HEAVY DAYZ

Theses are some very large and powerful waves that a friend of ours rode over the winter. Seriously try and imagine being there, the sheer size of these beasts, the noise and the ability of these monsters to literally kill you. To hold you under and squash the life out of you.

I am really happy with 3-4 ft offshore at the moment. I doubt whether this would ever be my cuppa tea. Each to their own i guess.

Hats off to Chris, who by the way is an Old Boy and was the first surfer to paddle into Jaws.

Just doing it...

Livestrong

A good friend of mine recently broke his arm really badly playing rugby in Italy.
If you want to see the break and read the horrific story go to http://www.bismarkriva.blogspot.com/

Anyway I just wanted to let you know, hopefully he can take some strength from my old mate and training partner, although he doesn't know it yet, Lance Armstrong-

““Anything is possible. You can be told that you have a 90-percent chance or a 50-percent chance or a 1-percent chance, but you have to believe, and you have to fight.””

Fight brother fight.

In other news the Boks play Wales who are spoiling for a fight.
I am backing the boys to bring it home but not without some hijinks.

REGISTER TO VOTE

Epic Ticket

Well yesterday turned into quiet a day for me. Apart from the usual Wednesday stuff, I got a call from a good friend offering me an entry into next years Cape Epic. Trust me they are like gold at the moment so I feel really special, luck, privileged I could go on.

So that's it, after training for the Cederberg Escape a little half heartedly, mainly due to the weather and bouts of loneliness on the trail, I have my wish. My ticket.

Well now its down to the training, which if you don't know is pretty much harder than the Epic itself. There are alot of sacrifices made but hey its what I love doing so it's really not that hard.

I particularly enjoy watching and feeling my body adapt to the stress' of training. Our bodies are pretty much amazing, bend them and they can break but ease them into something and they will work for you. Its like nothing else, ok the mind plays a massive role in any sport but you have to put in the time so the body is able to withstand the challenge.

It will be my third Cape Epic and I am enthralled as ever. There can only be one first time but trust me this event grips you inside. If you work hard you can enjoy it, if not it obviously turns into a nightmare. A nightmare for 8 days, that can be pretty tough.

I will keep you updated with my progress.

PS: thanks for my ticket !!!

Oh the Poms are at it again

"As ever, the All Blacks will be about half as good as their followers think they are, though still hardly bad. The power and pride of their collective, the magnificence of their basic skills and ability to adapt to any circumstances cannot hide the fact that a large number of their individuals on this trip would not make a Guinness Premiership club roster.

These are the words of the world renowned Steven Jones, a British journalist of the highest order. I have seen some of his columns an they are generally really good. But this one comment just typifies what a bunch of bumbling fools the Poms are. There is a huge wave of optimism around the fact that they believe the Aussies and Kiwi's are clearly very beatable. Yes, any team are beatable fella's, but I will eat my hat if either of these teams loose a game on tour. The Aussies are far more susceptible to having a bad game ( Ellis Park ) but I don't see them losing unless their forwards go walkabout again. Deans is too shrewd to let them allow one area of the game to dominate the final result. Just for the record Jones' ire for the All Blacks is well documented and almost nauseating. He just wont give them any credit.

But lets get back to the perennial hopers, The Poms. Teams have barely arrived and they are slamming them in the bin pinning their hopes on a victory for the home team. I can hear them in the pubs and along the fields all over the Mud Island, " come on chaps, be brave, give them a good thrashing "

Oh its too much for me.

If the Boks can play a simple game and allow themselves to settle into a pattern they can win well, minded they must concentrate for the full 80 minutes. Something we have a real problem with on tours. Subduing the Welsh passion is crucial, don't let the cat out of the bag sort of thing. I feel Ruan Pienaar has huge potential but like Frans Steyn they are pone to brain fades and panic sets in. Pienaar must allow the pressure to be handled by the team, collectively. He is a bit individual at 10 and this poses his greatest problem. Watch Carter, he dictates the game, but seldom allows the pressure of situations to force him into taking contact. Rather kick or pass. Running on your own creates panic. I always say, let the situation present itself, don't go looking for the situation. Meaning, if there is a gap take it, the rest is self explanatory.

Enjoy the rugger, Come on the South...

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...