The Ama Shova on the Shova

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…and with No Spandex Required.

So it’s been a bit slow as far as racing goes this last while, although I have spent quite a bit of time on my bike. I have to say that between getting things ready for our new arrival and trying to get a new section built on the DH track in the back yard, I really haven’t been very focused on racing my bikes. But a few months back, the friend that I rode last year’s sort Ama Shova with convinced me to enter the 106km race for this year.

We both decided that we were not prepared for such a long ride and so we did a few 60 odd kilometre “training” rides, out to Camperdown and back. I fitted a set of Intense Micro Knobby 2s (very fast rolling tires) on my wheels and put a 48T big chain ring on the front of my Morewood Shove, and was ready for a road race.

Race weekend started on Saturday afternoon with a drive up to Howick to get Des’ bus so we could all get up to the start on Sunday morning. Thanks Des. Then some last minute bike prep and a good dinner, before turning in early for a good night’s rest in preparation for a 4am start.

I must have been pretty excited, because I woke up before my alarm went off. Had a bit of breakfast, got dressed in my sweet Dakine XC kit and headed out to pick up the 7 people who were getting a lift up to PMB with me. I always forget how big these road races really are. I mean the 94.7 and Argus pull around 30 000 entries each year and Ama Shova, about 10 000. At half past 4 in the morning, if you see a car on the road they are usually people coming home from the jol, but every car I saw had bikes on the back.

We all got up to Maritzburg with enough time to get kitted up in the rain and get ourselves over to the start, to stand in the freezing rain for 20min before our stat time at about 7:30. Even if you loath spandex wearing roadies and vowed to never ever ride a road race, do yourself a favour and do one of the top three road races. Ride it on a DH bike if you want, just do it. There is nothing quite like standing around with between 5 and 30 thousand people, getting ready to “race”, riding down a closed highway with those same people, or seeing the myriad of weird and wonderful outfits on course. It’s really good fun. It’s the Fun Rider World Cup man.

It’s fun, but hard work. I mean 106km is still 106km and a 14kg trail bike is still 14kgs (I got lots of strange looks, with my fat tires and 760mm wide Race Face bar). The climbs where hard and the descents were fun. And the good feeling you get when you finish a long race was there. It’s amazing to be in the middle of the field, to see the pain a peoples’ faces as they try to get to the top of the next hill, and the total joy on their faces as they cross the line.

All in all an awesome day on the bike, hanging out with friends and hitting the beach after. I’m still feeling pretty stoked. Next year my goal is a sub 4 hour, but first the new section on the DH track to sort out and a bit of riding my bike in the dirt.

Time to go train.

Un….Lucky!

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The first DH race of 2011 was the Greg Minnaar/Mongoose Regional at Cascades in Pietermaritzburg, and by Friday, I was super amped. The event was to be run on a completely new track that Tim, Morne and a few of the PMB locals had cut, and all I’d heard was that it was really fun and really scary. The rumours of a huge step down toward the bottom of the course were scaring me a tad, but I just decided that it was best to head up there with an open mind and just take it easy.

Race weekend started at around 12:30 on Saturday afternoon. I’d done the Maverick Saturday 6:30 ride that morning and it had turned into a bit of an epic morning, with the group only getting back to the shop at about 10:30 (and I was worried I wouldn’t get my full 12 hours in on the bike last week). SO with 4 hours in my legs already, I was keen to just take a few gentle runs down.  So after helping Alisdair get his Kona CoilAir set up, I caught a shuttle up the hill to have my first run.

The course was way too much fun to ride slowly, with a bit of a flat pedal, through a few flat corners, and straight into a sweet road gap. After the road gap an off camber corner took you through some gnarly rocks and into a short step off into another road. And then it got steep! Steep switch back after steep switch back, blown out berm after blown out burn. SO MUCH FUN! The track had awesome flow and before you knew it, you where into the old 4X track from the 2009 World Cup. A ladder bridge, a gnarly rock garden, a few pedal strokes, and a small launch into the forest again, and then brakes, brakes, brakes!

It was scary olling up to the big step down that everyone told me about. It just seemed to drop away so far before the landing back on Terra Firma. This thing looked huge, but with a little positive thought and the realization that my DH track in the back has a way bigger drop in it, I rolled up to it and just went for it… On the third attempt. So cool! The drop was followed by a huge hip to the right and then another to the left, which just didn’t seem to daunting after the big step-off had been conquered. All good and time to find another shuttle to the top. Two more runs down the hill and a few extra goes at the step-off and that was it for the day.

It was good to catch up with young Kyle Davids – an ex-Maverick team rider – who has found his way onto the Morewood/Adrenaline Cycles team. Kyle feels very positive with his new bike and has settled down well with his new team mate, Sam Bull. With the kind of motivation Kyle has, he will be one to watch in 2011. The day was over and it was time for food and sleep.

Early start on Sunday and we were at Cascades by 8am. Set up camp, spent some time catching up with people I hadn’t seen since last year – including a few Vaalies that had made the trip down to race for the weekend – and then got kitted up for some more practice. It’s always a cool feeling when people comment that your kit looks great, and I must say the 2011 black and white Dakine 8 Track Short and Sentry Jersey look good and are super comfy. The new Troy Lee Designs D2 and a new pair of  VZ Mondrain Porkchops – Lookin’ Good, Feelin’ Good – and gloves! Where are my gloves? Oh well, had to borrow a set from K-Dub.

First Practice run  for the day was going well. Had all my lines from the day before taped. Went a bit bigger on the final hip and landed a bit skew. The elbow and the ground had a slight altercation. Ow! Got up quickly though and finished the run. Got straight back on the shuttle, back to the top and nailed everything on my second run. I was feeling happy and ready for a good race. I think I must have done 6 or 7 practice runs, before I decided to have a break and some food before race runs.

Race runs got under way in the blistering mid-day sun and sub-vets went off early. I felt pretty nervous in the gate. I guess no matter how well prepared you are, you’ll still have some butterflies. The usual 5…4…3…2…Deer breath and GO! The run was okay, foot blew off at the beginning of the steep section and I just never felt like I was carrying enough speed, but I got down in a 2:02,25, putting me in 6th or 7th , once the dust had cleared.

Feeling a bit tired I wasn’t keen to try anything crazy for my second run, but I wanted to at least go under 2 minutes. I knew that if I just kept it tidy up at the top of the course and then carried some more speed at the bottom, I could be on the podium. So that is what I did. Out of the gate I pedalled an easier gear, got good speed through the first corners, cleared the road gap and got through the steep section, nice and cleanly. Boosted, pumped and held a high line on the off camber. Hit the first big rock garden with tons of commitment and boosted of the step off like I had some thing to prove.

Now they say bad things happen in threes and I may be reading to much into this, but no gloves and a biff early in the day, may have been one and two. Number three was landing off the step off and my chain being stuck behind my chain ring. I couldn’t even move my cranks. While trying to just get my cranks level, I pushed down with my right leg and tried to maintain as much speed as I could. I managed to get my cracks level, just before the take off for the big right hip, then just kept rolling, over the left hip, through the final rock garden and to the finish line.

I think I was most disappointed when they read out my time: Only 1 second slower than my first run. Not pedalling for that long was worth 5 or 6 seconds. Bummed I can only take comfort in the fact that all the training and playing around in the back garden on my DH bike is paying off. Next time.

I’d like to thank all of the folks at Dakine, Von Zipper, Nixon, Race Face, Intense Tires and Motorex for hooking me up this year. And I’d especially like to thank One2Backup for their support, without you I would not be able to race.

The next 16 weeks are going to consist of a lot of training for Sani2C, but I’m stoked to be out there on my bike for so many hours every day and count my blessing that I am able to compete in such an awesome sport.