Wings, wheels and woofies!

It is crazy to believe we are in November already, X-mas carols and decorations are up all over to remind us that the silly season is ready to pounce.

The last couple of months have been a roller coaster ride with trying to get my powder coating business up to speed, at least I cant complain about life being dull as new challenges and curve balls are thrown every day from all directions. It was thus a great distraction when my friend Graeme Nathan phoned me and asked me to share his new GTI 6 in the 2 hour endurance race at Zwartkops. There are two endurance events through the year and as these score double points it was crucial for him to have a good event to keep him in the running for the championship. Gary Formato is leading after some consistent results where he has manged to set the pace during the latter part of the season.

We were planning on a test session but logistics just didn't play along and I got to put my bum in the seat for the Friday practise only. I knew I'd be a bit rusty initially but I must admit I was chuffed when I equalled Graeme's laptime on my third lap. Despite not racing a front wheel drive for many years it all came back very quickly, although challenging at the limit they are so much easier to drive than a rear wheel drive car and compared to the BMW 335i I raced last year it all felt very comfortable. The fact that we have always ran a very similar setup did help as Graeme also like the car to be set up nervous yet forgiving if you decide to throw it up the inside of an unsuspecting victim, possible removing his side mirror in a moment of sheer enthusiasm. (the officials would describe this a bit different though)

As the championship positions determine the cars weight we had to run very heavy with around 80kg's of lead bolted to the floor. The sprint races didn't go that well with Graeme going off on the first lap and dropping well down the field. This put even more pressure on us for the long race. Rules stipulate that three compulsory pit stops has to be made by each entry and we decided that I would drive stint 1 and 3 with Graeme taking the reigns in 2 and 4. Despite it being a long time since I started a race the overwhelming surroundings of the warm up lap felt very familiar. With your senses taking in 110% of your environment you try to get yourself comfortable in the seat, eye out the opposition, warm the tires, keep the engine cool and get ready to pounce in that first lap. I lined up in fourth behind Shaun Duminy who was there for one reason only, he had to protect Formato and I knew I had to get past him very soon. He did this perfectly by allowing his teammate in pole position to get away as I was not allowed to pass him before the start line.

It took me two laps to get past him and the Opel OPC of van Rooyen while the leading Ford opened a huge gap. This is where these races gets tricky as it is a very fine line between being too conservative and pushing too hard. I was slowly closing the gap when I felt the left front tire starting to delaminate resulting in my pit stop being earlier than scheduled. This was a potential disaster as I wasn't driving that hard and  we didn't  expect a problem after only 12laps while I was scheduled for 28. An efficient pit stop where driver's were swapped, tires changed and car refueled we slotted into sixth position. I knew that our tires were not going to last and we had to back off our ideal pace to make it to the end.
I must admit that I was very relieved when we clawed our way back into second position and despite the Ford winning after a dominant display I think that the team's damage limitation  was impressive after the circumstances.
Although the weekend put a huge dent in Graeme's title winning chances the fat lady is still sitting down as I am sure she is all to aware of how quickly things can swing around at the last race meeting of the year.

It was great to behind the wheel again and who knows, maybe it can become a more frequent occurrence in future!

On a more relaxed note, since moving to kzn I have been spending more time on my favourite hobby being that of flying model planes. My prefered models are Gliders that we fly of the many picturesque mountains in the area. Planes vary from high speed aerobatic composite adrenalin pumping machines to graceful five meter scale gliders which make light work of even the smallest thermals. With many slopes around I spend most weekends with a great bunch of like minded chaps soaring up and down steep cliff faces. Holly my Spaniel anounces every launch with wild barking and she is there with every landing to show you where your plane is, she has so much fun!

With the mountain bike racing season being over it is time to ride more at a leisurely pace and enjoy the scenery while trying to keep the weight down and staying relatively fit before the 2012 season is on us.
We are not doing 94.7 cycle challenge this time for the first time in years as the travelling and logistics just make it difficult at the moment.

If you in the Ballito area for your holiday and a keen cyclist, make sure to come ride the trails at Holla, 300km of pure bliss and lots of flowing singletrack.

Thanks for sharing my world and till Reggies's next ramble..... keep it slideways!

Camera, action, ....lights out!

Who ever said life would slow down when moving to Ballito? Life here is a blessed with winter weather that I could only dream of before. This will probably be the first year where I will cycle through winter without the cold interfering and putting an end to ambitious cycling schedules.

I raced Sani2C with my good friend Donavan Roscoe and despite a slow start on day one we went better as each day passed. This was definitely the best I ever felt for this event due to coach Russ making me ride even more hills than normal. Farmer Glen impressed us with even more single track than in previous years making this event stand out as a must do for any cyclist.
My Scott spark behaved perfectly as always and despite not having jumped the 26er ship yet I loved carving those trails with long travel duallie thats a featherweight and super stiff on the climbs. Day two left me with a puncture which I plugged quickly, but time trialing back to Don had my tong dragging on the ground...... I'm sure he put the hammer down as I stopped!

The KZN mtb scene is very healthy with a classic (45km) race nearly every weekend, I grinned at these as I teased the locals with being soft with me being used to much longer races in Gauteng. They had the last laugh though, crickey!..... these races are technical, straight up and hot but awesome fun. Believe me, it is worth the odd 6hr trip from jhb as they are a hoot. People are so friendly, the norm in Gauteng is for everyone to race home as they cross the finish line....here they sit around telling war stories around a braai till dusk!
The last race was the John Dory's 50km race on our doorstep at Holla trails. With a 10K purse there was some big names on the starting line with Brandon Stewart, Rourke Crouser, Waylon Woolcock, Neil Macdonald, Tyrone White and Guylin van den Berg being favourites. Brandon eventually won it in a sprint with Rourke in a close second. I didn't feel that great on the day and gave up chasing Donavan who came all the way from JHB for the race. I still had a great time with coach Russ building all new single track for the event.

I got my backside back in a racecar as well which was great! Racing the Afrox BMW 335i in the Phakisa 2hr with Etienne van der linde we finished a close second to the Audi S4 of Johan Fourie. Despite me being a bit rusty initially I quickly I found my driving feet. Etienne had a tire problem in the first stint and we dropped to last place after an early pit stop. My first stint went great and and I stayed out for a long stint and fought my way back up to first position, by the time I stopped to hand the car over it was pitch dark. Etienne kept the momentum going and handed me the car back for my last stint while still leading. Unfortunately the safety car had to come out after the Subaru of Hennie Groenewald caught alight causing me to lose our 30 sec lead. The restart was chaos and after a risky move Johan did well to pass me for the lead in the second corner, despite having the pace to challenge him I ran out of time as there was only one lap left handing the Audi a well deserved win.
Hopefully I will be back in a racing seat full time in the near future, I cant let those hooligans have everything their own way!

Still behind a steering wheel I also did some precision driving for the local movie "Platteland" which is being released later this year. Being the stunt double for local singer/actor Bok van Blerk I had to jump an old Ford F250 bakkie off a 4m high rocky ledge! This jump worked great as I had a great team setting it up under the watch full eye of motocross legend Wayne Smith. Later in the day I had to roll a Hi-Lux bakkie, this didn't go exactly as planned as I got a hard knock to side of the head which left me a bit dazed and concussed...it looked spectacular though which made it all worthwhile!



 I recently acquired a powder coating business in Ballito which is very exciting as I have jumped in the deep end. I see great opportunities for this and other businesses on the KZN North Coast as thing are expanding at a rapid rate! I think the secret is out and more people are flocking here.

Till Reggie's next ramble, go fast and hold on tight!

Living in Ballito (to the tune of "Living in Miami!)

Although I finished the 2010 racing season on a high the team knew that without new sponsors I might have to sit on the sideline as it was Rough Rider's last year of being involved in production car racing. Unfortunately this has happened and although it is terrible not to be there banging mirrors and contributing to the panelbeaters's Xmas bonus I know the right thing will happen. There are current negotiations, so lets hold thumbs and hope for the best....or I'll be forced to start contributing to the traffic dept's Xmas bonus!  

Not racing and leaving the hijackers, pollution and spruit behind for the greener pastures of KZN's sugarcane fields has put my mind in a great place........and I nearly completely almost forgot about this blog...

We arrived in Ballito in mid December and settled in nicely, half the people were very friendly and by January they were all friendly when the grumpy half went back to Gauteng. We had two days to unpack before Coach's (Russell White) urgent sms's started flowing freely with messages like "Salt rock beach swim in 5min" or "Hops-Run, swim run 10mins" or my favourite "French club hill repeats at 4h30" which normally comes through at 4h15! The guys TRAIN down here.....I had to escape to Mozambique (twice) just to get a break! It is great suffering with top Xterra, moto-X, MTB'ers and other athletes and it just forces you to up your game

Holla trails is a mere 10 min (easy warm up) ride from my house with 300km of trails including awesome single track and more uphills than downhills. Following Russell, Tyrone, Daniel, Guylin and many others I had to hang on for dear life on my now almost obsolete 26" bike as the 29er revolution seems to have happened here decades ago...

My fishing trips were awesome with the last one being the best fishing we have ever seen on Inhaca. My "boetie" Greg was adamant that we will find Marlin and we got five hook ups landing three. The last one was a Blue Marlin weighing +- 260kg's. We don't know exactly as we release all the fish after carefully reviving them. A dozen GT's (Giant Kingfish) over 25kg's were landed with my PB of +-48kg's.

The only bad thing has been my Dachshund's sudden blindness after Retinal detachment, I think we were more upset though as she still runs flat out on the beach following the Spaniels everywhere. These three delinquents are already well known, mostly for the wrong reasons unfortunately!

Although not racing cars I have raced in some events down here. The first was the Mudman Xterra in Hermansberg, then Wartburg MTB race, the SA marathon championships at Inanda and finally last weekends Golovane Boxlee race at Holla Trails. As it was a team event I paired up with Daniel Carlton-a top X-terra triathlete. The race was tough, 85km and 1600m of climbing was hard enough but after having lost my rear brakes only 10km in I had some very anxious moments in the mud as it was pouring with rain. Despite this I don't think Daniel even broke a sweat while my tongue was dragging on the ground.

Dagmar has done very well in these races and have upped her game nicely, winning the ladies event in Sunday's race and buying us lunch with her prize money.... a favour I would love to return someday!

We are racing Karkloof this weekend with my Sani partner Manbearbig also known as Donavan joining us for the weekend.

Although I really don't miss Joburg I really miss my riding buddies and would be very happy to show anyone the way around Holla....even if I shout directions from behind!

Keep it sideways

Reggie #111

  

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