Cav' Posted October 7, 2013 Posted October 7, 2013 Well done guys, pretty awesome (and then some) rusty 1
CWC Online Posted October 15, 2013 Posted October 15, 2013 Chris Jnr doing the handover of our donation. Best of luck for the World Champs, proudly SA! rusty, quintonb, shaper and 6 others 9
rusty Posted October 16, 2013 Author Posted October 16, 2013 Thank you CWC Online...absolute superstars Wannabe 1
rusty Posted October 31, 2013 Author Posted October 31, 2013 hi fellow hubbers... How time has flown...we are through most of our preparations, and tomorrow the fun begins - the World Cup, and the honour of representing our country. Been wanting to post for a few days now, but everything has been such a rush...so let me try get the most of it in: On Sunday, the 20th, the team all arrived at Cape Town International at about 10:30 and we proceeded to check in our multitude of bags & boxes - our scheduled departure to London via Dubai was 13:30. Our flight out of Cape Town was delayed due to problem with a faulty tyre...and this caused us to miss our connecting flight out of Dubai, 5hours extra wait in Dubai at 2:00am (SA time) not quite my idea of fun. Eventually we made our way to Heathrow, got our rental vehicles from Europcar and headed off on the M4 to Newport...upon arrival there, we unpacked the cars...checked into our rooms and unboxed all the bikes and built them up to go spin the legs loose. See images attached...1 - 5 members of the team before our departure from Cape Town2 - Walking around in Dubai Duty Free in the early hours of the morning3 - Left: Taking off over sunny Dubai, Right: Approaching the landing strip in a cloudy & wet London (will continue with the story & images in other posts) Captain Fastbastard Mayhem, ScottCM, jaxtun and 1 other 4
ScottCM Posted October 31, 2013 Posted October 31, 2013 nice, good luck boys,our support is behind you. rusty 1
rusty Posted October 31, 2013 Author Posted October 31, 2013 After settling in nicely at the Holiday Inn Express & getting a PROPER nights sleep in...we headed off for our first training session on the boards of Newport Velodrome - scary to think that this facility was simply built as a training ground for the GB riders, yet in Africa we do not have a single Wooden track. (image 1 below) The track itself rides like a dream, as it does not get used for competition...it's still in very good condition. The week in Newport flew by, and as the days progressed...so did our legs. The first few days, they felt dead and unresponsive...but as we got closer to the weekend, the legs started to come good. In between the all the rain, we managed to squeeze in a road ride. We decided to head off to Cardiff - this was a bit of an adventure, as nobody really knew where each road would take us. 20km or so later, we found what we were looking for...a bike shop in Cardiff. Some of the guys looked around a bit, while others had some running repairs to be done on their road bikes. The girl at the one bike shop was kind enough to explain a more "cyclist friendly" route to travel back home, and this was as scenic road as I have ridden before(see image 2 below) On Thursday we had a visit & some assistance/advice/words from Team GB "Headmaster" Shane Sutton - the man has been in charge of most of the transformation we see in British cycling today, and the advice he gave the team...was most definitely noted & taken. Friday was our last session at the Newport track, and we made the most of it...as by now the legs were firing on all cylinders. Smittie & I were mixing our training with that of Bernard Esterhuizen, and fitting some team sprint efforts/changes in with that too. TBC...
Caerus Posted October 31, 2013 Posted October 31, 2013 Best of luck and don't forget to bring home the medals rusty 1
rusty Posted October 31, 2013 Author Posted October 31, 2013 Saturday morning was an early rise...breakfast, packing the last of the bags into the van, and hitting the road off to Manchester. Smittie & I(sprinters), Evan & Kellan(endurance), and Maroesjka were entered for the Revolution series First Leg - one of the biggest Track Grand Prix events in the world. The endurance events work in teams, Evan & Kellan were entered to ride for the Rouleur team. Whereas Smittie, Maroesjka & myself rode in our National kit as individuals. Smittie & I sat in the sprinters box alongside Olympic champions Jason Kenny & Phil Hindes...and it was pretty awesome to see how laid back these guys were, taking time to chat to us and share a few jokes. Evan & Kellan rode really impressively, taking a few 5th spot placings and a 4th place in the flying 1000m Madison TT - where they rode a time of 58.4 Maroesjka was unfortunately struggling to find her legs, and the ladies she was racing against(including a host of Olympic & World Champions) were not making it any easier for her...keeping the pace high from start to finish in all the events. The sprinters first event of the evening was the sprint qualifier, Smittie rode a personal best of 10.61(qualified 9th) & I also managed to ride a PB of 10.41(qualified 8th). My sprint quarter final was vs Mat Crampton, and although I tried to make a run at him on the last lap he was too powerful to overtake & I was eliminated. In the keirin we were drawn in the same heat which was unfortunate - along with Jason Kenny. The racing was fast I furious, I tried to go a lap and half out...but could not hold them off, and the top3 overtook me coming around the last bend. Smittie tried to run at them down the home straight but ran out of space. We were then to ride the minor final(for 7th to 11th place) - this race was also a quick one, and with a lap to go Smittie & I were both in positions to win the race. Going down the back straight the Frenchman & GB rider started going over Smittie & I was situated on their wheel...their slip led me to come over both of them around the last bend and win the minor final to place 7th. See video links below:  Pic 1: Thanks to CW Cycles & all the hubbers for their help in getting us here(unfortunately we could not hold up a hubbers shirt ) Pic 2: Smittie & I lining up for keirin heat Pic 3: Team Rouleur - Evan & Kellan Pic 4: Maroesjka on her 200m flying start Pic 5: Winning the minor final, while Smittie rubbing shoulders with the Frenchie!  Pic 6: We still remember how to have some fun, walking around the hotel in our onesies(L to R: myself. Theuns, Evan & Smittie)
Eldron Posted October 31, 2013 Posted October 31, 2013 Hahahaha. Fantastic stuff. I got goose bumps reading and watchning. Money spent on this kind of stuff is good money - allows us all to be a part of something cool. Nicely done chaps and chapette! rusty 1
Thornman Posted November 1, 2013 Posted November 1, 2013 And to make it even more the worh while, the endurance team smashed the sa recorb by about 4 sec.
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