Thanks to all of you mountain bikers

Together we have reached another milestone in our quest to share the love of mountain biking. Our Facebook page has 999 likes so the next one will be 1000. That is 1000 more people who are happy to share the love of mountain biking. Thanks to all of you for being out there, committing and spreading the word.

We created our site back in 2004/2005 just as mountain biking was gathering momentum. Since then we have been sharing info, helping out and most of all having a blast riding our bikes with more and more people in more and more locations at more and more events. From humble beginnings our site mtbonline.co.za now services more than 13000 people per month who view more than 1000 pages a day from our site. The most popular pages are our shops page, races, mountain bikes for sale and MTB buyers guide.

Over the years we also added our average guy blog, newsletter and our facebook page to provide more regular info and as additional platforms to share more.

So if you have benefited from our info and like what we do why not share the MTB love and invite a friend, because the more the merrier.

Share your tips and experiences at our blog or leaving a comment on MTBOnline Facebook. 

www.mtbonline.co.za

MTB Trail Bucket list

If you take a look at all the different MTB trail options available in South Africa you have to ask yourself where have you ridden and where would you still like to ride? Most of us just head out to our old favorite but there are many other options and new trails coming up all the time. Now days there are many different groups of people involved in trail building and the results are evident with many quality marked trails around the country. 

We have just updated our trail listing with some links to trails in south of Johannesburg and in Karkloof KZN. One of the greatest pleasures in mountain biking is riding a new trail that you have never ridden so spoil yourself and break some new ground. Start that MTB trail bucket list and experience the variety that we have on our doorstep.

Share your tips and experiences at our blog or leaving a comment on MTBOnline Facebook. 

www.mtbonline.co.za

An Epic Fail

The fairy tale mountain bike film An Epic Tale turned into an epic fail this week as a small bomb hit South African mountain biking with David George from the Nedbank 360Life team testing positive for EPO use in August. Unbelievable and a huge disappointment to everyone but not complete surprise to some pros. David came from road cycling and had spent time in Europe where he had been warned about suspected EPO use before. 

Twitter was full of scathing comments immediately after the Cyclingsa news broke. One of the first was Robbie Hunter "@RobbieHunter: 15 year time bomb just went bang....". Christoph Sauser also didn't hold back tweeting @Sauserwind "wish that guy never turned to mtb". Downhiller Gred Minnaar had this to say @gregminnaar "I don't even know why I'm disappointed in David George's positive test, it was only a matter of time.... You can only dodge so many bullets". But my favorite tweet was from Amarider @meurant  "At IMBA summit doping was 10sec joke. We then spent 3 days talking trails and advocacy. Doping affects those with commercial interests..."

Nedbank pulled their sponsorship of the team leaving innocent riders Kevin Evans and James Reid out in the cold. Many say they should punish only the guilty and leave the innocent?

Share your tips and experiences at our blog or leaving a comment on MTBOnline Facebook. 

www.mtbonline.co.za

10 Years Untamed 2013 ABSA Cape Epic Route

Ten years ago Kevin Vermaak had an idea to put on an 8 day mountain bike stage race across South Africa, some believed and some thought he was crazy. Little did they know that 10 years later it would put South Africa on the mountain biking map, bring the worlds best riders to our shores year after year and start a mountain bike stage racing trend.

This week the tenth edition of the ABSA Cape Epic Route for 2013 was reveled. The anticipation and excitement of the route is almost as big as the event itself, this year they have not disappointed with some virgin routes and great stage locations. Merendal, Citrusdal, Saronsberg in Tulbach, Wellington, Stellenbosch and Lourensford are the stage locations for 2013. Looking at the distances there is only one big stage of 145km otherwise distances are around 100km or less. Don't for a second think that this means that it is an easy route. The Epic is always hard so shorter distances usually mean rough terrain, technical riding and steep climbs. But you can make up your own mind by checking out the route video, with 7000 views in just 2 days it is clear that there is great excitement about the 2013 event..

Highlights of the race will be the prologue at Merendal with great views and awesome singletrack, the remoteness of the Cederberg, and then more world class singletrack in Wellington and Stellenbosch. By now riders will have started their training for the start in March next year as a good 4 to 5 months of training are needed to if you want to cross the finish line after 8 days of riding. For some training tips, program and guidance checkout the Epic training guide.

Share your tips and experiences at our blog or leaving a comment on MTBOnline Facebook. 

www.mtbonline.co.za