Race Report by Samantha Sanders: SA National XCO, PE

21 June was the final leg of the SA National XCO Series held at the Hayterdale Trails in Addo, PE. This was the course which hosted the SA XCO Champs last year, and it remained much the same but a switchback climb was added with some step drop-offs.

The elite Woman started at 11am; a late start but starting with the sunshine and the ground being heated up was definitely welcomed by all when racing in the middle of winter in the Eastern Cape!

The field was well represented and I was happy to see the likes of Candice Neethling & Cherie Vale on the start line. The National XCO Series this year has Cat 1 UCI points up for grab as well as UCI regulated prize money available; this was good incentive to race hard!

Nick Flores, the commissaire for the day, started our 6 laps of racing at 11am sharp. The whistle blew and I took the whole shot into the first corner. The first 300m or so of the lap through the start finish area was grassy and bumpy - not ideal for a sprint. I wanted to get into the single track first as the climb was followed by a technical decent into a drop-off. I knew many of the girls would ride the B line at the drop and I wanted to try open up a gap for myself before the next climb started. The climbs on this course are mostly single track making passing impossible. 

This is advantageous if you are in front because you can dictate the pace up, but if you are stuck behind a slower rider- it is frustrating and you will lose time.

I managed to execute my plan well but Cherie and Candice were breathing down my neck still as we went through the start finish together. By Lap 4 Cherie and I had pulled a gap on Candice. Cherie was attacking on the climbs and I decided to let her ride out front, I knew that we had 6 laps and she was not pulling away from me. We approached the Rock Garden on the course and Cherie was having trouble with it on the day so I made a flash decision to take the B line here to try get around her and through the section safely- this turned out to be a bad decision on my part and one which ruined my chances of a win. 

Going down the B line, I took a dive over my bars. This was the game-ender for me- I lost precious time straightening my bars and my derailleur was damaged in the incident. 

Candice caught me and passed while I struggled to get back into a rhythm. Both Cherie and Candy put the hammer down on lap 5 & 6 and I just hung in for 3^rd.

I was happy to still put myself on the podium and get my sponsors the exposure but exceptionally frustrated with the course of events. Lesson learned on the day: only ever take calculated risks!  The final standings of 

the series saw Ashleigh Moffat finish 1^st overall with Mariske Strauss 2^nd and myself 3^rd after only competed in 2 of the 4 events.

Full event results:

http://www.cyclingsa.com/App_Resources/Uploads/FILE00003767.pdf

Elite Woman:

1.      Cherie Vale 1:39:18

2.      Candice Neethling 1:39:49

3.      Samantha Sanders 1:40:47

Well done to my fellow competitors, especially Cherie and Candice, and CSA for a successful series. Valencia Cycles, Infinita, Powerbar, Continental tires and Adidas; my sponsors- THANX!

Next stop Pietermaritzburg where my teammate Amy & I will be tackling the Marathon World Champs.

Sanders Achieves Bronze at South African Marathon Champs

Last Sunday, the best mountain bike marathon racers from across the country descended upon Pietermaritzburg to compete in the pinnacle of this year’s national season: the SA Marathon Champs. The location was Cascades Mountain Bike Park, a world class XCO (Cross Country Olympic) destination for annual World Cup events as well as national XCO events.

Nick Flores, trail builder, famous for hairy rock gardens, top class obstacles and technical single track, didn’t fail to disappoint with the 50km, 71km and 94km routes rife with all of the above. All the descents were tricky and technical, and with 2400m of ascent in the marathon and 3000m in the Ultra, many described it as a “marathon distance XCO race”. In order to do well, one had to be a hard core mountain biker.

Samantha Sanders had a slow start, lying in 9^th place past the 1^st water-point. She worked her way through the field up to 3^rd behind Robyn de Groot and Candice Neethling. She maintained her position until the finish achieving a well-deserved bronze medal. Having had a rocky start to the year due to a broken thumb and massive “crater” in her elbow, Sanders is happy with her returning form. “I really enjoyed the course – it was definitely tough but it has a balance; testing endurance and skill. I tried to ride a ‘clever race’; being fast where I knew I could be fast and consistent on the climbs which worked out for me. I was stoked to take 3^rd and get Valencia on the podium.”

Amy McDougall was lying 10^th at the first water-point but unfortunately suffered a sidewall puncture shortly after; pushing her down to 25^th place. McDougall having lost valuable time, fought back finishing 5^th Elite by the end. “I was disappointed to have punctured, but that’s mountain biking! I loved the course; it was super tough but also a lot of fun. Although there is still work to do, I am feeling strong and looking forward to world Champs at the end of the month!”

In the 50km half marathon, Martin Oosthuizen and Ryan Clarke finished 51 seconds apart in 9^th and 10^th overall and 7^th and 8^th in the Junior Men’s category. Mandie Swart finished 11^th overall and 7^th Junior. Friends, Franco Pelser and Reyno Beukes also finished with a commendable top 20. Great achievements all round.

The race on Sunday was used as a preliminary race for the World Champs at the end of the month, thus the course will be similar if not identical to SA Champs. As anticipation is mounting, local riders now have a good idea of what to expect for Worlds. One thing is for sure, it is going to be a tough battle!

SA Marathon Champs - Race Report by Samantha Sanders

Cascades MTB Park in Pietermaritzburg hosted the prestigious South African Marathon Championship this past weekend. This same venue will host the World Marathon Champs 27-29 June.

The South African Marathon National Champ, a title held and successfully defended by Robyn de Groot, was what each rider was there to compete for. The race is open to any rider but competitors are either Elite category or age groupers; all Pros compete in the Elite age category.

The course started and finished at the Cascades Bike Park, an area which I am familiar with, not for marathon racing but rather for the World Cup XCO course built there. I was relatively skeptical about having a Marathon race in and around Pietermaritzburg but that skepticism was quickly laid to rest. It is definitely a world class marathon course with a substantial amount of climbing and a good number of technical sections. It tests both your riding ability & skill, concentration and endurance.

I planned my race around the climbing, I knew that nutrition and hydration in the first half would make or break your race. The first 14km of the course was difficult, the climbing was steep and more or less continuous with a few little technical sections in between. The race started fast and hard with Robin de Groot pushing the pace from the front up the climbs. I knew that she would push the tempo here to compensate on her slower riding through the technical sections, but I also knew that there was still plenty of climbing to come so I found a good tempo which I could sustain. Through water point 1 myself and team mate Amy McD were still together and sitting in the bottom of the top ten. 

Amy unluckily suffered a sidewall and had to stop & repair. By the top of the steepest climb and at water point 2 I was part of a trio with Yolandie Du Toit (Garmin) & Leana De Jager (Sasol Racing) I knew there was a descent to follow and I put down the hammer here knowing I was the faster technical rider. I managed to drop the girls and had a lonely ride until we dropped into some wicked single track and descended before the last climb out. Here i caught Yolande De Villiers (Sasol Racing) and another rider who were both polite enough to give me track after a few seconds of pressure from behind. De Villiers worked hard to catch me and sat my wheel for a while when we started back up again. 

The short, punchy switchback climbs and technical riding that followed allowed me to use my XCO skills to power away from her. From there on I focused on getting through all the technical sections as fast as I possibly could. I knew Jeanie Bomford was still ahead of me but I had no idea how far. In my mind there was still hope for a podium finish and so I just continued pushing hard. 

Luckily so, because through the last water point I spotted Jeanie. At that point I knew that I had caught her so I just maintained my tempo up the climb to close the gap and passed. Once I had caught her it was pretty much jubilation and a 10km stretch home.

A podium at SA Champs coming back from an injury was most welcomed and I was elated to finish 3rd. I was also happy to again put Valencia on the podium next to Candice Neethling (Velo Life) and Robyn de Groot. 

Of course results like this are never through the work of the rider alone- Thanks to my team at Valencia & Valencia Cycles for your ongoing support, my coach Bosseau Boshoff (Infinita Training Academy) who always goes the extra mile. And also Continental Tires for keeping me rubber side down & ADIDAS Eyewear.

Giant Trance 650B - Bike Review by Justin Victor

Giant Trance 27.5 (small)

140mm suspension travel, with the use of a 4 bar maestro linkage system.

Fox R 140mm with 15mm QR (tapered) 3 way setting (climb/trail/downhill).

Fox float rear shock.

SLX 2x10 shadow derailer with MRP Chainguide.

Giant wheels/handlebar/stem etc

Shwalbe nobby nic tyres.

Giant dropper post (This is my only upgrade on this bike and it's a necessity).

Rating: 8/10 (set up for Enduro) 

Pros: 

It handles like a downhill bike, it grips the ground around turns and flows like it was made for dirt jumping. The suspension ate everything I threw at it and couldn't get myself to go anywhere near its limit, felt like it was always willing to lean more, drop bigger drops, gap further jumps... I chickened out way before the bike did. Dropper post is a must!

Cons: 

Its not an XC bike, its heavy and takes an effort to get up hills. short kicks are fine (XCO), but after a bit of a longer climb, you start to notice the slight bob of the suspension. (setup for ENDURO). Small frame means no space for a big bottle and a side cage is the only way for a small 500ml bottle escape the frame, which means hydration packs are needed for longer rides.

The guys and girls that buy a bike like this will realize that it will be more comfortable over the half marathons if set up correctly. It is an amazing bike to get onto and go out and explore new trails on. If I was only allowed 1 bike I'd chose this one, it really impressed me with how easy it was to set up, the dropper post made me more comfortable going into technical sections and jumps and most importantly, I can honestly ride this bike all day and not get bored, which is what trail riding is all about.

The Test

Venues: 

Mankele XCO track.

York Enduro/DH course Sabie.

So that pretty much put this bike through its paces. 

Mankele: rocky, wooden jumps, pretty tight sections. 

The first day I got hold of the new steed I literally pumped the shocks up to my desired pressures, set the saddle height, and took our Junior Team to Mankele for a technical training session on the XCO track. This is the first time I'd ridden the 650B wheel size and after the first couple of turns I realised that this bike can corner! I opted for a smaller size and the bike is nice and compact, it is a bit on the weighty side but once on top of the climb I got to test out the dropper post (a necessary tool for an endure bike, allowing the rider to move over the bike more freely without the concern of a saddle that’s too high, throwing you onto your face in the single track or worse... in front of a group of girls.) 

Mankele is nice to test a bike because it's pretty rough riding there with all the rocks, man-made wooden drops and gaps, which makes it an ideal testing area. The bike did better than I could've hoped; the suspension locks out and the bike doesn't 'bob' as much as it looks like it should, having 140mm Fox fork and 140mm rear wheel travel, but having said that, you do have to carry this extra weight up the steep long climbs which can be a bit tiring coming off a sub 10KG hard tail. I am really lucky to have Juniors to ride with to make sure I also push on the descent and see what I'm capable of. After having a lot of fun on the new wooden gap, our young gun Martin Ooshuizen decided that he didn't like the local plant life, and proceeded to try uproot a whole tree using only his head! It was then time to leave the XCO course.

Sabie York Adventure Trails: a li'l bit of MTB Heaven: fast flowing single track, roots, rocks, JUMPS!!!

The very next day I convinced my old man to come and ride the Sabie trails and I knew immediately that this is where the Giant Trance would be at home. Jakes met us at the bottom of the course and we needed to ride all the way up to the top of the downhill, an easy feat that I've done numerous times... But the Giant weighs about 14.5 kg and takes a bit of getting used to on the ups (the set up is very relaxed, well how I've set it up) so I can smash some single track and be more comfortable in the air. So, needless to say, I had a tough time keeping Jakes' pace going up the hill. After 30 min of nonstop climbing we had reached the summit of what felt like Everest. It must be mentioned that I will do 95% of my MTB training on this bike because it's a bit heavier, it builds confidence and it's so incredibly fun to ride!!!

The true test. York Enduro track. 1st Run, I didn't hold back on this one.

This course has it all: berms almost all the way down, some fast pedaling sections, jagged rocks, slippery roots and most importantly 2 big table tops at the bottom (my personal favorite place to ride). 

I can honestly say that this bike performed better than the downhill bikes we rode 10 years ago. it accelerates out of turns like fat kids to an ice cream truck! 

I cant wait for the York Enduro to see what my actual time down this course was. Having done a proper setup the night before, I was way more comfortable and feeling confident. I did all the rock jumps without hesitation (that's trust in equipment) the 140mm travel soaked up EVERYTHING! I rode the bottom section of the track where the 2 table top jumps are for over an hour just having fun and playing around (forgoting that I was in full Lycra... goodbye enduro street cred...). At the end of the session I was truly disappointed to have to pack up and go home. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this review. I hope you enjoyed it. 

Yours truly

Justin Victor

Hugely Successful Weekend at the Annual Uplands Festival

Last weekend the much anticipated annual Uplands Festival took place at Uplands College just outside White River. With Valencia and Caltex as the title sponsor, Naeem Omar and team in conjunction with Neil Clarke, Brad Shuttleworth and team from Uplands College put together an extraordinarily organised and festive weekend. On Saturday the School’s XCO took place along with all the other school sports including hockey and rugby. Sunday was open to all with a mountain bike race: The 50km Classic, 19km Challenge and 5km Fun Ride.

Spur Schools Series XCO at Uplands

The competition was fierce between local rival schools: Uplands, Penryn, Curro, Rob Ferreira, Bergvlam, Nelspruit HS, Lydenburg HS, Southern Cross, Ermelo Primary, Bergland and Laerskool Laeveld.

On Saturday The Schools’ XCO race showed a strong contingent of Valencia riders. In the Junior Men’s race there was a complete Valencia Podiam and 7 riders in the top 10. Franco Pelser (Rob Ferreira), Martin Oosthuizen (Bergvlam) and Ryan Clarke (Uplands) stood on the top 3 steps with Christopher La Granger (Uplands), Ryno Beukes (Nelspruit HS), Damon Halderman (Bergvlam) and Joshua Birch (Uplands) all in the top 10.

The Junior Ladies’ race out of 10 riders had Mandie Swart (Nelspruit HS) in 1^st and Tyneale Terry (Uplands) 2^nd.

The Sub Junior Men’s category was competitive with 26 starters. Ryan Terry (Uplands) blitzed his competition by just less than 2 minutes.
Top step in the Sub Junior Ladies’ race went to Monique Swart (Nelspruit HS)

Of the Youth Men; by far the biggest contested with 40 riders on the start line, Murray James achieved bronze and showed incredible consistency in lap times with a difference of just 36 seconds between his fastest and slowest lap. Sarah McQueen (Penryn) and Kirsty Shuttleworth (Uplands) took gold and silver respectively in the Youth Female category.

Uplands Festival MTB Classic

On Sunday, cyclist from all over the Lowveld came to participate in the beautiful and enjoyable mountain bike race. The trails were in the best condition they have been in for the past four years, commented race director and organiser, Neil Clarke. The Courses offered a bit of everything, a decent amount of tough climbing that was rewarded by kilometres of fantastically maintained single track with beautiful views that only the Lowveld can offer. Good care was taken in marking the course with many helpful marshals along the way. The water points were a haven in the heat to many with enthusiastic people offering cold coke, water and eats to keep them going.

Valencia riders made their sponsor proud as the majority of them came to support the event with a strong contingent making it onto the podium.

In the 50km Classic, Samantha Sanders and Amy McDougall fought hard in pursuit of Dalene Van Der Leek. McDougall finished 2 minutes behind Van Der Leek in 2^nd and Sanders coming in 3^rd. “I thoroughly enjoyed the trails set out by Uplands college, it was hard and hot but the single track was super fun!” says McDougall.

Murray James, only 16 years old showed incredible form, coming 8^th overall and 3^rd youth behind fellow locals Liam de Klerk and Andreas Kuhn. The 3 youth boys finished ahead of all the juniors and were only 7-9 minutes behind winner Lourens Luus.

The Valencia juniors occupied the podium with Ryan Clarke, Christopher La Grange and Franco Pelser in 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd respectively. 

Mandie Swart won the Junior ladies category.

Martin Oosthuizen, racing amongst the top riders for the first 30km snapped his frame and was unable to continue riding. Instead of throwing in the towel, he showed an incredible amount of determination and perseverance by running the last 20km in order to finish. The youngster’s fighting spirit will take him far in his cycling career, great things can be expected in the future from Oosthuizen.

In the 19km Challenge, Xolani Gininda finished 4^th overall and came 2^nd Junior, Monique Swart won the sub-junior ladies race. Up and coming talents Luk Mellart and Robert Ferreira were neck and neck in the Sprog’s race with Mellart beating Robert in a sprint.

The Uplands Festival had a fantastic festive vibe and was a great success.