Joberg2C and Sani2C - its all happening in May

The mountain bike racing feast carries on and KZN continues to catch the mountain biking spotlight. Its all about getting to the sea on your bike down those pristine singletracks that Farmer Glen and his crew have organised. It has to be one of the coolest riding experiences in South Africa, in fact in May its probably going to be a bit of a freezing experience. The Underberg supermarkets must be coining it with all these hungry travelers passing through their sleepy hollow. 

The MTBOnline crew will be riding again as team Snackwells BATSEAL. We will be powered by Snackwells Chips, who are also an official supplier to Subaru Sani2C this year, so look out for those crisps to refuel your tired body. Then of course the tubeless wheels will be filled with BATSEAL tire sealant, our only choice for puncture protection. Bikes will be a full suspension Morewood Zula and a GT Zaskar 29er, both bikes fitted with Shimano groupsets and Ritchey components.

If you are riding Sani2C then good luck and see you on the trail, if not then check out this sani2c video of Day 2 and see what you will be missing out on. 

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Downhill finals video from UCI World Cup

The UCI World Cup in Pietermaritzburg has come and gone. Here is our final update on this event. It is a video of the downhill finals that went down to the wire with Greg Minnaar doing us proud. The video features snippets all the way down the track of most of the woman's and men's finalists, including several up and coming South Africans and all the big names including Peat, Atherton, Garcia, Minnaar and Neetling. Greg missed the top step by less than a quarter of a second to USA rider Aaron Gwin. The vibe and crowd noise on Greg's final run was something special. If you want to get exercise and watch sport at the same time then get out and support downhill MTB races, even the qualifying rounds, its the most fun you will have off your bike.

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Video from the XCO World Cup in Pietermatizburg

The MTB World Cup in Pietmermritzburg delivered some awesome racing. If you missed out on the action checkout our mtb world cup video of the mens final. Burry Stander had a bad day at the office with two wipe outs and a major mechanical to his derailleur that saw him pushing up the steep climb with no gears. His second wipeout in the notorious rock garden was spectacular. Looks like those big 29er wheels don't roll over everything after all.

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KZN is SA mecca of MTB?

Is KZN the mecca of mountain biking in South Africa? If not then they are rapidly on their way there, lets see how it stacks up. To be the mecca you would need at least some world class events, some local world champions and enough world class trails.

Well this weekend sees the MTB world cup in Pietermaritzburg and it is here for the second time so you can tick off the first requirement. Then competing in this event with realistic chances of winning will be two local world Champions in Burry Stander from the south coast and Greg Minnaar from the maritzburg area, so you can tick off the second requirement. Then lets talk about MTB trails, well without thinking too much you can quickly tick off Giba Gorge and Hola trails, two world class facilities. Having spent the last week in the Howick area I would also add in the Howick MTB trail network, an incredible network of awesome trails right on the doorstep of Howick.

So don't think of KZN midlands as the sleepy hollow but rather the rising giant of MTB in South Africa.

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Giant Week of Riding

This weekend sees the 15th edition of the Giants Castle MTB Challenge being held in the drakensberg. This is one of the original, oldest and longest running MTB races in the country. It is one of those special events that gives MTB riders access to really remote trails that are not available at any other time. Its a race of extremes, starting off with a blistering fast 80km/h dash downhill on tar from the Giants Castle Reserve, to the compulsory portage up the Ntondolo ridge to get to some of the best mountain top single track, then its the legendary Giants downhill that defines this race and you end off with a brutal climb back up to the finish area. This race should be on your MTB bucket list. Entries open at the end of each year and are usually taken up quickly by the returning faithful in search of their personal number boards. So mark it down for next year April and take part in some SA MTB history and make a significant contribution to wildlife conservation in South Africa.

If you are still suffering from an Epic hangover after the feast of pro MTB racing that we had during this years epic then we have got just the cure for you. Take a few shots of UCI MTB World Cup racing next week from 22-24 April in Pietermaritzburg. Round up some mates and head to the trail side to the worlds best riders and to support our local hero's Burry and Greg as they gun for victory in the first round of MTB world cup for 2011.

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29er or not To9er

29er bikes are all the rage at the moment thanks to many pro teams at the recent ABSA Cape Epic. The 29er is seen by many as the ultimate solution to providing a smoother ride and getting over difficult obstacles more easily. The main difference between a 29inch and a 26inch is the wheel size with the 29er having a larger wheel diameter. On paper it all looks good, but how that translates on the trail is still quite debatable and there are pros and cons. So the best is to get some bikes and test ride them for yourself. That is what we did, checkout the Turner Sultan 29er review thanks to Dion. If you have ridden a 29er and have views then please share so that we can learn

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The biggest mountain bike show on earth?

The biggest mountain bike show on earth is rolling and gaining momentum. It is day 4 and Stage 3 for ABSA Cape Epic 2011, and unless you have been living in a hole you will have heard about it, or be following it or be addicted to it. Today riders are on their way from Tulbagh to Worcester 125km and 1900m of climbing. The prologue was spectacular and the first 2 stages have been hard, claiming at least 5 collar bones so far. Yesterday the 104km took the pros over 4h32 to finish and the back markers had 10 hours to avoid cut off.

There is a ton of information out there, check our epic resources and follow the event with epic twitter updates and news stories. The epic website also has the results and live tracking. On TV you can catch the half hour highlights package every night at 22h00 with repeats the following day. On Sunday get your morning ride in early so that you can park off on the couch and enjoy the final stage live on Supersport.

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An Epic Weekend

Its an Epic weekend ahead of us the Absa Cape Epic 2011 kicks off on Sunday and you can catch it all live on TV. The whole prologue will be live on TV from 09h00 to 14h00 on Supersport. If you are in the Cape then get out to Tokai forest to see all the pros and support the local boys, Kevin, David and Burry, the racing will be awesome. The 2011 Epic is going to be tough as usual, with Stage 1 89km 2050m ascent, Stage 2 104km 2300m ascent and Stage 5 143km 2350m of climbing, its going to be epic as usual. This race produces many amazing stories like this one, Adam Ferris returning home from the cold after 38 years away to ride.

Here is a bonus for this week, another example of how mountain biking trails in South Africa are progressing. Karkloof Classic in KZN put this together to show what they are doing to prepare for the Karlkloof classic 2011. World class trails and a world class mtb video production, check it out, better still go ride the trails.

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The Cape of Singletrack

The Cape has always had the lions share of quality MTB trails with a handful of marked and purpose built trails in Tokai, Jonkershoek and Lebanon thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like Meurant Botha from Dirtopia. But the singletrack revolution has been quietly busy adding to this solid base with some new trails emerging. The biggest area is in Wellington starting from Welvanpas with the whole Bains Kloof trail network offering some serious singltrack. The areas around Tygerberg Hills like Contermans, Magic forest and Merendal now also have some significant new riding options thanks to efforts by the Tygerberg MTB club. 

On the east coast new trails have been cut in KZN thanks to early efforts by people like Ian Wilson resulting in Giba Gorge as well as Hola trails and Sani trails. In Mpumalanga it only used to be Sabie but now there are all the trails at Mankele and Misty Mountain.

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Singletrack Revolution

Mountain bike trails in South Africa have come a long way in the last few years.The biggest winner of all must be Gauteng where there really used to be nothing. If you think that riding in Gauteng means dodging hijackers, mine dumps and traffic then I think you need to get off the road and head for the hills. A combination of the need for safer riding areas, more riders and a lack of quality riding has been the catalyst for the creation of some world class MTB trails.

The trails around van Gaalens in the Magaliesberg continue to lengthen and now you can easily spend 5 hours riding everything from steep rocky singletrack to undulating riverine forest trails to smooth flowing contoured singletrack.In Pretoria the Groenkloof trails draw hundreds of riders everyday with the shady parking, post ride facilities, technical trails and safe environment. Teak place in the Cradle of Humankind also has a packed parking lot on the weekends. A new kid on the block is Kingskloofmtb on the Krugersdorp hill. And so the list continues to grow. Its the new wave riding on the back of the MTB race explosion and means more MTB trails to ride. So get out there and pay your trail fees to support those who are making it all possible.

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How to fly with your bike

Flying with your bike used to be the domain of pros but now it is a regular activity for almost any keen cyclist. Nowadays events are all over the country, flights affordable and time of the essence, so you have to fly with your bike. This traumatic experience is manageable by knowing how to pack your bike and transport your bike so that the airlines don't end up destroying it. There is no fool proof method, you can wheel it on, use a cardboard box, soft bike bag or a hard shell case. They all have their pros and cons, it just depends on your budget, love for your bike and unfortunately a fair amount of luck. Check our guide and options for transporting your bike.

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Train right and don’t look back

Training for mountain bike races does not have to be a complicated process. You can keep it simple and get results buy sticking to a few key principles.

Routine, routine, routine, get into a regular routine, something that fits in with your daily life, time constrains and family responsibility – stick it into your diary

Make the time a routine but vary the content. If you do the same average training everyday then you can expect the same average results. Make your training sessions either hard or easy but not in the middle because that's just average.

Easy, hard, harder, REST, - easy hard, harder, REST ……

Do any one of these and you will see results, do all 3 and you will never look back.

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MTB rain, mud and riding

Mountain bikers apparently like mud, right? Maybe, but should we not ask the bikes how they feel about that? With all the rain around the country lately (except the sunny Cape of course) our trails have turned into one big mud hole. That means that even the shortest of rides will take you through some of the sticky wet stuff. Make no mistake it is great fun but it comes with a price. The price of time spent cleaning the bike and then of course the wear and tear on that drive train, brake pads and bearings.

 

So what are the options, grin and bear it and follow a quick wash routine. Or follow the example of our UK MTB friends who ride in the wet all the time, go single speed or 1 x 9 and minimise some of that wear and tear and chain suck. But whatever you do don't use the rain as an excuse, because that is just not on!

 

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Be thankful to farmers

Mountain bikers in South Africa have a rather interesting and sometimes precarious relationship with the land on which they ride. Unlike surfers who ride the ocean that belongs to everyone and the roadies who ride on public roads and the sky divers who fly the open skies, mountain bikers either find themselves as part time tenants, guests or trespassers of someone else's land. Land ownership in South Africa usually means fences and private access unlike the UK where the right of way law allows the public to use a network of traditional routes and thoroughfares. 

Luckily we seem to have more and more friendly farmers who are willing to allow us to leave a few tyre tracks on their land. Even better are the enterprising farmers who are prepared to lay on some specially crafted singletrack for us to ride on. Our future to ride seems to be linked very closely to the farming community and their willingness to share their land with us. It is something to appreciate and to remember that every time you are out on the dirt you are borrowing someone else's land, so look after it and be thankful because there is lots more where that came from. 

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The Epic rolls on

The Cape Epic mountain bike race is the undisputed leader in mtb and cycling events in South Africa and becoming a serious contender internationally. Somehow founder and director Kevin Vermaak finds a way of lifting the bar every year. In 2011 they have done it again so you can look forward to watching the first and last stage live on TV thanks to Supersport. If you have not had a chance to participate in this event or to go to one of the stages then this is the next best thing. It is a spectacle not to be missed, the racing starts on 27 March. Checkout our epic guide for more info on this race.

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