Exams Over, Now the Real Suffering Begins!

I am still in school in UK and I recently wrote my last exam of the year – Further Pure Mathematics.  That sounds like hard work, but the real suffering is just about to start!

The Lesotho National Mountain Bike Team has been sponsored with a high-performance cycling training programme, called The Sufferfest.  Much of the training is done indoors on a stationary bike trainer and is very, very hard work.  The idea is to get in peak fitness for the World MTB Championships to be held in South Africa in August.  So much for school holidays!

To represent Lesotho at the World MTB Championships is my number 1 goal.  Lesotho has never had a team at the Worlds before, but this year it will be held in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, where I raced for the African Championships earlier this year and the World Cup last year.

Two obstacles stand in my way to reach this dream: –

1. Finances for the flight to South Africa
2. Retaining my Lesotho National Champion title.

These two are actually inter-linked, because if I can get to Lesotho in time for the championships, I am confident that I can win again.

My grandparents have advanced me the money to buy a ticket, but it cost £1,000 and I really want to do my best to repay them because they are pensioners and have already spent so much looking after me and taking me to races.  I also need new tyres, a bike travel bag, new helmet, light-weight racing shoes and some of my bike parts are wearing out – so the realistic total is £1,500.  Good news is that I am half-way there with donations from Penarth Round Table and Dinas Powys Baptist Church.

My plan is to fly out on 14^th July to compete in national marathon championships on 17^th and Cross-Country XC on 21^st.  I have heard that the other boys have been training very hard to beat me this year, but I think I will also be on top of my game.

The past few weeks have been quite difficult.  Apart from school exams, I have also experienced a lot of mechanical problems and the problem got so bad that a couple of weeks ago I had to pull out of a race after less than 1km.  After many visits to the local bicycle shop (and more of my grandparents’ money), the bike is back in shape again and I managed to get another top 5 finish in a British Cycling regional race. I’m still aiming to finish the season in the top 10 British Cycling junior rankings.

I would like to once again thank all my sponsors, friends and family for your support.  I hope I can continue to make you proud!

Best Regards,

Lichaba

Latest Newsletter

I am sorry that I have not had time to update directly to this blog, but since arriving back from the African Championships, I’ve been busy in the books – catching up for the 2-weeks lessons I missed and then studying for the upcoming AS exams.  Anyway – here is my latest newsletter , which says it all ……  lichaba newsletter 6

African Mountain Bike Championships

I want to be the first Lesotho junior rider to compete in African Continental Mountain Bike Championships, not so that my name can hit the headlines, but that I want to see my country of birth recognised in the world’s cycling events.

I’ve just found out the African Continental MTB Championships for 2013 will be held in South Africa at Pietermaritzburg, a course I already know and that is not far away from my home in Lesotho.  This is a dream I’ve had to raise the flag of Lesotho at events like this that we have never competed in before.  There are only two problems: –

1. Short Notice – the championships are only a few weeks away (09/03/2013)
2. Long Distance – I’m thousands of miles away in Wales at the moment.

Typical Africa (or perhaps cunning South Africans), we only received invitation to the championships last week, with less than 6 weeks to prepare.  Lesotho Cycling runs on an annual budget from April to March and so there may not be any money left for them to send a team – so it may be down to individuals like me to raise the flag.  African Championships are usually in exotic or far away countries and the hope of competing is just a distant dream, but this year the dream is tantalisingly close.

The biggest problem is finances for the air flights.  My parents are missionaries in Lesotho and are not in a position to fork out for the tickets, so I am hoping to find some good-hearted sponsors, benefactors and philanthropists to help out.  The cost of flights is about £630 (R8,000) with British Airways and Virgin, which allow bicycles to be taken as sporting luggage.

Although I have been away for these few months in school in Wales, I still think I have a good chance against in these championships.  The best riders are the South Africans and I have ridden quite a bit against them and I know I can do well.  It is a shame that these are African championships, but most of the riders will be white South Africans, Namibians and Zimbabweans.  I may be the only non-white rider there!

Please consider any way that you can help me achieve this dream, whether personally or by putting me in touch with people who may be sympathetic.

Mountain Bike Season Starts Again

Well after a period of keeping quiet … I’ve got two posts for you in one day!
The first post (this one) is to get my mind in focus for the start of the mountain bike season in Wales, this coming Saturday.

The other post is about my dream to become the first Lesotho rider to compete in African Championships in just a few weeks’ time (which is not easy when I’m thousands of miles away from Africa).

Everything else in the past six months of my new life in Wales has gone great. I enjoy school and seem to be doing well academically and I have also settled in with the youth group at church. BUT cycling has not at all gone to plan. I managed to get one mountain bike race in two weeks after my arrival in August and then everyone … I mean everyone… puts away their mountain bikes for the winter.

And now at last I understand why. It’s absolutely freezing over here and mountain bike usually goes together with getting wet … and wet and cold is a terrible combination. For the most part, I have managed to keep fit inside on the rollers (a piece of indoor training equipment that requires concentration, pedalling and balancing) and general fitness through playing rugby and football. I have tried out cycling in different – weather snow, rain and the occasional sunny, frosty day, but I always seem to arrive home wet and cold!

Well, it’s time to see whether the effort was worth it or not with the first round of the Welsh Mountain Bike Cross-Country Series this weekend, February 10th. The race will be at the famous Margam Park MTB trails, not too far away from where I’m living now. I’m getting my head in focus to do my best, but as this will be the first race of the season, I’m not sure what to expect.

It will be the start of quite a busy season and I expect to see general improvement in my performance as the weather improves and I get used to the conditions and style of racing. This will include the rest of the Welsh Series, and I hope some National races as well.

I still have my big goal in mind – to represent Lesotho in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland and so I am also looking for opportunities to pop back ‘home’ to Africa to pick up some ranking points, experience and also to lift up Lesotho’s flag in competitions that we haven’t been represented in before – The African MTB Championships and World MTB Championships.

I will keep you posted about my progress in the season … as for now, please read my post about the African Championships.

Me & My MIO

My MIO is my latest weapon in my quest to becoming a better cyclist.

The gorgeous

 M

IO

Cyclo 105 gps

looks great on my handlebars and keeps track of my training, by logging th

e usual distance, speed etc., but also monitors heart rate and cadence as well. I

can even use it on the indoor rollers, hibernating from the cold winter.

Best of all, it is waterproof, so I don’t have to hold back when plunging through streams or mud on my favourite tracks.

I can easily upload my rides on to the MioShare website, so that my coach (my father), thousands of miles away in Africa, can also see what I’ve been up to.

All round a great addition to my cycling kit!

Thanks Uncle Mike & Mio!

Cyclo-cross

I have started a new type of cycling now which is called cyclocross. From the outside it looks like road racing in mud, but it is a truly unique style of racing – lung-busting intensity and incredible bike-handling are the key components. Oh! and another difference is that their are sections where you are supposed to get of the bike and push or carry it over obstacles.

Cyclocross with a mountain bike

So far I haven’t done so well at it but then again I’m just about the only rider riding with a mountain bike with fat tyres – not really right bike, but its all I’ve got. I did my first cyclocross race two weeks ago where I finished 40/96 in the senior men category and 3rd out of the juniors.  The course was a good beginning for me, because it wasn’t slippery and it was a nice day too. The second race was quite different though – it was raining all day and the course quickly changed from a grassy field to a muddy racetrack as we raced on it getting plastered with mud every second we were racing. This made the race very quite challenging because there were several steep climbs along the course which became harder and harder to climb as the race went on.  In this race, I started right at the back but made my way up to 44th out of 83 finishers (6th out of the juniors). I struggled a bit with all the mud and rain everywhere including in my eyes and mouth but i kept going on.

My overall position in the Welsh Cyclocross league is now 29th and 3rd in the junior category. Unfortunately I am missing a race this weekend because its quite far to go to and also next week because I don’t have a means of transport, so my overall ranking will go down quite a bit.  So far its not so bad for my first cyclocross season.

Missing Lesotho : ( !

I have been watching the online videos of the Lesotho Sky MTB race and that has made me feel very homesick.  Watching cyclists ride through steep, dry, rocky, technical paths reminded me of what I am missing.  Over here the trails are wet, muddy, mossy, slippery … the exact opposite.

Wales. New terrain, New techniques, and a New chapter of my life.

So far Wales hasn’t been so good for me MTB wise – I can’t just get on my bike and ride off-road right from my house as I used to in Lesotho.  Also the terrain when I do get off-road is way too slippery from all the rain and mud – so different from the dusty, rocky trails I am used to.  I should get used to it soon enough and build up new skills in wet weather riding.

I’ve got myself some rollers to train indoors when the rain is too heavy, but so far my uncle’s road bike has given me three punctures – two on the rollers and one when just left alone!

My first race in Wales didn’t go so well but at least I can build on that.  It was the Welsh MTB championships up in Coed Y Brenin, North Wales.  It rained on the morning making the course more challenging especially since more than half of it was in the trees on muddy and mossy areas. I was quite far behind the leaders but at least I had fun and got to meet other riders.  I think I will be able to give more of a challenge after getting used to the new conditions, especially the mud.

One last race

I’m left with one last race in Lesotho before going to Wales later this month. For a change I will be racing a road race with the Lesotho elites instead of opting for the u18 MTB like I usually would. It is going to take place on the 18th and I feel I will be ready for it, even though Maseru is very windy these days and that makes it hard for proper road training. Thank you Lesotho for all the support you have given me as I prepare to take this new step in my life. On the 20th of August i will be leaving Africa and will live in Dinas Powys, Wales with my grandparents. Hopefully it will open new opportunities for m and help me grow stronger in cycling.

GIANT Bicycles

I am so proud to be associated to the GIANT brand and I ride an XTC Composite 29er MTB bicycle.  It has cruised me to my two national championships and a host of other fantastic results.

Many thanks to the team of Dragons Sports, South Africa, distributors of Giant Bicycles South Africa, for putting your trust in me and enabling me to get this great bike.

My GIANT XTC Composite 29er 0