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The 23rd December saw a small field line up. Sean Underwood returned to his bike after a considerable period of inactivity. Sean's regular partner Craig Randall kindly held his hand on the way round, although this may have been mixed blessing as Craig's form of encouragement is along the lines of: "Hey hurry-up, what's up with you, you tired or something, yus' you're slow, taking strain ? Come on its getting dark!"
Raw took off with speed and was hoping that Randall would come past to give him a tow on the Nkhanini back straight, but it wasn't going to happen and he was happy with his self-powered time. Mike Craigie came in second with a good consistent time. Sean Stuarts was third, but still well off his sub-45 min best in the previous season.
Darron Raw 00:46:28
Mike Craigie 00:47:46
Sean Stuarts 00:50:13
Richard Darne 00:57:14
Craig Randall 00:58:35
Sean Underwood 00:58:52
Nadja Shields 00:58:53
Dave Gregor 01:08:35
Zoe Bosman 01:08:35
The 30th of December produced a very similar finishing order, however contrary to expectation the efforts of Xmas feasting was only positive and not negative. Raw posted a personal best (PB) shaving 2 seconds off his previous best from exactly a year ago. Mike Craigie also trimmed 7 seconds off his PB and Sean Stuarts speeded up by a minute forty-five from his previous week's effort.
Riley Healy made a rare appearance and newcomer Themba Mahlalela followed him round. Rodney Mountjoy clearly overcome by a sense of time passing (new year resolutions etc.), road a decent time despite having tackling the Tea Road earlier in the day. Phew!
Anita Raw and Zoe Bosman picked up a few sleek looking male cyclists on the route and pulled them back to the finish to introduce them all round.
The Swazi Trails MTB Mid-weeker would like to thank everyone for their participation over the past few months and extends best wishes for faster times in the New Year. Keep death off the road - ride in the bush!
Darron Raw 00:44:50
Mike Craigie 00:45:56
Sean Stuarts 00:48:31
Riley Healy 00:58:37
Themba Mahlalela 00:58:38
Rodney Mountjoy 01:02:20
Anita Raw 01:17:49
Zoe Bosman 01:20:10
Johnny Green 01:20:10
For anyone needing some inspiration to ride harder and faster in 2010 - just check out this MTB free-riding video.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Xmas Dinner Charity Ride - 16th Dec
The 16th was slated as a special running of the Swazi Trails MTB Mid-weeker. There were three aspects to this: a corporate challenge for teams of four, a donation collected for charity and a post-event dinner. In the end not many legit teams were entered (all four members needed to be from the same place of employment) so this aspect was downplayed. However, the donations to charity were generously made and the dinner was well-attended so all-in-all a great end-of-year event.
Darron Raw took off like a rabbit being pursued by a pack of dogs and held the lead until the Lobamba uphill, when he was hauled in by Moshoeshoe Khumalo, Menzi Tsela and William Kelly. After the racing snakes scattered a few confused bemanti adjacent to Ludzidzini (surely a mark of great disrespect - eish siyacolisa madvoda), Raw put his weight advantage and recklessness to good use and opened up a small lead again before finally hitting the wall near Esitjeni.
Carlos Malinga pushed hard to catch the leaders, but was clearly feeling the strain of the 35km ride he undertook to reach the start. William Kelly and Moshoeshoe broke from the group of four close to Nkhanini, with Kelly continuing onwards to win in a personal best of 42:04, taking 1min50s off his previous best time. Khumalo was a mere one second behind, also in a personal best. Malinga had to be content with third in 44:57, whilst Tsela was within sight of him in 45:20. They were both approximately two minutes slower then their previous best efforts.
Raw used the wheel of Denzel McFadden to recover on the flat sections of Nkhanini, before again using the downhill to his advantage to open enough of a lead to capture 5th spot in 46:10.
Behind them Mike Richardson took a dive in the Red Sea for what appeared to be a mud pack treatment, whilst strong pushes from Dumi Mhlongo and Nadja Shields saw them both posting personal bests.
Kevin Haycocks a regular campaigner who has recorded many starts, but few official finishes was also notable for finally posting an officially recorded time. Next mission is to get in under one hour Kevin!
Craig Randal showed he was well into the festive season spirit and did the fatherly duty of escorting daughters Sky and Storm around the course, whilst Anita Raw was accompanied by little Paige and Lynn Taylor by Kirsen. Well done folks!
William Kelly 00:42:04
Moshoeshoe Khumalo 00:42:05
Carlos Malinga 00:44:57
Menzi Tsela 00:45:20
Darron Raw 00:46:10
Denzel McFadden 00:46:34
Mike Craigie 00:48:02
Gcina Ndlangamandla 00:49:11
Wandile Msibi 00:50:08
John Williams 00:50:17
Dumi Mhlongo 00:50:59
Nadja Shields 00:53:07
Victor Oliveira 00:55:25
Mark Kashiki 00:55:56
Mike Richardson 00:57:15
Kevin Haycocks 01:03:09
Manyakatane Dlamini 01:05:19
Bafana Dlamini 01:15:08
Abtaab Dada 01:31:00
White-water MTB’ing
The 2nd of December delivered some of the most extreme weather so far experienced on our weekly timetrial. The better than average turn-out of riders ended up being scattered by a violent thunderstorm, which saw many, including timetrial leader Robert Bie, breaking from the course to avoid lightning strikes.
Those with less brains, powered on and were led home by Darron Raw, who managed to carve almost 2 minutes off his previous best effort for this season. Mike Craigie was home second, Wandile Msibi third and the Logico crew of Andrew van Rensburg and Dumi Mhlongo thereafter.
Newcomers Sipho Mkhabela and Linda Vilakati both joined in for the first time. Welcome ma-Gents!
Perhaps as a result of the chaos the week before, the 9th of December saw only three riders lining up in equally rainy conditions. As there was a newcomer in the form of Gavin Moir amongst them, the decision was made to take it socially and help him to learn the route. The group of Jon Williams, Darron Raw, Nadja Shields and the novice cruised in after approximately one hour.
Darron Raw 00:46:30
Mike Craigie 00:47:46
Wandile Msibi 00:50:41
Andrew Van Rensburg 00:52:41
Dumi Mhlongo 00:52:43
Pedro Isidoro 00:57:29
Sipho Mkhabela 01:02:02
Richard Darne 01:02:05
Manyakatane Dlamini 01:06:10
Linda Vilakati 01:10:14
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