Kevin Evans

Ride the Rock, Cedarberg

2012-02-13T09:41:00.003+02:00

Photo by: Patrick Baransky Kevin Evans

Ride the Rock, 3 Stages, Cedarberg.

Stillwatersports were the presenting sponsors of this three-day race in the heart of the Cedarberg. It would be my first trip to this part of the world, and there are not many places left I have not been to on my trusty mountain bike, but the Cedarberg as far as remote, tranquil, and off the beaten track goes, will soon become a destination that I will gladly head back to.

Small details like arriving at the camp site, finding that the organizers have reserved you the ‘deluxe’ cottage, complete with race registration boxes and entries already waiting inside for you, goes along way with pro-bike riders, and leaves a ‘I will be back’ taste in your mouth!

It was also great ‘Epic prep’ for us, complete with our newly recruited chef/nutritionist Sandi Bryan joining us, and our head mechanic Swen Lauer. It’s a fantastic backup team and a pleasure to have with us, plus we get spoilt with some of the best tasting nutrition known to sportsman! We were also joined by Patrick Baransky, head of Nedbanks sports sponsorships and our key man in introducing us to one of the most passionate wine makers we’ve found, albeit in the middle of nowhere with ‘altitude’.

Stage 1, 85km, 1550m

The first day of Ride the Rock is the toughest of the three, and the terrain, the conditions and altitude would make for tough racing. Also many of the teams here were using it as preparation for the Epic in just six weeks time. I guess the rugged and rocky terrain will also ‘iron’ out any last minute issues with bikes and or equipment choices that may still need to be made.

Despite the field of riders being fairly small, it still had some good quality riders, and it wouldn’t detract anything from the intensity of the racing up front.

Dave George was eager to get the racing started, and within five kilometers, there was a small group of about six riders with most of the top riders in it. We continued to ride hard at the front, and once the hills started rolling on, we started riding a really hard tempo, and soon, we had a gap over the rest of the field. Nico Pfitzenmaier was riding well, and the very rocky descends and sandy jeep tracks suited his riding style, and he joined us after Dave had to stop to inflate his rear tire, which had lost air. The most technical and dangerous descend of about 4km we negotiated with caution, as Nico managed to put about a 30second gap into us down here.

Once down this section, we were faced with a monster climb of about 5km at 10% gradient, and we quickly took back our time over Nico, plus then drove the tempo on to put a further minute into him by the top. The kilometers from here to the finished ticked by very slowly, and the harsh terrain definitely took the sting out the legs, but at least we were together and could make use of each other taking turns into the headwind home. Nico had to soldier on alone, but held off Team Blend, Charles Keey and Dave Morrison to take third, whilst team mate Dave and I dueled out a sprint finish.

(Dave obviously coming out second from that one!)

Provisional Results:

1^st Kevin Evans (Nedbank Team 360life) 3hrs21

2^nd Dave George (Nedbank Team360life) same time

3^rd Nico Pfitzenmaier (Rob Daniel)

Stage 2, 60km, 950m

Fortunately with the cooler temperatures, the start was pushed back to 07:00am, giving us another hour of sleep, and although it can get unbearably hot in this area, riding conditions over the weekend were absolutely perfect.

Day 2 was a much ‘smoother’ day and the trails wouldn’t be as rough as the previous. The group rolled together through the beautiful Cedarberg Valley, until we hit some great singletrack. The racing started here for the Pro’s, and soon we were only a handful of riders. After around 20km, we started the climbs for the day, and I rode a hard enough tempo that I was soon alone in the front. Not long thereafter, Dave rode across to me, and from here we started another ‘team trial’ and rode consistently hard to try hold our gap over the chasing riders.

At this point we thought that Nico would be chasing us, but after another 20km, Dave Morisson and Erik Kleinhans joined us. Unfortunately for Erik, no sooner had they caught us and he had yet another puncture which would take him out of contention for the stage. Dave Morisson was riding as hard as he could to try and get some back on Nico for the overall, whilst Dave George and I just followed him for the last 15km to the finish, where Morisson took a well deserved stage win. We were happy to finish safely in second and third, gaining a little more time on the overall, and not having any mechanical issues.

The real highlight for us on the day would be meeting David Niewoudt with Pat Baransky, who gave us a ‘personalized’ wine tasting experience of some of the most exquisite wines we’ve come across. We even managed to persuade him to throw a few nice bottles into the mix for the final days racing, just for some added incentive! (We may also have had a few glasses that evening)

Provisional Results:

1^st Dave Morrison (blend) 2hrs17

2^nd Kevin Evans (Nedbank Team360life) same time

3^rd Dave George (Nedbank Team360life) same time

Stage 3, 50km, 800m

The last stage was rumored to be the ‘queen’ stage in terms of technical, singletrack riding, and it definitely lived up to its pre-race hype. We climbed from the start, all the way up the side of ‘Wolfberg Cracks’ mountain, and once near the top, we would descend a tight, loose, sandy, rocky downhill that would prove to be as much of a challenge as some of the most technical routes I’ve ridden anywhere. Nico knew this trail fairly well, and put that knowledge, along with his technical skills to good use to apply some real pressure down here.

By the bottom of the trail, I was a minute down, and Dave George, Morisson and Keey probably a further minute behind me. I knew I needed to chase Nico alone, and the legs were still feeling relatively good, so I managed to make up that minute in the space of the next 10km. Once I caught him, I had only to sit on as he was trying to race himself into second place overall. With 15km left, through the rough jeep track, I attacked Nico and rode away to the finish alone. Dave had also caught him through this last section, so our first and second place for the overall was secure.

Although this stage was short in distance, it was action packed and resembled more of a ‘cross country’ style race with some incredible trails. Thanks to the race organizers for the effort they put in to make such great routes through this barren landscape.

Provisional Results:

1^st Kevin Evans (Nedbank Team360life) 1hr55

2^nd Nico Pfitzenmaier (Robert Daniel) 1hr56

3^rd Dave George (Nedbank Team360life) 1hr56

Provisional Results Overall:

1^stKevin Evans (Nedbank Team360life) 7hrs30

2^nd Dave George (Nedbank Team360Life)

3^rd Nico Pfitzenmaier (Robert Daniel)

4^th Dave Morisson (Blend)

5^th Charles Keey (Blend)

Next race, we head back to that town, Tulbach, for the second race in the MTN Ultra Marathon series. Should be an interesting race with riders starting to hit some good form, and a testing route that lies ahead.

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

VW Herald Mountain Bike Challenge

2012-02-05T21:36:00.003+02:00

Photo by Vic Momsen: Kevin Evans

VW Herald MTB Challenge, Addo, Revised route, 80-90km

I always enjoy racing in the Eastern Cape, after all, it’s where I started my mountain bike racing way back when. Except for the torrential down pours we had been experiencing over the past few days, the weather just wouldn’t let up. In fact, on Friday, it even got worse, to a point where Dave George could not even fly into Port Elizabeth, and would have to sit this race out. This would leave James (Junior) and myself, to fly the Nedbank 360life flag for the weekend.

Conditions were so bad, that race organizers were forced to have to change most of the route, and for the safety of the riders, was the only choice they would have. They did however provide a challenging route nonetheless and for us in the front, the racing would always be hard.

In these conditions, you really have to manage your equipment well, as the non-stop mud takes its toll on the drive train of the bike. It also taxes the body, and you constantly have to force yourself to eat and drink which is difficult most times. I decided the best place to ride, was in the front, and that’s where I stayed right from the start of the race. I figured its only going to be harder trying to follow wheels, and setting the pace would be marginally easier.

The main split for the day happened on the big climb up the Zuurberg pass, a hard 8km climb. This is where James and I pushed the pace up, and he was really impressing with his gutsy ride on the day. We were expecting a big effort from Jacques Rossouw who we know is on good form, and when it came, junior was able to follow the wheel comfortably. Having a teammate up front with you, that’s strong, is invaluable and James was filling Dave’s shoes for the day.

After the climb, we were four riders left, two from FedgroupItecConnect, and two from Nedbank 360life. We would then descend and make our way through the farms back to the start finish where we would do another lap of the 30km course. Just before the final loop, I put in an effort and Jacques had to work really hard for the next ten kilometers to catch me, whilst James could sit on his wheel, but the efforts were enough to isolate him.

James only battled in the final 20km, where Jacques and I rode away, and from here, I knew on the flat muddy run in to the end, it would come down to a sprint.

I’ve lost a few races on this exact same sprint, and today I wasn’t going to take any chances, and gave it everything to make sure I got on the field first, with only about 300m from there to the finish line. I managed to just hold Jacques off to take a close win. James held on for 3^rd, and Brandon Stewart and Dave Morrison, who were in fourth and fifth on the road, got sent on a third, lap, giving fourth place to Oliver Munnik and fifth to Julius Cobbett.

A great ride in terrible conditions, but I guess, you have these days and the experience you gain from them is always important.

Provisional Results:

1. Kevin Evans (Nedbank 360life) 3:10:17 

2. Jacques Rossouw (FedgroupItecConnect) 3:10:19 

3. James Reid (Nedbank 360life) 3:14:39 

4. Oliver Munnik (GT) 3:20:26

 5. Julius Cobbett (GT-Zaskar) & Brandon Stewart (FedgroupItecConnect) 3:41:29

Next race, take the team to the Cedarberg, where I can actually for a change say I have no idea what to expect as it will be my first time there. Ride the Rock, a new three-day race. Looking forward to it, plus some hotter weather, please.

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

MTN Ultra Marathon, #1, Barberton

2012-01-29T15:55:00.004+02:00

Photos by: Zoon Cronje

Kevin Evans MTN Ultra Marathon, Barberton, 120km, 2800m

Nice change to race Barberton in the sun and heat, although the rains in the area definitely took its toll on the route, which was now perfect for our Spark RC’s. The Ultra Marathon route basically consists of two loops, a 75km loop including the first big climb of around 10km, followed by a 45km loop, again including a leg busting lung burning climb of about 8km. The last 25km of both loops are identical, but very rocky and rough jeep track interspersed with 14river crossings, tests you and your machine to the limit. Swen Lauer our new full time mechanic made sure the bikes were singing for the race, and they ran as smooth as could be.

Usually from my past experiences with this race, if you don’t make the front split on the first big climb, potentially your race is over, as you won’t see the leaders again. I had a hard time up the first climb following the pace that was being set by a few riders, Adrien Niyonshuti and Jacques Rossouw mostly. But I managed to hang in for over an hour and went over the top of the climb with a small group of six riders. However soon after, the group sat up and before we entered the reserve, it had swelled to about 12-14riders. Not a comfortable situation racing through the rough jeep tracks and river crossings. The second loop was fast approaching and a natural thinning out of the bunch was immanent.

Within a matter of minutes up the climb, which was now also scorching hot, I found myself struggling behind the four guys in front of me, with Rossouw setting a hard pace that only Van Rensburg, Knox and Lill could follow. I decided knowing that the climb was very long, to ride my own tempo, some sound advise from teammate Dave who was just a bit further behind me. As the climb progressed, I started clawing my way back into the race after some mind games and ‘pep’ talks with myself. First I caught and passed Lill, then Knox, and right on the top finally Van Rensburg. The two of us rode well together but once we were into the rough jeep tracks, the Scott Spark was in a league of its own and combined with some freshmotivation, I was soon chasing Rossouw alone in second place. I had no idea of time gaps, but I rode a hard pace to finish 2nd, but also to finish off an intense two week block of training with the team. Dave finished in 13th, but after flu during the training camp, it was kind of what he expected. It was also quite cool to think that our ‘junior’ rider James was racing in Pretoria flying the flag for the team in the first XC race for the season at the same time. We are now officially running two programs!

Its also amazing for me to see the progress from Advendurance as they continue to roll out world class events and I don’t think it will be long before we see a marathon world champion or championship coming out of South Africa!

Provisional Results: 1st Jacques Rossouw (FedgroupItecConnect) 5hrs 2nd Kevin Evans (Nedbank 360Life) 3rd Jacques Janse van Rensburg (MTN/Qhubeka) 4th Max Knox (Decca/Ghost) 5th Darren Lill (Bonitas)

Next race, the team will travel down to Port Elizabeth for the Herald Cycle tour, where we will have two days of racing, the Herald Mountain bike race in Addo, and the road race on Sunday. Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

KZN Road Championships, 2012

2012-01-24T17:29:00.001+02:00

Photo by Swen Lauer: Kevin Evans

Elite Road Championships, Westville 127km, 1500m

Nedbank 360lfe decided to kick off our racing season with the Kwazulu-Natal Road champs held on a circuit at Westville. As the team has been on a 10day training camp based in Pietermaritzburg, we thought the race could fit nicely into our training program, and with some quality riders taking part; the workout was well worth it.

The circuit around Westville was completely closed off, and the cyclists would have the whole M13 to themselves, a great route of around 13km per lap, allowing for some great spectating, a tough circuit, and completely safe racing.

There was not a whole lot of action early on in the race, as the course was fairly tough and riders were saving themselves for the latter stages of the race. Our newly recruited youngster was eager to turn the screws in early, and threw a few attacks, but was always marked by some of his fellow cross country mountain biker competitors. Dave who was recovering from a hard week of training and still slightly under the weather from a cold, was content to watch what was happening and offer his vast experience for when it mattered.

I had decided to wait until the last two laps to try something, but Burry Stander was looking eager and up for a challenge.

It was on lap 8, with two laps remaining that I saw a spontaneous moment in the race to hit the bunch hard when they least expected it, and once I had turned the corner, it was only Burry who had bridged the gap across to me. So here I was again, Burry and I, and a lap and half to go. Behind us, Dave and James had ridden clear of the bunch, and being only 45seconds behind us, I was able to sit on Burry’s wheel and start strategizing the best way to beat him.

Unfortunately, with the climb being too short and shallow, I had one last effort near the top to test him, but he was too good and held on, as I then had to lead the sprint out.

Not my best option to try and win in hindsight, but after a hard week of training, I was pleasantly surprised with myself, and James and Dave too who rolled in shortly after us!

So far all good, everything has been really smooth for us moving into the new year, from our new Life Policies (360life of course), to equipment from Scott and kit by Craft, we are looking forward to a great season with the best possible support behind us.

Time to ‘Make things happen’.

Provisional Results:

1^st Burry Stander (Specialized) 3hrs30

2^nd Kevin Evans (Nedbank 360Life) same time

3^rd James Reid (Nedbank 360life)

4^th Dave George (Nedbank 360life)

5^th Rourke Croeser (Cannondale-Monkey)

Next race, the season opener and start of the MTN Ultra Marathon series, taking place in Barberton. Should be a great and competitive start to the marathon year!

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

DCM Cape Pioneer Trek

2011-10-24T09:19:00.005+02:00

Photo by Zoon Cronje: Kevin Evans

6Day Mountain Bike Stage Race, 659km, 13500m

Stage1, Oudtshoorn-Calitzdorp, 107km, 2161m

The first stage of a tour is always the most nervous and potentially most important in the race. You also never sure what the legs will do and how the body will react. The route for the day was fairly easy to begin with, besides the rough Karoo jeep tracks with many thorns to get through.

The racing began in earnest after the first water point when we headed into the ‘Red Stone Hills’ and old Cape Epic trails of past. Dave and I turned up the pace, the temperature turned itself up, and soon the splits had formed. Up the long steep climb before the final climb, we had our gap, and put in a big effort to capitalize on our lead and make the most of what we could.

We came in around 5min ahead of Melt Swanepoel and Nico Bell, Adrien Niyonshuti and Jacques Janse van Rensburg finished in third place. Sauser and Knox had a series of errors, to cut a long story short, which cost them 30minutes plus, a one-hour penalty.

Stage2, Calitzdorp-Riversdale, 128km, 2756m

This stage was reminiscent of the old Epic stage from 2008, and started with the infamous Rooiberg Pass climb. The Contego King of the Mountain prizes each day really spiced up the racing and made the big climbs of the day that little extra harder as riders raced for the R2500 up for grabs. Once over the climb, the front group, consisting of the four main teams, rolled through until we hit some more rough and tough ‘Katot’ jeep track through one of the beautiful reserves. It was in this section, trying to show the boys how to ride a river crossing, that I got stuck in a really deep section, couldn’t unclip, and completely submerged myself to the point of near drowning.

Past the last water point, altogether and aiming for a gentle final 40km to this long stage, we were thrown a major curve ball where we hit the roughest 4x4track of the race. Forced to run and scramble, Sauser and Knox got a gap as Dave and I gave chase to no avail, but we did manage to distance ourselves from our rival teams of the previous day. After some sense of humor loss, we eventually rolled down the Garcia pass and finished second, but put in some really big time gaps to Melt/Bell and MTN/Quhbeka. RE:CM not too far behind having a really tough day out there, learning some real Karoo mountain bike lessons at its best. (respect!)

Stage3, Riversdale-Albertinia, 106km, 2379m

Today’s stage, the weather decided to up the game a bit for all the riders out there. Gusts of wind at 90km/hr were blowing, fortunately Westerly though, meaning tailwind, however, ‘Katot’ managed to wind the route that in some way, we had block headwinds and mean gutter sections. Just as the race was splitting up going into the mountain reserve, we had to stop to fix a flat rear wheel on Dave’s bike. Unfortunately the front guys continued to race on, leaving us with around a 60km chase to the finish. Melt/Bell were trying to catch Sauser/Knox, around a 1minute gap, we were trying to catch Melt/Bell, another 1minute gap, but for 60km, the gaps stayed the same and all of us made a meal out of this stage, with no real gains other than Sauser/Knox taking the stage in torrential rain. Not a pleasant day out on the bike, and even harder for the back markers, coming into a non-existent race village due to the weather. The school would host the riders in the classrooms, and plan B turned out to work well for the organizers and tired riders..

Stage4, Albertinia-Mossel Bay, 98km, 1579m

Riders set off in much better weather, and with the winds on our backs, we were off on a beautiful days racing through to Mossel Bay. The highlight for the day, well there was two, was one: crossing the ‘Island’ in the Gouritz river. This section had the most thorns I’ve ever seen besides the first day of the Grape Escape. This took Sauser/Knox out of the days racing, and gave Dave and I a few problems ourselves, but nothing that we weren’t able to solve on the go. We had to chase a few times to catch up to the same front teams, we were pretty much all content to roll through to the end, and let the other teams battle out a stage win. Highlight two was going through Gondwana Reserve, with its 7Kalahari wild lions. Unfortunately, or fortunately, we never saw any, but they did do a compulsory roll call through this section!

The most scenic section was the final 15km along the coast at Pinnacle Point, and I must say the Golf Course was looking in great nick! But the racing was on as RE:CM had put the hammer down with Melt/Bell in pursuit. We were following wheels, MTN/Qhubeka just off the pace, and for a change, the front two teams, or should I say, Dave spotted a tricky left/right sign board, and we actually went the right way, so before we knew it, with no intentions of winning the stage, we had. Unfortunately for the other guys, they did a small detour, but made their way to the finish although somewhat disappointed. Don’t worry; we know the feeling, well.

Stage5, Mossel Bay-George, 127km, 3046m

10km on Dias beach to start the queen stage of the tour, I seem to remember last year being low tide, and high tide this year really took its toll on the legs, not to mention what the poor riders at the back would be going through!

Again the racing split, but the pace was really turned up after the KOM where Sauser decided he would like to try win another stage. This time Dave and I followed and from here on, the racing was fairly flat-out. On numerous occasions they tried to drop us, but we were determined to take this stage and not disappoint our supporters at the finish.

After 120km of tough riding, we were still neck and neck, and we knew that a sprint finish would have to decide the outcome of a five and half hour day!

Knowing Dave’s sprinting ability, or lack thereof (joke), I told him to attack with 5km to go. As he did, Max followed and Sauser and I watched them ride ahead. Its always easier sprinting one on one, and it’s the second rider over the line that counts for the stage win, so I left myself up the ‘creek’ to sprint against the World Champion, but for the record, he beat me by half a tire! (damn)

Stage6, George- Oudtshoorn, 93km, 1594m

The last day will never be an easy day in the Pioneer, from my experience, and starting with the Montagu Pass, I’m sure the back riders were thrilled: a 12% 7km climb, before ‘Katot’ sent us into some more ruthless jeep tracks with the final 30km going through the rough Chandelier reserve. Again Sauser/Knox decided to try for another stage win, but the rest of us, RE:CM, Melt/Bell and ourselves were content to just roll trough to the end of a tough tour.

All was going well for me, not the best legs on the day, but up one of the rocky climbs, the camera man (BigShot Media) was trying to get me to ride up an almost impossible section, when I came to a stop, couldn’t unclip, fell over on the high side (yes its all on camera) and just about broke three ribs. I won’t lie, I didn’t have a fun ride for the remaining 50km, and I wasn’t getting much sympathy from my teammate either.

But the race was in the bag, and we had turned our stage race luck around to win the 2011 Cape Pioneer Trek.

Henco and Carel, plus all the crew, too many to mention, put on another amazing event, and really kept the riders interests first. Dryland is fast becoming a world-class events company, and Nedbank 360Life are proud to have been invited to their race and hope to be back to defend our title next year.

And to all the ‘die hard’ riders who make up the field, you have our utmost respect for completing this grueling event. I suppose it’s the toughness that makes you guys come back, however I’m amazed at how well prepared you all are! Best of luck with the recovery!

Provisional Results:

1^stEvans/George (Nedbank 360Life) 26hrs53min

2^ndMelt-Swanepoel/Bell (Specialized/Bell Cycles) 27hrs25min

3^rd Nyionshuti/Jvan Rensburg (MTN/Qhubeka) 27hrs51min

4^th Woolcock/Macdonald (RE:CM) 27hrs57

5^th Sauser/Knox (Songo36one) 29hrs23min

Next race, that’s a wrap folks, season 2011 done for Team Nedbank 360Life. In the end of a dreadful start, what a finish, and with the support and like-mindedness of our sponsors, all we can say is, ‘roll on 2012’!

Thank you and proudly Nedbank ambassadors!

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Ladismith Cheese Seweweekspoort Challenge

2011-10-24T09:13:00.001+02:00

Ladismith Cheese Seweweeksport MTB Challenge, 80km

One of my ‘local’ events (I call any event within a hundred and fifty kilometer radius of home a local event), and also one of favorite rides in the beautiful area of the Karoo. The Seweweekspoort challenge is an absolute must do ride as it’s suitable for all levels of riders, and the route is absolutely magnificent. It basically winds its way right through the Seweweekspoort, an old dirt road that connects the small and great Karoo via the Cape folded mountains.

Although this year, Dave had decided to use this race as final hard training for next weeks Pioneer Trek, and went flying out the blocks. I managed to ride across to him, where we shared the work going up, and it is up, through the ‘Poort’, so I didn’t have a lot of time to look around at the stunning area. Once through the ‘Poort’, I was sure we would have a good gap with which we could manage for the next 60km, but to my surprise, a group of 4riders had worked equally as hard and managed to catch us through the rough jeep track loop around the dam at the top of the Poort.

Ruan Du Toit (Novo Nordisk), Ben Melt Swanepoel (Specialized), Stuat Marais and Dave Morison (Blend Properties) had joined us for the really fun and fast sweeping gravel descend back down the Poort, where speeds of close to 70km/hr are achievable. Once out of the Poort, the final 35km is through Winelands and farms, and becomes a bit rougher, and tougher, with the wind usually playing a small role too. And then of course the final two climbs with ten kilometers to go are usually hard enough to decide the outcome of the race. Knowing this race really well, and having won it a few times before, I was content to wait for the last ten kilometers.

However, Dave clearly had other ides, and through one of the rough sections, used his power and Spark29er to ride alone off the front of our group. Hard way to try and win the race, but perfect team tactics, as I could sit in the group whilst the rest had to try chase him (aka the block). Its difficult to chase when you know you have a another rider just waiting to pounce should it all come back together. Dave’s gap was steadily increasing, and by the final 10kilometers, he had nearly 2minutes on us.

I then made my effort count on the final two climbs, and must say I was impressed with how the young rider, Ruan du Toit from George stuck with me. Only on the last climb around 2kilometers from the finish did he finally let go and I was able to complete the ‘one-two’ for Nedbank 360life, finishing just behind Dave.

Its always great being a part of this event, and thanks to Dryland Events and local rider Pieter Blignaut for inviting us and accommodating our families for a great weekend away in the Karoo. Hope to be back next year!

Provisional Results:

1^stDave George (Nedbank 360life) 2hrs45min

2^ndKevin Evans (Nedbank 360life) +25sec

3^rd Ruan Du Toit (Novo Nordisk) +30sec

4^th Ben Melt Swanepoel (Specialized)

5^th Dave Morison (Blend Properties)

Next race, starts this Monday in Oudtshoorn, six days of The Cape Pioneer Trek, 700km and 14000m of climbing, team event and our final equipment fine-tuning for next years Epic.

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

MTN Ultra Marathon #8, Crater Cruise

2011-10-10T06:18:00.005+02:00

MTN Ultra Marathon #8, Crater Cruise, Parys, 107km

Having spent the better part of about 6years trying to figure this monster ‘dash for cash’ race out, its safe to say we have a formulae! We were fortunate enough being able to come into this race today with two solid cards we could throw down on the table. The one card was for overall series, which Dave had the lead of going into this final event. The other card was my knowledge of the race, tactics, and the fact that if I could win, then Dave would win the overall series, then we all win!

So with our combined strengths on race day and the preparations that we’ve made whilst being away from our family for nearly a month in ensuring we can focus 110% on the job at hand and do it professionally will prove the outcome.

The race rolled out of the town and once we crossed the river heading out on the 10km tar section to begin with, the roadies would force an early break-away, aiming for the hotspots and King of the mountain competitions. Mannie Heymans (Garmin/Adidas), Jock Green (Ghost/Do it Now) and Pieter Seyfert (Team Matlosana) were the best riders in the break with the most experience and it looked good that something may happen from this.

But back to our race, all according to plan until we hit the new section of farm roads halfway up the usual KOM hill. It bottle necked here but I remained calm then had to work my way around all the riders who were coming out the back. I managed to work my way through to Dave, in perfect position just as we hit the big technical climb for the day. I immediately went into the climb first with Dave tight on my rear wheel, as we smashed it up the climb as quickly as possible. The race was splitting into pieces and once through this 8km section, we could take stock on the wider open gravel road of the damage done, who was there who was not etc.

The racing was on and all the riders, including the early breakaway guys we had caught, were with us, and all doing their bit in contributing to setting the pace.

So we had about 8 or 10 riders, but Adrien Nyionshuti (MTN/Qhubeka) was chasing from around a minute back the whole time alone. This was playing out perfectly for us as I drove the break hard to ensure we stayed away. Adrien needed to win today for Dave not to have a chance of overall victory in the national series. All the other riders seemed focused on Dave, and through the riverside singletrack, Brandon Stewart attacked alone and caused a bit of a stir as a small group chased him for around 7km. Once he was brought back, his teammate attacked, Jacques Rossouw but I immediately followed him and all it took was for the group to look around at each other for a few seconds, and we had our gap. This would become the race deciding moment. Ears pinned back we rolled hard and fast working together to establish our lead.

I’ve raced plenty with JR and like his style, so when we went, we went hard. At the water table, he stopped to fill a bottle and I put some air into my tire, which had lost pressure through some of the many rock sections. Back on the bikes and it was ‘full gas’ with our lead increasing all the time. 12km to go, I put in an effort under the culvert and up the rough grass climb, but for some reason near the top, my wheel got stuck in a rut and down I went. I jumped back on, and at the last water point JR had to stop to inflate his front tire. By this stage I had 30seconds, and that was all I needed. I know the final 10km only too well.

Hooking along at top speeds on the Scott Spark 29er Rc (Ruby) I was stomping through the rough sections when my front wheel hit a rock and flung me over the bars in a complete mess. I thought that was the end, as I picked myself up and jumped back on, everything working, seat skew and bar-end pointing to the sky. I Looked back, still had a fair gap, gave myself a pep talk, took a look at my Ruby sign, pulled myself together and off I went, now no stopping me to the finish line where I really savored and enjoyed every moment of winning my hat-trick of Craters!

My victory would mean that Dave would be crowned the new Overall Marathon Champion for 2011, but he still attacked his group and took 3^rd place, nearly catching JR for second!

Dave and I can’t thank Nedbank 360life enough for the support they have given us this year. This was but a very small way of saying thank you, and for myself personally, it was affirmation that my string of ‘ducks’ is over!

Thanks to everyone who has supported us along the way, without all of you, none of this is possible.

Lastly thank you to Advendurance, for giving us exceptional World Class events and making it possible to attract the sponsors we have into this fantastic sport of ours. You guys set the benchmark, and you set it high.

Provisional Results:

1^stKevin Evans (Nedbank Team360life) 3hrs27min

2^ndJacques Rossouw (Itec Connect-Kathea)

3^rd Dave George (Nedbank Team360lfe)

4^th Brandon Stewart (Itec Connect-Kathea)

5^th Ben Melt Swanepoel (Specialized)

Next race, will see us heading down for a week into the Klein Karoo and Garden Route for the Seweweekspoort and then the team 6day stage race, The Cape Pioneer Trek. We will use this tough race to fine-tune our equipment for the following years Epic.

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

MTN Ultra Marathon #7, Hilton College

2011-09-26T06:05:00.004+02:00

Pics by Zoon Cronje

MTN Ultra Marathon #7, Hilton College, 105km, 3000m

The MTN Ultra Marathon series moved to Hilton for the seventh leg, and the race would be hugely important in deciding the overall winner for the 2011 series. At the start of the race, the series could go possibly four or five ways, but after a very tough race, by my calculations, it looks set to be a two-man race for the overall title in two weeks time at the final.

This was the first time I was taking part in this event, and the Hilton/KZN courses are always incredible. Loads of fun flowing singletrack, hard climbs, and a real sting in the tail was the order of the day for this particular race. Local legend Brandon Stewart (Itec Connect) was the early instigator and set a really hard and fast tempo. The race quickly split into pieces, and there was a fairly select group of all the top contenders out in front. Unfortunately for him, he broke his seat clamp, so had to do some repairs costing him a possible great result.

The rest of us continued with various riders setting the tempo, and I guess everyone was waiting for the first ‘major’ climb of the day up to the 70km mark. This climb would be decisive in the overall outcome of the race. The climb was not actually that bad, however the speed the guys raced up it was incredible. Over the top, three riders had a small gap, Burry Stander (Specialized), Adrien Nyionshuti (MTN/Qhubeka) and Dave George (Nedbank 360life). A couple seconds back alone, Darren Lill (Bonitas), followed closely by Max Knox (Ghost/Doitnow), Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (MTN/Qhubeka) and myself. It was this section though, from around the 70km to the 80km feed zone that I really had a horrible encounter with ‘the man with hammer’ and I was paying large dividends for some heroic early efforts. I was soon on my own, but fortunately a handful of gels, USN spike shots and an energy bar, and I was able to pick myself up and pull myself together, although too little too late.

The race then headed down a very technical hiking trail and finished with an eight kilometer climb to the finish. At the front, Burry had opened a gap on Adrien, and was able to ride alone to another win. Adrien took second, whilst Max got the better of Dave toward the end of the climb, taking third and fourth respectively. Darren Lill came in alone in fifth place, whilst I had to settle for sixth position on the day.

All was not lost though, as Dave will become the new overall series leader with one race remaining. But its going to be a close race come the final, so expect some super exciting stuff and the closest finish in the series in the past couple of years!

Provisional Results:

1^stBurry Stander (Specialized) 4hrs18

2^ndAdrien Niyonshuti (MTN/Qhubeka) 4hrs20

3^rd Max Knox (Ghost/Doitnow) 4hrs22

4^th Dave George (Nedbank 360life) 4hrs24

5^th Darren Lill (Bonitas) 4hrs24

Next race, Team Nedbank 360life will be heading up to Klerksdorp to take part in a new mountain bike race, and should be good final preparation before we head to Crater Cruise.

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Hill2Hill

2011-09-20T06:24:00.004+02:00

Sunday Tribune Hill2Hill, 105km

After a five-year break from doing the inaugural Hill2Hill race, Dave and I were back to have a crack at trying to win this super tough race. In 2006 I finished 2^nd, and last year, Dave managed 2^nd. Seems we would have to come back next year and have another dig though!

The race starts up at Worlds View in Pietermaritzburg, and it’s always a sprint start to try and get into the technical singletrack in the lead as it winds its way down and through the city center. The wind was blowing hard for the early 6am start, but the heat was going to play a big role later in the day.

Same as the first year I raced here, the group comes back together after the technical start, and the climbs start coming thick and fast from around 30km onwards. The temperature also started to rise rapidly, and with a strong tailwind, the body had to adapt from the colder weather we’ve had down in the Cape recently.

The main group after the climbs consisted of Marc Bass, Mannie Heymans, Phil Buys (all Garmin/Adidas), Brandon Stewart (Itec Connect), Burry Stander (Specialized) and Dave George and myself (Team Nedbank 360life).

I guess with around 30km left to race, we had a steep climb before a long piece of rocky singletrack. Just before the climb I had a slow puncture on the front wheel, which I stopped to inflate. I then rode hard to get back to the leaders, which was now down to only Brandon, Burry and Dave. I just got onto the lead trio when Burry put the hammer down through this technical section. I have to say though that our new Spark 29ers were really impressive, not only through this section, but for the whole day, however we simply couldn’t match the speed of our top cross country rider, and soon it was three of us chasing Burry.

I had to stop again to pump my wheel, and that managed to get me to the final tech zone where I was able to change it. I had to ride my own tempo from there on, and in the last 10km Mannie and Phillip caught me. Mannie was having a really good ride, as he pulled us the last 5km into a strong headwind, and on a day where I didn’t have the best legs, I had to settle for 5^th as Mannie outsprinted me to take 4^th.

Meanwhile at the front, Burry had stayed away to win his 4^th Hill2Hill challenge, Dave taking 2^nd and Brandon 3^rd.

It was a super tough day, and I quickly remembered how hard this event was. The organizers do a fantastic job of piecing together some great trails on land that must be very hard to get access into. And being a point to point race, it definitely requires more effort and there is no lack of that from their side. I’m sure Team Nedbank 360life will be on the start line next year again! Thanks to all involved.

Provisional Results:

1^stBurry Stander (Specialized)

2^ndDavie George (Team Nedbank 360life)

3^rd Brandon Stewart (Itec Connect)

4^th Mannie Heymans (Garmin/Adidas)

5^th Kevin Evans (Team Nedbank 360Life)

Next race, the MTN Ultra Marathon 50Miler in Hilton. It will be an important race in the hunt for the series. Dave and I will be staying the next week up there in preparation for the race.

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

2011-08-29T07:18:00.001+02:00

Photo by Yolande Pretorius: Kevin Evans

MTN Ultra Marathon, Gravel Travel, Diemersfontein, 105km, 2800m

The sixth leg of the National MTN Marathon series was held at the beautiful wine estate in Wellington, Diemersfontein. I only realized as we were driving into the venue that this was where the Epic started last year, and as Dave rightly pointed out, that particular day worked out well for me, and was hoping for some of the same luck today.

Conditions were perfect on the morning, fresh, but clear skies, and a full field of the countries top riders were there to tackle the course that lay ahead. In fact, I’d have to say that the course set out, was no short of ‘world standard’ and possibly one of the best courses we’ve raced the whole season. So congrats to all involved in setting out this well marked, fantastic route that tested riders on every level in all aspects of true mountain biking.

The race was somewhat different though in the way that the first 70km played out. It says a lot about the standard of racing in the country at the moment, as after 70km, we were still ten riders in the lead group! Up until this stage, the group had only briefly split on a few occasions, most notably on the climb early on up to the ‘king of the mountain’, and then through one or two of the awesome singletrack sections that came thick and fast.

It was only once we had gone through the final feed zone at around 70km, did the first big split come, started off by Neil Macdonald (RE:CM) and Brandon Stewart (Itec Connect). They got a gap heading through the feed and onto the biggest climb of the day. There was a small group of around 6 riders chasing, including other favourites, Adrien Niyonshuti, Max Knox, Jacques Rossouw, Jacques Janse Van Rensburg, Dave George and myself. First to jump the gap across to the leading two riders was Rossouw. I was riding at the back, and just taking note of the body language of the remaining riders. It soon became evident that the remaining riders were not looking to fresh, and I took a chance and decided to ride across the gap to the leaders. Neil had dropped off at this stage and I went past him and closed in on the front guys. Looking back, Van Rensburg was following me, and a little further back, Dave was coming too, and alone. This was perfect for our team tactics, as the only other two riders who were a threat to him on the overall could not follow. I eased up and waited for Dave, and once he had latched on, I dragged us up to the front two guys. From there on, all the way to the top, I set the tempo, riding hard enough to ensure we increased our lead over the rest of the riders, and discouraged any further attacks.

Once over the top, with around 20km to go, the attacks started again, and I wasn’t feeling so good at this stage, but I dug deep to hang in there, and within 5km, all my eating and drinking throughout the marathon paid off, as other riders stated to fatigue in the crucial moments. It was right then that Van Rensburg attacked, and I immediately followed him, but only for a short distance, until I countered his move and was soon alone in the front, holding onto a small gap.

The remaining 14km was very long, and seemed to drag on for a long time, my only saving grace was that we were all in the same boat. Dave was happy to sit on and let Rossouw do all the work to try chase down second position, but for me it was head down and give all I had, and hope the finish came soon enough.

Eventually the finish did come, and I was able to enjoy every second of my first win the MTN Series for 2011. Dave managed 4^th, behind the two Jacques, despite a bad crash in the final 3km which even saw him break his handle bar.

Thanks again to all involved, from Advendurance to our incredible sponsors at Nedbank 360life, here’s to a good end of the 2011 season!

Provisional Results:

1^stKevin Evans (Nedbank 360Life) 4hrs32

2^ndJacques Janse Van Rensburg (MTN/Qhubeka)

3^rd Jacques Rossouw (Cadence/Full Dynamix)

4^th Dave George (Nedbank 360life)

5^th Brandon Stewart (Itec Connect)

Next race, Kwazuzlu-Natal, Hill2Hill, first time back since 2006. I’m really looking forward to this race as I have great memories of it when I raced it last.

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Die Burger Mountain Bike Challenge

2011-08-01T08:23:00.002+02:00

Die Burger mountain bike challenge, Stellenbosch, 75km

So after a two week break from the bike, Dave and I decided to take part in Die Burger mountain bike race, held in Stellenbosch over the weekend. With the course being set out by Meurant Botha and Dirtopia trails, you knew at least if the legs were not good, that the trails would be great! In fact, 3600 riders arrived for the event, which had numerous distances to challenge all levels of riders.

The 75km course began with the same climbs as when I rode the race in 2008, basically climbing all the way up Helshoogte before descending down the old pass, and then heading in the direction of all the wine farms and the great trails. It was up the first climb, breathing early morning cold air that the group had split. Phil Buys (Garmin/Adidas), Renay Goustra (Mr Price/GT), Jaqcues Rossouw (Full Dynamix) and myself were the four riders left out front. Near the steep section at the top of the climb, Phil attacked taking Rossouw with him, whilst I was just happy to have survived, and rode over the top with Renay.

The front two gradually increased their lead over us, and I was already ahead of myself in terms of where my physical state was. Through the singletrack sections, I decided to just ride at my own speed, as with all the climbing that was still coming, I was worried I may not make it! So for most of the ride I was alone and always had a visual time gap on Renay, who later in the race, without knowing it, had moved into second place, as Rossouw had made a mistake and gone onto complete the 60km route.

I really enjoyed the trails that Meurant had found for us, and was more than enough fun to make up for the heavy, lactic acid legs I had to pedal around with! In the final climb, weaving my way through all the fun riders, I managed to catch up to Renay, and I was feeling better as the race got longer. In the end, I just managed to get ahead of him in the last 500m and finished 2^nd in the end of a tough, challenging route.

Dave snuck in a few minutes later in 5^th place.

It was good to get back into the swing of things, all though our next challenge will be somewhat different to what we used too!

Provisional Results:

1^st Phillip Buys (Garmin/Adidas) 3hrs21min

2^ndKevin Evans (Team Nedbank/360life)

3^rd Renay Goustra (Mr Price/GT)

Next race, Tour de Tuli, in Botswana with Nedbank. I’m sure that this will be a highlight for us in the year, and is completely different to what we used too, with just bikes, bushveld, camping, good food and wine, its going to be great fun!

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Tour De Plett Mountain Bike Challenge

2011-07-12T16:06:00.002+02:00

Photo by Sean Steyn: Kevin Evans

Tour De Plett Mountain Bike Challenge, 75km, 1700m

The inaugural Tour De Plett kicked off this weekend with a mountain bike challenge, comprising of three distances and was held in the small town of Wittedrift just a few kilometers outside of Plettenberg Bay. Again I would have my hands full to try and win another “home town” event as the MTN/Qhubeka team had stayed the week after Knysna to take part in this inaugural event. Besides the stiff competition, I also had post Xterra legs to deal with, and that was definitely going to make it even harder.

With all the rain we had the week leading up to the event, the course was completely water logged and would take its toll on the riders and equipment. The course was fairly similar to the Knysna Oyster route, although starting in Wittedrift, we would head up the ‘Stofpad’ and onto Petrus se Brand but in reverse. The 75km route would have 1700m of climbing in it, and combined with the conditions, made the route one of the hardest in the area. But the Club100 had done their homework, and everything ran smoothly on the day, amble marshals, enough water points, and most importantly, some proper mountain biking which is what its all about!

The group was thinned down to only five riders after the first big wet climb up the ‘Stofpad’, three from MTN/Qhubeka, Charles Keey, Jacques Janse Van Rensburg and Adrien Nyionshuti, youngster James Reid (Mr Price/BMC) and myself. (Teammate Dave had opted to take his break and so left me to ‘hold the fort’ on my own.)

The guys were riding a fairly steady pace, and I thought that Adrien would be the instigator of making the racing really tough, but it was Jacques and Charles who started turning in the screws after around 40km. And when they started attacking, they did so with gusto. James was riding really well and managed to help me chase down one or two attacks, but the boys in yellow were clearly on a mission.

I was starting to wonder if they would ever slow down, and didn’t favor my chances riding against three of them to the finish. Just then Adrien put in a massive effort, and it took literally everything I had left in my legs to follow him and stay on his wheel. Fortunately for me we were distancing the other riders, but I still had to keep up with him. The last 15km were a bit easier and I knew I just needed to hang with him to the end to have a chance. I also knew the last couple kilometers really well as its one of my training routes. Once through the trickiest section, the descend down Buffalo Hills Reserve, it was straight forward to the end, but I had to ride on the front as I saw a MTN rider coming across not far behind.

In the end it was a sprint and again I was lucky to take it from the front, as it was who ever went around the final corner first would take the win, and I just managed to do this, narrowly edging out Adrien to win the race.

After that effort, the road race the following day would merely be for the sake of taking part in my hometown event. After that I look forward to taking a few days off the bike to build for the last half of the season.

Provisional Results:

1^stKevin Evans (360life)

2^ndAdrien Nyionshuti (MTN/Qhubeka)

3^rd Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (MTN/Qhubeka)

Next race, Tour de Tuli, in August, although I hear from our sponsors that its not a race. I will certainly train my red wine and beer threshold for that one!

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Due South Knysna Xterra

2011-07-12T15:16:00.001+02:00

Photo by www.oakpics.com: Kevin Evans

Due South Knysna Xterra, 3km run, 23km bike, 7km run

After having won the Due South Xterra the previous year, the organizers insisted I return to try and defend my title. However, this year round, they had gathered some of the countries best Xterra and multi discipline athletes, including a four time world champion, just to make sure that last year was no fluke!

Having confirmed I would be taking part again this year, I really started to get nervous just before the event as unlike last year, this year I had no time to train my running side of things. Whilst in Europe for the last month preparing for World Marathon Champs, I had only enough time to run twice. I was however not nervous with the quality of the competition, but more the fact at how much damage I knew I would inflict on myself in the following few days after the event.

So after some useless preparation in the transition area, the best field assembled for an Xterra event took to the start line to begin the first 3km trail run. Same as last year, I was immediately blown away with the pace that the top guys run at. My legs could simply not go fast enough and I quickly realized I had no other option than to run at my own pace and limit the time I would loose on this first leg. I could see the likes of Conrad Stolts, Liuewe Boonstra, Dan Hugo, Tyrone White, Raoul De Johng to name a few, just disappear and put nearly a minute and half into me in the first run. I entered the transition in 19^th place, had a quick change over to the bike, and basically went into time trial mode.

The fact that the course for the mountain bike leg was quite hilly, and extremely muddy, definitely played into my favor, and after around 5km, I had caught everyone except for Conrad. I was riding as hard as I could, and knew that I needed to put as much time into the rest of the field as possible to stand a remote chance of finishing in the top ten. By the time we turned back onto the grass climb up the field of dreams, I had caught Conrad, but I knew I had no chance against him in the next 7km trail run.

Again I had fairly smooth transition, and managed to keep up with Conrad up the first steep climb, but soon after the top, again I had to settle into my own pace and just try surviving to the finish. Conrad opened a massive gap on me, and my legs were starting to really ache as I kept up as hard a tempo as possible. It helped that I remembered the course from last year, and I was just suffering on until the final kilometer. It was only once I could see the field of dreams did I realize that I would actually have done enough to hold onto second place.

This was an exceptionally big effort and I had tremendous support on the field from all the spectators, which really helped me so much. Despite finishing and not being able to walk, it was probably one of my best results considering the quality of athletes there.

I guess I will be back again next year, and no, I won’t do any other Xterra’s as the rest of them have a swimming component, and I swim like a brick. The only thing I will change is perhaps next year I will run a little more in preparation!

Provisional Results:

1^stConrad Stoltz (Specialized)

2^ndKevin Evans (Nedbank 360life)

3^rd Leiuwe Boonstra (Momentum/Red Bull)

Next race will be the Tour de Plett, in two days time. With no time to recover, I should be in for a tough weekend of racing… again.

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Knysna Oyster Festival

2011-07-04T09:04:00.002+02:00

Knysna Oyster Festival Mountain Bike Race, 80km, 1650m

So after a month in Europe, it was straight back home and in time for my favorite race of the year, my ‘home’ town Oyster festival race. I’ve raced this event probably ten times or more in my career, and only won it once, despite having finished 2^nd on five occasions! Being at home, I have some incredible support around this event, and all the pressure to do well here, comes from myself. Despite only winning it in 2007, I’ve always been really close and the support to win it only gets better!

So as per normal, the start was cold and the weather this year was looking even more grim than ever as the rain was coming and would start to drizzle soon after we started. The race started fairly controlled as everyone awaited the climb up Simola and Gouna as the ‘decider’ for the select riders that would battle for the win. This year however, with some really good competition, we had five riders crest the second climb in the lead group, Adrien Nyionshuti (MTN/Qhubeka), Jacques Janse Van Rensburg(MTN/Qhubeka), Darren Lill (Bonitas), Dave and Myself (360Life). With two from 360life and two from MTN, Darren was definitely in the better position, as he had no reason to contribute to the pace that the four of us were setting to ensure that the lead group remained only five. I had a dig at the king of the Mountain, as usual, which I just managed to win ahead of Adrien, and soon realized that I had good legs on the day.

I decided from there on to be conservative with my efforts, ride my own tempo through the forest sections of Petrus se Brand on the front of the group, as I knew the trails so well. This would help me in conserving my energy, as I also knew exactly where I would have to spend it all in order to have a chance to win the race. It was going to have to be similar to the other years when I came close, as the final 20km of the route this year was back to the original course and is tough.

Soon after the flowing singletrack of Petrus se Brand, Dave and I had a small gap, but Darren quickly closed this with Adrien on his wheel, and once he had closed it, he noticed Dave taking a little bit of strain. This gave him and Adrien the motivation to hot up the tempo, and also allowed me the opportunity to sit on the back and watch the two guy’s work hard to make sure Dave would not come back. So then we were down to just three, and I knew what was coming. I made sure in the wet and cold weather that I was eating and drinking all the time so that my energy levels would be at maximum when I needed it.

We crossed the national road, and only 15km remained. I waited very patiently until finally we hit the climb up the side of the Pezula Estate, and right from the botton, I put in a big attack. Darren initially responded, but soon started to drift off my wheel. I continued with a very hard tempo, and I looked back and saw Adrien riding across to me. I had another attack, but again, he hung on. I had my final dig, literally on the last 100m of the climb before we dropped down the final tricky descend to Hunters Home, and only just managed to get a small gap. I had a gap of around 10seconds, and as I knew the technical roots at the bottom, I figured this gap would be all I needed.

I came out onto the tar, put my head down and gave the last of my effort to make sure I held my gap. At this stage it was around 20seconds, but with the final 3km all on tar, the win was in the bag, and I could really enjoy the victory onto the field.

Only when I got onto the field did I realize how bad the weather was as most of the spectators were huddled up together under the small stadium. However, it didn’t matter to me as I had finally achieved my second win in Knysna, and nothing would spoil that for me!

Provisional Results:

1^st Kevin Evans (Team360life) 3hrs00min

2^nd Adrien Nyionshuti (MTN/Qhubeka)

3^rd Darren Lill (Bonitas)

4^th Neil Macdonald (RE;CM)

5^th Charles Keey (MTN/Qhubeka)

Next race, that small problem of one times Xterra…

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

World Marathon Championships

2011-06-29T09:03:00.003+02:00

The 2011 Marathon World Championships was held this past weekend in the Montello region of Italy, in the small town of Montebulluno. The race would ‘piggy-back’ off the well-established and tough Gunn-Rita-Marathon. The beautiful course would wind its way around the vineyards and forests that surround Montello, and there would be no shortage of great tracks to race on. The route unlike last years course, had just over 30km of singletrack, which would make the race tactically quite interesting and tough. Along with the 17catagorized climbs ranging from 5km to only 200m, the course and the pace would be really hard.

The Italian national team, fielding a huge contingency of riders, took the racing from the start and forced the pace as we sped out of the narrow town streets and up into the forests. They were clearly on a mission with their advantage they had in numbers and with the first singletrack fast approaching; it was a sprint just to try getting in and holding your position.

Dave and I were well prepared for this, and we were racing through the first couple pieces of fast track always in the first 30riders. It was turning out to have a ‘road race’ like effect and if you were badly positioned, your day could be over early on. Then unfortunately for Dave, on a fast loose gravel corner coming out of the forest, his front wheel washed out and he took a nasty looking crash just in front of me. At first I didn’t think he had hurt himself and expected to see him rejoin us shortly.

John was meanwhile doing a fantastic job making sure he was at all the feed zones, and with the temperatures reaching mid thirties, the cold bottles were very necessary. I was starting to settle into the pattern of the race, just doing enough to stay with the front group of around 30-40riders. Unfortunately, at around 30km, a sharp rock cut my rear tire, and despite trying to repair it, the cut was too big. Looked like day was over for me as I walked a short distance up to the tarmac where I was going to try decide what to do. If I could make it to John at 40km, he had our spare wheels waiting. Just then Dave came around the corner, and immediately stopped and took out his rear wheel for me to continue. He assured me to carry on and as he had hurt his hip, and was happy to see me off and back into a small chase group. The problem on a fast course like this one, was that once you had lost maybe only 2minutes, you’d lost the momentum of the front group and from there on you were always going to be loosing time.

It took a fairly big effort to keep myself mentally together and push on through the tough course just to finish. But at the end of the day, despite my position and time difference, I was really happy that I was able to finish, and I was really grateful for a team mate like Dave who unselfishly gave me the opportunity to at least be able to complete the race. Although I must confess, the last 10km were so long that I was starting to regret him giving me his wheel!

At that level of racing, you only really have one chance, and perhaps if you have a mechanical problem close enough to a tech zone or with a teammate to assist you immediately, your race for the podium is over.

It was a disappointing end to a fantastic month of racing, and the support we had from Nedbank and Team360life was overwhelming. We definitely learnt a few things along the way, all of which will only help us in going forward and pushing ourselves to achieve the goals we dream of in the future. Thanks again to our sponsors, of course our families, and everyone for all your support, its much appreciated.

Provisional Results:

1^stChristoph Sauser (Switzerland) 4hrs25min

2^ndJaraslov Khulavy (Czech Republic)

3^rd Mirko Celestino (Italy)

38^th Kevin Evans (RSA)

45^th Mannie Heyman (Namibia)

69^th Erik Kleinhans (RSA)

Next race, my personal favorite and home town special, the Knysna Oyster Festival. Can I try not finish 2^nd for a seventh time?

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Black Forest Ultra Marathon

2011-06-21T18:02:00.003+02:00

The fire place Mac App came in handy....
The good weather...
The bad weather...

Photo by John Hooper: Kevin Evans

Black Forest Marathon, Germany, 116km, 3150m

The next race on our schedule in Europe took us to The Black Forest and the small village of Kirchzarten which hosts one of the classic marathons in Germany. We arrived nearly a week before the race which gave us good time to train and enjoy the good weather. The training would be important for our last hard week ahead of the World Championships the following week.

The good weather decided to turn on the weekend and by Sunday morning, it was not looking great. Although in the town itself where we started, it was not too bad, unfortunately, little did we know, that at the top of the mountains, snow, hail and cold rain awaited us.

There was a good contingent of top riders lined up at the start, and it looked set to be a fast day. The first climb basically saw us climb nearly 1000m in the first pull, and Dave was looking in rampant form as he took the race to the guys and set a blistering tempo. I was feeling better again, and managed to go over the top of the first climb after 15km in the small group of around 8riders that were left, including the race favorites.

We then descended into one of the many small villages on the route, and that’s when the cold rain pulled in. We had our short sleeve rain jackets with us, which by this stage we had already put on after the first climb. The next climb took us into the clouds and mist, and I had to take a double look when one of the riders pointed out the snow on the side of the road. This was about the same time that I looked at my poor little fingers in my thinnest gloves and started wondering if things would get better or worse. The legs and lungs were working fine and I was hoping that conditions would improve. By this stage, the group was down to six, as Thomas Dietch had already decided to stop earlier. The next climb we hit at around about 50km, the rain came pouring down, mixed with hail for some good measure, and Karl Platt, myself and Dave started drifting off the back of the front 4 riders.

This was the stage when the bodies starting going into crisis mode, my hands and feet were completely numb. I could not even feel the handlebar in my hands, making the descends dangerous. Shifting was also becoming a problem as you could not press the shift lever hard enough to shift a gear, resorting to using the palm of your hand.

All three of us had said we were going to have to abandon the race, biggest problem being that our support crew would only see us again at around the 75km mark, leaving the better part of around 20km to have to complete.

By the time we rolled into the small village where the support was, we were both just shivering wrecks. Its truly the coldest I have been and was completely into hypothermia stages, I actually began to become concerned in those last 10km that I might just shut down completely, climb off my bike and find a tree to sleep under, let alone even make it to the vehicle.

So bad we were, that John was just about to plug the nearest hospital into the Garmin! It took the best part of around an hour and half to stop shivering and trembling uncontrollably. John had to remove my gloves and I could do nothing but sit in the car, wrapped up in his jackets as he sped us towards our hotel and hot showers and tea. Even then, as the blood started flowing back to my fingers and feet, the pain was far from over. All I can say is that it was another humbling experience.

On the other hand, Mannie Heymans managed a great ride to come 7^th, and Erik Kleinhans also persisted through the cold weather to finish the race. For us however, even if we had wanted to continue on and try finish, it was not possible. If we hadn’t caused any permanent damage to our bodies by that stage, we had no choice but to be cautious as Worlds was in a weeks time and much more important.

On a more upbeat note, it was also really great to have our Sinamatella camera man, Dale ‘The Hunt’ with us, to document our ordeal we went through, and ultimately to document our build up to Worlds. He’s already been with us through some highs and lows, but definitely fun to have him around.

We are now in Treviso, Italy, and managed to ride the first half of the Worlds route today, and should the course stay dry, and the weather nice and hot, all is set for a great Championship fight.

Provisional Results:

1^stThomas Stoll (Bixs) 4hrs35

2^ndMike Felderer (Full Dynamix)

3^rd Mathias Bettinger (Centurion/Vaude)

Next race, World Marathon Championships, Sunday, 10:00am.

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Willingen Bike Festival

2011-06-13T09:36:00.001+02:00

Willingen Bike Festival Marathon, 122km, 3555m

The small town of Willingen is where Team360life headed for next on our European campaign. I’d say the festival is comparable in size to that of the Knysna Oyster Festival, attracting similar numbers, held over 4days, with bike expo’s, demos and then the full weekend of racing including every thing from marathons to four cross.

The marathon held on Sunday, includes three distances, a 55km, 95km and the big one, 122km.The frustrating part of the race is that everyone starts together, and you can literally decide which race you doing as you are riding. In other words, if you having a bad day, you can always just pull off and do the shorter distance, and possibly still podium!

I was feeling much more comfortable from the start of the race, always riding in the front group of around 10riders, including Dave. Team Vaude had the most numbers, around 5riders, and with Markus Kaufman fresh off his third place at Trans Germany, we thought he’d be the rider to watch.

After 25km I had my first problem, a slow puncture in the rear tire. So I had to stop and bomb the tire, and hope it held till the 55km mark where I had spare wheels. I then chased to catch the group, which I did, but as I caught up, the action had started. Two Vaude riders had attacked, and Dave was in pursuit. As far as our team tactics was concerned, this would be fine as Dave was up the road, and I would be following Markus. What we didn’t know though, was as soon as we got to the feed zone after 55km, the two Vaude riders turned off to complete the short route, leaving Dave out on his own for the rest of the race! This would take a massive effort from him on the demanding course.

I had to stop in the tech zone, at first I thought to change the wheel, but as it was only a slow puncture, I opted for another bomb, and continued to just keep inflating it. Not the best solution as I had to catch the group again.

Through the second loop, Dave continued to open his time gap on us, riding a great race. The group I was in was now down to 6riders, and once we went through the tech zone for the second time, after 90km, three more riders pulled out to complete the middle distance. The last loop of about 30km was tough and included a few climbs adding up to around 1000m of climbing. I was feeling good and decided to ‘test’ the legs. I rode the first two climbs at a very hard pace, we managed to drop the one rider but Markus was still with me. The kilometers were ticking by and I was already starting to think of a possible ‘sprint’ finish with him. Then I hit the wall. Literally at 112km, with only 10km left, my day was over. In the space of around 2km, I started to fatigue really badly. I was not too concerned as far as the race went, as I knew Dave had the race in the bag, but I was concerned just to get myself to the finish in one piece. The rider, which we had left behind on the earlier climbs, caught me in the final 2km, and I had no energy to even try and follow him! Thankfully the last 2km were downhill!

Dave had ridden a fantastic race to claim the Willingen title, and in a dominant performance. I was happy with my shape and progression that I’ve made, especially over this distance and at the speed the guys race here. I must also mention that Mannie Heymans, a previous winner of this race managed a 7^th overall and as always kept us entertained whilst we waited for the prize ceremony.

Everything looks on track for a great Worlds in two weeks!

Provisional Results: Elite men

1^stDave George (360life) 4hrs55min

2^ndMarkus Kaufman (Vaude/Centurion)

3^rd Kevin Evans (360life)

Next race, another German classic, The Black Forest Marathon. Also a ultra distance race, with probably a few more top names wanting to fine tune for the following weekend.

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Trans Germany

2011-06-05T09:44:00.003+02:00




	*Photo by John Hooper: Kevin Evans*

Trans Germany, Day 1, Sonthofen-Pfronten, 68km, 2600m

On arrival in Sonthofen two days before the race, the weather was perfect for us, hot and sunny. But true to last years race, that very quickly changed, and by the time we started on Wednesday morning, it was cold and wet. With the race climbing high into the ‘foothils’ of the Alps, it was hard to predicate the conditions at the top of the mountains.

Dave and I started well, the big group had splintered up the first climb and Dave and I were in the lead group of six riders, including current World Marathon Champion Alban Lakata, Christoph Sauser, Markus Kaufman, one of his team mates and us. Dave was looking really comfortable, whilst I was battling with the cold weather to breathe properly and finding myself having to manage my efforts carefully.

The speed was very high and after about 30km, we had already built a led of over 3minutes to the chasing group. It was here that I had to drop off the pace being set by Alban and Suzi and settle into my own tempo. Unfortunately for me, the cold weather and fast start and sapped my energy levels and I quickly had to move into ‘damage control’ mode. This was made very hard as riders started catch and pass me on our way to the finish.

At this stage I thought I would just conserve as much as possible, as I could then help Dave in the next few days. Little did I know that Dave missed a turn in the final 10km, and went from 40seconds behind the leaders, to 17minutes behind by the time he found the route again. Frustrating for him, but on the plus side, an exceptional performance considering the travelling, weather and higher speed and competition here.

Day 2, Pfronton-Lermoos, 78km, 2400m

The weather wasn’t a whole lot better on the second day, and the muscles were sore from the previous days trauma. I decided I had to ride the climbs at my own tempo, and not go so deep that I risked completely destroying myself within the first couple of days.

The pace up the first few climbs was fast, Dave again looking good, always in the first group. I was riding my own tempo, riding in a small chase group around a minute behind for the first half of the race. By the time we hit the final climb for the day, we had caught most of the front bunch. Karl Platt was having a better day despite a crash early on, and him and his teammate Thomas Dietch were chasing Alban, Suzi and Markus. Alban and Suzi would race each other for the stage win, Dave and myself finishing with Hannes Genze and Tim Boehme in 7^th and 8^th place for the stage, just a few minutes off. A better day for myself, for Dave, just lacking the motivation to try and compete for an overall podium after the bad luck from the previous day.

Day 3, Lermoos-Garmisch 88km, 1900m

Finally we had sunshine at the start! With the rise in temperature, a rise in motivation too. However by this stage, the legs were fairly shattered after the 7000m we had already climbed in 3days. The stage started as usual with a mountain to get over, and I just could not hold onto the pace of the first group, and I settled into my own sensible pace.

By the time we hit the second big climb, the front group had splintered and the second group, now contained all the front riders except for Alban and Suzi who were again racing each other flat out for the overall title.

Dave and I landed up having a great ‘motor pacing’ session behind a couple of really fast riders as we sped through the kilometers heading to the mountain top finish.

Again our group splintered up the last climb, with Dave racing against Markus Kaufman and Tim Boemhe for the line at the top. Dave finished in fifth place after sprinting for a possible 3rd, and I managed 7^th about thirty seconds behind him.

At last I felt like I was finding some speed in my legs and both of us were in great spirits at the end of the stage, feeling some form coming along.

Day 4, Garmisch-Achensee Maurach, 99km, 1700m

The hardest part of the last day, for a change, was the first 20km of which was completely flat, and controlled by a lead vehicle that drove way to slowly. This meant that every fun rider pushed and shoved their way to the front, and by the time we hit the narrow bike paths, it was complete carnage. We had to fight our way around about 200 bikers, and on narrow gravel bike paths, this would be extremely dangerous. Riders were crashing, mowing into obstacles, and just far to dangerous. Eventually we hit some hills which would be the end of their time near the front.

The race then went through a ‘neutralized’ section for 30km, and resumed with 40km remaining. The legs didn’t appreciate the break, as we hit the big climb with around 40km to go. Everyone was in the same boat, Dave was in the front split of 5riders, and as much as my mind wanted to be there, my legs could only go at there own speed. The second group of around 6 riders rolled through together really fast and we were only around 10seconds off the front group by the finish. Dave had a good sprint and a final dig for a podium finish, but was just beaten into 4^th place for the stage.

I rolled into the finish, relieved to have made it in one piece, and with nearly four hundred quality racing kilometers in the legs.

It was a fantastic experience and the preparation will go along way in helping us towards a good World Championships in three weeks time.

Provisional Results:

1^stChristoph Sauser (Specialized) 11hrs04min

2^ndAlban Lakata (Topeak-Ergon Racing)

3^rd Markus Kaufman (Centurion/Vaude)

10^th Kevin Evans (360Life)

12^th Dave George (360Life)

Next race, Willingen Bike Festival, Germany. And a monster of a race, 125km with 3700m of climbing!

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Europe here comes 360Life!

2011-05-29T06:48:00.001+02:00

Team 360life will depart this evening for a month in Europe, with the aim at better preparing ourselves to European racing for the upcoming Marathon World Championships in Italy.

We will race the TransGermany, starting on Wednesday, which is an individual 4stage race.

We then move north for two big one day ultra marathons, the Willingen Bike Festival, and the Black Forest Ultra Marathon.

Then we head south to Italy for the Marathon World Champs in Montebulluno, Italy, where another challenging race awaits us.

We will have John Hooper, our physio/soigneur joining us for the month, plus additional help that side from mechanics who have worked with us before.

We wil try keep you up to speed, either via the blog, or our twitter feeds, @kevinevansracin and @davegeorge101.

Thanks again to Nedbank's 360Life, we have this amazing opportunity to reach for our dreams.

We will fly the flag proudly!

CRAFT BIKE Trans Germany

2011-05-25T07:38:00.002+02:00

http://www.bike-transgermany.de/englisch/index.asp

The link for our first race starting next week in Germany.

Prelude to our comeback...

2011-05-22T07:39:00.001+02:00

http://vimeo.com/23654194

Sani2C

2011-05-22T07:24:00.001+02:00

Photo by Coetzee Gouws: Kevin Evans

Sani2C, Day1, Underberg to Makenzie Club, 87km

The later date of the Sani2C race seemed to be a welcome change on the calendar, spreading out the races for us, but also giving us better weather to enjoy the beautiful routes the race has to offer. Although a bit cooler, the race would be a pleasure in dry conditions. This would also be my second race back since my crash in the Epic, but was feeling confident after a good race the previous week.

Dave and I took the racing to our competitors on the sections we knew it would count, but the bigger groups consisting of a couple teams would roll faster as a group than what the two of us would. This would also be preparation for me but my body was feeling good and the legs strong.

It always looked like it would end up in a sprint to the finish, and Dave and I managed to have the stronger kick as we powered ahead to beat MTN/Doitnow into second place, with Team RECM coming in third, just ahead of ItecConnect.

Day 2, Makenzie Club to Jolivet Farm, 97km

This is the day that mountain bikers really look forward to and keep coming back to this event. The sublime singletrack you descend into the beautiful Umkomaas valley is incredible. The slightly later start time due to the later date was also fantastic as you didn’t have to start in the dark and could actually see where you were going.

From a racing perspective, it has always been on this day that I have managed to secure the race win with the hard climbs out of the valley. And again this year was no different, as Dave and I climbed out of the valley ahead of the chasing teams. Only Team Itecconnect were ahead with us when the had some bad luck, Brandon having a puncture at a crucial moment. The compulsory stop that I was looking forward to was taken out, and after a massive effort to that point, we had a quick bottle change and had to carry on.

On the big roads we rolled fast and by the finish we had extended our lead to over 2minutes to MTN/Doitnow, and about 3minutes to Team RECM.

This would give us a good enough lead heading into the final day, bar any mishap.

Day 3, Jolivet to Scottburgh, 78km

The last day for us is usually a formality, and despite the race not being over, its usually to short for other teams to try and compete for the overall.

As we hit some of the steep climbs, Dave and I set the tempo to leave only a select group of the top three teams in front. Again only Team Itec suffered bad luck as Brandon hit a tree stump and broke a front wheel.

With about 15km left to go, and our sponsors waiting for us at the finish, feeling really good, we broke away up the last climb, pulling about a 30second gap into the two chasing teams. We hit the fast district road and after three days of dominating, ironically we lost the race here. We had a taxi driving in front of us, kicking up dust, and as we were doing around 50km/hr, the taxi obscured our vision and on a badly marked corner we missed the left hand turn, and only once we ran out of markings, did we turn around to find the route and pick up where we left off.

What I found most disappointing was the fact that the top teams saw us go wrong, but seems that in the spirit of mountain biking now, they decided to rather race full steam to the finish instead of perhaps just waiting for us to rejoin them.

Disappointing but I guess it was our mistake and one which they took full advantage of.

We were lucky to hang onto third place in the end, but there was a lot more positives to take out the race than one negative turn that cost us the win.

We are back, and my legs have returned!

My shoulder has recovered fully with no complications.

We are heading to some big European races with great form!

We have the most amazing support and sponsors, ‘Making things happen’ for us.

Next race will be the Craft Trans Germany, a four day individual and prestigious race in Germany. This forms part of a month long block that Team360life will be doing in preparation for a good World Championship at the end of June.

Till then,

Hasta la pasta,

Kev

Provisional Overall results:

1st MTN/Doitnow

2nd Team RECM

3rd Team 360Life

MTN Ultra Marathon #5, Tulbagh, Western Cape, 105km

2011-05-15T08:24:00.003+02:00




	*Photo by Zoon Cronje: Kevin Evans*

MTN Ultra Marathon #5, Tulbagh, Western Cape, 105km

It would be ironic that my first race back after breaking my collarbone in the Cape-Epic, would see me returning to Tulbagh and making amends with this small beautiful town.

Going into the race I had no expectations, although I’ve managed to get some good training in on the road bike, I had no idea on how or where my form was relative to guys who’ve been racing. Needless to say, I felt rather nervous, and more so than usual as, with my recovery time since operation only six and half weeks, another fall on the shoulder would spell major disaster. This would mean I was very apprehensive on the descends and not quite my normal self, but with good reason. However I did have some fantastic new Magura brakes dialed in onto the Scott Scale, so I had no doubt at all in any of my equipment.

The race began fairly relaxed, and I’m sure the riders were taking it as easy as we knew the hard terrain that lay ahead. At 15km into the race, we hit the first major obstacle of the day, a steep 2km climb that we would have to tackle again at around 90km. it was here that five riders emerged at the top, and essentially would be the make up of the race for the day. Immediately after the climb we went into some fairly rough and steep 4x4 trails that we rode in the Epic. Up the steepest climb of the day, Dave started to power ahead, and Max Knox managed to literally run up the climb behind him, just in time to join him for the descend. I was following Darren Lill and Adrien Nyionshuti at this stage, and although I felt I may have been able to try ride across to Dave, I decided not too as it may mean I drag the other two riders across. Also with myself and Dave in the front, Max would be entitled to a “free” ride as we would have to do most of the work.

The tactics from there definitely played into our hands, as I could do little work in my chase group, and with myself only a minute or two behind Dave, he too took a backseat, happy to know I was not far behind.

The course was relentless and the weather was cool, 12degrees average for the whole race, which meant adequate hydration and nutrition, or face a potential visit from the ‘man with the hammer’. I was starting to feel the distance creeping up on me, but at that exact stage we were going up a long climb, and I could see Dave had just dropped Max, giving me the confidence that Dave was feeling good, and Max, well I may just see him still before the end.

The final 30km was brutal, and we repeated the first loop, including the big climbs and steep jeep track. The energy I had saved from sitting on paid off as I started to up my tempo here, leaving Adrien behind on the climb, and reeling in Max. I was surprised to have energy left, but the training I had done at home under the circumstances was proving valuable. Once I had caught Max, he kindly supervised me down the technical descend towards the finish, and I only just managed to get ahead of him on the grass field leading him into the finish.

Our unfinished business with Tulbagh was now complete, with a great team performance, and in good time as we prepare for some bigger goals ahead. My quick comeback is also a direct reflection of the support and head space shown by Nedbank 360Life and the way they’ve helped us move onwards following our disappointment six weeks ago. Once again for this, we thank them and love working together in tis professional environment.

Cheers Tulbagh, a fitting end to the day, a fine bottle of Saronsberg Full Circle (more irony), lets call it even for nowJ

Provisional Results:

1^stDavid George (360Life) 4hrs29min

2^ndKevin Evans (360lLfe) 4hrs37min

3^rd Max Knox (Ghost/Doitnow) same time

4^th Adrien Nyionshuti (MTN/Qhubeka) 4hrs52

5^th Nico Bell (Bell Cycles)

Next race, Sani2C and a very popular race and personal favorite of ours on the annual calendar. We looking forward to being there and staying in the village, accessible to all riders and BOE clients. Also looking forward to having our main men, Lance and Dave as our backup teams!

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Six weeks later...

2011-05-10T07:13:00.001+02:00

Its been 6 weeks since my broken collarbone in the Cape Epic, and finally I’m off and heading out racing again. The past couple weeks I’ve managed to get in some good training, and I guess, this weekend coming, we’ll be able to see how I’ve done and where I am with my shape.

Team360Life has been rolling along a little slower than normal as we’ve readjusted our race program and build up to World Marathon Champs.

Dave managed to get a second place at the Karkloof Festival a few weeks ago, and last week he won the Dirtopia Mountain Bike Race, essentially one of the selection races for World Champs.

I managed to finally get back to a race, albeit only South Western District Road Champs in Oudtshoorn, it was a good start to get the tempo up and th feel for racing again.

We have a really busy schedule ahead of now. Ironically, my first mountain bike race, is going to be where I rode my last one, as Team360 heads back to Tulbach for the fifth race in the MTN Ultra marathon series. The race will be important for Dave as he has already won the first race and was second at the next, giving him a good shot at the overall title by the end of the season. I’ll use the race to build some form, help Dave where I can, and hopefully get through this time, in one pieceJ

The following week we will head off to Sani2C, where we will try defend our title we won together in 2009. As BOE is the presenting sponsor there, we plan to make ourselves fully accessible to everyone doing the race, and will be camping at the village. It will be great fun to have our boss competing in his first race also in Team360 colours!

We then go home for a few days before we depart for Europe, and our build up to World Champs, kicking off with Trans Germany. But I will update more about this trip at a later stage.

Let me just get through Tulbach and see the back of this town first!

Till later,

Hasta la pasta

Post Op Wound

2011-04-02T07:14:00.002+02:00

http://team360life.co.za/post-op-wound/

Epic Crash Report

2011-03-30T09:33:00.001+02:00

There are no words really to describe the emotions I’ve been through in the last 48hrs. If I ever said that the Cape Epic is an emotional roller coaster ride, then this year is by far the ‘grandest’ roller coaster of them all.
We were hoping to make this our year. We had everything in place, the best support crew,the best equipment, the best sponsors, and some of the best form all of which is needed to be successful in winning this race. And in the blink of an eye, all dreams and aspirations were shattered.

To clear up any confusion around the crash, here it is from me:
It was simply a problem with the disc pads that we changed the night before the stage. On the steep descends, the aluminium rotors were overheating and causing the brakes to ‘fade’ and loose power. On the steepest descend on the stage, 25km into the race, I had too much speed to slow down and knew I was heading for a crash. All things considering, I think I was fairly lucky, as I crashed in a very hectic corner. Helmet completely smashed and I could have been so much worse!
Immediately I knew that I had sustained a serious injury as I felt my shoulder and could feel the bone was broken. I got back on the bike and rode down to the next turn where there were two marshals. At this point Dave was ahead of me, and I quickly un-zipped my jersey and asked the marshal to have a look and confirm if it was broken. I felt like could go on, and didn’t want to stop the race, especially as the adrenalin was kicking and I had no initial pain. The marshal lifted my arm and we heard a crack, confirming the break. He called the ambulance who came to fetch me and take me away.
I shared some tears on Dave’s shoulder when he came back to see what had happened, the heart ache immense.
So much effort, time, commitment, everything just gone in a second.

I was taken back to Vincent Pallotti Hospital, where Dr. Solomon had put a plate and screws into my shoulder ten years ago. As he knew hat had been done previously, he knew what would ned to be done second time round. The old plate an screws removed, replaced by a new one with a few more screws.

I still believe everything happens for a reason, and although this is a major setback for me, I have so much to be grateful for, that I can only but smile:
I have sponsors that are again at my hospital bed one hundred percent behind me.
I have Dave as a team mate who is always supporting and remains focused and positive,
I have my family who love and support me through all the highs and lows.

No matter what you think, it can always be worse, so I’ll take it on the chin, heal up fast, and be back and strong, hungry as ever!

Thanks to everyone for your support, I’ll be back, again.

SA Marathon race pics to follow soon...

2011-03-20T22:01:00.001+02:00

South African Marathon Championships

2011-03-20T21:55:00.002+02:00

Photo Belinda Blumeris: Kevin Evans

SA Marathon Championships, Inando Dam, 80km

Valley of a Thousand Hills would be the host for the 2011 Marathon Championships and the setting couldn’t have been more dramatic. The area and terrain could certainly host a World Class marathon event. The organizers assured riders, although the distance was only 80km, it would be no less than the ‘minimum standard’ set by the UCI that the winning time would be in the region of 4hrs15-4hrs45min. However we have world class riders and the course time was quicker than anticipated!

The Elite field would be fiercely contested with all riders hoping to take home the title. The early climbing on the route thinned out the bunch significantly, and just before the second of the big climbs, I cut my tire on a piece of glass. I had to stop to inflate it, and could only hope the tire would seal. Former teammate Adrien Niyonshuti helped pace me back to the front group of five riders, and the tire was looking good and holding air. Dave was also looking fairly comfortable, despite the thirty stitches in his elbow from the crash on Friday.

The route began to wind its way around the dam, crossing the river a few times, with some fairly technical singletrack sections to get through.

The temperature in the valley was climbing fast, and the first tech/feed zone was a welcome sight. I stopped briefly to inflate my tire one last time, and had to work a bit to catch up again. No sooner had I caught up, and I misjudged a corner completely, taking a nasty tumble over the handlebars and into the bush. One I picked myself up and dusted myself off, I had to chase again to make contact with the group. This proved tricky as we were into the very technical singletrack of the race that ran along the waters edge. I could see Burry’s knowledge of the course was paying off as it was here that he started to surge in the front and use his cross country skills and power to the most effective use and start splitting the small group up. I had to ride past the guys as they started dropping off his pace, but managed to close the gap and join him and Phil Buys (Garmin) as the select three riders left. Burry continued to attack the short steep climbs, and very quickly it was just the two of left, again to fight out the race for the title.

I had a small dig in the final 5km as I knew it would be hard to beat Burry in a sprint to the line, but unfortunately with the course being so quick, a sprint finish would decide the SA Marathon Champion for 2011. His explosiveness in the sprint, combined with his speed around the final corner, meant I could only watch as he crossed the finish line just ahead of me, wrestling the jersey off me for a year.

The final five positions were then Phillip Buys, Rourke Crouser and in fifth Dave George.

It was somewhat disappointing to loose the title, albeit to an incredible rider, who medalled at the marathon world championships last year. I think most of my frustration was due to the fact that the race was around an hour too short for a true marathon. But on the plus side, it was a good effort and I’m more than happy with my condition, a week before our main goal, and considering that 12weeks ago, I was lying in the ICU wondering what would happen to my season.

All said and done, another championships ridden, and fortunately Dave and I emerged ‘relatively’ unscathed and full of confidence for the objective ahead of us.

Next race, that small team race around the Cape, known as The Cape-Epic!

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Provisional Results:

1^stBurry Stander (Specialized) 3hrs25min

2^ndKevin Evans (team 360life) same time

3^rd Phillip Buys (Garmin/Adidas)

4^th Rouke Crouser (Cannondale/Monkey)

5^th Dave George (360Life)

Official Teazer: Our Journey to the Epic.

2011-03-12T07:03:00.001+02:00

http://www.vimeo.com/20832184

Columbia Grape Escape 3 day Mountain Bike Tour

2011-03-07T00:12:00.005+02:00

Photo by Karen Schermbruker: Kevin Evans

Stage 1, Tableview to Wellington, 80km

The Columbia Grape Escape is a new race on the calendar, and put on by the Cycle Tour organizers. Its inception attracted some of the worlds best mountain bikers and with the likes of Meurant Botha in charge of the route, it looks set to become a firm favorite in the future.

Day 1 began with a late 9am start, and literally right on the beach in Tableview, with a full view of the ocean and city, was a very beautiful starting point.

The first 8km was great, neutral and controlled, but once the flag dropped and we swung off road, it was on the gas, through soft sand, multiple sandy sections, and the one thing everyone will remember, thorns! By the time the race had split up the first climb into the Cotermanskloof section, riders were battling with punctures, or tires running out of sealant. Dave had to stop to inflate his back tire, and I had to stop and inflate both my tires, worried that I would run out of gas in my pump! This would effectively end the dash for the overall title, for a lot of top contenders, unless we encountered similar terrain on the next couple days.

After 60km, there was only Karl Platt, team mate Dave and myself left at the front of the race. We worked well together, but mostly we rode fast to get to the finish quickly before our tires went flat, and also the temperature was hitting the early forties!

The final 3km wound us through some tight singletrack, and as we exited this section, with a kilometer to the line, Dave got a stick jammed in his rear wheel, forcing him to stop and take it out. This left Karl and myself out front, with an uphill sprint for the line. It was a great finish for the spectators, and I was desperately close to my first win for the season! I had to settle for second, same time as Karl, Dave 7seconds in third, but pleasantly surprised with my form.

Results Stage 1:

1^st Karl Platt (Bulls)

2^nd Kevin Evans (Team360life)

3^rd Dave George (Team 360life)

Stage 2, Wellington to Boschendal, 72km

The second stage began a bit earlier, and I think after the heat on day 1, all the riders were happy about this. Again the weather was perfect, and temperature rising fast, as was the course for the day! After the first 25km of rolling farm road and jeep tracks, the route headed for the mountains, and climbed up the front side of Du Toitskloof Pass. The bunch split up this climb, with five of us left by the time we reached the top. Then the incredible trails back down the mountain that Meurant found were breathtaking and made for some seriously scary fast descends! Burry Stander and Christoph Sauser were both keen to make the racing fast today, after bad luck yesterday, Burry setting a really fast tempo through the winding route around the back of Paarl.

Dave was looking great, following the wheels easily, especially on the technical descends whilst I had two sections of bad luck, having to stop and put my chain on, and getting stuck behind back markers on the short route. Nonetheless I had good legs from the Tour of SA, and was able to dig deep and bridge the gaps to get back on to the small group.

It got quite tricky through the final 3kilometers with the fun riders finishing their race, and us heading towards the end of our stage at lightning speed, not knowing how the finish line was planned. All of a sudden we were bombing into the final corner, and Burry and Karl had got the best line through it, but very nearly headed into the wrong finish straight! I though perhaps I had a little luck finally, but they were quick to correct their lines, and I had to settle for third place on the day, again all of us on the same time. Dave was fifth, having given me the gap to follow Karl, and Sauser in 4^th.

Results Stage 2:

1^st Karl Platt (Bulls)

2^nd Burry Stander (Specialized)

3^rd Kevin Evans (Team 360life)

Stage 3, Boschendal to Boschendal, 67km

Most riders I’m sure were more than happy to welcome an overcast and cooler final day of the Columbia Grape Escape. Boschendal was the venue for the final stage, and the route followed the familiar Cape Argus Mountain Bike route, except with an extra 13km added on for good measure. The Argus Mountain Bike Challenge still took place on the day, but had a separate start to the riders doing the full three day event. With every thing to race for, we knew it was going to be a short but tough stage, and we were ready to give it a bash.

Burry Stander set the early tempo, but soon had a mechanical and was forced to stop. Thereafter, on the first climb of the day, I went to the front and set a hard tempo to try and thin the group out. Near the top, Dave took over from me, and once over the top, only three of us were left. Karl Platt, Dave and myself, all separated by only 7seconds.

The next climb, Dave rode a really incredible tempo, and I was on Karl’s wheel, when he started to ‘drift’ backwards off Dave. In the whole three days, this was the first sign that I saw that he was maybe taking a little strain. I was content to watch Dave ride away, and it forced Karl to have to chase him for the next 10km. At this point, I had my own little crisis as my front brake had faded to nothing, meaning I would have try keep up with Karl on the descends with no front brake! I managed okay, but had a few close calls. Soon we were all back together plus one more, Marc Bass of Team Garmin had caught us and latched on. But the group didn’t stay together for long, as we hit the next big climb. Again Dave rode a relentless tempo, and I was watching Karl take strain. I waited for Dave to get a fair gap, and then jumped across, leaving Karl behind. Once Dave and I were together, it was simply a matter of keeping a high tempo, staying focused and making sure we worked well together to maintain our advantage.

One of our strengths as a team is how similar we are in physical attributes, and it was great to feel some form coming back, as we consolidated our lead all the way to the finish.

Dave crossed the line ahead of me, but it gave me the overall title of the Columbia Grape Escape and at last, my return to the top step of the podium. Very humble and very grateful for this win, and of course, the support from Team 360life though my difficult and testing times!

Results Stage 3:

1^stDave George (Team360life)

2^ndKevin Evans (team 360life)

3^rd Karl Platt (Team Bulls)

Next race, the “fun riders world championships!” Cape Argus Cycle Tour, but looks to be a fun weekend with Nedbank!

Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Provisional Overall results:

1st Kevin Evans (Team 360life)

2nd David George (Team 360life)

3rd Karl Platt (Team Bulls)

How to live life...

2011-03-01T08:03:00.000+02:00

"In the battle of life, it is not the critic who counts; nor the one who points out how the strong person stumbled, or where the doer of a deed could have done better.

The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually strive to do deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends oneself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he or she fails, at least fails while daring greatly.

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those timid spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." —Theodore Roosevelt.

Tour of South Africa

2011-02-28T15:28:00.004+02:00




	*Kevin Evans*

The Cell C Tour of South Africa was always going to be a tall task as a race in which I wanted to perform well. Tough because I was literally starting the tour with five weeks of training in my legs, and my mind was way ahead of my body. However, it was an event I could not miss, being the inaugural Tour of SA. This is my shortened version of a weeks racing and a short debrief.

We assembled a team of some exciting youngsters, and went to the race with big ambitions. I think we exceeded our expectations and the gains we took out the tour were plenty. It was great to ride an international tour again with Dave, and see the respect that he has from the foreign riders and teams. We were there as serious contenders and raced to win it. The coverage we received and the media and exposure was incredible and ensures that a sponsor like Nedbank and 360Life are really getting fantastic value out of their sponsorship, making for a bright future as another big sponsor enters the cycling game.

The Tour also had some big ambitions and the only stage in which there were problems, was by no fault of the organizer, but more the general public who are impatient when it comes to cycling. The rest of the tour went off incredibly well. Even with one or two lengthy transfers, everything ran smooth and swiftly. The routes we raced on gave the best of what the country has to offer, from the capital city to the windy city, the Garden Route and the Karoo, and the beautiful Western Cape. What a way to showcase South Africa.

To win the tour became a tall ask after some teams under estimated the strength of Kristian House and his Rapha Condor Sharp team mates, when he was allowed to gain too big a gap on the first day. Most teams ‘woke’ up too late in the stage to do anything about it, and from day one, we would always be playing catch up.

We had one chance to try and get the jersey off Kristian, and it involved isolating him, with only one day really in which to do it. So the plan for Dave was to conserve as much energy as possible throughout the tour, then lay it all out on the penultimate stage where the profile suited him, and leaving Rapha Condor to defend. All worked well, except for the fact that other teams seemed to forget what race tactics involved and decided to rather ‘help’ Rapha Condor keep the jersey and race effectively for second, or third place in the tour.

In any event, it was really great to have our sponsors in the ‘hot seat’ of the team car and able to follow some of the stages, and get a front row seat to the action in a race. I think it was a big eye opener for most, including my father to see what goes on in the convoy.

We had an amazing backup team too, Uwe, John, Rodger, there dedication in helping us was fantastic and often there jobs are harder than ours. They work late and start early, but without them, the results of the team would not be the same.

Personally, the physical changes my body went through in the eight days was huge, and will go along way in preparing me for the upcoming Epic. The benefits will be reaped soon and I felt really motivated to finish off the tour feeling stronger than when I started.

Thanks very much to our sponsors, 360Life, Nedbank, Scott bikes, Donald Christie from Reeds, Etana Insurance, USN products, Continental tires, Probike and BBB Helmets, for all our support and assistance.

Again, to Cell C and the organizers, I said it on live television and I’ll say it again, Team360Life appreciated the opportunity given to us to be part of the tour. We came to win, we came with ambitions, we animated the race, we conducted ourselves with integrity and did our sponsors proud, we mentored a few youngsters and above all, we had a great race and we were part of a successful tour! Thank you.

Next race, The Grape Escape, a three day mountain bike race in the Cape. Yes, the skinny tires are being hung up, the knobbles are coming out and we are a month out from our major objective for the year! Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Provisional results:

1st Kristian House (Rapha Condor Sharp)

2nd Johan Rabie (Bonitas)

3rd Daryl Impey (MTN/Qhubeka)

4th Perrig Quemeneur (Europcar)

5t Thomas Degand (Veranda Willems-Accent)

7th Dave George (Team360Life)

Reeds Delta 99er

2011-02-13T21:03:00.003+02:00

Kevin Evans

The Reeds Delta 99er takes place in Durbanville, put on by the El Shaddai School. And every year the organizers do a great job putting on this event. It has special memories for me as it was one of the first road races I won in 2004, and then last year, with the route change to the finish, managed to win it again, just edging out team mate Dave George.

This year it again attracted the top Cape Town based teams, along with a few professional riders honing their form for the upcoming Tour of South Africa in a weeks time, including the likes of newly crowned South African Chmpion Darren Lill(DCM), Carl Pasio(RSA Web), Christian Kriek(Toyota/Cycle Lab) and of course Team360Life.

The race was really fast out the blocks, and with not much wind, the attacks were thick and fast. However with quite a few teams with numbers like Daikin Gu, Cape Town Fishmarket and RSA Web, everyone was marking each other and it was a great speed session for the first hour. It was about after an hour when I had another dig and nobody followed, and as I was there more for the workout, I decided to carry on and see what transpired. Luckily for me I saw a rider coming across the gap, and after a short while, my old team mate from way back then joined me, Alistair Davies from Daikin Gu. We rolled through together and basically did enough to keep the peleton at around a minute. It was a super effort and I believe the group behind had to work fairly hard to chase us. I was reluctant to give up, and even when Alistair tired, I continued to make the tempo hard by myself, merely getting the workout in. I stayed away from the bunch until around 10km to go, and unfortunately for me, I knew Vissershok was waiting, and the legs were not feeling good by this stage.

Dave was looking good when the group caught us, and I decided to dig a little more to stay with them to see if I could be of any assistance. On the small climb leading into Vissershok I got dropped, but fought hard to get back, and once I got back, I attacked again, I think it was my only chance to get over the climb in the front! I managed again to get a small gap, enough to get a head start on the climb, and I only just made it over the top with the small group of around 7 riders, including all the favorites.

Big effort, but that was me done, and I had to grovel up the final one kilometer climb to the finish line, but workout done.

Dave managed 5^th in the small gallop to the finish, the young Christian Kriek edging out Darren Lill for the win, and Carl Pasio taking third. For my consolation prize I managed to take the ‘King of the wind’ prize.

Combined with another couple hours of training after the race, it was another goal achieved for me in my mission to find my form!

Thanks again to the race organizers for having Team360Life at their event, and giving us great radio airtime and coverage, another fantastic event they put on.

Next race, the all exciting and finally much anticipated Cell C Tour of South Africa. We have a great team for this, and I’m looking forward to the week of racing to help with my preparation. Till then, cheers.

Kevin Evans

Provisional results:

1st Christian Kriek (Toyota/Cycle Lab)

2nd Darren Lill (DCM)

3rd Carl Pasio (RSA Web)

4th Stefan Ingenfeldt (CT Fishmarket)

5th Dave George (Team360Life)

South African Road Championships & VW Herald Cycle Tour

2011-02-06T20:43:00.003+02:00

Kevin Evans pic Torque pics

South African Road Championships, Port Elizabeth

The road race champion of South Africa would be decided on a really tough circuit in down town Port Elizabeth, and would be slightly earlier in the year than normal to try and attract some of our international pro riders to the race.
The circuit would be described as a climbers route, but the nature of the power profile according to the data from the SRM file would suggest otherwise. It would however be only the strongest rider on the day that would win, and this would be deservedly so!

After a mere three weeks of training, and in the middle of a big block of training, I was only there to support Dave and get some good hard intensity into my training schedule. Plus with another race the following day, the back to back efforts would be much needed for my current form. The circuit had been reduced to 9km a lap, and we would have 18laps to contend, starting in the scorching heat at 13:30. Each lap featured basically two climbs of around 450m each, but back to back, over the 18laps, would take their toll on the group and become a race of attrition. Also once dropped from the main bunch, there would be no place for you to ride back into the group, so it was a case of hang on tight for as long as you could. Not my usual strategy, but a humbling one at the moment.
The first two laps began with such a ‘bang’, that I thought I’d be lucky to see 5laps of the 18! The only motivation was that the group was rapidly being thinned out and seeing some of the riders that had dropped out made me dig a little deeper to hang in their. I also thought the longer I’m there for Dave the better. In the mean while, Paul Van Zweel who is our younger rider joining us for the Tour of SA, made the move into the break and was giving 360Life some great coverage for most of the race at the head of affairs. Their group got a maximum time gap of around 3minutes, but by the tenth lap, the bunch started to up the pace and close the break down. It was around this point that I was battling to hang onto the bunch, and with only around 30riders left, and after 12laps, I decided to quit banging my head against the wall, and call it a day. Dave obviously felt the same as on the same lap, he sat up and we decided together that our race was over. The end of March is a fair way off, and neither of us want to be going really well so early on.
The last few laps saw about 10riders remaining, and on the final two laps, only four riders were left with a chance, but it was the small powerful Darren Lill from DCM who would win and claim the title of South African Road Champion, ahead of Burry Stander(Specialized) and Christoff Van Heerden(MTN/Qhubeka) in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

The VW Herald Cycle Tour
So bright and early the following morning, we were back on the ‘grid’ to start the classic Herald Cycle Tour. Conditions were good, with a fairly strong headwind going out. This would make any breakaways tough to succeed, but none the less, no sooner had we turned up towards Walmer, about 5km into the race, and the attacks began. Both Dave and I felt much better today, and we were fairly aggressive in the early stages of the race, giving ourselves a great workout and doubling up our racing which will be needed soon.
There was a flurry of the usual attacking in the first 50km, and we were following most of the moves, I was feeling a lot more comfortable than the previous day, which felt really good.

It was a really big group, but with the headwind out, most of the group stayed together. Only after we had ridden the climb after halfway, and were back onto Seaview road, did a group of around 10riders get a gap off the front. With the wind from behind, the speed was really fast, and most of the teams had riders there, so it was likely that the move would stick. 360Life also had a rider there, again one of our youngsters riding the Tour with us, Shuan Nick Bester.
So for us, the last 20km or so was fast, but relatively ‘easy’ as we sat in the bunch and watched the smaller teams try and get riders across to the move.

With 10km remaining, it was clear that the break was gone, and although I cannot comment on what happened in the front, Shaun Nick apparently had a good dig in the final kilometer with Ian Mcleod(DCM), and very nearly made it too, only to be caught in the last couple hundred meters!
Bonitas rider Tyler Day would take the sprint, ahead of Daryl Impey(MTN/Qhubeka) and David Maree(Tasol/GT).

So I was happy with my progression, finishing off with 28hr week and just over 800km. It was also great to see that our Tour team is looking really strong and on form in time, as the Tour of SA starts in two weeks time. Hopefully just enough time for me to find some more kilometers, and then use the Tour as great preparation for our main objectives!

Next race will be in Cape Town next weekend, The Construction Du Cap 99er, a race I’ve won twice, last year only just edging out Dave in the uphill sprint! With all the good Cape Town teams, should be another good workout!
Till then, cheers.
Kevin Evans