on the road with burry stander

grasskop hillclimb tour

this weekend i did a small road toutr up in mpumalanga.it was a great weekend of training and some fun racing.on saturday morning we did a 22km loop that comprised the infamous gods window pass.we kicked off at 8am and had to complete 5 laps.with only two major teams present and around 2000m of total ascent it was a very open race.by the end of the first lap i made a group of 9 riders that slipped off the front off the peleton.we worked well together and quickly grew the gap to a solid margin.on the third lap of 5 team mtn started to shake things up with ian mcleod and jay thompson attacking repeatedly.on the last section of the climb it was myslef and jay who got away from the rest of the group.the gap quickly grew and with two other mtn riders chasing, jay was not allowed to work with me under team orders.the last lap and a half i just found a steady tempo and held it there.the gap to the chasers grew to over two minutes and i managed to finish second,around 15 seconds behind thompson after he attacked me in the last few kilometers.

 

in the afternoon we raced up the kowyns pass in a 8.5km hillclimb time trial.i was off second last and soon managed to catch the two riders that started off in front of me.i could feel the effort from the morning stage still in my legs but found a comfortable rythm.the pass climbs up 600m vertically so it was always going to hurt.by halfway i had pulled 7 seconds on thompson but in the last few kilometers with no one to chase ahead of me i lost focus and slwed somewhat.in the end i ended up losing by two seconds in a time of 21min 52 seconds.

 

on sunday it was a shorter stage at only 70km but with the last 36km being almost entirely uphill it was going tpo be tough.the first half went real quick as was expected and i had to fend off a few attacks by the mtn team.at the bottom of long tom pass they drove a steady tempo and as we sprinted for the king prime at 34km only 6 riders remained at the

 front.as the grade got slightly steeper i jumped multiple times to see if the remaining riders would crack.on the last few kilometers of the climb we were down to four and i was suffering alitte into the block headwind with my slightly undergeared 23 rear cassette.the stage ended in a 3 way sprint with me agin ending up second in a mtn sandwich.

 

the race was perfect prep for the upcoming races and buld up to the next world cup at the end of july.this week ill be doing a training camp with my dad's junior team before heading to knysna oyster festival.

 

cheers

 

burry

rotor rings distribution

it is with great excitement that i have managed to secure the rights to distribute rotor rings in south africa.for dealer inquiries contact me at africanmtbkid@yahoo.com

 

this is my own set in custom red on my factory specialized epic.our team has been on them since december with only great results.check out www.rotorbike.com for more info.

after the sardine classic last weekend i took it quite easy this week,doing mostly cross-training and focusing on my core.this usualy means less time but more aching muscles then just riding my bike.

 

cherise and i traveled to johannesburg on friday so she could do filming for gilette world sport.i will also take the opportunity to do some good altitude training and race in the graskop hillclimb tour next weekend.i just have to make my specialized tarmac heavier so it meats the uci weight limit...

 

but for now its back to more training and fighting the traffic...

 

ciao

 

burry

bord in the middle of the season?

another solid training week... the weather played along this week and i managed to log in some more big miles.i will do the same leading up to this weekends sardine classic and then start uping the tempo after that.

on monday i had my first meeting with sascoc regarding my selection for the 2012 operation excellence plan set forth to accumulate 12 medals at the games in london.all looks very positive so i am excited.

this weekend will see the running of the annual sardine classic which is being held at the pont in port edward.i hear the course is super fun so all those with an old bike in the garage should dust of the cobwebs and join us for a fun day in the winter sun.

ciao burry

routine...

the last week ive been going about setting a good routine to follow as i prepare for the second half of my season.first up i took 4 days off and only started riding again on friday.i ran around doing some erands and getting my bikes ready for the training to come.i got some good rest in too.on friday i was back on the road and pretty much spent my whole weekend in the saddle.it felt great seeing as the last time i did solid mileage was the cape epic which was like a month or two ago.i could also ride at a steady pace and didnt have to chase some euros along a 5km loop over an over. its also great to be back on the tarmac after a long break.the bike is so pleasant to ride.i did have a slow puncture on sat but managed to ride it home.   ive also been watching mad chuck in my recovery time.i always seem to get addicted to a series even though i was a sceptic at first on this one.on thursday i got to put a new frontloader in the audi and now have it hooked up to my ipod.   this week will be another big training week.hope the weather stays the same.   ciao   burry

busy with nothing...

so i got home on tuesday evening pretty late.after returning from madrid i spent an evening at cherises house before she left  for canada.she will only be back in two weeks so its guna be pretty boring.her dad broke his hip on saturday so on monday i helped her check him out of the hospital.another situation that makes me realizehowe fortunate we are to ride our bikes even when the going gets tough.

 

wellsy and i hangin out post race...

yesterday i didnt do much cyclin but spent the whole day on my feet.im on a mini 4 day break but i always end up doing all the stuff i cant when im training.in other words not relaxing as much as i should.as its my first real trip home in a along time i had mad unpacking to do.i built up my epic which was packed so nicely.the spez mechanics do a great job.i think my bike cud be dropped out of a boeing and survive!i got some new roval contral e5 wheels to train with.they look so cool.i realy like the black powder coat on them.after that i went hunting for a good second hand 4x4 with my bro.he is looking for one to fish with so the budget isnt huge.we found a pretty desent raider so he is psyched.i also had a haircut,got a new deck installed in the audi and joined my parents for dinner.everyone is excited as my niece should be arriving soon.she already weighs like 3.6kg so it should be any time now...

 

benno and i at the airport rocking our new majola team gear...

tommorow i get back on the bike for two weeks of lsd.ill race the local mtb race on the coast and then the african champos at mankele before i return to world cup action in canada.its a realy  big block of down time and very important prep time for worlds in september.

 

the crowds turn out big in casa de campo...

im guna go enjoy my last rest day...

cheers

dart

madrid...

world cup 4,madrid spain

 

this weekend we were back in action in the sunny city of madrid.i had a smooth trip over on wednesday night,todd and i were even on the course training by thursday afternoon.we also got called upfor random testing as we got to the track.after 12hours plus flying time passing a urine sample is no easy task....

 

on friday christoph and lene had joined us and the boys hit the course by mid day.we had a great lunch prepared by claire and then it was back to the hotel for massage and some rest.saturday was my first experience with rain in all the years i have raced in madrid.the course however handled it well and the loose dry sand was jus alittle more clumpy but not too slick.

 

for race day the skies had cleared and the only mud we experienced was the puddles we had to stand in on the start line.i was not happy as i had brand new white and blue s works road shoes on!i had my best start ever in madrid and spent most of the first lap trying to hold onto ralph naefs wheel as he layed down some serious speed.at the start of the second lap it was absolons turn and by midway round the lap i had lost 10 seconds.joining me in the second group was hermida,paulissen and nino schurter.by the third lap i was pretty spent from tring to nail the gap down to the front and i let the others roll through.the gap quickly grew to the leaders and another group caught us from behind.i wasnt having a great day and decided to ride smart.i followed wheels for most of the race and managed to sprint myself into 7th place at the end.i held onto 3rd place in the overall and grew my lead in the u/23 standings.im hoping to get back onto the box in canada in a few weeks.the courses are way more suited to my strengths and with the new epic we will have a huge advantage on the rough stuff.

 

im already home as i write this as i had a flight at 1 30 am on monday morning.im getting used to this traveling.my new compact hp notebook in my backpack makes it even easier.

 

ciao

 

burry

long time...

i appoligize for the long pause in blog updates.i have however still ben posting race updates and news at my i-am-specialized.com site.this past weekend i raced the 2nd round of the world cup in germany.after a flat tire early on i managed to claw my way back and finish in 4th.things on the new team have been awesum.our bikes are the best out there and mine was at a mere 8.9kg over the weekend.the trip has been a long one and after racing in houffalize this weekend im looking forward to coming home and taking a few weeks easy.todd and suzi have been taking some cool pics.see those at todwells.com and sauserwind.com.

for now were hanging out in a rainy and cold belgium.i hope it clears soon so i can go ride and keep myslef from eating too much chocolate

cheers

dart

South Africa

I'm here. Arrived in Durban at 6pm, my bag didn't make it but I did. Sat next to some guy on the plane that use to live in Durango until 96 named Tyler that now lives in SA. Small world. Burry and Cherise picked me up at the airport and everything has gone smooth since.

I ended up getting an emergency exit row seat on the plane and slept for almost 10 hours. It was great. I almost missed my flight in Johburg though since it took forever to file my lost baggage claim and recheck in at the domestic terminal. Plus, they didn't have me on the connector flight since I was flying a day late. I almost left my watch at security too running to make the plane.

Tonight we went to the Dart's version of RGPs. It was good and now I'm wide awake and it's time for bed. Luckily Burry's dad brought a bike back from the Epic for me so I have everything except a helmet to ride with. Even if my bag doesn't show up I have just about everything I need to race.

The Dart's interenet here is sloooowww.

I wonder how much my phone bill is going to be after this trip, .20 to recieve texts, .35 to send, 1.50 min to talk and 15 per mb for date.

shoe testing....nah not really

the second round of the south african xc cup series took place at mankele mtb park just outside of nelspruit.the lap was quite long at 8.5km but nice and flowwing so the times were pretty quick.on friday morning it rained pretty heavily but by the time i headed out to practice it was drying and getting better lap after lap.   my mom made the trip up so for a change she would take care of things for me in the feed zone.she has always had a nack with feeding me well...our elite batch was up for 6 laps and in the heat of summer fluids are crucial.   i started well,leading the group into the firsts single track where i set a comfortable tempo for the first fe minutes and as i found my rythm early on i put the hammer down mid way up the first climb.the climb was quite fast and bumby so i had the perfect ride onboard my specialized epic.i managed to get a sweet gap before the top and settled in on the descent back.as i entered one of the rocky singletracks however,my left shoe hit a rock breaking my cleat off.at first i must have looked like a dog digging a hole in the grouind as i tried to find the cleat on the pedal,but i soon realized there was nothing there.so i made my way to the finish the best i could and by then had probably only  lost a minute or so.i then had to face the fact that i forgot my spare shoes in our cabin which was a 5min walk for my dad.so i borrowed some shoes(specialized ofcourse)and set of on the second lap to just limit my losses until i could get my own shoes.i managed to bring the gap back down to a minute by the end of the second lap and then again came to a halt.i think my shoe change this time around was one that conrad and dan would be proud of(xterra triathletes).and then again i set off in persuit of the leader.first io had to make my way around a few other riders and only at the end of the 3rd lap i caught up to brandon stewart (dcm).i sat behind him through the start to get my breath back and then again made it hard on the climb.i got a gap and this time kept it cool all the way to the end of the 6 laps and even surprising myself with a 5minute winning margin.   after the race i left for pretoria to race the road on sunday.i just cont get enough of the tarmac it seems!the race went well.it was pretty flat for most part and on the oly real climb i went in a move but we were soon brought back.in the finish i went out from around a kilometer to go and got swept up about 150m from the line so all in all just a good training ride,the average was a brisk 47km/h!   over the next two weeks ill do my last big mileage weeks and then i gear up for sa road and mtb champs ,followed closely by the epic...   ciao   burry

tire testing

Tire testing and a whole lot more

 

On Monday the 26^th of jan I left

Johannesburg

on may to tire testing with the specialized team down in stellenbosch. As it is my first year on the team I didn’t know what to expect but was looking forward to a really good week hanging with great people. on arrival in

cape town

bobby(team manager) and I drove around looking for a coffee shop as we waited for mylene (a journo from mountain biker magazine).we found a little cafe in a small industrial area just a little ways from the airport.  after picking mylene up we headed to stellenbosch to meet up with the rest of the team. after settling in at the guest house I was eager to get out and see what the durability was like on our new prototype tyres. our tire specialist frank Stacey had come down with a stomach bug and was out of action so benno(mechanic) put some freshies on my epic.

 

i joined Conrad stoltz for a rocky trail ride around jonkershoek to see if I could flat the new renegade tire.now before I describe the ride I must tell you that it’s the lightest mtb tire ive ever ridden at just 340gr for a 1.90 and with my reputation for flats, I didn’t think it would last long…however 2hours later and a rims which looked like they had been driven over a few times with bobby’s x5 I had all the air in my tire intact and I was an immediate believer. the tire rolls super fast and with the soft compound grips corners with loads of confidence and with a bigger 2.1 volume casing on the way its something to get really excited about!

Later that evening I had dinner with suzie(christoph) and benno at a cool little seafood restaurant and then retired early after being up at 4 earlier that day to catch my flight.

 

On Tuesday we all met up at the b&b after breakfast to test our tires’ rolling resistance and pit them against some of our competitors’ tires. i rode probably 20 sets of tires that morning and it was amazing to see how big the differences sometimes were. even more relevant to me was the fact that I learnt more about how compound ,tread layout, casing, air pressure and volume affected the rolling characteristics of each tire. after I narrowed it down to 5 tires that rolled the best and looked suitable for a race tire it was christophs turn to do the road and gravel rolling tests to see if they confirmed what we saw on the rollers. i did some more tire testing on the trail in the afternoon with the fast track slk lite compound tire that afternoon which is also a really fast rolling 430gr 2.0 tire. again Conrad and I did some serious damage to the wheels and we were now relegated to the testing on free ride rims. we were jumping straight into rock piles and aiming at the sharpest and biggest rocks in our mission to cut the tires. again we emerged from the forests 2 and a half hours later with nothing to show for our efforts. the tires had burped once or twice but were in perfect nic! after the ride I did a short run to where christoph was busy on the road and I was happy to see him confirming my tests on the rollers. it was also exciting to see how well the specialized tires were performing in a range of tread patterns.

 

Wednesday saw the whole team heading up into the forest, setting up base right at the top of the mountain at one of the trail heads. christoph, lene byberg and I were testing the narrowed down tires from the rollers on the trail to see how they handled and hooked up in the turns. conrad stoltz and dan hugo were there too testing the more durable tires in the range against similar versions from competitors and they were riding a longer more treacherous route. benno and Dylan(mechanics) did more tyre changes that day than an f1 team during a weeks racing! it was so cool to ride all the tires back to back on the same track one after another as you could accurately asses the riding properties of each model and figure out which were best suited for which part of the course. this ultimately will lead to more sensible choices next to the race track. i think I spent a total of 6hours on the bike this day and again it was an early night in for me.

 

It was back to normal on Thursday and friday with me doing the four passes road loop on both days. the riding was steady, the weather awesome and on a great route this made for a good time. on Thursday night a bunch off us managed to go check out the vensters show outside all the res’ on campus. it was pretty good and amazing to see the streets packed with excited students.

 

Saturday ended up being a rest day for me but the blood and adrenaline pumped none the less. benno and I decided to join some friends of his for skydiving! we spoke about doing it all week but I didn’t figure it was really going to come off but at around

three pm

on Saturday afternoon we rolled into the little airport just outside

cape town

along the western coastline. the nerves had totally taken over by that point and my adrenaline was pumping as it did when I stood on the start line in

Beijing

! we got suited up in about 15minutes and a realization of “wow im really going to jump out of an aircraft at 9000 ft or 3000 m started to take over my thoughts. we went through a very brief explanation as we walked out to the plane. i ofcourse was littering my jumping partner with questions mostly along the lines of what are the chances of things going bad? i must say his answers were very assuring even when we hoped in a little cesna 4 seater with no interior that looked about twice my age. as we took of the plane was swaying heavily from side to side as the wind was pumping and as the plane wasn’t airtight the wind rushed in from all areas. as we started to climb one of the camera men did however stick a “pool noodle “between the nylon sliding door and the roof to stop some of the air. it took us a whole 20minutes to ascend to the designated 9000ft and this was totally the longest 20minutes of my life. even benno was now finding it hard to put on a straight face and it’s safe to say we were both scared out of our minds. at 8000ft my partner attached us together and I put my goggles on. as we hit 9000 ft things happened really fast. the camera man opened the door and stepped onto a ledge outside .i was now super pumped. i wished benno farewell and slid myself over to the edge and hung my legs out under the plane .the instructor counted to three, pulled my head back(I had been picking out a line to my landing spot already) and we basically just fell out head first! we did a few flips before the stabilising schute was released. and the view I had was one of plane ,sky and ground rotating at a very rapid rate. the air rushing around is incredible and by the time we reached full on free fall I was loving it. the 40 second fall before the schute opened happened in the blink of an eye, litteraly! i don’t even think I did blink…as the schute opened I felt my body ripped back up in the direction of the plain with the most awesome display of g force I have ever experienced. as things settled I was given the controls and we even cruise along side benno for a while. i think we were both screaming at each other like 10 year old boys! we were soon back on the ground and I’m super hooked! were already planning on a team building jump before the epic.i think benno and I learnt a lot about each other day and I guess if  a guy can jump out of a plane with me ill trust him with my bikes!

 

On Sunday I did another four passes loop and im now sitting on the plane back to jo’burg recollecting myself after an incredible week. if this is anything to gauge my future with this team on I cant wait!

 

Ciao

 

burry