Monday, July 25, 2011

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!