Craig has a long history in the bike & sporting goods industry and has experience in both the wholesale and retail sectors.

Craig Casey-Hughes

We met up with the SA team at King Shaka Airport in Durban to fly to World Champs in Champery, Switzerland, on Friday the 26th August 2011.

I was super excited for this trip to Switzerland as I had never been overseas before.
We landed in Dubai, it is a super-hot place and we tried to have a sleep in the airport.

When we were coming into Switzerland we could see the huge mountains, it was such an awesome sight. We arrived in Geneva, then set off to Champery, the drive there was really amazing seeing different parts of the world and how beautiful the place was.
We got to Champery, got settled and did a bit of sight seeing by riding different tracks traveling up on the ski lifts and riding down a downhill track and then up again, it was one of the best days of my life.

On Monday I took a walk to the track and saw the mountains, I have never seen anything like this, the ski lift just went straight up, the track was so steep, I got a bit nervous of this track. We did a track walk with the SA team finding some lines, it was really hard to even walk down the track. But I was ampt to ride a different kind of track.

First practice day was really good although I was really scared riding down the track.
I had a good night’s rest and woke up early because the practice for the Junior’s was really short during the week.
Second practice day was good, you had to hold the brakes the whole way down. I kept on seeing the helicopters coming to fetch other riders who had crashed, it was quite a scary sight. I had another good day of practice.

On Thursday after practice when I was washing my bike I noticed that I had a crack in the frame, it was a very horrible moment, I felt sick. Then it was a bad rush to find a frame. Unfortunately I could not get the same frame as we were on the other side of the World. I went around begging to borrow a frame, eventually I got one but it was not one that I was used to and I was very nervous for my timed session run. Rob built my bike with the borrowed frame on Thursday a night. So I used the timed session as a practice on the Friday.

The track was a bit slippery and when I got to the top of the track my stomach was sore because I was so nervous. I was breathing really heavy and I felt my heart beating in my chest. But when I came out the start gate I tried to ride as smooth as possible, but because the track is so steep it was really hard. I had quite a big crash in my run and got a 52 place. I was really battling to get used to the bike.

I had one practice day on the bike but still could not get used to it and then the sky’s opened up and it poured with rain, really heavy rain and I was super nervous being on a different bike on the steepest track in the world.

I got all ready for the race, went up the ski lift to the top. But there was a delay because one of the Junior girls had to get air lifted off the track. All I wanted to do was to make it down the track alive.

With my heart beating in my throat, I flew out the start gate. Although it was still pouring I was determine to do my best, hitting the first jumps, then into the steep section where I washed out and went down the rocky rooty part on my bottom. I grabbed my bike and pushed, towards the finish I went over my bars in the steepest part on the track losing all my speed for the last jumps, by then I was full of mud. I’ve never raced a race stressing so much just to stay on the bike. I left a lot of skin on the track but was pleased to come out alive. I finished in 48th place, I am reasonably happy with it, as I had only one day of practice on a bike I’m not used to and a crazy steep track in the pouring rain. I have learnt a lot from this trip, it was a really awesome experience.

I would like to thank Robert Cunnington for all the work he put into my bike and the late nights he spent building the bike and for being at the top of the track helping us to relax, make us feel good and to give us confident. I’d also like to thank Brian Straus and Mike Bradley for all their help and support during the World Champs. Thank you all.

I would like to thank all the people that were involved with helping us to get to the World Champs in Switzerland.

I would also like to thank my sponsors Mike and Conrad from Maverick Cycles, Rob from Race Face and Mitch from Hilton Health and Fitness Gym.

Not the Best Time of My Life.

So it’s all over bar the shouting and there will be some shouting, but more on that later. The fourth and final round of the South African DH National Cup Series took place this last weekend in the Hartbeespoort area, near Johannesburg. The venue was again a bit of a last minute thing, but was really well put together and good fun. It was also the first National race I’ve been to in a long time that was so well sponsored. The goodie bags were packed with cool stuff and the prizes where really great.

As usual we head off on Thursday afternoon and because it was a shorter trip than some of the other away nationals this year, we got to our destination early enough to get a good night’s rest. We stayed at Casa De Weber (my mom-in-laws place) and that in itself made the weekend worth the drive. She is a great cook and awesome host and made all of us feel right at home from the moment we got there. Thanks mom.

Friday morning was sunny in Gauteng, but cold and windy (glad I had my Dakine Zephyr jacket and Defender gloves), so we all seemed a little sluggish and spent a long time eating breakfast and talking around the table, before heading out to the track to walk it and get in some practice runs.

The track was well designed and used a lot of the natural features of the hill. I’m not going to lie: I hate rocks, and this track was pretty much a rock garden from top to bottom. In fact the joke after the track walk was, “What are you going to do after the first rock garden”. And the answer would be something like “Well I’ll cross the finish line”. But we all knew that any track in Gauteng was going to be rocky, so we tried hard to work it out. Watching some of the fast kids like Kelvin Purchase on the track made me realize that you just have to go fast and deal with what ever track you are presented with.

After a few practice runs, I started to find some good rhythm on the track and even started to jump to a comfortable landing on some of the tech little step downs on the course. I really started to like the rocks even though they where beating me up a bit. You just kind of felt like you had been in some kind of fight after a few runs. I felt like I could put together a good run on the track, and then Matt crashed.

I was sitting in the pits having a bit of food and something to drink, when I noticed Matt standing in amongst a bunch of medics and looking a bit sore. He had fallen after a road gap about halfway down the track, and collected a rock with his shoulder. The collar bone was broken and was trying to push it’s way out of his body. We packed him up and I drove him back to Joburg, to Olivedale Clinic to get sorted out. The drive back gave me time to contemplate to fact that it is not a case of if, but rather when you crash, how bad will it be. To much thinking made me loose my nerve.

After I was finished at the hospital, I got home, and spent some time with family and friends from JHB. That was good and I started to relax about the track. I got some sleep and got ready for another day of practice on Saturday. After another awesome breakfast we headed out and I did a really good practice run to start the day on the track. After that things just seemed to fall apart. The track felt like it was just getting harder and harder and I got tireder and tireder.

The track really did beat you up and I was stoked to just head home and clean and prep my bike for race day, and just chill out. Gertrud had put together an awesome dinner for us and after a bit of banter around the dinner table, we all headed off to bed to get a good night’s rest.

We got to the track really early on Sunday morning to try get a few practise runs in. My practice run went okay, but I just didn’t feel fast. My first race run felt much the same and Matt even commented that I looked like I was going half throttle. I decided to just try relax and not push to hard at the top, to try and have some energy for the more pedally bottom section. The second run went a bit better, but I only took 2 seconds off my first run. I needed to go much faster.

Not a great result and I am pretty disappointed with my time, but I still managed to finish off the year in second place and walk away from the 2011 season with no major injuries. I am stoked that I made it onto CSharps Facebook page in the best photos of the weekend (they put up 13 images to promote the pictures they shot on the weekend). The rest of the year is going to be a mix of getting ready for the new addition to the family and just riding my bike as much as I can.

This will not be my last race, or ride report for the year, but I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all my sponsors and the people who have helped me though out the year. Chad, Jake and Mickey for hooking me up with awesome kit from Dakine, Von Zipper and Nixon; Rob for the very best tyres (ITS) and lubes (Motorex) and cleaners; for your help with Race Face. Then to Des Purchase for helping me get all around the country to races and last my beautiful wife and her awesome mom and dad, for all their support. All you guys make me feel so good.

PS: I say there would be more about the shouting, so here it is. There have been major problems at CSA this year and I’m not convinced that they will go away in a hurry. The one that affects me is that the rules about licensing are not being adhered to, meaning that a protest that is currently going on, could move a rider that has ridden fun class for the year, into Sub-Vet and change the points standing quite dramatically. This would move Matt to second and me to third for the year. Matt and I have just decide to let it go, as it’s not really worth the fight, but I’m not sure for myself if all the sacrifice needed to compete in the “sport” of DH is worth it. Personally I would like to start to push my limits in a more Freeride direction and spend some time teaching people to ride their bikes better. I would really like to continue to represent all of you who have help me so much as I change my focus. I hope you can see value in that as well.

It has been a long year, one in which I have traveled extensively both by road and by plane. It has all been in the name of chasing a title, a number and pursuing a dream.

This weekend was the final National DH in a series of 4; it was hosted by Gauteng and held in Hartebeespoort, at a venue called Stonehouse Lodge. The Johannesburg faithful were lucky enough to have raced here in our Gauteng DH Series, and this gave us the all important “home advantage”…….for once. Leading up to the race I had had a bad training accident, knocking myself unconscious and needing several physio sessions to sort out a very sore back. In the end it all came together just in time and I found myself at the final race of the year nursing a very sore body, but adamant to take part. I had calculated that I needed to take a minimum of 3^rd place to secure the all important SA #1; this was the strategy going into the weekend.

Due to work commitments I could not practice on Friday and arrived at the track on Saturday a little apprehensive and a little unconfident. My confidence was not helped by a crash that I had early on in the morning, something that I was becoming a little too accustomed to. I had played with the suspension settings and had been caught out by setting them too soft. I set about riding the rest of the day with Sean and Josh, funnily enough both from brands that I represent, and the day got much better. Sometimes you need to find the enjoyment in the riding again, and the speed follows. I practiced a few sections that were worrying me and then called it a day to rest up.

On Sunday I arrived feeling confident that I could get a good run in…….WRONG! Second run of the morning and I threw it away in big pieces, broke my rear wheel, took pieces out of my helmet and more worryingly, tweaked my back badly again. I sat out the rest of the morning and felt extremely sorry for myself. After a good mope session I climbed on to the up-lift and headed up for my race run. Waiting for your turn to start is the most surreal thing to experience, you go thru the un in your head and try to find that extra second here or there, only to find when the countdown starts…you go blank and just ride.

My first race run is just that, Blank. I don’t remember too much of it, I can only say that it did not involve a crash! After my first run I had a 20 second advantage over the 2^nd placed Vet rider, which surprised me as I did not feel I was that much quicker than him. I had a chin wag with the commissars’ to find out if it was definitely a best of 2 runs format. After receiving confirmation that it was best of 2 runs, I decided that due to the agony I was in I would only run my 2^nd race run if anyone bettered my time. I reported to the start area and after a while was given the message that no one had bettered my time on their 2^nd run, handing me the victory on the day!

Since I only needed to come 3^rd to secure the championship, I was now officially SA #1, SA MTB VETS NATIONAL DOWNHILL SERIES CHAMP 2011

In a series of four races, I had won two, come second in one and the Port Elizabeth round was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. I can add this to my MONGOSE GAS GAUTENG VETS PROVINCIAL CUP CHAMPION 2011

Overall positions for National round #4 Veteran Men

1^st James Morland                                                      2:00:560

2^nd Norman Hatherley                                                      2:17:188

3^rd Desmond Purchase                                                      2:22:250