June 09: Greetings from Botswana…..

My job brought me out to South Africa at the end of February (I work in the diamond industry) and despite a few weeks of partying and more drinking & red meat than my body has ever known I have managed to keep on top of things and get some quality training in and even some races.

For the last 2 weeks I have been here in Gaborone, Botswana I am due to be based here for another week before returning to South Africa (again).

By coincidence I was lucky enough to be over here for the MTB world cup in South Africa – I was desperate to race however Whyte are not UCI registered so unfortunately it was a nonstarter.

The racing was fantastic to watch seeing local boy Burry putting in a superb ride, seeing the Brits podium in the downhill with Tracey taking the win on her birthday all of these moments made for the most amazing weekend.

Here in Botswana I have mainly been in the Gym most days after work, luckily we are on a four day week here so come Friday I hit the road on my Whyte 19 which I brought with me from the UK. I manage to get a good few hours in every day over the weekend before living the life of a pro and relaxing by the pool for the remainder of the day – if only life could always be this good!

When I return to SA on the 12th June I’m planning on competing in a race the following day. The courses are generally quite flat and typically quite sandy with rocky technical sections. I wouldn’t say the terrain plays to my strengths but equally I’m not to disadvantaged, but a few hills would be nice.

In SA I have hooked up with some great riding buddies so that really helps keep me from the party scene – although I do stray occasionally to their disappointment (must be the influence of Paul ‘lazyboy’ Lasenby)

Over here however we are fast approaching winter so many of the riders are hitting the gyms with the occasional ride. Hopefully though for me it will be like an extended winter of training – you never know it could pay off for the cross season? Because unfortunately by the time I return I will have missed a majority of the MTB racing. You never know if I avoid getting sick over winter I might even make the annual trip with the Orange Monkeys to the Sunshine cup in Cyprus to give Roel some hassle again (well maybe in the signing on queue anyhow).

I’m still keeping up with the UK race scene constantly checking results and I’m proud to see my Team mate Billy Whenman ripping it up week in week out. The kid is looking super strong now and I really hope he gets the recognition he deserves.

Luke Smith
Whyte Racing UK