While I was out this morning on one of my many to come Cape Epic training rides on a familiar route, I was wondering if I was quicker or slower today than the other day. So then I thought to myself, “Why am I doing this, why am I riding so much to try to get a better placing at Cape Epic 2008?” And so my mind wandered onto racing, what is the point, why bother? Why not just ride for enjoyment and not bother with training, programs, races, times etc. How did I land up here, in this racing mode?
Well I guess I started riding just like everyone else on weekends for fun. But with limited routes, places to ride and know how there was not much progression. Wanting more excitement, destinations and some challenges from friends, and here I am riding MTB races. Not a bad thing at all, great for fitness, health and sense of achievement having completed some of the tougher events around. But if you look carefully through the woods you will see the MTB landscape changing, there are signs all over the place.
The recent 10th anniversary edition of Ride mag shows just how everyone is into MTB. It has kept bike shops going as traffic and safety has people leaving the tar for dirt. Mountain Bike innovation is a whole topic to itself. MTB race organisers continue to innovate as MTB races have become lifestyle events. Mountain Bike Parks like Logwood and Giba Gorge start emerging and mountain bikers get stuck into trail construction like the various work parties at work in Tokai, Groenkloof and even around Braamfontein Spruit. Mountain bike holidays by South Africans in South Africa is a reality with the likes of Cycle Mashatu getting return visitors back every year.
And so the pressure mounts on both sides of the MTB fence, namely the property owners and the riders. A recent insert on 50/50 about mountain biking in the Melville Koppies area had local MTBers up in arms as does regular moans and groans from other trail users in the Cape Peninsula area. Cycling South Africa tries desperately to get more riders to register and continues to think up better ways (seems like more complicated ways sometimes) to license riders. But quietly a whole movement is gaining momentum as racing becomes just another thing to do and not the thing to do.
African Mountain Bike Association or AMA for short is the way forward for anyone who likes riding MTB. Why? Well because it is a trail advocacy organisation affiliated to IMBA (International Mountain bike Association). It is there as a voice for mountain bikers, flying the flag. AMA Rider is a mountain bike advocacy organisation aimed at improving mountain bike opportunities on the African continent. There are really exciting things in the future of MTB with long travel trail bikes starting to filter into bike shops and more riding opportunities opening up, get behind the AMA www.amarider.co.za - Its the future of MTB.
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