16/04/2012
Successful weekend for Team bizhub-FCF
Despite being a chilly morning in Gauteng, Nicci Grobler successfully held on to her series lead in the USN Mountain bike Cup series # 3 held in Midrand.
“It felt so strange having my team mate Yolandi du Toit there as a supporter and not having her racing alongside me. I knew I was going to miss her as we ride together really well” said Nicci before the start. “But with Yolandi still recovering from the ABSA Cape Epic I was looking forward to the race ahead”.
Nicci who has only been racing for a year and a half after having made the switch to mountain biking from athletics is rapidly developing into one of the country’s top female mountain bike riders.
“I did not know what to expect out on route, but I know the USN crew always put together something special for the participant and they did not disappoint! The route was so much fun, with awesome flowing singletracks, a few steep climbs and some really fast descends. The first 30km lap was fast and I tried to get ahead as the organizers warned us that bottlenecks would form on route. Luckily I got away and managed to stay out of trouble.
There were a few unexpected muddy sections, but getting dirty is part of the fun of riding a mountain bike! The organizers did a great job cutting the tracks and clearing the route. The route was quite flat, but there was very little time to recover. The singletrack sections were really great fun and I just realized once again how much I love riding my bike.
My legs were a bit tired after a few hard training rides this past week, but I managed to stay ahead and win the race in 2h36min”.
Team bizhub-FCF’s junior and youth riders also put in a strong showing on Saturday at the South African Mountain bike National series event held in Groenkloof Pretoria, Linda Van Wyk finished second in the junior race with Catherine Colyn finishing sixth in the youth category.
It was announced this week that Red Bull are to become the offical partner to the series.
Red Bull will be supporting the remaining 3 events in the series as well as the SA XCO and DHI Championships to be held at Mankele MTB Park (in Mpumalanga) in July.
“Its great to have a new title sponsor for the Cross country series” said team bizhub-FCF principle Robertson. I attended the race on Saturday in Groenkloof. There is just so much talent that is coming through and I was really impressed by the number of ladies on the starting line.
Not to be outdone by her Gauteng team mates, Leana De Jager attended the Simonsberg MTB Classic held on Sunday in Stellenbosch.
This unique, 1st-ever race that completely encircles Simonsberg without crossing any tar roads was definitely an experience not to be missed.
Even though the weather was a bit cold and wet there were as always a lot of enthusiastic riders lining up at the start. The start and finish venue was set at Zorgvliet in the Banhoek Valley just outside Stellenbosch. With the route bieng totally off limits to casual riding everybody was quite curious at what it would hold.
“The farms around the mountain are quite hilly and we ended up climbing about 1700 m over 60 km” commented Leana. “It goes without saying that no one was left disappointed. The route was very well marked out and was a perfect balance of steep climbs, fast downhills, flowing and sometimes tricky single tracks, jeep tracks and spectacular views of our little town and surrounds.
Quite a few new single tracks and routes were built to connect the more than 20 different wine farms that we had the privilege to ride on. I had a bit of a slow start but my legs started to find their rhyme and rhythm after about 10 km. Ariane Kleynhans and Jenny Stenerhag were both in front of me and in my pursuit of them I unfortunately hit a sharp rock round about 15 km into the race on a rocky downhill and had to stop to fix the big hole in my back tyre. With the help of a very kind fellow rider and bit of a wrestle I was back on my bike.
About 3 girls overtook me during my stop and I had to fight quite a bit to regain the 3rd position. After the 30 km mark I really felt much better again and enjoyed the variety of terrain and gradients. By the 50km mark I could still not catch any sight of the 2 girls still in front of me. The race ended with a few steep climbs and challenging new and steep singletracks before descending onto Zorgvliet again where hot coffee, tea and fresh muffins awaited us. Congratulations to Ariane on her win, Jenny with her 2nd place. I finished in 3rd position. Thank you to the race organizers for a very well organized event and spectacular route!”
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