MTBOnline wants to congratulate Burry Stander on a world class performance at Fort William. The young South African placed a very respectable 6th overall in the U23 race.
Good Work!!
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Monday, September 03, 2007
Mountain bikers, mountain goats, dust and mud
Some of the recent mountain bike races in the Cape have left me wondering if there are any easy MTB races south of the Karoo. Cape riders are quick to chirp the GP counterparts when it comes to mountains. But having lived in GP land for many years I know that the riding there is not just gravel travel like most Capies will have you believe. Cool west rand singletrack, technical Klaperkop decents and the holly Bredesneck rides will convince you of that. Races like the Fort to Fort, this years Heritage classic and the aptly named Magalies Monster can be technical challenges of note.
But having spent almost 3 years riding in the Cape now I have to admit that race organisers here are either not scared to throw in mountains or more than likely don’t have a choice. While GP riders wallow in the dust scared of the west Cape winters, the local riders are spoilt for choice. Just this weekend you had a choice of some green Swartland singletrack or trusty Stellenbosch mud. Koringberg in the Swartland had cool cloudy weather to tackle 70 odd kilometres with almost 1600m of climbing, mostly on technical singletrack climbs and decents. While in Stellenbosch they had mud and 40km with over 1400m of climbing on some fresh single track.
So some things are guaranteed and other not. Like if you ride in the Cape make sure you have your climbing legs on, and yes it may be wet. If you are in Gauteng, you can take your MTB along, just find some of that dusty singletrack, it is quite different to the mud.
Koringberg Singletrack
But having spent almost 3 years riding in the Cape now I have to admit that race organisers here are either not scared to throw in mountains or more than likely don’t have a choice. While GP riders wallow in the dust scared of the west Cape winters, the local riders are spoilt for choice. Just this weekend you had a choice of some green Swartland singletrack or trusty Stellenbosch mud. Koringberg in the Swartland had cool cloudy weather to tackle 70 odd kilometres with almost 1600m of climbing, mostly on technical singletrack climbs and decents. While in Stellenbosch they had mud and 40km with over 1400m of climbing on some fresh single track.
So some things are guaranteed and other not. Like if you ride in the Cape make sure you have your climbing legs on, and yes it may be wet. If you are in Gauteng, you can take your MTB along, just find some of that dusty singletrack, it is quite different to the mud.
Koringberg Singletrack
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Eurobike 2007 - 1
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Eurobike 2007
2008 Rock Shox SID
XTR Shadow.
XT Wheels
Merida Prototype.
Scott was showing a 6.7KG MTB!
Friday, August 10, 2007
Real Mountain biking
So you thought that the Cape Epic with its 140km 3000m ascent was a hectic mountain bike race stage? Well that ain't nothin when you look at some races in Switzeland. Christoph Sauser, winner of the ABSA Cape Epic spent over 6 hours in the saddle at the recent Swiss Bike Masters Race, and that was good enough for 2nd place after a sprint finish.
The route was 120km long with 5000m of vertical ascent, plus it was raining and wet. If that is too much then you could choose to do the shorter route at 75km and 3000m ascent. So the next time you are out on a tough MTB race route, just think that it could be so much worse - or better depending on your point of view.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
The end of a legend
Today is a sad day for team Subaru. Subaru South Africa will no longer support the team in the forth coming ABSA Cape Epic. To keep in line with new company strategies Subaru will be unable to continue its sponsorship of the team.
Alan and Albert would like to thank Subaru for their support over the last 3 years. It has been a great ride!
With little less than a week left until entry fees must be paid, it was doubtful that these 2 stalwarts of the Cape Epic will complete a fourth event.
But then the good news came - Team BBB Maxxis was born. Look out for news of this new team flying the flag for average guys everywhere.
Alan and Albert would like to thank Subaru for their support over the last 3 years. It has been a great ride!
With little less than a week left until entry fees must be paid, it was doubtful that these 2 stalwarts of the Cape Epic will complete a fourth event.
But then the good news came - Team BBB Maxxis was born. Look out for news of this new team flying the flag for average guys everywhere.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Full Suspension vs Hardtail
Reading a race report on the African championships held recently in Namibia I see that a full suspension bike came out tops. Granted it was piloted by Burry Stander who has really picked up speed since he has been racing full time in the US with the GT team. But this is not the first time that Burry has won a cross country race on a full suspension bike. With most of his competitors opting for the conventional hardtails for the apparent benefits of acceleration and weight, it has to make you wonder?
Sure some sponsored riders have to ride what they are given. But when you are gunning for the top like Burry with Olympic qualifying on your mind, you take the best weapon available, as Burry puts it in his blog, “we were off to the track, i rode the ht at first to see how it would go but after two laps i decide to head back to the hotel and fetch the full suss. the gt marathon was the perfect bike for the job as the course was super rocky and the descents were long.”
Burry won that race by a comfortable 9min !
Sure some sponsored riders have to ride what they are given. But when you are gunning for the top like Burry with Olympic qualifying on your mind, you take the best weapon available, as Burry puts it in his blog, “we were off to the track, i rode the ht at first to see how it would go but after two laps i decide to head back to the hotel and fetch the full suss. the gt marathon was the perfect bike for the job as the course was super rocky and the descents were long.”
Burry won that race by a comfortable 9min !
The Marathon Team has a 100mm travel carbon fiber monocoque I-Drive 4 frame. The carbon rear swingarm assembly is new and is outfitted with a full XTR group and Fox 32 RL fork. The bike is stiff and light and both Todd Wells and Burry Stander have been getting impressive World Cup results on the new frame.
Check out Burry's Blog for latest news, http://burrystander.typepad.com/
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Ryan cox R.I.P.
It is a sad sad day for anyone related to cycling. Ryan Cox one of South Africas great cyclists passed away today.
He was a two-time SA road cycling champion, also won the Giro del Capo and the Malaysian Tour de Langkawi and represented South Africa at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne last year and part of the Barloworld team.
He died after recovering from a recent operation to fix a knotted artery in his leg. More on this
Long live his memory and what he achieved in cycling.
Ryancox.co.za
He was a two-time SA road cycling champion, also won the Giro del Capo and the Malaysian Tour de Langkawi and represented South Africa at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne last year and part of the Barloworld team.
He died after recovering from a recent operation to fix a knotted artery in his leg. More on this
Long live his memory and what he achieved in cycling.
Ryancox.co.za
Thursday, July 26, 2007
The Dope Fest
Cycling is under assault by the dope show. Being a mountain biker, roadie, downhiller whatever, you can’t help being drawn into this and being tarnished with the poisoned needle. I cannot agree more with the harsh penalties being dished out, there must be consequences and standards, and if you want to win the game you must play by the rules.
But it makes me wonder if it is going to make it all go away. Are we treating the cause or are we treating the symptom. The big stick approach seldom works because often you are beating an already broken man. Should we not be trying to fix this broken man. I wonder if we really understand this doping thing, I mean really understand it. Where does it all start, what drives someone like Vino to dope knowing the risks of being caught? What is someone’s state of mind when they make this decision?
Why is taking an illegal substance worse than taking a legal substance, are you not improving your performance artificially in both cases?
David Miller a reformed doper talks about and understands these things. He points out how grey the area is that when these guys start it is not for the glory and the money but more like desperation, obligations etc. Only they will know, and when no one is really talking how will we ever know what it really is all about.
But I guess for now the only route is the UCI stick route, but somehow that just seems to damage and make for the worst PR ever.
Maybe the pain we all feel is the way it is meant to be. Fact is it is happening everywhere, denying that is they got here in the first place. So the fact that everyday someone gets booted out is the right thing for now, but it can’t be the only long term solution.
But it makes me wonder if it is going to make it all go away. Are we treating the cause or are we treating the symptom. The big stick approach seldom works because often you are beating an already broken man. Should we not be trying to fix this broken man. I wonder if we really understand this doping thing, I mean really understand it. Where does it all start, what drives someone like Vino to dope knowing the risks of being caught? What is someone’s state of mind when they make this decision?
Why is taking an illegal substance worse than taking a legal substance, are you not improving your performance artificially in both cases?
David Miller a reformed doper talks about and understands these things. He points out how grey the area is that when these guys start it is not for the glory and the money but more like desperation, obligations etc. Only they will know, and when no one is really talking how will we ever know what it really is all about.
But I guess for now the only route is the UCI stick route, but somehow that just seems to damage and make for the worst PR ever.
Maybe the pain we all feel is the way it is meant to be. Fact is it is happening everywhere, denying that is they got here in the first place. So the fact that everyday someone gets booted out is the right thing for now, but it can’t be the only long term solution.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
South Africa on the international MTB Map
In today's Transalp stage 6 Brandon Stewart and SA Marathon champ Kevin Evans crossed the line first! They edged out Cape Epic winners; Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm in a sprint finish.
It is truly a great day for South African Mountain biking! Everyone here at MTBOnline just want you guys to know that you ROCK!!
http://www.bike-transalp.de/englisch/
It is truly a great day for South African Mountain biking! Everyone here at MTBOnline just want you guys to know that you ROCK!!
http://www.bike-transalp.de/englisch/
Join an MTB community
Mountain biking communities are alive and well on the web. Infact they have been a real contributor to the growth of the sport in the last few years. The oldset and most estabilished is probably the warthogs group. Based in the Cape and setup as a ride notification list, this group is still as active as ever. Run as an e-mailing list you subscribe to it and can then receive all the mails and post replies. The other major mailing list out there is the spinman group which has most of its users based in Gauteng. Also an e-mail list this group of mountain bikers discuss anything and everything related to mountain biking. these lists are great to get to meet fellow riders and join on some of the informal rides organised. Find out more of these lists here
But if you are not into e-mail lists and the inevitable volume of mail, chit chat and addiction that it brings then maybe a web based forum is more for you. The recently re-vamped MTBForum is a dedicated online mountain biking forum for South Africa. It is just the place to pop in and find out some relevant info or see what is going on. There is also a facility for buying and selling bikes through a free classifieds forum. Organisers and event managers are encouraged to make use of the events forum to share information about there events.
But if you are not into e-mail lists and the inevitable volume of mail, chit chat and addiction that it brings then maybe a web based forum is more for you. The recently re-vamped MTBForum is a dedicated online mountain biking forum for South Africa. It is just the place to pop in and find out some relevant info or see what is going on. There is also a facility for buying and selling bikes through a free classifieds forum. Organisers and event managers are encouraged to make use of the events forum to share information about there events.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Specialized Stumpjumper 2008 - Carbon tweaked
The new specialized stumpjumper trail mountain bike has been unveiled in Spain recently. It has not taken specialised long to re look this model. Average guy reviewed the specialized stumpjumper 2006 just the other day, and already there is a new one!
Specialized has really made some drastic improvements to the stumpy. If this isn't a sign that carbon is here to stay then I don't know what is. Just about every improvement on this bike relates to carbon tweaking. They took some design cues from the enduro and shed 200g of weight off the S-works carbon frame with a bunch of improvements. Carbon fiber seat stays shave weight, down tube is larger in diameter and now spans the full width of the bottom bracket shell and the drive side dropout is also carbon fiber.
Other weight saving comes from further integration of the frame and the fork which are now a matching set so you can't swap out. Although it is limiting for customising it makes sense from a weight and control perspective. It is a great looking mountain bike with a serious name behind it.
The verdict from Average Guy:
That bike really looks awesome! I just can’t believe that Spaz has such Cr@p cable routing!! Did you see the bottom of the bike. Dit lyk soos n hoers nes!!!!
Read the full story with pics of the Specialized Stumpjumper 2008
More new Specialized bikes
Friday, June 29, 2007
New Bikes 2008
It is that time of the year again. Bike shop stocks are low and the latest and greatest sits on the horison. News is coming in steadily of new mountain bike releases, model upgrades, lighter bikes, new dealerships etc. New bike designs and specs for 2008 are wrapped up. They are now into production to make the deadline launch dates for later in the year.
Cannondale is busy testing the new Scalpel. For 2008 Cannondale is redesigning its cross country race bike the Scalpel. It now looks like the bike will be sporting around 100mm of rear travel using flex chain stays and a swing link suspension. Rumours are that the bike will be tested this season and once all the angles and tweaks are confirmed they will be producing a carbon version.
Read the full Cannondale Scalpel 2008 story
Other news in SA is the arrival of some premium bike brands from the USA. From August you will be able to get hold of Tomac mountain bikes as well as the super cool Ibis Mojo full suspension carbon trail bike. Also set to receive a boost in our local market is the Intense range of mountain bikes. The agency was recently acquired by Probike who are set to inject new life into the brand.
Cannondale is busy testing the new Scalpel. For 2008 Cannondale is redesigning its cross country race bike the Scalpel. It now looks like the bike will be sporting around 100mm of rear travel using flex chain stays and a swing link suspension. Rumours are that the bike will be tested this season and once all the angles and tweaks are confirmed they will be producing a carbon version.Read the full Cannondale Scalpel 2008 story
Other news in SA is the arrival of some premium bike brands from the USA. From August you will be able to get hold of Tomac mountain bikes as well as the super cool Ibis Mojo full suspension carbon trail bike. Also set to receive a boost in our local market is the Intense range of mountain bikes. The agency was recently acquired by Probike who are set to inject new life into the brand.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Fizik Gobi 2008 - spy shots
Fizik is improving their popular Gobi saddle. Can it get better you ask? With many many endurance mountain bikers opting for the comfortable Gobi with wing flex, it seems like there is nothing to improve?
Well our spy pics show that they have improved on it.
Looking at the saddle you will notice that there is less of a curve in the middle and the nose is wider. This improved design also means that there is more flex at the end. Sounds like good improvements to me, making climbing a bit more comfortable, as you shift weight onto the front of the saddle there will be a bit more real estate to perch on.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Mountain Bike Blogging
This is my first post on Average Guy's blog. Being the average guy means that day job and life pressures don't always allow for plenty postings. That is where bUnDi comes in, the secret force behind average guy, propelling him to fame and fortune. That is mostly off the bike, on the bike it is a different story. I will share some of my experiences on and off the bike and bring you some bits and pieces from my wanderings on the Internet.
Anyway I have just updated www.mtbonline.co.za with a new page featuring some of (read only) South African biking blogs. There are some really interesting folks out there sharing their riding and biking experiences. Some ride more than others but they never the less have a passion for cycling and specifically mountain biking.
From keen mountain biker Japie to bike shop owner Steve to bike industry main man Brandon Els of Raleigh. Take a peek into their worlds and see what they are on about.
Find the links at http://www.mtbonline.co.za/averageguy/blog.htm
Anyway I have just updated www.mtbonline.co.za with a new page featuring some of (read only) South African biking blogs. There are some really interesting folks out there sharing their riding and biking experiences. Some ride more than others but they never the less have a passion for cycling and specifically mountain biking.
From keen mountain biker Japie to bike shop owner Steve to bike industry main man Brandon Els of Raleigh. Take a peek into their worlds and see what they are on about.
Find the links at http://www.mtbonline.co.za/averageguy/blog.htm
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