What am I on ?

Lance Armstrong's comeback has received alot of press:

Here is some more, straight from the 7-time Champs mouth.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/columns/story?id=3672174&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab7pos1

Judge, and you will be Judged.

The Oracle speaks about Brother Luke...

Poweful stuff.


http://www.rugby365.com/opinion/oracle/1264260.htm

Leave Luke alone ?

Cederberg Results

As promised I said i would get back to you about the Cederberg Escape and how it went.

Well firstly let me tell you the Cederberg is awesome, I will definitely be experiencing more of it in the years to come. Get there, dont bother asking why, just get there.

More about the race, as I said before it was a three day stage race based at Sanddrif Campsite. Day 1 was pretty much the back breaker, I started with the intention of going along fairly gently and was intending to assess things at half way. But as we all know I have a small problem called the competitive edge. I know I'm not alone here. So after about 12km's of gentle riding on rolling hills. A beast reared it's ugly head and up we went, something tripped inside me and away I went too. From here the ride was awesome, technical jeep track with some climbs and some of the toughest rocky descending I've done in ages. Sore hands later we reached the bottom and made our way towards water point 1. Feeling on top of things I filled up and flew up the biggest climb of the day. Climbing is a state of mind and with the temp rising it became a real battle. It was after the climb with about 50 odd km's under the belt on the lonely flat upper plateau that I had the worst part of my race. Battling along on a bumpy and sandy jeep with lactic acid all over my legs I just pt my head down and battled through. I honestly felt like I was crawling along. But salvation was round the next corner in the form of a long descent and a recall of the road home. I was just beginning to fire the engines for the burst home when my chain broke and all feelings of elation went with it. It's at moments like this where you want to cry. But salvation in the form of another rider named Bobby ( thanks again ! ) who helped repair the problem and I was back on it and heading home.

I was pretty shattered riding into camp after what proved to be a hard 90km's in 4hrs 32 mins.

Day 2 was more to my liking with far more technical riding including bombing descents and some scary turns in sandy ground. I saw a few guys fly over the handle bars after the sand caught their front wheels. I really tried to make up for Day 1's problems with a smarter ride but again felt the pinch like we all do somewhere along the line. I came out of it much quicker this time and made up some good time on the way home. I ended the day by out sprinting two other guys for the line after I thought my legs had gone. A highlight of the day was climbing over Sugarloaf which is a peak there. The descent on the other side being a very steep drop which had most guys bailing out.

Day 3 proved to be my best, with the most single track it was easy to figure out why. I really seem to thrive in these conditions and my only problem is guys struggle to move over. Oh the male ego. But I really raced hard and continued to push myself thoughout the 47 km's. One lesson I learned is if you can settle into a fast group early on you will reap the rewards later in the ride when you settle into a pace. Although it never felt like we settled, it was just go go go.

Once again the finish proved to have the usual Epic tricks to it and getting the legs to go for another 3 km's proved a massive mental effort but knowing it was the last they would be doing they duely obliged.

I left feeling refreshed and pretty stoked about the results. I know Day 1's technical dogged me the rest of the race but it's the Cederberg and you can consider yourself lucky to get out with just one technical problem. For anyone thinking about doing it next year, I guess I'll see you there. The place is insane and chilling out after a hard ride along a real mountain stream with a white sand beach is pretty hard to beat.

RESULTS :

313-Sub Veteran Stuart Mc Connachie

DAY.1-4hrs32.30 Position Overall 36

DAY2-3hrs08.33 Position 28 Overall 32
DAY.3-2hrs17.22 Position 21 Overall 30

Total Time 9hrs58.25

Now for the Epic 2009...

Batten Down the Hatches

What a sporting weekend.

I will tell you about mine later in the week. It was good, real good.

But hats must come off The Sharks, they finally won the Currie Cup again. Tony Watson ran in the corner, no sorry it was Francois " I cant kick a penalty if its in the other teams half " Steyn.

All I can say is thank heavens the Bulls did'nt win. Its more the mentality that bothers me. I pity the fool's outside that The Tank who ran out of Cream Soda, there must have been alot of pissing on each other. Things the buggers love to get up too. Anyway the Free State A team have won another Currie Cup, we are currently assembling the B team down here so dont laugh too loudly.

The other notable on this weekend was Liverpool going top of the Premiership with a hard fought win over Chelski. Along with the win they broke a very impressive home unbeaten streak spanning way into Jose Moaurinho's term as coach. Ah shame.

Now some of you will note an earlier article of mine when Earl Roses was playing some pretty good rugby amongst some pretty average teams. I said steady on when people were talking Bok cap and when the Currie Cup temperature was turned up, excuse me, but the Roses wilted under the pressure did'nt they. Coach Loffie was quick to point out that while Roses was a good player he still needed 12 months in the position. Cue our beloved Maestro, Peiter Div, who goes and selects him on the back of all this. Ring a ring rosie, we all fall down...

Finally those who know US sports will know the Phillies are on the brink of the World Series, they play tonight and if they can win they will be heroes. Philly has'nt won a major trophy in any of the big four sports since 1983. That's before Tony Watson scored for Natal.

I will keep you posted.

Have a great week

Less than a Week Away

Well what a weekend, hopefully you all got out there and did your thing. Unfortunately I was man down after having spent Thursday and Friday in the old Kingsbury Hospital having some tests done.

Lance and I have the same problem, nobody can believe our performances. So its tests, tests and more tests. All is well and I get my prognosis from the Doc on Tuesday.

The reason I am being cleared to ride is the Cederberg Escape, its a three day mountain bike ride happening there this weekend. I have been hard at wok training over the last few months hoping to do fairly well. After a 4th in last weekend's race in Grabouw everything was going according to plan. But as we all know life doesn't work like that, so when the spanner arrived from left field on Thursday morning, and I felt like I had been ridden over by a goods train, it was off to the good Doc for some tests. Hopefully the come back good tomorrow and I get the all clear to race. Please Doc please...

Anyway the Escape sounds pretty cool, as I said it's three days of riding in the Cederberg. What could be better and they have only allowed 400 of us to enter so its should be quiet mellow. As you can see I am quietly amped and if I get told no racing it would be a major let down. Basically I want to do well and hopefully put my name out there for next years Cape Epic. It would be my third in a row and mean alot to me, so doing well here is important in the grand scheme of things. Following that its the Odyssey with Quayle, Charts and Beef.

Anyone interested in looking at the race can go to http://www.cederberg-escape.com/

Have a good Monday

The Calm before the Storm

On a cool and blustery Monday afternoon the Tornadoes FC gathered at Hatleyvale for their first official fixture against an unbeaten and fiercely competitive unit, The Noordhoek Vikings.

The lads were all very excited and having put in two training matches against the youth, where we won both games, were expecting good things.

We lost the toss and started playing into a setting sun and blustery south easter which suited the Vikings game of long balls
and physicality down to the tee. With early game nerves and confusion about positions and tactics marring the opening minutes we were lucky to not concede a goal when Clean Sheets Quayle was left flailing at the ball only for Valderama Ibbotson to clear the ball off the line. After some harsh words were exchanged the lads settled into some better flowing football.

Unfortunately early in the first half Jaap Stam Charton pulled up with a very tight groin. He was duely subbed and hasn't left the physio table since. This rocked our defence but the lads were held together at the back by Jamie John Terry Boyes. It was during this period where the lads realised this was no ordinary football match. We had arrived in the big leagues and the big boys were not going to allow us to play our free flowing ball on the ground style of football.

Having said that we settled in quickly and it wasn't long before Giggs Liebrecht latched onto a loose ball in the area weaved past a few and drilled home a shot. Oh yeah, 1-0. Now if we thought that the game would settle down from here we were sorely mistaken. The intensity was just upped, with sliding tackles going around like Mandela dumpies at a Kaiser Chief game, the lads were under no illusions this was going to be tough. The Vikings soon equalised which shook the lads up and sparked us into play again.

Some cracking interplay down the right brought the ball to JJ Elley who looked up and saw Torres Roffie free in the centre. A tracer bullet pass to Torres' feet looked like a certain goal scoring chance only for Torres to be scythed down just outside the box by Big Bad Bob. Not his only foul on the night. Torres then while the wall was being formed slapped a beauty into the top left corner. Huge protests from the Vikings were met with deaf ears and we strode back to the half 2-1 the better. Once again this only fueled a fired up Vikings who stormed back into the game with a neat equaliser before the half time whistle. Clean Sheets record had turned sour and our defence was battling to clear the ball facing a strong wind.

The half time break brought about a much needed chat to re-align ourselves and get to grips with the physical nature of the game. Basically it was take no prisoners and lets try keep the ball on the ground and support the ball carrier. Sounds simple.

The second half turned into a titanic struggle between two sides determined not to give an inch and hell bent on victory. It was a case of Arsenal against Bolton on a cold North east day. Oil and water have never mixed, saying that these teams were more like fire and ice. Every player gave their all, none more so than Dave Beckham Loebie who stormed up and down the left flank in the second half marking Big Bad Bob and getting the better of him on most occasions. After a spell on the bench Giggs returned for the second half and duely sent us into the lead 3-2. Currently this man is without a par and is deadly with both feet in the area. Full fitness will be frightening sight for any opposition. Jasper " I'm still playing flank " Louw had to resort to some rather pitiful tactics to try keep him out of the game.

Unfortunately we once again relaxed and stopped working together which allowed the Vikings once again to equalise shortly after our goal which is very frustrating and something we must work on. This time Kean tried a miracle ball instead of passing early and giving away possession was punished for it via a very suspect cross or shot, we are still trying to figure that one out, which looped over Clean Sheets into the top right hand corner. By now our keeper was having a frothy about his once beautiful clean sheet.

With pressure on both teams to look after the ball and weary legs taking its toll a good period of play was once again enjoyed by the Tornadoes. The game became very strung out and this suited Giggs who made space for himself and with a cracking left foot sent the ball past a diving Viking goalie. A hat trick was well deserved for this little man/goat who with a little work can develop like the rest of us into an awesome footballer. With ten minutes on the clock, tackles flying in all over the place, Kean's temper being severely tested and Jamie Fabregas refusing to come off the bench the game swung into hyper drive. Glenda Best had a few scores to settle and was never from far the hot spots. He will be ruing a missed chance with five minutes to go when he cut inside beautifully and cracked a curling banana which just refused to bend inside the posts. Next time.

It was shortly after this that the Vikings broke away played a couple of long balls and with our defence failing to clear a great pass found the two left feet of Bob who cracked home a great shot past a diving Clean Sheets. No one said being a goalie was easy.

Extra time was three minutes and while we had the better chances a howler of a penalty being missed by the ref Frodo the Tornadoes first game ended at 4 all.

A rematch is already on the cards and both teams will be out to enjoy what proved to be a cracking game of high intensity football. The Tornadoes will know whats in store next time and having led for most of the game will feel confident that a positive result will be ours next time.

Ucha cha

Who's coming with me ?

I am not sure how many people out there have any knowledge of the Cape Odyssey, most of you know I am Cape Epic obsessed but I have a new dream. The Cape Odyssey.

The Odyssey is basically a trail run up and in and around the beautiful mountains which lie in the Western Cape. This years race began in Hermanus onto Kleinmond then Paul Cluver in Elgin onto Grabouw CC from there to Franschoek and finished in Boschendal. A total of 202km in 5 very tough days.

I was fortunate enough to watch some of the days and witnessed first hand what some of these people go through. The general day involves anything from freezing temperatures to around 30 degrees and the weather is only one part of it. Mental and physical fitness are musts and a pretty tough pair of legs and feet. I was personally a little freaked out by the state of people's feet but I suppose on the Epic no one runs around showing off their arses- Thank God.

I have made a pact with Quayle's Ale's and whoever else is keen. I know Beef has signed up and we need to chat to Chukka, another who has the potential. Anyone else is welcome.

The winners ran the race in 16hrs 47 min 51 seconds that's pretty fast. They did look like racing snakes who couldn't have weighed more than a Boomslang. But shit that's good going. Mark Fish was another who confounded critics and plodded home every day come. The vibe is very cool and its rad to see another sporting event take off in the Cape. Back markers were clocking around 30 hrs on the pins for your information.

On a final note if anyone out there knows of an Epic ticket going please tell me...please !!!