.

 

The route was a superb one, with an easy start and then some biggish rolling hills towards the end.  It is amazing how ones body reacts to a hard week of riding.  On this the final day my legs felt completely fresh and better than they did all tour and it was nice to be apart of the racing.  Only the top 2 in the GC managed to get away just after the KOM.  I even found myself pushing the pace on the hills towards the end to get rid of some of the other riders. 

 

The finish was a hectic one as the last 300m were on a brick surface through the botanical gardens.  I managed to finish about 4^th in the sprint so ended up being 6^th overall for the stage.

 

I must say it was a relief to be finished but disappointing to think that 2 days after the finish and I would be back in the office!!

 

But what a tour, it was a great week and I must really thank Cape Storm for the opportunity, and Neil for making up the other half of Team Cape Storm.

 

I should be getting a cd of pics from Pierre this week so will post some of those soon.

Stage 6

Only 2 stages to go!

Well after the 35 degree heat that we experienced in the first 5 days the weather on stage 6 came as quite a shock. It was overcast and very chilly.

Getting to breakfast was made easy by hitching a lift from Andrew Maclean in his Porsche Cayenne, a very nice vehicle!

The stage for the penultimate day was just under 90km long with a nice drag back up to Graskop via the climb to God’s Window. I believe that the view from God’s Window is spectacular, I will have to take other peoples word because when we got there the mist was so thick that it was impossible to see further that 10m ahead.

Stupidly we thought, after the previous days, that the day was bound to warm so we didn’t take the prototype Stratos Jacket with us. What a mistake. Climbing God’s Window the temperature had dropped to only 12 degrees. Worst of all when Pierre came past in the car and we asked for the jackets he said he had given them to Tony Rominger and his buddy, the Astana manager, already!! Neil and I had worn these jackets at the start and played around with the “revolutionary new (REGISTERED) design that allows you to quickly unzip (one handed) and stow away your jacket sleeves whilst still riding - leaving you with a well fitted wind vest for warmer days” and must admit they are really cool jackets. It is just a pity we couldn’t test them on the way down God’s window ;-) Pierre did save us in the end and gave us the jackets he was wearing!

Unfortunately Neil was really struggling with his Achilles and was in a lot of pain and with the weather, making it to the finish was the day’s only goal.

Luckily the ride from Graskop was predominantly downhill and with the company of some of the vets and ladies (no we didn’t pace them, so stop shouting at us) we got to Sabie with an average speed just on 30km/h.

Once again we went for a massage. Neil booked a double session to see if he could get his Achilles right for the final day.

For the second time of the tour we were staying at a school. This time however the organisation was great and very comfortable.

Because most of the riders were scheduled to head back home soon after the final stage the main presentation was held at the supper after stage 6. Once again supper was awesome. After eating we moved towards the bar to watch SA take on England. A few beers were also allowed seeing there was only 1 stage left!

Only 1 stage to go! The final hurdle.

Cape Storm Sale

Sorry for the delay since the last entry, lucky the Selati trip was such a memorable one that I will be able to finish the entries for the last 2 stages with no problem!

But first……

Between now and when I wrote the last entry was the legendary Cape Storm Sale. What an event. As soon as news of the sale hits my inbox, my calendar gets a great big red mark on it. Myra and I were both super keen for the trip down to CS’s Wynberg store and not even a very late night of wine and sushi at a friend’s house was going to make us late for this one! We got there at 7:30am for the 8am opening and there was already a queue.

On entering you get given a huge plastic bag and the madness begins. Due to there being a limited quantity of each line the stategy I adopted the stategy of stuffing anything that I thought I might want into the bag and then try it on later. Well let me tell you by the end of the sale I was needing a second bag!! Prized items include a Spitfire jacket, that I am actually wearing now because summer still hasn’t reached Cape Town, and a pair of XA Pro 3D Salomon’s. Tim I hope you are jeleous.

Selati stage 5 continued..

The Blyde River Canyon.

Ok… I am back. I took a longer than expected break in my last post due to a stomach virus that hit me at midnight on Monday night. So Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in bed making this week even shorter.

To continue…. Bonnet had begun. This is one viscous climb with some really steep sections. Once again we quickly caught the riders that past us while we were at the water point. This climb goes on for way too long (about 8km) but some of the kicks made it seem twice as long. Once we got to the top there was another enjoyable decent into Graskop. Graskop came with about 50km to go so there was still quite a stretch left. For the next 30km’s the road was an undulating one with a good road surface. We also caught up with some of the vets and 2 of the 3 ladies who had entered the 4 day tour. We worked nicely over this section and all was pleasant until the leading lady’s mother (who will remain nameless) started shouting and screaming at the 2 women in our group that they weren’t allowed to ride with the 7 day riders. What a B!atchh.

In the end they were forced to drop from our group when the commissar was summoned. The group that remained did take great pleasure when we later passed the leading woman. The previously mentioned mother didn’t make it easy for us though she was following her “Angel” or should I say “2 Angel – FS” (the number plate on her car!) very closely and did not move her car over one inch. Luckily we weren’t racing in the Western Cape as we were forced to cross the sacred white line to get past. Martin Witters however did let her know what the group thought of her driving when he passed.

The last 20km’s were a real drag, a headwind had picked up and the road surface had deteriorated. But at the end of a long day in the saddle we made it to Blyde, where a pool, massages, Chelsea buns, protein shake awaited us!!

Once we had recovered sufficiently we caught the bus to our accommodation. The bus took us all the way up a mountain on a dirt road to get there. Once there though we were told we had been upgraded!! Oh yeah. Pierre had managed to get us into a bungalow overlooking the Blyde river Canyon (3^rd biggest in the world). Now that was luxury, and close to the pool which we headed back to after getting cleaned up. For lunch we both chose the pap and wors which filled the gap in my stomach that was threatening the Blyde Canyon to become only the 4^th biggest!!

Neil Relaxing after stage 5.

I then took a bike ride to the view point to see the spectacular views the canyon offered.

That night supper was a bit of a disaster as they weren’t quite ready for us, but eventually we were fed. On the way back to the Chalet we bumped into Tony Rominger, who told us that he had only ridden 350km’s this year! And still managing the tour comfortably enough. It must be nice to have all those miles in the legs.

Only 2 days to go and I still hadn’t managed to get a tan!!!