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.