So my complete inability to put finger to keyboard has seen me avoid posting for two whole weeks now.
I am currently in one of my favourite places to be; Durban. Waterfall to be exact. And the story of the last two weeks is about to unfold across your computer screen...

Friday the 23rd was the long awaited day. I finally found myself on the road with two good mates, and my whole life packed into a trailer. I suppose it was a pretty standard trip to KZN, the excitement, the shit talking, the Harrismith meal break, someone admitting to entertaining the thought of beastiality, all the usual things. Only this time I wasn't thinking about how much I hate the trip back. Because there wasn't going to be one. At least not in the near future. We arrived late in the evening, and as things go, 66% of our accommodation plans were shady at best. But we all ended up in a bed of some sort. (All names have been excluded for the protection of David Hogan and Ryan Frerichs...)

Sunday saw myself and Conrad meeting up with the New Zealand team manager Jeremy. His basic introduction went:" Last year I was team manager and we had a big budget and it all went really well, this year they asked me to do it again, but on zero budget and I said 'no', so here i am."

The hotel was what you might call a bit of a bad start, especially for people from a country with something called 'customer service'. I don't know what that is either... It took them most of the morning to get the whole 25 person entourage booked in properly. But eventually it worked, and after a quick intro and meeting we headed out to the track to find our pits for the week.

The official meet up was on Monday, and we learned very quickly that Kiwis are actually pretty cool, even with their funny accents. That night consisted of the team meeting, building of the bikes, and in typical junior-bike-racer-overseas fashion, my bike getting tan wall tyres courtesy of some masking tape. My retaliation to this was taping up one side of my suspected (and not yet fully convicted although not fully innocent) culprits bike, with one of the other riders drawing diddlers (penises) all over it.

Most days then consisted of  us taking the bikes to the venue, doing basic maintenance at the track, and servicing bikes as needed at the hotel afterwards. All while being fed by the riders moms and being given a steady flow of beer by the dads.

And getting to know these foreigners. That was probably the best part. Considering this was World Champs, and they had traveled half way around the world to be here, the mood was relaxed. None of them were unreasonable, and they were all super friendly. And most of them should get jobs on the NZ tourism board. Both Conrad and myself now have place to stay for as long as we want in every city in NZ. It also sound like the greatest place on earth, where people are happy and ride to work on Unicorns. Sounds good to me. If the country is anything like the guys I met then I'm sold on going over there. I'm definitely going to miss them all, and keen to get over there if only for a visit.

We ended off the weekend with some mixed results which I wont go into detail about. Most of the guys were happy, and no complaints about the bikes, so I guess that's a job well done. But strangely even now I don't feel like I gave everything I could. The team were super impressed with us, but it was either the fact that we had 14 bike between two mechanics, or the fact that I'm not used to sharing work, but I actually felt a little disappointed with myself afterwards.

On the flip side I'm proud that I was there to watch Greg Minnaar win it in his home town. Not many riders get to race Worlds, even less in their home countries, so to win like that was an amazing thing to watch. I was at the rock garden with the Kiwis when Greg came through, and when he crossed the line if first the roar up the hill was incredible. That cheer was only matched when Steve Smith threw it sideways over the Moneymaker, and when Gee Atherton came into the second split down on Greg. I hope Maritzburg enjoyed the party that followed, and the subsequent hangover.

So after that I went straight into my new job. After the first week it seems good. Even if it was bad I'm just glad to be out of JHB at last. I didn't think before hand about how hard it was going to be getting used to completely new systems, and this one is particularly complicated, but I'm getting the hang of it so that's great. I have also realised that running a workshop is nothing like being a simple mechanic, but I am ready for the challenge. It's out of my comfort zone and that's good.

I got to go for my first trail ride in probably a month today. I always liked riding at Giba, and today brought a much needed dose of riding goodness that I wasn't getting in JHB. On the climbs I realised I'm on the wrong side of unfit, but the descents were filled with all the skids and drifts I needed to justify the climbing effort and get my head ready for the future. I also got to hang out with some old buddies and try out the new Giba BMX track. That thing is a work of art, my riding isn't so much, but I haven't ridden BMX for over a year, so getting back on was a great feeling.

There's more to come.

I have a lot of to-dos now that I'm back here.

New Starts

I haven't done this in a while.
My last blog failed dismally. Maybe this one will be better.

I'm writing this on the verge of one of the biggest events of my life. On Friday, I ship off to Natal to the World Champs, where I will be working as a mechanic for the New Zealand MTB team. Following that, I will be starting a new job at Cycle Logic in Hillcrest.

It's been a long road to this point.
Almost two years ago, I moved back to Joburg feeling despondent and dejected. My first attempt at living in KZN had been a failure; the job had been shit, but the riding and the people are some of the best I have ever encountered. Some of those great people have helped me plan my return. In the mean time, I have been working hard to get on track. I suppose it didn't help working for a man who recognized my talents, and capitalised on my desperation and paid me minimum wage for the last two years, trying to justify it by telling me I wouldn't find better. I found better...

I did manage to find my way to races, the only sanity I could afford myself. I would say 2012 was my best year in terms of bike riding. I didn't win any races, but the experience of just riding new places and hanging with the coolest people made it amazing. This is why I ride bikes. It's the feeling.

Coming into 2013 I had a few goals and generally wanted to better the previous year. That didn't happen... I went into African Champs confident, untill the heavens opened, and wouldn't close. I slid down on the brakes all the way. It was depressing. The next race in PMB was different. In between all this I started contacting people outside of Joburg, and got some responses here and there. At one point I walked out of my job. I simply gave up. The mental abuse coupled with over-working and shit people got the better of me. My only thought at the time was "how am I going to get to races without a job?" I went back a few days later, because they begged.

At least it was dry in PMB for the next nationals, my first of the season. There were a few sections I was questioning. I wasn't happy about that.

I can't tell you what happened. I was cruising at the time. I had given up on the idea of jumping one of the road gaps up top, and I'm not in a position to try the big tables mid-track. I did get a solid line in the last rock section, and then; smash. Over the bars. All I remember is my head dragging along the ground, so a pretty normal crash for me. Turns out I had snapped my femur as well...

What happened next was truly amazing.

I have always loved the way the MTB community is such a big family, but the DH crew is a brotherhood. I spent the next 9 days in a government hospital. Not a day went by that I wasn't visited by a fellow rider. The Joburg crew got my belonging together and took it all home for me, and the KZN guys made sure I wasn't ever alone. The texts and Facebook messages set an all-time record. I can't thank you guys enough.

This was twenty weeks ago.

In that time I have got back on the bike, and effectively come full circle. I'm not back on the DH bike or the BMX, but trail riding. My good friend Ryan has helped a lot with my recovery, and there are no words for me to thank him with. I also plotted my escape from the fiery hell of Joburg.

When I was forced back to Joburg, I hated that situation. I was over working on bikes, and not super keen on riding. But luckily riding is too much a part of me, and I stuck with it and things went well. I ended up working for a UCI pro team at the 2012 World Cup, and winning the overall team of the day. That would have been cool; to stand on a World Cup podium, but I was too busy offloading the trainers from the top of the hill to even know where the riders had placed. And now I'm headed down to work for a National team at World Champs. That's pretty legit. I also spent a bit of time wrenching for a pro road team.  I'm ticking off goals as I go.

I hope this move to Durban leads to more of the same.

I have come to the conclusion, since my crash, that I will never be a top bike racer. I mean I won't be winning races any time soon. That doesn't bother me. That also wont stop me having cool, high end bikes and riding at my limit, but I'm a mechanic by trade. I will be racing the World Cup in PMB next year, and I don't stand a chance of qualifying. But I'm going to have the best run of my life. As a rider, I wont make the cut, but as a mechanic I have won a World Cup. And a few road races. And got a few Nationals podiums. I guess now I need to get in with a few pros and win World Champs...

And I should try to make this blog work.

I'm going to try and give a bit of insight into the life of a bike mechanic. Because that is really the only life I know. And it's the only life I'm good at.