Dear Songo Team,

It is always a great honour for me to report about the kids.

On Saturday we took part on the Lourensford mountain bike race.

It was a very beautiful day and the kids were very excited and ready for it.

We had 5 kids doing the 58 KM; 7 did the 32 KM and 2 girls doing 15 km.

The kids are improving everyday it always great to see them in action.

I was with the kids that did the 58 KM;  you should have seen them at the start and they were all very focused and ready for action.

They started very well and just after 5 km there were couple of hills and my kids were flying up as if there were something pushing them behind.

I was listening to other riders on the race saying wow what do they eat and some saying they look very neat.

It was Sivuyile Kephelele in the second leading pack and he was looking very strong and behind him it was Sipho going very strong as well.

Sivuyile manage to stay with that pack until the last 8 km where it was a very technical down hill.

He crashed on the last 2.5 km as he was going fast on the down hill he heats the hole and that was the end of his race.

He bent the front wheel and his eye go hit his is still in Somerset West hospital and the will send him to Tygerburg hospital to have a look on his eye.

I was with him until 19:30 and he is fine just the eye and his face got very swollen.

Sipho was just about 500 m behind him when he crashed and he says it was a very bad fall he had the noise when he went down.

Sipho stayed with him until he got helped and many thanks to Meurant the races organiser who was running around and making calls for Sivuyile to get a help that he needed.

Meurant still managed to call me at 18:30 on Saturday to find out how was the boy doing? Thank you very much Meurant your support means a lot.

The rest of the kids did very well and I am very proud of the 2 girls that did very well on their first race.

On the 32 km it was a very close call between my three boys Unathi;  Siyabulela and Mava the work together all the way and it was the sprint to the finish.

Many thanks Arina and Meurant Botha from Dirtopia and Amarider for sponsoring entries for my kids.

Many thanks to Arina Botha for all your great work; when we got to the registration the numbers for my kids were put aside with the names of the kids at the back of the number.

Thank you very much Arina I was very honoured by your great assistant.

Thank you very much to Sarah Horrop for the Epic footages my kids watch that all the time on a day before the race even the new kids now know who is Christoph and Burry.

Many thanks to JAG Foundation for providing the transport for the kids into all the events that they have been doing through out the year.

Many thanks to all of you for the role you play in the lives of the kids of Kayamandi.

There are so many people that are very supportive and even on the races the riders always speaking positive to my kids thank you all.

Thumbs up for my kids as they did very well on the Die Burger MTB Challenge on Saturday on the 30km and 15km.

They all started very well as they all watching one anther from the start.

They were so many people that were doing the 30km so they had 4 start chutes for the 30km and all the kids were in group C.

As I was working on the 15km and 30km route so I go a chance to see them on route in different points.

I was on the 5km mark when they started and in the leading group it was just black, red and white as they were wearing JAG (black), Specialized (red) and Songo (white).

When I got to the 10km mark on my boy it was Sivuyile, Siphenathi, Siyabulela, Unathi, Sipho, Luzuko Bongani and Ndiphe they all very focus and pushing.

On the 25km it was Sivuyile and Sipho fighting for the Jersey and they had 50m lead from their team mates Sivuyile manage to take it just as he took the coke last time from Dylan’s challenge and Sipho surprised by finishing second from his team.

On the 15km it great to have Odwa back on the ride after a long time and I also gave 3 of the older kids from the BMX a chance and they gave the mountain bike kids a ride for their money.

Masibule finished in 4th place overall and 1st from the team Odwa in 5th place and Yolanda in 8th place and 3rd from the team.

Masibulele, Yolanda and Elton are 14 and 15 years old kids from the BMX and their performance on Saturday has boosted up their confidence.

Their BMX skills gave them a big advantage on Saturday as the were sitting in the top 30 overall when they were at 9km mark from the 10km mark there was a down hill with jumps and that gave the BMX kids a chance to cash up all the people that were in front of them as they were flying dawn.

As I was watching them going down all I could do was just to praying for their protection as they were going very fast without fear at all I was the one who was fearing for them.

Thank you for all the support very soon we will have great riders from Kayamandi watch out Burry and Susi my boys are coming up very fast!!!

“after the sardine classic last weekend i took it quite easy this week, doing mostly cross-training and focusing  on my core.this usually means less time but more aching muscles then just riding my bike.

cherise and i traveled to johannesburg on friday so she could do filming for gilette world sport. i will also take the opportunity to do some good altitude training and race in the graskop hillclimb tour next weekend. i just have to make my specialized tarmac heavier so it meats the uci weight limit…

but for now its back to more training and fighting the traffic…”

ciao

burry

Christoph Sauser is heavily involved in the Songo project and every mountain biker worth his/her salt would have followed Christoph and Burry’s unbelievable Absa Cape Epic adventures under the Songo name. This is the name of the charity of which Christoph Sauser took ownership. The first Songo project is being run in Kyamandi – a black township on the outskirts of Stellenbosch. Songo has built a BMX track and has purchased at least 50 BMX bikes as well as proper MTB gear for the children of Kyamandi. They also have about 30  mountain bikes for proper dirt road riding. Brett and I watched six year old kids racing around on the track.  Various older kids also participated – boys and girls.  While watching these children becoming bike riders, the thought came up to start something similar in our hometown: a Songo/Club 100 / Diepsloot project, with a link to Northern Farms. Ultimately you need at least two “champions” to run the project: someone from the township and the second from Club 100 to take ownership. We undertook to investigate this and report back to Christoph.  We could even link it to a race such as the Epic. Possibly more about this later.

Brett will be writing a technical report on the innovation and dedication within the Specialized team.  I have to report on the human side of the Specialized team and of course on their champions. Unfortunately there are some things that we have to keep to ourselves and our MTB friends will just have to see where we have improved and then follow…. Some of the other things we can tell you. Just don’t tell the other local Clubs.

Firstly the guys were extremely relaxed after a race with the intensity of the Epic. Mental relaxation, as well as physical rest and play, are important post-race elements. So although we were ready and eager as beavers to start training at 05h00 on our first day with the world champion, we only got going after 10h00. Africa has had its effect on Mr Sauser and we started even a few minutes after the hour! Our heart rate average for the next 150 minutes was not even 70% – I wonder what CS’s average was – most probably not even 50% – so it was just play. Christoph was great and listened to our stories and answered our questions. No ego, no humouring a team of guys over 112 years old (combined), no showing his strength – just riding like we sometimes do when we are just enjoying our bikes.

The rest of the day, the two mechanics cleaned and packed all the bikes in order to send them to America, Switzerland and Pietermaritzburg for the first World Cup.  The evening our host was the cook. Special ostrich steaks and vegetables were prepared by him and we can confirm that he enjoys a glass of wine for good health. The whole Specialized team attended the dinner. That was after Brett and I had a nice massage from Claire, the soigneur. We had the full treatment, but she also showed us how to massage ourselves with a massage foam roller – cool when on tour. Brett peppered the mechanics with questions in order to extract all their secrets; and of course gave them a lot of his own thoughts and advice!

The team showed us a video recording of the incident when Burry and Christoph lost the Cape Epic due to a 1 hour penalty. Burry was taking a drink from his bottle, and hooked a tree/root and went down hard destroying the front wheel of his bike. The DCM team was with them at that stage and stopped to assist. It is amazing to look at this whole incident on TV – it was recorded by a Brazilian TV team on a motorbike. Eventually they decide to give Burry the DCM bike (They could not provide a wheel due to the fact that they used a lefty front fork). The motorbike picks up the damaged bike to transport to the water point about 4km further and the three riders leave. Then Max Knox looks at the damaged wheel in his hands, shakes his head and starts running. What a great commitment by DCM.

On the second morning, we were back on the bikes. We decided not to hurt Christoph too much. Dan Hugo (one of our most promising X Terra athletes competing in the USA) also joined us. We didn’t hurt him either. Once again we were totally accepted by these two athletes and we finished the ride feeling sure that Christoph would perform admirably in the SA Cup, and of course in the World Cup race the following weekend in KZN. Our job was over and our fling with the Specialized team was almost at an end.

This was most probably a once in a lifetime experience for normal riders like ourselves. It was special to have been accepted and embraced by a highly professional team. We left with renewed respect for the team and their champions: we arrived as strangers, but left as friends.  The Specialized team can be sure that they have gained two committed, passionate fans!

I am sure we will be invited next year to assist with the Specialized/Sauser team again. Until then.

Safe riding.

Brett Sachs and Thys Neser

On the 15th of May the JAG Sports & Education Foundation hosted their Year in Review. The function was a great success all around, but especially with regards to the items that were auctioned off for the songo.info bmx project. Marco Carvalho’s painting, which he donated to the project, was auctioned off for R10 000.00 to Karl Westvig.

The Specialized Rockhopper Mountain Bike and the Yellow Cape Epic Leader Jersey, signed by Christoph Sauser was auctioned off to Gerard Holden for R20 000.00.

The JAG Foundation is now officially one year old! They have done tremendous work in the last year and only seem to be reaching more and more kids through their sporting and education programs.

As far as construction goes, we are in the final throws of getting municipal permissions. Songo is now working full time and putting his energy into getting the permission to use the land.

He is the manager for the Specialized Factory Team, which Christoph Sauser rides for. He has a special place in his heart for South Africa, more specifically Stellenbosch. I ask him to write for the blogg…

In 1999, my relationship with South Africa but particularly the area of Stellenbosch started. I can recall in the months leading up to that day when I stepped off the plane, reading about Stellenbosch and the fact that so many great athletes went there to train. After lots of searching for South Africa’s top triathlete Conrad Stoltz on the night after The 1999 World Triathlon Championships in Montreal, Canada and once meeting him, to hear from the man himself that I should come to Stellenbosch; I finally made the move.

So I got off the plane in Cape Town airport in October 1999, with no idea of where I was, but I knew where I was going – “taxi driver I am going to Stellenbosch”. I can still remember being dressed for the European winter and once those plane doors swung open, a waft of heat hitting me …. Damn it was hot! I finally arrived into this beautiful quaint town and thought – wow, this is heaven! I knew nobody, but this was not to be a deterrent. The very first athlete I met, apart from the “big fella” Francois Retief (trust me he is big!!), the excellent sports masseuse, who works from the university sports arena, was Christoph Sauser. Christoph is fondly known as Susi, so within a short space of time I was sharing a house with Susi and a great friendship ignited!

Nine years later and I can fondly call Stellenbosch “my home away from home”. My native Ireland is a very warm welcoming country and I am happy to say that I found South Africa and especially Stellenbosch to be the same. I have made friends for life in Stellenbosch …. “friends who would put their hands in the fire for me”! I cannot visualize my life without an annual trip to “my home away from home”!

I was accepted with open arms into this great country, so now it is nice to have the opportunity to give something back to this beautiful area of the world. As Team Manager for Specialized Bicycles it’s a pleasure to see Christoph completing The Cape Epic in a bid to raise money to build a BMX Track for the kids in Kayamandi. As Christoph said himself, there’s nothing like seeing the smile of excitement on a child’s face.

I hope as many as people as possible can get behind this great initiative.

Yours in sport,

Bobby Behan

(L-R: Christoph Sauser (Susi) and Francois Retief – “I told you Francois was big”)

(The 2006 Cape Epic Team: L-R: Bobby Behan (Specialized Team Manager, Ireland), David George (South Africa), Christoph Sauser (Specialized Team Rider and Swizerland) and Benno Willeit (Specialized Team Mechanic, Italy)