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The Olympic Diaries

(From thehub.co.za – by africanmtbkid) - This is a very entertaining cycling view on 2008 Olympic Games

Thursday 7 August

I think Beijing is as far away as you can go from SA. If you go any further then you actually getting closer. It kinda make sense, but the dude next to me on the plane was the archery oke so I wasn't going to argue. Geography aside, it was a mission of note getting there. The swim team were moaning that they should get business class seats as they get medals. We'll see about that on the way home! We went via Korea for some reason and sat around for what seemed like ages. The managers couldn't really tell us what was going on, but seemed like the Chinese okes had Visa issues with us (so will I, after i max out all my credit cards!).

The whole team is kinda grouped into its camps, and a lot of inter sport rivalry starts. Apparently the hockey boys will bet on anything (they all brought their own poker sets with personalised chips. not playing them for money!). So they opened a 'who can beat up who' competition between the judo team and the boxing and wrestling dudes. A lot of money had changed hands and it was getting exciting before the javelin chick demanded to be in too. All of a sudden the fighting guys had injuries they couldn't risk......wimps.

So we get to Beijing eventually and we can't see sh1t outside! Team USA arrived at the same time too, handing out gas masks for us – classic! Apparently we went straight past the stadium to the athlete's village, didn't see it at all. When we all got billeted in, DG went ballistic to see that Robbie Hunter did decide to come in the end with his injury. It got even better when they put us cyclists all in the same group, and DG and Robbie were listed as roommates, but the room was empty when DG got there.

Anyway, I gotta crash its been a long long day will try put some pictures up on the book.

Later.  “Trample the weak, hurdle the dead”

 

Friday 8 august

just popped in to send this off before we go wave flags in the stadium. .

well i sneaked back into my room early before anyone noticed. sifiso did the same five minutes later, he was out all night with the danish football chicas and word is hes got quite a fanclub. we'll see bout that later tonight as we're definitely going to hit it hard after the ceremony (i've been given a sportspass to go wild as the ladies road race is sunday - yehaa). the food is awesome and those swimming chinas (sh1t, have to stop calling people that!) chow like its their last meal. they have all been skeefing cherise out, and ripping me off that she'll come to the swim team when they have all the medals. i've been trying to talk Johnlee into picking up one of their chicks to get one back for the bike team, but its hard convincing job as they all have these massive shoulders that make them look top heavy

had to sort out the bike myself, as the melve was busy with all the road team who ride tomorrow. turns out robbie is camped out at some swish hotel with the rest of the protour riders, Johnlee said he's moving if DG will come with him – think he was kidding, but DG didn't take it well and couldn't finish his toast. Hes trying to talk me into being 'reserve' for the road race, just incase somone on the team gets 'sick' at the last minute. fishy indeed.

so i just somme went for a cruise on the bike with hendrik the triathlon dude to shake out the legs, and we almost got attacked in this industrial area. there was a whole bunch of workers protesting because their factories have all been closed during the games, it was lank scary but i got my sprinting kick going on song for sure. later this nerdy guy Sello ( runner, maybe?) tells me i must have been recognised outside the Mr Price factory. I was like 'no way china (must really stop), its all from durbs – trust me, i'm a mr price athlete!'

apparently they not showing my race live, hopefully someone at supersport sorts that out. there'll be a protest in sheppies for sure – we'll double the banana price. anyway must shoot to the teambus, our kit is awesome look out for us on tv.

later

the dart.  “Trample the weak, hurdle the dead”

 

Sat 9/Sun10

been hectic here.the local Domestic Information Control (DIC) monitors all our computer stuffs, so we have to keep it clean and they shut us down for two days.apparently my encrypted diary made it to the hub, which is cool but i hope they don't leak it out.if susi and the boys find out I'm actually here scouting out the course they'll be miffed!

well the opening ceremony was awesome.stacks of sitting and waiting around,but quite a special feeling to be part of my countrys team walking into the stadium.i hope you saw the show im not that big into culture and dance and stuff but it was hard not to be impressed.and these guys know their fireworks.margate new years is gonna suck after seeing that.there was huge confusion from the yank team,they all thought natalie du toit was the famous 'blade runner' when she was carrying our flag.they won't laugh so much when she kicks butt in the 10km swim.

went to go watch the mens road race with some of the athletics guys.had to explain the whole sport, they couldn't get round the whole lap concept not having a final bell.we didn't do too well,John Lee was up there with the bunch, but he said he crapped himself every time at the summit.its a long way down if you fall of those corners.must get him back on a mtb sometime.this guy called Dirty won it on the line but the big ride was from the swiss timetrial dude who must have been using a 67 big ring to catch them downhill.

robbie is actually a very cool guy, he leant me his new roadbike today-said its got less than a hundered kays on it. as i was riding this chickie with team rsa kit overtook me up a hill.funny, thought all our girls were racing and i almost died chasing her down.turns out shes a triathlete girl, mary or something.big fan of mine and i must come ride with her in stellenbosch sometime.schweet!we watched the ladies road race from the top of the hill, but then it started raining so came home before it got too miserable and watched it on tv.got into trouble for that!they tried really hard but the international ladies are tough.the smog was also a joke,ideal training for this would be secunda-just hope its not this bad for the xc race.

you won't believe it, we have an 8 person fencing team here.we reckon they're hear to put razor wire on the great wall-they definitely not here to get medals.but must be careful what i say about people with swords in their bedrooms.

finally got to ride the mtb course.susi said it was a joke last year and not that technical at all.think he was pulling my leg.its gonna be brutal,which is good for me i spose.anyway, gotta log off now,the discuss chick wants to google herself.

Later.  will send more info, if the DICs behave.

 

Mon 11

not many smiles round our team building in the village right now.things aren't going well, and even zim are ahead(we tried to get kirsty to defect, they say things were easier in the cold war).our team kit is so bad that some countries don't even want to swap with our guys.most of us had our biltong confiscated by customs and to top it off our pronutro shipment still hasnt arrived.but there's still a long way to go and a lot can happen for things to get better

a whole bunch of us went to the watercube (thought i was going to a nightclub) to watch our defending gold medal team in the freestyle relay.after all the biggame talk we got smoked in the qualifiers yesterday and did even worse in the finals.it was flippen awesome seeing the last yank dude overtake the frog for the gold.so far that phelps bugger is on track for his 8 golds,thats just a sick thought.a lot has to do with equipment.i thought all the guys look equally ridiculous in their girly swimming costumes, but lindon(swimmer) explained it to me in english.

imagine shimano brings out an awesome groupset(like XTRR) and its so much better than anything sram have.gives you a 2 minute advantage per lap.then you can choose to be faithful to your sponsor,or ditch them and try win with the much better technology.the obvious answer is to win, but they chose not to. roland and ryk are the posterboys for the arena(crap) swim costumes, so there was pressure not to use the speedos(good).good thing i have the best equipment money can buy(do i hear black box)

cherise wasnt happy with her race, the heat and smog really got to her.but shes still so new on the scene and will be kicking butt in london for sure.robbie decided to help cheer her up by taking her shopping with his barloworld expenses visa card.i think she bought half of beijing(she is a woman remember) and now i know why she brought three bike boxes but only one bike.

i made some buddies in the fencing team, they are here to party for sure.they are all in a good mood despite getting totally outclassed.turns out that oke sello is a fencer too, and is their best one. he only just lost in the first round where the rest got cleaned.they carry hipflasks everywhere and shout 'on guard!' at security the whole time.hilarious.

we promised to go support our girls in the hockey at the astro (also not a nightclub).can you believe we actually cheered australia in the first game?they came back from 4-1 against korea to win 4-5, it was awesome to watch.people always think that hockey girls play for both teams(if you know what i mean). maybe its because the whole team only use three apartments.they got a few hotties too, would be a real pity if the kate girl wasn't into boys.so they played the dutchies who are world champs.they got smoked six love, even worse when the one goal was scored by an old saffa chick who has done a kevin pietersen.

with all this stuff going on its sometimes hard to remember im actually here to race. but dont worry im still very focused.

 

tue 12

there's long faces from both hockey teams now too, a few of the afrikaans ones are looking for dutch grandparents. the only bonus to the general state of bad mood is that at least the windgat swimmers have shutup for now. theres no more flexing muscles at breakfast time and they even wear tshirts round the complex. roland skuman was offered 40million rand to swim for qatar but he turned it down to stay south african, ouch. says hes over loyalty and is considering their latest re offer of 5million. think i might go eat at the swedish place next door from now. met some girls from their volleyball team all blonde and seven foot tall.mmm

i got a visit from mr lee mr price china – yes thats what he calls himself. it turns out they actually make all the clothing here in china and wanted to give me a tour of the factory. was flippen awesome the place is huge and all the workers think i am a god. got at least ten offers of a good wife. well if bikes dont work out im gonna come here and be a rockstar. in the past i have just worn what they send me but i want to be more involved so why not start now?

so mr lee and i discussed the new burry look for 2009. if mr price sa dont dig it then we just do it on the side for cheaper. sounds dodgey indeed but most things here are. lots of gold chain, mud splatters on the ass of every shorts and back of every shirt. oh yes all long pants have tears on the inside right leg from the chainring. did i mention gold chain? within an hour they had loads of samples for me. should last me ages. he didnt like my idea of a fragrance range with the white lightning smell, but i think i call the shots.

DG let me have a spin on his tt bike. i went over to the swiss block right next door to us and challenged Cancellara to a tt round the olympic village. he just beat me but his bike is the awesome cervelo tt bike that no one beats. must talk to the gt boys about putting disk ready disk wheels on my zaskar. getting the hang of the mtb course too now legs are feeling good and the form is peaking at the right time. would be nice to have someone faster to pace with speedy is cool but she battles to keep up after a while.

got lots of options tomorrow. the rower dudes qualified in their heats so we re all excited about any saffa team in a second round. the cycling timetrial could be cool to check out too. the sailing chicas came and visited us from the sea base in kingdow on their rest day as they wanted to get into the olympic feel more. robbie suggested we go watch them rather and would charter a yacht with a gym so we can still spin using the barloworld expense card. good times

“Trample the weak, hurdle the dead”

 

wed 13

woke up to find that we have an urgent team meeting tomorrow morning that everyone must attend. all the rumours go around about what it could be. some reckon they will be firing all the coaches. they point fingers at the administrators and vice versa, but the suits are the ones who hire and fire. maybe they will go chinese and shoot them outside in the street. we had a fourth in the pool but that counts for nothing here. south african records also mean jack. i really think they are just concerned by the amount of guys going to get food from maccie ds in the village.

I had a crash on my bike today!don't worry its not that serious. the rowing pair asked us to come support them in their semi. John lee and i had these massive flags and we followed the race by riding right next to the rowing pond. They go flippen fast atcually and its hard dodging all the riders. near the end everyone was watching the rowing and not where they were going. John lee got his flagpole caught in the cranks and went over the bars as his bike fell down the earth bank. Some spectator helped him back up and they found his bike later. i fell over from laughing so much and we missed seeing the finish but the good news is the boys are through to the final.

after that we went down to qingdao to go check out some boating action with our yingling team. suits me as i needed to pack my bikes again (well let the melve pack them for me). turns out Sello's dad used to be minister of justice and is connected to a lot of important people round here. next thing we have a sick yacht organised at the boat club for the day. all we have to do is call everyone at the club comrade and bow, and dont go upstairs without a tie on. like we brought (or even own) ties.

there was boats bobbing and waiting around on the water as there was no wind for ages so we just watched dvds downstairs in the yachts tv room. they had an amazing bar, but being athletes we couldn't really make proper use of it to the disappointment of the captain who drank enough for seven of us. some of the aussie team had also come down for the day. we called them up on the radio, but they were going 10-nil 10-nil the whole time. thats the hockey score i hope, the medal score is much worse. theres only so many times we can ask them who the rugby champions are.

finally they got going with racing, they all line up in a row and some guy shoots a cannon from the main boat to signal the start. we tried to follow dom and the girls along the course, but the water police were really really strict. it was really handy having mary the triathlon chick around as she knows all the sailing stuff and looks great in a bikini too. we tried to make a big wake for them to surf on. it was hard to see who was winning as they all split up, and on the second round they got stuck in the algae. this is really crap green muck that is everywhere. there were fishing boats cleaning it up, so maybe thats where sushi mats come from. the girls didnt do too good they got a second the other day and we hoped to bring them luck. they stay in these crappy apartments there but the smog is not nearly as bad and you have a view of the green water too. not to mention the mashie course that is free to use. now that would be cool in the village. people would die with the way we were hitting, but it would still rock. they will join up in beijing once they finish.

on the way back to beijing we stopped in at the fungdoo happy motor warehouse. sounds crap but its like Woolworths for car parts and accesories. i took like ten catalogues and will get mr lee to put some of this mad stuff in the next container for sa. top of the list is some spinners with blue led lights on them that recharge whilst you drive and turn on automatically at night. shark fin aerials are so last year, am getting batman ones instead. i could go on, but you wont recognise my car by christmas time.

anyway it was cool to take a rest day after all the time in the village and the stadiums. it was nice to see so many people out of the city buzzing around on their bikes. i spoke to one of the athletic coaches and he said they had this specially made medal scoreboard in the team logistics room, and they are auctioning it off to countries that i'm sure don't exist like togo, armenia and uzbekistan. wonder what is in store for team south africa tomorrow.

 

Thurs 14

after breakfast we went to the team room for this super emergency meeting when this oke in a suit walks in. i was chillin with the hockey okes and they knew who he was, john rupert or something. he got up and made a speech. basically hes some super rich dude who flew here in his jet to come help us out. apparently he does it for the springboks and ernie all the time. like i didn't need any more incentive for this but we get a new carrot for getting medals.

fora gold:   a million bucks; lunch with madiba; a week at his best gamelodge; a winefarm named after u

silver:  half a million; tea with madiba; a week at another game lodge; a bottle of wine named after you;

bronze medal:  an interview on 3talk with Noeleen; a month at the kruger park;

fourth place: no money or holidays, but you still have to go see Noeleen.

so the hockey guys were like, WTF, if they only knew that a million bucks was on the line then they wouldn't have lost to the aussies 10-0.

anyway, the big surprise was that Thabo mbeki had come along to wish us luck as well. they tried to get madiba, but it was too short notice and he was still too busy opening birthday presents.

he had a message from Nelson himself that he read out, and it was all about how proud madiba was of the team and that we embraced the spirit of the country and our path to an olympic dream was a long walk to freedom of hard work and sufffering blah blah etc. etc. many were close to tears, very emo  times. but i was fine, its only cadel who is a woos.

then thabo scratched his beard and tore it up and stamped his foot. he started tuning us in xhosa (i think) about 26 years on desert island for nothing. he said apartheid's zola budd had more talent in her pinky than us put together. and he closed off by saying our passports would be confiscated and our farms repossessed till we won a medal.

so sello stood up and acted like he was waving a 30ft epee (a sword for those who dont know). he told thabo to stop acting like a wet rag and do us all a favour. go invade zimbabwe and if the tanks can cripple harare before next week we'll have three silvers in the bag. if maria mutola is still around and makes the 800 final we should consider hitting mozam too. we all cheered sello, and thabo said hed quietly think of it diplomatically. but it would help with bush and brown.

things got a bit better after that, the prez said hed see if any of his contacts in the party could get judges to help us out in scoring events. he is still a bit scared of sports people after he got manhandled by the springboks at the world cup so we couldn't get close to him but its obvious to see he holds the fortunes of the team medal haul personally. almost as closely as someone who had bet a lot of money on the results.

well the news for me is that i'm jetting out of here to a secret training camp on a secret island off a secret country with a lot of seoul. i'll be there for a few days to do some drills and climatic conditioning before we get back to this circus and then its all systems go for the xc race. hope i get some access there, but no promises

later peeps

 

sun 17

training camp was cool and nice to get out of the village but now we back,hooked up with my yank training partner and hes just as keen as me to get the results we've worked so hard for.really handy thing is he's been to the olympics before so has some tricks to teach me.

most of them involve getting in with the norwegian ladies soccer team.i was on the bus the other day and they all jumped on.they must have some babeness criteria for team selection as every single chica is smoking hot, it was like a blonde fun bus filled with angels from heaven and i actually missed my stop somehow.

 

since i left things have going from bad to worse at camp sa.hendrik the triathlon guy is injured and won't be competing,poor guy doesn't deserve it at all.then some idiot logistics dude screwed up the bovril order and we had to have this aussie vegemite crap instead.our pronutro still hasnt arrrived, so we have tried to get ryk to sort it out as hes the face of pronutro and really should be able to pull some strings.but just like his swimming hes full of hope and promise but doesnt deliver the goods when required.

 

the john rupert guy tried to help lift the spirits by organising a big screen tv for the rugby game.the theory was that we could see that south africans can be world champions and it would spur us on.plan failed miserably as the bokke seemed in turn to have taken inspiration from our hockey team.but it did give me a great idea,if half our rugby team can come from zimbabwe maybe theres a loophole we can use to poach some swimmers too from across the limpopo.

 

after all their windgat talk on arrival our swimmers managed to get zip from these games.the phelpster got 8 gold on his own.dunno what he does differently to our guys he even speaks english like a south african swimmer.the hockey guys don't seem to mind as they appeared to have put a lot of cash on that happening.they now call ryk arm.whahaa.they are cool dudes who all have real jobs back home and play in their spare time.the goalie was trying to explain to me that i could make more money by going slower.doesnt make any sense to me but he said it could be good if i got lapped by lap 4.he gave me his pakistan business card and told me to think about it.weird.

 

managed to catch an awesome session at the track cycling.it was rad fun we should so do it back home.a lot of it was confusing even to me as a cyclist and the bikes look really silly.in some races they chill out, practice track stands and when they get bored they sprint like mad to the finish.imagine if i did that during an xc race near a drop off and distracted everyone.the british team kick ass here big time.they had this race we each team has their own peleton and they overtook the ruskies to make them look like they stopping for parking.oh yes some of the bikes dont even have brakes,how dumb is that.

 

ok gotta go get another massage.please send us some nutro.

 

 

Mon 18

its starting to suck racing so late in the games.really hard to keep focus for so long and the partying has hit a new level.my new friends the hockey boys have pretty much turned it into a road trip after losing to pakistan.this guy called austin is stoked because he scored a girl and two of the hockey girls.so i ended up playing poker,smoking cigars and drinking tsigntao with them till 3am.i didnt want to stay up so late,but i just kept on winning.they said i must come back tomorrow night and i can win their money again.sounds tempting indeed.

 

was pretty tired from last night but went early to the bmx track with sifiso who races on thursday.its awesome.we should so do this in south africa.i tried it with my bike and then his and they are pretty swift for such little machines.sifiso is black lightning and burns me through the berms.he actually is based in switzerland where they have an identical track so he knows it like jz knows a courthouse.we got chatting with some of the other guys and they say they sometimes ride bikes without brakes.now thats another way to drop some weight?

After that we decided to chill out and watch some stuff.its a mission getting in to some of the places without tickets but sifiso can talk his way into a bankvault.we shot from there to the canoeing where there was some other saffas competing.can you believe there is a brother doing it on this kneeling thing?calvin klein is all power and you just see water splashing.he qualified as well as the sit in dude and the four person ladies.will have to come watch them again as they are looking good.

then marie biscuit (the triathlon chickie) joined us. she had a bad day and crapped on me for not watching her race– i told her my rest was important!she was kicking butt out of the water and was in the lead bunch but had problems with what sounded like chainsuck.funny as she should know how to ride a bike properly.so she faded on the run.shes lank hard on herself but like me is still very young and is only really gunning for london. she is actually still at varsity, i think shes too clever anyway.

stacks of us went to the stadium for the athletics. godfrey took a leap of faith and came in second. finally we have a medal!he was quite bleak that everyone is using his xhosa name as not even he can pronounce khotso properly. he was telling me he actually wanted to do triple jump, but his coach wasn't sure if he could do hop, skip and jump in the right order at such a big occasion.i thought we would go back get our medal board from togo and party, but everyone wanted to wait for the hackey sack where we were also in the finals.in the end it never happened but lj came very close in the hurdles to get a fifth.

its great that godfrey pulled his silver for the team. sifiso and i were under a lot of pressure to perform really well, and no one understands that anything can happen on the day with bike races.it feels like a weight of expectation is taken off us and we can just compete now.incidentally godfrey is going to buy a hummer with his money and we settled on mokoena merlot. hendrik said that maybe if the wine is good it will also win a silver medal, i think all the physio is going to his head.

later alligator

 

tue 19

sjoe i am broken. I tried to go to bed early last night but then there was a lot of noise going around.i got up to investigate and the whole block was basically partying like it was 1994.the hockey chicks stole a shipment of vuvuzelas from ekhaya and were using them as funnels for their fines evening.i finally learnt how to blow a vuv properly, from a badminton chica nogal.the trick is to use your tummy and breathe deeeeeeeep.sleep was not gonna happen so i joined the hockey boys for their daily poker game.they said i would win even more than before as now it was 'high stakes',i was doing really well but then got really unlucky and lost everything.i actually bet all in with my bike (as deposit - i thought i had a really good hand but it turns out all reds with two nines and an ace isn't good). These okes arent so friendly when it comes to money now(remember they not even pro athletes).

woke up and the whole block smelled like crowded house in maritzburg, imagine if godfrey didnt get caught stealing centimetres on his last jump and won gold.saw him at breakfast and hes planning another party tonight as he still has to get his medal maybe i will have to go find a bed with the norwegian soccer girls(if sifiso has left any open).godfrey was stoked that his wikipedia entry has already been updated(i don't know if i even have one!wait till saturday).lj told me that godfrey was dsq in athens after he overslept, sounds like a rumour but classic comeback if its true (must remember to check alarm works for saturday).

lucky for me wellsy is in town,he leant me some cash so i could get my bike back.met him at the course to go for some training.roel was there with his uber pimped new scalpel.the thing only weighs 8.8kg :-(.so i might have to send my bike on another diet.mine is 8.6 but its a hardtail.its kinda like telling kate moss to go eat celery.maybe i should change to v brakes, or even no brakes like the bmx guys.i could even go with one ring on the front.scary thing is that susi might be even lighter.

went to the velodrome to watch some track with tony.he says we do have some in south africa,maybe ill give it a shot.the guy who won the sprint from england is a monster.his legs are massive,makes the bulgarian weightlifters look like twigs.they play what they call cat and mouse where they just watch each other.then when he gest bored he just mows the other guy down.i got dizzy following the madison.the argies came out of nowhere to win and the best was that cavendish(who stole all of robbies thunder at the tour de france) got his ass whipped.seeing more bikes with no brakes has given me a bit of an idea that i might try tomorrow at the course.i would be really quick in the corners and its not like anyone will be infront of me anyway!

was talking bikes with speedy at dinner time, she says hers is only 8.3kgs!i dunno what to do,my shocks are pretty schweet olympic edition but i think hers might be a lot lighter as they have some hollow carbon something in it.the judo guy overheard me and says he has weight issues all the time before a tournament and goes to the sauna to sort it out.not sure how getting sweaty is going to help me,but first stop tomorrow morning is the gym steam room.

 

wed 20

skizo skizo skizo!i hope you were all watching it,i was like the tour guide for all the guys who came to support him for his prelims.he played it pretty safe for the test run, and then won his heat to go through to the semis.i have to admit i was a bit confused by how the different motos and scoring work,but i don't think anyone else noticed.oh yes i hope you all saw that he was wearing some of the new burry gold chains.tomorrow there should be even more of us there as today we had to pick between skizo's qualifiers and natalie's swim.

just her qualifying here is awesome.i haven't actually spoken to her much yet,as she always has so many fans around her.she did say she will do the argus if i do the swimrace from robben island to blouberg.she might regret it when she realises how far 100km on a bike is.the swim doesn't sound too hard for a tough boytjie from the south coast.maybe i will take my speargun and ctach some kingies on the way.

after that we got some more time in at the course.i tried my secret weapon plan 'a' for two laps.secret weapon plan 'a' is to ride without any brakes on the bike to save weight and go faster.it worked really badly the first lap and was a disaster the second.quite a few scratches on the bike and the dragon shock looks a bit rough now.i'm battered and bruised but otherwise in one piece.i have sent gm loads of texts to try see if i can get last minute advice as he seems to fly around corners at speed.i just fell over on almost all of them.then wise ass javier tells me the trackbikes use their legs to slow down.i know the tekkie on the tyre trick but that is just crazy on an olympic xc course.still considering secret plan 'b' which is some kate moss style v brakes and a 1x9 drive.

almost all of the guys are here now,they have added some stuff to it since last year and everyone is moaning about all the changes messing up their plans.they also can't believe i got to spend the whole week here and all thought i was chillin with wellsy in durango.

the good news is i hear my race will be live on tv now back home.arnie geerdts said he would quit supersport unless they spent the extra cash to show it live.the head dude said it was an attractive offer but they had already decided to screen it.i hope everyone takes it chilled on fri night so they dont all sleep in and miss it.its gonna be quick for sure.

when we got back home to the base, the entire norwegian girls soccer team was there again and they were fighting with the danish handball girls to speak to him and have their photos taken.we are calling our block the playboy mansion from now.his mom arrived and he got all embarrased when she called him a coconut.i laughed because his hair does look kinda rough and he called me a reverse coconut.then the girls told us we look so cute when we fight.hmmmmmmmm

the hockey guys are at it again with their behind the scenes scams.they have got all the boxers who lost in the early rounds and now want to go from amateur to pro.later tonight when all the officials are gone they are having their own tournament at the workers gym.it is going to be huge as a lot of people couldn't get tickets to the official events.they tried to talk me into being the referee but would get me a small split of the purse.emptying my wallet in poker is bad enough,but i draw the line at looking like a girl.

later peeps, you can't imagine how exciting its getting

 

thurs 21

got a call early from my agent who says hes over the moon that ive signed up for the robben island swim.turns out theres sponsors lined up for charity already and i cant back out.getting a bit nervous hope it doesnt take longer than five minutes.marie biscuit spends fifteen on hers and she is a pro swimmer.

oh we had a really crap day at the office,everyone bombed out of their events even polony the 800m guy who came second in athens didnt even make his final.the relay butterfingers dropped the baton.i could go on, but theres a whole state of bad mood here and the fingerpointing has begun again.

plus we had rain today.stacks of rain, so no riding the super muddy course.skizo's finals were postponed by a day.there was so much mud on the xc course that we have the chicks riding the same day as us.this sucks as they are going to rip the course to pieces before we ride it.

it was kinda cool hangin with all the peeps at the clubhouse.they put up the start list on the notice board.i'm on the second row so will have to just overtake the guys with more points like ive been doing the whole year.mannie has been up to his usual stuff with his bush stories and now there is this new guy from zim.his name is andipass, like i ride fast 'and i pass you'.this oke looks like a beast.mannie said they all laughed when the kenyans first rocked up at the epic and but then were shocked at how good they could ride.he was at the african champs last year and he did really well only getting lapped near the end, especially since he was on a giant rincon with flat pedals. he said he has a much better bike now and is much quicker.i dunno as later we saw him on a giant yukon with deore.hope its his practice bike.

there was a bit of a drug scare, with fingers getting pointed at germany and ireland.the three krauts and the leprechaun went straight to their coaches to try get hold of their lawyers,but all was cool when we heard later it was actually horses failing drug tests at the showjumping event.horses on the juice-what next?

otherwise everything is focussed on the big race, not even going to the hockey boys bingo evening tonight.marie biscuit got hold of a dvd that we watched as the weather was so bad. 'escape from absolom' – which is kinda what i hope to do on about the third lap.

as you know its a really good field out there and just a top 5 is pretty good for me, as i will have to beat some big names.luckily mannie has been in this game for a while and has helped out. The three swiss riders are all ahead of me. Their block is right next to ours and we sneaked in there the other night and put rude messages under their doors. it was all in german but it was stuff like 'florian is a monkey and rides like a girl'!it seems to be working as they weren't talking, so hopefully they try kill each other and don't work against us as a team.

thanks for all the messages guys and girls, hold thumbs this is the business time

dart

 

fri 22

6kays! And the water is freezing. I must learn to shut my mouth in the future.anyway will have to worry about that later and find some race or training camp that gets me out of it, more importnat things here right now.

well i'm sure you all saw the bmx final?it just sucks big time, as skizo was being so patient and smooth the whole way through. hes gutted, but i'll just have to do my best for him tomorrow.they are such a cool crowd and just accept that no-one wants to crash and its just part of the game.i reckon the aussie cut him off!at least some of our GT boys got some metal.all of a sudden guys are putting their hopes on me or the marathon runners.the weight of a nation is heavy.

there are some ridiculous sports here.GM should so be ripping his DH bike off a mountain for a medal.50Km walk, you have got to be kidding.those guys just keep going round in circles and its lke they looking for the bogs.

had a chat with mr lee from the factory. all the workers are coming to watch at the track, he said not to worry about the Burry range falling behind schedule, as all their kids know how the machines work and will cover for the day.

mannie came for a chat, after watching the bmx we reckon it might be okay to barge, push and shove in the race. he's at his last olympics so doesn't mind sacrificing himself to help me and take out as many of the guys as possible. in return i had to promise that i would never grow a mullet again – that's his mr. africa trademark and it pissed him off when i stole it! talking of hair, you might see mine is, well special edition for the race. looks funny under the helmet, but i'll take it off for the podium.

a lot of the peeps have already left for home, and the ones still here are partying big time.like the hockey chicks who finally won a game.they are having a fines evening right next to my room, that kate chick is a hottie, she must be on chickipedia. luckily ryk left me the keys to his – it's twice the size of any of the other ones.and i also found out where all the pronutro was – in his room!the bastard, at least i will have my turbo energy for breakfast tomorrow.

its now just down to a bike race, speedy is on at 4am in sa, i'm on at 9am. hope you all cancel riding for the day. and who knows maybe they will have Nkosi' Sikelele Afrika on the tv tomorrow

(twice, because it will definitely be on before the rugby! we will be watching that game at ekhaya for sure, go bokke)

Olympic Diaries (from thehub.co.za. Author: Africanmtbkid)

Date: 20080824