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MTN-QHUBEKA SCORES UCI POINTS IN EUROPE

Team MTN-Qhubeka took on two tough races in Europe over the weekend, the GP Arno Wallaard Memorial Category 1.2 on Saturday 21 April, and the Ronde van Noordholland, also a Category 1.2 race, on Sunday 22 April. Reinardt Janse van Rensburg finished fourth at the latter, claiming the team’s first European racing UCI points for the season.

GP Arno Wallaard Memorial Cat 1.2

MTN-Qhubeka Sports Director Jens Zemke notes that the weather conditions were again very poor for this race, with rain at the start and cold temperatures. It did, however, warm up during the day.

The 200km race was challenging. Songezo Jim managed to make a break of eight riders for a short spell, and Janse van Rensburg got away with a group of 19 other riders who maintained a lead of between 30 and 40 seconds for some time before being reeled back in by the peloton. Martin Wesemann had a really rough day at the office, crashing three times. Dennis van Niekerk was in a fairly serious crash, but managed to get back on his bike and into the race.

45km before the end of the race, Bradley Potgieter forced a break. He managed to build up a lead time of 40 seconds with four riders chasing him. Unfortunately, he says the race was just 5km too long for him. He was caught and passed by the four chasing riders.

The bunch caught up too and there was a sprint finish for fifth place. Janse van Rensburg finished in 17^th position and Arran Brown in 24^th. “We were visible and creating the race,” says Zemke.

 “It’s really motivating as a team to be mixing it up in the racing,” says Potgieter. “The team is a really strong unit and we are all there supporting each other.”

Janse van Rensburg complimented Potgieter on his strong ride. He notes that he tried to bridge the gap to join his teammate in the last few kilometres, but was unable to. Nevertheless, a top 20 finish was a good result.

“I’m delighted and proud of the team’s performance in the tough 200km race,” says MTN-Qhubeka Team Coach Dr. Carol Austin. “It was aggressive positive racing from all the men and they’re definitely taking it to the next level.”

Ronde van Noord-Holland Cat .1.2

 Sunday 22 April saw 25 teams each with eight riders lining up to tackle the 212km race in windy conditions. The pace was fast and the competition stiff, and 12km into the race the bunch was separated into many parts by the vicious crosswinds.

“There were 16 riders in front, and 12 including Janse van Rensburg chasing them,” says Zemke. “There were three riders from Rabobank U23 in the chasing group, which was about 1min30 seconds behind the leaders at some points. Janse van Rensburg but did not hide. The chasing group came back to the first group after 160km and immediately formed another group.” Janse van Rensburg bridged over to the top riders and was with nine others in the leading group.

“The winner escaped after 190km when he won a sprint and the group took another road. He won himself 10-15 seconds because of this mistake,” Zemke explains. “Janse van Rensburg’s group sprinted for second place and he finished in fourth, which is a super result. The other groups were far behind. The tough racing cost the riders a lot of energy as they suffered more than five hours in the wind.”

Zemke was delighted with the team’s first UCI points in their European racing this year. “This weekend we won a lot of respect from the other teams and the officials,” he says.

“This weekend's SRM race data highlights the importance of European racing to the progressive development of our team,” says Austin, commenting on the technical data from the race. “Aside from the races being significantly longer in duration and distance, the competition demands excellent acceleratory conditioning. In Ronde van Noord-Holland, Janse van Rensburg accelerated sharply to above 850W on 64 occasions. In contrast, these types of accelerations were infrequent in the Cape Argus Cycle Tour and South African Road Championships (18 and 25 times respectively). We consider SRM data such as this invaluable in that it allows us to continually improve our training approaches for future world-class performance.”

Arran Brown points out that only nine riders finished the Ronde van Noord-Holland race out of 210 starters. “It was a tough race in the wind and rain. Reinart Janse van Rensburg did a super job to finish fourth overall,” he says.

“It was a hard day in the gutters on what is never an easy piece of road,” says Potgieter. “I could still feel the effort from the previous day’s racing. It was a good ride from Janse van Rensburg to get fourth place!”

Never one to rest on his laurels, Janse van Rensburg was pleased with his result, but has already turned his attention to the upcoming Tour of Bretagne in France this week.

Team Principal Doug Ryder explains that achieving UCI points is important for the team, as these determine the team’s world ranking. “The higher your ranking, the more opportunities you get as a team,” he says. “In a UCI 1.2 categorised event like the events we participated in this weekend, only the first eight riders score points, so Janse van Rensburg’s fourth place was a super result for him and the team. Team MTN-Qhubeka is currently ranked 47th in World Cycling out of the World Tour, Pro-Continental and Continental teams, ninth in the UCI Continental team rankings. This is an excellent achievement for us.”

2012 Race Report: Karkloof 60km Marathon

Race SPECS: Total Distance: 60km

 Racing at the front end of this year’s Mr Price Karkloof Classic was fierce as many of the country’s top elite marathon mountain bikers looked to get their hands on the race's coveted title, however not even the best efforts of youngster James Reid (Nedbank 360Life) and the vastly experienced Brandon Stewart (FedGroup iTech Connect) could contain Jacques Rossouw (FedGroup iTech Connect) in the end sprint to the line (Cyclenews.co.za).

The ever popular Karkloof classic is one of KZN’s oldest mountain biking races and has seen tremendous growth over the past couple of years with title sponsor Mr Price at the helm. At this years instalment 3500 people lined up at one of the largest fat tyred festivals in South Africa for what must be the best single track around. The start was frantic with a 1km sprint into a narrow single track where if any rider overshot the corner, immediate disqualification would occur. The pace was high until the pack hit the rolling district road where we were then joined by the chasing group who’s dropped off after the initial fast pace. The lull wasn’t for long where the next attack came at 8km in with the first real climb. The group split and I found myself holding on the back of the top 5 riders. I sat for the next 10km until the base on Lebanon where I lost contact with Ben-Melt, but turned around to see Jacques coming racing up behind me and passing just as quickly. He’d started at the back of the batch to race through the field after a heavy bout of training the previous week but continued to push hard to catch the leaders.

I continued to race hard but couldn’t maintain the high pace set by the other racers, this left me in a no-mans land and I then raced to the finish maintaining a gap between me my chasers and myself.

The Karkloof track has undoubtably the best continuous sections of single track in South Africa and it shows with the top racers the province continues to grow. With events like these it sometimes seems unnecessary to travel to other provinces for racing. With 3weeks to go until sani the event pared well for my sani partner Tyron White who rounded off the top ten positions in a very well stacked field. This weekend see’s us racing at Tour Durban MTB on Friday for another very fast race around the cane fields and new King Shaka airport. It’ll be great to catch up with many of the TIB friends and family in our back yard.

Overall Results
1.Jacques Rossouw 2:35.46
2.James Reid
3.Brandon Stewart
4.Philip Buys
5.Renay Groustra
6.Ben Swanepoel
7.Andrew Hill
8.Travis Walker
9.Patrick Belton
10.Tyronne White

Comsol Bell Alfie Cox Racing Enduro Team Race Report

National Enduro Humansdorp,– 14 April 2012

Great Result for Scott Bouverie!

After coming back from New Zealand where the team competed in the Red Bull City Scramble, where Chris came 3rd and Scott 8th, the guys set their sights on the next national enduro. Unfortunately, whislt competing in NZ, Dominic Mantle broke his arm, and a week after getting back to SA, broke his leg. He is doing ok but will spend several weeks in plaster. We will miss him at the next few races!

The second round of the National Enduros was at Humansdorp. Due to rule changes this year, there were no special tests to be walked, so it was a relaxing day prior to the race.

Race day and Scott set off about 20 minutes ahead of Chris (due to Chris crashing in the last round he started on row 31). The lap was 55km and the riders had 1hr 50min to complete the first lap, where the specials would not be timed. There were a few nervous faces up and down the pits as every rider came in late. There was a river section that was holding people up, but Scott managed to only lose about 6 minutes on the lap which put him in a good position. Chris came in after the first lap and made the difficult decision to pull out at this stage.

“My knee and surronding muscles are just not ready after the massive crash a month ago. I have damaged the ACL and MCL, and need to make sure I give it time to heal properly and allow me to still compete in a few key races this year like Romaniacs and the Roof – not to mention not running the risk of surgery if possible. I haven’t DNF’d a race like this since 1995 so it’s a real shame but I need to make sure I am strong enough to cope with racing.”

Scott completed the remainder of the race losing no more time, which was fantastic and picked up speed on the last lap where the special test times show him winning that stage overall. He ended the day in 2nd place overall and 2nd in 200cc class (these results are provisional due to an appeal still to be held).

“I was pretty keen to get some more points on the board at this race, and was feeling good after practicing all week and I rode my 250F-XC at this round, which I really enjoyed. The track was not too bad, and I was stoked to get a podium place this weekend”.

The next race is the second round of the WFO on 5 May.

AWESOME Writeup about Powasol Products by Casper Bester head mechanic for Team MTN Qhubeka:

I have been asked to do a short write up on my experience of Powasol as I experience the product.
In January I got in contact with Klint Mills from Powasol to see if I can get some products to try out as one off my friends told me to give it a try on the team bikes, we were heading off to our team ( MTN Qhubeka) training camp.I managed to get some product to try out for the week on the training camp but if I must be honest with you all it did not take a lot of convincing to get me to use the product on the team bikes. Have you ever heard about a dream come true? Now that is what Powasol was to me as a mechanic for a team of 20 riders and 40 bikes to take care of all the time.
I have never before spent so little time on a chain to get it back to its original shiny sparkle, the one product that does that is Revive. Revive is a soft smooth product on the chain if used correctly with a soft brush over the chain and sprockets, no more scrubbing and grinding to get that sparkle, you just brush and flush and you there. Powasol Bike wash is an amazing wash with a basic polish in the soap also protecting the frame against mud build up and dust collections. Just by washing the bike it looks like you took a hour to polish and shine it, good for dissolving mud build up on mountain bikes if a light foam layer is sprayed over the affected areas before the main wash, fast and effective with a very good result, a bike wash for more than just bikes.
Waxolube and Green mamba, those are two product that can to put a sparkle in any chains eye. It is a smooth non-adhesive chain lubes that can take you and give the pleasure to any rider with long lasting smooth shifting. The products all work very well if you use it in the conjunction with each other.  At first I was convinced that waxo lube is the thing. I tried the green mamba and was blown away, as a pro mechanic the bike goes through a lot on a daily basis and that is one thing that get tested to the limit is chain lube.  What I found with a lot of playing with the product is that if you use green mamba directly after washing your chain with revive, making sure the chain is rinsed properly and left to dry or use high pressure air to spray water of the chain so it can dry faster, it does wonders in making sure the chain doesn’t rust or have dry links. Normally we do this the day before the race so the chain gets time to absorb the lube, the morning of the race we use waxo lube on race day, giving us smooth shifting under any circumstances and race conditions. You get to know how much of each to use when and where but either way both products are amazing to use in conjunction or by themselves.
To me and our Team MTN Qhubeka,  Powasol has been there for us in all our races and part of 11 victories locally and over all victory of Tour of Morocco with top 10 finish in Langkawi.

That’s it from me as head mechanic from MTN Qhubeka

Casper Bester

2012 Race Report: Golovane Explore 85km by Andy Hill

Race SPECS:

Total Distance: 85km

Total Ascent: 1707m

The 2012 Boxlee Golovane Explore is always a favourite in the marathon racing fraternity especially with the likes of SANI2C on around the corner. The track is usually dry and fast paced in the Balito summer heat. But this wasn’t the case on the weekend when the unseasonal rainfall threatened to make the track muddy and slick. By Saturday afternoon the rain was still coming down which might have scared off a couple of fair weather riders. But waking up on Sunday morning the sky was clear and the gale force overnight wind had dried the trails dramatically. The hard sandy trails we compacted and the race turned out to be a faced paced effort. The start was an early one with us heading off at 6:30 to avoid the heat, This is always a great time to be riding a bike on the coast and the weather was warm and pleasant. The first move was made by Shaun Peschel who attacked as the 2km neutral zone ended. This heightened the pace dramatically. But the attack was short and I felt like I could continue the hard tempo for a while longer up the first 2km climb. My legs felt good and I continued to push over the climb and towards the flats. I felt I had something to prove as I was forced to retire after 35km into the race last year with a mechanical. I turned to look back and saw I had a sizable gap over the chasing group but knew I would have to work hard to stay away riding into a strong headwind as an individual.

I kept my pace consistent and tried to make sure I was out of sight of the chasers as the old adage always rings true when you are racing “out of sight out of mind”. I was fortunate the lead motor bike was giving me time splits; this helped me maintain the tempo impetus and push harder. After 35km there was a 3min40seconds gap on the following group which I knew would be hard to maintain as we descended back down to the start finish where a group would be stronger on the flats than a single time MTB. The final big climb of the day was up Howards bush to a water table. The steep climb pitched out at 20 degrees at some points and provided a rude awakening to many cyclists who thought their sani training was in the bag. The fast paced decent through an indigenous forest provided a big reward for the pain experienced up the climb and proved to be the favourite conversation point at the end of the day amongst many of the riders. From there on into the finish the pace picked up again as the rolling farm roads guided the riders to a beer and burger at the Holla trail centre.

A great race all round and I’ll be sure to come back next year for another instalment of the Golovane Explore  

Comsol Bell Enduro Team Race Report

National Enduro Qolora, East London – 10 March 2012

Mixed Results in First National

After a successful WFO the week before, the Comsol Bell enduro team was looking forward to a positive race held by Rover Enduro club in East London.

The race promised new riding terrain and challenging terrain tests. The shorter ‘MX’ test was very good, with all team members really enjoying racing in and out of the forest with a well marked track.

Unfortunately, the second, longer special stage was very dangerous and poorly marked. The majority was long grass with hidden rocks, and Scott and Dom both had problems with riders coming the other way in the test due to poor marking.

Chris was most unfortunate on the second to last lap when he hit a hidden rock on the racing stage and had a very bad crash, damaging the bike and himself so he was not unable to finish the race.

“From the sighting lap I had said to our pit crew and to the organisers that it was a dangerous stage and I couldn’t believe that was what we were racing through. It was unfortunate as when I had my crash I had already slowed down to about 75% speed as it was too dangerous for me to race flat out. I damaged nearly all of my gear and we’ve got a bit of work to do on the bike now! Luckily all my protective gear did what it was supposed to do as I have nothing broken or too badly / permanently damaged – just a donation of skin to the track!”

Scott Bouverie was performing well throughout the race and finished the tight last lap on time with no penalty points. He also had a crash in the last test which saw him losing a bit of time, but still finished 5th in the 200 class. “I really enjoyed the shorter test, and my bike handled really well – especially with the Mitas tyres I had on. I was a bit disappointed to crash towards the end but that’s racing and I will push harder at the next one to stay in the running for podium place.’

Dominic Mantle rounded out the team’s efforts with 11th place in class.

The team is now heading to New Zealand to compete in Red Bull City Scramble, an enduro cross race featuring many top extreme enduro riders, on April 1st, and will be back ready to race in the second national enduro on 14 April.

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XTERRA SA CHAMPS GRABOUW by Ty White

Result: 6th Overall

I cannot believe XTERRA Grabouw has come and gone already. I am left wanting more. I knew my form wouldn't be perfect after having time off after XTERRA Worlds but I still felt like my body had more in it, I just couldn't access the power needed on the day. I have again left XTERRA Grabouw having learnt a lot about how best to attack these courses.

To say the field was stacked is the biggest understatement ever. With the likes of 4 x XTERRA World Champ Conrad Stoltz, Ironman legend Raynard Tissink, Dan Hugo, Stuart Marais, Nico Pfitzenmeier, Raoul De Jongh, Theo Blignaut and many other top names, even the likes of Ultra distance running star Ryan Sandes were out giving XTERRA a go.

A perfect morning greeted us upon arrival at Grabouw Country Club. It was set to be a scorcher of a day with minimal wind. The pro's were given a 10 meter start advantage in the swim which was great to allow me to get away from the usual chaos at the swim starts esp with there being just under 1000 entries. I am not in great swim form and had planned to get through the swim without having pushed to hard, saving energy for later. I ended up on Justin Porteous' feet and he held a good pace throughout the swim. I got out the water around 2mins down on the leaders and inside the top 25.

I had a quick transition and set about working my way up the order. The bike course was one of the toughest routes I have done, it consisted of a lot of climbing early on and some spectacular single track on the way home. I could feel on the early climbs that my legs weren't offering me what I'm used to so I found a rhythm and hoped to make up time in the single track later on. By the highest point of the route I managed to just get in front of Raynard and Raoul and was now lying in 6th. By the bottom of the rocky single track I was on the wheel of Stuart and we managed to get by Carl Pasio shortly after. Unfortunately I lost Stuarts wheel slightly and entered transition a few seconds back in 5th.

I ran knowing Raynard would be coming strong but just didn't have the leg speed I was hoping for. I was in a mental battle against my tired legs and against the brutal course. Fighting the urge to slow down up the, what seemed like vertical climbs. Unfortunately with about 2kms to go Raynard caught and passed me. I ended up around 30sec behind him in 6th overall to end a very tough day mentally and physically. Not exactly the position I was hoping for but taking a lot of positives away from the days racing.

Another brilliantly organized event by the guys at Stillwater sports and so impressed with the calibre of the course they set. Moving forward I now have 4 weeks to get myself ready for The Cape Epic, which I'm really looking forward to experiencing with Guylin Van Den Berg.

Amazing feeling being on the podium with my 2 childhood heroes Conrad and Raynard

2012 Race Report: Sabie XCM National by Andy Hill

Round 1 of the UCI World Cup Marathon series was held at Sabie in Mpumalanga over the weekend. The route was a circular loop race and started at the York Timbers Sports Grounds in Sabie and finished at the same venue. The legendary route zigzaged up to the hartebeest “vlakte” plateau and then looped back to the start finish area and out for another 40km up the mountain again. Over the entire weekend 3000 participants passed through this route and as was seen the popularity has brought people back to the race over the past 4 years. The race has grown tremendously over this period as the riding is “absolutely unique and spectacular”.

Race SPECS:

Total Distance: 113km

Total Ascent: 3150m

Forest Road: 69.7km

Jeep Track: 33.2km

Single Track: 10,1km

The 2012 route basically follows the sections of the one which the riders found both enjoyable, yet challenging in 2011. The Mamba Switchback (360m up in 3,5km) remains as the main climb, with an added 100m ascent towards the Queen of the Mountain, which now occurs at 25km into the race. It is an exciting route with a lot of variable in terrain, surfaces and some stunning views of the valley below and waterfalls from the top of the mountain. The second loop of 40km encompasses the Half Marathon section through Ceylon Forestry areas, and does not quite take the riders back up to top of the mountain, but nevertheless after 75km they will still feel the intensity of another 25km of additional climbing. (www.advendurance.co.za)

The race was technically harder than any of the other Ultra marathons up to this point with wait for it… 10.1km of single track. The one thing I realised whilst riding outside of KZN is that we are seriously spoilt by the KZNMBC and all the other KZN track builders. The quality of our home races are up there with the world’s best and it shows with the calibre of cyclists we produce. The 40km route was not as technical as the first loop with the majority of the riding being on jeep track. The biggest difference between Sabie and KZN is that the climbs are much longer than what we are used to in our racing. This fact helped the European racers as they have become accustomed to BIG long “Alp” type climbs with fast, sketchy down hills to test the skills and courage.

The racing upfront was tactically fast with the bulls teams controlling the race until the 360 life duo of David and Kevin went on the attack after a break from local Max Knox. The pace quickened at 20km and I found my self off the back. The 3.5km climb up Mamba switch backs was where I picked up a couple of cyclists who had got excited and went with the German and French Bulls team.

I kept my pace consistent and moved my way through the field going through the first neutral tech zone with the RECM rider Neil McDonald and the two French riders of FULL DYNAMIX. We picked up a couple of other riders on our way to the next tech zone and moved steadily into the top 20. As I came through the75km feed zone I knew I had to pick up the pace and put pressure on David Morris and Neil who were just behind me. At the 90km water point I picked up Eric from the Contego team and another Swiss rider. The Swiss rider jumped on and we came into the final 5km with me pulling on the front. Going into the last 2km I pushed extremely hard to put time between myself and the Swiss rider. The tactic worked and I cross the finish line in 15th place. Just behind the team bulls rider Stefan Saam. A great result for my second ultra and a big thanks must go to GU for outstanding nutrition and Powasol for the green mamba lube. An interesting fact is that out of the top 15 there were 5 Cannondale 29r flash bikes. Who says it not about the bike?

2012 Race Report: Barberton XCM National by Andy Hill

2012 has kicked off with a bang. With the first weekend of racing under the belt it’s good to have settled the nerves and pushed the body into the racing mode forcefully at a national event, amongst all the top professional racers in South Africa, in one of the most mountainous regions of Mpumalanga.

The small old mining town of Barberton is situated at 800m of altitude and is surrounded by a caldron of mountains rising up to 1800meters in every direction. This only means one thing when it comes to mountain biking, CLIMBING! The race route followed a similar route to the previous additions of this event in that the major climbing was at the beginning of the 75km and 45km routes. The ultra is a combination of the two and has a total accent of over 3300meters over 122km. The field was stacked with all the big names and a top ten podium was always going to be a tough ask, especially with the cumulative experience of the top contenders.

From the end of the neutral zone the pace was quick with many of the guys trying to get into a favourable position before the 14km hill which started at 5km into the race. As the group hit the base of the climb the pace settled and the tactical riding began. The first to attack were the MTN crew followed by the 360life team mates and a fair number of the other teams followed. The length and extreme gradient of the climb meant the light weight riders had a big advantage over the more powerful athletes and so the pace quickened till I found myself out the back of the main bunch with a small group of racers. The constant thought that we still had 90km to go played a big part in the decision to climb at my own pace and conserve energy for the final 1000m climb at 85km in.

The tactic worked and by 75km I was feeling relatively fresh and passed a couple of riders. The real trick to racing ultras as I found out over the weekend is consistency and controlled efforts. The body goes through so many different phases whilst you are on the bike for 5hrs. You can feel like death at one stage then feel amazing an hour later, the experience is one that you cant gain by listening to others but only through going out there and doing it for yourself.

I crossed the line in 19th place overall finishing about 10miuntes off 10th place. The positions were very tightly bunched and you had the likes of the REcM duo of Waylon Woolcock and Neil Macdonald in 15 and 16th place. A great result for my first ultra ever and I’m looking forward to Sabie next month.

This following weekend I’ll be having some fun at the Hermannsburg Madman event which should be great to spend some time with friends at a social event.