He is pretty much a 1 man wolf pack and if he is away off the front of the bunch, you have a big problem as he often rides with the strength of 5 men. I was very lucky once to spend a week with the Team CSC guys and Voigt is one of the most friendly happy guy you will meet. A real joker who is loved by everybody.

Trek have done some very cool stuff like Fabian’s TT bike awhile back and they don’t disappoint with this latest under the radar bike for Jens. But before you think its just another matt black bike, look at the attention to the detail.

I know its been 3 bike posts in a row but they deserve it, super cool bike pics should always be shown. Enjoy

So if you involved in any kind of cycling right now you would of heard the term 29er’s being thrown around. In case you aren’t sure what everybody is going on about let me explain. It’s the size of the wheel. Traditional Mountain Bikes have 26inch wheels which are smaller than what are on a road bike. 29inch wheels are bigger. This offers a lot of advantages for riders when doing technical sections and jumps and especially going downhill. A few people argue that tight corners and handling are still better on a 26inch. To make this war between the sizes even worse now there is a in between size that has come in 27.5inch. This will apparently combine the best of both worlds, but the jury is out on this one.

The boys at Black Spade Racing have now joined the party with their new 29er and although they being a little secretive about all the bits that make this bike up, we did manage to grab this picture of the bike. It has the new American Classic 29er wheels on which apparently come in at just over 1400g for the wheelset, looks to be standard XX fork with Sram XO groupset with a XX crank. James from Black Spade has weighed this model at 10.3kgs and has confirmed that the price will be in the region of R 43 000.00

This seems to be amazing value for money and hopefully I will have some more info and pictures for you soon.

Watch this space for more product info soon www.blackspaderacing.net

May the 4th be with you. I am sure you have heard this enough times today already, but this custom bicycle caught my eye. 1 because its a awesome bicycle, 2 because its full custom and 3 because I am actually a Star Wars FAN.

And lastly because he could and he did. ENJOY the detail he went to.

So I am blessed to be able to get to travel with my job, its not all fun as we work very hard once we get here to Germany but it does give you the chance to see things through different eyes and also speak to people from all around the world and as you do after a few beers you talk a little deeper.

I have also had the chance to go on some beautiful runs on my own while I have been here and its been awesome to run new roads and little small quite ones next to the river have been especially awesome.

I have been humming the song from 49M in SA, it says ” Every little thing you do, counts for something…” Its been stuck on my mind because it really makes you think. So often we just go about our days without thinking much, we just “get” through our days and often don’t take a time out to think. Or think twice before we say or do something. We often don’t get to see what effect our actions have on people but they do.

I guess I believe in the good in people, don’t get me wrong, I understand only too well that most of us have a dark side and that if push comes to shove it will take over and make sure that you survive. I am also old enough to know that some people are just pure evil and that nothing anybody does will change that. But for the most of us, I believe that deep down we are good.

This gives me comfort as If you take that thought one step further you will start to understand that if a few people get together and do something then change is possible and if you take it one step further a big change can come about if we all have the same idea and work towards a common goal.

Now before you stop ready, I am not trying to get you to get together and save the world, but only think about your actions, your attitude and you “little things you do” We have a few negative people in the office at the moment and in my life and man its draining. Its such a different place when those people are around. Now I am not saying you cant have a bad day but just make sure you make a effort to be happy and kind to the people around you and you will see the difference.

Anyway that was my thoughts running through a small forest on the trail in the rain this morning which was AWESOME. Got to go back in for our next session.

Till next, spread good VIBES and you might be surprised what comes back at you.

Running 56km is hard enough, running the distance after standing at the expo for 3 days is a little harder but doing all of it in the pouring rain and wind is something that wasn’t fun at all. The day started normally for me, I felt good and was glad that my legs didn’t feel heavy. I had slept well and managed to leave on time to drop Jen at the start. Traffic however was a nightmare and it took us over an hour to get there and Jen missed her start and I got to the start pen with 4min to go so I couldn’t find anybody I was suppose to be running with. The gun went off and I started with my plan, I wanted to shave 5sec a km off from the last year and run the Southern Cross Drive and not walk , that should have given me sub 5hrs.

I also decided to have some fun and run in all black and also run in my old favourite Oakley OTT glasses, was fun to hear the little kids get excited and call me spider man, made a tough day with some smiles from that.

All went well, I went through the 21km mark almost within the second and the 42km mark too, I ran southern cross well and had 5min in the bag in the bag when I got to 50km but at this point I knew I didn’t have it in me. I tried to push through but didn’t make it. 5hrs 08 min was quicker than last year but 9min slower than I wanted to run.

It was mentally very tough to keep pace when you running through deep water all over the road, you cold and wet and chafed badly, your shoes weigh a lot more than they should. My hats off to all of you that went out there and battled that course in those conditions, to those of you that ran well I salute you for making the day yours and for those of you that struggled to the line and finished, Respect and you can tick that off as one of the hardest days of your life and you survived it. Not sure if I will be running these kind of races again as I want to race Triathlons a bit faster next year and will probably just do 21km with the odd marathon thrown in. Running far is Tough and doing it fast seems incredible to me, the winner ran around 3’10 a km for 56km which blows my mind.

First row is 2011 and 2nd row  is 2012.

What do you want ? It seems a simple question but yet it might as well carry a sword with it. How many of you can actually answer that ? I mean straight away you start to think of things in a ” I could do that ” kind of way or maybe you jump straight to the ” Win the LOTTO ” type answer. But what I challenge you to take a minute out in the next few days and really think about it. It is something that has been on my mind a lot lately. What do I want ? Where am I going ? and How am I going to get there ?

I guess once we know where we want to end up then it’s easier to make a plan of how we are going to get there. I have had around 2.5 years of sh** and a lot of my choices were made for me, I have lost everything already and yet still it’s not finished, still I am being asked to give more. At times it seems impossible and I lose all hope and allow myself to go into the “Man-cave” and cut out the world. But then something strange happens, sitting all alone in the fetal position in the dark, a little voice inside of me says, HELL NO and I stand up again and walk back out there to face what the world might throw at me. This does come at a huge expensive of energy both physically and emotionally and as long as you manage that with Good food, sleep and the right amount of exercise you can conquer anything.

I think the secret is your mind, how tough are you mentally ? How hard are you ? I am very blessed to be able to test this often when I am racing as I haven’t been able to put the time in that I wanted to before the event and on the day I am having to dig really deep, to see how far that rabbit hole goes and I am pleased to say that I haven’t yet got to the bottom of it, I can still go harder, for longer and suffer more. But should that be TRUE to my life as well ?

I am changing the way I think, speak and act and hopefully my world will change around me as well. I no longer will be dictated to, or told what to do. I am taking the power back and doing things on my terms. I know I am not going to succeed in everything I want to do and of course I know that in the real world you need to also roll with the punches and I plan to do so.

I guess what I am saying is that old cliché of you can do anything you want to, But do you believe it ? You should…No go sit somewhere quiet and ask yourself some hard questions and be honest with yourself.

Then get out there and kick the crap out of LIFE and everything in it.

Cape Town, South Africa, 23 March 2012 – Sportlifestyle company, PUMA, launched the new PUMA Wilderness Collection accredited by Fairtrade in selected Duesouth stores yesterday, 22 March 2012.

The PUMA Wilderness collection, a line of apparel, footwear and accessories inspired by the landscape and climate of Africa, is a range that is primarily sourced and produced in Africa using sustainable materials. The collection has a worn, bushwhacked look and feel and addresses the element of heat.

81% of the apparel styles of the PUMA Wilderness Collection use Fairtrade cotton, providing opportunities for small-scale farmers, while also promoting sustainable developments. Fairtrade creates more prospects for farming communities who have been economically disadvantaged or marginalized by the conventional trading system, and has become the leading certification system for sustainability and poverty alleviation.

“FAIRTRADE clothing goes beyond marketing good-looking, high quality apparel” comments Boudewijn Goossens, Executive Director of Fairtrade Label South Africa (FLSA). “The small FAIRTRADE label on the trousers or t-shirts assures consumers that the cotton was produced by FAIRTRADE accredited small-scale farming co-operatives, according to strict social and environmental standards and that the farmers have received a fair deal”.

FAIRTRADE certified cotton means that producers not only receive an agreed minimum price that covers their cost of sustainable production, but also a Fairtrade Premium of €50 for every ton of cotton they sell. They can then spend this additional premium in social, environmental and economic projects – such as investing in schooling, health and production inputs.

“The PUMA Wilderness collection brings us yet another step closer to our goal of developing more sustainable and socially responsible lines, and in turn furthering PUMA’s mission to become the most desirable and sustainable Sportlifestyle company,” said Franz Koch, CEO of PUMA. “Our target for the future of the apparel collection is one made with 100% Fairtrade cotton, while also utilizing even more of the imagery and beauty of Africa as inspiration.”

Manufacturing the PUMA Wilderness range in Africa helps create new jobs and development opportunities in various regions of the continent. The PUMA Wilderness Collection is comprised of:  woven shirts, cargo shorts and pants, graphic tees, wilderness boots, a backpack and more.  In the first PUMA Wilderness collection, 94% of the line is produced in Africa, some at the Wildlife Works eco-factory in Kisigau, Rukinga in Kenya thereby making a significant contribution to both social and environmental sustainability in Africa.

The PUMA Wilderness line also connects to PUMA’s 20% stake in Wilderness Holdings Limited, a leading Botswana-based ecotourism and conservation company that utilizes sustainable processes and supports both biodiversity conservation and development of rural communities across nine African countries. Along with its environmental and social commitments, Wilderness Holdings Limited additionally provides design cues for the safari-inspired PUMA Wilderness collection.

Selected styles from The PUMA Wilderness collection are available in Canal Walk, Sandton, Clearwater, Maerua Mall, Centurion, Rustenburg and Melrose Arch Duesouth stores. The collection will also retail in 16 different countries as well as on www.puma.com.

In true Puma style we have found the fastest things on the streets. Bolt / PUMA taxi’s. There are around 45 of them around SA. Tweet pics of them if you see them in the streets. The build up to the Olympics has begun. Can’t wait.

When I got the chance to run this great event this year, I jumped at the oppurtunity to do so. The problem is that you needed to have a crazy partner to do it with me and who was going to be more or less the same speed. Only one Legend came to mind, Marc Price of Troisport. I must admit that I had to use a lot of my convincing skills to get him to agree.

The day came around a lot quicker than we expected and we headed off to the event with no expectations except to have a laugh and finish the race. Marc had a small calf tear which changed our game plan a little. We were the very first to arrive at the venue which was the start of many funny things to come. Then the rain started.

We all had a very average sleep and awoke excited and nervous and yes, in the rain. I was going to be in FAAS 800 Road shoes and although the grip wasn’t great I knew i would have super comfort. We headed off in a bus and after a delayed start we were off. We had a plan to walk the uphills and try and run everything else. It rained all day and before we knew it we were close to the end and we put in a little last burst of speed and finished in 4hrs 15min, which gave us 39th Team overall and 28th in OPEN MEN. We were surprised and we weren’t here to race and yet we did ok. So the game plan changed.

It continued to rain all day and night and was even drizzling the next morning but as we headed to the start of another 33km day the rain stopped. Our new plan was to only walk the very steep hills and try and run everything else and have a good last 5km. The day went according to plan and we started to turn up the gas with 9km to go as we were feeling good. The last 6km was on beach sand and was honestly the hardest 35min of my life on tired legs and soaking wet clothes, wading through waves and sand. That being said we jumped up the ranking ending the 2nd day now 20th in OPEN MEN and 36th OVERALL.

Day 3 I was feeling frisky and wanted to go from the gun as it was only a 25km stage and I was still feeling Fresh, Marc on the other hand had been up all night on the toilet and was feeling empty and flat. I had to wait a lot for him in the first 19km and it was very frustrating for both of us as we could see a lot of the teams ahead of us just down the road. Then something incredible happened. Marc took 2 gels, 3 cups of Pepsi and all of a sudden got angry and put the hammer down, this resulted in us running 3.45min/km for the last 5 km and we passed 11 teams..Ha haa, I was giggling the whole way. The man is a warrior and I loved his fighting spirit and at the same time am excited to come back next year and actually race this thing.

If you looking for something to do, pout this on your list, its well organised and awesome few days away from the stress and madness that City life brings.

So until next year, we will wait and plan our attack on top 10….ha haaa

So it’s Friday and its Light Comedy time and this time its Bicycle stuff but in a funny way. As you know it’s Fun rider world champs this weekend, so thought that it was appropriate for today, Enjoy

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgCqz3l33kU

There are many things I am grateful for in life and being able to do sport is one of them. I am very blessed to have the opportunity to race all over SA and sometimes overseas too. This year with a new job and more pressure and time in the office I have decided to just back off a little and take things as they come. This has resulted in me getting around 8hrs a week of training in, its not a lot but its consistant and I haven’t been sick or too badly injured which has been good.

I have managed to average around 30km per week of running, with a odd 50km week when I was lucky. So when it came time to run the Penninsula 42km to qualify for 2 Oceans and Comrades I was going to have my work cut out for me.

I never go into a race without a plan. I plan the pace and my nutrition according to that pace, I am very lucky to have raced for many years and know my body well and know what it can do. Then of course the equipment I use is always the best that I can get. Oakley sunglasses are a must, they keep your eyes relaxed and help you not tense up due to squinting with the sun in your eyes. The new Orca compression 226 shorts are the only things I am running in at the moment, loving the side pockets on these for gels. My shoe choice has also changed to PUMA Faas 800, they are 120g lighter than my shoes I have been running long in and make a huge difference.

So my plan was to go through the 21km mark in 1hr 45min and then hopefully pick it up for the 2^nd half a little, I know negative splits are hard to achieve but start slow and finish fast was the idea. I wanted to run 24min per 5km as well, with a gel every 40min and coke only from 25km with a cataflam at that same water table as well. I don’t run on pain killers but I have found a cataflam to help a lot and just take the edge off when it starts to get real around 32km mark.

I managed to do all of this according to plan, the only glitch was running about 8km with Gwen van Lingen who won the 2 oceans before and chatting along at a pace that was a little fast for my plan , but felt good to open up a little. I did realize it and told her to go on and settled back into my pace.

With the last 8km to go I had 8min in the bag and was feeling good, this is also more or less the exact moment I hit a wall and really had to dig deep to finish strong, also the part of the course that starts to go uphill as well, I finished in 3hrs 28min and am very happy with a well-planned run and a new PB. The goal is to go under 3hrs by the end of the year, to run a sub 5hr 2 Oceans 56km and then to try and run 9hrs30min for Comrades.

I ran 21.1km in 1hr43’ and My  5km splits for the run were:

5km:       23’59

10km:     24’09

15km:     24’12

20km:     25’16

25km:     23’45

30km:     23’40

35km:     24’30

40km:     27’09

As we start loosing sunlight, a lot of us start to make our way inside and do more running indoors and that means the dreaded Treadmills. So I went out there and dug up some interesting facts and if you read through them, maybe this year you can use it properly and get the full benefit from it and avoid those nasty little entries that sneak their way into our winter programmes.

A few treadmill truths:

1. Treadmill running pulls on the hip flexors at a predetermined belt speed and, through a neurologic “stretch reflex,” the flexors are activated at the same time. This inhibits the hip extensors (glutes), making it more difficult to fire them.

2. With the backward belt motion, the knee is drawn into extension more than in road running, mildly stretching the hamstrings. That same “stretch reflex” will inhibit and weaken the quadriceps.

3. The moving belt has a tendency to encourage more ankle dorsiflexion. This promotes a heel strike and initiates a stretch reflex in the calf, increasing risk for Achilles injuries, calf shortness and other biomechanical faults.

4. The treadmill naturally draws the leg backward, as opposed to the gluteal muscles doing this job, and causes a faster forward swing on the recovering leg. (Want to feel this effect? Speed up your treadmill.) This can cause more hip flexor recruitment, which can again inhibit proper gluteal function. If your core isn’t sufficiently engaged, these overactive hip flexors will draw the pelvis forward, increasing the arch in your spine. Can you say back pain?

Use treadmills with awareness, and find a speed and incline where you feel as though you are slightly pushing the belt backward instead of the belt pulling you backward. This may be enough to stay healthy and injury-free.

So the wait is over, here is the Blue Bulls Super 15 AWAY kit. What do you think ?

Pretoria, South Africa, 14 February 2012 – PUMA^® has unveiled a dramatic new Away kit that the Vodacom Bulls rugby team will sport in the Vodacom Super Rugby 2012 competition. The striking colour marks a significant image shift for the Vodacom Bulls and is inspired by the purple Jacaranda trees that characterise their hometown Pretoria.

Vodacom Bulls captain Pierre Spies says: “PUMA have certainly changed the pace since their arrival at the Bulls and the team feels that our Away jersey, a complete contrast from our traditional kit, is a great way to celebrate a new partnership.”

The Away shirt, as with the home shirt launched in December 2011, has a dramatic “smash” design inspired by the phrase “bull in a china shop” and expresses the Vodacom Bulls’ powerful playing style. The complexity of the design, which combines a chevron-like effect, is designed to distract opposition players.

PUMA South Africa’s Marketing Director Brett Bellinger says: “In designing the new Away shirt PUMA wanted to create a statement on the field, so we have opted for a striking colourway inspired by the purple Jacaranda trees that are synonymous with Pretoria.”

PUMA has a long-term deal to supply full technical kit to both the Vodacom Blue Bulls and Vodacom Bulls rugby teams, and is the official distributor of the teams’ match replica gear.

The Vodacom Super Rugby replica away shirt will be available in stores on 24 February 2012 and will retail for R599.

Before you read this, please take out of your mind that I work for puma, as I promise to review this with a honest opinion and an open mind.

Firstly I always believe that you need to consider the information from where it comes from , so let us start with that. Who am I ? I am your average runner, mid pack kind of guy. I am very average in build at 78kg’s and 1,80m tall. So I think I fit the mould of the average kind of guy out there looking for a running shoe.

I am a average size, UK 10 and have always run in a lighter weight type shoe for shorter runs and then moved to a stability shoe for longer runs which was 21km and up. A few years ago when this new type of thinking towards stride was around for triathletes I spent about 8 months moving away from heel striking to a more mid foot strike running style. This came with its fair share of injuries and expenses of physio’s, Ciro’s etc. But today I can honestly say that I have a lighter, more mid foot stride when I run. By no means am I saying that it is perfect.

I have run 2 Comrades and both in Itana which is Puma’s Over pronation offering at 360g in my size and to be honest it’s a great shoe, last year for Comrades I took the shoe out the box on Thursday and ran on Sunday. It does everything it promises and got to me to the finish line even though I had only run 280km in training leading up to the race, which is definitely not enough.

So now here is what I thought of the FAAS 800. Immediately when I took them out the box I was impressed by what they look like. Then you suddenly are aware of how light they are. At 260g they are a full 100g lighter than the Itana that I was traditionally running longer runs in.

This got me thinking, I would normally bring my foot through 60 times in a minute at 5min/km pace, so that means in 1km I would bring my foot through 300 times and at 100g lighter, that would equate to 30kg per km that my hip flexor doesn’t need to lift up and push through.

Now let’s take that 1 step further, that is 300kg’s in a 10km run, 1260kg’s in a 42km run and in Comrades it would equate to 2670kg’s. This is assuming your shoes don’t get WET. In energy saving this would equate to thousands of Calories along the way too. I know in the real world it doesn’t quite work like that, but you will agree that with the same power and a lighter mass you would move faster. Like the difference of throwing a heavy ball and a lighter ball ?

The first time you put the shoes on you notice something weird and I am not sure why but it feels like your feet are sliding off the sole. It might be an optical illusion due to the way they have coloured the medial side of the shoe but it just feels weird when you put it on. You also feel the end of the laces section on your toe when you pull your toes back which I was worried about it annoying me when I ran but it didn’t. Once tying the laces you notice they are different, non slip type laces which is awesome as puma shoes have a habit of always coming undone. They also seem to be shorter as I didn’t need to cut them shorter as I do with every pair of shoes I get.

So I took them out the box and wore them around casually the on Saturday and noticed how comfy they were, nice wide toe box and were nice and soft. So on Sunday morning I put them on and headed out the door for a proper run, my legs were tired after a 3hr odd bike the day before and a fairly long week of running so if there were any issues with these I would pic it up easily. I run the same route most Sundays, It goes uphill over klooofnek for the first 4km and then steep downhill for next 4km and then flat all the way home giving you 18km and around a 1hr 30min run.

Uphill they felt great and I was able to run up on my toes without any problem at all, they felt as light as a racer but had the cushioning of a training shoe. Going downhill my foot didn’t slid around in the shoe at all and they felt quick and responsive, running the flats was also very comfy. Closer to the end of the run my legs were taking strain and I could feel I was starting to land closer to the heel than forefoot and I could feel the system kicking in and guiding my foot back into a neutral position. The thing I liked about it was that although I could feel the support it wasn’t hard and forcing my foot in any direction, it was just guiding it.

The FAAS 800 does this by having the medial side of the shoe at a 20 degree angle, so in simple language kind of like a wall, so its harder for your foot to roll up a hill.

The heel to toe drop in this shoe is also only 12mm, so its not flat but its also not very built up, so perfect in between shoe to get you more onto your forefoot.

So here it is, if you only going to buy 1 shoe for all your running this is it. One shoe to rule them all. The reason for this is pretty simple:

• Its only 55g heavier than my “Racing flats” but offers so much more cushioning and 100g lighter than most traditional stability shoes.
• You are able to run on your forefoot and have awesome front end cushioning and the heel factor of the shoe doesn’t come into play
• Then as you get tired and start falling back the heel starts working or if you run as a heel striker you get the support straight away.

So at the end of the day if you really don’t like it, you can clean them up and wear them with Jeans because Puma is just cool like that.

Bottom line, go out and get yourself a pair of these and you won’t be disappointed, it works for neutral runners, bigger runners, stability runners, faster and slower runners. That means YOU.