Epic Month for MTB in South Africa

The MTB spotlight is still clearly on South Africa as it should be. Last week saw the UCI MTB World Cup in Pietermaritzburg. The organisers put on a world class event attracting all of the worlds best riders. Greg Minnaar won the the downhill, Burry Stander came second in the XCO and the womans downhill was won on a Morewood downhill bike made in Pietermaritzburg, all South African. 

This weekend is the Cape Epic, the most prestigious MTB stage race is the world, once again the worlds best will be on the start line in Cape Town along with hundreds of amateurs taking up the challenge for various reasons. Many teams take up charity entries and ride for a cause. More average guys trying to make a difference on their MTBs. Team Trojans is just such a team, Their Wheels4wheels cause is aimed at raising funds to purchase wheelchairs or other mobility equipment for under privileged brain damaged people. You can find out more or support them via their website www.wheels4wheels.co.za 

MtbOnline will be there riding as Team OFM Radio, if you listen to OFM then make sure you tune in in the afternoons from Sunday 25 March to get live updates from Absa Cape Epic 2012. You can also follow us on twitter @live2ridemtb or @mtbaverageguy . Or else check out our dedicated Absa Cape Epic page on the website.

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An Epic Tale - The Movie

Cinemas around the country have been a buzz with mountain bikers as the feature film "An Epic Tale" from Sinamatella productions had premier screenings. The full length feature film starts two of South Africas most successful cyclists, Kevin Evans and David George from Team360life. 

No South African team has ever won the Cape Epic, nor has any South African mountain biker worn the coveted World Marathon Champion's Rainbow Jersey. In 2011, David George and Kevin Evans of Nedbank Team 360Life set out to remedy this. In their quest to compete with the very best, they would have to overcome obstacles and setbacks more daunting than they ever imagined. This is their story.

1 Season
2 Pro bike riders
3 Operating Theatres
67 Days of racing
112 Stitches
54,105 km's of training

There are two trailers Teaser#1 and Teaser#2 of the movie that show the quality of this production. This movie gives you insight into the dedication, hard work, sacrifice and commitment that goes into being a world class mountain biker. If you haven't made it to the premiers then look out for the the screening on DSTV Supersport 20 March at 20h00 on SS5.

 
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Right tyre for right conditions

Mountain bike tyre choice or preferance is always a topic for robust discussion between mountain bikers. It is very difficult to say that one tyre is better than the other because there are so many different criteria that influence this selection. Tyres are designed for different riding conditions, so essentially you need to match the tyre requirements to your conditions.

 

It depends on what your main requirements are from the tyre. The main criteria are weight, traction in wet or dry, rolling resistance, puncture resistance and cornering ability. To get an idea of what your most important criteria are you need to understand what your riding conditions are typically. Take for example the choice to be made for 3 very different events 1. Absa Cape Epic, 2 Sani2C or 3 Cross country race in the Midlands.

 

At the epic you expect dry, rocky, sandy conditions with long distances. While at Sani2C you may expect mostly dry but possibly wet, firm relatively smooth trails with very few rocks and long distances. At at a cross country race on purpose built smooth trails you could expect wet conditions, smooth trails lots of corners on a relatively short route. So your requirements at the Epic would be mainly protection and rolling resistance possibly at a weight penalty. At Sani2C you would be looking for low rolling resistance with good grip and maybe a bit of a weight saving. While at the cross country championships you would be looking for excellent traction as low weight as possible and no real need for sidewall protection.

 

So the two extremes are for epic choose the strongest tyre with the lowest rolling resistance and ok grip and don't worry about the weight. On the other end of the scale choose the lightest soft compound, traction orientated tyre that you can find for the cross country race.

 

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Why maintaining hydration is so important

This weekends racing in Sabie at the MTN marathon and ultra marathon produced some extreme conditions that really test hydration strategies in endurance events. The high temperatures combined with over 60% humidity are a recipe for dehydration. Many participants of the marathon event took 8hrs to finish and the ultra riders were out for anything between 5 and 9 hours. In these conditions unless you have a bullet proof hydration plan you are going to get caught out.

For a two hour ride you could get away with just a bottle of water, for a 4 hr ride maybe a couple of bottles of energy drink, but for an 8 hour epic ride in heat conditions like this you are looking at 8+ bottles of some quality endurance drink. With water pouring out of your body at more than a litre an hour you have to make sure that you are at least replacing the lost salts and then also try to get in enough fluid and some carbs to keep your energy up. Because once you get on the wrong side of the dehydration curve and your appetite and thirst is suppressed and nausea sets in then you are on the brink of shut down, no matter how fit or strong you are. This interesting article Dehydration insport: why it is vital an athlete maintains hydration levels duringexercise gives an informative and well explained background to dehydration.

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Tubeless 1-2-3

Fitting a tubeless tyre system on a mountain bike is really quite simple. The easiest way is if you have a tubeless rim with a tubeless tyre, then you just need to insert the valve into the rim and fit the tyre. Add tubeless sealant for puncture protection and use an air compressor or a high volume pump to seat the tyre onto the rim. If you have a standard rim and want to convert it to tubeless then you need a tubeless conversion kit. This kit has 3 components, the rim strip to seal the rim, the valve that fits into the rim and tubeless sealant to get that air tight seal. Using this kit you can use almost any combination of rim and tyre allowing for many options depending on your need for durability or weight saving. Either way you will get the best performance out of your tyres and get the best possible puncture resistance.

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Mountain Bike Race and Events Calendar

If you are looking for MTB races or events to participate in then you are in luck we have added a 2012 MTB Calendar to our website. This is a list of all official MTB races in South Africa and is very comprehensive covering the whole year and the whole country. We have used the Google calendar function so you should be able to share it easily. The calendar gives you the date, venue and short description of the events.

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Heart Rate and Power Training Aids

If you want to take your training to another level then you should consider getting some sort of training aid like a heart rate monitor or power meter to assist you. Heart rate monitors have  been the standard for a long time now with the manufacturer Polar really leading the way. They have done a great job in trying to make the monitors more accessible and understandable for the average person. Heart rate is definitely your starting point to getting a better understanding of how you should train and how you can measure your effort and progress.

 

Power meters are a much newer training aid and have been used successfully by most of the pros to reach their specific training goals. But for the average person it is still expensive and debatable as to whether you will be able to get and make use of the full value that a power meter offers. Joe Friel author of Mountain Bikers Training Bible recently posted a great explanation of why a power meter is valuable for training and how it compares to a heart rate monitor. Basically it comes down to input(heart rate) and output (power), measuring one or the other will only give you half the picture, but measuring both gives you the complete picture. Check out his "Why you need a power meter" post for the full story.

 

But overall its best to start with heart rate and if you are just going for one of them then stick with the heart rate, it is more flexible to use on and off the bike, costs less and will definitely improve your performance.

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Last Minute Epic Entries

If you have been hanging in there for an ABSA Cape Epic entry then you will be able to pick and choose at the moment. It is that time of the year when for some the daunting prospect of finishing the Epic becomes too much and they bail out or worse still they have some or other medical or other emergency that forces them to withdraw. It is not called the Cape Epic for nothing.

 

From the day you get the entry it is a massive undertaking to make it across the finish line.Probably the hardest part is actually getting to the event start line in one piece with enough preparation to make it too the end.

 

So if you have everything in place except the entry then you may be in luck. There are many entries floating around and as the days pass you will be able to buy them cheaper and cheaper, kind of like a reverse auction. You will find them on the Epic forum website and at Thehubsa or just ask around.

 

If you are still in and preparing then good luck. The base miles should be in the bank by now and the next month is just solidifying the training and getting all your admin sorted out. Checkout our Epic Guide for more info.

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Race race race into new year

The first 3-4 months of the year have always been cycling time in South Africa with the Argus and then the addition of Cape Epic and Sani2C. The last few years has seen this become more international.

This year we will see many of the top mountain bikers in the world spending the first few months of the year here in SA. The reason is that we have many international mountain bike events taking place. The Advendurance National MTN Marathon series races all carry UCI status where points can be earned. The Ultra Marathon in Sabie in February is a Marathon World Championship event. Then there are 3 UCI cross country events to be hosted in Kwa-Zulu Natal in March including the first round of the UCI MTB World Cup.

Then to top it all off the ABSA Cape Epic at the end of March will again see the worlds top riders competing for the podium. So look out for some pros on your local trails and get out there and compete in some of the events or just go and watch.

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So where did you ride?

Out for a ride on Saturday and it was as if everyone had suddenly done some spring cleaning and dug there dusty old bikes out of the rafters in the garage. The roads were full of bikes, MTBs, roadies and the tribikes with all their gadgets. Most of them looked like they were trying to make up for the 3 weeks of lost time during the festive season.

 

But for some the period over the holidays was a time to rack up the miles in preparation for a good 2012 season of racing. The was even a global challenge out there between 23-31 Dec called the Rapha500, the goal to ride 500km over this period, check the website to see who managed this.

 

Lots of stories about riding new trails and routes over the holidays, share some of your pics and stories on MTBOnline Facebook.

 

Its prime riding time now, the days are still long, its warm and there are plenty of events around to keep you busy and honest.

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Happy holidays - Take your bike with

The holidays are upon us. The next few weeks are a great time to use your extra free time wisely and get in some bonus miles. If you are travelling take your bike with and visit some of those trails that you can never get to. 

If you still have some shopping to do then avoid those malls and go online so that you don't waste any valuable riding time.

As things slow down we will also take a break and head for the hills. 

Thanks for your support as subscribers and followers of our weekly updates. We hope that it has been worth it and look forward to finding more of the good stuff for you in 2012

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Rear view mirror

As we wind down 2011 and speed upto the start line for 2012 we took a look in the rear view mirror of 2011 and all the interesting stuff that we shared through out the year. Here are our top 5 most popular posts for 2011 according to our stats.

# 5: The training experiment

# 4: The journey to the ABSA Cape Epic

# 3: Weather or not mountain bikers should ride

# 2: Howick Mountain Bike Trails video post

And the number one was a world sensation that you will never forget if you have seen it and can't be excused if you have not seen it

#1: The amazing footage of "Buck van der Spuy" and then the follow up Mountain Biker gets taken out by LION - CRAZY Footage -...

Let us know what your favorite post was for 2011 and tell us what you would like to see more of and less of in 2012

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Why you should be on tubeless

Tubeless tyres on mountain bikes have become the performance standard here in South Africa. We have some big camel thorns and some seriously sharp Karoo rock. The best way to get you and your bike through these African hazards is nothing! Thats right nothing, fresh air between your rim and your tyre! There are 3 solid reasons why you should ride tubeless rather than tubes. Firstly you will have less flats that's for sure and you definitely won't have any of those snakebite or pinch flats that tubes are prone too.Secondly performance, there is a reason why cars today are on tubeless tyres. Its because the tyre can perform the way it was designed to, and that's just what you need on your MTB. The last reason is because you will be able to save some more weight by ditching the tubes. So if you want to have less flats, save weight and go faster then get yourself a tubeless conversion otherwise just carry on plodding along.

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The journey to the ABSA Cape Epic

Last night the journey to the 2012 ABSA Cape Epic began. Our entry was confirmed and we will be representing OFM radio. It has been more than three years, three kids (between the 2 of us), and for me 12 kilograms since we last took on the great adventure. So, yes, things will be very different, and the road to the 25th of March 2012 will not be easy. But it has been a goal for us to return for a 5th time and next year we will do it.

Watch this blog for updates on what will hopefully be progress towards the greatest mountain bike race on earth.

The real average guy.

Weather or not mountain bikers should ride

This weekend there was literally a storm in a tea cup down at the Whine2whales stage race in the Western Cape. A rather unseasonal cold front moved through the Cape and brought some seriously wet and cold weather that prompted the organisers to cancel the 3rd and last day of the event. There was mixed reactions from riders and on lookers alike. Burry Stander was clearly having none of it when he tweeted "7deg with wind and pissin rain. no thanks. #dodgedabullet" then there was local Cape rider Shan Wilson who was less than impressed with one of his tweets "This must have been a back line decision from the touch rugby squad!!! Riders signed indemnities!! ". I don't suppose it helped that one of the main sponsors was Maseratti, maybe with a good old Subaru or a Toyota Hilux or even a Nissan bakkie the organisers would have been able to supply the necessary backup and support to finish the race off. You just have to look at the Freedom Challenge to know that there is no limit to where and when you can go on your mountain bike. So was it the riders or the organisers who had to HTFU?

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