2009, What A Year!

Nic White, 15 December 2009

The year is at an end, and it has been a memorable one for me, my cycling team, Medscheme, and my family. This is just a short story to sum up my highlights of 2009!

The first big appointment and success came early at the Giro del Capo in March at the Argus Cycle Tour. Besides being a part of the team's success my own highlight was the second stage, where I managed to get into the break of the day, and although being in the move with eventual winner Chris Froome, I succumbed to the heat and disappeared from the front, eventually finishing 6th on the day, but won the King of the Mountains jersey for my efforts!

The final day of the Giro del Capo turned into our biggest success, when my team mate, Arran Brown won the Argus Cycle Tour! For years we have been trying to get our nominated riders to win the race. This year Arran stepped up to the plate and won the sprint from very good company!

SA Championships a few days later was an objective for me, and although I was able to ride in the escape, I could not make a winning move. I only managed to finish 4th, just outside of the medals, pleased, but still slightly disappointed for missing the podium!

The next goal we had was the Air Force Cycling Classic in the USA, and although we only had a small opportunity to stay and race in the states, we had a great experience and we hope to get another chance to race stateside!

I arranged a cycling trip to Switzerland in July, and coincided the six days of riding with the arrival of the Tour de France in Verbier! We got to enjoy some great mountain biking in the Alps, Great Swiss hospitality and the day at the Tour was fabulous. What an experience! It was truly fantastic!

The second half of the year started well, with Malcolm Lange reaching a milestone in his career, achieving his 400th career win! The day came sooner than we had anticipated, in Randfontein, but there were still a few more before the season ended, and Malcolm notched up to number 403!

I tried my hand at some MTB racing, and at one of my favorites, the Ride Crater Cruise in October, and managed to have an incident free ride, and although not with the leaders, I finished on the podium in third place! What a tough race, it was not for sissies that one!

A couple of days later, my wife, Di, gave birth to our second son who we have called Thomas. This was another huge milestone for us, our family was growing, and with two boys!

The next huge achievement was the MTN Amashovashova. Arran Brown and Malcolm Lange finished first and second to take the third biggest one day race of the country in an incident filled finish! This victory gave Arran the lead in the Alpha Pharm series, which he was to go on and win in November.

It also paved the way for him to achieve a triple crown that has not been done by one rider before. Winning the three biggest participation races of the country in the same year, Arran managed to do that by taking the win at the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge a few weeks later! Our Team Medscheme dominated the day's race by having Hanco Kachelhoffer in the front move, but they were caught in the finish, and Brown and Lange finished it off well for the team!

There may have been only a few riders achieving most of our victories, but our team thrives on good team work and team spirit, and with out the support of all the riders and the staff, the successes would not be possible. Arran Brown, Waylon Woolcock, Hanco Kachelhoffer, Malcolm Lange, Neil MacDonald and myself have been the members of the 2009 Team Medscheme, with support from Magnus Gouws (Mechanic), Kandice Buys (Manager) amd Jackie Lange (Administrator).

Our Team, and Sponsors have been fantastic this year, Malcolm and Lange Sports did a great job to put together a great team and group of sponsors, namely: Medscheme, Imperial Toyota, BH Bikes, Shimano, Corima, Panda Sportswear, PVM, Pro, Vittoria tires, Fizzik saddles, Oakley eyewear, Dermalogica, Soviet jeans, Cyclesure, Cellini, Entelect, Met helmets, Linebreak compression garments, Suunto, Strides, Jurgens, Mark II Shammy cream and I hope I did not forget anyone. Thank you all for your support of our team in 2009.

Lastly, my annual ride through Lesotho, the 'Big Sky Ride' was a very memorable one in 2009, in the middle of summer, our group experienced snow in the mountains of Lesotho, and the 'White' Sky Ride may not easily be repeated!

It was an unbelievable experience for the select group that we had together on the trip through Lesotho. It was the 2 mile high club, our group that traversed the highest road through Southern Africa, topping out at 3288m!

I've enjoyed the support of Entelect for their Web Manager, and through them I have been able to bring you my newsletter through my web site that is hosted by them. Thank you Entelect for your support. Also to all of the people who kindly supplied photographs from races for my news, thank you very much, it added to my stories and was much appreciated!

Many thanks to everyone who has followed and supported us this year, May you have a fantastic festive season and happy New Year! Until then...